Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Seven: Yang Chengzu Goes to Attack Business Water
Looking at the clouds of smoke and dust behind the fleeing officers and soldiers, Fu Zonglong, the governor of Shaanxi Province, also suddenly woke up.
He shouted loudly: "I understand, you are afraid of death!"
Immediately, he said loudly: "Just now, I couldn't decide whether to be a loyal minister or a fugitive commander? But now, I have made up my mind. I, Fu Zonglong, should have died long ago. Fortunately, the emperor released me from prison.
He was pardoned and asked to supervise me to suppress the thieves.
Today, I am unfortunately trapped in this place. I can only fight with you all together, and I must not escape like others!"
People around him were still trying to persuade him, saying that there were only Shaanxi troops left, and the troops were few and weak, so they could no longer hold on to the fire shop.
Fu Zonglong thought for a moment and then said: "Go and bring all the generals above the guerrilla level to listen to my instructions."
After a while, all the generals rushed to Fu Zonglong and listened to his instructions. Some of them still had some illusions, thinking that he would lead them to escape.
After experiencing this escape, Fu Zonglong seemed to have aged much instantly. At this time, he shed tears and said to the generals: "Now that the situation is critical, Zonglong has decided to die to repay the kindness of the country.
If you are willing to run for your lives, just run away, I have made up my mind not to leave this place even half a step!"
Among the generals who are now gathered around Fu Zonglong and have not yet escaped, some were promoted by him personally, some are old relatives, and some have a hometown relationship with him.
There are also some people who, although they have no special relationship with him, are indeed moved by his loyalty, and they also expect that even if they escape from the fire shop, they will be hunted down by thieves even if they are alone and weak.
So for a while no one asked the governor to escape.
Fu Zonglong saw that everyone no longer said anything about escaping, so he continued: "Since none of you are willing to be a fugitive general, then just listen to my instructions and we will guard this place together."
So, he withdrew all the three to four thousand men and horses around him to the area around the fire shop, completely abandoning the large defensive line outside.
Fu Zonglong re-divided the defense areas of each general according to the number of troops and horses. They closely surrounded the small town of Huoshaodian and set up a line of defense outside, and set up a second line of defense based on the original wall.
They also blocked all the streets and alleys in the Huoshao Store, so that once the thieves broke through the two lines of defense, they would fight with them in the streets.
After everything was arranged, Fu Zonglong comforted everyone, saying that he had great faith in the two generals, He Renlong and Li Guoqi, and believed that they would definitely return to rescue him after receiving his letter.
He also said that he would immediately write to Inspector Ding Qirui and to General Zuo Liangyu, the commander-in-chief of the general of thieves, asking them to come to their aid as soon as possible.
Finally, he said: "We will defend this place to wait for reinforcements and attack the bandits. Within a few days, reinforcements will arrive. I hope you will not disappoint the imperial court..."
When he said this, Fu Zonglong suddenly remembered the emperor's great kindness, but he had not yet repaid the favor. Unexpectedly, he burst into tears and burst into tears. All the generals also lowered their heads, deeply moved.
…………
In today's battle, Li Guo used less troops to defeat tens of thousands of soldiers led by Fu Zonglong and Yang Wenyue.
He himself even personally led the army to pursue the fleeing officers and soldiers such as He Renlong and Li Guoqi. Although he failed to kill or capture the two generals, he also captured many officers and infantry prisoners.
After being overtaken by their cavalry, many infantrymen of the army knelt down and begged to surrender, suddenly turning into bandit soldiers. This was also one of the main sources of elite bandit soldiers.
The invading army even captured many mules, horses, carts and firearms. Because of the charge of the cavalry and the cavalry and the cowardly escape of the officers and soldiers, the casualties of the invading army were very slight.
Beautiful battles like this were rare in the past many years!
After dusk, "One Tiger" Li Guocai led his troops back and stationed themselves five miles northwest of Huo Shao Shop.
While the soldiers of the invading army were burying pots and making rice, he suddenly received a report from a sentry rider, saying that there was a lot of noise in the burning shop and there seemed to be signs of escaping.
He quickly sent out his elite cavalry to continue the sentinel inspection, and ordered Yang Chengzu, Tong Shoushan and other generals to be ready to fight at any time. Sure enough, not long after that, he received another sentry report saying that some officers and soldiers had left the Huoshao shop.
Escape from the southeast corner.
Li Guo immediately ordered Tong Shoushan, Ma Shiyao, Li You and other generals to each lead their own cavalry to pursue the fleeing enemies. At the same time, he also ordered all ministries to immediately cut off the main intersections around the fire shop to prevent the officers and soldiers from escaping further.
