Like a nightmare, when the army collapsed, he saw the thieves rushing in waves, and the foot soldiers and cavalry beside him fell, Cao Bianjiao's heart ached like death, but he fought frantically, killing back one after another of the thieves who outflanked and intercepted them, until he saw the banner of Wang Tingchen......

It's just that the tragic experience afterwards still seems like a nightmare when I think about it, countless midnight dreams, and it is all soldiers with bloody faces shouting at themselves. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Thousands of new troops were almost wiped out, their casualties were so heavy, and their suffering was so unbearable, these soldiers regarded themselves as their fathers, they all relied on themselves, and they never gave up, but they were unable to keep them, and they did not give up the promise of a soldier, and they could not do it.

Thinking of those familiar faces, Cao Bianjiao's heart is like a knife, and he feels guilty in his heart, as well as his own general Yang Shaofan, who has followed him for many years, born and died, just like his own compatriots and brothers, but he doesn't know whether he is alive or dead now.

Looking at Wang Tingchen in front of him, he was also haggard and old, he lost the hearty atmosphere of the past, and there was even more grief in his eyes that could not be concealed, although he apologized many times, but looking at Wang Tingchen's appearance, Cao Bianjiao couldn't help but say again: "Brother Wang, Cao is sorry for you......"

Wang Tingchen just shook his head, and he said angrily: "Why should General Xiao Cao feel guilty, how can I blame you?" To blame, only the thieves are to blame. ”

The burly man sighed more and more, and he sighed: "I just don't understand, why do the thieves fight more and more after many years of fighting?" ”

He said: "Count the thieves who have been killed by officers and soldiers many times, I remember when Chongzhen was eleventh year. Inspector Yang defeated the thieves with four positive and six corners, and the ten-sided net plan was defeated, and Li Chuang fled to the mountains with only the remnants, and at the end of the thirteenth year, he was defeated by the Marquis of Yongning, and then fled into the mountains...... Now that the thieves are thriving again, how long has it been since then? I don't understand......"

Cao Bianjiao said slowly: "Not only that, in the sixth, ninth, and eleventh years of Chongzhen, the thieves were defeated everywhere, or escaped with tricks, eleven years. Cao accompanied Hong Du. Zuo Shuai and them, personally ambushed and chased them, and only a few people such as Liu Zongmin were left among the thieves. ”

Wang Tingchen said: "Yes, it's only been a long time. The more you kill the thieves, the more you kill. Many are still women and children, hungry. So, I'm really tired of killing. ”

Cao Bianjiao muttered: "Yes, the thieves are inexhaustible. Although he is a thief, many people have died, and this is the ......"

Wang Tingchen said: "Let's go back to Liaodong and kill the Tartars." ”

Cao Bianjiao said: "Let's go back and kill the Tartars, the Central Plains is a place, and I don't want to come again." ”

The two muttered to each other, and the thieves became stronger and stronger, and the more they struck, the more they fought, making them feel dazed.

They stood on the tower of the city, watching the thieves outside Guide City, followed by a large number of hungry people, and they helped the old and the young, day and night.

The gates of the whole city were closed, and occasionally a few unbearable frightened cries came, looking at the locust-like thieves spreading all over the land, both of them had a feeling of powerlessness in their hearts, as if any efforts were to no avail, perhaps, it would be better than now to fight Tartars in the border towns and protect the border walls of the Ming Dynasty.

Looking at the soldiers beside him, these soldiers who survived by luck did not have the spirit of the past.

It's here, let's go back to Liaodong, the two of them sighed and thought in their hearts.

……

Liukou is mighty, the battalion is forced to Kaifeng for dozens of miles, Kaifeng City is frightened three times a day, all kinds of sentry horses are constantly coming and going, the supervisor Ding Qirui has convened all officials and generals for several days, and the thieves are forced to come up, and they must be beaten.

Moreover, the people of Kaifeng have received strict orders from the emperor and the military department, and they must fight the thieves under the city of Kaifeng, restore the decadent momentum of the officers and soldiers of the Central Plains after the defeat of Cao and Wang's soldiers, and ensure that Kaifeng is not lost and the vassal kings in the city are safe.

