Back to Daming to be a genius

Chapter 303 The Fox and the Hound

(PS: The climax is coming, so I'm begging for a monthly pass.)
In fact, Young Master Zhang arrived at the outskirts of Feng County with all his soldiers and Li Dingguo. He also happened to meet Fan Wencheng leading an army of rebels disguised as reinforcements from the Ming army to Feng County to cheat the city. Fan Wencheng's identity made Fan Wencheng's trickery aborted.At the same time, the cunning and cautious Master Zhang, who was far more than Fan Wencheng by a hundred times, did not show up immediately after the rebel army withdrew for his own safety and his whereabouts would not be exposed. Instead, he sent Li Dingguo to the city to pass orders to Qin Liangyu and Zhao Guangyuan to send thousands of troops , Welcome yourself to Feng County.And things happened just as Young Master Zhang expected. The small group of thieves Fan Wencheng stayed behind to monitor Feng County saw that there was no chance to take advantage of them, so naturally they did not dare to come out to rob and kill Young Master Zhang. An eternal mystery that the bandit army cannot detect—for the sake of caution, Young Master Zhang asked Li Dingguo to send orders to Qin Liangyu and Zhao Guangyuan to keep them strictly confidential to the soldiers of the Ming army who entered the city.

After successfully entering Fengxian County, Qin Liangyu and Zhao Guangyuan hurriedly led the generals to salute in front of Young Master Zhang. The generals knelt down on one knee and were about to speak, but Young Master Zhang stopped him quickly with a wave of his hand and ordered, "Don't tell me your name. It's not a place to talk, let's go to the Yamen to talk. I will issue an order to everyone who knows my identity. It is strictly forbidden to reveal my identity and whereabouts. Anyone who violates the order will be punished!" During the Battle of Changping, the Qin army also issued a similar military order, and they quickly agreed, leading Young Master Zhang and his party to the county government, and at the same time ordered all the generals and soldiers who knew the identity of Young Master Zhang to keep it secret, so that ordinary soldiers would not know it, so as not to be injured by various reasons. The reason was inadvertently revealed.

When he arrived at the county government office, Young Master Zhang sat down unceremoniously, and began to look at the generals of the Ming army standing in front of him. He hadn't seen him for three years. The former middle-aged beautiful woman Qin Liangyu had gray hair on her temples and more eyes. Obvious wrinkles; Ma Xianglin is still one-eyed, but his temperament has matured a lot; Zhang Fengyi is still so beautiful, the unique charm of a young woman makes Master Zhang's heart itch; when I finally went to see Ma Xiangling, his face was as beautiful as before. Needless to say , the standard model's figure seems to be a little thinner, but it also makes her protruding and her legs longer, which inevitably makes Young Master Zhang's heart itch even more.At this moment, Ma Xiangling also quietly raised her head to peek at Young Master Zhang, her eyes intersected, Ma Xiangling's pink face flushed immediately, and she quickly lowered her face again, daring not to look at Young Master Zhang again.

While Young Master Zhang was looking at Qin Liangyu's family, of course Qin Liangyu's family was also looking at Young Master Zhang, the new immediate boss, and their mood was much more complicated than that of Young Master Zhang.In the fifth year of Tianqi, when Zhang Fengyi met Young Master Zhang for the first time in Songjiang Mansion, Young Master Zhang was still a sesame seed mung bean who was compiled from a sixth-rank Hanlin Academy. In the second year, Qin Liangyu met Young Master Zhang in the capital. It is a matter of fourth-rank military preparation. In terms of official rank, even Qin Liangyu's son Ma Xianglin can't compare with it.However, in just three or four years, Young Master Zhang suddenly became the governor of the five provinces, and also the immediate boss of Qin Liangyu's family. His rise was so fast that although it was not unique in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, it was definitely rare. , and it is still what everyone expects, even the most nitpicking official of the Donglin Party, Yu Shi, is convinced. He thinks that Master Zhang's role as the governor of the five provinces to counter the rebellion is a proper appointment by the court, not Wei Zhongxian, who is Master Zhang's backer, nepotism.Its prestige is so prominent that even Qin Liangyu's family has doubts in their hearts—this frail little boy who almost became his son-in-law is really the one who broke Shengjing, captured Lin Dan, swept the invincible opponents in Liaodong and Mobei, and fought against small war horses and foot battles without a single defeat. Zhang Haogu Zhang God of War?
"The last general in Hanzhong, Zhao Guangyuan, led his generals to kowtow to Zhang Butang, the governor of the five provinces!" Zhao Guangyuan, who had little psychological burden, took the lead to break the deadlock, and led Cai Jian and other Hanzhong generals to salute Young Master Zhang first.Qin Liangyu's mother and son also came back to their senses, hurriedly led Shizhu Qin Liangyi and other generals also knelt down on one knee, clasped their fists and said: "The last general of Shizhu, Qin Liangyu, led all the generals of Shizhu to kowtow to Zhang Butang, governor of the five provinces."

