Be the emperor from the postman

Chapter 866 No Choice (Two in One)

Lu Xiangsheng will never allow anyone to destroy the overall situation of encircling and suppressing this wave of bandits.

He Jinzhao's partiality as a restraint doesn't work either.

Gao Chuangzei and others set fire to Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum and stomped Daming's face on the ground at once. How can people endure this?

Lu Xiangsheng has already played to the court the ten key points of the Ping Kou, and the three major opportunities.

Chongzhen paid more and more attention to the younger Lu Xiangsheng, so he adopted them all.

Lu Xiangsheng was thinking about doing a big job!

In addition, the chief officer of Fengyang concealed the news, which led to such a major event in Hong Chengchou as soon as he arrived in Henan, which made him feel ashamed.

So he was also holding his breath to deal with the rogues in Huguang and other places.

Both of them had the same goal. The emperor gave them six months, and four months were used to travel, mobilize troops, and train the team.

Now, before the deadline expires, they have to go into battle no matter what, and fight desperately.

Otherwise, His Majesty will not be able to explain.

Both of them are known for being good at fighting, and Chongzhen placed high hopes on both of them, asking them to attack from north to south, in order to clear up the chaos in the Central Plains in one fell swoop.

Both Hong and Lu were well aware of the weight of their burdens, and neither of them dared to issue military orders rashly, lest they reach the point of no return.

Both of them judged the situation and were very cautious and calm.

There is no rush for something like this.

Hong Chengchou's experience in killing and taking captives, relying on iron and blood to quell the thieves in Qin, told him that exterminating the thieves will not be accomplished overnight.

The current situation is not optimistic for Daming.

Zhang Fengyi, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, was repeatedly impeached and caught up with such incidents, but he was still not abolished by Chongzhen.

Although he was very supportive of the plan to encircle and suppress bandits, he was extremely worried and pessimistic.

When all the thieves left the pass, Hong Chengchou joined forces in Henan, and Lu Xiangsheng joined forces in Huguang.

Although Lu Xiangsheng estimated that there were more than 200 million bandits, there were only 40 to [-] strong laborers.

They attacked everywhere, and Da Ming responded sporadically.

Wherever the enemy goes, because of food, all the men and horses are full.

Wherever we went, there was little firewood and no food, and the people shouted at every turn and could not rest.

The enemy's horses are often ill, and they can reach hundreds of miles in one or two days.

I walk too slowly, and I won't be able to arrive in three days.

The difference between hunger, satiation, work and rest is so mysterious, when will the enemy put down the rebellion?

Chongzhen also knew that the six-month deadline he set was a bit difficult to meet, but now that he was standing here, he could only urge them to achieve some results.

Form an effective encirclement circle on the Central Plains battlefield.

Even if the army is outnumbered, they must surround the enemy!

Hong Chengchou, who has always been fierce and resourceful, actually became hesitant.

He wrote to the emperor about the difficulty of killing and chasing, which is not what it used to be.

These thieves were killed more and more finely!
Because those who are not good have already become the dead souls of the officers and soldiers.

Suppression is extremely difficult. Before, the enemy army only knew how to escape, but now they dared to set up formations to face the enemy, even laying ambushes on the left and right.

The second is that chasing is also difficult. Everyone in the rogues has fine riders, and some even straddle two horses. The officers and soldiers only have three steps and seven horses.

The third is the difficulty of time. When the rogues enter the valley, they can take advantage of the danger and resist stubbornly.

The fourth is the difficulty of military strength. There are hundreds of thousands of rogue bandits, and the total number of bandit suppressing officers and troops is only more than [-].

Outnumbered day by day.

Hong Chengchou also revealed one thing in the memorabilia in which he defended himself: more and more rogue bandits were fighting, and fewer and fewer officers and soldiers were fighting.

When Lu Xiangsheng, who has always been good at riding a gun and mastering strategies, received a new appointment, apart from his gratitude to Chongzhen, he was also full of fear and uneasiness.

