Deng Ming was stunned for a long time when he heard Song Yan told him to surrender in three days. He even looked in disbelief as he looked at this Shangguan who had been his old superior since he was transferred to Guangnan East Road. It was only after a long silence that he spoke: "Sir, you were originally an official of the imperial court, and you couldn't help yourself at the beginning. Since the situation has reached this point, why not surrender as well?"
"These 100,000 troops and horses under your command are the elite of the King of Han's army. If you ask for surrender, then the overall situation of the entire Jiangnan West Road will be decided. This will be a great contribution to the court. Now that the new king has ascended the throne, it is also the time to hire people. . The general thought that since the failure of the rebellion is a foregone conclusion, you might as well surrender. Just as you said, even if you suffer some crimes, it is better than losing your whole family's head."
But in response to Deng Ming's persuasion, Song Yan shook his head and said: "It's too late. It's too late to say anything now. One wrong step, but every step is wrong. When he took office, he was greedy for the King of Han's huge sum of money and served the King of Han in the Hundred Thousand Mountains. I trained 200,000 troops. All the civil and military officials on Guangnan East Road who refused to surrender died in my hands. There was too much blood on my hands, and there was no way back."
"Even if the new king doesn't care about old grudges, can those family members of civil servants who died in my hands forgive me? They are all Jinshi, and their peers who are all over the officialdom of Daqi, how can they let me go? I originally thought The generals in the imperial court are all very old, and the only troops that can fight are the Four Camps and the Xijing Camp. The King of Han relies on the huge financial resources left by his ancestors, and at least there is no problem in separatizing a corner of the south of the Yangtze River."
"But I didn't expect that the former prince and now the new prince are so powerful. He left those old and exhausted veterans and used a large number of new generals. Cao Rui turned out to be just a third-grade Rui Jianying. The commander of the capital is now the governor-general of military affairs with power over the entire Jiangnan. Zhao Wuye was originally the fourth-rank commander of the Hulao Pass, but now he has become the second-rank Jiangxi military envoy."
"And Ouyang Shan, who stole our retreat, is worthy of being a general with a family background. Each of these people is more capable than the other, and they blocked my offensive with a group of weak guards. , and persisted until they received elite reinforcements from the four major battalions. This courage alone is far beyond the reach of the King of Han. Now it seems that the one who has no generals available has become the King of Han, and this has led to today's situation."
"What's more, the King of Han doesn't trust anyone. Didn't he have any precautions when he handed over these 100,000 elite troops to me? If I say anything about surrendering to the court, I'm afraid neither you nor I will survive Jinwa. You will be here this year You're not yet forty, and you're still young. Don't be like me and go all the way to the dark side. I will help you remove all the spies planted by the King of Han in the i team before I leave."
"However, you must also make some preparations yourself. Those among your subordinates who do not listen to you can be dealt with directly. You only need to stay in Guangzhou for three days and then you can move freely. However, I would like to advise you. . If you don’t want to surrender to the court, then leave alone. You can go anywhere in the world. Even if you go to serve Bei Liao, you must never return to the King of Han."
"The King of Han is not only far from being a wise master, but his mind is far from being as open-minded as he appears on the surface. Since he sent out troops, his actions have not looked like the founding emperor at all, but more like a businessman who is always willing to spend money. If you go back to him, I'm afraid I can only die faster. I have said to you what I should say, and I have said to you what I should not say today. As for what you should do, you decide for yourself."
After saying these words, he looked at Song Yan who looked tired and obviously didn't intend to speak anymore. Deng Ming knew that it was useless to persuade him at this time. After kowtowing to Song Yangui three times, he turned and left. But looking at his leaving figure, Song Yan behind him let out a long sigh and closed his eyes in pain. Because he knew that maybe three days was most likely a fantasy.
It's not that Deng Ming won't listen to him, but Cao Rui, who was famous when he took office in Yanshan Mansion, gave him too little chance to evacuate safely. How could Cao Rui, who had experienced hundreds of battles, really not be able to detect his retreat? As for Deng Ming who was left behind, where would it be Cao Rui's turn to deal with him? One Zhao Wushu is enough to deal with him.
It's just that the matter has come to this point, and there is no way out for him. Even if he knows that he will definitely die if he continues, he can only go on bravely. Just like what I said to Deng Ming at the beginning, every wrong step will lead to wrong steps. Now I just hope that I won't lose too badly. At least half of the troops can be evacuated to Nan'an Mansion, just so that the master can be rescued. Otherwise, it will really fall apart.
It's just that Song Yan planned well, but a veteran like Cao Rui could allow him to evacuate safely? In fact, from the moment he received the good news from Ouyang Shan, which was urgently delivered from 800 miles away, Cao Rui has been staring at all the movements on the battlefield. Although Song Yan's retreat was always very cautious. But with the evacuation of nearly 100,000 troops, how could there be no movement at all? As soon as his retreat began, Cao Rui discovered it.
As for the 10,000 troops and horses of Deng Ming who were left behind by him, Cao Rui really didn't take them seriously. He felt that leaving it to Zhao was enough. The only thing that worries him is the main force of the rebels in Huguang, which is rushing towards Jiangnan West Road from Huguang. With the military strength the imperial court currently has in Huguang, if they want to contain the 70,000 to 80,000 rebels, it would be good to be able to hold the front line across the city.
