Chapter 46: Knowing that there are tigers in the mountains, but preferring to walk in the mountains
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 will think that we have to wait and see for a while before we can 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 proclamation and began to read it carefully. After a while, he looked slightly nervous and said in surprise: "Commander, this proclamation 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 dream of breaking 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 for what 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 break into 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, Dorgon 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 I am here and have my own power, I must make sure that none of this happens again. Even if I still can't stop it in the end, I must spare no effort to do it.
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 a showdown with the famous Chuang Wang, the Eight Great Kings, Cao Cao and other thieves, the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty Huang Taiji, Prince Rui Dorgon and the slave chiefs!
Zhang Guodong also finished reading the proclamation 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 Dagu and Fuyuan Pass in the south of Yanshi, and at the same time strengthen the defense of Yanshi to prevent the thieves from advancing eastward and southward. Then he reported to the court and sent more troops to fight with the thieves in western Henan.
One is longer than the other."
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. Just because one person has limited skills, everyone can count on them.
Moreover, the strategy proposed by Zhang Guodong coincides with the second strategy proposed by Wang Yuanjing, and at present, 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 continuing to speak. 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 that proposed by Yuan Jing, but it cannot be done now.
Governor Li Xianfeng has led deputy commander-in-chief Chen Yongfu's thousands of troops to escort the Prince of Fu Domain across the Yellow River and move to Wenxian County. Now we are alone against hundreds of thousands of bandit soldiers 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 still stretched to hold off tens of thousands of traitors with one army.
Not enough to allocate.
Although it was said that we should stick to Dagu, Shenyuan Pass and Yanshi to prevent the thieves from advancing eastward and southward, after we divided our forces and stood firm, we feared that the thieves would be so large that each unit would be unable to rescue them, resulting in the loss of one place and the collapse of the entire army."
All the generals in the hall were looking at Zhang Cheng. After listening to Zhang Cheng's words, they all understood the serious 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."
It’s not easy to replenish.
What's more, our army has just been formed, and 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, and then set off on the 16th, crossing the Yellow River to the north, and heading 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 prepared troops for Wang Yinchang, Henan Magistrate Kang Meng Hui, and Henan Commander-in-Chief Wang Shaoyu for being corrupt, perverting the law, withholding wages, and failing to defend the city effectively.
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 Domain, 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 any troops to garrison Yanshi City, how can you just give it up to thieves for nothing?"
Zhang Guangda also said: "Yes, we really have to give up the city we finally conquered 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, 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 done to defeat the enemy's main force.