After seeing through the situation, Li Yan felt confident, and immediately ordered the troops to return to the camp on the north bank of the Juma River to rest and recuperate, holding on to the defense line and waiting for the eunuch's order. He also hated Liu Fangliang for knowing that he had retreated to Xushui, which was more than 30 miles away.
After setting up camp in the small town, they agreed to lead their troops southward tomorrow morning. In this way, they could push the defense line southward to expand the buffer zone, and change their tactics to use offense as defense.
In the middle of the night, while Li Yan was still discussing with Jia Waixiong and others about tomorrow's army advance, a scout sent an exciting piece of information and contacted Zhou Yuji's tribe.
Everyone was overjoyed, knowing that at this time, there were murderous plots lurking everywhere within hundreds of miles of Baoding Mansion. The spies of officers, soldiers and rebels were densely swarming among them, infiltrating each other to ambush each other. Many scouts sent out never returned, and were either killed or captured.
After being captured, Li Yan, the scout who went to the west road to contact Zhou Yuji, sent a total of six routes and there was no news for several days. I thought everything would be lost, but today I got a surprise.
Knowing that Zhou Yuji's tribe had quietly sneaked into Mancheng territory in the northwest of Baoding City, everyone was happy and convinced. Even with the bandit army chasing and intercepting tens of thousands of horses, they were able to escape from the tiger's mouth and go around without anyone noticing.
In front of me, the courage and perseverance are very comparable to others.
This news made Li Yan and others extremely excited. All the soldiers and horses were already in place. When it came time to really fight, he believed that the little eunuch would make big moves in a few days, which meant that he would close the net.
At the bandit camp on the south bank of the Qingshui River, all the generals under Li Zicheng's command gathered here to discuss matters. Li Guo and Luo Hu, who had gone to Dingzhou a few days ago to seek revenge on the young eunuch, also returned. Although Zhou Yuji's men were beaten to the point of scurrying away,
But the two of them were not happy because the little eunuch didn't miss it!
The little eunuch is on the northern border defense line. All the thieves leaders unanimously think so. The reason is very good. The little eunuch is the big boss of Dongchang and will definitely return to Beijing during the battle in Taiyuan. It just so happens that this time Li Yan's tribe came from the north. The second is based on the officers and soldiers who captured the officers and soldiers and the scouts.
According to the information, the little eunuch did appear in Dingxing County.
The most direct piece of evidence came just now. Liu Fangliang was defeated again in another battle. The straw that defeated him was a small number of heavily armored cavalry, which was no different from the cavalry that the little eunuch showed up at the gate of Baoding that day.
!
Liu Fangliang's defeat again surprised Li Zicheng and others. After all, in addition to cannon fodder this time, there were also elites from his and Gu Ying's direct lineage. How could it be so unbearable? It was said that the total number of officers and soldiers was only more than 10,000 troops. They were on the rise.
Nearly thirty thousand!
As expected, the little eunuch had two brushes. Taiyuan was not unjust when he was defeated. After more than a month of recovery, Li Zicheng had the courage to face the fiasco. He knew his shame and then became brave. However, he suddenly felt that the current situation seemed to be as he thought.
It's that simple.
Although Baoding City is under his control at this time and can be taken at any time, it is just to attract reinforcements from the surrounding officers and soldiers. According to the intelligence, the officers and soldiers of Hejian Prefecture are nestled in the city and cannot come out. Occasionally, there are small groups of troops.
He retreated after showing his face in the surrounding areas and did not dare to step into the territory of Baoding Prefecture. This shows that his wait-and-see attitude is not to be feared. Zhou Yuji's reinforcements on the western front were chased and fled into the mountains and could not retreat. Although the officers and soldiers on the northern front were guarded by young eunuchs, even if
He saw through his own tricks but there was nothing he could do to defeat them.
However, the officers and soldiers from the southeast repeatedly surprised him, which made him feel uneasy. He thought he would not dare to cross the border from Dezhou, but he raided Jizhou overnight and thought it would be over. However, he went to Ningjin overnight.
When they arrived at the border of Zhaozhou, Li Zicheng was puzzled by what he wanted to do. If he really had the courage to go one step further, he was really not afraid of being trapped in a tight siege. He was afraid that he would not even be able to see the faces of the rebels, and would be eaten to death by hundreds of miles of refugees.
Alright.
What's more, he had already ordered Gu Kecheng to lead his troops south to prepare for war. Moreover, Ma Shiyao and Ren Jirong, who originally went north to pursue Zhou Yuji, also returned to Zhending Mansion. With the three of them joining forces and countless cannon fodder, it was hard to believe that they would dare to take another step forward.
For now, let's slowly destroy Baoding City, then lure the young eunuchs from the north to burn them with cannon fodder, killing two birds with one stone, and then break through the city and head north.
Li Guo and Luo Hu hated the young eunuch very much, but they didn't have the patience of Li Zicheng. They clamored to go and kill Chang Yu to vent their hatred. Li Zicheng couldn't help but agree that they would lead the army tomorrow morning.
However, before the intelligence came from Xi Sannan, the thieves leaders were shocked and angry. The officers and soldiers raided Zhaozhou and captured the city in half an hour. After detailed questioning, Li Zicheng and others simply reasoned and found out the reason why the officers and soldiers easily broke through the city.
