Chapter 132 Fighting thieves should understand the mentality of thieves
"Wang Shangli was killed in the rebel army? Most of his main force was wiped out? Well, General Zhu Shen, the commander-in-chief of the Left Army, fought well! The results of this battle exceeded my expectations. Please tell me in detail."
One day later, in the army siege camp in the east of Hengzhou City. When Shen Shuren learned early in the morning that Zuo Zixiong and Zhu Wenzhen had defeated Wang Shangli at Hengshan Guard, he could not help but jump away because of his calmness.
Get up, pump your fists with excitement.
The person who came in to deliver the good news was Jin Shenghuan, who was in charge of the specific siege missions of Hengzhou City these days. For this kind of opportunity to show his face to please Master Futai, he certainly didn't want to take advantage of others, even if it was just a word.
The Shen family army originally announced that Zuo Zixiong should be the leader of the siege force, but Shen Shuren had another trick a while ago, which led to the current situation - saying that Zuo Zixiong personally led the siege force was not just for the sake of
Let Zhang Xianzhong's army in the city believe that the main force of the army is focused on Hengzhou and not be too wary of the rear route.
This can be regarded as a casual move to lure Wang Shangli to take the bait and steal food and ammunition. In the end, Wang Shangli took the bait. It is difficult to analyze how many specific factors played a role. But in short, he fell into the trap, and the result is good.
On Jin Shenghuan's side, the siege in the past few days has been carried out step by step. Later, he pretended to be out of ammunition and interrupted the bombardment, so there was no pressure at all in the performance and no generals were needed. People like him were enough.
At this moment, being questioned carefully by Chen Shuren, Jin Shenghuan also vividly reported the lines he had just memorized.
It turned out that Zuo Zixiong and Zhu Wenzhen joined forces, and the final result of annihilating the enemy that day reached an astonishing 20,000 men!
Among them, at least 10,000 people were killed in the Xiangjiang Gorge near Hengshan Guard. More than 3,000 people were beheaded, and nearly 6,000 wounded and prisoners were collected.
In fact, when Zuo Zixiong was cleaning the battlefield, he estimated that there were more enemy dead, at least more than the number of kills, but it was impossible to count. Because they were all drowned by squeezing down the Xiangjiang River, or fell in the deep valley of Hengshan Mountain.
Even if they are dead, it is impossible to search the bodies one by one.
These stubborn thieves don't have much technical and tactical skills, so they have nothing to cherish, so only the lightly wounded ones who will not be left disabled and can continue to be used in the army will receive simple treatment. As for the seriously injured ones who will be disabled, just touch up the wounds directly.
Oh, don't waste food and medicine.
In the late Ming Dynasty, when human life was like grass, countless people with intact limbs starved to death. How could there be so much surplus food left to feed the intact people instead of feeding the cripples?
What's more, these bandit soldiers have all participated in murders and robberies, and they should have done this long ago. When they saw the officers and soldiers killing the seriously wounded, they didn't feel anything wrong, because they themselves did this, even more cruelly.
After annihilating more than 10,000 people near Hengshan Guard, the subsequent victory of several thousand people was achieved in the afternoon of that day when Zuo Zixiong and Zhu Wenzhen led the victorious troops to pursue and kill Wang Shangli's hometown, Hengdong County.
After the officers and soldiers arrived in Hengdong County, they picked off Wang Shangli's helmet and made a show of force to attack the city. The defenders immediately gave in and had no intention of defending the city, so they broke through and ran away.
Zuo Zixiong's main force was infantry, and it was difficult to catch up, so he had to count on Zhu Wenzhen's cavalry troops to continue to cover up the killings. The bloody massacre lasted for an afternoon and lasted until the evening. The same was true for the cavalry troops who had not slept for nearly ten hours.
Exhausted, he withdrew his troops.
In this afternoon's cover-up, at least one or two thousand people were beheaded, and even more were captured.
