Chapter 121 Be strict with yourself and be lenient with others
Of course, Chen Shuren's questions were quickly answered.
Even if Zuo Zixiong and the others didn't ask at first, they would torture him immediately after receiving the order, no matter what torture methods were used.
"My lord, let me ask clearly: the messenger said there were several, maybe five. It should be that Zhang Xianzhong was afraid of being intercepted by us, in case he couldn't deliver it to Li Dingguo, so he sent a few more groups.
Now we have captured two and killed one, and there should be some who slipped through the net and contacted Li Dingguo. As for why they arrived now, they can't tell clearly. They only said that Zhang Xianzhong sent them out last night.
The general estimates that Zhang Xianzhong did not understand the overall situation of the battle at the beginning, so he did not dare to act rashly? Or is Zhang Xianzhong hesitant?"
Chen Shuren listened calmly, and when he heard the last few sentences, he raised his hand decisively: "Okay, just paraphrase the confession part. Don't mix the 'your estimate' part with the confession in the future."
As a modern person, and someone who often dealt with strategies and techniques in his previous life, Shen Shuren knows very well:
Evidence is evidence, and inference is inference. Mixing inferences when talking about evidence will affect judgment.
It’s not that you don’t want to listen and understand, or that you have to act arbitrarily. It’s that the various stages of thinking work should be clearly separated and processed separately using different brain circuit states.
Chen Shuren closed his eyes and thought for a while, and whispered to himself: "It seems that Li Dingguo may have received the news of the retreat late... That's why he resisted so resolutely, thinking that he was helping his adoptive father withstand the north and win the battle.
It’s time to take Changsha…”
It's actually normal for Chen Shuren to think this way, because Chen Shuren also hasn't opened his eyes -
There is a very important piece of information that people with open eyes have known for a long time, but people in Chenshu still don't know, that is "Changsha has fallen".
That's right, don't doubt it. It's really impossible for Shen Shuren to know this. Because Shen Lian and Li Yu, the naval forces of the two battalions he sent out to attack the enemy's supply line, don't know this either. They only know that the bandits have at least arrived.
Linxiang County is even besieging Changsha, but they don't know that the city of Changsha has been lost.
They only intercepted a reinforcement force sent by Liu Wenxiu to Zhang Xianzhong. Those captured rogue soldiers in the reinforcements also did not know the situation on the front line. When Liu Wenxiu sent them, the order they received was to "support the king in attacking Changsha."
Across the entire battlefield across Dongting Lake, there is an information time difference ranging from one to three days between each part.
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Shen Lian and the others did not capture even a single "soldier who had rushed to Zhang Xianzhong's side to support him", but only captured "soldiers who were on their way to Zhang Xianzhong's side". Logically speaking, this would be the result, and there was nothing wrong with it at all.
The information gap that Chen Shuren knows but Li Dingguo doesn't know can help Chen Shuren use his plan. The information gap that Li Dingguo knows but Chen Shuren doesn't know can of course also help Li Dingguo use his plan - none of this belongs to the party being used.
The IQ problem is simply a lack of information.
Chen Shuren thought about it again and again, and finally raised a small question:
"I still feel something is wrong... Why was Zhang Xianzhong's messenger captured? Didn't he ever think that delivering messages by cavalry over land was not safe enough? Why didn't he use a boat to deliver messages along the reeds along the shore of Dongting Lake? That's not the case
Are you unaware of it?"
However, this issue did not make his subordinates feel wise. Zuo Zixiong and others had been criticized in the past few days, and they did not dare to point it out. They just looked at each other in confusion.
In the end, it was Chen Shuren’s writing staff, Gu Yanwu, who couldn’t stand it anymore and casually reminded him in a low voice:
"Although students don't know about soldiers, they also know that fast horses can travel hundreds of miles a day. Delivering messages in a small boat is relatively safe, but from Linxiang to Baling... I'm afraid it will take several days to walk."
Chen Shuren was stunned for a moment and realized that he was a little confused. Indeed, Zhang Xianzhong also had to consider time and speed issues. How could he use a small boat to deliver messages from the reed swamp for the sake of safety?
Chen Shuren rubbed his temples mockingly: "That's all... maybe I always felt that Li Dingguo was not an easy person, so I was a little paranoid. From this point of view, it is really possible that Li Dingguo received the news late, and that's why he refused to retreat.
But now that he has received the news, he will definitely find a way to retreat as soon as possible. Once the news is passed on and known to the whole army, then the troops will definitely have no intention of fighting. If we cover up and attack the camp, or even rob the camp overnight, we will definitely
Able to achieve great victory at a small cost!