, because it has always been easy for traitors to break into a city from the inside. This bandit army is too experienced. It is this trick that makes them almost invincible in attacking cities and plundering territory. Unexpectedly, the officers and soldiers have imitated it.
Another piece of news surprised them. The spies encountered a group of heavily armored cavalry in Luancheng (today's Luancheng District, Shijiazhuang). When they met the refugees, they made lies and deceived them, and then killed people and fled.
Luan City is located forty miles northwest of Zhaozhou, and is only sixty miles away from the capital of Zhending Prefecture (today's Zhengding County). The officers and soldiers dared to go deep into the tiger's den. They really didn't take the rebels seriously, and of course they attracted people.
What shocked them was the identity of this troop, heavy armored cavalry!
The young eunuch is the big boss of Dongchang, and he is accompanied by a heavy retinue of soldiers. Among them, the heavy armored cavalry has become his identity. It was this group that killed hundreds of people in Baoding City. It was also them who lured and killed the pursuers in Rongcheng. They had fought fiercely with Liu Fangliang earlier.
It is they who play the decisive role, but how come this group of troops appears due south, and the intelligence shows that there are only two to three hundred heavy armored cavalry around the little eunuch. Which side is true? Is the little eunuch in the south or the north?
!
Li Zicheng and the others were stunned. They were as witty as Prime Minister Niu Jinxing, and the national advisor Song Xiance was also confused.
"It's a blinding trick, that castrate is just trying to divert our attention," Liu Zongmin yelled out, which attracted many people to agree with him. Even military advisor Gu Junen agreed.
Baoding City is in danger. The young eunuch must have been ordered to supervise the army this time. He should be stationed in front of him. How could he go around hundreds of miles behind? It doesn't make sense! Therefore, the reason for making noise in the south is to let the rebels mobilize troops to intercept it, so as to let the rebels intercept it.
The pressure on the riverside in Baoding City eased, and he took advantage of the situation to rescue him.
But Li Yan, Gao Yigong and others felt that it was not that simple. The battle in Taiyuan had shown the cunning of the little eunuch. Everything was unexpected. It is not ruled out that he acted unnaturally and let his subordinates and the rebels confront each other here to attract attention.
, his troops marched dangerously from the rear and it was not impossible to catch the rebels by surprise.
Li Zicheng frowned. He was already a little uneasy because of the unexpected advances by the officers and soldiers in the southeast, but he had to calm down after receiving this information.
"That eunuch is in the south!" When everyone was arguing, a voice sounded, and everyone looked at Zhang Nai.
"What's your basis?" Liu Zongmin snorted and rolled his eyes.
"Only one is enough." Zhang Nai affirmed: "Originally, there were three detachments of officers and soldiers in Dezhou, which remained motionless for half a month. However, a few days after the gelding appeared at the gate of Baoding City, one detachment moved northward, and the two detachments merged into one westward detachment.
Isn't it strange that we advanced hundreds of miles and conquered several cities without our surprise?"
There was silence in the big tent for a moment, and everyone's expressions became heavy. Zhang Nai explained the confusion with one word, and everyone realized the seriousness.
"It turns out he wanted to make dumplings." Li Zicheng sneered after a while: "It's a pity that the meat filling was too big and the dumpling skin burst." Everyone was startled when they heard this, and then couldn't help but laugh.
At this time, it seemed that the little eunuch's intention was clear. To attract their attention to the Li Yan tribe in the north, he sneaked south to mobilize troops, and then set up nets everywhere to prepare for an encirclement. However, the reality was cruel. The troops in Hejian Mansion in the east were timid.
Zhan didn't dare to take a step forward. Zhou Yuji's dumpling skin in the west was chased all the way into the mountains as soon as he appeared and he didn't even have a firm footing. The only ones he could use now were Li Yan's troops in the north. Can they be enough to charge with his main force?
There are only 30,000 to 40,000 young eunuchs in the south, and it's okay to fight around on the outside. Does he have the guts to take a step north, and does he have the ability to withstand the resistance of hundreds of thousands of cannon fodder and three rebel armies?
This time, he made a mistake, and Li Zicheng decided not to give him any chance to make a comeback, and would make him hate him forever if he made a mistake.
Since the little eunuch is in the south, the northern defense line is actually an embroidered pillow that is of no use. The generals proposed to send heavy troops to pacify Dingxing County tomorrow, and then turn around to take care of the gelding.
But they were stopped by Niu Jinxing and others. Since the little eunuch used the guise of the northern defense line to attract our attention, he pretended not to know anything and left Li Yan alone for the time being. He continued to spend time here and secretly sent elite soldiers south to capture the king directly!
After the agreement was reached, all the generals enthusiastically asked for a battle. After all, everyone here has a blood feud with Chang Yu. This time the situation is huge, but the little eunuch has only 30,000 or 40,000 troops in the south and no big city to hold on. He will win no matter what, so why not take the opportunity to take revenge.
In the end, Li Guo and Luo Hu came out on top. Both of them were the most elite men in the bandit army. They would lead their troops south to kill Chang Yu early tomorrow morning.
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Note: Gu Kecheng and Gu Ying are rumored to be the same person, and some say they are uncle and nephew. The novel uses the relationship between cousins (to be continued)