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Chapter 1150: /?

Since Kaifeng City was besieged for the third time, Henan Governor Gao Mingheng, Inspector Ren Jun, Chief Envoy Liang Bing and other officials from the border areas, as well as Kaifeng Magistrate Wu Shidao, Yushi and Kaifeng Prefecture official Huang Shu, etc. Important officials and gentry continuously discussed the city's defense and military affairs.

Today, they, all the ministers, high-ranking officials and gentry, came to the governor's Yamen on time again. The only difference from the past was that each of them had joy on their faces, as if victory was right in front of them.

The atmosphere was much more relaxed than in the past, and everyone in the meeting showed joyful expressions on their faces. Everyone was thinking about how much they could gain from defending the city this time.

Then there is the matter of the labor force. Although the brave army led by Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng is now stationed outside Kaifeng City, they have not fought with the intruders, so the protagonist of this reward is naturally to confront the intruders in Zhuxian Town. Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue and Zuo Liangyu.

This reward is easier said than done, because it requires money!

Ding Qirui's army in Guangzhuxian Town is already said to have 400,000 troops. Even if it is conservatively estimated, it is at least 200,000. What's more, the brave army outside Kaifeng City also has tens of thousands of troops, even if they are not rewarded this time. As the protagonist, you can’t not give it at all, right?

Moreover, the tens of thousands of troops of Zhang Fuzhen, the new governor of Baoding, have also arrived at Jinglongkou on the north bank of the Yellow River. They will soon cross the river to the south, which will cost a lot of money.

How should we allocate this large amount of grain, meat, food, and money?

After a fierce debate, it was decided to first use some of the money from the vassal treasury, which was quite tight, and then ask the wealthy wealthy households and businesses in the city to contribute some blood, and use most of the money and food. Finally, please ask His Highness the King of Zhou. Reward a small portion.

Having reached an agreement, the governor Gao Mingheng naturally wanted to go to the palace to see His Highness the King of Zhou, report the conclusions of the discussion to the King of Zhou, and ask His Highness to also spend tens of thousands of taels of silver to comfort and rescue the officers and soldiers of Kaifeng.

He had just left the governor's office when a small group of flying cavalry rushed outside Nanxun Gate, shouting loudly toward the top of the city, saying that they were sent by the governor Ding Qirui who came to help and that they had important documents to hand-deliver to the governor Gao Mingheng.

This group of officers and soldiers has a total of eleven cavalry, and they are accompanied by twenty Yulin cavalry from the Yongyi Army. Their badges and identities have obviously been checked, but the fighting has not stopped, and the Nanxun Gate is still closed as before.

However, it was no longer as tense as when the thieves besieged the city. He was accompanied by the knights of the Yongyi Army. He quickly opened a gap and carefully checked the waist tag, only to see the three words "Zhang Jinzhong" written on it.

Then after seeing Ding Qirui's arrows he brought and the official letter from Governor Gao Mingheng, he immediately invited Zhang Jinzhong to enter the city. However, the ten cavalry who came with him were left outside the city gate.

…………

At the same time, a meeting was also taking place in the Zhou Palace in the north of Kaifeng City, and all the people who could appear here were extraordinary.

In the main hall of the Zhou Palace, there is a large throne at the top and in the middle. King Zhou Zhu Gongzhen is sitting on it. Sitting in the first place on the left side is a young man. He is very eye-catching in a bright red python robe. He is exactly ——Yongningbo Zhang Cheng, and in the same position opposite Zhang Cheng is the new governor Zhang Fuzhen.

It stands to reason that Zhang Fuzhen was once Zhang Cheng's immediate boss, and even now he is the dignified governor-general, commanding the military of Baoding, Shandong, and Hebei provinces. He is a high-ranking official and should sit first on the left.

However, although Zhang Cheng serves as the chief military officer of Xuanfu Town, he has an imperial title. He is a superior being. If he is a senior official, how can he be compared to Zhang Fuzhen?

Looking around the main hall, except for His Royal Highness the King of Zhou, who is firmly seated at the top, no one has a more noble status than Yongning Bo. Even so, Zhang Cheng still showed some humility, but who is Zhang Fuzhen? Naturally, he He didn't care about these superficial things, and after some concessions, he sat on the right side.

Gao Mingheng's seat is also on the right, condescending to Zhang Fuzhen, and behind him are the patrol censor Ren Jun, the left chief minister Liang Bing and other frontier officials.

On the left, under Zhang Cheng, the Bo of Yongning, sat guarding the road, Su Zhuang, followed by Chen Yongfu, the commander-in-chief of Henan Province, and then Sun Shixiang and Wei Zhice, who accompanied Zhang Cheng to meet Zhou King Zhu Gongxu.

In fact, before Gao Mingheng entered the palace, Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng and Baoding Zhang Fuzhen had already chatted with the King of Zhou for a while. Now the bandits are heading south to Zhuxian Town, the siege of Kaifeng has been lifted, and there are Yongyi Army and Baoding Army outside the city. While stationed, King Zhou was in a good mood.

