On December 13, the thirteenth year of Chongzhen reign in the Ming Dynasty, at night, the moon was bright in the sky, and the earth was silvery white.
The Yanshi County Government Office was heavily guarded. The candlelight in the lobby of the Government Office flickered as brightly as day. Generals from Xuanfu Town who had come to aid Henan in suppressing bandits gathered together. Bao Jiqiang stood at the bottom of the lobby and had just introduced the information about Luoyang. Read it again.
All the generals looked at Zhang Cheng, wondering what he was thinking. Wei Zhice met Zhang Cheng's eyes and asked: "Commander, what the intruders did seems to have been in Luoyang for a long time. This is different from what he did before. If it doesn’t match, I think it will take a while to make a decision.”
Zhang Cheng smiled, but did not express his position on this. He handed Zhang Chengfang the proclamation about the bandits and said, "I know the strategy. Let's take a look at what the proclamation said about the bandits."
Everyone looked at Wei Zhice, and saw that he took the notice and began to read it carefully. After a moment, he looked slightly nervous and said in surprise: "Commander, this notice is extremely capable of inciting and bewitching. You must not let it be used." Spread the word in Henan Province!"
Zhang Guangda sat under him, hurriedly reached out to take the notice and read it carefully. After reading it, he said with a little anger: "It's pure nonsense. As far as I am concerned, this is not the case. This thieves You still want to break into the capital, damn, isn’t this just a dream of Spring and Autumn?”
After he finished speaking, he passed the proclamation to Zhang Guodong, and several generals who had read the proclamation began to discuss in low voices the content and dangers of the proclamation.
As Zhang Guangda said, the bandits who broke into Beijing were just dreaming about the Spring and Autumn Period.
Zhang Cheng had other ideas in mind. He knew very well that if the development completely followed the natural laws of history, Li Zicheng would definitely break into Beijing, but he was just making wedding dresses for others.
Judging from the current situation, no matter how talented he was, he would never have guessed that Li Zicheng would easily enter the capital and Emperor Chongzhen would hang himself on Meishan.
The reigning emperor Huang Taiji actually vomited blood and died for a beauty. In the end, it was Dorgon who led the Qing army and supported Shunzhi into Beijing, making the Qing Dynasty a dominant family, destroying the foundation of the Han nation, and leading to a century of humiliation.
However, now that he is here and has his own power, he must make sure that none of this happens again. Even if he cannot stop it in the end, he must spare no effort to do so.
As the saying goes, if you know there are tigers in the mountains, go to the tiger mountains!
Since I am lucky enough to come to this troubled world that I once dreamed of, I will definitely have to fight with the famous thieves such as King Chuang, the Eight Great Kings, Cao Cao, etc., as well as the Qing Emperor Huang Taiji, Prince Rui Dorgon and the slave chiefs!
Zhang Guodong also finished reading the announcement at this time and said: "It would be difficult to deal with the bandits if they were entrenched in Luoyang and tried their best to manage the land in western Henan while sending troops to harass eastern and southern Henan at the same time.
The general thought that at this time our army should immediately block the Dagong and Fuyuan Passes in the south of Yanshi, and at the same time strengthen the defense of Yanshi to prevent the thieves from advancing east or south. He would then report to the court and send more troops to fight with the thieves in western Henan. One is long and short. "
All the generals agreed that what Zhang Guodong said was feasible, and everyone even began to have more in-depth discussions on the relevant details. Only Wang Yuanjing smiled and said nothing.
Zhang Cheng held the tea cup and savored the fragrant tea carefully, watching the generals express their opinions. He liked this atmosphere very much. Military discussions require everyone to speak actively. It is precisely because one person has limited skills and everyone has their own advantages.
Moreover, the strategy proposed by Zhang Guodong coincides with the second strategy proposed by Wang Yuanjing just now. Looking at the current situation, it is indeed the first choice.
