"The city of Taigu County was set on fire by the bandits. It's very abominable!" Zhou Yuji had no appetite at all when facing the rich breakfast in the palace, and anger was burning in his eyes.
Chang Yu was a little surprised that the rebel army took Taigu County in less than half an hour. Although the officers and soldiers in the county had already withdrawn to Taiyuan City, how could it be so easy when the rebel army fled without any siege equipment?
"The intruder became angry because of shame, but he also destroyed the Great Wall." Chang Yu sneered, put down the bowl and chopsticks and looked at Zhou Yuji: "How are Commander Zhou prepared?"
"I met with my subordinates last night and rested for the night. We can set off at any time now. I am willing to lead my troops to chase the thieves myself," Zhou Yuji said.
"What's the strength of the troops?"
"The emphasis is on cavalry in a long-distance pursuit, and the bandit army is in retreat, with the roar of the wind, cranes, and all the vegetation, and their combat power is not worth mentioning. Therefore, the pursuit force does not need to be large, and the final general will lead more than a thousand cavalry."
Zhou Yuji's purpose was to drive away the thieves, not to suppress them. He only wanted to drive Li Zicheng's defeated troops across the Yellow River quickly and not do evil in his place. Otherwise, how could he use more than a thousand cavalry to exterminate the thieves.
With more than a thousand cavalry chasing Li Zicheng's tens of thousands of horses, Zhou Yuji can be considered as brave as a leopard. A centipede insect is dead but not stiff, and a camel is so skinny that it is bigger than a horse. Is Old Zhou drifting?
Of course not, he is just motivating himself to take action!
Seeing through it without saying anything, Chang Yu smiled slightly: "The more than a thousand cavalry are too weak. Although the intruders fled, they dared to spend the night in Taigu. There should be rear troops behind, so they should not be underestimated. Let's do this. We will help you and draw five
Thousands of cavalry will accompany you to drive the bandits far away."
Zhou Yuji did not expect Chang Yu to agree to pursue the pursuit so easily. It was really surprising. You must know that he had flatly refused before yesterday, so why did he repeat it so overnight.
Chasing the enemy from a long distance is no easy task. Although the rebel army fled, they have always been good at field combat. They can fight guerrillas and lay ambushes at their fingertips. This is something that officers and soldiers really cannot compare with.
Secondly, when the troops and horses move, food and grass go first. However, everyone knows that Taiyuan is short of food and grass at this time, and the chasing bandit army must march quickly, and too much baggage will hinder the movement, and it is easy to be ambushed by the enemy.
But the bandit army is completely different. They are good at guerrilla warfare, and they can grab food and grass wherever they go. They have no worries at all, and they are so barefoot that they are not afraid of wearing shoes.
After a brief discussion, Zhou Yuji threw down his bowls and chopsticks and left. He led more than a thousand soldiers to go first, and Chang Yu mobilized his troops to follow.
After several days of fierce fighting, Taiyuan City suffered a huge loss of troops. Excluding casualties, only about 50,000 people could be drawn directly onto the battlefield.
Although it is easy to mobilize five thousand cavalry at this time, it still puts Chang Yu in a difficult position. Who should he send?
After only one night's rest, the soldiers' physical fitness and morale were not as good as before. However, when the order to mobilize troops was issued, several troops immediately came to fight, among which Yang Zhenwei and He Chengxin were the most active.
After thinking for a long time, Chang Yu finally decided!
Jinwuwei!
This Royal Cavalry is a rookie on the battlefield, but it is the one with the least damage.
After receiving the military order, the four commanders of the Jinwu Guard began to mobilize their manpower and were busy preparing swords, arrows, bows, horses, and dry food.
"Mr. Factory Supervisor, I despise my position and ask for a fight." Cheng Ming, Tang Poshan, Tu Yuan and Jia Waixiong were unwilling to be left behind.
Chang Yu was silent for a while: "Tu Yuan and Jia Waixiong are accompanying them, and the rest of them are staying in Taiyuan."
In addition to the Fujun Guards and Tengxiang Guards, the remaining people also included Li Tiezhu and the eunuch army led by Fan Jiaqian.
In the middle of the afternoon, the preparations of the Jinwu Guards were completed, and the four commanders led the team out. Chang Yu was wearing a helmet and armor, holding a long knife, and had a bay-red horse on his crotch. He looked very heroic.
Kuang Ren and his sharp archers were at his side, followed closely by Tu Yuan and Jia Waixiong, who were fully armed and led 300 elite troops.
