Chapter 128 Forcing Zhang Xianzhong to make a break
Gu Yanwu's writing was still very good. It took him a day or two to figure out what he wanted to say. He sent several sets of statements to Shen Shuren to read them first. After getting approval, he polished them to make them more down-to-earth, and then started.
He handed it over to the close servants of the Shen family and began to spread it out in disguise.
These things were done very secretly, and no one would be able to find out the source of the rumors. Fortunately, the war caused a large population flow in Changsha Prefecture and Hengzhou Prefecture. As long as some of it spread to the ears of the bandits and soldiers, these bandits would
If the defeated troops return south, the news will definitely reach Zhang Xianzhong's ears.
And at the last moment, out of the desire to help his old friend, Gu Yanwu helped him do some "low-toxicity treatment". Anyway, it must have helped Chen Shuren reduce suspicion and share the hatred.
Of course, Chen Shuren was also mentally prepared for the evolution of these rumors - he had already used the rumor trick several times, and the last time it was used to run against Li Zicheng.
The version that made Li Zicheng furious in the end has long since become different from the initial version designed by Fang Ziling and Bian Yujing.
So he knew very well that after the rumors designed by Gu Yanwu finally fermented and evolved among the people, the most viable version formed would definitely be very different from the original version.
Rumors are like viruses. The scarier and more self-consistent a rumor is, like the virus variant that is most immune to escaping, and the more vital it is to spread. Natural selection, the waves wash away the sand, and the final version must be the version that condenses the collective wisdom of the people.
Shen Shuren has also been prepared to adapt to the possible immune escape hazards caused by the rumor mutation and ensure that everything is controllable.
While the rumor plan was being implemented, the Shen family army also gradually advanced in the military. Although the entire army did not go south for an expedition, they took advantage of these five or six days to gradually control other counties in Changsha Prefecture, such as Xiangtan County and other places.
Recover and restore order.
In the last few days of June, just when Shen Shuren decided to continue leading the entire army south after listening to reports on the progress and results of rumors and warnings from the front, another piece of news boosted his confidence.
On June 25th, two days before Shen Shuren set off for another expedition, naval battalion garrison Shen Lian sent twenty warships up the Xiangjiang River from Dongting Lake and escorted some local officials to Changsha.
A messenger informed him in advance that Fang Kongzhen, the governor of Huguang, was here in person. After learning about it, Chen Shuren also went out to greet him in person.
Although he is now on the same level as Fang Kongzheng, the other person is after all a senior official and was once his leader, so he still needs to be polite.
When Fang Kongzhen saw Chen Shuren, he first expressed his shame and gratitude. As the governor of Huguang, he wanted Chen Shuren's guest army to serve as the main force in Huguang.
Chen Shuren did not follow his hypocrisy, and accepted the gratitude calmly, and also said by the way: "Uncle Fang Shi can come, and we can relax some of our burdens. Changsha Mansion is in dilapidated condition, and people's livelihood is in great trouble.
All the lords, officials, gentry and wealthy people here have been killed. The ownership of the land without owners has been reaffirmed and the original tenancy rights have been recognized. This has not yet been completed. Uncle Shi is experienced in civil affairs, and he will definitely be able to help the people restore order as soon as possible and work peacefully in farming. The rest of the internal affairs of peace and security for the people
, thanks also to Uncle Shi."
Fang Kongzhen also did his duty: "The governor has the responsibility of caring for the people. I am ashamed that I am not good at fighting and suppressing bandits. The internal affairs are peaceful for the people, so my nephew can rest assured and focus on the war.
Twenty days have passed since Zhang Xianzhong raided Yuezhou and Changde. I just came to Changsha now. The governor of Huguang is really incompetent in his job. So many vassal kings were killed and the people were massacred. I am afraid that I will inevitably be killed.
The court is being questioned by His Majesty. It would be considered a good deed to do some good deeds before leaving."
Chen Shuren's heart moved, and he recalled that in the "History of the Ming Dynasty", Fang Kongzhen seemed to have been dismissed from his post for a long time, also because of the unfavorable situation in the battle with Zhang Xianzhong in the Huguang area. In the end, Fang Yizhi abandoned his official position and went to Beijing to sue the emperor to redress his grievances.
be forgiven.
