Dong Cheng had not met Ye Mingsheng, but before leading the troops to the expedition, Xu Zhaojie specially asked someone to draw a portrait of Ye Mingsheng for him to let him know who he wanted to kill... ···············
Although he had seen the portrait, now that he was several miles away, Dong Cheng could only vaguely see a figure on the city wall surrounded by people and protected him. He could not see Ye Mingsheng's voice and appearance. Despite this, through the Fengwu Army in the city With deafening cheers and shouts of death, Dong Cheng also knew who appeared!
As the saying goes, a person's name is like a tree's shadow. Although he kept saying that he wanted to cut off Ye Mingsheng's head and play it as a ball, when the rumored Ye Mingsheng actually appeared in front of him, Dong Cheng still felt a little nervous. Swallowing to hide his inner emotions, he shouted again:
"Brothers! Ye Mingsheng is right in front of you..."
Just in the middle of Dong Cheng's words, he stopped abruptly because he heard the deafening shouts of killing behind him that resounded through the fields. Dong Cheng turned his head in disbelief. In his field of vision were tens of thousands of Fengwu troops. Soldiers are roaring in from all directions.
"What's going on? Didn't the Marquis say that the Fengwu Army only has two or three thousand people in Zhuoxian County? Where did so many people come from?"
Dong Cheng, who looked desperate, roared crazily. He didn't understand how he, who was supposed to be a hunter, ended up becoming a prey.
Seeing that their retreat was surrounded, the soldiers of the Anqing Army who were attacking Zhuoxian County became at a loss. At this time, under the persuasion of his men, Dong Cheng gradually regained his sense and planned to lead his troops to break out, but nothing happened. In order to capture Zhuoxian County as soon as possible, he had devoted almost all of his troops to the siege.
If I want to withdraw now, I can't withdraw many people to organize a breakout. I can only watch the Fengwu Army's encirclement getting tighter and tighter. My soldiers and horses are attacked from the front and back, and are being cut like wheat by the Fengwu Army's firearms. Beheaded, Dong Cheng was so angry that he was in pain and wanted to live...
As a famous general in the world, Xu Zhaojie, the Marquis of Zhenyuan, does have a good way of leading troops. What's more, the 5,000 Anqing Army elites he carefully selected to carry out this raid are well-equipped and have great combat effectiveness. Although they are in a difficult situation at the moment, these The Anqing Army was still fighting bravely, trying to fight the Fengwu Army to the end, causing a lot of trouble to the Fengwu Army.
However, no matter how well-trained soldiers are, they are still human beings, and they will have fear. After holding on for a while, the fear of death frightened the first man, and he put down his weapon and knelt down to beg for mercy. , the Anqing Army, which had been stubbornly resisting, began to surrender.
Half an hour later, General Zhang Meng of the Seventh Division entered Zhuoxian City, walked to Ye Mingsheng, knelt down on one knee and said:
"The end will come later! Please ask the commander to punish you!"
Looking at the Fengwu Army general he had single-handedly promoted in front of him, Ye Mingsheng nodded with a smile and said:
"It's okay! How is the battle going?"
Facing Ye Mingsheng's inquiry, Zhang Meng said without hesitation:
"Our army wiped out more than 3,000 enemy troops and captured 1,586 enemy troops under General Dong Cheng!"
"Did you capture the enemy general?" Ye Mingsheng asked with interest:
Under Ye Mingsheng's gaze, Zhang Meng nodded proudly and said:
"This enemy general named Dong Cheng refused to surrender in a deadly fight. It was the last general who personally knocked him to the ground and captured him alive!"
Ye Mingsheng heard this and said:
"Bring him up to me!"
"yes!"
Ye Mingsheng gave an order, and a bruised and swollen Anqing Army general was escorted in front of Ye Mingsheng. This man was Dong Cheng, who a few hours ago had dreamed of killing Ye Mingsheng in order to get promoted and make a fortune... ···············
At this moment, Dong Cheng's body was in tatters, and his armor was also covered in scars. What was even more miserable was that a few of his teeth seemed to have been knocked out. He was not as high-spirited as he had been under Zhuoxian just now, and he looked like a bereaved dog!
Although he looked miserable, it had to be said that Dong Cheng's mouth was still very tough. Looking at the arrogant Ye Mingsheng in front of him, he turned his head and let out a cold snort.
