"This week, Lun let us wait for a month," Bai Qi sat in the tent and looked at the generals, "Does he want to delay time for Zhong Xiang, or is he deliberately confusing us and showing the enemy to weakly cooperate with Zhong Xiang to suddenly kill him?" ”

Ying Xuan said: "It should be to help Zhong Xiang delay time." ”

Wang Yuan didn't care about that, and said: "Our army has two hard villages, and there is a naval army on the side, as long as you can't hold out, you can be invincible." ”

Lin Chong said worriedly: "What if Zhong Xiang gives up the Antler Village, divides his troops to defend Xiangyin, and then leads the army south to fight the southern departments?" Those armies in the south are no match for Zhong Xiang. ”

Bai Qi said with a smile: "If Zhong Xiang had a way to quell the chaos, he would have gone to pacify it a long time ago, so why come to us for a walk?" ”

"But give Zhong Xiang a month, I'm afraid that the two Jiangxi new armies can't stop it," Wang Yuan muttered, "These Jiangxi new armies are okay to defend the city, and the morale of the soldiers in the field is low." They couldn't even exterminate the Jiangxi rebels last year, and they had to rely on the imperial court to send people from Fujian to recruit peace. ”

Lin Chong thought for a while and suggested: "Zhou Lun wants to delay for a month, and Zhong Xiang wants to fight the Jiangxi soldiers, then they will all be successful." Our army can secretly send elites to attack Chongxiao Village by boat, and there are sailors to cover Dongting Lake, Zhong Xiang and Zhou Lun are afraid that they will not receive the news until half a month later. Once Chongxiao Village is taken, Dingzhou can be attacked to the west, and Chenyang can be attacked to the south. These are the hometowns of the generals of the puppet Chu emperor, even if they can't be defeated, as long as they send troops to surround them, they can disturb the elite military spirit of the puppet Chu. ”

Everyone looked at Lin Chong and felt that this guy's heart was really black.

Lin Chong's meaning is very clear, he no longer cares about the officers and soldiers of Jiangxi and Guangxi, as well as the Hunan rebels, it doesn't matter how many of these friendly soldiers die. Anyway, they are all new troops this year, and those rebels don't even have regular numbers.

If you're dead, you're dead!

As long as the main force of the Ming Dynasty in the north achieves its strategic goals, the annihilation of all the southern troops is acceptable.

And there are enemies everywhere, how can Zhong Xiang be so easy to destroy quickly?

Bai Qi looked at Wang Yuan, and Wang Yuan nodded slowly.

The next day, Bai Qi sent an envoy to contact Zhou Lun and promised to wait for a month.

However, Lin Chong was asked to take 6,000 elites to Chongxiao Village on the west shore of Dongting Lake in batches by warships and grain ships. The warships pretended to go on cruises, the grain ships pretended to return to Yuezhou, and the soldiers boarded the ships at night, and the fleet swaggered away during the day.

Zhou Lun didn't notice anything unusual at all, and thought that the main force of the Ming army was still in the camp.

In order to be in a hurry, Zhong Xiang's side left all his baggage in Xiangyin, and the ordinary troops also stayed in Xiangyin to defend, and he didn't even want the Shuizhai and Pingjiang counties at the mouth of the Yijiang River. Then, more than 10,000 elites sailed south and split into two to attack.

Yang Yingcheng led 20,000 new troops in Jiangxi and has been attacking Yunyang Cottage.

Yang Hua, the pseudo-Chu general, led 8,000 elites and killed from Yunyang Village without warning.

Yang Yingcheng was caught off guard, lost his armor and fled back to Chaling. There were a large number of Manichaeans in Chaling County, and Yang Yingcheng fled back to Jiangxi in the chaos, and the Chaling that was finally captured was lost.

The two Jiangxi New Army were basically disabled, and Song Huizong's cheap sons were almost killed in battle.

Yang Yingcheng led the remnants to retreat to Yongxin, and his mind was still confused. Isn't the Pseudo-Chu Elite in the north? How can you still find time to come back and beat yourself?

However, it was said that Zhong Xiangda led the elite to Hengyang, and was discovered by the alert Cao Cheng that the situation had changed, and Cao Cheng immediately led the army to retreat dozens of miles.

Zhong Xiang originally planned to chase all the way and wipe out Cao Cheng's army, but he received a report from Leiyang in the southeast: the miners of Guiyang Prison were besieging Leiyang.

Zhong Xiang was waiting to relieve the siege of Leiyang, Shaoyang in the west was gone, and Li Heng and Yang Zaixing cooperated to capture Shaoyang.

