At the same time that the Shen Shuren sent Gu Yanwu, who was kept in the dark, to Nanyang, the enemies of the Shen Shuren were actually doing similar operations.

Because of the poor distance, the day after "Shen Shuren knew that Li Zicheng was about to receive Zuo Liangyu's letter",

Li Zicheng, who was in the camp outside Kaifeng City, received the letter he should have received.

At the same time, because there was no psychological preparation, and the contact with the people below was not smooth, the whole process was delayed for half a day, and it was not until lunch that the messenger was brought to Li Zicheng.

And if Shen Shuren can be present, you will find that the envoy sent by Zuo Liangyu to see Li Zicheng is actually an acquaintance - this person is powerful and powerful, and he is Hao Xiao, who was beaten to the point of loyalty when Shen Shuren and Zuo Liangyu clashed with Zuo Liangyu last year.

Last year, after Shen Shuren designed to frame Zuo Liangyu and move to the town, when he returned to Nanyang to meet Yang Sichang, he met Zuo Liangyu on a narrow road. At that time, Hao Xiaozhong, with the acquiescence of Zuo Liangyu, tried to be rough with Shen Shuren, but was slapped away by Zuo Zixiong beside Shen Shuren, and Zuo Liangyu had to reward him with forty military sticks after being deflated.

Don't look at this person as a reckless man, but he is very good at currying favor with his boss, and his loyalty to Zuo Liangyu is very reliable, so this time he was asked to perform a confidential mission.

On the other hand, Zuo Liangyu also considered that letting such a rude-looking person be a messenger could also give people a straightforward sense of deception, making Li Zicheng believe in his sincerity even more.

……

Hao Xiaozhong was taken to a large tent of the Chinese army and waited for a long time. During this period, he was also in a nervous mood and couldn't help but secretly look left and right. Seeing that the decoration of the big tent was quite simple, and the curtains hung to keep out the cold were all cloth curtains, and there was no brocade and silk, so he relaxed a little.

This is the first time that Zuo Liangyu has taken the initiative to contact Li Zicheng to be soft, and none of his subordinates have been here before, so they will naturally worry about whether Li Zicheng is brutal.

If you really meet a devil, as a thief, you won't care about "the two armies will not fight each other".

And if a person lives a relatively simple life, then it should be easier to talk and not be arrogant.

"It seems that this Li Zicai is much simpler than Luo Rucai, I heard that Luo Rucai was known as Cao Cao at the beginning, extravagant, the tent was full of brocade, and dozens of women were waiting for him......," Hao Xiaozhong secretly thought in his heart.

He has followed Zuo Liangyu for many years, and although he has never met any thief chieftains in person, he still knows a lot about the reputation of each family.

It's a pity that he didn't know that the reason why Li Zicheng was not good at gorgeous decoration was just to hide his unlustful characteristics at the same time. Otherwise, if the dwelling is lavishly decorated, but there are no women, some of its physical defects will soon be exposed.

Hao Xiaozhong waited for a while, and after the tent, a burly middle-aged man with a bronzed complexion wearing a Fan Yangli hat and a supple beard came in, and his eyes were embarrassed, it was Li Zicheng.

The portraits of Li Zicheng in later generations have the shape of a one-eyed dragon, but at this moment, Li Zicheng has both eyes.

Because in history, he was blind in one eye with a bow and crossbow shot by the soldiers under the command of Chen Yongfu, the general soldier of Kaifeng, at the end of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen and the three Mengfeng battles to the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, but the "History of the Ming Dynasty" did not say which of the three attacks on Kaifeng was blind.

Now, maybe it's the butterfly effect of the Shen Shuren, or maybe Li Zicheng really has enough qi, in short, at this moment, although he has many scars on his face, his facial features are very complete - in contrast, it is his old opponent Zhang Xianzhong, who has been beaten into a pockmarked face by the lead bullet fragments of the Shen Shuren, and has cut off one of his ears.

When Hao Xiaozhong saw Li Zicheng, he immediately knelt down and saluted, and briefly said what he meant.

