Chapter 63 Long-term planning

The night battle finally came to an end at dawn. Shen Chongming didn't dare to stay at home and not ask about the war, after all, the result of this kind of vicious war was a little unpredictable. So when he heard the sound of the cannons, he led a group of guards to the city.

"What about the casualties?" Seeing Yu Prison, Shen Chongming was the first to ask about the casualties. This night of hard fighting, I'm afraid of a lot of casualties.

Yu Jiao frowned, and sighed: "The last general has just ordered people to calculate it, and in this night's battle, nearly 3,000 people were killed and more than 1,000 were seriously injured. ”

Although there were only 3,000 men and horses, Yu Jiao still found it a little difficult to accept, after all, with such a tall and strong city defense as Nanjing City, and the rebels attacked the city at night, there should not be such a large number of casualties. Otherwise, it's like this every day, and this Nanjing city is really a bit suspenseful.

Although this number is not small, it is also within Shen Chongming's tolerance, and he nodded and said: "The soldiers are not used to night fighting, which is understandable, I think it will be much better tonight." And we all have nearly 4,000 casualties, but I'm afraid that the rebels won't get any benefit. ”

Yu Jiao nodded and asked, "Then my lord, according to your judgment, how long can the rebels hold out with such a fierce offensive?" ”

"Such a fierce offensive is really beyond the expectations of this officer, this kind of strength of the dog jumping over the wall in a hurry, at most five days will be weak, I am afraid that when the time comes, the rebels will take the initiative to retreat." Shen Chongming was a little worried, this plan has never been able to catch up with the changes.

"My lord, we have already hit this point, will the rebels really withdraw their troops easily?" Yu Jiao was a little puzzled, the rebels had broken their way to retreat, and they had suffered such heavy losses under the city of Nanjing, how could they give up halfway?

Shen Chongming shook his head and said with a smile: "In Nanjing City, once the people of the imperial court complete the siege, the rebels will have only one way to die, if they retreat, they can still survive for a while, right?" ”

Yu Jiao nodded, Lord Shen is right. "My lord, which direction do you think the rebels will take if they retreat?"

"The armies of the south are gathered, which direction do you say they will go?" Shen Chongming asked with a smile, the answer was already about to come out.

"You mean...... Will the rebels cross the Yangtze River into Henan? Yu Jiao was a little surprised, if the rebels fled, there was really only one way left to go.

Shen Chongming shook his head and said, "I'm not sure, although this point is the most likely, but we can't guess what they have in mind just by guessing." ”

"My lord, is this the order to go and let the people and horses of Henan prepare for war?" Yu Jian asked, in fact, this is the safest way at the moment.

Shen Chongming nodded and said: "Of course, in addition, you can find a way to transfer 20,000 horses, and it is not a small number to cooperate with the Shenji Battalion, and then you should immediately notify the sailors, and temporarily go to the vicinity of Zhenjiang to make a posture of attacking Zhenjiang Mansion, and wait for the official's order to return to the vicinity of Nanjing City to fight the rebels who may flee across the river." ”

"The last will obey." Yu Jiao replied with his fists clenched, although it was only a few words, he already knew Shen Chongming's arrangement. Although it seems simple and nothing surprising, it is impossible for the rebels to pick up the bargain.

After three days and three nights of non-stop siege battles, the rebels, who had been greatly demoralized by blood and bounty, finally showed their exhaustion.

As the plenipotentiary commander of this battle, Cai Wenyuan, who had been in the past three days, was in a difficult place, and his beard was scruffy and his whole person was obviously thinner.

"Military division, General Huang sent someone to report that nearly half of the men and horses of his department were lost, and I hope that the military division can allow him to lead his troops to withdraw from the siege and repair for two days." A staff officer walked into the big tent and said cautiously.

In the past few days, in order to attack the city, the military division can be said to be exhausted, and at this juncture, Huang Wanli asked to lead his troops to withdraw from the siege and repair the city for two days, which is obviously to embarrass the military division.

However, this general is a villain, and his understanding of Huang Wanli is far less thorough than Cai Wenyuan's.

At this time, hearing that Huang Wanli sent someone to send this message, Cai Wenyuan was only a little surprised, and did not have the slightest idea of being angry. Although Huang Wanli has always been at odds with himself, he still has a very clear distinction between right and wrong.

This continuous siege of the city for three days and three nights, the Beida battalion led by him has always been the most aggressive. At the same time, the casualties were also the heaviest, in just these three days, nearly 6,000 soldiers were killed in the battle alone, and the rest were all wounded.

If you count the losses in the first few days, Huang Wanli, who originally had nearly 50,000 male soldiers, now has less than half of the men and horses at hand, and such a heavy loss would have been painful for others. But this Huang Wanli, who didn't deal with him, was stunned and gritted his teeth alone for so long.

Now that he had suddenly asked to take it down and fix it for two days, it was certainly no longer possible to hold it up. Sighing, Cai Wenyuan raised his head and ordered: "Quickly go and inform General Huang, just say that this army division will send reinforcements to support later, so that he will hold on no matter what." Whether or not you can take Nanjing City depends on who can grit their teeth and persevere to the end. ”

The guards took the order and left, Cai Wenyuan did not break his promise, paced in the tent with his hands behind his back for a while, and stomped out of the big tent with a ruthless heart.

