Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 408: Not attacking Yangping Pass anymore?

Fan Yiheng's arrival was actually a deliberate reaction and had nothing to do with the silver and money itself.

The reason why he was working so fast was mostly because he was afraid of what people said.

For bystanders, it may be difficult to understand the starting point of his behavior, but if you put yourself in his shoes, you can understand his helplessness.

Is this batch of silver and money as huge as the rumors say? If there is no such amount after it is found, or even no trace of it can be found, what should he do as the Governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi?
To put it another way, the silver and money have been found, and the amount is huge. As a provincial governor in charge, how should he deal with rumors, whether intentional or unintentional?

At this point, some people may say that since you are afraid of getting involved, just let others do it.

No matter what, the generals who were recovering the cities in Sichuan were all under the command of Fan Yiheng. Who else could he assign such a task to?
Therefore, the fundamental purpose of this hasty pace is actually to give the emperor a heads-up in advance so that he will not be trapped in certain situations.

It was indeed a wise ruler in power. While Fan Yiheng was still preparing to complain, His Majesty had already understood his real intention.

But to his surprise, his Majesty did not seem to care about the money. After just a few words, he changed the subject to local stability. Although he responded fluently, he could not help but marvel at the Majesty's magnanimity.

You have to know that this is tens of millions of silver coins, which is equivalent to half a year's income even during the Wanli period.

The country is in a state of decline at this time, and it is unknown how much the annual revenue will be. Your Majesty can deal with it so calmly. How can Fan Yiheng not be amazed?

But he finally got the wrong idea.

The reason why Zhu Cilang was so calm was not because he had great magnanimity, but because in his eyes, the money was already in his pocket, and there was really no need to worry too much about it at this time.

In the original history, Zhang Xianzhong was unable to hold the pass at the junction of Sichuan and Shaanxi due to the involvement of the Ming army. Therefore, after receiving the news that the Qing army was heading south, Zhang Xianzhong's first reaction was to enter the two lakes again from Kuizhou.

This was actually a good idea. After all, although the territory north of the Yangtze River had fallen into the hands of the Tartars at that time, their troops had already pointed their spearheads at Hunan, Jiangxi and other places, so the area north of the Yangtze River was extremely empty.

However, no matter how good the plan was, it still had to be implemented. At that time, Yang Zhan and others were blocking the vicinity of Kuimen. After a naval battle, most of the boats of the Dashi Army carrying gold, silver and supplies were sunk, and Zhang Xianzhong's treasure also fell into the river.

But the situation now is completely different.

In the absence of Ming army interference, the Dashi Army successfully blocked the Qing army in Guangyuan. If it had not been ambushed in the end, it is possible that Zhang Xianzhong could have completely defeated Hauge.

Under such circumstances, his treasures were naturally still in some secret place, and Zhu Cilang had successfully received part of the power of the Dashi Army. He would be able to take them out smoothly with everyone's help after the battle.

But then again, since Fan Yiheng has already reported the matter, there is no need for Zhu Cilang to pretend to be indifferent.

After understanding the situation of taking over the cities in central Sichuan, the Ming Emperor pointed out a clear way forward for the Governor-General of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and Fan Yiheng happily went to Liu Wenxiu.

After such an episode, Zhu Cilang's journey was naturally delayed, and it took nearly two days for him to catch up with the Imperial Guard again.

At this time, they had reached the confluence of the Yudai River and the Han River. If they went another thirty or forty miles west, they would reach Yangping Pass.

Arriving at this point, Zhu Cilang had to be more careful when marching. After setting up camp in a wide area, he sent all the scouts out of the camp.

"Wenxiu, can you accompany the Eighth King when he attacks Hanzhong?"

As soon as he set up camp, he called Xiang and Liu over, and immediately asked them about the earlier attack of the Dashi Army on Hanzhong.

According to common sense, questions like this only need to be answered truthfully, but the Dashi Army's previous battle and this one in Guangyuan were both victories followed by defeats, so Liu Wenxiu couldn't help but sigh before he started talking about the important points.

At first, the Dashi Army made smooth progress. Li Dingguo not only defeated the Dashun general Han Wen, but also occupied most of Hanzhong. However, Shaanxi was the foundation of Li Zicheng's career. After hearing the news, he sent He Zhen to lead a large army to rescue Hanzhong.

