Sheepskin Beach, Onishi Barracks.

Sun Kewang was sitting in the tent, his face was gloomy, in the middle of the morning, the second messenger sent by Li Dingguo had already rushed to the sheepskin beach, Gu Yan Xiangyang had found a large group of Ming troops outside the city, and it was the most elite Ming Central Army, Li Dingguo asked Sun Kewang to lead the main force of the Great Western Army to speed up the march and rush to Xiangyang immediately.

Sun Kewang was caught in a dilemma.

If Sun Kewang led the main force of Daxi to Xiangyang, with the huge strength of the Daxi Army, there should be no problem in holding Xiangyang, but in this way, Li Dingguo's credit will be solid, this great credit can not be snatched away by others, and he Sun Kewang can not be snatched away, Zhang Xianzhong can only appreciate Li Dingguo more when he knows it, and the prince of Daxi will have nothing to do with his grandson.

But if you don't send troops, the Great Western Army will miss the God-given opportunity, although Sun Kewang does not have Li Dingguo's courage and strategy, but it is not useless in military affairs, the current situation Sun Kewang still sees very clearly, Li Dingguo's surprise attack on Xiangyang is like a dagger straight into the heart of the Huguang defenders, and the Great Western Army can be said to have taken the lead!

If you miss such an opportunity, it is basically impossible to have such a good situation in the future.

What to do? To send troops or not to send troops?

"General." When Sun Kewang was hesitating, the voice of the captain of the personal army suddenly sounded outside the tent again, "The second general has sent someone again." ”

"Oh?" Sun Kewang's heart jumped, and he said in a condensed voice, "Let him in." ”

"Yes."

The captain of the pro-soldier took the order and soon took a dusty soldier into Sun Kewang's tent.

Seeing Sun Kewang, the Daxi soldiers fell to their knees, crying and crying: "General, the offensive of the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty is very fierce, and our army has suffered great casualties, please send troops quickly, otherwise Xiangyang will not be able to hold it!" ”

Sun Kewang gasped and said in a condensed voice: "Speak slowly, what's going on?" ”

The Daxi soldiers briefly described the five-minute fierce battle between the Daxi Army and the Central Army to Sun Kewang this morning, and then gasped and said: "The musket team of the Daxi Central Army is too powerful, this is only a bag of cigarettes, our army has already suffered four or five hundred casualties, if the general does not send troops to rescue, Xiangyang City will hang!" ”

"Got it." Sun Kewang nodded, and said in a condensed voice, "You go back to Xiangyang first, and Ben Shuai will send troops." ”

"Thank you, General."

The soldiers of the Great Western Army bowed their heads again and again, got up and went out of the tent.

Seeing the figure of the soldier of the Great Western Army go away, the captain of the personal soldier said: "General, the villain will go to give the order." ”

"Come back." Sun Kewang frowned and said, "Do you know what military order to pass on?" ”

The captain of the pro-soldier said: "Didn't the general say just now, send troops to Xiangyang!" ”

"You know!" Sun Kewang snorted and scolded, "Didn't you listen to what that guy said just now, the Ming Central Army killed and injured four or five hundred elite soldiers of the second general with only one bag of cigarettes!" The 3,000 elite soldiers under the second general are all elite soldiers in a hundred, if they want to change to another battalion of troops, the casualties are only afraid of greater, how many troops can the Great Western Army have, can it withstand such casualties? ”

"This ......," the captain of the pro-soldier scratched his head and said confusedly, "What does the general mean?" ”

"Go and give the order immediately,......" Sun Kewang said coldly, "The whole army retreats and returns to Qingtong Pass!" ”

"What?" The captain of the pro-soldier asked in a loud voice, "Regardless of the second general?" ”

Sun Kewang said in a deep voice: "Ben Shuai has long said that Xiangyang City is not so easy to capture, unless this is a trap for the official army, now it seems that this is indeed a trap for the official army, Li Dingguo did not notice the annihilation plan of the official army for a while, and it was his mistake to put 3,000 elite soldiers in danger, but Ben Shuai could not follow the mistake and bring the main force of the 80,000 Great Western Army into danger!" ”

The captain of the pro-soldier said: "But ......"

"Nothing." Sun Kewang said angrily, "Why don't you go and give the order quickly!?" ”

"Yes!"

The captain of the pro-soldier shivered excitedly and took the order.

■■■

Shinno, former enemy headquarters.

In order to better grasp the battlefield situation and better command the various units of the Central Army to fight, Liu Ru has moved her former enemy headquarters from Nanyang to the south to Xinye.

In the hall of the headquarters, Liu Ruzheng and more than a dozen staff officers gathered around the sand table, which was filled with various small flags, which represented the location of the Central Army, the Great Western Army and the Great Shun Army, as well as the allocation of troops.