The king of Zhou in the city knew that this was a critical moment, and once again took out 200,000 taels of silver from his pocket to reward the army, which boosted the morale of the troops inside and outside the city.

However, how to fight, the officials and generals from all walks of life are inconsistent, Zuo Liangyu still said, "The thief is sharp, and he can't be attacked." ”

Fang Guoan, Yang Dezheng and others all agreed with his opinion, and Yang Dezheng even proposed to invite more reinforcements to let more officers and soldiers gather under Kaifeng City.

For example, at this time, Wang Qiaonian, the governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, was leading officers and soldiers to encircle and suppress all parts of Henan Prefecture, and he had a lot of soldiers and horses under his command, including He Renlong, Zheng Jiadong, Niu Chenghu, Zhang Guoqin, Zhang Yinggui and other Shaanxi generals, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, all of whom were battalion soldiers.

Earlier, the thieves Liu Fangliang and Li Yanren had also been defeated by the new army, and at this time they were only fighting guerrillas in various parts of Henan Prefecture.

Ding Qirui was quite moved by Yang Dezheng's statement, and urgently sent a message to Wang Qiaonian, the governor of the three sides in Luoyang.

However, for Wang Qiaonian at this time, the situation in Henan Province made him confused, and it seemed that the thieves had been exterminated, but there was always a feeling that as long as the officers and soldiers withdrew, the local thieves would soon resurge, unless all the locals were killed.

After all, Henan Mansion is next to Shaanxi, and the threat to the entire territory of Shaanxi and Tongguan is very great, so he only led officers and soldiers to repeatedly go back and forth to kill them, and his words shirked it.

The most important thing is that the generals under his command He Renlong, Zheng Jiadong, Niu Chenghu, Zhang Guoqin and other generals are unwilling to go to Kaifeng, and millions of thieves make them fearful.

The will of the generals is difficult, if Wang Qiaonian insists on leaving, then he may only be a bare-pole commander, and the general soldiers will not listen to his dispatch, at most they can only take a battalion of more than 1,000 people to Kaifeng, of course this is impossible, this line is broken.

Under Ding Qirui, Zuo Liangyu, Fang Guoan, Yang Dezheng and others are counted as many soldiers, especially Zuo Liangyu, Ding Qirui is extremely dependent on him, saying that it is explicit, that is, Ding Qirui is at a loss for him, "In the meantime, he dispatched documents for Liangyu, and did not start with an order, and people called him 'Zuofu Shogun'." ”

Fang Guoan and Yang Dezheng also took Zuo Liangyu as the leader, causing Zuo Liangyu's voice to be mighty, and Ding Qirui's opinion of "unbeatable" made Ding Qirui hesitate after hearing it.

But Zuo Liangyu's "steady" is actually not feasible, one is the topography of Kaifeng City. It is difficult to place so many defenders around the perimeter, so at this time, each general will camp in the east and one in the west, some are close to each other, and some are far apart, and it is easy for the thieves to break through.

Besides, the Ming army has a total number of 400,000, and if they put on such a posture, isn't they afraid of thieves like tigers? Could it be that in the future, officers and soldiers will only be able to defend against the upper class thieves? As soon as Cao and Wang were defeated, the generals lost even the confidence to fight in the field. There is a second Dongnu in the Central Plains?

So cowardly and without a fight. Under the turtle city, Ding Qirui could imagine the impression of the princes of the dynasty and the central government on him, especially the emperor's opinion of himself.

Governor Yang Wenyue also did not agree with Zuo Liangyu's opinion, and at this time he had a Baoding car battalion under his command. There is also Hu Dawei's new military camp and regular barracks. Although there are few soldiers. But quite elite, if he held the city, his battalion would be useless. Moreover, the imperial court also required officers and soldiers to take the initiative to attack.

Yang Wenyue advocated a decisive battle with the thieves outside the city to fight the thieves, and he had already chosen the terrain, which was the vast area between Zhuxian Town and Chenliu in the south of the city, which was flat enough to accommodate a million troops to fight at the same time.

