It is no wonder that Zhang Xianzhong is a veteran thief who has been fighting with the court for a long time, and Fan Ju is just a new force, so the court's attention to Zhang Xianzhong is of course more than Fan Ju. [Full text reading. 】

After receiving the news of Zhang Xianzhong's sharp increase in troops, Chen Shiqi, the governor of Sichuan, immediately sent an urgent document to the Ministry of War, requesting people from other provinces to enter Sichuan to assist in suppressing thieves. He knew very well that now Zhang Xianzhong was sitting on 200,000 horses, and he had recently defeated Qin Liangyu, the Sichuan army had lost its courage, and it was impossible to resist relying on the men and horses of Sichuan alone, so he could only ask the court for help.

The document was sent to Beijing, and the cabinet ministers also shook their heads and sighed, they knew best in their hearts that at this time, the main force of the official army was all pressed in Kaifeng, Henan, in the hands of Sun Chuanting, it was absolutely impossible to send a soldier to Sichuan, and several provinces adjacent to Sichuan, as well as Gansu and Shaanxi, were all under the control of the Qin army, only Huguang could also transfer troops into Sichuan, but Zhang Xianzhong and others had made trouble in Huguang many times, and there were very few people in the entire Huguang territory, and self-protection was still insufficient, so how to talk about reinforcements in Sichuan.

The cabinet had no choice but to submit the urgent report to Chongzhen and let him read it. After Chongzhen saw it, he was helpless, so he had to give Chen Shiqi a decree, asking him to mobilize the squire officials from all over the country, organize the people's army, protect themselves on the spot, and gather the main forces in Chongqing and Chengdu to ensure the safety of these two prefectures.

Chongzhen also attached a sentence to his will, everything has to wait for the battle situation on Sun Chuanting's side.

At this time, the battle of Kaifeng, Henan Province, also began to show a different situation.

Li Zicheng wrote a letter to Fan Ju for help, Fan Ju sent the old man back, Ge Liyan and Liu Xiyao led 100,000 horses, came to help in the war, ten days later, the two armies combined forces, and the prestige was greatly enhanced. Li Zicheng was very happy, took the three leaders into his big tent, and set up wine to catch the wind.

This time, the two sides joined forces, and the number of men and horses was around 300,000, far exceeding the official army. Therefore, the peasant army had no fear, and set up camp with confidence and boldness, arranged its troops, and prepared for another battle.

On the one hand, due to the lack of military rations for the official army, he could only rely on Kaifeng City for emergency relief, and on the other hand, Sun Chuanting was also a little shocked after learning that the Fifth Battalion of the Revolutionary Left had come to help in the war. It's just that Li Zicheng is a force, and he is already a little difficult to deal with, and with the fifth battalion of the left side, it is even more difficult to gnaw.

At this time, several groups of officers and soldiers were stationed in different directions, and Sun Chuanting was afraid that they would be broken by the peasant army, so he ordered all the horses to gather under Kaifeng City and shrink into a group to deal with the peasant army.

After the officers and troops from all walks of life were assembled, Sun Chuanting summoned his generals and discussed countermeasures for several days.

On this day, there was a report from the horses, and the peasant army began to move, and the men and horses of the 5th battalion of the left side of the revolution went around half a circle and opened outside the southern city of Kaifeng, while Li Zicheng's men and horses were still in the east city, confronting the officers and troops, that is to say, the 5th battalion of the left and Li Zicheng had divided their troops, and there was the meaning of encircling the officers and troops and attacking from both sides.

Sun Chuanting heard this, pondering and silent.

At this time, Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong, Yang Wenyue, Cao Bianjiao, Gao Jie, Zuo Guangxian, and the main generals of several officers and soldiers were all sitting in the tent.

Zuo Liangyu listened to the battle report and sneered twice: "Supervisor, the Fifth Battalion of the Left is just a rabble, and these thieves have always been unkind and unjust, even if they join forces together, they are also ghosts, I think the Fifth Battalion of the Left must be afraid of being pushed to the front by Li Zicheng as cannon fodder, so this is the division of troops." Don't worry about it. ”

Gao Jie nodded again and again: "General Zuo is right, I think so too." ”

He Renlong has always been at odds with Zuo Liangyu, as early as when Yang Sichang was alive, He Renlong had a lot of trouble with Zuo Liangyu in order to fight for the big seal of the "Ping Thief General", and then he did not fight for Zuo Liangyu, so when he saw his face, he held his stomach, and when he heard what Zuo Liangyu said, he sneered: "Don't forget, the fifth battalion of Gezuo came with 100,000 horses, and if it is killed from the south, it is not easy to deal with." ”

Yang Wenyue said: "General He's words are reasonable, the combat effectiveness of the fifth battalion of the left is only second-rate among the thieves, but there are many people and horses, and there are no opponents in Shandong for a few months. ”

Zuo Liangyu glared at him and didn't say anything.

Cao Bianjiao didn't care about this, and said in a rough voice: "It doesn't matter what five battalions and six battalions it is, if you want me to say, let's concentrate our forces first and destroy Li Zicheng, as long as we kill him, the five battalions of the left side will collapse without a fight." ”

Zuo Guangxian knew that Li Zicheng was powerful, he had been a general in Gansu before, and he had a deal with Li Zicheng, so he said: "Since inheriting the name of Gao Yingxiang, the thieves have become more and more brave and arrogant, and this time they have 200,000 horses, and they can't be destroyed in one or two battles." However, General Cao's idea, I am in favor of it, now that the thieves are separated, like a pair of scissors, they open and close freely, and we must first break one of them. ”

Everyone, you say yours, I say mine, disagree, and they are about to make trouble.

