Chapter 41 Captive Ainengqi sent to Beijing to discuss the crime
July 12th, night, at the end of Unity Time (7 p.m.).
North gate of Xiangyang City.
When Chen Shuren appeared in Xiangyang City with a direct force of about 10,000 people, what he saw from a distance was several fires in the city, and the shouts of killing were chaotic.
On an autumn night in the middle of the seventh lunar month, at the end of the Youshi period, it is about a quarter of an hour after the sky has completely darkened, and the light of the fire appears particularly bright in the night.
Zuo Zixiong, Zhang Mingzhen, Yang Jinjue and other three generals also withdrew with Shen Shuren this time.
They had all participated in the "steady and steady march north to rescue Luoyang" campaign before. They had fought against Ma Shouying's troops near the Luyang Pass in Funiu Mountain. Their knowledge, vision, and courage had improved slightly compared to before.
But when they saw the fire in Xiangyang City, the three generals were inevitably a little panicked. They all seemed to think that Zhang Xianzhong must have succeeded in the sneak attack——
Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, Ma Shouying all gathered on the northern front, and Yang Sichang also went north in person. There could be no other enemies on the south side.
Although Zhang Xianzhong is still far away in theory, after excluding all other options, this last option can only be the only answer no matter how unreasonable it seems.
Among the people, only Shen Shuren was not panicked at all, and even felt as if a stone had dropped from his heart.
It's not easy to be on guard against thieves for a thousand days. You have to be careful every day and be on guard all the time. There is no end.
Based on his understanding of history, he always felt that although the butterfly effect he had caused was already profound, there was a high probability that Zhang Xianzhong would not give up the historical operation of "sneak attack on Xiangyang and frame Yang Sichang".
After waiting for so long, the wait is finally here. If we can take the opportunity to give Zhang Xianzhong a thorough beating, the key is to make him realize that using this method to frame a border official is useless and will only result in more losses than gains. Only then can the problem of sneak attacks be solved once and for all.
While his subordinates were still in a slight panic, Shen Shuren took the lead and calmly issued the deployment:
"Don't panic! Even if there is a fire in the city, there will definitely be fighting in many places when you hear the shouts of killing! It is impossible for Zhang Ni to control the whole city! Stay calm, everyone!
If you think about it for a moment, Zhang Ni was west of Jingmen, between the peaks of Jingshan Mountain. After leaving the mountainous area, the closest road to Xiangyang also had to go around Longzhong.
It had only been four days since Mr. Yang Ge had gone north. Zhang Ni had come so quickly. It was obvious that he had an insider working beside Mr. Yang Ge! At least there was an informant in Xiangyang City! And to achieve such a level of sneak attack, the only way is to use light cavalry and fast horses. , attack day and night, the number of people will not be too many!
Yang Ge Lao left two guard posts in Xiangyang City, with at least three to four thousand troops. The fighting has not stopped yet. Zhang Ni must have insufficient manpower to control the entire city, so he can only focus on destruction.
Zhang Mingzhen, you immediately lead two thousand people, gather all the cavalry, take my seal and the letter of appointment given to me by Mr. Yang Ge, and go to the farthest south gate to intercept it. This fire started from the north gate. Zhang Ni is sure Someone has defrauded the north gate to enter the city, and the south gate may still be in the hands of the government troops! If the government troops believe you, go into the city to reinforce you; if they don’t believe you, block the city gate.
Yang Jinjue, take three thousand infantry to defend outside the east gate. Zuo Zixiong, take the main force with me to block outside the north gate, enter the city one by one, and retake the Wengcheng first. Then divide one thousand infantry to go to the west gate - outside the west gate of Xiangyang There is Tanxi River, the water is wide, and it is not easy for the cavalry to escape by wading through it. We can't separate so many people in a hurry, so we have to prioritize."
The generals heard what he said made sense, and the coach's tone was so calm, and they finally regained their confidence.
What came was definitely not Zhang Xianzhong’s main force! It was just some small troops who were conducting sneak attacks and causing damage! Therefore, the top priority was not to swarm them immediately, but to surround all the gates in Xiangyang first, confirm the situation, and understand which gates were still in the hands of the government troops.
