May 6, the eighth year of Chongzhen, Yunyang City.

Lu Xiangsheng looked at the group of civilian and military generals under him with a dark face: "How many days have passed, haven't you found out the details of this hometown protection army?"

"Who can tell me where this rural protection army and that Luo Zhixue came from?"

"What is the relationship between this Luo Zhixue and Gao Thief, Li Thief, Zhang Thief and others? Is he a subordinate of Gao Yingxiang's thief army?"

"Also, who can tell clearly how many troops there are in this rural protection army? Some people told me that Luo Zhixue had an army of 50,000, others said that Luo Zhixue had more than 10,000 soldiers, and some said that Luo Zhixue had only

A mere three to five thousand people."

"The people who came from Nanyang Prefecture said that there are thousands of elite cavalry in the army protecting the countryside. They come and go like the wind. They are all elites who are good at riding and shooting!"

"Some people even say that there are hundreds of heavy artillery among the security guards, each of which can hit a distance of more than ten miles. Even the city wall of Xiangyang City can be destroyed with one shot. It is precisely with the help of hundreds of heavy artillery that Xiangyang City can be captured in one fell swoop.

Others say that the only way to protect the thieves is a few cannons, and to attack Xiangyang City is to rely on sneak attacks."

"Tell me? Which ones are true and which ones are false?"

But no one in the group below spoke!

No one dared to speak when Lu Xiangsheng was angry and angry!

If Lu Xiangsheng is offended, maybe this tough guy will dare to kill someone on the spot.

He is not only a governor and civil servant, but also a strong man who dares to personally lead troops into battle. Such a person is not easy to mess with.

The most important thing is that Lu Xiangsheng doesn’t know the details of the Hometown Protection Army, and they don’t know either.

A few days ago, they had learned one after another that a large-scale bandit army had emerged from Nanyang Mansion, and they had captured Nanyang City with lightning speed, and then moved all the way south, easily conquering Nanyang City.

Captured Xiangyang City and Fancheng.

When they learned that Xiangyang City had fallen two days ago, all the civil servants and generals in Yunyang City were stunned.

They never imagined that Xiangyang City would fall, and they couldn't even understand why Xiangyang City fell.

That’s Xiangyang City!

It can even be called the strongest city in the world!

The moat alone is dozens of feet wide. The wide moat on all sides surrounds Xiangyang City, and the city walls are high and thick.

Let alone thousands of thieves, even if tens of thousands of thieves want to capture Xiangyang City, they will have to pay a heavy price, and there is absolutely no way to capture it in just a few days. It will take at least ten sieges.

It lasts for half a month or even several months.

During the late Song Dynasty, Xiangyang City resisted the Yuan army for six full years!

Everything that happened in Xiangyang City made them unable to believe it. Many people even thought that the fall of Xiangyang City was fake news. Now that the rebels had only surrounded Xiangyang City, the defenders in Xiangyang City must still be holding on.

They still can't even figure out how Xiangyang City was lost, let alone figure out the troop deployment and more detailed intelligence of the Baoxiang Army in just a few days.

The only thing they know now is that these rural protection troops ran down from the mountainous area in the northern part of Nanyang Prefecture, and then captured the city all the way to Xiangyang City.

Its troop strength is estimated to be between 10,000 and 50,000. As for the specific number and where these troops are deployed, they do not yet know.

Even this estimated troop strength was based on their own speculation based on a series of actions of the Home Guard Army, and was not accurate information at all.

Under such circumstances, they could not tell Lu Xiangsheng anything.

Lu Xiangsheng became even more angry when he looked at his group of silent subordinates.

"Trash, they are all a bunch of trash. It's been a few days now, and I don't even know how many troops the opponent has. How are we going to fight from behind? How are we going to recover Xiangyang City?"

Lu Xiangsheng can’t help but get angry!

The situation in the Yunyang and Huguang areas was originally very good. The bandits that had previously harmed the northern Chu area had been defeated or driven away by his troops. Under his leadership, the people's livelihood in the Yunyang area has gradually restored.

But suddenly a group of bandits came over and took Nanyang City and Xiangyang City directly, which directly led to the deterioration of the situation in Northern Chu.

To be honest, he was derelict in his duty!

Although the officers and soldiers stationed in Nanyang Prefecture are officers and soldiers from Henan, and the officers and soldiers stationed in Xiangyang City are officers and soldiers from Huguang, they are not directly under his command.

However, these two mansions still belong to his defense zone, at least in name only.

As the governor of Yunyang, he is in charge of not only Yunyang Prefecture, but also Hanzhong Prefecture in Shaanxi, Xi'an Prefecture, Nanyang Prefecture in Henan, Kuizhou Prefecture in Sichuan, Xiangyang Prefecture in Huguang, Jingzhou Prefecture, Chengtian Prefecture (Anlu),

There are also states.

The above-mentioned huge area is nominally the defense area of ​​his governor Yunyang.

Of course, when it comes to actual garrisoning, Lu Xiang cannot be promoted to take charge of so many places, and he does not have so many troops to garrison.

No matter what, he, Lu Xiangsheng, is responsible for the fall of Nanyang City and Xiangyang City.

