As the saying goes, victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

For a figure like Hong Chengchou, it doesn't matter if you win or lose a battle, or win or lose a certain battle.

More important to him, than winning or losing, is that you have to figure out why this battle is happening, or why it's happening here and at this time, and not somewhere else or sometime else.

Although it is said that there is impermanence and water impermanence, behind the impermanence of soldiers, there is still a powerful existence after all, and behind the impermanence of water is still a tangible manifestation after all.

Therefore, when Zhang Guoxing, the chief soldier of Shaanxi, encountered an ambush on the mountain road leading to Guangwuzhuang east of Shilou Mountain, and the news of the annihilation of the whole army came, in addition to being angry at Zhang Guoxing's light enemy and surprised by the lure of the thief army and setting up an ambush, Shaanxi Governor Hong Chengchou thought more about why the thieves and rebels changed their habit of running away when they encountered the official army, but set up an ambush in this place, and swallowed all the 3,000 officers and soldiers by relying on the strength of the crowd?

Does this just show that this mountainous area near Shilou Mountain is the location where the main force of thieves entering the mountains is entrenched?

Now, what Zhong Dewu found in Shimen Town, deep in the mountains east of Shilou Mountain, just verified Hong Chengchou's conjectures along the way.

Because of this, he said "no wonder so" twice in a row.

Seeing that what Zhong Dewu said was consistent with the conjecture in his heart, Hong Chengchou immediately asked Zhong Dewu again: "Zhong Dewu, you 200 people fled in a bloody battle, but accidentally found the thief camp, in the eyes of this Fuyuan, you are not only innocent, but also meritorious!" Let's talk about it, apart from the thief army in Shimen Town, what else have you found all the way back?! ”

Zhong Dewu thought for a while and said: "There is no trace of thieves from the south of Shimen Town to the northern foot of Bauhinia Mountain, but in the northwest of Shimen Town, Guangwuzhuang on the side of Shilou Mountain is also entrenched in a large number of thieves. On the same day, the forward men and horses sent by Zhang Zongzhen were ambushed on the way to Guangwuzhuang! ”

After Zhong Dewu finished saying this, Hong Chengchou stroked the beard under his chin and fell into deep thought while examining the map in front of him.

At this time, Zhong Dewu continued: "Report to the lord, there is a sentence in the humble position, I don't know whether to say it or not?" ”

Hong Chengchou raised his eyes and looked at him, and said, "The situations you just mentioned are already very useful to this Fu Yuan, if there are other circumstances, you can say that it doesn't matter!" ”

Zhong Dewu then said: "Based on what I have heard and seen in the past few days, I think that the main force of the Northern Shaanxi thief army that slaughtered Yongning Prefecture City that day must be in the mountains east of Guangwuzhuang and north of Shimen Town. ”

Hong Chengchou listened to Zhong Dewu's words, looked at him with eyes, and did not speak, but the momentum exuded from his body made Zhong Dewu inexplicably nervous.

After a while, Hong Chengchou did not directly answer Zhong Dewu's question, but suddenly opened his mouth and asked him: "Zhong Dewu, are you willing to take your current troops to Ben Fu's men to listen to orders?" ”

When Zhong Dewu heard this, a stone fell to the ground in his heart, and he immediately knelt down, clenched his fists and said: "The lowly Zhong Dewu wishes to return to the command of the Lord of the Fuyuan to listen to the order!" ”

Zhong Dewu and the others followed the general soldiers, who were captured in an ambush on the battlefield, life and death are unknown, and the army where they are located is almost wiped out, but in the face of such a fiasco, he fled back with a small 200 people, although they were all wounded, indicating that they had experienced a hard battle before, but after all, so many colleagues are gone, only your small group is back, no matter which civil official or military general you meet, you have to explain it well.

If you encounter that kind of stubborn civilian and military general, it is very likely that you will be cut down indiscriminately on the charge of escaping from the battle.

This kind of thing is too common among the Ming army.

Therefore, on the way back, there were many veteran soldiers who were worried about this, and kept praising Zhong Dewu to simply fall into the grass on the mountain for Koude, after all, so many comrades-in-arms around him were fucking surrendered, and he was really speechless when he went back, what if he was unjustly killed by the new Shangguan?

