The officers who dispersed did not expect that as soon as they returned to their own troops, they were immediately called back to the big tent. After entering the big tent, they only saw Wu Shigong sitting behind the case and reading a letter.

Xin, with a pale face and said nothing.

The officers all exchanged glances with each other and understood that something must have gone wrong. Indeed! What Wu Shigong was looking at now was the secret report from Tang Mei that had been sent in a hurry.

At that time, all Tang Mei knew was what she heard during the dance performance and what she later learned from Zuo Liangyu. It was impossible for Zuo Liangyu to tell Tang Mei the details of the Xingyang Conference. Therefore, the secret report

The other contents are not very different from what the prisoners knew during interrogation.

But there is a very important piece of information in it, that is, the peasant rebel army entering Shanxi from the north is very likely to cross the Yellow River and enter Henan. Zuo Liangyu, who is responsible for the defense of the Yellow River on this line, is only focused on the defense of Kaifeng City.

Regardless of the other channels of the Yellow River, this peasant rebel army must be completely put into Guide Prefecture.

In all the plans that Wu Shigong considered before, this group of peasant rebel armies was not considered. But when this group of peasant rebel armies appeared, the Runing Army's combat plan suddenly became chaotic.

Although it is still a possibility for the peasant rebel army to cross the Yellow River and enter Guide Prefecture so far, Wu Shigong certainly cannot turn a blind eye to this possibility, nor can he expect Zuo Liangyu to find his conscience and send troops to block the peasant rebel army.

According to inference, the total number of peasant rebels on this road should also exceed one hundred thousand. When they entered Guide Prefecture, the first problem the Runing Army faced was the defense of Guide Prefecture.

If Guidefu City is lost, of course everything will be over. But even if Guidefu City is not lost, then the entire Guidefu City will be decimated by the peasant rebels.

Unlike Runing Prefecture, which is directly controlled by the army and grassroots civilian officials of the Runing Army, the control of Guide Prefecture is indirectly controlled through the cooperation of the local gentry of Guide Prefecture with the Runing Army.

The reason why those gentry are willing to cooperate with the Runing Army is of course because they can gain a lot of benefits from the Runing Army from this cooperation. The most critical point is that the Runing Army can protect the safety and industry of these gentry.

Of course, the peasant rebel army this time is really powerful, and it is helpless for Guide Prefecture to be defeated. But if the Runing Army refuses to even make a gesture of rescue, then these gentry from Guide Prefecture will immediately fight with you

Ning Jun is disloyal.

In other words, the Runing Army must give an explanation to those gentry. Otherwise, the Runing Army will pay double the price to make up for this rift in the future. It may even completely lose control of most of the Guide Prefecture. This result is simply

Just let the Runing army cut off one of its arms.

But that's not all that's more terrifying. If the peasant rebel army doesn't entangle under the gate of Guide Prefecture, and directly bypasses the city and heads to the Iron Triangle area, and then cooperates with the peasant rebel army attacking from the east, the Iron Triangle will immediately be attacked from both sides.

situation.

We already know that the defense of a fortress group is not built in isolation one by one, but requires a mobile force to support the enemy troops who guerrilla into the fortress group.

But now the only mobile force is the 1,700-strong Guided Army led by Qian Qi, and they have to face the peasant rebels attacking from behind. So the only wise choice is to withdraw this mobile force as well.

Fortress. Preserve its own strength and strengthen the defense of the fortress. But in this way, the Iron Triangle will completely lose its ability to resist the enemy.

But in this way, the 200,000-strong peasant rebel army united in one place does not need to attack the three fortresses of the Iron Triangle at all. They only need to rush into Runing Mansion with a "hurrah", and the Runing Army will basically be defeated.

suffered a devastating blow.

Therefore, the current Runing Army no longer has to consider the issue of annihilating the peasant rebel army. They should choose to withdraw the main force of the Runing Army to Runing Mansion, and attack from the inside according to the dynamics of the peasant rebel army to maintain the control of the Runing Army.

The tranquility of the area.

