At the same time as receiving this letter, Xu Ping also received information from some towns and towns that a large area of panic was circulating within the boundaries of Kaifeng Prefecture, and that the price of grain in July this year was 50 percent higher than that of the autumn harvest in previous years. Grain prices are at their lowest in July, and they rise every month thereafter, and even more so in winter. If this year's price increase pattern is still this year, then there is no need to wait for May, before March next year, a large-scale famine will break out within the boundaries of Kaifeng Prefecture.

Since the officers and soldiers would not arrive immediately, Xu Ping decided to personally go to Xuzhou in the rear to discuss the issue of food with Sun Kewang.

Sun Kewang didn't seem to expect Xu Ping to return to Xuzhou at this juncture, and after he saw Xu Ping, he asked strangely, "Why did Brother Xu come back at this juncture?" ”

"It's for food." Xu Ping was anxious, this year was the first time that the army had established a base on a large scale, and there could be no famine in any case, let alone worse than under the rule of the Ming court, he couldn't wait to talk to Sun Kewang about his worries, and also explained to him: "There must be no famine, even if the army is smaller, and a large number of people cannot starve to death." ”

"General, don't panic." Sun Kewang figured out Xu Ping's intention, and immediately laughed: "General, think about it, in the past, the government transported a large amount of grain from Henan to Jingshi, and this year these grains were left in Kaifeng Mansion, how could it be worse than last year?" I have sent people to inspect the harvest in various places, and it is at least 10 percent higher than last year, and the best village has even harvested 50 percent more grain than last year. As long as the general can keep the officers and soldiers out of the boundaries of Kaifeng Prefecture, the last general dares to guarantee that there will never be a famine before the autumn harvest next year. ”

Sun Kewang's tone was very relaxed, and he called Xu Ping a general half-jokingly, but this didn't make Xu Ping'an feel much more worried, he asked: "Then how can the price of grain be so high?" ”

"It's not that it's high now, it's that it used to be too low." Sun Kewang said with a smile, raised his right hand and stretched out a finger in front of Xu Ping's eyes: "First, in the past, after the autumn harvest, farmers were eager to sell grain to pay rent and taxes, but after the grain tax was exempted this year, they are not so anxious. ”

"Second," Sun Kewang raised another finger and dangled it in front of Xu Ping's eyes: "I set up cards along the road, in the past, farmers didn't have to pay money to transport grain to the grain store, but this year they will have to raise a penny of silver for every stone of grain, and naturally the price of grain will be higher." ”

After the harvest in July this year, the private grain trade in Kaifeng Prefecture has shrunk sharply, and may be less than 20% of the previous year. On the other hand, the camp obtains a large amount of grain through the grain purchasing team that goes deep into the countryside.

"Third, in previous years, those black-hearted businessmen in the grain stores in various places uniformly suppressed grain prices, and the peasants could not solve their urgent needs if they did not sell to them, but this year not only did they not pay taxes, but I also sent people to various places to buy grain, and the price of grain naturally could not be reduced."

"Will food prices continue to rise in the future?" Xu Ping asked the question he was most concerned about.

"It's going to go up, but it's not going to be very high." Sun Kewang was confident about this: "In the past, grain banks in various localities took advantage of low prices to hoard a large amount of grain, but as soon as July passed, most of the grain was stored by them, and after October, there was almost no surplus grain on the market, and naturally the price of grain continued to rise. This year, the grain could not be transported to the market, and the grain store could not receive the grain even if it had money, not to mention that my grain purchasing team had already collected a large amount of grain into the warehouse where we broke into the camp. ”

"That's fine." The army has just revised its strategy to defend the territory without losing, and the Kaifeng Prefecture is the largest piece of the newly established base area, which is not only of great significance, but also the foundation of Xu Ping's regularization of the army, if the people are lost and production cannot be restored, then all Xu Ping's efforts will come to naught: "General Sun has a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, and he must not be careless." ”

"Brother Xu, don't worry." Sun Kewang laughed three times, he picked up a document on the table and gave it to Xu Ping: "This is the report I just received, no one in Kaifeng Mansion dares to burn grain this year, so countless grains can be preserved." ”

"Burn grain, why?" Xu Ping was taken aback, the Central Plains had been in drought for many years, and the people fed on the soil, and he couldn't imagine that there would be people burning grain.

"Not the profiteers yet." Sun Kewang saw that Xu Ping didn't know anything about this, so he sneered and explained that in previous years, when new grain was put into storage, a large amount of old rice would be destroyed.

