South of Shangqiu City, one side of Yuan Zongdi's siege camp was already a sea of fire.
Thousands of corpses were lying on pillows, fires were everywhere among the broken curtains and broken trees, and the surviving cannon fodder soldiers had also been driven to the west and north.
There is nothing worth describing in this short and brutal battle. Of course, Yuan Zongdi's tens of thousands of rogue troops could not be defeated just because of this battle.
In the previous battle, Huang Degong came suddenly. Taking advantage of his cavalry and rapid attack, he concentrated his forces to attack one place, which naturally formed an absolute advantage in strength on the local battlefield.
Yuan Zongdi's original deployment was to surround the city on all sides and attack the city steadily. The troops were scattered in the four directions of Shangqiu City, and they were unable to quickly support each other.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the troops on either side of the camp were beaten to pieces when faced with Huang Degong alone.
After suffering a loss, Yuan Zongdi was worthy of being one of the five famous generals under Li Zicheng, and he reacted appropriately.
While collecting the defeated troops in the camp in the south of the city, and drawing inferences from one example, he took the initiative to withdraw the troops in the east of Shangqiu City that had not been attacked, and concentrated all the troops in the west and north directions of Shangqiu City, forming a corner to report to the group for warmth.
After shrinking the defense line and relying on the fortress offensive built in the past few days, it would be difficult for Huang Degong to attack and take advantage.
Huang Degong was also a man who knew how to fight, so after breaking through the southern camp, he just further tested and waited, and found that there was no opportunity to take advantage of, so he stopped as soon as he saw a good opportunity.
Yuan Zongdi's willingness to give up the southeastern sides was tantamount to giving up his plan to completely encircle Shangqiu and prevent the soldiers and civilians in the city from abandoning the city and breaking through.
Before Huang Degong came, he surrendered the Chuang army and surrendered general Yuan Shizhong, and obtained from Yuan Shizhong "Li Zicheng had intelligence that King Lu Wang Fu and other feudal kings might be in Shangqiu, so he sent Yuan Zongdi to attack Shangqiu and create a trap for the Chenshu people.
This false information, which was caused by a combination of circumstances, strengthened his determination to hold Yuan Zongdi back.
So now Yuan Zongdi gave up on a complete siege. Of course Huang Degong knew the priorities and decided to go into the city and exchange news with the defenders to confirm whether the kings were there, who was there, and whether they were willing to break out of the siege under the escort of the Shen family army.
After getting these things done, we can further discuss how to deal with Yuan Zongdi.
The two sides hit it off by accident. Liang Yizhang and Zhu Changzi were eager to see Huang Degong, and Huang Degong also wanted to persuade them to break out of the encirclement.
…
Half an hour later, the battlefield was roughly cleaned, the army was reorganized, and the two sides gained mutual trust. After all the necessary confirmation procedures were confirmed, Liang Yizhang cautiously opened the city gate and let Huang Degong and his party in.
Huang Degong's 12,000 cavalrymen, after the battle just now, there are still more than 10,000 people who have maintained their fighting strength and mobility. They have all temporarily entered the city to garrison, with no intention of setting up camp outside the city.
From Huang Degong's point of view, it won't last long anyway, so there's no need to bother.
"Where is Mr. Huang? Has Shen Futai come in person? I am returning to the prefect of Dede, Liang Yizhang. I would like to express my gratitude to all the generals and righteous men for their kindness in rescuing me."
Liang Yizhang kept his posture very low, and did not care about his civil and military status. He directly waited at the gate of the city to greet him. Whenever he saw a guard, military attachés above the rank of Dusi would clasp their fists, salute, and make inquiries.
The city of Shangqiu was dilapidated and the supplies were not rich. They could only hurriedly collect hundreds of jars of spicy and sour bad wine, and some livestock and small animals captured temporarily, and cooked dozens of pots to reward the army.
If the city is besieged, it will be impossible to get cattle and sheep. No one can raise cattle and sheep in the city, and there is nowhere to find feed.
There were still some small animals among the rich households in the city, but under the food control, feeding these small animals would obviously occupy the rations of the poor, so Liang Yizhang took a very humane and tough approach and requisitioned all the livestock in the name of what the government needed to defend the city.