"General Zhennan, please stand up. You have made outstanding achievements, are well-known, and are the elders of the younger generation. Don't kneel down in the future." Young Master Zhang greeted him politely, and then said to Zhao Guangyuan and the other generals: "General Zhao, please stand up too. Come on, you have contributed a lot and worked hard this time in the battle of Feng County, so get up too. Come and set up a seat for General Zhennan."

The generals stood up according to the order, and the soldiers brought Qin Liangyu a seat. Qin Liangyu hesitated for a while, but finally accepted the kindness of Young Master Zhang calmly, and sat in the first place on the right side of Young Master Zhang.Young Master Zhang then asked: "Marshal Qin, after the thieves came here and failed to defraud the city just now, they seemed to have said something to you. What are the details? Please introduce it to the younger generation." Although Qin Liangyu was very surprised why Young Master Zhang did this asked, but answered truthfully, omitting Fan Wencheng's obscenities.Young Master Zhang asked again: "Marshal Qin, all generals, that thieves general does not have a left hand?"

"No left hand?" Qin Liangyu and the generals of the Ming army were all taken aback. When they recalled carefully, they all found that they did not see Chen Wenfan showing his left hand. Hidden in the sleeve, I don’t know if there is no broken left hand, the general only knows that he was born very tall, and he calls himself Chen Mingwen Fan, and he seems to be very familiar with you, my lord.”

"It really is him." As soon as Young Master Zhang heard the name Chen Wenfan, he knew that it was his old enemy for many years.Young Master Zhang asked again: "Marshal Qin, how did you answer Chen Wenfan when he threatened to bypass Feng County and enter Hanzhong directly?"

"The last general knew that Hanzhong was empty, so he didn't dare to answer, and he didn't answer." Qin Liangyu replied.Young Master Zhang nodded and said with a smile: "It's the best way to do this. That traitor Fan Wencheng deliberately threatened to attack Hanzhong directly in public. The army is really empty." After finishing speaking, Young Master Zhang ordered decisively: "Pass down my constitution, the whole army packs up overnight, and organizes the people in the city to withdraw to Hanzhong tomorrow."

"Withdraw the troops? Why?" Qin Liangyu was surprised and asked: "Feng County tightly controls the north-south official roads. As long as Feng County is defended, it will be difficult for the rebels to flee smoothly into Hanzhong and Sichuan, and return to Hanzhong. There are so many trails in the mountains, we can prevent them One point can’t prevent the other point.”

"Don't ask too much, I'll explain slowly when I have time." Young Master Zhang said in a deep voice: "The most important thing now is to load the food, grass and supplies into the car, and return to Hanzhong early tomorrow morning, and to inform the people to prepare and come with us Withdraw south, otherwise it will be too late."

"Butang, do you really have to give up Feng County? There is no other way?" Ma Xianglin asked unwillingly.Young Master Zhang nodded and said with a smile: "The rebels already know that Hanzhong is empty, so they have tested you again. If we don't withdraw immediately, can the rebels and that old fox Fan Wencheng believe that Hanzhong is really empty?"

