Chapter 116 Don't waste time with the enemy on the battlefield chosen by the enemy
After being questioned by Chen Shuren, Zuo Zixiong and other generals also looked confused.
But fortunately, they were self-aware and knew that Mr. Futai had always been far-sighted and farsighted, so they did not question the leader's instructions at all. They immediately followed orders and immediately gathered all senior generals to hold a military meeting.
After all the generals arrived, Shen Shuren almost figured out why he had worries and ominous premonitions, so he calmly analyzed it to the generals:
"The land of Yuezhou is indeed located at a choke point, and it is worth fighting for with the main force, but it only has this purely military value. If there are two vassal towns, or even enemy countries are at war with each other, guard Yuezhou and block it
Dongting Lake mouth to ensure the safety of the entire Xiaoxiang River Basin, which is understandable.
But who is Zhang Xianzhong? His soldiers and horses are just bandits! He fought his way out of the mountains of western Hunan! What is the use of his posture of desperately fighting for Yuezhou? Has he already destroyed Xiaoxiang?
Are all the prefectures taking it as their own?
If this is the case, shouldn't he use his main force to go to the south first to pick up weak persimmons and occupy the weakly defended state capitals first? If I were leading the troops and Yuezhou was fighting like this, I would definitely
Will be prepared...
So I said to you, what's the use of fighting against the enemy's "main force" in Yuezhou? Fortunately, we are guest troops. Even if the worst happens, no matter how much territory is temporarily lost in southern Huguang, the court will not be able to judge us.
The crime of losing land.
That's all, let's do this for now. Prepare to divide the troops immediately. First gather the light warships and sailors. Prepare to secretly break through the blockade at the mouth of Dongting Lake tonight and break into the depths of Dongting Lake. Then divide the troops to inspect the estuaries of Xiaoxiang and Yuanli to see.
What a rotten state the south has become!"
After being analyzed like this by Chen Shuren, all the generals were a little scared.
Zuo Zixiong, the commander-in-chief, said worriedly: "But...does Zhang Xianzhong have so many troops? Looking at the Baling camp these days, even if there are not 100,000 people, there must be more than 50,000 or 60,000. In the end,
The general also observed the size of the enemy army and determined that Zhang Xianzhong's main force was here.
If they divide their troops and go south and there are not enough people, wouldn't they be defeated by the defenders in Changsha and other places? Also, our army is now dividing its troops and going south to search when the enemy's situation is unknown. If one of them encounters the main force of the bandits, will it be possible?
Will it be dangerous?"
Chen Shuren was angry and funny: "Are you sure that there are at least 50,000 or 60,000 enemies here? How are you so sure?"
Zuo Zixiong and his subordinates Jin Shenghuan, Zhu Wenzhen and others looked at each other for a few seconds and said frankly: "Look at the size of the camp, how many tents there are, the smoke from the stove, and so on."
Chen Shuren shook his head: "If you really want to delay time, can't these be faked? I am leading the troops and I also faked them! Also, why do you have to worry about dividing your troops and going south to search and being hit by the enemy's main force? Did I let you go ashore?
I want you to choose a fast boat and rely on the waterway. Use your brains to think about it. No matter how many enemies there are, there is one shortcoming that cannot be circumvented. That is, Zhang Xianzhong came over the mountain. It is impossible to bring a boat from his hometown.
!
He had to cross the Dongting Lake and maneuver along the Yuanshui, Lishui and Xiangjiang rivers. All water vehicles were either cut down to make rafts or captured from counties along the way! If there were few land warriors, he might worry about being surrounded and annihilated by too many people. In the case of water battles,
As long as one side's warships are absolutely fast in movement and sharp in defense, they will be in an invincible position. If they encounter a strong enemy and cannot repel it, will they be unable to run away?"
These words stopped several generals again. Chen Shuren sighed and realized that they could not be blamed. They were indeed not very capable in water warfare. Zuo Zixiong was a land warfare general, as were Jin Shenghuan and Zhu Wenzhen.