Because his and Hong Chengchou's judgments are basically the same, the gang of thieves are rampant now, not only is it not comparable to a few years ago, but compared to last winter and this spring, the gap is more than doubled?
They ran wildly in splits, the big ones couldn't hold back [-] to [-] yuan, and the small ones had more than [-] yuan.

There are dozens of stocks in Henan, Huguang and other places, but there is only one in Shanxi, which has not moved yet. It is said that there are 10 people.

Lu Xiangsheng deeply felt that it was difficult for him to take up this important task, so he tried his best to refuse, saying that compared with Hong Chengchou, he was not half as knowledgeable, four-tenth as talented, and not one-tenth as spiritual.

However, considering that talents are rare, Chongzhen finally met two of them, so he had to use them to death.

Not only did he disagree with Lu Xiangsheng's refusal, but he also issued imperial decrees to reiterate his will.

The two were under pressure, so they thought about going to a big fight.

"He Jinzhao wants to conquer Tongguan, as long as there is no internal support, it is almost impossible!"

Lu Xiangsheng pointed to the map and said, "Governor Hong has dispatched capable henchmen to guard here?"

Bai Guangen flashed in Hong Chengchou's mind, he was at ease with this bandit who wanted to climb up.

As for the loyalty of Liu Xi, the head of Tongguan Weiqian, it was not in his consideration at all.

Otherwise, he would not have been allowed to guard Tongguan.

Even though Bai Guangen's car camp is not as good as the original version of Hammer Bandit, Liu Xi has rich experience and can definitely embarrass He Jinzhao in Tongguan.

At this time, Hong Chengchou didn't know that Liu Xi was being embarrassed by He Jinzhao, so he started to destroy and close the door on his own initiative, just to delay the attack of the hammer bandits.

"Okay, then we will concentrate on dealing with the rogues in Henan, Huguang and other places."

Hong Chengchou nodded, the intention of the emperor's decree was very clear, that is to encircle and suppress the rebel army within the territory of Henan, so as not to harm neighboring provinces.

He Jinchao taught them the strategy of avoiding the truth and pretending to be false, fighting if they win, and leaving if they can't win, instead of sticking to the strategy blindly, which made it almost impossible for the imperial court to encircle and wipe them out in Henan.

Hong Chengchou arrived in Henan from Shaanxi according to the order in March, and Cao Wenzhao, his brave general, came with his elite soldiers.

A month later, Hong Chengchou knew that the bandits who were originally on the border of Henan and Chu had entered the more empty Huguang on a large scale.

Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, Lao Huihui and others even dared to join forces for fifty miles to intimidate the officers and soldiers.

Although the battle was ineffective, they separated again.

Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng led their respective teams to continue to divide the size of the army, trying to lure the enemy in and lay an ambush for them.

After the discussion between Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng was completed, Liu Chenggong and Ai Wannian, the deputy commanders, and guerrilla generals Wang Ximing and Liu Honglie were dispatched to attack.

After the order was delivered, the two breathed a sigh of relief.

"Governor Hong, there must be more inquiries in Shaanxi." Lu Xiangsheng squeezed his beard and said, "I always thought that He Jinzhao would not let it go so easily.

He sent people to attack Tongguan. Did Hancheng and other places lose all the officers and soldiers? "

Hong Chengchou didn't think that He Huchen would surrender to the Hammer Bandit. The strength of Hancheng was not something that the Hammer Bandit could easily chew down.

"The land of Shanshan and Shaanxi has been drought year after year, and He Jinzhao is unable to support so many people. He must have gone to attack Xi'an Prefecture."

Hong Chengchou gave the answer.

The city defense in Xi'an is very good, and it is not easy for the hammer bandits to conquer it.

It happened to let King Qin know that the hammer bandits were not ordinary thieves.

