Chapter 1143 Dilemma

Guo Xingning was riding on horseback with a gloomy expression, looking at several gray-clothed riders stationed on the slope in the distance. These men in gray had been haunting the troops since the Ming army he led arrived at Jijia Town.

, obviously monitoring their own itinerary. According to the intelligence we have, these people should belong to the Haihan Army stationed in Fushan County. They dare to act so rampantly in front of the Ming Army in broad daylight.

It is not an exaggeration to describe it as unscrupulous. Even the Wanjiajun who used to be the local tyrant in this area would usually stay away from the Ming army when they saw it dispatched. How could they dare to make such a provocative move easily?

Guo Xingning also ordered his cavalry several times to drive away these exploration horses, but the effect was really not good. As soon as the cavalry came out, Haihan's exploration horses turned around and evacuated. There was a distance of two or three miles between the two sides, so it was difficult to catch up with each other.

But as soon as his troops retreated, Haihan Tanma would appear within sight again, which really made him sick.

Guo Xingning also tried to quietly separate a part of the reconnaissance cavalry before setting off early in the morning, and stay away from the large group of people, in order to force Haihan's reconnaissance horses to go further away. However, the opponents would gather and disperse, often at a certain place.

They suddenly gathered at the node and forced the reconnaissance cavalry they sent back. Marching from Dengzhou City to Fushan County, the two sides have been fighting in the air, but the Haihan people obviously have the upper hand, because the Ming army really has no way to completely block it.

As for the opponent's reconnaissance measures, it can be said that our own troop strength and direction of action have been exposed in advance.

Regarding this operation to Fushan County, if it weren't for Liao Jie's insistence on sending troops, Guo Xingning would not have wanted to go into this muddy water at this time. Although the three of them had previously agreed to deal with the Haihan people who settled in Fushan County, Shangguan

After Ye arrived at the Qianhu Station in Qishan, the news sent back showed how difficult this matter was, and that it was far from as simple and easy as they imagined.

Before Shangguanye went to Fushan County, almost all their knowledge of Haihan came from the fragments of letters sent by Liao Jie's brother Liao Xun from Zhejiang, although Liao Xun also mentioned in his letter that "Haihan Army"

"The ship is strong and the artillery is powerful, and it is invincible" and "I have been campaigning in southern Xinjiang for several years and have never heard of a defeat." However, Liao Xun's news also came from hearsay, and there was no confrontation with the Haihan Army on the battlefield.

experience, so the military information he provided is hardly convincing.

It is how the Haihan people are good at amassing money and how they spend money like water. This information makes the three people from the Dengzhou military very concerned. They subconsciously regard Haihan as a fat sheep that can be slaughtered severely, and intentionally or unintentionally ignore the Haihan people.

The Han also had a strong army built with money. They had never seen the battles of the Haihan army, and they did not think that the descriptions mentioned by Liao Xun were real. They only believed that the Haihan army used money to open the way.

It has unimpeded access to the southern coastal states. So at first Liao Jie sent Shangguanye to Qishanqianhu Station and did not equip him with many troops. As a result, Shangguanye was dumbfounded when he arrived there. Haihan was stationed at Zhifu Bay.

There are at least a thousand armed personnel. With this small number of people, he can't even get to Zhifu Island, and there is no way to start.

After the information collected by Shangguanye from Fushan County was sent back to Dengzhou City one after another, Liao Jie still insisted that the Haihan people were just bluffing. After all, sending troops to fight bandits and fighting the official army were completely different things. Since they wanted to settle in Dengzhou, they

They should not go against the government. But Guo Xingning felt that things were not that simple. Haihan had deployed amphibious and land forces in Zhifu Bay, and they were unwilling to suffer losses. Even if they directly threatened them with force, they might not be willing to submit.

Guo Xingning suggested that Liao Jie find another way to contact the Haihan people first to see if there is any other way to let Haihan take the initiative to pay for the right to settle in Dengzhou. This can avoid a head-on conflict between the two parties, and can also get benefits from the Haihan people.

Getting profits in hand should be an acceptable result for both parties. But at this juncture, news came out that Haihan had discovered a copper mine in Fushan County.

Logically speaking, it is inconvenient for the local garrison to interfere in government affairs. What's more, Liao Jie, Guo Xingning and others were all transferred to Dengzhou from other places during the Denglai Rebellion. They were not from the local area, and it was even less convenient for them to intervene in these matters. But what a coincidence.

