Ming Empire

Chapter 5 Hong Chengchou's Decision
Cao Yue, who was a little excited at first, suddenly sank to the bottom of the water, feeling icy cold.

How could it be such a coincidence?When he traveled to Daming, thought of the key point of the Songjin battle, and immediately thought of reminding Hong Chengchou, a tragedy happened—it was too late, damn it, isn’t this just playing with people?Is tragedy synonymous with me?

Things suddenly became like this, Cao Yue couldn't recover all of a sudden, he was stunned, and Cao Bianjiao, who looked back at him in astonishment, stared at him with big eyes.Both of them could see the helplessness and grief in each other's eyes. At this time, Cao Yue was in an indescribably complicated mood.

It took a long time for Hong Chengchou to recover from his astonishment, and ordered a general to say: "Go, send someone to invite the generals here immediately."

"Yes, Master Supervisor," the lieutenant general bowed and took orders to leave.

After all, Hong Chengchou has experienced a lot of things, and he has led the army to fight for many years, and he calmed down after a brief gaffe.After thinking about it, he asked Cao Bianjiao who was standing in front of him: "Cao Zongbing, what's your plan?"

He thought that the proposal just now was what Cao Bianjiao thought, thinking that Cao Bianjiao must have thought of a countermeasure, so he asked this question.

"Director Hong, the general thinks that we should gather troops and fight Jiannu to the death when the food and grass are not exhausted. Now there are at least five days of food in the army. As long as we can defeat Jiannu and break the siege between Songshan and Jinzhou , then the problem of food and grass can be solved.” Cao Bianjiao, who did not hesitate to speak out his thoughts, seemed to have thought of something, looked back at Cao Yue who was standing behind him in a daze, and added: “Master Hong, send elite soldiers to protect the food Dao's suggestion is not something that the general will think of, but a reminder from Vice General Cao."

"Oh?!" Hong Chengchou raised his eyebrows, his eyes fell on Cao Yue, and he subconsciously asked, "Vice General Cao, what is your best strategy to defeat the enemy?"

"This..." Cao Yue, who was not fully used to his current status, couldn't react when he heard Hong Chengchou call him so. Brother... oh... What Cao Zongbing said is very true, our army should gather all the troops, take the initiative to attack before the food and grass run out, defeat Jiannu, and win the battle of Songshan. In this way, everything will be worry-free."

Hearing what Cao Bianjiao and Cao Yue said, Hong Chengchou fell into deep thought again. After a while, his frown finally relaxed, as if he had an idea.

At this time, a handsome young general came into the tent, saluted Hong Chengchou and said, "The last general of Ningyuan, Wu Sangui, has seen Governor Hong."

"Mr. Wu is exempt from the ceremony. The governor called all the soldiers here today to discuss emergency military affairs..."

As soon as he heard that the person who came in was Wu Sangui, a famous traitor in history, Cao Yue's attention was immediately attracted.

After Wu Sangui saluted, he stood opposite Cao Bianjiao and Cao Yue, and Cao Yue could see each other clearly.This is a young man in his thirties. He looks handsome and looks full of heroism.If he hadn't known Wu Sangui's notoriety in history, Cao Yue would definitely have liked him at first sight.

Wu Sangui was the first commander-in-chief to arrive at Hong Chengchou Xingyuan after Cao Bianjiao, and then the commander-in-chiefs of other towns also arrived one after another.

Because the suggestion of sending troops to protect Bijia Mountain was proposed by Cao Yue, and just now he said the same strategy as Cao Bianjiao to deal with the enemy, Hong Chengchou didn't let Cao Yue go out, but let him stay together to discuss military countermeasures.

After all the general soldiers arrived, Hong Chengchou also notified the generals of the military information he had just received.

Hearing that Bijia Mountain was lost and food and grass were robbed, all the soldiers were shocked, and the atmosphere in the house suddenly became depressing.

Hong Chengchou, whose complexion had returned to normal, swept his eyes over the eight chief soldiers one by one, paused on Cao Yue, and finally asked in a low tone: "Everyone, Bijia Mountain has fallen, and our army's follow-up food, grass and supplies are all lost. If it is blocked, our retreat is likely to be cut off. The governor would like to hear your opinions, how do you think our army should deal with it next?"

Hearing Hong Chengchou's question, Cao Bianjiao stood up and expressed his opinion without any hesitation: "Master Supervisor, although the grain and grass on Bijia Mountain are lost, there are at least... ten days of grain in the army. Defeat Jiannu within ten days, and the crisis will be resolved."

Although Cao Bianjiao was young, he went to war with his uncle, Cao Yue's father, Cao Wenzhao when he was a teenager, and he was already a battle-tested veteran at a young age.When fighting the rebellion in the Northwest, he never disarmed for 27 days and nights, defeated the thief Li Zicheng, and nearly lost his life. In the end, he only led [-] cavalry to flee for his life.

Cao Wenzhao was the most famous general in the late Ming Dynasty, with numerous disciples, and Cao Bianjiao himself was brave and good at fighting, which made him have a high prestige in the army, far superior to other generals.He is also Hong Chengchou's confidant, and has virtually become the head of the eight generals.Because Cao Bianjiao arrived at Hong Chengchou's Xingyuan before the other soldiers, the other soldiers subconsciously believed that what Cao Bianjiao said meant what Hong Chengchou meant.

After hearing what Cao Bianjiao said, Wang Tingchen, the former commander-in-chief of the garrison guards, immediately stood up and echoed: "The commander-in-chief Cao is right, and the supervisor and the general also think that we have only one way to go right now, which is to fight Jiannu to the death. Our army is superior in strength, and the number of firearms and equipment is even more unmatched by Jiannu. As long as the whole army unites as one, we will surely defeat Jiannu."

