I

  Chapter 279 277【War is Gambling】

  When Zhao Han returned to Ji'an, the battle situation in Beizhili was somewhat stalemate.

  Yang Sichang was transferred from Beijing to Hubei to fight against the bandits, which seemed to have little effect on the war in the north.

  What Yang Sichang and Gao Qiqian conspired to frame Lu Xiangsheng, the content of the story is very similar to a novel. Even if he really wanted to be framed, he wouldn't be so low-level, otherwise how could Yang Sichang be trusted by the emperor all the time?

  The real situation is that Lu Xiangsheng took the initiative to suggest the division of troops, and wrote a letter to discuss with Yang Sichang, and Yang Sichang agreed to the division plan.

This can be verified through the memorials of the two men. Lu Xiangsheng chose to divide his troops according to the situation of the battle. The original words in his memorial can be summarized as follows: the gathering of armies from all walks of life seems to be combined, but it is actually bloated and a waste of troops; Form a lone army. Combining troops to hoard and divide troops to defend the city are taboos for military strategists, and they should be divided and united according to the trend of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties.

  The Qing army divided the troops, so Lu Xiangsheng also divided the troops, otherwise the Manchus would be allowed to plunder the place.

  Yang Sichang cooperated very well and asked Lu Xiangsheng to lead the Xuanda army with a strength of 31,500. Fearing that Lu Xiangsheng would make a mistake, he dispatched troops from Jizhen, so Lu Xiangsheng had 40,000 troops, surpassing Gao Qiqian's 39,000.

  In this time and space, Yang Sichang was transferred away, and Lu Xiangsheng led the war.

  The opening is exactly the same, without any change. The troops were divided into two groups. Lu Xiangsheng had 40,000 troops from Xuanda, Shanxi, Jizhen, and Baoding, and Gao Qiqian controlled 39,000 troops.

  The next changes are still exactly the same.

  Chen Xinjia, governor of Xuanda, was transferred to Beizhili to garrison the imperial mausoleum, and Lu Xiangsheng allocated part of the army to him.

  At the same time, some key cities and strongholds must be stationed with troops, and the tasks are assigned to Jizhen, Baoding and some Shanxi soldiers.

  The situation became, Lu Xiangsheng led 24,000 people, chasing and blocking the Qing army all the way. Chen Xinjia led 4,500 people to guard the imperial tomb. With a high dive rate of 39,000 people, they pursued and intercepted another Qing army. The remaining troops are all used to defend strategic points.

  Let's see how the battle situation changed dramatically.

  Changping, Imperial Mausoleum.

   "General system, Hebei Daotang newspaper!"

   "Bring it!"

  Chen Xinjia grabbed the military newspaper with one hand, and it was sent by Zhu Jiashi of Jibei Road.

  Supervisor Wu Yijing reported to the magistrate of Shanyin County that he had discovered that the Qing army had passed through Longquan Pass, and the news was passed on to Chen Xinjia.

  Before this, Chen Xinjia also received a military report saying that the Qing army had arrived at Huolu and was going to enter Shanxi through Jingxing.

  Two military newspapers both indicated that the Qing army was going to Shanxi.

   It's just that one takes Longquan Pass and the other takes Guguan, two completely opposite routes.

  After careful consideration, Chen Xinjia took up a pen and wrote a pond report to the Ministry of War. The general content was: the day before yesterday in the Huotang report, there were Da slaves in Zhending. Today, according to the Daotang newspaper in Northern Hebei, the Nuyi have passed through Longquan Pass, which is exactly the same as the previous Tangbao newspaper.

  Two completely opposite pond newspapers, in the hands of Chen Xinjia, actually matched perfectly, and even dared to send them to the Ministry of War.

  In history, it was Chen Xinjia's military situation that led to Lu Xiangsheng's death alone.

  Yang Sichang was also blamed, because Yang Sichang immediately transferred Chen Xinjia and others back to Shanxi after receiving the information.

  Next, Yang Sichang wrote a letter to Lu Xiangsheng, saying that the Qing soldiers had passed through Longquan Pass. Lu Xiangsheng thought that the Manchus had divided their troops and had gone to loot Shanxi, so he immediately dispatched Wang Pu and other elite generals to pursue them. As a result, only a few thousand of his own troops were left to be surrounded and wiped out.

