Win the Ding 1617

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At dawn, the generals above the participating generals and civil officials such as the supervising army, Zanhua, and secretaries of the Zuo army stationed in Xiangyang, Fancheng, and various places along the river, except those who had to stay in the flood area, gathered together with the "general of suppressing bandits" Zuo Liangyu. Xingyuan lobby.Due to the short summer nights, although the sky is still early, the east is already full of rays of light, and the lights in the lobby are brilliant.At first, everyone greeted each other in the lobby and discussed in low voices.When the three quarters of Mao Shi arrived, there was a sound of dong, dong, and dong drums in the second gate, and there was a sudden silence in the lobby.After a while, Zuo Liangyu left the festival hall in the backyard surrounded by the chief officer of the Chinese army and several generals, entered the hall through the back door, turned around the screen, and appeared in front of the respectful civil and military personnel.Although his body was not as good as before after Zhu Xianzhen's defeat, but on the surface, he still looked as usual and was very majestic.

Zuo Liangyu sat down on the tiger-skin-covered chair in the middle, did not speak, coughed lightly, and glanced at a Chinese general standing beside him.The general immediately put a yellow and a red brocade box in his hand respectfully on the case.Everyone knows that the yellow box contains the emperor's imperial decree, while the red box contains emergency calls, military messages, and important pond newspapers sent by the Ministry of War or other central government offices and governors everywhere.Seeing that Zuo Liangyu had already sat firmly, the general officer of the Chinese army said to everyone:

"All civil and military attendees will be divided into classes!"

When everyone finished attending, Zuo Liangyu said softly: "Sit down!" Everyone said in unison: "Thank you for your seat!" Then they all sat down on the stools that had been set up.Everyone was anxious and uneasy, and they all looked at the commander, hoping to guess the good or bad fortune of the whole army from his expression.Zuo Liangyu glanced at all the civil and military personnel, and began to speak:

"Today I send you all here..."

All the civil and military personnel suddenly stood up and listened respectfully.Zuo Liangyu didn't tell everyone to sit down, but continued:

"According to the secret report of the Xinye gentry, Liu Zongmin, Lao Huihui, Ge Liyan, Wang Long and others will lead the vanguard of the bandits. About [-] people will leave Xinye this morning and run towards Fancheng. Hundreds of thousands of elites will also come later. Xiangyang controls the upper reaches. It is the communication hub of Henan, Chu, Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, and has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. The enemy's fierce front. Then advance and restore the Central Plains, and no thief is allowed to enter Chu. The Ministry of War issued a message like snowflakes, hoping that our army will stick to Xiangyang and not let the thieves cross the Xiangjiang River. No matter how difficult it is, we should not fail the imperial court’s entrustment and let the whole Chu fall into the hands of thieves. Today’s affairs must be steadfast, steadfast!”

Zuo Liangyu added the word "stick to it" in a heavy tone, which surprised all the generals.Without waiting for the others to speak, he went on:

"Prince Xiang died for his country in the spring of the year before last, so let's not talk about it. But Jingzhou is also an important feudal land, and Chengtian is where the imperial mausoleum is located. If one of them falls, we will die."

Everyone hears the word "capital crime".Everyone's heart was shocked, and some people's faces turned pale.

"There are several times more soldiers and horses than I do. After a winning streak, they are very energetic. Our army claims to be 20, but the soldiers capable of fighting are only in the early [-]s, and they are all newly recruited and untrained. The situation is extremely serious now. I hope you will work together to serve the country faithfully. Follow the orders of the army. If you act without authorization or run away when you see the enemy, you will be executed! This morning, everyone stays in Xingyuan for dinner. Do not leave a step before the meal, and wait for the call of the Chinese army. .Respectively go to the festival hall to listen to the instructions given by the Yuan. Everyone retreat!"

All civil and military personnel replied in unison: "Follow the order!" They filed out of the lobby.

