The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 377 Dilemma
At night, the lights in the central military tent of the Ming army camp in Pei County were dim.

Sun Chuanting stood in front of the map with his hands behind his back. His expression was gloomy and his brows were full of worry.

The lights in the tent were brightly lit. The servant who was holding the lamp refilled the lamp oil, trimmed the wick, and then quietly left the tent.

The curtain fell, and Sun Chuanting's eyes also fell to the bottom of the map.

Where his eyes fell was the location of Fengyang Prefecture in Nanzhili.

Chen Wang stood near Sun Chuanting's left hand, his eyes lowered, also looking at the map hanging not far in front of him.

"According to what the Prime Minister said before, the Wanze Army has deployed a cavalry unit of more than 5,000 people in Xuzhou. The surrounding terrain is open and very conducive to cavalry operations."

Chen Wang stepped forward a little, pointed at Xuzhou on the map, and answered the question raised by Sun Chuanting before.

After the Battle of Suzhou, Li Yan led the Wanmin Army southward to besiege Fengyang, and Ge Zuo Wuying was used as a support to move from south to north. The two armies had already joined forces under the city of Fengyang.

The combined forces totaled 600,000. Fengyang reported that the rebels had set up camps for hundreds of miles. Along the river and in the fields, wherever you looked, there were rebel camps and tents. It was vast and boundless, like the ocean.

"The number of soldiers and horses left in Xuzhou must be at least 13,000, of which at least 3,000 are cavalry, which can barely ensure that there are not too many mistakes in the rear support."

The idea that Sun Chuanting had previously proposed was to bypass the important town of Xuzhou, rush to the support of the Ming army in Fengyang, march into Suzhou, and lift the siege of Fengyang.

But it is not easy to bypass Xuzhou. Xuzhou is located at a strategic point and is now occupied by the Wanmin Army, guarding the Wanmin Army’s northern gate.

Unlike the 72 battalions of bandits, the Wanmin Army, under the leadership of Li Yan, successively captured a large number of prefectures and counties, defeated officers and soldiers from many towns, and thus obtained a large amount of weapons and supplies.

Many generals who were defeated by the Ten Thousand People's Army surrendered, and a large number of soldiers joined the Ten Thousand People's Army.

Li Yan was recruiting soldiers and talented people in Henan and Nanzhili, and was gradually transforming from a roving bandit to a sedentary bandit.

Now all the efforts Li Yan is making and all the military actions he is carrying out are efforts to establish his own regime.

This is not difficult to guess. Chen Wang has been the chief of the town for quite some time, and he can see Li Yan's purpose.

"If we don't capture Xuzhou, our army's food and supplies will not be safe, and we need to be vigilant against possible attacks from the rear when fighting the enemy."

The city has four sides. To surround a city, at least hundreds of thousands of troops are needed. However, all the reinforcement troops now total less than 100,000, so it is naturally impossible to surround it completely.

"If we leave so many troops in Xuzhou and fight on the front line, the total number of troops we can use will be only 37,000."

"The rebels are strong and our army is isolated. This is the time to go all out."

Sun Chuanting's attention was still focused on the map. He sighed lightly, already understanding what Chen Wang meant.

Chen Wang glanced at Sun Chuanting and said with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Most of the Prime Minister's subordinates are newly surrendered. In Guide Prefecture, the Henan troops under my command have experienced battles, but their military equipment is sparse and they have not been around for long..."

It had been some time since they entered the camp, and from Sun Chuanting, Chen Wang had already figured out why the size of the Ming army in Pei County could exceed 30,000.

Daming Prefecture suffered severely from the disaster and was completely unable to provide relief to the local area, which led to public resentment and sparked a civil uprising.

After Sun Chuanting used Lu Xiangsheng's name to persuade the rebels in Daming Prefecture to surrender, how to resettle these surrendered rebels became a huge problem.

To accommodate such a large population would inevitably cost a huge amount of money and food.

If the local area has money and food, it will be impossible to arouse civil unrest in the area.

The reason for the civil unrest was that the local area had no money and no food, and the people were desperate, hungry, and unable to survive.

So later, Sun Chuanting wrote to the court, suggesting that young, strong and brave men could be selected from the surrendered rebels to serve as camp soldiers in Baoding Town.

The current situation is turbulent. After the defeat in Suzhou, the imperial court is short of troops. These surrendered rebels basically have certain combat experience, which can be used just right.

After these former rebels became camp soldiers, they no longer needed money to support them.

There are still a lot of military pay in Baoding Town. These are special military pay prepared for supporting the suppression, which can be regarded as reducing the burden on the local area.

The imperial court responded quickly, and all of Sun Chuanting's methods in the petition were adopted.

So Sun Chuanting selected more than 16,000 people from the surrendered rebel army and organized them into six battalions.

There are now more than 31,000 troops in the entire Pei County.

