national surname chiming

Chapter 239 Meeting Li Zicheng

Fang Kongxuan and Fang Ziling chose to stay in the capital temporarily as eyeliners, and they also followed Zhou Yanru's line.

Zhou Yanru naturally regarded them as Shen Shuren's allies, and occasionally asked them about the progress of the military situation between Shen Shuren and Li Zicheng on the front lines of Henan and Huguang.

Of course, the Fang family is also very measured, and they definitely can't say anything about military secrets. After all, who knows what kind of sieve the elites in Beijing and China have been infiltrated into.

However, the part that does not involve military aircraft strategy can still be said.Moreover, after some words have been cleared, Zhou Yanru and Chen Xinjia can rest assured that Kaifeng City can still hold on, so as not to induce Chongzhen to force the frontline governors to seek a quick decisive battle.

For the imperial court in the late Ming Dynasty, the worst thing for the governor in front was to force you to make a quick decision.Regardless of Yang Sichang, Zuo Liangyu, Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou, it can be said that they all suffered from it.

Before the Battle of Songshan, Hong Chengchou was forced to fight quickly by the logistics pressure of the Ministry of War. There are many examples of this kind.

It seemed that Chongzhen was just using his abacus every day to figure out how to fight on the front line. Why did he spend another day of fighting and spend my money for an extra day?Are you supporting soldiers and supporting bandits?Can you finish playing quickly so that I don't have to spend money?
In the end, Hong Chengchou's 10,000+ people were given away for nothing, so there was no need for Chongzhen to pay wages and transport military rations, which completely saved money at the root.

After Zhou Yanru and Chen Xinjia stabilized, Shen Shuren on the front line could finally solve the problem of Kaifeng relief at his own pace without being forced.

……

The words are divided into two parts.

At the same time as the rewards, exonerations, and mediation in the capital, the front lines of Huguang and Xinyang Prefecture in Henan, under the rectification of Shen Shuren, gradually made preparations for the battle with Li Zicheng in the past one month.

Don't think that Shen Shuren was procrastinating, since it involved fighting hundreds of thousands of enemy troops, it was completely appropriate to spend a month preparing.In particular, a considerable part of the main force of his troops had just returned from the front line in Hengzhou in the south.

Fighting in subtropical jungle areas like Hengzhou in June and July, the troops were already in poor condition and the number of patients was extremely high. When they returned to the Central Plains in August, it was time to take a good rest and recuperate.

It would be great if the soldiers could re-adapt to the climate, water and soil environment in northern Hubei and southern Henan in one month.If you rush into the battle, you will definitely lose a lot of combat power due to the rapid changes in the weather and environment.

Therefore, after Shen Shuren fully investigated and found out the enemy's situation, he set the schedule for the decisive battle in mid-September.

During the preparation period from mid-August to mid-September, he was not idle.The first is to further rectify and check the production capacity of the military industry during this period,
After all, when he fought Zhang Xianzhong before, the firearms he was equipped with were all produced by the Daye Military Factory by the end of April.Now, of course, five, six, seven, and eighty-four months of production capacity and inventory can be cleared out and allocated to combat troops by category.

After more than a year of upgrading and construction, the production capacity of Daye Military Factory has also been further expanded.

When they were in Huangzhou, Shen Jiajun could only produce more than 300 firearms per month, but when they first arrived in Daye, the number soared to [-] to [-].Now that Daye has been under construction for a year, this number has further expanded to about two thousand——

Of course, the [-] is the number of Lumi guns and high-precision bird guns produced.If you switch to other heavy firearms, it will be reduced proportionally.

For example, you can only make four or five hundred turtledove guns, and you can make about eight hundred for all double-barreled rear-mounted spray guns.The revolver is the most complicated, and all the production capacity is devoted to making revolvers, but it is less than [-] pieces per month.

Of course, it is actually impossible to switch all productions, because there are quite a few low-end craftsmen whose craftsmanship cannot reach the level of producing rotary machines at all. The products they make are either stuck when rotating, or the gaps are too large to leak air and cause serious fire.

Only the [-]-[-]% craftsmen with the best skills can reach the level of making runners.This is already the result of Song Yingxing and Song Mingde's uncle and nephew repeatedly helping to improve the process, dismantle the process, train craftsmen, and improve the standardization of measuring tools.

