weaving

"Commander Jue, why don't we support Yuan Shizhong's wife?" Chen Zheng was the first to speak.

"Not only that, my uncle also wants to raise a son for Yuan Shizhong!"

Sun Shixiang smiled and continued: "The one that my uncle values ​​​​is not Huimei, but the fetus in his belly."

"Also, although Huimei is not Li's biological daughter, she has been in the camp for a long time, and was married to Yuan Shizhong by Li in the name of his adopted daughter. She thought it was a win-win trick, but in fact she was 'losing his wife and losing his army'. This is a failure. Everyone in the thief camp knows about this. If he is sent back safely, it will definitely have a blow to Li thief's reputation. "

Wei Zhice pointed out the value of Huimei as a "wonderful thing to live in". He went on to say: "Furthermore, the fetuses in her belly, whether male or female, are all Yuan Shizhong's flesh and blood. The commander-in-chief takes this as a condition, which is exactly how he cherishes and protects her." The performance of his subordinates is the loyalty of favoring one person and recruiting a whole battalion.

I thought there was nothing wrong with what my uncle did in this matter! "

Although Wang Yuanjing is also an old man, he is inferior to Wei Zhice. He did not dare to refute, but due to his responsibilities, he had to ask: "But how should we deal with this girl Huimei now?"

After hearing this, everyone in the tent turned their heads and looked at the people around them, then shook their heads. For a while, no one answered.

Looking at the confused expressions on the faces of his subordinates Zhu Wenwu, Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng said with a smile: "What Zhi Ce said is exactly what I think."

He scanned the people in the room with majestic eyes and continued: "Since I served the king for the eleventh year, I have worked hard to govern the country. At that time, all the national pillars and wise strategies were under my control. It has been more than four years now. I have witnessed Ben Bo started out as a guerrilla and is now in charge of a town's military. What he relies on is "the whole team is united and can cut through metal".

Now, since I have decided to recruit Yuan Shizhong, I have to think carefully about him. Although Huimei is the adopted daughter of Li Thief, the fetus in her belly is of Yuan family blood after all, so I have to try to preserve it. "

When Zhang Cheng said this, he paused, turned to look at Zhang Chengfang, the Chinese Army soldier beside him, and asked, "Has Madam Uncle set off?"

"Returning to my father, I received a letter from the capital yesterday. My aunt has already set off south on the fifth day of the lunar month. I estimate that we will have passed Zhending Mansion by now and will soon enter Henan."

"Ah."

Uncle Yongning nodded and ignored the matter. He asked Wang Yuanjing again: "What do you think about Xiao Yuanying?"

"Yuan Shizhong is very aware of his loyalty and is indeed wholeheartedly supported. He has no objection to the reorganization. With General He Zhenfu and Tong Jiyu accompanying him, there should be no serious problems in the reorganization of Yuan's camp."

"How about a few close friends around him?"

"Liu Yuchi, the military advisor, is the backbone of his plan. He is wise and resourceful. This time he escaped from the thieves and was favored, which was also his main plan. Deputy military advisor Zhu Chengju and the secretary Liu Jingyi also had powerful plans, but they were always suppressed by Liu Yuchi and were not allowed to use them.

Several big leaders in his camp, Wang Shikui, Liu Dengkai, Liang Jingxuan, Lu Jiqing and others, were also willing to accept the favor. Yuan Jingcheng was indeed sincere, but Wang Shikui, because his own brother was killed by the Li thief, regarded Li thief as his mortal enemy and received the favor. Fu has the strongest will. "

"Liu Yuchi?"

Uncle Yongning muttered something, then fell silent. After a moment, he spoke again: "The battle in Kaifeng is about to begin. Although Xiao Yuan's camp cannot serve in front of the battle, it is important to have someone to advise the military for this uncle." It's serious. Gongqiao, please write a letter of divorce on my behalf and invite Yuan Shizhong, Liu Yuchi, Wang Shikui and others to come to Yuanwu Camp. I want to meet him for a while."

Hu Yiwen cupped his hands and said, "I will accept your orders."

