Chapter 60 The end of the war in the Central Plains
"Old Sun'er asked Bai Guang'en to supervise an army and move south from near Lingbao, making a move towards southern Henan. They seemed to have contacted the local marshals Li Jiyu, Shen Wandeng and others in Henan, and wanted to directly invade the army. His henchmen deceived the main force of the intruders who were blocked in Lingbao to the south so that they could launch a flank attack.
But who are those people in Li Jiyu? They are really tactful! The old grandson hopes that Li Jiyu can help. I don’t know if he has eaten a lot of food and drinks, or is he obsessed with lard? Of course, Li Jiyu was the first to help. This matter was reported to our Generalissimo."
Although Xu Du behaved carelessly in a good battle and was beaten up by Gao Qian, the "famous general guarding Bian". However, he was familiar with military books and strategies and had a good eye for review after the fact. After listening to Li Weiqun's introduction, he immediately analyzed explain:
"Mr. Bai Gu... Since Sun Chuanting only wants to mobilize the Chuang army, and does not really want to fight against the Chuang army in southern and central Henan, then letting Li Jiyu, who has a smooth style, reveal the news to King Chuang, can he just use it to mobilize the Chuang army?" Did King Chuang mobilize his troops south for defense? I think Li Jiyu was unreliable, which was probably what Sun Chuanting expected!"
Xu Du's analysis made both Li Yuan and Li Weiqun's eyes light up, and they were impressed by his insights. Fang Yizhi and Chen Zilong also nodded and expressed their agreement. Fang Yizhi followed up and said:
"Bai Gu is known all over the world for his military strategies and strategies, so he would not make such a low-level mistake."
"This seems to make sense."
Li Weiqun's eyes rolled around twice. He had not thought carefully from the standpoint of the Ming army before. Now after listening to Xu Du's statement and considering the previous and subsequent events of the battle, he felt that Xu Du's statement was extremely reasonable. , is probably Sun Chuanting’s original strategic arrangement.
"It is indeed as you said. After the Generalissimo divided his troops to Ruzhou and other places to set up defenses, although the Qin army made a large-scale move southward, it did not really fight against the Chuang army in Ruzhou. Instead, it took the opportunity to come out. The Bao front line went down to Shaanzhou and Mianchi. After arriving at Xin'an, they divided their troops to attack Longmen Pass and pushed straight to Luoyang and the Hulao line.
The Qin army's sidecars were very powerful. After they established their camp, General Liu Fangliang and General Ma Shiyao failed to break through several formations, so the Chuang army had to change their approach and shrink their battle line.
It's just that the Qin army's chariot formation, according to our commander-in-chief and General Gu, is good for defense but not good for movement. After the Qin army galloped forward, the grain road was stretched further and further, and it all relied on the Ming army on the north bank of the Yellow River to provide grain ships. , the generalissimo sent a replacement commander to pretend to be a Qin soldier and robbed the grain ship. Sun Chuanting was suddenly in a dilemma!
After the Qin army ran out of food, Sun Chuanting originally wanted to withdraw his troops and return to the pass to rest and recuperate, but none of his general officers were willing to stay behind and had to leave first. When they were arguing like this, General Li Shuangxi and Dang Shou General Su led his Qingqi to attack Mianchi Ferry, cutting off the Qin army's return to the pass.
It's just that the Qin army led by Sun Chuanting was indeed much more powerful than the soldiers and horses supervised by Fu Zonglong and others before. After being cut off by the invading army, they still defended the camp. Generalissimo and Deputy Marshal Luo personally led the attack. It took a whole day of hard fighting to capture the Qin camp."
Li Weiqun put it simply, but Xu Du knew that the battle in western Henan must be full of dangers. Sun Chuanting and Li Zicheng were not ordinary people. Their tit-for-tat confrontation must be a fascinating and exciting game. They only hated themselves. I was in the east of Henan and could not fight this battle myself.
"Then after the Chuang army broke through the Qin soldiers' camp, what happened to Sun Chuanting and the remaining Qin soldiers?"
When Li Weiqun said this, he couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "The Qin soldiers under the supervision of Sun Chuanting are very capable of fighting. Although they ran out of food, they looted all the public and private food in the prefectures, counties and towns near Xin'an, so they were not destroyed in a single battle.
I heard that when Sun Chuanting attacked Xin'an City, he received the response of more than 280 unjust gentry in the city and opened the city gate. However, after the Qin army entered the city, they not only looted all the food in the city, but Sun Chuanting also did not believe those who opened the city.
The city officials and gentry sincerely surrendered. He found two elderly people in the city who were known to the Qin army generals and asked them to identify 280 officials and gentry who were guaranteed to be close to the government. A total of more than fifty people were identified.
.
Except for these fifty or so people, the Qin army killed all the civilians in Xin'an City, including the more than two hundred officials and gentry who opened the city gate.
We later heard from prisoners of the Qin soldiers that Sun Chuanting’s argument was that since the Qin army entered Henan, they have been resisted and attacked by the people everywhere. On the contrary, the Chuang army has received help from the people everywhere in terms of intelligence and food, so he said that the Chuang army
In Henan, like fish swimming in the water and deer hiding in the forest, if you want to catch fish or deer, you must first drain the water and clear the forest.