Dong Cheng's behavior was completely expected by Ye Mingsheng. He knew that with Xu Zhaojie's methods, someone who carried out this raid must be someone who was absolutely loyal to him and not afraid of death. Therefore, ordinary intimidation and threats were of no use to this person. , so Ye Mingsheng also lost interest in interrogation, turned to Wang Xuecheng beside him and said:
"I heard that your command department has many tricks. Are you sure you can pry open his mouth?"
In response to Ye Mingsheng's inquiry, Wang Xuecheng looked Dong Cheng up and down and said to Ye Mingsheng very reservedly:
"Three days!"
Seeing how confident he was, Ye Mingsheng nodded and said:
"He's yours! I'm waiting for your good news!"
"I won't let the commander down!" Wang Xuecheng said confidently:
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At the same time that Dong Cheng's troops were completely wiped out by Fengwu's army at the foot of Zhuoxian County, in Xiaohe Mountain in southern Henan, in the Anqing Army's camp
Xu Zhaojie was carefully observing the situation on the sand table in front of him, while opposite him, his deputy Liu Chaohu was changing the small flags on the sand table in a timely manner based on the intelligence collected from the front line.
In the past few days, although there has been no major fighting between the Anqing Army occupying Xiaohe Mountain and the Third Division of the Fengwu Army entrenched in Fengqiu City, they have shown great restraint, but there have been fierce battles of hundreds of people. It happened, and there was a mutual victory or defeat between the two sides, but because the Third Division mostly had cavalry coming and going freely and was equipped with a lot of firearms, overall the Third Division had the upper hand.
Just when Xu Zhaojie was enjoying the rare quiet moment in the day, hurried footsteps sounded outside the camp. The next second, a messenger hurriedly walked in and reported to Xu Zhaojie:
"Commander, there is news from Licheng that Xu Kai and others were killed by the Qi army!"
Xu Zhaojie was stunned for a moment when these words came out, and then his face showed anger, but he still forced himself to be calm and said:
"Is this serious?"
The messenger nodded and said:
"It's absolutely true. It is said that many people in Licheng saw Xu Kai being shot through the throat with an arrow..."
Before the messenger finished speaking, Xu Zhaojie punched the water glass on the table, closed his eyes and growled:
"Get out! Get out of here!"
Everyone knows Xu Zhaojie's cruel temper. Feeling Xu Zhaojie's anger at this moment, everyone in the camp immediately dispersed. They did not dare to delay for fear of suffering Xu Zhaojie's anger in the next second!
As he was the only one left in the camp, Xu Zhaojie sat weakly on the chair, his mind filled with the voice of his cousin Xu Kai.
Although they are only cousins, because they grew up together, the relationship between Xu Zhaojie and Xu Kai can be said to be closer than that of real brothers. In the original vision of the Xu parents, Xu Zhaojie would inherit the family title as a military general and shoulder the family's glory. , and Xu Kai, who was not very strong, chose to learn strategies from literature to assist Xu Zhaojie.
I have to say that the elders of the Xu family are still very forward-looking. Ever since Xu Zhaojie became the Marquis of Zhenyuan, the two brothers have been both civilized and martial, and their two swords have worked together very well. Although they were also plotted by Ye Mingsheng , encountered a lot of setbacks, but still managed to keep the Xu family's lintel from falling, allowing the Xu family to retain the hope of rising again.
When Xu Zhaojie took control of Anqing and carried out surprise attacks, the world only saw Xu Zhaojie's uncanny calculations on the battlefield and his ability to strategize and win decisively thousands of miles away. However, few people knew that he stood behind the scenes and was in charge of all the financial and logistics of the Anqing army. Xu Kai, it is precisely because of Xu Kai's painstaking work that Xu Zhaojie can fully display his military talents on the front line...
It is precisely because Xu Kai has a very high importance in the Anqing Army system that Xu Zhaojie did not want him to go to Licheng to have a secret meeting with Cao Changping for fear of something unexpected happening. However, the threat from the Fengwu Army was real. It was too big. Once the Fengwu Army successfully captured Jiyu, Anqing would be exposed to the Fengwu Army's blade. Ye Mingsheng could fight whenever he wanted.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Anqing is the "egg" of the Anqing Army under Xu Zhaojie. In the previous battles in the Huainan area, despite facing Xu Zhaojie's excellent command on the frontal battlefield, Feng Keqin's Huai Army suffered repeated defeats. He could only be beaten passively, but after all, Feng Keqin had served as the governor of Huainan for many years. Although Huainan did not develop much under his rule, the officialdom was considered clear.