Normally, you need to be caring, but during the siege, people may starve, and they still love a small woolly animal. Instead of starving and losing weight slowly without giving food, it is better to use it to boost morale before losing weight.
After Liang Yizhang personally toasted several guards, he found Huang Degong and Zhu Wenzhen, so he quickly handed them a bowl, took the wine jar from his colleague Yan Zekong, filled it with his own hands, and asked the master to hand it over
A bowl of meat was placed in front of me.
"Mr. Huang is truly the bravest of the three armies, and his righteousness is so great that all the people in Shangqiu City feel great virtue! The official has heard that Shen Futai didn't come in person? This is also what he should do. Chen County and Yancheng,
The war will definitely become more intense."
Huang Degong was also very useful. He was a drunkard, so he drank all the wine in one gulp regardless of the occasion, then avoided the jar where Liang Yizhang was pouring wine, and poured it down directly with his head raised.
In a short while, the entire jar was filled, and then I grabbed a dog's leg to squeeze the wine.
Liang Yizhang was dumbfounded. He quickly took another jar and offered it with both hands: "Mr. Huang is so generous! He deserves to be a world-famous brave general!"
Huang Degong let out a wine burp and said proudly: "What does this mean? I can drink several jars of wine at one go at the age of twelve! Back then, my late mother made a living by making wine and selling wine. We were young and ignorant, so we drank all the wine at home.
Still haven’t paid the capital.
I had no choice but to sneak into the army of Xiong Tingbi, the then Liaodong manager, and killed a few Tatar cavalry while they were out in battle. Their heads were exchanged for silver rewards to pay off the debt! Hey, why is this dog meat so sour? By the way, I heard that Yuan Zongdi besieged Shangqiu.
, is it to trap the vassal, is this true? Is there a vassal king in the city?"
Huang Degong is also proud of his alcoholism and has formed a habit. Whenever others praise his drinking capacity, he will bring up the past and boast that he "already had a good drinking capacity as a child."
Liang Yizhang took the opportunity to take over the conversation: "So you knew there was a vassal king in the city, so you came so quickly? That's a coincidence. King Lu, King Fu is indeed in the city, and fortunately he was rescued by the army - the meat is indeed a little sour, just because
They are usually well-fed and well-fed.
A few days ago, the city had to raise food and meat to defend the city. The little princess of Prince Lu's Mansion took the initiative to donate all the cats and dogs she raised to reward the army, which was considered a good start. Although Prince Lu repeatedly asked not to expose him at that time
status, but the lower official also hinted that the wealthy gentry in the city and even more prominent people took the lead in donating.
So even the distant relatives of Hou Xun, the former Minister of Household Affairs, had no choice but to donate, and other gentry with lower status had to pledge their noses."
Huang Degong was slightly stunned when he heard this, and then secretly rejoiced. He didn't listen to the second half of Liang Yizhang's words at all. He just heard that King Lu and King Fu were indeed there, and he felt eager, secretly thinking that he had finally taken the opportunity to make a great contribution this time.
And listening to what Magistrate Liang said, the people in Prince Lu's Mansion are quite knowledgeable about advancement and retreat. They are not domineering and are in danger. They also know how to keep a low profile. Even the princess is willing to set an example and donate cats and dogs, so they should be easier to talk to.
Huang Degong didn't waste any time and asked Liang Yizhang to take him to see the prince to discuss important matters.
…
After a while, Huang Degong was brought to the place where Zhu Changzi temporarily stayed, and he also saw the kings. He could only salute as a military man while wearing armor, but Zhu Changzi did not dare to make excuses, so he hurriedly came over to say good things.
Zhu Yousong on the side also looked at Huang Degong with some eager eyes, and said a lot of praise and praise, which made Huang Degong feel a little elated——
This is really not that Zhu Yousong changed his temper, but that historically this little lucky king was very fawning after he escaped to Huang Degong's defense area on his way south.
Later, the four towns in Jiangbei supported Zhu Yousong as Emperor Hongguang. It was also very important for Zhu Yousong to please and trust Huang Degong.
