Soon after, in early February, the main army of 6,000 officers and soldiers in Luxi Town evacuated northward. This move puzzled all the forces in Huguang. It was like a person's enemy on the whetstone not far away.
After sharpening the knife for a long time, they are incompatible with each other. It is obvious that the enemy came to kill after sharpening the knife, but turned around and left halfway... No matter what, it will be surprising.
Zhu Yong's new deployment is: let the official army of Longtou Temple join Chenzhou to defend the city; the main force of 6,000 marches to Yongding Guards to threaten the "rebellion party"'s retreat; the Yuezhou Army marches from Dongting Hubei to attack Lizhou. Why should Miao suddenly be attacked?
People withdraw from the siege? That day in the Chinese army's tent, I saw some eunuchs who had met Cheng Guogong's generals, and they were also discussing in private, maybe it was the intention of the imperial court.
...It is raining lightly in Cili County. It was only a few days ago that I felt that the season of warm spring has arrived. When it rains, the temperature drops, and it seems that I have returned to the period of harsh spring and cold.
In the cold spring, Zhang Ning couldn't help but think of the little yellow flowers welcoming the spring, and then Fang Ling (Gu Chunhan). His eyes moved away from the black ink circle on the drawing that represented Yongding Guard, and moved westward, but on the drawing, west of Yongding Guard
It's a blank sheet of paper, with nothing drawn on it.
Now is not the time to think about those spring flowers, snow and moon. He raised his head and said to the busy officials in the custody room: "Send someone to the Ordnance Bureau to urge Ma Dapeng to write down the latest cannon-making progress in a written report."
At this moment, Wei Bin hurriedly walked in, walked to Zhang Ning and bowed down. Zhang Ning saw that his expression was abnormal and asked hurriedly: "What's the matter?" Wei Bin said in a deep voice: "The spy horse came to report, Zhu Yong's troops
Left Luxi."
When Zhang Ning heard this, he immediately felt ominous. He quickly asked Wenjun to take out a detailed map with mountains and rivers marked on it. He tried to stay calm and asked: "The marching direction?"
"North." Wei Bin simply said one word.
"Their target is Yongding Guard? Could it be that the news that we are going to attack Yongding Guard has been leaked?" Zhang Ning blurted out. Looking back at the surroundings, it was unlikely that the people in the signing room of the Council of Counselors would leak the military plan. Even the guards at the door were
He was an early soldier from Fengxia Mountain. He thought for a while and said, "Perhaps our purpose of building cannons has been exposed. There are many people in the weapons workshop, and a large amount of raw materials need to be transported. When the cannons were tested, the sound was even louder. It was indeed
There’s no way to keep it a secret.”
Lao Xu, Hou Mao, Wang Yu and others all looked sideways, realizing that there was something big going on with Zhang Ning.
Zhang Ning said again: "Mr. Wei Qian, go immediately and tell the people in the scout team to keep an eye on Zhu Yong's troops and try to find out exactly where they are going."
Wei Bin said: "I will do it now."
Chen Maocai, who had returned from his mission, had been arranged by Zhang Ning to sit in the Council of Ministers. At this time, he stood up and asked Zhang Ning what happened. Zhang Ning briefly explained the movements of Zhu Yong's department. Chen Maocai immediately said: "Zhu Yong
Occupying Luxi, the war situation is very good for him, why should he give up the good situation and go north? Not to mention that he is expected to defeat more than 10,000 Miao rebels, but to say that resolving the siege of Chenzhou is much more important than reinforcing the Yongding Guards. What is the population of Chenzhou?
, Yongding Guard is only one guard city. How many people are there? This is probably not something Zhu Yong himself is willing to do... He first went to Luxi, and then went all the way north to Yongding. At such a long distance, he still wanted to repeat his same tactics to cut off our retreat.
?When he comes, we will go back to the mountains early."
"It's not that far from Luxi to Yongdingwei. It's only over two hundred miles away. Even though the road is not easy to travel, the army's normal march will not exceed ten days." Zhang Ning frowned.
Chen Maocai said: "Ten days is enough for us to leave leisurely."
Zhang Ning remained silent. He was neither willing to give up the territory he had occupied, nor was he optimistic about the prospects after returning to the Yongshun Mountains.
If he goes back, given the population and economic scale of the mountainous area, he will not be able to raise enough food at all. If it takes a little longer, military pay will also be a problem. If he cannot support the army, he will have to disband, and then everything will come to nothing and start again? The second question, why did Zhu Yong suddenly
Was the withdrawal from Luxi a change of tactics, or was there another reason?
A face gradually emerged in Zhang Ning's mind...Zhu Zhanji. He imagined the scene when Zhu Zhanji planned to go to Le'an to quell the rebellion of the King of Han. Zhu Zhanji seemed to be saying: With overwhelming superior force, we can quell the rebellion in one fell swoop.
Le'an! This new emperor who has just ascended the throne is definitely not a good person. The impression given to Zhang Ning is that he likes to use the big to bully the small and the strong to attack the weak; so he will not wait until the weak become strong before taking action.
If Zhu Yong withdraws his troops and changes direction, it is Zhu Zhanji's order. Zhang Ning is very pessimistic about the prospects after withdrawing into the mountainous area. After Zhu Zhanji pays attention to this matter, he will most likely order Zhu Yong to control the troops in various places.
Horse, carry out a clearing campaign in the eastern mountainous area of Yongshun Division, kill them all and eradicate them all!
In the evening, the Peach Blossom Fairy was sent to Cili by Mrs. Yao as a messenger, bringing news that Zhang Ning did not want to face.