After everyone discussed for a while, Zhang Cheng put down his tea cup and waved his hand to stop everyone from speaking. The lobby of the government office instantly became quiet, and everyone's eyes were focused on Zhang Cheng again.
Under the gaze of all the generals, Zhang Cheng said: "The proposal proposed by Guodong is indeed the best choice at the moment and coincides with what Yuan Jing proposed, but it cannot be done now.
Governor Li Xianfeng has led deputy commander-in-chief Chen Yongfu and thousands of troops to escort Prince Fu across the Yellow River and move to Wenxian County. Now we are alone against hundreds of thousands of bandits around Luoyang City. Although we are not afraid of the large number of bandits, But I don't want to put my subordinates in danger. "
He glanced at the bewildered generals, and then said: "I guess that the traitors will not leave Luoyang within a few days. Although our army is strong, it is too stretched to hold off hundreds of thousands of traitors with one army. Not enough to allocate.
Although it was said that the troops were stationed at Dagu, Shenyuan and Yanshi to prevent the bandits from advancing eastward and southward, after dividing the troops and holding on, fearing that the bandits were too large, each unit was unable to rescue them, resulting in the loss of one place and the collapse of the entire army. "
All the generals in the lobby were looking at Zhang Cheng. After listening to Zhang Cheng's words, they all understood the powerful relationship between them, but they couldn't figure out what Zhang Cheng's next plan was. For a while, no one spoke.
Zhang Cheng looked at the generals and then continued: "Although our army has nearly ten thousand soldiers and horses, most of whom are strong soldiers and elite soldiers, we are guest soldiers after all. Not only the troops cannot be replenished in time, but also the food and wages cannot be replenished in time." Replenishment is not easy.
What's more, our army has just been formed. This is the first battle of our Northern Army. We must not be defeated in one battle, which will insult the reputation of our Northern Army and cause our soldiers to lose their lives in vain. Therefore, we must not stick to the stalemate with the thieves unless we have to. "
Seeing that all the generals were nodding, he continued: "I have decided that the army will continue to rest in Yanshi for two days. On the 16th, we will set off, cross the Yellow River northward, and go to Meng County to eat and replenish food to watch the bandits. Trends and then make a decision.”
Zhang Cheng continued: "Wang Yuanjing, you should write a memorial immediately, saying that Henan Governor Li Xianfeng delayed the march, and the military preparations of Wang Yinchang, Henan Magistrate Kang Menghui, and Henan Commander Wang Shaoyu were corrupt and perverted the law, withheld wages, and the city defense was ineffective, resulting in Luoyang fell, and the feudal important areas were invaded and ravaged by bandits.
Although our troops fought hard against the bandits, they could not last long as we penetrated deeply alone. Fortunately, we were able to save the Crown Prince of Fu Fan, so we had to move to Meng County to replenish food and rest for a while, in order to recover everything in Luoyang. "
Wang Yuanjing answered the order with a serious face and cupped his fists: "Here!"
However, Zhang Guodong interjected: "Commander, if you don't leave a single man to garrison Yanshi City, how about giving it away to thieves for nothing?"
Zhang Guangda also said: "Yes, the city we finally conquered, do we really want to give up so easily?"
"Ha ha!"
Zhang Cheng laughed and said: "In Yanshi City today, except for ordinary people from each household, there are no officials, generals, wealthy gentry, or warehouses. We, the defenders, are just spending money and food. If we withdraw our troops and break into Thieves will not attack.
You must remember that, except for the North Road and the East Road where our foundation is located, you must do your best to hold on to it. Not a single inch of land should be left to others or other places, and you must not draw the ground as a prison so that the army will be passive and controlled by others.
If you are able to lead an army into battle in the future, you must always remember that you must not give up the initiative on the battlefield to the enemy easily, let alone care too much about the gains and losses of one city or one place. The key to victory lies in seizing the initiative, and everything must be to defeat the enemy's main force. . "
"Here!"
"We will remember the commander's teachings!"