The situation has become more critical, and Zhong Xiang, who is stationed in Hengyang, has enemies on three sides, and he doesn't know where to hit first!

Zhong Xiang first divided his troops to strengthen Leiyang's defensive strength, and then ignored Li Heng and Yang Zaixing in Shaoyang, and personally led the elite to chase Cao Cheng along the Xiangjiang River by boat.

Cao Cheng was defeated and retreated to Qiyang before stopping.

Zhong Xiang didn't dare to chase anymore, because Li Heng and Yang Zaixing had come to kill, and they had already captured Xidu Town (the county seat of Hengyang in later generations).

The guard there Fu Sheng, who was also a general of the Chu army, was sent by Zhong Xiang to guard the village. But there is only a water village and no city wall, and Fu Sheng is full of second-line troops in his hands, and his morale is low and the armor is not fine, so he was led by Yang Zaixing to climb first. The general Fu Sheng was even stabbed to death by Yang Zaixing!

Zhong Xiang rushed back with his troops and finally defended Hengyang City.

At this point, it is difficult for Zhong Xiang to go out of the city to fight, and no matter how fierce the elite soldiers are, they are not iron. Fighting all the way, the casualties are increasing day by day, and the physical exertion is serious, and it is necessary to rest in the city for a while.

But the Chu army also achieved amazing results, and the two Jiangxi new armies, as well as Cao Cheng's army, were all disabled by the Chu army.

Zhong Xiang's fatal flaw is that the entire Great Chu does not have a decent strategist, and it lacks reasonable strategic planning from the beginning.

This time, the elite of the Chu army went south, and repeatedly attacked and broke the enemy, more like a mad dog besieged, beaten and opened its mouth to bite people indiscriminately. It did bite a lot of people, but he was put around his neck, and the more he struggled, the tighter the rope became.

And he was reluctant to abandon the territory, so that he could not shrink his troops, and there were still a large number of prefectures and counties in the west of Dongting Lake, and every strategic place was divided into troops to defend.

In other words, from the beginning of Zhong Xiang's army, there was no strategic planning, and he only chose the direction of expansion according to the degree of difficulty!

In the territory of Great Chu, the really powerful strategists were either killed by Zhong Xiang or ran away.

……

Chongxiao Village.

The large area of Dongting Lake here has been turned into fertile land after a few hundred years. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, "the lake is wide and ripe, and the world is full", which was obtained by enclosing the lake and making fields, of course, there is also the credit of the alluvial sediment of the Yuanjiang River.

In this direction, the Chu army had four strongholds, namely: Chongxiaozhai, Dingzhou, Chenyang, and Yuanjiang.

Because Dongting Lake was controlled by the Ming Dynasty, it was difficult for Zhong Xiang to gather troops to fight here, so they were all stationed in divisions. And there were not many troops, mainly by gathering the people to defend the city - this was the stronghold of Manichaeism!

After reading the letter shot by the Ming army, Huang Zuo frowned and did not speak again.

Liu Rui was illiterate and asked, "What is written in the letter?" ”

Huang Zuo sighed and said: "The thieves will shoot letters into the city in Dingzhou, Chenyang and Yuanjiang, saying that you and I have taken refuge in Emperor Zhu." ”

"Who would believe that?" Liu Rui sneered.

"Maybe no one believes it, or some people believe it, the people of the Three Cities must be panicking," Huang Zuo said, "The thieves and thieves dare to divide their troops to come to our side, I'm afraid that the master will be in great trouble." The letter also said that Hengyang had been lost, and the lord had been besieged in Changsha for a long time. ”

Liu Rui's face was heavy: "It's fake, how can Hengyang be gone?" ”

Huang Zuo muttered, "It's hard to say. ”

"Boom, boom, boom!"

A series of artillery rang out, and the Daming Water Division began to bombard the water village again.

For many days in a row, the army first fired letters, and then the sailors fired shells.

Today was a little different, after the shelling ended, Ying Xuan came alone in a boat.

"Brother Ying, we all thought you were dead, but we didn't expect to vote elsewhere." Huang Zuo was a little happy, but also a little uncomfortable.

Huang Zuo used to be a bandit in Dongting Lake who followed Ying Xuan, but when he was surrounded and suppressed by officers and soldiers, Ying Xuan hid for a while and continued to be a thief, but Huang Zuo fled back to his hometown to be a tenant. Later, he met Zhong Xiang to preach, and Huang Zuo became Zhong Xiang's apprentice.

