Shen Shuren was strict with himself and lenient with others to deal with the post-war reward and punishment work of the Baling rescue battle.

These rewards, which did not need to be given so quickly and so highly, were not included in the usual post-war rewards.

It's really that the Shenshu people still have a place to use them, and they need these soldiers to make persistent efforts and forcibly march south to Changsha, which is why they have given so much-

As mentioned earlier, until the decisive battle between Shen Shuren and Li Dingguo, he still did not know that Changsha had fallen.

The distance between the two places in a straight line is 300 li, and if you take a detour along the shore of Dongting Lake and the valley of the Xiangjiang River, the actual distance can be close to 400 li. The lack of synchronization of battlefield information is very serious.

Zuo Zixiong and Zhu Wenzhen could only endure fatigue, let the troops rest for a while, and restarted in the afternoon of the same day, especially let the troops with better physical strength be responsible for rowing.

Fortunately, the Shen Jiajun controlled the right to control Dongting Lake, and the number of large ships was enough, and the main force could take the whole army by boat, and the physical wear and tear of the march was acceptable.

The troops marched south for about two hours, until evening, when they had walked dozens of miles.

With two events occurring in succession, the rhythm of the troops' continued march was interrupted, and the Sunken Tree Man was allowed to rest on the shore instead.

The first change was that Pan Shirong, the thief captain who was seriously injured and captured by the official army in the decisive battle of the camp in the early hours of this morning, actually woke up from a coma after a simple treatment by the official army doctor.

For a thief like Pan Shirong, who is not well-known in the history books, Shen Shuren certainly did not plan to bother to surrender. And this guy's injuries are indeed relatively serious, and the military doctor feels that it is difficult to survive after evaluation.

So treating him and staying in the army is nothing more than a dead horse as a live horse doctor, wanting to see if he can come up with some valuable information. This awakening is estimated to be a return to the light.

For such a person who is dying and seriously injured, the threat of torture is useless, and he may be killed directly. Therefore, Shen Shuren chose to ask a few words with a pleasant face, and did not involve the core secrets of the other party, it was regarded as a shot with or without dates.

Maybe it was because people were dying and their words were kind, maybe it was because they saw that the official army actually treated him for injuries, and more likely because he was disheartened by Li Dingguo as an outcast, Pan Shirong finally confided in some of the military information of the thief army that he felt was no longer important.

And Shen Shuren also learned from this conversation that Changsha City has not only been attacked by Zhang Xianzhong, but even the vassal kings, officials, and gentry in the city have also been slaughtered.

It was also at this moment that Shen Shuren completely proved that he used his trick last night to appear dark under the lamp - the "messenger from Zhang Xianzhong to Li Dingguo" captured by Zhu Wenzhen was really fake! Because those forged letters did not mention that "Changsha has been captured by Zhang Xianzhong".

But Pan Shirong was able to learn the news from Li Dingguo and the truth about this morale-boosting truth, which shows that Zhang Xianzhong's real order had already been sent in advance, and behind it was Li Dingguo's seven true and three false fakes.

(Note: A careful reader sent a private message saying that in the previous chapter, "Shen Shuren should have known that Changsha had fallen", the reason was that in the camp attack battle the afternoon before, there were also soldiers on the thief side, shouting in front of the army that Zhang Xianzhong had captured Changsha and would immediately lead the main force to meet the division and return to rescue Baling.)

But after a little analysis, it is not difficult to see that the front-line generals of the Shen family army will not believe this, and after returning it to Shen Shuren, Shen Shuren will generally tend not to believe it with the IQ of a normal person, thinking that this is just a bull that Li Dingguo bragged about in order to boost morale. After all, the context of this shouting is that when the two sides are fighting with all their might, they must do whatever it takes to give their confidence to others.

The interpretation of psychological warfare cannot be viewed from the perspective of the omniscient and all-powerful God of the reader, but must be substituted for the information difference of each side. If you still don't understand this logic...... In the future, I can only write less about psychological warfare to boost morale and undermine morale. Otherwise, if one party says it and the other party believes it or not, it will have to be explained for a long time. ）

After getting this important information from the dying Pan Shirong, there was no need for Shen Shuren to take the risk of "traveling a hundred miles a day to seek profits, and he could become a general".

Of course, considering that Pan Shirong might be lying, he just let the troops rest for half the night first, and if new changes are found in the future, he can get up early at any time to continue the march.

However, at the end of the night, there was finally a cavalry scout under Zhu Wenzhen's command in front of him, and from the battlefield south of Linxiang County, he inquired from the mouths of the people that Changsha City had really been lost.