Pass the order, let the soldiers rest in batches tonight, some will be on guard in the first half of the night, and some will be on guard in the second half of the night. As long as there is any movement in the enemy camp, half of the troops will go ahead and attack immediately - you don't need too many people in a night battle, and you don't need to rob the camp.
, recharge your batteries, more than 10,000 people will be enough."
The people below didn't think anything was wrong with Chen Shuren's words. This was because the number of troops that could be effectively deployed in night battles was already small. If there were more troops, it would be easy to cause confusion and even trample on each other.
The total strength of the Shen family army in Yuezhou now exceeds 30,000. After excluding the casualties in the past few days and the 6,000 people Shen Lian and Li Yu took away, there are still at least 23,000 to 23,000 left.
With half of them on standby, there are still 12,000 people, which is definitely enough for a real pursuit.
The remaining troops can also get up and reorganize themselves after the friendly forces have captured the bandits, and then join the battlefield as a new force at dawn. The effect will only be better.
Finally, Chen Shuren did not forget to send someone to warn Zhu Wenzhen who had already retreated, asking him to be more alert and beware of Li Dingguo's breakout. However, Chen Shuren did not pay too much attention because he could not tell more.
Tactical details are down to the ground, and the situation on the front line can only be adapted to the situation by the generals involved.
Zhu Wenzhen did not dare to neglect, and kept his troops on patrol in the first half of the night. He was also afraid that the lone troops would be attacked in the dark, so he gathered his troops and dispatched them in groups of at least three to five hundred riders to avoid being stolen.
However, he kept struggling until midnight and saw no sign of Li Dingguo retreating, which made him a little nervous.
No one is made of iron, and the cavalry troops did not rest during the day. Although they did not participate in the bloody fight, they were always awake and alert, and their energy consumption was very considerable.
After holding on until the end of the third watch, Zhu Wenzhen felt that the soldiers were really in trouble, so he sent someone back to report that there was no movement from Li Dingguo. However, the lights in the camp were brightly lit, and patrol soldiers could be seen from a distance on patrol as usual.
Chen Shuren had already fallen asleep and was still a little irritated when he was woken up. However, he quickly woke up and realized that he was with the army on the front line, so he suppressed his displeasure and listened to the report from his subordinates.
"It's past midnight and there's still no action? Do you mean that you don't plan to retreat? Or do you know that some of the messengers sent to him by Zhang Xianzhong were caught by us, so you are afraid that the retreat plan will be leaked and we will be prepared to intercept it? This is the temporary change.
Plan to continue concealing the critical situation in the rear?
Li Dingguo should know that our army has elite cavalry. If he does not withdraw, it will only be an hour before dawn. How far can he escape with infantry as the main force? If he is caught up and chased by our army, wouldn't it be death?
Is it even worse? It seems like he is really going to play tricks with me tonight?"
Shen Shuren could not give any better advice. He just asked Zhu Wenzhen to continue to observe and at the same time pay attention to the cavalry to conserve their strength. Maybe they would find new situations after dawn and continue to pursue them.
As for how to do it specifically, he did not say, so Zhu Wenzhen had to make his own choices to solve the dilemma of "making the horse run, but also not eating grass."
Anyway, when the top leaders can't think of a detailed solution, they just give them one direction and let the people below them lose their hair on their own to achieve "both... and... and...".
At the same time, Chen Shuren once again adjusted the order to Zuo Zixiong, telling him to be ready to rob the camp no matter what on the fourth watch. If there is any abnormality in the enemy camp, he would attack. If there is no opportunity to take advantage of it, use
The Hongyi artillery shelled the camp to scare the people and lower their morale, and then launched a full-scale attack.
…
Zhu Wenzhen and Zuo Zixiong could only adapt to the situation, and the time soon came to the middle of the fourth watch. Seeing that there was less than one watch left, it was almost completely dawn, and the lights in Li Dingguo's camp were still brightly lit. From a distance,
The security is tight.
This is definitely not some "hanging sheep's crest" trick. There are real human patrols patrolling, and they can be seen under the fire, so it is definitely not an empty camp.
Zuo Zixiong saw that he never got a chance to rob the camp, so he had no choice but to take a gamble and attack again.
He mobilized more than a dozen Hongyi cannons and fired volleys at the brightest direction, and then asked General Jin Shenghuan to immediately lead the fresh troops to charge into the camp.
The two sides immediately started fighting, and there was chaos in front of the camp. The bandit side actually did not collapse immediately at the beginning. There were even resting soldiers who got up and lined up as soon as they heard the sound of the cannon. Even Mimi Huhu still dared to attack.
After the bandits were attracted from the front, Zhu Wenzhen's cavalry, which the Ming army detoured to the rear, also mobilized. Because some of the men were weak and had been patrolling in the first half of the night, Zhu Wenzhen only mobilized a thousand cavalry.
