Chapter 143 If you want to be promoted, you must bear the burden
Considering that Shen Shuren returned to Wuchang after a long journey, he was very tired that night.
After Fang Yizhi explained the current crisis of the northern war situation clearly, he left without delaying his rest.
As for the chain reaction after Li Zicheng defeated Yang Sichang and Sun Chuanting Zuo Liangyu, the court's new request for the governor of Huguang, and how Shen Shuren should respond, these are all matters for later, and there is no time to deal with them slowly in two days.
Before leaving, Fang Yizhi just left one sentence: "Although Mr. Yang Ge has been defeated, the matter is certainly not over. Mr. Yang has sent people to Wuchang twice before to urge you to send troops. It's just your whereabouts.
Uncertain, he was out with his troops, so he didn't know he would arrive.
And I was afraid that the battle between you and the remnants of Zhang Xianzhong was urgent, so I pretended to be stupid and didn't send anyone to find you. I just said that I didn't know where your troops were now, and asked Mr. Yang Ge to send people to Changsha and other places to find you.
That's why I missed it. Now that you have returned to Wuchang, within a day or two, you will definitely give Mr. Yang Ge something in return."
Chen Shuren was not surprised by this request. After thinking about it for a while, he came to his senses.
Even if Yang Sichang wanted to support him and protect him, Li Zicheng's matter would never be settled like this. Even if Yang Sichang died in the future, Chongzhen would never just ask Sun Chuanting's family to support Li Zicheng alone.
Li Zicheng already claimed to have more than 300,000 soldiers. After winning this battle, the number of soldiers and horses will only continue to expand. How can Sun Chuanting, who has just regained power for only half a year, be able to defeat him?
Therefore, Chongzhen will definitely ask the governor of Huguang area to continue to contribute.
What's more, Yang Sichang had previously stood still, waiting for Li Zicheng to attack the fortified city, and then seek a decisive battle after his troops were exhausted and exhausted. This advice was given to him by Chen Shuren.
Even if the decisive battle failed this time, it had nothing to do with Shen Shuren, but it should be attributed to "the three parties underestimated the enemy and rushed forward. Before Shen Shuren could kill Zhang Xianzhong's main force, they returned to the north to join forces and joined forces to fight again."
But those "divine prophecies" that Chen Shuren said must be verified. Only in this way can we confidently throw the blame away completely. Otherwise, if someone says "You can do it, you can see for yourself", Chen Shu will be offended.
People have no confidence.
Especially at this juncture, He Renlong was killed, and even Zuo Liangyu was convinced and fought hard, losing a lot of direct troops. If Shen Shuren didn't say anything, wouldn't it be him?
Not even as good as He Renlong and Zuo Liangyu? How can we win the hearts of the world in the future?
Perhaps Chongzhen was taking advantage of the remaining power of He Renlong's death to finally intimidate the governor who supported the army. After this wave, Chongzhen would completely lose the ability to control the local area. But because of this, Shen Shuren became more and more demanding
Deal with it well and don't hit the muzzle of the gun.
Of course, Shen Shuren had to figure out how to prove his loyalty to the Ming Dynasty and his willingness to contribute to the Ming Dynasty, and to what extent he could prove it.
You definitely can’t do risky things, and you definitely can’t pay the price of breaking your muscles and bones.
As long as we can regain our position and face and declare that we have won a great victory, even if it does not cause a decisive blow to Li Zicheng, we can still explain it to Chongzhen.
What Chongzhen actually needs is face. He and Li Zicheng are like children fighting each other. As long as the last punch is from Chongzhen and hits the other party, they can get over it temporarily. As for how much damage this punch causes
Even outsiders don't know how high it is.
…
Chen Shuren rested all night with many things on his mind. Too many thoughts made his sleep quality very poor, and he woke up very early the next day.
Fang Yizhi, Fang Kongzhen and other Fang family members could also stay in Wuchang for a day and ask Fang Kongzhen to explain some of his family arrangements while he was in prison.
