Kaifeng.

"Mother, hurry up, go quickly, otherwise you won't be able to catch up."

Liu Gang urged his mother to go out quickly, his mother was still reluctant to tell the family a few more words, the eldest son half-pushed and half-mopped his mother out of the door, and stuffed a big burden into the arms of his sister beside his mother: "Eldest sister, take good care of grandma outside the city." ”

"Yes, big brother."

At the same time as the eldest daughter of the Liu family responded, Liu Gang anxiously pushed his mother and sister forward, and pulled his pregnant wife with one hand: "Hurry up, hurry up, now you have to squeeze out a few every time you change people, and it's not easy to squeeze in if you go late." ”

As the population of the city dwindled, so did the need for food. After establishing contact with the outside of the city, the people in Kaifeng scrambled to escape from the city, fearing that one day the invading army would suddenly attack the city or cut off the grain exchange route. Now, every time the people are exchanged for food, the people who volunteer to go out of the city are crowded, and many people do not hesitate to give out their wealth in order to escape the danger of their families, and bribe the responsible Ming soldiers. The soldiers of the Ming army were also willing to let go, in addition to bribing bribes to get some gold and silver, it was a lot of money, and at the same time, who didn't have relatives who wanted to go out of the city? Besides, you can also take the opportunity to make friends with the intruders outside the city.

In order to stop this wave of escape from Kaifeng City, the governor of Henan, Yamen, has changed its strategy, which used to force each family to leave, but now strictly limits the number of people from each family. Liu Gang was a soldier defending the city, and Shangfeng felt that if he let his relatives out of the city again, it would seriously affect his loyalty, so his family did not have a quota to go out of the city, and today's three places were all bought by Liu Gang from others or bribed.

As he walked along the road, Liu Gang gave his mother, his sister, and his wife a final remonstrance, and his mother fluently recited her fake surname, address, and family members, as did the other two, so that if they were found out, it would not cause too bad consequences. According to the strict order of the governor of Henan, if the relatives of the soldiers defending the city tried to sneak out of the city, they would be punished as collaborating with the enemy. After Liu Gang's mother finished reciting, she asked a little uneasily: "Son, it's really going to be fine, right?" ”

"Don't worry, mother, I know all these families, and they still owe me favors, especially the people of the Zhang family have already gone out of the city, and now we are grasshoppers on a thread." Liu Gang carried a few burdens, comforted the old lady in his mouth, and pushed his family to rush to the city gate.

After rushing to the city gate, Liu Gang glanced at the Bianjun city defense army who was being named from a distance, untied all the burdens on his body one by one, and handed the last one to his wife, Liu Gang took a deep look at the increasingly bulging belly: "Take good care of my mother." ”

"Son," Liu Gang's mother held her eldest son's hands, her lips trembling with excitement: "If it is a thief attacking the city......" When he was at home, his mother told his son several times that he must act at the opportunity, and he must not work hard for the governor of Henan, and he must keep this life and reunite with his relatives.

"Mother, I know it in my heart, I know it in my heart." Liu Gang hurriedly interrupted his mother's nagging, and seeing tears flashing in the corners of her eyes, Liu Gang hurriedly smiled and comforted: "Don't worry, don't worry, don't worry." Dad, I, and my little brother all know it, so don't worry, mother. ”

……

"General Deng, the commander of the North Gate of Kaifeng, has sworn to me that if our army attacks the North Gate, he will release empty guns and cannons, and what will be poured down will not be boiling oil but cold water." Xu Ping handed over a new letter to King Chuang, and after Li Zicheng read the letter, Xu Ping took out another one, and recently more and more Kaifeng guards began to play with Chuang Camp Stone: "This is also the oath sent yesterday, General Ren, the commander of Kaifeng Beicheng, assured me that he is the only one responsible for preventing us from digging tunnels into the city, and he guarantees that all the personnel who listen to the excavation are under the control of his henchmen." He was also willing to assist us in digging a tunnel under the Beicheng Tower, burying gunpowder, blowing up the tower, and killing General Deng, the commander of the North Gate...... Yes, General Ren and General Deng are world friends and Jinlan brothers...... Of course, General Ren did not know General Deng's oath, and his brother-in-law also hid his communication with us. ”

One by one, Xu Ping had almost the oath of the commanders of the four walls of Kaifeng and all the city gates in his hand, and the new army was transferred back to Beijing in large numbers was the last straw that broke the camel's back, and the Kaifeng defenders completely lost the confidence to hold on and wait for reinforcements.

