The war horse galloped, and it was coming in a flash.

Yang Zhaofeng drew his sword and waited for battle, but he was stunned when the Ming army's forward several horsemen rushed in front of him.

Xue Xuan shouted: "What are you still doing in a daze!" But I saw Yang Zhaofeng turn his head and give a look. Turning his head to look again, the cavalry Ming army suddenly stopped at the same place two or three paces away, and did not directly attack.

"Brother Xue, you take someone to go first, and I'll break it off!" Yang Zhaofeng slowly inserted the knife back into the scabbard.

"Good ......" Xue Zhao is not stupid, looking at the actions of the Ming army and then looking at his actions, he knows in his heart, and at the moment, he doesn't care whether it is reasonable to leave Yang Zhaofeng alone, beckoning hundreds of soldiers from the imperial village, pushing the remaining croissants and hurrying away.

"Brother Yang."

When Xue Zhao's soldiers and horses disappeared, a Ming knight dismounted and took off his hood, "Why are you here?" ”

"Brother Hao." Yang Zhaofeng smiled, he didn't expect to meet Hao Mingluan here, "Li Zicheng assigned people from the imperial village to seduce the officers and soldiers, and I went out to observe the situation in the army. ”

"It's too dangerous. Fortunately, today I took the initiative to ask Ying to pursue the attack, and I want to change to other officers, Brother Yang will definitely be more auspicious this time. Hao Mingluan thrust the tiger-headed gun into the ground, "I was ordered by the lord a month ago to go to Yunyang to see Kong Quanbin, and then in his name I took the five hundred horses of the Feijie Zuo Battalion to serve Sun Chuanting, and it was really used." Sun Chuanting remembered my father's old friendship, and put me in the army, and was controlled by Niu Chenghu in Lintao Town. Niu Chenghu went out for the front, and I have been in Henan for almost half a month. ”

"I see."

"Niu Chenghu's army has entered Ruzhou Mansion, and Sun Chuanting's line has also arrived at the front line of Luoyang, I heard that the Chuang army is building fortifications in Xiangcheng, Jiaxian and other places in Ruzhou Prefecture, and it seems that a big war is coming."

Yang Zhaofeng asked: "Brother Hao is in the Shaanxi soldiers, do you feel that the morale and combat power of the Shaanxi soldiers are usable?" ”

Hao Mingluan said seriously: "Sun Chuanting has the talent to govern the army, and in the past few months, he has supervised the training of the army and rectified the discipline, and the results have been quite good. I originally thought that the Shaanxi soldiers were in vain this time, but in the past few days, I felt that if the fight really started, the odds of the two sides should be opened in four or six. ”

"Who's four, who's six?"

"Shaanxi soldiers six, break army four." Hao Mingluan replied truthfully, "I am not judging this way because of the successive defeats of the previous army. The army was defeated, intending to lure the Shaanxi soldiers into the depths, Sun Chuanting and his staff had already seen it, but they still didn't care, which showed that they were full of certainty. I also feel that the Shaanxi soldiers are very strong in the army, such as Niu Chenghu, Bai Guangen and several other old troops, the ruffians are ruffians, in the end they have experienced a hundred battles, and their combat effectiveness is particularly prominent. ”

"It's actually the Shaanxi soldiers who have the upper hand." Yang Zhaofeng sighed bitterly, "Don't be busy until the end, Sun Chuanting won." ”

Hao Mingluan's eyes were blazing and said, "Since I have met Brother Yang, I will talk about everything I think in my heart." In my opinion, if this battle continues to be fought like this, Hugh said that if it is opened in four or six years, I am afraid that the army will not even have a 30% chance of victory. ”

"Oh? What do you mean by that? Yang Zhaofeng didn't expect Hao Mingluan to be pessimistic about the army, and his heart was shocked.

"The advantage of the army lies in the field battle, but the fortified positions are held against each other, and they may not be effective. Brother Yang must be very clear about this. ”

Yang Zhaofeng nodded, looking at the past invasion of the army and siege of the city, either the ants attached to the pile of human lives, or persuaded to surrender or rebel against the internal response, or piled up a large amount of gunpowder to collapse the city, once these three axes did not work, if you talk about other tricks, it is really lackluster.

Speaking of the Kaifeng Mansion at that time, it was not the strongest city in Henan, but the army that had been in full swing was stunned to attack for nearly a year without progress, and was almost dragged to death by this city, and finally relied on the unexpected flooding to pull out the nail, and the lack of strength of the army can be seen. If the Chuang army at the beginning of the momentum also encountered this kind of intensity of offensive and defensive city battles in Luoyang City, it would be difficult for the Chuang army to even develop to this point. Luoyang City and Nanyang City are no less fortified than Kaifeng City, but the Chuang army was lucky to take them down without bloodshed, from this point of view, it is not difficult to understand that the Chuang army will reward Ren Guangrong and Ren Jirong brothers who surrendered to Nacheng.

