stubborn thief

In Qingyang Mansion, on the big plateau outside Ningzhou City, the governors of the five provinces are walking.

The altar was set up, and the sergeant placed half-baked pigs' heads, chickens, and fish on the altar, as well as fashionable fruits, candles, and incense burner. Chen Qiyu held thick incense and chanted words to the statue of the Land Lord.

The barracks on Yuanshang were dotted with dots, and Ai Wannian, the deputy commander of Gushan, Yulin East Road, hurried from Mizhi, with a sallow face, stood behind Chen Qiyu with his pocket in his arms, looked at the statue of the Lord of the Earth on the altar, and sighed silently.

Ai Wannian fought in Shanxi for a few years before, and suffered from severe rheumatism and hemorrhoids. During the war, Mizhi's family members died. After half a year, the hemorrhoids on his body were healed, but his heart was injured, and he vomited blood at every turn.

When Liu Chengzong went east, he was recruited by Chen Qiyu, and he rode to Qingyang Mansion sick. As the main general of the Ming court's second line of defense, he thought that the battlefield would be pushed to this side soon, so he recruited a few thieves The soldiers were stationed in Qingyang, but they didn't expect Chen Qiyu to offer fruit to the Lord of the Earth.

And worship every day.

He even suspected that Chen Qiyu had been secretly replaced by someone who looked similar. How could he believe in such a thing before the war, the majestic governor of the five provinces?
Chen Qiyu, who wholeheartedly worshiped the land, knew that all the generals under his command were puzzled by his behavior, and he didn't understand it himself, but there was really no way - Tang Jiuzhou disappeared.

A battalion of troops drilled southward from Huating County into Jingfu Mountain. They were supposed to appear in Longzhou in the south. It has been eight days since they disappeared, and they never came out again.

In war, sometimes a battalion of troops is like a handful of sand. It’s normal to say that it’s gone, but the problem is that Liu Chengzong didn’t do anything. Chen Qiyu has been sending people to watch Liu Chengzong’s movements. The tens of thousands of troops are stuck in six There was no movement on the winding mountain.

Chen Qiyu was puzzled.

Being full of economics can't help at this moment, he can only turn to the land master for help.

After all, the real confrontation in this battle has not yet begun, and the metaphysics is already biased towards the Marshal's Mansion.

Chen Qiyu thought to himself: Liu Chengzong didn't kill anyone, it's fine if the city wall kills one of my generals first, why is it that the mountains still can't get through with me?And fucking swallow my battalion!
After worshiping the land, Chen Qiyu summoned the commander of the camp who was in charge of watching the battlefield to the west as usual, and asked, "Is there any news from Tang Jiuzhou?"

The answer was the same as before, Chen Qiyu didn't delve into it, but said to Ai Wannian: "Marshal Ai, please move to Huating to prevent the enemy from attacking Pingliang."

Ai Wannian embraced his orders, and Chen Qiyu had talked to him about these things early in the morning. Originally, he was transferred to Qingyang Mansion, and his preparation was to lead an army battalion to wait for an opportunity to cross Liupan Mountain. Its second-line troops cut off the rear.

However, Deng Qi and Tang Jiuzhou, who are the main barracks, will die and the other will die. Whether he will jump into the rear later depends on whether the front line can hold it.

In fact, the battle situation itself is not so pessimistic. Tang Jiuzhou just went into the mountainous area and didn't come out. Maybe something happened. It's just that Deng Qi fell to his death before the battle, as if a gust of wind broke the big banner before the battle, let the Ming army From the coach to the soldiers, the mentality has collapsed.

No matter what news comes from the front line, people can't help thinking in a bad direction, saying that Tang Jiuzhou was captured by a mandrill, but some people really believe it.

After all, no matter how bizarre it is, can it be more bizarre than Deng Qi being thrown to death by the city wall?

In comparison, Liu Chengzong had more confidence in the generals of the Ming army.

Not only did he not believe that something happened to Tang Jiuzhou in the mountains, he even didn't believe that Tang Jiuzhou got lost in the mountains.

It was a coincidence enough that a general fell to his death before the start of the war. There will not be so many coincidences overlapping in the world. More importantly, Liu Shizi believes in everyone's ability to lead troops. mistake.

He is convinced that he is in a period of blowout when many good generals are born. These days, when he leads troops to fight abroad, one of them is considered to be a famous general.

After all, the intensity of wars is different. In the relatively peaceful years of the Jiajing and Wanli dynasties, a small soldier might become a general officer after a battle, and it might take 30 years for the army to fight. Those battles.

Because there aren't that many battles to fight.

And what era is this now?
The contradictions between Ming Dynasty, Peasant Army, Mobei Mongolia, Monan Mongolia, and Houjin have intensified unprecedentedly. The flames of war have continued year after year. The entire land of China has never been without war. Walking all over the place, there are many generals who have survived the battle.

Almost every general who can lead a battalion to go out to fight alone has so much actual combat experience that it is not necessarily outstanding to survive in this cruel war, and it is by no means inferior to others who happen to die in battle.