"The major rice banks have tacit rules, in order to raise the price of grain, they would rather let the grain rot in the warehouse than sell, it is too sensational to burn grain when the green and yellow are not harvested, so they will save the grain until July, when the price of rice is the cheapest, to burn, and it is also called the golden autumn to deal with rotten grain for good luck, hum, do I not know what their heart is?" Sun Kewang strictly forbade the rice shops to destroy the rotten grain in their hands by themselves, and stipulated that any clearance that needed to deal with the rotten grain had to be reported to the Chuang army in advance, even if it was really moldy grain, it had to be burned by the Chuang army, and burning the grain by themselves was regarded as chaos: "I don't care if they are auspicious or unlucky, as long as someone dares to burn the grain, even if it is only one grain, I will kill his whole family." ”

After hearing the reason, Xu Ping was angry at first, but after thinking about it for a while, he became worried, and asked hesitantly: "If they are willing to do this, it is not difficult to make the grain moldy, how can this be good?" ”

"The government and profiteers have always colluded and never turned a blind eye to these unconscionable things, so they will not really let the grain become moldy, and when the grain is harvested in July, they will burn what cannot be contained in the warehouse. But from now on, it won't work, of course, you have to guard against them deliberately making the grain moldy. I have informed the rice shops that I will record every time I deal with bad grain in the future, and if more than 10% of the grain in a rice shop is spoiled within a year, I will kill their whole family. Sun Kewang laughed loudly, looking very proud, and after laughing, he looked at Xu Pingzheng and said: "In June this year, the price of rice in Henan has risen more than 80 times compared with July last year, and by June next year, the price of grain will never be more than three times higher than now." With us, Henan doesn't know how many people can survive because of this. But first of all, Brother Xu had to keep the officers and soldiers out of Kaifeng Mansion, otherwise everything would be empty talk. ”

On July 15, Xu Ping and Li Dingguo jointly launched a fierce offensive, the fortress on the periphery of Kaifeng was destroyed in a few days, the Ming army that went out of the city to reinforce was twice defeated by Xu Ping, and the remaining Ming army in the fortress knew that it could not survive the attack of the Shun army, so they all fled back to Kaifeng City: "The Dongjiang army may not be able to support it at any time, and Zhong Guinian is still persuading them to insist, I have also promised to work hard to attack to share the pressure for them, even if I don't say so, I must do this, and now Kaifeng does not know how many letters for help have been written to the imperial court." ”

After all, the Shandong rebels have a large number of officers who have followed Ji Huisi's rebellion for ten years as the backbone, and the imperial court's attention to Shandong is far above that of Henan, Xu Ping must prove to the Ming court that his threat is far greater than that of Ji Huisi, in order to attract the attention of the Ming court to Henan.

Now, the blockade of Kaifeng has been completed, and the remaining more than 10,000 Ming troops, more than 20,000 regiments and hundreds of thousands of people are besieged in Kaifeng City. Xu Ping immediately ordered to immediately build twenty guard towers along Kaifeng. A few days later, these guard towers were built, and Kaifeng City and nearby roads were completely under the surveillance of the intruding army, and internal and external traffic was cut off. The siege of Kaifeng successfully prevented the Ming army's autumn harvest, and the surrounding areas that had just completed the harvest could not transport military rations into the isolated city. The staff officer of the Guards Battalion estimated that Kaifeng would face a food shortage in three months.

This timetable did not satisfy Xu Ping. At the end of July, two more battalions of the New Army were thrown into Shandong, and the Shandong rebels were once again driven across the Daqing River. Xu Ping didn't know how long the Dongjiang Army would be able to hold out, and if the Dongjiang Army retreated to Henan, and the six battalions of the New Army followed them, Xu Ping didn't think he had any chance to stop them from lifting the siege of Kaifeng.

But it is also impossible to storm Kaifeng, which has a population of hundreds of thousands or millions, not a small city like Xuzhou. Even if the city walls are blown up, the invading army will have to rely on brutal street fighting to take the city. In addition, a large number of artillery deployed in Kaifeng will also inflict huge casualties on the intruding army.

"The new army is too strong, what should I do if they don't make mistakes?" Just when Xu Ping was anxiously thinking about it repeatedly, trying to find a feasible siege plan, the turning point he was looking forward to had quietly arrived.