.
Previously, Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong were well-known naval generals, but Zhang Mingzhen and his main subordinates are now in charge of coastal defense in Zhoushan and are not affiliated with Chen Shuren. Zheng Chenggong is also serving as the prefect of Jiujiang and is a civil servant.
The generals that Shen Shuren can directly take out are not that there are no generals at all, but the level is relatively low - Shen Lian, who just followed Zhang Mingzhen a few months ago and Zheng Chenggong performed meritorious service, and just became a guard, is a
A good navy general,
He was a servant of the Shen family and a sailor on a sea-going ship. He knew water warfare very well, but his rank was too low, at least much lower than the three above-mentioned generals and above, so he was not qualified to lead an army on his own before.
In addition, Li Yu, the general of the North Korean Gungun Battalion who surrendered before, was actually quite good in water warfare, otherwise he would not have been sent out by Kong Youde before. It was only because during the Battle of Bijia Mountain and Sea, he took the initiative to abandon the dark side and join the light side, that his battlefield performance appeared to be poor.
After Chen Shuren thought about it clearly, he no longer blamed his army generals for not being versatile enough. He simply gave the order: "There are priorities in learning, and there are specialties in skills. If you don't understand water warfare, I don't blame you. Just continue to keep an eye on Li Dingguo.
Tonight, I asked Shen Lian and Li Yu to each take a battalion of men and horses, select strong clippers, and take all the muskets and rifles in the army to secretly sneak down to Vietnam and see if they can wait at Dongting Lake and the mouth of the Xiangjiang River.
Gains are made everywhere.
You guys should take note of this for me - I just arrived today, so I probably haven't spread the news of my arrival yet, right? Then continue to keep it secret! Anyone in the army who dares to talk about the news of my arrival will be dealt with according to military law -
That’s great, Zhu Wenzhen!”
Zhu Wenzhen responded with a stern voice: "The general is here!"
Chen Shuren: "You did well in the battle to annihilate Jiao Guangqi the day before yesterday. I will find a way to help you show your merit. I will ask Wan Yuanji from the Staff Department of the Nanjing Ministry of War to help you re-forge your resume and place of origin and clear your identity. With this time
Due to the good news, I will officially confer you with the rank of General again.
In order to make the credit more solid, today you remember that after the Zuo General Soldier bombarded the enemy camp, he organized the cavalry to charge again, and then found the weak points of the enemy camp's defense that were bombarded and attacked, trying to break through the blockade and rush to the foot of Baling City.
, and then come back——
You should be familiar with this, right? After you killed Jiao Guangqi the day before yesterday, this is how you broke through Bai Wenxuan's blockade and communicated with the defenders at the top of the city. I just want you to do it again."
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Zhu Wenzhen didn't even think about it: "General, I obey! But... what's the use of this? Hasn't the news of the arrival of reinforcements been sent in? The morale in the city is very high now."
Chen Shuren smiled sinisterly: "Then you will emphasize it again this time and shoot a few arrows in the letter. The content of the letter is just to ask the defenders in the city to continue to persist and tell them the reason why you have not launched a strong attack on the enemy camp yet.
It's because the rear army from Wuchang hasn't arrived yet, and it only takes two or three days, so let them not be discouraged.
When archery, you can shoot a few more arrows. Most of them should hit the top of the city. Some of them can be shot crookedly and fall under the city wall or beside the moat. Of course, don’t be too fake. You can’t shoot on the outside of the moat! At any rate, it should be.
Between the inside of the moat and the root of the city wall!"
Zhu Wenzhen and others smacked Master Futai's meaning and gasped slightly, realizing that this was part of the deception.
The key is that this deception has no cost. If Li Dingguo is overly concerned, discovers the anomaly of Zhu Wenzhen's attack today, insists on getting to the bottom of it, and finally sends dead soldiers to the base of the city wall in the middle of the night to retrieve these missed arrows with letters tied to them, then
It can make Li Dingguo feel more at ease and be less vigilant.