At that time, General Zhang Nengdi, the Tiger and Mighty General of the Dashi, became careless and underestimated the enemy because he won too easily. After He Zhen arrived, he not only took advantage of the surprise attack to break through the important pass leading to Guanzhong from Hanzhong, but also defeated Li Dingguo's troops in one fell swoop.

In the end, Dashi was completely defeated and Zhang Xianzhong had to give up his attack on Hanzhong.

Zhu Cilang asked these questions not out of curiosity, but because Yangping Pass was right in front of him, and he had no other way to attack the city except to use artillery to destroy it.

Therefore, he wanted to find some clues about the fall of the city through the news about Liu Wenxiu.

But how can a person be successful in this world?

Liu Wenxiu did not participate in the battle. Not only did Zhu Cilang fail to learn from him how to break through Yangping Pass, but his understanding of the Dashi Army's defeat in Hanzhong was only vague.

Faced with such a situation, the invincible Ming emperor felt a little frustrated.

"Your Majesty, why don't you wait for the rear army?"

Zhu Cilang did not deliberately hide his concerns, and Xiang Rensheng, who was very familiar with him, had also noticed something.

But in his opinion, this is not a problem.

After all, although the rear army was slow to move because it had to carry artillery, the central army was not much faster in clearing the road.

At this time, the two armies were only 20 to 30 miles apart. After the central army arrived at Yangping Pass, it would probably take more than a day for the rear army to arrive.

By then, Yangping Pass will be razed to the ground like Qipan Pass.

His idea was not wrong, but after wasting such a long time, the Qing army could not just wait in Yangping Pass. If they wanted to do as they did at Qipan Pass, they would have to wait for larger artillery to arrive, and the delay would not be just one or two days.

You have to know that Sun Shoufa was a guerrilla fighter who had been fighting in the mountains for two years, He Zhen was a man who was reduced to only his own troops, and among the three generals in Hanzhong, the one in the best situation was Li Dingguo's troops who had come from a long distance.

Under such circumstances, God knows whether they will be defeated in Hanzhong because of this delay.

Zhu Cilang naturally had to find ways to save time at every stage.

"Your Majesty, when Emperor Liu sent out a surprise attack to occupy Dingjun Mountain, the Shu army was able to turn the tide and take the initiative. Why don't we follow suit and cut off the food supply route to Yangping Pass from the flank? Then the enemy at Yangping Pass will not be able to retreat inside the pass."

Seeing that Zhu Cilang did not speak, the generals present naturally knew that His Majesty was anxious in the letter. But when Liu Wenxiu and Xiang Rensheng were racking their brains, Hu Yiqing, who rarely spoke, suddenly said this.

Hearing these words, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but look back. But when he thought about Hu Yiqing's background, he didn't think there was anything strange about it.

After all, Hu Yiqing comes from a family of military generals.

In the eyes of others, Huang Zhong beheading Xiahou Yuan at Dingjun Mountain was just a drama, a story, but in the teachings of such aristocratic family, one has to remove the excitement and examine the inner details.

In the battle before Yangping Pass, Liu Bei was in a passive position. If he could not break through the pass in time, the army's supply would inevitably be difficult due to the long and rugged food route. If it were another commander, he would probably have to fight desperately to attack the city, hoping to break through Yangping Pass before logistics problems arose. However, he first mobilized the army in various ways, forcing the defenders to split up to deal with it, and then sent out a surprise attack to occupy Dingjun Mountain behind Yangping Pass, which in turn posed a great threat to the defenders' food route.

At this point, the initiative and passivity of the two sides were completely reversed, and Xiahou Yuan had to attack Dingjun Mountain by force.

just
"Well, this is a solution, but I don't know if the Tartars know what happened back then. Let's just wait."

“Report~~~~!”

Just when Zhu Cilang was about to deal with it perfunctorily, a soldier bowed outside the tent.

Seeing this, Zhu Cilang ordered him to go into the tent to report, and the soldier knelt on the ground again after taking a few steps forward.

"Your Majesty, according to the scouts, the Tartars have set up many small camps outside Yangping Pass, and all the open space that can be used for camping has been occupied. In addition, there are many Tartar scouts in the valley leading to Dingjun Mountain, and our scouts cannot get close at all."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Cilang's brows immediately frowned, and the three generals present also felt helpless because of the Tartar's actions.

It was expected that the Tartars were well prepared at Dingjun Mountain, but the open space in front of Yangping Pass.
Don’t think that this is just a loss of a place to camp, but for the attacking party it is like cutting off the fuel supply.