Zhang Guodong saw that the matter of Xiao Yuan's camp was almost settled, so he asked for instructions: "Commander, according to the report of the detective horse, most of the bandits went south to intercept Ding Qirui and Zuo Liangyu's troops. Now there are no bandits in Kaifeng city. Can we cross the river with a large army and advance towards Kaifeng?" Set up a camp under the city and form a powerful force with the defenders in the city? "

"Not urgent."

Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng waved his hand and continued: "Where is the White Tiger Camp currently stationed?"

Chen Zheng replied: "Stationed in Xushui Town, fifteen miles west of Zhengzhou."

"Well. After you return to camp today, immediately organize your army. Break out camp at midnight tomorrow and march toward Zhongmou along the official road. Seize the Zhengjiaji south of Putianze, build a fortress and cut off the official road. At the same time, send out cavalry to cross Zhongmou and march towards Zhongmou. Xuanwuwei sent out sentries around Xinghua Camp to prevent the traitors and spies from approaching Zhongmou."

"Here. The last general takes orders."

Zhang Cheng turned to look at Zhang Guodong and said to him: "Qinglong Camp should also be prepared. When the fleet returns, they will be the first to cross the river and march to the foot of Bald Mountain fifteen miles north of Zhongmou to build a stronghold. Send sentries to the veterinary port. To investigate, if there are not many bandit soldiers roaming around, your sentinel cavalry can go to the Taojiadian area in North Kaifeng."

"Here. The last general takes orders."

Zhang Cheng looked at Chen Zheng and Zhang Guodong who were eager to try, and warned them again: "You must remember that the various branches of our Yongyi Army have dispersed and the army has not yet assembled. It is not appropriate to invite the Li thief to fight at this time. I am sending your second battalion forward. It is also to contain the rebels so that they do not dare to attack Ding Qirui with all their strength. Therefore, you can only harass the enemy with roaming troops, and guard the camp with the main force. Do not leave without my commander's orders!"

"Here." The two of them sang in unison to receive the order.

Zhang Cheng looked at Sun Shixiang again and asked, "Where is Governor Zhang now?"

"We should have left the boundary of Weihui Mansion. According to the itinerary, we can enter Jinglongkou in the south of Fengqiu County in the future."

"Ah."

Zhang Cheng nodded and said to Chen Zhong: "Please make arrangements with the fleet. When Zuo Zhaoyi comes back, ask him to come see me."

Chen Zhong nodded: "Yes, Chen Zhong has taken note of it. Commander, when will we cross the river?"

"What are you in a hurry for?"

Zhang Cheng looked at him and asked, "Is there any new news from Jin Hai?"

"After the matter of Yuan Shizhong's adoption was settled, he stepped away and said he wanted to go to Yuzhou."

"Jin Hai has been traveling around Zhongzhou in the past few years, lobbying local powerful people. It is indeed a hard work and a great achievement. After this battle, it is time for him to take a rest." Chen Zhong has been stationed in Mihe River for more than a year. He has the most frequent contact with Liu Jinhai, and he is also aware of the hard work Liu Jinhai has put in. After listening to Uncle Yong Ning's words, he was even more happy for Liu Jinhai from the bottom of his heart, and couldn't help but blurt out: "To be able to have the commander-in-chief miss me so much, Liu Jinhai After knowing it, I will definitely be moved.”

Zhang Cheng smiled slightly and stopped continuing the topic. He turned to everyone and said, "Since entering Henan, Thief Li first attacked Luoyang, slaughtered the clan, and besieged Kaifeng twice. Although he failed to break the city, he won consecutively. The officers and soldiers, two governors of Shaanxi, were killed at the hands of the traitor Li. Their morale is high and their troops are sharp. It is not appropriate to fight with them at this moment. "

Sun Shixiang stroked his beard and asked with a smile: "How do you think we should deal with it?"

Zhang Cheng smiled mysteriously and said word for word, "Stay strong and fight stupidly!"

"Appreciate further details."