Fortunately, the range of the Hongyi cannon was enough to cover the camp. The fortifications around the camp were blasted with holes everywhere, and the cavalry behind them could also find gaps to rush in.
As the battle gradually became fierce and fierce, the fatigue of the bandit side was quickly exposed. Many bandit officers could not stand it on the front line and began to ask for help from the Chinese army. At this time, many middle-level bandit officers below the commander brigade level,
Only to discover that General Li could not be found at all.
This became the last straw that completely broke the bandits' rear army. Captain Pan Shirong was left and right, unable to control the situation. He was shocked to discover that Li Dingguo had changed his retreat plan and actually sold him out.
In less than half an update, the bandits in the camp were completely annihilated. In fact, only a few thousand people were killed at the beginning. Then the general collapsed and surrendered directly. Those who couldn't find a way to surrender fled everywhere, leaving everyone unable to find a way to surrender.
It would be very troublesome for the officers and soldiers to capture them.
…
At the same time, Li Dingguo had led 7,000 brothers from the old camp and 2,000 rowers who were elite rowers from the old camp, assembled all the light boats in the bandit army, and left all the large boats and slow boats that could not hide their traces in the camp.
, retreated and ran away.
They left the camp at the fourth watch, when the patrol troops were extremely exhausted. They took advantage of the mentality that "it will be dawn in more than an hour". When the troops were impatient and their energy dropped, they left the camp.
Leaving camp in the dark.
First, they walked twenty miles through the reeds on the shore of the lake. After guessing that they had passed Zhu Wenzhen's search and blockade circle, it was almost dawn, and Li Dingguo asked the soldiers to abandon the ship and land ashore, and immediately ran south lightly.
Those who have horses ride on horses, and those who don’t have horses also throw away their armor and march.
As for the two thousand oarsmen composed of newly attached soldiers, they were also abandoned by Li Dingguo. Of course, Li Dingguo did not let them die directly. He only said that they were allowed to pretend to be common people and escape on their own. They could surrender if they were encountered by the army.
The government and army actually organized patrols on the Dongting Lake. Shen Shuren was not careless, but because all the elite sailors of the Clippers were taken away by Shen Lian, the remaining patrol boats were definitely not very fast.
It was dark in the second half of the night, so Li Dingguo took only part of the people away. He could just take a small boat and walk through the reed swamps, and the big boat and slow boat could stay in the camp, so it would be difficult for the Shenshu people's patrol boat to find them.
In the final analysis, Li Dingguo used about 10,000 Huguang local recruits in the camp, plus 2,000 oarsmen, as a bargaining chip for the strong men to break their wrists, and directly threw them to the army in exchange for the escape of the brothers from the old camp.
In fact, the generals of Zhang Xianzhong's faction knew in their hearts that the new auxiliary army could catch young men anytime and anywhere if they had money, and the old brothers who had come out of Shaanxi and Henan for more than five years were the ones who needed to preserve their capital the most.
Ten days ago, when Li Dingguo first arrived in Baling, he had a total force of just over 30,000. Jiao Guangqi lost several thousand men and horses. Later, he lost thousands more in several camp attacks. Before tonight, only the rebels were left.
Twenty thousand.
Li Dingguo's strong man's broken wrists directly reduced the breakout force to only 7,000 people. In other words, within ten days, at least 24,000 to 5,000 of his troops were thrown to the Shen army for annihilation.
On the other side, Shen Shuren, after Zuo Zixiong broke through the enemy camp and completely controlled the situation, rushed to the bandit camp to inspect and understand the situation.
Zuo Zixiong and Zhu Wenzhen both looked tired, but looked very excited. As soon as they saw Shen Shuren, they fell to the ground and thanked them sincerely:
"Master Futai is really a master of calculation! He seized the opportunity when the morale of the bandits was at its lowest, and annihilated ten thousand enemies tonight! Our army suffered very few casualties!"
Chen Shuren waved his hand anxiously: "That's not what I want to hear! Where is Li Dingguo? Have you caught him?"
Zuo Zixiong: "We just tortured the prisoners, and Li Dingguo is nowhere to be found. It seems that he abandoned the main force and broke out in advance. After asking each department carefully, it seems that all the brothers in the old camp in Shaanxi and Henan were escaped by him.
However, our army at least achieved a complete victory, annihilating more than half of the enemy, and only a small number escaped. The key is that our army suffered very few casualties."
Chen Shuren punched the table hard: "This Li Dingguo is quite ruthless. He used more than half of his people to make a move. No wonder the lights were brightly lit all night in the camp and patrols were constantly coming and going. But how could he do it?
None of you knew he had run away?