After allocating the rebel troops, Li Guo personally went to the outside of the Huoshaodian stronghold to observe the movement. He found that there still seemed to be 4,000 to 5,000 troops stationed in the stronghold, and they seemed to have no intention of escaping.
After a while, the generals who pursued the deserters returned and brought back many captured infantry. After some interrogation, they found out that only the Baoding army led by Yang Wenyue had escaped.
However, Fu Zonglong's Supervisor Biao Battalion and some Shaanxi officers and soldiers who came to Henan Province to suppress bandits were still stationed in Huoshaodian Village and never fled.
Li Guo and the thieves walked around the fire shop and found that the defense line of the government troops had shrunk back a lot. They seemed to have set up a peripheral defense line based on the village wall, and were intensively digging trenches and building earth walls.
So, he ordered the bandits to surround the Huoshao shop and not allow any more officers and soldiers to escape. Li Guo even ordered the bandit soldiers to dig ditches immediately in order to trap Fu Zonglong to death in the Huoshao shop.
After returning to the station, Li Guo still felt uneasy, so he issued another military order, telling all the bandits surrounding the Huo Shao Shop to be careful. If Fu Zonglong escaped from the flooded land of any general, that general would be beheaded.
That night, Li Guo sent people back to report the news of the great victory here to King Chuang, and said that he planned not to attack Huo Shao Inn for the time being to avoid unnecessary casualties among the soldiers.
He planned to send a small number of men and horses to feign attacks every night during these three to five days, so that the officers and soldiers stationed in the Huoshao Store would not be able to rest. When the officers and soldiers were tired, they would then attack fiercely, break the stronghold in one fell swoop, and capture Fu Zonglong.
In addition, he also reported to Chuang King Li Zicheng that he had recently heard that Ding Qirui and Zuo Liangyu were stationing troops in southern Henan and seemed to intend to come from the north. Especially in the past two days, the rumors have become more prevalent.
It was said everywhere that Zuo Liangyu's troops were coming north to rescue Fu Zonglong. If this was true, Li Guo wanted not to attack the fire shop first, but to ambush Zuo Liangyu's approach with the main force, defeat him first, and then slow down.
Picture Fu Zonglong.
In the past few days, the bandit army sent out a general each day to lead his troops and horses to pretend to attack the burning shop, and even used captured official artillery to bombard the stronghold.
However, the officers and soldiers stationed in the stronghold did not know whether it was a real attack or a fake attack. They were exhausted all day and night, going back and forth to defend. Even if the generals took turns, they were not allowed to rest. Even the gunpowder and cannons were consumed a lot.
Three days later, an oral message from Chuang King Li Zicheng came back. He commended Li Guo's entire army, especially several generals in Cao's camp, including Yang Chengzu and Tong Shoushan.
So the whole camp rejoiced, beating gongs and drums, setting off firecrackers, and celebrated enthusiastically.
The people sent by King Chuang also told Li Guo that because King Chuang's army was stationed in Xiping, he even sent some troops to make a feint to Queshan and Xinyang during Suiping, so Zuo Liangyu and Ding Qirui no longer dared to attack.
Come north.
King Chuang even ordered Li Guo not to worry about Ding Qirui and Zuo Liangyu, but to concentrate on besieging Huoshaodian, and must eliminate all Fu Zonglong's officers and soldiers, capture Fu Zonglong, and never allow him to escape.
After another day, the soldiers of the Chu army obviously couldn't wait any longer. They came to Li Guo one after another to ask for a fight, requesting that they launch an attack on the fire shop immediately.
Li Guo had no choice but to take the generals outside the fire shop to observe the movement of the officers and soldiers. Although the officers and soldiers stationed inside and outside the village were very tired, their bows and arrows were still very powerful, and the artillery fire was constant.
He was still worried that if he attacked the Huoshaodian army now, his own soldiers would inevitably suffer heavy casualties.
Li Guo clearly remembered that when King Chuang decided to send him, he said to him seriously: "In addition, some of the troops I gave you are veteran soldiers we brought from Shangluo Mountain, and some are soldiers we brought to Shangluo Mountain."
Elite soldiers trained after Henan.
You must be good at planning and using troops, but you must not suffer too many casualties!"
Li Guo always followed King Chuang's orders very carefully, especially the above words, which he kept in mind.
Therefore, after observing the situation of the officers and soldiers in Huoshaodian, when another general came to ask him for a battle, he just shook his head and expressed his disagreement.
The soldiers who broke into the camp naturally understood what Li Guo meant, and they also knew that they could not change the decision made by Li Guo.
