To be honest, the information Gao Yingdeng obtained was a bit disappointing.
Originally, Liu Shizi was still a little hopeful, thinking about whether Shaanxi and Ningxia would jointly operate and the imperial court would station a batch of grain and grass in Qingyang Mansion.
As a result, the intelligence given by Gao Yingdeng was just as the generals of the Marshal's Mansion had already estimated. The Ming army had placed its grain storage camp in Xi'an Fucheng.
After the intelligence was settled, Liu Shizi was furious and cursed in the Chinese army commander's tent in the middle of the night.
Hong Chengchou and Chen Qiyu are not shameless at all. What does it mean to put the grain platform in Xi'an Fucheng? Five hundred miles from the grain fields to the front line is already a long way. Where is the front line they envision? Along Liupan Mountain!
Obviously, these dog officials have no determination to regain their lost ground!
I just want to see the Marshal's Mansion sitting in the city of sleepiness, waiting for my grandfather to run out of food and then die.
The intention is very vicious.
At the same time, Gao Yingdeng's intelligence mentioned another thing, which was of equally great significance to Liu Chengzong.
Master Chongzhen is serious about it.
Emperor Chongzhen prepared for this battle more seriously than before. He decided to send 200,000 taels of internal funds and 100,000 taels to Taipu Temple. A total of 300,000 taels of silver were being transported to Xi'an. He also ordered Shanxi, Henan, and Sichuan provinces to intercept the silver. 100,000 yuan will be used to prepare for emergencies.
These two pieces of news, including the location of the grain garrison and the allocation of internal funds to prepare for war, were basically in line with Liu Chengzong's judgment of the officers and soldiers, and he did not think it was false news.
It turns out that Gao Yingdeng's source of information is a bit tricky - his Tangqi crossed Qinzhou and entered the boundary of Longzhou in Fengxiang Prefecture. They walked carefully all the way, and even went to explore the road, but they ended up on the narrow bank of Sanqiao River with him. Thirty-two Sichuan troops met on a narrow road.
It is said that the Tang soldier was so frightened that he slowly retreated while waving the flag. However, the Sichuan soldiers on the mountain road ran very fast and shouted while running. They spoke with a Shu accent so fast that even the Tang soldiers could not hear them. Understand, it took me a long time to figure out that these people wanted to surrender.
Gao Yingdeng came here overnight this time, not only to pass on information, but also to ask for credit from the Tang soldier named Ma Changli.
Liu Chengzong felt that the information was correct, but the surrender of this group of Sichuan soldiers was very strange, so he ordered Gao Yingdeng to take them to Longxi for custody and separate them from the army to avoid being spies from the imperial court.
"Is the commander-in-chief worried that there are spies from the imperial court among them?" Gao Yingdeng felt that the possibility was unlikely and shook his head: "I thought that even if I sent spies, I should let the Shaanxi Township Party come. At least it would be easier to win trust. We have eight or nine The entire battalion is from Shaanxi, and a group of Shu soldiers are acting as spies, which is very eye-catching."
"Eight, eight Qin military battalions, and two are considered mixed units from Gansu and Shaanxi. There are only two serious Gansu battalions."
Liu Chengzong was very familiar with the few soldiers under his opponents, so he said casually, but still with caution on his face: "What if we do the opposite?"
In fact, if he insists on saying that these Sichuan soldiers are spies, Liu Shizi also thinks it is unlikely. However, at this moment, he knows that Hong Chengchou and Chen Qiyu are busy plotting against him, and he will inevitably think more deeply when encountering the slightest disturbance.
However, he really couldn't understand this matter, so Liu Chengzong simply waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter. Anyway, send the person to Longxi first. If the language is not easy to communicate, give him paper and pen first, such as why he surrendered, how to know the location of the food store and the internal contents." Let them write about the bad things first, and I will send a Jia from Juerwan to talk to them, and we can always figure out the situation."
The mistress of Dajiansuo Guozhuang is proficient in the southwestern dialect and is good at being a manager. She is a good at observing people's words and calming people's hearts. If these Sichuan soldiers who have not returned home for several years hear the local accent, no matter what the inner story is, they will be betrayed. Find out.