The big plan was in vain! I asked my officer to work hard and use my brain, but in the end I just easily killed more than 10,000 new auxiliary troops! I originally wanted to kill Li Dingguo! What are these more than 10,000 soldiers and horses worth! You can catch strong men with money
That’s all!
Zhu Wenzhen, hurry up and lead the cavalry to catch up and see if you can get more gains. But if the enemy army becomes organized and returns to fight to the death, don't be impulsive. Li Dingguo is good at leading troops, and the troops he has on hand may still be yours.
Several times. As long as it can stick, let our army pursue it. If it can't stick, forget it."
Zhu Wenzhen received the order and had no choice but to continue his exhausting pursuit.
The generals in the tent looked at Chen Shuren with complex and admiring eyes:
Master Futai's pursuit is high! Being able to annihilate more than 10,000 Li Dingguo's troops at once with only a few hundred casualties is already very good! If it were other generals and officials, they would have been unable to bear it and went to the Ministry of War.
Mr. Ge, the emperor is asking for credit and rewards, and he is so boastful.
Li Dingguo is just one of the godsons of the gangster Zhang Xianzhong. If he runs away, he just runs away! It should be considered a complete victory!
"Master Futai is really a genius. He has such high demands on himself. He uses tricks to pursue complete annihilation. We really dare not even think about it."
Zhu Wenzhen's pursuit lasted for two or three hours, including the time on the way there and back. By the end of the chase, Zhu Wenzhen's cavalry troops were completely exhausted.
In addition, some sporadic resistance was encountered along the way, and the main force of the fleeing enemy army was not found for a long time. They were misled by the rebels and delayed the time. Therefore, at the beginning of noon, Zhu Wenzhen's troops came back exhausted.
Zuo Zixiong went out to the camp to meet him, and found that he had only chopped off the heads of a few hundred bandit soldiers and captured more than a thousand prisoners. After careful questioning, he found that they were all oarsmen rowing for Li Dingguo's old camp. These people were already exhausted, so
He couldn't run fast and was caught by Zhu Wenzhen first, which also misled Zhu Wenzhen in the direction of his pursuit.
After the situation was finally reported to Chen Shuren, Chen Shuren also sighed tiredly:
"Every general who fought hard and sacrificed his life deserves a heavy reward. You have fought well. Those who participated in the two days of fighting will each be rewarded five taels. Those who were slightly injured will be rewarded double, and those who were seriously injured will be rewarded double.
If you have achieved great success in killing the enemy, please report it immediately and I will submit it to the Ministry of War first. As for the failure of instigating the enemy in the end, it was due to my ignorance and misguided tactics, and it has nothing to do with you."
When Zuo Zixiong, Jin Shenghuan, and Zhu Wenzhen heard this, they all burst into tears of gratitude, and their original uneasy and unhappy emotions were swept away.
Mr. Futai is clear about rewards and punishments! He is demanding only for himself! He does not ask his subordinates to perform incredible and impossible feats!
This is called being strict with oneself and being lenient towards others! Rewards and punishments are clear and trustworthy!
——
PS: Two days before the National Day, there are relatives from out of town who need to be received. All updates of about 5,000 words are combined together. It will return to normal on the 3rd. There is no need to wait this afternoon.
You see, I have been writing more words in each update recently, at least 8,000 words per day last week, and 10,000 words per day on 26/27, so that’s it. By the way, I’ll sort out my thoughts and see how to expel Zhang Xianzhong in the future.
In addition, I would like to emphasize a few words. Many book friends are looking forward to capturing Li Dingguo alive this time. I just want to say: If you want to see me write Li Dingguo to death, then I will adjust the outline later and capture him and send him to the capital in a few days.
.
That would save me some trouble, as I don't have to portray the step-by-step intensification of the conflict between Zhang Xianzhong and Li Dingguo, and I don't have to have too many human dramas.
However, it is absolutely impossible to capture Li Dingguo now and persuade him to surrender. Now these people are all guilty of serious crimes. This is the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, not Nanming.
During the Southern Ming Dynasty, the imperial court's majesty was wiped out. If a living person was willing to resist the Qing Dynasty, he could use it and be given a title.
When Chongzhen was alive, Li Dingguo participated in the killing of King Xiang. He was responsible for the crime of King Xiang. Unless he killed Zhang Xianzhong and surrendered, he could be an official. If he surrendered after being surrounded, he would not have been chopped alive like Ai Nengqi.
Not bad.
Therefore, this book needs to talk about a certain amount of officialdom logic and court decency. It is not a systematic article that treats court orthodoxy as nothing. Please don’t write posts like "Li Dingguo doesn’t have to perform meritorious service, as long as he surrenders, he can be reused by Shen Shuren."
This was impossible, at least not before Chongzhen's death.