Sun Chuanting also said that since he joined the army, he should not be ashamed of killing more. He said that Xin'an City had been captured by the invaders. Since the officials, gentry and people in the city did not die for their country when the city was destroyed, it was equivalent to surrendering to the traitors of the invaders.
It is natural for the people to gather together to wipe out the city and to search and kill separately."
Li Weiqun's words left Xu Du speechless. Of course he understood the meaning of the citywide purge, and when he thought of Sun Chuanting's consistent strong-willedness that had been known to the officials and gentlemen of the Ming Dynasty for many years,
After having a tough and brutal official style, he also believed that in difficult circumstances, Sun Chuanting would most likely commit such a simple and crude killing.
Historically, Sun Chuanting carried out a Sanguang-style massacre in Baofeng City. In the end, when the Qin army retreated, the killing was so thorough that not even a civilian husband or a guide could be found.
Suddenly, it completely collapsed.
This time Sun Chuanting's situation in Xin'an was much better, although a large number of grain ships on the Yellow River were burned by Li Guo disguised as Qin soldiers.
But after all, the north bank of the Yellow River was still under the control of the imperial court. At the critical moment, Wang Han, the governor of Henan, and Su Jing, the governor of Henan who fled to Huaiqing Mansion and other places on the north bank of the Yellow River, hurriedly learned from Zuo Liangyu and forcibly "recruited" a group of people.
A large number of civilian ships rushed to the south bank at the risk of being burned by the intruders, and evacuated many of the Qin soldiers who were trapped in the encirclement.
"After the Qin soldiers were surrounded by the Yellow River, they continued to resist stubbornly. Old Sun'er was really good at running the army. When he was surrounded by the general, his troops did not break up. Instead, many people withdrew to the north of the Yellow River in one breath.
! I heard that after he ran away to Huaiqing Mansion by boat, he regrouped the remnants of the Qin army, numbering 20,000 to 30,000 men!"
"Baigu actually evacuated as many as 30,000 people!"
Fang Yizhi felt secretly happy that Sun Chuanting had withdrawn 30,000 Qin troops in a difficult situation, and then immediately slapped himself in the face. Not to mention Chen Zilong and Xu Du, the relationship between his Fang family and Chuang Jun was comparable.
The two of them are too deep together, can they still sit back and watch Sun Chuanting turn defeat into victory?
"Well, that's why the Generalissimo summoned our Generalissimo to Kaifeng, probably to discuss the next step in pursuing the remnants of the old grandson!"
When Li Weiqun said this, everyone knew that Li Laiheng was about to go to Kaifeng. Chen Zilong, Fang Yizhi, and Xu Du all had uncertain ideas about their own destiny and future.
Xu Du couldn't help but asked: "Then where are we going? Are all the armies going to Kaifeng? What will the Chuang army do to Xuzhou?"
Li Yuan also frowned. The Generalissimo suddenly summoned Li Laiheng back to Kaifeng. Although the Xuzhou Suppressor General collapsed on his own due to internal strife, the Generalissimo probably didn't know this news yet!
Xuzhou has not yet been conquered and the threat from the Eastern Front has not been eliminated. Why did the Generalissimo summon Li Laiheng back to Kaifeng?
"Xuzhou, of course we have to continue fighting. Not all of us are going back to Kaifeng. The generalissimo is just recalling one of our generals. The army here also wants to continue to attack Xuzhou. The generalissimo means to let General Gu temporarily
I took over the post of Jianghuai Economic and Strategic Envoy. Things are urgent in Kaifeng, and my grandson is much more difficult to deal with than the Xuzhou Suppressor! Naturally, our commander-in-chief will help."
"this……"
Li Weiqun was a young officer with simple thoughts and did not think very complicatedly. However, people like Fang Yizhi, not to mention that they were scholars who had read many history books, said that they had just experienced the Xuzhou Incident and knew about Li Zicheng.
Suddenly summoning Li Laiheng to Kaifeng alone, things are definitely not simple.
Fang Yizhi didn't know much about the relationship between Li Zicheng and Li Laiheng. He also didn't know what faction his cousin Fang Yiren belonged to within the Chuang Army, and which camp Li Yuan and others in front of him belonged to.
It was just Li Zicheng's behavior that made Fang Yizhi suddenly feel that there seemed to be an undercurrent surging among the army. It was not as simple as the heroes of Liangshan who only drank from large bowls, ate large pieces of meat, and divided the gold on large scales.
What's more, even in Liangshan, aren't there still things like Chao Gai and Song Jiang?
Xu Du had the same idea as Fang Yizhi. He asked first: "Mingbo, where should we go? Is it Kaifeng or Guide?"
Li Yuan couldn't answer this answer. After listening to Li Weiqun's words, he had some doubts about Li Zicheng's actions. How could he help Xu Du answer it?
Li Weiqun didn't seem to care much, and simply replied:
"Secretary Fang wants to see you! Of course, follow me to Guide!"