He did not express any objection to Gao Mingheng's proposal of laboring the army. Although after two battles to defend the city, the palace spent a lot of money on food and silver, the King of Zhou was very open-minded in this regard, which can be said to be The example of the vassal kings in the late Ming Dynasty!

However, Gao Mingheng felt a little intolerant of Gao Mingheng's proposal to reward Ding Qirui and Zuo Liangyu's officers and soldiers, while treating the Yongyi Army and Baoding Army slightly less favorably, and actually comforted Uncle Yongning in the main hall.

Although Zhang Cheng looked flattered on the surface, he sneered at this in his heart because he knew very well that there were still great variables in the war in Zhuxian Town!

Even now, he has not made a decision. Should he kill and help Zuo Liangyu, or watch him and the intruder consume each other?

With only a trace of memory remaining, Zhang Cheng knew that the outcome of the battle in Zhuxian Town was that King Chuang won a complete victory, but he had no idea what the course of the battle was.

I just remember that King Chuang used Zhuxian Town to defeat Yuwei, and once again besieged Kaifeng for several months. Finally, he dug up the Yellow River and flooded Kaifeng City!

"Gao Futai, is it too early to talk about the labor force?" The first questioning voice came from the mouth of Baoding Governor Zhang Fuzhen.

After listening to Zhang Fuzhen's words, Zhou Wang Zhu Gongqi was slightly dissatisfied and said: "Director Zhang, why did you say this? If it weren't for the military emergency in Zhuxian Town, why would the thieves abandon so much food, grass, wealth and rush away in a hurry!"

Naturally, Zhang Fuzhen couldn't refute Zhou Wang Qiansui. He looked at Zhang Cheng with a kind face and said: "My lord, you are a thief who has gone against the odds and cannot be defeated in a single battle. The reason why he left in a hurry is to seize Zhuxian Town." The favorable geographical situation in the surrounding areas is intended to block the officers and troops of Ding, Yang and Zuoping, so that they cannot advance further and cannot form a rivalry with Kaifeng. This is not a sign of defeat, but at most it will be a stalemate. That’s all.”

In fact, as early as at Taojiadian Ferry, Zhang Fuzhen had already analyzed the current situation with Zhang Cheng. Although the words just now came from his mouth, they represented the meaning of both him and Zhang Cheng, which meant that The collective opinions of the northern troops aiding Henan.

"If the situation was not urgent, why would the thief abandon more than 20,000 tons of wheat and beans and not take them away with the army?"

Faced with the questioning of Liang Bing, the chief envoy, Zhang Fuzhen said nothing, but looked at Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng with a smile. Obviously, he did not want to make himself the target of public criticism, but was urging Zhang Cheng to speak out. "It's beyond the reach of the feudal lord, please listen to what I have to say!"

Seeing Zhang Cheng speak, everyone in the main hall turned to look at him, wanting to hear his extraordinary opinions on this matter. Under the gaze of everyone, Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng said slowly: "Reinforcements are coming from the south. Although it is said that there are 400,000, in fact, there are, at most, no more than 200,000 horses.

Ding Du's headquarters only has more than 20,000 troops, and Yang Du's troops are even less, only around 10,000. Among them, there are only thousands in the Tiger Commander's camp, which can be called elites, and the rest can't be mentioned.

However, Pingthief General Zuo Kunshan has the largest number of troops, with as many as 140,000 to 50,000. However, there are many camp heads, so he may not be able to completely control and execute orders and prohibitions like an arm and a finger. "

When Zhang Cheng said this, his eyes stopped on the face of Henan Governor Gao Mingheng and asked: "Does Governor Gao really think that with these, he can really defeat Li Thief in Zhuxian Town?"

Gao Mingheng had a slightly displeased look on his face. He stared at Zhang Cheng and asked, "According to Uncle Yongning's wishes, we will send out all our troops and form a camp in Zhuxian Town. Together with Governor Ding and General Zuo, we will attack Li Thief." "?"

Not only Gao Mingheng, but also all the civil and military officials in the hall focused their attention on Uncle Yongning, looking forward to his answer. Even Zhou Wang Zhu Gongzhen looked the same.

Uncle Yongning looked at the people in the hall, smiled slightly, and said: "Masters, please think about it. Li thieves and Cao thieves joined together, with tens of thousands of thieves, and hundreds of thousands of hungry people. Now they are sweeping across How can Zhongzhou's remaining power be easily defeated?

Not to mention that there are tens of thousands of brave and old thieves in his camp, but also the hundreds of thousands of hungry people who are trapped there without any resistance and let us kill them. I'm afraid it will take several days. By then I will When the soldiers are exhausted and the best soldiers are out, how can they fight with them? "

Zhang Chengyan paused for a moment before continuing: "Everyone should know that although Thief Li is very powerful now, he is still a rogue bandit. He is still like a tree without roots. He kills all the way and overtakes the city. Relying solely on plunder to maintain food and grass expenses will not last long.

Now the battle under the city of Kaifeng is for me a battle to protect the foundation of the country. If Kaifeng is lost, the entire land of Zhongzhou will fall into the hands of thieves, and millions of people will no longer be able to benefit from the emperor's grace.

