"Your Majesty, according to the latest news, Wu Sangui's 30,000 men rushed to the vicinity of the capital this afternoon. They were blocked by Li Guo's army and have now retreated to Tongzhou and Xianghe..."
In Dongnuan Pavilion, Li Ruolian reported the latest battle report to Zhu Yuanzhang with a worried look on his face.
When Zhu Yuanzhang listened to Li Ruolian's report, he thought that it had been three days since he issued the second edict of King Qin. Except for some small uprisings in Shanxi, there was no large army coming to help.
Today, reinforcements finally arrived, and they were the world-famous Guan Ning cavalry. Unexpectedly, they were defeated in one battle.
This shows that no matter whether the armies of the north or the south have any intention of serving the king, they are just following the story due to the situation.
And as the news of Guan Ning's cavalry retreat spreads, I am afraid that those generals who are greedy for official titles will also hesitate to move forward, making the battle situation even more passive.
Furthermore, the battle situation in Baoding also worried him, because according to Li Ruolian's news, the fighting in Baoding for the past two days was extremely fierce, which made him suspect that this was an illusion created by Li Zicheng's movement of troops north.
Because now Li Zicheng has lost internal support, he cannot capture the capital with his existing troops. However, Li Yan had an ambiguous attitude during the peace talks, clearly delaying time and waiting for reinforcements.
If this is true, once Liu Fangliang's 100,000 people enter the capital, not to mention trying to persuade Bai Guangen, Tang Tong and others to surrender, I am afraid there will be many surrenders in the city.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice: "Li Qing, go back and tell Shen Zhanran and ask him to draft an edict to confer Wu Xiang the title of Zhongyongbo and lead two thousand elites to garrison at Chaoyang Gate!"
"In addition, due to the shortage of manpower in the city, Wu Sangui's concubine Chen Yuanyuan should be responsible for the logistical issues related to Wu Xiang!"
Li Ruolian knew that Zhu Yuanzhang was dissatisfied with Wu Sangui, so he took it out on his father Wu Xiang.
But Wu Xiang is old, and if there is any accident, the situation will be even more passive.
So he persuaded in a low voice: "Your Majesty, although Wu Sangui was unfavorable in the first battle, he is here after all. If you really let Wu Xiang leave the city, if something unexpected happens, I'm afraid..."
"What are you afraid of? Are you afraid that he will rebel?"
Seeing that Li Ruolian was about to speak, Zhu Yuanzhang said angrily: "Li Qing, you have never led an army, so you don't know the mystery behind it."
"Although Li Guo was waiting for work in this battle, Wu Sangui is also a battle-hardened man. It is impossible that he does not know this truth. Moreover, he has the world-famous Guan Ning cavalry in his hands. How could he be defeated so quickly?"
"If our predictions are correct, this battle may only be under the banner of Wu Sangui, but he himself did not show up, otherwise they would not retreat so quickly."
"So if we don't give him a strong dose, he may think that his evil plot has succeeded, and he may still wait and see. This will be very detrimental to us."
When Li Ruolian heard this, he was a little worried and said: "Your Majesty, you want Wu Sangui to fight to the death. Are you planning to launch a counterattack?"
"But King Qin's troops from all parties have not yet arrived, and the rebels are also interested in peace talks. Is it too risky to take action now?"
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "Li Qing, don't look at the good talks between Shen Zhanran and Li Yan these days. That's just Li Yan delaying time."
"If we are not mistaken, I am afraid that Liu Fangliang's army is already on its way to the capital, so we must get ahead of them, otherwise we will be in danger once they successfully join forces."
Hearing this, Li Ruolian frowned and said: "I also received news this morning that Liu Fangliang's army is still besieging Baoding, and the fighting in the past two days has been more intense than before. There should be no possibility of them deploying troops!"
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "Soldiers are very cunning. They show their incompetence when they can, and show when they don't use it. These are common methods. Do you think Liu Fangliang didn't mobilize his troops? Why is the battle more intense than before?"
Li Ruolian was stunned for a moment and said hesitantly: "Perhaps he received an order from Thief Li to break the city and join forces as soon as possible?"
Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head and said: "Now there is only one city left in Hebei, Baoding, and they are attacking the city. If they are anxious to join forces, why must they break the city?"
"Also, have you noticed that you have been able to obtain information from Shanxi, Hebei and other places in the past few days? Don't you think it's a little strange?"
Li Ruolian was suddenly startled and said: "Is it possible that there is a Li thief in the Jinyi Guards..."
Before he finished speaking, he shook his head again and again and said: "Impossible. The people I sent out are all old people. They will not be bribed by Thief Li. Could it be that Thief Li deliberately let my people find out all this information?"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "Yes, this is the cleverness of Thief Li. He deliberately used the opportunity of the discussion to relax his guard so that your people could find out more information. In fact, he prepared all this information for you."
"So information about marches and battles is important, but if it cannot be used flexibly, it will easily fall into the opponent's scheme."
Hearing this, Li Ruolian hurriedly knelt down and said, "I'm finally confused. Thank you for your advice!"
After Zhu Yuanzhang signaled him to get up, he asked again: "Did Bai Guangen and Tang Tong still not express their position?"
Li Ruolian shook his head and said: "Originally, their attitude softened, but after hearing that Li Guo defeated Wu Sangui's army, they became tough again."
Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly and said: "In that case, don't pay attention to them anymore. You asked Wu Mengming to pay more attention to things in the north these two days. Uncle Xiangcheng and the others have been there for more than three days. There should be news."
"Also, we asked you to select a group of people with strong martial arts skills. How is it going now?"
Li Ruolian bowed and said: "The general has selected a hundred people according to your instructions, and is now intensifying training!"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "Okay, you must pay attention to this matter. We are short of soldiers and horses in this battle. If we can make good use of this amazing army..."
At this time, a young eunuch came in to report that Liu Wenbing, Gong Yonggu, Jiang Dejing and others were outside seeking an audience.
After he signaled the young eunuch to bring the people in, he told Li Ruolian: "Li Qing, you must tell those people that their mission is to take advantage of the chaos to kill thousands or hundreds of rebel households. The more they kill, the better. But Don’t attack and kill the generals who command the army just for the sake of merit!”
Li Ruolian saw Zhu Yuanzhang mentioning old things again, so he solemnly agreed, and then slowly exited Dongnuan Pavilion.
"Mr. An Guo, how are you recruiting new soldiers?"
After Zhu Yuanzhang waited for Liu Wenbing and others to salute, he asked again.
Liu Wenbing bowed and said: "In accordance with your Majesty's instructions, I have selected another 10,000 elite troops, which barely meets your Majesty's requirements."
"It's just that due to the lack of war horses in the city and the incompetence of the Beijing troops in riding and shooting, I have only recruited 3,000 of the five thousand cavalry your Majesty mentioned. Please forgive me."
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he thought of the black armor cavalry appearing in Zhangyi Gate and couldn't help but frowned.
Then he looked at Liu Wenbing and said, "During the battle at Changyi Gate, you have also seen the power of the rebel black armor cavalry. Although I don't know how many such cavalry the rebels have, I think there are always thousands of them."
"If we cannot have a decent cavalry, we are worried that we may not be able to block the rebel attack, so this matter must be implemented as soon as possible."
Liu Wenbing and others were shocked when they heard this and said: "Your Majesty, are you preparing to launch a counterattack?"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and spoke out his previous analysis.
Everyone frowned and said nothing when they heard this.
At this moment, a young eunuch hurried in to report that Wang Shoulin was outside asking for an audience.