Some wealthy families and ordinary people who fled from Changsha scattered all the way, and some went north incognito, and when they encountered officials and soldiers, they immediately came to defect. These fleeing civilians and soldiers also brought more useful information, saying that Zhang Xianzhong's troops seemed to be fighting south in the past two days, and I wonder if they planned to flee from the official army.

Shen Shuren asked carefully one by one to confirm, which allowed the troops to sleep well until dawn, and did not toss everyone again.

……

The soldiers can sleep, but the generals have to get up early, after all, the situation ahead is very critical.

At the beginning of the summer, the soldiers should get up and the troops should be mobilized.

Shen Shuren got up early, half an hour earlier than ordinary soldiers, and was depressed with low blood pressure from getting up early, discussing the latest plan with the generals.

After all, where to go next and what the strategic direction is, he needs to make a decision.

The generals below can only decide how to fight the battle at most. But who to fight, which to hit first and then which to fight, that is still the decision of the civil officials at the governor level, and the pressure on Shen Shuren is not ordinary.

After arriving at the big tent of the Chinese army, he drank a pot of strong tea before Shen Shu spoke: "At present, the enemy situation is still not very clear, I only know that Changsha has fallen, Li Dingguo will flee to Linxiang County, and it is possible to retreat further south to Changsha to rendezvous."

Liu Wenxiu has not made any new moves at present, and according to the reward of practicing Li Yu, he should continue to remain vigilant in Changde, neither dare to abandon his father-in-law to retreat in advance, nor dare to take the initiative to come back to rescue - otherwise, it can give our army a chance to wait for work.

I pondered in my sleep last night, and now our army has two paths to choose:

One is to turn around and attack Liu Wenxiu, this road is not afraid of slowness, I believe that as long as our army is willing to go, it will definitely be able to find a battle. Because Liu Wenxiu categorically did not dare to abandon his father-in-law and withdraw alone without a war.

Moreover, with Liu Wenxiu's strength, our army is the aftermath of defeating Li Dingguo's main force, as long as the fight starts, our army will definitely be able to win, and we can break through the enemy army in each section, and it will be easy to recover Changde Mansion.

However, considering that Liu Wenxiu's back road is stable, as long as he retreats to the mountainous areas of Xiangxi along the Yuan and Li River valleys, it will be difficult for us to completely annihilate him.

Therefore, this option can be regarded as a risk-free and stable profit, and the price paid is very small, but the profit is not too big. It's just that one of the enemy forces is defeated, and then one more province is recovered, but it can't be completely annihilated.

The second way, in contrast, even if it is 'rich and dangerous', we can ignore Liu Wenxiu, go south directly, and chase Zhang Xianzhong.

But this option is also risky, first, Zhang Xianzhong is not as scrupulous as Liu Wenxiu when he escapes, if he is not willing to fight us, he can flee away immediately before he meets the enemy, and we are likely to not be able to catch up - the previous battlefield was around Dongting Lake, our army has the advantage of light and sharp warships, and the march is faster than Zhang Xianzhong, so it is easy to pursue the enemy.

Once Zhang Xianzhong fled south, the Xiangjiang River near Changsha could still support the deployment of a large-scale naval fleet, and once it went a little further south, to Xiangtan County in Changsha Prefecture, close to the mountainous area, the Xiangjiang River would narrow sharply and the water flow would become turbulent.

At that time, our army's advantage in water transportation will completely non-existent, everyone will march on two legs, and we must maintain the military discipline of the officers and soldiers, and we cannot casually kill the people and steal food, which will definitely not be able to outrun the thieves who have been running around for a long time.

At the end of the day, Zhang Xianzhong can also be like Li Dingguo, leaving tens of thousands of new annexes who have just captured Ding to drag us down, and he will flee first with all the old battalions of Shaanxi and Henan. If you enter Nanling all the way and even want to escape to Liangguang, it will be even more troublesome.

We are subject to the laws of the imperial court, and it is impossible for us to keep chasing them. The governor of Liangguang is far less talkative than the governor of Huguangfang, and he will definitely have to make up some formalities first, and His Majesty may also suspect that I am a thief to expand my territory. ”

When Shen Shuren said this in one breath, his thinking was also a little confused, so he had to take a sip of tea first to rest.

Zuo Zixiong, Zhu Wenzhen and Jin Shenghuan looked at the map, reviewing what Lord Futai said just now, and they also deeply thought of these risks.

