After we talked about the money, the rest of the spoils became very harmonious, and everything could basically be dominated by Shen Shuren.
Shen Shuren won this battle very well, but strictly speaking, he was also "financing a business." After winning a big victory, he also had to share the profits with the "investors".
He has so many allies, and each of them must win over and maintain a good relationship. This way, if something happens next time, others will come to help you again.
In the end, Shen Shuren did not choose to devour all of the more than 20,000 prisoners of war himself, but distributed 5,000 prisoners to Liu Guoneng - which was equivalent to double the number of casualties on Liu Guoneng's side and returned them to Liu Guoneng.
Before the war, the total strength of Liu Guoneng's troops was about 15,000. Now he lost one or two thousand and returned 5,000. After the battle, the total strength increased to 18,000.
Chen Shuren also assigned all the Shaanxi people who were the most difficult to control in the army to Liu Guoneng, ensuring that both parties had their own places and were safe.
He also promised that in the future, if he cracks down on rogue thieves and captures old Shaanxi thieves, he will hand them over to Liu Guoneng to reform them first. But in exchange, Liu Guoneng will have to help him fight tough battles within the scope of his authority and resist harm from the front.
In this way, those arrogant veterans who have been thieves for more than ten years will be fully utilized, and they will not backlash. At the same time, the most brutal and tough battles will be left to them to fight, and they will be consumed all the time. Liu Guoneng will not become the new Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong.
On the other side, when Chen Shuren asked for help, Governor Wenfang took 2,000 people and promised to return them all after the battle, and to send another 2,000 people back to garrison Jiangling.
Fortunately, Shen Shuren decided to use the two thousand direct line troops to temporarily support him. After a while, the prisoners here were almost reorganized and reorganized. After a little training, the direct line troops were replaced with the two thousand captives.
In the end, Chen Shuren won the battle one after another and suffered thousands of losses. Therefore, after deducting all of them, his total military strength actually increased by about 12,000 people - from eight before the war. Thousands of people, increased to 20,000.
Of course, in the counties of Suizhou Prefecture that had surrendered before, such as Suizhou and Anlu, one or two thousand rebel troops also surrendered. Counting those who were gradually recruited, the total strength of Shen Shuren would be 23,000 in the end. four thousand.
After the military strength was suddenly expanded to nearly three times that before the war, it will definitely take a considerable period of time to train troops, rectify discipline, boost morale, and support ideological education work.
Even the modern armies of the 20th century generally dared to expand reserve personnel according to the three-three system when mobilizing in wartime.
In other words, a regular army battalion in peacetime is mobilized and expanded into a regiment during wartime, and two reserve recruit battalions are added. This has been tested by history, and it was the same with the large-scale military expansion during World War II. If you add more, you will definitely bite off more than you can chew. Not bad, it may even cause the troops to waver and mutiny.
From this point of view, it is definitely not a disadvantage for Shen Shuren to share the indigestible excess prisoners of war with his allies and help them digest them together, but it is actually beneficial to him.
Anyway, if you are so bold this time, Fang Kongzheng and Liu Guoneng will come to help next time, so why do you have to keep it in your pocket?
What is yours is mine, what is mine is still mine.
…
It took Shen Shuren seven or eight days to divide the loot with Liu Guoneng at Pingjing Pass, organize the prisoners, and sort out the weapons and equipment seized.
Dealing with tens of thousands of people is never a trivial matter. A single oversight or lack of strict supervision and improper education may lead to the subsequent emergence of thousands of bandits.
Not to mention the distant situation, just talking about the thousands of people who fled over the mountains or hid in the woods after He Yilong was killed, if not handled properly, it would be a huge disaster.
Chen Shuren's troops can be stationed for one more day, so that the thieves who hide in the mountains and wait and see will see less hope, and one more person can be transformed.
Many people who chose to escape did not necessarily want to continue fighting as thieves with the army, but simply because they were afraid of death and wanted to remain anonymous and become ordinary people and go back to farming.
As for the former thieves soldiers who were frightened by bloody battles, Shen Shuren would not blindly push them into a hurry.
So five days after the battle ended, he announced that the hunt for deserters was temporarily over. From then on, any people found scattered around the battlefield in Tongbai Mountain District who had no identity and household registration would be allowed by the government to re-register their household registration. , but it must be incorporated into military camps where the government holds land.
This is tantamount to turning a blind eye and giving a way out to those who fled because they were afraid of becoming soldiers. As long as they farm well in the future and pay high taxes according to the standards of military camps to atone for their sins, the government will pretend not to know anything and forget about it.
After finishing all the compilation work, Shen Shuren's victory documents were almost finished.
The results of the battle were clearly counted, and the distribution was carefully considered to ensure that everyone who came to help had meat and soup to drink.
After finishing writing, Shen Shuren also invited Liu Guoneng to review the details with him.
It had been four years since Liu Guoneng was ordered to peace, and he could now recognize a few words, but he still couldn't understand the Wenjue's victory memorial, so Shen Shuren explained it again in spoken language himself.
After learning that Shen Shuren was very fair and did not take credit from anyone, he was very satisfied, and he sincerely invited Shen Shuren to have a big drink.
He said that in the future, everything dealing with the court would be decided by Shen Daotai, and he would not ask questions. He believed that Shen Daotai's character would not be a loss to anyone who contributed.
Chen Shuren sealed the victory document and sent it to Mr. Yang Ge via the Han River for review. He also wrote a private letter with the same content and went to Fang Kongzhen to say hello and prepare a case.
As for the final summary report, Yang Sichang sent it to the emperor. It also showed that Shen Shu was a good person and would not report beyond the level.
Moreover, there is a deeper meaning in doing so - Shen Shuren hopes that with this victory, Zuo Liangyu's previous sins of "not saving his life" will be revealed.
