As Chen Shuren continued to ask questions, the military situation the two talked about became closer and closer to the present.
Fang Yizhi did not continue to choose a superficial statement, but threw out several imperial palace newspapers and other official documents to support the details.
"Prince Fu and Prince Lu did temporarily escape from Wei Hui, but they were not completely out of danger. And around July 15th, Your Majesty learned that the intruder army crossed the Yellow River north and defeated the second mansion, killing several kings in a row, and became even more furious.
, issued a new edict to urgently urge Mr. Yang Ge to go to war.
Moreover, His Majesty urged not only Yang Ge Lao, but also Sun Chuanting, the Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu Province. He asked Sun Chuanting to leave Tongguan and march eastward to attack. At the same time, he asked Yang Ge Lao to march north from Nanyang and ordered the two groups to attack together.
You should still remember that Sun Chuanting only took office at the end of March. By mid-July, he had already been in office for more than three months. He barely controlled the situation in Shaanxi and Gansu. Governor Sun was released from prison and reactivated by His Majesty.
Of course, he would not dare to delay like Yang Ge.
Therefore, in late July, Supervisor Sun's vanguard troops left Tongguan and arrived in Luoyang. When Yang Ge heard that Sun Chuanting had rushed in, he was in a dilemma and became increasingly afraid to avoid the battle alone.
Zuo Liangyu has always been cautious. No matter how urged by Mr. Yang Ge, he always excused himself for not being prepared. But at this time, something happened within the bandits. Li Zicheng had previously asked Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying's old troops to take charge of killing people and attack Kaifeng with all their strength.
, in the four months since then, the most casualties have been among Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying’s original soldiers.
This time, Liu Zongmin and Li were asked to plunder Huaiqing, Weihui and other places, kill vassal officials, nobles and gentry, plunder wealth, and pick weak persimmons, but they allowed their direct lineage to take advantage. As a result, some of Luo Rucai's old subordinates became increasingly resentful.
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In addition, Brother Shen, your previous work "Continuation of the Theory of Rogue Thieves" also compiled some jokes, satirizing that Li Zicheng only relied on heaven to gather various generals. In fact, he was incompetent in attacking difficulties and would definitely not be able to break Kaifeng.
He deliberately punished dissenters, and in the end his prestige plummeted.
Now that these prophecies are gradually coming true, Li Zicheng is increasingly guilty and suspicious of his own people. Several old Luo Rucai generals were killed by him on the pretext of marching because they did not survive in battle, and their troops were returned to Li Zicheng's direct generals.
Finally, on July 26th, a major change suddenly occurred within the army. Two generals under Luo Rucai, with the bandit names of "Xishan Tiger" and "Bang Po Tian",
Because the troops were used up by Li Zicheng to storm Kaifeng, and they were worried that Li Zicheng would liquidate them and refused to use their lives, they finally contacted Zuo Liangyu and led his army suddenly southward to Ye County and the Yancheng area to surrender to the imperial court.
Zuo Liangyu originally wanted to preserve his strength, but after getting the "Xishan Tiger", "Bang Potian" led 20,000 to 30,000 thieves to surrender, and learned that "Li Zicheng's direct lineage, with tens of thousands of elites, was north of the Yellow River, Wei Hui, the great name.
They were in a hurry and could not return within five or six days. There were many intruders, Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying's old troops who stayed at the gate of Kaifeng. Because Li Zicheng did not treat people as human beings, there were many complaints. If the officers and soldiers attacked, they would be willing to respond internally.
Zuo Liangyu was overjoyed at this moment. Instead of delaying before, he was willing to encourage Mr. Yang Ge to send troops immediately to attack Kaifeng together with Sun Chuanting!"
Chen Shuren frowned when he heard this. His first instinctive reaction was that he couldn't hear anything wrong with this situation.
But since the reverse effect is now the cause, and he already knew in advance that the outcome would be Yang Sichang's defeat, Chen Shuren turned to Shuoyuan to figure it out, and asked tentatively:
"So, the return of the 'Western Tiger, Bang Potian' was actually Li Zicheng's plan to lure the enemy? He actually had the courage to abandon 20,000 to 30,000 thieves and pretend to surrender to the court to lure Yang Gelao and Zuo Liangyu
Leaving Ye County, Fangcheng is in danger? Leaving Tongbai Mountain and entering the decisive battle on the Kaifeng Plain?"
When Fang Yizhi heard this, there was a rare look of pride in his eyes, and he said quite proudly: "It's rare, it's rare, that there is a military situation in the world that you, Brother Shen Nian, deduced wrong - can you guess wrong this time?"