  Chen Xinjia, like Xiong Wencan, was recommended by Yang Sichang.

  Yang Sichang and Chen Xinjia were not familiar with geography, which led to wrong judgments. Or did it on purpose, wanting to kill Lu Xiangsheng?

   It’s all possible, it’s not clear, and future generations can only guess.

   Now because of the rise of Zhao Han, Yang Sichang was transferred to Hubei instead of blindly directing in Beijing.

  There are a lot of servants of the Ministry of War, all of whom were sent to the local governors, leaving only the left servant Xie Wenjin and the right servant Sun Bixian.

   These two people were both from the Donglin Party and were promoted by Yang Sichang.

  Yang Sichang and the Donglin Party are deadly rivals, so the promotion of these two people probably betrayed the Donglin Party.

  After receiving the military report, Xie Wenjin immediately said: "The military situation is so important, quickly report it to His Majesty for discussion!"

  Sun Bixian frowned. He had experience as an inspector in Shanxi, and he himself was from Shaanxi. He knew some general military knowledge and some geography of Shanxi. The military situation sent by Chen Xinjia seemed problematic no matter how he looked at it.

  Tartars entered the customs this time, only tens of thousands of people. The army has been divided before, how can it be divided into two groups now, and go to Shanxi from two opposite routes?

   "Cough cough cough cough!"

  Sun Bixian is already dying of illness. According to history, he will die of illness in half a month.

  If Yang Sichang hadn’t left Beijing and the Ministry of War urgently needed someone who knew how to fight, Sun Bixian would definitely be lying at home.

   "That's not right...cough cough cough, definitely not right." Sun Bixian said with chest tightness and shortness of breath.

   The two went together to find Chongzhen, but Sun Bixian couldn't walk, so he had to be carried by the **** to Qianqing Palace.

  Seeing that Sun Bixian was weak, Chongzhen ordered the eunuch: "Bring two chairs."

   Before Sun Bixian sat down, Chongzhen asked anxiously: "But what is the important military situation?"

  Xie Wenjin immediately took out the pond newspaper that Chen Xinjia had written to the Ministry of War: "Your Majesty, the slaves on the West Road have passed through Longquan Pass and entered Shanxi."

   "Who is the guard of Longquan Gate? There was no warning before, but he was suddenly breached by the slave army!" Chongzhen said angrily.

   "Your Majesty...cough cough!"

  Sun Bixian coughed repeatedly: "The military situation is wrong. Longquan Pass and Guguan Pass are one south and one north. It is impossible for the slaves to appear in two directions at the same time."

   "Get a map!"

   Chongzhen asked the **** to fetch the map, and after finding two passes, he nodded and said, "It's really far away."

Sun Bixian asked the **** to move the chair, helped him to sit closer, pointed to the place to the east of the middle of the two passes, and said: "A while ago, the Da slaves were still here. The two passes, the direction of the army's advance is completely different. Strange."

Xie Wenjin said: "According to the Tang report sent by Chen Xinjia, the Tartars probably sent a small number of troops to attack Guguan. This strategy of diverting the tiger away from the mountain is also to lure the officers and soldiers to go to the south to pursue it. The main force of the Tartar slaves is secretly heading north, unexpectedly. Attack Longquan Pass! This is a great opportunity, and this group of Mandarin slaves marched so quickly, they must have not brought much luggage. Officers and soldiers can block Longquan Pass, order all prefectures and checkpoints in Shanxi to guard it strictly, catch turtles in the urn and wipe them all out!"

  The analysis seems to make sense.

   Chongzhen was delighted to hear this, nodded and said, "It must be so!"

  Sun Bixian still vaguely felt that something was wrong: "Your Majesty, the situation on the front line is changing rapidly. Why don't you hand over this pond report to Lu Xiangsheng intact and let him judge by himself?"

   Chongzhen hesitated.

  If the information in the Tang report is true, then this group of Qing soldiers will go deep into Shanxi alone, and it is very likely that they will be completely wiped out. Once successful, it will be the biggest victory in the battle against the Qing Dynasty since Chongzhen ascended the throne.

  But if the information reported by the pond is false, or if something unexpected happens, it will lead to a disastrous failure.