Li Zicheng also looked down on this kind of person, but after observing the other party's appearance, he was really deceived by his rough appearance, and his trust in what he said also increased a few points.

Li Zicheng sat down, pointed at Hao Xiaozhong with a big grin and asked: "Zuo Liangyu wants to follow my well water and not violate the river water?" In the past month or so, I haven't provoked him, why is he so nervous, it must be a fraud! ”

Hao Xiaozhong said truthfully: "Back to King Chuang, my family Zuo Zongzhen is also afraid that there will be some misunderstanding between your and our two armies, so that the end will show goodwill." Although your army has not provoked Zuo Zongzhen so far, it has also increased its troops in Ye County.

As a result, the head town of my family had to increase troops in Yuzhou (Fangcheng) on the opposite side in case of contingencies. If your army can reduce the troops in Yexian, then my head town can also reduce the troops in Yuzhou, and both sides will reduce the loss of transporting grain to the front line, wouldn't it be beautiful? ”

Li Zicheng was stunned for a moment, and then laughed: "I think about it, Zuo Liangyu and Shen Shuren, but the festival is not small, he is going to sit on the mountain to watch the tiger fight, and kill people with a knife." Chongzhen Lao'er is also a waste, and he actually uses these people in the nest as generals. ”

Hao Xiaozhong was also angry when he saw that his lord was humiliated, but he remembered the task of this trip, so he endured it.

Li Zicheng didn't give him an immediate reply, but just carefully read Zuo Liangyu's letter, and then said that he would give him a discussion result within today, and he would send someone to send the letter back to Zuo Liangyu with him tomorrow morning.

……

After Li Zicheng asked Hao Xiaozhong to take him down, of course, he immediately asked the guards to invite their main advisers to discuss it together.

After a while, a roe deer-headed rat-eyed former scholar who was too ugly to participate in the imperial examination came to him on tiptoe.

Li Zicheng didn't see him either, and directly beckoned him to sit down next to him.

This person is Song Xiance, who has been in Li Zicheng for two years, and is the second strategist under Li Zicheng, second only to Niu Jinxing.

Li Zicheng does not have many scholars under him, and Niu Jinxing is better than the Ming Dynasty, so he is more reserved, and has always regarded himself as Xiao He, and likes to talk about some upright truths.

And because Song Xiance has never gained fame, his psychological burden is much smaller, and he likes to play a little trick that is evil and vicious, in order to complement Niu Jinxing, he regards himself as Zhang Liang.

In addition, Song Xiance was born in feng shui with fortune telling, and was good at auspicious and superstitious skills, and over time, he made the uneducated Li Zichenghu a god. Whenever he encounters diplomatic tricks to crack, or uses some evil tricks, he will discuss with Song Xiance.

"I don't know what happened when the king summoned me?" After Song Xiance sat down, he stroked the rat whiskers, and looked like a master in the world.

Li Zicheng also respected him very much and told him about the situation.

After listening to it, Song Xiance only pondered it a little, and felt that Zuo Liangyu's suggestion was acceptable. He also took the opportunity to pat himself on the back:

"Congratulations to the King! Zuo Liangyu showed sincerity this time, it can be seen that there are already many contradictions within the Ming army, and the king will definitely be able to break the people in the future! Let the generals of the Ming Court no longer dare to venture into the world and work for Chongzhen!

And if our army can reduce the strength of the Yexian direction, it is just the right opportunity to gather most of the heavy troops in Yuncheng and confront the Shenshuren army in Ruyang and Shangcai. If you can seize the opportunity, you will soon be able to tell the winner! ”

After Li Zicheng heard this, he had no doubts about Zuo Liangyu's sincerity, but he was naturally aroused by Song Xiance's private goods:

"Mr. Song, how many times have you persuaded this king to move south to Yuncheng with the main force? I really say it at every opportunity. Now the siege of Kaifeng City is difficult, it is not easy to break the city, this king wants to leave at least half of the troops to continue the siege, why does Mr. always persuade me to go south with the main force? ”

Song Xiance said sincerely: "King, this Kaifeng City has been besieged by you for a long time, you know, now the morale of the army has been low again, our main hope is to run out of food, besiege the city to the point that the people in Kaifeng City will starve to death, at least surrender after starving and collapse."