In the end, he was dismissed and idle for a period of time, about more than a year. At the end of the 16th year of Chongzhen, because the local governor suffered too many casualties and there was no one available, he was reactivated and asked to supervise the division in Shandong.
But before Fang Kongzhen took office, Chongzhen died, so he no longer had to go to Shandong, and finally stayed in Jiangnan and died of old age.
Nowadays, the butterfly effect has changed a lot. With Shen Shuren helping in Huguang, Fang Kongzhen has worked several months longer than at the same time in history. But this time, as the official governor of Huguang, he must be guilty.
See how you defeat the enemy later to make up for it.
Chen Shuren thought for a while and comforted him: "With the strictness of your Majesty's rule, it is inevitable to be held accountable. But Uncle Shi is also diligent. This rebellion in southern Hunan is not due to improper deployment. It is actually Yin Xianmin, the commander-in-chief of Changsha.
He Yide, the commander-in-chief of Hengzhou, surrendered without a fight.
As long as we defeat Zhang Xianzhong, try to kill or capture Yin Xianmin, and send He Yide back to the capital to be held accountable, Shishu will naturally be able to stay in his post, or at most be transferred, but he will not be held accountable.
However, Uncle Shi is going south this time. My nephew does not think that you are late, but that you are taking a risk. Liu Wenxiu is still in Changde and Sun Kewang is still in Zigui. The troops and horses they have on hand may make moves at any time. Uncle Shi leaves
Jingzhou Prefecture, aren’t you afraid of Jiangling’s loss?”
Fang Kongzhen: "Before I set off, I had discussed it with Cang Shui's wise nephew and asked him to stay in Jingzhou temporarily in case of any emergency."
Chen Shuren thought about it and found nothing wrong. He had transferred Zhang Huangyan from Huangzhou to Wuchang to take charge because he was afraid that there would be trouble in the internal affairs and defense after he led his troops on an expedition.
But now it seems that the battle line has advanced further to the west and south. There will be no military crisis around Wuchang Prefecture and Hanyang Prefecture. Zhang Huangyan can be freed up and stationed in Jiangling, which is further forward.
As for the internal affairs in Wuchang, we can leave them to Fang Yizhi, the prefect of Wuchang. Fang Yizhi is also considered a generalist in arts and sciences. After years of experience, he just doesn't know how to fight, but he is already quite proficient in internal affairs.
Moreover, for Fang Kong Zhen, there was nothing uneasy about his own son helping him with internal affairs. For Shen Shuren, there was nothing uneasy about having his cousin Zhang Huangyan replaced his old friend in the imperial examination.
"In this case, my nephew is relieved. Tomorrow, my nephew will lead his troops to go south. In the past few days, Zhang Xianzhong has calmed down a bit and did not continue to attack everywhere. It should be that my nephew's squeeze has worked. It is estimated that in Hengshan Guard and Hengzhou
In the meantime, we can force the bandits to fight to the death."
Chen Shuren said a few final words and went back to rest. He quickly made preparations the next day and sent troops to continue southward.
…
At the same time, in Hengzhou City, Zhang Xianzhong's army, which had been repairing here for seven or eight days, also regained a little strength.
The wounded soldiers received a certain amount of rest and nutritional supplements, and the officers and soldiers at all levels even lived a wasteful life relying on the huge wealth found in Prince Gui's Mansion.
Zhang Xianzhong will soon want these people to fight to the death, and even abandon some of the new auxiliary troops as abandoned sons, so they must be allowed to enjoy themselves before they are willing to use their lives.
He was soon exposed to the rumors spread by Chen Shuren, and learned that "continuing to kill vassal kings indiscriminately in Huguang will only make it more advantageous for Fang Kongzhen to govern the place in the future.
Moreover, Fang Kongzhen was not afraid of the guilt caused by Zhang Xianzhong's capture of the city at all, because he could blame all the blame on the Changsha General Soldier and the Hengzhou General Soldier. It was the surrender of these two general soldiers without a fight that led to Zhang Xianzhong's corruption.