"But now the army is building a defense line in Xiangcheng and Jiaxian, which seems to be indestructible in defense, but the field advantage of the army can not be fully utilized, on the other hand, the officers and soldiers of Shaanxi, although there are few horses but most of the firearms, what they are best at is to advance slowly, surrounded by roads, which is more suitable for attacking each other. The number of victories and defeats has always been one and the other, and Brother Yang now feels that I am still alarmist when I say that I have little advantage in breaking into the army? Hao Mingluan continued, he was born as a soldier and knew military strategy, not just relying on brave horses.

"What Brother Hao said is reasonable."

"The autumn rain continued and the roads were muddy. I have supervised the convoy of grain from Shaanxi, and I can only travel 30 miles a day. In the event of heavy rain, it will be difficult for the grain trucks to enter for several days. The plan to lure the enemy deep into lengthening the enemy's grain route is not bad, but after all, Henan has been in war for many years, and there is not much grain in stock, and if it turns into a war of attrition in the end, it will not be good for the local army because of the grain. Brother Yang helped Yuzhai to fight for the advantage that the army had worked so hard to obtain, but the bamboo basket was empty. Hao Mingluan said this, hehe smiled.

Yang Zhaofeng sighed and shook his head speechlessly, Hao Mingluan continued: "Sun Chuanting is old and spicy, and he is indeed a strong opponent that the army has never encountered. In addition to the wrong tactics, the best strategy of the invasion army is probably not as good as Sun Chuanting. ”

"Rebellion?" Yang Zhaofeng was taken aback, "Could it be that there are people in the army who collaborate with the enemy?" ”

Hao Mingluan nodded and said, "According to the information I inquired, there are two people who are known. One person broke into the army captain Li Yangchun, and the other broke into the Tao of Muqiu, Yuzhou Prefecture. ”

Li Yangchun...... Qiu Zhitao ......" Yang Zhaofeng frowned, "Is the news reliable?" ”

Li Yangchun, nicknamed the "Four Heavenly Kings", has deep qualifications. In June of the fourth year of Chongzhen, Wang Jiayin died in battle with Cao Wenzhao in Yangcheng County, Shanxi, and it was he and Zhao Si'er, the "Lamplighter", Liu Jiusi, the "Heavenly Monkey", and others who secretly cooperated with Chang Zeyu and elected the "Zijinliang" Wang to replace the boss, stabilized the situation, and has always been quite popular.

Qiu Zhitao is the second son of Qiu Yu, the left attendant of the Ministry of Rites, who was captured by the Chuang army when he passed through Henan. In addition to the five field battalions, the defense envoys, Fu Yin, and state pastors were set up in the local areas to govern and maintain stability, and Qiu Zhitao was forced to serve as the governor of Yuzhou. But his father Qiu Yu is very prestigious, and it is rumored that he is about to enter the cabinet, and he is one of the few officials in the court who always helps Sun Chuanting speak. Qiu Zhitao was in Cao Ying, and his heart was in Han, so he naturally wanted to seize the opportunity of Sun Chuanting's march to escape from the tiger's mouth.

"Reliable. Li Yangchun is an old friend of Bai Guangen, the commander of the Shaanxi Train Battalion, although he has a high status in the army, he is on guard and has no future, so he accepted Bai Guangen's surrender. He is now deploying in the southeast of Ruzhou Prefecture with his troops and horses, and he is well versed in breaking into the defense line of the army, and with his help, the march of the Shaanxi army will undoubtedly be smoother. Hao Mingluan's face was serious, "Qiu Zhitao is quite scheming, and after the pseudo-surrender to break into the army, he didn't know what method he used, and won the trust of Li Zicheng, and he was promoted from the military government to Yuzhou, which can be called a strategic place. He was preparing to falsely report that the army of the Governor of Huguang and Yamen was going north to attack the army when he was fighting with the Shaanxi army, so as to shake the heart of the army. ”

Yang Zhaofeng said suddenly: "If these two people are able to get a plan, the chance of winning the army will inevitably be even more slim, Sun Chuanting is really powerful." Li Yangchun led the way for the Shaanxi soldiers to break through the defense line carefully arranged by the Chuang army, and Qiu Zhitao undermined the confidence of the Chuang army at the most critical moment of the battle between the two armies. Before the battle, Li Zicheng set up a plot against Sun Chuanting, and Sun Chuanting did not take every step of the way to secretly reverse the situation. Knowing this kind of detail, Yang Zhaofeng couldn't help but sigh, it turned out that his lord had been fighting with such opponents for a long time.

