What is certain is that no one except Li Xianzhong himself knows what he plans to do next.
Perhaps even Li Xianzhong himself is not sure what he will do next.
Therefore, the spies of the Tianwang Army and the sentry troops of the Henan Corps could only give full play to their subjective initiative, use the advantage of message transmission to seize the time difference, and use the time difference to inform Zhang Yuejing of Li Xianzhong's attack plan first, and then let Zhang Yuejing make arrangements quickly.
But Zhang Yuejing, as the first general in the Ming army to break away from Su Yonglin's command, was obviously not an ordinary person.
According to the Song Army's march plan that was first passed to him by Tianwang Military, Zhang Yuejing analyzed Li Xianzhong's attack plan.
Come over directly and attack the Ming army's blockade?
Li Xianzhong is a capable person and may not do that. In their view, Xiangfan is impregnable and will not be easily broken, so they will definitely have room to spare and make plans carefully.
And at this moment, there was someone beside Zhang Yuejing who had strange feelings for Li Xianzhong.
Ma Hongxing, the deputy general of Youyi Army who was originally stationed on Huainan East Road to guard the local area.
During the first Ming-Song War, Li Xianzhong was the only Song general who escaped unscathed from the Ming army, and his opponent at that time was Ma Hongxing. .
Although Ma Hongxing defeated Li Xianzhong, he failed to successfully pursue him for various reasons, so that Li Xianzhong retreated smoothly.
Ma Hongxing felt deeply depressed about this, and vowed in his heart to defeat Li Xianzhong no matter what, take his head, and wash away his regrets.
When Ma Hongxing learned that the leader of the Song Army supporting Xiangfan's army was Li Xianzhong, he immediately asked the Privy Council and Zhang Yuejing for orders to temporarily leave Huainan East Road and go to Zhang Yuejing's army as a general to participate in the battle. .
When he heard the name Li Xianzhong, Ma Hongxing couldn't control his inner impulse. He had to fight with him no matter what, otherwise he would always be unwilling to do so.
Zhang Yuejing heard that Ma Hongxing had fought against Li Xianzhong and was very interested. He summoned Ma Hongxing to the army to listen and asked him to analyze what Li Xianzhong would do next.
"Li Xianzhong was a very brave man, but he was also quite capable. At that time, the Song army had been completely defeated and was in a hurry to escape. Only this man went upstream and took the initiative to attack."
Ma Hongxing looked at the map and said sternly: "His attack was something we didn't expect at the time. Thinking about it now, he might have been thinking of intercepting us halfway. While our army was preparing to cross the river, he sent out another army to attack, catching us off guard. "
"So bold?"
Zhang Yuejing put his hands behind his back and said with emotion: "At that time, the army had all reached Lin'an. The Song army and the Song generals were as afraid of the Ming Dynasty as they were of the tigers. This man is unique. He actually dared to take the initiative to attack. What is his plan?"
"If he were an ordinary person, I'm afraid it would just be a laughing stock. But this man is not a laughing stock, but he is very good at fighting. His subordinates attacked him with more troops than him, and fought from noon to dusk before defeating him. But when they were about to pursue, He actually led people to cut off the queen himself."
"Take someone to divorce the queen yourself?"
"Well, I'll personally lead someone to divorce the queen."
Ma Hongxing said with emotion: "The Song generals I saw all the way south were all flying generals, and they could run faster than anyone else. Only this man helped his men cut off their rear and fought to the death. As the sky was getting late, our troops were unable to pursue smoothly. , in the end I could only watch him retreat calmly."
"That being said, this person is indeed very extraordinary."
When Zhang Yuejing looked at the map again, he thought a lot and said slowly: "If this is the case, I am afraid that this person will not be restrained in using his troops. Instead, he will be very bold and do things that we can't think of normally. For example, he will attack Henan and threaten us. The grain roads have been blocked, so we have to divide our troops to protect the grain roads."
