To tell a cold joke, Chahan Timur and Liu Futong are from the same hometown.
Liu Futong was from Yingzhou, Chahan Timur's ancestral home was in Bielsbali, but his father Aruwen moved to Yingzhou early, and Chahan was also born in Yingzhou.
Liu Futong initially followed Han Shantong to teach the Dharma, and most of his subordinates were soldiers from the Yingzhou area.
Coincidentally, Chahan Timur also gathered a group of landlord armed forces in Yingzhou and other places to join in suppressing the Red Turban Army.
The core backbone of the two opposing sides turned out to be people from the same place.
The two sides have been fighting to the death for ten years, and maybe they are neighbors.
Now Liu Futong has chosen to commit suicide, and it has come to an end in a heroic way.
"Those unyielding warriors who bravely took up arms and resisted the Yuan Dynasty died heavier than Mount Tai. Those beasts who were willing to serve as hawks and lackeys for the Yuan Dynasty just for personal glory and wealth died lighter than a feather. Cong Cha
Han Timur chose to work for the Yuan Dynasty and brutally slaughtered the red scarves. Once he started killing the people, he was destined to be infamy for thousands of years!"
Zhang Ximeng picked up his pen while waiting for the war to begin.
How to conclude Liu Futong's coffin, and how to interpret this decisive battle in the Central Plains... Zhang Ximeng thought about it repeatedly and decided to put these old enemies together and write a good article.
Who is right, who is wrong, who is a hero, who is an ugly person... Liu Futong and Han Song Dynasty relied on the idea of relieving the people to grow strong, but because they forgot the people, they fell into decline.
Chahan Timur was a lackey of the Yuan Dynasty from beginning to end. Therefore, it was not Chahan Timur who defeated Liu Futong, but Liu Futong himself defeated himself.
The warrior who once stood up for the people turned into a villain who didn't care about the life and death of the people. He will naturally die...but we should not forget his former bravery and ambition.
Don’t forget your original intention and persevere to the end, and you will succeed!
Zhang Ximeng trembled all over, his thoughts surged, and he soon wrote a rough outline of an article... It would be great if fighting was as easy as writing an article!
The only question left now is whether Chahan can be killed. If he is captured or killed... and then the article is published through newspapers and everyone in the world knows about it, then the effect will be full.
Chahan didn't know that Zhang Ximeng was making a fuss about him, saying that he died lighter than a feather... In fact, Chahan didn't see himself that way. He felt that although he had moved to Shanxi, Hebei and other places in recent years, he was from Yingzhou after all.
, they mobilized troops and horses in Xinyang, fought against the Red Turban in Runing and other places, and developed and expanded all the way to where they are today.
Therefore, Chahan estimated that even if the elders in his hometown complained, they would not become merciless.
As long as we send troops and horses there, we should be able to win over people's hearts and march smoothly... Just as Wang Baobao envisioned, he would enter the hinterland of Henan, turn east, threaten Xuzhou and other places, and force Zhu Yuanzhang to withdraw his troops.
The plan was perfect, but it failed at the first step.
Chahan sent his confidant Li Keyi to lead more than 20,000 cavalry from Zhengzhou southward, heading straight to Xinzheng, and then through Xuzhou, Yingzhou and other places to make an extreme detour to disrupt Zhu Yuanzhang's rear.
Anyway, there aren't many Ming troops here, so they can't come and go easily...
But Chahan and Li Keyi both thought wrong. Going south from Zhengzhou, wherever they passed, there was a wilderness as far as the eye could see. The fields on the roadside were barren and there were few trees.
The fertile soil of the Central Plains turns up yellow sand all over the place. In spring, most of it is yellow and green is scarce.
Years of war have devastated the Central Plains to the point of depopulation and desolation.
Coupled with the frequent flooding of the Yellow River, sandstorms, salt-alkali, and locust plagues, these disaster-prone lands have been ravaged in turn.
It is completely different from when Chahan set out many years ago.
Li Keyi frowned more and more as he walked. Not to mention eating pots of pulp, there was no team to greet the king's division, and even the common people couldn't see one. How could they fight?
He reluctantly walked south for a while, leaving the main battlefield, and finally saw the smoke. Li Keyi immediately sent his troops over... But when they arrived, there was no one in the village. The stove was still hot, but the pot was already gone.
Being carried away, not to mention food and other things.
The Yuan army just found a well. Some Yuan soldiers were so thirsty that they poured water from the well.
But soon he suffered from severe poisoning, vomiting, diarrhea, and wailing.
Li Keyi had to issue an order not to drink water casually.
You can only drink mare's milk.
Ironically, the Mongolian cavalry relied on this trick to travel thousands of miles and wipe out countless countries. However, although today's Mongolian soldiers can still drink some occasionally, they can't stand it if they do it for a long time.
The morale of the military dropped rapidly.
Li Keyi had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue moving forward.
Fortunately, after walking for a while, the river network became more and more dense, and it seemed that drinking water was no longer a problem. However, there is not a single bridge on these rivers.
Even if there is, it has been destroyed by others.
The boats on the riverside have also disappeared, and in some places, you can even see the black charcoal after burning... Seeing this, Li Keyi's whole body was cold, and he gradually understood.
It is indeed sparsely populated, but it is by no means empty.
Instead, someone took the people away, leaving only a white field.
Who did it?
Is it Han and Song? They have already subjugated their country.
Is it the Ming Dynasty? How did they do it in such a short time?
Could it be that if you walk a lot at night, you may encounter ghosts?
Li Keyi quickly sent people to search everywhere, hoping to arrest a few people and ask them to find out. As a result, they dispersed and it took a long time to bring back a few old, weak, sick and disabled people. Some of them had sound limbs, but they were still fools.
After asking for a long time, I still didn’t understand the answer.