Sun Chuanting glanced at the generals and snorted, and immediately everyone's voices disappeared, and everyone looked at Sun Chuanting and didn't dare to speak.

Sun Chuanting ruled the army very strictly, thick and mighty, so all the generals were a little afraid of him, including Zuo Liangyu, who had always been flying and domineering.

At this time, everyone stopped talking, Sun Chuanting gently tapped the handsome case, and said slowly: "The thieves and the five battalions of Gezuo are in one place, and there are no less than 300,000 people, why don't you come to attack, but divide your troops to the south of the city, you can know the reason?"

Everyone looked at each other, and no one dared to speak. Gao Jie is Sun Chuanting's favorite general, so he boldly said: "Supervisor, according to what the last general thinks, although there are hundreds of thousands of anti-thieves, the good and the bad are uneven, and the real elite soldiers, I am afraid that there are not many." How can they be able to defeat our army of a hundred battles, so they divide their troops into two places, do they want to disperse our forces?"

Sun Chuanting nodded: "General Gao only knows one of them, but he doesn't know the other." It is good that the thieves want to disperse the forces of our officers and soldiers, but in addition, there should be a kind of calculation, that is, the idea of opening the blockade. At present, most of our army's grain and grass are supplied by Kaifeng City, and the anti-thieves and horses are hoarded opposite our army, and we cannot cut off our grain route, but when the fifth battalion of Gezuo comes to our flank, we can send troops and cut off our grain route. ”

He was right, although the official army camp was outside Kaifeng City, it was impossible to get too close, so the room for maneuver was too small, so Sun Chuanting tied the men and horses fifty miles outside Kaifeng City, so the fifty miles of grain was the lifeline of the official army.

Sun Chuanting paused for a moment and continued: "The thieves are sure that our food and grass will be insufficient, and relying on the supply in the city alone is only a solution to the urgent need, and it is impossible to do so for a long time. Therefore, our army is fighting quickly, and the thief can sit still and wait for our army to run out of food, and now he is making this move to cut off my way of transporting food. Therefore, we must attack first, we cannot wait, even if the enemy army is twice as large as ours, we must attack. ”

Yang Wenyue said: "Supervisor, the last battle, although our side won, but the combat effectiveness of the thieves and horses is still very strong, and now there is the fifth battalion of the left of the revolution, and the prestige is greatly inspired. Therefore my opinion, it is better to win by surprise. ”

Sun Chuanting smiled slightly: "General Yang's words are exactly what I want." The art of war, with the right combination, with the odd victory, the ancient battle, all of them are based on this principle. At present, the total number of our troops, plus the reinforcements sent from the city, has a total of more than 160,000 people. Although there are far fewer than the thieves, they are strong and well-equipped, and they are expected to win. So I came up with a plan, so you might as well listen to it and see if it works. ”

After speaking, Sun Chuanting sent out all the idle people in the tent, leaving only himself and the generals, and then said to everyone: "The thief wants to intercept my grain, so I will return a tooth for a tooth and cut off his cooking." Now I have found out that all the food and grass of the thieves are hoarded in the camp, and the thieves do this for the convenience of access and not for transportation. At the same time, it is not easy to be destroyed by our army. Therefore, it is not easy to burn his grain. ”

Zuo Liangyu nodded: "Hundreds of thousands of horses are around, how can you get in, even if you can burn the grain, can you still get out?"

Sun Chuanting said: "Therefore, if you want to burn the grain and grass of the thieves, you must plan carefully. ”

Yang Wenyue said: "The superintendent must have already made a plan." Sun Chuanting said: "It's not a foolproof strategy, this plan requires a surprise soldier to win." ”

Cao Bianjiao said: "Supervisor, you can tell it, and I don't have to say who it will be assigned to." If no one dares to go, I will ask you for an order to burn grain and grass. ”

Sun Chuanting looked at everyone: "Instead of sitting here waiting for the food to run out, and the soldiers are hungry and collapse, it is better to fight with all your might." As long as the anti-thief grain and grass are burned, he can survive hundreds of thousands of horses for a few days, and the surrounding counties have long been emptied, and there is no place to replenish military supplies. ”

When everyone heard this, they all said in unison: "I am willing to fight to the death against the thief,"

Sun Chuanting immediately deployed, and when the generals heard it, they were all surprised, and everyone could hear that this plan was as dangerous as Sun Chuanting's plan to defeat Gao Yingxiang.

It turned out that Sun Chuanting was deployed in this way, and he sent Zuo Liangyu to lead men and horses to insert between Li Zicheng and the 5th Battalion of the Revolution Left, cut off the communication between the two armies, and prevent the 5th Battalion of the Revolution Left from coming to reinforce Li Zicheng.

Then send He Renlong and Yang Wenyue out on a detour to attack Li Zicheng's rear camp, and this way must be launched first, raising fire as a signal. After He Renlong made a move, Sun Chuanting personally led the main force, with Cao Bianjiao as the vanguard, to attack Li Zicheng's front camp, and when Li Zicheng came out to meet the battle, Sun Chuanting pretended to retreat and lured Li Zicheng's brigade out.

At this time, Gao Jie and Zuo Guangxian led the army to disguise themselves as peasant troops, rushed into Li Zicheng's camp, and burned his grain and grass.

As for why Gao Jie and Zuo Guang were sent to burn grain first, Sun Chuanting thought clearly, most of Gao Jie's subordinates were from the former peasant army, and they were very familiar with Li Zicheng's situation and could be mixed in.

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