Chapter 163 Mr. Song deserves to seek Jiang Gan and outsmart Guo Tu
Li Zicheng decided to use Song Xiance's trick to lure the enemy into fighting. Two hours had passed since Chen County was attacked and fell.
However, the two places were more than a hundred miles apart, so the news could not reach them at all within two hours, so Li Zicheng's orders were fully implemented.
Anyway, it was just some operations in the field of intelligence and reconnaissance, plus some rumors and deceptions. It didn't require much manpower and resources. As long as Song Xiance got the authorization, everything could be arranged in half a day.
And to say the least, this was just a casual move. Even if it failed, or was unnecessary, it was a waste of resources, and Li Zicheng would not suffer any other losses.
As a result, in the evening of that day, all the scouts who had been sent out to spread rumors hurriedly left Yancheng. A few hours later, around midnight that night, some of Li Ji's remnants who had escaped from Chen County encountered the remnants of his troops.
The cavalry rushed to Yancheng to report the news.
After all, Li Jiyu's subordinates suffered a sudden defeat and fled on their own. They were not told by Li Jiyu to report to King Chuang before leaving the city.
Moreover, these people were not professional scouts. They were directly loyal to little thieves like Li Jiyu. They were not too worried about Chuang Wang's losses. Due to various factors, their response to reporting the news was relatively slow. It was almost in the afternoon of that day.
I just remembered that I should go to Yancheng to report the emergency and see if I could get some reward for my hard work. Thanks to various factors, I arrived so late.
The guard on the Yancheng side didn't dare to believe it at first, and he didn't dare to open the city gate in the middle of the night. He could only use a hanging basket to hoist the person up for questioning. He repeatedly confirmed and delayed it for a while, watching the sky get dark.
, it was delayed until Mao hour before taking people to Song Xiance first.
Then Song Xiance took the messenger and went to the former Yancheng County Yamen where Li Zicheng stayed to report. They did not dare to disturb Li Zicheng's rest too much. Anyway, everyone knew that this kind of military situation was not bad for an hour and a half.
When Li Zicheng slept until midnight, he felt restless. When he heard some movement outside, he woke up alertly. Just as he was about to get angry, his close guards immediately took the opportunity to go in and introduce Song Xiance and others to explain the cause and effect.
Song Xiance had already realized that yesterday's plan was unnecessary, so before entering the door, he prepared a tone and expression that were very suitable for diverting attention:
"Your Majesty! Military information in Chen County! The army suddenly attacked Chen County. The city was lost yesterday morning. Li Jiyu's life and death are unknown. Most of his troops should have been annihilated."
As soon as Li Zicheng woke up, his blood pressure was unstable and he felt dizzy. Even though he was strong, he stabilized himself for a while before he stood up straight, his eyes widening in anger:
"What? Chen County just lost it like this? Li Jiyu's wine bag and rice bag are indeed the foundation of mountain bandits. The mud lake cannot go up the wall! How could he be so lax in guarding against being stolen by the army? Are they soldiers and horses of Officer Shen Gou?
Why didn’t our scouts find out! How did Shen Gouguan deceive us by marching!"
Song Xiance was also helpless and did not dare to make up any news. He had to explain the part he had just asked clearly: "I don't know if Shen Gouguan personally went out. It may be that other officers and soldiers under his control took the risk alone. Li Jiyu reported the defeat of his troops.
, saying that one of the enemy generals has the banner of Huang Degong."
Li Zicheng calmed down for a while and woke up. Then he stroked his beard and said to himself: "Huang Chuangzi? If it were him, he would very likely do such a thing. This thief is so brave that he is not afraid of death.
This king is very afraid.
In this way, Chen County's official army may not be considered large in numbers, and may even be just a partial force for a sneak attack? Song Military Advisor, what do you think? Should we use all the troops in Yancheng to surround and rescue Chen County immediately?
?”
Because Song Xiance knew the news in advance and had already thought of a countermeasure before entering the door, he answered the question without hesitation:
"Your Majesty! The students think that it is not appropriate for the entire army to attack for the time being. First of all, the enemy's situation is unclear and we don't know how many troops there are in Chen County.