If he were to report directly to the emperor, he would inevitably be suspected of framing his colleagues. After arriving in the capital, Shen Shuren did not have many friends from the capital to help him. It would be bad if someone stirred up trouble and caused trouble.
When Yang Sichang came forward, it seemed that a bowl of water was not the same. He praised Liu Guoneng and demoted Zuo Liangyu. This was all due to Yang Ge's clear understanding and had nothing to do with Chen Shuren. Moreover, Yang Sichang's disciples and former officials in the capital would also help to speak up and promote Mr. Yang Ge’s suggestions for expressing merit have been implemented.
When working in official circles, you must learn to borrow strength at any time. If you can use other people's connections to help advance things, try to borrow them as much as possible.
It is estimated that with Yang Sichang's life span, he will not be able to help Shen Shuren deliver a few good news.
…
When the good news from Shen Shuren was delivered to Xiangyang, Yang Sichang was a little worried.
It turned out that in the two months since Shen Shuren lured Liu Guoneng away and launched a pincer attack in Tongbai Mountain area, more deterioration had occurred in other directions on the battlefields in Huguang and Henan.
After all, Huang Taiji's invasion in March forced the Ming Dynasty to withdraw so many troops from the hinterland of the Central Plains to fill holes and seal the border crossings. There were too many monks in Huguang and Henan. If one side was blocked, there would definitely be holes in the other side.
In the Huguang Southern War Zone, because Fang Kongzhen is quite diligent, and Zuo Liangyu's tens of thousands (called one hundred thousand), even if they don't work hard, they are quite a deterrent just sitting idle in Wuchang. Therefore.
The deterioration of the war situation is not obvious yet.
In the northern war zone, in May, after learning that Liu Guoneng had been transferred, Li Zicheng, who had been dormant in the Shangluo Mountains, finally put aside the past feud with Luo Rucai, who was also unsuccessful last year, and decided to join forces again.
Li Zicheng carried out a large-scale strategic transfer in the Shangluo Mountains, crossing mountains and ridges in dangerous mountains and rivers, and ran from the Danshui River Valley to the Luoshui River Valley.
Danshui and Luoshui are two rivers originating from Shangluo Mountains, both in the Wuguandao Mountains between Guanzhong and Nanyang Basin.
But Danshui is more southerly. On the south side of the main ridge of Funiu Mountain, you can follow the river out of Wuguan, enter the Nanyang Basin, and finally merge into the Han River.
The Luoshui River is further north, on the north side of the main ridge of the Funiu Mountains, and will eventually join the Yishui River in the Luoyang Basin and flow into the Yellow River.
Li Zicheng's strategic shift was not easy. Many people were probably killed along the way, and he also gave up a lot of food, grass and baggage. Only then was he able to move freely in the mountains of the Qinling Mountains.
But after the transfer was successful and he joined forces with Luo Rucai, the effect was also very obvious - he could no longer insist on following the Dan River out of Wuguan and fighting Yang Sichang in the Yunyang and Xiangyang areas. Instead, he could directly follow the Luoshui River and pounce on it.
Toward the Luoyang Basin.
On the eighth day of May, Li Zicheng entered the mountains at the source of Luoshui River, and on the fifteenth day of May, he captured Luonan County in the mountainous area.
After that, they moved down the Luoshui River and were unstoppable. The army arrived in Lushi County on May 20th. Just two days later, they made an emergency landing and occupied the county seat. They arrived in Yongning County (today's Luoning) five days later and captured the city at the end of May.
In early June, Li Zicheng attacked Yiyang and Xin'an County again.
Among them, Yiyang County is the last county on the bank of Luoshui River and located upstream of Luoyang.
Xin'an County has even bypassed Luoyang, blocking the three passes of Funiu Mountain on the south side of the famous "Eight Passes of Luoyang" - Yique, Taigu, and Sheyuan.
In other words, by this time, Li Zicheng had not only approached Luoyang, but also surrounded Luoyang from the south and prevented the army from moving north from the Nanyang Basin to reinforce Luoyang.
In Yang Sichang in the Nanyang Basin, even if he wanted to send reinforcements, he had to first break through the three valley thoroughfares on Funiu Mountain that had been blocked by Li Zicheng.
Otherwise, we have to go east and try to reach Luoyang from Kaifeng and Zhengzhou via Sishui Pass (ancient Hulao Pass).
In other words, the final stage of the Chen Shu people's elimination of He Yilong on the border between Hubei and Henan happened to be about the same time as Li Zicheng fought his way out of the Luohe River Valley and entered the southern part of the Luoyang Basin.
If Luoyang City had not been strong, Yang Sichang would have worried that this ancient city would not be captured quickly.
Now, finally getting good news from Shen Shuren, Yang Sichang finally got a piece of credit, which could at least calm the emperor's possible anger.
No matter whether the cities in other areas were lost or not, the two thieve kings were actually completely wiped out here, and the leaders were beheaded and sent to the capital. It was quite different from the "Crash Landing in Zhao'an" in previous years.
Therefore, of course Yang Sichang fully supported Shen Shuren's performance, but at the same time, he gave orders to Liu Guoneng and wrote back to Shen Shuren, asking him to help persuade Liu Guoneng to return to the battlefield in Henan as soon as possible.
The battlefields in Henan are not without official and military defense, but they are all local guards with civilian control, and their combat effectiveness is very worrying.
The civil officials in charge of defense mainly included Li Xianfeng, the governor of Henan, and Wang Yinchang, the political participant in Luoyang. The generals under their command included Wang Shaoyu, the commander-in-chief of Henan, and deputy generals Liu Jianyi and Luo Tai.
Yang Sichang knew very well that these people were not as brave as Liu Guoneng in fighting, so he must ask Liu Guoneng to reinforce them.