And even if this deception fails, Li Dingguo is careless, or if he is unlucky enough to find the few book arrows that did not hit the city in the dark, Chen Shuren will not suffer any loss.
Since there is no cost, it’s free if you don’t use it.
Moreover, this kind of deception has another advantage, that is, if a general attack on Li Dingguo's camp is to be launched in the future, it will be more sudden, so that the thieves will be less mentally prepared as possible.
When Bai Qi arrived in Changping, he did not let Zhao Kuo know that Bai Qi had arrived in Changping. Zhao Kuo thought that the general of the Qin army was still Wang Lu.
Zuo Zixiong's "hard fight" in the past two days must have left a deep impression on Li Dingguo, and this impression cannot be left in vain. Since Chen Shuren has been slightly mistaken, he must look at it from another angle
Get your capital back with interest!
He, Shen Shuren, has always been the only one in the world who takes advantage of others. How can anyone take advantage of him, Shen Shuren!
…
Up and down the Ming army, the fighting spirit quickly changed.
The various ministries suddenly became flexible and able to escape from the original situation of being rigid and fighting dull battles.
The reconnaissance work that needed to be strengthened was not neglected. Zhu Wenzhen's "quasi-Guanning cavalry" suddenly came out again after the artillery battle that afternoon, and everything was carried out as planned.
On the opposite side, Li Dingguo and Bai Wenxuan had not been attacked by the army for two days, so they were a little lax at first. However, after part of the camp was blown up by Hongyi artillery, cavalry suddenly rushed in, and Bai Wenxuan was really beaten again.
Caught off guard.
At least the bandit troops in front of the gap in the defense line were sprayed horribly by the musketeers. At least another two to three thousand people were lost - not all of them were casualties, and a considerable number of them were completely scattered by scurrying rats. After escaping,
It is estimated that he will never respond to serving as a soldier for Zhang Xianzhong.
Li Dingguo was in a state of distress for a while, as the troops he had on hand had been eroded to barely 20,000.
However, he was still careless. After asking Bai Wenxuan about the details of the unusual behavior of the enemy, he suspected that there must be something fishy. In the end, he actually sent a small group of dead soldiers to sneak around when it was almost dark that evening.
Cross the moat and search under the city.
Zhu Wenzhen actually deliberately missed dozens of "letter arrows", so some of them were picked up by Li Dingguo's troops in the dark.
If Li Dingguo knew that the current frontline coach of the Ming army had been replaced by Shen Shuren himself, he would definitely think more about whether there was a fraud because of his awe of Shen Shuren's reputation as a treacherous man.
It's a pity that he didn't even have sufficient information. The Shen Shu Army was always known for its strict confidentiality, and Li Dingguo thought Zuo Zixiong was still in command.
Based on his observation of Zuo Zixiong's IQ in the past few days, he certainly would not think that Zuo Zixiong had suddenly become deceitful, so he believed that the information on the letter arrow was absolutely true.
It seems that in two days, there will be a strong attack by the army! At that time, I may have to abandon the Baling siege camp in advance. After delaying it for so long, I can be considered worthy of my father-in-law and expand the territory in the south for my father-in-law.
Enough time has passed.
When he gave up the siege of Baling, of course he had to send a messenger in advance to warn his adoptive father, telling him to beware that the navy of the official army would rush into the hinterland of Dongting Lake. At that time, the water supply line on the lake must be protected.
Unfortunately, Li Dingguo's "warning" was destined to be late.
Because there is no such thing as "two days later", just in the middle of the night, the Ming army with about 6,000 people and two battalions of naval forces selected all the clippers in the army and installed them with portable muskets.
Fo Langji and thousands of gunmen broke through Li Dingguo's patrol blockade at the mouth of Dongting Lake in the dark.
More than a dozen rogue sentinel boats were destroyed and killed. The only thing they could do before they died was to warn the officers and soldiers of the enemy attack, forcefully broke through the narrow waters at the mouth of Dongting Lake, and rushed into the hinterland of Dongting Lake.