Zuo Liangyu returned to the Jietang, and immediately ordered several senior staff members including General Jianjun and Zan Hua to invite him into the Jietang and accompany him to summon the generals.Although he looked down on these civil servants in his heart, due to the military system and habits, he had to be like this.Before summoning the generals, he said to the senior staff:

"The current situation. Everyone is very clear. The safety of the whole Chu and the good or bad of the three armies are all on my shoulders. Benyuan reads few poems and books. He was promoted from Wuzu to Hushuai, and he was appointed as the general who suppressed the bandits. To this day Gentlemen, if you have any clever plans, please tell me quickly and let Ben Yuan make a decision. Without further ado, the 8 or [-] elite forward cavalry led by Liu Zongmin will arrive tomorrow afternoon."

The aides waited and watched each other, and no one could come up with a good plan.After a pause, a Zanhua stood up and said with a strong Xiangxi accent: "Junzuo, I have bad opinions in a lowly position, so I dare not speak rashly."

Zuo Liangyu glanced at the speaker.This is a Zanhua of Juren origin, surnamed Liu, a fellow villager of Yang Sichang, who was recommended by Yang Sichang two years ago.Zuo Liangyu gave him a generous salary, but he has always been estranged from him; and Zan Hua has never been praised.Zuo Liangyu nodded lightly and said, "If you have any good ideas, just tell them."

Liu Zanhua said: "From the point of view of my humble position, for the sake of our army's survival, the ones to worry about are not in Xiangyang, but in De'an and Chengtian."

Zuo Liangyu was startled and asked, "Why?"

"Our army of 20 gathered in Xiangyang. It's up to me to fight, defend or leave. What I worry about is the Jianghan Plain, which is empty for thousands of miles. If the robbers attack Xiangyang with a large army and contain our army, they send a general who is both wise and brave. , led [-] elite soldiers, went south from Tanghe County's potential division, passed through Huyang, entered Zaoyang, rushed to Suizhou, defeated De'an, then occupied Yingcheng and Jingshan, and returned to the division to capture Chengtian. Lonely hanging, if you want to follow the rules, you will be cut off, and if you want to go, you will have no way to retreat. At that time, the soldiers will be shocked, people will not have a firm will, and they will inevitably collapse if they have a slight setback. It is like this when I heard Hong Chengchou's defeat in Liaoxi. On that day, Governor Hong had Liang Guogong and his son commanding hundreds of thousands of tigers and braves to rescue them, but they could not be rescued, our army was alone in the upper reaches, how to prepare in advance, I hope you think twice!"

The title of Liang Guogong was chosen for Li Shouhan from several titles drawn up by the Ministry of Rites, Hanlin Academy, etc. after careful consideration by the imperial court, implying the meaning of the pillar of the country.Some people also say that Liang Wang of the Yuan Dynasty guarded the southwestern territory for the Yuan Dynasty, which is very similar to what the father and son of Li Gong are doing now, so they have such a title.

Zuo Liangyu thought about this danger, but he didn't take it very seriously. Now that he heard Liu Zanhua's words, he took it very seriously.He looked at the other staff members, who obviously agreed, but no one spoke up, afraid of taking responsibility.Zuo Liangyu said to Liu Zanhua: "According to the detailed investigation report for several days, it seems that the intruder only wants to seize Xiangyang with all his strength. The move like you said is so brilliant that the intruder and his friends have not thought of it yet. After listening to what Mr. said, I made up my mind even more."

"How does the commander-in-chief plan to deal with the barrier in front of him?" Liu Zanhua asked calmly.

In front of him, Zuo Liangyu had completely taken this Liu Zanhua with admiration.At the moment, he also unequivocally confessed his plan to Liu Zanhua.

"Do you think Xiangyang can hold it?"

Zuo Liangyu seemed to be asking Zuo Menggeng who was standing by.In fact, he was asking Liu Zanhua.

