stubborn thief

Chapter 667 Broom Spirit

Military government office.

Liu Chengzong sat upright in the main hall, frowning as he read the official documents sent from Tongguan.

There were two official documents. One was a request from Zhao Zhirui, deputy general of Tongguan, to Brigadier General Zhang Yichuan for specific arrangements for the remaining troops to enter the pass.

The other was narrated by Song Jiang, the lieutenant commander of the five battalions in Henan, describing the entire battle of Henan Prefecture and the defeat of Zhang Yichuan's troops.

Liu Shizi had a strange expression on his face.

He ignored Zhang Yichuan for a while, and Zhang Yichuan went from being a bandit leader to the biggest bandit in the world, and then fell from the peak.

Very child's play.

According to Song Jiang's oral account, after Zhang Yichuan captured Yongning, his military forces expanded rapidly. By the time they besieged Luoyang, the number of troops under his command had swelled to 60,000 to 70,000.

The five lieutenant generals under his command each led a battalion of elite soldiers and supervised twenty to thirty battalions.

There are many people in Henan, and the number of militiamen who came to follow him is innumerable, and Zhang Yichuan accepts all of them.

Liu Chengzong's method of organizing the regular army was not suitable for the militia composed of the elderly, the weak, women and children, so he simply followed the peasant army's control method and called it a battalion.

A brigade consisted of at least two or three hundred people, and at most five or six hundred people, and they marched eastward in a mighty force.

Zhang Yichuan’s nickname of the Sweeping King is really not wrong.

Isn't it just a lieutenant general leading a battalion and moving twenty or thirty villages?

Although there is only Tongguan between them, Guanxi and Guandong are completely different.

On this side, the majestic formation was destroying the army, killing the generals, and capturing the city; on the other side, a hundred thousand hungry ghosts and howling plague gods were running around.

This opened Liu Shizi's eyes.

It had been six years since the uprising in Fushi County, and he had heard so much about bandits and robbers that his ears were callused.

But he never expected that this real bandit during the Chongzhen period would be released by him personally, with instructors sent by him personally.

Liu Shizi's heart is very complicated.

I sent instructors, provided them with weapons, and distributed food.

Just learn from me and sweep away everyone you see?

Zhao Zhirui was a veteran general. As early as when Liu Chengzong was still hunting birds in Yuhebao, he was transferred from the Shanxi Dusi to Gansu to serve as the Suzhou Commander, and he served in the position for eight years.

Upon hearing the news of the defeat in Guandong, three things were done in the shortest possible time with excellent quality.

The first was to call together more than 200 officers in the camp who had not taken leave, rectify military discipline, and prepare sulfur and medicines.

Second, send someone to report to Xi'an on horseback, report Zhang Yichuan's defeat to the Central Army, and request the Tongguan Weiqi Army to assist in the defense of Tongguan and Wugu Pass garrisons to take precautions.

Third, they still obeyed Liu Chengzong's orders and set up an isolation camp outside the pass. They prepared tents, firewood, bedding, and rations inside the camp and the city wall, ready to meet the Henan General Headquarters.

As a result, the deployment of quarantine camps outside the city was basically useless.

In Zhao Zhirui's official documents, Song Jiang's troops looked miserable when they entered the pass.

More than 800 defeated soldiers, divided into three groups over four days, approached the city gate. They had abandoned their weapons and armor, and all of them were injured. Everyone was in a daze, like a frightened bird.

Lieutenant General Song Jiang was among the second group of people. He was carried into the city gate on a door panel. He was hit by eight arrows and three times. He only survived because of his cloth armor.

With such a small number of people entering the city in batches, there is no need to set up an isolation camp outside the city.

For Song Jiang, this battle actually started with his defeat.

At first they surrounded Luoyang, but when they learned that the imperial court had appointed a civil servant named Zhang Renxue as the general of Henan to lift the siege of Luoyang, they prepared for battle near Henan Prefecture.

