Chapter 350 Fierce fighting
Mao Shi led the cavalry in a circle on the battlefield. Ma Shou responded and returned to the cavalry to pursue them. Then Mao Shi returned to the starting point according to the plan and caught them off guard with his muskets.
However, the new force that rushed in, Zhang Xianzhong's troops, was not good at it either. They rushed towards Mao Shi's troops at the weak spot on the right wing and immediately broke through their formation.
Mao Shi sneered in his heart, and when he saw the enemy taking the bait, he deliberately shouted to retreat. After receiving the order, the more than 10,000 people in the front army retreated to Xiao Ande Gate with their large shields.
"Failed?"
Wang Jiayin was overjoyed: "Hahaha, God helps us, use it for your own use, you continue to attack here, and take some of your troops to reinforce."
Even Wang Ziyong was overjoyed. The successive victories had made them a little forgetful, so they shouted: "Commander, go ahead and leave this place to me."
Wang Jiayin led his old battalion to urgently reinforce Ma Shouying, and Li Yangchun, who was pursuing them, did not miss this opportunity at all. Even though they were farmers, their many years of rebellion experience gave them sufficient combat experience.
If the tens of thousands of people who came out of the city to block the attack failed, they would definitely have to retreat. As long as these defeated soldiers were captured, it was only a matter of time before the city was breached. Even if it failed, eating them all would be a powerful blow to the morale of the defenders.
Mao Shi's panic all fell into Wang Jiayin's eyes, and the 'fierce' bows, arrows and throwing weapons on the Little Ande Gate also indicated that the defenders in the city were going to respond to their plan to enter the city.
But at least 20,000 to 30,000 people left the city. As the commander-in-chief, Mao Shi had been directing the retreat at the city gate. It would be extremely difficult for these 30,000 people to retreat within half an hour.
"Haha, God helps me..."
Wang Jiayin was overjoyed and immediately ordered Li Yangchun to rush in, and then ordered Ma Shouying to lead the cavalry to kill the defeated troops. Once successful, Xiao Andemen would be under his control.
Li Yangchun didn't know how brave he was when he continued to fight after becoming an official soldier. He once said in private that all the generals in the country were mediocre, and only among the people could there be strong generals like him.
Riding in the lead, Li Yangchun, holding a long sword in his hand, was like the reincarnation of Changshan Zhao Zilong. He cut down four or five people one after another, and then led the guards around him to the city gate.
When Mao Shi saw a general in armor approaching, he sneered in his heart and shouted in a panic: "Enter the city quickly, enter the city quickly, the enemy is coming."
Li Wanchang did not guard Ande Gate at all. The one who stayed behind was Shi Kefa. In the city gate tower at this moment, Li Wanchang had clearly heard Mao Shi's shouts and immediately ordered the plan to be acted upon.
Wang Jiayin defeated the defeated troops. At this moment, he was full of confidence. If he continued to fight according to the situation in front of him, he was confident that he could break into the outer city of Nanjing within today.
"Kill..."
Finally, Wang Jiayin led more than 2,000 people and the defeated soldiers and rushed into the opened Little Ande Gate. The gatekeepers who wanted to shut out their own people fled when they saw the defeat, not caring about what was behind them.
What Ma Shouying didn't expect was that the Confederate troops who had "fleeed" before now actually made way for Wang Jiayin, who was leading the charge, in an orderly manner, intentionally or unintentionally.
"Sir, the Confederate cavalry has circled back."
Just when Ma Shouying was about to stop Wang Jiayin's movement, Mao Shi's cavalry circled around the battlefield and then circled back. Their purpose was to drive the returning cavalry into the city together.
"Kill out..."
"That's not right..." Gao Yingxiang's heart was beating wildly, and he immediately rode his horse to Wang Ziyong's side: "Commander... Deputy Commander, something is wrong. The Southern Army will not die on its own."