"Now our army can break into the city without much effort." Luo Rucai was very interested, and matched the names of the people on the letter with the guards indicated on the map of Kaifeng City: "It seems that there will be no battles on the city walls and city gates." ”

"I'm afraid there won't be many in the city." Xu Ping waved another letter in his hand: "This is the oath of General Qiu, the commander of the Kaifeng Ma Army, he is responsible for commanding the cavalry troops of the Bianjun army in Kaifeng City, and he guarantees that once our army enters the city, he will lead the army to storm the Zhou Wangfu and the Henan Governor's Yamen." ”

"It looks like strong resistance will only come from the Shan Lan camp of the New Army?"

"In addition to the Shanlan camp, the heroes of the Central Plains also refused to surrender." Xu Ping sighed: "Speaking of which, he is still half of my old friend." ”

As early as when Kaifeng had just been besieged, Xu Ping sent an army to infiltrate the city. Xizuo held Zhang Jiefu's handwritten letter to Xu Ping and asked to see the Central Plains hero, and wanted to ask him to cooperate with the outside to break into the army. I didn't want Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan at that time, to rush to the hospital when he was ill, and appointed a large number of heroes and powerful people in the city as officers, and the Central Plains hero, who had hundreds of children, also got a deputy general position. At that time, the Central Plains hero asked Xu Ping's envoy to leave immediately, and declared that if he sent another lobbyist, it would be no wonder that he did not pay attention to the morality of the rivers and lakes and tied up the people who came to see the officials.

A few days ago, a large number of Kaifeng guards began to take the initiative to contact the army outside the city, and Xu Ping sent people to contact the Central Plains heroes. The Central Plains hero, who has been promoted to the general army, now has 2,000 officers and soldiers under his command, and after he saw Xu Ping's envoy, he did not tie up the envoy as previously said, but the Central Plains hero still refused to surrender or cooperate with Xu Ping in any way.

When sending Xu Ping's envoy out of the city, the Central Plains hero asked him to bring a letter back. The Central Plains hero wrote contrituously in the letter that if he had expected today, he would never have accepted the appointment of the governor of Henan; But since he has accepted the official status given by the governor of Henan, there is absolutely no reason to break into the camp. The Central Plains hero also said that Xu Ping must be able to understand his distress

After repeating the words of the Central Plains hero to Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng sighed again and again: "Many generals of the Bianjun have been favored by the country for many generations, and they have been glorious and rich for decades, but they are not as good as a hero when it comes to the end." ”

"If we go at once and deal with the ...... in these cities, The generals agreed. Liu Zongmin paused slightly before talking about the word general, as if he wanted to change the word, but in the end he continued to use the word, his face full of disgust: "How long does it take to take Kaifeng?" ”

"Once an attack is launched, the whole city can be pacified within twelve hours. This is still the most unfortunate situation, if everything is normal, we can annihilate the new army in three hours and capture the king of Zhou and the governor of Henan alive. Xu Ping's staff team had already made several plans, and when they made the plans, the Kaifeng city defense map they used was the latest version provided by the defenders, and Xu Ping knew every step of the entire military operation in the city well: "The time for our attack is not as long as it should be in advance to contact the defenders, I need to contact the defenders twenty hours in advance, so that all our men can prepare and understand what they have to do." ”

"So what are we waiting for?" Luo Rucai asked. He remembered that at the last joint military meeting between Chuang and Cao, everyone agreed to seize Kaifeng before engaging the siege relief army.

"I need the consent of King Chuang and King Cao, not to move Kaifeng for the time being, but to meet the officers and soldiers first." Yesterday, new military information was sent from the front, and two more battalions of the new army returned to Beijing according to the order of the imperial court, so that the new army only had seven battalions and less than 30,000 people: "General Yang commanded these 30,000 new troops to continue south, and it seems that he wants to join forces with the Chu army and the Jiangbei army. Our exploration of the horses found that the march speed of the new army had further accelerated, reaching fifty li a day, which showed that General Yang was very anxious, and he was worried that the imperial court would force more new troops to return north at any time, so that he could not relieve Kaifeng. ”

"Can his strength relieve Kaifeng now?"

