Emperor Ming Fengyunlu

Volume VIII Troubled Times

Chapter 2 The soldiers are divided into two routes

Section 3 The Smoke Rises from the North and the South (3)

In the fourth year of the Apocalypse (the eighth year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven), at the end of March, Xiamen, Fujian.

Since Zheng Zhilong received Liu Yunwei's reply, he has always felt very unsteady in his heart, after all, Liu Yunwei has a heavy army and strong strength, and his past achievements are also outstanding and undefeated, and these soldiers and horses under his command alone cannot be defeated in any way; What's more, Liu Yunwei is still his eldest brother, he funded himself back then, and he was kind to himself, if he really started with Liu Yunwei, I am afraid that even his two younger brothers will have complaints.

After thinking about it, Zheng Zhilong still couldn't make up his mind, and he didn't know what to do for a while. At this moment, a news came back that made Zheng Zhi tremble: Liu Yunwei, the governor of Jiliao and the uncle of the broken army, had led tens of thousands of troops south to Fujian, and the army was directed towards Quanzhou!

Hearing the news, Zheng Zhilong no longer hesitated and immediately convened all his subordinates to discuss the matter. Zheng Xing, Zheng Ming, Yang Geng, Chen Hui, Zheng Cai and other generals, as well as Zheng Zhihu and Zheng Zhibao brothers, all hurried to hear the order, and everyone was shocked when they heard that Liu Yunwei had led the army south to Fujian, and everyone did not dare to resist, and they all suggested that Zheng Zhilong immediately lead his troops to retreat to Taiwan.

Zheng Zhilong was furious when he heard this, and said: "Do you want to go to Taiwan to become the emperor of the soil, and this is the end of your life?" Are you so ambitious and short-sighted? Look at my righteous brothers, who are now all the princes of the army with 300,000 troops! ”

Zheng Zhihu said with great concern: "Big brother, now is not the time to be rash, Ji Liao Governor has great achievements and strong force, and the Han Wei Army is very sharp and has never been defeated so far, these soldiers and horses of ours alone can't resist it in any way!" Rather than sit back and wait for destruction, it is better to avoid the edge for the time being and preserve the strength. ”

Everyone echoed Zheng Zhihu's opinion, and no one advocated leading the army to meet Liu Yunwei. After all, Liu Yunwei can even defeat Jiannu, let alone the pirate-born army under Zheng Zhilong, and everyone has no confidence in their hearts.

Seeing this, Zheng Zhilong felt very annoyed, and said hatefully: "You guys are really confused! Do you think I'm really going to rebel? Don't I just want to make a career? This time, will the leader of the Jiliao Governor come to fight us to the death? Can you think about it with your brains? ”

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and Zheng Zhibao said suspiciously: "Big brother, you called us over in a hurry, isn't it just to discuss the matter of facing the battle?" Didn't the Governor of Jiliao come to exterminate us with a large army? ”

Zheng Zhilong said: "Now the Shandong Wenxiang Sect is also making trouble, and the governor of Jiliao sent 50,000 or 60,000 troops to pacify it without saying a word. And what about us? Our strength is stronger than that of the Wenxiang Sect, but the Governor of Jiliao only brought 20,000 or 30,000 horses from his headquarters to come, what does this mean? It shows that my righteous brother either despises us very much, or he doesn't even think about going to war, he just wants to scare us! ”

Zheng Zhihu and Zheng Zhibao glanced at each other, and both of them were bright-eyed. Zheng Zhihu hurriedly said: "What does the eldest brother mean that the governor of Jiliao wants to promote peace through war?" ”

Zheng Zhilong nodded and said, "That's exactly what I thought, but I'm a little worried that I've miscalculated, so I called you here to discuss it." ”

Everyone calmed down a little, so they talked about it in twos and threes, and this round of discussion lasted until the evening, and finally everyone came to a conclusion, that is: In this battle, Liu Yunwei, the governor of Jiliao, does not want to really fight, and he has a great chance to negotiate with him! But the premise is that the side must show sufficient strength, otherwise the peace talks will turn into surrender!

Zheng Zhilong was even more astonishing: "If my brother is willing to recruit us, we can put on the skin of the imperial court and expand our strength in a down-to-earth manner!" ”

Everyone nodded in agreement when they heard this, and they all thought it was true.

Zheng Zhihu thought for a moment and asked, "Big brother, how should we prepare?" Do you want to send someone north to meet the Governor of Jiliao, and contact the Governor of Jiliao before the battle? ”

Unexpectedly, Zheng Zhilong glared at Zheng Zhihu fiercely and scolded: "Confused! Now everything is just speculation, can you guarantee that my brother will not be murderous? Send someone to do something! The order is given, and the whole army is ready for battle at once! Immediately transfer another 5,000 troops and horses from Taiwan to support. At the same time, the whole army immediately abandoned Xiamen and other places, rushed to Quanzhou to assemble, and stationed in Hui'an, Nan'an, and Jinjiang in Quanzhou Prefecture, and defended Quanzhou City with all its might! ”

After Zheng Zhilong finished speaking, he looked at everyone, and then said word by word: "You all remember for me, even if we are ready to recruit peace, we must be prepared with both hands, and we must also promote peace with war!" ”

Zheng Zhihu, Zheng Zhibao and others were first shocked when they heard this, and then they got up together and said, "The last general will be ordered!" ”

At the same time, Gao Hongguang had already led nearly 50,000 troops to Jinan Mansion with Huang Fuming's Yingyang Battalion and Yulin Battalion. After the two met with the political envoy of Shandong and the prefect of Jinan, they led the army out of the city and rushed to Gaojiazhuang to station, only waiting for the Jinan Mansion to transport the follow-up grain and grass, Gao Hongguang was ready to lead the army to attack.