Well, Xishan Tiger, Bang Po Tian did not pretend to surrender, but actually surrendered.
Since Mr. Yang Ge dared to work together with Zuo Liangyu to attack decisively because of this, he was originally confident that he could win in this situation of trade-offs - but, in other aspects, something went wrong.
A major incident eventually caused Mr. Yang Ge and Zuo Liangyu to fall short of their achievements."
Chen Shuren's expression turned solemn: "It's not Zuo Liangyu's fault? That's really unexpected. I always thought that when the court asked all parties to work together, but in the end they were defeated, it must be Zuo Liangyu who was the least responsible.
A reliable link has fallen out of fashion.”
Fang Yizhi also shook his head and sighed, feeling deeply about destiny: "If you don't say that fate plays tricks on people, let me tell you, if Yang Gelao, Zuo Liangyu, and Sun Chuanting can cooperate sincerely and really work together to kill Kaifeng City, they will
It is also very possible for Li Zicheng's main force to defeat him.
However, after Sun Chuanting's troops arrived in Luoyang, they tried to advance westward through Sishui Pass, but encountered obstacles. Sun Chuanting's main general, He Renlong, once again tried to delay the war and wanted to preserve his strength. This was something Brother Shen didn't even think about.
Would you be surprised?
What He Renlong did was actually a tradition. Last year, Fu Zonglong and Wang Qiaonian, two governors of the three sides of Shaanxi Province, risked their lives and died. In the end, wasn't He Renlong the one who refused to save his life and refused to go to war?
Unexpectedly, when Governor Sun took office this time, he actually got a secret order from His Majesty, saying that He Ren was too big to lose the dragon's tail. He had trapped two governors, and was guilty of disobedience and conspiracy. Sun Chuanting was waiting for an opportunity to have him punished.
In the first three months after taking office, not long after Sun Chuanting was released from prison, and before he had a good grasp of the place, the army actually hid the imperial edict and did not kill He Renlong immediately.
This time He Renlong refused to go forward again in the face of the battle, which made Sun Chuanting make up his mind at this juncture. On July 28, he held a banquet in Sishui to pretend to discuss matters, invited He Renlong to come, and then suddenly got angry
, captured He Renlong with his own soldiers, showed the imperial edict, and beheaded him.
After beheading He Renlong, Sun Chuanting immediately tried to let his troops take over He Renlong's tribe. Unexpectedly, some troubles occurred. Although most of He Renlong's troops obeyed Sun Chuanting's command, there were four others.
Famous generals Zhou Guoqing, Wei Daheng, He Guoxian, and Gao Jinku led their troops to flee and left Sishui Pass in the east to surrender to Li Zicheng.
Sun Chuanting was afraid of damaging his own morale, so he did not immediately notify Mr. Yang Ge of the news of He Renlong's death. Zuo Liangyu continued to advance the army himself.
It wasn't until the second day of August that the three armies met in the area of Zhuxian Town in Yancheng. There were less than two days left from Kaifeng and they were about to launch a general attack on the Chuang Army. Mr. Yang Ge didn't know the news. He quickly implemented a blockade to avoid
Before the war, morale plummeted.
However, the three armies were in danger as a result, and it was too late to return. In addition, Zuo Liangyu heard about the cause of He Renlong's death, and may be worried that if he retreated at this time, he would also be punished by Yang Gelao and Sun Chuanting's military law, so he could only forcefully
Hit the scalp.
On the other side, unexpectedly, the death of He Renlong greatly boosted the morale of the entire army. After the four generals Zhou Guoqing, Wei Daheng, He Guoxian, and Gao Jinku surrendered, they heard that Li Zicheng was overjoyed, and the entire army shouted, "Congratulations on the death of the madman.
Picking up Guanzhong is like picking up mustard!'
Later, Li Zicheng took the initiative to go south with the siege troops around Kaifeng, and went to Zhuxian Town for a decisive battle with Yang Gelao, Zuo Liangyu, and Sun Chuanting. The officers and soldiers were afraid that he would send Wei Hui, and after the partial division of the name returned, the combined forces became more powerful.
, and had no choice but to take the initiative to attack.
On the fourth day of August, Yang Gelao and Zuo Liangyu used 130,000 Huguang troops and 40,000 Sun Chuanting Shaanxi troops for a total of 170,000 troops to fight against Li Zicheng's main force of 260,000. Originally, the official army's armor was more sophisticated.
Under the conditions, with the ratio of two to three, there is no chance at all.
The morale rise and fall caused by the death of He Renlong was so serious that Sun Chuanting's troops had no fighting spirit, but everyone in the Chuang army fought bravely and regarded the officers and soldiers as if they were nothing. In the end, the imperial army's 170,000 troops collapsed in Zhuxian Town.