The grim situation in Kaifeng made the Ming court equally restless. Under the repeated orders of the imperial court, in mid-July, Yang Sichang finally commanded his 120,000 troops assembled in Huguanggu City to launch an attack on Dengzhou, Henan Province after collecting grain and grass. In the face of Yang Sichang's large-scale attack, Li Zicheng did not face it head-on, but retreated step by step, holding Yang Sichang's nose all the way to the north. Yang Sichang knew that Li Zicheng was powerful, so he became more cautious when he saw this, and moved forward cautiously with the army in a group. When Yang Sichang's attention was completely drawn to the direction of Dengzhou, Liu Zongmin suddenly led 500 cavalry from Xinye to the south, arriving at the city of Xiangyang on 20 July. With the captured Ming army seals and forged banners, the city gate was opened by fraud, and the raid on Xiangyang was successful, and the captured King Xiang was beheaded in public at the entrance of Xiangyang Caishi the next day.

After the news of King Xiang's death reached Jingshi, it immediately caused a mourning. Since King Fu was killed, the Son of Heaven Chongzhen avoided the court for three days for the second time to mourn.

Three days later, the second piece of bad news followed. Supervisor Yang Sichang heard that King Xiang was killed under his nose, and then committed suicide by taking poison in fear of crime. Chongzhen Tianzi was grief-stricken, and in the face of the impeachment of Yang Sichang like snowflakes, Chongzhen Tianzi cried at the time: "I dreamed of Yang Sichang yesterday, and he gave me a dream, saying that you have wronged him, so you have wronged him." Regardless of the opposition of the ministers, he resolutely gave Yang Sichang.

After Chongzhen Tianzi tried not to investigate Yang Sichang's crimes, the third bad news reached Jingshi. After Yang Sichang's death, the Ming army was leaderless, and Zuo Liangyu led his army back to Huguang to defend his territory. Li Zicheng took the opportunity to launch a counteroffensive and defeated the Ming army, losing more than half of the 120,000 bandit army.

On the last day of July, under the unified command of He Baodao, the new army crossed the Daqing River and pressed on Jinan, and Ji Huisi abandoned Jinan and fled south. Before leaving, he wrote a letter and handed it to Xu Ping in the year of the turtle: "General Xu, I will grit my teeth and persevere to the end, and now it's time for you to fulfill your promise." ”

Due to Zhong Guinian's advice and assurance, Ji Huisi did not retreat to Henan as expected by the new army, but fled to Jiaodong. He Baodao and other high-ranking generals of the front-line New Army jointly signed a letter, requesting permission for the New Army to continue to unify its advance and suppress, encircle and annihilate the Dongjiang rebels in a corner of Jiaodong, and the supervisor Hou Xun completely agreed with their opinions.

When Hou Xun's recital was delivered to Jingshi on August 2, this day was also the tenth day of Kaifeng's audio interruption. The pale face of Chongzhen Tianzi trembled and said: "King Fu, King Xiang, there have already been two Ming princes who have been tragically attacked. Kaifeng must not be lost, and I am determined to do my best to save Kaifeng from danger and relieve the siege for the king of Zhou. ”

……

"My lord, the imperial court's newspaper."

On 5 August, Xu Ping had already obtained the official report on the court meeting three days ago. The Son of Heaven Chongzhen categorically refused Hou Xun's request to spend another three months to clear the retreat, because at this time, Kaifeng was afraid that it would fall due to the cut off of grain and grass. The Xuanfeng battalion, which had just arrived in Shandong, was ordered to turn around and march westward at once, and two new battalions were to accompany it; The other four battalions of the new army continued to move south, opening up and ensuring the transportation of the water. In the past few years, the food and salary in the south can only be sent to Beijing through the sea operation, and a large number of materials will be reported to be drifted because of the storm every year, Chongzhen has been unbearable, and the same can not bear the Caoyun institutions and a large number of important ministers of the imperial court, since the Caoyun was cut off, the income of these people has dropped sharply, they are resolutely opposed to the immediate siege of Jiaodong, but advocate that priority should be given to restoring the Caoyun that has been cut off for several years. After Zuo Liangyu returned to Huguang, Liu Zongmin abandoned Xiangyang and retreated to Henan, and Xiangyang returned to the rule of the Ming court. Chongzhen was exempted from punishment for Zuo Liangyu's efforts to recover Xiangyang, and ordered him to immediately pass through Runing Mansion under the control of the Ming court and go north to relieve the siege of Kaifeng.

"It's the three battalions of Xuanfeng, Chizhuo and Shanlan, and the chief officer Jia Minghe." Xu Ping read the imperial court's newspaper and informed his subordinates of the latest military situation.

