On May 15th, late at night, inside Liu Guoneng’s camp at the entrance of the tunnel.
After two days of bloody battle, some of Liu Guoneng's soldiers also had doubts about life.
After all, not everyone has the consciousness of Liu Guoneng, and not everyone wants to name his wife as his wife and leave his name in the history books.
If the recent battles hadn't ended with Liu Guoneng's side having an absolute advantage in exchange ratio, his veteran soldiers might have begun to question "why they have to work so hard for the imperial court."
Liu Guoneng was strict in governing the army, and he was generally aware of this situation, so he insisted on patrolling the camp in person every night to understand the situation and enlighten some officers by the way.
Liu Guoneng is two or three years younger than his two fellow Shaanxi fellows, Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and is only thirty-two this year.
However, years of fighting and traveling made him look rough and old, as if he was over forty years old. His face had deep nasolabial folds, ravines etched by wind and frost, and even two scars, which made him look really ferocious.
The generals and officers under his command were all arrogant whenever they saw him. They knew that this commander had a fiery temperament and was easily impulsive.
Once he was impulsive, he whipped the soldiers and severely punished those who violated military discipline. He did not show any mercy. At the beginning, an officer who had followed him from his hometown in Shaanxi and had been hanging out with him for many years was also killed by him for violating military law.
At this moment, he was patrolling in front of the camp, and the soldiers beside him looked respectful.
But suddenly, there was a noise in the darkness in front of the camp.
On the two sentry towers made of simple logs at the entrance of the camp, the archers immediately became alert and alert: "Who is it? If you get closer, you will release arrows!"
"Don't shoot the arrows! Don't shoot the arrows! I am the envoy sent by the King of Creel Eyes! I want to see the King of Chuangtantian! My king has a great gift for you!"
After hearing this, the sentries and night watch officers were a little moved, but Liu Guoneng himself was also nearby, so no one dared to make a mistake and just reported it immediately.
Liu Guoneng had already heard the commotion and walked over on his own initiative. He quickly figured out the situation and immediately cursed at the caught messenger:
"I have fought to the death with Thief He. What nonsense can he say? Someone, drag this bitch down and behead him to show your military power!"
The envoy was immediately frightened to the point of peeing, and his strength increased a lot. He suddenly struggled to break away from the sentries holding on to his shoulders. When the guards around Liu Guoneng saw this, they immediately drew their swords.
But the messenger's next move immediately caused the guards to relax their vigilance. He knelt down and begged for mercy, kowtowing like a fool:
"The two armies are fighting and the envoy will not be killed! Your Majesty, you are also an old man from Shaanxi, why don't you miss the old feelings? My Majesty is really willing to donate all the gold, silver and satin that were looted from the slaughter of rich people in Suizhou and other places, just to buy a road!
"
Liu Guoneng became even more angry: "Fart! I, Liu Guoneng, am now a minister of the king and came to suppress the bandits. How dare he, He Yilong, tell me that the two armies are at war? The bandits dare to mention my business name back then. If I don't kill him, I will keep it for the New Year."
!”
There was some hesitation, but Liu Guoneng reacted quickly and saw that everyone was greedy for money.
He was quite knowledgeable about human nature and knew how to inspire people. He immediately grabbed the knife and killed the envoy with one blow. Then he said to the left and right generals:
"What are you thinking! If we kill He Yilong, all the gold and silver in his army will belong to us! We can prevent He Yilong from hiding some of them secretly!"
Several generals were stunned for a moment, then they came to their senses and praised the commander-in-chief for his wisdom.
However, some people are worried that the court's credibility is too poor. For example, a guerrilla named Kong Xilie reminded:
"Commander, our army came here for reinforcements due to instructions from Shen Bingbei, Yang Ge Lao, and Governor Fang. Can we dispose of all the seizures after the war? Will Shen Bingbei take half of them?
"
Wu Tiande, another guard next to him, heard this and immediately called out to Qu: "No way? The emperor is not short of hungry soldiers. We came all the way from Ye County to intercept, and we went through life and death. What's wrong with getting some money!"
Kong Xilie laughed coldly: "The emperor is not short of hungry soldiers? Have you forgotten that in the second year of Chongzhen... how did we follow the commander astray?
It was Yuan Chonghuan who was so incompetent that he let Huang Taiji break through the gate from Jimen! Even the troops who rushed to King Qin from Gansu didn't get any reward money! They had to raise their own food!"
As soon as the words came out of my mouth,
Everyone fell silent. After all, Chongzhen was famous for being stingy and poor.
These most confidant generals around Liu Guoneng all became thieves after Yuan Chonghuan was accused of Lingchi's defeat in the second year of Chongzhen's reign because the court did not pay King Qin's troops.
Fortunately, this time, Liu Guoneng himself is more knowledgeable.
Seeing the generals quarreling, he finally showed his determination: "What are you arguing about? Isn't it just to order some property? Suizhou is a poor place, how much money can He Yilong get by killing all the rich people? Shen Bingbei will follow
Are we fighting for these?
You say you are ignorant, you don’t know that the Shen family is the richest man in Suzhou, and now they are also responsible for the imperial court’s sea and water transportation, and they are piloting a tax on business travelers on the Yangtze River in Huguang. The Shen family has more money than the imperial court!
Moreover, I heard that last year when Shen Bing was preparing to become a Jinshi, he spoke out in front of the imperial court and urged His Majesty not to make random suspicions because of Zhang Xianzhong's return! He also advised Your Majesty to set an example by being a "gifted man" and promoted me to Commander-in-Chief to appease the others who were demoted.
Touch people's hearts!
Of course we, the bloody and righteous people, must repay our kindness! After winning the battle, Shen Bingbei will definitely reward him heavily! The reward from the court and the seizure from He Yilong mean nothing!