Sun Chuanting led the remaining soldiers back to Luoyang, and then back to Tongguan on the ninth day of August. The Shaanxi soldiers he brought out were less than 20,000. He Renlong's old troops even took advantage of the chaos to surrender to Li Zicheng, and helped Li Zicheng counterattack Sun Chuanting, fighting for He Renlong.
Revenge, a banner to settle accounts between the imperial court and the cowardly king and traitorous ministers.
Yangge Laohe and Zuo Liangyu were defeated back to Nanyang, and their troops were also reduced by nearly half. The total number of troops should be no more than 70,000 or 80,000. Zuo Liangyu's remaining troops should be less than 60,000, and the rest are soldiers from the direct lineage of Yangge Lao.
Nanyang Prefecture from the east of Nanyang County cannot be defended. Yexian, Wuyang and other dangerous positions in Tongbai Mountain were all captured by the invading army. The dangerous mountains and rivers between Hubei and Henan were defeated. Now they are all in the hands of the invading army. The army will follow up.
If we want to attack Henan again, I'm afraid we have to break through the natural barriers of Tongbai Mountain first, or else we have to change our route.
Li Zicheng defeated the official army, but his strength was hardly reduced. He had 260,000 troops, and it is estimated that tens of thousands of them were killed in the battle. However, during the encirclement and annihilation, there were also many captured prisoners of the official army. In addition, the surrender of He Renlong's old troops was enough to supplement his army.
loss of troops."
Fang Yizhi did it in one go, explaining in detail the decisive battle at Zhuxian Town in Yancheng between Sun Chuanting, Yang Sichang and Zuo Liangyu.
Chen Shuren was completely stunned when he heard this.
All of this is obviously different from the history he originally knew, but it is also paradoxical in many places. It has to be said that the inertia of history still exists.
It is not surprising that Sun Chuanting would kill He Renlong, but he did not expect that He Renlong's death would coincidentally become the key to motivating the Chuang army to fight against the enemy and kill the official army in a decisive battle with high morale.
Historically, He Renlong was ambushed and killed by Sun Chuanting on the first day of May in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen. Now he died three months late due to the butterfly effect, but the negative impact of his death was more serious than at the same time in history.
According to the court regulations, He Renlong's death was regarded as a punishment, especially for a stern emperor like Chongzhen, who did not rub sand in his eyes. This was not surprising.
It is true that He Renlong refused to save his people and avoided war to preserve his strength, which indirectly killed the first two governors of Shaanxi-Gansu Province. This cannot be washed away.
But Sun Chuanting was so die-hardly loyal and foolishly loyal to Chongzhen's chaos. Whatever Chongzhen asked him to do, he would resolutely carry out it without reservation regardless of whether he could do it or whether he had a chance of winning. He even killed He Renlong at this juncture, which is still worthy of discussion.
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Of course, there is absolutely nothing to say about Sun Chuanting's loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, and it can be learned from the sun.
It is not an exaggeration to use Yue Fei's "The sky is clear, the sky is clear" to describe Sun Chuanting's loyalty. Shen Shuren said with conscience that if his own loyalty to the Ming Dynasty was compared with Sun Chuanting's, he would definitely be ashamed.
It's a pity that Sun Chuanting was completely loyal and never changed, which also caused the same serious consequences as Yue Fei's "he was loyal and returned to the army without questioning after seeing twelve gold medals".
My own troops, as well as a considerable number of friendly troops, were all given away for nothing because of this unreserved and unflexible approach.
And Yang Sichang, who had already lived one and a half years longer than the same period in history, would definitely not survive if he suffered such a defeat.
After thoroughly sorting out the truth, Shen Shuren couldn't help but sighed: "Well, if you want to save the Ming Dynasty, you have to 'win with the general who can do it but does not control it.' His Majesty is far away in the capital, and he knows the battle plans on the front line.
What?
His Majesty asked Sun Chuanting to attack, and he did so without reservation. Even if He Renlong was killed in battle, he would continue to attack. Such ignorance was just a mistake in loyalty...
That’s all, Sun Chuanting’s loyalty is impeccable. I won’t talk about the word ‘harming the country’. Who am I, a flexible and loyal person like me, who has the right to criticize him?”
Fang Yizhi also deeply agreed, and his thoughts had obviously changed. He drank tea with Shen Shuren without anyone noticing and sighed:
"It doesn't have to be like this. Being so pragmatic and loyal to the court is the only way to save the country and the people in these troubled times. How can you save Tian Qing if you are glued to the pillars and played with cymbals, foolishly loyal and inflexible?"