After getting the latest information about the motivations of the deployment of the Chuang army from Yuan Shizhong, Huang Degong of course made inquiries overnight.
Including sending scouts to strengthen intelligence interception, and at the same time severely tortured the intruder messenger brought by Yuan Shizhong, including all kinds of beatings and tortures.
But in the end, Huang Degong failed to find out the truth, but in any case, he was convinced that Yuan Zongdi had probably gotten the same news, so he wanted to attack Shangqiu.
If that's the case, let's do it!
In fact, if someone opens the perspective of God, it is not difficult to find that all this is self-defeating:
Song Xiance's previous advice to Li Zicheng was nothing more than to use the false news that "Shangqiu may have many vassal kings who have fled from Weihui and other places" to lure Chen Shu people to leave Shangcai Jian City and engage in mobile warfare to rescue Shangqiu, so that Li Zicheng can
They intercepted them halfway and forced them to fight in the field.
But when Song Xiance's plan is implemented, it is definitely impossible to tell the truth to all his subordinates, because there are too many people involved in spreading rumors. If everyone under his command knows the truth, spreading rumors will inevitably reveal the true purpose.
If it is also exposed, the effect will not be good.
Therefore, in this strategy, only the top people at the top know the truth, while the cannon fodder below are all dead. When they spread rumors, they sincerely think that the rumors they spread are true.
In this way, even if the courier is captured by the government and the army due to these elaborate efforts, the government and the army will not be able to torture him to find out the truth, which will only make the deception more effective.
Of course, two days ago, it was discovered that Chen Shuren had left Shangcai and launched a surprise attack on Chen County. It was no longer necessary for Song Xiance to "lure Chen Shuren out of Shangcai's turtle shell", so they took the initiative to leave the turtle shell.
Ordinarily, from that moment on, Song Xiance should send someone to contact Yuan Zongdi again, saying that the previous news was all false information, and that he no longer needed to worry about Guide Mansion, and could come to Chen County immediately to concentrate superior forces.
But perhaps Song Xiance's previous failure to provide advice temporarily made Li Zicheng less trusting of him, so his subsequent remedial measures were not adopted so quickly, and there was a delay and disconnection in some link in the middle.
On the other hand, it was also because of the chaos that Huang Degong had already reached Zhecheng, and the Shen family army's cavalry scouts had a great advantage. Song Xiance secretly used his own soldiers to deliver the news as messengers, but he was inevitably intercepted and killed on the way.
Due to a strange combination of circumstances, Yuan Zongdi continued to faithfully carry out his orders to besiege Shangqiu, continue to collect food, and kill more vassal kings at the same time.
Of course, strictly speaking, what Yuan Zongdi did was not a big mistake.
If we can capture Shangqiu, it will be a big gain. Killing all the rich people in the city who have food reserves will also greatly alleviate the food crisis caused by the invading troops in Chen County, Yancheng, Kaifeng and other places.
In addition, he was able to hold off Huang Degong's cavalry troops from returning to support the Chen County battlefield, which could be regarded as helping Li Zicheng spread the pressure.
Both sides have an effective force that has been held back from going to the main battlefield, and neither one gains nor loses.
No loss if you force yourself.
…
Huang Degong had rested enough after waiting for half a day in Zhecheng. Yuan Shizhong's troops had already left Luyuan and were withdrawing wherever they needed to go. The one or two thousand cavalrymen were also transferred to Zhecheng to accept Huang Degong's control.
This slightly expanded the number of cavalry troops under Huang Degong's command. Excluding casualties and other temporary reductions in combat power, there were still 12,000 fresh troops.
Of course, Yuan Shizhong's people have just arrived, and their trust level must be lower than that of the official cavalry, so the new equipment will not be distributed evenly to them.
Yuan Shizhong could only fight with the original sabers, lances, and bows, but their armor wearing rate was higher than that of Huang Degong, which allowed them to fight in the vanguard and carry the line.
