Bozhou and Guide are connected by the artificially dug canal Mashang River, so the journey for the Chuang army from Bozhou to Guide is not difficult. All grain, fodder and baggage can be transported through the canal, and it only takes a short time to reach Guide.
Arrive at Guide City.
Therefore, although Yuan Shizhong has withdrawn the remaining troops of Xiaoyuan Camp to Shangqiu, the capital city of Guide Prefecture, he still can't let go. He knows that Li Laiheng's total strength is about 20,000 people. With the current strength of Xiaoyuan Camp,
Even if they join forces with Chen Yongfu's Henan Town, it will be difficult to confront Li Laiheng.
Even if you want to hold on to the city wall and take advantage of the defense, it depends on whether the artillery of the invading army responds.
Judging from the situation of the Battle of Yingzhou, Li Laiheng probably had more than 200 artillery pieces of various types, light and heavy. This kind of firepower almost matched the Ming army's vehicle camp establishment, and it should not be underestimated.
During the Battle of Yingzhou, the gap between the Xiaoyuan camp and the Chuang army in terms of military equipment could be said to be astonishing.
This gap still impresses Yuan Shizhong deeply.
"Chu Chuang is many times stronger than the Central Plains Chuang Army. Chen Zhen must be careful!"
Logically speaking, Yuan Shizhong had fought together with Li Zicheng for a long time and had a good understanding of the strength, organization, equipment and equipment of the Chuang army. He should never have underestimated the enemy during the Battle of Yingzhou.
However, Yuan Shizhong had never been to the Suizhou area, and he had no idea about the specific situation of the Chu Chuang army that had been active in Huguang for a long time. Therefore, during the battle of Yingzhou, he used the tactics used to deal with the Central Plains Chuang army to deal with equipment.
, Chu Chuang, whose organization and tactics were completely different, naturally suffered heavy losses when he underestimated the enemy and did not understand the opponent's details.
Chu Chuang's powerful and ferocious firepower created a terrible psychological shadow on Yuan Shizhong.
After he followed Chen De and retreated to Guide, his tone was still full of this deep sense of fear, so much so that he couldn't suppress the trembling in his tone when talking to Chen Yongfu.
Chen Yongfu disagreed. He had exchanged letters with Li Laiheng and Chen Xin. He believed that he knew the Huguang army very well. He did not think that based on what he knew about Li Laiheng's character, Chu Chuang's combat power could be much better than that of the Central Plains army.
Even if Chu Chuang had a much richer material foundation due to the abundance of grain in Huguang, in Chen Yongfu's view, it would not be much stronger than the Central Plains Chuang army.
Although the Central Plains Breaking Army had quite good combat power, in Chen Yongfu's view, Li Zicheng's victory was more due to the overall corruption of the Ming army.
Like him, Chen Yongfu, didn't he just pull out teeth at Li Zicheng's hands again and again?
It can be seen that although the Chuang army is strong, it is not so strong that it cannot be resisted. What Chen Yongfu is more worried about is the Qing army that is gradually approaching the Grand Canal. The victories of the Eastern captives over the years have already created a far-reaching victory in the hearts of all Ming armies.
Yuan Shizhong's psychological shadow and fear towards Chuangjun.
The soldiers of Donglu are as fierce as dragons and as fierce as tigers. Their ferocity and stubbornness cannot be measured by humans.
This is what Chen Yongfu thinks.
He first asked his son Chen De to take the troops of Xiaoyuan Camp to rest for a while, and then said to Yuan Shizhong: "Yuan...General Yuan, now your troops no longer need to obey the orders of the Henan Patrol. From now on, they will be with me."
Same, directly under the command of Xuzhou Shi Zhitai.
You don’t have to worry about being squeezed out like you did before. Shi Zitai is a good official who hires people based on their talents. He is a wise man and has a reputation as a great talent. What we have to do now is to transfer to Xuzhou as soon as possible.
, there is a Taiwanese base camp there, and Liu Liangzuo and Huang Degong each transferred one to Xuzhou to be on standby. As long as we are together in one place, we don’t have to worry about breaking into the army at all."
Yuan Shizhong looked at Chen Yongfu's confident face, and then looked at Guide City where troops were in chaos in order to organize an emergency evacuation. He couldn't help but feel particularly ridiculed. With such a look, is there really no need to worry?
He was full of uneasiness, and he forced a smile and said: "Shi Zhitai's reputation is known in the Jianghuai area. Who doesn't know it? Shi Zhitai is willing to reuse Xiao Yuanying, but I can't repay him even if I am devastated.
It's just that the Chu army under Li Laiheng's command is very different from the other armies in the Central Plains. We fought with him in Yingzhou. I estimate that the artillery in Li Laiheng's hands may not be less than a few hundred in size. Guide's city defense, I
It can be said with certainty that it will never be able to withstand the attack of the Chuang army... I’m afraid Xuzhou won’t be much stronger.”
"Oh...I see. No wonder General Yuan defeated Yingzhou."
Chen Yongfu raised his eyebrows slightly as he said this, but Yuan Shizhong saw his disapproving expression and knew that Chen Yongfu still didn't really understand Li Laiheng's strength.
But this is normal. After all, Chen Yongfu and Chen Xin often exchanged letters. Chen Xin wrote to Chen Yongfu with the purpose of persuading him to defect to the Chu army as soon as possible. Therefore, the content of the letters was mostly to promote Li Laiheng's ability to govern the people, and there was little mention of military affairs.
On the contrary, he repeatedly stated that Chen Yongfu's military talents were enough to defeat the Chuang army. Once he joined the Chuang camp, he would definitely be able to have a status lower than one person and above ten thousand people.