Thinking of this, Zhang Yuejing asked Wen Anzhi, the secretary of the Corps next to him.
"Anzhi, have the people been evacuated?"
Wen Anzhi nodded.
"All areas south of Nanyang have been evacuated, and 30,000 militiamen have been mobilized to assist in the defense. The Henan militia has been well-trained and has a large number of retired soldiers as instructors, so they can be used."
"Well, fortunately, I was more thoughtful. Now it seems that this approach is still necessary. If we fail to pay attention for a moment and let the people of Henan suffer, you and I will be responsible."
Zhang Yuejing breathed a sigh of relief and said: "In this case, this person will definitely not sit back and watch the Song army in Xiangfan be destroyed. Instead, he will most likely send troops to attack on his own initiative. Then, he will send a cavalry to the direction of Biyang to be on standby. Once there is news, Just respond quickly.
If Li Xianzhong really sends troops into Henan, he will annihilate the Song army entering Henan, and then quickly penetrate it to Luoshan and Xinxi areas to cut off the retreat of the main force of the Song army, cut off its food routes, and eliminate its retreat so that it cannot retreat.
At the same time, our army needs to send the main force back north to create the illusion that the main force is returning to Henan to aid Henan. When the Song army takes advantage and marches towards Zaoyang, our army will directly fight back and fight with the Song army in Zaoyang. decisive battle! "
Zhang Yuejing formulated a rough strategy and set Zaoyang as the place for the decisive battle with the Song army.
Wen Anzhi was a little worried about this.
"After the main force of the army returns to support, it has to fight back. This has very strict requirements for the army's march."
"Equip the main elites participating in this operation with the best shoes, socks, leggings, and enough cheese. Those who can ride horses, those who can ride in cars, rotate them along the way, and maximize the speed. Thanks to your speed, what Song Jun cannot do is our advantage!"
Zhang Yuejing punched the map with his fist and said angrily: "The main force of the Song Army's 80,000 troops came to help. If they can be wiped out in one fell swoop, the Battle of Xiangfan will basically be won. Unless the Song Army also mobilizes the Sichuan and Sichuan troops, otherwise he will wait He was cut off at the waist!"
"What if the Song army in Xiangfan breaks out of the city?"
"Isn't that a good thing? By the way, our move must be big and we must let the Xiangfan Song Army know about it."
Zhang Yuejing grinned and said: "Let the Xiangfan Song Army know that our rear has been attacked and that the Song Army's reinforcements have come to rescue them. After we have annihilated Li Xianzhong, we can pretend that the Song Army has broken through and come to rescue them, tricking them into opening the city." If the door is like this, Xiangfan will definitely come down!"
Zhang Yuejing's face was full of confidence.
So when he learned that the Song Army was about to arrive in Xinyang, he dispatched deputy general Pei Le and secretary Su Jianian to lead the army's direct cavalry and two thousand cavalry supported by Zhongdu to form a rapid mobile response force and gallop towards Biyang County. And go.
Pei Le and Su Jianian arrived in Biyang County only one day after Wang Chong's departure, and then learned through intelligence that a Song army was heading towards Biyang County.
They were impressed by the accuracy of Zhang Yuejing's analysis, and then decided to go to the vicinity of Biyang County to make preparations first. When they arrived, they would go out into the field to deal with the Song army to prevent them from entering the city.
But as the saying goes, there are unforeseen circumstances. No matter how Zhang Yuejing calculated, he could not conclude that Wang Chong was a super flying general.
He was so well protected that he didn't even carry out his tasks, he simply ran away against orders, and he ran very fast, without fear of beheading.
"Want to chase?"
Su Jianian looked at Pei Le.
Pei Le thought for a while.
"Chase, we are going to the Xinxi area anyway. If we can catch up on the route, we will kill them. If we can't catch them, they are lucky. Anyway, our mission is to cut off the retreat, and then kill the enemy. Just be clear about the priorities.”
Su Jianian nodded in approval.