The generals immediately strictly carried out Shen Shuren's order and did not attack immediately, but waited for the ministries to detour back to their positions.
During the period of waiting, the flames in the city seemed to be burning more fiercely, and the shouts of death became more intense and miserable, but Shen Jiajun just carried out the orders step by step.
It can be seen that after this unit destroyed three of the fifth battalion of Ge Zuo, they fought a bloody battle with Ma Shouying. In terms of discipline, they have thoroughly followed Chen Shuren's words and have no doubts about them.
…
The key to this battle lies precisely in quietly outflanking and surrounding them on all sides, without panicking.
The success of Zhang Xianzhong's men's sneak attacks has always been mainly due to the fact that the officers and soldiers "did not know how many bandits were coming and did not know the enemy's situation", so they panicked and lost their morale.
Once the officers and soldiers are calm, the outcome of this battle will be obvious.
Shen Shuren sharpened his sword and wasted no time in chopping wood. He delayed more than a quarter of an hour to get all the ministries in place before launching a counterattack.
In fact, there were only some vanguard light cavalry under Zhang Xianzhong in the city. Previously, relying on the fear of the four thousand officers and soldiers, they only dared to defend the barracks and did not dare to move the city tower. Zhang Xianzhong's army showed off its power and set fire everywhere.
The number of these pioneer light cavalry is about one to two thousand——
To be precise, an hour ago, Zhang Xianzhong's army first had forty or fifty elite soldiers pretending to be refugees driven away by bandits, sneaked into Wengcheng, and then suddenly took control of the key points. Taking advantage of the slow reaction of the officers and soldiers, they held on for a few minutes. Then they let in the one or two thousand cavalry who were ambushed ten miles away. With these two thousand cavalry, they officially withstood the counterattack of the officers and soldiers in the city, charging back and forth along the streets.
Now Shen Shuren directly surrounded more than 10,000 people in various gates. They also sent messages to each gate and battalion of the officers and soldiers in the city to stabilize people's hearts and surrounded them layer by layer. Of course, there was no suspense in the battle.
The fight with swords and guns was not the key to victory tonight. Surrounding and crushing the enemy with a total force seven to eight times that of the enemy, Shen Shuren had never fought such a rich battle in his life.
So, half an hour later, after killing two vassal kings in Xiangyang City and a large number of wealthy families, the cavalry from Zhang Xianzhong's department were surrounded and annihilated by the Chenshu people.
Street fighting in the city is not suitable for cavalry. The Shen army formed a spear formation and bayonet formation along the long street. They used fire blunderbuss to squeeze in and block the way. They could quickly kill the bandits who had lost their mobility and sprayed blood on the long street.
Only a few brave men, who seemed to be disguised as common people, climbed over the wall, attacked individual officers and soldiers from the west of the city, robbed the horses and jumped over Tanxi River.
But no matter what, Shen Shuren at least succeeded in capturing a group of cavalry officers under Zhang Xianzhong.
These officers were also quite skilled in martial arts, and the generals were afraid that they would get violent and hurt others, so Zuo Zixiong, who was the most skilled in martial arts, personally escorted the bandit officers who were tied up by Wu Huada and sent them to Chen Shuren for torture.
Chen Shuren met the prisoners in the bloody Xiangyang Xingyuan Yamen. This Xingyuan was where Yang Sichang had his office when he was supervising the division in Xiangyang. After Yang Sichang left, some civilian staff remained here.
Zhang Xianzhong obviously hated Yang Sichang to death, so after his troops entered the city for a sneak attack, in addition to killing the vassal king, their second priority was to kill the staff and auxiliary personnel around Yang Sichang.
There were nearly a thousand people inside and outside the yamen, and except for those who escaped in disguise, no one was left alive.
"Tell me, what is the purpose of Yang Sichang sending you here? Why do you want to attack Xiangyang with this small force? You don't think that you can capture Xiangyang for a long time, do you?"
Chen Shuren didn't want to get too close to the prisoner, so he covered his mouth and nose and pretended that he couldn't stand the smell of blood.
The leader of the prisoners did not answer, but wanted to spit blood at Shen Shuren. Of course Shen Shuren would not give him a chance.
