After Li Zicheng listened to Song Xiance's analysis of the army's march route and grain roads, he also felt that although the Henan Plain was vast, there might only be a few rivers capable of directional grain transportation.
If the army wants to advance to Kaifeng Prefecture, the food route cannot bypass Yancheng no matter what, so it is absolutely necessary to gather most of the main force in Yancheng.
After understanding this, the subsequent arrangements will become logical.
Li Zicheng, who came from a reckless background, was already very capable of execution, so he asked Song Xiance to write a reply to Zuo Liangyu that night.
The next morning, he summoned Hao Xiaozhong again, gave him a few words of kindness and threats, and then asked a relatively clever confidant under his command to follow Hao Xiaozhong back, making sure that the reply letter was delivered to Zuo Liangyu in person, and then observing Zuo Liangyu's behavior.
reaction, the details of which need not be mentioned.
It would take at least two full days to drive from Kaifeng to Nanyang, not to mention that Li Zicheng's envoy did not need to be in a hurry. Therefore, exactly five days later, on September 24th, the confidant Li Zicheng sent to return the letter returned to Kaifeng.
.
In the past five days, Li Zicheng has not been idle. He has been gradually moving his troops southward according to Song Xiance's suggestion, and assembled troops at the front line of Yancheng at the rate of 20,000 to 30,000 people per day. Today is the last batch of troops that need to be mobilized.
There are many troops, and even Li Zichen himself is about to go on the road.
However, when the confidant who delivered the letter came back, he brought bad news that alarmed Li Zicheng.
The confidant said something like this: "Your Majesty, we personally delivered the letter from the Song Military Advisor to Zuo Liangyu. After Zuo Liangyu read it, he was very grateful to the King for his willingness to live in peace with him, and even hosted a banquet for the villain.
.
However, just when we were about to leave Nanyang, we discovered something - Guan Shen also sent someone to contact Zuo Liangyu and sent a letter. The messenger seemed to be a well-known scholar in Jiangnan.
, we asked the name secretly, and it seemed to be Gu Yanwu.
After I learned about it, I went back to question Zuo Liangyu. Zuo Liangyu looked a little embarrassed, but swore that he had a grudge against Shen Gouguan and would never cooperate with him. In the end, he seemed to be afraid that we wouldn't believe it.
He also showed me the original letter.
The villain was afraid of being deceived, so he wanted to ask Zuo Liangyu for a letter and bring it back to the king. But Zuo Liangyu said, "Who knows if you will take this letter and give it to the court to frame me. Let's follow Chuang Chuang."
The king's indiscretion cannot leave evidence, so he had to have someone copy a copy of the letter without the official seal of Shen Gou, and let the villain bring it back - the copied letter is here, please see it."
When Li Zicheng heard this, he frowned and immediately took the copied "Letter from Chen Shuren to Zuo Liangyu" and read it. Then he waved his hand to signal the envoy to retreat and asked someone to find Song Xiance.
Li Zicheng didn't have too much doubt about Zuo Liangyu's confidentiality operation relayed by the messenger. Because Zuo Liangyu's contact with him really needed to be kept confidential. There was no seal on the letterhead, and the handwriting was not Zuo Liangyu's.
The witness of Hao Xiaozhong proves its authenticity.
In this way, no physical evidence will be left behind once the courier leaves. Even if the original document is stolen or used elsewhere for reporting, it can still be said that someone forged and framed it——
As for Li Zicheng's reply to Zuo Liangyu, Zuo Liangyu must have burned it directly after reading it, and would not keep it at all. It doesn't matter whether it is the original or a copy.
The two sides seem to be cooperating sincerely, but in fact, each one is wary of the other. This is what should be done, and it cannot be said to be insincere.
However, just because Li Zicheng didn't care about Zuo Liangyu's confidentiality measures, it doesn't mean that he also didn't care about the content of the letter.