Otherwise, given Huang Degong's qualification as the earliest town among the four towns in Jiangbei to follow Shi Kefa, if Huang Degong is willing to completely follow Shi Kefa's interests, the other towns may not be able to cause trouble.
At most, Gao Jie, who was born as a gangster and was the most unruly, might have a fight with Huang Degong. In the other two towns, Liu Liangzuo and Liu Zeqing were not ruthless people willing to take risks at all.
Of course, history does not allow for assumptions, and the main reason for the establishment of King Fu in history was that Shi Kefa was more rule-oriented and hesitant - there was still a big difference in character between Shi Kefa and other Donglin Party members.
At that time, other Donglin people only wanted not to establish the Little Fu King, so as not to settle the old score of the Donglin Party in the past when they blocked Wanli from establishing the Old Fu King to replace the crown prince (Guangzong Zhu Changluo), so they did everything they could.
Shi Kefa was shameless after all, and he also paid attention to the distance of his bloodline. He knew that the bloodline of King Lu was indeed one generation further than that of King Xiaofu. One was a bloodline that was separated during the Wanli period, and the other was separated during the Longqing period.
Therefore, Shi Kefa couldn't do the thing of "replacing the distant with the recent", and in the end he would rather go to Guangdong and Guangxi to meet Xiao Gui Wang Zhu Youlang, just because Xiao Fu Wang and Xiao Gui Wang were both the grandsons of Wanli, and they were related by the same number of generations.
However, it took several months to go to Guangdong and Guangxi to welcome people. There were long nights and many dreams, and the country's throne was in vain. It was impossible to wait for a few months. This gave Ruan Dacheng and his like the opportunity to unite the four towns and support Zhu Yousong by force.
Therefore, strictly speaking, it cannot be said that Huang Degong betrayed Shi Kefa. Shi Kefa himself could not come up with an immediately usable plan, and Huang Degong could not use force to fight against the other three towns for the sake of King Gui.
If Shi Kefa had been more decisive, Huang Degong would probably respect Shi Kefa's decision.
Of course, all these assumptions are no longer important because Huang Degong has now been completely subdued by Chen Shuren.
After spending time together, Huang Degong admired his new boss Shen Futai to the point of admiration. Shen Futai was considerate of the military ministers, did not talk to military officials, and did not ban him from drinking in the army. They all liked him very much.
In contrast, Shi Kefa was very strict and upright at the time, and he often banned alcohol in the army. This alone made Huang Degong only "reverent" to Shi Kefa, and not talk about having any heart-to-heart relations with him.
After having a new boss like Shen Shuren, Huang Degong was of course unscrupulous in his efforts to win over Xiaofu Wang. He only responded politely, but had no intention of surrendering.
We are all generals of the imperial court! How can we serve the feudal king! At this moment, Huang Degong has not even thought in those directions.
No matter what happens in the future, it will be whatever Shen Futai says! Our Anlu Army only listens to Shen Futai's decision-making!
After Zhu Yousong got acquainted with him for a few words, he found that Huang Degong was very upright and polite in business, so he could only give up some of his thoughts. After all, his brother Chongzhen was still alive and well, and some of Zhu Yousong's thoughts were just a thought. Suddenly, I subconsciously felt that I needed to arrange a free chess piece.
After Huang Degong dealt with King Fu well, he turned to King Lu, who was the master of the matter. There was no problem with the hierarchy. Although King Lu was related by blood, as a prince, his rank should not be lower. And he was his uncle, and he was his Prince Fu, who took him in, should listen to Prince Lu for the follow-up arrangements for this group of people, both emotionally and rationally.
Huang Degong asked respectfully: "Your Highness, the troops outside Shangqiu City are in chaos. Although the last generals have driven back Yuan Zong's first troops, they have only broken through the barriers on both sides of the east and south sides of the city.
Moreover, General Mo was ordered by Shen Futai to attack the bandit troops. Once Yuan Zongdi retreats, General Mo will have to lead his troops back to the Chen County battlefield and cannot stay here for a long time. If the bandits leave and return by then, There will still be danger in Shangqiu. Please tell me, Your Majesty, if the last general can escort Your Majesty and his party to a safe place?"
