Four hundred and twentieth eight chapters two into Henan
After Xuan Mo finished writing the letter to Wu Shigong, he sent someone to Runing that night. But as soon as he went to bed that night, he got the shocking news: the peasant rebel army was united and marched towards Henan in a large scale.
.
The Ming court mobilized the army on such a large scale and could not hide it from the peasant rebels. Of course they would not just stand there and be beaten passively.
And now the governor of the five provinces, Hong Chengchou, is busy quelling the Xining mutiny and cannot entangle the peasant rebels. And because the Grand Canal and the Yellow River are frozen, the army led by Shandong Governor Zhu Dadian cannot mobilize quickly. Therefore, we don't want to go now.
Where does Henan want to go when its defenses are relatively empty?
Moreover, the last trip to Henan was a dream trip for the peasant rebel army. A large number of refugees joined in, which made the army stronger. In addition, Henan is located in the Central Plains, and its richness is unmatched by Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu and other places.
So the peasant rebels have long wanted to celebrate the anniversary.
In the long-term battle with the Ming Dynasty official army, the leaders of the peasant rebel army gradually realized the shortcomings of fighting on their own, so this time they formed a huge coalition army. Under the command of Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang,
Conduct joint military operations.
November 6, the seventh year of Chongzhen. Shaanzhou, Henan.
Hundreds of Ming army cavalry, led by a Qianhu, stopped on the top of a hill. At this time, they were eight or nine miles away from the peasant rebels, but the cavalry no longer dared to approach, but there was no one who came close.
It's necessary.
Because of such a long distance, the momentum of the peasant rebel army has already frightened people. Looking from the Ming army cavalry, in the area south of the cliff mouth, with Nanshan Mountain in the south and river meander in the north, there are flags covering the sky. A
The sun shines brightly. Waves press against the clouds and come in. All I hear is the sound of horses neighing.
Moreover, the company and camp of the peasant rebel army could not be seen at a glance, and they probably stretched for dozens of miles; the road where people and animals had trampled was five or six miles wide. Their total strength was beyond imagination.
You must know that when they entered Henan, although the peasant rebel army had grown to hundreds of thousands of troops, firstly they did not unite in one place, and secondly most of them were refugees who had just taken refuge in Henan, and their combat effectiveness was not strong.
But this time is different. The total number of peasant rebels who entered Henan is no less than the last time. And with this force gathered together, the total strength is no longer a simple addition. In addition, the majority of the peasant rebels this time
They are all veterans who survived the roving battle, so their combat effectiveness has far exceeded that of the last time.
"Sir! Do we want to get closer and take a closer look?" a cavalryman asked Mr. Qian.
The Qian always turned pale: "Why are you so close? Does it make any difference if the difference is two or thirty thousand? Don't involve all our brothers."
"Sir, look!" At this moment, a cavalryman who suddenly came forward to observe shouted.
I saw more than a thousand cavalrymen rushing in front of the peasant rebel army and discovered these Ming army cavalry. They stepped on the wheat field and ran towards this group of Ming army cavalry.
"Let's go!" Mr. Qian turned his horse's head without hesitation. "Hurry up and report back to the governor."
Because the strength of the peasant rebel army was too large, they no longer needed to hide. Therefore, in addition to sending some cavalry to clear the way, they did not send a large number of reconnaissance cavalry to the left and right in front.
They just saw that this group of Ming Army cavalry was annoying, so they drove their horses to drive them away. However, because they knew that the distance was too far, it was impossible to catch up with this group of Ming Army cavalry, so after pretending to chase them for a while, the peasants
The rebel cavalry collected their horses and returned to camp.
"Dong Weng! The Lu family can't defend! We only have more than 14,000 soldiers and horses, and we have to break up the major passes and cities. We can't stop the hundreds of thousands of Shaanxi bandits at all. Although Dong Weng stays here, we can slightly block the Shaanxi bandits.
There are only one or two bandits, but it's fine if they are in danger. But without the troops of Zuo Zongbing and Tang Zongbing, what will happen to Luoyang? What will happen to Kaifeng behind? Don Weng, if you think about it, there are two princes in those two cities.
Ah!" Master Wang tried his best to persuade Xuan Mo.
Xuan Mo said nothing, looking at Zuo Liangyu, Tang Jiuzhou and other military attachés who were attacking, waiting for their statements.
Tang Jiuzhou touched his chin and remained silent. At this time, he didn't want to be the one who stood out. But relatively speaking, Zuo Liangyu's understanding of officialdom was much higher than that of Tang Jiuzhou. Otherwise, he would
How could he go from a criminal soldier to a general soldier in just a few years? This kind of speed can not only be obtained by selling chrysanthemums!
Zuo Liangyu knew that Xuanmo had actually wanted to retreat for a long time. It was just the governor's duty to defend the territory, which prevented him from proposing a retreat first. At this time, if Zuo Liangyu understood and proposed a retreat, although he might be subject to some consequences afterwards.
Punishment, but as long as you hold on to the governor's lap, what you lose now will be made up for in the future with profits.
So after thinking about the words, Zuo Liangyu bowed and saluted: "Master Governor! My lords! Lu's is just a county town with a small wall and low walls, so the army cannot deploy at all. If we want to stop the Shaanxi bandits here,
We must set up a camp outside the city to defend it. But this will play into the Shaanxi bandit's plan. The army outside the city will be in trouble."