After Song Xiance arrived, he carefully studied the "transcript of the letter sent by Shen Shuren to Zuo Liangyu through Gu Yanwu" and immediately felt that something was wrong.
Song Xiance considered it carefully and said: "Your Majesty, I think this letter is a bit strange, but I can't provide any clear evidence and dare not draw a conclusion."
Li Zicheng's expression turned alert: "But it doesn't matter! We'd rather be in vain than indulge in it!"
Song Xiance then said: "In this letter, Shen Shuren persuaded Zuo Liangyu to put aside the past grudges and continue to serve Chongzhen together, but I always feel that the reason is a bit out of the ordinary.
As mentioned earlier, Shen Shuren treated Liu Guoneng and other surrendered generals equally, and would never rush forward like other civil servants. He did not cherish the lives of soldiers and did not treat military personnel as human beings.
It was supposed to start from this point later, recruiting Zuo Liangyu, saying that Zuo Liangyu would be rich in the long run as long as he put aside his past grudges. However, this aspect of the letter stopped abruptly, and then only said in general terms, "Following King Chuang will not make you rich in the long term." .
There are also several places where the language, writing, and rhetoric are very different. The student wonders...whether the truth stated in Shen Shuren's original letter is more clear and clear, but there must be some comparisons and insults to the king.
So when Your Majesty’s envoy asked for Shen Thief’s letter, Zuo Liangyu was afraid of angering Your Majesty, so he had someone temporarily rewrite and copy one letter, deleting those words that were disrespectful to Your Majesty?”
Song Xiance pointed and pointed at several places in the letter where the words were blunt and blunt. Although Li Zicheng was uneducated, he also realized the problem after his prodding.
In this regard, we cannot blame Zuo Liangyu for being careless. It was really in a hurry, and Zuo Liangyu couldn't forge it too delicately even if he wanted to - mainly because of Zuo Liangyu's literary staff, all added up, the literary talent and diction are not as good as those of Zuo Liangyu. You can't compare with Gu Yanwu.
Although the secret letter from Chen Shuren ghostwritten by Gu Yanwu was just a pawn in the alienation scheme, Gu Yanwu also worked hard to write it well and tried his best, so the words were quite lethal. If Li Zicheng really saw it, he would definitely They will doubt its effect on wooing Zuo Liangyu.
Zuo Liangyu had to delete and revise, but the literary talents of his men were too rubbish. This made Song Xiance see that there was a disconnect and deletion, and the writing style was not unified. There was really a huge difference in level.
But the problem is, in the autumn of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, how many literary giants could be found in the world who could compare with Gu Yanwu in terms of literary talents? Even if there were, with the reputation of a vassal town like Zuo Liangyu, how could it be possible to attract such a level of literati and leave flaws? It's just something that can't be helped.
This small move was originally not a big problem, but Li Zicheng was also a suspicious person. After thinking about it for a while, he still felt that he could not completely trust Zuo Liangyu, so he angrily said:
"Sure enough, we can't just trust the left thief! This guy deceived me into withdrawing troops from Yuzhou and Ye County respectively. I'm afraid he didn't want to cooperate with Shen Shuren's sneak attack? Just because he exchanged letters with Shen Shuren, deleted, altered and deceived him, he should be made to pay. Pay some price!
I am sending an order to move the last two waves of troops originally planned to be transferred to Yancheng to Ye County! Zuo Liangyu must also be on guard!"
Song Xiance felt that his troops were being scattered a bit, so he couldn't help but tactfully advised: "Are you being too cautious? Even if the Zuo thieves have selfish motives, Ye County is in the hands of our army, and the dangerous passes of Tongbai Mountain are not something that Zuo Liangyu can easily climb. Previously, This small number of troops is enough to defend it.
Moreover, Ye County has a difficult terrain, sparse population, and no waterways for large ships. It is difficult to transport food and grass. Unlike Yancheng, which directly relies on the Tuolu Canal and Ru River. There are many troops stationed in Ye County. If they are stationed for a long time, even if they rely on cannibalism to solve the problem of military food
, there aren’t that many local people to eat.”
