readx; Li Zicheng's expectation was good, just when they were talking about the plan to march into Nanjing, in the area of Pengcheng, which was only more than 100 miles north of them, the Ming army, which had won consecutive battles, was indeed in an unprecedented predicament. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The knot is not far away, and the ship is cold and cold

Lu Xiangsheng, the commander of the military department, the governor of the five provinces and the four prefectures, did not stay in the city, but set up a large camp five miles south of the city. It stands to reason that although Pengcheng was besieged by thieves for many days and was severely damaged, after all, the conditions in the field were much better than those in the cold. However, considering that the people of Pengcheng urgently needed to recuperate, they could not squeeze out the garrison at all; Second, in order to prevent the sneak attack of thieves, many Ming troops were scattered and stationed in a considerable area, and Lu Xiang was promoted to the commander-in-chief, and he has always shared weal and woe with the officers and soldiers, and he refused to stay in the city.

Today, tens of thousands of Ming troops have deployed a long defensive line along the Yellow River from Guide in Henan in the west to Pengcheng in the east in the south. This defense line was 300 miles long, and the total strength of the Ming army under the command of Lu Xiangsheng was only 50,000. Almost every other mile, the Ming army set up a temporary simple beacon tower, leaving a small number of soldiers on duty; And dozens of miles south of this line of defense, the cavalry of the reconnaissance battalion shuttled back and forth every day, repeatedly reconnoitring in case of a raid by thieves. Generals such as Hao Yongzhong and Li Laiheng led the main cavalry force and stationed them in Yucheng Dangshan and other places. Only the main force of Meng Gong's infantry army and the Tianxiong army were stationed in Pengcheng, which was directly dispatched by Lu Xiangsheng.

Lu Xiangsheng's deployment was really out of helplessness. Originally, according to common sense, the strength of the officers and soldiers was far inferior to that of the thieves, and it was necessary to concentrate the troops as much as possible for security. However, Lu Xiangsheng knows the characteristics of thieves, and it is not difficult to defeat them on the frontal battlefield, but the biggest threat to thieves lies in the word "flow". As long as it can't be annihilated, if the first-class thieves bypass the main force of the official army and re-penetrate back to Henan, it will be a big trouble.

Now almost all the soldiers available to the imperial court in the Central Plains are in the hands of Lu Xiangsheng and Sun Chuanting. After Sun Chuanting entered Henan from Shaanxi, he made rapid progress, and the main force had reached Hubei, pointing directly at Yuezhou, the rebels' hometown. In the west of Guidefu, only the first division of the Ming Army that had just formed an army was stationed in Kaifeng, and between Kaifeng and Xiangyang, Yuzhou, Xuzhou, Ruzhou and other places, only Zuo Liangyu, the general of the Ping Thief, led some Weisuo troops who rebelled and surrendered in various places, although the total strength was tens of thousands, but most of them were vulnerable. Therefore, Henan's troops are quite empty, and once the thieves return, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Zhu Youzhen naturally knows the characteristics of the thieves, of course he wants to gather heavy troops to defeat the thieves in one fell swoop, but it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and all the soldiers that can be used in her hands have been used, and no more soldiers can be drawn. Therefore, he could only hand over the task of stopping the thieves to Lu Xiangsheng, and Lu Xiangsheng had no choice but to deploy it like this. Fortunately, there is a Yellow River, which can be used as a natural defensive barrier, otherwise it would be more difficult to arm.

The second reason why Lu Xiangsheng temporarily did not move was the logistical problem that Li Zicheng said. The problem is more serious than the military one.

After the siege of Pengcheng was lifted, although hundreds of thousands of stone grains stored in the official warehouse in the city were preserved, when the thieves raged in Fengyang Mansion, a large number of refugees fled into Pengcheng, and hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in the city. In the middle of winter, many poor farmers in the vicinity also run out of cooking. According to Zhu Youzhen's will, the local people have already suffered from the military disaster, and they must not suffer from hunger again, and they must open a warehouse for relief. In this way, these hundreds of thousands of stone grains can only meet the rations of the local people, and the officials and soldiers will have no share.