Even though they were confused by Master Zhang's one after another weird orders, Qin Liangyu's family, who were loyal to the Ming court, faithfully carried out the orders. The humble Zhao Guangyuan didn't have the guts to contradict his boss. He followed the order honestly, and together with Qin Liangyu commanded the army to pack up and load the food and supplies into vehicles overnight, and sent soldiers to shout slogans along the streets of the city, asking the people to get up and pack up, and prepare to leave with the army the next day. In order to prevent the people from being brutally poisoned by thieves after the army withdrew.Fortunately, because the army of thieves has been suppressing the territory for many days, more than 23% to [-]% of the Ming people in Fengxian County have already fled. Now that the army has openly asked the people to flee, the remaining people did not hesitate to question it. After hearing the order, every household Together we started packing our bags.On the morning of the next day, that is, the morning of March [-], the ninth year of the Ming Dynasty, when all preparations were completed, Master Zhang ordered the Hanzhong army to protect the people and go ahead with food and supplies. They withdrew to Hanzhong in mighty force.

The Ming army gave up Feng County and evacuated in an all-round way, and its own scouts flew to report to Gao Yingxiang and Luo Rucai, who were stationed in Kong Jialiang, and other big and small thieves. The army is empty!" Luo Rucai and the other bandit chiefs also cheered happily, praising Fan Wencheng for his ingenuity and foresight - deliberately telling Qin Liangyu that they already knew that Hanzhong's defenses were empty, Qin Liangyu really felt frightened and was forced to retreat south to protect the important areas of Hanzhong .Only Fan Wencheng frowned, full of worries.

"Mr. Fan, Qin Liangyu's wife really fell for you, which proves from the side that Hanzhong is really empty." After the cheers, Gao Yingxiang couldn't wait to ask Fan Wencheng: "What do you think now? Is it to send troops to chase after him?" That old lady, should I gather my forces and go south with all my strength to enter Hanzhong or Sichuan?"

"King Chuang, don't worry." Fan Wencheng mused, "Although Qin Liangyu, a female barbarian, was fooled, what happened last night was really weird—who on earth broke our trick to defraud the city? Later, the barbarian army left the city , went around the forest to the west of Wudu Mountain, and then withdrew back, what exactly did we do? If we don’t figure out these two points, it’s better for us not to act rashly.”

"Sir, are you worried that officers and soldiers are ambushing in Wudu Mountain?" Luo Rucai asked doubtfully.Fan Wencheng shook his head and said with a smile: "Wudu Mountain is not in the right place, and it is close to Fengxian County. The barbarian army would not choose to lay an ambush there." After that, Fan Wencheng frowned again and said: "I am most worried about Hanzhong officials. He said, if the barbarian army lured us into the depths of the Qinling Mountains and set up an ambush on the south side of the Hanzhong official road to block our army, and Zhang Haogu's little mad dog came from the north again, then we would have no food and no aid in the Qinling Mountains. The turtle in the urn."

"Mr. Fan is still so suspicious. The withdrawal of Qin Liangyu's old lady has proved that Hanzhong is really empty, so why is there an ambush?" Wang Ziyong asked mockingly.Fan Wencheng continued to shake his head, and said in a deep voice: "My lord, be careful when sailing for ten thousand years. You have never learned how treacherous Zhang Haogu's little mad dog is."

After finishing speaking, Fan Wencheng gritted his teeth and said: "For the current plan, you lords, it is best to send an army to pretend to pursue and test the reality of Qin Liangyu's old lady. Then send two troops to follow and lie in ambush on both sides of the road. If that female barbarian returns to the army to fight, we will deceive the enemy and lure her army into an ambush." ​​Gao Yingxiang, Luo Rucai and the bandit leaders nodded their heads together, and immediately dispatched [-] troops to Fan Wencheng and Huang Long to lead them all the way. Came to the south to kill.Wang Ziyong and Wu Yangui, two old villains, each led an army to ambush on both sides of the narrow road and dense forest.

Because they were carrying a large number of people and food and supplies, the Ming army's southward retreat was not very fast. The five thousand elite rebels led by Fan Wencheng and Huang Long caught up with the army behind the Ming army by noon. Qin Liangyu saw that the bandit army was few , he wanted to order the white soldiers to turn back to fight, but Young Master Zhang stopped him immediately, and said with a smile: "How dare you play with me? The fighting power of the army of rebels is far inferior to that of the white soldiers, so they sent such a small army to hunt down—" - It is clear that it is to lure the enemy, if we chase and kill, we will surely fall!"