Liu Wenxiu had to make contact with the official army and confirm that the official army was invincible before he decided to escape, because he could not abandon his father-in-law. If the officials and soldiers fled without seeing the face, then he would not be mixed up in Zhang Xianzhong's army in the future, and the notoriety of selling his father would definitely not be able to escape.

But Zhang Xianzhong himself doesn't have anything worth worrying about, or a psychological burden.

In Zhang Xianzhong's eyes, everything in the world is not worth his own life, so he can run as much as he wants.

This difference is destined to make Zhang Xianzhong more slippery.

After all, he was a wandering professional household who had fled from Chongzhen for 14 years since he switched to the world in the second year of Chongzhen, and how many times he was willing to abandon everything else except for his most confidant brother in the old camp.

This kind of old fritter, how can it be so easy to be defeated by the Shenshu people in a battle and destroyed directly? It's too slippery to keep your hands.

Therefore, chasing Zhang Xianzhong, although the benefits are large, the probability of not being able to catch up is also large.

Everyone groaned slightly, and said that the matter was very high, and it was better to ask Lord Futai to make a clear decision directly, and they really didn't dare to take responsibility for this decision. As long as Lord Futai speaks, no matter which option it is, they will resolutely implement it.

Seeing this, Shen Shuren opened his mouth to make a decision:

"Since everyone trusts the official so much, the official will take responsibility once. In the future, no matter what the outcome is, the credit for making the decision will be borne by the official.

I thought that it was not yet time for the final arrow to be on the line, and we still had one step to wait and see. In the end, whether to directly pursue Zhang Xianzhong or kill Liu Wenxiu first depends on the corresponding reaction of the enemy after our step.

The first priority of our army in the past two days is to first go south to Linxiang County and recover it. In the small county of Linxiang, taking the city is not the main purpose. The main purpose is to block the mouth of the Xiangjiang River.

In this way, no matter whether Zhang Xianzhong plans to retreat or not, it is at least impossible for him to take the Xiangjiang River waterway and return to this route. Whether it was to return to Changde, Shizhouwei, or go south to Liangguang, he had to take the land route.

By land, you can't carry too much belongings, food, grass and baggage, and you have to travel lightly. In this way, our follow-up pursuit, even if we can't completely annihilate Zhang Xianzhong, at least a large number of captures.

After taking Linxiang, we don't have to rush to attack Changsha immediately, Changsha has already fallen anyway, and there is no difference between ten days and a month, and the rich officials of the vassal kings that Zhang Xianzhong wants to kill in the city have already been killed, and if he is given dozens of days, he may not be slaughtered more.

When the time comes, we can try to take a detour to see how Zhang Xianzhong reacts to the waterway being cut off, and then make a targeted drive - what do you think? ”

"In the opinion of Lord Futai, hold it carefully and steadily, and the end will be implemented immediately!" Zuo Zixiong, Zhu Wenzhen, and Jin Shenghuan agreed in unison.

Shen Shuren: "Then it's decided, all the departments will also hurry up the march today!" ”

After the whole army has put together a strategy, the follow-up implementation will of course be a matter of course.

After another day and a half of marching and half a day of rest, the troops finally arrived in Linxiang County on June 20.

Moreover, the two battalions of Shen Lian and Li Yu, who had been patrolling the surface of Dongting Lake to intercept and kill the thieves' ships in the past few days, also arrived in time to join the main force.

The Shen family army gathered a total of 30,000 troops, and broke through Linxiang County in just three days - in this process, I have to say that Zhang Xianzhong's troops still have a bit of outlaw backbone,

Knowing that the troops in Linxiang County were insufficient, it was absolutely impossible to hold it, but the abandoned troops still relied on the city and were willing to fight. As a result, it took some time for the Shen family army to destroy the city wall and prepare siege equipment, and then it was taken.

Unlike the previous Ming Army's local guard troops, knowing that the thieves were coming to attack the city, these small counties couldn't even hold out for a day or two-

Of course, this is also related to the fact that Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong can threaten to slaughter the city. After all, Shen Shuren is an official soldier, he still wants to be faced, and he can't say the cruel words of "dare to resist for one day, kill thirty percent of the people in the city after the city is broken, kill sixty percent of the people in two days of resistance, and slaughter the whole city after three days of resistance".

After taking Linxiang County, the morale of the Shen family army was further high, and it was slightly repaired, which was ready to give a decisive blow to Zhang Xianzhong.

……

The words are divided into two ends, and the timeline goes back to a few days ago, when the Shen family army had just defeated Li Dingguo's rear army and was still on the way south.

