Yuan Shizhong's defection not only reduced the Chuang army by 30,000 troops, but also created a rift between the Chuang army and Cao's army. At least Luo Rucai did sit back and watch Yuan Shizhong's escape, but did not stop it. The thoughts in it inevitably made Li Zicheng want to
Generate suspicion.
Although both sides had some suspicions in their hearts, no one pointed out this matter. Instead, they unanimously agreed with a tacit understanding to send Li Guo to lead an army to pursue and suppress the enemy. This also further reduced the number of troops in the camp.
At this time, Li Zicheng suddenly received an urgent spy report and learned from the spies that Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue, and Zuo Liangyu were planning to join forces near Runing. Knowing that a decisive battle was imminent, he immediately
A meeting of generals was convened in Zhuxian Town and it was decided to encircle Kaifeng first.
Since the wheat was ripe at this season, the Chuang army was not in a hurry to attack the city. Instead, they seized the time to harvest the wheat outside the city. The Ming army in the city was not to be outdone and ventured out of the city to harvest the wheat. Occasionally, the two sides had conflicts inside and outside the dyke of the siege.
There were sporadic fighting, but the scale of the war did not increase.
While the rebel soldiers were harvesting wheat, Li Zicheng kept a close eye on the position of Zuo Liangyu's army, and sent someone to quickly send a secret message to Li Guo, asking him not to pursue Yuan Shizhong, and to defeat Yuan Shizhong after winning a battle.
Choosing to return to the army, he also sent an order to Tian Jianxiu and other generals, asking them to quickly withdraw their troops from Zhengzhou, Rongyang and Xinzheng, and rush back to the outside of Kaifeng City to prepare for the battle.
At this time, there were about 100,000 Ming troops rescuing Kaifeng. They were led by Governor Ding Qirui, Zuo Liangyu, Hu Dawei, Fang Guoan, and Governor Yang Wenyue of Baoding. Among them, Zuo Liangyu and Hu Dawei's troops were quite elite.
, so there is no chance of a fight.
However, the two sides were not eager to fight, but formed a stalemate around Zhuxian Town, and the atmosphere was very tense.
Zhuxian Town is a very famous town in Henan. It has been famous since the Song and Jin Dynasties. The reason is that Zhuxian Town is a key place to go to Kaifeng, from Xuchang, Ye County, Nanyang to Xiangyang, and then from Wuchang to Hunan and
When traveling from Guangdong, Guangdong, or Jingzhou along the Yangtze River to Sichuan, they will pass through Zhuxian Town. As for people from prefectures and counties in southern Henan, Zhuxian Town is also the only way to go to the provincial capital and the capital.
Of course, what is more famous is that Marshal Yue defeated the Jin soldiers in Zhuxian Town, which added a bit of legend out of thin air.
After Li Zicheng occupied Zhuxian Town, he walked up the river for several miles, and then ordered the river to be cut off and the water directed to the depressions in Hebei to form a lake. In addition, he dug several ditches to lead the water into the military camp.
At the same time, he also arranged for Hao Yaoqi to lead two thousand cavalry and three thousand infantry to the east, west and south of Shuipoji to burn the wheat in the fields and disrupt the army.
At the same time, the Ming army was miserable. With Shuipoji as the center and facing Zhuxian Town, the officers and soldiers built many forts and dug trenches outside the forts. It looked pretty neat, but the problem was
The officers and soldiers were located downstream. When the intruders cut off the water source, the river bed downstream began to dry up. This made the officers and soldiers' hearts suddenly float.
Ding Qirui, the governor of the three sides, had no choice. He knew that it was a mistake not to occupy Zhuxian Town in time. At present, he could only mobilize soldiers to dig wells. However, most of the wells dug had no water, and only a few of them had water. And he had just started to propose it.
The water was still very clear, but later began to become turbid, making it impossible to drink normally. The soldiers even fell into fighting with each other in order to compete for this small amount of water.
Seeing that digging wells was useless, Ding Qirui could only take Zuo Liangyu to the northwest of Shuipoji to inspect some of the positions where the rebels were stalemate, hoping to find a loophole for the rebels. Unfortunately, the rebels were tightly defended and there was no opportunity to take advantage of them.
With no other choice, he could only return disappointed and invited the generals to come to discuss military affairs.
Soon, after all the generals gathered in the commander's tent, Ding Qirui talked a little about the current situation, and with a sincere expression asked everyone to come up with a combat strategy to save the overall situation.
Everyone looked at each other and looked at Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding. Apart from Ding Qirui, the governor of the three sides, Yang Wenyue had the highest official position, and his status was even higher than that of Zuo Liangyu, Hu Dawei and other generals.
Unlike Ding Qirui, who can only talk about military affairs on paper, Yang Wenyue obviously needs to know more about the military. He was originally a Jinshi in the 47th year of Wanli, and was promoted to the Ministry of War in the fifth year of Tianqi.
, the inspector general of Guangxi, led the army to rescue Kaifeng in the 14th year of Chongzhen, and killed a dragon of rebel generals, which made his reputation huge.
It was a pity that Yang Wenyue and Shaanxi Governor Fu Zonglong were defeated in Xincai. They were defeated first in Mengjiazhuang, and then in Huoshaodian. They even forcibly took Yang Wenyue into Xiangcheng, which led to the annihilation of Fu Zonglong's entire army. This incident
The incident also led to Yang Wenyue's dismissal.
Of course, in the first month of the first month, Yang Wenyue rushed to Kaifeng and was finally reinstated. However, he was not affected by this punishment. He muttered: "The morale of our army is not good at the moment. If we try our best to hold on, under the deep trenches and high fortresses, we will only
I am afraid that the morale of our army will be exhausted and people's hearts will be shattered. I am afraid that something bad will happen by then... As I can see, it is better to hold on for a few more days. If it is necessary, the army will slowly retreat to Bai County and Suizhou. There is no need to be trapped here.
.”
Hearing that Yang Wenyue wanted to run away, Ding Qirui's brows suddenly jumped. He shook his head very decisively and said: "The slightest movement of the army now will inevitably cause the invasion army to attack, and His Majesty has issued emergency orders many times, asking us to rescue Kaifeng.
If we retreat like this, how will we deal with His Majesty then?"
Yang Wenyue suddenly smiled bitterly and shook his head and said: "The former bandits were so powerful that they captured Zhuxian Town. They first gained the advantage of the location and then cut off the Jialu River. At this time, our army of more than 100,000 people was already in a situation without water. If we want to fight like this, we can only
Only if we can overcome the dangers together in the shortest possible time..."
Ding Qirui nodded slightly and was about to agree with Yang Wenyue's idea when he saw Zuo Liangyu glance at him with a slight sneer at the corner of his mouth. He immediately stopped talking very dissatisfied and looked at Zuo Liangyu.
Said: "Oh? I wonder what General Kunshan wants?"
Zuo Liangyu shook his head at this time. It was obvious that he was quite dissatisfied with Ding Qirui. Before rescuing Kaifeng this time, he suggested to the court that the army should go to Qixian and Chenliu, and go straight to the city of Kaifeng, at Yuwangtai and Fanta Temple.
They set up camp in the area, backed by the fortified city, and were in an invincible position. However, this suggestion was not adopted. Ding Qirui still decided to capture Zhuxian Town, and now Zhuxian Town was captured by the intruders. Naturally, Zuo Liangyu was greatly shocked.
dissatisfied.
"Two Lord Supervisors, if we advance so rashly, our army will be defeated quickly!" This chapter has been completed!