At that time, in the court, all the blame could be put on the Second General Soldier. And among the Ming Dynasty's surrender, whoever could kill the Second General Soldier and turn to the Ming Dynasty again would be pardoned by the court and promoted in turn."
In the conscience of heaven and earth, these rumors are really not the original version that Chen Shuren wants, and Chen Shuren has no intention of framing Fang Kongzheng to help him take the blame.
But Gu Yanwu's polished version became like this from passing to passing, and Shen Shuren couldn't do anything about it.
Moreover, the evolution of rumors will not only evolve in a direction that is detrimental to the opponent Kong Zheng, but also whitewash Shen Shuren. It will also evolve in a direction that is detrimental to Zhang Xianzhong and shake Zhang Xianzhong's military morale.
Zhang Xianzhong learned that if he continued to wander around and kill vassal kings, he would only gain advantage for these two people, and he would even be easily suspected by his own people: "Have the eight kings reached a tacit agreement with some governors in the army, and we will kill here and there for the sake of the plan.
What",
What's more, some rumors began to spread: "Zhang Xianzhong killed the vassal king indiscriminately and abandoned the Changsha defender Liu Jinzhong. It was clear that he planned to go to Huguang to grab a piece of gold, and then led his direct troops to cross the mountains and ridges with the gold.
Silver treasure escapes.
This kind of traveling thousands of miles will definitely not lead to too many people, so the new auxiliary troops recruited in the Huguang area will definitely be abandoned after he has used them! When the cannon fodder is gone! The old camp in Shaanxi and Henan that covered him will retreat!"
After hearing all this, Zhang Xianzhong certainly couldn't sit still.
For the sake of military morale, and in order to prevent people from suspecting that he was just "reaching a tacit agreement with the governor, each getting what he needed, and finally running away", he had to find camps many times, especially to strengthen the supervision of the new auxiliary troops in Xinla, Huguang area.
, and as soon as he heard someone spreading rumors, he would immediately kill them.
At the same time, he was forced to fight against Chen Shuren, which proved that he "didn't just want to use the locals to help him steal money, and in the end he took the money and ran away secretly with his direct relatives."
After a lot of trouble, Zhang Xianzhong was forced to choose the battlefield between Hengzhou City and Hengshan Guard - he made arrangements to let Wang Shangli, who had previously massacred Gui Prince's Mansion and Hengzhou City, lead an army alone, mainly leading half of the army.
The newly attached troops deployed to the west of Hengshan Guard,
After the official army breaks through the Hengshan Guard and goes south to Hengzhou City, they are going to kill them in a diagonal stab, hide back at the Hengshan Guard, and cut off the official army's food route.
At the same time, Zhang Xianzhong himself took all the main force of the old Shaanxi and Henan camps and the remaining half of the new auxiliary troops, and with the assistance of other generals, stayed around Hengzhou City to wait for work and respond to the Shenshu people.
If Chen Shuren's fighting force is strong, Zhang Xianzhong will defend the city, and then ask Wang Shangli to cut off the army's food route, and then in the basin south of Hengshan, exhaust the army until the division veterans are exhausted, and then seek a decisive battle!
When the time comes, there will be a fortified city in front and Hengshan Mountain behind. Even if the Shen family's soldiers are elite and their armor is sophisticated, they can definitely reverse the trend of strength and weakness due to the loss of geographical location!
If you really can't fight like this, then just run away with your brothers from the old camp!
In such a tense situation between the two sides, the Shen Army marched south from Xiangtan County, Changsha Prefecture on June 27th and arrived at Hengshan Guard on the first day of July.
After a moderately fierce offensive and defensive battle at the camp, the government troops recaptured the Hengshan Guards within two days and divided their forces to protect the place. The remaining main force continued southward and arrived safely at the foot of Hengzhou City on the fifth day of July.
Judging from the number of people, the number of officers and soldiers was far smaller than that of Zhang Xianzhong's army in Hengzhou City, but the momentum of the officers and soldiers was not inferior at all, and they completely dared to assume an offensive posture.