"Sun Tzu's Art of War says, 'Those who were good at fighting in the past were invincible first, waiting for the enemy to become victorious. The invincible lies with oneself, but the victorious lies with the enemy. Therefore, those who are good at fighting can be invincible and cannot make the enemy victorious. . Therefore it is said: Victory can be known but not achieved.

The so-called "building a strong fort and fighting a dull war", in short, means to first occupy the favorable terrain, deep trenches and high forts, erect a strong camp, first make our army in an invincible position, and then wait for the opportunity. win.

This will be a long process and requires us to have enough patience and perseverance, try our best to maximize our strengths and avoid weaknesses, and be cunning and cunning, so as to maximize the advantages of our division. We must first establish an invincible position, build strong camps, dig deep trenches, and defend with artillery. , holding back Thief Li and exhausting his army. When the thief is exhausted, he will seize the favorable opportunity, turn from defense to offense, and win in one fell swoop. "

Before Sun Shixiang could say anything, Wei Zhice interjected: "The commander-in-chief wants us to use defense as offense and hit him with a 'defensive counterattack'."

"That's what it means."

"Did the Lord Marshal overestimate the strength of the bandit army?"

Chen Zheng seemed to be quite disapproving of this, and he continued: "Didn't we chase him all the way to Ruzhou last time, and he wasn't necessarily that powerful? How come he suddenly became so strong?"

Chen Zhong has been stationed in Mihe Town in northern Henan for more than a year. Although he has not had a direct battle with Li Chuang's rebel army, under the orders of Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng and with the strong cooperation of Liu Jinhai and Tong Shoushan, he He knew all the movements of the intruders.

"The Zuo Hujun didn't know that the Li thieves had been going smoothly in Henan in recent years. Except for a few big cities such as Kaifeng, they were all attacked by thieves. They had plenty of money and food. The Li thieves were uncharacteristically using the slogan of 'not paying for food' to coerce the hungry people. countless.

In particular, Fu Zonglong and Wang Qiaonian were two governors of Shaanxi. They led Shaanxi troops out of Tongguan and into Henan to suppress the bandits. They were both defeated one after another, causing many border troops to surrender to the bandits, which further strengthened their momentum.

Nowadays, when thieves attack a city, they must use hungry people in front to consume the defenders, and then use infantry to charge hard and beat hard. If it is a field battle, there will be more than ten thousand horse teams of fine cavalry. Most of them will be soldiers from various places who surrender to the thieves. The three rows charge one after another. The first will retreat, and the second will advance again. This goes back and forth, making it difficult to resist. "

When Chen Zhong said this, he glanced around at everyone in the tent before he continued: "The military strength of Li Thief is no longer what it used to be. Even Zuo Liangyu avoided his sharp edge and did not dare to fight. I just want to fight with the Xian rebels in Yinghuo. He refused to come to help the last two times when Kaifeng was in crisis. If the court and the emperor hadn't pressed him hard this time, I'm afraid he still wouldn't come."

Chen Zheng seemed unconvinced. He blurted out: "How can Zuo Liangyu's soldiers and horses be compared with my 'Yongyi Army'? Besides, it's not like we have never fought against him as a thief. It's only been more than a year. How can he compare to me?" Are the Liaodong Tatar soldiers powerful?”

"You can't say that. Although Zuo Liangyu's army cannot be compared with our brave army, looking at the whole world, they are still number one."

Zhang Guodong couldn't help but join in their discussion. He looked at Chen Zheng and continued: "I estimate that the combat strength of Zuo Liangyu's army should be lower than that of our Yongyi Army, not as large as the Liaodong Army, and even more powerful than the Liaodong Army." However, Li Chuang's bandit army was stronger than the officers and soldiers of Madman He and Marshal Hu.

This can be seen from the fact that he can keep suppressing the Xian thief and fight. According to intelligence, he once forced the Xian thief to escape and asked for help from the two thieves Li and Cao. This can be seen from Zuo Liangyu's tribe. Still quite capable of fighting. "

After listening to Zhang Guodong's analysis, everyone in the big tent nodded in agreement. Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng was also deeply pleased after hearing this. Although Zhang Guodong was not a military household in the Xuanfu, his loyalty to him was unquestionable.

