"It seems that the old man not only underestimated Chen Yingliang, but also underestimated Du Fuwei, a traitor." After hearing the news brought back from Suyu by his nephew Wang Renze, Wang Shichong was extremely shocked at first, and then fell silent after a long time. Shaking his head, he sighed and said: "This battle is not as easy as I imagined, and the feat of destroying the two thieves Du Fuwei and Li Zitong is not as easy as imagined. The traitors Chen Yingliang and Du Fuwei are all Not a good master."
"Brother, why do you want to build up the prestige of others and destroy your own morale?" Wang Shiyun said contemptuously: "I think that kid Chen Yingliang is a coward. He knew that the envoy could not be fake, but he deliberately pretended to be confused and handed the envoy back to us. It's clear. It was because he was afraid of Du Fuwei and Li Zitong, the thieves, and even more afraid of forcing us away, that he could not support himself alone, so he bowed his head to us."
"Brother, you underestimate Chen Yingliang." Wang Shichong shook his head and said with a sneer, "He is really afraid of being alone, so he can pretend that nothing happened and just write down the black account quietly. Return the envoy to us? But he didn't do that. He generously returned the envoy to us, which is equivalent to telling us directly that he is not afraid that we will return to Huainan, nor is he worried that we will be alone. He can also stand by and watch, he can deal with the coalition forces of Li Zitong and Du Fuwei with a single army."
"Only with his five thousand troops?" Wang Shiyun snorted.
"His military strength is small, but he has this self-confidence." Wang Shichong said again: "It may be difficult for his military strength to defeat Du and Li's bandit army, but he is not aggressive enough, but he is more than enough to protect himself. Suyu City, Du Fuwei and Li Zitong are difficult to break even with a hundred thousand bandit troops."
"Father, my son thinks what my uncle said is reasonable." Wang Renze also said respectfully: "Chen Yingliang's troops are few, but they are better than the elite. On the ground, even on top of our team, confronting Du and Li's thieves head-on on favorable terrain, I think Chen Yingliang will not be at a disadvantage."
Wang Shiyun, who didn't have a good impression of Chen Yingliang, snorted heavily, and was very dissatisfied with his son's helping his uncle and not helping his father, and then asked Wang Shichong: "My dear brother, what should we do next? Should we continue to stand still, or follow the rules?" The agreement with Chen Yingliang, the little thief, to send troops to the north, and to smash the thief's lair together?"
"Continuing to stand still is definitely not enough." Wang Shichong shook his head and said: "First, because Nephew Ren Ze has agreed to the plan of advancing both ways on my behalf, we have to keep our promises. Second, we want to make the little thief Chen Yingliang move, Only when he leaves the Suyu battlefield, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, can he lure Du Fuwei and Li Zitong's bandit army westward to fight him decisively. "
"But the little thief Chen Yingliang has already said directly that if the main force of the thief army moves to the west, he will immediately retreat to Suyu. What should we do?" Wang Shiyun asked again.
"Let's retreat, as long as he can lure the main force of the thief army to go west." Wang Shichong waved his hand generously, and said: "Besides, Du Fuwei is not a fool. If he finds Chen Yingliang's little thief going west, he has to wait for Chen Yingliang to go west." Go farther away before sending out troops. That’s it, let’s pass the order down, set up camp tomorrow morning, send troops to the north, march 30 miles a day, let Song Hao lead 3,000 troops as the vanguard.”
"Uncle, you misremembered, it is forty miles." Wang Renze quickly corrected: "My nephew and Chen Yingliang agreed to march forty miles a day. If we marched thirty miles a day, it would take four days to finish the journey. Arrived at the reserved battlefield, unable to join forces with Chen Yingliang on time."
"Nephew, did you remember it wrong?" Wang Shichong said calmly, "Chen Yingliang and you only made an oral agreement, and there is no official document or letter to prove it. You have misremembered the agreed marching distance, which should be thirty miles. ?right?"
"Did I remember it wrong?" Wang Renze was a little tongue-tied, but after seeing the smiles on Wang Shichong and Wang Shiyun's faces, Wang Renze quickly came to his senses, and quickly cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Uncle, forgive me, my nephew made a mistake. "
Wang Shichong and Wang Shiyun laughed loudly together, and then Wang Shichong immediately set about arranging the military march. During this time, Wang Ren remembered something again and asked quickly, "Uncle, what about the envoy?"
"Do you need to ask?" Wang Shichong said coldly: "Send him where he should go. This kind of shameless person who betrays his master and begs for his life will only be a disaster if he stays!" do not mention.
