Warlords: Conquer the world from the county magistrate

"What? Qingshan and the surrounding counties were occupied by Fang Ji'an? What about Zhu Yaoxiang?"

When the Second Division had just captured Nanfeng City, Ma Jincen received a report from Liu Minggong that Qingshan City and the counties under its jurisdiction had been occupied by Fang Jian.

Ma Jincen was very surprised. Zhu Yaoxiang had an army of more than 10,000 people. How could he be so vulnerable?

Afterwards, Ma Jincen called together senior military officers from Nanling to discuss the matter.

All the officers in the meeting room were silent. Even Wang Rong, who had looked down on Ma Jinwei before, did not speak.

The reason for this was that no one had taken Fang Jian seriously before. To put it bluntly, this young man who came from nowhere simply relied on a sneak attack to destroy some troops.

And now, they defeated Zhu Yaoxiang's troops directly in a short period of time.

They looked down on Fang Jian, but would not underestimate Zhu Yaoxiang. This record made everyone present look a little more solemn.

It was Ma Jinwei who stood up first and said, "General, we should gather all the troops now and fight Fang Jian."

"That's right, Commander-in-Chief. We should not underestimate Fang Jianan. Four divisions have been lost to him. We must take him seriously." Xu Yunhua also echoed.

Wang Rong did not speak. Although his troops were fairly elite and not afraid of Fang Jian's army, he was not arrogant enough to rush forward alone to face an unknown enemy.

Ma Jincen nodded seriously, weighing the pros and cons in his mind, and did not speak.

Ma Jinwei continued: "After the Fang Ji'an troops occupied Qingshan City, they had two choices."

"First, he is determined to hold on to Qingshan and fight a decisive battle with us in Qingshan. This is beneficial to us. It means that he is not strong and has no confidence in defeating us."

No one could tell what Ma Jincen was thinking from his expression.

Ma Jincen motioned Ma Jinwei to continue. Ma Jinwei had no taboos and said directly: "The second is to take the initiative to attack in order to mobilize our limited forces, and then the other side will wait for an opportunity to act."

Ma Jinwei walked to the map, pointed at it and said, "The enemy has three attack directions: Fengxian, Nanfeng, and Huaichong."

"Feng County has two of our divisions stationed there, and we can mobilize several divisions of reinforcements nearby. I don't think the enemy will choose to attack Feng County."

"There is little strategic significance in attacking Huaichong, but of course we cannot help but prevent the enemy from attacking Huaichong."

When Ma Jinwei pointed to Nanfeng, the expressions of everyone present became more serious.

"I guess that their troops are likely to attack Nanfeng. Nanfeng can threaten Nanling to the southwest, and attack Changye, Zhengshan and other places in the rear to the northwest."

"After Han Zhifu's troops were eliminated, there were no troops stationed in Nanfeng, so the enemy could easily take Nanfeng."

"When the enemy takes Nanfeng, if we attack Nanfeng, we will have fewer troops to mobilize, so it may not be effective."

"If more troops are mobilized, Fengxian and Nanling will be left empty. Fang Jian can send another troop from Qingshan directly to Fengxian and Nanling."

Everyone gasped at Ma Jinwei's analysis.

From a strategic point of view, their side was very passive and not in an advantageous position. Ma Jincen glanced at everyone and said unhappily: "What solutions do you have for this?"

Although he dislikes Ma Jinwei, Ma Jincen does not think there is anything wrong with Ma Jinwei's analysis.

Since Fang Jian took the initiative to attack, he must have the confidence to fight with me. If I still underestimate him, I will definitely suffer a great loss.

Three divisions have already been deployed. If one or two more divisions are deployed, we will have no choice but to withdraw our forces for defense.

"General, now is a critical moment. I am willing to persuade Zhang Guilin to transfer his troops to Fengxian County." Xu Yunhua stood up and said.

"At the same time, order Cao Bingshen's troops to move quickly to Fengxian County, and transfer Zheng Zhifan's division back to Nanling. All three divisions in Nanling will be sent to Fengxian County."

"In this way, Fengxian will have six divisions and Nanling will have one division."

"Once it is confirmed that Fang Ji'an's troops have captured Nanfeng, our troops will set out from Fengxian and attack Qingshan."

"At the same time, abandon the area surrounding Nanling, and let Zheng Zhifan defend Nanling City to the death."

Ma Jincen pondered for a moment, unable to make up his mind. If only one division was left in Nanling and the troops of Nanfeng were allowed to capture Nanling, how would he deal with it?

After thinking for a while, Ma Jincen made up his mind: "Yunhua, go and persuade Zhang Guilin."

"One of the two divisions of the New Army will stay behind to jointly defend Nanling with Zheng Zhifan's troops. The remaining New Army division will be led by Ma Jinwei."

Everyone had no objection to this arrangement. The two divisions of the new army did not have strong combat effectiveness, so one more or one less would not have much impact.

After the plan was ready, everyone took action. In just three days, Zheng Zhifan's troops arrived in Nanling, and Wang Rong's troops, a new military advisor, and Cao Bingshen's troops all arrived in Fengxian.

After Xu Yunhua's persuasion, Zhang Guilin's troops also moved towards Fengxian County.

It is worth mentioning that Zhu Yaoxiang actually fled to Zhang Guilin, with only a hundred or so guards left by his side, which made Xu Yunhua quite sad.

Ma Jincen personally took charge of Feng County, while Nanling was handed over to Ma Jinwei and Zheng Zhifan.

Qingshan, receiving the information about the mobilization of the Ma army, Fang Jian could not help but sigh: "There are masters in the Ma army."

Faced with Ma Jincen's layout, apart from a direct battle with him, the only option at present is to fight guerrilla warfare, split and mobilize Ma Jincen's troops, and find opportunities to slowly consume his manpower.

Fighting guerrilla warfare would cause considerable losses to me at the moment. I still have places to stay behind me. Fighting guerrilla warfare would mean giving up Fenglin, which is not advisable.

Therefore, we can only fight a decisive battle with it.

"What's going on in Sanjiang and Jiyang?" Fang Jian asked Tao Yunong.

Tao Yunong showed a solemn expression on his face: "Commander, since the ceasefire, both sides have been secretly mobilizing troops. I wonder if they are preparing for another war, or..."

Tao Yunong's meaning is self-evident. The target of both parties is most likely Nanshan Province.

"They have a good idea, Yunong. You must always pay attention to the movements of these two parties." Fang Ji'an had a blank expression on his face. He was quite wary of both the North and the South.

This further strengthened his determination to have a decisive battle with Ma Jincen. If the war dragged on, he would have to face attacks from both the north and the south, both of which were much stronger than Ma Jincen.

After thinking for a moment, Fang Jian ordered: "Send a telegram to the Second Division, and let them prepare to abandon Nanfeng. If the cavalry attacks Qingshan from Fengxian, the Second Division will move to Jieshan County and wait for orders."

"Let the 3rd Regiment of the Guard Division build fortifications in Xiping County, and at the same time let the 2nd Regiment of the Guard move to the left wing of Xiping County, and the 1st Division move to the right wing of Xiping County."

"Yes, Commander." Tao Yunong did not dare to delay and immediately went to pass on the order as Fang Jian'an instructed.

Three days later, the war officially broke out. Cao Bingshen's troops and the 3rd Regiment of the Guard Division had a diplomatic conflict in Xiping County. At the same time, Wang Rong's troops met the 1st Division in the northeast of Xiping County.

Wang Rong's troops launched an artillery bombardment on the 1st Division, making the troops of the 1st Division also experience the feeling of being bombarded.