In a word, after the newly-produced muskets from May to August were equipped in Shen Shuren's troops, the number of high-quality firearms in the army also increased from just over [-] to [-]-[-]——

The main reason is that the fierce battle with Zhang Xianzhong for more than two months before was also very intense, and the firearms were also worn out. A considerable part of the barrels of the weapons were worn out, so the newly produced six or seven thousand muskets were not a net increase. , about one or two thousand, to be used to offset the previous loss.

However, in addition to newly-made firearms, Shen's army also has another source of equipment, which is to directly receive equipment from newly attached friendly troops.

As mentioned earlier, before Shen Shuren fought against Zhang Xianzhong, he already claimed to have [-] soldiers and horses, and Liu Guoneng and Huang Degong were also nominally under his command.

But at that time, he was only Wanfu after all, so the armies of other prefectures in Huguang were not under his control.

Now at the beginning of September, Chongzhen finally received Yang Sichang's legacy, and after discussion, Shen Shuren was formally redesignated as the governor of Huguang, so of course all the officers and soldiers in the Huguang area belonged to him.

Shen Shuren spent about ten days visiting and taking inventory, meeting with new subordinates from various places, befriending, and listening to the situation. He was very busy. He had recognized all the people and established basic mutual trust.

During this process, the [-] to [-] troops that Fang Kongxuan originally left in Jiangling, Yiling and other places were the most thoroughly received by Shen Shuren. After a little money, welfare, and military supplies, their loyalty was immediately guaranteed.

After all, these troops were more loyal to the other party, Kong Xing. After Fang Kong Xing was killed, Fang Kong Xing left a message, and of course the relevant generals directly switched to the new owner without any cognitive obstacles.

Moreover, among Shen Shuren's subordinates, there are quite a few civil servants and military generals who have a good personal relationship with the old Jiangling army, and they are very familiar with each other.

For example, Fang Yizhi, he was originally the eldest son of the original leader of the Jiangling Army, the old Futai left, and he should work for the new boss of the eldest son.

Jin Shenghuan, Wang Deren and other Jianglings were originally seconded by Shen Shuren from Fang Kongzhang. Now, of course, they are asked to bring back a battalion of the backbone of the Shen family army, and use these two battalions to take the lead to wipe out the nearly [-] Jiangling army. After mastering it, no matter how good the training is, we will strive to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible and keep up with the training rhythm of the Shen family army.

And as a meeting gift, or evidence that Xinfutai valued them, Shen Shuren, through Fang Yizhi, gave these 2 people a thousand Lumi guns newly produced by the Daye Military Factory, plus some armor,
The morale of these officers and soldiers immediately improved a bit, and they became more confident that Futai would reuse them equally in the future.

In addition to the nearly 2 people left behind by Fang Kongzhang, Shen Shuren recruited a larger force, which came from the original official army in southern Hunan, as well as the captured prisoners after the annihilation of Zhang Xianzhong's new army.

In the previous decisive battle, Zhang Xianzhong's new recruits in the Huguang area in the past few years were basically wiped out, but only about half of them were killed or seriously injured, and [-] to [-] were captured alive.

Of course, these people can't all be used, and they have to be screened, and those who are particularly stubborn and have bad deeds will be executed if they should.

Of course, only a small number of people were executed, generally no more than [-]% of the captives. Basically, it was the same as the Romans' "law of eleven killings", which played a role in deterring and rectifying military discipline and making the rest of them reform.

After the fight with Zhang Xianzhong, Jiang Shoude, Lu Datou and others where Shen Shuren stayed in southern Hunan continued to screen out and arrest the fleeing soldiers, killing about [-] soldiers in total. The crime is more obvious and conclusive.

Of the remaining 6000 people, about [-] were incorporated into the hard labor camps, and the remaining [-] were not obvious.

However, for better control, these troops will still be left behind, mixed with sand, supervised and led by reliable veterans, and will not be immediately transferred to participate in the Kaifeng siege battle with Li Zicheng.

In addition to these people, the original Ming army officers and soldiers in Changsha, Hengzhou and other places, after temporarily surrendering to Zhang Xianzhong, finally tied up Yin Xianmin and He Yide to abandon the dark and surrender to the Ming again, of course they must also be included.

However, for this kind of recruitment, it is also necessary to screen out a few particularly naughty veterans and capricious people, and in the end they barely recruited nearly ten thousand people.

These people, together with the reformed prisoners of Zhang Xianzhong's new army, totaled [-], and they were all incorporated into the Huguang army.