After all, after King Qin's son inherited the title, he became very stingy, and he was unwilling to spit out even a little bit of money.

If he doesn't give Daming officials to help him defend the city, he will eventually fall into the hands of the hammer bandits.

For this kind of person, Hong Chengchou is really helpless.

It would be good for He Jinchao to scare the King of Qin, and let him know that once the Xi'an mansion is breached by the hammer bandits, he will have to do the humble job of sweeping the streets and dumping Yexiang.

"How many troops are there in Shaanxi?"

"The three generals are less than [-]." Hong Chengchou didn't hide it either.

Lu Xiangsheng nodded, the court's military strength is always stretched.

Coupled with the emperor's abolishment of [-] frontier troops, a large number of elite officers and soldiers from Sanbian and other places joined the hammer bandits and other rogue bandits.

Therefore, the fighting power of the rogue bandits became more and more tyrannical.

As long as they leave the Ming system, most people will not lack food, clothing, military pay, etc.

"Shaanxi will never be peaceful again." Lu Xiangsheng stroked his beard and said:
"He Jinzhao knows that he won't be able to attack Tongguan, but he just wants to pin him there, so as to prevent us from suddenly returning to the army and stealing his way."

"In my opinion, we still need to send some people to strengthen Tongguan's guards."

What Lu Xiangsheng proposed was not unreasonable, but they didn't have many troops in their hands.

Who should be sent to support?

Hong Chengchou held his beard and thought for a while: "Then let Xu Laichao go to the people who brought him and the Sichuan soldiers."

This, coupled with the secretly arranged Bai Guangen's department, will definitely make He Jinzhao's hammer bandits suffer.

In the early stage, because they were unwilling to garrison in the deep mountains and old forests, a mutiny occurred, so that the combat effectiveness was greatly reduced before the fight.

Why don't we send these two mutinies back to reinforce Tongguan, guarding one or two.

Lu Xiangsheng also nodded in agreement.

Otherwise, wouldn't the imperial court support them for nothing, and they can't do their best during the war?
Wait until the soldiers and horses are dispatched.

The two also began to lead the team to press on, and worked together to encircle and suppress Gao Yingxiang's men.

Pioneer Liu Honglie has achieved good results.

As a result, Hong Chengchou received a letter of appeal for help from Liu Xi, the head of Tongguan Weiqian.

The hammer bandits attacked extremely violently, with more than a dozen cannons bombarding them day and night.

In addition, the Hammer bandits bravely continued to attack the city despite their own artillery fire.

One level per day!
Seeing this, Hong Chengchou's expression changed.

Judging from this situation, Tongguan will not be guaranteed.

Once Tongguan falls into He Jinzhao's hands, it means that the whole of Shaanxi will fall into his hands.

According to Hong Chengchou's own conjecture, He Jinzhao is quietly trying to make a big deal!
Lu Xiangsheng, who was riding a horse, saw Hong Chengchou's face change slightly, and felt strange that the battle ahead was quite smooth.

Could it be that something happened in the rear?
"Governor Hong, what happened?"

Hearing Lu Xiangsheng's inquiry, Hong Chengchou didn't have any ink marks, so he showed him the letter of appeal for help.

Lu Xiangsheng was dumbfounded after reading it.

"Is the statement in the military newspaper a bit exaggerated?"

Hong Chengchou shook his head slightly when he heard the words: "Probably the situation is even more difficult than what you saw."

Although Lu Xiangsheng heard that the artillery in the hands of the hammer bandits was quite powerful, he defeated the Houjin Tartars.

But the checkpoint is not the flesh, it will be shattered when it is bombarded with artillery.

That is one of the most dangerous passes in the world.

A few days ago, they were as powerful as Zhuge Wuhou, but they still couldn't pass Baoji as an example.

As a result, the checkpoint at Tongguan was blunt, and was shot through by the hammer bandit artillery.

"There must be something hidden about this matter."

