Brother Li Yan welcomed King Chuang, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others into the upper room, and also greeted the servants to offer tea.
After King Chuang sat down, he spoke to Li Yan and said: "I heard today that Li Xianfeng and Chen Yongfu have led thousands of troops to Meng County, and Zhang Cheng's troops from the Xuan Town frontier army who were previously in Yanshi also crossed the Hebei River and hid in
Between Wen County and Meng County, our plan can be implemented.
I think the infantry will set off first in the afternoon tomorrow. We and the cavalry will set off at the fourth watch the day after tomorrow and rush to Kaifeng. If we can succeed in the surprise attack, we will cut off the traffic between the north and the south. This punch will definitely knock Chongzhen to the ground.
Half his life is coming."
Li Yan said: "This is a clever plan to break into the king and catch the enemy unawares. It seems that Li Xianfeng is still in a dream, and Zhang Cheng is just famous. The reason why he crossed the river to escape to the north was because he saw our army attacking Luoyang, and he was frightened."
Trembling is just an empty name."
King Chuang smiled and said, "Thanks to the military advisor's suggestion, I asked my advance troops to go south to conquer Ruzhou, which caused the officers and soldiers to mistakenly think that our plan was towards Xuchang and Runan, or from Ruzhou to Ye County and Nanyang."
Li Xianfeng and Zhang Cheng from Xuanzang are not only in a dream, they are indeed in a dilemma.
They wanted to pretend to come to Luoyang to rescue Luoyang in order to perfunctory the court, but they did not dare to actually cross the river to confront our army. They were worried that the provincial capital would be empty, but they had no choice but to separate and rescue.
I think we don’t need to chop off their heads. As long as the surprise attack is successful and Kaifeng is captured, Chongzhen will chop off their heads."
King Chuang was in a very happy mood. After chatting with brother Li Yan for a while, he took Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and Li Yan to the White Horse Temple.
There are more than 20,000 cavalry and infantry gathered there, all the elites of the invading army, and they are all ready to set off tomorrow and the day after tomorrow to attack Kaifeng.
However, this surprise attack on Kaifeng is still a secret, and only a few generals such as Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Li Yan, Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, and Gao Yigong know about it.
…………
Next to the White Horse Temple in the east of Luoyang City, there are a series of dark barracks connected with each other, with military tents covering the ground, and many simple stables surrounded by wooden fences.
A gust of cold wind blew by, and Tong Shoushan couldn't help but tremble. Next to him, Bao Jiqiang was leaning lazily on the edge of the tent, holding a blade of grass in his mouth, and said: "Tong Tou, our army is gathered here.
Do you think we are going to Nanyang or Kaifeng?"
Tong Shoushan stood up and patted the dust on his body again, and said: "Mom, it's almost the Chinese New Year, and the fight with his grandma is gone. This is it."
He walked over and kicked a sergeant, and said: "You guys, go and walk the horses, don't be idle."
It turned out that after Bao Jiqiang returned from Yanshi, he brought Zhang Cheng's top-secret military order and asked Tong Shoushan to infiltrate the invading army and act as a gold medal undercover.
He selected more than 80 people from the left sentry and took them with him to join the rebel army. The remaining 20 people returned to Yanshi with their spare horses, their muskets and other official military equipment, and were put under Chen Zhong's direct command.
under.
Tong Shoushan led eighty-two people to surrender to the rebel army. Since they were large in number and came to surrender together, they formed a separate group and temporarily placed them under Liu Fangliang's command.
Now he only received Liu Fangliang's military order, and the army was assembled and on standby, ready to leave at any time. As for the specific time and where to go, there was no clear instruction.
…………
Chuang Wang Li Zicheng has made preparations to evacuate Luoyang.
The nearly 200,000 new soldiers recruited in Luoyang were all led by Yuan Zongdi and Li Guo and drove to the old camp of Funiu Mountain one after another. They needed to undergo some training before going to the battlefield.
