After thinking through all these twists and turns, and being convinced that he could not be used as a pawn for the emperor, Shen Shuren also began to cautiously help Liu Guoneng make suggestions.

He was very careful with his words because he was afraid that he would appear to be not loyal enough and would be suspected by Liu Guoneng.

Chen Shuren then said: "Your Majesty asked us to support Luoyang and rescue King Fu. This is of course our duty. However, it is also true that our troops are small and weak, our rear is unstable, and we are exhausted after the war.

I believe that Mr. Yang Ge is definitely trying to find a way from all sides now, and will not just count on our family. For example, Zuo Liangyu has been standing still before. There has been a bloody battle here for more than a month, and he just stayed in Wuchang and did nothing! Will Mr. Yang Ge not ask Zuo Liangyu to hurry up and take the Han River to the north this time?

In addition, we are going to rescue Luoyang. After all, we are far away from our own defense area. Going on an expedition of more than 800 miles as a guest army is too risky, and the situation is beyond our control. Even if we arrive, we will not have the dominance of the overall battlefield. , it is very likely that we have been tricked by friendly forces. Therefore, you must be careful about how to reinforce - reinforcements must be sent, you can rest assured about this."

Chen Shuren spoke eloquently and first set the tone.

It's not that he's disloyal to the Ming Dynasty, he's just unwilling to fight battles in which he doesn't have absolute autonomy. It would be too much of a trap if his success or failure had to be in the hands of his pig teammates.

Fortunately, during the chat just now, he had already thought of some reasonable excuses that could help him and Liu Guoneng gain a few more days for repairs -

A few days ago, when He Yilong was enthroned, Shen Shuren only wiped out the main force that He Yilong brought with him. In the past few days, they have only recaptured Xinyang County nearby.

But the other counties in Runing Prefecture are still in the hands of the remaining generals of He Yilong.

If the Chenshu people ignored these counties and continued northward from the Tongbai Valley Road between Suizhou and Xinyang, they would go to other areas of the Henan battlefield for reinforcements.

Then the remnants of the bandit soldiers in other counties in Runing Prefecture north of Xinyang may harass and destroy his food routes.

This forced Chen Shuren to allocate troops and energy to open up his own food channels first.

Therefore, after thinking about it, Shen Shuren explained the reason in full: "...So, it is okay to ask us for reinforcements, but we must also ensure that the enemy does not cut off the food route, and we must work step by step to recover one county after another."

Liu Guoneng thought about it and realized that these words were indeed the correct way of war, and the imperial court could not question it. Moreover, with the strength of Luoyang, it would be no problem to hold on for another two or three months, right? If he fought his way through so steadily, he should be able to catch up.

However, Liu Guoneng soon realized that there was a hidden meaning in Shen Shuren's remarks. He had to point out:

"This statement is indeed in line with the art of war, but after all, we are official troops and we are fighting within the jurisdiction of the imperial court. Even if the Runing counties north of Xinyang have not yet been recovered, Kaifeng Prefecture further north is now in the hands of the imperial court.

Even if the food route is cut off, we, as guest troops, should enjoy the privilege of being able to eat wherever we go and having the military rations supplied by the Kaifeng Mansion. In this case, the imperial court will probably urge us not to worry about the food route and just go north lightly, right?"

When Shen Shuren heard this, he couldn't help but nod secretly. It seemed that although Liu Guoneng didn't study, he was still very sensitive to the common sense of officialdom.

Shen Shuren could only give in to suggestions and replied in a probing tone: "It would be best if the Kaifeng Mansion was willing to provide us with military rations. However, we have to test carefully to ensure that it is feasible.

General Liu, you also know how corrupt Henan is today. Years of natural disasters have worsened the food supply. If we rush all the army northward with 20,000 troops, will Kaifeng Prefecture be able to provide it? Won't it delay? ?

General Liu, I don't want to remind you of sad things. In the second year of Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan let Huang Taiji enter the pass. All the armies from the nine sides went to the capital to serve the king. Most of the troops couldn't even get rations, and some of them starved to death. ?How many soldiers and horses rebelled and became thieves because King Qin did not pay bounties or food in the second year of Chongzhen?"