   Chongzhen wanted a big victory, but was afraid of a disastrous defeat.

  He didn't dare to make a decision, and suddenly regretted it. It would be great if he didn't transfer Yang Sichang away. At such a critical moment, Yang Shangshu will definitely be able to make a decision, unlike the two ministers in front of him who ran to argue in front of the emperor.

   "Are you sure that the military situation is true?" Chongzhen asked Xie Wenjin.

  Xie Wenjin hesitated to speak, and dared not speak for a moment. He believed in his own analysis, but what if something went wrong? I'm about to take the blame for myself!

  Chongzhen wanted Xie Wenjin to make a decision, and Zhang Wenjin could take the blame if something happened.

   Xie Wenjin did not speak, Chongzhen could only ask Sun Bixian: "Are you sure that the military situation is false?"

  Of course Sun Bixian didn't dare to talk nonsense, and coughed quickly. As a result, the fake cough turned into a real cough, and the cough could not be stopped. I covered my mouth and coughed for a long time, and my palms were full of blood. He said ambiguously: "I just feel that the military situation is very strange, so I can send it to Lu Xiangsheng as it is. Lu Xiangsheng is a person who knows soldiers, and he will make his own judgment."

  The three monarchs and ministers seem to be suffering from difficulty in choosing at the same time.

  After careful consideration, Chongzhen said: "Order Chen Xinjia, governor of Xuanda, Ye Tinggui, governor of Datong, and Song Xian, governor of Shanxi, to immediately bring their pacesetters back to defend Shanxi. Copy Chen Xinjia's original pond newspaper and send it to Lu Xiangsheng."

   These two commands seem to be very comprehensive.

   Transferring a governor and two governors' pacesetters to Shanxi can defend against Qing soldiers who may appear in Shanxi. At the same time, Lu Xiangsheng was left to decide the course of action of the main force of the officers and soldiers.

  However, with such a deployment of troops, Lu Xiangsheng's defense line in the north was directly turned into a sieve...

  Three days later, Lu Xiangsheng received the military information.

  Lu Xiangsheng was dumbfounded, and couldn't understand for a while, so he quickly called Wang Pu, Yang Guozhu, Hu Dawei, Li Chongzhen and other generals to discuss the matter.

   "What do you guys think?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.

   After reading the military newspaper, everyone was equally confused.

  Wang Pu asked: "Could it be the defenders of Guguan and Longquanguan who heard the news and reported the whereabouts of the slaves indiscriminately?"

   "It's not true either," Yang Guozhu said, "The information that the Da slaves have passed Longquan Pass was sent by the magistrate of Shanyin. If it is true, it means that the Da slaves have already arrived in Shanxi."

   "If the Tartars had gone to Shanxi earlier, then the Tartars we chased these days were all ghosts?" Hu Dawei asked back.

Li Chongzhen's judgment was exactly the same as that of Xie Wenjin, the left servant of the Ministry of War: "Maybe the Tartars have divided their troops, and one of them is looting in front, leading the main force of our army to go south. A small group is going to Guguan to confuse our army. The Tartars on the West Road The main force actually went to Shanxi secretly."

  Wang Pu said: "The Tartars had divided their troops into two groups before, how could the Tatars on the west road divide their troops into three groups?"

  The pressure to judge the military situation fell entirely on Lu Xiangsheng at this time.

  Historically, the military information received by Lu Xiangsheng has been processed by Chen Xinjia, and then judged by Yang Sichang, and it has long been changed beyond recognition. He was so frightened that he quickly dispatched heavy troops to Shanxi, which led to his being surrounded alone.

  What he received at the moment was only Chen Xinjia's roughly processed information, and Lu Xiangsheng was equally confused.

  This thing can only be guessed!

  Once you guess wrong, you will lose the game.

  Lu Xiangsheng retired from the generals, and dug out all the military newspapers for the past month to compare the time, place, and route.

  Lu Xiangsheng vaguely felt that the Manchu Qing did not divide their troops to Shanxi.

   But he can't be sure, because the other military newspapers in his hand are also very likely to be inaccurate.

   Still have to guess...

   "Order the generals to follow the original route to pursue and not return to defend Shanxi!" Lu Xiangsheng had to take a gamble.

  (end of this chapter)