Secondly, Chen County is not a battleground for top military strategists. It is just a county with a relatively strong front line. Although it also controls two water and land routes, our army's previous analysis does not worry about Chen Shu people attacking Chen County.
This is because the western end of the Doulu Canal must pass through Yancheng.
When Huang Degong went to Chen County, he gave up the advantage of the waterway and relied on only two legs. At most, he relied on cavalry to march deep alone without food roads. Of course, that was just our original estimate. Now that he dares to do the opposite,
In short, students have to wonder whether they are better prepared.
But even so, better preparation is nothing more than relying on two grain roads, the second one is the road from Shouxian County in Huainan to Chen County via Yingchuan County.
This student had never warned the king before, but only read the official intelligence spied from the government: Ma Shiying, the prefect of Fengyang, and especially his confidant Ruan Dacheng, had a grudge against the Chenshu people, and had heard many times before that they had
If you are a stumbling block for Shenshu people, you will definitely not cooperate in raising food and ships.
Going down the river from Xinyang to Shouxian County and then turning into the grain road of Yingchuan will add up to a thousand miles of detours. This waste and waste may not be affordable for Shenshu people.
Even if we can afford it, given the temperament of a mediocre dog emperor like Chongzhen who likes to reuse his officials, there will definitely be a bunch of dog officials who will help us impeach the dog officials, wasting national funds and taking the opportunity to embezzle and line their own pockets.
And so far, our eyes and ears in the court have not found out that any Yanguan impeached Shen Shuren like this, which means that he did not blackmail the officials along the way and force them to provide civilians, ships, food, and cooperate in the war..."
Li had been in a bad mood since he was born, and was a little angry. Hearing Song Xiance's coy tone of voice, as if he didn't want to take responsibility for his past remarks, he was a little annoyed. Seeing that he was still talking nonsense, he interrupted him rudely:
"There's so much nonsense! Just tell us whether we should attack Chen County with all our troops and that's it!"
Song Xiance was robbed and was speechless for a moment.
He didn't mean to be ambiguous, but this person was born as a fortune teller, and which fortune teller wouldn't tell the truth so as to leave room for him to make amends in the future?
But at this moment, the situation was urgent. He carefully observed his words and had no choice but to take a risk and said a few words of truth: "Students do not recommend that the king's entire army attack! Since there is no official in the court to impeach Chen Shuren for causing nuisance to the place and looting and embezzling Fengyang,
That official Shen Gouguan was probably planning to attack Chen County, or even actually capture it, to pretend that he had prepared a second food road!
If the entire army of our army presses forward and the Yancheng side is empty, once there is a loss, the food channel will be completely opened for Shen Gouguan! Only if Yancheng is protected by heavy troops, Chen County will be like a withered vine hanging alone behind enemy lines.
As a result, it is difficult to revitalize!
Of course, Chen County has no choice but to save it. Whether it has the opportunity to force the enemy to fight in the field, force the enemy to divide its troops, or be surrounded by reinforcements, our army cannot give up in any of these two situations!
So allocate about two-thirds of the troops to ensure that the Yancheng side is absolutely enough to protect itself. If you still feel it is not enough, you can go to Ye County to evacuate the troops, and don't think about grabbing Zuo Liangyu's side."
Song Xiance's final idea was to divide his troops. He was not worried that he would not be able to concentrate his troops and would be defeated by the Chen Shu people one by one.
Because the overall size advantage of the Chuang army is still very obvious, in comparison, the Shenshu people can be easily defeated individually after dividing their troops, at least that's what Song Xiance thinks.
Li Zicheng knew this in his heart. He just wanted to find out who was the main force and who was the sheep. Since Song Xiance made the judgment for him, he would execute it decisively.
The two of them made a rough inventory and calculated, and first divided their troops into 100,000 troops, and set out one by one to rescue Chen County. If the opportunity was bad, they would besiege the city. If the opportunity was good, they could even seek a decisive battle with the main force of the official army.