Fortunately, Zhong Dewu had already had the experience of escaping in a bloody battle without being punished, especially his own uncle's family died at the hands of this thief in Yongning Prefecture, so that he did not become a fugitive in the end, did not become a bandit in Luliang Mountain, but returned to the ranks of the official army with this part of the soldiers who died in their lives.

Now that he can become the Fubiao Zhongjun of Shaanxi Governor Hong Chengchou, for these people, it can be regarded as a blessing in disguise and a better destination.

In this regard, Zhong Dewu is of course twelve points willing.

Hearing Zhong Dewu's promise, Hong Chengchou immediately stepped forward to help him up, and then asked his soldiers to take Zhong Dewu down to the city and hand it over to the Yamen of the Zhizhou Prefecture of Suizhou to properly arrange the food, treatment and resting place for Zhong Dewu and his 200 people.

In the afternoon of the same day, Hong Chengchou wrote a letter about his preliminary judgment and what he learned from Zhong Dewu, and sent people back to Fenxi on horseback, and forwarded it to Li Banghua, the military minister and supervisor who was in charge of the thieves, while on the other hand, he ordered Jiao Shengchang, the governor of Suizhou, to prepare dry food for the 1,200 Chinese troops under his command to go north to Shilou and other places the next day.

Liu Lingyu, the governor of Puzhou, already knew about the performance of the officers and soldiers of Shaanxi in the previous round, and this time he reported the situation to Li Banghua, and naturally he did not leave this matter behind.

Although Liu Lingyu was extremely humble and respectful when Hong Chengchou arrived in Puzhou, his previous attitude towards Zhang Guoxing's Shaanxi officials and troops behind closed doors made Hong Chengchou very unhappy.

Although this kind of thing has happened many times among the magistrates of the Ming Dynasty, but now the timing is very different, which is equivalent to hitting Hong Chengchou's muzzle.

If Hong Chengchou is an ordinary civil official, he will naturally not get along with Liu Lingyu, who was born in imperial history, in this matter, after all, Zhang Guoxing has either been killed or surrendered now, at least he must have been defeated and captured, and he can't offend Liu Lingyu, who was born in imperial history, for his sake.

But it's a pity that Hong Chengchou is not an ordinary civilian official, and at this moment, it is a heaven-sent opportunity for him to come forward to recover the heart of the Shaanxi army, how could he miss such a good opportunity.

Even if Zhang Guoxing and his three thousand elites are dead, there are still many pass garrisons in Tongguan and the junction of Shaanxi, Jin, and Shaanxi-Henan, all of which are under the command of the Shaanxi General Military Office, although they are not very elite, but they are also a force!

Even if it is not possible to fight, let them divide their troops to guard the various passes, do things for the governor's yamen, and collect taxes from past merchants.

After all, these Shaanxi army veterans are not good stubble, even if some people go to the battlefield to steal and play tricks and drag their feet, but if you can't subdue them, then their existence will become a hidden danger.

These veterans are inconspicuous in the official army, and once they go up the mountain and fall into the grass, or simply surrender to thieves, then the damage they cause to the officials, soldiers and localities is far higher than that of ordinary homeless people.

Since he wants to appease the hearts of other Shaanxi soldiers, he will naturally not be merciful to Liu Lingyu, who does not accept Shaanxi officers and soldiers behind closed doors.

In the afternoon of the same day, after dealing with these unseemly matters, Hong Chengchou led his soldiers and horses to rest in the city of Suizhou for a night, and led the army to the north quickly early the next morning.

Depart in the morning and arrive at noon.

At this time, Shilou County, there have long been no people, and now they are stationed in Shanxi according to the envoy Zhang Zongheng to bring the township guards, Hong Chengchou in Zhang Zongheng and others greeted smoothly into the city, settled down, first listened to Zhang Zongheng's report on the thief situation in the east and north of Shilou, and then in the next few days, while sending a thief report to Li Banghua, he continuously sent elite sentinels under his command to continue to investigate in depth in the east and north directions.

To the east, it is naturally to the direction of Guangwuzhuang, and to the north, it is to go to the direction of Lishi, where Ningxiang and Yongning Prefecture are located.

Because according to various indications, it is very likely that the main force of thieves who entered Shanxi has really completely abandoned Lishi County, where Yongning Prefecture City is located.