However, Liu Chengzong did not expect that before Ajia from Juerwan Market arrived, the Sichuan soldiers would report all the situations.
There is indeed a situation inside, and it is a situation that Liu Shizi could not have imagined - Deng Qi is dead.
Last year, Deng Qi's battalion had just staged a mutiny in Jingning Prefecture. It was only thanks to the care of the great scholar Wang Yingxiong that they were able to escape punishment from the imperial court. In the following months, they lived cautiously, for fear of committing another mistake.
This led to the news that Lord Chongzhen had distributed internal funds to the front line. Other generals sent people to Xi'an Mansion to ask for pay, but he was too embarrassed to send people because of the mutiny. He probably felt that sooner or later, he would have to pay the money and join in the fun. Not interesting.
Liu Shizi read half of the Sichuan soldiers' report, patted his thighs and said: Why are you so polite to the emperor? They are all officers and soldiers. If you don’t ask for them, you don’t know whether the court will pay them or not?
He could no longer control that battalion of Sichuan soldiers. In Deng Qi's eyes, the soldiers mutinied and looted, which made him fearful. All the soldiers in the battalion were disobedient and noisy; in the eyes of the soldiers, he was just a talker. , a liar who breaks his promise.
In the second year of Chongzhen's reign, he took them out of Sichuan and said that he would take them home after driving away Huang Taiji. After Huang Taiji left, Deng Qi was promoted to the chief military officer of Zunhua, with thousands of households in the world. They did not go home and were transferred to Xifengkou to follow Donglu. Fight with knives.
During the Wuqiao mutiny, they were transferred to Shahe to guard against bandits. Deng Qi said that after fighting the rebels, he would take them home, and they went to fight the rebels bloodyly. The rebels were gone, and the bandits entered Hebei again. Deng Qi also said that after fighting the Liu bandits, he would take them home. The thief took them home, and they continued to fight against the bandits from Shaanxi. If Zuo Liangyu hadn't rescued them, they would have all been annihilated in Jinan.
Deng Qi was always unable to fulfill his promise. He made a wish to return home to them again and again, but he broke his promise again and again under the urging orders of the court.
Now that things have happened, the mood in the Sichuan barracks has been ignited. The imperial court is going to deploy them to garrison Longzhou. As the frontline troops to defend Liu Chengzong, the Sichuan soldiers are going crazy - the emperor really has no plan. Let them live!
Then the news of Chongzhen's embezzlement reached the army, and the sergeants made a fuss. Under the leadership of his subordinate Wang Yuncheng, the general of the Liao soldiers, they came to Deng Qi to demand payment, resenting him for deducting payment and silver.
In fact, for the Sichuan soldiers, it no longer mattered whether they were silver or not. They looked around and saw that in the chaotic future of the Ming Dynasty, they did not see the imperial court leaving a way for them to survive. ,
But Deng Qi was not killed by Wang Yuncheng.
Wang Yuncheng didn't dare to kill him. He was a Liao soldier. He only joined this army when Deng Qi was stationed in Zunhua. Because he was good at commanding cavalry, Deng Qi relied heavily on him. Even if he killed Deng Qi, he would not be able to win over this army, which was mainly composed of Sichuan soldiers. of troops.
But things went beyond people's expectations. This general who had been invincible in hundreds of battles from Shanhaiguan to Sanguan for several years after leaving Sichuan did not die on the battlefield, or even at the hands of his own soldiers. Deng Qi actually ended up with a In a very ironic way, he climbed a building and climbed over a wall to escape the military turmoil. He lost his footing and fell to his death.
The general died unexpectedly, and the leader was a general from the Liao soldiers. The entire Sichuan barracks was in confusion, and many people deserted.
The more than thirty Sichuan soldiers who fell into Liu Chengzong's hands were those who ran away from Longzhou at that time.
Liu Chengzong read the letter, clenched his fists tightly, and showed a complex expression with multiple overlapping expressions on his face.
First of all, he felt sad for Deng Qi's death. As one of the important opponents in this battle, Liu Chengzong did a lot of work, so that even though he had never met Deng Qi, he knew this person's life history very clearly, as if he really It's like knowing this person.
