weaving

Chapter 881
Looking at the smoke and dust behind the fleeing officers and soldiers, Fu Zonglong, governor of Shaanxi and the three sides, also suddenly woke up.

He shouted loudly: "I understand, you are afraid of death!"

Immediately, he said loudly: "Just now I couldn't make up my mind whether to be a loyal minister or a deserter? But at this moment, I have made up my mind. I, Fu Zonglong, should have died a long time ago. Fortunately, the emperor released me from prison. He was pardoned and asked me to supervise the division and suppress the thieves.

Today, unfortunately trapped in this place, I can only fight decisively with the lords, and I must not escape like others! "

People around are still trying to persuade them, saying that there are only Shaanxi troops left, and the soldiers are few and weak, and they can no longer stick to the Huoshaodian.

Fu Zonglong thought for a while, and then said: "You go and get all the generals above the guerrilla level to listen to the supervisor's words."

After a while, all the generals rushed to Fu Zonglong and listened to his lectures. Some of them still had a little fantasy, thinking that he would lead everyone to escape.

After this escape, Fu Zonglong seemed to have aged a lot in an instant. At this time, he said to the generals with tears: "The situation is critical now, and Zonglong is determined to repay the country's favor with his death.

All of you who are willing to flee for your life, just run away, I have made up my mind not to leave this place even half a step! "

Now gathered around Fu Zonglong, some of the generals who have not escaped have been promoted by him, some are old relatives, and some have fellowship with him.

There are also some people, although they have no special relationship with him, but they are really moved by his loyalty, and they also expect that even if they escape from the burning shop, they will be hunted down by the bandits even if they are single and weak. So for a while, no one asked the governor to escape.

Fu Zonglong saw that everyone no longer said they wanted to escape, so he continued: "Since all the lords are unwilling to be fugitive generals, then obey my orders, and we will guard this place together."

So, he withdrew all the remaining 4000 to [-] troops around the burning shop, and completely abandoned the large area of ​​defense outside.

Fu Zonglong re-divided each general's defense area according to the number of soldiers and horses. They closely surrounded the small town of Huoshaodian, set up a defense line outside, and set up a second defense line relying on the original wall.

And all the streets and alleys in the fire shop were blocked, so that once the bandits broke through the two lines of defense, they would fight with them in the streets.

After everything was deployed, Fu Zonglong comforted everyone, saying that he believed in He Renlong and Li Guoqi, the two commanders, and believed that they would definitely return to rescue them after receiving his letter.

He also said that he would write to the supervisor Ding Qirui immediately, and to the general Zuo Liangyu, the general who suppressed the bandits, asking them to come to help as soon as possible.

In the end, he even said: "I will guard this place to the death, waiting for the rescuers to attack the thieves. Within a few days, there will be rescuers coming. I hope you will live up to the imperial court..."

When he said this, Fu Zonglong suddenly thought of the greatness of the emperor's kindness, but he hadn't repaid it in case, he couldn't help crying, and all the generals also bowed their heads, deeply moved.

…………

In today's battle, Li Guo defeated the tens of thousands of officers and troops led by Fu Zonglong and Yang Wenyue with a relatively small force.

He himself personally led the army to chase down the fleeing officers, including He Renlong and Li Guoqi. Although he failed to kill or capture these two generals, he also captured many infantry soldiers of the officers and soldiers.

After being overtaken by their cavalry, many infantry of the officers and soldiers knelt down in front of the formation and begged to surrender, transforming themselves into bandit soldiers.

The Chuang army even captured a lot of mules, horses, carts and firearms. Because of the charge of the cavalry and cavalry, and because the officers and soldiers fled timidly, the casualties of the Chuang army were very slight.

A beautiful battle like this was rare in previous years!
After dusk, "a tiger" Li Guocai led his troops back and stationed five miles northwest of Huoshaodian.

While the Chuangjun soldiers were burying pots and cooking, he suddenly received a report from the sentry cavalry, saying that there were noisy voices in the Huoshaodian village, and there seemed to be signs of fleeing.

He hurriedly sent Jingqi to continue the sentry, and ordered Yang Chengzu, Tong Shoushan and other generals to be ready to fight at any time. Sure enough, not long after, he received a report from the sentry, saying that some officers and soldiers had already burned the shop. The southeast corner fled away.

Li Guo immediately ordered Tong Shoushan, Ma Shiyao, Li You and other generals to lead their own cavalry teams to pursue the fleeing enemy.

