The cold wind howled on the roof, causing the grass and trees to sway.
Regardless of the cold night and strong wind, Ning Ci, Zhou Yunze, Cheng Lunying and a group of retinues and yamen servants first invited the envoys to come out of the post house, then knocked on the door again and walked into the county government's mansion.
Ning Ci changed his previous attitude this time and made it clear that the Nanyang government office would do its best to cooperate with the Shenwu Army in gathering reinforcements in Huainan:
"Zuo Xiaosheng's army is about to march south to Xiangyang in the near future. The Duke and the Marquis of Wuyang will also be ordered to lead the Shenwu Army to the mouth of the Tangbai River within five days to board a ship and rush to Huainan - everything is complicated, but the manpower of the government is limited.
Zhou Langjun, Cheng Langjun and I returned to the government office and thought about it for a long time. We still felt that it was necessary to ask the Duke and Wuyang Marquis to explain everything clearly in person, so that we could handle it one by one without making too many mistakes and missing important matters.
…”
Zhao Fan's mansion was in an alley to the east of the Duke's Palace. He returned to the house and hugged his concubine, who was as warm as jade, and fell asleep. Before the evil fire slowly rose up, the Duke's Palace sent someone to
Ning Ci, the prefect, Zhou Yunze, the general magistrate, Cheng Lunying, who joined the army, and others who came to report to the magistrate visited the county government at night after leaving for only an hour.
Zhao Fan hurriedly crawled out of bed, asked his attendants to lead the horses, and rushed to the county government's mansion.
Hearing from Ning Ci that Zuo Xiaosheng's army was about to march south to Xiangyang in the near future, Zhao Fan just raised his foot to cross the threshold, stumbled, and almost fell in front of Zheng Huaizhong and Ning Ci.
Zhao Fan sat down awkwardly under Zheng Cong, and looked at Zheng Huaizhong with shock and suspicion, whose face was so gloomy that he could squeeze water out of it:
Why is Xu Huai willing to let the remnants of Zuo Xiaosheng's army go south? Could it be that Xu Huai would rather resist the enemies in the west of Jing and Heluo alone than fight against the Runan County government?
Zhao Fan bought an informant around Ning Ci. He knew that Ning Ci and others walked out of the county mansion after listening to the imperial edict at night. They also expressed their dissatisfaction in front of the edict, but their attitude was completely different at this time. Could it be said that they also took advantage of Chu Shan's attitude?
Is there a sinister taste?
"Marquis Jingsheng was pressing very hard, with stern words, asking the government office to send the first batch of personnel to Ye County before dawn. This was a big matter, and Ning Ci did not dare to neglect it, so she went back to the government office to make arrangements.
"
Of course, Ning Ci would not continue the stalemate with Zheng Huaizhong. He visited the county government late at night. First, he told Zuo Xiaosheng that his army was about to go south, and hinted at the ferocious posture of Jingsheng Marquis Xu Huai. Second, he wanted to convey the edict to the messenger.
In front of them, they reaffirmed their position of being forever connected with the imperial court. Having said this, they said goodbye to Zhou Yunze and Cheng Lunying and left.
"If you have any instructions from the Duke, please go to the government office and inform us..."
Even before Ning Ci and others walked out of the courtyard, Zheng Cong glared at Zhao Fan angrily and asked:
"See how you still swore that that guy would never let Zuo Xiaosheng's army leave Ruzhou?"
Zhao Fan grimaced and looked towards Zheng Huaizhong.
"Is now the time to complain?" Zheng Huaizhong glanced at Zheng Cong accusingly and said, "If the information is wrong, I didn't expect Xu Huai to let Zuo Xiaoshengjun leave Ruzhou. Do you even want to blame your father?
"
"I don't dare," Zheng Cong said. "Since things have happened, don't complain about this or that, just 'soldiers will block it, water will cover it', the sky will not fall," Zheng Huaizhong said, "We have already prepared reinforcements for Huainan
The preparations made at this time are just based on the plan, there is nothing worth complaining about..."
"The Duke has decided to send troops to reinforce Huainan?" Zhao Fan asked in a low voice.
"I'm afraid it won't work if we don't follow the imperial edict this time," Zheng Huaizhong said with a sigh, "We'll be defeated in Huainan, but if the troops are lucky enough to defeat the enemy in Huainan, we won't be able to get through that easily. Look at Ning Ci
The reaction of these strangers, His Majesty probably did not give them any secret edict, but it was to save some face for me. We can only keep informed..."
"Father, are you saying that Xu Huai must have received some secret edict to send Zuo Xiaosheng's army south without realizing it?" Zheng Cong asked.
"Regardless of whether there is a secret edict or not, Your Majesty's relationship with Chushan has always been closer than ours..." Zheng Huaizhong stared at the ancient trees shaking in the cold wind in the courtyard with a gloomy face, and said in a calm tone.
"More than being closer, it's simply too partial! Haven't our Zheng family shed blood and fought for the imperial court, and don't think about where he is now without our Zheng family? He feels that his foundation is solid, so he wants to be cunning.
What a fool!" Zheng Cong said angrily.
Withdrawing from the south of Heluo, Zheng Huaizhong and Zheng Cong never thought about retreating to any corner and not engaging the Red Husbands.
In their plan, they retreated to Nanyang as a base and established a solid defense line at Fangcheng Pass in the north of Nanyang. However, they extended their minions northward to Ye County, Wuyang and even Xiangcheng to maintain contact with the Japanese soldiers.