"Forget it if you don't answer. If you ask his subordinates, there are always some who can't help but confess after being tortured. Maybe this guy's identity is quite valuable. If he is sent to the capital, he can at least help Mr. Yang Ge atone for his sins." Shen Shuren drove him away. If there is a bad smell, just tell Zuo Zixiong directly.
Unexpectedly, when the prisoner heard that he said, "Sending myself to the capital can atone for Yang Sichang's sins," his expression immediately changed, and his facial muscles twitched.
Fortunately, Zuo Zixiong next to him was also highly skilled in martial arts and had good hearing and vision. He immediately judged that this was an action to accumulate energy before biting his tongue and committing suicide. He immediately slashed across the opponent's mandible with his palm and dislocated it.
"Sir! This guy wants to commit suicide! It seems that Zhang Ni really hates Mr. Yang Ge and wants to frame Mr. Yang Ge better."
"Then there's nothing more to say. Hurry and torture the other person first and ask for his identity!"
Chen Shuren was also worried that this person was Li Dingguo, so he thought of trying to win over each other while they were separated. He didn't want to make the other party too disabled for the time being, the kind of irreversible disability.
Fortunately, Zuo Zixiong was also very efficient. He went around the isolation and interrogation room nearby, killed several prisoners, and already asked for the result.
"Sir, everyone under his command said that this guy is Zhang Ni's fourth adopted son Ai Nengqi. What should I do with him? In addition, according to the results of the torture just now, Zhang Xianzhong sent two adopted sons who are famous for their martial arts to frame him. Mr. Yang Ge.
There was also a man named Li Dingguo who led the dozens of dead soldiers who initially disguised themselves as fleeing civilians and defrauded the city gate. Because they were not wearing military uniforms, they are now missing. I wonder if they took advantage of the chaos to sneak in with the civilians and escape.
Ai Nengqi was responsible for leading the two thousand cavalry of the rear army. At first, he lay in ambush out of sight of the defenders at the top of the city. After Li Dingguo succeeded in deceiving the enemy, they launched a charge and swarmed in."
Chen Shuren breathed a sigh of relief. Since the person in front of him was Ai Nengqi, it would be easy to handle. Historically, the four adopted sons of Zhang Xianzhong, Sun Kewang and Liu Wenxiu were not known for their personal martial arts, but Ai Nengqi was very powerful in martial arts.
Moreover, Ai Nengqi had no history of following the Southern Ming Dynasty to fight against the Qing Dynasty. His main murderous achievements came from his experience as a thief following Zhang Xianzhong.
Historically, during the period after Zhang Xianzhong's death, Ai Nengqi's military exploits were still mainly in attacking the troops of the Southern Ming Dynasty, killing Zeng Ying and other generals of the Southern Sichuan Army of the Southern Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, Chenshu people would certainly not have the slightest pity for such thieves and generals who only knew how to fight national civil war.
He immediately ordered calmly: "In that case, pull out all his teeth to prevent Ye Changmengduo from getting another chance to commit suicide later. Also remove his six fingers from thumb to middle finger to prevent lax custody from giving him an opportunity to escape with weapons." Or commit suicide.
Other prisoners who are willing to confess his identity and the purpose of Zhang Xianzhong's arrangement will be under Haosheng's custody, and they are promised to be pardoned for their previous sins and given rewards and official positions when they come to the capital and confess properly."
No matter whether this kind of rhetoric can drive a wedge among the bandits, it is at least very logical: whoever is the godson of the eunuch doesn’t want to inherit his godfather’s career?
Even if you are a godson to Zhang Xianzhong, your chances of inheritance are higher than if you are a godson to Wei Zhongxian - Wei Zhongxian entered the palace only after marrying a wife and having children in his thirties.
Those who regarded Wei Zhongxian as godsons knew that Wei Zhongxian had a daughter, a grandson, and a nephew who could inherit the family property. No eunuch official expected to inherit Wei Zhongxian's inheritance.
Zhang Xianzhong's elimination of descendants was more complete than Wei Zhongxian's, so the inheritance benefits from being his godson were naturally much higher.
No matter how far the estrangement can go, Chen Shuren can arrange a free game like this at no cost, it is a purely costless business.