And his uncle Gao Yigong had rushed back to the old camp of Deshengzhai earlier. The money, grain, various properties and military supplies transported from Luoyang needed to be sent back to assign people to re-count and keep them properly. In addition, there will be a large number of people in the future.
, there is a huge supply, all of which must be handled by him in charge of the old camp.
Tian Jianxiu still leads the army and is stationed in Ruzhou City. He will continue to confuse the officers and soldiers. He will not be able to leave Ruzhou and return to the old camp of Funiu Mountain until Li Zicheng leaves Luoyang and attacks Kaifeng.
At the same time, in order to continue to hold Li Xianfeng's nose, Li Zicheng arranged for an abandoned son in Luoyang City.
He appointed Shao Shichang, the former government secretary who sincerely surrendered, as the prime minister's Luoyang left-behind affairs officer, referred to as the prime minister, and left him some money and food and five hundred recruits.
He also allowed him to recruit more soldiers in Luoyang City to defend the city, and also gave him the power to appoint other civil and military officials in Luoyang. Shao Shichang had already agreed.
But when he heard the news last night that Henan Governor Li Xianfeng and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Chen Yongfu had arrived in Meng County with more than 4,000 troops, he became afraid again and came early in the morning to beg Li Zicheng, the King of Chu, to leave him 2,000 more elite troops.
, and left Li Shuangxi in Luoyang.
Song Xiance just went to the prefect's Yamen to solve this problem.
He actually did not agree with Li Zicheng's decision, but he and Niu Jinxing both understood that since King Chuang had no intention of holding on to Heluo, Luoyang must be abandoned.
Therefore, on this issue, they could only follow King Chuang's wishes and could not think about Shao Shichang at all. After he solved Shao Shichang's problem, he came to King Chuang to report.
King Chuang saw Song Xiance approaching and asked first, "How was your discussion with Shao Shichang?"
Song Xiance smiled and said: "That's it. He has agreed not to ask for troops or generals from King Chuang, but to defend Luoyang City for King Chuang and wait for King Chuang to return victoriously."
Li Zicheng hurriedly asked: "How did you negotiate with him and he agreed so easily that he no longer wanted soldiers but generals?"
Song Xiance continued with a smile: "I told him that once Li Xianfeng and Chen Yongfu heard that King Chuang's army had evacuated Luoyang, they would definitely rush to save Kaifeng at night and would never cross the river from Mengjin to attack Luoyang.
As for the official army that appeared in Yanshi before, they have now fled to the north of the Yellow River and do not dare to come around Luoyang. Even if they come to Luoyang City, they only need to hold on to Luoyang for a day or two.
They must leave quickly.
Since Li Xianfeng had already committed the crime of losing the vassal status, he would definitely not stay at Luoyang City without returning to rescue Kaifeng. If he caused trouble to the King of Zhou again, he would be committing the crime of murder.
As soon as I said that, he felt at ease."
Li Zicheng nodded and smiled heartily.
…………
In Luoyang City, in a large courtyard not far east of the governor's office, Wan Guangjin, covered in dust, was sitting next to a pile of charcoal fire, warming himself.
Just listen to him say: "Xiao Liuzi, you guys don't come here anymore recently. I watched the looted property in the city being pulled out one by one, and it decreased significantly yesterday.
I guess it's almost done. Even Fuwang Palace was set on fire by the thieves. I'm afraid the thieves in Luoyang City don't intend to defend it anymore. Even the newly recruited thieves are being transferred to Funiu Mountain in groups.
Practice shows that he has no intention of staying in Luoyang for a long time."
A young man wearing a bandit's cotton-padded jacket said: "What Wan Tou said is true. We have taken over various city gates in the past few days. I heard them say that King Chuang will leave in the next few days, but I don't know where to go.
"
Wan Guangjin said: "Well. You should go back early. Don't make Shao Shixin suspicious and miss the big deal."