"Morale is high?" Xu Ping laughed again: "Is Brother Zhou joking?" ”

"Originally, I thought that maybe the officers and soldiers didn't want to fight, so they wanted to delay time; It may also be some arrogant plan that Yang Wenyue's staff came up with. But it's not quite like that. Zhou Dongtian did have some joking meaning: "It is said that Yang Wenyue is asking for help from several surrounding counties, so that they can immediately raise silver taels to reissue them to reassure the army." In short, this is too unconscionable. ”

"What do you suggest?"

"We recommend waiting and seeing what happens." Zhou Dongtian said: "But be ready to attack them at any time." ”

"Otherwise, you'll miss the opportunity." Xu Ping shook his head and said, "In addition to the troops who monitor Kaifeng, how many troops do we have in our hands that can be used immediately?" ”

Zhou Dongtian immediately replied: "The four thousand men of the armored battalion, as well as General Chi's first cavalry wing, can set off at any time. ”

Xu Ping calculated in his heart, although the Guards Battalion and the Xishou Battalion were not satisfied, it was not a big problem to keep an eye on the Shanlan Battalion, so he nodded and said: "Let them prepare for war immediately, I will personally lead the team to cross the river to attack the officers and soldiers, and set off immediately." ”

"Yes, my lord." Zhou Dongtian agreed, and then asked, "What do you think about this matter?" ”

"This is not the first time this has happened. If Brother Zhou, you have read the book written by Wang Zaijin Wang Shangshu, then you will never be surprised by this, but obviously Yang Wenyue has not read it. Xu Ping commented indifferently: "Wang Zaijin has many disagreements with the courtiers, and the relationship with the Hou Ye is not very good, as far as I heard, at first the Hou Ye was quite depreciative of his talent, but later he completely changed his opinion." After learning that Hou Ye looked up to him, I went to find Wang Zaijin's book and read it carefully. ”

Zhou Dongtian really hasn't seen it: "Please also make it clear." ”

"It was the fifth year of the Apocalypse, and Sun Chengzong, the governor of Liaodong at that time, planned to send troops to attack Jianyu, just three months before the troops sent to Liaodong, the Guanning army made a big uproar, hijacked the prison army, and beat the officials, their reason was that the horse was short of silver, and many war horses were not full. At that time, Sun Chengzong, Yu Anxing, and Yuan Chonghuan were all at a loss, and these three people borrowed a large amount of money to reissue the horse feed silver. At that time, they were quite happy in the midst of the chaos, believing that the soldiers cared for horses after all, which meant that their morale was available, and they also thought that the battle would be won. ”

Zhou Dongtian had already learned of Yang Wenyue's reaction from the Di newspaper, which was basically consistent with what Xu Ping had just mentioned: "Yang Wenyue seems to see it the same way, and he also said that the soldiers of the Zhili Army cherish armaments and are much stronger than other armies." ”

Wang Zaijin didn't see it that way, and when he learned of this, he immediately wrote to the Emperor of the Apocalypse that the battle would be lost. Wang Zaijin said: These horses are owned by the state, and the soldiers will never have the slightest care, and if the officers do not strictly monitor them, ordinary soldiers will only embezzle horse material and silver and will not spend money on horses at all. As for whether the country's war horses will starve to death, the soldiers are completely unconcerned. ”

Zhou Dongtian pondered for a moment and asked, "Then does Wang Zaijin see this matter like this—that is, the soldiers have already heard the news that they are going to attack, so they plan to use this as an excuse to extort another sum of money, and prepare to run away before the war?" ”

Xu Ping nodded, and almost at the same time as Wang Zaijin made an assertion, Guan Ningjun ushered in the defeat of Yaozhou: "That's right, that's what Wang Zaijin asserted." ”

"Wang Zaijin thinks that this mutiny shows that the morale of the officers and soldiers has been extremely low, and they are planning to escape?"

"Not bad."