In the end, there were only about 5,000 bandit soldiers, led by a captain and several middle-level bandit generals at the brigade level. They disappeared into the night and hid in the mountainous jungle east of Hengshan Mountain, and fled towards southern Jiangxi.
.As long as you reach Chaling County, the easternmost part of Hengzhou Prefecture, you will have entered the Luoxiao Mountain Area.
I believe that with the current strength of Shen Shuren, these defeated soldiers will definitely be frightened when encountering the Huguang army from now on. They will never dare to stay in Chaling County to cause trouble. If they want to rob, they will penetrate into the Jiangxi side of Luoxiao Mountain. Shen Shuren will temporarily
I can't control it anymore.
These are all ringworm diseases, no big deal.
…
After fully understanding the situation at the rear, Shen Shuren became more confident in the decisive battle.
Zhang Xianzhong originally thought that "the strength ratio between our army and the enemy is three to one, and we have the advantage." However, after a battle that lured the enemy to cut off their wings and destroy their horns, the strength ratio was suddenly reduced to two to one.
If Zhang Xianzhong knew this information, he would be in trouble if he dared to fight Shen Shuren.
Just when he thought of this, Chen Shuren suddenly felt something in his heart and asked:
"When will General Zuo and General Zhu be able to return to join our army? How many soldiers and horses are actually in our army's siege camp now? Are we the only ones who know the news of General Zuo's victory? Are you aware of it?
Keep it secret, or have the entire army been notified?"
Jin Shenghuan was stunned for a moment, not very sure, but he still answered his questions: "General Zuo and the others captured Hengdong County last night. They have been fighting continuously for a day and a night, so they are extremely exhausted. They will rest in Hengdong today. We will set off tomorrow to come,
If we force the march, we can join forces in the evening.
There are about 12,000 men and horses in our camp now. As for the news of the victory of the friendly forces, it has not been spread yet - because the dispatch of General Zuo back to guard Hengshan Guards was originally kept secret. The Central Military Commission did not even know about General Zuo.
When the soldiers leave, they will naturally not know that he won the battle. When they return to the army after the victory tomorrow evening, they will publicize it."
Chen Shuren nodded: "That's good. In other words, we have to rely on more than 10,000 people to maintain the siege line for two days, and we cannot let Zhang Xianzhong realize this gap. Otherwise, although our army is not afraid that Zhang Xianzhong dares to leave the city
Attack the camp, but beware of him leaving the city immediately to break out of the siege."
If Zhang Xianzhong dared to attack the camp in reverse, Shen Shuren would not be afraid at all.
Even though he only had 12,000 men, half of the light firearms such as muskets were taken away by Zuo Zixiong, and all cavalry firearms such as double-barreled spray guns and revolvers were taken away by Zhu Wenzhen.
However, as long as the Chenshu people had half of the bird cannons, Lumi cannons and turtle dove cannons, plus all the cannons, they were not afraid of Zhang Xianzhong storming the fortified camp that had been fortified for about a week. The cannons were too heavy, so Zuo Zixiong
I didn't take them with me when I went to protect the food supply, but left them all in the siege camp.
What Shen Shuren was really worried about was that Zhang Xianzhong would seize his opportunity of insufficient troops and suddenly escape.
Since Zuo Zixiong's troops need two days to return to defense, the most important thing is that Zhu Wenzhen's cavalry, which was the most brilliant in the pursuit battle, is not there. If Zhang Xianzhong runs away now, it is really possible to safely evacuate all the main forces of the old Shaanxi and Henan battalions immediately.
If you go, you may even take away some new vassals.
With 12,000 men, Chenshu people had absolutely no confidence in taking the initiative to attack and pursue them with infantry, as they would easily be bitten back.
At the beginning of the battle, he chose to "encircle three but lack one" in order to undermine the morale of Zhang Xianzhong's army, fearing that the new annexed troops would be forced to jump over the wall and fight to the end.
"Should we temporarily expand the siege camp, dig a trench and set up a camp in the west of the city, temporarily block the west gate for the past few days, and first change the siege to three missing and one to encircle it on all sides?"
