Here comes the problem.
Liu Shizi was disgusted by Hong Chengchou.
As soon as he led his army past Yongchang Guard, Tangqi passed Rouyuan Station in front of him, and ran back in a panic, telling him that the fields had been burned, and all that was left in the fields were piles of ashes from burned straw. .
He thought badly that what Yang Jiamo failed to accomplish at Gaotai was accomplished by Hong Chengchou who guarded Liang Prefecture.
At this time, Liu Shishi was no longer in a hurry to march. When the Chinese army arrived at Tanshankou Fort, he simply sent an order to tell the battalions to stop marching, stationed in the surrounding fortresses, and inquired from the surrendered soldiers about the locations of the iron mines and iron kilns. The general came to Tanshankou Fort the next day to discuss matters.
Wang Ziyong didn't need to look for minerals. He just contacted the members of the Sanjie Society in the fortresses around Liangzhou Guard and asked what Liangzhou Guard had been doing during this time.
May 24th, early fall.
In the garrison of Tanshankou Fort, a group of marshal's generals with military backgrounds took off their armor and sat in the government office gnashing their teeth. They hated Hong Chengchou.
Futian means that the summer season is here, and the yin energy is forced by the yang energy to hide underground. For people, it is better to lie down and not to move.
In the Gansu area conquered by Liu Chengzong, Song Xian, the commander of Suzhou, Yin Ruyue, the magistrate of Gaotai, and Cao Yao of Ganzhou, all reported to the front line that the wheat harvest had begun, and the farmers worked day and night.
For the soldiers under Liu Chengzong, it was even more difficult at this time. Their armor could no longer be worn. They finally arrived near Liangzhou on Futian, only to find that the bastard Hong Chengchou had cut down all the trees... What a surprise.
The generals were so angry that they rushed to Tanshankou Fort in a hurry, but the military meeting could not be held normally because Wang Ziyong did not arrive. They waited for another two days before Wang Ziyong arrived late.
Wang Ziyong entered the yamen, his eyes swept over the faces of the generals, and finally settled on Liu Chengzong's face. He took out a pamphlet from his arms and presented it to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, Liangzhou... I'm afraid we can't defeat it. .”
Liu Shishi was so hot that his forehead was sweating, and he was already irritable. After hearing Wang Ziyong's words, he felt an anger coming out of his heart. He suppressed a slow hum from his nose and opened the printed booklet. , the more he looked at it, the more he frowned: "City Defense Regulations, where did you get this?"
"Liangzhou City."
As soon as Wang Ziyong finished speaking, Liu Chengzong raised his head in surprise and asked, "You went in?"
"No, Liangzhou has taken extremely strict precautions. It has been guarding the city since ten days ago. Once the city gate is closed, there will be no waiting. Not only outsiders can't get in, but the local people can't get in either."
Wang Ziyong looked at the booklet in Liu Chengzong's hand: "This was given to the man outside by the Sanjie congregation in the city before closing the door. As a result, he couldn't go back."
As he spoke, he shook his head and said, "There are no more people of our own in the city."
The Three Tribulations Society suffered a devastating disaster in Liangzhou. When Hong Chengchou was preparing to defend the city, he issued an order to drive out all the servants, helpers, old and weak who had come to the city within the past three years in order to prevent the White Lotus cultists from infiltrating.
This portrait, apart from the fact that they did not understand the teachings of the White Lotus Sect at all, accurately framed all the Sanjie members.
Wang Ziyong was very angry at this order. Why did you drive out the White Lotus Sect? Why did you drive out all the Three Tribulations Society?
Liu Chengzong only read a few pages of the booklet, then he raised his head and pointed at the booklet and said happily to Wang Ziyong: "Brother, this is a great achievement."
Hong Chengchou's city defense manual is very comprehensive.
From the preparation of fortifying the city and clearing the field before defending the city, the deployment of personnel and materials, to the loan of rations for the rich and the poor when defending the city, the production and use of various instruments, the opening and closing of the city gates for defense on all sides, and the selection and use of ghost soldiers at night, and even It also includes the daily preparations of a city.
Liu Chengzong can predict that the ghost soldiers will have a great impact on him. Hong Chengchou requested in the book that the suspension bridges on all sides should not be closed, the inner gate should be closed, and the urn gate should be opened and closed from time to time to disrupt the besieging army.