In addition to the 100,000 people, the remaining Yancheng garrison continues to defend the city, ensuring that the water and food routes from Shangcai to Chen County are continued to be cut off, and then wait and see if there is any emptiness on the Shangcai side.
Song Xiance was also like Guo Tu in history who advised Yuan Shao that "Guandu must be empty, so he can take the opportunity to send Zhang He Gaolan to attack the Guandu camp" after hearing that Cao Cao intercepted Wuchao. He also followed the same example and advised Li Zicheng to consider dividing his troops against Cai County.
Conduct another exploratory attack.
The reason, of course, is exactly the same as Guo Tu’s advice to Yuan Shao in history: the Chen Shu people divided their troops and went to Chen County. No matter how many people went, Shang Cai would be empty. If the Chen Shu people took risks and neglected to guard their homes, Shang Cai could directly
If you take it, you will make money!
Li Zicheng thought it made sense, so he adopted it as a free move. The only difference was that he didn't have high expectations for this move, unlike Yuan Shao who put almost all his treasure on Zhang He and Gao Lan.
[By the way, the best app for reading aloud and listening to books is Yeguo Reading, install the latest version. 】
To be honest, Song Xiance's final strategy was definitely not mentally retarded. After all, he was a storyteller, and he deserves praise for being able to do a better job than a professional strategist like Guo Tu.
In addition, Song Xiance relies too much on intelligence in his tactics and also likes to analyze the details of intelligence. This is also an occupational disease that he has developed over many years of fortune telling, path dependence.
Fortune tellers survive by paying attention to details and trying to grasp as many clues as possible.
As for his strategic IQ other than intelligence gathering, Song Xiance can only be said to be slightly better than ordinary civil servants, but he is by no means the best in the world.
Such a person, who stares at the information about money and food sent by the central government's informants every day, and makes judgments on the impeachment evidence, meets a strange person like Shen Shuren who "gives money to become an official for the sake of the Ming Dynasty."
From the beginning to the end, he did not allow the local government to cooperate with a single grain of grain, a single civilian man, or a single grain transport ship, and he did not force Ma Shiying to cooperate with him.
For such a selfless and good official, even if Song Xiance could send money to lure people into trouble and infiltrate Chongzhen's court into a sieve, he would still make misjudgments in intelligence.
While other good officials of the Ming Dynasty cannot do this, Shen Shuren is the only one who can do this. To put it bluntly, it is nothing, it is just the word money.
The Shen family, who are too eager to step on the horse, have enough money to step on the horse.
Therefore, Shen Shuren could use his own money to pay for food, pay, sailors and ships, and pay for the combat expenses of a large army without anyone noticing.
Song Xiance's misjudgment and deception on this point was ultimately due to the fact that his imagination was limited by poverty.
…
After Li Zicheng made the decision, he had enough power to act. Li Zicheng left the Yancheng and Shangcai stalls directly to his subordinate, nominal brother-in-law Gao Yigong (Gao Yigong was Li Zicheng's first wife).
After Mr. Xing ran away, he nominally found a new wife, Mr. Gao’s brother)
Then he took Liu Fangliang, Tian Jianxiu and an army of 100,000 troops, and immediately divided into three teams and set off in stages towards Chen County.
He made this arrangement because Liu Fangliang and Tian Jianxiu had suffered losses when they attacked Shangcaicheng before. If they stayed here, they would easily lose momentum.
Yuan Zongdi opposed the forced attack on Shangcai from the beginning and refused to deal with Song Xiance. However, after the siege failed, he was sent out to collect food and was not in Yancheng.
With several top generals absent, Li Zicheng could only rely on nepotism.
Before leaving, he repeatedly told Gao Yigong several times, telling him not to force it, but to be cautious and to go to Cai's place to try and confirm whether it was empty.
Although Gao Yigong was still young and vigorous, he still listened to his advice and complied with his brother-in-law's instructions one by one, and then Li Zicheng set out on his way.
As soon as Li Zicheng left, Gao Yigong also began to count the troops, check the remaining siege equipment, and other preparations. He spent two days returning to Shangcai City and organized a tentative attack.
