please make me king

Chapter 492 Retreat

Cao Wenzhao went back, and went back in a mess.But no matter how embarrassed he was, as long as he returned to the officers and soldiers camp, all the turmoil in the camp would settle down in an instant.

Because he is Cao Wenzhao, he is not only the supreme commander of this army of officers and soldiers, but also because he has an invincible record against the peasant army.

"There is a Cao in the army, and the thief's heart beats when he hears it!" The evaluation of him by the people at that time is a true portrayal of his reputation.

Although Mu Ziqiang and Zhang Quanchang had various thoughts, they finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Cao Wenzhao again.

They hurriedly asked: "Where did the general go? It was in vain that we two brothers were frightened, afraid that the general would lose something!"

Cao Wenzhao secretly gave a wry smile, and said in his heart: I'm afraid you are not afraid of my loss, but afraid that no one will take the blame for the defeat in this battle, right?

However, on the surface, Cao Wenzhao did not show any signs of expression. Instead, he said with a bit of annoyance: "At that time, Cao was careless and accidentally fell into the water, and was washed downstream by the river."

"When I climbed to the river bank, I was already far away from the camp. I had to find a small boat and slowly go upstream to return to the camp."

Mu Ziqiang and Zhang Quanchang were skeptical, but fortunately, this matter had nothing to do with the overall situation, and they were unwilling to delve into it.

They just said: "Since Mr. Cao has returned to the camp, please order to rectify the troops and prepare to fight the bandits again!"

Cao Wenzhao was taken aback when he heard the words, and couldn't help frowning.

Nephew Cao Bianjiao died at the hands of thieves. Once he recalled the corpse that fell under the flagpole, he couldn't help feeling as if a knife was piercing his heart.

On the one hand, he wished to replace him with his own body, and on the other hand, he wished to cut Zhang Shun into pieces.

But Cao Wenzhao has been leading the army all year round, and he knows that anger can't solve any problems, but it will affect his judgment.

The more the thief wants to irritate himself, the more he must be calm.Now the Cao family only has the ability and strength to avenge their nephew Cao Bianjiao, and they must not be dazzled by anger.

He was in the camp of the rebel army, enduring the pain of losing his nephew, and he was still observing the training level of the soldiers of the rebel army, the layout of the camp, and the number of rebel troops.

According to his many years of experience in leading the army, it can be inferred that the number of soldiers that the bandits can fight should be seven to eight thousand.This number not only far exceeded the expectations of the court, but also far exceeded the strength of the officers and soldiers.

Originally there were [-] officers and soldiers. Although it was lower than the number of thieves, it was still insufficient to attack and more than enough to follow.

However, his nephew Cao Bianjiao failed to snatch the Tiexie Ferry, and lost [-] elite members of the family; Zhang Quanchang, the commander-in-chief, failed to snatch the Baihe Ferry, and lost [-] elites.

In addition, Cao Wenzhao personally led the soldiers to defend the pontoon bridge, and lost more than a hundred people, and now the number of officers and soldiers is less than [-].

"Sun Tzu's Art of War" said: "The law of using troops is to encircle them if they are ten;

Now the officers and soldiers are only half of the thieves, and it is not enough to "fight", let alone "divide" and "attack".

If the defeats of the officers and soldiers were not due to the defeat of crossing the river, I am afraid that the loss of more than a thousand is enough to hurt the muscles of the five thousand officers and soldiers.

Fortunately, due to the failure of crossing the river, the remaining [-] troops who had not participated in the crossing were all there and could still fight.

As soon as he thought of this, Cao Wenzhao felt like retreating.He sighed and said, "You two, let's straighten out the troops. As for the matter of suppressing thieves, we need a long-term plan!"

Mu Ziqiang and Zhang Quanchang were taken aback when they heard the words, and subconsciously persuaded them: "Victory and defeat are commonplace in military affairs, how can the general be discouraged?"

Cao Wenzhao smiled wryly in his heart and said, "What should I tell you? Do you want me to say that I was captured by the bandits and entered the camp, and I know that the officers and soldiers are powerless against the bandits?"

He had no choice but to explain: "It wasn't Cao who gained the power of the thief and destroyed himself. Since the officers and soldiers came into contact with the thief, they have lost one defeat after another, and now they have lost three times!"

