In Huolu, inside Zhang Cheng's military barracks, Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei had no objection to Zhang Cheng's proposal. At this time, joining Chen Xinjia was naturally everyone's best choice.
Although the strength of Yang Guozhu, Hu Dawei and others is no longer as good as before, they still have more than a thousand warriors riding beside them, and their combat power has not been lost. Moreover, they have great prestige in Xuan Town and Shanxi Town. In the future, when Chen Xinjia takes office, he will also be needed.
People are very helpful.
Everyone agreed with what Zhang Cheng said. Yang Guozhu looked thoughtful, but Hu Dawei said: "Not long ago, Chen Duchen led Wang Pu of Datong to Yuanyun Town. I don't know where he is now!"
Zhang Cheng saw that Yang Guozhu was just looking at him without saying a word, so he said: "Now, our soldiers are few and tired, so it is not suitable to rush around. We have stationed our troops here to recuperate.
According to what someone has discovered recently, the Tartars have not penetrated deep into the territory of Yunzhen. I think Governor Chen will return to assist Jifu in the near future, so I will go and pay my respects when he does."
Zhang Cheng looked at Yang Guozhu and the other three, and continued: "Although our subordinates are less than five thousand in number now, they are all veterans of hundreds of battles. How can they be compared to Guan Ning's troops who collapsed without fighting?
The current plan is to rest here and rest in peace, and send more sentries and cavalry out in all directions. Firstly, we can try our best to collect the defeated troops, and secondly, we can also detect Governor Chen's movements, so that we can surrender to Governor Chen as soon as possible."
Zhang Cheng knew very well that at this moment, Xuan's army was defeated and Guan Ning's army was in disarray. The Qing army and the Qing army must be invincible, and the country's affairs would inevitably be in ruins. In the gloom of the country's affairs, if there could be an exciting victory to turn the tide, it would surely attract the attention of the whole country and bring the Qing Dynasty to the forefront.
People are trembling with fear!
It's just that the total strength of the four of them is only four thousand, but how can they win a battle? The only way is to join Chen Xinjia's command first and rely on the strength of Chen Xinjia and Yang Sichang to protect themselves.
Yang Guozhu then continued: "Commander Hu, it seems that only what Zhang Cheng said is the right path for us. We can cultivate here with peace of mind and wait for news about Chen Duchen."
Hu Dawei looked deeply at Zhang Cheng and continued: "That's the only way..."
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That night, Yang Tinglin was busy writing in his room. After Zhang Cheng sent Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei away, he started a long conversation with Yang Tinglin. Now, it is in accordance with Zhang Cheng's wishes that he is writing a memorial to the court.
The memorial tried its best to exaggerate the brutality of the Julu Battle and the blow it caused to the Qing army, but pointed all the responsibilities at Gao Qiqian, who told Lu Xiangsheng to stick to Jiazhuang, but he backed his troops and failed to save him, sitting back and watching Lu Xiangsheng.
Bu Xuan's army was defeated by slave thieves.
I was also afraid of the power of the slaves and thieves, so I was defeated without a fight, lost my troops and lost my territory. I knew that my sins were hard to redeem, so I fled further and did not dare to show myself.
Here Yang Tinglin was busy writing, but over there Wei Zhice came to Zhang Cheng's room. He wanted to join Zhang Cheng's army and follow and kill slaves, but Zhang Cheng refused.
"On that day, if the general had not come to the rescue, Huolu would have ceased to exist. Zhice and his father and brother also died with Huolu. Now that Zhice admires the general, he is willing to follow the general. He will do his best and hope that the general will not hesitate to take him in!"
Wei Zhice expressed his inner desire in a sincere tone.
"Haha, brother Zhice, why are you doing this? You are a student, how can you live a life of licking blood with me? And once you join the army, it will be difficult to go back!"
"Zhi Ce admires the general, and that is why he has the heart to follow him. How can he regret it? When the current dynasty is in chaos, what is the use of having soldiers? Zhi Ce is willing to accompany the general in battle and help him, and he has no regrets!"
Zhang Cheng is in a dilemma. Wei Zhice is different from others before him. He is an intellectual of this era. He is a student who is familiar with the Four Books. Now he recruits him into his army. I don't know whether it is right or wrong.