The end of the journey of life is death, so death itself is not a sad thing. What matters is what you do while you are alive.
At this point, Deng Qi lived a heroic life. He joined the army in the first year of Tianqi, suppressed An Bangyan, King Qin fought against Xifengkou, drilled holes in Shahe River for Youde, and went to the Central Plains to suppress the peasant army. The fourteen years of the army were fought every half a month. Hundreds of battles were fought and only lost three times.
As of the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, this was the best firefighting captain who played all the games in the Ming Dynasty.
Liu Chengzong felt that it was a pity that Deng Qi was only one step away from becoming a first-class general. It was really just one step away, and it was a very simple step: run over and ask Liu Shishi to give him an arrow.
This arrow was placed in the face, causing him to fall from his horse and fall to the ground immediately in the formation. Deng Qi was a first-class general who would not be able to get around him in the future.
It's no longer possible now. If he doesn't die heroically, he might become an unknown person like a third-rate elementary school student.
A man as fierce as Li Rusong led an army of 35,000 soldiers across the Yalu River on the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month. On the seventh day of the first lunar month, his troops arrived at Pyongyang City. In the early morning of the eighth day of the lunar month, he launched an attack on Pyongyang City, which was guarded by 24,000 people under the command of Konishi Yingchang, and broke through at noon. Before twelve o'clock that night, they drove Governor Konishi out of Pyongyang City, crossed the Tatong River, burned, killed and drowned more than 10,000 people.
Even with the siege and pursuit, the fighting lasted less than eighteen hours.
In the Battle of Biti Pavilion, the three thousand Liao cavalry in Zha Dashou were besieged by thirty-six Japanese Japanese, and they lasted from the 24th to the 25th.
But for such a fierce person, it would be hard to say that he was so powerful in East Asia after the Battle of Pyongyang. People mention him as "Li Chengliang's son". Why? Just because he died too easily - if he finished fighting North Korea and returned home to report on his duties, he would immediately die of illness. Later generations would say that he was the limited-time SSR general experience card in Master Wanli's hands, and his evaluation would rise by two levels.
Even if Xiang Yu decided to cross the Wujiang River and drowned half in the water, then the god-like Overlord of Western Chu would not exist in later generations, and even Liu Bang, who forced Xiang Yu to death, would not have such a glorious face.
Every step in life determines the future. What you do today determines what will happen tomorrow, and what you do before death determines what happens after death.
However, in addition to the pity and regret for Deng Qi's unexpected death, Liu Shishi was more excited.
Before the battle even started, a general fell to death. This was very unlucky for the Ming army. More importantly, Deng Qi's death caused a flaw in the Ming army's defense line at Liupanshan.
The main reason for the complicated expression on Liu Shizi's face was to endure the regretful, gratifying and exciting emotions while also staring at the sand table to search for the enemy's weaknesses.
However, he did not delay for too long. He quickly thought and ordered Yulinqi to call Ma Xiang, the Tangqi commander of the Chinese army, and ordered him to lead Tangqi out in full force to cover Qinzhou, Longzhou and Zhenyuan with all their strength. Three places where the Ming army was stationed blocked its transportation.
Ma Xiang joined the Marshal's Mansion as a surrendered soldier of Ningxia Tangqi Baidu during the Hehuang War. Since then, he has been serving as Dai Daozi's deputy. After Dai Daozi went to Tianshan, he served as his successor and led Liu Chengzong's army. Chinese Army Tangqi.
But he and Dai Daozi are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Dai Daozi was not born in Tangqi. He was an officer and a small leader of the Ningxia surrender army, so he was very independent. Even though he was doing Tangqi's job, he always wanted to maintain his own profession and treat Tangbing as a regular soldier. Going to war and doing things other than your job will go smoothly.
But Ma Xiang is different. He was born in Ye Bushu. After He Huchen defeated Huanglongshan, he started to form Tangqi. He joined Liu Chengzong in the Hehuang battle. He has been working hard and did all the work of Tangqi. This mission is of great significance. Liu Shishi then warned him: "You have two purposes for this trip. The first is to confirm that Deng Qi is indeed dead; the second is to keep an eye on those three camps to see who moves."