Li Dingguo's betrayal of his teammates this time was very thorough and decisive, and at least 11,200 people were sold by Li Dingguo.

The brothers in the old battalion who were successfully rescued from the breakout were only 7,000 in terms of numbers, which was much smaller than the number that was sold. If you count the heads, it must be a huge loss.

However, these old camp brothers are worthy of following Zhang Xianzhong's army to fight for many years. Among them, the oldest one has been following the flow for thirteen years, and the junior one has at least started following Chongzhen nine years later, and has been running for five or six years.

Therefore, they were very skillful in forcibly fleeing for their lives, and they were able to travel two hundred miles a day without losing their heavy armor and worthless spears and spears, and with only short weapons and firearms, and without carrying food and grass.

Therefore, on the night when the officers and soldiers were still camping and resting halfway, Li Dingguo had already rushed to Linxiang County and handed over to Zhang Xianzhong's generals who stayed here.

And Zhang Xianzhong obviously didn't plan to stick to Linxiang for long, leaving behind some fish belly, as soon as Li Dingguo arrived, he was told to immediately take the withdrawn troops to Changsha.

Li Dingguo had already walked two hundred miles, and he was too tired to sleep in Linxiang County for the night, and after getting up, he continued to hurry, walking to Changsha during the day, and it was about evening when he entered the city.

Li Dingguo thought that when he came back, he would definitely be appeased by his father, but the situation was not what he imagined.

When they entered the city, they were told to rest for a while, but when they did, they separated him from the rest of the generals.

Then, Bai Wenxuan was summoned by Zhang Xianzhong to ask the right questions separately, mainly to understand the situation of the withdrawn army.

Bai Wenxuan was quite benevolent and righteous, and he didn't immediately say bad things about Li Dingguo, but he would not deceive Zhang Xianzhong, so he truthfully confessed the actual situation of the army.

Knowing that only 7,000 brothers from the old battalion had escaped, and that the other new annexed troops had been lost in the past two years, Zhang Xianzhong also regretted in his heart - not that he regretted his life, but that his combat strength had been damaged.

These new annexed troops are not all strong men who have only recently been arrested, but also include the soldiers recruited in Huguang in the three years after Chongzhen and Zhang Xianzhong surrendered and rebelled. So quite a few of them have two or three years of combat experience, and it's a pity to lose them.

If it were normal times, this loss would not make Zhang Xianzhong harsh on his son. But this time Li Dingguo has already done a lot of things, and Zhang Xianzhong has been unhappy three times, so when they are superimposed, the reaction is completely different.

"Bai Wenxuan, the troops brought back by the second child will be temporarily handed over to you in the past few months, until we retreat successfully, and then we will meet with Wang'er and the third child, and then assign them separately!" Zhang Xianzhong was furious and issued such a personnel appointment.

Bai Wenxuan was shocked, and at the same time, he was a little happy in his heart, and he couldn't believe it. He also persuaded him incorrectly:

"The King...... At that time, if someone else was changed, he might not be able to fight better than the second general. The officers and soldiers are really outnumbered, well-armed, morale is high, and the vehicles and ships are more convenient than our army. Compared with combat power, compared with the number of people, compared with the speed of marching, our army can't compare! ”

Zhang Xianzhong's nasolabial folds twitched slightly, and he raised his hand undoubtedly: "It's not for this!" Let you go, you will go! ”

"The last general obeys!" Bai Wenxuan didn't really want to give up the military power in his hands, and he had said everything he had to say, so he was happy to pick up a troop.

……

Until this moment, Li Dingguo, who was still stationed in the Changsha Post House, felt that something was wrong when Zhang Xianzhong's personal guards brought him dinner.

He grabbed the person who delivered the meal, and asked, "Why hasn't my father summoned me?" I'm not hungry, I can eat after playing the military situation! Trouble the little brother to pass it through. ”

The person who delivered the meal had no authority at all, but he helplessly pushed: "Second general, don't embarrass the villain, the villain is just a food deliverer, and he doesn't know anything else." ”

Li Dingguo had no choice but to eat these bowls of meat dishes made from animals raised in King Ji's mansion with trepidation. It was not until the beginning of the time that he waited for Zhang Xianzhong's summoning order.

Zhang Xianzhong was looking for him and several other generals to discuss the next direction of escape, whether to fight or defend.

After Li Dingguo learned about it, he finally breathed a sigh of relief: his father still needs his military advice, it seems that there is nothing wrong, maybe it is just that his father is sympathetic to his hard work, so he let himself eat a meal of meat first, and then summon it