"If it weren't for the disparity in strength between the two sides, how could we do it again and again? What's more, the great river runs through the east and west. Although the officers and soldiers are brave, there is no room for them to use their talents. In my opinion, it is better to be cautious than to 'be invincible first, and then wait The enemy can win'!"

"This..." Mu Ziqiang and Zhang Quanchang looked at each other, and thought, "I heard that Cao Wenzhao has always been brave, and he never thought about encountering setbacks and was frightened by the thieves. It's a waste of reputation!"

After a long while, Zhang Quanchang reminded in a low voice: "Now the three of us are still waiting for a crime. If someone reads a book and says that we sit back and watch the thieves plunder the Henan Mansion and do not save them, I am afraid that we will be punished." fate!"

Cao Wenzhao also knew that the holy order was difficult, and the three of them could not bear it.He was silent for a moment, and then persuaded: "If Xiaoxiao slanders us, the three of us will be relegated to the army. But if this battle is defeated, I'm afraid we will not get it if we want to save our lives!"

"The new governor of Shanxi, Wu Luyou, used to have an old relationship with me. When I was waiting for the crime, he was the only one who wrote a letter to intercede for me, asking the Holy Majesty to transfer me to Shanxi to help him suppress the bandits."

"It's just that Wenzhao has a sacred order, even if he led the army through Shanxi before, he never visited this person. Now I am in a dilemma, why don't I have the cheek to beg this person again. If I can borrow soldiers, horses, cannons and The boats crossing the river can wipe out the bandits in one fell swoop, and it will be a shameful blow!"

Cao Wenzhao's so-called Wu Luyou is actually the governor of Shanxi Wu Zhen.This person served as the censor during the Tianqi period, but was dismissed only because he opposed Wei Zhongxian.

It was not until Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne that he was allowed to return to his original post.Later, he was successively appointed as inspector of Shaanxi and Henan.

At that time, bandits and thieves were everywhere.Only Cao Wenzhao was not afraid at all. First he defeated Wang Jiayin, the leader of Hequ County, and captured and killed "Dian Dengzi" and other thugs.

Now Wu Tong is the governor of Shanxi, facing the Shanxi area that has been ravaged by bandits.Although the main force of the rebel army has moved to Henan, many places in Shanxi are still entrenched with bandits and thieves, and a brave general like Cao Wenzhao is urgently needed to exterminate them.

When Mu Ziqiang and Zhang Quanchang heard the words, they all said, "Great kindness!" After that, Cao Wenzhao ordered Mu Ziqiang to be the commander-in-chief, Zhang Quanchang was the deputy, and led more than [-] people under his command to station on the north bank of the Yellow River.

And Cao Wenzhao led nearly [-] people under his command to go north to Shanxi to meet the new Shanxi governor Wu Wei.

Not to mention what happened to Cao Wenzhao, it is said that after Zhang Shun released Cao Wenzhao, he just trained his troops blindly and did not rush to drive away the officers and soldiers on the opposite side.

After a few days, when Zhang Shun heard the scouts reported that Cao Wenzhao led the team to go north, only Mu Ziqiang and Zhang Quanchang led more than [-] troops to garrison, he couldn't help laughing and said: "I have a plan. !"

It turned out that after Cao Wenzhao was captured, Zhang Shun deliberately asked people to set up more empty tents behind the tents, in order to disturb Cao Wenzhao's heart.

Then Cao Wenzhao was defeated in all three battles, losing troops and losing generals. In any case, the officers and soldiers could no longer cross the river and threaten the safety of the rebels.Therefore, Zhang Shun predicted that after this battle, Cao Wenzhao would definitely withdraw from his heart.

Although Zhang Shun didn't know that Cao Wenzhao, Mu Ziqiang, and Zhang Quanchang were all ready to punish the crime, he also knew that the officers and soldiers would definitely not give up their goals easily.

The reason why he used the method of false camps was actually to take advantage of Cao Wenzhao's arrogance.The officers and soldiers lost all three battles, either because the commander was inferior to others, or the officers and soldiers were inferior to others.

As a veteran general, how could Cao Wenzhao admit that his military ability is not as good as that of a young man who has just joined the army for less than two years?

So on the surface, this plan is a simple method of confusing the real with the fake, but it is actually a method of attacking the heart.

(End of this chapter)