In addition, Huainan was originally a wealthy province in the Zhou Dynasty, so although the people suffered some oppression and exploitation, they were still able to survive. Therefore, Feng Keqin's reputation among the people and officials was still very good, and the people also supported his rule. .
Therefore, although he could not defeat Xu Zhaojie on the frontal battlefield, Feng Keqin relied on the reputation and money he had accumulated for many years to maintain his base, and constantly called on the people of Huainan under Xu Zhaojie's rule to stand up and resist Xu Zhaojie's rule.
Ye Mingsheng, who was far away in Yijing, was still fanning the flames and holding Xu Zhaojie back. This led to Xu Zhaojie's war in Huainan. The supplies he occupied to the Anqing army in Bozhou, Zhucheng and other places were very limited, and the logistics The supply pressure was so great that even the soldiers could only forcibly capture strong men, which could not achieve the effect Xu Zhaojie expected of using war to support war... ······
Faced with this situation, Xu Zhaojie had no good solution. He could only increase his demands for money, food and soldiers from Anqing to support the continuation of the Huainan war, hoping to quickly defeat Feng Keqin on the battlefield to end this war. A war.
Therefore, once Anqing is captured, without the support of money, food and soldiers, Xu Zhaojie's entire situation will collapse. Precisely because Anqing is so important, even at the most difficult time of the war, Xu Zhaojie still stayed in Anqing with 10,000 soldiers. Five thousand soldiers and horses are prepared for emergencies.
With these fifteen thousand soldiers and horses stationed, Xu Zhaojie was very confident that as long as the Henan Army and the Qi Army did not join forces, no matter which of the two armies attacked, the Anqing Army could hold on until he sent troops to return reinforcements, but once the opponent was replaced by The Fengwu Army's 15,000 men were far from enough. According to Xu Zhaojie's calculations, at least 30,000 men were needed to stop the Fengwu Army from moving south.
However, the Anqing Army only has a total of more than 70,000 people at full strength. The 30,000 people left in Anqing, after excluding the manpower left behind to maintain public security and protect the logistics supply line, can only be used on the front line at most 30,000 people. This point There were simply not enough manpower to capture Feng Keqin, and even facing Feng Keqin's counterattack was very difficult.
Faced with such a predicament, Xu Zhaojie's solution was to recruit troops. However, Anqing had reached its limit. The soldiers in Huainan were influenced by Feng Keqin and were not willing to join the Anqing army. There were even many uprisings. In addition, the recent A series of battles brought the finances of the Anqing Army to a critical point of collapse...
Therefore, as far as the current situation is concerned, being directly connected to the Fengwu Army is something Xu Zhaojie cannot bear. Therefore, Xu Zhaojie carefully planned the raid on Zhuoxian County by using Qilu elite soldiers. He believed that everyone, including Ye Mingsheng, was now focused on He led tens of thousands of Anqing troops to carry Jiyu, and brought a message to Ye Mingsheng that he would compete with Ye Mingsheng in the Central Plains, and he put on a posture of wanting to fight Ye Mingsheng in a decisive battle in Jiyu.
But in fact, all his actions on the battlefield in Jiyu were feints, ensuring that Ye Mingsheng and the Fengwu Army would draw all their attention to the battlefield in Jiyu, in the hope that Ye Mingsheng would not feel the danger from the enemy. The dangers around him created the best opportunity for Dong Cheng's surprise attack.
The necessary condition for Dong Cheng's surprise attack is the cooperation of Qilu, which requires a personal dialogue with Cao Changping and the approval of Cao Changping. In order to express respect for Cao Changping, the personnel sent to Licheng must not only be people trusted by Xu Zhaojie, but also Anqing An important figure in the army could handle the complicated situation in Licheng, so Xu Zhaojie thought about it and decided to send his most trusted cousin Xu Kai to take action.
And Xu Kai did not disappoint Xu Zhaojie. After he argued with Xiao Yi, he successfully made Cao Changping deeply fearful of Ye Mingsheng, which prompted Cao Changping to quietly cooperate with Xu Zhaojie's plan and give Dong Cheng a surprise attack. Provide logistical supplies for the operation.
Everything was originally planned. Xu Zhaojie was deeply inspired by Xu Kai's work results and was preparing to wait for him to come back to celebrate. However, he did not expect to hear such tragic news. Xu Kai's death was not only emotional but also cruel. It stabbed Xu Zhaojie deep in his heart, and even cut off Xu Zhaojie’s arm in his career...
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