That night, Gao Hongguang and Huang Fuming discussed the upcoming war in the study of Gao's father Gao Haoran.

Gao Haoran looked at his son, who commanded tens of thousands of troops and was full of energy, he felt very relieved and proud in his heart, and said secretly: "It seems that I did the right thing to send Hongguang to the Hanwei Army back then, but now Hongguang is really promising, and he has become the commander of the army, this is where a man should go, this is what a man should look like!" ”

Gao Hongguang obviously didn't notice his father's proud and relieved expression, he just looked at a map on the table and said, "Father, according to what you said, now the Wenxiang Sect rebels have grown to about 100,000 under the leadership of that Xu Dynasty, and have successively captured Tai'an Prefecture, Yuncheng, Dongping Prefecture, Xinwen, and Mengyin?" How many rebels are stationed in these places now, and do you have any news about it? ”

Because the Gao family is a rare heirloom family in Shandong for several generations, and has a lot to do with the rivers and lakes, the news has always been very well-informed, and even some news that the imperial court may not know, the Gao family can inquire clearly in the shortest possible time.

Gao Haoran thought for a while, and then said: "There are about 20,000 people stationed in Yuncheng, and the rest of the four cities of Tai'an, Dongpingzhou, Xinwen, and Mengyin do not have many soldiers and horses, and there are two or three thousand people stationed in each place. ”

The emperor on the side felt very strange when he heard this, so he asked, "Dare to ask the old man, where is the main army of the Smelling Fragrance Sect?" Where is that Xu Dynasty man? ”

Gao Haoran sighed slightly when he heard this, and said, "That Xu Dynasty has already led the 70,000 main army of the Wenxiang Sect to Yanzhou Mansion, and it is estimated that Yanzhou City is now besieged!" ”

Gao Hongguang and Huangfu Ming were shocked when they heard this, if there was anything wrong in Yanzhou City, then the entire Yanzhou Mansion would be half lost, and at that time, the remnants of the Smelling Fragrance Sect might really set off a shocking wave!

Thinking of this, Gao Hongguang's mind was thinking quickly, and Huang Fuming was also frowning and thinking, both of them began to think about how to break the enemy. After a while, both of them seemed to think of something, and almost at the same time said in unison: "Surround the point and send reinforcements!" ”

The two of them were stunned for a moment, and then laughed out loud. Gao Haoran looked at the two of them and asked, "What are you going to do?" ”

Gao Hongguang first signaled his father to be calm, and then said with a smile: "General Lao Huangfu led his troops to attack Yuncheng, which is the holy place of the main altar of the Wenxiang Sect, then the Xu Dynasty will definitely divide troops to rescue." I'll lead the Eagle Yang Battalion to attack it halfway, and we'll see the opportunity to act when the time comes! ”

Gao Haoran instantly understood when he heard this, and he also laughed.

Yanzhou City.

The sun is setting, and the remnant sun is like blood.

Xu Chao looked at the messy city wall, and his heart felt like a piece of iron had fallen, heavy. This time, the Xu Dynasty led an army of 70,000 to besiege Yanzhou City, originally planning to break the city in one fell swoop, and then sweep the entire Yanzhou Mansion before the imperial army arrived, and first established itself in an invincible position. However, Xu Chao never thought that this Yanzhou City was too difficult to fight, even if there were only about 10,000 defenders in the city, even if the commander of the city guard had been killed by himself, even if the morale of the officers and soldiers in the city was already very low, but the tens of thousands of troops under his command still couldn't take a step across the thunder pool!

"Time waits for no one! Now that the imperial court's conquest army has arrived in Jinan Mansion, I must take Yanzhou City as soon as possible, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable! ”

Thinking of this, Xu Chao ignored the heavy casualties of his subordinates, and once again ordered the army to attack, and was actually preparing to attack the city overnight.

With the sound of war drums, the tragic siege battle was staged again, more than 30,000 Wenxiang Sect rebels held ladders and pushed rams, launched a crazy attack on Yanzhou City, and the entire Yanzhou City was like a flat boat in the stormy waves under the fierce attack, and it could be destroyed at any time.

Xu Chao restlessly walked back and forth in the Chinese army, looking at the fierce battle in front of him, his heart could not calm down, as if he had a premonition that something was about to happen.

"Pass the order! After breaking through Yanzhou City, there was no military discipline for three days! ”

The Xu Dynasty had already made a desperate bet and issued orders that were enough to plunge tens of thousands of Wenxiang Sect rebels into madness. For a while, the army of the Wenxiang Sect that was besieging the city became even more crazy, and even climbed the city wall several times, and the defense line of the official army was in danger and precarious.

As a last resort, the prefect of Yanzhou ordered a beacon fire to be lit and asked for help from the surrounding officials and soldiers. At night, a rush of wolf smoke rose, looming in the dim light, but the sound of fighting from Yanzhou City resounded in all directions and lasted for a long time.