Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 114 Zhu Yuanzhang showed off his military talents, and Song Lian decided to meet Zhang Cheng
When Zhu Yuanzhang was leading his cavalry to slowly speed up towards the Yuan Bing camp, hunting down the Yuan Bing sentry cavalry along the way, Ping Zhang, the commander of the Yuan Bing side, also preceded Timur, and just learned that there was a thief general leading his troops. It’s about coming down.

But first Timur was not in a hurry to see Ren Zhigong.

Because as Zhu Yuanzhang expected, he, who had always been cautious, was indeed worried that Ren Zhigong was pretending to surrender and deliberately deceived him into opening the gate of his camp. Moreover, Yuan Ting had indeed suffered a lot recently because of his imprudence.

As the commander-in-chief of the entire army, Timur had to be more cautious.

Therefore, Timur only asked Ren Zhigong to lead his horse army to temporarily station outside.

Timur also planned to observe first to see if any other thief cavalry appeared.

While Ye Xian Timur was observing, sentry cavalry from the Yuan Dynasty came to report that a large group of cavalry from Chuzhou was attacking.

In fact, most of the cavalrymen of the rebel army were the cavalrymen of Guo Zixing and Zhu Yuanzhang who took advantage of the fact that many of the cavalrymen were exploited and turned away from the Yuan Dynasty. It still made Yuan Bing Sentinel have to panic.

First of all, Timur became quite nervous at this time, and even more suspected that Ren Zhigong was pretending to surrender, and he became more and more afraid to let Zhigong and others come in.

Ren Zhigong also heard the rumbling sound of the earth at this time.

"This person came here in such a hurry. He must have been ordered by the superiors, not his original intention, so it is reasonable to retreat in time."

"And Yuan Zhang thinks that we should take this opportunity, pretend to be Tsing Yi troops, and go to Hezhou to deceive the Yuan soldiers after the spring begins, and then capture Hezhou. But it is not appropriate to go now, as Timur's armored guards might set up an ambush along the way, not to mention the weather. The cold is not good for the Yuan soldiers' march, and it is also bad for us."

Not long after.

then.

Ren Zhigong understood immediately and knew that Zhu Yuanzhang had brought the cavalry army to intercept and kill him.

Wanhu Hamu, who was responsible for commanding the armored guards, raised his hand and said yes.

"When Yuanzhang attacked the Minzhai before, he knew that Timur had always been cautious, fearing that he would lose the peace with the state, so he ordered the militias of the Minzhai in various places to be controlled by Timur. He also ordered these militias to be exterminated Wear green clothes to distinguish yourself from the bandits."

Because he knew very well how much Li Menggen hated Zhu Yuanzhang, and even secretly contacted Yang Xian, who was also a scholar, to express to Yang Xian that he did not really mean to rebel.

"That's what my father said."

But Ren Zhigong discovered through his previous attempts to frame Zhu Yuanzhang in front of Guo Zixing that Li Menggeng was not really an accomplice of Zhu Yuanzhang, and indeed seemed to be forced to stab him in the back.

Let’s talk.

Zhu Yuanzhang also called him over because of this and asked him to tell him about asking Yang Xian to help collect auspiciousness mentioned in the letter. He also informed him of his share of the dividends from the Chuzhou Ordnance Store.

While Ren Zhigong was angry, he also couldn't figure out why Li Menggeng suddenly stabbed him in the back.

Furthermore, Ren Zhigong also felt that Li Menggeng might have been forced.

Li Menggeng was indeed forced.

However, since it was already the cold winter season, there were few business trips, and the people in each village could not leave their homes, so it was difficult for Ren Zhigong to rob the property. In the end, he could not even have enough to eat all day long.

"Now when we look at the camp, there are very few people wearing blue clothes. It must be because Timur was impatient to attack Chuzhou before he could fully mobilize the blue-clothed troops."

But Zhu Yuanzhang had decisively withdrawn with his own people at this time and mounted his horse back to Chuzhou City.

