"Bai Gu, in your opinion, what is Li Zicheng's next move?"
Hong Chengchou broke the silence in the tent and asked about the strategy.
No one can explain the disputes in the court clearly.
Usually the truth is not clear about right and wrong.
As a governor, you are lucky enough to be able to manage the territory under your jurisdiction well.
What happened between South Zhili and the capital can be put aside for the time being. The top priority now is to deal with the remnants of the rebel army that are now entrenched in the central and southern parts of Gongchang Prefecture and the northwest of Hanzhong Prefecture.
Sun Chuanting was still in the same state as before, his expression was still gloomy and he had not recovered yet, but he did not ignore Hong Chengchou's problem.
"In the student's opinion, it should be just a temporary measure to break into the remaining gangs of thieves and join forces, then head west to Fengxiang and lurk in the deep mountains and giant valleys."
"Although the total number of soldiers in each battalion in the province is nearly 20,000, they are still stretched thin among the passes and mountains."
"The students thought that Li Chuang was waiting for me to attack and then look for an opportunity to counterattack, or that he was waiting for our soldiers to be exhausted before going out into the mountains."
Hong Chengchou nodded slightly, his views coincided with Sun Chuanting's.
Li Zicheng should be hiding in the deep mountains and huge valleys now to wait for an opportunity. When they show fatigue or the attack fails, it will be the same as before.
Sun Chuanting's words are correct. The land of Qin is mountainous, and the rogue bandits make their nests in the mountains. The rogue bandits are familiar with the terrain and the landforms, and can roam freely among the mountains, but they cannot divide their troops and block them everywhere.
When entering the mountains for suppression, the situation is unknown. Although there is a guide, the rogue bandits have been in the area for a long time and are naturally prepared. If they are not careful, they will be transferred into the encirclement they have set up early.
Even if they carefully avoided many traps, the main force of the rogue bandits had already escaped.
There is no way to find the main force of the rogue bandits with all the effort, and it will only make the generals in the army more exhausted.
The first campaign failed because of this.
Then Li Zicheng found an opportunity, left Gongchang Mansion in the east, and directly entered Xi'an Mansion through Fengxiang Mansion, where he joined forces with Gao Yingde and other troops.
Hong Chengchou's eyes narrowed slightly, he pondered for a while, and then he twirled his beard and said.
"Tell me, is it possible that the intruder will go to Hanzhong Mansion?"
Sun Chuanting was about to shake his head and object, but at the end his expression became serious.
"Indeed...it is possible..."
Sun Chuanting looked solemn and said in a deep voice.
"When Hanzhong Town was first built, the garrison battalions had not yet been recruited, generals had not been assigned, and everything in the town had not been dealt with. Now Hanzhong Prefecture only has two battalions of soldiers, Chen Wang and Zhou Yumao. The Hanzhong Guards are too weak to rely on, and only the regular ones are there. There are more than a thousand troops."
"If the bandits attack Hanzhong Mansion, I'm afraid there will be a lot of trouble in Hanzhong Mansion..."
The total number of soldiers under Chen Wang and Zhou Yumao's command was only 5,000. Counting the auxiliary troops, there were 8,000. It sounded like a lot, but Sun Chuanting was not optimistic about the actual combat strength.
And this is still data on paper. It is normal for all battalions and armies to have free pay, and Chen Wang should not be an exception.
I'm afraid there should only be more than 4,000 people with fighting strength. Li Zicheng has tens of thousands of elite cavalry troops under his command. Even if they guard the dangerous passes, they may be difficult to stop.
Sun Chuanting also had a rough understanding of Chen Wang's rectification of the health center during this period.
Chen Wang chose to rebuild the health center directly, recruit refugees, and start from scratch.
I have to say that it is a smart approach and quite effective.
Money to build the city was a problem, but Chen Wang sent troops to suppress the bandits in the mountains and forests of Hanzhong Mansion, and seized the dirty silver from the hands of those mountain bandits.
The banditry in Hanzhong Mansion has now been calmed down. Sun Chuanting has verified these things. The soldiers under Chen Wang have indeed wiped out many old bandits, captured and killed them all, and hung their heads in public.
Nowadays, the security of Hanzhong Prefecture has even improved a lot because of this. Many small-scale traveling convoys dare to take to the road, and the flow of goods in Hanzhong Prefecture has begun to recover.
Chen Wang's method is good, and the governance is quite effective, but the two acropolis have only been built not long ago, and the wall facilities in many places have not been repaired. Most of the soldiers have only received short-term training, and these soldiers are temporarily overwhelmed. Very useful.
Hong Chengchou's eyes moved slightly and he frowned.
The situation that Sun Chuanting suddenly proposed is indeed very likely to occur, and Hanzhong Mansion cannot be considered impregnable.
After the bandits entered Hanzhong Prefecture, they could go eastward and enter Yunxiang and Huguang.
Lu Xiangsheng led his troops northward, and Zhang Xianzhong led his troops to break through the encirclement network. Now the barrier between Yunxiang and Yunxiang has been reduced to nothing.
Once Li Zicheng really enters Hanzhong Mansion and then goes to Yunxiang, everything they have done before will be in vain...
…
"Now the two thieves Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting have gathered their troops. The officers and soldiers are strong and their morale is high. We will rely on Jie and Chengshan Mountains to deal with the officers and soldiers. When their enthusiasm gradually fades and their morale is low, we will suddenly send out troops."
Li Zicheng leaned on the wooden table with one hand and pointed with the other hand to the location of Hanzhong Mansion on the map placed on the table.
"The troops were divided into two groups. One was led by Hun Shiwan and Little Red Wolf from Feng County and went down to Jitou Pass. The other was led by King Renyi and General Manager Qi from Lueyang and entered Chencang Road to attack Mian County."
"One hundred thousand, little red wolf."
Li Zicheng turned his head and looked in the direction of his right hand.
Just to the right of the table, there stood a dark-faced man with a full beard, and a young man in red clothes. The two of them were Hun Shiwan and Little Red Wolf.
"You two use the banners of Gao Yingde and Xingzhi, and I will give you twenty thousand troops of hungry soldiers. You must raise the banners and build momentum all the way south."
"King Renyi and General Manager Qi, use my flag and go from Lueyang. Don't cover up. Let go of the military flag and go all the way east to capture Lueyang."
"Half of the troops were left to deal with the officers and soldiers in the south of Gongchang Mansion, and the rest of the troops were handed over to King Renyi to lead the attack on Hanzhong Mansion."
Li Zicheng put down the riding crop in his hand, covered the map in front of him, raised his head, looked around at the people in front of him, and laughed coldly.
"Two old thieves, Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting, have set up an ambush and built strongholds around the area. They want to trap us in Gongchang Mansion."
"We took Lueyang and Feng County some time ago. They must have attracted their attention. I'm afraid they guessed that we wanted to attack Hanzhong Mansion."
Li Zicheng lowered his head. His eyes did not fall on Hanzhong Mansion, but on the lower part of Hanzhong Mansion, Baoning Mansion in Sichuan Province.
His original plan was indeed to pass through Hanzhong Prefecture, and then go to Yunxiang and Xiang, or go north to Henan, or go south to the hinterland of Huguang. These are all feasible plans.
But a piece of news he received some time ago made him change all his plans - Sichuan is empty!
Tomorrow I will write down the current organization of Chen Wangjunzhong.
(End of chapter)