Shen Shuren didn't have the leisure to waste time with the Fang family anymore, so he went to see Fang Kongzheng for the last time early in the morning and expressed what he had in mind, and asked Fang Yizhi to tell him in the future. He wanted to go there in a hurry
Traveled to Xiangyang, met with Yang Sichang, and listened to Yang Sichang's final instructions.
After Fang Kongzhen learned about it, he did not keep him: "This is what it should be. The reason why my nephew entered the official career was probably due to the chance and support of Mr. Yang Ge. We, the scholars, regard ourselves as gentlemen, and we should know how to repay our kindness.
As far as I know, Mr. Yang Ge was originally seriously ill, and now he is exhausted from the military and has been hit repeatedly. He is probably not going to die soon. It would be good for you to listen to his explanation and see how to deal with the situation in the future.
After all, some of your troops in southern Hunan have returned and did not continue to cross the border to pursue Zhang Xianzhong. Your original intention to withdraw your troops was to fulfill your promise to Mr. Yang Ge, and asked him to give him three months' grace until Zhang Xianzhong was hurt.
, to remove the threat to Huguang, return troops to assist Li Zicheng'.
If you are back now, but there is no movement, it will not be easy to explain. If the imperial censor says that you are afraid of both sides and are holding back to support the invaders, that is not a trivial matter.
If you want to stop everyone in the world, you have to fight Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng. If you give up fighting Li Zicheng, you have to pursue Zhang Xianzhong and never let go. Your Majesty will not let you do nothing."
Hearing this, Chen Shuren also nodded and accepted the instruction: "My nephew also had similar thoughts. After listening to Uncle Shi's analysis, it became clearer. Indeed, in these troubled times, we must ensure that our soldiers and horses are always dealing with at least
A family of thieves.
If you don't deal with anyone and just sit back and fend for yourself, you will be criticized by everyone in the world. Now that you have become a governor, there is no reason to be alone."
Even if it's just to show off, you have to show off.
Otherwise, what does it mean if you pursue Zhang Xianzhong until there are only a few thousand cavalry left, but you don't pursue him anymore? Just because he entered Guizhou, forget it?
This is an excuse, but it is not sufficient. It is still easy to be criticized and said that it is "nurturing the bandits to respect themselves, and then killing them after fattening them up", or even "allowing thieves to be pioneers".
Therefore, the pursuit of Zhang Xianzhong must be temporarily suspended. There must be a strong excuse - if it weren't for the real crisis on Yang Ge's side and the real crisis in Henan, forcing me to reinforce the Henan battlefield as soon as possible, we would have let go of the opportunity to directly kill Zhang Xianzhong with his last breath.
?We have brought Zhang Xianzhong’s head back long ago!
…
Chen Shuren briefly dealt with the major events accumulated in Wuchang in the past few months, made some arrangements, and hurriedly rode northward that day. Two days later, he rushed to Xiangyang, riding almost three hundred miles a day.
At this moment, Yang Sichang had once again completely lost control of Zuo Liangyu after the defeat. With almost only a few soldiers, he fled back to Xiangyang in embarrassment to stay temporarily and linger on.
The counties in Nanyang Prefecture that are still in the hands of the imperial court, as well as the Yunyang Prefecture and the Shangluo area of Xi'an Prefecture are now under Zuo Liangyu's control.
After the defeat, Zuo Liangyu had completely shut himself up and refused to listen to anyone's orders. His temperament changed drastically, and he was just like Li Zicheng, who was crazy about recruiting strong men to expand his army. Considering that he had just lost tens of thousands of people, he didn't
If people dare to put pressure on him again, they are afraid that he will be forced to rebel directly.
The Battle of Zhuxian Town was perhaps the last time Zuo Liangyu obeyed Chongzhen's orders unconditionally. After suffering a big loss, he vowed never to obey arbitrary orders again, and no one could persuade him.