Zheng Fan, who was most interested in this matter, had friendships with civil and military officials. He believed that the military must come forward as a guarantee to successfully take over the Fushan Copper Mine from the Haihan people, so he came to Liao Jie to discuss it.

this matter.

Zheng Fan's understanding of Haihan was far less than that of Liao Jie and others. He simply believed that the Haihan people were just a group of foreign armed merchants, so the plan he gave was simple and crude. First, the Dengzhou government office issued an official document instructing the Haihan people to surrender.

If the other party refuses to obey, the military will come forward to expel the Haihan people by force and reclaim the mining area.

Chen Zhongsheng, the current governor of Dengzhou, is Zheng Fan's brother-in-law, so it is not too difficult for him to get the government side. Zheng Fan wants to recruit the military to join the plan, just to add an extra layer of insurance to this plan. Of course, this dirty work is also

It was not for nothing. Zheng Fan promised Liao Jie that as long as the military was willing to participate, he would convince Chen Zhongsheng to give the military a share of the profits from this copper mine.

Liao Jie was still very cautious at first, because no one knew the prospect of mining this copper mine. If he found out after grabbing it that the copper mine buried underground was only a shallow layer, and the investment in mining was more than the profit, then what would happen?

The military was busy in vain. But Zheng Fan assured that the copper mine that the Haihan people were exploring was by no means a small vein, because he had sent people to sneak into the construction site a few days ago and confirmed that the Haihan people

The high-profile actions in the area were not fake, but a large mineral vein had indeed been discovered. In order to mine this place, the Haihan people had even organized hundreds of workers to start building roads and houses in the area, preparing to open a mine.

With the shrewdness shown by the Haihan people in the past, it is obviously impossible for them to go into such a big loss-making business with their heads down.

At the same time, Zheng Fan also expressed that he could use the name of donation to advance part of the military expenses and materials needed for military operations, so that even if the subsequent mining of the mine did not go smoothly enough, at least the military would not have to pay back.

Liao Jie was quickly persuaded by Zheng Fan. This method of profit distribution is equivalent to taking shares in the mine. If it is managed well, there will be stable income in the next few years. And the tasks that the military needs to undertake are probably

In Liao Jie's opinion, just sending troops to expel the Haihan people from this area should not be a difficult task, and he did not even really realize the risks faced by such an action.

But Guo Xingning had already vaguely smelled something bad before setting off, because at the same time as the news about the Fushan Copper Mine broke out, there was another less exciting rumor spreading in Dengzhou City, that of the Haihan Army.

The leader of the Wanjia Army who had escaped previously was captured in the mountainous area of ​​Fushan County, and the rest of the party was captured. The location where the battle took place is said to be very close to the location of the Fushan Copper Mine.

What Guo Xingning cares about is not the decisiveness of the Haihan army in exterminating the remnants of bandits, but the purpose of their mobilizing troops to do this. Based on Haihan's businessman nature, Guo Xingning is convinced that in addition to maintaining local security, their actions must also have

Deeper, there is a purpose that is beneficial to itself. And this battle site is very close to the Fushan Copper Mine. Combined with the timing of these two seemingly unrelated events, Guo Xingning believes that this is not a coincidence, but Haihan's intention.

Clearing the final hurdles for mining this copper mine.

How did the Haihan people learn that there were copper mines in the area controlled by the Wanjia Army? Guo Xingning believes that this may be a secret that the bandits previously captured by Haihan used to save their lives. The reaction of the Haihan people in driving out the Wanjia Army and killing them all seems to be reflected from the side.

The value of this copper mine and Haihan's determination to mine this vein. Official documents sent by the Dengzhou Prefecture Government fell into the sea without any response. Guo Xingning believed that the silence of the Haihan people had already expressed a negative attitude, even if they sent troops.

Fukuyama may not be able to force Haihan to give in, but may intensify the conflict and make the situation uncontrollable.

Guo Xingning informed Liao Jie of his thoughts and expressed his concerns, but he could not provide any evidence for these speculations, nor could he prove that the Haihan people had any intention to fight with force, so Liao Jie ultimately did not believe him.

Winter is approaching now. If no action is taken, the roads will be blocked by heavy snow in winter and it will be inconvenient for troops to go out. This delay may have to be postponed until the beginning of next spring.

