Nanxiong Castle on the edge of Nanling is the northernmost city of Lingnan Road. From Guangzhou Mansion to the north, after crossing Nanxiong, it entered the boundary of Jiangnan Province.

The battle of Nanxiong was a huge test for both warring sides.

The Recruiting Division led by Yu Hongtu came to suppress Shen Zejing and others who rebelled on behalf of the imperial court. For the prestige of the dynasty and the integrity of Dayong, they must pacify Lingnan Dao, and the first battle of Nanxiong is the key to their victory.

If this battle is lost, even Nanxiong City will not be able to cross, and the recruiting division will be lost in Nanxiong, Yu Hongtu does not dare to think deeply about what the next situation will be.

For Shen Zejing and others, this battle is even more significant. If this battle is won, then it is possible for them to continue the banner of righteousness of "punishing the Zuo clan and the Qing monarch side", and it is possible for Shen Zejing and others to seek peace and extend;

If he loses, then the Recruiting Division will suppress Lingnan Dao, and the two guards of Xining and Lingnan will be guilty of rebellion, and the three clans will be killed and killed.

Whether it is Yu Hongtu or Shen Zejing, they have put a lot of thought into this battle and made full preparations. Who wins and who loses, but listen to the will of God and conspire with man.

At the end of September, when the autumn wind in Lingnan Road was not yet deep, the Recruitment Division arrived outside Nanxiong City, and this battle began!

Like any border city in Dayi, Nanxiong is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is backed by the Nanling Mountains, and the other three sides are surrounded by high walls, and the sloping terrain is their natural protection.

Today, the three walls of Nanxiong City are covered with thick thorns; On top of the city wall, several crossbows were erected to defend the city. If Yu Hongtu could see the layout on the city wall, he would be surprised: the number of crossbows on the city wall was as many as twelve! This number, even if you gather the crossbows of all the cities in Gangnam Province and Hanoi Province, it can't be compared.

Needless to say, most of these city-guarding crossbows are Hu crossbow beds produced by the Shen Family's Ordnance Division. The Shen Family's Weapons Division is located in the Nanling Mountain Range, such a geographical advantage, if the crossbow to defend the city cannot be sufficiently supplied. That's too much to say.

Inside the city wall, there are Xining Wei led by Peng Jin and Shen Zesi, and Lingnan Wei led by Yuan Huan. The two guards were nearly 250,000 people, led by the general of each freedom. One before and one after Chen Bing Yu Nanxiong.

Yuan Huan and Lingnan Wei were familiar with Nanxiong and had geographical advantages as the vanguard army; Peng Jin and Shen Zesi took Xining Wei as the rearguard; The two armies joined forces to deal with the 200,000 men of the Recruitment Division.

Regarding the combat strategy, Yuan Huan, Shen Zesi and others have already been formulated. Ruliu and these two guard scouts provided sufficient intelligence support for the formulation of battle strategies.

In terms of military strength, there are nearly 250,000 troops in Xining and Lingnan. more than 200,000 in the Recruiting Division; As far as weapons are concerned, these two guards have the support of the Shen Family's Weapons Division, needless to say; Moreover, these two guards have the hard work of the Recruiting Division, as well as the convenience of the location.

No matter how you look at it. Lingnan and Xining have a bigger chance of winning than the recruiting division.

But after the first encounter, the result surprised both sides. The soldiers of the Recruitment Division were like a bamboo, not only did the soldiers climb the Nanxiong City Wall, but even the Nanxiong City Gate was knocked several times, and the Recruitment Division almost captured Nanxiong City!

If it weren't for the strength and weapons of the two guards of Xining and Lingnan, they would be really strong. Ying Nantu and Shen Zesi, at the last moment. Forced the soldiers of the Recruiting Division who were close to the city wall down!

At the last moment, it was the Hu crossbow bed that exerted its power, and the twelve Hu crossbow beds never stopped, relying on the continuous sixteen arrows, forcing the recruitment division out of the range. withstood the attack of the Recruitment Division, so that the situation in Nanxiong was not controlled by the Recruitment Division.

After this encounter, the offensive and defensive sides fell into a stalemate again. Both sides are adjusting the process and strategy of employing troops in the hope of winning the next encounter.

"Yu Hongtu is worthy of being the one who exterminated King Sheng. Not to be underestimated! This battle of the heart is too good! ”

In the conference hall of Nanxiong City, Yuan Huan said. In the first confrontation, although they were at a disadvantage and the soldiers were seriously damaged, I have to say that Yu Hongtu really fought very well with the soldiers of the Recruitment Division!

The defeat of Xining and Lingnan is also a matter of course.

Shen Zesi, Peng Jin, as well as Shen Huashan and Shen Zejing, were all in the conference hall. Of course, Ying Nantu and Shen Yule and others are also indispensable.

"At that time, Hanoi Province was in turmoil, and this method was used by the Recruiting Division; Now that I use it again, it still works wonders. Zhang Ge is still the commander of the camp, and this method has made him very skilled! ”

Shen Huashan agreed with Yuan Huan's words. Xining and Lingnan have the advantage of troops, weapons, and geographical advantages, why can they still lose? It's a very short answer, because the recruiting division used a strategy to attack the heart!

When Yu Hongtu led the soldiers to attack, he also ordered some soldiers to shout in the form of gongs and drums: "The Shen family is rebelling, and it is a great rebellion!" "Only punish the evil, not as good as the generals!" Such words.