Liu Rui was the leader of the rebel army in Anhua, and he responded to the rebellion and defected to Zhong Xiang, claiming to be religious but not reciting the scriptures for a few days.

Ying Xuan said: "What are the plans of the two of you? ”

Liu Rui asked rhetorically: "Hengyang is really gone?" ”

"The six southern states all rebelled, and there were also Guangxi officers and soldiers going north. Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in Jiangxi were also killed from Liling and Chaling. Where can the Hengyang Chu army hold on? Ying Xuan is unwilling to lie to his friends, but he can deliberately mislead with the truth.

Huang Zuo slapped his thigh angrily: "I said a long time ago, those people in the south can't be believed, they are all speculators!" ”

Ying Xuan began to tell the truth again: "Zhou Lun promised to surrender in a month, and now there are twenty days left. He is a loyal man and wants to delay for Master Zhong for a month. ”

"He did it." Liu Rui immediately believed it.

Ying Xuan continued: "The Ming Dynasty is not a violent Song Dynasty, the two of them have spies in the north, and they must know how the Ming court governs the people. ”

A large area from the Yangtze River to Dongting Lake was only brought down last year, and the imperial court chose officials with great caution in order to win the trust of the Manichaeans with benevolent government.

Huang Zuo and Liu Rui, whose jurisdiction is close to the territory of the Ming Dynasty, they have eyeliner in Anxiang and Huarong, and they know the benevolence of the Ming Dynasty very clearly.

Ordinary people may not understand, but how can Huang Zuo, Liu Rui, Zhou Lun and others turn a blind eye?

Zhou Lun was willing to surrender a month later, because he felt that Da Ming was different from Zhao Song, and his subordinates had a way to live when they became ordinary people. If it is replaced by the Southern Song Dynasty, he estimates that he would rather die than surrender!

Huang Zuo was silent and quietly looked at Liu Rui.

Liu Rui's rebellion was unbearable, and he only believed in religion after the uprising, and there were many people like him.

Ying Xuan asked, "Do you think this Da Chu can survive this year?" This year has passed, but what about next year? ”

Liu Rui was worried.

The situation in the states of Dachu is very complicated due to problems with the administrative system.

Originally, altars were set up in prefectures, counties, townships, and villages, and the altar owner engaged in administration while preaching. After collecting taxes, a small part of them were kept for themselves, and most of them were handed over to supply the army.

Due to years of fighting, the higher-level altar urged food urgently, and the lower-level altar frantically urged food. The common people just began to tighten their belts and were willing to hand over grain for the Great Chu army, but gradually they found that this kind of day was not endless, and more and more peasants began to hide grain privately.

The Shang Jia side is similar, at first it was to expel the Shang Jia, and everything was deployed by the altar owner.

But soon it couldn't be played, and the dispatch of various materials was unbalanced, and it always delayed for time. So the merchants were allowed to exist, and many of the merchants were actually relatives of the leaders of the rebel army.

Because the altar owner often had conflicts with the generals, he made another change last winter, and the area around Dongting Lake was under military control. The guards can grasp the military, politics and religion!

Like Chongxiao Town and the surrounding countryside, Huang Zuo has the final say, and he needs to raise most of the military rations by himself in peacetime, and the Great Chu Imperial Court will only transfer a batch every quarter. In addition, the whole people are also recruited on the front line, and every peasant family has to go out to practice in their spare time.

The military rations can be made do in peacetime.

But now that it is wartime, many nearby peasants have been conscripted and gathered in Chongxiao Village to gather for defense, and the consumption of military rations will inevitably increase exponentially.

Ying Xuan asked if he could survive this year, but the actual situation was that if the Great Chu Imperial Court did not bring grain again, the military rations of Chongxiao Village would last for a month or two at most!

"Loyal people like Zhou Lun are willing to surrender ......" Ying Xuan didn't finish his words, because it was too hurtful to finish speaking.

Huang Zuo and Liu Rui glanced at each other, and then they both turned their heads in weakness.

Ying Xuan also said: "As long as the two are willing to surrender, the recruited peasants and soldiers can go home immediately, and all taxes will be exempted this year." The land distributed by Dachu to the people will not be taken back by the Ming court, and will continue to be cultivated by the people. ”

Huang Zuo was entangled for a while, looked at Liu Rui several times, and found that the other party had no reaction.

He got up and knelt down suddenly: "Brother Ying, junior brother is willing to descend to the Ming Dynasty!" ”

Liu Rui twisted and pinched, and also knelt down.

(End of chapter)