Some Yuan Jun cavalry complained a little after learning about it, but they were all suppressed by Yuan Shizhong. He also learned from Huang Degong that in order to attack lightly, many soldiers took off their armor and stayed in Chen County without bringing them. Yuan Shizhong naturally
He will explain this situation to his subordinates, and the two parties will settle their differences.
Through this episode, Huang Degong further confirmed Yuan Shizhong's sincerity in serving the imperial court, and then issued him a revolving spray pistol and ten double-short-barreled breech-loading spray guns to his personal guards.
He comforted the rewards and told them not to give them to ordinary soldiers, and that the quantity would be checked after every battle in the future.
After Yuan Shizhong got these new weapons, he felt confident, knowing that Mr. Huang was completely treating him as one of his own, and expressed his gratitude that he would definitely kill Yuan Zongdi when the time comes.
Huang Degong did not include Hu. Early the next morning on October 16th, he took 12,000 people and all the rations raised from the city's granaries, loaded them up and continued to Shangqiu.
There is nothing to guard here in Zhecheng. When Huang Degong came, he was lightly packed and did not bring any food. The city was also very poor. As an officer and soldier, Huang Degong would not raid the people.
[To be honest, I have been using Yeguo Reading recently to catch up on books, change sources, and read aloud with many sounds, and it can be used on both Android and Apple.]
After taking the bandit city, they just divided the rations for the bandits in the granary in the city and asked the army and cavalry to each carry more than 20 kilograms on their horses, which is enough for ten days and a half month. This weight is not a burden.
Marching speed.
If there is still a little bit left over, we will open warehouses and distribute grain to the poor people. Anyway, Zhecheng has no plans to keep troops to garrison for the time being. This kind of lonely city behind enemy lines cannot be defended everywhere.
Concentrating superior forces is more important.
…
The words were divided into two parts, Huang Degong set off from Zhecheng to Shangqiu to trouble Yuan Zongdi.
On the Shangqiu battlefield, the local defenders were also in a state of confusion and uncertainty.
It has been seven or eight days since Yuan Zongdi came to Guide Mansion. He has also robbed a lot of food and killed many people. It is also the fourth day since he besieged Shangqiu City.
In Henan, starting from the 15th year of Chongzhen's reign, the Chuang army had started to launch some tactics similar to "surrendering the city after siege, promising not to massacre the city, defending for one day before surrendering, and killing 30% of the people, and defending for three to five days before breaking through the city and massacring everyone."
"City" and other conditions to intimidate the defenders and people.
However, this strategy would not be strictly implemented until March of the 16th year of Chongzhen, when Li Zicheng proclaimed himself "King Xinshun" and established the quasi-national title.
Now, there are at least more than five months left before that time. Coupled with the additional pressure from Shen Shuren's butterfly effect, the situation in Henan is not clear yet, so the conditions offered by the Chuang Army in various places are relatively arbitrary.
There are still many local officials who are afraid of invading the army and slaughtering the city, so they refuse to surrender. The situation here in Shangqiu County is generally the same.
After all, Kaifeng has not been lost yet, and there are many people who think that the Ming Dynasty still has hope in Henan.
Early that morning, Yuan Zongdi's troops were fully prepared to attack the city. They also prepared a lot of heavy siege equipment, but they lacked firearms.
But it is not impossible to attack the city with just bows and crossbows. Tens of thousands of soldiers gathered under the city. Under Yuan Zongdi's strict order and supervision, they were about to launch a full-scale attack like a mountain roaring and a tsunami.
The officers and soldiers at the city head had slightly resisted two waves of Yuan Zongdi's probing attacks in the previous two days. However, Yuan Zongdi had not prepared heavy equipment at that time and relied only on flying ladders, so they did not fight resolutely and there was no hand-to-hand combat.
The two sides just exchanged bows and crossbows for a while, and Yuan Zongdi temporarily retreated, and then sent people to threaten them.
