"Mr. Ge, as Governor Shen expected, the intruders were so enraged by the provocation that they have already marched eastward from Luoyang and Zhengzhou to besiege Kaifeng. It will take only a few days of preparation to start an all-out attack on the city.
Maybe the siege has already begun."
"The emergency in Kaifeng is bad news, but at least it relieves the pressure on the intruders to go west and return to Shaanxi. Governor Sun, who has just taken office, may be able to take a breath and reorganize the three parties to consolidate Tongguan."
Only three days after Li Zicheng set off, Yang Sichang, who was in Nanyang, learned the news. His confidant, Supervisor Wan Yuanji, immediately passed on the information.
Yang Sichang's health was worse than a month ago, and his beard and hair had turned completely white, which was obviously caused by worry. Hearing that Li Zicheng was so desperate, even if he had a plan, he still couldn't help but be afraid:
"Can Kaifeng be defended? Do we need to go north for reinforcements... If Kaifeng is really lost, I am afraid that we will be condemned by Your Majesty, and I am not the only one. I am nearly sixty years old, and it is not a pity to die, but you are still young, and you are implicated and unable to do anything."
It would be a pity if the country contributes its own efforts."
Wan Yuanji was shocked, thinking that Mr. Ge had been in a trance recently, so he quickly reminded: "Mr. Ge, don't be alarmed! Isn't this the plan we agreed with Governor Shen?
The intruder is now in full force. What we are afraid of is that he will go out to fight in the field, picking on weak persimmons, and sweeping away the poor towns. Although each city cannot grab much food, if he wants to accumulate a small amount into a large sum, he can only
Afraid of corrupting the whole of Henan and Hebei, we will have to fight with him in the field at that time. Now he is attracted by Kaifeng Fort, which is a good thing!"
Yang Sichang was stunned and sighed: "I'm old. The older I get, the less courageous I am. Accidents have always happened in the past two years, and I'm already scared. Forget it, let's just follow the plan. What should we do?
With?"
Wan Yuanji reminded: "According to the plan, although we are not afraid of Li Zicheng's attack on Kaifeng, we must be honest and false. We declare to the outside world that we are afraid of Li Zicheng's attack, so we asked Zuo Liangyu to go out to Ye County, a dangerous pass in Tongbai Mountain.
Then let Liu Guoneng's troops go north along the Ru River from Xinyang in Huainan and advance to Runing. Both armies advanced to Nanyang Prefecture and the junction of Xinyang Prefecture and Kaifeng Prefecture, assuming the posture of going north to fight Li Zicheng at any time.
Let’s pretend that the Shen Shu people were also urged by you to follow Liu Guoneng northward, from Xinyang to Runing, and wait for action - and if the above plan is to deceive even our own people, Zuo Liangyu must really go out, and Liu Guoneng,
Whether Shen Shuren has dispatched or not, at least tell the top brass of our army in Nanyang to make them think that Liu and Shen have dispatched."
Yang Sichang patted his head and said with a wry smile: "Indeed, I have some craftsmen around me, so I had to deceive even my own people. In this way, Li Zicheng also divided his troops to guard against us, so he didn't dare to invest too thoroughly in attacking Kaifeng. You just follow the plan.
."
Yang Sichang's layout is quite flexible and safe. You can advance, attack, retreat or defend, and you won't be forced to fight in the field by Li Zicheng.
Because there is a natural geographical barrier such as Tongbai Mountain between Nanyang Basin and Kaifeng. To defend the pass over Tongbai Mountain in Ye County, Li Zicheng would need at least several times the number of troops to take the initiative to attack.
Historically, whether it was before or after, the Ming army and Li Zicheng failed in the field battle in Henan. It was because the Ming army broke out of the Tongbai Mountain and Huairu natural defense lines and took the initiative to attack, and was defeated.
