weaving

In the Taoist room on the east side of the Yuewang Temple in the northwest corner of Zhuxian Town, Luo Rucai looked at the eager expectations of everyone and felt very proud in his heart. He only heard him continue to say: "We can not launch a fierce attack on the army for the time being. We only need to use a little force." The plan of provocation is coupled with the pressure of military force.

I can guarantee that in just a few days, there will be internal changes in the officers and soldiers. At that time, if we launch a fierce attack with all our strength, we can wipe out all the officers and soldiers without many fierce battles! "

As soon as Luo Rucai finished speaking, Ji Gui couldn't help but feel cold in his heart. He couldn't help but glared at Luo Rucai again, which seemed to say: "How could you say all these words!"

But Luo Rucai seemed to have completely ignored Ji Gui, not even looking at him, and continued speaking openly: "And it is not difficult to make the officers and soldiers self-disrupted."

Song Xiance, the military advisor of the King of Chuang, was also on the side. He nodded and said, "Of course, we can try to sow discord to make them suspicious of each other, alienated from each other, and unable to fight me together."

Luo Rucai smiled and continued: "King Chuang and you are both resourceful people. There is no need for me to elaborate on this method of sowing dissension. What I am going to tell you now is a small plan that is sure to work. As long as you can follow it, , it is guaranteed that the officers and soldiers will collapse without a fight."

When Li Zicheng heard this, he immediately became interested and asked him hurriedly: "What's the clever idea?"

Luo Rucai ignored Ji Gui's glance and directly responded to King Chuang's question: "There is a river between Zhuxian Town and Shuipoji. It is dry now. Although the water flow is not large, it is very important. If there is no Without this river, the army of 170,000 to 80,000 soldiers would have no source of drinking water.

How could they supply 170 to 80 thousand people, tens of thousands of horses, and thousands of mules just by digging wells?

This river flows from the northwest and passes through us first, and then flows to Shuipoji. If we had cut off this river three or four miles upstream..."

He looked at King Chuang, Liu Zongmin and others with a very cunning look, and continued: "If the river stops flowing to the southeast, the officers and soldiers will have no water to drink. In such a dry weather, it is getting hotter day by day, making it difficult for people and horses to drink water. If we use our army to put pressure on him, the army will collapse without a fight."

After listening to Luo Rucai's words, everyone in the Taoist room nodded their heads one after another, praising him for his unparalleled wisdom. Even Song Xiance thought to himself: "Heroes see the same thing. This old Cao is really extraordinary!"

Amid everyone's approval, Luo Rucai spoke again: "In addition, the officers and soldiers are marching a long distance here, so they must not bring much food and grass. Last night Hao Yaoqi burned wheat everywhere, and we can continue to do so today.

Within ten to twenty miles around the officer's camp, he burned all the uncut wheat in the fields and cut down and burned the trees, leaving the officer and army with nothing to plunder. Not only would they have no water to drink, but also no food. He needs food to eat, but also wants him to have no firewood. If this happens within three days, he will inevitably start to fall into chaos.

At that time, the morale of their troops was in chaos, and there was a large army outside that was pressing against them. However, the officers and soldiers did not retreat, and I, Cao Cao, walked with his head down. When it is in retreat, if we block it and pursue it, wouldn't we cause it to be completely annihilated? "

King Chuang suddenly jumped up from his seat, slapped his thigh hard, stretched out his hands to grasp Luo Rucai's shoulders, and said loudly: "Rucai, you said it well, you said it well!

We have just discussed it in advance for a while, and everyone has the same idea. It can be seen that the gongs and drums in our hearts are all beating on the same idea. Great, Lao Cao! "

Luo Rucai received the personal praise from King Chuang, and couldn't help bursting out laughing. She turned her head and glanced at Ji Gui sideways, as if to say: Look, we don't need to hide this matter, others don't. I can tell!

However, he naturally couldn't say these words in front of everyone at this moment. He just heard him say: "I know the Generalissimo, the military counselor, and Jixuan, you will definitely come up with this good move."

Li Zicheng smiled and said nothing. He turned to Ji Gui and asked, "Ziyu, if you have any other clever ideas, please share them with me."

Although Ji Gui was unhappy with Luo Rucai for not listening to him, he did not dare to show it on such an occasion. Now seeing King Chuang asking him a question, he quickly replied with an apologetic smile: "Just now our Commander-in-Chief has already I have said it all. What he said is exactly what the Generalissimo thought. If you ask the Generalissimo to consider it, it will not be difficult for me to win. "

Li Zicheng didn't pay attention to Ji Gui's words. He was very satisfied with Luo Rucai's performance and only heard him say sincerely: "Before lunch today, our Song military advisor walked up the river for several miles and had already identified a place suitable for intercepting the river.