At the same time, 600 good soldiers were selected in the city, led by a general, who were required to dress up like Liu Chengzong's army, and each had a secret signal. They would go out of the city at three o'clock, slash the camp with swords, and at the same time fire cannons on the city to startle the entire siege camp and call them Kill each other.
Liu Chengzong could predict that if he had not obtained this booklet, this ghost soldier would be particularly useful to his army... Because his surrendered army was dressed almost the same as the Ming army, and the front line of the siege must be the Ganzhou Camp. Just make a plan.
What's more, there are many details, such as lanterns hanging eight feet below the city to prevent the besieged army from attacking from the dark; felt quilts should be hung on the battlements to shield the cannons and lead arrows, so that the defenders could cover and attack at night. When in the city, he can pull up the quilt and overturn the siege army, and guard against the iron hook of the ladder... Liu Shizi doesn't know these things.
He had nothing more to say about the manual, so he called the guards and handed it out: "You guys take a look, then burn oil to make ink, carve a board to seal it, remember to change the words that need to be changed, and then call the marshal to guard the city book. Distribute one copy to all officers in the army."
Those details were not something that someone who had never defended the city could come up with. They were all based on blood experience. He estimated that Hong Chengchou had copied this booklet from somewhere else, and he was not polite at all in using it.
Burning fire oil to make ink is a specialty of the hometown of these old Shaanxi people. It is called Yanchuan Shiye. The founder is Shen Kuo, an official of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Because pine ink destroyed the mountains and forests, Shen Kuo learned about Yanzhou and found that the smoke from burning oil was dark and thick. The ink was fine and smooth, as black and bright as paint, which was better than pine smoke, and it would not damage the mountain and forest environment. At that time, he predicted that Yanzhou would be Yanzhou. Sichuan stone liquid will definitely become popular in the world.
But this process was not widely used later because oil was not available everywhere. Not long after Shen Kuo's death, the Song Dynasty lost its oil production area. What's more, even if it did, its cost was actually much higher than that of Song Mo.
Petroleum is indeed inexhaustible and has many uses. In addition to kerosene, which is not used once in more than ten years, it can be used to make candles, lubricate axles, preserve items, and be used medically to treat scabies. It can also be filtered with a filter after heating. Out of asphalt...but these things are highly replaceable.
Therefore, when oil is extracted and used, it should be done nearby. If you have it, use it. If you don’t have it, don’t force it. Just use something else.
The generals of the seven battalions looked at Liu Chengzong's expression, and all of them were silent in thought, guessing that this city would be difficult to defeat. Finally, the general of the Ganzhou battalion thought carefully and asked: "Commander, let's not march. Already?"
Liu Chengzong was happy when he heard this.
Bee Tail Needle has been under a lot of pressure recently, because his Ganzhou battalion is the one who most hopes to attack the city, but along the way, all the acropolis and forts he wants to attack are his own, and he hopes to gain a lot from the battle. Almost pissed off.
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said with a smile: "We must march. We have already come. Why, Governor Hong has strengthened the walls and cleared the country, and I will not go forward? Then why should I come to Gansu? But we must think carefully. That city has enmity with us. The siege battle will definitely be hard."
Since the Jingnan Campaign in the Ming Dynasty, for more than two hundred years, Liangzhou has been named Yang. Three Yang family members with different ancestral origins have been serving as commanders back and forth, and they are as close as one family.
Yang Jiamo's death at the hands of Liu Shizi meant that almost the entire Liangzhou city had a grudge against him. The anger of the same enemy would make the Liangzhou defenders fight to the death... For the frontline generals, it was naturally enough to only consider attacking the city.
But Liu Chengzong couldn't think about it this way, because he had already guessed Hong Chengchou's strategic intentions.
"Hong Chengchou was a food supervisor and counselor. Although I have never dealt with him, he must be a governor of the three sides. I think his move was not just to stop me for a while by using the strong walls of Liangzhou City to clear the country, but to drag the war into winter."
As Liu Chengzong spoke, he looked at the generals with a proud smile on his face, raised his hand and said: "It's all thanks to your hard work. He must have realized that defeating us with wild force is just a dream."
The generals burst into laughter, laughing very happily, as if a great revenge had been avenged.
Because the people sitting in this government office, and a few more of them are the core of the entire Marshal's Mansion in the northwest, and these people were all Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers.
