national surname chiming

Chapter 224 The decisive battle broke out
On the night when he sent his subordinates to cheat, Shen Shuren slept soundly until dawn.

But Lin Chengcheng, who was burdened by the burden, didn't fall asleep all night.

Although before midnight, Liu Sandao came back to report.He also presented gold jewelry worth 30 taels of silver prepaid by Zhang Xianzhong through Li Dingguo, saying that Zhang Xianzhong had made an appointment to deliver the final payment in the next day, and asked the Lin Development Department to release it.

But Lin Chengcheng obviously didn't dare to fully believe these promises. He held the jewels and gold in his hands, all he could think about was "Could Zhang Xianzhong be paralyzing us? Will they immediately break through that night and catch us off guard?"
With this kind of worry in mind, Lin Chengcheng asked the sentries in his battalion to be more vigilant, and tripled the number of sentries on duty to keep an eye on them at all times. As a result, there was no movement until the sky was bright.

Reluctantly, after dawn, he had no choice but to go to Shen Shuren's central army tent to report back quietly with Liu Sandao and the property worth 30 taels under his dark circles.

He didn't have the guts to confuse all his belongings without permission.Don't say that Liu Sandao is not his subordinate at all, but just pretending, both of them want to make progress with Shen Shuren, how could they blackmail the money with one heart.

So, let's be honest and let Shen Futai assign it.I believe that Shen Futai will also be sympathetic.

"...Reporting to Futai, the situation is like this. Zhang Xianzhong has not moved in the middle of the night, but he should believe that our army is short of ammunition and supplies are difficult. The final general really cannot guess what Zhang Xianzhong will do in the future."

Lin Chengcheng and Liu Sandao explained the matter clearly, while Shen Shuren, who was eating breakfast at the side, was not surprised at all, and casually invited the two to sit down in the big tent, added two sets of bowls and chopsticks, and had breakfast together chat.

Lin Chengcheng and the others were flattered, they had never had a meal with a governor at the same level since Zhao'an.

Shen Shuren's breakfast was not luxurious either. When he was fighting in the army, he usually ate the same food as the soldiers, with a little canned food added at most to supplement it at any time.This morning, what I ate was honey condensed milk in a porcelain jar, served with salted fish vinegar rice balls, pickles, and a few eggs.

Except for eggs that should be simply boiled, other foods do not need to be cooked on high heat. At most, soak them in hot water after boiling the eggs.

Shen Shuren did this, on the one hand, set an example, boosted morale, and prevented the military from being extravagant and centrifuged.

On the other hand, it is also less troublesome for logistics.Especially in the past few days, he told the army to fire as little as possible. The number and time of cooking stoves in the camp were strictly limited.

So that when someone with a heart observes, he can notice that "there are absolutely no 2 horses in the Shen Shuren camp."

As we all know, experienced generals can estimate the number of enemy troops by counting the number of stoves in the enemy camp.That's why Sun Bin's strategies such as increasing troops and reducing stoves can play a role.

But in the situation where the two armies were stationed permanently, it was impossible for Zhang Xianzhong to count the stoves in Shen Shuren's siege camp at close range, so he could only count the cooking smoke.You can count how many cigarettes you have and how long you burn each day.

And Shen Shuren used canned food without cooking and pretended that there were few people. This situation has been persisted for several days.Since the siege of the city with high-density firearms was stopped that day, the cooking smoke has been reduced. It was not just a temporary idea today, so the acting is a full set, and the acting skills are absolutely realistic.

Lin Chengcheng and Liu Sandao ate the canned food in the porcelain altar together, while Shen Shuren cleared his mind, put down the chopsticks stirring honey and condensed milk, and said:

"If it were me, I wouldn't have made any moves last night, and probably won't make any moves during the day today—the new siege camp on the west side of the city is stationed with your troops. Zhang Xianzhong didn't know about this news until last night, right? ?

With his prudence, how could he not take advantage of the daytime to verify it again?He will definitely let people observe from a distance from the top of the city and keep on staring. Once he finds that the troops in your battalion are ordnance, and the armor does not match what he said, Zhang Xianzhong will become suspicious.

In addition, the scouts and contact messengers sent by Zhang Xianzhong before were also cut off from last night, unable to return to the city, right?Zhang Xianzhong is definitely not reconciled, and will wait and see for another day, hoping to confirm the battle situation at Hengshan Guard from the scouts he sent himself, and confirm whether Wang Shangli has really destroyed our army's ammunition supplies.

Therefore, what you should be most worried about during the day is whether there are any scouts from Zhang Xianzhong's department who want to infiltrate the siege and return to the city.As long as Zhang Xianzhong's sources of information are cut off, there will be times when he can't sit still. "

Lin Chengcheng and the others were quite anxious at first, but seeing that Mr. Futai was so calm, they felt relieved all of a sudden, and their confidence also increased a bit.Lin Chengcheng boldly asked:
"May I ask Mr. Futai, do you think... Zhang Xianzhong will break out of the camp where we are in the end, or is there another way?"