From this point of view, we have to talk about Chongzhen's pitfalls - he often had zero tolerance for losing land and forced governors and generals to take the initiative to attack. There is no problem in not wanting to lose the land, but if you don't understand the situation and don't know the strength of the enemy, you blindly force him
The attack was undoubtedly of the same nature as Li Longji forcing his brother Shu Han to leave Tongguan for free.
Historically, Wang Qiaonian's fall was due to his departure to Xiangcheng, a dangerous place away from Tongbai Mountain and Funiu Mountain - and anyone who knows a little bit about Henan's geography knows that in later generations, Pingdingshan City had two counties under its jurisdiction, Ye County in the south and Ye County in the north.
Xiangcheng County is only sixty miles away.
The biggest difference is that to get to Xiangcheng from Ye County, you have to climb two hills to the north: Changcheng Mountain and Shoushan Mountain. It is because of climbing over these two hills that the Xiangcheng area is already the hinterland of the Henan Plain, and there is no danger to defend.
When they got there, they were annihilated by Li Zicheng, who had superior strength.
Yang Sichang's current deployment has not yet taken such a dangerous step, and he has always stayed on the safe side, so for the time being he can be as stable as his brother Shu Han who is hiding in Tongguan.
…
After Yang Sichang carried out the plan agreed with Shen Shuren, another three to five days soon passed. All the departments that needed to be dispatched in the plan were gradually moved into place.
Zuo Liangyu, who has now moved to Nanyang and garrisoned troops directly under Yang Sichang's eyes, does not know the overall situation of this plan. Zuo Liangyu's performance in preserving his strength in the past two years also makes him trusted by Yang Sichang far less than Shen Shu
He is a human being, so he is only worthy of being a pawn in this plan. He is only responsible for executing orders. Zuo Liangyu cannot interfere with anything else.
When he first heard that he had to go north to fight Li Zicheng, Zuo Liangyu was very angry and almost caused trouble. Fortunately, he later heard that Yang Sichang allowed him to just go to Ye County, without leaving the dangerous area of Tongbai Mountain and entering the plains.
Only then did Zuo Liangyu endure it and mobilize his troops obediently.
He also knows that he is as stable as his brother Shu Han in Tongguan, and his temporary safety is guaranteed. There is no need to take risks and disobey orders——
Even if you have to resist orders in the future, you will have to wait for the chaotic order equivalent to "Li Longji forces brother Shu Han to leave Tongguan". You will only resist when you have to. The longer you can endure now, the better.
Zuo Liangyu had obeyed his orders, and Liu Guoneng would of course also obey his orders. Moreover, Liu Guoneng had received the greetings from Chen Shuren in advance, so not only did his troops have to go north to set up defenses, but he would also raise the banner of Chen Shuren in a few days.
Pretending to be part of Chen Shuren's main force, they also headed north via Xinyang Road to join forces with Liu Guoneng.
While Zuo and Liu Ministries were actually dispatching troops, all kinds of news were leaked to Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong like they were leaking through a sieve.
There are really too many young men around Yang Sichang, and there are indeed too many bastards who are corrupt officials and take advantage of thieves and bet on both sides. This situation is inevitable.
All of this, just like the plans of Admiral Scheer, the German naval commander in World War I, could be spied on by the Yin people at any time. Only the squadron of General Hipper, who often acted alone and adapted to changes, could keep it secret by surprise.
Yang Sichang is like Scheer in later generations, and Shen Shu is similar to Hipper in later generations. (In Liaodong, Chongzhen and Chen Xinjia were Scheer, Shen Shu was Hipper, and Huang Taiji was from Yin. When he arrived in Henan, Chen Shu was from Yin.
The identity of the person remains unchanged, Li Zicheng replaces Huang Taiji's position, and Yang Sichang replaces Chongzhen's position, the nature is the same)
On May 19th, the sixth day after Li Zicheng's troops set off, and the third day after he arrived at Kaifeng City, he had just prepared a batch of siege weapons and was preparing to officially launch the siege. Regarding the situation of Zuo Liangyu and Liu Guoneng going north,
Sent to Li Zicheng's eucalyptus.