These 31,000-plus soldiers, a mix of new and old soldiers, with nearly half of them surrendered, were all the troops under Sun Chuanting's command.

Historically, the situation within the Ming Dynasty took a sharp turn for the worse in the 15th year of Chongzhen.

Li Zicheng swept across Henan and defeated Fu Zonglong and Wang Qiaonian, two governors-general of the three borders, successively. Later, he defeated the main force of the Ming army that came to support and suppress the rebellion in Zhuxian Town.

At the same time, most of the elite troops of the nine borders of the Ming army were killed in the Battle of Songjin and were unable to return to the interior for support. The situation in the Central Plains deteriorated and no one could control Li Zicheng from then on.

However, the situation inside the Great Wall had undergone a drastic change due to Chen Wang's influence.

The civil uprising in Henan did not subside because of the absence of Li Zicheng. On the contrary, because of the absence of Li Zicheng, it caused a greater momentum than ever in history.

Li Zicheng fled far to the northwest, and Zhang Xianzhong fled to the southwest. The two of them tied down the main force of the Ming army, which in turn enabled Li Yanzi's Henan to grow stronger.

The Henan uprising army under the leadership of Li Yan started from scratch, so it set the right tone and followed the right path from the very beginning.

The Shaanxi civil unrest has lasted for more than a decade but has still failed to gain momentum, because they took the wrong path from the beginning.

A tall building starts from the ground. How high a building can be built actually depends most on the foundation laid at the beginning.

The Shaanxi uprising began in the early years of Chongzhen. At that time, the Ming Empire was still powerful, and in order to survive, they had to become bandits.

Throughout his life, Gao Yingxiang wanted to eradicate the banditry of his troops, integrate the 72 battalions, occupy Xi'an, Shaanxi, and establish his own regime.

However, Gao Yingxiang failed.

Neither the right time nor the right place was on Gao Yingxiang's side.

However, Li Yan succeeded.

Whether it is the right time, the right place, or the right people, they are all on Li Yan's side.

When Li Yan started the rebellion, the Ming army in the three borders, led by the governor of the three borders, Zheng Chongjian, pursued King Li Zicheng all the way to the northwest.

The main force of the Ming army in the south was also attracted by Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai and entered the southwest.

At this stage, Li Yan has achieved greater results than Li Zicheng in history.

In the Battle of Zhengzhou, Henan Governor Li Xianfeng was killed and the Ming army in various towns in Henan was destroyed.

In the Battle of Suzhou, Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding, was killed in battle, and the troops coming to support the suppression of the Baoding and Hebei towns were crippled.

The main army of the Southern Kingdom is advancing to suppress the rebellion and is still pursuing Zhang Xianzhong.

The armies on the three sides were not able to enter the country to quell the rebellion as in history. The threat posed by Li Zicheng in the northwest had not been eliminated, and there was no way to mobilize the armies on the three sides.

Chen Wang stared at the map not far in front of him.

Li Yan now occupies Xuzhou and Suzhou, and has surrounded Fengyang with his troops. The army is ready.

It is not easy to lift the siege of Fengyang.

The current situation is almost unsolvable given the cards Sun Chuanting currently holds.

Chen Wang himself had a solution. Six hundred thousand troops may sound like a lot, but in reality, not many of them were able to fight.

Xuzhou and Suzhou were indeed strong cities, but they could not hold out for long under the heavy artillery bombardment.

But, in this situation, why should we solve it...

Chen Wang lowered his eyes slightly. Things are different now. It is no longer the time when he was in Kaifeng, Henan.

At that time, due to his duties, he also had to take into account the impact of the court situation, so he had to reduce the power of the Wanmin Army, so that he could gradually bring Henan under control.

And now Chen Wang’s goal has basically been achieved.

The military power in Henan has basically been controlled by Chen Wang. Under the pretext of suppressing bandits, the local gentry and powerful families have basically been eliminated.

Chen Wang not only took the opportunity to collect a large amount of silver and money, but also eradicated many opposing forces.

Li Yan left Henan, posing little threat to Henan, and instead entered Nanzhili.

Southern Zhili was the core of the Donglin Party and the Jiangnan gentry.

Various relationships are intertwined and extremely complicated, and many issues will cause uproar if they are not handled carefully.

Li Yan's sharp knife can be used to deal with the complicated mess in Jiangnan.

Nanzhili is an abyss.

The best option is undoubtedly to wait until Li Yan and the gentry in Jiangnan are fighting to the death and then reap the benefits.

However, Chen Wang would naturally not show these thoughts on his face.

Chen Wang hesitated for a moment, then pretended to think before continuing his speech.

"Da Mingfu and Shandong are in chaos, and among them are the figures of the Ten Thousand Bandits."

"Now that the rebellion in Daming Prefecture has ceased, the rebellion in Shandong has not been quelled, but it is mainly concentrated in the mountainous areas around Fei County. Perhaps we can temporarily suspend the suppression of the Shandong bandits."