"My lord, what should we do?" Ma Xiangling asked with a blushing face.Young Master Zhang replied with a smile: "No matter how cunning a fox is, it can't beat a good hunter. Fan Wencheng is extremely treacherous and treacherous. He wants to enter Hanzhong but is afraid that there will be an ambush in Hanzhong's official road. It is false to hunt us down and test our truth. Hmph, since he wants to test us, let's let him test it out—order that the front army continue to march south, and the rear army form a formation to defend against the enemy, and use bows and arrows more. Without orders, no generals are allowed to pursue without authorization."

The generals of the Ming army acted according to the order, and formed a square formation to block the attack. The rebel soldiers killed them with bows and arrows, and did not take the initiative to attack. , Then he pretended to be defeated and retreated. The white-armed soldiers obeyed the order not to pursue, and let the defeated thieves flee.As a result, Fan Wencheng was a little puzzled, thinking to himself: "Because of the fiery temper of that barbarian Qin Liangyu, it is impossible not to chase and kill our defeated soldiers? Could it be that the defenders in Hanzhong are really empty, and that Qin Liangyu? The female barbarians were eager to withdraw their troops and defend them, so why didn't they chase us?"

Having said that, the treacherous and cunning Fan Wencheng still didn't dare to make a judgment lightly. After a little calculation, he led the troops to turn around and kill again, wanting to lure the Ming army to pursue him again, but it was a pity that Fan Wencheng's hit nemesis Young Master Zhang didn't like him at all, he just ordered the army to defend against the enemy, shot dozens of thieves to death with a bow and arrow, and killed many enemies with a strict formation. When Fan Wencheng led the army to turn around and flee for his life again, Young Master Zhang And no generals were allowed to lead their troops to chase without authorization, but continued to retreat slowly to Hanzhong.After doing so twice and three times, Fan Wencheng, who has never been successful in luring the enemy, completely died of the idea of ​​setting up an ambush, and began to figure out how to let the main force of the rebels invade Hanzhong or Sichuan more effectively, and then widely set off nationwide turmoil in Ming Dynasty. The masters and slaves invaded the Central Plains to create a good opportunity.

The marching speed of the people was slow. On March 23, they had only traveled less than [-] miles and the sky was already dark. Knowing that Fan Wencheng would not be fooled easily, Young Master Zhang decisively ordered the army to camp with their backs on their backs and rest overnight. A small group of elites was sent to harass at night, angering the Ming army, while closely searching both sides of the road, arresting the people of Feng County who refused to retreat to Hanzhong or accidentally left behind for various reasons.Hard work pays off, and there are indeed a few local ruffians in Feng County who fell behind because they wanted to rob the city. They were caught by the rebel soldiers in front of Fan Wencheng. The generals were strictly ordered not to disclose their identities and whereabouts to the common people and soldiers, so the only thing Fan Wencheng found out from torture was that the Ming army made the decision to withdraw troops in the middle of the night yesterday, which indirectly verified the success of Fan Wencheng's bluff and tricks, and also proved from the side Hanzhong's troops are really empty.

One after another, intelligence reports showed that Hanzhong's military strength was really empty, but Fan Wencheng, an old fox, still did not dare to step into the trap easily. The next day, when the Ming army withdrew through the Maling Pass, which was passing through Hanzhong, Sichuan and Shaanxi at the same time, Fan Wencheng deliberately ordered The army went directly to Xiangyang Pingguan in the south, no longer chasing the Ming army retreating to the southeast in the direction of Hanzhong.After the scouts of the Ming Army arrived in front of Young Master Zhang, Qin Liangyu and others, Qin Liangyu and Zhao Guangyuan were taken aback, and Ma Xianglin even exclaimed, "Damn it! The thieves actually wanted to enter Sichuan. You set up that branch hall on the official road in Hanzhong!" Ambush, isn't it all useless?"

"The rebellious thieves are stupid to enter Sichuan!" Young Master Zhang said with a smirk: "They will be so stupid that they think that the main Sichuan army that put down the She'an Rebellion is a troublesome character? Ignore them and continue to retreat southward in less than three days , the army of rebels going south to Yangping Pass will definitely come back again." After that, Young Master Zhang pointed to Zhao Guangyuan and ordered: "General Zhao, find a messenger who doesn't know my identity and whereabouts, and send it to the rebel army in your honor. A topographic map of the mountains and rivers of Yangping Pass.”