Chen Shuren had such an idea in his mind, but then felt that it was inappropriate. The troops were too scattered. Once Zhang Xianzhong tried his best to break through, he might not be able to withstand it. It was better to make good use of the time difference in the delivery of the victory message and create another information gap.
Thinking of this, he immediately ordered: "Go and send someone to call those generals who were former generals. I will be of great use."
Jin Shenghuan didn't know why, but he immediately followed the instructions.
After a while, several mid- to high-level guerrilla and garrison generals were led to Chen Shuren's Chinese army tent.
…
A Shaanxi general with an unshaven beard and a listless hippopotamus face carefully came to Futai's handsome tent, and even took off the felt hat he was wearing before entering the tent.
He was Lin Chengcheng, the original bandit leader who surrendered to Chen Shuren at the beginning of this year. After Lin Chengcheng surrendered, he originally agreed to be a guerrilla first and then promote him to general when the time was right. The reason was that Chen Shuren's subordinates at that time
The general level of the direct generals is not very high, so if they are given directly to the generals, they will not be able to convince the public.
But then in April, the group of old men who followed Shen Shuren were generally promoted one level, and Zhang Mingzhen and Zuo Zixiong were also promoted from deputy generals to commander-in-chief.
Lin Chengcheng thought that he could finally fulfill his post as a general, but after two or three months, he was still guerrilla. His direct troops were also dismantled and reorganized by Zhang Huangyan during the spring reorganization, and many loyalists to Shen were mixed in.
The middle-level officers of the tree people came in to be used as sand, and the soldiers were also broken up and mixed together.
Nowadays, even if Lin Chengcheng has different intentions, he cannot completely control his troops. He can only obediently work for Shen Shuren. In this battle against Zhang Xianzhong, Lin Chengcheng did not catch up in the first half month of the battle.
But later Zhang Huangyan arrived in Wuchang and transferred some Huangzhou soldiers to the front line for reinforcements, so Lin Chengcheng was sent. He acted with the large army, and in the battles besieging Changsha and Hengzhou, he also used some of his strength with the large army.
, there is no opportunity for outstanding performance.
Being specially summoned by Shen Futai this time made him quite uneasy. This was the first time he was summoned by Futai since the second imperial edict. He thought the other party wanted to test his loyalty.
However, when he walked to the entrance of the big tent, Lin Chengcheng awkwardly noticed another general, a guard in his twenties, Liu Sandao, who was also the adopted son of the original bandit leader Liu Xiyao.
Back when they were in the fifth camp of Gezuo, Lin Chengcheng and Liu Xiyao were considered brothers even though they didn't know each other. Their friendship was similar to the friendship between Er He. They were close to each other, but they didn't have the idea of annexing each other.
Therefore, he was very familiar with Liu Sandao and always called him "nephew". Now that two generals were summoned under such circumstances, it was inevitably a bit embarrassing. Lin Chengcheng was not ashamed to ask: "Nephew has just arrived too? Do you know?
Why are you summoning Futai?"
"I don't know, I'll find out when I go in." Liu Sandao didn't call himself "nephew," obviously because he didn't want to claim to be "once Liu Xiyao's adopted son."
Not only did Lin Chengcheng not dare to get angry, but he felt a little embarrassed and ashamed: He had abandoned the dark side and turned to the bright side, how could he still maintain the same relationship as in the original bandit camp?
The two people entered the tent anxiously, and saw Shen Shuren sitting in the middle of the room, with two rows of elite guards standing closely beside him. They quickly went up to salute.
"I will finally meet Master Futai!"
Since Lin Chengcheng's return, Shen Shuren has not spent much time beating him. He has always left him to Zhang Huangyan and occasionally listened to Zhang Huangyan's reports on Lin Chengcheng.
In the past half month or so, Lin Chengcheng was sent to the front line to fight a small battle. Chen Shuren observed secretly, and felt that his performance was quite satisfactory, and his fierce and stubborn nature should have been almost wiped out, so he planned to give him a
Opportunities for advancement.