When Liu Ru was frowning lightly and thinking about the problem, the sound of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the headquarters, and then an officer hurriedly entered the hall, saluted Liu Ru is loudspeaker, and said loudly: "Report to the commander, the reconnaissance brigade reports that the Great Western Army, which is advancing eastward along the south bank of the Han River, has entered Sheepskin Beach last night. ”

Liu Ru bowed his head lightly and personally planted a small black flag at the location of the sheepskin beach.

A staff officer frowned and asked, "The Great Western Army has already entered Sheepskin Beach last night, and now it is almost noon, is there any movement of the Great Western Army?" ”

"Nope." The officer replied, "The reconnaissance brigade is sending people to closely monitor it, and there is no movement in the Onishi Army. ”

Liu said: "Continue to monitor." ”

"Yes."

The officer saluted Liu Rushi again and turned to go.

The officer had just left, Liu Qingyan hurriedly entered the hall again, and glanced at Liu Ru again, Liu Ruyi's beautiful eyebrows couldn't help frowning slightly, and he walked to the side and asked in a low voice: "Sister Qingyan, what's wrong?" ”

Liu Qingyan looked around and was sure that the staff officers in the headquarters were busy with their own work, and when no one paid attention to her and Liu Ruyi, she whispered: "If you are a girl, something is wrong." ”

Liu Ru's heart jumped, and she asked in a condensed voice, "What's wrong?" ”

Liu Qingyan said: "Last night, Xiangyang City was already captured by the Great Western Rebels, and He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang, also became a prisoner of the Great Western Army!" ”

Liu Ru was taken aback, and almost lost her voice and exclaimed!

After taking two breaths of cold air, Liu Ru forced himself to calm down, and asked in a condensed voice: "Xiangyang City has already fallen last night, why don't you know until now, sister?" And after the loss of Xiangyang City, someone from the city's security team should have escaped, why didn't they send an interrogation to the Central Army? ”

"Don't mention it." Liu Qingyan smiled bitterly, "The intelligence officers at the entrance of the Holy Sect Xiangyang Hall were on business at the time of He Tengjiao's temporary governor's office, and they were served by the Daxi rebels, and this sister also just found out, and the security team that broke through and escaped also sent people to interrogate, but they went to Nanyang first, and then turned back to Xinye, so they just arrived." ”

Liu Ru glanced at Liu Qingyan, and the two entered the inner hall one after another.

Closing the door first, Liu Ru said: "Aren't the Great West rebels still in Sheepskin Beach?" Sheepskin Beach is still at least 200 miles away from Xiangyang, so which rebels attacked Xiangyang last night? And where did this rebel army come from, and how did they hide it from us? ”

Liu Qingyan said: "Nothing else is certain, what can be determined now is that it was the Daxi rebels who attacked Xiangyang last night." ”

"Damn it." Liu Ru frowned and stroked his forehead, "Where did this Daxi rebel army come from?" Since Xiangyang has been lost, the main force of the Daxi rebels stationed at Yangpi Beach will definitely rush eastward after hearing the news, and rush to Xiangyang in the shortest possible time to join the rebels on this road......"

After saying this, Liu Ru suddenly remembered one more thing, and the originally ruddy pink face immediately lost its bloody color.

Liu Qingyan was taken aback, and asked with concern, "What's wrong with you if you're a girl?" Is there something uncomfortable? ”

"No, little sister is nothing." Liu Ru shook his head, looked back at Liu Qingyan with inexplicable eyes, and said in a low voice, "Sister Yan, according to the time, the three musket battalions of Zheng Chenggong, Li Chengdong and Liu Konghe should have rushed outside Xiangyang City this morning, since Xiangyang has been lost, it is impossible for them not to know, but now it is almost noon, but they have not sent any news back, could something have happened?" ”

"Won't it?" Liu Qingyan said awe-inspiringly, "The three musket battalions taken away by Zheng Chenggong, Li Chengdong and Liu Konghe are the main force in the Central Army, and the officers at all levels in the battalion are all veterans of a hundred battles brought by Hou Ye from Datong, even if there are hundreds of thousands of Daxi rebels who attacked Xiangyang, it is not so easy to easily swallow these three musket battalions, right?" ”

"Report!"

Liu Qingyan's voice fell, and a loud voice suddenly sounded outside the door.

Liu Ru straightened his face and said in a deep voice: "Come in." ”

The closed hall door opened, and an officer entered with pride, saluted Liu Rushi and Liu Qingyan with a loud voice, and said, "Report to the commander, Xiangyang urgent!" ”

"Xiangyang Express!?"

