The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 22 Intensifies
Xi'an Prefecture, Chunhua County.

Hong Chengchou sat on the grand master's chair, quietly listening to the report from the messenger in the hall. In his hand, there was an open letter.

After reporting all the military information, the messenger stood up again and quickly exited the lobby.

The hall was once again quiet, and the surroundings were silent and very dull.

All the generals in military uniforms on both sides of the hall bowed their heads in silence, staring at the ground, no one spoke or moved.

Hong Chengchou's city mansion is deep, and he has won the trust of Chongzhen. He has a high position and weight.

Since the civil engineering change, the status of civil officials has been continuously improved, while the status of military commanders has been continuously reduced, and a system of using civil to control military has gradually formed.

In the later period, when a big war broke out, the military affairs must be supervised by civilian officials, and the generals, deputy generals, generals, guerrillas, etc. could only be at their disposal.

The war is endless, and this situation has not changed until now, but has intensified.

In the second year of Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan boarded Dongjiang Island in the name of a military parade, and beheaded Mao Wenlong with Shangfang's sword.

As the commander-in-chief of a town, he didn't even decide on the guilt, and he was directly beheaded without being tried.

As soon as this happened, the whole world was shaken, and everyone was in danger.

It was later that Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned for the crime and sentenced to Ling Chi, but Mao Wenlong was still not rehabilitated.

Mao Wenlong, as the commander-in-chief of Pingliao, also received the Shangfang Sword, was awarded the title of Zuo Dudu, and was in charge of a town, but he still ended up like this.

All the generals in the hall are controlled by Hong Chengchou, their power is not comparable to that of Mao Wenlong, and they dare not disobey Hong Chengchou's military orders.

Although Hong Chengchou didn't kill any general like Yuan Chonghuan, but most of them were punished by means.

Cao Wenzhao, as the head of the generals in Shanshan and Shaanxi in the past, has also been suppressed by Hong Chengchou.

Cao Wenzhao won tens of thousands of heads in Shanshan and Shaanxi, and went through dozens of battles. However, because he offended Hong Chengchou, he was finally suppressed by the reward after meritorious deeds.

The governor and censor Fan Fucui and the inspector and censor Wu Zhen argued for Cao Wenzhao's letter, but Hong Chengchou forcibly suppressed them.

Hong Chengchou put down the letter in his hand, and his expression became more and more gloomy.

The period for the imperial court to suppress the thieves is getting closer, but instead of good news from the front line, bad news came one after another.

The forward was ambushed in Xiangle, Ningzhou, Liu Honglie, the central army of the forward, was captured, and the lieutenants Ai Wannian and Liu Guozhen died in a fierce battle.

In the end, only deputy general Liu Chenggong and guerrilla Wang Ximing brought back less than a thousand remnants.

Then Cao Wenzhao led the Datong soldiers to attack again, but encountered an ambush in Zhenning again, and there were many dangers, with more than [-] casualties and more than half of the army.

And there is another piece of news that is worse than the defeat of the war. The bandits now have a batch of Franco cannons and several powerful cannons in their army.

The two defeats were due to ambushes.

It is understandable that Ai Wannian and others were ambushed, but Cao Wenzhao, as a veteran on the battlefield, was actually ambushed, which is not quite right.

Hong Chengchou frowned slightly, there might be capable people among the thieves, so we can no longer look at them with the same eyes as before.

Hong Chengchou raised his head, his eyes flicked over the generals and guerrillas in the hall.

The land of Shaanxi has been suffering from natural disasters for years, and it was already in a depression. It has just recovered a little. The bandits entered Shaanxi again, and they quickly engulfed tens of thousands. Now the bandits are constantly growing, but the army under his command is getting weaker and weaker. .

In May, Gao Yingxiang joined forces with leaders from all walks of life in Shaanxi, with a combined force of 20, approaching Xi'an.

The camp is fifty miles away, and the beacon fire shines on Xijing.

Relying on the tall walls of Chang'an City, they finally repelled the bandits.