"So did Sun Chengzong's battle start? The result? ”

Nearly 20,000 officers and soldiers were wiped out in the first battle of Yaozhou, and after the defeat, other armies that had not yet crossed the river also took the opportunity to escape, and tens of thousands of defeated soldiers fled from Jinzhou into Shanhaiguan to stop their footsteps. More than half of the 120,000 Guanning troops fled. There are only more than 50,000 people left, and they have never left the fortress and camp in Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan, and have no chance to escape. ”

"Humble duty understood." Zhou Dongtian felt that if Xu Ping hadn't read Wang Zaijin's book himself, he would have missed this opportunity, and he complained slightly dissatisfied: "Why has the New Army Teaching Team never mentioned this example. ”

"First, this kind of thing doesn't happen in the Forces nouvelles at all; Second, the content of the New Army Teaching Team was not how to fight the Ming Army; The last third," Xu Ping also had a look of helplessness on his face: "Although Sun Chengzong doesn't know anything about military affairs, Hou Ye has always respected his integrity, so naturally he is reluctant to mention these things." ”

Since the Ming army has planned to escape from top to bottom, Xu Ping does not plan to wait for the rabbit, and the battle of Yaozhou, which he used as a reference, the Houjin army did not take the initiative to attack, so most of the materials captured were the Ming army that crossed the river. Xu Ping, on the other hand, had a greater appetite, and he planned to directly cross the river to attack the fluctuating Zhili army, and if he defeated them before they fled with their salaries, then the reserves of the Ming army would naturally be available.

"Our army and the new army have been fighting fiercely for more than two months, and the food and gunpowder are almost exhausted, and the pig iron and cloth are also in urgent need of replenishment." Xu Ping had not yet used the grain seized from Puguanshui, and after the Zhili army arrived on the north bank of the Yellow River, it broke into the camp to increase patrols and reconnaissance, and also transferred many troops to defense, which further aggravated the rate of material consumption: "The sooner we defeat Yang Wenyue, we can also rest assured one day earlier, and it is too expensive for the army to be stationed outside all day long." ”

……

Liu Gang, a soldier of the Bianjun Army standing at the head of Kaifeng City, looked at the intrusive army outside the city with sorrow. Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan, has ordered to mobilize the people of the whole city to assist in the defense, and every household must send people, as the eldest son of the family, Liu Gang is obliged to assume this responsibility, and for most of the year, regardless of the wind and sun, Liu Gang has stayed conscientiously on the post on the city wall. For a long time, the invading army outside the city has always besieged but not attacked, but Liu Gang's enthusiasm and vigilance have never faded, let alone the slightest idea of defecting to the enemy.

In the past six months, Liu Gang has not only fulfilled his duties, but also volunteered to participate in various dangerous tasks many times, such as sending letters from Kaifeng City to the fortress where the Shanlan camp is located outside the city, or sneaking out of the city at night as a secret sentry, etc. Especially for the latter task, if the intruding army really sneaks up at night, it is almost impossible for Liu Gang to escape - the role of the dark post is to send a signal to warn the defenders on the city wall, but once it is exposed, it will definitely be attacked by the enemy immediately. Liu Gang knew the dangers of this kind of work, but he was mentally prepared at that time.

The yamen of the governor of Henan repeatedly publicized that the army would take pleasure in slaughtering the city, and once the city was broken, the whole city of Kaifeng would be burned. In the past few months, Liu Gang has diligently patrolled and sentry, not only for the rations of the soldiers, but also for his grandmother, his parents, his younger brother, two younger sisters, and his newly pregnant wife. Because his whole family was in the city, Liu Gang did not apply for any task to break through and act as a messenger, and he was unwilling to leave his family to escape alone.

In the past, every time I heard that reinforcements were coming, or there were rumors that the imperial court was about to send troops to relieve the siege, the Zhou Wangfu and the Henan Governor Yamen would hype up to boost the morale of the defenders, but then there was a greater disappointment every time: the Bian's army was defeated by Xu Ping again and again, Kaifeng changed from being threatened to being besieged, from still controlling half of Henan to even the Guide Mansion fell to the enemy, and now the Bian's army has been driven out of Henan, and a large number of Henan villagers - according to the governor Yamen, millions of them were coerced by Xu Ping to participate in the siege of Kaifeng, Now it's a veritable lonely city; The Qin army, which came to reinforce twice, the army known as the Great Ming Xiong Division, was driven back by the intrusive army without even touching Luoyang, and each time it was defeated more and more miserably, the two trilateral governors lost their black gauze hats, and at least 100,000 troops were wiped out; And the new army, Huang Hou's new army, was also defeated twice. A month ago, when Liu Gang was on guard in the dark night, he looked east every day, and every time he was sent to deliver a letter to the Shanlan camp, he always refused to come back immediately, but did everything possible to stay in the fortress for a while, listening to the faint sound of artillery coming from there, and his heart was full of anxiety and expectation. But now, all hope has been lost.