Shen Shuren shook his head: "I don't think I can come out, but our army is ready to build high and deep ditches as soon as possible, and set up defenses on all sides. No matter which side Zhang Xianzhong breaks through from, we will try our best to hold back and immediately support the troops.

In addition, he is suspicious and insists on waiting and watching for another day, which is also good for our army. I have urgently notified the Zuo Zongbing to return to the division as soon as possible, and bring back the soldiers and horses who were taken to Hengshan Guard as soon as possible.As for General Zhu's cavalry, they will arrive during the day today, let them sleep first, and they can be mobilized at any time in case of battle.Our military strength will only become more and more sufficient, you have nothing to worry about. "

After Shen Shuren finished speaking, he glanced at the gold and jewelry sent by the other party for the last time, asked about the value, and then ordered: "Since it is for you, you can accept it with confidence. Well, there are additional benefits, and those who use the meter can naturally share the benefits.

For the 30 taels, the two of you left 10 taels of jewelry, 10 taels each.The remaining 10 taels will be given to officers at all levels in the two battalions as a reward, or they can arrange for themselves to purchase additional equipment.The last [-] taels will be given to ordinary soldiers——

However, the official has something to say first, whether it is rewarding the officers or giving the soldiers, it must be in the name of the official, and it must be issued before the battle to avoid leaking secrets in advance. "

Shen Shuren also knew that if the money that had already been in other people's hands was taken back, it would definitely cause resentment in the troops.

Because the psychological account of these money has changed, everyone is loss-averse. It will be very painful for the money that is put in the pocket and then taken out. It is better not to get it in the first place.

Therefore, it should be issued or ratified, but they should accept Shen Shuren's affection and know that the money was given by Shen Shuren's order, not by Lin Chengcheng or Zhang Xianzhong.

The troops must be loyal, and they must also be loyal to him, Shen Shuren, and they cannot be loyal to the generals below.

Of course, there is no need to be loyal to Chongzhen.

After Lin Chengcheng got the order, he was also overjoyed, a stone fell to the ground in his heart, and he immediately obeyed everything.

……

After that, a day and a night, it really passed very peacefully.

Zhang Xianzhong was indeed suspicious. After throwing some jewels to ask for directions that night, he had to confirm the composition of the officers and troops in the west of the city and the total strength of the officers and troops the next day.

Although the method of confirmation may not be as expected by Shen Shuren, in short, in the end, the conclusion that "the officers and troops are indeed dispersed, and the logistics are in a state of disarray, is now the time of emptiness".

As for Wang Shangli's delay in sending messengers back to report the Hengshan Guard's battle situation to him face to face, although Zhang Xianzhong felt a little uneasy, he was inclined to believe in the end that "Wang Shangli must have sent someone, but the scouts are afraid of death. I saw that there was an army camp in the west of the city besieging the city, so I didn’t dare to infiltrate it.”

After all, Lin Chengcheng just contacted him in secret and agreed to "mutual non-aggression", and Wang Shangli still didn't know about it, which is not surprising.

So in the end, Zhang Xianzhong also discussed with Bai Wenxuan and other generals, as well as Li Dingguo, and came up with a plan to go out of the city for a decisive battle and steal the camp.

On July [-]th, which was also the third day after the battle at Hengshanwei, Zhang Xianzhong finally encouraged the troops in advance in the early hours of the morning.

In order to fight smoothly and ensure suddenness, he also played a little trick - Zhang Xianzhong didn't intend to give Lin Chengcheng the 300 million or 500 million taels of road money, and he didn't believe that Lin Chengcheng would keep it secret for him for free.
He went out of the city this time, not for the purpose of escaping, but wanted to fight Shen Shuren decisively, at least take advantage of the opportunity of Shen Shuren's ammunition supply running out, and severely damage Shen Shuren's main force!
Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong's real goal is to attack the northwest corner of the Hengzhou siege camp, to be precise, the western section of the northern camp, and he wants to destroy that part of the Ming army first. If the rest of the Ming army comes to help, it can also be defeated. Refueling tactics.

However, to attack the northern camp normally, one should open the north gate of Hengzhou City to send troops, but this time Zhang Xianzhong chose not to open the west gate instead.

He did this because he was worried that the Ming army at the north gate would be more vigilant at night. Even if it was a few miles away, if the city gate opened here and the army gradually poured out, the Ming army would find out in advance and make preparations.

After all, the city gate was only that small in size, and at most ten or eight rows of soldiers could pass through it at any moment. If tens of thousands of people had to go out of the city, it would take a quarter of an hour to pass through for sure, and the suddenness would be lost.

In contrast, since Lin Chengcheng outside the west gate had made the plan to "take money and release people", he should not be surprised in advance, so Zhang Xianzhong let the main force go out of the city first and re-arranged outside the west gate. Then follow the west city wall to the northwest corner to hide and kill, and turn to the north camp of the Ming army.

When Zhang Xianzhong chose this route, the generals inside him still didn't understand.For example, Li Dingguo persuaded him: "Father, our army still has more than 4 people in the city, nearly [-], and quite a few soldiers are not elite. If they go to the southwest and break through along the Xiangjiang Road in the future, they will still be able to keep up with the march." speed.