As soon as this question is raised,

Liu Guoneng was also completely silent, because he himself was the one who rebelled with the troops when they were not given food or money in the second year of Chongzhen. A considerable number of Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others were also forced out by that time.

It was too common for local officials in the Ming Dynasty to fail to provide military rations when they should. Shen Shuren wanted to stabilize logistics, so he used this excuse to silence the officials in the capital, saying that he wanted to nip it in the bud. Even Chongzhen couldn't fault it. Come everywhere.

Seeing that Liu Guoneng was silent, Chen Shuren quickly struck while the iron was hot and made the last point:

"Even if Kaifeng Prefecture can provide us with food and grass, our troops have more firearms. The reason why I defeated Liu Xiyao and Erhe before was because of proper tactics and the use of soldiers' lives. It is also necessary to rely on the sharpness of improved firearms. Indispensable.

Our army's firearms and ammunition are specially made by ourselves, as well as Hongyi cannons. These ammunition supplies must rely on the continuous production of the Huangzhou War Bureau and be transported to the front line. Therefore, our logistics road must be in our own hands to ensure For combat power, even if you rely on others for food, you must rely on yourself for ammunition!

Our army has been loyal to the country and bravely attacked an enemy ten times more powerful. Shouldn’t the imperial court even meet the requirement of protecting its own ammunition route? Doesn’t that mean we are going to die?"

After saying this, even though Liu Guoneng was loyal, he also realized the necessity of taking a steady approach.

He didn't feel that Mr. Shen had any intention of holding back. It was really just out of caution in military tactics and to ensure victory.

Liu Guoneng felt ashamed. He cupped his fists at Shen Shuren and admitted sincerely: "Your Excellency is thoughtful, but I am reckless. How to rescue Henan this time, I will still listen to your instructions!"

The two of them drank three drinks in the end, and the banquet to celebrate their promotion and discuss sending troops broke up. The two of them had a tacit understanding, and they could be considered to have reached a higher level of tacit understanding.

…

Shen Shuren originally planned to go back to farming after defeating He Yilong and being promoted to an official, to receive and digest the results of the battle, and at the same time formally collect the woman he owed before the war.

Being disrupted by the belated arrival of Li Zicheng's siege of Luoyang, it was inevitable that another month would be delayed. And during these months, the internal affairs had to be handed over to the civilian officials at the rear to proceed step by step.

And his women could only continue to wait behind him.

In the last few days of late June, Shen Shuren and Liu Guoneng followed the previously discussed strategy and gradually recovered the remaining counties in Runing Prefecture bit by bit.

The main purpose is to recover the counties south of the Huaihe River in Runing Prefecture, while much less energy and resources will be spent on Huaibei. Shen Shuren knows very well that for a long time to come, his position in the northern part of Runing Prefecture will be It is impossible to gain a firm foothold.

The Huaihe River is the dividing line between the north and the south of China. The Runing Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty passes through the Huaihe River. The northern part of Huaihe is equivalent to Zhumadian in later generations, and the southern part of Huaihe is Xinyang, which is equivalent to the prefecture formed by the two prefecture-level cities put together in later generations.

There are many plains in Huaibei. If the Chenshu people do more farming, they will easily be feared by the court and easily besieged from all sides. Therefore, they only stay in Huainan for the time being. They are blocked by the Huaihe River and backed by the Dabie Mountains. It is very suitable to be a local emperor.

On the other hand, in order not to leave any clues to the court, Shen Shuren also did a good job in dealing with documents. When he and Liu Guoneng recovered the counties in Huainan from Runing Prefecture, they wrote letters in advance to the officials of Kaifeng Prefecture to question them. Raising rations for reinforcements that may arrive at any time.

Henan has been devastated this year. How can the officials of Kaifeng Prefecture get military rations?

Of course, there were various pleas for mercy in the letters, saying that the disaster in the north was severe, and foreign troops should have provided military rations when they came to help, but now they can only ask the reinforcements in the rich areas of the south to bring their own rations.

The tone of the Kaifeng prefect's reply was even worse than when Li Peiji begged Chiang Dingwen to extend military rations in "1942".