About five days earlier, the Shanlan camp, which had been stationed in the fortress in the east of the city, had burned down their fortress and withdrew to the city, and Liu Gang, who had been in charge of delivering the letter, was summoned by the commander and rewarded him with a stone of rice as a reward for his heroic deeds over the past few days. Now rice is more valuable than silver and gold in the city, because rice can be exchanged for gold and silver, but gold and silver may not be exchanged for rice. After Liu Gang returned home with rice on his back, his mood became extremely depressed, and he knew that this meant that the Shanlan camp had given up hope of breaking the siege and returned to Kaifeng City to save materials and prepare for the last trapped beast fight. The heavy rice on his back made Liu Gang's heart uncomfortable, he felt that all hope was about to come to naught, and his home was about to be burned down with the whole city, and this kind of ending could not be changed by a little person like Liu Gang no matter how hard he tried, how heroic, and how he sacrificed his life and forgot to die.

Just yesterday, the governor of Henan, Yamen, was desperately propagating that 100,000 Zhili troops were heading south, and that Kaifeng was just around the corner, hoping that the officers and soldiers defending the city would not become depressed or have different thoughts because of this new hope, but even small soldiers like Liu Gang did not have any expectations for this. After the Shanlan camp returned to Kaifeng, the soldiers of the Bianjun army discussed it privately, and they all felt that this showed that even Jia Shuai was pessimistic about the relief of the siege, but although Liu Gang was disappointed, he had already made up his mind to die in Kaifeng - this was not because of how much he loved the yamen of the governor of Henan.

Liu Gang remembers that a few months ago, when the grain shortage in Kaifeng began to increase, the government closed all grain stores and pricked children with needles to urge food, but this behavior did not affect Liu Gang and his family at that time. Starting from the first month, even Liu Gang, a family like Liu Gang who was a soldier, had to hand over grain to the government every half a month, and each time he had to pay a whole stone. If there are children in the family, then the punishment of needle prick will not be able to escape. One of Liu Gang's neighbors and military companions was raided by officers and soldiers because he was trying to protect his family and resist the punishment, and the whole family did not know their whereabouts, and no one dared to ask. As for Liu Gang himself, he is slightly better, there is still a little bit of food in the family, and he himself has been promoted to a small leader in the army because of his diligence.

On March 1, the Liu family was able to make up the one stone of grain that the government wanted to collect, but what should they do if they had to pay it half a month later? The last time Liu Gang came home, he saw his parents counting out twenty beans for his pregnant wife to eat, and his little sister was watching with undisguised longing in her eyes. Although his wife is getting thinner, she is still better than her younger siblings. The bodies of the three younger siblings have begun to appear swollen, although the mother is so distressed that she cried, but for the sake of the family's livelihood, she still ruthlessly refused to feed them, and no one knows how long the Kaifeng City will continue to besiege.

A terrible rumor spread in the city that the king of Zhou had suggested to the governor of Henan that he should feed on people, and that most of the officials in the city were opposed to this, but the only reason they could use to defend himself was that the Zhili army was about to arrive, and Kaifeng would soon be able to lift the siege. In response to the rumors circulating around, the Kaifeng Governor Yamen maintained a terrible silence. The defenders whispered in private, and many of them talked about the rumors they had heard, according to which the intruders were not murderous villains, but would be kind to the poor. However, Liu Gang is a very stubborn person, he firmly believes that the Henan governor's words will not be wrong, and always dismisses these rumors: "The adults have all read books, they are all protégés of saints, and they will not lie to us." ”

"If Lord Yang can't relieve us of the siege for a long time......" Liu Gang shook his head and wanted to throw this thought out of his mind, but it lingered, Liu Gang looked at the intruders patrolling outside the city, and hatred rose to his heart for a while, Kaifeng children who were crippled by needles, neighbors who didn't know where to go, and hungry brothers and sisters at home, all poured into Liu Gang's heart: "Kill, kill all these thieves." ”

……

On the second day of the first month of March, Xu Ping secretly left from the besieging troops with 5,000 troops and quickly arrived at the ferry port on the south bank of the Yellow River. The opposite bank is the jurisdiction of Zhili, after hearing that the imperial army may become a battlefield after the soldiers go south, the people in the vicinity have fled, Dongming County because of the arrival of the Zhili army is also closed the city gate is not opened, Xu Ping observed a whole day, did not find the Ming army or the people after the figure ordered to start smuggling the Yellow River that night.

