"What a joke! We have finished the war here, and they asked me to go to Fengyang for a military meeting. What a ghost, the military meeting? Wouldn't it be better to just follow the Shaanxi bandits to Luzhou?" Wu Shigong threw the letter in his hand on the table.
superior.
While setting up camp at night, Wu Shigong received a letter from Fengyang from Shandong Governor Zhu Dadian, ordering Wu Shigong to lead his Runing army to Fengyang as quickly as possible and discuss military matters with other civil and military officials. Of course, this military discussion
The focus is not on how to exterminate the peasant rebels, but how to ensure that Fengyang, the central capital, will no longer be disturbed by the peasant rebels.
On the 26th of the first lunar month, Zhu Dadian and Zuo Liangyu's troops entered Fengyang, which was no longer defended. The first person to make the first contribution was the highest military attaché leading the troops - General Zuo Liangyu. He also won the title of "Fengyang"
The glorious title of "Recoverer of the Sun".
After entering Fengyang, Zhu Dadian was doing all kinds of trivial things to restore the imperial rule, and at the same time, he issued a summons to the Ming troops coming for reinforcements from all sides, asking them to rush to Fengyang as soon as possible.
On the 27th, a Cao Bing army of more than 4,000 people entered Fengyang. The Ming army was led by Wu Shigong's old acquaintance, Cao Bing Deputy General Yan Dingshan.
In addition, in this Caobing army, there was another old acquaintance of Wu Shigong - Tang Liu of the Cao Gang. This time Tang Liu also led more than 300 children of the Cao Gang to join Yan Dingshan's army.
Yan Dingshan and Tang Liu used to be from Fengyang Guards. Although they later left their hometown, most of their families and ancestral graves remained in Fengyang, so this time they both rushed to the rescue.
.
On the 27th, the reinforcement vanguard sent by Nanjing also arrived under the leadership of General Zhang. However, what puzzled Zhu Dadian was that the Runing army who informed them of the news did not arrive.
The messenger sent by Zhu Dadian rushed to Yingzhou first, but when he was in Yingzhou, he learned that the Runing Army had gone to fight in the Huainan section of the Huaihe River, so it was not until now that the summons order was sent to Wu Shigong.
Although it was a summons order, this order did not have any binding force on Wu Shigong. Because Wu Shigong was the military attache of Henan and Zhu Dadian was the governor of Shandong. No matter how he used words to drive away the military, Zhu Dadian could not control Wu Shigong.
It’s just that Zhu Dadian now has great righteousness. No matter what, ensuring the safety of Zhongdu is always a top priority. Therefore, in this case, all military attachés should respect Zhu Dadian, the highest-level civil servant at this stage.
of the command.
But there is no danger at all in Fengyang now. The peasant rebels have already crossed the Huaihe River and headed towards Luzhou. Moreover, because of the great victory of the Runing Army on the bank of the Huaihe River, the Ming Army should pursue it in time to kill Zhang Xianzhong and other peasants.
The rebel army was completely defeated.
Zhu Dadian, who issued the summons order in Fengyang, may not know all this, but Wu Shigong, who had just finished fighting the peasant rebel army, knew it very well. So in his heart, Wu Shigong did not want to go to Fengyang to participate in such a useless event.
military discussion.
And now Wu Shigong can't leave. There are a lot of prisoners here, and the seizures are piled up.
In this half-crossing attack, most of the things captured by the peasant rebels were left behind. Gold, silver jewelry and other items that were expensive and easy to carry around were basically taken across the river by Zhang Xianzhong's troops. Therefore, the Runing Army
Not much was gained, only more than 30,000 taels were seized.
But those items that were bulky and difficult to transport basically fell into the hands of the Runing Army. More than 900 mules and horses, more than 200 cattle, more than 1,300 pigs, sheep and other livestock were seized, as well as chickens.
Ducks and other poultry are in huge quantities.
There are more than 13,000 carts, handcarts and wheelbarrows. Basically all the vehicles of Zhang Xianzhong's army were left to the Runing Army. The property carried on these vehicles, after a rough calculation, exceeds 500,000 taels of silver. In addition, there are
There were more than 260,000 shi of grain. Most of the property looted by the peasant rebel army in Yingzhou and Fengyang was given to the Runing army.
The Runing Army has indeed made a huge war fortune. But this can also be seen. Although the people are in dire straits due to successive years of disasters, the families of the officials and gentry are very wealthy. This can also be seen that although the Ming Dynasty court
The treasury of the Ming Dynasty was quite empty. Even the "suppression payment" had to be levied and Emperor Chongzhen took out the silver from the inner treasury. However, the people of the Ming Dynasty were so wealthy.
The other thing is the seizure of armor and weapons. Although most of the sophisticated armor and weapons obtained by the peasant rebels in Fengyang were taken across the river by Zhang Xianzhong and other old camp men, the amount left behind was also extremely large.
Thirty-one artillery pieces such as Folang machine cannon and tiger crouching cannon; more than 220 three-eyed blunderbuss, eagle blunderbuss, and bird blunderbuss; more than 400 bows and arrows, more than 2,000 spare bowstrings, and arrow branches
More than 80,000 branches.