So, a few days after crossing the river, the well-known Jiangdu County Prime Minister Shichong finally kept his promise, and led the 20,000 Jiangdu Sui troops northward as agreed, and even more abided by the verbal agreement of marching thirty miles a day. It took a lot of walking for a mile, and at the same time, the strong camp built by the Sui army in Jiangdu had to be abandoned. As a result, the abandoned fences, watchtowers and other things were not wasted. As soon as Wang Shichong's army left, countless civilians were displaced. They flooded into the abandoned camp and swept away the wood that Wang Shichong's team had worked so hard to cut down, and used it as firewood for the winter. During this period, the camp defenses such as trenches and earth barriers were naturally damaged a lot.
Our Wang Shichong, the Prime Minister of Wangjun, keeps his promises and is naturally very concerned about whether the friendly troops keep their promises. Naturally, when they go north, they must send someone to contact Chen Yingliang quickly, using the pretext of reporting their own army's movements, and take the opportunity to find out whether Chen Yingliang will send troops according to the agreement? As a result, what made Wang Shichong's envoy vomit blood was that after he came to the city of Suyu, he not only saw the untouched Sui army camp in Qiaojun, but also saw Chen Yingliang lying on the hospital bed dying. The first night while patrolling the camp, he caught wind and cold, and developed a high fever in the early morning of dispatching troops, so he had to temporarily abandon the plan to dispatch troops.
"Please report back to Brother Shichong, please don't worry, I will definitely send troops tomorrow." Chen Yingliang took the envoy's hand, moaned in pain and said, "I will walk sixty miles tomorrow, and another sixty miles the day after tomorrow. I promise to meet you on time. You will never be left to fight alone."
Cursing that shameless people had better die of illness earlier, Wang Shichong's emissary had to leave Suyu and report back. As a result, after returning to the army in the early morning of the next day, Wang Shichong heard the news of Chen Yingliang's sudden illness. I couldn't help but yelled, "This damned little thief is shameless to the extreme! He was obviously afraid that I would break his promise, so he deliberately waited and watched for a day, and even used the excuse of pretending to be sick. The most shameless scoundrel in the world, It's this little thief Chen Yingliang!"
"My dear brother, since the little thief Chen Yingliang broke his promise first, then let's not be polite to him!" Wang Shiyun said viciously: "We might as well stand still for a day, and wait until we confirm the movement of the little thief Chen Yingliang!"
The greatest advantage of our Wang Dajun is that he wants everything, but he doesn't want to face. He was put on by Chen Yingliang and was angry, so he immediately accepted the suggestion of the fourth brother Wang Shiyun, ordered the whole army to rest for a whole day, and sent people to closely monitor Qiaojun's allies With the movement of the bandit army, he vowed that unless Chen Yingliang sent troops to the east, he would never take a step north again!
Wang Shichong's order won the cheers and support of the Jiangdu Sui army. After half a year of idleness, the Jiangdu army formed by Wang Shichong himself had developed some inertia. He didn't want to work hard and work hard. Most of the soldiers of the Jiangdu army were naturally very happy to stop and rest. Of course, there are some exceptions. Apart from the regret and dissatisfaction of some brave and ruthless people who are eager to make meritorious deeds, Wang Xueji, Wang Shichong's precious daughter, is even more dissatisfied. Go north to fight
"What are you in a hurry for? What is there to be in a hurry?" Wang Shichong said with a helpless smile to his daughter, "Father is taking the army to fight, not for fun. Even if the lieutenant soldiers are not in a hurry, why are you a girl in a hurry?"
"My daughter is eager to make contributions to you." Wang Xueji said straightforwardly: "My daughter has learned martial arts since she was a child, but she has never had a chance to display it. This time you finally agreed to take me to the battle. Of course I have to rush to the battle. Kill the enemy, show your skills."
"I shouldn't have promised to bring you here."
Wang Shichong sighed, and was about to tell his daughter why he stood still, but a scout rushed in from outside the tent, knelt down on one knee and played to Wang Shichong: "Reporting to Juncheng, at noon today, Du Fuwei and Li Zitong are two thieves. Sudden abandonment of the Shushui camp, all the troops were mobilized, and they joined hands to head southwest. The four gates of Shuyang County are closed, and martial law has been imposed!"
Du Fuwei's bandit army camp is located in the east of Shuyang. Whether he is going to attack Suyu or come south to fight against Wang Shichong, he must first go to the southwest. Therefore, Wang Shichong was not shocked after hearing the report, but asked quickly: " Where is the destination of the bandit army, has it been found out?"
"The destination of the main force of the rebel army has not been found yet." The scout replied truthfully: "But there was a band of rebel soldiers of about 3,000 people who were walking very fast and heading directly towards Suyu."
