Just when Liu Yan was expanding his army on a large scale, the war in the south was also in turmoil again.
As early as May of the 12th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong led his troops to rebel again in Gucheng. He quickly defeated the Ming army guarding Gucheng, killed the county magistrate Ruan Zhidian and the patrol censor Lin Mingqiu, demolished the city walls, and robbed the city. The library is in prison. Supervisor Zhang Dajing, Ma Tingbao, and Xu Qizuo were forced to surrender.
When Zhang Xianzhong led his troops to leave Gucheng, he wrote in detail on the walls inside and outside the city the list, numbers and time of the officials from all over the government who asked him for bribes. This made the surrounding people indignant. Zhang Xianzhong took the opportunity to expand his troops and mobilize A team of nearly 100,000 people was formed.
When Zhang Xianzhong rebelled again, Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying's troops also responded and went to Gucheng to join Zhang Xianzhong's troops. At the same time, Li Zicheng, who was hiding in Shangluo Mountain, also regrouped and entered Henan via the Yun and Jun areas of Hubei. Just as the beacon fire of the bandit army was extinguished, it started burning again in the Central Plains.
When Supervisor Xiong Wencan learned of the resurgence of the bandit army, he immediately mobilized Zuo Liangyu and Luo Dai to lead the pursuit.
Zhang Xianzhong ambushed his army in Luohou Mountain to the west of Fangxian County, set up a net and sent a team to pretend to attack and retreat, luring the Ming army into the mountain. When most of the Ming army entered the mountains, Zhang Xianzhong and his four adopted sons Zhang Dingguo, Zhang Kewang, Zhang Wenxiu and Zhang Nengqi led an ambush to launch a siege. More than 10,000 Ming troops were all routed. Luo Dai was captured alive, and Zuo Liangyu abandoned his helmet and saddled his saddle. While fleeing, even the military seal letter was lost.
Emperor Chongzhen was furious after receiving the battle report. In a rage, he dismissed Xiong Wencan from his post and sent Jin Yiwei to arrest and kill him. At the same time, Zuo Liangyu was demoted to three levels and ordered to take the crime and serve with the army.
Then, Emperor Chongzhen sent Yang Sichang, a scholar and minister of the Ministry of War, to the battlefield in Hunan to supervise the divisions. The governor and others followed the control and once again launched a large-scale encirclement and suppression of the bandit army.
Although Yang Sichang was good at party politics, he was still quite talented. As soon as he arrived in Xiangyang, he launched the strategies of "Four Righteousness", "Six Corners" and "Ten-Sided Net" planned by him.
Yang Sichang prepared to unite 100,000 troops and appeal to the generals of various towns in Henan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Yunyang to seize key points. The main task was to encircle and suppress the two bandit armies of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng with all their strength.
At first, Zhang Xianzhong did not understand the situation, suffered successive defeats, and was very passive. At Zhang Dingguo's suggestion, he continued to send agents to gather information and find out the details of the Ming army. Zhang Xianzhong sent people to persuade Luo Rucai to join forces with the two armies.
Then Zhang Xianzhong led the army to deal with the Ming army with tactics of "conquering the enemy with movement", "avoiding the real and attacking the weak", and appearing and disappearing. At the same time, Zhang Xianzhong strengthened his intelligence work and sent many clever sergeants to disguise themselves as merchants and hawkers to gather information everywhere. The common people also often informed the bandits of the Ming army's movements, and often served as guides for Zhang Xianzhong's team.
Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong's troops were always able to grasp the enemy's situation in time and quickly adopt corresponding strategies, catching the Ming army by surprise. Then they moved quickly, making it difficult for the Ming army to figure out the whereabouts of the bandit army, making it difficult to pursue them.
After several rounds of this, the various units of the Ming army were either defeated or ambushed and lost their troops and generals. However, it is very disadvantageous for the bandit army to be trapped in the encirclement of the Ming army, and there is a danger of being surrounded and annihilated at any time. For this reason, Zhang Xianzhong believed that it was necessary to completely smash the Ming army's encirclement and suppression plan and jump out of the circle to fight in order to attack the Ming army more effectively.
So after Zhang Xianzhong discussed with his four adopted sons, Zhang Dingguo, Zhang Kewang, Zhang Wenxiu, and Zhang Nengqi, they decided that the entire army would break out of the Ming army's siege at all costs and fight in the direction of Sichuan.