And since they first met, he has always seemed very calm. After these years of experience, accumulation and precipitation, he has become more connected than before, and his thoughts are extremely in line with Zhang Cheng's expectations.

At this moment, Zhang Cheng was actually thinking to himself: Looking at the current situation, Zhang Guodong might be able to compete with Wei Zhice in the future!

"Guodong's analysis is correct. The combat power of the Zuo Army is indeed at this level. Looking at the combat power of border troops in various places in the Ming Dynasty, it seems that only us and the Liao soldiers are at this level. People like Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong are second-class. The governors' camps below them are still capable of fighting, but the guards of the prefectures, counties and cities are not even soldiers. This is the reason why the thief Li has been able to dominate Zhongzhou for more than a year and is almost invincible."

Sun Shi also quite agreed with Zhang Guodong's views, and he continued: "It has been thirteen years since the Shaanxi bandit rebellion began in the second year of Chongzhen. From the beginning, there were tens of thousands, and they were often chased south and north by the army.

There were dozens of groups of big and small thieves at the beginning, but now there are only about a dozen families left. Although there are many groups and they have not become a big phenomenon, they are still flowing back and forth in several provinces. They dare not fight head-on with the government and the army, but they can survive to this day, and they cannot be underestimated. Shh.

Li Thief was the only one among the thieves who had never been petted, which shows that his determination to be a thief was solidified. He took advantage of the official army's encirclement and suppression of the thieves and fled into Zhongzhou. Today, he has hundreds of thousands of people at every turn, which shows that his power has been lost. become.

The two governors of Shaanxi were both defeated at their hands. We must not fail to pay attention to this, so as not to make the same mistake again! "

What he said was both thorough and sincere. When everyone thought about it carefully, it was indeed what he said. Their expressions became serious. Even Chen Zheng lowered his head in thought.

When Sun Shi saw that everyone had no objections, he raised his hands to Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng and said, "The uncle mentioned the method of 'building a strong stronghold and fighting a dull war'. I don't know how to build a stronghold and how to fight?"

"It's easy to say 'strengthen the stronghold and fight a dull war', but it's really not difficult to do it, it just depends on who does it!"

Zhang Cheng looked at all the civil and military officials he trusted in the tent, and continued: "No matter how we fight, we are not afraid of Thief Li. But now that the Thief's army is powerful and there are many cannon fodder for them to drive, this is the Thief's advantage. I disadvantages.

Although casualties are unavoidable in front of the two armies, it is not easy to select and train the officers of our brave army. One casualty means that one part of the strength is lost, but the thieves can have an endless supply of cannon fodder. If they are easily fought against, in the long run, It will be difficult for my teacher to last long. "

He continued with a solemn expression: "Although we, the sons of the Third Army, are not afraid of death, the lives of our brave soldiers are very precious. How can they be compared to Li Chuang's thieves and thieves Sun Ke? That's why I came up with this 'Jie Hard Stronghold'" The purpose of fighting a stupid war is to reduce the number of casualties among our division’s officers and men!”

Zhang Cheng said seriously to everyone: "Last year, on Changling Mountain in Liaodong, Chen Zheng led the Dushi Camp to build a stronghold and defended it. He did a good job. When he encountered the brave and skilled Tatar soldiers, they were still several times more powerful than me. Not only He failed to conquer it and even lost his troops and generals.

In the current war in Zhongzhou, we still need to defend first, but it will be considered a success if we can force the thief Li not to dare to attack with all his strength to open the closed city. Then we can force him to attack our division's camp with all his strength, hit his head first and bleed him, and then take advantage of him. When he was exhausted, he was defeated in one fell swoop! "

"Don't worry, Commander. Chen Zheng will definitely live up to Commander-in-Chief's expectations. He will definitely make the thieves worse than the Tatars. His head will be bloody and his hands and feet will be disabled if he touches him."

"Hahaha..." (End of chapter)