Liu Chengzong, Yang Yao, He Huchen, Yang Qi, Zhang Tianlin, Gao Yingdeng, Wei Qian'er, Mo Yujing, Han Shipan, Feng Zhen, Ding Guodong, Bee Tail Needle Zhang Zhen, Zijin Liang Wang Ziyong... one of them counts, the best in life. For a certain period of time, they were all Ming troops.
Looking at a figure like the Governor of the Three Sides, who was forced to fortify the country and dare not fight in the field, how could one not feel a sense of revenge for a great revenge?
After everyone had stopped laughing, Liu Chengzong looked solemn and appointed his guards to pull out the map of Gansu behind him. He turned to Wang Ziyong and asked, "How many soldiers and civilians are there in Liangzhou City?"
Wang Ziyong had just sat down and hurriedly stood up and said: "Come back to the commander-in-chief, there are more than 10,000 soldiers, more than 20,000 people, and the whole city is less than 40,000 people."
"Just a few people?"
Liu Chengzong asked involuntarily and frowned: "Where are the others?"
Gansu Town, also known as the Shaanxi Xingdu Commandery Division, was governed in Ganzhou. Liu Chengzong stayed in Ganzhou for fifteen days. Except for reorganizing three large camps, all his energy was focused on checking official documents.
The entire Shaanxi Province has a population of one million, and more than half of them are concentrated in Hehuang and Zhuanglang. To the north of Gulang, Suzhou and Ganzhou have not too many populations, and Liangzhou has the largest population. , there are less than 30,000 people in the city, and 170,000 or 80,000 people outside the city.
This is already the result of hard work since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, but it still has not been able to return to the population level of the Han Dynasty. The population is pitifully small. Gansu north of Gulang Gorge has less than 300,000 people together. What is this concept?
Liu Chengzong's hometown, Yan'an Prefecture, is a harsh place on the Loess Plateau with thousands of ravines. Before the drought came, the population was only 590,000 people who paid for food.
Now Wang Ziyong said that Liangzhou has less than 40,000 people in the city, so some residents from outside the city must have moved into the city. So where are the hundreds of thousands left?
Hearing Liu Shishi's question, Wang Ziyong whispered: "Hong Chengchou has moved."
To be honest, everyone knows that Liu Chengzong has a good temper, but the generals here also know that Liu Chengzong will be furious when he hears the news.
Because they all came in together from outside Jiayuguan, they were very aware of Liu Chengzong's dissatisfaction with Gansu - there were too few people.
In Hehuang, Liu Chengzong felt that there were few people and few Han people, so he finally entered Gansu. People living in this place do not need to consider where they come from.
For more than two hundred years, the Ming Dynasty made countless Chinese-style patches to Gansu and other provinces in the Yuan Dynasty. Now Liu Chengzong took advantage of him. He occupied the place with a wave of his hand and re-established the Yellow Book. It was all Han people.
But now you bastard has moved the person away... Liu Chengzong's face was livid, and he couldn't help but lightly tap his hand on the table. He tried his best to suppress the incompetent rage in his heart, and after a long while he asked: "Where did he move it?"
"Songshan, Zhuanglang, Jinglu, Zhongwei."
Liu Chengzong didn't say anything. He stood up from his chair and turned his head to look at the map of Gansu hanging behind him.
By this time, Hong Chengchou's strategic purpose was already clear in his eyes, which was not only to drag the war into winter, but also to deprive his army of food.
Liu Shizi suddenly realized that this was why Hong Chengchou did not deploy the second line of defense in Shandan and Yongchang. He deliberately gave Liu Chengzong more than 10,000 mouths.
His military rations were very limited. To conquer Gaotai Ganzhou, he relied on 60,000 shi from Suzhou. Even if he captured Ganzhou, the food and grass would only last until August. After August, he would have to rely on corn and Gaotai interplanted with wheat. The rice in Ganzhou and other places... This was originally barely prepared for winter. Only by taking Liangzhou can we stably save some food.
But now the problem arises. The land in Liangzhou was harvested by Hong Chengchou. The corn that was supposed to be interplanted until August matured in August was burned by Hong Chengchou.
The path Hong Chengchou left for him was to fight to the death with the 40,000 people in the impregnable Liangzhou City. There were 40,000 people in the city, and the army he led was more than 30,000.