Wang Ziyong was not much better than Wang Jiayin. When it was reported that Wang Jiayin had led his troops into Xiao Ande Gate, he was immediately excited and asked Gao Yingxiang and others to lead the troops to reinforce Wang Jiayin immediately.
"What's wrong?"
Gao Yingxiang said again: "The Southern Army's defense of Nanjing City is impregnable, and there are hundreds of thousands of them in the city. Why take the risk of rushing out of Xiao'ande Gate and then fleeing back in defeat?"
Seeing Wang Ziyong still thinking hard, Gao Yingxiang said anxiously: "Sir, this is a trick of the Southern Army."
Wang Ziyong was instantly shocked: "Quick, go and tell the commander about the Southern Army's trick."
By the time Wang Ziyong reacted, it was naturally much later.
...
Zhao Xin hurriedly walked into the yamen, where Chen Cao was discussing military matters with a group of subordinates, while also dealing with people's livelihood in Zhenjiang.
"Your Majesty, urgent report from Nanjing..."
"speak..."
Chen Cao didn't even raise his head, because he was estimating how much money the government would invest after tax reductions and exemptions in Zhenjiang.
"During the battle to defend the city, Li Wanchang first bombarded the Qin army and killed the enemy's vanguard Wang Zuogai. Wang Jiayin personally led 50,000 people to the gate of Andemen. The two sides fought fiercely. In the afternoon, Li Wanchang used Shi Kefa's strategy and left the small Andemen. , luring the enemy to attack, Wang Jiayin personally led most of the attack, but he fell into the trap and was deceived into the city;
The artillery fired in the Wengcheng, and the nearly 10,000 Qin troops who entered the city from Wang Jiayin down were wiped out. "
Chen Cao raised his head: "Shi Kefa?"
"Yes, the imperial court's newly appointed Minister of War, Zuo Shilang."
Chen Cao squinted his eyes. This name seemed too familiar. He immediately asked, "What's Yang He's reaction?"
"The vanguard of the Qin army retreated, and Li Wanchang personally led the troops into the battle. They were completely defeated and headed for Dasheng Pass. According to reports from spies, Wang Jiayin's men suffered casualties of no less than 20,000 in this battle."
Chen Cao rubbed the beard that had begun to grow thinly on his chin, and then looked at Xu Fuyuan: "How long do you think Nanjing can be defended?"
Xu Fuyuan has been observing the situation in Zhenjiang these days, with dark circles under his eyes: "Your Majesty, students think that as long as Zhang Gaoping blocks the main force of the Northern Army from Yangzhou, then Yang He's 350,000 people alone will , I’m afraid there is no chance of breaking Nanjing City.”
Chen Cao somewhat agreed with his words: "Unless we no longer provide any support to Nanjing, Yang He will have to hate Nanjing."
"Report..."
A guard in Jinyi trotted over: "Your Majesty, there is urgent news from Nanjing."
Xin Zhao took the secret report and handed it to Chen Cao. After reading it, Chen Cao chuckled: "Whatever you say, everyone, Yang He sent Du Wenhuan to lead 50,000 troops to march from Liuhe, and this guy was so brave that he went straight to Went in the direction of Yangzhou."
The generals were shocked.
Tang Kainian was the first to speak: "It is reported that Zhang Gaoping has hoarded a large amount of grain and grass in the direction of Yizhen. Once Du Wenhuan succeeds, Zhang Gaoping will be in danger."
The news is coming in a steady stream, but before it can be digested, another urgent report is coming.
"Reporting to your lord, the Tang Dynasty Crown Prince Zhu Yujian led his troops down the river and arrived at Dasheng Pass in the evening. According to reports along the way, Zhu Yujian recruited many noble soldiers during his march. Starting from the beginning, there were more than 30,000 soldiers. The number of people increased to 50,000, and they also brought with them more than 20,000 civilians."
"After all, Tang Fan's army can be called an army of 70,000, and it is claimed that 100,000 are more than enough to attack."