Wang Tingchen is also Hong Chengchou's confidant, and he has a good relationship with Cao Bianjiao. Hearing what Cao Bianjiao said, he also thought that this was what Hong Chengchou meant, so he stood up and supported without hesitation.However, Tang Tong, the commander in chief of Miyun, Bai Guangen, the commander of Jizhen, and Wu Sangui, the commander of Ningyuan, remained silent.

Seeing the appearance of Tang Tong, Bai Guangen, and Wu Sangui, Ma Ke, the general soldier of Shanhaiguan, hesitated for a moment, stood up and said: "Master Hong, the general feels that Bijia Mountain has been captured by Jiannu, and our army has lost all food and grass. This battle is over." There is no way to fight again, our army should retreat to the pass first, and wait for the food and grass to be raised before leaving the pass to fight the Jiannu decisively."

"What Ma Zongbing said is very true," Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Datong, immediately stood up and echoed, "Our army has lost all food and grass, and the morale of the army is fluctuating. There is no way to fight this battle. Let's retreat as soon as possible!"

"Back to the pass?" Cao Bianjiao couldn't help being angry, and immediately stood up to refute, "Now our army is confronting the Jiannu people at the foot of Songshan City. If our army retreats, Jiannu will definitely pursue them, and our army will be defeated on the whole line, with heavy casualties. Superintendent Master Shi, the general feels that there is no way to retreat no matter what. Also, our army is leaving the pass this time to break the siege of Jinzhou, if the army withdraws to the pass, what will happen to Jinzhou City?"

"The army led by Cao Zongbing is full of elites, and you will be able to cover the retreat of the army," Wang Pu said disapprovingly: "As for Jinzhou City, I believe Zu Zongbing will be able to support it for a few more months. After a while , the weather is getting colder, Jianu should withdraw his troops and return to Shengjing."

"It's easy to say," Cao Bianjiao looked at Wang Pu contemptuously, and said in a cold voice, "The defeat in the battle of Sarhu when we retreated is a lesson learned from the past. Master Supervisor, the general feels that no matter what, we can't withdraw our troops, and our army can't decide. The whole army was defeated."

Cao Bianjiao's majesty is still very strong, but Wang Pu is just a bastard, he was able to become the general soldier of Datong, and he bought it with money. He doesn't understand military at all, and his majesty can't be compared with Cao Bianjiao. People stand up to support him, and dare not argue with Cao Bianjiao again.What's more, what he meant just now was that he wanted Cao Bianjiao's men to take the place of the dead ghosts and cover the others from escaping, so he didn't have the confidence to argue.

Hong Chengchou saw that no one stood up to express his opinion at once, coughed lightly, and then his eyes fell on Wu Sangui: "What does President Wu mean?"

Although Wu Sangui is young, he is brave and good at fighting. The Wu family is still a wealthy family in western Liaoning. Zu Dashou, the commander-in-chief of Jinzhou, is his uncle. This time the 10,000+ army came out to understand the siege of Jinzhou.Hong Chengchou felt that Wu Sangui would definitely not sit back and watch Jinzhou be besieged.Shanhaiguan general Ma Ke and Ning former general Wu Tingchen were close friends, and Wu Sangui's opinion was enough to influence other people. Hong Chengchou, who knew these things, asked this question.

"At the end of the day, everything will be under the orders of Governor Hong," Wu Sangui replied calmly.

Seeing this, Hong Chengchou's brows stretched out again, and he immediately issued an order: "Pass down the governor's order, gather all the soldiers and horses, and fight to the death with Jiannu. All the general soldiers will go back immediately to rectify the troops and horses to prepare for the big battle. And strictly block Bijiashan Lose the news to avoid chaos in the army."

"Yes, Master Supervisor," the eight generals responded in unison, and immediately left Hong Chengchou's place.

After Cao Yue followed Cao Bianjiao out of Hong Chengchou's camp, he was about to leave the city and return to camp.

After getting on the horse, Cao Yue, who always felt uneasy in his heart, couldn't help but said to Cao Bianjiao: "Cousin, I'm worried that Wang Pu, Tang Tong, Wu Sangui and others will run away before the big battle begins."

This is what happened in history. After the fall of Bijia Mountain, Hong Chengchou decided to gather the whole army to fight against the Manchu Qing army. After several major soldiers under him, including Wang Pu, Wu Sangui and others, led the army privately without notifying Hong Chengchou The escape caused the whole army to be in chaos, and the Manchus chased and beat their buttocks. In the end, the Ming army suffered a disastrous defeat, with countless casualties.

He believes that history will repeat itself.It's just that when Hong Chengchou was in the Xingyuan, he didn't dare to speak out about this worry. After all, no one dared to talk nonsense about what didn't happen.If there is no evidence, it is a false accusation, and he will not be stupid to express this concern in public.

Hearing what Cao Yue said, Cao Bianjiao was taken aback, and immediately shook his head: "Probably not, Governor Hong is very strict in his army, they dare not do this."

"Cousin, if something like this really happens and the other general soldiers lead the army to escape, what should we do?"

Hearing Cao Yue still say this, Cao Bianjiao frowned tightly.In fact, he also has such worries. He knows that the characters of Wang Pu, Tang Tong and others are not without academics. When fighting, they only know how to preserve their strength, and when retreating, they escape faster than anyone else.It's just that there is no evidence now, and he dare not say this in front of Hong Chengchou. In the end, he sighed helplessly, and said softly to Cao Yue: "Fifth brother, let's go back to the camp first."

"Okay!" Cao Yue could only agree.

"Drive..." The two brothers did not stay any longer, and led their personal guards, flew out of the city on horseback, and returned to the Dongxie Army camp...

(End of this chapter)