Simply talking about difficulties may make one look like he is deliberately retreating to avoid fighting and preserve his strength.

In the current situation, he finally gained Sun Chuanting's trust by coming to pay a visit and relying on their previous friendship, and temporarily resolved the crisis of having his military power taken away.

Chen Wang naturally didn't want to raise doubts in Sun Chuanting's mind again, so the best way was to offer a suggestion that sounded feasible.

The feedback received did not exceed Chen Wang's expectations.

His words cheered up Sun Chuanting, who was originally a little depressed.

Sun Chuanting looked up at the map, first glanced at Xuzhou in the center, and then glanced at the Shandong area not far to the east.

But then, after thinking for a long time, Sun Chuanting shook his head.

"The military preparations of the towns in Shandong are lax, the rebels are rampant, and the civil unrest is difficult to stop. We have failed twice in succession, and with the defeat in Suzhou, even if we take a defensive stance, we can only transfer a few thousand troops from Shandong at most, which is completely useless for major events."

Sun Chuanting looked worried, with his brows furrowed.

"The defeat in Suzhou was caused by the collapse of Shandong troops first, which then led to the defeat of the entire army."

The key to success is not quantity but quality.

Sun Chuanting was very clear about this when he was fighting against the Jiannu who had entered the pass while defending the king.

In the many battles with the Jiannu, Sun Chuanting gained a lot of military experience.
Chen Wang's eyes narrowed slightly. He had a question from the beginning. Sun Chuanting seemed to be very anxious, otherwise he would not have proposed the idea of ​​bypassing Xuzhou.

And now is the best time, so Chen Wang asked tentatively.

"War is dangerous and the situation is indeed critical, but Fengyang is now guarded by 50,000 troops led by General Hou, and the geographical location makes defense not a problem. Why is the Prime Minister so anxious to use troops now?"

Sun Chuanting's eyes dimmed slightly, and the next moment, a hint of fierceness flashed in his eyes, but it was only fleeting.

Sun Chuanting lowered his head slightly and hid his past.

But Chen Wang still saw the hostility in Sun Chuanting's eyes.

Sun Chuanting shook his head again and explained.

"The current situation in Fengyang does not allow for a slow and steady approach."

Li Yan raised his flag in Fengyang and issued a manifesto to the world, intending to unite the rebel forces in various places and shake the southern kingdom.

The rebel forces in Henan, Shandong, Jiangxi, Huguang, Nanzhili and other places were excited and all headed towards Fengyang.

Seven days ago, after the last message came from Fengyang by land, the route was completely cut off by the rebels.

The 600,000 rebels surrounded Fengyang City in three layers, leaving no room for escape. Not to mention carriages, horses, boats, food and military supplies, even a letter could hardly be delivered.

The situation around Fengyang could only be glimpsed from the news brought by flying carrier pigeons.

"Although Fengyang has been reinforced several times and is heavily guarded, and has the advantage of geographical location, the number of soldiers and horses guarding the Fengyang area has exceeded 50,000."

"In the short term, unless something unexpected happens, the rebels will indeed be difficult to defeat."

"but……"

Sun Chuanting's eyes were solemn and his voice was hoarse and extremely low.

"Fengyang...is short of food..."

The defeat at Suzhou came too quickly and was too severe.

Under the leadership of Li Yan, the rebels quickly completed the encirclement of Fengyang area.

The 50,000 soldiers guarding Fengyang did ensure the safety of Fengyang, but with such a large number, the daily food and necessities for people and horses were a huge number.

When Hou Xun realized that the rebels' target was Fengyang, although he had no knowledge of the military, he reacted quickly. He quickly dispatched troops to converge on the Fengyang area, and at the same time ordered the transportation of food, fodder and military equipment into Fengyang.

However, food and fodder have always been the Ming army's shortcoming.

Even in the wealthy Nanzhili, the imperial court could not raise much military rations.

And most importantly, after learning that the imperial court was defeated in Suzhou, many generals became afraid of fighting, and the people in many places also became afraid and only wanted to protect themselves.

In particular, the dignitaries in the Nanjing area even used their connections to prevent reinforcements from various places from going north to help Fengyang, and instead kept them in the Nanjing area.

The generals, who were afraid of fighting, naturally kept their troops in place after receiving protection from above.

As a result, a lot of food and supplies that were supposed to be transported to Fengyang were intercepted and could not be delivered to Fengyang.

It is precisely this group of short-sighted people who are ignorant of military affairs that have made the situation in the South even worse.

Sun Chuanting looked helpless and depressed.

He wished he could kill all those short-sighted gentry and dignitaries as soon as possible.

But he also knew that these were impossible things. He had no power to do so, nor could he do so.

After a long time, Sun Chuanting lowered his head and closed his eyes. He looked tired and full of fatigue.

All the words in my heart finally turned into a sigh.