If you go to the northwest, although the distance to the Qianzhong Road into Shu is shorter, there are more terrains to climb over mountains and mountains along the way, and I am afraid that more subordinates will be left behind. "

However, Zhang Xianzhong ignored this advice, because he was already mentally prepared for the new Huguang army to fall behind.

In his opinion, if these newly recruited troops in Huguang were able to kill the main force of Shen Shuren as much as possible in the process of attacking the northern camp of the official army, and lose more lives and fighting power of the official army, they would have already paid back their capital.

The value of their existence is to consume the officers and soldiers and make the officers and soldiers more exhausted when they want to chase after the main force of his direct descendant's old battalion!
So he completely ignored Li Dingguo's persuasion and insisted on sending troops like this.

On July 4th, at five o'clock in the morning, Zhang Xianzhong's army, except for about [-] reserve forces staying in the city, and about [-] people, all left the city and lined up neatly a few miles away from the Lincheng camp.

Of course, Lin Chengcheng had discovered it long ago, but he pretended not to have discovered it, and stood still. At the same time, Pegasus quietly notified Shen Shuren, and it was the kind of real-time update.

Seeing the quietness of Lin Chengcheng's camp, Zhang Xianzhong thought that the other party had really fallen for the trick, and was waiting for him to send someone to contact him and give him money for the journey.So Zhang Xianzhong sneered, and waved his whip to direct the troops to turn northward.

At five o'clock in the summer, the sky is already slightly bright, although you can't see things in the distance clearly, but at least you won't trample on the robes in front of you, and you don't need to light a torch.Zhang Xianzhong chose a good time to fight. When he reached the front of the officer camp, the sky was just bright enough to fight.

"Kill! Rush into the camp of the officers and soldiers! Kill Officer Shen Dog!"

"The gunpowder and lead bullets of the officers and soldiers are no longer enough! Their supplies were burned by General Wang's men! The dog-killing officer is at this moment! Don't miss this opportunity!"

Zhang Xianzhong's army used the 5000-strong Huguang New Affiliated Army as the vanguard, and the 5000-strong Shaanxi and Henan Old Battalions as the main force of the Chinese army, and rushed towards the Shen's army's camp.

Although Shen Shuren had learned from Lin Chengcheng's Pegasus that Zhang Xianzhong had left the city fifteen minutes ago, he didn't know the specific direction of Zhang Xianzhong's main attack at the beginning.
Even if there is a real-time update, it will take at least half an hour before friendly troops from other directions in Hengzhou City can come to reinforce them, so in the first half an hour, the troops in the northern camp can only defend themselves.

Shen Shuren's defenders in the camp north of the city totaled more than 4000 people. In the first half hour, they really had to face Zhang Xianzhong's ten times superiority in strength!

Although Zhang Xianzhong's 4 people cannot be invested in all at once, there will be a sequential and strategic reserve team.

But in any case, the bloody fight soon spread across the entire front.

The battalion that bears the brunt of the Shen family's army in the western section of the Northern Camp is guarded by Lu Datou, with more than 2000 people under his command and only [-] firearmsmen.

Facing the swarming Zhang Xianzhong's troops, Lu Datou's face was livid, but he still calmly marched into the formation, forcing the gunmen to mount their bayonets, go behind the antlers of the picket fence, and fire their guns in turn. Once they are surrounded by the left and right wings, they are ready Stay at the gate of the village and fight with bayonets!

With the sound of the first burst of muskets, the morale of Zhang Xianzhong's troops, who were frantically covering up, was slightly suffocated-mainly the soldiers of Zhang Xianzhong's army, before they left the city, were told that these days were the window for the ammunition shortage of the army Expect.

In the end, it was clear that the officers and soldiers had no bullets, but they were shot again when the incident came to an end, which would naturally lead to resentment and a little confusion.

However, the number of Lu Datou's campfire guns was too small after all, which made Zhang Xianzhong's army flustered for a few minutes, and then regrouped the offensive, but the momentum was not as arrogant as it was at the beginning.

"Don't be afraid! This ammunition must have been hidden by the officers and soldiers for emergency use. It will be used up soon! Keep killing! Shoot the arrows!"

As the arrows rained down, some musketeers lying behind the picket fence to reload were injured by the rain of arrows thrown from the sky. For a while, the inside of the Ming army's wall wailed again and again.

Lu Datou drew out his saber and yelled loudly to order the wounded soldiers not to scream, while urging the pikemen around him to pick up the wounded robed bayonet and musket, and continue shooting, even if they haven't been trained in marksmanship, it doesn't matter, the density of firepower is the most important thing at this time of.

Even he himself set an example by rushing up and carrying the turtledove gun of a slain turtledove shooter, and the poleaxe which served as a rack for the gun.The soldiers watched the garrison lead by example, and for a while they re-inspired the same hatred and hatred.

"Kill! Kill Zhang thief! Avenge the fathers and villagers of Huguang! The main force of Shenfutai will come to rescue us soon! General Zhu's cavalry will arrive soon!"

(End of this chapter)