Ming Empire

Chapter 170 Emergencies
(Thanks to the tricky sacrifice Palotin and Mourning Wu Huaxia book friends for their rewards)——
The first news is that Jiannu took advantage of the large number of Liaodong troops being transferred into the pass to threaten Songshan and Jinzhou with military force.

After Emperor Chongzhen heard the news, he immediately ordered that the Cao Bianjiao tribe belonging to Sun Chuanting set off from Shaanxi and returned to Liaodong to help Hong Chengchou defend Songshan and Jinzhou so as not to lose Liaodong.

The second news was from Sun Chuanting. What Cao Yue couldn't believe was that Sun Chuanting suffered a disastrous defeat.

The specific situation is this, because Kaifeng is in critical condition, and the anxious Emperor Chongzhen forced Sun Chuanting to rescue Kaifeng as soon as possible.Sun Chuanting did not dare to disobey, so he raised his troops and rushed to help, and arrived at Tongguan at the end of September.

During this period of time, the weather was not good, and it rained heavily for dozens of days, causing the river to rise sharply. Li Zicheng decided to cut off the Majiakou section of the Yellow River and flood Kaifeng with water.After the Yellow River was dug open, Kaifeng became the country of Ze.Just when Sun Chuanting's reinforcements had just left Tongguan, Li Zicheng had already sent his army southward and evacuated Kaifeng, which had become a water town, so Sun Chuanting changed his direction and marched towards Nanyang.

In fact, Sun Chuanting was a very qualified commander. He ordered the officers and soldiers to silence their flags and drums along the way, sneaked in the mountains, and secretly approached the peasant army, intending to catch them by surprise and catch them unawares.

In Jiaxian County, Henan Province, the Ming government army commanded by Sun Chuanting sneaked to the vicinity of the peasant army led by Li Zicheng. Sun Chuanting ordered the left army to lead the left army, and Zheng Jiadong led the right army. Lead the former army to challenge the civilian army and lure the enemy to go deep.

At this time, Cao Bianjiao's tribe had returned to Liaodong after receiving a new order from the court.

Not long after the two sides fought, Niu Chenghu pretended to be defeated and led the bandits into the encirclement.After the rogues entered the ambush circle, ambushes rose from all sides, and the rogues were caught off guard and suffered heavy losses.The rogues who suffered heavy losses had to flee eastward. Sun Chuanting, who was overjoyed, led his army to chase and kill them for thirty miles.However, due to the heavy rain, Sun Chuanting had no choice but to order the hungry and cold officers and soldiers to stop their pursuit and rest on the spot.

Just when Sun Chuanting's troops stopped chasing, rested temporarily, cleaned the battlefield, and collected the spoils of war, Li Zicheng personally led the main force to kill the carbine. Run back to Shaanxi.

It was the nearly [-] Datong army that Cao Yue handed over to him to protect Sun Chuanting from fleeing to Shaanxi. Without these [-] Datong troops, Sun Chuanting might have died in the chaos.

Hearing the news, Cao Yue was dumbfounded.

He knew that in the original history, Sun Chuanting had the defeat of Shuyuan, which was also an important turning point in the world situation, but he did not expect that under the premise of many historical changes, Sun Chuanting still suffered another disastrous defeat, and it was similar to the original historical records.

One of the important factors is the weather, heavy rain, the use of muskets and other firearms is greatly affected, and the combat power is compromised; Cao Bianjiao's tribe was temporarily sent away by the imperial court, and Liu Zeqing, Kong Zhenhui, Zuo Liangyu, etc. The Ministry stayed there and did not cooperate with Sun Chuanting's attack.Without any one factor, this fiasco would not have happened.

"Is it true that God's will cannot be violated?" Cao Yue was a little frustrated.But he still hopes that Sun Chuanting can survive this catastrophe, and he plans to personally lead a team to rescue Shaanxi and rescue Sun Chuanting.

At the same time as these two depressing news came, there was another news that Cao Yue didn't know whether it was good or bad-Li Yan was killed.

Because of Liu Zongmin's false accusation that Li Yan was in collusion with the government and the army and was about to lead the army to surrender, Li Zicheng, who was suspicious in the end, ordered Li Yan's military power to be removed, arrested and killed.

This news also shocked Cao Yue. He knew that in history, Li Yan was killed by Li Zicheng's army shortly after he failed in the battle with Jiannu in the capture of Beijing.He didn't expect that his appearance and his contact with Li Yan would lead to the early killing of this outstanding general of the peasant army.This made Cao Yue sigh, he didn't expect that things would turn out like this.

From this incident, he can also see the struggle for power and profit among the rogues, and the disunity of each other.Li Yan is an excellent general, at least Cao Yue thinks so.His troops were strictly disciplined, and Cao Yue knew from the report of the Special Guard Battalion that Li Yan's troops were better than Liu Zongmin's troops in terms of discipline and combat effectiveness.This is the power he wants to fight for. He is very concerned about who will lead this team after Li Yan's death.

He also thought of Hong Niangzi. Although this woman was divorced by Li Yan, Cao Yue knew that Hong Niangzi still cared about Li Yan very much. He could imagine how sad and resentful Hong Niangzi would be after knowing Li Yan was killed. angry.In a flash of inspiration, he immediately thought of a possibility.

Hong Niangzi was originally the leader of the rebel army, and her prestige in the army was no lower than that of Li Yan. If Hong Niangzi returned to the army, then the original Li Yan's people should still recognize this former female leader.If the red lady wants to avenge her husband's murder, then she will definitely break with Li Zicheng. Originally, this woman has changed her mind after hearing his bewitching.

It's a pity that now Cao Yue doesn't know where the red lady is, let alone how to contact her. It's a pity that Cao Yue can't do anything about such a great opportunity to win over Li Yan's old department.

But now, Cao Yue is most concerned about Sun Chuanting's safety. He doesn't want this famous historical minister to suffer as before. He hopes that old man Sun can use his shoulders to support half of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Cao Yue prepared to report to the imperial court immediately, requesting to lead the army to reinforce Shaanxi.

But when he was preparing urgently, he received a secret report from Sun Chuanting.

In Cao Yue's old army of Datong, there are still some cronies placed by Cao Yue. They carry the carrier pigeons brought from Datong. Sun Chuanting passed these people to Datong. Arrived in Nanjing.

When he received Sun Chuanting's secret letter, Cao Yue was mobilizing his soldiers to prepare for the expedition, and his request to the court had just been sent out.

In the letter, Sun Chuanting asked Cao Yue not to lead his army to ask for help. Although he was defeated, he still had tens of thousands of troops under him, and he could still resist by defending Tongguan.He asked Cao Yue to train the army as soon as possible, and not let the new army that has not yet been trained make fearless sacrifices.After he retreated to Shaanxi, he could continue to recruit troops, develop production, buy weapons, and restore his strength. "Sharpening a knife is not a mistake in chopping firewood," Sun Chuanting said to persuade Cao Yue.

After receiving Sun Chuanting's secret letter, Cao Yue decisively decided to recover the report submitted to the court, stop the military operation to rescue Shaanxi, and the new army continued to train in Nanjing.

Just two days after Cao Yue received Sun Chuanting's secret letter, a special person came from the Yanziji Camp to see Cao Yue!
(End of this chapter)