Think about it again, if the Li thieves captured Kaifeng, they would use this as a basis to send officials everywhere to appease the people, further calm people's hearts, and then plow the fields for military supplies and recruit troops to conquer the four directions.

At that time... the thieves can cut off water transportation by going east; they can occupy Shaanxi and Gansu by going west; they can invade Huguang and Jiangnan by going south; and they can attack the capital directly by going north, endangering the Holy One. "

Zhang Cheng continued with a solemn expression: "Today's battle in Kaifeng is, to the thieves, a battle where the earth snake turns into a dragon. If Li thieves wins this battle, the land of Zhongzhou will be free to run wild, and the imperial court will be in trouble. Mobilize heavy troops to fight against it."

"What...what does Uncle Yongning mean?"

Zhou Wang Zhu Gong was so angry that he couldn't help asking Zhang Cheng what he meant.

"This uncle believes that our division should focus on defending the city and stick to the line from the North Gate to Taojiadian. But as long as this channel is in our hands, grain and baggage can be transported in an endless stream from the north bank of the river. Why should we be afraid of being surrounded by thieves for a long time? With this strong city, not to mention a few months, even a year or two, Li thieves can't break it!"

Inspector Ren Jun suddenly asked: "Uncle Yong Ning means... we don't need to recruit troops, nor do we need to send troops to Zhuxian Town, we just need to defend Kaifeng?"

Seeing that Zhang Cheng did not answer, the chief envoy Liang Bing said to the side: "I think it is better to prepare the money and food for the labor army first. Even if Governor Ding and General Zuo cannot defeat the rebel army in Zhuxian Town, it will take a lot of effort to defend the city in the future." It’s not useful.”

Ren Jun had no objection to what Liang Bing said, but he refused to let Zhang Cheng go and continued to ask: "Excuse me, Uncle Yong Ning, do you think Zhuxian Town should be saved?"

Zhang Cheng was not impressed by Ren Jun's aggressiveness, but he did not want to answer his question directly. Instead, he turned to look at Henan Commander-in-Chief Chen Yongfu who was sitting next to him, and said to him: "Commander Chen, you Having been in charge of military affairs for a long time and guarding the city twice, I already know the strength of the Li thieves. What do you think of the war in Zhuxian Town?"

Although Chen Yongfu is the commander-in-chief of Henan Province, due to his high civil and military status, he actually does not have much say in Kaifeng Prefecture. According to the usual military discussions, he rarely speaks and offers advice unless he has no choice but to do so. Speaking out, after all, once the military fails, those civilian officials can still use excuses to clear themselves of responsibility. As the highest military attache in the province, he cannot escape the blame.

However, today is different from the past, not to mention Zhang Cheng asking him with the honor of Yongning Bo, not to mention the comradeship they had when the thieves first surrounded Kaifeng, even if it was for himself, Kaifeng City would not survive. Even if he fell into the hands of thieves, he would also speak out for himself.

"The two thieves who broke into Cao Cao gathered together. Although there were tens of thousands of thieves, there were only more than ten thousand old thieves among them. The rest were mostly deserters from the thieves and young men who were kidnapped by them. If you are alone, In terms of combat power, they are not necessarily much stronger than us.

However, the advantage of thieves is that they can order and prohibit them, and they can roam the land of Zhongzhou, plundering a lot of food and grass, and their troops are ferocious, making them really difficult to defeat.

On the other hand, although our division is not much weaker than the bandits in terms of military strength, it is divided into many groups. For example, Governor Ding and General Zuo at Zhuxian Town are one group, with the largest strength, reaching 150,000 or 60,000 troops.

Our army defending the city is the weakest. Even if we include the brave civilians and soldiers in the city, there are only more than 30,000 people. In terms of numbers alone, they are not as good as the troops and horses led by Yong Ningbo, let alone the number of armored and armed soldiers. However, there is also a big gap in training. Defending the city is still a reluctant task, but fighting in the field is tantamount to death. "

Chen Yongfu saw that everyone in the hall was listening and no one raised any objections, so he boldly continued: "Everyone knows that Du Ding and Du Yang are two officers and soldiers in one place, and Zuo Liangyu A single family often goes out of control. When they faced off against the rebels outside Zhuxian Town, they did not have the upper hand in terms of strength, and their morale was not as good as the rebels..."

He finally asserted: "In my opinion... the battle in Zhuxian Town is pretty good if it can be fought 50-50!"

"Zuo Shuai is still a very capable fighter, and Hu Dawei is also a fierce general... It shouldn't be that serious, right?"

Faced with the question posed by Chief Envoy Liang Bing, no one in the hall answered. Almost everyone's eyes were focused on Yongning Bo Zhang Cheng, even Henan Commander-in-Chief Chen Yongfu, whose eyes were full of hope.

Obviously, he responded to Zhang Cheng just now and told the truth, and now he also hopes that Zhang Cheng can come out and give him affirmative words to clear the doubts of the princes in the hall.