Seal the city! After seeing Chang Yu leading his troops out of the city, Niu Yong ordered all logistics troops to withdraw into the city and close all city gates.
At the same time, when Chang Yu was leaving the city, a group of courtiers in the Forbidden City thousands of miles away were experiencing both fire and ice.
At the gate of Qianqing, he could not see his fingers in the mist. Emperor Chongzhen looked at his highness's courtiers with a livid face. He listened to them reporting bad news one after another, and listening to them criticize Chang Yu, the young eunuch whom he single-handedly promoted.
Chang Yu's popularity is so bad. Just imagine who among the nobles in the capital has not been offended by him. Which of these nobles is not deeply rooted in the country, does not have a small group or a circle of friends? In a short period of time, a force began to target him and launch various attacks on him. There were all kinds of slanders and impeachments, except for the one where a widow had an affair and was blamed for him. In particular, Chongzhen suddenly promoted him to take the position of admiral of the East Factory and to supervise the army in Taiyuan. After killing Jiang Quan on the way, the firepower became even more intense.
At this time, Chongzhen suddenly understood why Chang Yu volunteered to go out of the capital to deliver wages. This guy also knew that he had offended too many people, so he hurried out of the capital to avoid the limelight. He was really cunning.
It was a routine matter to go to court to impeach Chang Yu almost every day. Seeing that public anger was hard to subside, Chongzhen always turned a deaf ear, refused to comment, and deliberately avoided it. This made the court officials even more dissatisfied. Some cabinet ministers even came out to accuse Chongzhen of conniving the eunuchs. Did he forget Wei Zhongxian? trouble?
It was okay not to mention Wei Zhongxian, but his intestines turned green when he mentioned Chongzhen. Although he wanted to defend Chang Yu at this time, but faced with the overwhelming support from the civil and military officials of the dynasty, he gave up after thinking about it. Chang Yu was originally It's like using a knife to take the blame. It's a waste of explanation.
In contrast to the anger of the courtiers, there was another person at Chongzhen's Tai Chi and Qianqing Gate who looked calm but had murderous intent in his eyes. He was the prince Zhu Cihong who was silently listening to the court affairs on one side and was as close to Chang Yu as his brother.
Wait, wait for Chang Yu to come back and take care of you. Previously, he was just a little eunuch and he gave you bruises and faces. Now that he has ascended the throne as the admiral of the East Factory, he has not beaten you to ashes. I heard that his confidant little eunuch has returned to Beijing to start planning. , hum, tremble, you ignorant waste.
Chongzhen was also trembling. Faced with the bad news like snowflakes and Chang Yu who was blocking the sky, he had been holding back. He had hatred in his heart. He hated these courtiers for forgetting their duties and not sharing the king's worries. They just argue every day, like Chang Yu, who said that all civil servants should be killed. At this time, Taiyuan was besieged for several days, and the situation was unclear. However, these people's thoughts were all about attacking a eunuch. How could they make him not hate him?
After Chang Yu left Beijing, he established an SF express line with Chongzhen, which could reach him in one day. What he did outside, such as borrowing money and food, killing Jiang Yu, and the Taiyuan incident, almost happened at dawn and dusk. Chongzhen could do it as quickly as possible. It was learned within a short time, several times faster than the local minister’s memorial.
However, all the news I received in the next few days was that Taiyuan was besieged and the city was unknown.
The courier boy who delivered the message could not enter the city. No matter how hard Chongzhen urged him, the news he got was always the same: Hundreds of thousands of bandit troops were besieging Taiyuan... There was a fierce battle last night... The bandit army did not retreat...
Hundreds of thousands of troops, Chang Yu, you must hold on. Whether you can change the situation and turn things around depends on the battle in Taiyuan! Chongzhen has been tossing and turning in the past few days, praying in his heart from time to time. Taiyuan is the one he entrusted to Taiyuan. He didn't want the current situation to always go according to the "Prince's Dream", although in terms of time, the Prince's "Dream" had been changed.
According to the prince's "immortal entrustment", Taiyuan City was sacrificed by traitors when the bandits were besieged, and there was no decent resistance at all. By this time, Chang Yu had already been fighting with the bandits for several days.
"Your Majesty, come quickly and report"! A Han general on duty broke the clouds in the court in front of the palace. Chongzhen's eyes flashed with a gloomy face. Wang Chengen next to him had already hurried towards the palace door and immediately took out a letter.
The secret message was given to Chongzhen.
Chongzhen's breathing was rapid and his hands began to tremble. He tore open the envelope three times, took a look, and with a sound, he fell down on the throne. (To be continued)