But the generals and generals in Cao Ying could not bear such a monotonous life, and they were even more eager to fight.
Even Yang Chengzu came to Li Guo himself and said in a tone that was half joking and half sarcastic: "Brother Bu, there has never been a battle since ancient times without killing or injuring others.
Although we will inevitably suffer casualties in our hard attack, the officers and soldiers will also suffer more casualties. Once we break through the wall, the officers and soldiers will be finished.
We didn't have many casualties, but what we got in return was that all the officers and soldiers in the village were wiped out. We would not lose if we exchanged less for more.
Why do you refuse to listen to the soldiers' advice and remain so inactive?"
Li Guo looked at him and said, "Brother, do you think I, Li Guo, am a timid person? But I still remember my brother's nickname!"
Yang Chengzu was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Who doesn't know that your nickname is 'Yihu'?"
Li Guo also smiled and said: "Whether I am a tiger or not, I just have to stand still now.
Today, this officer and army is like a prisoner on death row who will starve to death if his food is deprived of.
Since their death is right around the corner, why do we have to let our soldiers suffer casualties?"
He then smiled and continued: "I know that the situation of the soldiers in your camp is different from the soldiers in our camp.
If the soldiers in your camp can no longer endure here and are eager to fight, I will send you to lead them to attack Shangshui and Fugou counties.
What do you think?"
Yang Chengzu was very happy when he heard this. It turned out that he had long thought that Fu Zonglong's army had lost almost all the money and food. But now there is neither much food, nor much gold, silver, jewelry, nor women here.
Even if the fire shop is breached in the future, it will only eliminate this army, and the profit and water that can be gained will be very small.
Now, when I heard that Li Guo asked him to lead his troops to attack Shangshui and Fugou, two wealthy counties, he was naturally overjoyed.
He immediately replied: "As long as you give the order, brother Buzhi, I will obey the order and don't dare to neglect it."
Li Guo smiled and said to him: "It's easy for me to give orders, but... brother, you must obey my three instructions and you are not allowed to violate them."
Yang Chengzu quickly asked without thinking: "What three items are they?"
Li Guo said: "First, you are not allowed to harass the people, rape women, or kill civilians. Second, you must give 60% of the captured food and property to the public, and 40% belongs to your soldiers.
Dear brother, you also know that when we break into the camp, we always capture everything and hand it over to the public. Soldiers are not allowed to hide gold and silver privately.
But I also know the rules of Cao Ying, so I don't dare to be harsh on your camp. I just ask you to pay 60% to the public.
Can you do all this?"
Yang Chengzu nodded vigorously and said: "If you can do it, you can do it. Brother Buzhi, tell me quickly, what is the third item?"
Li Guo saw that he was eager to ask questions, so he continued: "Compared with the first two items, this third item is much easier.
That is to say, after you have broken the commercial water and helped the ditch, you are not allowed to stay outside, and you must immediately lead your entire battalion back to the marshal's station."
Yang Chengzu nodded heavily and said happily: "This third item is easier for me to do. Please rest assured, brother Buzhi, I will definitely follow your military orders every time."
That night, Yang Chengzu led 5,000 cavalrymen from Cao's camp and hurriedly left the fire shop.
Before leaving, he specifically said to Li Guo: "If Zuo Jun comes to put out the fire and burn the store, please tell me quickly. I will rush back at night and I will not miss anything."
Li Guo smiled and said: "Don't worry, dear brother. Lao Zuo is a smart man, he no longer dares to come."
Not long after Yang Chengzu led the troops and left, several of Li Guo's generals, including Tong Shoushan, followed the others and came to see Li Guo.
They complained one after another: "Our soldiers are sleeping in the wilderness here, surrounding and attacking the officers and soldiers, but you let Yang Chengzu go and let them go to Shangshui and Fugou to live happily..."
Li Guo looked at the generals who looked dissatisfied and said with a smile: "What do you know?
The soldiers in Cao's camp are naturally different from our troops in the Chuang camp. We, the Chuang king, have always had strict military discipline, and everyone has become accustomed to it. With an order, we can endure any hardship.
But Cao Ying's soldiers had always followed Cao Shuai and were used to being free, so why should they stay here to complain?
On the contrary, it affects the morale of our officers and soldiers.
Fortunately, the attack on the fire shop can only be done within three or four days, and there is no need for all the people to gather here to help.
It's better to let them go and make them feel happier.
And for us, no matter who conquers these two counties, they can collect food for the old camp, which will be beneficial to us as Chuangwang, both for public and private purposes."
When everyone heard what Li Guo said, they all looked at each other and smiled, and had nothing else to say.