Chapter 99 The storm is coming

In the eighth year of Chongzhen's reign, the Ming court launched an urgent encirclement and suppression campaign. Leaders of thirty-six rebel armies gathered in Xingyang to discuss the strategy of entering the army. This became the well-known Xingyang Conference.

During the Xingyang Conference, Li Zicheng first showed his talents and proposed the strategic idea of ​​dividing the troops and orienting them, and emerged among the leaders of the thirty-six rebel armies.

At that time, Li Zicheng's reputation was not as widespread as it is now. He was under the command of Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang and became a general of Chuang.

At that time, Wang Guangen, nicknamed Hua Guansuo, was already one of the thirty-six leaders of the rebel army on an equal footing with the Eight Great Kings Zhang Xianzhong and Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang.

The eleventh year of Chongzhen can be called the darkest moment for all rebel armies.

During this year, various rebel armies were either wiped out or surrendered in desperation.

In the same year that Zhang Xianzhong was cared for in Gucheng, Wang Guangen had no choice but to be cared for by Gao Doushu, the imperial envoy in Huguang, and surrendered to the imperial court.

Many rebel leaders were appeased, but it was only a temporary measure. Zhang Xianzhong rebelled in Gucheng the year after he surrendered to the imperial court.

Wang Guangen, on the other hand, was different and scorned the envoys sent by various rebel armies to appease him.

"Every man has established his own family. Now that he is loyal and rebels, we will rebel too. This is what he is doing, and I won't do it."

"Why don't we have detailed information on the strength of this front camp at Xincheng Bay in the northeast corner?"

Wang Guangen immediately turned around, cupped his fists and saluted.

The general stepped forward and hung up the map. All the civil and military personnel came forward to gather around and look at the situation on the map. Discussions broke out all at once.

"The person stationed here is Li Zijing, who has just arrived in Xiangyang. As soon as he arrived in the city, he occupied the entire new city."

"If the thieves hear this, they will definitely be in chaos. When the time comes, they will attack from the south to the east. They can make plans according to the situation."

"De'an Mansion is the main force of Jingxiang's bandit army. It has the largest number of bandits. Its leader, Bai Wang, is calm and good at guarding. Ningnan Marquis has fought many battles with him in De'an territory, but he has not gained any advantage."

"Please tell me in detail the distribution of the bandit garrison in Xiangyang City, so as to help me make a decision."

Xu Qiyuan thought for a long time, pacing in the hall, and from time to time he would stand in front of the map and contemplate. After a while, he made up his mind.

"You can even see the bandit troops stationed so clearly. Could it be a scam?"

The good life of the shopkeeper of Le's family was ruined by these bandits, and he became a homeless refugee.

"Soldiers are deceitful and must be guarded against!"

Seeing that he showed signs of underestimating the enemy, Gao Doushu frowned slightly.

"According to the distribution of this map, Liu Tichun's troops originally stationed in Xiangyang seem to be at odds with Li Zijing's troops who are newly arrived in the city."

"According to what this shopkeeper of the Le family said, I already know the distribution of thieves and bandits in Xiangyang City."

"The king's army has been favored by the emperor and is stationed in Yunyang. Don't underestimate the enemy."

Gao Doushu stared slightly, pondering for a long time, and his eyes suddenly became bright.

"At the same time, I contacted Zuo Hou and stated that he wanted to regain Xiangyang and that he would send troops from Wuchang to contain it."

Wang Guangen has also been a soldier for many years. After he quit being a bandit and became a serious officer, he also began to learn to read.

After hearing this, he immediately understood Gao Doushu's intention, and his eyes lit up.

“Remember to be lenient when predicting the enemy and be strict when defending against the enemy!”

"What is the current situation in Jingzhou and De'an Prefecture?"

But judging from the fact that Li Zicheng trusted Li Zijing and sent him to take charge of Xiangyang alone, this person could not be an idiot.

As he said that, Xu Qiyuan turned his attention to Aocang on the east and west sides of the city.

When the crowd's discussion subsided slightly, he opened his mouth and asked.

"I want to go to the west, but I will show the thieves to the east."

Wang Guangen stared slightly, then raised his head.

"Going back to Futai, there are quite a lot of thieves in Jingxiang now, maybe 70,000 or 80,000 if not 100,000."

"After the First World War at Tongguan, Li Thief has established a foothold in the northwest. Now he sends his third brother to station in Xiangyang. There must be a conspiracy."