And after Shen Shuren became the governor of Huguang, the last force he received was the personal soldiers left behind by Ge Lao Yang Sichang after his death——Yang Sichang and Zuo Liangyu fled all the way south to Xiangyang and Nanyang after they defeated Zhuxian Town. .Shen Shuren, Zuo Liangyu's army, was of course out of control, but Yang Sichang also brought a final force of nearly 5000 people, retreated and fled directly into Xiangyang City.

Yang Sichang's legacy form was delivered to the capital in early September, and he was still alive when Chongzhen ordered a reply.

But only a few days later, on September [-]th, Yang Sichang's lifespan finally came to an end.The envoys in the capital city walked quite fast, almost traveling three or four hundred miles a day to deliver letters.

When the decree of heaven arrived in Xiangyang, Yang Sichang learned that he himself was not finally held accountable by Chongzhen, and that Chongzhen did not harm his family because of Zhu Xianzhen's defeat. Yang Sichang finally breathed a sigh of relief, and then he couldn't hold his energy anymore. Yes, he died in the middle of the night that day.

After Yang Sichang died, there was no longer a "supervisor" in the Huguang area, and Shen Shuren was ordered to assist Sun Chuanting in another attempt to rescue Kaifeng. Of course, the [-] or [-] relatives left by Yang Sichang belonged to him.

Although this troop was the smallest among the three groups of troops recruited by Shen Shuren, it had the strongest combat effectiveness and equipment.

After all, they were confidantes who had fought with Yang Sichang for several years. They were guarded by elders, and they had never treated them badly with military pay, food, weapons and armor.Moreover, they also fought bloody battles with Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng repeatedly, and they all survived after many years of fighting.

As a result, Shen Shuren's total force also expanded from 8 before dealing with Zhang Xianzhong to 14.

Moreover, the quality of the new recruits is also good. There are almost no recruits, all of whom have been in the army for more than two or three years.The troops following Yang Sichang had more than five years of combat experience and had experienced many wars. They were definitely more elite than Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng's Henan old battalion, and they could almost trace the old Shaanxi battalion.

The troops left by Fang Kongxuan and Yang Sichang have provided Shen Shuren with about three to four thousand guns that are still usable, but basically they are mainly bird guns, and their accuracy and reliability are not as good as those made by Shen Shu. Barely usable.The rest of the old-fashioned guns that can only defend the city are not counted.

The number of firearms in Zhang Xianzhong's captured troops was much smaller. Although the number of prisoners was as high as [-], there were no less than this number of annihilation and killing. After the war, the officers and soldiers were still able to clean up the battlefield.However, the accumulated seizures in the battle against Zhang Xianzhong were only one or two thousand firearms.

These numbers, when added to the original 2 or [-] of the Shen family's army, brought the total number of firearms soldiers to [-].

After killing Zhang Xianzhong's troops, the only thing that greatly improved Shen Shuren was the size of the cavalry.

Before the final decisive battle in Hengzhou, Shen Shuren's cavalry was about 500 people, all led by Zhu Wenzhen who had returned from Liaodong.After Zhang Xianzhong's Huguang army was wiped out in the final decisive battle, thousands of horses were obtained. After excluding the battle damage and disabilities, the total number of Shen Shuren's cavalry finally reached five or six thousand.

14 soldiers, [-] cavalry, and [-] muskets, this is all the strength Shen Shuren had before fighting Li Zicheng.

Of course, it is impossible to bet all of this force on one point.Because in that case, Zhang Xianzhong, Sun Kewang, and Liu Wenxiu may bite back at any time and come back to get another vote when they see Huguang empty.

Therefore, in the decisive battle of Hengzhou, Jiang Shoude's department, which suffered the most losses, will stay in Changsha, Hengzhou and other south this year to carry out security operations and garrison.

The entire Hunan region of later generations will occupy Shen Shuren's more than 1 veterans and 2 new attached troops to deal with Zhang Xianzhong in an all-round way.

About half of Fang Kongzhang's troops in Jiangling, Yiling and other places can be transferred, and 1 people are enough.Because Sun Kewang is also gradually moving to the southwest, the pressure in the direction of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River is getting smaller and smaller.

In addition, the officials and troops in the Hunan area have also established a garrison support point in Baling at the mouth of Dongting Lake, and they can maneuver to support Changsha or Yiling at any time, so there is no need to put so many front-line troops.

The defenders in Xiangyang and Suizhou left 1 troops to monitor whether Li Zicheng might infiltrate Zuo Liangyu's defense area, which was enough.

Shen Shuren felt that there would be no future in keeping more troops in this direction, and if Li Zicheng really wanted to come, at least he might not be able to defend if he occupied several times more people.It's better to think about using the method of writing to lure Li Zicheng to disperse his troops in terms of strategic runs.

