weaving

Chapter 1176: Enemies from both sides

When Zuo Liangyu summoned his generals to arrange the withdrawal, the strategy of launching an offensive against Shuipoji was being discussed in Yuewang Temple in Zhuxian Town.

Because they learned from the captives that suspicion had arisen between Zuo Liangyu and Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue, and that they had different opinions on the strategies of war and defense and could not reach a consensus. Moreover, due to the lack of water and food, their situation was extremely difficult and they were on the verge of collapse.

Therefore, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai summoned Liu Zongmin, Song Xiance and other civil and military officials to discuss how to proceed with the next war and whether the time for a decisive battle had arrived.

According to the original plan, they would first attack the camps of Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue, leaving Zuo Liangyu aside for the time being, so as to cooperate with the previous strategy of alienation. Even Liu Zhongwu, the captain of the left camp, was deliberately taken to Yang Wenyue's Baoding Army headquarters before being released, with the purpose of allowing Yang Wenyue to capture him.

Judging from the current situation, all the previous measures seem to have achieved their goals. What we need to discuss today is when to start concentrating artillery and manpower to bombard the various camps in Zuoying and use all our strength to force Zuo Liangyu to abandon the Ding and Yang armies and escape first.

However, none of them expected that Zuo Liangyu, who was as cunning as a fox, did not want to give them the opportunity to attack him with all his strength, and arranged for the entire division of nearly 100,000 troops to escape in advance.

However, the military discussion tonight by the civil and military officials of the two camps of Chuang Cao was not just about attacking the government troops at Shuipo Ji, but also about a sudden piece of news that made them very difficult.

General Hao Yaoqi arrived the latest. For several days, he had been leading the cavalry to set fire to the wheat in the south of Shuipoji, attacking and disrupting the enemy camp, and monitoring the movements of the government troops.

Because he was operating on the side and rear of Shuipoji, which was a little far away and he had to take a detour, even though he came to Yuewang Temple on horseback, he was still a little later than the others.

Hao Yaoqi also brought everyone new news: he had discovered several Ming army scouts, each with about ten riders. They were well-equipped, extremely brave, and well-coordinated. They were especially good at using hand cannons, which could make a thunderous roar when they raised their hands. Those who were hit within twenty steps were hard to save. Three of them had already broken through his defense zone and were heading for Shuipoji, the government garrison. They might be Kaifeng defenders from other places who came to contact Shuipoji.

The new information he brought was consistent with the government scouts discovered by Yuan Zongde earlier, and their equipment and combat performance were also consistent with the small groups of government troops that had frequently appeared in the north of Zhuxian Town in the past one or two days.

After Yuan Zongde discovered that the government army's sentinels had failed to block the enemy's advance, a large number of government army's sentinels appeared in the north. They were also divided into groups of about ten people, moving east, west, far, and near. They acted independently and in coordination, and had completely suppressed the scouts of Chuang Cao's two camps within five miles in front of the camp.

For this reason, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai also sent a large group of cavalry to encircle and block the rebels, but these small scout teams of the government army were very alert. When they encountered a large group of scout teams of the rebel army, they retreated until four or five teams of troops gathered together, then they turned around and fought back. They were similar to the small group of government troops that Hao Yaoqi encountered. Each of them had a hand cannon. When they raised their hands, there would be a loud bang, and anyone hit would be difficult to save. Moreover, each of them was skilled in riding, shooting and cavalry combat. Forty or fifty people could resist a hundred cavalrymen of the rebel army.

The sudden change completely disrupted Li Zicheng's military deployment...

Just as the King of Chuang was thinking about how to adjust the military deployment to deal with this change, Hao Yaoqi could not help but walk up to him and interrupted, "King of Chuang, give the order to attack Ding Qirui, the old dog, and Zuo Liangyu, the old fox, tomorrow. My troops are stationed eight miles southwest of Shuipoji. We can go around and kill them directly.

As long as we defeat Ding Laogou and Zuo Huli, even if the government troops have reinforcements coming from Kaifeng, what can they do to us? We will still kill them like a piece of cake!"

Li Zicheng ignored him, but Hao Yaoqi was right in one point, that is, if they could defeat the government troops in front of Shuipoji first, they would be able to calmly deal with the government reinforcements coming from the north. However, whether to take this risk is still under discussion. After all, if they cannot defeat the government troops in Shuipoji in one fell swoop, they may be attacked from both sides by the government troops, and the situation will be reversed immediately.

Thinking of this, Li Zicheng turned around and looked at Luo Rucai, and asked him: "Rucai, you are known for your many ideas. What should we do about today's matter?"

"Didn't we get news a few days ago that the Yongning Earl of Xuanfu led his troops to come to support us and has already stationed in Kaifeng City?"

Luo Rucai narrowed his eyes and continued, "I heard that the Grand Marshal had fought with him when he first surrounded Kaifeng. He should know a thing or two about Zhang Cheng of Xuanfu..."

When he said this, he smiled and kept silent, kicking the ball back to Li Zicheng.

Fortunately, Song Xiance said, "Logically speaking, the Kaifeng defenders would not dare to leave the city to challenge me, so we can basically predict that the government troops in the north must be the border troops coming to support Xuanda."

Naturally, no one objected to this. Song Xiance continued, "Just as General Yaoqi said, it will be much easier to defeat the enemy in front of Shuipoji first, and then turn around to deal with the government troops in the north. However..."

It was rare for Hao Yaoqi to hear someone praising him for being right, let alone someone who was so high up in the sky like a military advisor. He felt very happy and asked loudly, "Military Advisor Song, what is that? Please continue."

Song Xiance smiled slightly and continued, "According to previous intelligence reports, a large number of government troops have gathered on the north bank of the river. Although we were unable to get close to investigate, from a distance we can see that the troops are well-organized and have a lot of artillery, which is comparable to Zhang Nai's firearms battalion..."

Everyone nodded silently when they heard this. During the past year or so, King Chuang had collected a large number of artillery pieces and even cast a batch himself. The scale of Zhang Nai's firearms battalion was already second to none in Henan and even in several surrounding provinces.

Therefore, when they heard that the firearms of Zhang Cheng's troops were comparable to those of Zhang Nai's Firearms Battalion, they were all surprised. In their opinion, this was already a terrifying level, but they did not know that the firearms equipped by Zhang Cheng's troops were not only at the level of Zhang Nai's Firearms Battalion, but were several times higher than that of Zhang Nai's Firearms Battalion.

Song Xiance continued, "Now, we only know that there are many scouts in the north, although the number is not clear, but they can suppress our scouts five miles in front of the camp, which shows that there must be more than ten thousand cavalry to do it.

Therefore, I think the most urgent thing is to know the exact location of the government troops in the north, so as to avoid them finding us and setting up camp right under our noses, which might be difficult to remove. Then we will be attacked from both sides."

"No matter how many soldiers there are in the north, can they be more than those in Shuipoji?"

Hao Yaoqi continued with a look of disdain: "So what if Zuo Liangyu is as strong as he is? He was able to defeat Zhang Xianzhong, but when he met our King Chuang, he was like a mouse meeting a cat, waiting obediently for us to take his head, not daring to resist at all."