weaving

Chapter 1217 Sooner or later, he will die at the hands of the thief Li

Bian Yongqing, the commander of the Yongyi Army, saw that the situation was a bit awkward, and hurriedly said, "Yongning Earl is loyal and diligent in the king's work, and the emperor has praised him a lot. When he came to the palace to help Henan, Yongning Earl came to the palace to meet the emperor, and the emperor praised him for being calm and capable in his work, unlike the civil servants in the court who are hesitant and timid."

At the end he looked at Fang Zhenghua and said, "Mr. Fang, you'd better not misunderstand Earl Yongning."

Although Bian Yongqing and Fang Zhenghua were both eunuchs in charge of writing in the palace, and one of them supervised the military in Baoding Prefecture, an important town in southern capital, and the other supervised the military in Xuanfu, one of the nine important towns on the border, they seemed to have equal weight in the eyes of the emperor. However, Bian Yongqing was much older than Fang Zhenghua after all. Moreover, he had brought back one million taels of silver for the emperor as the supervisor of the military in Xuanfu. Since this incident, his status in the palace had risen, which indeed aroused the jealousy of many people.

What he just said may seem insignificant, but it was Bian Yongqing's intention to warn his colleague Fang Zhenghua to prevent him from saying something more extreme, which would embarrass everyone and would be really embarrassing.

Fang Zhenghua was able to fight his way to his current position among the thousands of eunuchs in the palace, so he was certainly not a dull person. He heard from Bian Yongqing's words that Emperor Chongzhen loved Earl Yongning very much, so at least now was not the time to break off with Zhang Cheng.

"When I heard that Li the thief had such a rebellious heart, I was really angry and lost my composure. I hope Earl Yongning will not hold it against me."

Fang Zhenghua smiled awkwardly and said, "As for the war in Kaifeng, I shouldn't interfere. I'll leave it to Earl Yongning and Governor Zhang to decide everything."

Zhang Cheng naturally did not want to create an irreconcilable feud with him, so he also said with a smile: "Mr. Bian, you are not saying that. You have been supervising the army for many years under the order of the emperor. You have experienced military affairs for a long time and are familiar with military affairs. You dare not be so modest."

Fang Zhenghua smiled and was modest for a while, and the topic was over. Everyone started discussing the upcoming war again.

…………

"The key to the problem is still in Kaifeng."

Wei Zhice also joined the discussion, and continued, "Li is determined to take Kaifeng so that he can command all the rebels. So he will not turn against Cao before Kaifeng is captured."

Zhang Fuzhen already knew about the plan to recruit Xiao Yuanying. After all, Zhang Cheng invited him to jointly submit a memorial to the court to recruit Yuan Shizhong and request the title of Lieutenant General for him.

Zhang Fuzhen said, "Just like Yuan Shizhong of the Xiaoyuan Camp, he was a large bandit active in the southern part of the capital and the eastern part of Henan. Li the thief even married his daughter to recruit him, intending to merge his tens of thousands of troops into his own. This matter has spread all over the country, and I think it has had a great impact on Li the thief's reputation. I'm afraid he won't dare to use the same trick again for a while."

"Not always."

Yongning Bo continued Zhang Fuzhen's words and said, "To put it bluntly, this kind of thing is like visiting a brothel. If it happens on the first day of the month, it will definitely happen on the fifteenth day. The thief Li has already made his move..."

When Zhang Cheng said this, he glanced at Fang Zhenghua and quickly changed his words, "...Since they have the intention of committing treason, they will naturally not tolerate other thieves. Just as Zhice said, Kaifeng is now hanging on to the thief Li. Once they break into Kaifeng City, they will inevitably fight among themselves for the top spot."

"Does Earl Yongning think that thief Li can really eat up thief Cao?"

Zhang Cheng glanced at Bian Yongqing and said, "Although Cao the thief calls himself Cao Cao, he is considered to be very cunning and treacherous among all the thieves, but if compared with Li the thief, he is inferior in one word."

"Which word?" Bian Yongqing asked curiously. "Huh."

Zhang Cheng said with disdain, "What other word could it be? It's nothing more than the word 'poison'."

He glanced at the officers and generals below him, and then continued in a cold tone: "As the saying goes, 'No ruthless man is a hero.' Although Cao the thief is insidious and cunning, he still has a trace of benevolence in his heart, and he has no ambitions, so he can be considered a villain at most."

After evaluating Luo Rucai, Zhang Cheng paused for a moment before continuing, "But Li the thief is different. He is the most resolute person among all the thieves. Think about the Xian thief, Cao thief, Ge Zuo and the other five thieves who have surrendered to the court. Only Li the thief is a weird one. He is determined to be a thief and will not surrender even if he dies.

His troops would gather and disperse from time to time. For example, in the battle of Tongguanyuan in the eleventh year, it was said that there were only eighteen riders left, and they fled into the Shangluo Mountains. But just over the New Year, thousands or even tens of thousands of troops came out again.

Thirteen years later, Li was trapped in the Yufu Mountains, with no food or aid. He was at the end of his rope and almost destroyed, with only a thousand or so remnants left. However, Liu the blacksmith in Li's army killed his wife to show his loyalty, which inspired other generals to follow suit. As a result, the morale of the bandits was greatly boosted, and they broke into Henan, and the situation became uncontrollable until today. "

  He said so many words in one breath, and his mouth was dry, so he stopped to drink a sip of tea before continuing: "This thief Li is as hard as iron, and he does not covet enjoyment. His subordinates are also a group of ruthless people who are willing to kill their wives to follow him. Facing such a thief Li, how can thief Cao be his opponent?

That is why I say that Li the thief is a "real man", because he is cruel and vicious enough, and will do anything to achieve his goals, unlike Cao the thief, who is treacherous and cunning but has a kind and righteous heart.

What's more, after Li captured Luoyang, his reputation grew day by day. Wherever he went in the north and south of Henan Province, people rushed to join him. With such a reputation as Li, how could Cao compare to him?

Now the Cao rebel army has about 200,000 to 300,000 troops, among which there are only about 100,000 well-trained soldiers, and 60 to 70 percent of them are under the command of Li.

That is why I dare to assert that Cao thief will die at the hands of Li thief sooner or later! "

After hearing what Earl Yongning said, Zhang Fuzhen stroked his beard and smiled without saying anything. Fang Zhenghua also nodded frequently.

Bian Yongqing then asked him, "In Earl Yongning's opinion, what will the bandits do next?"

Zhang Cheng glanced at Bian Yongqing and said with a smile: "Of course the entire army should head north to defeat us first, and then they can continue to besiege Kaifeng!"

This time it was Bian Yongqing's turn to nod without saying anything, but Fang Zhenghua, who was sitting opposite him, was unsure. He asked in a serious tone, "The bandits have 200,000 to 300,000 troops. Even if they only have over 100,000 soldiers, they are still twice as many as us. What do you think, Earl Yongning, are our chances of winning this battle?"

Before Zhang Cheng could answer his question, Zhang Guangda, who was in charge of the group, said impatiently, "Since ancient times, it has been said that 'when water comes, earth is used to cover it; when soldiers come, generals are used to stop them.' Let alone the enemy who only has a few hundred thousand soldiers, even if they had 200,000 or 300,000 soldiers, they would not be able to gain any advantage."

"The bandits are numerous, which is both their advantage and their disadvantage!"

Everyone's eyes instantly focused on Baoding Governor Zhang Fuzhen, wondering what his words meant...