The news came from the people on Emperor Jianwen's side. They knew it through their work among the eunuchs. Zhang Ning guessed that the person who acted as the eunuch was Wang Gou'er. Of course, he did not rule out the possibility that Emperor Jianwen's people had been in the palace for more than 20 years.
In addition, he also cultivated an undercover agent. The content of the news was that Zhu Zhanji sent someone to urge Duke Zhu Yong to target the "rebellious party" in Jianwen, so there was no need to rush to deal with the Miao people. Zheng Qia brought the news to Mrs. Yao, in order to
Warn Zhang Ning in advance that Zhu Yong may use heavy troops to attack Cili Shimen and other places.
Zhang Ning had already heard about Zhu Yong's movements through scouts before, but the news brought by Yao Ji was still of great significance. Because Zhang Ning could confirm that Zhu Yong's actions were under Zhu Zhanji's instructions...
After receiving the Peach Blossom Fairy, the candles in the pledge room were always on until late at night. The officials had already gone back to their respective residences. Only Zhang Ning was left here, and Wenjun was also doing some trivial things. The Peach Blossom Fairy saw Zhang Ning
His face turned gray and he didn't go to rest.
He was not busy with anything, in fact he had done nothing. Zhu Yong was heading north, and the journey took less than ten days, but Zhang Ning could not find an exit to solve the problem. Perhaps what was in front of him was a dead end.
.
There are only two roads in front of us: the first is to retreat. If the time is longer, we can only disband the army and retain at most two to three hundred people, and then wait for the officers and soldiers to block and suppress them from all sides, or place hope on a small possibility.
The official army will give up entering the mountains and continue to deal with the Miao rebellion. The second is to fight to the death with the official army in the three counties. If they win, they can preserve the occupied territory and expand it. However, the disparity in the strength of this battle will be
If it's 1 to 6 or even 1 to 8, the chance of victory is extremely low.
There is no third way. Of course Zhang Ning remembers that there is something called guerrilla tactics of mobilizing the masses, but obviously this way is not feasible at this time and there is no environmental soil. If you copy it, you will only become a bandit, and you will be more likely to be beaten at this time.
The means of eradication and agrarian revolution are even more nonsense in this era. First of all, the land annexation in the early Xuande period was not serious, and what the people lacked was not land; secondly, the so-called poor and lower-middle peasants believed more in the gentry and gentry who had a reputation for moral prestige and were full of patriarchal benevolence.
It is impossible for the village elders to support the bandits, and the distinction between good and bad public opinion is in the hands of the scholars.
Zhang Ning has always believed that an individual's destiny is largely determined by his personality. In fact, he has already made a choice in his heart: he is not someone who is willing to sit back and wait for death, but is more willing to take a gamble.
The most urgent thing to do is to convince some important generals. Although the military power and decision-making power are in Zhang Ning's hands, if the people below do not support the decision above, the battle will not be fought. It can be expected that Zhang Ning's subordinates are now very large.
Part of them wanted to retreat. Chen Maocai's words today illustrate the problem; after all, Zhu Yong is a famous general and has 6,000 men approaching. The more than 2,000 people in Yuezhou are also threats and may participate in this battle. One thousand people and six thousand people
People are not equal forces at all, and you are crazy to want to fight like this.
People were forced out. Zhang Ning believed that when a large number of officers and chieftains came from all directions to clear out the mountains and slaughter them, the soldiers would be willing to fight to the death... But the weakness of human beings is that they cannot drop the coffin without seeing it.
Tears, you have to wait until the day you enter the mountains to fight hard, where will you still have the strength? There is a shortage of food and grass resources, not even sulfur to make gunpowder, and iron is also in short supply. Do you want to sharpen bamboo poles and eat grass roots and bark to fight against the army?
"Momo." Zhang Ning shouted, and his voice echoed in the empty house. It seemed that there was no one here, and everyone had abandoned him.
He told himself: This was just an illusion. Aren't Xu Wenjun and the Peach Blossom Fairy still there? Others just went back to rest and sleep, and he was not abandoned.
Xu Wenjun walked out of it, put down the feather duster in her hand, and obediently went to get the inkstone. When she saw Zhang Ning's eyes were staring with bloodshot eyes, she couldn't help but glance at him in surprise.
Naturally, the literary technique of quoting scriptures and using the words of saints to express opinions cannot be used. Zhang Ning tried his best to use the most straightforward and simple language to analyze the death reasons for abandoning his territory and returning to the mountains and forests. This way of expression, even if it is read to an illiterate person, as long as he
Anyone with a sound mind should understand. He wanted people to understand that if they didn't fight with the officers and soldiers at this time, they would be dead.
There were guqin, pens, ink, paper, and piles of files and documents in the signing room. It was a place full of literati atmosphere. But Zhang Ning felt like a desperado... not someone with a knife to kill people.
Criminals are desperadoes, and desperation is just a situation and mentality. In this way, what is more difficult is how to make many people go crazy together, otherwise it will not be possible to escape just by one person.
Zhang Ning never thought that he would become like this. He always tried his best to adapt to society and abide by the rules. Even when he was told that he was terminally ill and would not die soon, he only felt despair and helplessness about his fate. Before leaving, he even handed over his bank account to Zhang Ning.
family.
In a daze, he was thinking, if he had not taken this road in the first place, avoided his identity being exposed, and lived a happy and prosperous life as an official, maybe things would have been very different?
If you are unwilling to obey the rules, you will always have to pay a price. He thought he understood this truth many years ago.