Things changed later. Neither Liao Jie nor Zheng Fan had the patience to wait any longer. So Liao Jie still insisted on his opinion and handed over the task of going to Fushan to expel the Haihan people to Guo Xingning. He hoped that Guo Xingning could go and talk to the Haihan people in person.

Fight and use facts to overturn the wrong ideas in his mind.

Guo Xingning was reluctant to get this assignment, but he also knew that the people Liao Jie trusted the most were him and Shangguanye. Now Shangguanye had been stationed in Fushan County for more than half a month, and he also tried his best to detect Haihan's deployment and movements.

, Now the time has come to take action. If Guo Xingning can't do it, who else can do it? No matter how reluctant he is, he can only bite the bullet and do it.

Liao Jie's request to Guo Xingning was to resolve the war quickly, and try not to drag the war into winter. As long as the Haihan people gave up the mines and returned to Zhifu Island, there was no need to kill them all. Keep this fat sheep, and you can still do it in the future.

Slowly thinking of other ways to squeeze out the profit. Guo Xingning could only take a chance, hoping that his previous idea was just a misjudgment and that the Haihan people would not have the courage to confront the imperial officers and soldiers head-on.

But after marching into Fushan County, Guo Xingning discovered that this kind of luck would probably come to nothing. I am afraid that before the Ming army left Dengzhou City, the Haihan people were already ready to fight. Otherwise, there is no way to explain why the Ming army

Not long after the army departed from the station, Haihan's scout horse appeared in the area near the army. Haihan was not unprepared for the arrival of the Ming army. It is conceivable that they should have made corresponding arrangements in the area where the copper mine is located.

, I am afraid it will be difficult for me to complete this errand smoothly.

But Guo Xingning did not panic because of this. Although he had long believed that the Haihan people would not easily obey the order of Dengzhou Prefecture to give up the copper mines, he did not really think that the strength of the Haihan army could compete with the Ming army.

From the beginning to the end, he believed that this was just a group of armed maritime merchants, and did not regard the Haihan Army as a true professional army.

The troops led by Guo Xingning were all his direct descendants brought from Yanzhou Prefecture. They had participated in the counterinsurgency battle in Dengzhou before, and they were all veterans with experience in battle. This time when he sent troops to Fushan County, Liao Jie specially

After allocating a few Folan cannons to Guo Xingning for easy transportation, and adding nearly one-third of the musketeers in the original battalion, Guo Xingning was quite confident in defeating Haihan.

It's just that the Haihan army is like a fly that can't be driven away along the way, which is really annoying. Guo Xingning can't help but worry that if the Haihan army is as slippery as the Wanjia army and refuses to fight head-on, it will be very troublesome to deal with it.

.In the past, the Dengzhou garrison did not want to get involved in a very troublesome public security war, so they turned a blind eye to the existence of the Wanjia Army. The Haihan Army is only stronger than the Wanjia Army. If it becomes similar

situation, it will become a big trouble.

But Guo Xingning did not realize that his troubles actually started the moment he stepped into Fushan County. When he was still about ten miles away from his destination, Guo Xingning received a report from the people behind him, saying that Gu

An unknown number of Haihan armed personnel suddenly appeared in the area east of the current town, and blocked the official road leading to Dengzhou City with roadblocks.

The Haihan people did not take action for a long time, and waited until the Ming army passed Guxian Town before taking action. This action was obviously to cut off Guo Xingning's retreat, and it already showed full hostility. Although this place is different from Dengzhou City

Not only the official road can pass between them, but the subsequent combat materials needed by the Ming army need to be transported through the official road. Now that this transportation trunk line is cut off by the Haihan army, the combat cycle and radius of the Ming army will also be affected.

Obvious impact.

Logically speaking, marching and fighting would not be unprepared for this kind of thing, but Guo Xingning had never regarded his opponent as a real army before, so naturally he did not think that the opponent would take any measures to counter him, and he did not expect that the opponent would come at all.

Before the war begins, strike first to cut off your own retreat.

As a result, the situation of Guo Xingning's group is a bit embarrassing. If they continue to march forward, the Haihan people may have deployed a defense line in front waiting for them to hit them. If they turn around and deal with the Haihan people in the rear, then this is very likely.

It would turn into another farce of chasing flies, and they would evacuate before the Ming army arrived. Guo Xingning had a limited number of troops, and he did not dare to easily divide his troops in the wild. He was now in a dilemma.
Chapter completed!