Chapter 352

Chapter 352

A man with a heart like iron, kills and scares Ghost God. Iron cones took lives, and the fire swayed the demon atmosphere.

It's a pity that the battle this night was not complete.

It turned out that the nest of Nage Zuowu Camp was not in Huoqiu, but in the Dabie Mountains.

Zhao Yu thought that the winter was approaching and the weather was harsh, so this thief should abandon the mountains and forests and choose the city to guard. A good guess, but not quite right.

It is the turn of Lao Hui to return to Ma to defend Shouzhou, and Huoqiu has only two thieves, He Yilong, a leather eye, and Lin Yang, the king of the world. The remaining two, He Jin, the King of Zuojin, and Liu Xiyao, the King of Changes, were in their nests in the mountains.

That is to say, even if Huoqiu is broken, there are also two thieves who turn against the king, and at least 20,000 thieves and soldiers are still at ease.

Wait for the fire to go out, Huoqiu's affairs are settled, it is already in the morning. This fire almost completely burned the soldiers and horses under He Yilong and Lin Yang's command!

Even Lin Yang died in the fire!

He Yilong saw the opportunity early and left from the west gate, but was blocked by the army that had been arranged early outside. He failed to escape and was captured alive. The rest survived as thieves, and only 7,000-8,000 were captured.

Zhao Yu beat He Yilong to death, Wei Wei couldn't help but sigh.

He Yilong doesn't need to keep killing the chicken to warn the monkey. The 7,000-8,000 captives have long since lost their nerve. Whether they kill the chickens or not, and whether they warn the monkeys or not, are all unnecessary.

Seeing that his soldiers were escorting the thief's head, Zhao Yu didn't say a word and killed him.

He sighed, it was Liu Xiyao and He Jin, the two thieves. Last night, Great Heavenly Burning Flame, when it was raging, could be seen from several dozen li. What's more, in the morning, the scouts scattered all around also found traces of thieves outside.

The two thieves who must have been hiding in the mountains already knew the situation here.

Zhao Yu's group lost the convenience of raiding.

And the terrain in the mountains is complex, which is not conducive to large-scale attack. Once the thieves are scattered, extermination is just empty talk.

By sigh.

Yang He explained the time of his capture and came to Zhao Yu's side. He heard this sigh and couldn't help but say, "Is the general regretting not being able to capture it all at once?"

Zhao Yu nodded and looked at the mountains in the distance: "Gezuo five camps only went to three houses, and also two thieves are in this deep mountain and old forest."

"Then see the general..." Yang He pondered then said: "The fire broke out in Huoqiu overnight, and the bandits in the mountains must have known about it. When they were afraid, they fled and ran away. But..."

He changed his voice and said with a smile: "My subordinates thought that if the thieves, He Jin and Liu Xiyao, wanted to escape, they would have to go north!"

Zhao Yu couldn't help laughing, nodding and saying, "The thief goes east to Bozhou. , I don't know if Bozhou has been conquered at this time. Bozhou is just three-four hundred miles to the north, if He Jin and Liu Xiyao are afraid, they will go to the thieves and seek a place to join forces."

paused , but said: "But I won't let these two thieves go to join the thief so easily."

There was a gleam in his eyes: "He fled fast, he would have chased even more. Hurry up."

Yang He was hearing this and couldn't help shouting: "The general is going to send his troops to chase?"

But he said: "At this time, the army has fought all night and is exhausted. Besides, the terrain in the mountains is complex, which is not conducive to the battle of the army. If I send troops to chase, I'm afraid..."

Zhao Yu laughed: "I went to chase, but I never said that I should chase."

Yang He suddenly realized.

Zhao Yu plainly said: "Besides, the Chinese army directly under my command has rested for the night. Although the 9,000 troops are not many, they are enough. But I do plan to go to chase alone this time."

As he spoke, Zhao Yu crouched down, stretched out his hand, and drew a simple map on the frozen hard ground.