And places like Jiujiang and Anlu are now completely stable rear areas, and troops can be deployed as much as possible.

After all the calculations, Shen Shuren can gather [-] troops, [-] firearms, and [-] cavalry to go to the frontal battlefield in Xinyang Mansion.And all these preparatory work were completely completed and assembled in place in the middle of September.

At the same time, as the time came to mid-September, Chongzhen's 15-year autumn harvest season finally came to an end. The military rations of Shen Shuren's army were also very sufficient, and the pressure of transshipment was also small. The logistics situation was much better than that of Li Zicheng's army on the opposite side.

Due to successive years of natural disasters, it is impossible for the Huguang area to have a good harvest this year. However, the vigorous promotion of high-yield crops such as potatoes and corn has ensured that the people in every prefecture and county can have enough food and clothing.

The destruction of production in the Hunan area was very serious, but the killing of the population was also extremely tragic. Many lands became unclaimed land, and the entire house of the rich and powerful gentry was killed by Zhang Xianzhong.These unowned properties naturally made Shen Shuren cheaper.

From mid-August to mid-September, taking advantage of the fact that the troops were not fighting, he was even able to organize military camps to temporarily help with farm work, harvest unowned crops, and directly use them as military rations after harvesting.

According to his preliminary estimates, Zhang Xianzhong directly slaughtered at least 50 people in Hunan in the past few months this year. It is really impossible to count the exact figures in detail, so he can only give a conservative statement.

After all, tens of thousands of people were killed just in Changde Mansion surnamed Yang, and there were other ingenious names. All Changde Mansions were killed under the pretext of accumulatively adding up to 10,000+ people.

Places like Changsha are much more densely populated than Changde. A total of four prefectures were severely killed, and two or three remote mountainous prefectures were randomly killed by crossing the border. 50 is definitely not much more.

Even if the productivity is destroyed, the fields equivalent to 30 to 20 people will be completely abandoned, and the crops of [-] people will become unclaimed food that can be harvested and eaten directly. Of course, Shen Shuren will not be short of military rations needed for military expansion .

In contrast, Li Zicheng on the opposite side claimed to have more troops as he fought. Before the decisive battle with Yang Sichang and Sun Chuanting, he already had 34 troops.

In the first battle of Zhuxian Town, tens of thousands were killed and captured. After the war, Li Zicheng's total force actually swelled to 37.

It's just that it's hard to say how much of the so-called 37 people are, and how many are mobs. We can only ensure that there are so many young and strong men.

However, Henan and Shaanxi were completely destroyed this year. After half a year of bloody massacres in Henan, Kaifeng, Guide, Huaiqing, and Weihui, agricultural production had stagnated by at least half, and Li Zicheng's army could not get military rations.

To put it bluntly, Li Zicheng has actually been using corpses to solve the food problem of the troops, at least for those newly captured cannon fodder and surrendered soldiers, there are a lot of unknown dried meat.Only the direct descendants of the old camp can ensure that they eat coarse grains mixed with weeds to make porridge.

On September 9th, Shen Shuren's [-] people were all gathered in Xinyang Mansion, and advanced to the Huaihe River. The center took Ruyin, where the Huaihe River and Rushui meet, as the hub node, and could attack and retreat as well as defend.

Li Zicheng learned of the gathering situation of the Shen family army, but he didn't take it seriously, and continued to prepare to besiege Kaifeng City and wait and see what happened.

Li Zicheng also didn't want his food road to be stretched too long, so he took the initiative to march hundreds of miles to find Shen Shuren to fight.

If Shen Shuren really wanted to come, he would just wait on the spot, and it would also save the soldiers from consuming a little energy and eating a few mouthfuls of food.As long as Shen Shuren dares to cross Yancheng, or even approach Zhuxian Town, then Li Zicheng will have another victory in Zhuxian Town!
-

PS: The comment server still hasn't recovered, so let's continue with [-] words per day.

It's not that I'm lazy, it's mainly because I can't read other people's comments recently, everyone has to support them, and the number of 24-hour follow-up updates has actually dropped to more than 100...

I also understand that many book lovers don’t like to read books without comments. If a fat book friend comes back in the future and sees more than a dozen chapters in a row without bullet screens, he may think that it’s boring, so he abandons the article and even reads it. Pirated board.

So we can only spend less and more in the days when there is no barrage, and get through this time.

(End of this chapter)