It is very difficult for us to organize an all-out assault without counting human lives. Our army's artillery and shells have long been worn out in half a year of fierce battles. For the sake of today's plan, it will not take too many people to besiege Kaifeng without attacking, and it is still the most important thing to annihilate the main force of the Shen Shuren. ”

Song Xiance's words are difficult for outsiders to understand at first glance, but Li Zicheng certainly understands the context.

In the past six months or so, the time for the Chuang army to really attack Kaifeng was actually only in April and August.

April was shortly after the siege, and morale was still high.

In August, because he had just repelled Sun Chuanting and Yang Sichang, the sluggish morale under the fortified city of Jiudun had relied on the big victory in the field battle to make a wave back, so he felt that he could do it again, and he could still attack a few waves.

So at the end of August, when he heard that Shen Shuren was going north, Li Zicheng was actually looking forward to it, because he found that he finally didn't have to break the sealed city, and the last large-scale field battle had only ended less than a month, and another ** Ming army came to the field to give away the head.

For the thieves, if they can fight a field battle with the official army, of course, they must fight a field battle as much as possible, who especially wants to fight a siege war, it is still such a strong city.

It's a pity that the gathering of Shen Shuren's troops is very slow, and it is clear that the emperor has ordered him to immediately break through the siege outside Kaifeng, but he still uses all legal and reasonable excuses to drag it out as slowly as possible.

However, Li Zicheng was not given a chance to fight in the field for 20 days, so the two sides cautiously assembled and confronted each other. Twenty days have dragged on, and the morale bonus that rose up after the last big victory of the Chuang army has finally been almost worn again.

So at this moment, the whole army actually admitted a tacit understanding in their hearts: "We just can't break through a fortified city like Kaifeng, even if the official army reinforcements don't move forward, we still can't break it."

After Li Zicheng pondered Song Xiance's rhetoric for a while, he questioned in an inquiring tone: "Mr. said that it is difficult for our army to break through Kaifeng City, and we can only hope that the defenders will starve to death, and this king agrees."

But if you want to fight a decisive battle with Shen Shuren, wait for him to wait until he goes to Kaifeng City and then fight? He stayed in Shangcai for so long, so our army had to go south to Yuncheng to find him? Giving up the advantage of waiting for work to the enemy? What makes sense? Twenty days ago, you didn't say that. ”

Song Xiance shook his head and sighed: "At this time, at that time, twenty days ago, when I first learned that Shen Shuren was going north, Xia Guan persuaded the king to wait for work, that is because Shen Shuren, like other Ming Dynasty civil and military personnel, will be forced to attack by Chongzhen's daredevil."

But now it seems that Shen Shuren is much more slippery than Sun Chuanting and Yang Sichang, and he doesn't listen to the stupid emperor's rash advance, so it's not so easy for us to wait for work.

On the other hand, now that the autumn harvest has long ended, the current situation of our army's military rations is very different from that of 20 days ago. Twenty days ago, there was still some grain in the camp, which could be used to eat wild vegetables and intercept the Yellow River to get some aquatic subsidies. At that time, if the main force went south, it was necessary to consider the loss of grain transportation.

But now, our grain is basically eaten almost, and when the army goes south, as long as we carry some carry-on food, we don't need to carry extra heavy trucks and ships to transport a large amount of grain, which is a situation where we can eat wherever we go.

Therefore, the departure of the main force can also allow the troops under Kaifeng to eat less food and reduce the transportation of grain from other places to Kaifeng City. We are people who follow the grain, not the grain that follows the people. ”

Li Zicheng touched his beard and thought about it again, Song Xiance's last dialectical comparison of "people go with food, food goes with people" made him feel very unfathomable and reasonable.

