Ming Taizi's Total War

Chapter 107 Chen Qianfu's 36 Soldiers and Horses
Xu Dingguo said innocently, he thought to himself, they were just using some dead bones as firewood, so why make such a fuss.

I wasn't as surprised as you when I saw those hungry people catching people and skinning them alive, then picking off the raw meat with sharp knives, cooking it and eating it directly.

"Forget it, since that's the case, then I won't say anything." Hearing what Xu Dingguo said, Zhang Yong knew how bad the situation in Henan was.

In fact, the serious damage suffered by Henan, and even the north and south of the river, is inseparable from the military leaders like Xu Dingguo.

As the saying goes, thieves pass like a comb, soldiers pass like a grate, people like Xu Dingguo and Gao Jie wantonly plunder the people, treat people like sheep, and slaughter them at will.

If they hadn't acted so recklessly, it wouldn't have caused Li Chuang to open the city to pay for food wherever he went.

After a cursory tour of the barracks, Zhang Yong took Gao Jie and Xu Dingguo back to Suizhou City to rest.

Originally Xu Dingguo wanted to hold a banquet for Zhang Yong and Gao Jie, but Zhang Yong stopped him with the excuse that drinking is not allowed in the army.

In fact, this is how Xu Dingguo killed Gao Jie in history. Zhang Yong stopped Xu Dingguo by mistake. From then on, Xu Dingguo's fate was changed.

Xu Dingguo will not give up from now on, but he will never have such a good opportunity in the future.

After returning to his residence, Zhang Yong immediately ordered his clerk to write him a letter, introducing his situation in Suizhou, and asking how Kaifeng Mansion was doing. Then he ordered his troops to mount fast horses and rush to Qixian County overnight to deliver the letter. Press Chen Qianfu for Henan tour.

Thanks to Li Zicheng's several years of mobile fighting in Henan, he demolished the walls of almost all the prefectures and counties he captured, so the messengers entered Qixian County without any obstruction.

"Where is Chen Qianfu, the inspector of Henan Province? Zhang Yong, the great general of Dingyuan in the Ming Dynasty, sent me to send you a letter." Arriving outside the county government office in Qi County, the messenger stood outside the door and shouted.

It was just dawn at this time, and there was a white belly in the sky, and people were lying at home and sleeping.

Seeing that no one came forward to respond to him, the messenger said, "Where is Chen Qianfu, the patrol officer in Henan?"

At this time, he finally pushed open the black painted door and walked out from the county government office.

"Who are you?" A man in casual clothes asked probingly.

"I am an orderly under the account of General Dingyuan. The general sent me to deliver a letter to Mr. Chen. Where is he now?" The orderly spoke in a rude manner.

Now is the time of war, the military general is much more valuable than the civil servant, not to mention that he is a messenger sent by the general, so he naturally has the confidence to stand in front of a sect.

"Fast forward, my master is inside." Menzi said as he stepped forward to lead the horse and hold the whip for him, and called a groom to lead the messenger's horse to the stable, and then brought the messenger to Chen Qianfu.

"My lord, this is a letter from the general." The messenger said as he handed the letter to Chen Qianfu, and then he stood aside and waited for Chen Qianfu's inquiry.

"Well, how is the general?" Chen Qianfu accepted the letter, and instead of rushing to read the contents, he first asked about Zhang Yong's physical condition.

In fact, it was just a few words of politeness and greetings, making the messenger feel that he cared about Zhang Yong.

"Master Xie cares about my general, he is fine." The herald replied.

"Well, you go back first, I have nothing to tell you here, by the way, come here, give him half a penny to eat and drink." Chen Qianfu pitied the messenger who rode over overnight, knowing that he must be very tired, so Let people give him half the money to spend.

The half hanging money is several hundred copper plates, and has a strong purchasing power. In the Jianghuai area with sufficient supplies, or in areas that have not suffered from war, this half hanging money can almost make the messenger eat two meals with big fish and meat, good wine and good food.

But in Henan, huh, that's enough. I can drink a pot of wine and eat a plate of beef. It probably costs about the same.

The messenger took half the money, thanked Chen Qianfu, and went out to lead the horse back to Suizhou.

And Chen Qianfu called Yue Qijie and several officials under his command to see the contents of the letter. Originally, he should not let outsiders read the letter that was given to him by others.

But in Chen Qianfu's impression, Zhang Yong is a person who has almost no personal affairs, as if he just came to this world. He wrote to himself, and he must be talking about business affairs.

In addition, Zhang Yong did not specifically instruct the messengers, so Chen Qianfu believed that the information written in this letter should not be particularly confidential military information.

"Master Chen, General Zhang must take down the Kaifeng Mansion this time." Yue Qijie stroked his goatee and said with a smile.

"Once the army arrives, it will surely crush those rebellious ministers and thieves into powder. But I think Tian Hu and Lin Yi in Kaifeng City will not be easy to deal with, and I don't know how many casualties our army will have."

Chen Qianfu worried that Zhang Yong's troops would suffer heavy casualties when they attacked Kaifeng in the future, and his worries were not groundless.

Zhang Yong's subordinates are rebels from Shandong, they are all new recruits with little combat experience, and Xu Dingguo and Gao Jie are two old soldiers, so it would be more difficult for them to attack the city with all their might.

"Don't worry about it now. I think based on His Majesty's temperament, I'm afraid he won't hesitate to suffer casualties no matter how big they are."

"And isn't Your Majesty going to land in Lankao along the Yellow River in more than ten days? By then, when the elite soldiers, food, supplies, armored horses and equipment arrive, are you afraid that you won't be able to defeat the dilapidated city of Kaifeng?"

Yue Qijie believed that the recovery of Kaifeng City was only a matter of time. Zhu Cihong gathered more than [-] troops this time, and mobilized hundreds of thousands of civilians and civilians along the way.

Countless resources are used, even if Tian Hu and Ji Dong bring the heavenly soldiers and generals, it is impossible to defend Kaifeng City.

"That's the truth, but what we need to do now is to welcome General Dingyuan's army and guide them. In addition, we will mobilize the villages in the northern part of the Yellow River and let them act as a barrier when His Majesty crosses the river."

Chen Qianfu pointed out that they must do two major things at present.

"Leave the mobilization of the village north of the Yellow River to me. It just so happens that I have nothing to do here. Besides you, I'm probably the only one who is qualified to lead so many soldiers."

Chen Qianfu did not expect Yue Qijie to stand up on his own initiative. Going to the north of the Yellow River is not a good job. After Li Zicheng captured the capital, only Shandong and Guide officially returned to the rule of Ming Dynasty.

Although there are many prefectures and counties to the north of the Yellow River that are constantly uprising, and even the rebels are active in the capital, but now the Manchu Qing has stationed heavy troops here, and it may launch an attack at any time.

Especially at the time when Zhu Cihong was going to go upstream along the Yellow River, I am afraid that the Qing army will arrive after hearing the news in all likelihood. By then, it is hard to say whether Yue Qijie will have a whole body.

(End of this chapter)