Ren Zhigong fled in panic with his cavalry troops.

Therefore, at that time, Ren Zhigong deliberately framed Zhu Yuanzhang, saying that Zhu Yuanzhang framed him, but did not reveal that Li Menggeng secretly contacted Yang Xian, and even wanted to contact Liu Bowen through Yang Xian, in order to test whether Li Menggeng would help defend Zhu Yuanzhang. .

Although the Yuan soldiers were outnumbered and powerful, they were exhausted from marching in the snow for days, so they were unable to defeat them and retreated steadily.

As a result, Ren Zhigong discovered that Li Menggeng did not defend Zhu Yuanzhang, nor did he take the initiative to tell Guo Zixing what he knew about his contact with Yang Xian.

"Yuanzhang, you stay in Chuzhou. We can only rest assured if you guard Chuzhou for us."

When Timur saw this, he had to quickly order the Chinese armored guards to stop him.

Therefore, Ren Zhigong quickly got on his horse and shouted: "Get on your horse and retreat to another place!"

After Ren Zhigong was exposed by Li Menggeng that the auspiciousness was artificially created by others, he was surprised and confused.

Guo Zixing thought for a while and said: "Then let Tianyou go to attack Hezhou. He is in Quanjiao, not far from Hezhou, and let Geng Zaicheng pretend to be a Tsing Yi Army to cooperate with him!"

"But if Hezhou is not conquered, the siege of Chuzhou cannot be solved. What's more, if Hezhou is not opened up, the grain road cannot be connected, and Chuzhou's food shortage problem will always exist."

When Guo Zixing learned that the Yuan soldiers suddenly broke camp and retreated, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and said to Zhu Yuanzhang with a smile: "It seems that the other party does not really have a hundred thousand elites!"

Zhu Yuanzhang expressed his views.

Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to say yes.

of course.

He really didn't expect that the letter he wrote to Yang Xian would reach Zhu Yuanzhang's hands.

Ren Zhigong saw Zhu Yuanzhang's figure soon after.

And because of this, Ren Zhigong hated Zhu Yuanzhang even more, and could not help but gnashed his teeth and said to himself at night: "Zhu Yuanzhang, if you ruin my good deeds, I will kill you sooner or later!"

Therefore, Ren Zhigong was able to confirm that Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Menggeng knew not many secrets about each other, and Li Menggeng had indeed never acted in front of him before, otherwise he would not have said a word and not revealed his other secrets. speak out.

On Ren Zhigong's side, because he failed to defect to Yuan Ting, he had no choice but to become a bandit.

Zhu Yuanzhang had already led his cavalry to rush forward, and asked Geng Zaicheng to lead some of his cavalry to kill Ren's cavalry who had fallen behind. He himself took the initiative to lead some of his cavalry to harass the Yuan army's base camp. After the arrow pot was empty, he dismounted and personally led Xu Da, Wu Zhen and others behind him to fight on foot across the pile with shields.

Among the Yuan soldiers, the armored guards were the most fierce. When Timur saw that the formation was not right, he sent thousands of armored guards. This shows that this man was really afraid of accidents.

Li Menggeng had to explain everything.

First, when Timur came to the place where Zhu Yuanzhang and others were attacked, he saw a large number of corpses of his own side, and he couldn't help gritting his teeth and said: "Our army's true strength has been exposed, so we must withdraw to Hezhou immediately, and the armored guards will wait to set up an ambush!"

Because he not only wants to survive, but also wants to keep the dividends from his Li family's Chuzhou Ordnance Store. After all, this dividends are also the income from drought and floods.

Therefore, he expressed his willingness to inform Guo Zixing about the auspiciousness of the white turtle after meeting Guo Zixing.

"I would like to ask, has Brother Xiwu (Yang Xian) also joined the rebel army? Has he joined Mr. Zhang's team?"