Li Zicheng raised his hand to signal Song Xiance to shut up: "Be careful and you won't make a big mistake! Besides, this is a good opportunity to see Zuo Liangyu's sincerity. Even if I increase my troops in Ye County, I will go there secretly. I can even let Zuo Liangyu go again."
Let Hao Zhongzhong supervise.
We played the trick of Dong Zhuo and Li Shimin in the play, and in reverse, 'lead troops into the city secretly at night and leave the city with great fanfare during the day', and told Zuo Liangyu that we had withdrawn most of the troops in Ye County.
If Zuo Liangyu also keeps his promise and withdraws most of the troops from Yuzhou on the opposite side, we will be fine. If there is any trouble, or if there is really a shortage of military supplies for the troops stationed in Ye County, and the opposite side takes advantage of it, we will tear up the alliance and launch a sneak attack on Nanyang.
Just feed Zuo Liangyu!
Gu Ke heard that Nanyang was originally the base for Yang Sichang's attack, and there was still some food stored in it. The surrounding areas of Henan were devastated by the war and were out of food. The remaining food from Zuo Liangyu's lair can also be used to make up for it."
Song Xiance heard that the king said this, and breaking the covenant was as easy as farting after drinking water. Of course, he couldn't persuade him anymore.
…
After all, this matter opened a rift because of Li Zicheng's suspicion.
In the next few days, Li Zicheng also sent an additional 40,000 to 50,000 troops to Ye County as promised. However, the troops from Ye County that were supposed to be sent to Yancheng were not sent at all.
Over and over, Li Zicheng's 380,000-strong army was originally planned to station 200,000 around Yancheng, with a maximum of 300,000 to 50,000 in Ye County, and 100,000 around Kaifeng, leaving a small number of sporadic troops.
Spread plunder everywhere to replenish food and grass.
Now, there are less than 150,000 troops stationed in Yancheng, and 70,000 to 80,000 troops are stationed in Ye County. There are more reserve troops left along the rear, which can be concealed and mobilized for reinforcements at any time. It is difficult to go into details at the moment.
In a word, Shen Shuren mobilized Li Zicheng with just a letter and letting Li Zicheng's confidants see Gu Yanwu's existence. He also allowed Li Zicheng to deploy the troops in front of Yancheng, which was reduced by at least 30%.
To be wary of threats that don't exist.
Zuo Liangyu was also transferred by Shen Shuren. He clearly didn't want to share the pressure for Shen Shuren. However, he created a rift with Li Zicheng and let Li Zicheng know that "there is a considerable number of people in Nanyang City that Yang Sichang hoarded for the army of suppressing thieves before his death."
After saving food, Zuo Liangyu also had to protect himself.
In fact, he also played a trick in Yuzhou of "pretending not to leave many troops on the front line, but in fact he was just Li Zicheng's inspection messenger, openly withdrawing troops during the day and secretly returning at night." Both sides could only be frozen by a chain of suspicion.
The strategic goals of the three parties have become increasingly clear during this tug-of-war -
The bandits are waiting for the Chenshu people to attack Yancheng, or if the Chenshu people dare to bypass Yancheng and go directly to Kaifeng, they will cut off the Chenshu people's food route.
However, Shen Shuren could take advantage of "After the bandits moved to Yancheng, due to the concentration of troops, it became more and more difficult to send most of the troops out to kill, rob, and find food, and it would be difficult to sustain for a long time." When Li Zicheng showed his flaws or had to divide his troops, Shen Shuren would take action again.
.
The key here is all kinds of psychological warfare.
For example, how did Shen Shuren convince Li Zicheng that "I consume more energy than you, I have more food than you, and I am not afraid of Chongzhen forcing me to fight decisively"?