Xu Ping shook his head and said, "Between what you can and what you can't." As the pressure on us from the new army becomes lighter and lighter, we can send more troops to the southern front to deal with the Chu army, once the Chu army is wiped out, it is very difficult to relieve Kaifeng with only the seven battalions of the new army, so General Yang must want to merge with the Chu army, so that he still has the strength to fight. ”

"Now it's not a trouble to open it, but a bait?" Niu Jinxing laughed: "I like this idea. ”

"As the military advisor said, the new army in Kaifeng's battalion is a bait, and General Yang may know very well in his heart that it is a little reluctant to rely on the strength in his hands to relieve Kaifeng, but it may not be impossible. If Kaifeng is lost and the new army in the city is annihilated by us, then General Yang will most likely stop attacking. Xu Ping looked directly at Li Zicheng and said: "King Chuang, so I hope not to move Kaifeng first, anyway, it is already in our hands, and we can't run away if we take it early or late." ”

"Brother Xu, you just said that General Yang may not be able to relieve Kaifeng," Luo Rucai frowned and asked, "Then are you sure that you will be able to defeat him?" ”

"Nope." Xu Ping replied without hesitation.

There was a buzz among the crowd, and the generals who had not discussed with Xu Ping in advance began to exchange ears, while Li Zicheng and Niu Jinxing waited for Xu Ping's next step.

"Seven battalions of new troops, I'm not sure to defeat them. If I'm sure, General Yang won't come at all. But we are even less sure of defeating the 12th battalion of the new army. If the new army of the seventh battalion does not move forward, then the Chu army will also turn around, and the next time the officers and soldiers come again, maybe the Qin army will regain its strength and come together. ”

After Xu Ping finished speaking, Niu Jinxing saw that Li Zicheng did not immediately agree to his suggestion, so he echoed on the side and said: "King Chuang, we use half of Henan to resist the troops of the two capitals and twelve provinces, and we can't wait for a complete opportunity, even if there is a chance to win, we have to fight." ”

"I think it's okay," after the Cao Ying generals exchanged their heads, Luo Rucai nodded to Xu Ping, and then shouted at Li Zicheng: "What we are doing is killing officials and rebelling, how can we do it without taking risks?" ”

Li Zicheng looked at Xu Ping, and finally nodded slowly, and everyone cheered, and the meeting was disbanded.

……

On the northern front, in addition to the three battalions of the guards, the western head, and the armor, Xu Ping also assembled Sun Kewang's Xifeng battalion and Li Guo's sharpshooter battalion, plus the avant-garde battalion and the Xirui battalion that were being formed, and there were a total of seven new-style battalions with firearms as the mainstay. The strength of these seven battalions is very unbalanced, the guards battalion, which is closest to full strength, now has more than 4,000 infantry, the avant-garde battalion and the Xirui battalion, which have just been formed for more than a month, have a total of more than 1,300 people with weapons, and the seven battalions have a total of 22,000 armed infantry and more than 3,000 cavalry, which will be the main force that Xu Ping will use to deal with the new army.

Xu Ping's staff officers nervously processed information about the New Army. On 27 July, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai swaggered southward, while Xu Ping's seven battalions and the remaining troops around Kaifeng City assumed a posture of strict defense, and Xu Ping himself set up his camp in Lanyang.

After learning that Xu Ping was in Lanyang, the new army did not cross the river in the Yifeng area, but made a circle to the Kaocheng ferry, where after crossing the Yellow River, the new army quickly drove southwest after a little rectification.

"Yu Dong has no desire to fight, and Tanma said that most of his soldiers didn't even bring weapons, but they fought a lot." The staff officer of the Chuang army analyzed: "It seems that his plan is that if our army is defeated, he will take the opportunity to take credit." ”

Although Yu Dong did not pose any threat to the intruding army, the staff officers still watched him vigilantly to ensure that he would not suddenly attack: "Yu Dong did not disturb the people along the way, let alone return to Germany, and he did not even occupy the county towns we abandoned. Recently, his army was helping local people harvest corn. ”

"Well, that's good." Xu Ping nodded and stopped asking about Yu Dong. Zuo Liangyu's performance was diametrically opposed to Yu Dong's, since the Chu army entered Henan, he had been conscripting troops and grain everywhere, and there were no chickens and dogs left behind, so Li Zicheng decided to take him as the primary target.