"Look, if He Jin and Liu Xiyao go to offer thieves, bypass Huoqiu, and go north along Dabie Mountain, these two places are the only places they must pass."

Yang He Yiyi: "Yingshang, Zhouzhou?"

Zhao Yu nods to the north

to go up: "Of course. Yingshui flows from the northwest to the southeast, and passes obliquely from the west of Fengyang to Bozhou. It must be crossed. Yingshui. Yingshang and Yingzhou are the most convenient places to cross the Yingshui."

then said: "I intend to go into the mountains alone and track down the trail of thieves. Soldiers and horses, I plan to hand over the commander to the personal guard Zhang Commander, and immediately pull out the camp, rush to Yingshang, and wait for the rabbit."

Zhao Yu's meaning is very obvious.

The Chinese army rushes to Yingshang, but it is just an insurance in case of an emergency.

Zhao Yu has the confidence to catch up with the thieves alone. Of course, if the two thieves react slowly and have not left their nest in the mountains, then it is naturally the best.

If you leave, you will not be able to escape Zhao Yu's pursuit. Once caught up with 20,000 trifling thieves, where would Zhao Yu take seriously?

One person and one ride can break the heads of these two thieves, whichever is the first.

As for sending troops to Yingshang, it was an insurance in case Zhao Yu didn't find it, or went in the wrong direction. That is to say, the final destination of Zhao Yu's pursuit is definitely Yingzhou.

If you catch up to Yingzhou and still see no trace of the thieves, you will immediately go down along the Yingshui and run up to Ying.

If the thieves do not go to Yingzhou, they will go to Yingzhou, and they will never escape Zhao Yu's palm.

"You stay here and close your hands." Zhao Yu told Yang He: "Ask someone from Trading Company to send someone over to take over Huoqiu. You must close your hands quickly, and it must not exceed two days. . Then immediately wave troops to Ying and join me."

paused, Zhao Yu thought for a while and said: "In this case, the people from the Trading Company must pass the news to the Crown Prince as soon as possible. Let Crown Prince have a preparation, so that he can lay his pockets in Henan, and he can't escape the thieves who are besieging Kaifeng. I am worried that the thieves will flee after knowing that my army is destroying Gezuo and defeating the thieves."

Yang Yingnuo said yes, and said, "The general is going to leave now?"

Zhao Yu." He nodded and said: "Should be quick, the soldiers should be quick

...

The fifth battalion of leather left, with five thieves up and down, the most influential Ma Shouying had 30,000 to 40,000 horses under his command. Among them, the real old thief is only 7,000-8,000, and the rest are ordinary mob. The remaining four people have almost the same influence, the more than 10,000 people, and the less than 10,000 people.

Ma Shouying died in Shouzhou. Huoqiu is also exactly similar. When a fire died, there were more than 10,000 people, talisman 7,000-8,000.

That old nest in the mountain, after interrogation, only had nearly 20,000 thieves.

The five battalions of Lai Gezuo add up to 70,000 to 80,000 horses, and the old thief has 20,000 to 30,000. But the world is impermanent, and overnight, the mighty Gezuo Fifth Battalion has become the yellow flower of yesterday.

Three of the five thieves died immediately, and the other two, as Zhao Yu had expected, got the news and fled.

The battle report here was quickly conveyed to Fengqiu in Kaifeng through the Trading Company in the hands of Zhao Gongming.

Crown Prince Zhu Cihao went south to supervise the battle, and the place where he settled was in Fengqiu.

The distance between Fengqiu and Kaifeng is less than a hundred miles. But it is separated by a Yellow River moat, one north and one south, just looking at each other from a distance. The armies from all over Hebei, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, all converged on this line one after another, and Fengqiu was where the Governor's camp was located.

After Crown Prince arrived at Fengqiu, he kept his troops still. Zhao Yu's movement, Li Jade Pure One has already been communicated to Crown Prince by flying pigeons. The Crown Prince was waiting for Zhao Yu.