After distributing all the rebel troops, Li Guo went to Huoshaodian village to check the situation in person. He found that there still seemed to be 5000 to [-] officers and soldiers stationed in the village, and they seemed to have no intention of fleeing.

After a while, the generals who chased the deserters of the officers and soldiers returned and brought back many captured infantry. After some interrogation, they found out that only the officers and soldiers of Baoding led by Yang Wenyue had escaped.

However, Fu Zonglong's Supervising Biao Battalion, as well as some Shaanxi government troops who came to Henan Province to suppress bandits, were still stationed in Huoshaodian village and did not escape.

Li Guo and the thieves walked around the Huoshao shop, and found that the defense line of the officers and soldiers had shrunk back a lot. They seemed to have set up an outer defense line relying on the wall of the village, and they were digging trenches and building earth walls in full swing.

So, he ordered the bandits to surround the Huoshaodian to death, and no more officers and soldiers were allowed to escape. Li Guo even ordered the bandits to dig trenches immediately to trap Fu Zonglong to death in the Huoshaodian.

After returning to the camp, Li Guo still felt uneasy, so he issued another military order that the bandits who wanted to surround Huoshaodian must be careful, if Fu Zonglong escaped from the flooded area of ​​any general, he would behead him.

That night, Li Guo sent someone back to report the news of the great victory here to King Chuang, and said that he planned not to attack Huoshaodian temporarily to avoid unnecessary casualties of the soldiers.

He planned to send a small number of troops to feign attacks every day and night during these three to five days, so that the officers and soldiers stationed in the fire store would not be able to rest.

In addition, he also reported to Chuang Wang Li Zicheng that he recently heard that Ding Qirui and Zuo Liangyu stationed troops in the south of Henan, and they seemed to have the intention of coming north, especially in the past two days, the rumors became more prevalent.

It was said everywhere that Zuo Liangyu's army was going north to rescue Fu Zonglong. If it was true, Li Guo wanted not to attack Huoshaodian first, but to put the main force in ambush where Zuo Liangyu came from. Picture Fu Zonglong.

In the past few days, the bandit army dispatched a general every day, led the troops of the headquarters to pretend to attack the Huoshaodian, and even bombarded the village with the captured official artillery.

But the officers and soldiers stationed in the village didn't know whether it was a real attack or a fake attack. They were exhausted all day and night, going back and forth to defend.

Three days later, Chuang Wang Li Zicheng's oral order also came back. He commended Li Guo's entire army, especially Yang Chengzu and Tong Shoushan and other generals of Cao Ying.

So the whole camp rejoiced, beat gongs and drums, set off firecrackers, and celebrated enthusiastically.

The people sent by King Chuang also told Li Guo that because King Chuang's army was stationed between Xiping and Suiping, he even sent some troops to move to Queshan and Xinyang, so Zuo Liangyu and Ding Qirui dared not come north.

King Chuang even instructed Li Guo not to worry about Ding Qirui and Zuo Liangyu, but to besiege the Huoshao shop with all his heart, and destroy all the officers and soldiers of Fu Zonglong's department, and capture Fu Zonglong, and never allow him to escape.

After another day, the soldiers of the Chuang army obviously couldn't wait any longer, they came to look for Li Guo to ask for a fight, and asked to attack Huoshaodian immediately.

Li Guo had no choice but to bring all the generals outside the Huoshao shop to observe the movements of the officers and soldiers. Although the officers and soldiers stationed inside and outside the village were very tired, their bows and arrows were still firing vigorously, and the artillery fire continued.

He was still worried that if he stormed the Huoshaodian army now, his own soldiers would inevitably suffer heavy casualties.

Li Guo clearly remembered that when King Chuang decided to send him here, he had said to him with a serious expression: "By the way, some of the troops I gave you were old soldiers we brought from Shangluo Mountain, and some were veterans we brought here. Elite soldiers trained after Henan.

You must be good at using tactics and using your troops, but you must not have too many casualties! "

Li Guo has always followed King Chuang's orders carefully, especially the above words, he kept them in his heart.

Therefore, after inspecting the situation of the officers and soldiers in Huoshaodian, when a general came to ask him to fight, he just shook his head and expressed his disapproval.

The soldiers who entered the camp naturally understood Li Guo's intentions, and they also knew that Li Guo's decision could not be changed.

But the generals and generals in Cao Ying couldn't bear such a monotonous life, and they were more anxious to fight.

Even Yang Chengzu came to look for Li Guo himself, and said in a half-joking, half-sarcastic tone: "Brother Buzhi, since ancient times, he has never killed anyone in a war.