After these months of fighting, Yang Sichang saw that the various Ming armies were in a state of embarrassment. It was impossible to complete the task of annihilating the bandit army with the troops and horses in hand. This kind of big battle involving hundreds of thousands of troops did not have one or two elite soldiers in hand. It's not possible, or you might end up like Xiong Wencan.
So Yang Sichang thought of Liu Yan, who had made great contributions in the Battle of Julu and the Battle of Jinan, and wanted to recruit Liu Yan's troops to help in the battle.
However, Yang Sichang was cunning and knew that Liu Yan was a subordinate of his mortal enemy Lu Xiangsheng. The relationship between the two was still very unusual, so he rashly submitted a letter to the court for recruitment. In Yang Sichang's view, Lu Xiangsheng would definitely obstruct him.
Moreover, Liu Yan may not necessarily be willing to work on an expedition. Even if he comes, he will still be unable to do his job, and it will still be difficult for him to do it.
So Yang Sichang first sent his confidants to Jimo Yingcheng to bring a personal letter from him to Liu Yan, preparing to contact Liu Yan privately first.
Eight days later, Jimo camped in the city.
When Liu Yan saw the visitor, he saw a tall, thin but capable man standing in the hall. He was wearing short clothes and covered in sweat, as if he had just been fished out of the water.
"Who are you? Why do you want to see this general?"
Although Liu Yan already knew it through the name post, he still asked again.
The man clasped his fists and said, "My surname is Zhang Minghuan, a guest in the mansion of Mr. Yangge, Minister of War, and I am here to deliver a letter on the order of Mr. Yangge."
Seeing that Zhang Huan spoke neither humble nor arrogantly, Liu Yan had a good impression of him. He waved his hand and Miao Shao beside him went over to take the letter and forwarded it to Liu Yan.
Liu Yan opened it face to face and saw that the handwriting in the letter was flying and phoenix dancing. Regardless of Yang Sichang's character, his calligraphy skills were very high.
In the letter, Yang Sichang first praised Liu Yan for his repeated military exploits and the fact that all of his soldiers were fierce warriors. He even praised Liu Yan as the next Optimus Prime of the Ming Dynasty after Qi Shaobao!
Liu Yan just laughed it off. He didn't have much favorable impression of these ministers from the Donglin Party, and what they said didn't have much credibility.
Looking down, Yang Sichang introduced the situation of the war in Hunan in the letter. At this time, although the Ming army seemed to have surrounded Zhang Xianzhong's headquarters, it was actually very passive and was being pinched by the bandit army. The battle situation could change at any time. Reversal, so Yang Sichang hoped that Liu Yan would take the overall situation into account and lead his troops south to support as soon as possible when receiving the order from the court.
After reading the letter, Liu Yan fell into deep thought.
Now the expansion of the New Army has just begun. Although the soldiers and equipment of each battalion are all in place, the subsequent supplies and the training of new recruits in each battalion have not been completed. Now the overall combat effectiveness of the New Army has declined seriously. To send troops at this time, Liu Yan was very resistant.
Moreover, the army marched for more than two thousand miles from Shandong to Hunan. Who would provide the money and food? Can supplies be guaranteed along the way? On the battlefield, whether the friendly forces are strong or not are all questions.
So Liu Yan immediately put away the letter, looked at Zhang Huan expressionlessly, and said, "I understand the matter, you can leave."
However, Zhang Huan remained motionless and said, "Sir, Mr. Yang Ge still has a few words for me to convey."
"What words?"
"First sentence: In the Battle of Julu, Mr. Yang Ge was too cautious, which led to the danger of Governor Lu and General Liu. Thinking about it now, I still feel uneasy. So Mr. Yang Ge prepared to write to the court to apply for Shandong Money, food, and military equipment to enhance the strength of Shandong’s soldiers and horses can be regarded as compensation.”
Liu Yan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. It seemed that the war in Hunan was indeed very critical. Otherwise, with Yang Sichang's urine, he would never be so humble and even admit his mistakes?
"Second sentence: If General Liu leads his troops to rush south for reinforcements, he can collect all the treasuries of the prefectures and counties along the way. If anyone blocks General Liu, he can march together with the military law, and the consequences will be borne by Yang Ge Lao. There is no basis for his words, and the Ministry of War has transferred the order. At that time, a money and food mobilization token from the Ministry of War will be attached to General Liu."