Although the Crown Prince is a Governor, who supervises the troops and horses in various places to suppress thieves, it must be counted that there are at least 200,000 troops and horses under his control. But the army in these places is really rotten to the extreme. Where did the Crown Prince dharma eye enter?

If these troops were to cross the river to suppress the thieves and fight against the thieves under the city of Kaifeng, regardless of victory or defeat, it would be an extravagant hope to catch all the thieves.

Henan is a horse in Pingchuan. Once the thieves fail to fight, they can escape at any time.

During this period of time, the Ether son was waiting for news from Zhao Yu, and the other was doing military deployment.

I ordered Sun Chuanting, the minister of the Ministry of War, who was overseeing the army to suppress the thieves in Guanzhong, Shanshan and Shaanxi. The second commander, Ding Qirui, the Minister of War in Huguang to suppress the thieves, sent his troops eastward to the north, and cut off the thieves' retreat to the southwest.

Wait until Zhao Yu rallied his troops to the south, with Crown Prince's troops on the north bank of the Yellow River, Sun Chuanting's troops in Hangu and Luoyang, and Ding Qirui's troops in Xiangfan. , forming a tight pocket, surrounding Henan in circles, even if the thief gave birth to wings, there is no way to the sky, no way to enter the ground.

The strategic plan is good, but Crown Prince still feels unsafe. His soldiers and horses from the north bank of the Governor's Yellow River have his own oversee, even if he has no success, he will not fail.

He wasn't too worried about Sun Chuanting. Crown Prince knew Sun Chuanting's personality, he was capable, and he had integrity.

Zhao Yu is even less worried about Crown Prince there. If it wasn't for the purpose of catching the thieves all at once, Zhao Yu would have been ordered to go straight to Kaifeng, and the thieves would have disappeared.

Crown Prince is worried about Ding Qirui from Huguang.

Ding Qirui basically has no military strategy and cannot convince the public. Zuo Liangyu and the others who served under his command did not take him seriously at all. Since he became the Minister of War and replaced Yang Sichang to suppress bandits, he has never won a battle.

And this person has close ties with several old bastards in the cabinet. The Crown Prince and the cabinet are already deadly enemies, and they have to be wary of the cabinet's interference.

Crown Prince After Zhu Cihao thought about it, he planned to send Sun Chuanting's troops to go south to the borders of Ruzhou, Nanyang and Kaifeng to replace Ding Qirui's strategic role.

In this way, diluting the role of Ding Qirui also eliminates the possible harm caused by Ding Qirui.

While the Crown Prince was in a tight deployment, the Trading Company's report on Fengyang finally reached the Crown Prince.

With Wen Ge's left attack, Zhao Yu was about to move north, and Crown Prince couldn't help but be in high spirits.

The left and right said: "General Zhao Shen is indeed the pillar of the country!"

Wang Yisheng and Li Geng said with a smile in unison: "General Zhao Shen is brave and invincible. The battle is sure to win!"

So Crown Prince hurriedly sent a letter to Zhao Yu, one after another, to inform Zhao Yu of the deployment of the pocket strategy, so that Zhao Yu knew what to do, and it was convenient for him to cooperate. The second one is a reward, but it is a promise that Zhao Yu will never be disappointed.

This commitment is what Zhao Yu once proposed to inherit the lineage and honor the lintel.

He also told Zhao Yu to be careful and not careless. Under the premise of the rapid march, no mistakes can be made to avoid the failure of previous achievements.

All kinds of things.

The soldiers are very fast, which is also an item that Crown Prince must entrust.

It has been half a month since the thieves encircled Kaifeng. Now that the Imperial Court has been mobilized, not all the thieves know about it, but after all, the movement is not small. Once the thieves are under siege, and they can't beat Kaifeng and run away, then the Crown Prince's strategic plan will be completely voided.

Must be fast.

When the thief has not yet decided to retreat, break it and complete the entire task in one stroke.