"Li Zicheng, Prime Minister Hui Deng, Tuo Yangkun..."

Hong Chengchou looked at the letter from Cao Wenzhao and fell into deep thought.

After the bandits withdrew from the city of Xi'an, one part went northwest to attack Pingliang, and the other part went north to attack Qingyang Mansion.

The number of rogues who attacked the northern part of Qingyang Mansion was much smaller. There were only two groups in total, namely Li Zicheng and Tuo Yangkun, who had about [-] soldiers and horses, and Guotianxing, Mantianxing, and Huntianxing, a total of [-]. Yu people.

Li Zicheng and Tuo Yangkun are one part, Guotianxing Huidengxiang leads Mantianxing and Huntianxing are another part.

The two ministries did not plunder the counties as previously expected, but joined forces first to ambush the officers and soldiers who came after them.

The rogues heading to the west are numerous and most powerful, and they are the main force of the rogues. The self-proclaimed Chuang Wang Gao Yingxiang, the old Huihui Ma Shouying, the Eight Great Kings Zhang Xianzhong, and Yiziwang, Zhuangtianwang and other tribes have tens of thousands of people.

Hong Chengchou originally wanted to wipe out Li Zicheng and Prime Minister Hui Deng who attacked Qingyang Mansion in the north first, cut off one arm of the bandits first, and then freed up all his hands to deal with those bandits who attacked Pingliang Mansion in the northwest.

He had already mobilized soldiers from all over Yansui Town to encircle and suppress them, but he never thought that the rogues were waiting for him to march, and fell into the trap of the rogues.

The broken arm now is his arm.

Hunting geese all day long, but the geese pecked their eyes, how can Hong Chengchou not be burned in anger.

"How is the situation in Pingliang Mansion?"

Hong Chengchou raised his head and asked aside.

Now that the northern line has suffered disastrous defeats one after another, with the loss of soldiers and generals, he still doesn't know the news from the northwest.

Guerrilla Sun Shoufa stood up. He was in charge of central mobilization, and he was responsible for receiving reports on the military situation in the Northwest.

"Zuo Zongbing and He Zongbing won two battles in a row in the east of Jingzhou City, and beheaded 720 and seven levels. However, the follow-up reinforcements of the bandits arrived, so they could only retreat temporarily."

"Pingliang Mansion is in a hurry. There are only more than [-] soldiers in the mansion. Please help the army immediately."

Gao Yingxiang and other troops breached Jingzhou for several days, and now they are looting everywhere. Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong and other generals have few soldiers, so they can only hang behind and wait for the opportunity to move. So far, the results of the battle are still very limited.

Make bricks without straw.

Hong Chengchou sighed helplessly in his heart, there were only tens of thousands of generals under his command, and it was impossible to tell how many.

Gao Yingxiang ordered a group of soldiers to go north, which directly cut off the way he wanted to pursue.

Because if the soldiers and horses in the north were not dealt with, and Gao Yingxiang was directly pursued, once the rogues from the north went south, they would most likely be cut off from the rear, and tens of thousands of troops would be trapped at the junction of Pingliang Mansion and Xi'an Mansion.

Hong Chengchou closed his eyes, tapped the armrest of the seat lightly with his fingers, as if he was thinking about something.

All the generals in the hall still bowed their heads and said nothing, this situation is perfectly normal.

Hong Chengchou has always been arbitrary, and asking for their opinions is only for reference, and will not change his mind.

After coming and going, if Hong Chengchou didn't take the initiative to ask, they would not take the initiative to speak.

After a while, Hong Chengchou finally opened his eyes, and the first sentence he just spoke made all the generals raise their heads.

"Order He Renlong and Zuo Liangyu to temporarily retreat to Yilu Town, and then order Yansui to send a division to go south to Qingyang Mansion to Huai County."

Hong Chengchou stood up slowly, his voice was low and terrifying.

"Order Zhang Waijia to lead the troops forward and attack Zhenning again!"

(End of this chapter)