The generals understood that with the defections of Long Wenguang, Cao Bianjiao, Zhao Guangyuan and others, Yang Sichang's alliance of interests surrounding Li Zhi had collapsed.
The opportunity to wash away the stigma of the defeated army is right in front of us. If we surrender to Li Zhi at this time, as long as Li Zhi has a few good words for the generals after winning the battle, won't the generals become meritorious ministers?
If Li Zhi won the battle as soon as he arrived in Sichuan, it does not necessarily mean that the other generals are idiots. It may also be because the previous superintendent Yang Sichang was an idiot and therefore his command was ineffective.
Long Wenguang can solve the problem. As for the military pay, it is not a big problem to be in arrears for several months. Once Zhang Xianzhong is eliminated, the military pay will naturally be paid.
Deputy General Fang Guoan raised his fists, half-knelt on the ground and sang to Li Zhi: "The last general Fang Guoan is willing to follow the Crown Prince Taibao to destroy Zhang Xianzhong!"
Guerrilla Shao Zhongguang also half-knelt on the ground and shouted loudly: "The last general Shao Zhongguang is willing to drive the Taibao Lord in front of the formation and contribute his own strength!"
All of a sudden, the generals under Meng Ruhu came out one after another. Seven of the eleven people actually bowed before Li Zhi and expressed their willingness to listen to Li Zhi's orders. Except for the four generals with the most sinister personalities, they stood on Meng Ruhu's side and watched.
Except for this, all other generals have already bowed before Li Zhi.
Li Zhizheng was worried that there were no troops to block Zhang Xianzhong, who was fleeing at high speed. At this time, seeing so many generals worshiping him, he laughed and accepted them one by one.
Feng Ruhu didn't expect that he brought a group of generals to visit Li Zhi, but these generals kicked him aside one by one and went to Li Zhi. He stood in the Chinese army's tent, wanting to have an attack, but he didn't dare
. His face became paler and paler, he flicked his cloak and angrily walked out of Li Zhi's Chinese army tent.
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Seven generals who had taken refuge with Li Zhi gathered around Li Zhi and listened to Li Zhi's deployment while looking at the map.
These generals have led their soldiers and horses away from the tiger-like military camp and marched around Li Zhi's camp to form an army with Li Zhi. These seven generals have 8,000 horse troops and 13,000 infantry. Although the combat effectiveness of these Ming troops is not
It is high, but it can still be used to guard the city passes and intercept Zhang Xianzhong.
Li Zhi looked at the map and said: "Liu Shijie's two thousand horse army and Zhao Guangyuan's two thousand horse army rushed to Dazu County to prevent Zhang Xianzhong from attacking the city. If the Xian thieves bypass the city, send troops to harass and delay. If the Xian thieves attack the city by force,
As long as we hold on for one or two days, my army will be able to reach the city and surround and annihilate the Xian thieves."
Liu Shijie and Zhao Guangyuan stood up, cupped their hands and said, "The general will get the order."
Li Zhi added: "Where are deputy general Fang Guoan and guerrilla Shao Zhongguang?"
The two generals clasped their fists and agreed: "The last general is here!"
Li Zhi nodded and said: "You two lead five thousand infantry to guard Yongchuan County to prevent the Xian bandits from turning around and attacking Yongchuan."
Fang Guoan and Shao Zhongguang cupped their hands and said, "The general will get the order!"
Li Zhi added: "With such a siege from all sides, the bandits have no city to enter and will inevitably flee to the northeast. The bandits are surrounded by our army in Sichuan and have difficulty advancing and retreating. They are currently trying to enter Huguang from eastern Sichuan. Huguang is empty of troops.
If the Xian thieves enter Huguang, my army will be unable to pursue them. I will send six thousand people to guard the thirty-two passes at the junction of Sichuan and Chu, and strive to keep the Xian thieves in the middle of Sichuan and annihilate them all at once."
"The remaining 6,000 soldiers and horses are rushing to Dingyuan County and Guang'an Prefecture. If the bandits want to enter Chu, they will pass through Dingyuan County and Guang'an Prefecture. You use 6,000 men to guard this county and one state."
