weaving

Chapter 1442 No wonder they

When Li Zicheng first led his army to attack Kaifeng, Liu Tichun was captured by Zhang Cheng, who was then the deputy commander-in-chief of the relief force. However, Zhang Cheng neither killed him on the spot nor handed him over to the court for reward.

Instead, they sent Liu Tichun, who was known as "Two Tigers," out of the camp!

For this reason, the only one in the rebel army who has ever met Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, is Liu Tichun.

Sure enough, as soon as Song Xianze finished speaking, the King of Chuang's gaze shifted to Liu Tichun, and even Yuan Zongdi and the others all looked at him.

"Then... if the Grand Marshal commands, Erhu will gladly die a thousand deaths!"

Seeing his generous words, Niu Jinxing said, "Dejie is overthinking things. There's an old saying, 'When two countries are at war, envoys are not to be killed.' Zhang Cheng is both the imperial commander in charge of suppressing bandits and a count, so he naturally understands this principle. Besides, he probably doesn't intend to kill us all. Otherwise, why would he have let you return back then?"

"Moreover, if the person we send is just an unknown minor leader, it won't show our sincerity, and we're afraid they won't be able to speak up for us in front of Zhang Cheng. So... if we're going to take this approach, Dejie is the best candidate to go and persuade him," Niu Jinxing added.

Yuan Zongdi did not approve of continuing to fight the government troops to the death in Kaifeng. Firstly, their own supplies were running low and it would be difficult to hold out for long. Secondly, after the battle of Longwangmiao, morale was low and the army's spirits were already low. Under these circumstances, the best choice was to retreat and regroup, rather than fight to the death for the sake of reputation.

However, it was not appropriate to say these words directly to the rebel leader...

He pondered for a moment before speaking, "Grand Marshal, I agree with what the strategist and Mr. Niu said."

Seeing that the King of Chuang's expression was not unfriendly, Yuan Zongdi continued, "At present, our army is short of food and supplies, and it is difficult to continue to fight the government army for a long time. This is the first reason. More than half of our army consists of newly recruited government soldiers who have surrendered and local heroes. They have not been properly trained and lack coordination among themselves. This is the second reason. Our army has been fighting for years and the soldiers have not had a rest. Especially after the battle of Longwang Temple, they are even more exhausted, and their morale has been affected as a result."

Based on the above three points, the best option for our division at present is to retreat to Funiu Mountain, where we can gather and store grain while simultaneously training our troops. When the time is right, we can launch a full-scale attack to capture Kaifeng and then conquer the entire Central Plains.

At that time, it would be a simple matter of establishing officials to govern the people, managing the Central Plains, and conquering all directions; or it could be a matter of using the Central Plains as a base to return and attack Shaanxi, capture Xi'an, establish a new dynasty, and change the era name.

Yuan Zongdi's words were reasonable and well-founded, and they fully reflected the current situation of the rebel army. Although they were not entirely thorough or clear, everyone present understood them clearly.

After a moment of contemplation, the rebel leader looked at Niu Jinxing and Song Xianze, seemingly still undecided.

Niu Jinxing spoke first: "Grand Marshal, last night I heard that Chief Commander Liu is leading his troops to meet me today. Why don't we hear what Chief Commander Liu has to say then?"

After hearing this, Song Xianze shook his head slightly, but he couldn't insist too much on his own opinion, so he immediately agreed, saying, "Qidong is absolutely right. For such an important matter, we should indeed listen to General Manager Liu's opinion."

However… for now, we must still prepare for a battle with the government troops. Although Xianze guesses that Zhang Cheng will not launch another strong attack, we must not be careless, lest we fall into the government army's trap.”

"Ah."

Li Zicheng, the rebel leader, nodded and said, "Send someone to call Yufeng and Mingyuan over as well, so we can discuss this together."

"Yes," Wu Ruyi replied loudly, then turned around to arrange the transmission.

Tian Jianxiu was stationed in Tuliu Village, west of Shancheli, less than three li away from Shancheli; Liu Fangliang was stationed in Matouliu Village, east of Shancheli, also about three li away.

Because they had to patrol the camp and organize defenses at dawn, and because the rebel king had not asked them to come for a meeting, they did not come to the rebel king's headquarters.

…………

It was just past Chen Shi (7-9 AM).

Chen Zhong's Yongyi Army infantry had already occupied Shahu Liu Village, north of Shanche Li Village. There were originally more than a hundred mounted bandits stationed there, but when they saw Chen Zhong's men, they only fired a few arrows from a distance before hastily retreating.

At the same time, Chen Yongfu and Hu Zichen arrived at the left side of Shahu Liu Village and set up camp, while He Zhenxiong's standard cavalry also advanced to the right side of Shahu Liu and set up camp.

They had to protect the left and right flanks of Chen Zhong's troops, while also monitoring the movements of the rebel forces in Tu Liu Village and Ma Tou Liu Village.

The situation was somewhat better for Chen Yongfu and He Zhenxiong, as they were mainly cavalrymen, with a hundred riders per unit, arranged in small square formations, and they could direct and command from the center.

Compared to them, Chen Zhong's side was in a slightly more troublesome situation. Infantry, musketeers, and chariot soldiers needed to coordinate with each other. Chariot soldiers would fire artillery at a distance, musketeers would bombard from the middle, and infantry would hold the line in close combat.

To achieve effective infantry-artillery coordination, the art of troop deployment is crucial. Each unit must be arranged in a specific order so that they can cooperate and protect each other without hindering their independent operations.

However, to Chen Zhong's surprise, the bandits just stood there dumbfounded watching him deploy his troops, without sending out a single soldier to harass him.

"This... doesn't make sense!" Xiang Jinbao muttered softly to Chen Zhong.

Chen Zhong shared the same thought. He had just taken his guards on horseback and circled the enemy ranks, and sure enough, he did not see any unusual movements from the enemy.

"Master Chen, should we have the brothers try to launch a surprise attack?" Xiang Jinbao asked.

"No rush. The commander's order is simply to contain the main force of the enemy. If the enemy doesn't move, I won't move either."

"But... how will we know if the main force of the enemy is still here if we don't launch an attack?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhong scratched his head. He raised his binoculars on his horse and observed carefully for a while before saying, "Judging from the flags, the main force of the rebel army should still be here. Besides, General Lin has already sealed off the surrounding area. The movement of the main force of the rebel army must be on a large scale, and it is impossible that we did not notice it at all."

Xiang Jinbao nodded: "Then shall we just stay here?"

"Go and lead a unit of infantry to cover the advance of sixty artillery pieces, fire one shot, and see how the enemy reacts."

"Yes."

…………

When Xiang Jinbao led his troops to launch an artillery barrage, Liu Zongmin had just arrived at the rebel king's camp.

"Damn it, don't the soldiers ever run out of ammunition?" Liu Tichun muttered.

Liu Zongmin glared at him, then looked at Yuan Zongdi, Dang Shousu and the others, and said in a deep voice: "With hundreds of thousands of troops in your hands, you can't even defeat a mere thirty to fifty thousand government soldiers? What are you all good for?"

Yuan Zongdi opened his mouth, but held back from explaining, and Liu Tichun and the others dared not utter a word.

"Sigh. Jiexuan, this isn't their fault." Fortunately, Chuang Wang came out to help them out of the predicament.

"Chuang Wang, the situation in Zhuxian Town is not good!" Liu Zongmin's first words to Chuang Wang were enough to shock him.

"what's the situation?"

The rebel leader seemed a little anxious: "Quickly, come inside and explain in detail."