The decisive factor is largely luck, as well as the support and assistance behind it.

So Liu Chengzong never thought about the possibility of getting lost in Tang Jiuzhou. He dared to drill into the mountains and forests, so he didn't know how to use the village guide to guide the way?Even Li Hongsi, who had never been in office back then, was close to Suzhou, so he simply refused to go in because he was not familiar with the terrain.

He actually felt that Tang Jiuzhou had to rely on him for daring to enter Jingfu Mountain, which had no official roads or post roads; walking in circles in the mountains was nothing more than discovering that the marshal's army had blocked him back and forth, and changed his tactics to lure the enemy in Jingfu Mountain.

Liu Chengzong has always been good at capturing the enemy's intentions. As long as the enemy general reveals a little bit of clues about his intentions, he will instill will around the enemy's intentions on the battlefield, and this time is no exception.

Originally, he was bound to annihilate Tang Jiuzhou's troops near Longzhou, but when he found out that Tang Jiuzhou had the intention to lure the enemy into the mountains, he was not in a hurry immediately.

Luuring the enemy is a tactic to maximize strengths and avoid weaknesses. In Liu Shizi's understanding, the tactics and preset battlefields chosen by everyone must be the most beneficial choice after consideration.

For example, defending the city with a strong wall and clearing the field, it must be that the defenders think that defending the city is more beneficial than fighting in the field; those who dare to go out to fight in the field naturally think that field fighting is better than the enemy—leading soldiers in this world do not use their brains when fighting, and they fight upwards when they see people He must have died in the second or third year of Chongzhen.

Of course, Liu Shizi can understand, but it doesn't mean that his gang of arrogant soldiers can accept Tang Jiuzhou's subtext.

During the military discussion, Gao Yingdeng poked his neck and said, "Why does Tang Jiuzhou think that leading a bunch of Changping bastards can defeat our Western Army in the mountains of Shaanxi?"

Zhang Tianlin didn't say a word about this matter, but if he could fight, he would have started yelling.

The two camps of Gao Yingdeng and Wei Qian'er are relatively normal mixed camps, adapting to various situations, especially in Gao Yingdeng's camp, the heavy blunderbuss teams are all filled with one tube, one large, three small and four lead pellets He is a ruthless character who looks like a small cannon when he fights.

But Zhang Tianlin's camp is different.

He knows his own family affairs, and fighting Tang Jiuzhou in the mountains really can't get him any favors. After all, they are all horse troops. Not to mention heavy artillery, firearms are almost meaningless. The director lies in rockets, and the combat effect in the mountains is very poor.

As for Wei Qian'er, he didn't say anything, he just expressed his opinion that the commander-in-chief will fight wherever he wants.

He knew that Liu Chengzong didn't really value Tang Jiuzhou's department that much, because Zhang Xianzhong had come to him when Liu Chengzong knew that Tang Jiuzhou was going south from Huating.

Minister of the Ministry of Rites is the most tempered person in the Marshal's Mansion. At that time, when he approached Wei Qian'er, he made it clear that he had no soldiers, but wanted to clean up Tang Jiuzhou, so he came to find Wei Qian'er to conspire and ask him to challenge Liu Chengzong—no When entering Jingfu Mountain, they rushed forward from the west foot of Liupan Mountain, took advantage of the emptiness of the Huating Pavilion from the west, blocked Tang Jiuzhou at both ends, and suffocated him to death in the mountain.

Wei Qian'er did not agree to Zhang Xianzhong, but immediately went to Liu Chengzong: Your idea is good, and now it belongs to Master Wei.

But Liu Chengzong said at the time that it was unnecessary.

It's the same now. Liu Shizi just smiled and said, "Why compete with him for a while? Since Tang Zongbing thinks he is good in the mountains and I am short in the mountains, let him grow first."

He pointed to the map and said: "Tangbu in the north is hiding in the mountains to lure the enemy, so he can't go south. Let's go south. We just need to leave a battalion at the south exit of Jingfu Mountain to trap him. This matter... Gao General come."

In fact, Wei Qian'er plagiarized Zhang Xianzhong's two-headed plan, which was quite attractive to Liu Shizi, because it was indeed feasible at the time.

Tang Jiuzhou’s mountain road had many twists and turns, and the western foot of Liupan Mountain was much easier to walk. If a large camp rushed over at that time, the empty Huating would probably not be able to defend, and Tang Jiuzhou in the mountain would not have time to return to defense, so he succeeded in blocking both ends .

It's just that the north is not Liu Chengzong's main attack direction. If Wei Qian'er's troops collide with the Ming court reinforcements stationed in Huating, it will increase the difficulty of commanding the next battle, so this matter seems unnecessary.

Compared with Tang Jiuzhou in the mountains, Longzhou and Guanzhong are more critical places.

Before Wang Wenxiu came, Liu Chengzong left three battalions of Luo Rucai, Yang Chengzu, and Li Wanqing to meet him at the west foot of Liupan Mountain, and immediately ordered the rest of the troops to descend from the east foot of the mountain one by one.