His battle report also cleared up Liu Chengzong's doubts about why Zhang Yichuan did not block the ancient Xiaoguan Road that connects Mount Song in the south and the Yellow River in the north.

Because these stupid guys actually thought that they had the advantage in military strength, but their soldiers were not elite enough and they could not defeat the government troops in the narrow battlefield.

And considering that Zhang Renxue was a scholar leading the army, they deliberately let Zhang Renxue's Henan army into the plains of Henan Prefecture to fight, using their rich experience in battle to defeat him.

Regarding this point, Liu Chengzong could not say that their thinking was wrong.

This is how war is. Although there are objective patterns that determine success or failure, there is always a shortage of novel tactics that go against the grain.

Tactics and strategies should be adapted to local conditions; there is no one-size-fits-all formula for winning.

Whether it works or not, it ultimately depends on whether you win or lose.

If you can't win, you will be a famous general for all time; if you lose, you will be a negative example.

But Liu Chengzong did think that Zhang Yichuan did not consider the issue comprehensively enough and at least missed one point.

If the one who came was a fierce general like Cao Wenzhao who was confident in his military strength and charged and attacked fiercely, then Zhang Yichuan might be able to use the advantage of military strength to bury him inside.

  Question: Zhang Renxue was a Jinshi, so why did he lose in terms of strategizing and deploying troops on an open battlefield?

Moreover, Henan's Fifth Battalion made a conceptual mistake.

That is, Zhang Renxue was not a leader among literati.

Lu Xiangsheng from Yunyang was called a literati leader, because his official position was governor, there was no direct superior-subordinate relationship, and all his orders were in the category of guidance.

Therefore, it is necessary to coordinate with officers at all levels. If the coordination is good, it is an order; if the coordination is not good, it is his fate, and he can only lead the standard battalion into the battlefield to kill people.

But Zhang Renxue is different. He is not only a regular military commander, but also a very special military commander.

He was transferred from a civil official, a censor and a military inspector to a military position. In the entire eight prefectures of Henan, there was no one who could control him. All the troops in Zhongzhou were under his control, and he had a very strong superior-subordinate relationship with all the military officers.

It can be said that this is a real commander-in-chief.

The result is obvious. The battle has already started on Zhang Renxue's side, but Zhang Yichuan doesn't even know where the enemy is.

There was no other reason, Zhang Renxue had no intention of sending troops to compete with Zhang Yichuan's tens of thousands of troops.

The first move they made was to recruit the rebel army.

On the one hand, he incited the local bandits and tyrants in the forts and strongholds across Henan Prefecture, and on the other hand, he gave get-out-of-jail-free cards to the various brigades under Zhang Yichuan.

At one time, local militia groups sprang up in various places, robbing and attacking the large group of Zhang's troops that were collecting food outside Luoyang; large groups inside the city rioted, and some either deserted and fled or turned against Zhang's side.

Zhang Yichuan also had to place his most elite old camp in the east, keeping a close eye on the direction of Xingyang and Sishui at all times to prevent Zhang Renxue from leading his troops to attack suddenly.

He wanted to retreat, but the governor Chen Biqian and Prince Fu in Luoyang had already prepared a death squad. As soon as they saw any signs that he wanted to leave, they would immediately send the death squad out of the city to chase him down.

They were eager to fight, but found that the strategic location of Sishui Town was guarded by Chen Yongfu of Zhang Renxue's school, and they could not attack.

Finally, Zhang Yichuan was left with no choice but to summon the lieutenant generals of the five battalions to draw lots to decide the direction of retreat despite having tens of thousands of troops under his command.

Subsequently, the army collapsed under the attack from all sides. On the same day, Zhang Renxue led his troops to advance and easily defeated Zhang Yichuan's army of tens of thousands.

Song Jiang only drew the lot to retreat westward and was the first to leave the battlefield. However, because he stationed in Yongning City, Zhang Renxue mistakenly thought he was Zhang Yichuan's headquarters and suffered the most severe beating.