Lu Xiangsheng didn't believe this kind of thing, he had passed through Tongguan in his early years.

Those checkpoints cannot be blasted down with artillery.

Unless someone should open the door for He Jinzhao.

Hong Chengchou didn't really believe that the defenders he had placed high hopes on could be beaten like this by the hammer bandits.

Either way, it's all fake news.

He Jinzhao should not advance an inch in front of Tongguan.

Lu Xiangsheng only felt that his scalp was numb, and this news really affected his mentality.

Originally, according to the emperor's order, it was very difficult to exterminate the people entrenched in Henan, Huguang and other places.

Once Tongguan is lost now, Hong Chengchou, the governor of the five provinces, will have to go to Shanxi and Shanxi.

It is very difficult for the officers and soldiers to fight back.

"For the current plan, I have no time to turn back." Hong Chengchou put away the letter and said:

"Kill all the rogues entrenched in the Central Plains, otherwise, once I return to aid Shaanxi, it will be a real empty basket!"

Lu Xiangsheng pinched his beard and frowned, also weighing the pros and cons.

This time to return to aid, even if they marched quickly, they would follow the offensive of the hammer bandits.

When the officers and soldiers return to Tongguan, maybe the hammer bandits are standing on Tongguan to block the officers and soldiers.

The suppression of bandits in the Central Plains could not be wiped out, and it was still useless to return to the northwest for rescue.

"Governor Hong, in my opinion, we should still send people to attack Shanxi.

Let there be wars in the territory occupied by He Jinzhao, so that they can be distracted. "

"Besiege Wei to save Zhao?"

Hong Chengchou is naturally not a mediocre person.

He Jinzhao attacked his hometown by surprise, so he went back and attacked his hometown to see if he can stay in Shaanxi!

"As it should be."

Lu Xiangsheng didn't want to be on his own side, and was led by the nose by a gang of thieves.

He He Jinzhao just go and beat him, I will beat myself, I must not easily fall into his trap.

"I am writing to ask Your Majesty to allow Hebei, Xuanfu, and Datong to harass Shanxi, and then send Henan garrisons to Shanxi to advocate harassment."

"it is good."

Hong Chengchou agreed without hesitation, even if Shaanxi was lost, he couldn't care about it now.

Anyway, His Majesty told him to send troops to Henan to wipe out the fleeing bandits as soon as possible. Now that Shaanxi is empty, it is inevitable.

After the discussion between the two, they immediately wrote letters and memorials to each other.

Then work together to deal with the thieves in front of them, and after deciding the outcome with them, turn around and deal with He Jinzhao.

One bird in the hand is worse than ten birds in the bush, otherwise none of them can be caught.

Just when Hong Chengchou and others responded, the army of hammer bandits finally advanced to the main pass city of Tongguan.

Soldiers from three directions besieged Tongguan gathered.

The ships that have been cruising on the Yellow River can finally dock, unload the ship openly, and pull the artillery to continue bombarding the similarly bombarded North City Gate.

He Jinzhao meets with the sneak attack team sent by He Zan, and the Yanwu Pass has been captured, and other checkpoints are being controlled.

Strive to lock the Ming Dynasty's official army outside and not allow them to enter Shaanxi again.

He Jinzhao observed the majestic Tongguan with a telescope, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It took several days to clear the three dilapidated checkpoints.

Hong Chengchou did not lead his troops back, and returning to aid was the most inappropriate strategy.

He Jinzhao believed that with Hong Chengchou's situation, he would not fail to see this conspiracy.

"Marshal, shall we continue to blast the city?"

"good."

He Jinzhao nodded, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the artillery bombarding Tongguan.

The only thing that needs to be criticized is that the road is difficult to travel, and there are not many artillery pieces, and it is impossible to have a hundred artillery pieces at once to bombard this place.

　Thanks to Guang Linggong for sponsoring 5000 taels of silver.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)