Gao Dou Shu regarded Li Zicheng as a bandit, but he also understood Li Zicheng's capabilities.

"This map shows the distribution of bandits in Xiangyang City."

"When Xiangyang, Yunyang, Xiangyang and Wuchang are recovered, great things can be accomplished!"

Hearing that Gao Doushu was willing to send troops to assist, he was naturally overjoyed.

Listening to the discussion, Wang Guangen also stepped forward, looked at it for a while, his eyebrows moved slightly, and his rich voice immediately covered up the discussion.

"This map is so detailed."

"With Futai and the prefect in charge, why can't we destroy the bandits and recover Xiangyang?"

"The land of Junzhou has been devastated by several wars."

"The way to use military force is to show it with softness, to meet it with strength, to show it with weakness, to take advantage of it with strength, to defend it with force, to respond with force."

"But in Xiangbei, Junzhou can still be called an important place. If it controls the Han River, it can serve as a screen for the Yunyang vassal. If you choose, a general who is good at fighting and capable will be stationed there to take advantage of the general situation."

Gao Doushu smiled slightly and looked around at the generals.

The shopkeeper was stunned when he heard this and sighed.

"Our army made a false impression of attacking Xiangyang, which made the rebel army tired of dealing with it. We led our troops to march south and cooperated with Ma Jinzhong's troops to attack Jingzhou."

"That's what it means. What do you think, Prefect Xu?"

"By the way, let's take a look at Li Zijing's background and find out whether he is just an idiot who is not familiar with military affairs, as the military sect said."

"I have been to Xiangyang. The terrain of Xincheng Bay is the most advantageous in the city. To control Xincheng, you can control the whole city when entering, and when retreating, you can enter the Han River and pass through Fancheng Pass."

"Thank you to Futai and Junmen for their great kindness. I, Le, will never forget it!"

Gao Doushu listened to everyone's brainstorming and had many ideas in his mind, but he still had no plans to take the initiative to attack.

"The city of Xiangyang is high and deep, and the number of people in Li Zijing's front camp is unknown. If we want to attack the city, I think we need to start from inside the city."

Everyone discussed it for a long time, but no one came up with a more perfect plan than this one.

"Futai means"

Xu Qiyuan said, raising his eyes, a ruthless look flashed across his eyes.

Gao Doushu nodded with satisfaction, and then looked down.

"This thing, Aocang, occupies a very large area. If a fire breaks out, the whole city will be burned, and the bandits will be defeated without attacking!"

"The incident happened suddenly, only in two days, and I didn't have time to figure it out."

"What Futai taught me is that all generals must follow Futai's teachings!"

"It seems that what Futai said is true. This Li Zijing needs to be on guard."

Since then, Wang Guangen has been following Gao Dou, fighting in Huguang and other places, and was promoted to the chief military officer of Yunyang by virtue of his military exploits.

Wang Guangen's face was full of arrogance. Hearing these words, he immediately put away his smile, his face gradually became serious, he raised his fists and said.

"If we want to attack Xiangyang, we may contact Zuohou first and use the east side to contain the main force of the bandits and prevent reinforcements from coming back."

As he spoke, he tremblingly took out a map from his sleeves, handed it to a Ming army general, and then said.

"Jingzhou is now besieged by Ma Jinzhong, a subordinate of Ningnan Hou Zuo Liangyu. The Ma tribe has 20,000 soldiers, who can echo me from a distance."

Xu Qiyuan also nodded, his eyes dark.

After all, the information given by Leshi was not perfect. Li Zijing's front camp had just arrived in Xiangyang, so the details are still unknown.

After he finished speaking, everyone started talking.

"This is a great plan!"

It was absolutely impossible for this leader of the bandits, who came from a reckless background, to send an incompetent person to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Dashun Army in Huguang.

It is a taboo for military strategists to rush into an attack when the details of an army and its commander are completely unknown. Gao Doushu would not do this.

In his opinion, the ones who should be most anxious about recovering Xiangyang now are the rogue bandits, not his Yunyang Ming army.

No matter whether we take advantage of the opportunity to recapture Xiangyang or attack Jingzhou first, there is no priority at all.

As long as any place between Jingxiang and Jingxiang is recovered, the rogue bandits in Huguang will be instantly beaten back to their original shape, becoming rootless people and never becoming a phenomenon again.
Chapter completed!