Chen Xin said this with the intention of inciting Chen Yongfu to surrender as soon as possible.
However, the unexpected effect was that Chen Yongfu had the illusion that Li Laiheng was nothing more than this. This was actually true. In terms of battlefield command and campaign organization capabilities, Li Laiheng was definitely not as good as Chen Yongfu, who had repeatedly extracted teeth from Li Zicheng's superior strength.
.
It is not that Chen Yongfu has never fought against Li Laiheng. When they were in Henan, they also fought several times, so Chen Yongfu did not think that Li Laiheng was so powerful that it was difficult to deal with him.
But from one moment to the next, of course he didn't know how Li Laiheng had changed completely after achieving great development in Suizhou!
The strength of Huguang's current army does not lie in how powerful Li Laiheng's troops are, but in the relative advantages of Huguang's own equipment, organization, and tactics.
"General Yuan, you were defeated by the Chuang army in Yingzhou and Luohe, so you were naturally shocked. However, the Chuang army had 20,000 people, which is twice as powerful as the small Yuan camp. You suddenly broke away from Li Zicheng, and there will definitely be some chaos in the army.
.
Under such circumstances, both sides were defeated by the invading army, which can actually be said to be a crime other than war."
well!
Judging from Chen Yongfu's tone, he never really paid attention to Chu Chuang or Li Laiheng's strength!
Yuan Shi was anxious. What he wanted now was for everyone to evacuate to Xuzhou as soon as possible. If the troops sent by Shi Kefa, Liu Liangzuo, and Huang Degong could be gathered together, and Xuzhou is a famous city in the world, there should be no need to worry.
It would have been accidentally destroyed by Li Laiheng.
"Master Zhentai... the situation is urgent, I won't say more. From now on, the lives of tens of thousands of people in Xiaoyuan Camp will all be tied to Chen Zhentai and Shi Zhitai!"
Chen Yongfu smiled and nodded, then held Yuan Shizhong's hand with both hands, and said with relief: "We only need to stay in Xuzhou for a while. After the Donglu retreats, the situation will definitely turn around."
Yuan Shizhong lamented twice and left the official office. His brother Yuan Shitai had been waiting at the door. When he saw Yuan Shizhong coming out, he immediately rushed up and asked, "Brother! What did Zhentai say?"
Yuan Shizhong did not want others in Xiaoyuanying to worry about the future of the path he had chosen, so he pretended to be relaxed and said: "Chen Zhentai is very good to us. He said that Mr. Shi has hoarded countless rice, wheat, and beans in Xuzhou.
, firearms, arrows, swords, guns, armor... all the military equipment is piled up like a mountain, just waiting for Xiao Yuanying to go to Xuzhou to exchange guns for cannons."
"So great!"
Yuan Shitai said happily: "Shi Zhitai is indeed a famous and talented minister in the world. He is completely different from those renegade officials in Su Jing. This is great. I quickly returned to the camp and told all the brothers the good news.
, after everyone hears this, the morale of the military will definitely cheer up. We finally have a way out!"
Yuan Shizhong sighed secretly, stretched out his hand to persuade Yuan Shitai and asked: "Is there anyone in the army who is still preaching about returning to Kaifeng?"
"This..." Yuan Shitai didn't know how to answer, and said slowly, "After Guohe was defeated again... this kind of statement has indeed reared its head again, and more or less some people are saying this. After all, the Generalissimo treated us badly in the past.
It’s not bad, I think it’s understandable that some people always want to go back to Kaifeng.”
"snort!"
Yuan Shizhong snorted coldly: "Li Zicheng is a thief after all. Now that we are officials, what do you think of the generalissimo? He is just a thief! In the end, only the imperial court is the orthodoxy of the world. I have paid such a high price for what I have done."
Isn’t it just to help the brothers have a decent background? How can you live long as a thief! You will eventually be recruited."
Yuan Shitai stopped talking, but Yuan Shizhong sternly ordered: "After you return to the camp, you must also warn everyone that Kaifeng is a den of thieves. Anyone who spreads the word to go to Kaifeng will be beheaded as a traitor."
"This, this... doesn't need to be so harsh!"
Yuan Shizhong waved his hand, not allowing Yuan Shitai's objection to say: "Now is a very good time. The Eastern captives are coming from the north, and the intruders are in the south. If something happens, our whole army will be wiped out. It doesn't matter. Once the imperial court's layout is wrong, the world will be troubled again. I don't know what else to do.
How many people are going to die!
My uprising is just for a few common people. In order to save the death of some gentry and people, we can only be harsher and cannot tolerate any mistakes within us!"
He then looked at the city gate of Shangqiu, Guidefu City, and watched the Ming Dynasty army officers and soldiers transporting all the materials searched and suppressed in the city out of the city, and felt that Chen Yongfu's actions were a bit excessive.
In Guide, Chen Yongfu followed the practices of Henan patrol magistrate Gao Mingheng and promotion official Huang Shu in Kaifeng. All the rich merchants and gentry in the city who had no backing were forced to allocate silver coins in the name of supplying military supplies. The actual practice was tantamount to torture by the invading army.
means of plundering.
The reason why Yuan Shizhong left the Chuang Army was because he felt that the practice of torture seriously undermined the normal order of the world and shattered the social order and the distinction between superior and inferior.
Unexpectedly, in order to apportion military supplies, the officers and soldiers chased each other more fiercely than Li Zicheng.
He gritted his teeth, thinking that this was the short-term price he had to pay to restore social order, and reluctantly convinced himself to accept the situation at hand.
"Chen Yongfu, Chen Yongfu, I just hope that you can lead Xiao Yuanying and escape unscathed from the intruders just like you did when you were guarding Kaifeng."