Only then did Zhu Changzi have the opportunity to speak, and he hurriedly agreed: "Yes, yes! Why not? In fact, a month and a half ago, Prince Fu's nephew had persuaded Gu Gu to go south to Shouxian County along the Yingchuan River and go to Fengyang Mansion.
I hesitated because I felt that it was not in line with the imperial law to summon me to Zhongdu. General Huang is willing to escort me, but has he thought about where to go? Is there any place other than Nanjing and Fengyang?"
When Huang Degong heard this, he was also in awe: "When the prince was in such a critical situation, he strictly abided by the court's laws, which is admirable. If you can't go to Zhongdu, how about temporarily returning to Xinyang Mansion to station?"
When Shen Futai presents the report on his behalf, explaining the situation, he only said that the prince and others have been rescued to Xinyang, and asked for instructions on how to arrange the next step, and his majesty will naturally give his approval."
Historically, after Prince Fu of Lu followed the Yingchuan and Huaihe Rivers eastward, he did not dare to stop at Fengyang, the central capital. He continued down the Huaihe River, left Fengyang, and arrived at the adjacent Huai'an Prefecture in the east. He stayed in Huai'an until Chongzhen died for his country, and then he got close to Nanjing and was immediately drawn to support him.
Fengyang, Huai'an, and Nanjing are only separated by Yangzhou Prefecture, which is just three hundred miles away.
But now, there is obviously a slight butterfly effect.
The Chenshu people are still fighting, and it is impossible to divide their troops to escort them very far, so it is very logical to temporarily stop at Xinyang Mansion to the west of Fengyang Mansion instead of going to Huai'an Mansion to the east of Fengyang Mansion.
Moreover, there is another reason why we could not go to Xinyang in history, and that is that the situation in Jiangbei at that time was already very corrupt——
Historically, the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo was never completely wiped out by the imperial court. Even Huangzhou and Suizhou, the original home bases of the Shenshu people in this time and space, were Zhang Xianzhong’s territory in the 16th year of Chongzhen in history. Zhang Xianzhong coerced the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo almost all the way. Arrive in Hefei.
Now, the security situation has greatly improved. Even if we still need to find a place that is better than Huai'an and is close to Fengyang Prefecture and Nanjing, Hefei is obviously a better and more appropriate option than Huai'an.
Zhu Changzi thought for a while, but was a little worried about safety, so he timidly confirmed: "Xinyang Mansion is still the front line of Shen Futai's battle with the intruders, right? Is there any danger?"
Huang Degong quickly patted his chest and assured: "Don't worry, Your Highness! Shen Futai has now won several battles against the intruders! And how dare the general send His Highness to Shangcai and Chen County on the front line.
As long as Your Highness is willing to go to Xinyang temporarily, I will escort you to Rushui, Ruyang, Xiangcheng, Xincai, etc. on the lower reaches of Yingchuan River. At that time, you can enter Huaihe from Ruying, and then from Huaihe River to Feishui, and finally you can arrive at
Stay in Hefei for a long time. Hefei is located at the strategic point between Fengyang and Nanjing, so it is absolutely very safe."
Once Zhu Changzi heard this, he finally had no doubts and accepted Huang Degong's opinions in full.
He still had a conscience and was about to run away. Suddenly he remembered that the loyal Magistrate Liang Yizhang was still there, so he persuaded him in a conciliatory tone: "Will Magistrate Liang break out with us?"
Liang Yizhang gave a brief wry smile and replied sternly: "Xiaguan has the responsibility to defend the land, how can he leave lightly? General Huang rescued Shangqiu, which was a blessing to Xiaguan and the people of Hecheng. It is better for Xiaguan to stick to it, no matter General Huang
After leaving, will the intruder return?"
Huang Degong sighed after hearing his tragic words. He knew that if there were no external reinforcements and the intruders really came back, Shangqiu would not be able to defend it in the end.
He thought this civil servant was pretty good, so he left a message: "Liang Futai is a loyal man. In times of crisis, Shen Futai and I will help each other if we can. Liang Futai must also keep an eye on the situation."
, don’t make the mistake of yourself, if your death is in vain, how can you continue to serve the country?”