"Come on, immediately draw three thousand from the five thousand men and horses guarding the camp of the Chinese army and assemble them, this seat is of great use!" Since ancient times, the two armies have faced each other, and the safety of the Chinese army is the top priority. This time, Cai Wenyuan did not learn to conquer Nanjing City. Except for the 30,000 horses that were placed in a few fortresses to defend against other officers and soldiers who suddenly surrounded him, he used all the people he could use.

After a burst of drumming, the three thousand men and horses gathered after a while, ignoring the monks who ignored everyone's second brother and were puzzled, Cai Wenyuan gave a few words to the generals, and the three thousand men and horses hurried to Huang Wanli's North Camp.

With 3,000 reinforcements, Huang Wanli was happy, but he was even more worried. This siege battle is a bottomless pit at all, although 3,000 men and horses are a lot of reinforcements for me now, but I don't know how long they can hold on.

For this war, Huang Wanli now almost has no hope, there are many times when he is obviously hopeful, but he has been beaten head-on by the official army, and this battle is becoming more and more difficult to fight, and it is strange everywhere.

This time, he took the initiative to ask Cai Wenyuan to withdraw and recuperate, not that Huang Wanli really couldn't support it, as long as he gritted his teeth and stood firm, it was not impossible to fight to the last soldier, right?

But the battle has reached such a point, there is really no need to fight again, if so many men and horses at hand are really exhausted, even if they occupy Nanjing City, what can they do? In the end, it was not exterminated by the officers and soldiers who arrived later.

But Huang Wanli couldn't easily say such thoughts. The army did its best, but Cai Wenyuan still didn't have the courage to call the shots, which must have come from the sect leader's will.

And now is the time when the army is united, if he suddenly runs to the sect leader and says this, let alone being adopted, it is already thankful that he will not be charged with confusing the army's heart. So after thinking about it for a long time, Huang Wanli still decided to be a turtle with a shrunken head and lose people once, and he had to leave a way out for himself.

But he never expected Cai Wenyuan to send reinforcements to him so quickly, which was a big surprise to him, and naturally there was no way to deal with it for a while.

Sighing helplessly, Huang Wanli ruthlessly passed down the general's order, and the 3,000 men and horses from the Chinese army who came to help immediately threw themselves into the siege, as long as they saved some use, they could support at least one day. Maybe after a day, the sect leader still can't see any hope of breaking the city, and will order the siege to stop.

"Master, that's the case. The subordinates are guilty, and they can't find out the truth in the city at the moment. Cai Wenyuan rarely lowered his head, it was all himself, why did he insist on attacking Nanjing City when the backyard caught fire. If he had listened to Zheng Shanchuan's opinion, he would not have fallen to this step.

Zhao Wenyi, who also looked a little depressed, shook his head, waved his hand and said with a wry smile: "Virtuous brother doesn't need to blame himself, it is up to people to succeed in things, I think my 20th army can't attack Nanjing City for a long time, isn't it the will of heaven?" Alas, it seems that Ming Ting's anger is not exhausted, and he is anxious for his brother that day. ”

Saying these words, Zhao Wenyi blamed himself in his heart. At that time, I thought that the ideal of most of my life was about to be realized, so I hurriedly raised troops when I did not arrange it properly.

"Sect Leader......" Cai Wenyuan's voice was a little choked, but he was afraid that what the outcome of this battle would be, the sect leader also expected it as himself.

"It's been almost four days, what are the casualties of the army?" Zhao Wenyi suddenly asked, he knew that casualties in such a fierce battle situation must be indispensable, so he didn't dare to look at it in the past few days, otherwise his determination to fight to the end would definitely be shaken.

But four days have passed, although the victory is still undecided, but Zhao Wenyi also knows that his men and horses without reinforcements are weak in succession, and the balance of victory has been tilted in favor of the officers and soldiers.

"Sect Master, the army was killed nearly 30,000 and seriously wounded more than 8,000. If you add the previous days, the total number of casualties is more than 70,000. Cai Wenyuan said these numbers and couldn't help sighing, although the remaining people are still not a few, but their morale is exhausted, and it is already embarrassing.

Zhao Wenyi nodded silently and said with a wry smile: "That's it, the defeat is decided." ”

"Sect Master, who has not experienced a few ups and downs since ancient times?" Zheng Shanchuan, who has been recuperating in his body for a few days, rarely spoke. "As long as he is left to be useful, won't he still be able to do something again in the future?"

"Protector of the Dharma, this seat is over fifty years old, and after this defeat, I am afraid that it will be difficult to see me in my lifetime to achieve great things without teaching." Zhao Wenyi shook his head and smiled bitterly, he had worked hard all his life to intrigue all his life, wasn't it just for this.

Zheng Shanchuan shook his head and persuaded: "Sect Master, stay in Qingshan and don't be afraid of no firewood." Although we are defeated in the hands of Shen Chongming at the moment, don't forget, as the old saying goes, there is a cunning rabbit and a dead lackey, and Shen Chongming, who is after a big victory, is afraid that life will not be easy, how can those people in the officialdom let him take power again? Wait, maybe it won't be long before the whole world is in chaos. ”

"Brother Zheng!" Before Zhao Wenyi could understand, Cai Wenyuan on the side high-fived and praised.

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