As long as Zheng Chenggong, Li Chengdong, Liu Kong and them still have news back, it means that nothing happened to them, as long as nothing happened to the three main musket battalions, Liu Ru has confidence in his heart, and shouted loudly with his hands behind his back, "Read!" ”

The officer unfolded the letter and read aloud: "The army has arrived, the Daxi rebels have fallen to Xiangyang, the whereabouts of He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang, the strength of the rebels is unknown, the main general is unknown, I wanted to recover Xiangyang and then report to the headquarters, but in the morning after a fierce battle, our army was frustrated, 29 people were killed, 67 people were seriously injured, and the head was begging, Li Chengdong, Zheng Chenggong, Liu Konghe. ”

"Got it."

Liu waved his hand, and the officer turned and left.

Liu Qingyan said with relief: "No wonder Li Chengdong, Zheng Chenggong and Liu Konghe have only sent an urgent delivery until now, it turns out that they planned to recover Xiangyang first and then report it together, but it is a pity that they underestimated the Daxi rebels who attacked Xiangyang, but they didn't expect the invincible Central Army to suffer a big loss under Xiangyang City!" ”

Liu Ru shook his head and said in a condensed voice: "Twenty-nine people were killed and sixty-seven people were seriously injured, which is a big loss for the central army. ”

Liu Qingyan said: "It seems that the group of Daxi rebels who attacked Xiangyang by surprise are not good at stubble. ”

Liu said: "The current situation is very tricky, if the main force of the Daxi rebels in Yangpi Beach is allowed to rush east to join the Daxi rebels in Xiangyang City, it will be difficult to recover Xiangyang in a short time!" Unless the artillery battalion can be pulled up, it is a pity that the ammunition of the artillery battalion has not been replenished yet, and there is no attack power at all. ”

Liu Qingyan said: "If we can't recover Xiangyang in a short time and recapture the military city materials accumulated in Xiangyang City, the officers and soldiers of the Central Army stationed in Qingtong Pass and Xun County will have to go hungry!" ”

"And it doesn't stop there." Liu Ru sighed and said in a quiet voice, "Before leaving, Hou Ye repeatedly told my little sister that no matter what, she must reject the enemy outside the 'national gate', and must not let the war burn into the hinterland of Huguang, but now the war has burned into Xiangyang, and after the Daxi rebels enter the city, the people in Xiangyang City still don't know what kind of military disaster they will suffer, alas......"

Liu Qingyan persuaded: "It's useless for you to complain about yourself if it's a sister, even if the Hou Ye is here, he can't imagine that a Daxi rebel army will suddenly emerge from Xiangyang unconsciously...... Hey, if it's a girl, where did you say this rebel army came from? ”

Liu Ru smiled bitterly: "This question may really be asked to Hou Ye, when Hou Ye led his troops to attack Shengjing and Sanbula River, Jiannu and Tartar must have had the same confusion as we do now: Where did this Ming army come from?" How did they hide from our army? ”

"Hiss......" Liu Qingyan gasped and said in a condensed voice, "If it's a girl, do you mean that the commander of this rebel army is the same kind of person as Hou Ye?" Are they all good at surprise attacks? ”

"This ......" Liu Ru was awe-inspiring at first when she heard this, and then an inexplicable look passed by in her beautiful eyes, and she said urgently, "Surprise attack!?" Understood, little sister understood! The strength of this rebel army will not be too much, they did not suddenly emerge from the ground, they came by copying the path, and our eyeliner is mostly scattered on the official road of the main road, no wonder they can't be found! ”

Liu Qingyan said suddenly: "So this is just a small group of rebels?" ”

"Yes, it must be so!" Liu Ru said with great certainty, "This must be a small group of rebels, if there are too many people in an army, it will be difficult to hide their traces, so the strength of this group of rebels is only two or three thousand people at most, and it may even be only about a thousand people. ”

Saying this, Liu Ru suddenly looked back and shouted: "Someone! ”

A staff officer from the headquarters had already entered the headquarters and saluted: "What does the commander command?" ”

Liu Ru said in a condensed voice: "Immediately send an order to Li Chengdong, Zheng Chenggong and Liu Konghe, and order them to lead their troops to launch a full-scale attack on Xiangyang City, at all costs, they must recapture the city before dark, otherwise they will be punished by military law!" ”

"Yes!"

The staff officer snapped into the answer.

"And ......" The staff officer just turned around and wanted to leave, but was called by Liu Ru again, "Then send an order to Junzhou, and order the Red Lady to lead the first and second battalions of the cavalry of the Central Army to rush east along the north bank of the Han River, and cross the Han River in the Guanghua area, preparing to intercept the main force of the Daxi rebels who may rush eastward." ”

"Yes!"

The staff officer took the order and went.

(To be continued)