weaving

Chapter 1205 Father and Son, Two Heroes

In a hall in the Yingcheng Prince Garden outside the Bian Dike in the north of Kaifeng City, Liang Bing, the Left Governor of Henan, looked bewildered. He looked at the general Chen Yongfu opposite him and asked, "General Chen, you know the military affairs in the city best. In your opinion, can we send some elite soldiers to Zhuxian Town to help the Earl of Yongning?"

After listening to Liang Bing's words, Chen Yongfu was silent for a moment, then he clasped his fists and said, "Liang Fantai, Governor Zhang, although there are no traces of the bandits outside Kaifeng City, the bandits are cunning and treacherous, and they are good at buying traitors and launching sneak attacks, so we must be on guard.

Moreover, there are more than 100,000 refugees inside and outside the city, and they also need to be strictly managed and guarded. Therefore, I think the Kaifeng defenders should not go out lightly, but the cavalry will be temporarily left in the city, which is of no great use for the time being. I think we can send 1,000 elite cavalry, led by guerrilla Chen De, to the Yongning Earl's army to serve as a help. "

Zhang Fuzhen had been in the military for a long time, so he knew that these 1,000 elite cavalrymen could defeat nearly 10,000 infantrymen. He also did some research before coming to Henan to help suppress the rebellion. He immediately said to Chen Yongfu, "Chen Youji is skilled in archery and horsemanship, and is especially good at shooting. The arrow shot by him disabled Chuangni's left eye. He personally praised this, and this governor has also heard about it."

Whenever Chen De's heroic deeds were mentioned, Chen Yongfu's face would be filled with smiles. Moreover, today it was Baoding Governor Zhang Fuzhen who mentioned it in person, which made him feel proud.

"No, no... Governor Zhang, you are overpraising me. I was able to shoot and injure the rebels, and it was all thanks to God's help."

Zhang Fuzhen smiled and said, "General Chen, why should you be so modest? The court is well aware of your contribution in defending Kaifeng. It is true that 'a good father will have a good son, and both father and son are heroes'!"

Since Chen Yongfu had already replied that he would send troops, there was no need to dwell on the matter any further. Zhang Fuzhen immediately moved on to the next topic: "Liang Fantai, Yongning Bo led his troops to confront the bandits in Zhuxian Town. The supply of food and military supplies must not be delayed for even a moment."

"Please rest assured, Governor Zhang. The Earl of Yongning has come a thousand miles to lead his troops to aid Henan. We, the officials and people of Henan Province, will not let the soldiers down."

After he finished speaking, he changed the subject and continued in a slightly euphemistic way, "But Governor Zhang also knows that there is not much food stored in the city, and now we are just trying to hold on. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of people inside and outside the city, and we can't ignore them. Although there is still some surplus food, it is not enough to support the long-term consumption of the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses brought by Yongning Earl.

But the soldiers led by Governor Zhang and Earl Yongning came to help our Henan Province. Governor Gao and I have jointly submitted a petition to the court, requesting the allocation of grain to help Henan Province, so as to avoid the plan to suppress the bandits being ruined due to a lack of grain and grass!"

When Liang Bing said this, he turned his head and looked at Cao Kun, the attendant of the Prince Zhou's palace, and said, "The Prince Zhou also wrote to the emperor, asking for grain to help Kaifeng solve its urgent problem."

Zhang Fuzhen nodded and said, "The Earl of Yongning and I, the governor, have been ordered by the emperor to come to help Kaifeng and suppress the bandits. However, we are foreign troops after all and cannot stay in Henan for long. Once the siege of Kaifeng is lifted, we will have to withdraw.

When the time comes, the rebellion and chaos in Zhongzhou will ultimately depend on you to solve it, so... you should take advantage of the fact that Yongning Earl's army is still there and do your best to ensure the supply of food and military supplies, so as to deal a heavy blow to the bandits. In this way... you will have much less pressure in the future!"

Everyone then discussed some details. Cao Kun, Liang Bing and others tried their best to invite Zhang Fuzhen to stay in the city, but he politely declined. He only said that after a few days, when the army was settled, he would come to the city to pay a personal visit to King Zhou.

Two days later, Zhang Guangda's Suzaku Camp and Cao Shixi's Zhending Camp set out south to Zhuxian Town to support the Earl of Yongning, while only several thousand troops from Zhang Fuzhen's camp were left in Yingcheng County Prince's Garden.

…………

Half a day of bombardment, half a day of fierce fighting, and it didn't stop until night. On May 17, the total number of troops deployed by both sides in the battle at Shuipoji exceeded 150,000. On the battle line that stretched for dozens of miles, large and small battles broke out one after another without interruption, and the fighting did not stop until the evening.

Zuo Liangyu sat on the tiger-skin chair with red eyes. He saw that all the generals in the tent looked exhausted. He listened to the battle reports from each camp and made nervous calculations in his mind.

The troops of Yang Wenyue and Hu Dawei were completely defeated. Although the camps of his left army fought hard, the enemy took advantage of the situation and destroyed three camps, resulting in the loss of more than 10,000 men and horses, which really made him heartbroken.

Especially since Yang Wenyue and Hu Dawei ran away, his left army was directly facing the main forces of the two bandits Chuang Cao in the northwest and east directions, which put a lot of pressure on him.

Ding Qirui did not suffer any losses in today's battle because he was in a protected middle position. However, with the collapse of Yang Wenyue's Baoding army, Shuipo Ji where his central army was located was also exposed.

For this purpose, Ding Qirui, as the commander-in-chief, summoned Zuo Liangyu, Yang Dezheng, Fang Guoan and others to the headquarters to discuss matters. Originally, he wanted to force Zuo Liangyu to send troops to build a new camp to the west of Shuipoji as a barrier for his central army.

Zuo Liangyu just didn't agree, and he had one and only one reason: after the war, the troops were exhausted and temporarily unable to move camps and change defenses, so he asked Governor Ding to find another way.

After much persuasion from Ding Qirui, Zuo Liangyu finally agreed reluctantly. However, he also pointed out that the troops in his camps were exhausted and the relocation should not be rushed.

There is still no conclusion on how to deal with the next round of war.

Ding Qirui meant to continue to hold the position and wait for changes. He thought that judging from the attack on Yang Wenyue by the enemy army today, they had not sent out all their main forces. Even in the subsequent pursuit, there were only a few cavalry of the enemy army. It can be seen that nearly half of their main forces were guarding against the army of Yongning Earl in the north of Zhuxian Town.

However, even an attack of this scale as today's was too much for him to bear. If there was another round tomorrow, Ding Qirui really didn't know if he could withstand it.

His idea now was actually very simple, which was to push Zuo Liangyu forward as much as possible.

Because Yang Dezheng was his man, and although Fang Guoan belonged to Zuo Liangyu's faction, he was also the general commander of a town at that time. How could he be under Zuo Liangyu for long? It was only because Zuo Liangyu's power was too strong that Fang Guoan had no choice but to do so.

Ding Qirui firmly believed that once Zuo Liangyu's strength decreased slightly and Fang Guoan's strength increased slightly, Zuo Liangyu would no longer be able to fully control them.

The current layout is that Ding Qirui's standard camp is stationed in Shuipo Ji, Yang Dezheng's troops are stationed in the northwest of Shuipo Ji, and Fang Guoan's troops are stationed in the southwest of Shuipo Ji.

Originally, Yang Wenyue and Hu Dawei's troops were stationed in the west and northwest of Shuipoji, which could completely protect Ding Qirui in the middle. However, they ran away, and someone had to take over this place.

However, Ding Qirui didn't know that Zuo Liangyu had other thoughts at this moment...