"And if the Shaanxi bandits surround the Lu family, there will be no communication between the inside and outside, and no one from outside will take charge of the overall situation. On the contrary, the plan of suppressing the bandits will be missed. If the governor must defend, then the general will volunteer to guard with his son.
We are here. Please ask the governor to lead the rest of the army to respond outside."
"But I would also like to say something here. To stop the Shaanxi bandits, we cannot rely solely on our troops in Henan. I don't know when reinforcements from various places will arrive. I will have no problem staying at Lu's for half a month. But if there are no reinforcements,
, as time goes by, the Lu family will definitely not be safe. When the time comes, I beg the governor not to blame the general."
Although Zuo Liangyu acted with dignity and integrity, he gave Xuan Mo a vaccination here, making it clear that Zuo Liangyu would not stick to the Lu family. In other words, he would definitely run away.
After hearing Zuo Liangyu give him a step down, Xuanmo calmly nodded slightly to Zuo Liangyu. Then he asked Master Wang: "What's the response to the letter of request for help sent to the court and other places?
"
In fact, Xuanmo also knew about the messages asking for help. At this time, he wanted all the officials in the Chinese military tent to hear clearly, so that they could understand that his order to withdraw troops was also a last resort.
Master Wang immediately reported: "The request for help from the Ministry of War has been going for several days, and it is estimated that it has arrived at the court now. However, as time goes by, the time for the Ministry of War to mobilize troops and horses may not be as fast as our request for help from neighboring provinces.
.”
"There is no hope for Jinfu. The Yellow River is frozen again, and the Shaanxi bandits have a smooth road to Shanxi, so they are also asking for help from everywhere. Lufu is better. But the news is that Governor Zhu is afraid that there are few soldiers, so he will definitely
He had to wait until the troops and horses of the Tianjin and Guan Ning cavalry arrived before he would go out on the expedition. By the time he got here, he had already become a thing of yesterday!"
"The traffic at Governor Hong's place has been cut off by the Shaanxi bandits. However, news came a few days ago that he has brought the main force of the army to quell the rebellion in Xining, and there are not many soldiers and horses that can be sent. As for General Qin of the Sichuan Army, only
Three thousand soldiers cannot make a big splash in front of hundreds of thousands of Shaanxi bandits."
"Also, there are Ye County Camp, Runing Camp and Guide Guard in the south..."
Xuan Mo immediately raised his hand to stop Master Wang. His letter had just been sent, and he still didn’t know what Wu Shigong’s response was. What if everyone in the public learned that he had transferred these three armies?
At the end of the day, they still stood still, so their face as a governor would be completely lost.
So Xuan Mo said: "The south is also very important. Nanyang Mansion is also within reach of the Shaanxi bandits. It's good to have General Li, Commander Zhao and Wu Runing guarding there. But if we send another transfer order, if they have soldiers and horses
If there are many, it would be best to mobilize some to come to Henan Prefecture to join forces with us."
"Also, King Fu and King Zhou are both noble relatives of the emperor, and keeping them safe is the top priority. Although General Zuo has just been passionate about serving the country, I am not a person who does not care about his subordinates. Pass on my order to the whole army.
Immediately evacuate to Luoyang and protect the cities along the Yellow River. Also explain to the officials in Henan Prefecture and let them properly arrange and manage the people to prevent them from being poisoned by the Shaanxi bandits."
After finishing the last formalities, the military meeting ended. Facing the menacing peasant rebel army, the Ming army had already abandoned most of Henan Prefecture.
And this time the peasant rebel army entered Henan for the second time, they chose the best opportunity. Before the Ming army gathered strength to encircle and suppress the peasant rebel army, they struck first and punched the Ming Dynasty Jiangshan hard in the abdomen.
, this suddenly completely disrupted the rhythm of the Ming army's encirclement and suppression.
This time, except for the general Li Zicheng who still stayed in Shaanxi to deal with the Ming army, the rest of the peasant rebel army entered Henan. During the march, no Ming army dared to block this massive army. The states along the way
The counties also abandoned their defenses one after another. Only a few local officials who did not know whether to serve the country loyally or were mentally ill local officials perished with the city.
However, it suddenly became such a large force, which caused strong differences of opinion among the peasant rebels. One group believed that they were still a mob and wanted to avoid the main force of the Ming army and still ran around looting places; the other group believed that they were still a ragtag group of people.
Already reborn, he wanted to test the strength of the Ming army, try to capture a few big cities, and expand the influence of the peasant rebel army.
In order to eliminate the differences among the peasant rebel army and for unified action in the future, in early November of the seventh year of Chongzhen, King Chuang Gao Yingxiang summoned the leaders of the 72nd Battalion of the Peasant Rebel Army Chuang Wang, Lao Huihui, Ge Liyan, Zuo
Thirteen families including the Prison King, Cao Cao, the Kaishi King, She Tuotian, the Eight Great Kings, the Hengtian King, Hun Shiwan, Guo Tianxing, Nine Dragons, and Shuntian King gathered in Xingyang.
This gathering was known as the Xingyang Congress in history. The series of actions of the peasant rebel army formulated at this meeting would also bring great turmoil to the political situation of the Ming Dynasty in the future and also bring far-reaching influence. However,
This forced Wu Shigong's Runing Army to engage in an all-out war with the peasant rebels for the first time. (To be continued...