Qin Shuhuai was taken aback, and immediately got up and said, "Hancheng is besieged, which group of people did it?"

Hong Chengchou said anxiously, "According to the brothers who came to report the news, Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong have both men and horses! Presumably, they learned that Xia Guan led his troops out of the city, so they wanted to join forces to besiege and pull out Hancheng. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ”

Qin Shuhuai hurriedly asked, "How many people are there?"

"Rough estimates, at least forty or fifty thousand!"

"So many?" Qin Shuhuai frowned, and asked again, "There are only fifteen thousand soldiers and horses left in Hancheng now?"

Hong Chengchou said, "In addition to the 15,000 in the city, the nearest one is Kuishanwei in the west of Hancheng and the Weifeng Battalion in the south, and these two battalions have a total of 12,000 troops. After a few officers and soldiers in the city left the city through the secret passage, they had already gone to inform them. If nothing else, they should have rushed to the aid of Han Cheng. As for the farther battalion, it is not known whether it has set out now. ”

Qin Shuhuai fell into deep thought.

Hancheng is located at the junction of Shanxi and Shaanxi, the west is the base of Gao Yingxiang's department in Shaanxi, and the east is the most active area of Zhang Xianzhong's department in Shanxi.

If Han Cheng is lost, then Zhang Xianzhong can get effective support from Gao Yingxiang, and the two sides can no longer break each other. What's more serious is that in this way, Zhang Xianzhong can completely gain a foothold in Jinnan, establish a base like Gao Yingxiang, collect taxes, and his strength will be greatly improved.

Thinking of this, Qin Shuhuai immediately said, "Hancheng can't afford to lose!" Lord Hong, you immediately bring troops back to help Hancheng, and I will send 8,000 people from the Wuyuan Army to go with you. ”

Hong Chengchou immediately said, "Thank you Shaobao! Without further ado, the next official will leave the camp and set off!"

At this time, Qin Shuhuai suddenly said, "Wait a minute, there may be something wrong with this matter." ”

Hong Chengchou said, "How is it wrong?"

Qin Shuhuai's brows furrowed more and more, and he said, "Lord Hong, if you were a rogue, what would you do if you wanted to attack Hancheng knowing that there were two major battalions around Hancheng?"

Hong Chengchou thought for a moment and exclaimed, "Oh! Xiaguan will naturally encircle the point first and send reinforcements, and lay an ambush on the road that these two battalions must go through to rescue Hancheng! Only by defeating the reinforcements can they attack the city with all their might." I'm afraid the thieves will do the same! Kui Shanwei and the Mighty Camp are in danger!"

Qin Shuhuai nodded, "So the soldiers of Kuishanwei and the Mighty Battalion can't be counted anymore." Lord Hong, I am afraid that this operation has been planned by Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang for a long time, but you brought troops to Taiyuan this time just to give them an opportunity. ”

Qin Shuhuai has a basis for making this judgment. Because he said before he came, Zhang Xianzhong wanted to ally with Gao Yingxiang and worship Gao Yingxiang as the leader of the alliance.

Therefore, this time the other party has invested more than these 40,000 or 50,000 troops!

If they only took advantage of Hong Chengchou's departure to attack Hancheng temporarily, then it was already the limit to be able to mobilize sixty or seventy thousand troops in just two days. But if it has been planned for a long time and has been prepared for a long time, then Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang can at least mobilize more than 100,000 troops to participate in the Battle of Hancheng. You must know that the total strength of the two of them plus the so-called "allies" is at least 250,000!

If the soldiers and horses attacking Hancheng are forty or fifty thousand, and the other twenty or thirty thousand are used to ambush the Weifeng Battalion and Kuishanwei, then they still have at least forty or fifty thousand soldiers and horses, which can be used to ambush Hong Chengchou who is coming back!

If Hong Chengchou only brought 18,000 soldiers and horses, he would be more than lucky.