The seven generals clasped their fists together and said, "I'll wait for the order!"
Li Zhi nodded and said: "It's all down to you to hold on to the passes in various states and counties. If the guards are effective, I will definitely report you with military merit and I will not let you go back empty-handed."
The seven generals were overjoyed when they heard this and said loudly: "It's all thanks to the support of the Taibao!"
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For more than ten days, Zhang Xianzhong's troops fled in eastern Sichuan, but the nearby prefectures and counties were always guarded by Ming army cavalry. Zhang Xianzhong felt that Li Zhi had taken command of the Ming army in central Sichuan and was directing Ming troops from all over the country to surround him, and he was determined not to
Any state or county can be easily left to you.
When Zhang Xianzhong left Luzhou, he only brought a month's worth of food and grass with him in order to run quickly. According to Zhang Xianzhong's estimation, he would definitely be able to capture a certain prefecture and county within this month, plunder and replenish food and grass. But he did not expect that Li Zhi would command
The Ming army's cavalry galloped across the plains of eastern Sichuan, clinging to the door and unable to capture even a single county seat.
Zhang Xianzhong has more than 50,000 soldiers and horses. It is possible to attack the counties and counties defended by thousands of officers and cavalry, but it will take time. And Li Zhi's main force, on the other hand, was more than 60 miles behind Zhang Xianzhong and caught up with him.
He only had one or two days. Zhang Xianzhong had no time to attack the city at all.
Zhang Xianzhong discovered that Li Zhi's army was moving very fast, covering more than 60 miles a day for more than ten days in a row, without any intention of slowing down. Zhang Xianzhong's troops could maintain an escape speed of 70 miles a day, which allowed the infantry and cavalry to
The army and horses were maintained in turns. Without the more than 20,000 army horses, Zhang Xianzhong's infantry would not have been able to cover so many miles in a day. But Li Zhi's soldiers and horses only had 2,000 cavalry, and the rest were all infantry, but they could still move steadily every day.
Walk more than sixty miles.
Li Zhi's soldiers and horses are really incredibly powerful.
The prefectural and county cities could not be captured, and there was not much food to plunder in the villages they passed. When the peasants and gentry heard that Zhang Xianzhong's bandit army was coming, they all hid in the city with their food, leaving only empty houses in the towns.
If this continues, within half a month, Zhang Xianzhong's army will be out of food and grass and will be eating grass roots.
On this day, after marching for seventy miles, Zhang Xianzhong's army stopped and camped in the south of Xinning County. Zhang Xianzhong led 500 pond horses to Xinning County for a look, but saw the big flag with the word "Cao" fluttering in the wind on the city wall.
.
Cao Bianjiao had arrived at the county seat of Xinning County two days in advance to garrison, and Zhang Xianzhong had no hope of capturing the county seat.
Zhang Xianzhong had no choice but to return to the rebel camp and reluctantly walked into the Chinese army's tent.
Luo Rucai was sitting in the Chinese army tent, holding a disheveled concubine in his arms, and was teasing him. Seeing Zhang Xianzhong walking into the camp with a dark face, Luo Rucai clicked his tongue and put the concubine on the chair next to him.
"Eight Kings, the county seat has been occupied by Li Zhi's people again?"
Zhang Xianzhong sat on the commander's chair with a dark face and said nothing.
Luo Rucai sighed and said: "Eight Great Kings, the thirty-two passes into Chu have also been guarded by Li Zhi. We are afraid that we will not be able to rush through." After a pause, Luo Rucai said: "I think we will send troops
If the horses are scattered, let’s hide in Xinggui Mountain. We were defeated at that time, so didn’t we just hide in Xinggui Mountain?”
Zhang Xianzhong cursed loudly: "Thieves kill talents, don't you understand? At that time, Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong and other officers and soldiers did not want to destroy us, so we hid in the mountains. Now Li Shashen is determined to kill us.
As soon as we enter the mountain, the soldiers and horses are scattered in the mountain and cannot be gathered together. You and I will definitely be captured by Li Shashen who is searching the mountain!" (To be continued.)