Due to the flooding of the spring, the progress of crossing the river at night was somewhat affected, and by dawn on the third day, only 1,000 troops had secretly crossed the Yellow River, Xu Ping ordered to stop sneaking, and the troops who had not had time to cross the river had to hide themselves and wait for night to fall again before continuing their operations.

On the night of the third day of the first month, another 1,000 troops successfully sneaked through, and the spies sent by Xu Ping the day before rushed back to report to Xu Ping: "General, the main force of officers and soldiers is stationed in a joint camp near Dongming, the front army is only less than ten miles away from us, and the deputy general of the officers and soldiers leading the army is named Qi Tu, and there are about 3,000 people in the front barracks. ”

"How's the defense?"

"The officers and soldiers didn't send many scouts, and they just harassed the people on weekdays."

Xu Ping was very strange when he heard this: "Didn't Dongming County close the city gate?" ”

"The county seat is closed, but the villages and towns outside the city are unlucky, without the protection of the city wall, the people have fled to the mountains to protect themselves."

This description reminded Xu Ping of his own experience in Shandong, when the Ming court army sent troops, as if they were not in their own country, but on the territory of the enemy.

"Where's the Dark Sentinel?"

"I didn't find any of them." The intrusive scouts lurking outside the Qitu camp observed for several days, but never saw any night sentry arrangement: "Maybe it's very cleverly arranged, and the lowly officials can't see it." ”

"I'd rather believe there isn't any." Xu Ping snorted, the few scouts he sent had been tested in Henan for more than a year, and had participated in hundreds of operations, even the sentinels of the new army would not be so clever that they couldn't find any of them.

Since there were no secret outposts scattered in all directions, Xu Ping handed over the follow-up troops to Liu Command, and he brought some staff officers with him, and boldly touched Qi Tu's camp to investigate carefully.

"Do you see the sentry?" Every time he touched a distance forward, Xu Ping would ask the people around him like this, and each time he would get a negative answer. Xu Ping got closer and closer, and finally he dived until he was only a few hundred meters away from Qi Tu's camp, crouching in the grass and observing every move of the Ming army with a telescope.

Until this time, Xu Ping and his companions still did not find a warning circle worth mentioning, and after carefully observing the Ming army for an afternoon, Xu Ping and his staff officers slipped back after dusk. The spies and staff officers quickly set up a sand table on the ground, set up Qitu's camp, and marked the locations of the sentry posts and guards they saw.

"If we act tonight, we can probably touch within a mile of the Qitu camp at night," Xu Ping asked the soldiers who had already crossed the river to prepare for battle, and after the staff officers had formulated the route for tonight's march, they left the army to communicate with the officers leading the troops, and Xu Ping urgently needed to wait for the return of the sentry he left.

About the time before, the spy left by Xu Ping came back with a message: "General, the lowly officials did not find out that Qi Tu sent out the night and did not collect it, and his whole army went back to the camp to sleep." ”

After hearing the news, the staff officers around Xu Ping breathed a sigh of relief, this Ming army is the one closest to the Yellow River crossing, and because of their existence, the army does not dare to cross the river during the day.

"If you don't collect it overnight, you won't send it," a staff officer said with a smile: "What are the officers and soldiers doing, are they here to go on a youth tour?" ”

"King Chuang took 50,000 soldiers and horses to Luoyang, and the remaining of our army around Kaifeng is only tens of thousands, and we have to monitor Nuoda and Kaifeng, and our army has never set foot on the north bank of the Yellow River, so the officers and soldiers regard the march as a spring outing." Xu Ping guessed that in addition to having a greater sense of security because they had 100,000 troops, they probably didn't believe that Xu Ping dared to sneak into Zhili with a few thousand people, and if tens of thousands of horses crossed the river, they would naturally find out about it anyway: "Since this is the case, then let's join them in their spring outing." ”

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