His reasons are also very sufficient, the officers and soldiers are not far behind the Kaifeng Jiancheng, fighting according to the city, relying on the back, this is not like Cao, Wang Erjue alone in the depths, the grain and grass are difficult to continue, can not win, at least can be calmly persistent, deep trenches and high villages, there is no hidden worry that the grain and grass will be broken, this is the premise of undefeated.

On the vast plains, it is also possible to give full play to the firepower superiority of the car battalions, and in addition, the 10,000 poles of Donglu bird guns sent by the military headquarters have been distributed to all armies and battalions, and the firepower superiority of the Ming army has greatly exceeded that of before, and these are one of the advantages of the decisive victory.

Yang Wenyue's words made Ding Qirui's heart moved, if this is the case, if the officers and soldiers defeat the thieves in Zhuxian Town, they will be famous all over the world, just in front of him.

Take 10,000 steps back, even if you can't defeat the thieves, as long as you maintain the current undefeated situation, the decadent morale of the officers and soldiers of the Central Plains will be restored, and you will not panic when you encounter thieves in the future.

Henan Governor Gao Mingheng, prefect Wu Shi, and Liang Bing and others were equally moved, thinking that Yang Duzhi's strategy could be attacked and retreated, and the opinions of Zuo Liangyu and others were too conservative.

In fact, after the defeat of Cao and Wang, the information obtained by Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue and others was very vague, Yang Wenyue analyzed the reasons for the defeat of Cao and Wang, and the lone army went deep into these four words, millions of hungry people were besieged, and many ants bit elephants to death, no matter how fierce Cao and Wang were, how could they not be defeated?

Through Hu Dawei, Chen Yongfuren, etc., the "Xuanfu Town Military Observation Group" did not send information to remind Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue and other thieves of the fact that there was a large number of artillery in the army, but Ding Qirui thought that this was really nonsense, and Yang Wenyue also scoffed.

It is undeniable that there are some artillery among the thieves, after all, they have captured a lot of cities, and the equipment in the city is all owned by the thieves, but a large-scale artillery regiment, it is ridiculous, Yang Wenyue thinks that there are some small cannons among the thieves, but why are they afraid?

He had 10,000 soldiers and horses in his battalion, a small Franc machine in it, and hundreds of artillery pieces to destroy the captives, so how could he not defeat the thief artillery?

Many officials believe that these Xuanfu people are exaggerating, just to shirk Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen, so that they can be exempted from the punishment of the imperial court, after all, Wang Dou is friendly with the two counts, isn't it?

Although they were cordial to Wen Shiyan on the surface, in fact, these officials were deeply vigilant against Wen Shiyan and others, and the officials were even more dissatisfied with Wen Shiyan's frequent suggestions and criticisms, and Yang Wenyue once said to his staff: "...... Are they observers, or are they praisers, or are they overseers? Do you want to hand over all the soldiers and horses in Kaifeng to the command of the Jingbian Army? ”

Ding Qirui was also dissatisfied and said to his subordinates: "I heard that Wang Dou was arrogant and domineering, hearing is false, and seeing is believing, just from these staff members he sent, it can be seen!" ”

Zuo Liangyu was in schadenfreude, and he had a bitter hatred for Wang Dou, and at this time he took the opportunity to fan the flames, which caused Ding Qirui and others to alienate the "Xuanfu Town Military Observation Group".

However, Hu Dawei still listened carefully to Wen Shiyan's opinion, whether it was to defend the city or fight with the thieves in time, he still prepared some dirt carts, so that he could cover the car camp at that time, Yang Wenyue frowned when he saw it, the mobility of the car camp was already insufficient, Hu Dawei did this, and his chariot soldiers were even slower like ants.

However, at the moment, he didn't have the heart to care about what Hu Dawei did, the thieves were already approaching Qixian, not far from Chenliu and Zhuxian Town, the battle of Zhuxian Town was about to break out, but the officers and soldiers did not have a unified opinion, and it was the most important thing to persuade Zuo Liangyu and others to agree with his strategy. (To be continued.) )