At that time, the river water will be directed to the depression in the north to form a lake. In addition, several shallow ditches will be dug to lead the water into our military camp for drinking by our army.

Moreover, the forts in front of Shuipoji are currently being built, especially the fort facing Zuoying, which needs to be built faster and higher.

At the same time, in order to better contain the officers and soldiers, I ordered Hao Yaoqi to lead 2,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry to rush to the east, west and south of Shuipoji and burn all the wheat that had not yet been harvested, as well as None of the houses were left alive and all were burned down to disrupt the morale of the officers and soldiers.

If a large group of officers and soldiers come to attack, they will temporarily retreat after waving the flag. If a small group of officers and soldiers come to attack, they will take the opportunity to wipe them out. Now, please ask Cao Ying to send 500 cavalry and 2,000 infantry to coordinate with the flag to make the officers The army had no peace day and night, and could neither go out to collect firewood nor food. "

Luo Rucai agreed readily: "That's easy. I'll send someone here as soon as I get back to the camp. I wonder if the Generalissimo has any other instructions?"

Chuang Wang Li Zicheng nodded and asked another question: "Now, we still have another difficulty, which is the lack of troops. The art of war says 'encircle the enemy ten times'.

And although we claim to be hundreds of thousands, the actual number of soldiers is only a few hundred thousand, and we also have many weaknesses. We have to deal with the reinforcements from Ding Qirui's troops coming from the south, and also deal with the defenders in Kaifeng City. We have to face the enemy on both sides. We are very disadvantaged.

I think... there are currently 20,000 left-behind troops in Yanli Village, and I'm afraid they must be transferred here, so that the force can be used. However, there are still hundreds of thousands of camp dependents, various craftsmen, and many others left in Yanli Village. The food and baggage have not been transported away. After all the people and horses are transferred, the family members and craftsmen will naturally follow, but what about the food and baggage?

Regarding this... I haven't come up with a proper solution yet. Today, I would like to ask everyone to think about it for me and how to deal with it! "

Liu Zongmin immediately followed up and said: "Luggage and food are also very important to us. I think it is better not to transfer the left-behind troops from Yanli Village to Zhuxian Town for the time being."

Song Xian thought about the strategy for a moment and said tentatively: "Can you bring in half of the troops from Yanli Village first and leave the other half to continue to guard the village?"

Ji Gui was unwilling to say much at first because of his secret selfishness, but now he knows that the plan has been decided. Although he is disappointed, he does not want to continue to show indifference.

At this moment, after listening to Song Xiance's words, he couldn't help but shook his head and said: "Now is a critical moment. If we lose the food supplies of Yanli Village, we will not be endangering the enemy, and it will indeed be a big mistake.

However, the men and horses currently stationed at Geli Village are all elite soldiers led by General Yigong. We Cao Camp also has thousands of elite soldiers staying under Kaifeng City. In my opinion, we might as well transfer 20,000 troops from Zhuxian Town to Yanli Village. It is enough to leave a few thousand elite soldiers to guard it. "

Luo Rucai also nodded and said: "With five thousand capable soldiers here, it's probably okay to defend for a few days. If we want to return reinforcements, it can be reached in half a day, so it won't be a big deal if we think about it."

Everyone in the Taoist room looked eagerly at King Chuang Li Zicheng, waiting for his final decision.

Li Zicheng sat on the big chair and thought silently for a while. Suddenly his eyes were bright and he showed a resolute look, and he said decisively: "No, we will not leave a single soldier in Yanli Village. My 20,000 elite soldiers are still here." Thousands of troops including Ru Cai were all quickly mobilized to Zhuxian Town..." He then added: "Don't forget, when I went to chase Xiao Yuan's camp, I didn't encounter that 'brave army'. Now it seems that the Xuanfu officers and soldiers who fought against us in the past eleven years have arrived in Henan."

Luo Rucai had never fought against the Yongyi Army, so he didn't know its depth. At this moment, he continued: "Didn't that officer army... support Yuan Shizhong and cross the river to the east?"

Song Xiance continued what he said at this time and said: "The spies reported that there was a group of people on the bank of the river north of Zhengzhou. Although they did not make trouble with our army, and they were not in official uniforms, their behavior was very suspicious, so we must be on guard. ah."

Ji Gui also said: "It doesn't matter if the Generalissimo is so decisive. No matter what happens to the Yongyi Army, let's gather the elite troops in one place first. After defeating the hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers in Zhuxian Town here, we can turn around and surround Kaifeng. After all, this is He can't escape from Kaifeng City.

As for the brave army, even if it has some fighting strength, it will become a lone army by then. With the remaining power of defeating Ding Qirui and Zuo Liangyu, are we still afraid of him? "

However, he immediately raised his worries: "Even the grain and grass baggage we left in Yanli Village are afraid that it will be difficult to transport them all for a while. From this point of view, we can only burn all the grain, forage and various baggage items that cannot be transported. , Don’t be an enemy.”