But in this case, we will immediately face another problem. That is how to retreat safely from the nose of the 300,000 peasant rebels in front of us. There is only one way. That is to fight immediately and strive to win the battle in the shortest possible time.

They defeated the 300,000 peasant rebel armies within the city. Then they marched back to Runing to face the other two groups of peasant rebel armies.

But what Wu Shigong hates most is the decisive battle. Under the current situation, the peasant rebel army on the opposite side will definitely not line up and fight in the field. Facing the firearms and cavalry of the Runing Army, they will definitely rely on large camps and build a large number of fortifications and

The Runing army fought to the death.

However, even if the strength of the two sides was very different, and even if the Runing Army attacked a strong camp, Wu Shigong firmly believed that his Runing Army would win a great victory. But in this way, the Runing Army would definitely not be able to avoid heavy casualties.

And this also involves another weakness of the Runing Army.

Now every soldier in the Runing Army has received basic military training before joining the army. Wu Shigong also calculated that to train a qualified soldier, they need to be in the village guard, the road guard team, and in the Runing Army.

The training lasts for nearly a year, and the training time for technical arms such as artillery and cavalry will be even longer. Therefore, every soldier is very precious to Wu Shigong.

But this is not the most important thing. What is more important is the financial issue.

Before this expedition, Wu Shigong, together with Deng Qifan, settled an account with the accountants in the inner study. First of all, the entire Runing Army was mobilized this time, and Wu Shigong estimated that the battle would last about three months. So this pair of

If the expenditure is twice the military salary, nearly one hundred thousand taels of silver will be paid.

Another major issue is the pension for the wounded and wounded soldiers. Although there is a special bereaved fund in the officer foundation, the Runing Army itself must prepare a batch of land and money as a pension for the disabled soldiers, and this limit is your

Ning's army's casualties could not exceed 2,000.

But even so, the Runing Army will really have to live a hard life in the next two or three years. The reserves of the Runing Army and the savings of the Sihai Bank will also be fully used, and some may need to be raised from the local government and borrowed from the gentry.

Some. In the next few years, there is no need to think about military expansion. Even the equipment and horses lost in this battle will be difficult to replace.

Of course, there is a way to solve this problem, which is to let the soldiers free their hands and feet to loot, and use the proceeds from looting to replace the high military pay.

But in this case, the strict discipline that the Runing Army has cultivated for a long time will be gone; the good reputation formed in the local area will also be gone. Even the centripetal force of the Runing Army will become a big problem.

Why does the current Runing Army have extremely strong cohesion? In addition to common interests, the entire Runing Army also has a noble sense of mission and collective honor. If there are bandits, Tatars and other Ming armies,

After the robbery, the only thing that will maintain the Runing Army in the future will be profit.

But if it's just about profit, the Runing Army can't compare to the imperial court and the Tatars. Even the peasant rebel army is also very attractive. At least they can plunder unscrupulously, which will definitely make them more comfortable. Then

In the end, Wu Shigong trained the Runing Army, a powerful army, but it became a wedding dress for others.

What is even more obvious is that the combat effectiveness of the Runing Army, which is accustomed to looting, will also drop significantly. After all, an army that concentrates on fighting is always much stronger than one that is distracted by looting.

Wu Shigong would never pin his future on the noble qualities of his colleagues and subordinates, especially since he had suffered such a big loss in his previous life. Although Wu Shigong's thoughts were a bit dark, they were better than insurance. Therefore, Wu Shigong would not do anything as a last resort.

The Runing Army will never be allowed to take this step.

In the previous battles, the Runing Army had very good control over casualties. It suffered only a little over 200 casualties in total. Since they were victorious and controlled the battlefield, so far, only six soldiers of the Runing Army have been killed or disabled.

More than a dozen people.

At first, Wu Shigong estimated that as long as he patiently worked hard, he would be able to wipe out the peasant rebel army on the opposite side with at most 500 casualties. But now it has suddenly turned into a force attack, and the number of casualties will be completely out of control. And then
Chapter completed!