Zuo Menggeng, like most generals, was afraid of rushing into the Cao coalition army after the battle of Zhuxian Town, not to mention the current disparity in strength between the two sides.He felt even more unsure about sticking to Xiangyang, but thinking of Zuo Liangyu's early morning lectures, especially a few serious words about "the death penalty is inevitable in our generation", he dared not directly express his opinion that he could not stick to it, so he paused for a moment.Then he went around and said: "Fancheng is difficult to defend; Xiangyang City is blocked by the Xiangjiang River, so it should be able to defend."

Because he said "Fancheng is difficult to defend", Zuo Menggeng was worried about being scolded by his father, so he had already erected all the hairs on his body and tensed up his muscles, ready to face the wrath of his father.Zuo Liangyu looked at his son, scolded in his heart, "A mediocre talent, uncultivable!", and lamented, "Why is that guy in the east, no matter whether he is a son or a daughter and son-in-law? Could it be that you are really out of breath?" After taking a sip of tea and forcing himself to suppress his anger, Zuo Liangyu said slowly: "You are wrong, this city of Xiangyang cannot be defended right now!"

"But..." Zuo Menggeng never expected that Zuo Liangyu would say "I can't hold on" by himself, "but the father-in-law said this morning that he must stick to it..."

"Of course 'you must stick to it'," Zuo Liangyu interrupted his son, "if you don't 'stick to it', as soon as the thieves come and leave the city, how can you be worthy of the emperor Long En? Besides, I easily abandoned Xiangyang, Song Yiniao Wouldn't those people immediately refer to me for a copy?"

Song Yihe, governor of Huguang, used to avoid the name taboo of Yang Sichang's father Yang He.In the name card handed to Yang Sichang, he wrote "Song Yiniao" by himself.This sycophantic behavior was immediately spread as a joke in the officialdom.At this moment, Zuo Menggeng wanted to laugh when he heard the word "Song Yiniao", but he held back and waited respectfully for his father to continue.

"But 'sticking to it' does not mean being able to hold it. 'Sticking to it' is my determination as a general. Whether I can hold it depends on the timing, location, harmony of people, and especially the strength of the two sides. When we talk now, we are the same; In terms of geographical advantages, we have a Xiangjiang River, but it is not enough. Speaking of people and harmony, we have claimed to have 20 horses in these years, and the imperial court has been paying 5000 soldiers. Is it necessary for 10,000+ people to drink northwest wind? So we have to raise our own military pay, which will inevitably disturb the people, and the people will naturally be dissatisfied with us, and there will be no talk of harmony. Rogues contend."

Seeing his son's puzzled face, Zuo Liangyu went on to say: "Since we can't hold on, there are only three ways in front of us. One is to stand firm and wait for reinforcements, but where are the reinforcements? Sun Baigu's new defeat; If you say you won’t come, even if you come, you will be beaten with meat buns and give the intruder a good meal for nothing; so this road will definitely not work. The second is to stick to the end like Master Yang and Hu Dawei. Death and death. In this way, our own reputation is preserved, and the imperial court will lose an army that is most capable of suppressing thieves, so this road is also unfeasible. The remaining third road is to stick to it first, until it is really impossible to defend When you live, you must retreat with all your troops, and save a strong army for the emperor and the court!"

A gratified and admiring smile appeared on Zuo Menggeng's face.It turned out that my father had long planned to retire with all his teachers, but he said it so clearly and grandly!

"Father Commander-in-Chief sees it right! Our next step...?"

"What I want to tell you is how to take the next step." Zuo Liangyu took another sip of his wine proudly, "We have built dozens of warships in Xiangjiang, what do you want for them? ?”

Zuo Menggeng was taken aback for another moment, and replied hesitantly: "Father Commander wants to have a water fight with the thieves?"

"Idiot!" Zuo Liangyu cursed again in his heart, and said, "The thieves came by land, and there is no navy, so there is no water battle to fight! I prepared these warships to retreat for the whole army!"