Although our hard attack will inevitably lead to casualties, there will be more casualties among the officers and soldiers. Once we break through the wall, the officers and soldiers will be finished.

We didn't have many casualties, but what we got in exchange was that all the officers and soldiers in the village were wiped out. We traded less for more, and we didn't lose.

Why do you refuse to listen to the persuasion of the soldiers and keep doing nothing? "

Li Guo looked at him and said, "Brother, do you think I, Li Guo, am a timid person? But I still remember my brother's nickname!"

Ancestor Yang Chengzu was taken aback, then laughed again: "Who doesn't know that your nickname is 'a tiger'?"

Li Guo also smiled and said: "Whether I am a tiger or not, I just want to stand still now.

Now, this official army is like a death row prisoner in our prison. If his food is cut off, he will starve to death by himself.

Since their death is imminent, why must we let our soldiers suffer casualties? "

He also smiled and continued: "I know that the soldiers in your camp are different from the soldiers in our camp.

If the soldiers of your battalion can't bear it any longer and are eager to fight, I will send you to lead them to attack Shangshui and Fugou counties.

What do you think? "

Yang Chengzu was very happy when he heard the words. It turned out that he had already thought that Fu Zonglong's army had almost lost all the money and food, and now there is neither much food, nor much gold, silver and jewelry, and no women.

Even if the Huoshaodian is breached in the future, it will only eliminate this group of officers and soldiers, and the profit that can be made is very small.

Now, when Li Guo said that he would lead his troops to attack the two wealthy counties of Shangshui and Fugou, he was naturally overjoyed.

He immediately replied: "As long as Brother Buzhi gives you an order, I will obey the order, and I dare not neglect."

Li Guo smiled and said to him: "It's easy for me to give orders, but...my brother, you still have to obey my three orders, and you are not allowed to violate them."

Yang Chengzu hurriedly asked without hesitation: "Which three items?"

Li Guo said: "First, you are not allowed to harass the people, rape women, and kill civilians. Second, you must sell [-]% of the captured food and property to the public, and [-]% belong to your soldiers.

Brother, you also know that when we break into the camp, we always capture all the officials, and the soldiers are not allowed to hide gold and silver.

But I also know the rules of Cao Ying, so I don't dare to be demanding on your camp, but I just ask you to pay [-]% of the time.

Can you do all of these? "

Yang Chengzu nodded his head vigorously, and said: "It can be done, it can be done. Brother Bu Zhi, tell me quickly, what is the third item?"

Li Guo saw that he was eager to ask, so he continued: "Compared with the first two, the third is much easier.

That is, after you have broken the Shangshui and Fugou, you are not allowed to stay outside, and you should immediately lead your entire battalion back to the marshal's station. "

Yang Chengzu nodded his head heavily, and said joyfully, "I can do the third item more easily. Please rest assured, brother Buzhi, I will follow the military orders of my elder brother in everything."

That night, Yang Chengzu led Cao Ying's [-] infantry cavalry and left the burning shop in a hurry.

Before leaving, he also specially said to Li Guo: "If the Zuo army comes to put out the fire and burn the shop, you can tell me immediately, brother Buzhi, and I will come back at night, and there will be no delay."

Li Guo smiled and said, "Don't worry, brother. Lao Zuo is a smart man, he doesn't dare to come anymore."

Not long after Yang Chengzu led the army, several of Li Guo's generals, including Tong Shoushan, followed the crowd and came to look for Li Guo.

They complained one after another: "Our soldiers are sleeping in the wilderness here, besieging the officers and soldiers, but you let Yang Chengzu go and let them go to Shangshui and Fugou to have fun..."

Li Guo looked at the generals who were not angry, and said with a smile: "What do you know?
The generals of the Cao camp are different from our battalion troops. We have always had strict military discipline, and everyone has become accustomed to it. With one order, we can suffer any hardship.

But the soldiers of Cao Ying had been following Cao Shuai before, and they were used to being free, so why let them stay here to complain?
On the contrary, it affects the morale of our soldiers.

Fortunately, breaking the Huoshao shop was only a matter of three or four days, and there was no need for all the troops to gather here to help.

Might as well let them go and make them happier.

As for us, no matter who breaks through these two counties, they can provide food for the old camp, whether it is public or private, it is good for us Chuang Wang. "

When everyone heard what Li Guo said, they all looked at each other and smiled, and had nothing else to say.

(End of this chapter)