"Pioneering the way!" Wang Shichong immediately flashed this word in his mind, and a smile appeared on his face, and he laughed loudly: "Boy Chen Yingliang, I told you to act like a fool and pretend to be a soldier. ? Du Fuwei and Li Zitong are not fools, why do you want to let your more than 5,000 people not fight, but come to a decisive battle with the old man's 20,000 troops?"
The brothers of the Wang family next to them also laughed loudly, ecstasy, but Wang Xueji was the one who was more innocent and asked very puzzled: "Father, uncles, and brothers, what are you laughing at? What's so funny?"
"My dear daughter, you will understand soon." Wang Shichong laughed and said, "Don't you want to kill the enemy and make meritorious service? Don't worry, my father will give you this chance. When the gang of thieves and Chen Yingliang are both defeated, my father will personally help you." Take you into battle to kill the enemy and make contributions to the country!"
When Wang Xueji was overjoyed, she quickly thanked Wang Shichong, and then asked curiously: "Father, is that Chen Yingliang the famous little Chen Qingzhi? I heard that he once led hundreds of white-robed soldiers into the camp of tens of thousands of rebels, and burned the rebels." Liangcao broke out of the siege unscathed, what kind of person is he? So powerful?"
"Ask your starling, I haven't seen that kid, but your starling has." Wang Shichong pointed at Wang Renze.
Seeing his cousin turning her curious eyes to him, Wang Ren smiled and said, "Sister Thirteen, don't listen to those unreliable rumors, you will be disappointed when you see that boy Chen Yingliang, he is not only strange-looking Ugly as a pig, with a blue face and fangs, and a fledgling on the battlefield who has never seen blood, the so-called brilliant achievements are either blown out, or picked on the cheap, which is far worse than my uncle's real achievements."
Wang Xueji was really disappointed, and said with her rosy mouth: "It turns out that it is another hero who was blown up. I heard that he led white-robed soldiers straight to the thief's nest. I thought it was some kind of extraordinary character. It turned out to be a fake hero." Yes, if he is still so ugly, then forget it, I don't want to see him."
Hearing Wang Xueji's words, the brothers of the Wang family laughed out loud, and they laughed so proudly. At the same time, Wang Shichong also laughed and ordered the army to continue to rest in place the next day without mentioning it. And at the second watch, Suyu, who was far away, sent an urgent report, saying that Chen Yingliang had excused himself from his illness and did not move. Wang Shichong sneered after hearing this, and said, "Just pretend, keep pretending, wait until 50,000 thieves The army surrounds you, when you want me to ask for help, see how this old man pretends to show you."
In a good mood, Wang Shichong, who is quite strict in governing the army, made an exception on the second day. He temporarily left the barracks and led a large number of nephews and daughters to the nearby mountains to hunt. A dozen brothers and sisters in the family competed in archery and riding. When he was so excited, Wang Shichong personally drew a bow and shot an arrow, and shot down a lone goose going south, which won the applause from all the halls. .
In the afternoon, just as Wang Shichong was roasting the lone goose he shot down with his own hands, a few fast horses rushed to the hunting ground and shouted from a distance: "Juncheng, hurry back to the big goose!" Battalion, hurry back to the camp! Our army scouts have reported that the main force of the bandit army is heading towards our camp, and they may arrive before this evening!"
"Crack!" The wild goose in Wang Shichong's hand fell into the fire, splashing a lot of oily smoke and dust. At the same time, the expression on Wang Shichong's face also showed a demented look, and he said in disbelief: "How is it possible? The main target of the bandit army is me. ? How could the main target of the bandit army be me?"
After being in a daze for a long time, Wang Shichong didn't even bother to greet his daughter, so he galloped back to his camp directly. At this moment, the Jiangdu military camp was already in a panic. To cut down trees to build a fence, the messengers running and shouting came and went, and Wang Shiyun, who was staying in the camp, rushed up and said, "Fifth brother, we have been tricked! The bandit army marched westward in Suyu yesterday. It's just a side division, it looks like it's going to contain Chen Yingliang. The main force of the bandit army deliberately stationed troops at the intersection of the three forks last night, and today they suddenly moved southward, and the speed is very fast, and they can reach here before evening!"
Wang Shichong's face was gloomy, and he suddenly asked, "Where's the thief Chen Yingliang? What's happening with him?"
"There is no news, they should still be on hold." Wang Shiyun quickly replied.