He was staying in Yunyang peacefully, but misfortune fell from the sky, and a big hat was placed on his head. If he didn't do it well, he might have followed in the footsteps of Xuanmo and other governors.
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In addition to worrying about the responsibility for losing his land, he was even more worried about the fact that after these bandits captured Xiangyang City, they cut off the Han River channel, causing the loss of convenient connections between Yunyang City and the Jianghan Plain area.

What's more important is that if these rural-protecting army thieves go south along the Han River, they can reach Hanyang in minutes and drink from the Yangtze River.

If it really gets to that point, Chu Bei will be completely finished.

Therefore, after learning that bandits had captured Xiangyang City, his first reaction was to lead his troops south to counterattack Xiangyang City and recapture Xiangyang City.

But a few days have passed, and now they haven't even figured out the specific strength of the rebel army. If they rush to send troops without knowing the enemy's situation, the risk will be too great.

Lu Xiangsheng's furious reprimanding of his subordinates still had some effect. After returning, these subordinates collected all the information they could. After summarizing, Lu Xiangsheng finally understood the general situation of the Hometown Protection Army.

The number of troops protecting the countryside in other places is not yet known, but the number of troops protecting the hometown in Xiangyang City is estimated to be around 5,000.

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This was confirmed by the mouths of some gentry and common people who had fled.

And Lu Xiangsheng finally confirmed that the fall of Xiangyang City was not due to the strong troops who defended the countryside and directly attacked Xiangyang City and captured it.

Instead, they attacked Xiangyang City by surprise and captured the city gate before the officers and soldiers in the city could react.

Five thousand people, sneak attack!

When these two keywords were connected, Lu Xiangsheng finally had a basic understanding of the strength of the Baoxiang Army in the Xiangyang City area.

There are about 5,000 people, some cavalry, and some artillery. The overall combat effectiveness is not bad, but it is definitely not to the point where only 5,000 people can storm and capture Xiangyang City.

After understanding this, Lu Xiangsheng did not hesitate much, but gathered the more than 10,000 people who had been prepared and set off south.

He wanted to attack Xiangyang City while the rebels were still unknown in Xiangyang City.

However, he didn't insist on taking Xiangyang City quickly. His idea was to fight if he could. If he couldn't, he wouldn't force it and besieged Xiangyang City first.

The top priority is of course to recover Xiangyang City, but if he cannot recover Xiangyang quickly, then he must first control the momentum of the Baoxiang Army in Xiangyang City, and finally gather together to annihilate it.

No matter what, we cannot continue to allow these thieves to move freely. Otherwise, in ten days and a half, these thieves may have reached Zhongxiang City of Chengtian Prefecture, and even Hanyang Prefecture if they go further.

Go.

Lu Xiangsheng couldn't just watch these things happen, he wanted to stop the rebel army from continuing to move south.

Lu Xiangsheng officially led his troops to go south on May 9, the eighth year of Chongzhen!

And just when he led his troops south, the spies sent by the Baoxiang Army Intelligence Section to Yunyang City in advance had already learned the information about Lu Xiangsheng's troops heading south.

In fact, this is not much intelligence. Lu Xiangsheng went south with tens of thousands of people, and there was no way he could hide it. He went south in an open and aboveboard manner.

After the spies of the Baoxiang Army learned the news, they immediately passed the news to Xiangyang City.

Although the distance between the two places is more than 100 kilometers, the spies delivered the news very quickly by riding horses and boats. It took only two days to spread the news to Xiangyang City.

After Song Qizhong of the Intelligence Section received the news, he immediately reported it to Huang Guangmao.

Huang Guangmao took Song Qizhong into the General's Mansion and asked for an urgent meeting with Luo Zhixue.

A moment later, Luo Zhixue saw this urgent message sent back by the intelligence department detectives after all the hard work.

"This is also the time for Lu Xiangsheng to send troops. If he doesn't come, I will wonder whether our army's confidentiality work is too good and the news has been completely blocked."

After Luo Zhixue read the intelligence letter, his expression remained relaxed, and he was even in the mood to joke with Huang Guangmao and Song Qizhong.

But Huang Guangmao was very nervous: "General, this Lu Xiangsheng is not a good person. He brought at least 10,000 troops from Yunyang. He will definitely bring officers and soldiers from Junzhou, Gucheng and other places when he goes south.

By then there will be at least 15,000 soldiers."

"Moreover, Lu Xiangsheng has always been a good commander and brave in charging into battle. Even with a group of miscellaneous soldiers, he can fight tough battles. This is a powerful enemy!"

Luo Zhixue said: "Why panic? There are only ten thousand people, of which there are at most two or three thousand combat soldiers. It is not as good as one of our infantry brigade. It is enough for our artillery brigade to bombard for several rounds!"

Although Luo Zhixue's words are exaggerated and intended to relieve the tension of his subordinates, they also represent Luo Zhixue's self-confidence.

If he had not been able to resist Lu Xiangsheng's self-confidence, he would never have gone south to Xiangyang City!

Because when you come to Xiangyang City, you will definitely meet Lu Xiangsheng.

Luo Zhixue has always valued Lu Xiangsheng, but what he values ​​​​is Lu Xiangsheng, but it does not mean that Luo Zhixue also thinks highly of the Ming army under Lu Xiangsheng.

Even if Lu Xiangsheng has extraordinary military talent, it cannot change the fact that the more than 10,000 Ming troops under his command are just ordinary Ming troops.
Chapter completed!