The intelligence of the new army obtained in the past has almost been turned over, and everyone knows the strength of the three battalions. They had all replaced their arquebuses with flintlock muskets, and the three battalions numbered nine thousand men, each battalion had 1,200 flintlock pistols and the same number of spears, excluding the auxiliaries, for a total of thirty-six cannons.

The Xuanfeng Battalion is one of the three main battalions of the New Army, and although Chizhuo was disgracefully dispersed in the First Battle of Shandong, it was vigorously reorganized afterwards, and it performed quite well when it returned to the battlefield this time, while the Shanlan Battalion ...... Xu Ping sighed: "Although I have long known that there will be this day, it is not a pleasure to meet my old friends no matter what. ”

Xu Ping put away the sadness in his heart: "Sun Kewang should still have a thousand available soldiers under his command, send him an urgent letter, and ask him to bring troops to meet me immediately." ”

The herald came out with the order, and Yu Shenhe, Zhou Dongtian, Shen Yunchong and other officers all had a worried look on their faces.

"I know what you're thinking. The new army was twice as numerous as the Guards battalion, well-trained from officers to enlisted men, and had an absolute superiority in artillery; General Jia is a veteran of decades of battlefields, and I am a fledgling boy; The commanders of the three battalions of the new army have a lot of experience, and a few of you were small soldiers a year ago. Xu Ping paused for a moment and said in a heavy tone: "The Dongjiang Army is doing its best to drag half of the main force of the new army, and we must also try our best to hold back the other half, we must not retreat without a fight, and we must not let them free up their hands to attack the Dongjiang Army." Ladies and gentlemen, if we can't stop these three battalions of new troops, there will be no tomorrow for the righteous army, and there will be no tomorrow for us. ”

Zhou Dongtian asked the staff team to deduce the future battle situation, and of course Xu Ping would not object to this, but he asked: "Brother Zhou, the main energy of the staff team should be on how the enemy will attack roughly, and how much baggage can be transported by the road in their rear, and how quickly their troops can advance. ”

Zhou Dongtian knew that since the formation of the Guards Battalion, Xu Ping had always been extremely contemptuous of using war chess to deduce victory and defeat, and he could almost be called disdainful, but after hearing this order, he still asked for instructions again: "Don't you have to strictly abide by the rules?" ”

"You don't have to do things that you know are ridiculous." Xu Ping believes that war chess has only two functions: first, to train those who have never been on the battlefield, so that they can have a simple understanding; Second, let the officers get to know each other better, and have an understanding of how their companions will respond in various situations—this is why Xu Ping turned what he invented into a war game.

Since Xu Ping was not impressed with the effect of the deduction of the battle chess, of course he would use it to boost morale.

"Master Hou......" Zhou Dongtian was still a little hesitant.

"Without fifty years or more, the battle numbers on it are a joke." Xu Ping insisted on his opinion: "The battlefield is changing rapidly, if everyone can fly swords and pass books, and they can still inform each other of the enemy situation in the blink of an eye from hundreds of miles, and really know instead of guessing out of thin air, then I admit that war chess will be somewhat useful, the question is is this?" ”

……

"Ben has just read your report," Jia Minghe always has special feelings for the Xuanfeng Battalion, but the first thing he questioned at this military meeting was He Ma, the commander of the Xuanfeng Battalion, and Zhang Biao, the chief of staff: "The results of your deduction say that you should vigorously guard against the thieves' Tanma, and it is best to let the whole battalion of the Shanlan Battalion drag back so as not to cut off the back road or harass the road, do you really think so?" ”

"My lord, this is also prepared, and the enemy is lenient." Homer hurriedly explained.

"You want me to believe that a group of stragglers who can attack our stubborn rearguard and then crush our combat team?" Jia Minghe's tone was a little unkind, and he asked Zhang Biao: "Mr. Zhang Qian, have you ever been on the battlefield?" Then he turned to look at Homer: "Brother He, do you want to tell me that you believe this?" ”

"My lord, this is according to the rules, there are no rules." He Ma looked a little aggrieved: "This is the rule set by Hou Ye, Hou Ye must have a deep meaning, we will implement it." ”

Jia Minghe paused for a moment and nodded slightly: "This is also true." ”

Zhang Biao muttered in a low voice that was a little unconvinced: "Last time, Xu Thief just didn't believe it, but he was defeated by Ji Kou's rangers in Shandong." ”

"We weren't defeated by the Rangers." Wei Landu, the commander of the Shanlan battalion next to him, said coldly.

"The humble post didn't say the battalion of Lord Wei, the humble post said the rear team of the Evergreen Battalion of the commander of Xu Thief......"

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