At this moment, seeing that the bandit's equipment was ready, the guard could not help but show timidity. The guard at the south gate of Shangqiu City and the camp guarding Song Quan took advantage of the guide prefect Liang Yizhang to come to the south gate tower to inspect the defense, and showed his desire to seek peace.
"Lord Futai! The city of Shangqiu is now alone behind enemy lines, surrounded by a large army of intruders. There is no rescue from the court. Please try to persuade the thieves to delay. Otherwise, if both sides kill too many people, I am afraid that the intruders will attack the entire city in the future.
Vent your anger!
The last general heard that the intruders sent Yuan Zongdi to return to me this time for food. The siege in Kaifeng lasted for more than half a year, and the intruders began to eat people! Yuan Zongdi made it clear that he wanted to return to Germany.
Several cities in Defu massacred those who stole food and meat. If we in Shangqiu kill too many invaders, I am afraid the people will be completely retaliated!"
The prefect Liang Yizhang still had some backbone. According to history, he persisted in resisting until the end and was seriously injured when the city was broken. In the end, Li Zicheng's army thought he was dead and did not kill him. He was fished out from the dead by his subordinates and brought to the south to recuperate.
After you are well, go and seek refuge with Shi Kefa.
The civil servants in power in Shangqiu City generally have a bit of backbone. Yan Zekong, the best friend, and Wang Shixiu, the official official, were both dead in history.
Therefore, at this moment, when he heard that the guard showed cowardice, Liang Yizhang was of course furious and directly reprimanded him for his insolence: "Song Quan! You are living on the imperial salary, as a guard, but you don't even have the courage to defend the city! What are you planning to do?
?”
Liang Yizhang was also afraid of breaking out directly, and the other party directly led his troops to Kaicheng. He did not dare to say too harshly, but the meaning was already obvious.
Song Quan was usually respectful to these civil servants, but now he was not so afraid. Before he even thought about breaking up, he just found a way out:
"The general is greedy for life and afraid of death! This is just for the sake of the fellow villagers! He is afraid of revenge by breaking into the city and massacring the city!"
Liang Yizhang's face was livid: "The city has not been broken yet! Are you already worried about the future? This is not cowardice before fighting! Just defend the city well and repel the intruders for a few days to prove that you are not greedy for life or afraid of death.
.”
As soon as Liang Yizhang finished speaking, Song Quan's expression was cold, but several thousand presidents below him started making noises:
"Master Futai, we are not afraid of defending the city! Nor are we afraid of death! But we must find a way out for the people in the city! When you ask us to kill thieves, the purpose cannot be just to stain our hands with the blood of the intruders.
So that we will not be forgiven by intruders in the future, I will give you a certificate of surrender!
If you want to defend, you must come up with an explanation. How will this matter end in the end? Are you sure that the intruders will withdraw from the siege, or are you sure that the court will have reinforcements to save us! If it is just a lonely city without help, what is the use of holding on?
?It’s not that we don’t want to, you have to give the brothers a thought!”
Liang Yizhang saw the anger of the people for offending these thugs, and for a while he did not punish the people according to the law, and it was difficult for him to speak out with his general principles and righteousness.
Tsunasa Dayi is just trying to deceive scholars. It's useless for these soldiers to talk about it. They only want a hope for the future.
In desperation, Liang Yizhang also had blood rushing to his head. He could only resort to desperation and deceive everyone first: "I asked you to defend, of course I knew for a long time! Reinforcements from the imperial court will come soon!"
You don’t know that I sent a message to Xinyang Prefecture long before the city was besieged. Shen Futai sent by the imperial court will go north to rescue us! Shen Futai was ordered to rescue Kaifeng. I begged him and he said he would take the opportunity to protect us.
Guide Mansion.
We only need to hold on for seven or eight days, or at most ten days, and the imperial army will arrive! We will all be heroes by then!"
——
PS: Everyone, please be patient. Although this chapter does not include the plot of the protagonist's power, there are important NPCs that need to be foreshadowed and will be revealed tomorrow morning.