To the surprise of the generals in the yamen, Liu Chengzong stared at the map for a long time, suddenly shook his head with great satisfaction, and clicked his tongue twice with satisfaction.
When everyone was puzzled, Liu Chengzong turned around and said with a smile: "This guy named Hong is full of evil, but fortunately Liu is lucky."
In fact, he would be a little scared now. If he hadn't paid great attention to building the army and completed the reorganization in Ganzhou, he would have had no choice but to follow Hong Chengchou's script and fight with Liangzhou City.
In Liangzhou City, which is hundreds of miles away with strong walls and clear fields, all their food, clothing, and siege weapons must be transported to Yongchang Guards first, and then transported to the front line from Yongchang. This kind of road consumption and pressure, for the unorganized army, A slight setback can lead to a huge defeat.
But now, the battalions under Liu Chengzong's command are fully organized, so even if they encounter setbacks, there will be no big problem. On the other hand, only a few military households in Shandan and Yongchang are participating in the expedition and are still left to farm in the guards, so there will be less pressure on food and grass in the future.
However, food and grass are still a big problem. After all, the fields in Liangzhou have been destroyed, and there is a big gap with Liu Shishi's budget, not to mention that Liangzhou City is an insurmountable hurdle.
Based on the thoroughness of Hong Chengchou's plan, Liu Shizi estimated that the food supply in Liangzhou City was very limited. It was calculated based on the use of 40,000 people until next spring, and it was enough food for the soldiers to fill up and the people to starve to death. Not much.
Unless he kills all the people in Liangzhou city, it will still be difficult to make up for the ration gap if Liangzhou is captured.
"He wants me to fight with Liangzhou to death, but I will not comply with his wishes. Liangzhou will be surrounded but not attacked - the generals will obey orders."
As Liu Chengzong spoke, he turned his head and took off his saber and pointed it at the map. The generals behind him all stood up and responded, and then heard him say: "Ma Xiang's Tangqi troops have been spreading out to Wuwei Oasis since receiving the order to detect the enemy... I guess there is no enemy in the oasis. We still need to take a look at the enemy troops and the Zhenfan Guards in the north of Liangzhou, and persuade them to surrender if they can."
"Feng Ruche Camp, after receiving the order, moved to Gulang Guard Qianhu Station, captured Gulang Gorge, and guarded the enemy forces in the direction of Zhuanglang Valley. They should be hungrier than us this winter."
"Wei Qian'er's camp is stationed at Daheyi on the southeastern border of Liangzhou, occupying the border wall and supporting Feng Yu; Zhang Tianlin's camp is stationed at Fanwei in the north town of Liangzhou. If they surrender, they will surrender. If they don't surrender, Ganzhou and Su The second battalion of the state attacked the city."
"If they surrender, Gao Yingdeng Camp and Gansu Second Camp will besiege Liangzhou without attacking. We will attack them when they leave the city. If they don't leave the city, we will let them stay in the city. The three camps have craftsmen teams. First build the battlefield artillery field and make the clay molds. Other than that, there is nothing else to do to persuade them to surrender."
"Persuading people to surrender will probably have no effect, but God has the virtue of good people. We must persuade the soldiers and civilians, etc., that the Marshal's Office has no ill intentions. From Shaanxi to Qinghai, and from Qinghai to Gansu, the people will be safe wherever they pass. He never takes pleasure in destroying fields and houses. In this disaster year, Hong Chengchou committed a heinous crime by destroying fields and houses. When the war is over, the Marshal's Office will rebuild Liangzhou."
After Liu Chengzong finished speaking, he looked at Wang Ziyong and others: "As for the rest of us, those of you who are surrounding the city should do the farming together. Let Yongchang and Shandan take the seeds and plant corn and beans. Anyway, the farming season is later. It’s a bit too much, I guess the output is not good, it’s a bit of a calculation, especially for those of you who are besieging the city.”
Liu Chengzong emphatically pointed at the besieging troops: "On the premise of preventing the Liangzhou army from leaving the city, use all the surrounding farmland. It doesn't matter how much food you grow, but you must make the people in the city look good."
"Hong Chengchou wants to use politics to solve military problems, so we will use politics to solve him. Even if I can't conquer Liangzhou City, he will never want to return to Gansu again in his life!"
Good evening!
