Chapter 14                                                                                                                             �

"Sir, let's leave a guard to the Central Army." A voice was a little loud. Yu Dayou woke up from his thoughts, and found that it was Qi Jiguang who said.

The military orders given by Zhou Mengchen were very simple, that was, Qi Jiguang led three thousand cavalry, and with the power of a black tiger, he only attacked the eastern part of Chen in Dongzhuang. The Ming army in Jiangnan was pressing on the entire line, approaching the enemy and attracting the attention of the enemy.

This will achieve the goal of internal and external cooperation.

Of course, Zhou Mengchen actually did not expect the Ming army on the periphery to do anything big. In the past three days, Zhou Mengchen also conducted a simple survey of the Ming army in Jiangnan. He found that as he thought, except for a few armies, to be precise, more than 10,000 troops had combat effectiveness. As for the combat effectiveness, it is difficult to say, and sometimes it is impossible to see it.

Yu Dayou's army is the most important. Other troops are below. Except for more than one thousand people, the other troops are more young and strong than army. There are even some so-called guards, which are not even young and strong.

However, although Qi Jiguang led the three thousand armored cavalry and was Zhou Mengchen's direct subordinate, it was not easy to be too biased towards his own people as a leader. This was heartbreaking. So, the opportunity was given to them. If they did it well, they would get a share of the pie in this battle. If they could not, they would not blame others.

As for Qi Jiguang's opposition, it was because Zhou Mengchen did not stay a single armored cavalry on the side. The reason was very simple. Although Zhou Mengchen was very sure of this battle, there was a fact that Zhou Mengchen should also pay attention to. That is, in terms of quantity, the Japanese pirates still have an absolute advantage. Regardless of the chaos in the Japanese pirates, the number was still one of the primary factors to consider during the battle.

At this time, Zhou Mengchen left a cavalry to do something. He must strengthen Qi Jiguang's army as soon as possible. If the Ming army in Jiangnan had a fully established cavalry unit, Zhou Mengchen would definitely let them subordinate Qi Jiguang participate in this operation.

But, no.

But Qi Jiguang was a little worried.

Because Qi Jiguang, as a disciple of Zhou Mengchen, was also Zhou Mengchen's confidant. He knew very well that this matter was definitely not a simple military issue, and there was also a surging under the hidden war.

Never overestimate the lower limit of some people. Zhou Mengchen sent out all the guards around him. At this time, what if the remnants of some people in the Ming army do what to do? What should I do?

In Qi Jiguang's view, one or two hundred cavalry missing may not affect the outcome of the battle, but once Zhou Mengchen makes a mistake, that is, no matter how many times he wins, it will be irreversible.

Zhou Mengchen said: "It's okay, I'm in the army, why do you need others to protect me? That's how General Yu's headquarters will be temporarily renamed as the central army. What does General Yu think?"

The reason why Zhou Mengchen chose Yu Dayou was very simple. In history, Yu Dayou's achievements seemed to be weaker than Qi Jiguang, but if you really need to look at the analysis, Yu Dayou's historical status was not because Yu Dayou lacked too much ability, but because Yu Dayou looked at the disputes in the officialdom. In history, it was clear that Qi Jiguang was Zhang Juzheng's person. However, Yu Dayou had never been too close to a civil servant.

Although party struggles in the Ming Dynasty were already very common, especially after Jiajing ascended the throne, Jiajing's weighing on the cabinet even intensified the emergence of party struggles, so that many people could not do things without forming party members. However, there were still some people in the Ming Dynasty who became officials only based on their loyalty to the court, not loyal to a certain person. The same was true for Hai Rui and Yu Dayou.

Zhou Mengchen also knew that Yu Dayou might not be good at him. After all, as soon as Zhou Mengchen arrived, he asked his disciples to steal his general officer.

But if you don’t like it or even hate it, Zhou Mengchen, as his superior, will obey and support it as long as Yu Dayou does not do anything against the contrary.

Let Yu Dayou protect the central army, as long as Yu Dayou himself is not dead, there will be no problem with Zhou Mengchen's safety.

