Hong Chengchou was rewarded by Wang Yongxiang and the defeated soldiers, and he was immediately annoyed, and he kicked Wang Yongxiang to the ground, "Bastard! Rubbish! You can't even deal with the thieves, and you end up with the annihilation of the whole army, and you have lost the face of the court! ”

Wang Yongxiang didn't dare to get up, crawled and turned around, facing Hong Chengchou, "Your Excellency the Governor, your subordinates ......" The words he had prepared along the way were speechless, but he couldn't say a word.

"Do you still have the face to explain? There are only two or three thousand thieves, and your subordinates have a whole thousand soldiers......" Hong Chengchou was still angry, picked up the tea cup on the table, and slammed it on the ground, "The imperial court is really raising you in vain!" ”

The tea splashed Wang Yongxiang's head and face, but he didn't dare to wipe it, and let the tea form two rain lines on the pocket, "Your Excellency the Governor...... That's not how it is......"

"What is that?" Hong Chengchou glared at Wang Yongxiang, eager to scoop up his saliva and swallow it, "It's the female dependant who grabbed the thief again...... And then let the thieves sneak up? Look at your appearance, you are worse than a thief! ”

"Your Excellency the Governor, your subordinates don't dare," Wang Yongxiang knocked his head on the ground and said, "We have already killed two thousand thieves...... There are no more than a thousand thieves left, and they are about to be wiped out......"

Hong Chengchou glared at him and said, "What, could it be that you were kind to the thieves, let them run away, and were killed and returned to the carbine?" ”

"Lord Governor, it's a reinforcement for the thieves......"

"Reinforcements?" Hong Chengchou squatted down, lifted Wang Yongxiang's chin, stared at his eyes, and said, "Where are you chasing?" How many reinforcements does the thief have? ”

Wang Yongxiang didn't dare to move, and gasped and said, "Back to the Governor, we'...... We chased down Guguan, the original thief...... Accepted into the customs, at least 500 ...... Five Hundred Thieves...... Exiting the border stopped us from ......"

"Only 500 thieves, and they wiped out your entire thousand soldiers?" Hong Chengchou was bleeding in his heart, brother, you have to make up more wonderful lies, is it possible that I am dizzy when I am old?

"Lord Governor, this gang of thieves is different from other thieves......"

"Different? You mean, thieves have taken over the fortified pass? Hong Chengchou's heart "chuckled", he faintly felt that something was wrong, so he put down Wang Yongxiang's chin, got up and put his hands behind his back, "Tell me, what's the difference?" ”

"Lord Governor, these thieves are all birds...... It's not a bird's gun, it's very similar to a bird's gun, but it has a range of 100 paces, and the brothers all died under this unknown firearm......"

"Bird? 100 steps? Hong Chengchou suddenly realized the seriousness of the problem.

Occupy Guguan, a large number of firearms, the range reaches 100 steps, and 500 people completely annihilated Wang Yongxiang's 1,000 households, if Wang Yongxiang is not lying, then there is a big problem.

The thieves are guarding the pass, and I am afraid that Longyou will ...... Maybe there is a problem in Gansu, no wonder there has been no news for a long time!

He had also vaguely heard about the changes in Longyou, when the governor of Shaanxi was still Yang He, he was just a small governor of Yansui, not in charge of the military, so he didn't pay much attention.

Could it be that the thieves in Longyou have already sat down?

However, there are at least two doubts in Wang Yongxiang's words: First, even if thieves get firearms, whether they are bird guns or three-eyed guns, the range will not exceed 40 paces, which is inferior to bows and arrows, how can there be firearms in the world with a range of 100 paces?

Secondly, Cao Wenzhao has just exterminated the thieves in Longyou, even if there are thieves in Longyou, for a while, there is not enough food supply, how can it be so big that it is terrifying?

"Yongxiang, tell me in detail what happened!"

"Yes, Lord Governor!" Wang Yongxiang told what happened in Guguan as it was, how could Hong Chengchou believe it, and then pulled the soldiers who fled back over and interrogated them in person, and the result was still the same.

Hong Chengchou was speechless for a moment, he asked Wang Yongxiang and them to go down first, and locked himself up in "confinement".

If what they said is true, then Longyou must be in chaos, maybe Gansu can't keep it, he, the governor of the three sides, is going to be roasted on the fire, the thieves in Yansui, Guyuan, and Ningxia have not yet been eliminated, and now there is a Longyou!

finally waited for Yang He to be dismissed from his post and asked, arrested and imprisoned, and took over as the governor of the three sides, is the situation in Shaanxi really out of control?

What worries him the most is that it is not clear what happened to Longyou, how bad the situation is, who led the thieves who occupied Guguan, and how many people they gathered.

Hong Chengchou has the intention to go to Guguan in person, but near Guyuan Town, where the Trilateral Governor's Mansion is located, the thieves have not yet been driven out, and once Guyuan Town falls, he will become a real rogue like the thieves.

He can't afford such a crime!

Guguan can no longer be ignored, who are you going to send?

The entire Shaanxi army is concentrated in the Guyuan area, and is making every effort to eliminate the nearby thieves, although the situation is very good, but it will take a long time to completely wipe out.

According to the descriptions of Wang Yongxiang and the soldiers, Hong Chengchou already felt that Longyou was very likely to have become a hard-hit area for thieves to destroy, and non-famous generals could not restore the situation.

Cao Wenzhao! Hong Chengchou suddenly became famous.

This is a rare general in the Ming Dynasty, and he holds the title of Lintao General Soldier, which is his territory, which should be solved by him, and Cao Wenzhao has just cleaned up Longyou, and the soldiers left in the local area are all his people.