So he told his son about his detailed plans.He said that the striker of "Liu Thief" will arrive in Fancheng tomorrow afternoon.The left army also had to resist in Fancheng, but they could not fight desperately. A small number of warships were responsible for taking the defenders of Fancheng back to the south bank in batches.The main force will defend against the river on the south bank, but how long it will last is hard to predict.No matter how long the defense lasts, the retreat must be swift and undisturbed. In this way, the luggage, food and family members of the army must go first, so as not to be muddy when they arrive, and once the "rogue" cavalry pursues them.The consequences could be disastrous.

"Father Commander wants to use warships to transport away the luggage, food, and soldiers' families first?" Zuo Menggeng's heart suddenly brightened.

Zuo Liangyu nodded: "It's not too late. I called you here to entrust this important matter to you. You go to prepare tonight. Most of the warships will leave tomorrow morning. A few warships will take the officers and soldiers from the north bank After being brought back to the south bank one after another, they must park on the spot in case of emergency.”

Silently watching Liu Zanhua's arrangement by Zuo Liangyu from the side.Just twirling his beard and smiling.

"The commander-in-chief didn't plan for victory, he first planned for defeat, and he is already invincible!"

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Commander, knowing that Xiangyang must fall into the hands of the bandits, he made early preparations and ordered the young commander to load the baggage on board. Once the bandits are unstoppable, the whole army will go east, or to Chengtian, or De'an, or even Wuchang, There is nothing wrong with Anqing." Liu Zanhua paused for a moment, thinking that this should be the time to explain his identity and intentions!

"Has Zuo Shuai ever thought that if the army goes eastward, the officials along the way will close their doors and refuse to accept them, and follow the example of the generation who responded to Fu Zonglong's story, using the left army's lax military discipline and fear of entering the city to disturb the people as an excuse. How should the commander deal with himself?"

"If the bandits pursue thousands of miles with a large group of cavalry, following the old trick of Zhuxian Town in the past, and chasing them relentlessly, your army is far from the elite of the past. At that time, the large group of troops will collapse, how will the commander behave himself? place?"

Liu Zanhua's tone, compared to before, became less polite, in the words.The boundary with Zuo Liangyu's army became clear.One mouthful, one noble army, one mouthful, one Zuoshuai.

However, this sentence is like a cannonball.It hit the hearts of Zuo Liangyu and his son.

Zuo Menggeng didn't care, but his old man Zuo Liangyu, the muscles on his purple-colored face twitched a few times, restraining Zuo Menggeng's idiot temper that he was trying to attack Liu Zanhua, and his face was still as still as water.

"Since you say so, sir, you must be able to draw up a perfect plan for Zuo's entire army?"

"Master Zuo. Do you know when was the last big battle in this Xiangfan land?" Liu Zanhua made a fool of himself on purpose.

"A big event? Sir, could it be that the Yuan Lord Kublai Khan went south to Xiangyang to fight?"

"Of course!" Liu Zan raised his eyebrows and started to get to the point.

Zuo Menggeng on the side felt as if he had fallen into a cloud for five miles.

He didn't know that the Second City of Xiangfan was located at the southern end of the Nanyang Basin, which was the boundary between the north and the south of the Central Plains.Xiangyang and Fancheng are interdependent with the Han River in the north and south, "crossing Jingyu, controlling the north and south", the terrain is very dangerous, it has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times, and it is also a border town that resisted the Mongolian army in the Southern Song Dynasty.In November of the third year of Xianchun (1267), Liu Zheng, a general of the Southern Song Dynasty, offered Kublai Khan a strategy to attack and destroy the Southern Song Dynasty. Then Jiangnan is within easy reach."Liu Zheng's suggestion of "strategy for attacking the Song Dynasty, it is advisable to engage in Xiangyang first" played a vital role in the entire process of Kublai Khan's demise of the Southern Song Dynasty.

"Begging for a map!"

Pointing to the Han River on the map, Xiangyang, Fancheng, and surrounding cities such as Wuchang, Jiujiang, and Anqing, Liu Zanhua talked eloquently.

"Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty managed Jiangdong, the barrier of Jiangnan has been Xiangfan in the west. The students are not talented, and several old friends in Mengjiang Jiangnan will not abandon them. They will speak to the general on their behalf. If the general intends to send the whole army to the east, please come to Xiangfan. There were several battles with the bandits. First, to cool off the bandits’ courage to prevent the bandit cavalry from going eastward to pursue them. Second, the commander fought against the bandits in Xiangfan and other places, just to show the power of the left army and the people in the south of the Yangtze River.”

The original face of Liu Zanhua gradually appeared in front of Zuo Liangyu and his son.

As he said, although he is Yang Sichang's fellow villager, he was also recommended by Yang Sichang to Zuo Liangyu's subordinates as an aide, but his fundamental identity is Donglin or the boss behind Donglin—Jiangnan Group sent to Zuo Liang The detective in the Jade Army!

"In Jiangnan and other places, since the battle of Jingnan, the ancestor of Chengzu, they have not known the military revolution for hundreds of years. If a million thieves who broke into the two Cao Cao came to the city, let alone all kinds of perverted things, just all kinds of rape and robbery The vitality of the south of the Yangtze River has been seriously injured. How can I be so ravaged by this generation where I stayed in the capital of the Ming Dynasty? Therefore, the scholars and people in the south of the Yangtze River implore the general to protect the south of the Yangtze River upstream! Follow the example of Yang Taifu in the past. Think that the Ming Dynasty will retain a piece of Zhongxing vitality!"

The conditions were set, and Zuo Liangyu was asked to respond to the plea of ​​the "scholars and common people" in Jiangnan to act as a guardian dog guarding the west gate for the land of wealth in Jiangnan!Of course, the so-called scholars and common people will definitely not include those tenants, tea farmers, and machine owners.

"Thanks to the love and trust of the people in Jiangnan. However, Zuo has 20 soldiers, but only 20 soldiers. In order to feed the [-] troops, a certain family has already offended the people in Xiangyang and other places. Xiangfan preserves a part of the vitality for Daming? But you dare not accept what you say."

The price of Zuo Liangyu has also been announced. I can ask Lao Tzu to guard the gate, but no matter what, I have to let the watchdog eat enough to bite the thief, right?

"It turns out that the commander is worried about food and salary? That's easy to say! A few days ago, the students received a letter. In addition to the entreaties of the Jiangnan scholars to the commander-in-chief, they also said that he and the former Minister of Rites, Qian Qianyi, have boarded the boat and sailed westward on the date of sending the letter. On behalf of the people in the south of the Yangtze River, come to work in the army." Speaking of this, Liu Zanhua took out the letter from Zuo Liangyu's senior official Hou Xun's gifted son from the sleeve of his robe.

In addition to what Liu Zanhua just said in the letter, there is also a bank note opened by a Shanxi merchant attached to the letter.The amount marked on the face of the ticket turned out to be 100 million yuan!

"Marshal, please rest assured that all food supplements, armor, weapons and gunpowder will be served by scholars from the south of the Yangtze River. Even the supply of soldiers can also be recruited in northern Jiangxi, Jianli, Mianyang, Anqing, etc., but your lord must have It's better to beat the bandits in Xiangyang!"

Liu Zanhua's words made Zuo Liangyu and his son look at each other, Zuo Liangyu saw a little flame in his son's eyes, and nodded slightly.

After dawn on this day, notices were posted on the important roads inside and outside Xiangyang, saying that he would "sit in Xiangyang and suppress the thieves", and asked the people to "safely work and live, and don't panic", and reiterated that rumors and rumors are prohibited. The strict order of the spy is to be "observed by the people".After breakfast, Zuo Liangyu rode out of the gate under the guard of a large group of generals and school, and inspected the defensive deployment of the city in several places, especially the preparation of the cannon emplacement, crossbow, and rolling logs and stones.He also went out to the west gate of Xiangyang to inspect the defense deployment along the river.Due to the imminent arrival of the Chuang army, the atmosphere of war in Xiangyang was extremely strong.The soldiers and civilians were all afraid that Zuo Liangyu would defend Xiangyang to the death, but it seemed that the decisive battle had already been settled. (~^~)