"If it weren't for Sun Chuanting trusting me, it would be difficult for me to know so much inside information." Hao Mingluan sighed, with a bitter look on his face, "Sun Chuanting really tried his best to cure Shaanxi, knowing that it would be difficult to maintain the situation for a long time only by relying on Shaanxi soil, so he deliberately promoted me and gathered me as his confidant. ”

"Those who follow the trend prosper, those who go against the trend forget, and change their lives against the sky to save the building from the general, just one person in one life." Yang Zhaofeng smiled slightly, "This person, I don't think it's Sun Chuanting, but the lord." ”

Hao Mingluan thought and nodded. Yang Zhaofeng went down and said: "Li Yangchun and Qiu Zhitao need to be careful, otherwise the lord's affairs will be in vain." ”

"Exactly. However, at present, it is a foregone conclusion that Li Yangchun and Shaanxi soldiers will hook up, and his troops have also left the main force of the army. If this matter is poked out, it will only lead to a radical change in advance. Hao Mingluan said.

"Well, Li Yangchun is an old man in the army, I came to Henan to hide my traces, and I can only take the road of Yuzhai to report it. And Li Yangchun, who is not a descendant of the army, and has nothing to do with the report, will also make people suspicious, and if there is no conclusive evidence, it will also arouse the disgust and suspicion of the army, and even affect the brothers of Yuzhai. Li Yangchun's matter seems to be unstoppable. Yang Zhaofeng thought and said, "Qiu Zhitao can still prevent one or two here." ”

Hao Mingluan said: "If you can prevent one by one, I can't take care of the army, and I have to have Brother Lao Yang." ”

Yang Zhaofeng waved his hand and said: "Although it is still glorious to serve the lord, there is nothing to talk about." It's just that even if Qiu Zhitao is stopped, according to Brother Hao's words, the army still can't gain the upper hand. ”

Hao Mingluan coughed lightly, then suddenly lowered his voice and said, "Brother Yang, do you remember Hong Chengchou?" ”

Yang Zhaofeng was surprised that he suddenly mentioned this person, he was stunned at first, and then nodded slowly: "Of course I remember, now no one knows and no one knows." "Since Hong Chengchou was defeated in Liaodong last year, the imperial court once thought that he was martyred and extremely honorable. As a result, news came out this year that Hong Chengchou was not dead and had been cleared, and Emperor Chongzhen immediately removed the altar used to cry and sacrifice Hong Chengchou, and the world was in an uproar. When the news reached Huguang, it was laughed at by Zhao Yingzhong.

"The reason why he is mentioned is only because he has similarities with Sun Chuanting."

"Similar? Hong Chengchou, a thief who is greedy for life and afraid of death, how can he be compared with Sun Chuanting? ”

Hao Mingluan said with a smile: "It's not about character, it's about governing the army." He added, "These two people can be called iron-fisted in governing the army, and their marching and combat ideas are quite similar. Hong Chengchou went to Liaodong and supervised the battle of Liaodong soldiers and horses. Sun Chuanting went to Shaanxi and supervised the soldiers and horses of Shaanxi; Hong Chengchou's army is dominated by firearms, and Sun Chuanting's army is also dominated by firearms; Hong Chengchou was seduced by the northern captives and led the army deep into the hinterland of eastern Liaodong. Sun Chuanting was seduced by the Chuang army, and also led the army deep into Henan; Hong Chengchou divided his troops layer by layer, and fought steadily and steadily. Sun Chuanting is also advancing steadily, step by step. One once forced the northern captives into a difficult situation, and the other has the upper hand for now. All of the above are similar. ”

"I didn't expect Brother Hao to also study the battle of Songshan Fort." Yang Zhaofeng sighed, "But in the end, Hong Chengchou still lost to the Beiyu when the situation was very good." ”

"Yes, yes." Hao Mingluan raised his head, "The two battles are carved out of the same mold, although the army is temporarily weak, but if you have the determination to fight against the water, you may not have no chance of winning." ”

When Yang Zhaofeng heard this, he looked at Hao Mingluan's squinted eyes, and suddenly figured out the trick, and gasped.

"Brother Hao's meaning, it means ......"

"Yes, Li Yangchun and Qiu Zhitao have the most ringworm scabies, if you really want to make a final decision, you still have to rely on the gains and losses of a key place." Hao Mingluan breathed a long sigh of relief, "This is what Brother Yang will focus on in the future." ”

"Where?"

Hao Mingluan immediately reported the name of the place and said: "I still have to investigate the specific situation to finally determine." It's just that I happened to bump into Brother Yang today, so let's reveal one or two first. Now there is still time, and when the matter is decided, it will be passed on to Brother Yang, and he can start to act. ”

Yang Zhaofeng said with a calm face: "Thanks to Brother Hao's maneuvering, I can ensure the safety of the lord's affairs." As soon as he said that, he really felt that it was indeed a wise move for Zhao Dangshi to send Hao Mingluan to Shaanxi.