Historically, Zuo Liangyu also claimed to have 200,000 elite soldiers before the Battle of Zhuxian Town, but he fought a deadly battle with Li Zicheng. As a result, the main force was lost and only tens of thousands were left.
Historically, Zuo Liangyu was able to flee south to Wuchang. In the following years, he frantically withheld commercial and salt taxes, robbed local areas, and used all the money seized from robbery to expand the army. In the end, it expanded to the point where it was said to have "800,000 troops."
"It's a pity that these 800,000 people are just a mob. It is said that their combat power is not as good as the 200,000 veterans before the war. In the end, they did not accomplish much in history.
But in this life, due to the butterfly effect and the fact that the wealthy hinterland of Huguang has long belonged to the Chenshu people, even if Zuo Liangyu was defeated, he would not be able to escape that far south, nor would he dare to start a civil war with the Chenshu people.
, they can only rely on the Nanyang Basin and the hilly areas to the west of Nanyang, which add up to two or three relatively poor areas, and fish and plunder to become independent.
To put it bluntly, Zuo Liangyu finally became a warlord similar to Li Zicheng. The only difference was that Zuo Liangyu would not raise a rebellion and only wanted to protect himself and fight for himself.
Moreover, Zuo Liangyu seemed to have successfully reached a tacit understanding with Li Zicheng - he no longer listened to the court and took the initiative to beat Li Zicheng, and as long as Li Zicheng did not provoke him, he would not be hostile to Li Zicheng.
After Chen Shuren arrived in Xiangyang, he felt a strange atmosphere in just a few hours.
Before meeting Yang Sichang, he first summoned Shi Dun, the prefect of Xiangyang, and Yang Jinjue, the general of Xiangyang, and learned about the surrounding military situation in recent days with them, and then found out all the information.
Afterwards, he had a plan in mind and went to formally meet Yang Sichang.
…
"Please don't come here, Mr. Ge... it's better to take care of yourself first."
After entering Yang Sichang's residence, Shen Shuren was led all the way to the bedroom to see him. It was obvious that Yang Sichang was seriously ill.
Shen Shuren originally wanted to say a few words of courtesy, but when he finally saw Yang Sichang's sparse white hair and face with spots and wrinkles, he couldn't say the words "you're fine" and swallowed it back.
.
When Yang Sichang heard the movement, his reaction was still a little sluggish, his eyes were extremely cloudy. It took him a long time to twist his neck, and after looking at it for a while, there was a gurgling sound in his throat, and then he said a few words:
"Shuren? You are finally back. I regret not listening to your words. When I saw that Luo Rucai was coming from the past under the command of the intruders, and Liu Zongmin was crossing the Yellow River north, I felt that the opportunity was not to be missed, so I accepted the order and went to war.
If I delay it for another month, even if it is only delayed for twenty days, until you come back to fight, the situation may not be like this. The worst I can do is to fight to my death, and then "just sit back and watch as King Fu, King Lu, and King Zhao are exterminated without saving them."
I have shouldered my sins. As long as I can win the final battle and kill three more vassal kings, there is nothing to rush to save, Hu Tu.
Now I and Zuo Liangyu's troops have suffered a total loss of 30,000 to 40,000 people. Sun Chuanting's troops in Shaanxi Province have also lost more than 20,000 troops. A total of 60,000 officers and soldiers have been lost just because of this battle.
Even if you bring troops back, your troops will not be able to make up for the 60,000 lost combat power. What's more, after this battle, Zuo Liangyu has found an excuse and completely lost control. Your subsequent life will not be easy."
When Yang Sichang said this, he seemed a little embarrassed to continue talking.
Shen Shuren observed his words, but he already knew that Yang Sichang wanted to teach him, let him understand: "Although you can't beat Li Zicheng, you still have to put on a show and try to fight, otherwise it will be difficult to explain, let alone explain why you
Stop giving Zhang Xianzhong the final blow."