And how did Li Zicheng convince Shen Shuren, "I don't believe you are more energy-consuming than me, and I don't believe you can withstand the pressure of the pig leader Chongzhen to fight."
Of course, this kind of psychological warfare cannot be rushed, so after the stalemate between the two armies in Yancheng and Shangcai, in the first four or five days, Shen Shuren did nothing but do intelligence and investigation work, and some small fights broke out between the two sides. Large-scale conflicts are all scout wars.
In such small-scale scout battles, the official army often wins - because in small-scale cavalry confrontations, the equipment advantage of the official army is too obvious.
The elite cavalry under Zhu Wenzhen, with the support of all the revolver pistols, can definitely kill several times the number of enemy scouts to smithereens. In contrast, the number and size advantage of the rogue thieves makes them less powerful in the scout battle. But there is no way to play it at all.
It was not Li Zicheng's scout cavalry who encountered Shen Shuren's scout cavalry, and most of them were slaughtered.
It was Li Zicheng who sent a small force to kill people and steal food. They were attacked and lost all the food they had grabbed, including the people.
Or maybe after Li Zicheng suffered a loss, he wanted to send mobile troops to penetrate behind the scenes and cut off the food route of Chen Shuren's troops in Shangcai, but he was still defeated by Chen Shuren——
The main reason is that the Shenshu people have divided their troops to guard Shangcai and Ruyang closely, and the distance between Shangcai and Ruyang is not far, so there is very little space for detours. As soon as Li Zicheng's food-deprived troops infiltrate, they will be discovered immediately, and then Beaten by reinforcements.
After several losses, Li Zicheng finally discovered a problem.
"How can Guan Shen be so arrogant? I heard that he is in Xinyang Mansion and his army only has 70,000 to 80,000 people. He still has some left to guard the rear. The front army should only be 50,000 to 60,000, right? He still dares to be on top at the same time. Cai and Ruyang both left troops to guard and defend our army in a stalemate?
Isn’t he afraid of being defeated by us one by one? Have you found out how many defenders there are in each city of Shangcai and Ruyang?”
One day at the end of September, after losing two more scout battles and harassing the grain road, Li Zicheng couldn't help but angrily scolded his generals.
He had already seen that Chen Shuren's deployment was very unfavorable for the invading army to cross and cut off the grain road because the enemy was moving step by step. The rear was too stable.
But the stability of the rear also comes at a cost, because the total force is only so much, and fortifying it everywhere means that there is insufficient force everywhere.
If Li Zicheng had chosen a city siege point for reinforcements and attacked it with force, Chen Shuren would have been defeated one by one.
After realizing this situation, the generals Li Zicheng brought to Yancheng also started to make noise.
The top general Liu Zongmin and his nephew Li Guo were left behind in Kaifeng to besiege the city, so they did not come to the front line of Yancheng. Yuan Zongdi was left behind in Ye County to guard against Zuo Liangyu.
Therefore, Liu Fangliang, Tian Jianxiu and others who were subordinate to Liu Zongmin took the opportunity to ask for a battle: "Your Majesty, the last general sent someone to inquire the day before yesterday. Although he could not give details, he could estimate that the number of defenders in Shangcai City was at most not More than 20,000 to 30,000!
The last general is willing to lead his troops to attack Shangcai first, annihilate one of his troops, and wipe out Shen Gouguan's spirit! If Shen Gouguan dares to use the main force of his army to come to reinforcements from Ruyang and other places, then the king will personally lead the army and lay siege to the city for reinforcements. Kill them in the field!"
Li Zicheng thought about it for a moment and then announced: "Okay, it's up to you, Tian Jianxiu, you lead the troops to fight first! Liu Fangliang, you are the reserve team. If Tian Jianxiu fails to attack the city, you can go up again! If there are official troops If the reinforcements move, you should immediately attack them, and I will lead the main force to respond!"
——
PS: Regardless of whether the comment server is restored or not, two updates will be restored starting next Monday (the day after tomorrow, the 24th). It should be soon.