Chen Shuren stared at the other person, looked up and down and was silent for a while, just like before the head of state gave a speech, using the frightening silence to the extreme, and then spoke firmly and at a steady pace:
"General Lin, how was your relationship with Zhang Xianzhong before he blackmailed you into rebelling three years ago?"
After hearing this, Lin Chengcheng broke into a cold sweat and knelt down to kowtow: "Master Futai clearly shows you! Even the revolt three years ago was just because he was afraid that His Majesty would be harsh in employing people, so he did not recognize it for a while and was afraid of being implicated by Zhang Xianzhong.
Repeat to protect yourself!
Later, I learned that Mr. Futai was a wise man and was kind to those who surrendered. He never looked at others in an old light. The general returned to the imperial court again and never dared to have second thoughts again! There was no friendship between the general and Zhang Xianzhong at the time!
They were all harmed by him!”
Chen Shuren waved his hand: "Even if you were harmed by him, he must have said something to you back then, right? Otherwise you can be so smart and think to yourself, 'Because Zhang Xianzhong rebelled, Xiong Wencan was killed, and we are the same as Zhang Xianzhong
We were recruited by Xiong Wencan, so the court will also be suspicious of our counter-insurrection?"
Lin Chengcheng remembered that his face turned red and he was at a loss. He had to admit: "Your Majesty, Zhang Xianzhong's words to instigate and intimidate us were exactly the same. But other than that, there was really no friendship at all. We were all being manipulated.
Forced."
Chen Shuren shook his head: "It would be meaningless if I expose you and you admit it. Originally, I wanted to give you a chance this time.
Forget it, let me tell you the truth, I hope that you and Zhang Xianzhong can have a deeper friendship. How to get closer, you can figure it out yourself——
Anyway, our army's ammunition inventory is now low, and the logistics fleet transiting through Hengshan Guard was intercepted by Wang Shangli again. Although our army repelled Wang Shangli, the material losses were also heavy, and no more artillery bombardment would be possible for at least five or six days.
Attacked the city.
I was worried that over time, Zhang Xianzhong would see a flaw, or that the scouts he sent from the east of the city would be able to detect the truth behind the Hengshan Guards and Hengdong battlefields.
Therefore, I planned to strike preemptively, show weakness and lure him to attack. With the only ammunition in the concentration camp, I would fight a blocking battle to make Zhang Xianzhong suffer. In this way, even if military information that was beneficial to him was discovered later, he would be bitten.
I was scared, thinking it was another ploy by our army, so I didn’t dare to risk leaving the city again.”
When Chen Shuren said this, he stared into the eyes of Lin Chengchang and Liu Sandao, his eyes alternately wandering between the two of them, and then he threw out the last trump card:
"Look, which one of you has a better relationship with Zhang Xianzhong in the past, or whose adoptive father has a better relationship with Zhang Xianzhong in the past, you can send someone to contact him secretly.
Just say that our army is empty and we are afraid that Zhang Xianzhong will break out in the next two days, so we sent cannon fodder troops like you to the east of the city to temporarily seal the gap left by the original siege of three and one.
But you feel that if you set up a camp in a temporary and hasty manner, the defense must be weak and difficult to withstand the main conflict in the city. And because of the lack of ammunition, I will not provide you with supplies, so you can only defend the enemy with swords, guns and crossbows, and use your troops to die and be consumed.
Therefore, you want to reach a tacit agreement with Zhang Xianzhong. As long as he does not attack your camp, you will let him pass. Or remind Zhang Xianzhong that if he is willing to attack other sides of Hengzhou City to break out, you can all die without saving him.
Watch from the sidelines."
When Chen Shuren said this, Lin Chengcheng and Liu Sandao came back to their senses.