For this reason, Li Menggeng came to Zhu Yuanzhang after the crisis in Chuzhou was temporarily relieved, and took the initiative to ask about Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "You don't need to ask any more questions. All you need to do now is to seriously examine your own problems! Otherwise, we will still tell the commander-in-chief that you secretly contacted Yang Xian and expressed your dissatisfaction. Now we I didn't tell my father, just because I promised you that as long as you are willing to reveal the truth about Xiang Rui, I will not expose you for the time being, but that doesn't mean that I will really let you go."

"I understand!" "Don't worry, young master, I won't dare to do it anymore. I will definitely change my mind and seriously examine myself."

Li Menggeng said with a smile.

The letter Zhu Yuanzhang got about Li Menggeng to Yang Xian was sent by Zhang Cheng.

Because Yang Xian came to Zhang Cheng's territory and inspected Zhang Cheng's rebel army, he didn't know whether it was because he chose to stand on the side of the people or because he felt that the rebel army led by Zhang Cheng could better coordinate the people's power and conquer the world. He told Zhang Cheng exactly why he came to see him, and even chose to join Zhang Cheng's rebel army.

Naturally, Yang Xian also informed Zhang Cheng that Li Menggeng contacted him.

Zhang Cheng also informed Zhu Yuanzhang about Li Menggeng, and asked Zhu Yuanzhang to make good use of this opportunity to disintegrate the enemy and achieve some goals.

After Zhu Yuanzhang obtained the detailed evidence about Li Menggeng, he did not choose to expose Li Menggen rashly directly, but chose to use Li Menggeng.

After all, when auspiciousness suddenly appeared in Marshal Guo Zixing's mansion at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang was more concerned about how to destroy the conspiracy to create auspiciousness.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang only took this as a threat and forced Li Menggeng to stab Ren Zhigong in the back.

Li Menggeng himself really didn't expect that Yang Xian would sell him.

To know.

Yang Xian is a northern Han, and he is also the son of a big bureaucrat and landowner in the north. Even Li Menggen secretly hates the rebels, not to mention Yang Xian.

Therefore, Li Menggeng was not wary of Yang Xian.

But what Li Menggeng didn't know was that Yang Xian was not a person who could make inferences based on common sense.

Historically, Yang Xian did not return to his hometown in the north after Zhu Yuanzhang occupied Yingtian. He actively joined Zhu Yuanzhang and took the initiative to engage in espionage politics for Zhu Yuanzhang, and even did not hesitate to offend the nobles of Huaixi for Zhu Yuanzhang.

Therefore, Yang Xian has never been a person who plays ordinary cards.

It's just that Li Menggeng obviously didn't understand Yang Xian well enough, so he was betrayed by Yang Xian.

Regardless of whether Yang Xian is for his personal future or for the sake of the people of the world, he often does not play ordinary cards.

In short, in this life, he still chose to do things in a way that surprised others.

Liu Bowen was surprised by his letter.

"Mr. Zhang is a man of great talent and great strategy. He is not comparable to the extreme literati who rebelled because they were frustrated. He is a man of great talent, so he makes the people willing to fight for him. His military skills and strategies cannot be underestimated. He does not rely solely on uncanny skills and cleverness to attack. Those who occupy Jiqing and only take its manpower and material resources, but have no intention of occupying it for a long time, and obviously have no desire for the temporary prosperity in front of them, are undoubtedly those who have great ambitions in their hearts."

"Teacher, you should come and see for yourself. You should not look down upon your husband, otherwise you may regret it for the rest of your life."

After Liu Bowen saw the content of Yang Xian's letter, he frowned and couldn't help but murmured to himself: "What kind of person can make Yang Xiwu take the initiative to call him husband? You know, I am his teacher!"

Liu Bowen found Song Lian for this purpose and asked Song Lian: "You have old friends in Jiqing, so is there any letter from Jiqing saying that Jiqing was destroyed by bandits?"

"I was about to tell you."

"There is indeed such news."

"A bandit army called the Shenji Battalion crossed the river and raided Jiqing. For a while, artillery fire continued to roll like thunder outside the entire Jiqing city. However, the shelling did not last long before the officials in Jiqing surrendered without a fight. At present, the entire Jiqing Road , Yangzhou Road, and Taiping Road were all in chaos, and the Prime Minister also went to plead guilty."