But Shen Shuren was obviously much more "forgiving" than Jiang Dingwen. When he heard that the people in Henan were so miserable and couldn't afford military rations, he didn't panic anymore.

He just said, "It is possible to raise military rations by yourself, but it will require more time to open up food channels and ensure that your own retreat will not be harassed by the remnants of the party scattered in various counties after He Yilong's death."

If the reinforcements to Luoyang were delayed due to this, the responsibility would naturally lie on the shoulders of Gao Mingheng, the prefect of Kaifeng, Wang Yinchang, the political participant in Luoyang, and Li Xianfeng, the governor of Henan.

In addition, if rescuing Luoyang through Kaifeng Prefecture will disturb the people and cause logistical inconvenience, and it is really necessary to transport food from the south, then Chen Shuren's reinforcements do not have to go the east route from Kaifeng to Luoyang via Sishui Pass. They can completely go the south route. First, Withdraw troops back to the coast of Han River, take the Nanyang Basin, attack the southern rebel army from Luyang, and then support Luoyang after breaking the encirclement.

The local officials in Henan did not object to this suggestion.

In the final analysis, Shen Shuren just wanted some written evidence. And he wanted to prevent himself from going deep alone and being surrounded by Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, and Ma Shouying.

On the other side, Yang Sichang had already been frantically looking for other reinforcements more than ten days ago, before the emperor's new decree was issued. He also gave Zuo Liangyu a death order, asking Zuo Liangyu to go north.

Zuo Liangyu also slowly started to set off, but he always felt that "I am guarding Huguang, and he actually transferred me to Henan for a thousand-mile expedition. I'm afraid there will be changes." Anyway, it was slower than the later Yuan Shikai's Feng Guozhang's departure from Wuchang. It was simply too slow. I want other friendly forces to take the lead and consume Li Zicheng first.

After a lot of pushing and pulling, until the beginning of July, a sudden change occurred, leaving Chen Shuren, Liu Guoneng, and Zuo Liangyu no longer required to rescue Luoyang.

The people in Luoyang City were attacked several times and besieged for more than half a month. Suddenly one day, because the bandits incited the poor, they said that Prince Fu's family had millions or even tens of millions of taels, but they only gave it to the soldiers and civilians who defended the city. Zhuang eats chaffy vegetables and refuses to give out family wealth for rewards.

The morale of the army suddenly collapsed in one day. A part of the army took the lead in opening the city gate. uukanshu.com www.uukanshu.com led Li Zicheng's troops into the city and killed those who encountered Prince Fu's Mansion.

When the city was breached, King Fu's family quickly tried to stop him from breaking out and escaping. However, King Fu himself was recognized when leaving the city because he weighed more than 300 kilograms, was too obese, had difficulty moving and was too conspicuous. He was kidnapped back to the city and presented to Li Zicheng. .

Li Zicheng cooked and dismembered King Fu in public, plundered King Fu's property, and distributed part of it as rewards to the soldiers and surrendered thieves, which created a great momentum.

When the news of King Fu's death came, among the various reinforcements from the government and army, those with the best attitude and the most diligent fighting posture were Chen Shuren and Liu Guoneng.

They were in the Luyang area at the junction of Nanyang Prefecture and Henan Prefecture, and had a "fierce battle" with Ma Shouying's troops on the bandit side, who were responsible for blocking the attack. It is said that they also won several small victories and slightly annihilated thousands of second- and third-line bandit troops.

Luyang is an important pass in the Funiu Mountains. Expeditions from the south to the north to rescue Luoyang have always taken this route. During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Jian went north to Luoyang to fight against Dong. It was here that he met Hua Xiong, Lu Bu and others. The thieves fought fiercely.

Chen Shuren and Liu Guoneng had a brief fight with Ma Shouying in Luyang. This attitude was definitely worthy of the Ming Dynasty, and it was as hard as Sun Jian when he was fighting against Dong.

In comparison, Zuo Liangyu's performance was even worse than that of Yuan Shu when he was fighting against Dong. He conserved his strength and acted slowly. Not only was he unable to help, but because he refused to save Chen Shuren before, Liu Guoneng was killed by Butterfly. The effect was to contain the troops going south, delaying Liu Guo's ability to save Luoyang!
Chapter completed!