Liu Sandao's status was relatively low, so he didn't have so many scruples about what he said, so he took the lead in asking:
"Master Futai, do you want to lure Zhang Xianzhong to deliberately attack the strong camp and take the opportunity to kill a large number of enemy troops? Or do you want to ambush our army on both sides and behind, wait for Zhang Xianzhong to pass by the newly established defense line in the east of the city, and then intercept with the main force
Of?"
Chen Shuren kept a mysterious smile: "This is not what you should ask, just say whether you can do it."
Lin Chengcheng saw that Liu Sandao was the first to express his loyalty to the previous question, so he quickly answered this time:
"Of course! Mr. Futai asked the general to submit a letter to Zhang Xianzhong, and he will do so. If Zhang Xianzhong dares to break out from the side where the general is besieging the city, the general will definitely fight to the death to stop it, delaying the main force of the master from the siege.
The other three sides are coming!"
Chen Shuren couldn't help but smile: "General Lin, don't you think you agreed too hastily? Have you figured out how to make Zhang Xianzhong believe that you will let him go?"
Lin Chengcheng was taken aback for a moment, then tentatively said: "Let's just say that because of our old friendship with you when we were involved in the rebellion in Shaanxi, I was not happy with you, sir, and was not promoted after surrendering? If that doesn't work, tell Zhang Xianzhong that my troops
Now that it has been dismantled and reorganized, the old ones will not listen to my orders, which makes the general feel resentful..."
As Lin Chengcheng talked, he realized that he had said the wrong thing. Didn't he express all his real resentments? He had indeed been a little depressed in the past six months.
Fortunately, Chen Shuren listened and laughed more and more naturally: "Idiot! If you say such things, how dare Zhang Xianzhong believe you? If he knew that all your troops were loyal to the Ming Dynasty, how could he dare to think that you could let him go?
"
Lin was scolded as a fool, but he didn't get angry at all. Instead, he felt like he was being pardoned.
What he was most afraid of just now was that the topic stopped at that sensitive point and suddenly became silent. But Shen Shuren scolded him so casually and naturally for his incompetence, which showed that Shen Shuren was absolutely sure of controlling him and had no control over him.
I was worried that this kind of small fish and shrimp would cause trouble, but I gently exposed the most embarrassing point.
Lin Chengcheng quickly asked for advice sincerely: "Please give me some advice, Mr. Futai!"
Chen Shuren stretched out a finger, scratched it casually on the table, and said solemnly: "You have to say this: with your many years of traveling experience, you can see that he defeated Changde, Changsha, Hengzhou, and killed King Rong this time.
, King Ji, King Gui, the income will definitely be huge.
And from the fact that Zhang Xianzhong expanded his army and recruited troops after breaking Changde, but did not recruit many more troops after passing Changsha, we can see that he must still have a fortune of no less than ten million taels. Therefore, if you want him to hand over 30% of it, you can let him go.
He passed.
If he is willing to hand over 50%, you will fight back and join forces with him. In the worst case, you will fight back again and head south out of Guangdong and Guangxi. With such a rich man in hand, you will not be afraid that you will not be able to bribe the refugees wherever you go.
A thief?"
When Lin Chengcheng and Liu Sandao heard this, they were also shocked: Mr. Futai is so familiar with the operation of the bandit! He can actually estimate the financial situation of the bandit side casually!
Previously, other face-saving literati and doctors would never speculate on these dirty things in this direction!
If we really follow this idea and establish contact with Zhang Xianzhong, it is really possible to deceive the other party. When the time comes, whether we want to fight urgently or slow down the fight, we will have a little more initiative!
Lin Chengcheng and Liu Sandao looked at Shen Shuren with a little more awe than when An Lushan looked at Li Linfu.
It is said that in history, when Li Linfu was alive, An Lushan would never dare to have any different intentions. After Li Linfu died, An Lushan felt that he was stable.
Because every time An Lushan saw Li Linfu, the other person could easily tell what he was thinking in his heart at that time. This kind of mind-reading skills made An Lushan extremely frightened.
Chen Shuren's ability to figure out the mentality of the bandit chieftain is no less than Li Linfu's mind-reading ability!