You must know that within these dozens of miles, apart from where the Ming army was stationed at the time, only the open space in front of Yangping Pass and the Pianhe Bay between the two places could be used for garrison.

At this time, the Tartars had occupied the vacant land in front of Yangping Pass, and the Ming army could only camp in Pianhe Bay between the two places.

As a result, the Ming army not only had to clear the small camp in front of the pass first, but also had to return to the river bend to camp after each daily attack. Needless to say, the burden on the soldiers was great, and the time required was also greatly increased.

Under such circumstances, the reactions of everyone present were understandable.

"Let's go, I'll go take a look."

"His Majesty!"

As soon as the words were spoken, Zhu Cilang stood up and walked out of the tent. After seeing his movement, the three generals present blocked the tent door at the same time.

"Your Majesty, there are many archers in the Tartar army. If..."

"It doesn't matter. Who can tell who I am when I'm dressed like this?"

Faced with Zhu Cilang who was heading straight out of the tent, the three generals naturally did not dare to stop him. When they saw that his majesty's figure had already passed the wall of people, they could only follow closely.

The distance of thirty or forty miles would take a whole day for a large army to travel, but Zhu Cilang had war horses to travel with, so after more than an hour, those small camps appeared in the group's sight.

At this time, the relatively open plain in front of Yangping Pass was crowded with more than ten small villages, and behind these small villages, one could still vaguely see many people busy at Yangping Pass.

"I've heard of people sharpening their weapons before a battle, but I've never heard of people repairing their defenses before a battle."

Hearing Hu Yiqing's complaints, Zhu Cilang couldn't help but smile bitterly.

After passing Qipan Pass, everyone thought that Luo Luohun would block the way along the way, but who would have thought that the other party only set up some roadblocks and falling rocks, and there was not even a shadow of the Qing army.

Zhu Cilang had felt that this situation seemed a bit strange before, but only at this moment did he realize that the ultimate move that Luo Luohun had been holding back for a while had ended up happening here.

"Let's go back."

After saying this, Zhu Cilang turned his horse around. The three generals present didn't know whether they were helpless because of the Tartars' cheating tactics, or because of their own king's unhappy expression, so they kept silent. They didn't say another word when they returned to the camp that had just been set up.

Things had come to this point, and everyone knew that it would be extremely difficult to break through the pass before Hanzhong fell. But when Xiang and Hu were thinking about how to persuade them and Liu Wenxiu was thinking about ways to break through the pass, Zhu Cilang's voice came first.

"Wenxiu, I have a task for you to complete."

When Liu Wenxiu heard the words, his heart suddenly skipped a beat. Seeing Zhu Cilang's serious expression, he seemed to have thought of something and also became serious.

In his opinion, since the valley road that Liu Bei took that year had been arranged by the Tartars, the only way left for him to go was to tough out the defenses of Yangping Pass if he could not launch a surprise attack on Dingjun Mountain.

As a general who had led troops for many years, he naturally knew that it would take a lot of casualties just to destroy those small camps in front of Yangping Pass. And as a new general, who could be more suitable to serve as cannon fodder than him?

"Your Majesty, just say it directly. Even if it means going through fire and water, Wenxiu will not refuse."

"Well, it's not that serious. I want to order you to lead our troops to garrison here, and then set up camp at the river bend ahead in two days."

Suspicious soldier?

When Liu Wenxiu heard the words, he immediately realized the nature of this mission, but they had been thinking about it for such a long time but still could not come up with any other solutions. He also began to doubt the speculation about the suspicious troops.

"The last general takes orders."

Confusion is confusion, suspicion is suspicion.

Since Zhu Cilang had given the order, he had no choice but to obey. However, just as he finished speaking, Zhu Cilang added, "Remember to display all the flags you brought. Make sure the Tartars think that our main force is still here."

"Yes!"

At this point, the doubts in his heart naturally disappeared completely. Even though he still couldn't understand Zhu Cilang's intentions, his response was obviously much more firm than before.

In essence, Liu Wenxiu was just a new general after all. Even though he was willing to die in return for Zhu Cilang's forgiveness, he couldn't help but have doubts when he noticed the other party's hesitation and helplessness.

In this regard, people like Xiang Rensheng, who followed Zhu Cilang in his battles, were much better. When the military order was issued, he did not even hesitate at all.

"Xiang Rensheng."

"exist!"

"I order you to rest here and return with me by the same route after nightfall."

"Order!"

(End of this chapter)