This made Li Keyi almost want to die.
The original plan was to rush forward quickly and go straight to Huanglong, but the result was that the old ox-drawn cart broke down. It took three days and it was less than 150 miles away.
At this marching speed, if they still want to take the Ming army's retreat, they are afraid that by the time they reach Xuzhou and other places, the decisive battle will be over long ago.
Li Keyi also wanted to advance quickly, so he could only keep urging his subordinates. But his subordinates were unwilling and went deeper and deeper into the hinterland of the Ming army. What if they were ambushed?
Does Lord Pingzhang plan to use us as bait, send us out, and then retreat to the north safely? If so, we will not agree!
Moreover, one wants to make a fortune by fighting. Where can one go to rob someone in this deserted place?
If you can't plunder, then why fight?
Li Keyi was getting more and more headaches. After all, the so-called landlords' armed forces were just a bunch of grass-head kings gathered together, and Chahan Timur was just the general leader.
With the defeat on the battlefield, Chahan was determined to return north, but he was hesitant... As a result, the people below were panicked and everyone had their own thoughts. In this situation, he wanted to run a long distance and sneak attack the Ming army, which was really overestimating himself.
Li Keyi planned to explain the situation to Chahan and ask Chahan for Timur's intentions.
But before he could send the letter out, the Yuan army, who was sleeping in the camp, suddenly heard loud gongs and drums from all around, shouting to kill Zhentian.
I hurriedly sent someone out, but in vain, I found nothing and only picked up a broken basin.
Who is this?
How dare you disturb our rest?
Li Keyi's face turned livid, and he kicked the broken basin to pieces, but he was just helpless and furious.
After turning around and continuing to advance, the exhausted Yuan army had covered less than thirty miles.
But on the second night, it was still the same, and they were divided into two batches, one in the first half of the night and one in the second half of the night. I don't know where they got the gunpowder.
It was placed in a bamboo tube and fired at the Yuan army camp. It also caused several fires and burned several Yuan soldiers.
Next, water sources were poisoned, holes were dug on the roads, scattered Yuan troops were attacked, cold arrows were fired, traps were set, barbed wire was spread, animal traps were placed... In short, all methods were used, and they became more and more elaborate, emerging one after another.
As a result, the Yuan army was unable to eat well and sleep poorly. They were up and down, their morale was low, and they were no longer willing to take a step forward.
Li Keyi saw this and was anxious in his heart. He felt that he had to retreat. If this continued, it would not be long before the Ming army would collapse without the need for action.
Gradually, Li Keyi also understood.
Facing Han and Song Dynasty, it may be useful to play this trick of long-distance raids and attacking the hinterland.
But their opponents are the Ming army, and they are ordinary people who are organized from top to bottom. With everyone working together, how can they give them many opportunities to take advantage of them?
Although the loss is not much, every step is bumpy and full of hardships.
You haven't even seen what the enemy looks like, and you've already suffered a lot of losses. How can you continue to fight?
We must prepare to retreat,
But while Li Keyi was waiting for Chahan's order, the local militia was not satisfied with just harassing and delaying. They also took the initiative to find the Ming army, hoping to ask the Ming army to take action and severely defeat the enemy.
Since Wang Bi and Zheng Yuchun are still in the direction of Kaifeng, they are still a bit far away from here.
The news was actually sent to Feng Guoshan first.
"The Yuan army actually sent people south?"
Feng Guoyong informed Feng Guosheng, Deng Yu, Ding Pulang and others about the situation. Let's discuss what should be done?
At this time, Feng Guosheng was the first to speak: "Captain Governor, although there are many Yuan soldiers, they are not endless. If they send troops south, they will definitely have an empty rear... I suggest that we bypass Ruzhou and send a partial division to capture Xiangcheng first.
Come down... seize Xiangcheng, and Xuzhou will be on your doorstep. The Yuan army going south will definitely come back for reinforcements, and the Guanbao in Ruzhou will be restless. When the time comes, all the armies will come out to attack Ruzhou, and the entire Henan
The Yuan army will tremble in fear, and we will have a better chance of winning."
After listening to what his brother Feng Guosheng said, Feng Guoyong looked at the map again and immediately felt that what he said made sense, and he felt happy in his heart.
The Ming army placed its main force in Hebei, but they did not expect that it would be in the direction of Henan where the opportunity first appeared... It must be said that the battlefield is really changing rapidly and unpredictable.
After discussing with several people, Feng Guoyong decisively agreed to Feng Guosheng's suggestion, and drew out 5,000 people, and handed over the most elite miner siege team to Feng Guosheng.
They carried enough gunpowder and set off immediately.
Feng Guosheng had been holding his breath, and finally waited for the opportunity. He led his troops and horses and quickly rushed towards Xiangcheng... If Li Keyi was still in the direction of Zhengzhou, even if Xiangcheng was lost, he could still send cavalry to block it.
But now he has approached Runing, exposing his weakness to the Ming army.
"Siege the city!"
In the wave-like siege tide, the miners successfully approached Xiangcheng and buried gunpowder under the city wall... Then there was a loud noise and a hole was blown open in the city wall.
Xiangcheng, which had less than 3,000 defenders, fell into Feng Guosheng's hands.
And Feng Guosheng was really a ferocious tiger. He rushed towards Xuzhou almost non-stop. Unexpectedly, Xuzhou also fell into Feng Guosheng's hands... The entire Henan Yuan army's battle line was violently torn open with a big hole.
The successive victories made Feng Guosheng so arrogant that he ignored Li Keyi who was going south and instead sent his army directly to Xinzheng.
This side made bold moves and made great progress. Feng Guoyong, Ding Pulang, and Deng Yu each led their troops to attack Ruzhou... Guanbao was defeated and led the remaining troops to flee.