At this time, the attendant Yulinlang came to report: "General, Zhang Butang from the Rites Office wants to see you."

Soon, Zhang Xianzhong entered the hall with a few letters. Just as he was about to say something, he saw Liu Chengzong's expression was strange, so he asked, "General, what happened?" Liu Chengzong raised his hand and asked Zhao Jifang to pass the battle report. He said, "The Henan General Army did not lose because of inferior skills, but was affected by the rapid expansion, which made Zhang Renxue famous."

Zhang Xianzhong read the battle report again and again with a serious face. His face was extremely distorted and his whole expression was extremely horrible.

After a while, the Minister of Rites shook his head and said with emotion: "This coward is not a sweeping king at all, he is just an old broom that has become a spirit!"

"Official Zhang used a little trick and the broom demon was beaten to pieces."

Zhang Xianzhong was never stingy with his words when it came to Zhang Yichuan who wanted to visit the grave in Fengyang Prefecture.

After the damage was done, he said with a serious face: "This is a loss of troops and a humiliation to the country, Marshal."

To be honest, the nickname "Old Broom Spirit" did not make Liu Shizi laugh, but Zhang Xianzhong's expression of loyalty and patriotism really made him laugh.

Liu Chengzong found it unreal that he had moved his family to Xi'an.

Although the Marshal's Office ruled a large area, it was full of impassable and taxable land. Before the Eastern Expedition, its real base was the narrow Hehuang Valley with a depth of 400 miles.

In terms of population and foundation, to put it bluntly, it's just a big county.

At present, the country is trying to swallow an elephant like a snake. Large tracts of land in Shaanxi are still under nominal rule, and the fruits of victory in Xi'an Prefecture are still being digested after two months.

As the great marshal, he was always ready to lead troops to quell a rebellion or escape.

  Let’s just talk about the people in the Marshal’s Office. Who would take the victory or defeat on the battlefield outside Shaanxi seriously?

No.

Zhang Xianzhong regarded Zhang Yichuan's defeat as a complete joke and pretended to be serious.

"It's not that serious."

Liu Chengzong waved his hand and paused before saying, "It wouldn't be so bad if he was defeated earlier. It would be a good thing for both the people of Henan and him."

For the people of Henan, no one can resist the victory of such a broom spirit.

If Zhang Yichuan defeated Zhang Renxue, he might be able to gather a million people and march straight to the capital.

But he will definitely not win later, and that will be the time when countless lives will be lost.

Zhang Xianzhong saw that the Grand Marshal didn't care much about the defeat, so he laughed and said, "This broom spirit is smart. Instead of running back, it ran to Fengyang!"

Liu Chengzong also agreed with this statement and nodded, saying: "Although Zhang Renxue won, the loser Zhang Yichuan is much better than the winner Zhang Yichuan."

Without a complete base of officers, Liu Shizi could hardly make any progress even with his 50,000 or 60,000 men, let alone Zhang Yichuan.

But if he only led three to five thousand people, Zhang Yichuan would be invincible when he left Shaanxi and fought in those places that had enjoyed peace for a long time.

"We have to prepare for war. I don't know if the plague in the east will be over this winter. Zhang Yichuan will definitely cause a big mess."

Liu Chengzong narrowed his eyes and thought about the situation. The biggest problem in his mind was not digging up the royal family's ancestral tombs.

It's a no-brainer job to be honest.

There won't be any terrible consequences. After all, it only involves the reputation of the royal family.

The rulers of this era, including Liu Chengzong, Huang Taiji and Emperor Chongzhen, did not take their face too seriously.

Liu Chengzong: I will go and isolate the barbarians.

Then he led the pirates into the country.

Huang Taiji: We used to kill people indiscriminately, but now we have changed.

The army turned around and massacred the city.

Chongzhen: My people will be troubled for one year.

The following year, my people will be burdened for another year.

  Who doesn't talk like a fart?

face?