"Third sentence: Mr. Yang Ge knew that General Liu led his troops to advance more than 2,000 miles, and the soldiers of the army were bound to be trapped. Therefore, he prepared to write to the court to apply for money, food and troops for General Liu to prepare for military use. General Liu can mention the specific amount. "
Liu Yan asked: "Are you done?"
"That's it."
Liu Yan pondered and realized that Yang Sichang had already shown his sincerity in this matter. Whether he went or not, the imperial court would order the recruitment. Lu Duchen would probably not be able to count on him and would not help him to disobey his order.
"What we can do now is try to delay as much time as possible and try our best to gain more benefits."
After this expansion of the army, the military expenditure of the new army can be described as skyrocketing, and the income of the workshop of 380,000 taels also seems to be a bit stretched, so Liu Yan is ready to open his mouth. No matter whether he goes or not in the end, he must first let go. Yang Sichang suffered from bleeding.
"Since Mr. Yang Ge is so sincere, I, the general, can speak frankly. Is it just that you have the final say? Or do you need to go back and ask Mr. Yang for instructions in person?"
Zhang Huan said: "General Liu is generous. Please rest assured, General Liu. Mr. Yang Ge has said it first. As long as General Liu's request does not violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty, I can agree to it and then go directly to the capital from here. There will be a court there." Loyal and upright ministers operate.”
"Yo ho!"
Liu Yan secretly laughed in his heart: "What a loud tone!"
Then Liu Yan paused and said: "First, please ask Mr. Yang Ge to allocate money and food for the Shandong garrison. The amount should be the total military pay owed in the past ten years."
Zhang Huan said with a smile: "Yes, the military salary arrears owed by the Shandong garrison is actually not much. In ten years, it is only hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. The court can still afford it."
"Second, when I lead my troops south, not only can I withdraw money and food from the treasury of states and counties along the way, but the same goes for the wealthy gentry, officials and businessmen along the way. I cannot be held accountable afterwards!"
joke!
Now that the south is being turned upside down by Zhang Xianzhong and others, how much food can there be in the government's warehouse? When the time comes, I will open it and see that everything is empty. Where can I go to reason?
Zhang Huan frowned slightly and said: "This matter involves too much, but with Mr. Yang Ge's relationship, we should be able to clear things up. This matter is okay."
Liu Yan said with a smile: "Third, my general has just expanded the new army recently. There are 30,000 soldiers under his command, including 10,000 cavalry. The money, food and materials needed are a lot. So I ask Mr. Yang Ge to find a way to help our army. The soldiers raised money, food and materials needed for half a year, which is equivalent to five hundred thousand taels of silver and two hundred thousand dan of grain and grass!"
At this time, Zhang Huan was also in trouble. Liu Yan asked for millions of taels of supplies, which the court would definitely not be able to get.
"General Liu, the court also has difficulties. Is your third condition acceptable..."
Liu Yan waved his hand and said: "The emperor is not short of hungry soldiers. Without money and food, how can my soldiers march more than two thousand miles?"
Zhang Huan stood there with his head lowered in thought, but after much deliberation, there was no good solution.
Upon seeing this, Liu Yan smiled and said: "I don't think it's better than this. If the court really can't come up with money and food, it can use the discount of materials to offset it."
"How to offset it?"
"There are many good things in the capital, such as artillery, craftsmen, high-quality iron materials, etc. Mr. Yang Ge can use these discounts to offset the money and food. But I told you in advance, even if I use these to offset the money and food, I will not get enough money. It cannot be less than 60%, and the materials used to offset the money and food must also be shipped together with the money and food."
Liu Yan said with a smile: "To put it bluntly, this general is a miser. He will not send troops without money and food. You'd better act quickly to avoid delaying the military plane."
Zhang Huan was immediately anxious. After clasping his fists and saluting, he turned around and left the General's Mansion in a hurry.
After another ten days, Yang Sichang, who had been waiting for a long time, finally received the news sent by Zhang Huan. He learned that the three conditions proposed by Liu Yan had basically been met, and all the Donglin colleagues in the court had The party was very helpful and cooperative this time.
So Yang Sichang breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately wrote a memorial, sent a horse to the capital, and asked Emperor Chongzhen for additional reinforcements.
Some people died, but not completely...