The three battalions Liu Chengzong mentioned were Tang Jiuzhou's tribe stationed in Huating, Deng Qi's tribe in Longzhou, and Zuo Liangyu's tribe in Qinzhou.
"Commander, there is something unclear about my humble position."
Ma Xiang originally accepted the order with clasped fists and was about to retreat and gather his troops to go to the front line. After listening to Liu Chengzong's instructions, he thought about it and couldn't understand it, so he asked: "Even if Deng Qi dies, will these three battalions move?"
"Yes, if these three camps are not moving, then the so-called Deng Qi's death must be false news; conversely, if Deng Qi is dead, someone from these three camps must be moving." Liu Chengzong said with certainty: " I want to see who, Tang Jiuzhou or Zuo Liangyu, can win over this Sichuan barracks!"
The subsequent mission, keeping an eye on the movements of the three battalions, was very simple for Ma Xiang, but it was more difficult for Tang Bing to confirm the news of Deng Qi's death.
"What if the imperial court promotes his deputy general to lead the army and still garrison him in Longzhou?"
Liu Chengzong waved his hand, saying that there was no such problem. He said: "Deng Qi is dead, and he really fell to death. This camp will be gone."
Deng Qi said he fell to death, but in fact he was forced to death. Forced to death by the soldiers he led, this battalion would no longer exist for the imperial court.
Because no matter what the final cause of Deng Qi's death was, as long as he did not die of illness or old age, there was only one cause of death for him in the court: corruption, perversion of the law, unfavorable mobilization, and bad treatment for the soldiers.
The imperial court would compensate the Sichuan soldiers and then hand them over to others, downplaying the influence of the Sichuan soldiers' grouping.
If the deputy general promoted to Deng Qi continues to lead the army and has the prestige of asking for pay for the soldiers, he will find that the real cause of Deng Qi's death is unexplained. As long as the Sichuan soldiers are still alive and able to fight, his successor will still follow Deng Qi's example. By then, this camp will no longer belong to the imperial court.
Of course, there is another possibility. The successor is more "capable" and can fly between the level bandits and the bandits. He can grasp the balance between robbery and chaos and solving practical problems for the court. Then this army may be able to survive. Go down, but that is not the army the court wants.
Therefore, the imperial court will definitely assign this battalion to other general soldiers. Although this is only an expedient measure to check and balance each other, it is at least better than letting Wang Yuncheng, who forced Deng Qi to death, lead the army.
The reason why Liu Chengzong asked Ma Xiang to keep an eye on Tang Jiuzhou and Zuo Liangyu and not care about others was because they had cooperated with Deng Qi for the longest time and had the most tacit understanding, and they had the possibility of recruiting Sichuan soldiers.
Soon, the generals and brigades of the Marshal's Army received the news and rushed to the camp. For a while, Zhang Tianlin and others felt like they were in a dream when they heard that Deng Qi was dead.
They are still trying their best to find fighter planes here, but the officers and soldiers have already created fighter planes!
Soon Tangqi on the front line verified the authenticity of the news. The Sichuan troops stationed in the direction of Longzhou had all pulled out of their camps in a chaotic manner and moved closer to Qinzhou via Baoji... But they did not get close. They bumped into Ma Xiang's Tangqi halfway, and the battlefield was blocked. Under cover, they mistakenly thought that most of the marshal's army had arrived in Qinzhou, and retreated back to Baoji County along the same route.
This news is equivalent to confirming that Deng Qi is dead.
"Quickly send a message to the entire army to break camp."
When Liu Chengzong received the news from Ma Xiang during the military meeting, he immediately slapped his palm on the table, frightening all the generals to sit upright, but they saw him getting up and saying: "We march to Baoji, Zuo Liangyu saves Baoji, we We will attack Qinzhou; if Zuo Liangyu squats in Qinzhou and does not move, we will go to Longzhou - they open their mouths, and we will go to Guanzhong to have some fun!" (End of Chapter)