With Gao Yingdeng's battalion stationed at the southern exit of Jingfu Mountain in the north of Longzhou, the army spread out, with the remaining two battalions as the main force, Zhang Tianlin's division went straight to Baoji, and Wei Qian'er's division rushed to Fengxiang Mansion to rule and clear the customs In the middle of the road, seize food and grass from the officers and soldiers.

As for the remaining battalions, they were stationed near Longzhou, preparing to capture the city of Longzhou.

Longzhou is a small city with a dangerous location. It was built at the confluence of the North River, the Gan River and the River Milky Way. It is surrounded by rivers on three sides and is easy to defend and difficult to attack. There are only two ways to attack this city, either by water or by attacking alone. West City Wall.

With only one side facing the enemy, there is no doubt that such terrain can give the defenders a huge advantage.

Because of this, even though the city has only a thick wall of one foot high, it has never fallen after being invaded by peasant troops many times in the past.

However, today is different from the past. With the mutiny of the garrison, Deng Qi slipping and falling to his death, and the Sichuan barracks heading south to Baoji, there are only a few hundred township soldiers and civilians trained by Zhizhou Hu Erchun left in the city of Longzhou. Minzhuang has long been jittery.

Taking this city means that Liupan Mountain will be completely opened up, and there will be an important stronghold for soldiers and horses to be dispatched from Shanxi to Shandong, or retreated from Shandong to Shanxi.

Liu Chengzong's army approached the city of Longzhou, and set up a company battalion in the west of the city and across the river to the south of the city. They asked the gentry and common people near the left about Hu Erchun's origin, and actually found out something very interesting:

Hu Erchun's prefect of Longzhou was actually won through a relationship.

What's interesting about this is that due to the swarming peasant army and successive years of drought, the death rate of officials in Shaanxi is so high that people hate dogs. In many places, there are no chief officials at all, and no one wants to be an official.

The official positions of the fourth and fifth ranks were thrown on the ground, and no one came to do them for several years.

As for Hu Erchun, he won the No. 3 Jingkui in the examination for Juren, and he is also capable. He married Zhang Sizhi, the servant of the Ministry of Rites from his hometown, and was elected, and only then did he get the official position of the prefect of Longzhou.

Liu Chengzong made some inquiries and found that Hu Erchun had served in Longzhou for more than three years and had done nothing major. The only thing he could do was to train more than 300 civilian soldiers and repair the city wall. The lion thinks this person is not bad.

Shaanxi has been plagued by severe drought and locust plagues in recent years. What achievements can it make?

No political achievements, no major disturbances, training troops to prepare for bandits, and keeping small groups of bandits from entering is already the greatest political achievement.

What's more interesting is that before Liu Chengzong sent the letter of persuasion to Longzhou, Hu Erchun in the city had already taken the initiative to write to him.

The tone of the letter is average, but the meaning is clear. The people of Longzhou have had a hard time these few years. The small town of Longzhou has no wealth and is not worth attacking. I hope Liu Chengzong will lead his troops away quickly and not disturb the place.

Liu Shizixin said that there is no wealth in the small town of Longzhou, but to say that this geographical location is not worth attacking is to lie. However, he did not embarrass Hu Erchun, but replied: "Longzhou is bound to be won, and attacking the city is inevitable. People were killed or injured, if Hu Zhizhou intends to avoid military disasters, it is better to surrender in Kaicheng, and I promise that there will be no crimes in autumn."

Hu Erchun was very stubborn, so he didn't reply directly. After a while, Ding Guodong, who was stationed in the west of the city, sent someone to report: "Commander, Longzhou Minzhuang has added a lot of defense equipment to the west wall, and it seems that they are going to defend it. Ready to attack."

On the earth barrier in the south of the city, Liu Chengzong took another look at Hu Erchun's letter, sighed, "What a pity", and then waved to the messenger: "Tell General Ding, let's march."

To deal with such a dangerous city surrounded by rivers on three sides, there is no other way but to attack by force, and it is impossible for him to fill up the river. The only thing he can attack is the west wall. The faster the siege, the attacker and defender will die in the siege battle. There are fewer people.

After only a few moments, the battle flags were unfurled and the war drums were roaring. Ganzhou Battalion General Beetail Needle took the lead in taking the lead with artillery. A few cannons at the head.

Ding Guodong and Mi Layinsuo led the second battalions of Suzhou and Liangzhou to advance together, covering with chariots carrying guns, transporting door panels, earth and rocks with mules, horses and carts, and building bunkers more than a hundred steps below the city to further increase the amount of lead sprayed towards the city. At the same time, Maru Tetsuko began to bury the ditch west of the city.

And under the west wall of the city, Zhizhou Hu Erchun, clutching Liu Chengzong's letter persuading him to surrender, listened to the roar outside the city, looked at the figure in the plain gauze python robe beside him, and the Jinyi Fanzi holding the knife beside him, feeling bitter in his heart.

It's not that he doesn't mean to surrender, it's just that the eunuch guarding Shaanxi is by his side, how can he open the mouth to surrender? (end of this chapter)