There are no longer Chen Shuren's direct relatives in Shangcai City, nor Huang Degong's troops. Even Ruyang County behind Shangcai County no longer has Zuo Zixiong's troops.
When Gao Yigong arrived, Shangcai County had been completely taken over by Liu Guoneng's army from Xinyang Prefecture. Liu Guoneng himself had received Chen Shuren's instructions two days ago and personally rushed to the Shangcai area to set up defenses.
Chen Shuren made this arrangement because he had taken into account that Liu Guoneng had been guarding Xinyang Mansion for three years and had a good foundation in the local area. If he was allowed to guard his base, his combat effectiveness would naturally be increased, and there was no need to worry about the stability of the morale of the soldiers.
Most of these soldiers were Liu Guoneng who fled to the local area. After being ordered to be settled by the imperial court, the newly expanded troops were all natives of their hometown.
Liu Guoneng once again preached that the intruders were coming to massacre, steal food and eat people, so the soldiers naturally had high morale and wanted to protect their hometown from being massacred and plundered.
Liu Guoneng carried the line, Huang Degong and Zuo Zixiong attacked. Chen Shuren's arrangement couldn't be more perfect.
Before Gao Yigong started to attack, he also asked people to yell and scold the formation, insult Chen Shuren, and asked Chen Shuren to come out to answer. This trick was obviously taught to him by Song Xiance before Li Zicheng left. It was a test of one shot with or without dates.
Can you please force Shen Shuren to show his face so that we can confirm whether the main force of the army is in Shangcai or Chen County?
However, the government and army obviously had no intention of concealing this information. After Gao Yigong scolded the formation, Liu Guoneng appeared in person immediately and led a group of scolding formation players to scold him at the top of the city.
"Gao Yigong? What kind of waste are you? You just got wealth and honor by giving your sister to an eunuch to be his wife. People like you are worse than the godson of a dog eunuch. Li Zicheng actually let you lead the army. That's because he dislikes his soldiers.
You’ve lived too long.”
"You bastard, how dare you insult Shen Futai? But save it, Shen Futai is not here, and you can't let Shen Futai hear a word even if you curse him to death. Now in Caicheng City, your grandfather and I, Liu Guoneng, can say it
Calculate!
Ah, being your grandfather is quite unlucky, so let’s be uncle and treat Li Zicheng as my nephew. If he were my son, I would beat him to death, a disgrace to our family.”
After all, Gao Yigong is still young and vigorous. He was insulted by Liu Guoneng in this way, and he also scolded Li Zicheng for eighteen generations of his ancestors. He also arrogantly exposed that Shen Shuren was indeed not here. You have fallen into the trap a long time ago.
He finally couldn't hold back his anger and immediately ordered the entire army to attack Cai regardless of the cost.
In Shangcai City, the dozens of sharp and flexible Folang machine guns that were used to defend the city last time were indeed missing. The side firepower that was specially designed to hit the base of the bastion wall was reduced by at least half.
However, Chen Shuren kept all the Hongyi cannons. Although the reloading speed of this thing is many times slower, it is absolutely powerful.
In addition, Gao Yigong was angry and felt that there was hope. He could achieve this feat by jumping hard. As a result, he was unable to eat and vomit, and was consumed for several days before he finally fully understood the situation.
Thousands of people were directly killed in the battle, and even more casualties and sick people were suffered, and they came back defeated.
This level was many times worse than Zhang He Gaolan's attack on Guandu. The only thing that was fortunate for the Chuang army was that Yancheng was not recaptured by Liu Guoneng.
However, it is inevitable that the tens of thousands of defenders in Yancheng will be reduced by 10,000 to 20,000 men and will no longer be able to support other battlefields in a short period of time.
Shangcai County, under Shen Shuren's strategizing, was like a magnet, attracting the intruders to come and bleed them, and they succeeded twice.
Now there is another wave of tactics to lure the enemy, and again, and again, and again, and with the help of Gao Yigong to weaken them, it can only be said that the Chuang Army has reached the end of its eighth life.