Tang Jiuzhou on Liupan Mountain wanted to cry but had no tears.
That day, he led his troops out of Jingfu Mountain and faced Gao Yingdeng, the general of the Marshal's Mansion who stopped him.
Tang Jiuzhou always thought that there were two camps. Seeing that they only built one camp and there were other camps scattered outside, he thought that the relationship between the two camps was not good.
This situation is very common. For example, in the Battle of Hunhe, the Zhejiang soldiers and the Sichuan soldiers fought fiercely before the war started. Naturally, it was impossible for them to cooperate closely on the battlefield.
So Tang Jiuzhou plans to defeat one first, and then the other, and we are Nurhachibenchi.
I never expected that Gao Yingdeng had a camp, so he naturally only built one camp. The reason why he put half of the soldiers outside was so that he could omit the cumbersome step of leaving the camp gate when he broke through, and could directly drive him up to fight. .
Anyway, the season is good now, it is April in the human world, and the soldiers in the Marshal's Mansion are used to sleeping in the wild. They are more comfortable resting outside the camp than in the camp. They are really not used to sleeping in beds in private houses.
Tang Jiuzhou was very well prepared for the attack on the enemy's formation, but he couldn't stand it. The camp officer under Gao Ying's bid was named Tang Tong.
The greatest contribution of this former mid-level officer of the Ming Dynasty who was demoted to a general was to change the standard ammunition load for the heavy gunner. In addition to the large bullets of one, two and five cents, three three-cent bullets were added to the same load. The dosage of the medicine greatly increases the lethality of heavy guns against dense formations.
Tang Jiuzhou's cavalry was on a par with Li Baliang's cavalry under Gao Ying's bid during the engagement stage. Before the Phalanx line entered the hundred-step range, his artillery relied on the six-shot rapid fire of the Franco machine cannon. Gao Yingdeng's thousand-pound cannon stabilized the voltage in a short period of time.
But the distance between the two armies became a hundred steps, and the situation turned around instantly.
At this distance, the marshal army created by Liu Shizi could be anyone's nightmare.
Zhang Yang's gun used a long barrel and a large caliber to spray lead bullets that penetrated the man cave, and each salvo of the heavy gun ensured that a row of people would be shot neatly... Being shot may not necessarily lead to death. Three coins The bullet had no ability to penetrate armor at such a distance, but it was scary.
Firearms that can kill people with one hit are not scary, people will know to hide when they see them; firearms that can't kill people with one hit are not scary, people will be very brave.
The most frightening thing is that you don’t know whether the firearm will kill someone. With a bang, the bullet that hits the body may be a large bullet weighing one, two or five cents, directly punching a hole in the person’s armor; it may also be a bullet. Three coins for a small bullet, a small innocuous lead cake baked on cloth-covered iron armor.
Torture!
In the six years since Tang Jiuzhou traveled across the Central Plains, he found for the first time that his army was not obeying his command.
Although this kind of offensive came and went quickly, the marshal's army on the opposite side only fired a few volleys before changing their formations to the east, just to make way for the mountain road leading to Liupan Mountain. Tang Jiuzhou borrowed the donkey down the slope to run up the mountain, thinking It is necessary to fight a wave of condescending defensive battles according to the mountain conditions.
Unexpectedly, Gao Yingdeng had no interest in him at all. He only sent the cavalry to intercept half of his baggage, and then camped at the corner of the mountain, assuming a "If you don't come down, I won't go up" attitude.
At that time, Tang Jiuzhou didn't know that there was a man named Wang Wenxiu on this mountain, who had traveled all the way from Lanzhou to play the role of catching a turtle in an urn.
Tang Jiuzhou was almost frightened to death when he went up. There was Marshal Wang Wenxiu in front of him and Gao Yingdeng, a fierce general in the rear. He couldn't go down the mountain road on both sides and could only run around on the mountain.
But the mountains were not peaceful either. As they walked, the army stepped on the landmines laid by Yang Chengzu. As they walked, a Luo Rucai jumped out of the forest and beat him up. As they walked, Li Wanqing led his musketeers to ambush a row of people on the side of the road. Random shooting and not enough food for the soldiers.