"Why?" Zhao Guangyuan asked in surprise.Qin Liangyu said angrily: "Zhang Butang, what are you talking about? You think the thieves won't be able to take down Yangping Pass, and you deliberately sent them a topographic map of mountains and rivers? What if the thieves take Yangping Pass and enter Sichuan? ?”

"Early before entering Shaanxi, when I was still in Luoyang, I sent a fast horse to Sichuan Governor Zhu Xieyuan and Sichuan General Du Huan to send an urgent order of eight hundred miles, asking them to strengthen Yangping Pass, Huangba and Seven Panguan defense, beware of thieves entering Sichuan." Young Master Zhang said calmly: "Yangping Pass is notoriously easy to defend and difficult to attack. Unless the thieves want to be surrounded by the main forces of Shaanxi, Gansu and Sichuan, they will be trapped to death." Otherwise, I dare not go to Yangping Pass casually. As for asking General Zhao to send you a topographical map of mountains and rivers to the thieves, the thieves will definitely suspect that this is your plan to lure the thieves away from your jurisdiction. Sichuan, which is in charge, don’t invade the Hanzhong Basin under your jurisdiction—I got tired of playing with Elder Sun Ge on the border of Xuanda last year.”

As we all know, it is uncomfortable not to engage in conspiracies and tricks. Young Master Zhang's poisonous schemes have always had a very high success rate. After the envoys of the Ming army sent the topographic map of Yangping Pass mountains and rivers to the rebel army under the banner of Zhao Guangyuan, every thief leader was extremely surprised. Besides, they all came to their senses immediately——Zhao Guangyuan, who was in charge of guarding Hanzhong, was misled, and wanted to let our army enter Sichuan to cause disaster, instead of making trouble in Hanzhong, which was related to his life and future!Only the treacherous and treacherous Fan Wencheng refused to believe it, but grabbed the envoy sent by Zhao Guangyuan and questioned him carefully, "You General Zhao sent someone to deliver the topographic map of mountains and rivers, does Qin Liangyu know?"

"I probably don't know." The envoy Zhao Guangyuan replied honestly, "Because when General Zhao sent the villain to deliver the letter, he specifically told the villain to avoid Marshal Qin and not let his people find out." As for the details, but the emissary himself didn't know the secrets of the Ming army, so Fan Wencheng naturally couldn't come up with any useful information.

"Should I enter Hanzhong?" Although Zhao Guangyuan's actions once again confirmed the fact that Hanzhong's troops are empty, Fan Wencheng, who is as cunning as a fox, still refuses to take advantage of it easily, and is still hesitating repeatedly.But after sending away the envoys of the Ming army, a piece of news that stunned Fan Wencheng was sent by a fast horse—the main force of the thieves who dreamed of entering Hanzhong to grab money, food, and women was so impatient that they didn't even discuss it with him He gave up the two natural dangers of going out of Sichuan, Monk Yuan and Dashan Pass, and the whole army entered the Qinling Mountains to fight south. The main force of the Shaanxi-Gansu Ming Army took the opportunity to re-control Dashan Pass and the Monk Yuan Natural Danger, completely blocking the main force of the rebels and heading north to return to Shaanxi. The road to the disaster area!At the same time, the main force of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ming Army divided into two armies, one led by Hong Chengchou, and the other led by Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, who took turns chasing and killing the rear troops of the rebels, forcing the rebels to speed up their pace southward.

"Pigs! These stupid pigs! They dared to give up the important place to break out of the siege before they knew the enemy's situation. You don't need to be in such a hurry if you want to die, right?" All the thieves, big and small, who entered Sichuan without authorization after consultation were eaten alive!The entourage of Jiannu brought by Fan Wencheng from Liaodong next to him persuaded: "Mr. Fan, it is done, and it is useless to regret. Anyway, the person who died is not from our Dajin Kingdom. Why don't you rush in to Hanzhong to gamble? If you gamble If they win, the barbarians will be able to take the opportunity to invade Henan and Hubei, and turn upside down the barbarian's central plains."

"That's the only way." Fan Wencheng agreed sullenly, then pointed to the traitor guards he brought from Liaodong, and ordered in a low voice: "From today onwards, you must never leave my side, and you must also bring enough people with you." Silver and war horses, and the guides we used to sneak into the Central Plains before, if the situation is wrong, we are ready to withdraw to Liaodong at any time."

(End of this chapter)