"The Chu army, which is known as 800,000, has about 120,000 after entering Henan, and if you count it according to half of the flights, it should have been about 300,000. Zuo Liangyu was rampant in Huguang, and Huguang's father hated to eat his flesh and sleep on his skin. Almost all of the Chu army were strong men who were forcibly pulled, but since they entered Henan, these strong men who were brought in were also tyrannical, raping and plundering all kinds of evil, the spy said, the Chu army came all the way to the red land for hundreds of miles. ”

"The so-called acting for the tiger is talking about this kind of thing." Xu Ping had a large number of soldiers from Henan, and he ordered his generals to give a good explanation to the soldiers, and many Ming soldiers were also poor people, so they wanted to put this revenge on Zuo Liangyu's head: "Not killing prisoners is the fundamental military discipline of our army, if the soldiers kill people easily, it will be difficult to do it in the future." ”

All the generals said that they would strictly enforce military discipline and never let their subordinates get away with it.

Xu Ping saw from the statistics of the staff officers that after a frenzied conscription, the Chu army recovered to more than 250,000 people. When they arrived in the south of Zhuxian Town, it seemed that there were only local troops stationed there, but in fact, King Chuang had already led the main force to bypass Yu Dong and was waiting for Zuo Liangyu there.

"General Yang Zhiyuan Yang has never been known for his bravery, and he doesn't need to be compared with General He, even compared with General Jia. General Jia also gave a lecture to the teaching team on how to attack, while General Yang did not seem to have taught us a lesson. Xu Ping recalled for a moment, yes, Yang Zhiyuan really didn't give him any lessons. He continued: "General Yang has been with the Marquis of Zhendong for a long time, but there is nothing special about it, I think he is the most mediocre general under the Marquis of Zhendong. Because of his old qualifications, after General He was transferred back to the Beijing Division, of course, he led the army. ”

"It is our luck that General Yang led the army." Chen Zhe and Yu Shenhe said in unison, although Zhou Dongtian and other more serious people did not make a sound, the expressions on their faces looked very relaxed.

Li Guo, Li Dingguo and Chi Shude and other generals who were not from the New Army were not as relaxed as Xu Ping, and after hearing their evaluation of Yang Zhiyuan, Li Guo said: "General Yang is also a well-known general. ”

"As long as you follow Zhendonghou, you will be famous, not to mention that you are still the earliest group of henchmen of Zhendonghou." Yu Shenhe said disappreciably: "Actually, the generals under the Marquis of Zhendong are like that, and if you get along with them a lot, you will know that they are actually ordinary people." ”

"The destination of the new army is Chenliu, and when they get there, they will be able to connect with Zuo Liangyu. The new army had already entered a state of forced march, and they could walk 60 miles in a day, and it would take less than two days to reach Chenliu. The staff officers all believed that Xu Pingbu and the New Army were now afraid of fighting wolves, and the New Army was not completely sure of defeating Xu Ping, at least they did not have much hope of defeating Xu Pingbu, who was digging trenches and holding on, otherwise they would not have to make a detour. Zhou Dongtian spoke on behalf of the staff officer: "General Yang has always been cautious, and his actions really did not meet our expectations. Now that General Yang sees that he will soon be able to join forces with the Chu army, he will definitely go to the front line in person and carefully investigate so as not to be ambushed by us. ”

Xu Ping completely agreed with the judgment of the staff officers. Since they predicted that Yang Zhiyuan might take this road, the staff officers have conducted field investigations, calculated the road's passing capacity through paper work, and predicted the most likely camping sites for the New Army each day. Xu Ping himself was an engineer officer of the New Army, and there were a number of officers under him who were proficient in the regulations of the New Army, and the figures they estimated were not the same as those of the New Army.

"If there are more than 20,000 new troops as the backbone, then the Chu army will not be able to fight. If it becomes a protracted battle, it will be detrimental to our army, and now it will affect our corn harvest, so we will intercept it halfway, and hit the soft underbelly of the new army while it is busy marching. ”

After the staff officers found that Yang Zhiyuan was marching in a hurry to try to join the Chu army, they immediately realized that this was an opportunity.

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