It is almost impossible to contain the tens of thousands of rebels in Huguang. What Cao Rui is most worried about now is the eastward transfer of rebels from Huguang. Although the imperial court had just handed over to him the land of Lianghuai and the training of 20,000 new troops and horses. However, these 20,000 troops and horses are all new troops who have just completed their training. If they are to deal with the main force of the Huguang rebel army, which is also close to 100,000 people, this combat strength is somewhat worrying.
Whether he can stop the rebels in Huguang is the key to whether he can deal with the rebels in front of him this time. Tongcheng is not far from Jiujiang Prefecture, and if you go down the river, it will probably be faster. With the Jiangnan West Road battle situation like this, it is certain that the enemy in Huguang will return to support. I just don’t know whether to go down the river or go straight to Jiujiang. Or it may shrink southward quickly and retreat directly to Nan'an Prefecture.
Looking at Cao Rui's frown, he moved his finger back and forth on the map where Tongcheng was located. Zhao Wuye, who was beside him, pondered for a while and then said: "Sir, there is actually nothing to worry about. In fact, the rebels are not monolithic. There are also disputes within them. We have an enemy in front of us. The retreating movement must be in a hurry to return to rescue Nan'an."
"They are eager to go back to rescue Nan'an, but the rebels on the Huguang battlefield may not have this idea. What's more, the one who is besieged in Nan'an Mansion is the leader of the rebels. The rebels on Jiangnan West Road are now confused. And Huguang The morale of the rebels may not be chaotic. Even if the rebel king allows them to enter Jiangxi to replace the rebels facing us, they may not act so quickly or resolutely."
"As long as they hesitate a little, we can seize the opportunity. What's more, from Tongcheng to Jiujiang, they can't make it in less than ten days. As for going down the river, adults don't have to worry. Even if they I wanted to do this, but there was no place to find the boat. After Changsha Mansion was lost, the imperial court had ordered that all boats on the Huguang River be seized."
"On the Huguang side, although our people have completely abandoned the Huguang South Road, in order to prevent the rebels from using the Xiang River for supplies, they either scuttled the ships along the Xiang River or captured them and took them away when they retreated. Even if there are occasional omissions, they are just some small sampans. If the rebels want to go straight down the river, I am afraid it is simply impossible to collect some small sampans."
"What I mean by the general is that if you give the general 10,000 elite soldiers, plus the guards in the general's hands, it will be enough to deal with the Huguang rebels. The straight-line distance between Tongcheng and Jiujiang is not far, but there are mountains in between. . They can’t grow wings and can leap over. As long as you move south quickly enough and seize this gap, and don’t turn into a tug-of-war, there will be no problem in this battle.”
Having said this, Zhao Wushu pondered for a while and then said: "My lord, I think you can launch a double pursuit. Select an elite force to go south from Jiujiang. In addition, concentrate the cavalry to go overland, bypassing De'an and pursue directly. The rebels attack When entering Jiangnan West Road, the general gathered all the ships on Poyang Lake in his hands. We have plenty of ships in hand. There is no problem in carrying an army of 20,000."
"When the rebels withdraw, they must leave a force in De'an to provide cover. We don't need to waste time with them. We will just stay and contain them in the end. Your Excellency, just go all the way by land and water and pursue the main force of the rebels. . Please rest assured, sir, even if the general defeats the entire army, he will ensure that when you encircle and annihilate the main force of the Jiangxi rebels, there will never be a single rebel soldier behind you."
After Zhao Wushan finished speaking, Cao Rui did not answer him. Instead, he paced back and forth in the room repeatedly. After a long time, he suddenly turned around and looked at the expressionless Zhao Wusha beside him. He suddenly stretched out his hand and made a sign of fifteen before speaking: "General Zhao, I will give you fifteen thousand." Army horses. But General Zhao, the veterans can only give you five thousand, and the rest will be taken from the new army transferred this time."
"In addition, I will leave half of the cannons transferred by the imperial court to you. These cannons are much lighter than those of the rebels and are very convenient to move. There are many rivers and lakes in the east of Jiujiang Prefecture, and there are many capitals in the west. It's a mountainous area. If the Huguang rebels really come, don't stick to one place, otherwise you will push yourself to death. You must make full use of this terrain in Jiujiang Prefecture."
"Delay them for a month, no, even half a month. If necessary, Jiujiang Mansion can also give up. Afterwards, if the emperor and the court investigate, I will take care of everything for you. But there is one thing, if you We have decided to abandon Jiujiang Prefecture. The mountains of grain and grass stored here must either be transferred to Jiangbei or burned on fire. Not a single grain of grain can be left to the rebels."
Regarding Cao Rui's request, Zhao Wushu thought about it for a while. Although he hesitated, he finally nodded. Zhao Wuye's hesitation was not because of anything else. It's because the military strength Cao Rui left for him, although it exceeds his requirements, is still mostly new soldiers and there are only 5,000 veterans. The rest are the new recruits who started to recruit from the refugees and common people in Huaihe and Huaihe last year.
Although these 10,000 taels of Huai's new troops have been trained for several months, they are still new recruits who have never been on the battlefield. During this period of time, I often heard that people running from Huguang South Road talked about the rebels recruiting soldiers at any cost in Huguang, and even raped young men. As a result, the Huguang rebels currently exceed Jiangnan West Road in number, with more than 100,000 troops and horses.
Even those strong men who were forced to come over were just cheating. But after all, there are more than 100,000 troops and horses, and if there are too many ants, the elephant will be overwhelmed. If the fifteen thousand people transferred were all veterans, there would be no need for him to hesitate at all. But 70% of them are new recruits, and their combat strength is worrying enough. When it comes to the battlefield, these five new recruits may not be able to compete with one veteran.