The more Qin Shuhuai thought about it, the cooler it became, and immediately said, "Lord Hong, how many soldiers and horses are still outside Taiyuan City now?"

Hong Chengchou hurriedly said, "He Huchen's army has already returned to his hometown in the morning, Cao Wenzhao's 12,000 army has just set off, and Du Wenhuan's 10,000 army is still outside the city and is preparing to start." In addition, there are scattered small reinforcements from all walks of life, half of which have already returned, and there are about 8,000 who have not yet returned. ”

Qin Shuhuai immediately made a decision and shouted outside the door, "Jingting!"

Because Li Jingting writes well, he has now become half of Qin Shuhuai's clerical officer, so he has been waiting outside.

"My lord!" Li Jingting immediately walked in.

"Immediately pass on my password and order Du Wenhuan's 10,000 troops to stand by. Then you will send someone to recruit Cao Wenzhao's 12,000 army back!

"By the way, there is also He Huchen, you send someone to inform him and ask him to bring troops to guard the south of Taiyuan City, so there is no military situation over there for the time being, and it doesn't matter if you don't defend it. ”

"Yes, sir!"

Li Jingting immediately took the order and left.

Qin Shuhuai calculated in his heart, there were 12,000 soldiers in the Wuyuan battalion, 12,000 soldiers in Cao Wenzhao, 10,000 in Hong Chengchou, 10,000 in Du Wenhuan, more than 8,000 scattered small miscellaneous troops, plus 1,000 and 5,000 in the Jianghe Gang, a total of more than 54,000 soldiers and horses, which was still a little less.

Cao Wenzhao, Du Wenhuan and others actually had a lot of soldiers under them, but it was too slow for them to go back to the camp to summon these soldiers. Although Hancheng has high walls and thick walls, and the siege equipment of the Liukou is relatively backward, it will definitely not be able to hold out for too long in the face of several times the siege of the enemy!

Without further ado, we can only take these people over.

However, these soldiers and horses are all elites on the three sides, and they should be higher than the rogues in terms of combat effectiveness. At least during this period of history, the combat effectiveness of the Liukou was generally lower than that of the Ming army. In addition, if you encounter officers and soldiers on the way to reinforcements, you can also reorganize them, so that you may be able to gather 60,000 or 70,000.

It should be enough!

Qin Shuhuai originally didn't plan to go out in person, because after all, he had just taken over the three sides, and he still had to do a lot to stabilize the military and people's hearts on the three sides, but now it seems that he has to go out in person.

Even though there were the best generals and commanders among the three sides in the army that went to Hancheng this time, he believed that everything was safest only if it was in his own hands!

Not to mention anything else, let's just say that he, Qin Shuhuai, can be worth a super powerful assault detachment with military force!

More than an hour later, Cao Wenzhao's soldiers and horses returned.

Qin Shuhuai immediately convened an emergency meeting with Cao Wenzhao, Du Wenhuan, Hong Chengchou, Meng Hu, Zhang Xiao and others, and told everyone about the current situation.

After everyone discussed, they unanimously agreed with Qin Shuhuai's opinion, that is, Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang must be attacked by a large army this time, and they are determined to win Han Cheng. And once Hancheng is lost, then the trilateral situation will be even more erosive.

Hancheng can't afford to lose!

After the brief meeting, Qin Shuhuai immediately asked Chu Fu to take out all the grain and grass reserves in Taiyuan City for the army to go south this time. As for the possible shortage of grain and grass in Taiyuan City in the future, let him transfer it from the surrounding major battalions, and if it is not enough, find a way for the imperial court.

In addition, the 8,000 miscellaneous armies were inconvenient to command because they were under the leadership of various guerrilla generals, so Qin Shuhuai divided them into three parts and incorporated them into the troops of Hong Chengchou, Du Wenhuan, and Cao Wenzhao.

After another two hours, the army was ready.

Let's go! Rescue Hancheng!