They don't have that stuff.

Liu Shizi was not afraid that Zhang Yichuan would do something stupid, but he was afraid that he would suddenly grow a brain after entering Nanzhili and disrupt the canal transportation.

If he dares to cut off the grain transport for three months, the Northern Zhili of the Ming Dynasty will collapse.

The collapse is not the problem. The key is the mess left after the collapse, which Liu Chengzong cannot clean up now - this is the problem.

But he couldn't contact Zhang Yichuan now, so he could only do his own thing and asked Zhao Jifang to write an order to relocate the remaining troops of Song Jiang to Tongguanwei, and then spoke to Zhang Xianzhong.

"Are you here with a letter?"

Zhang Xianzhong then remembered what he was doing, and took out a letter from his pocket and handed it over, saying, "Yes, Marshal, it's a letter from Hanzhong."

The person who sent the letter was Gao Yingxiang. Apart from congratulating him on taking over Shaanxi, the content of the letter mainly told Liu Chengzong that the war had broken out in Hanzhong.

Gao Yingxiang contacted Yao Zhangru's group and advanced from the north and south to attack Hou Liangzhu who was stationed on the south bank of the Han River.

It is hard to understand why a war broke out in the dead of winter.

But in this era, it is extremely normal. If we don’t go to war, we will run out of food.

Gao Yingxiang, a farming king, was trapped in the mountains north of Han due to floods. He was very good at restoring production and did grow a lot of grain, but there were so many victims and more and more people became dependent on him.

However, he had witnessed the capabilities of the regular army like the Lion Battalion from the very beginning, and they were not like Zhang Yichuan, an old broom spirit.

Gao Yingxiang's approach was to force the people to farm for him, or even simply abandon the land to others. He would only pick up soldiers carefully, and when he could no longer support them, he would send them down the mountain to fight.

Yao Zhangru in northern Sichuan had no intention of attacking Hanzhong. They went to eastern Sichuan to fight in the autumn, but were defeated by Qin Liangyu in three battles. Then they turned north and hit it off with Gao Yingxiang, and decided to deal with Hou Liangzhu together.

Liu Chengzong read the letter and felt that Gao Yingxiang's letter was incoherent, so he asked, "Who sent this letter?"

"His nickname is the Star of the Dipper, and his name is Gao Yingen."

As soon as Zhang Xianzhong finished speaking, Liu Chengzong smiled and said, "I knew he was not dead. Where is he now? Ask him to come over. Master Gao should have something for him to say."

Gao Yingen was waiting in the Li Ya outside the palace gate. Not long after, he entered the main hall of the military government. Looking around, he saw that Liu Chengzong was very happy. He immediately clasped his fists and said, "The Grand Marshal is no longer the same as before. This palace is really big."

"Master Gao asked you to come here, so you have something to tell me, right?" Liu Chengzong said with a smile, "I read this letter, it doesn't have a beginning or an end."

When Gao Yingen heard Liu Chengzong calling him brother, the nervousness in his heart was reduced by half, and he said with a relaxed look on his face: "I came to see the Marshal, of course I came to ask for something!"

"Is it difficult to attack Hanzhong?"

Liu Chengzong thought about it for a while and thought that if it weren't for the flood, Hou Liangzhu, who didn't even dare to send troops to fight in the north, would not be a match for Gao Yingxiang.

He asked: "Food and military supplies? Armor and weapons? Gunpowder? Or do you need reinforcements?"

"None of that."

Gao Yingen shook his head with a bit of pride on his face, and said: "To be honest, my brother Shatai is old and weak and has gone to farm, but he still has eight battalions of elite soldiers. With the addition of Yao Huang's more than 40,000 people, it should not be difficult to capture Hanzhong."

"But it's easy to conquer, but it's hard to enter Sichuan, so my brother wants to ask the commander-in-chief to appoint an official in Sichuan, and send officials to Hanzhong to govern the city we conquered."

Good morning!