There was no way around it. Shen Shuren had already talked to Fang Yizhi and Fang Kongzhen repeatedly, and during the two days of riding here, he had already figured out the truth. Yang Sichang didn't need to explain it.
So he readily accepted the offer and made it clear: "Don't worry, Mr. Ge, the students know what you mean. It's nothing more than saying that even if the students can't defeat Li Zicheng, they still have to put on a show of strength. Even if it's just to fight for
A small, limited victory proves that I gave up the final blow to Zhang Xianzhong and led my troops back north instead. The gains were not at a loss, so I will let it go."
Yang Sichang's eyes suddenly brightened a little, and he looked at him in disbelief, and then he was relieved: "You...have already figured this level out? Did you figure it out yourself? Or did you get guidance from experts along the way?
Forget it, forget about it. Since you know, I won’t embarrass you. In fact, I have also thought about it for you, how can you explain to His Majesty——
Now, if we want to permanently relieve the siege of Kaifeng City and drive Li Zicheng out of Henan, I am afraid it will not be easy. Our army has too few troops. The only way to add a fig leaf to His Majesty is to pursue a temporary relief of Kaifeng, or to find a way to bring the surrounding
Wang, the governor of Henan, and General Chen came to the rescue to help them break out of the encirclement.
It would be best to try to search the area around Kaifeng Mansion and Guide Mansion to find out where the clans such as King Lu, King Fu, and Prince Zhao who escaped from Wei Hui and Zhangde are. If these clans can be rescued, even if
I just won a breakout battle, and then the territory was lost, so your majesty can have an explanation for the time being.
When the time comes, Sun Chuanting and I, Zuo Liangyu, and Zuo Liangyu will bear the responsibility for the defeat of Henan. It has nothing to do with you. You are just here to turn the tide and save the friendly forces from breaking out.
Now that Fang Kongzhen has also been accused, I will first tell you to take over as governor of Huguang and also control your original jurisdiction. If you can really defeat him, you may be promoted to governor in the future.
I have seen it before. All the famous generals in the world are either rigid or old. If you look to Sun Chuanting, there is not much hope. If there is still hope for the Ming Dynasty, it will be on your shoulders.
Are you willing to command this battle to 'rescue some of the friendly forces in Henan to break out of the encirclement'? If you dare to fight, I will treat it as a last resort and guarantee that you will be the governor of Huguang so that you can coordinate the upcoming fierce battle."
"Students dare not destroy their families, save their families, and sacrifice themselves for the country!" Shen Shuren agreed to Yang Sichang's last request with an upright face.
Yang Sichang nodded and asked Shen Shuren to tell the maid attending the illness at the door and ask her to call the supervisor Wan Yuanji.
Wan Yuanji and Shen Shuren were old acquaintances and had nothing to say. Yang Sichang was too ill to hold a pen, so he asked Wan Yuanji to write his last note in front of Shen Shuren according to his wishes.
After he finished writing, Yang Sichang couldn't even read the words clearly, so he asked Wan Yuanji to recite it slowly. He just listened carefully. After confirming that there was no problem, he signed his name tremblingly and asked Wan Yuanji to seal it for him.
Shen Shuren could tell that the handwriting of Yang Sichang's last signature was extremely crooked. Fortunately, after it was sent to Beijing, no one would mind doubting whether the handwriting was authentic.
After finishing the seal, Yang Sichang lay back on the bed, hoarse and panting, and had no energy to socialize anymore. Shen Shuren also bowed out respectfully.
Wan Yuanji also knew who he should rely on in the future. In the afternoon of that day, before sending someone to deliver Yang Sichang's suicide note, he notified Shen Shuren, as if he was looking for a new leader to make preparations before doing anything.
Chen Shuren didn't dare to put on airs immediately, he only said, "Wan Jianjun can do what he wants. This is the order of the elder, why bother asking me."