"Send someone to contact him immediately and ask him to abide by the agreement, immediately send troops to attack the back of the bandit army, and join us to defeat the enemy!" Wang Shichong quickly ordered with a straight face: "Also, let the army step up to set up camp. Set up a camp for me!"
The messenger who negotiated with Chen Yingliang flew to Suyu, but the camp did not have time to stand before sunset—Du Fuwei shamelessly sent a troop of cavalry to go south to attack the Jiangdu army troop who were cutting down trees by the side of the mountain road , It caused great trouble to the Jiangdu Army's battalion work. Although Wang Shichong immediately sent troops to fight, the progress of the battalion was still greatly affected. When it was getting dark again, the main force of the bandit army appeared in front of Wang Shichong's team.
The momentum of the bandit army is very large. From a distance, the bonfires and torches of the bandit army are endless, almost denser than the stars in the sky. The sound of war drums and horns come and go, even if it is ten miles away, they can still be heard clearly , What worried Wang Shichong's family even more was that Du Fuwei and Li Zitong's bandit army was quite organized when they set up camp and marched. You can see that it is the kind of experienced team with a lot of combat experience, and it is by no means comparable to ordinary mobs.
Of course, apart from worrying about casualties, Wang Shichong, who holds 20,000 regular troops, is not particularly afraid of the 50,000 coalition forces of Du Fuwei and Li Zitong. Considering that the bandit army's foothold was not stable, and its physical strength was affected to a certain extent, and at the same time, in order to test the combat effectiveness of the bandit army, Wang Shichong arranged for the school lieutenant Song Hao to lead a thousand troops to rob the camp that night. The result shocked Wang Shichong. However, Du Fuwei and Li Zitong had already expected that he would take advantage of the advantage of waiting for work to sneak attack at night, and arranged two ambush soldiers outside the camp early on, and suddenly killed two breadwinners to clamp Song Hao, and Song Hao's army was defeated. Fleeing in embarrassment, the morale of the bandit army with a large number of people was boosted, while the morale of the Jiangdu army, which had not fought for half a year, was frustrated.
What made Wang Shichong even more depressed was still behind. After the night attack was thwarted, the bandit army seized the weakness of Jiangdu's barracks defense in the morning the next day, and dispatched a large number of troops to attack Jiangdu's army head-on. He was forced to fight Du Fuwei and Li Zitong, the war of attrition that he was least willing to fight. As a result, after the battle, although Wang Shichong's team successfully repelled the incoming enemy, the team still suffered a lot of casualties.
At the same time, Wang Shichong was shocked to find that the bandit army took advantage of their strength and even sent an army to attack the Huaihe ferry behind his camp. Wang Shichong, who had to rely on Shanyang for supplies, had no choice but to order back to the ferry. Set up camp to ensure the smooth flow of grain roads, while Du Fuwei and Li Zitong gained power and relentlessly chased after them, biting Wang Shichong's tail tightly.
Relying on the bravery and equipment advantages of the Jianghuai soldiers, the Jiangdu army fought and retreated, and they retreated back to the ferry camp smoothly. While fighting and re-establishing their camps, the army was exhausted, not to mention the Jiangdu army was also caught in the dilemma of fighting against the wall. They had no choice but to defeat the enemy at all costs. What happened, I believe there is no need to explain.
Defeating the enemy head-on is not hopeless and sure for Wang Shichong, who holds 20,000 regular troops, but Wang Shichong must carefully weigh the words "at any cost". Therefore, while fighting hard, Wang Shichong considers Just two questions, "How can I let that traitor Chen Yingliang go south to help me pinch the main force of the bandit army? What method can I use to kill the coalition forces of Du Fuwei and Li Zitong at the least cost?"
"Wang Shichong is treacherous and likes to be opportunistic. Confronting him will only play into his hands! The best way to deal with him is to attack, attack and attack again, forcing him to consume it head-on! In this way, in order to preserve his strength, Wang Shichong must Give birth to the idea of retreating across the Huaihe River, and our army will seize the opportunity to attack it halfway, and we will win a big victory!" This is Mao Wenshen's suggestion to Du Fuwei and Li Zitong, two big thieves.
"Please report back to Wang Juncheng. It's not that I don't want to go south immediately to help him pinch the main force of the bandit army. It's because my illness is still unhealed and I can't lead the army to fight." This is Chen Yingliang's reply to Wang Shichong's envoy who asked for help while lying on the hospital bed, and he said again : "Also, our way to the south was also blocked by rebels. Our army scouted the report. Du Fuwei's rebels sent his powerful general Xia Dachong, leading an army of 10,000 to block our way to the south. Our army If I want to reinforce you, I have to defeat this summer bug first. Difficult, difficult, difficult for me!"