Thirteen pairs of iron armor; seven pairs of vests; but including worn and damaged leather armor and cotton armor, there are more than 2,000 pieces; more than 13,000 Ming army standard weapons such as knives and guns; more than 31,000 civilian-made weapons
There are countless farm tools and wooden weapons that can be used as weapons.
Although due to different systems, firearms such as artillery and firecrackers can be used in city defense, other weapons cannot be used by the Runing Army. However, Wu Shigong is still planning to select a batch of sophisticated weapons and armor, and first put his own protective equipment into use.
The village, road protection and mine protection teams were armed to prevent the appearance of the Runing Army this time. They had reserve soldiers but no weapons and equipment.
But the biggest problem now is to take all these things home. Because when the peasant rebels crossed the river, they took most of the mules and horses pulling the carts across the river, so now this huge amount of property is scattered here.
On the vast river beach.
Therefore, the current Runing army cannot leave this place at all, otherwise, not to mention the local people will rob it, even the rest of the Ming army will be jealous and rush over quickly.
So Wu Shigong ordered: "Reply to Governor Zhu and tell him that the Runing army has already engaged the Shaanxi bandits here and is about to win a great victory, so they cannot escape. But the remaining Shaanxi bandits are flowing towards Luzhou.
Ask Governor Zhu to come over quickly with the main force and pursue the rebel army as quickly as possible."
"No!" Tao Xin responded and was about to leave the tent to deliver the order.
"Wait a minute!" Wu Shigong immediately stopped Tao Xin. He rubbed his temples with his fingers. He was in a bad state today and he was really confused. Calling Zhu Dadian's main force over, wouldn't that be luring the wolf into the house? When the time comes,
How much of these seizures can be kept? So Wu Shigong told Tao Xin: "Call Deputy Commander Zhou over first."
After Zhou Xun arrived, Wu Shigong ordered: "Governor Zhu of Fengyang asked me to go to the military meeting. I will go there with a regiment of personal soldiers and cavalry to try to delay them for a few days."
"You and the rest of the people must move the captured goods quickly. They must move them all within five days. If there are no mules to pull the cart, ask the prisoners to pull it. If there are people nearby who are willing to help, don't be stingy with the reward. It is necessary.
When the time comes, we can forcefully requisition them, but we can first bring these seizures to Yingzhou."
"Don't worry about those corpse heads. Our Runing army doesn't need so many military honors. Let's give the honor to other officers and soldiers. We only need profits, and it's best not to leave any iron nails. Also, those
We will try our best to bring all the ships with pontoons that have not been burned down to Xinyang, which also saves us the cost of building a navy and building ships."
"Be careful! If other officers and soldiers dare to come and snatch it, don't be soft and beat them to death! I will take care of everything."
On the 29th of the first lunar month of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Wu Shigong led 1,500 cavalry from the Runing Army to Fengyang. Upon hearing of Wu Shigong's arrival, Yan Dingshan, the deputy general of the Cao Army, took his generals to the camp of the Runing Army outside the city.
Come visit in person.
After the salute, Yan Dingshan said to Wu Shigong: "It's a coincidence that Brother Wu is here today. The Nanjing guard, Eunuch Luo, has arrived with the main force of the Nanjing camp. Today, he, Governor Zhu and others will go to the imperial mausoleum to pay tribute. It will be at night
Only then will he return."
"Oh? The Nanjing camp has also arrived?" Wu Shigong asked in surprise.
"We are here, but we are leaving without our armor!" Yan Dingshan said with a snort of disdain, "It was 20,000 when we started, but only over 10,000 when we got here, and the rest have fallen behind."
"Then what kind of fight will they fight after they arrive?" Wu Shigong asked again.
"Then what else does Eunuch Luo think about fighting? His soul is gone, so he just wants to get to Fengyang as soon as possible. In fact, all this is for the emperor's sake. If Fengyang falls this time, then it's best for Eunuch Luo
The final outcome was to be removed from his official position, or even lose his head if it was more serious, so he didn’t care about fighting at all and just wanted to show his loyalty more."
Wu Shigong didn't want to talk about other people's affairs, so he asked Yan Dingshan: "Then why don't you go to worship together today?"
"Aren't we waiting for you, brother?" Yan Dingshan said something nice first, and then told the reason for staying, "Most of the family and ancestral graves of my son and I are in Fengyang, and they are here these days.
As for the resettlement, I have no intention of busying myself with other things. It was also Governor Zhu’s grace that he arranged for me to guard in the city today, so it happened to coincide with Brother Wu’s arrival?”
"Oh? How about Brother Yan's family and ancestral graves?" Wu Shigong asked with concern.
"It can only be said that it's okay! Those bandits are not interested in our ancestral graves in the guardhouse." Yan Dingshan replied, "But there are very few people in my family who stay in Fengyang, and some brothers stay in Fengyang.
There are so many people, and they all suffered heavy losses!"
"Ah! Then I can take some time to burn some incense to Brother Yan's ancestors!" Wu Shigong immediately expressed his stance.
"Then let me thank you in advance, brother!" Yan Dingshan immediately saluted Wu Shigong, "Let's wait until we have time to talk! The war is in chaos now, and it is inconvenient to leave the city. If too many soldiers are used, it will disturb people's hearts, so it is better to wait for a while.
Wait!"
Wu Shigong was polite, but of course he would not insist. Then he saw Tang Liu sitting with him, and asked in surprise: "Brother Tang is here too?" (To be continued...)