Li Zicheng smiled slightly and said confidently: "Burn the camp?... I don't think there is any need to burn it. Bring as much as you can. If you can't bring the food, grass and baggage, just give it as a gift to the soldiers and civilians defending the city of Kaifeng!"

After hearing what King Chuang said, everyone was very puzzled and even more surprised. They looked at each other and finally turned their attention to Mr. Liu, the chief sentry of the Chuang camp.

Liu Zongmin lowered his head and thought for a while, but couldn't figure out what King Chuang meant by this move. He shook his head and said to King Chuang: "Hey, there are tens of thousands of loads of grain in Yanli Village!

In a hurry, I was afraid that at least ten thousand tons of food could not be brought. If it was not burned, wouldn't it be given to the enemy in vain? There are also many gold and silver treasures that cannot be transported in full! What do you mean by this? "

Li Zicheng smiled and said: "This is a rare gift for us to give to the officers and soldiers. We must give it generously and not be stingy. I have made up my mind not only to keep some of the food, but also to keep some of the gold and silver. They were all given to the soldiers and civilians in Kaifeng City.

As the saying goes, "If you can't let go of your children, you can't catch the wolf." Now we have to be ruthless and throw away these cumbersome things. "

Song Xiance immediately understood what Chuang Wang meant. He said with a smile: "This is the so-called 'If you want to take it, you must give it to me'!"

Li Zicheng nodded and said: "Afterwards, we can see that we did not suffer a loss. Let the officials and people of Kaifeng move the food and baggage first. As long as they don't come to Zhuxian Town to cause trouble for us, and don't pester us from behind." .

Time is running out now, so we won't discuss it in depth anymore. Rucai and Ziyu, you should go back and rest first. As for how to deploy the troops, Jiexuan will go to your place later and discuss it in detail.

I still want to go to Gu Zijie's place to have a look. His position is very important! "

Luo Rucai stood up immediately after hearing this, but he seemed to still be worried, and reminded King Chuang: "The group of people on the bank of the Beida River in Zhengzhou, whether they are government troops or militia, cannot be ignored. We must investigate them strictly to prevent them from suddenly coming to Zhuxian Town and causing trouble for us."

Song Xiance also added: "The general reminds us very much that this force cannot be ignored."

Liu Zongmin continued: "Send more spies to keep an eye on them. As long as they don't come to Zhuxian Town, we will leave them alone!"

…………

As soon as Cao Cao and Ji Gua left, King Chuang asked outside the Taoist room: "Are the two tigers coming?"

"Coming!"

In the battle last night, the intruders captured a total of two to three hundred officers and soldiers. Most of these people were under the command of Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue, and a small number were under the command of Zuo Liangyu.

Zuo Liangyu's men and horses hurried to Zhuxian Town for reinforcements just before dawn. Soon after they engaged the Chuang Army, heavy fog began, so there were many fewer prisoners.

Almost all of these prisoners were injured and were unable to evacuate with the large army. Some of them were injured in more than one place. From this, it can be seen that the officers and soldiers still had high morale when they first arrived in Zhuxian Town.

As soon as the battle was over, Liu Zongmin ordered all the prisoners to be gathered together and handed over to Liu Tichun for custody and interrogation, hoping to find out the true situation within the government and army from the prisoners' confessions.

Li Zicheng was well aware of Liu Tichun's alertness and intelligence, so he specially ordered someone to call him here today. In addition to asking him about interrogating prisoners, he also had a new task assigned to him.

"Erhu, do you understand my intentions?"

"I understand. You must follow the instructions of the Generalissimo. Please rest assured, Generalissimo."

Li Zicheng nodded with satisfaction and said: "That Zuoying officer, you have to be more subtle, not only to allow him to pass the message to Zuo Liangyu, but also to let Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue know very secretly."

"I followed the general's instructions and tortured the officers and soldiers under Ding and Yang, while Zuo Liangyu's men treated them warmly and sent them out of the camp with gifts. Then they relaxed the supervision of Ding and Yang's men appropriately, and those who were beaten unconscious They were all thrown into a mass grave outside the camp, and the rest was left to their luck.”

"Yes. Very good. I can rest assured that you are rigorous in your work. From now on, you must pay close attention to the movements in the north of Zhengzhou, especially the troops stationed on the river bank. You must be aware of their movements."

"Yes, don't worry, Generalissimo!"

After Liu Tichun took the order and left, King Chuang asked Song Xiance to stay in Zhuxian Town to assist Liu Zongmin in military deployment. He took Li Shuangxi, Wu Ruyi and 300 soldiers from the Biaoying camp and rode out of the town to go to Guying's station. (End of chapter)