After a long time, he only thought of a little risk, and questioned: "It's right for people to go with food, but what if there are too few soldiers left under Kaifeng City, and the Shen Shuren break through with a sneak attack by a partial division?" Or the officers and soldiers from other directions suddenly became bold and dared to come to the rescue of Kaifeng? ”

When Song Xiance heard this, he couldn't help but smile, but he still knew that he was in front of the king, so he didn't dare to be too presumptuous, so he held back and said:

"The king is too worried, the officials and soldiers are different from us, the officers and soldiers can't slaughter the people and eat people, they need food. Now the surroundings of Kaifeng are dilapidated, and even we haven't gotten new food for half a year.

If the Shenshu people want to march, every grain of grain has to be transported from Xinyang, and it is impossible to count on other directions. And to transport grain from Xinyang, it is nothing more than to enter Rushui from the Huai River, and then take the canal in the south of Yuncheng City to transfer to Yingchuan and Shahe, and finally enter Bianshui, so as to reach the outside of Kaifeng City.

Therefore, the capture ditch outside Yuncheng City cannot be bypassed, the king may not know that this capture ditch was dug by Emperor Wei Wen Cao Pi during the Three Kingdoms, in order to communicate with Ruying, the king should have seen the story of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", right? It was Cao Pi who sent the great Sima Cao Xiu to the south to conquer Sun Quan, and if there was no such canal, it would be very troublesome to support the Huaixi battlefield with Henan's grain.

Previously, our army fought with Yang Sichang and Zuo Liangyu, Zuo Liangyu obviously came from Nanyang Poye County, but he still had to break Yuncheng to the east first, just to control this capture canal. Whether it is Nanyang or Huaixi, the grain there must go to Kaifeng City, and finally enter the Bianhe River, and it must go through the Capture Canal. We stationed heavy troops in Yuncheng, and Shen Shuren wanted to bypass it, that is, regardless of the grain road, the army went deep alone. ”

Li Zicheng didn't know much about geography, so he subconsciously asked: "Is there really no other food channel for the official army?" ”

Song Xiance looked at Li Zicheng and seemed to think that he was bragging, and his eyes rolled, thinking that it would be better to give another spare tire option, so that his words would be more credible.

When any strategist persuades the lord, he must give the final decision to the lord, so that the lord will feel that "I made this decision", and will be more emotional about this decision in the follow-up implementation and more willing to adhere to it.

So Song Xiance borrowed the slope to get off the donkey: "In fact, it can't be said that there is no at all." If you don't go through the canal to communicate with Ruying, then the people of Shenshu will have to transport the grain from Huguang to Xinyang through Xinyang Road, and then directly enter the Huai River from Xinyang and go downstream.

Then it was transported all the way to Shou County in Luzhou Prefecture, which is the ancient Shouchun. It is the first hub in the middle reaches of the Huai River, and it is the place where Huainan and Huaibei Yingchuan converge into Huai. After the grain arrives in Shou County, it can directly enter the Yingchuan River, and then go upstream, and then go through the Shahe River to the Bianhe River, and then go to Kaifeng City, that is, take the road of the ancient canal of the chasm.

But the loss of this road will be very large, from Xinyang to Shou County, first to go back 600 miles of road, and then turn back, almost a total of nearly 1,000 miles. ”

After Li Zicheng heard this, he thought about it a little and felt that there was really no need for the officials and the army to toss so much, after all, where to fight is not to fight. Why should the officers and troops bear so much additional losses and waste part of their war potential before the war has started?

And if you really want to toss such a big movement, you can fight on the inside line, dispatch more quickly, and you can respond immediately.

After thinking about it all, Li Zicheng finally made a decision and made two important decisions one after another:

"The reply to Zuo Liangyu, there is Mr. Lao, see how to better stabilize him. In addition, after the matter was completed, the besieging troops under Yexian and Kaifeng City were further dispatched to the front line of Yuncheng to find Shen Shuren for a decisive battle! ”