By controlling the depth of contact with the enemy within a hundred miles, the Zheng family and the Shenwu Army could not only maintain their position as the backbone of the resistance against the Hu barbarians, but they also did not need to withstand too much military pressure.
At present, Gu Jiqian and Gao Junyang rely on the steep terrain of the northern foothills of the Qinling Mountains to almost control the depth of the enemy within this radius. Backed by the four Chuanxia Roads, the continuous supply of grain and newly added troops and horses are greater than before.
It was much more comfortable to compete with the Japanese soldiers on both sides of the Wei River, and they successfully blocked the Japanese soldiers who invaded Shaanxi from the Qinling Mountains.
Is there anything wrong with the Zheng family to abandon the defense of Heluo, which was under great pressure and suffered extremely heavy casualties, and retreat to Nanyang and Fangcheng Pass? At the beginning, most of the courtiers in Xiangyang also believed that this was the best and good policy for the country.
.
Zheng Cong didn't know what happened. They retreated to Nanyang as they wished, but their planned enemy contact areas, such as Ye County, Wuyang and Xiangcheng, turned into defense areas for Chushan's camp.
Although the imperial court finally classified Shangzhou into the defense zone of the Shenwu Army, from Nanyang to the east, via the Wuguan Road between the Qinling Mountains and Funiu Mountains, and around to Shangluo, Lushi and other cities in the upper reaches of the Luoshui River, not only did it take four to five hundred detours
It is a long way and the mountain road is also extremely narrow and dangerous.
Not only the Zheng family and his son, but also the generals and generals of the Shenwu Army complained about this.
This winter, the Shenwu generals and soldiers were passive and lazy in fighting, and no one at the top or bottom was willing to fight north from the Lu family along the narrow and dangerous Luoshui Road. Zheng Cong felt that all this was due to the partiality of the imperial court and Emperor Jianji, and he could not blame the Zheng family.
"Careful when disaster comes from your mouth! Can you say such nonsense?" Zheng Huaizhong glared at Zheng Cong and reprimanded in a low voice, "You quickly go to the camp to summon the generals to prepare for the dispatch of troops! This is the emperor's decree, from now on
From this moment on, anyone who dares to slack off or complain will be severely punished under military law——"
"If you have any grievances, you can't blame the generals below." Zheng Cong said.
"If you don't understand, think about it slowly, but you keep your mouth shut and don't let me catch you killing chickens to show the monkeys!" Zheng Huaizhong glared at Zheng Cong and said murderously, "Maybe this time
Only by killing three or five people with a rod can we severely kill the majesty of these arrogant soldiers!"
Zheng Huaizhong called in the guards who were waiting on the marquis in the corridor. He immediately summoned the generals and officials back to the military camp with his orders, and prepared armor, swords and horses for him, preparing to go to the camp overnight.
Zheng Cong was dissatisfied with his father Zheng Huaizhong's harsh attitude towards him at this time. When Zheng Huaizhong went to change his armor, he still sat there angrily without moving.
Zhao Fan persuaded him in a low voice:
"It's not that the Duke has no grievances or grievances in his heart, but Marquis Wuyang, you have to understand the difficulty of the Duke accompanying the emperor like a tiger. Most likely Marquis Jingsheng has received His Majesty's secret edict against the Duke. No matter how big the problem is in the Duke's heart,
All grievances must be swallowed first. The more severe the Duke is at this time, the more severe he is. Firstly, he can explain to the court, and secondly, if the generals have any grievances, not only will they not be blamed on the Duke and Wuyang Marquis,
I can even be more considerate of the grievances you have endured at this time, and thus become more loyal to the Duke and Marquis Wuyang. When the time comes, even if the Duke resorts to cruel tricks against you, Marquis Wuyang, you will have to endure it, otherwise the Duke
The Duke is too passive in court..."
…………
…………
Not only were the Zheng family and his son unwilling to send troops to reinforce Huainan, but not only Ning Ci and other Nanyang Prefecture officials were worried that the failure of the Rucai defense line would endanger Nanyang, the Biyang military and civilians were also unwilling to transfer the main force of the Shenwu Army from Nanyang Prefecture.
Although Nanyang has not been directly devastated by the war so far, millions of people have fled south through Nanyang in the past six or seven years. All the suffering they have suffered has been witnessed by the local people in Nanyang.
What's more, the family members of the Shenwu Army were withdrawn from Luoyang and other places and were mainly resettled in Biyang and other places; some of them were evacuated from Shaanxi Fifth Road many times, some were from Heluo households, and their children were recruited into the Shenwu Army in Luoyang.
, most of them have experienced the cruelty and bloodshed of war.
Because the family members were mainly resettled in Biyang and other places, the Shenwu Army generals were full of resistance and resentment towards the imperial government's decision to spare the elite garrison from Nanyang Prefecture to reinforce Huainan.
Zheng Huaizhong, however, held the imperial edict in his hand and severely and cruelly suppressed all voices of dissatisfaction and complaints. He did not hesitate to kill dozens of old soldiers who had followed him for many years. Even Zheng Cong, the Marquis of Wuyang who came to plead for mercy, was dragged out of the camp and whipped.
Within the specified date of the imperial edict, the 30,000 elite main force of the Shenwu Army was gathered at the mouth of the Tangbai River, boarded a ship and embarked on a journey to reinforce Huainan...