As soon as Xu Fuyuan finished speaking, the hall burst into laughter.
However, Chen Cao was a bit serious: "Don't laugh at Zhu Yujian, he was the first vassal to dare to risk great injustice and raise troops to serve the king, and the whole world saw it;
Furthermore, with the addition of Zhu Yujian, Yang He naturally became more powerful. "
...
"Not only has the momentum increased, but with the participation of the Prince of Tang, Nanjing can be defeated in a day."
It was rare for Yang He to drink, but in order to celebrate Zhu Yujian's joining, and to clear up the decline of today's defeat, he naturally wanted to celebrate.
Zhu Yujian sat at the head of the table. This was the future king of the Tang Dynasty, so the clan was naturally larger than that of the officials.
After the banquet, Zhang Henian looked at the slightly drunk Yang He with some worry: "Dong Weng, the court has not agreed to the request of the Prince of Tang Dynasty so far. Now Dong Weng treats him as a guest. If the eunuchs of the supervisory army report it, we..."
Yang He came from the Donglin Party, and the current government is in the hands of the Donglin Party. As long as he maintains the high-level leadership of the party, even if the emperor wants to attack him, he will have to weigh it, not to mention that the country is now in a special period. .
"Wang Mazi? He doesn't dare..."
Wang He, the supervisor of the army, had pockmarks on his face, and it was because of this that he was sent out to supervise the army.
Zhang Henian added: "It is a big taboo for a vassal to lead troops after all. I heard that the emperor is very dissatisfied with the behavior of the prince of Tang Dynasty. The situation in Nanjing City is no better than before. If someone in the court uses this to slander and criticize, Dong Weng..."
When Zhang Henian said this, Yang He suddenly reacted. At this moment, there was oily sweat on his forehead: "This..."
Seeing this, Zhang Henian immediately said: "Don't worry, Dong Weng, you can write a letter to the court about this first. Then Dong Weng can order the prince of Tang Dynasty to lead his troops to garrison at the mouth of the Xijiang River. He will not go north without military orders. When the court gets a reply, Dong Weng will Weng can also respond calmly."
"In this way, we will act according to what the article says." Yang He wiped his sweat: "By the way, how did Wang Jiayin's troops be arranged?"
"Wang Jiayin's subordinates were originally Wang Ziyong's men. Now after his death, Wang Ziyong has become the new commander-in-chief."
"Let him be the commander-in-chief and tell Wang Ziyong to rest for a day and start the day after tomorrow to launch an offensive against Nanjing..."
.
"waste..."
There was no crack of the whip, but there was a constant muffled sound.
Zhang Gaoping's eyes were filled with anger. He also wanted to kill these useless generals in front of him, but the battle was ahead. Killing his own generals first would be detrimental to the morale of the army.
"My lord, Du Wenhuan stopped at Yizhen. The general thought he was also worried about King Liang across the river."
Chen Cao is in Zhenjiang, and Yizhen and Zhenjiang are across the Yangtze River. As long as Chen Cao is willing, the army will be able to cross the river and kill them today.
"I asked you to write to Prince Liang, is there any reply?"
"Reporting to the Duke, Yizhen sent a letter to Zhenjiang immediately after the grain and grass were burned. I believe he is on his way back now."
General Ma Yu said: "My lord, if the Northern Army learns that our food and grass have been burned, the war will begin in these days."
"I can't hide it..."
Zhang Gaoping responded coldly: "As long as Zhu Chunchen of the Northern Army is not stupid, he will not let it go. If Li Wanchang cannot stop Yang He, Nanjing will be over..."
"The Duke, and Liang Fan..."
"Liang Fan?" Zhang Gaoping sneered: "Huh... wolfish ambition, if His Majesty is not still useful in his hands, do you think he will be honest?"
Yes, Liang Fan was self-reliant in the Northern Dynasty, and he was granted the title of prince in the Southern Dynasty. The army of Liang Fan has not moved in Zhenjiang for so long since the war started...