After Li Zicheng heard this, he was also angry and disdainful. After thinking for a while, he summoned Gao Yigong and Li Guo, and asked these two close relatives to divide their troops and go south to monitor Zuo Liangyu and Liu Guoneng respectively.
As for Liu Zongmin, the number one general under his command, of course he will continue to stay in Kaifeng City, leading the elite of the direct line of the Breaking Army as a strategic reserve and supervising team, supervising Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying to use the new auxiliary troops captured there as cannon fodder, so that the cannon fodder can fight in the front line first.
, to carry out the attack mission with the most tragic casualties.
…
It was almost the same time in late May, that is, four or five days at most after Li Zicheng got the news.
In the Zigui and Wuxian areas on the border of Sichuan and Huguang, an army of bandits that had been dormant for almost a year and a half under the pressure of the official army finally received the same good news.
Nice romance
In Zigui County, people's livelihood was in decline at that time. There were no ordinary people anymore, only troops of rogue thieves were stationed. Ordinary innocent people had been robbed, killed and eaten for a long time.
A rough and powerful general with a beard like Guan Yu, with several scars on his face and fierce eyes, was drinking in the county government office to drown his sorrows, waiting for news from the front, with game meat and unknown meat in front of him.
This man with a beautiful beard and a scar was none other than Zhang Xianzhong, the bandit chieftain who had the highest frequency of false surrender and surrender in the late Ming Dynasty.
History books say that he slaughtered all Sichuan, which is of course false, because in history, the Qing army also massacred wildly when they entered Sichuan. Both sides were the main factors in the massacre of the population. It is just that the Qing army won and won the right to compile history, so the Qing army
The portion of the military killings was also attributed to Zhang Xianzhong.
But Zhang Xianzhong's killing spree is not false in itself, and it is not that he is cruel by nature and likes to kill. Most of the time, he just lacks supplies, so he kills indiscriminately.
Zhang Xianzhong today is in a worse situation than at the same time in history. He failed to break into Huguang and was driven back to the mountains on the border of Huguang and Sichuan. How could he support his army with just such a few counties?
Zhang Xianzhong's military strength is at least equivalent to the sum of three or four battalions of the 5th Gezuo Battalion. Historically, in the 15th year of Chongzhen's reign, he entered the Dabie Mountains to join forces with several battalions of the 5th Gezuo Battalion and annexed some of the troops.
, the total military strength expanded to hundreds of thousands.
Now all this has been blocked. There is no addition of fresh blood, and there are losses caused by insufficient supplies, but Zhang Xianzhong's young and strong troops are still at least 50,000 to 60,000. The fifth battalion of Gezuo was directly wiped out by the Chen Shu people.
The three battalions in it add up to only so many people.
Moreover, this does not include Zhang Xianzhong's re-recruitment of strong men in the Three Gorges area and the recruits who were forcibly recruited into the army. If these rabble are included, it is not an exaggeration to say that he has 100,000 people.
In order to feed so many people, the food in several counties must not be enough to eat, and there is no way out, so we have to completely wipe out these counties, rob the people of all food, and then use all other proteins.
Even so, when Zhang Xianzhong's troops lasted until last winter, the newly attached rabble soldiers had already begun to starve to death. This was just because it was the coldest month of winter and the mountains were blocked by heavy snow. It was impossible to find food and attack other places to collect supplies.
, so I can only carry it.
The ice and snow freeze in the mountainous areas ended late. Basically, the freeze was not lifted in February this year, so it was impossible to march out in large numbers. Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong's troops had to endure hunger until mid-to-late February.
In the twelfth lunar month of last year, only the newly attached rabble starved to death. By February, veterans from Shaanxi and Henan who had been trapped for many years had starved to death.
From then on, Zhang Xianzhong had to send troops to solve the food problem.