You rough guys, don’t you want to make a name for yourself in the history books? If you do, you should follow a tough guy like Shen Bingbei who is destined to be in the history books!”
After saying these words, the generals were finally convinced.
I heard that the Shen family had a surplus of hundreds of thousands of taels from water transportation every year, and that Shen Shuren set up tax cards in Huangzhou to collect hundreds of thousands of taels of gold every year. Everyone immediately looked down on small money.
It's nice to help people who are famous, educated and rich.
Liu Guoneng comforted everyone with words to cheer up, and then he personally chopped off the head of the envoy he had just killed, looked around, and handed it to Wu Tiande, who was famous for his bravery:
"I'll give you an errand. Take some elite warriors with you, take a small road over the mountains, and deliver the heads and my letter to Shen Bingbei on the other side, so that he can rest assured and ask for advice on tactics and communication. Just deliver it, and then give you a reply.
Bring it, after this victory, I will count your first achievements."
…
After one day and one night, it was the next night.
At the entrance of Mingyi Valley at the southern end of the valley, in the Chen Shuren camp, Chen Shuren received letters and tokens from Liu Guoneng and Wu Tiande.
Chen Shuren was of course overjoyed. He was originally afraid that Liu Guo would advance rashly and wanted to coordinate tactics with each other so that the other party would defend the siege and starve He Yilong to death in the valley.
It was a pity that Chen Shuren lacked warriors. Although Zuo Zixiong was extremely skilled in martial arts, as a general, it was not easy for him to deliver the message himself.
None of the other generals are good at personal martial arts. Now that Liu Guoneng's people are here, Chen Shuren has no choice but to pick and choose.
He immediately summoned all the generals and met with Wu Tiande in public.
Wu Tiande knew that this Master of Military Preparation was not only young and promising, but also very wealthy, so his expression was very flattering when he visited him. He respectfully unfolded the baggage with lime-pickled human heads, while he couldn't help but sneak a glance at Chen Shuren.
reaction.
Chen Shuren's expression did not change at all, and it seemed that seeing the head did not surprise him: "Whose head is this? Could it be some of He Yilong's powerful generals? Has it been captured by your army in the past few days? That is worthy of celebration.
"
This indifference made Wu Tiande even more afraid to make mistakes. It seemed that this military commander was not a pure civil servant who had never seen blood.
He quickly clarified: "Sir, this is the envoy sent by He Yilong to try to bribe my commander-in-chief. He Yilong fought bloody battles with our army for two days and could not break out of the valley mouth, so he decided to buy some money for his way.
He said that he wanted to donate all the talents of the wealthy people plundered in Suihuang and other places, and asked the commander to let him break out of the encirclement. But as a royal minister, how could the commander make a deal with the bandits? So he was beheaded and sent away.
Come and prepare troops."
After hearing this, Zhang Mingzhen and others stood up one after another to congratulate Shen Shuren: "The benevolence and majesty of the soldiers are spread far and wide, and the loyalty and righteousness of General Liu are truly a story that will last forever."
Chen Shuren smiled slightly, motioned for everyone to sit down, and replied to Wu Tiande casually: "Mr. Liu gave me such respect, and after killing He Yilong, all the seizures will naturally belong to him.
And I can double it to him! For the soldiers of your army who died in this battle, I will also provide an additional pension of thirty taels per person! The disabled will also receive an additional ten taels! The full amount will be paid!"
Wu Tiande was shocked, and he knelt down involuntarily. He had followed Liu Guoneng for many years, and he had never seen a civil servant with such generous rewards.
I have long heard that people in Suzhou are very rich, how can they be so rich?!
Taking advantage of his shock, Shen Shuren gave them some tactical instructions: "I happen to have some news that I want to bring to you, Mr. Liu. Just tell him. If you want to reduce casualties, uu Kanshu www.uukanshu.com must not take the initiative.
When attacking, block it. But when counterattacking the enemy's attack, you must be resolute.
He Yilong bullied the weak and feared the strong. Now it was up to him to pick and choose which of our two armies was the soft persimmon. The more resolute Mr. Liu fought, the more he would make things easy for him, repeatedly struggling to pick and choose.
I don't have to worry about Mr. Liu's side being unable to support it alone, and Mr. Liu doesn't have to worry about me being unable to support it alone. If we are blocked here with high forts and deep ditches, we can even starve He Yilong's main force to death.
He Yilong wanted to escape, so he had to give up all food, grass, baggage and vehicles, and use a small team to climb mountains and walk on dangerous slopes. Only a few people could pass on such cliffs, and it was impossible to take away tens of thousands of troops. Wait until they were starving.
When the coach tries to find a way to break out of the encirclement and escape, these tens of thousands of people will be meat on the chopping block of our army!"
"General, I remember. I will definitely go back and tell my commander-in-chief." Wu Tiande was not very educated and could not say anything polite.
…
After officially getting in touch with Liu Guoneng, both parties were not in a hurry at all.
The next day, May 17, He Yilong, who had suffered a bloody encounter with Liu Guoneng, turned back and walked more than 40 miles with his already less than 30,000 troops to follow Shen.
The tree man is killed.
Unfortunately, the Chenshu people had already prepared, and they advanced slowly, traveling ten miles a day, digging trenches, building rammed earth walls, making bamboo traps, and cutting across the valley at each step.
In this situation, even if He Yilong had three times the force, he would not be able to deploy at all. Shen Shuren had more muskets than Liu Guoneng. He fired volleys behind the parapet of the Juma Trench, filling up the entire front of the valley, and quickly destroyed the entire valley.
He Yilong's tribe, who tried to break out from the encirclement, were beaten to the point of howling like ghosts and wolves.