Shen Huashan also used this strategy at that time. In the final analysis, this strategy is aimed at ordinary generals, and it is aimed at their psychology of raising troops.

Rebellion is not an easy task. Not to mention anything else, just talking about the change of identity and role is a great burden for many people and has become an obstacle to their actions. This is the case with the soldiers and generals of the Xining and Lingnan guards.

Although the Shen family raised troops, in the eyes of the imperial court, it was a heinous rebellion; However, in the eyes of most of the generals in Xining and Lingnan, "Zhuzuo's clan and Qingjun's side" is the banner of righteousness, and they will raise troops for the sake of the Dayong court. On the number, they are still Xining and Lingnan Wei, and they are still soldiers of Dayong!

However, here in Nanxiong, they have to fight against the recruiting division that represents Dayong, and the change of character identity and psychological gap are the reasons for their defeat.

These two guards will be brave and able to fight, but they will not be able to cross the psychological barrier. Yuan Huan, Zhu Dunshi and others can understand the truth of "when you fight, you fight", but these ordinary soldiers can't!

Therefore, when the recruiting division shouted words such as "don't beat your own people" and "the Shen family is rebelling, the generals must not help the abuse" and so on, Lingnan Wei, as the vanguard army, hesitated.

Hesitation, the power of nature is inexhaustible, how can morale be uplifted? Xining and Lingnan almost lost, which is a matter of course.

"Nanxiong City is difficult to attack, and this plan to attack the heart is also difficult to break." Shen Zesi rarely said a word of nonsense. Once anything occupies the moral high ground, no matter how strong it is, it will hardly be its opponent.

Yu Hongtu and Gu Dacun only figured out this, so they had such a strategy. And the Shen family, what can they do?

"Do you have a good plan to retreat?" Shen Zejing asked. Ying Nantu has experienced the two battles of Xining Road, and he has also been involved in affairs, what do you think about intelligence strategy?

"Regarding Zuo's crime, it has not yet been fully transmitted to the army. The two guards of Jiangnan and Hanoi, even if they knew that the emperor was dead, still sent troops, which illustrates this point. To break this plan, the only way to do this is to adjust Chen Bing first. ”

Ying Nantu thought about it and replied to Shen Zejing. In fact, they had thought of what strategy the recruitment division would use, and they had made full preparations. Unexpectedly, it was useless to prepare, these two guards still couldn't match the influence of imperial power.

It is also for Dayong, but at this moment, the Recruiting Division led by Yu Hongtu is obviously on the side of righteousness and firmly suppresses these two guards.

"With Xiningwei as the vanguard army, Lingnan Wei as the rear guard." Ying Nantu continued, the way he said was to adjust the position of the two guards, but was it useful?

"Xiningwei doesn't have too deep feelings for the imperial court, and he is slightly stronger than Lingnan Wei." Ying Nantu said cryptically.

What he meant was clear to everyone present. Xiningwei is not so much a soldier of the imperial court as a personal soldier of the Shen family. After several times of dispersal and integration, they felt more about belonging to the Shen family than to the imperial court.

There is no need to pierce this.

"One more point. Xishan Yu, Shen, Hu and Ye, a group of hundreds of people, were taken hostage by Jin Wuwei of the imperial court and escorted to Lingnan Province. ”

This news was not long after Ying Nantu got it. In Jiang Nanwei's army, there are naturally people who should be installed by Nantu. It was only when the Recruiting Division was heavily guarded that the news was sent.

When Shen Huashan and Shen Zejing heard the news, their faces changed slightly. Especially Shen Zejing, when he learned that there was also Shen Yu's old mother among the hostages, his brows furrowed deeply.

This time, the Recruitment Division is really well prepared. The plan to attack the heart cannot be broken, and there are hostages in their hands, Shen Zejing feels that the battle of Nanxiong is very difficult to win.

Ying Nantu stood aside and did not speak. After learning that there were nearly 100 hostages, he knew that it was not difficult to break the strategy of recruiting the division.

As long as...... As long as these nearly 100 hostages die, they will definitely be able to win with the strategy of mourning soldiers against the strategy of attacking the heart, and with the strength and weapons of these two guards.

However, it is too difficult to implement this mourning strategy. Among these hostages, they are all the closest people to the Shen family, including the old lady of the Yu family, as well as Yu Zhengshi and Yu Zhengan, who are literary and Taoist heroes. To carry out this mourning strategy, it is really a heavy loss!

Ying Nantu could think of this, and Shen Huashan, Shen Zejing and others certainly thought of it. However, this strategy of mourning made everyone embarrassed.

In the Shen family's view, people and human lives are the most important. If all the plans and actions can only succeed if they have to sacrifice these lives, then what is the use of such a plan?

Kill one person to live a hundred, kill them; Killing these 100 people can make more soldiers of the two guards survive, and it can make the Shen family survive, and they can be killed.

How to choose?

This mourning strategy, whether it is implemented or not, is a matter that is difficult to decide, and Shen Zejing and others can only be silent.

In the end, it was not the Shen family themselves who helped them make their choice, but the soldiers of the Recruitment Division!

ps：

Thank you Galocher and Xinyi 7017 for the pink ticket! Thank you sunfloer889 for the sachets! Thank you! rp