Thinking of Cao Wenzhao, Hong Chengchou was a little settled in his heart, and he immediately sent a letter to Cao Wenzhao, ordering him to take the people of his headquarters and quickly go to Guguan and Longyou to investigate the situation of the thieves.

Cao Wenzhao had just arrived in Huating County, and Li Zicheng received a flying pigeon from Wang Anping.

Li Zicheng had nothing to do, so he held a military meeting in his camp, and in addition to Li Zicheng, there were only three people attending the meeting: Ma Youshui, Liu Yunshui, and Zhou Bin.

He first showed the message sent back by Wang Anping to several thousand households, and then said: "A few of you, you are all thousands of household officials of the Heavenly Mandate Army, tell me, how do we treat this General Cao?" ”

"Governor, do you want to use the cavalry to welcome you first?" When Liu Yunshui heard that there was a battle, his heart immediately blossomed, but his subordinates were mainly cavalry, and if they were defending the city, unless they ran out of ammunition and food, they would not have his share at all.

"Greeting?" Li Zicheng took a sip of tea and said: "Yunshui, I'm afraid I don't know, Cao Wenzhao originally served in Liaodong, and he had more than a thousand of the most elite Guanning iron cavalry in his hands, which was specially designed to deal with the Tartar cavalry, and your cavalry was probably not enough for people to stuff their teeth!" ”

"Haha......" Everyone laughed, this Liu Yunshui, as long as there is a fight, it is like a bee sniffing flowers and a kitten smelling fishy, but unfortunately this time......

Liu Yunshui blushed and glared at everyone, Guan Ning Tieqi and Tartar, he had heard of it, although he didn't know the actual combat effectiveness, he didn't dare to despise it in his heart, but since Guan Ning Tieqi came, could he still let him escape back safely? "Governor, these horses ......"

"It turns out that Yunshui is worried about General Cao's war horse?" Li Zicheng naturally hopes that these excellent war horses can belong to the Mandate of Heaven Army, but Cao Wenzhao is a generation of famous generals, how can he give up the war horses in his hands? "These war horses, General Cao looks like a baby, he will never use cavalry to attack the city, if you want to destroy him in the wild, even if the cavalry of Heyunshui and Shuangxi is not enough!"

"Dadu Governor, if you can eliminate Cao Wenzhao's cavalry and get these war horses, even if you lose some brothers, it is worth it, my subordinates heard that the cavalry under Cao Wenzhao's command is like the Mongols, they are all one person and two horses!" Ma Youshui was also eyeing Cao Wenzhao's cavalry, although he knew that even if he got the war horse, it would not belong to his 6,000th household.

Li Zicheng shook his head and said: "Don't stare at the war horses, outside the solid pass, there is no open area suitable for cavalry battles, Cao Wenzhao is a fine person, he will never let the cavalry enter the valley road, let's talk about how to deal with his infantry!" ”

"Dadu Governor, Cao Wenzhao's infantry is only 2,000 people, if he dares to attack the city, his subordinate brothers can wipe them out!" Zhou Bin's eyes were full of anticipation for a while.

"Cao Wenzhao's subordinates are all soldiers who have fought for a long time, and their combat effectiveness is extremely strong, if they can completely annihilate his infantry, they will definitely make Hong Chengchou shake," Li Zicheng said in a deep voice: "But Cao Wenzhao is different from the Mongols, he is not reckless, and he will not easily let all the soldiers approach the city, 'there is a Cao in the army, and the western thief is afraid when he hears it', we must not underestimate him!" ”

Ma Youshui frowned suddenly, he was the chief general of Guguan, and he felt that his responsibility was greater, but he had no idea for a while, "If Cao Wenzhao's infantry refuses to approach the city wall, and there are cavalry guards, it will be difficult for us to gather and annihilate him!" ”

"Therefore, in this operation, our infantry must not only go out of the city, but also hide in the nearby woods, and when necessary, take the initiative to cut off the return route of Cao Wenzhao's infantry." Li Zicheng said in his heart, in this way, maybe Cao Wenzhao, the general star, will fall in advance.

Cao Wenzhao's reputation mainly lies in the suppression of bandits and the killing of a large number of Shaanxi thieves, but he is an officer of the imperial court, and there is nothing wrong with standing in his position to carry out the military orders of the imperial court.

Although the plight of the thieves deserves sympathy, they themselves are constantly harming others and becoming a cancer in society, which must be eradicated in time, which is why Li Zicheng called them "thieves".

If he can choose, Li Zicheng still hopes to negotiate peace with Cao Wenzhao and Hong Chengchou to temporarily maintain the land under actual control, the Ming army continues to exterminate the thieves, and the Mandate of Heaven army is buried in development, first restoring Longyou to its former prosperity.

However, peace talks need to be backed by strength, and if they cannot deter the Ming army, or even let the Ming army suffer heavy losses, so that they are afraid of the Mandate of Heaven, there will be no way to talk about peace talks.

"Governor, since Cao Wenzhao has elite cavalry, wouldn't it be very dangerous for our infantry to go out of the city? In case you can't stop these cavalry...... "Ma Youshui still has a faint trace of worry.

Li Zicheng laughed and said, "This requires Yunshui's cavalry to respond from it!" ”

Ma Youshui suddenly realized, "The subordinates understand, the Metropolitan Governor said that let the subordinates harass and contain the cavalry from behind, so that Cao Wenzhao's cavalry must guard their back road." ”

"It's good to understand, your cavalry is mainly used as a suspicious soldier to contain Cao Wenzhao's Guanning Iron Cavalry, so that we can concentrate our forces and destroy his infantry first, and before the critical moment, we must not fight head-on, let alone let Cao Wenzhao know the reality outside!"

Everyone discussed for more than half an hour, gradually refining the operational deployment, and then waited for Cao Wenzhao to throw himself into the net.