Of course, Zhou Mengchen didn't think that Zhao Wenhua's personality charm, or that Yan's party dared to be so crazy that he murdered the commander in the army. Even if Yan Shifan had this idea, no one dared to do this.

Yu Dayou immediately came to receive the order and said, "The last general will receive the order."

Then Zhou Mengchen said, "It's not appropriate to act immediately."

"Yes." The generals took the order.

Qi Jiguang took the three thousand armored cavalry and set out immediately, but they did not directly attack Dongzhuang. Although General Qi felt that the gap left by the Japanese pirates was enough to attack, Qi Jiguang analyzed the situation in detail and was still preparing to circle around, check the seaside from dozens of miles away, and then attack Dongzhuang from the east along the seaside.

This will catch the Japanese pirates off guard.

In order to cover this operation, the first attack on the Ming army units in the Jiangnan region.

Under Yu Dayou's escort, Zhou Mengchen watched the formation against the enemy.

I just felt that everything in front of him made him a little bit eye-catching. He seemed to have been used to bringing elite wars and could no longer see such bad wars. Not to mention anything else, if Xin Ai was reborn underground and saw the Ming army as weak as such, he would not know how to regret it.

Although the Mongolians led by Xin Ai had problems of one kind or another, they were still capable of tactical actions and strategic implementation alone. However, the current Ming army really made Zhou Mengchen uncomfortable.

The Japanese pirates were not tall outside. Even when Zhou Mengchen was used to looking at the castles inside and outside the Great Wall, he looked at the so-called pirates and felt that his defense ability was not as good as that of the villages near Datong.

At least, the villages near Datong were built by themselves because of their defense against the invasion of the Tartars. Although they were far inferior to those built by the Ming Dynasty due to their capabilities, it was OK to say a dock.

But what does Jiangnan look like?

Before the Japanese pirates, most counties in the south of the Yangtze River had no city walls, not to mention villages. Moreover, Zhapu was a severely affected area of ​​the Japanese pirates, and it was not the only one that was occupied by the Japanese pirates. Not far north of Zhapu, in Songjiang Prefecture, there was a place with Tuolin. In the 31st year of Jiajing and around the 33rd year of Jiajing, Wang Zhi relied on Tuolin and robbed everywhere.

So, it has been in chaos for several years. The so-called village has long been gone.

Some are just Japanese pirates.

After all, these Japanese pirates are not regular troops. It would be a joke to ask them to build complete military fortifications. They just rely on the original village to stay. There is at most a fence outside.

As for how to defend against the Ming army's attack?

Most of the time, if you use firearms, you will dare to come out and fight. After all, the Japanese pirates are actually unable to win against the official army.

Zhou Mengchen now saw a situation that made him quite confused. A large number of Ming soldiers were wearing only single clothes and at most several layers of cold-proof clothes were added, but armor, even cotton armor, were not available. The weapons in his hands were just swords and guns, and artillery and muskets were pitifully few, and most of them were old goods. At most, there were some Folang machine cannons and no other cannons.

However, the number of firearms on the Japanese pirates is quite large. It’s just a bit messy.

Don’t forget, first of all, the Portuguese had a great influence on Shuangyu Island. However, after the Battle of Shuangyu, the Portuguese gave up their activities in the Southeast and instead found ways to seek the right to trade in Macau.

However, Portugal never gave up its connection with Southeast pirates. Many of the weapons of Southeast pirates come from Portugal. Moreover, when fighting at sea, firearms are much more useful than cold weapons. Although these pirates have now arrived ashore, they still retain their habits at sea. When they have money, they naturally use some firearms.

Among them is the issue of the Satsuma family, which is the Shimazu family.

The Shimazu family was the first daimyo in Japan to come into contact with firearms. More than ten years ago, about 20 years of Jiajing, the Portuguese appeared on Seed Island. The Shimazu family noticed muskets at that time and managed to obtain manufacturing technology. It made Seed Island a production center for Japan's firearms for a long time. Seed Island muskets are also very famous.

The Shimazu family is the most closely related to the Japanese pirates. Whether it is Chen Dong, Xu Hai, or even Wang Zhi, they all have various connections with the Shimazu family.

They naturally have a large number of Japanese muskets in their hands.
Chapter completed!