The imperial court has done its best to transport food and ammunition from Jingshi and other places to the front line. Although he was extremely short of money, Zhu Youzhen would never default on the salaries of the officers and soldiers who bravely killed the thieves; Weapons and ammunition are also produced in full force, and they are delivered in a steady stream, and although the distance is long, they can always be helped. Only this grain has been transported from the south to the north since ancient times, and the grain in the north was not enough, and the border armies in various places also needed military rations. If the land is freezing today, the Grand Canal is frozen, and thieves are blocking the road, the grain from the south cannot be transported at all, and even if Zhu Youzhen has great ability, it is impossible to conjure up grain out of thin air.

Therefore, although Zhu Youzhen was already close to adopting the grain rationing system in Beijing, the speed of grain transportation to the front line inevitably slowed down. The military rations in Lu Xiangsheng's camp were also decreasing. In order to make a lasting calculation, Lu Xiangsheng had to lower the ration standard, and although it was still three meals a day, the portion size was reduced by one-third. He himself still leads by example, even skipping lunch. Originally, the commander of the whole army was extremely nervous and physical, and he ate so little, Lu Xiangsheng quickly lost weight, his eye sockets were deep, and he was as strong as an ox, but he almost fainted during a morning exercise.

However, Lu Xiangsheng did not dare to slack off at all, and rarely stayed in the tent of the Chinese army during the day, and spent most of his time inspecting the defensive line and reviewing the tactics and tactics to check morale. At night, after dealing with trivial affairs in the army, he had to write a report on the situation at the front in detail. By the time the carrier pigeon flies away from the camp with the written recital, it is often the third watch in the middle of the night.

Of course, Zhu Youzhen also attaches great importance to the war, and he will never leave the Heart Cultivation Hall every day without waiting for Lu Xiangsheng's performance. After repeatedly studying and judging the situation, the two reached an agreement:

In other theaters, the officers and troops were already in a very advantageous position. In Hubei, Sun Chuanting's troops were like a bamboo, and his two generals, Li Dingguo and Xie Yong, were even more brave and strategic, and they were more than enough to deal with Hong Bing; In Hunan, Zeng Mengxue made it difficult for the rebels to move an inch; In Jiangxi, the North Sea Fleet commanded by Qi Xianzong firmly choked the mouth of Poyang Lake, rendering the White Lotus Sect's huge fleet useless. If this continues, it is only a matter of time before the rebels are destroyed, and the key now lies on the Eastern Front.

The enemy is cold and secretive

Although it is as cold as today, with the style of a thief, it is impossible to stay in one place for a long time, and I am afraid that there will be a big move soon. And although the officers and troops were hard, they could be regarded as resting for a while, and it was time to continue the offensive. At present, a large number of military supplies are on the way, and it will arrive in Pengcheng in five or six days. After obtaining these supplies, the officers and troops will launch a new round of offensive, still relying on firearms and cavalry, to further squeeze the space for the thieves to operate.

Of course, it is impossible for ordinary officers and soldiers below to know these top-secret military information. Late that night, in a small village called Gooushang Village at the junction of the area under the actual control of the officers and the thieves, an infantry platoon was ordered to be stationed there, leaving only one sentry on duty at night, while the other soldiers went to sleep early. This infantry platoon is subordinate to the five battalions of the three major battalions of the Beijing Division, but the internal structure has long been renovated.

In the dead of night, everything is silent. Since he had not eaten much lately, the warrior's already cured finch blindness had recurred, and with no moon to-night, it was pitch black over the field, and there was nothing to be left a foot or two away. In the second half of the night, as usual, there was nothing abnormal, and the warrior became more and more sleepy, and could not help but fall asleep in a daze leaning on the bird's gun.

Suddenly, he was awakened by the sound of small, chaotic footsteps. He suddenly stepped forward and looked south, although Chu, he instinctively felt that a cold current was approaching, it was the murderous aura that diffused from the sword!

"There is a situation!" The warrior roared, raised his gun and fired a shot. In fact, he didn't at all, just to fire a warning shot. However, accompanied by the sound of gunfire, a scream suddenly rang out, followed by the sound of countless sharp arrows breaking through the air. The warrior was caught off guard, his chest was pierced by several iron arrows, and he shook twice, and finally fell to the ground.

"Kill!"

In an instant, the sound of killing shook the sky, and an extremely tragic Armageddon began!