Song Lian started talking hurriedly.

After hearing this, Liu Bowen was stunned for a long time and then said: "Such a thing happened!"

"Who can believe it?"

"But it really happened. The Prime Minister originally had many political opponents in the court, and now I'm afraid that the situation will be even worse because of this!"

Song Lian sighed after saying that.

Liu Bowen walked on the snow in the courtyard, looking at the yellow leaves rustling in the north wind, and said: "It seems that there are indeed people among the thieves who are quite clever and resourceful. That's why they have such a skill, and they can do it." During our large-scale northward transfer of troops to Hezhou, Gaoyou, and Liuhe, we sometimes made sudden surprise attacks on Jiqing. To be able to complete such a surprise attack, we must have fast ships and people who are united, and we must have smooth communication and have plans in advance!”

"Looking at our officers and soldiers, the Prime Minister is the only one who is doing his best. You Prime Minister Duoer is just stubborn and despises the rebel army. When the troops were divided into Liuhe, he still stayed on Yangzhou Road and did not go to the celebration in person. He looked down on the rebel army and would not take advantage of it. It means to attack in vain;"

"Pingzhang was too cautious before Timur, and even too fearful of the enemy. In Hezhou, he only built a stronghold in the Jilong Mountain area and recruited volunteers. The two sides had no tacit understanding when they went to suppress enemies such as Chuzhou and Liuhe. , which gave the bandits the opportunity to surprise the gathering."

As Liu Bowen spoke, he couldn't help but wave his sleeves, looking quite angry and helpless.

"This is related to the fact that the imperial court now does not trust Han people and does not use Han people as high officials. Especially since the rebel army is no longer what it used to be and people with big plans have begun to participate, it should not still use Mongolian people to deal with Han people, and Han people to deal with Mongolian people. This is how people look and feel."

Song Lian followed.

Liu Bowen smiled bitterly and did not deny Song Lian's suggestion. He only said:

"What I'm worried about now is that the country may really be destroyed in the hands of the current bandit army in the future, especially the bandit army in Waliang Lei. I'm afraid it will really change the world!"

"I did have some contempt before, thinking that the rebel army was able to defeat our official army just by relying on uncanny skills, but now I think about it, the rebel army that has been fighting for only a few months can defeat our Yuan Dynasty with only firearms. Iron cavalry."

"This shows that there is more to it than just uncanny skills!"

"But this kind of firearm has allowed a group of farmers who are not good at riding and shooting and only know how to farm. In a few months, relying on this firearm, the advantage of my Great Yuan Prairie Iron Cavalry is no longer so obvious!"

"That is to say, as long as these farmers train hard and give strict orders, they can already compete with my Great Yuan cavalry!"

"The most indispensable thing among the Han people in the world is farmers, and there is no shortage of honest farmers who are willing to obey orders. On the contrary, my Yuan Dynasty has been in peace for too long, and I have begun to lack hard-working cavalry!"

"What's more, the firearms in the hands of this bandit army have begun to challenge the superior position of our Great Yuan Iron Cavalry in military affairs. Therefore, I am afraid that my Great Element's loose governance method will be difficult to defeat, and we will start to fight in military and political management." They are all thieves whose main focus is strictness.”

Song Lian became silent after hearing this. After thinking for a long time, he smiled and said, "Bowen, you can see far!"

"So, what are your plans?"

then.

Song Lian asked again.

Liu Bowen did not answer.

But the next day.

Liu Bowen received a letter from Song Lian.

In the letter, Song Lian said: "Thank you for your thorough analysis, and I deeply believe it! Since the law of heaven has paid attention to my farming Han family, I sent my family to Gouwu Mountain in Zhuji overnight for temporary refuge, while I myself decided to go to Wa." Liang Lei, take a look, if anyone asks, please tell me that I have gone into the mountains again to practice Taoism."

(End of this chapter)