However, Crown Prince didn't know that when he spread this book and silk, the army led by Zhao Yu had already arrived in Bozhou.

...

Bozhou is broken.

Without a doubt.

Bozhou is the northern gate of Phoenix Yang City, but no more than 2,000 troops are stationed here. And it's the kind of local army that can't get into the dharma eye.

Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan a few years ago, but he couldn't hold back. This year he went out to attack Huguang again, but was defeated by Zuo Liangyu. If Zhang Xianzhong had not sent someone to bribe Zuo Liangyu, he would have had to surrender.

So Zhang Xianzhong led the remnants to the Kaifeng Mansion in Henan to defect to Li Zicheng.

Li Chuang saw that Zhang Xianzhong's influence was badly damaged and wanted to annex him, so he fell out. If someone hadn't interceded, he would have been killed by Li Chuang. Zhang Xianzhong went east to Bozhou.

The commoners were entrapped along the way. Originally, the influence was only a few thousand soldiers and horses. When they arrived in Bozhou, there were tens of thousands more.

A rogue fight is a routine.

The commoners encumbered by the shillings were used as cannon fodder, and they used human life to fill up the city's defense materials such as bullets and arrows. Destroy the morale of the defenders.

Wait until the defenders are exhausted, then swarm up and destroy the city.

Of course, this is the strategy of meet force with force.

The thieves are called thieves, such as the means of combining the inside and the outside.

Just send old thief as commoners, in small groups into the city. During the war, the enemy suddenly attacked, opened the city gates, and broke through the first battle.

Here in Bozhou, the thieves were meet force with force, besieged for ten days, and then directly attacked the city, which was captured in only three days.

As for the combination of the inside and the outside, there is no way to use it.

Bozhou is just at the junction of Kaifeng Mansion and Phoenix Yang City. The thieves encircled Kaifeng, with great momentum.

Dedication thieves can only be head-to-head.

Although there were not many defenders in Bozhou, there were only 2,000 troops, and they were also mob. However, due to the evil deeds of the thieves since the rampant, after so many years, they have gradually been seen through by the ignorant commoners.

Except for those who can't live at all, in fact, at this level, there are no commoners who are really willing to join the thieves. What's more, Zhang Xianzhong is different from Li Chuang, Li Chuang still put forward some slogans, what not to pay food and so on. Zhang Xianzhong used the name of indiscriminate killing.

Often slaughter the city, kill when you are happy, and kill when you are unhappy.

In addition to the commoners who can live in the city, they can basically live, so the resistance is very firm.

Even though Zhang Xianzhong had tens of thousands of horses, it still took nearly half a month to capture Bozhou.

After the Xian thief captured Bozhou, there is no need to say much about the evils. Such thieves, especially Zhang Xianzhong's family, where can there be a good thing? !

The city is full of commoners, and the dead are countless. Those who survived were coerced from thieves.

The officers and soldiers of the defending army, except for the last few hundred who surrendered, all died in battle. County Magistrate was directly headed and hung his head on the top of the city. There are only a few wealthy households and businessmen in the city who can escape.

After Zhang Xianzhong captured Bozhou, he looked at Fengyang. At the beginning, he dug the tomb of Taizu, and this time he planned to play it again.

But not in a hurry. There are only a few thousand old thiefs left under his command, and the rest are commoners who have just been brought in. He has no battle strength. He plans to spend ten days half a month in Bozhou, after a little training, and then go south to Fengyang. Defeat the defenders in a spurt of energy.

Zhang Xianzhong, or most of the thieves, training troops and horses is very simple, just catching and fighting.

The dryness of the real thing.

The one who survives is the real thief.

Zhang Xianzhong has also repeatedly asked his old thief to fight against the commoners he is trapped in. Ten against twenty, thirty or fifty. A thief never spares his life, whether an old thief or a new thief, the dead are useless.

Those who survived had their bestiality aroused and had battle strength.

Just a few more battles with the Imperial Court's army, and they'll be old thief.