But Wei Zhice was unwilling to give up, and he also brought more than 20 clan members with him, who were actually his family's guardian servants. However, these young people were very motivated. I heard that Wei Zhice was going to join a general in Xuanfu.
, so they all shouted and followed together.
In the end, Zhang Cheng still did not resist Wei Zhice and had to agree to his request. However, Zhang Cheng also put forward a condition, that is, Wei Zhice would accompany Chen Dakuan's infantry to escort Zhang Yan's body back to Xuanfu.
Zhang Cheng would not allow him and his twenty tribesmen to go to the battlefield before receiving formal training.
…………
While Zhang Cheng and others were resting in Huolu and Zhending, under the prying eyes of Ye Bushou, intelligence from various places continued to come in.
After the Julu battle, Lu Xiangsheng died in battle, Xuan Da's entire army was defeated, and Guan Ning's armies were also in disarray. In particular, there was no news about Gao Qiqian, the commander-in-chief's army, and his whereabouts were unknown. The government and the public were shocked for a while.
Liu Yuliang, the chief auxiliary who asked himself to supervise the armies, was not allowed to enter Jinzhou. He wanted to rush to Zhending. On the way, he heard that Guan Ning's army had also been defeated and dispersed by the Qing army. He was frightened and desolate, and hurriedly fled to Tianjin.
On December 21, news came that the news about the Qing army's invasion of Yunzhen was confirmed to be a misinformation. Chen Xinjia led the troops and horses under his command, as well as the troops and horses of Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Datong, were ordered to return from Yunzhen for reinforcements.
Now we have arrived in Baoding and are on standby.
Hong Chengchou, the governor-general of the three sides with the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of War, who was worshiped as the crown prince and Taibao, was leading the Shaanxi army to narrowly eliminate Li Chuang's remaining power and join the Wei Qinwang.
The army marched near the capital, because Taiji, the chief of the Donglu slaves, was leading Duduo, Azige, Jierhalang and others outside the pass to attack the Ningjin defense line.
Therefore, most of the Shaanxi soldiers followed Hong Chengchou and garrisoned in the capital just in case. Only a few elite cavalry rushed to Zhending Mansion to reinforce Sun Chuanting.
On December 24, Zhang Cheng, Yang Guozhu, Hu Dawei and other generals set off from Zhending Prefecture and set out from Lujian. They protected the coffins of Lu Xiangsheng, Zhang Yan and others, led the army north, and rushed to Baoding Prefecture City.
, the intention is consistent with Chen Xinjia, the governor of Xuanda.
At this time, the imperial court had received news of the defeat of Lu Xiangsheng's Xuan Army and Gao Qiqian's Guan Ning Army. For this reason, Emperor Chongzhen demoted Yang Sichang three ranks as punishment, but still trusted him.
At the same time, the imperial court also arrested Yu Shiming, Zheng Yicheng, Hou Guangguo, Ye Mengxiong and other officials from the lost city and sent them to the Ministry of Punishment for discussion.
In addition, the eunuch Bian Yongqing was assigned to guard Xixie in Ji Town, in order to fight against slave thieves and protect the capital.
Everyone in the capital has heard that Lu Xiangsheng died in Julu, but there is still no news about Gao Qiqian, the eunuch who oversees the army. There are already rumors in the capital that Lu Xiangsheng died because Gao Qiqian supported his troops and refused to save Julu.
, his Guan Ning army collapsed without a fight, and fled in fear of crime.
At the same time, the Qing army that defeated Xuanda and Guan Ning's army successively looted everywhere and successively destroyed the cities of Changping, Baodi, Pinggu, Ji, Ba, Jing, Zhao, Qinghe, Liangxiang and other cities.
The Yue Tuo Division of the Qing Army marched straight in from Qinghe and the old city to Shandong Province to plunder and attack Dongchang Mansion. The Ming Army fled at the wind and the capital was shaken.
On December 27th, Emperor Chongzhen sent an order to Sun Chuanting to replace Lu Xiangsheng as the left minister of the Ministry of War and the right censor of the Imperial Procuratorate. He was the governor of all towns and reinforcements in the country and was given the sword Shang Fang.
However, because Lu Xiang was promoted to Xuan's army and Gao Qiqian's Guan Ning army had been defeated and disbanded, Sun Chuanting, although he was named governor, had no troops to supervise. He had only less than 20,000 Shaanxi soldiers and cavalry stationed in Zhending Fucheng.