Twelve thousand Ming army cavalry quickly marched eastward, targeting Luoshan County and Xinxi County.
On the other side, four days after Pei Le and Su Jianian sent troops, Zhang Yuejing ordered Ma Hongxing to lead 30,000 elite and fully armed troops to march towards Nanyang. He deliberately made it so huge and panicked that he even stopped attacking the city.
Fancheng guard Zhou Benyuan was the first to notice something was wrong.
During this period, the Ming army bombarded Fancheng's city wall every day. The bombardment of Fancheng's wall was miserable. There were potholes everywhere, gravel and soil were scattered, and several large gaps were blasted out. Zhou Benyuan was frightened to death. Get someone to fix it quickly.
The repairs were really costly. Many soldiers did not dare to go up to repair, and craftsmen were unwilling to go up. Zhou Benyuan was furious and killed more than a dozen soldiers and craftsmen to scare the monkeys, telling them that they might survive if they went up, but they would definitely die if they didn't go up. .
Relying on this method of coercion and inducement, some soldiers and craftsmen were able to urgently repair the city wall and barely maintain the defense of the city wall.
The Ming army's artillery fire was fierce, and Fan City was obviously unable to support it. The road leading to Xiangyang City was cut off by the Ming army. The two sides were no longer able to support each other and were isolated from each other, which was really frightening.
What's even more terrible is that the Ming army has begun to fill in the moat, and the progress is rapid. It looks like a channel will be filled in the Fancheng moat. By that time, the Ming army will be able to directly attack the Fancheng wall and start fighting for it.
Zhou Benyuan was so worried that his hair turned gray.
At this critical moment, the Ming army suddenly stopped its daily shelling, and the army also made unknown movements.
Zhou Benyuan climbed to the highest point of Fancheng and looked far away, and found signs that the Ming army was moving north.
After being stunned for a long time, Zhou Benyuan was ecstatic.
There are only two possibilities for the Ming army to mobilize its troops north.
First, the Yellow River burst, and the Ming army needed a large number of manpower to go back and help clean up the mess.
Second, reinforcements came and they attacked the rear of the Ming army. The Ming army was forced to mobilize large troops to the rear to put out the fire urgently.
And it is not yet the summer when the rainfall is the most abundant, so the possibility of the Yellow River bursting is relatively small.
Well, there's only one option left.
Reinforcements are coming.
Very good.
Reinforcements finally arrived.
Zhou Benyuan shed tears of excitement.
He immediately arranged for someone to shoot the news to Xiangyang City through a bed crossbow, letting Xiangyang City also know that reinforcements were coming.
Then he passed the news on and ordered every soldier to know the news of the arrival of the Song reinforcements.
Soon, deafening cheers erupted in the city.
After being surrounded for so long, the only thing that can make people feel happy now is the news of the arrival of reinforcements.
The news was enough to boost sagging morale.
So after a while, cheers came from the direction of Xiangyang.
The Song soldiers in the two cities were equally happy and their morale was also boosted.
During the whole day when the morale of the Song army in the Second City of Xiangfan was greatly boosted, the Ming army did not launch an artillery bombardment or make any offensive moves.
Not even on the second day, and it was not until the afternoon of the third day that we could launch an artillery bombardment.
However, the intensity of the shelling was completely different from that of previous days.
This further proves that their suspicions were correct.
But at the same time, neither Zhou Benyuan nor Wang Yan, nor anyone in the two cities, seemed to have thought of a very critical issue.
The Ming Army's new firearms...their city walls can't even deal with them, so can the Song Army's field troops really be able to deal with them?
If they think about it carefully, they may not be happy so early.
But to be honest, they need a victory so much, a victory they can cheer for.
Therefore, the Song troops in the second city of Xiangfan began to spread the news that the reinforcements had gone straight to Kaifeng and defeated the Ming army.
I have to say, this kind of optimism is quite interesting.
But reality is often not so optimistic.