Finally, we finally built a camp on the mountain. However, we were under too much mental stress. We made a roar while sleeping. We cut ourselves and beat ourselves up for half the night. The sound of guns and cannons could not be heard without stopping. Luo Rucai, who was following him in the forest, was frightened. The next day, he only Seeing corpses everywhere in the camp, most of the remaining camp was broken into pieces and collapsed, breaking through the defense line and escaping into Jingfu Mountain.
On the other side, the main force of the marshal's army, led by Liu Chengzong himself, also successfully broke through the imperial defense line after capturing Longzhou. The soldiers finally got rid of the endless mountains and entered the fertile Guanzhong Plain.
However, in terms of war, Liu Chengzong didn't know whether his march should be said to be smooth or not.
On the first day after landing on the plateau, his marching army encountered hail, and many soldiers were beaten to death. However, because of the hail, Wei Qian'er on the front line directly sent someone to convey the news. , Fengxiang Mansion was captured.
Wei Qian'er was originally helpless about Fengxiang Prefecture. Fengxiang Prefecture was different from other places. It was basically a place where the gentry was autonomous.
Its last prefect was named Shen Jin, who led the officials and people to build the Shen Gong Canal and did a lot of good things. But Wanli Wanli was still alive at that time, and the old Huangli was dead.
Ordinarily, such a place should be easier to attack, but the difference between Fengxiang Mansion lies in two points. Firstly, the landlords here are resolute in their armed attitude. Secondly, they are well-equipped. They have a water-filled red cannon on the top of the city. The cross-fire can completely suppress the several field cannons in Wei Qian'er's hands.
The person responsible for guarding the city was a rural gentry named Sun Peng. Since Catholicism was introduced to Fengxiang Mansion in the third year of Chongzhen, he was baptized into Christianity. He became friends with Wang Zheng and Han Yun, learned a lot, and followed Wang Zheng's example in Sanyuan. The Loyalty Armed Forces established in Fengxiang Prefecture also established a landlord's armed force, which incorporated Buddha statues and cast cannons, making the war defense more impressive.
Wei Qian'er fought with Liu Chengzong, and the tactics he mastered were all things Liu Shishi had done.
Under the influence of his ears and eyes, he knew that the best way to attack a city was to use artillery to break down the battlements of a strong city, so that the defenders could not stand on the city wall, and then climbed onto the city to capture the city wall and engage in hand-to-hand combat.
But this time, the guard cannons on the city were heavier than his war cannons, hit farther, and were protected by battlements, so they couldn't take advantage of the shelling.
So he prepared to dig tunnels and blow up the city wall like Liu Chengzong did when he breached Jiayuguan. However, Fengxiang City was located along the Donggou River and Zaozi River, and there was a moat, so the tunnels could not be dug through.
Since quick victory methods were not possible, Wei Qian'er could only use clumsy methods. He led a large camp with complete officers and had the skills to cast cannons and manufacture siege equipment on the spot, so he recruited people on the spot to cut wood and mine iron, and quickly made them. Siege machinery and forging heavier siege guns.
Fengxiang Mansion was hit by a locust plague last year, and now it is less than May and it is the lean period. There is a famine in the place. There are people begging for food along the way, so it is extremely easy to recruit people.
But no one expected that the hail would come as soon as possible, and a hailstorm would crush Wei Qian'er's camp to the point of collapse.
Wei Qian'er was unable to attack the city outside the city. He was in a mess. He felt that he was the first to lead the troops into Guanzhong. The Generalissimo entrusted him with the important mission of attacking Fengxiang Fucheng, but he was helpless against such a strong city. He felt very sad. It's guilt.
In fact, this is not his fault. If he is to blame, he can only blame him for following Liu Chengzong in the war.
Liu Chengzong was very clever in fighting. He never attacked a fortified city that was difficult to capture or an enemy that was difficult to defeat. He would go around when he needed to and retreat when he needed to. Therefore, he was invincible in every battle. That was because he only fought against opponents who could win. Only attack cities that can be conquered.
A normal attack on a fortified city would take months and years in any era.
But how do others know his psychological dynamics?
Wei Qian'er simply felt that if the generalissimo were here, the city would collapse on its own.
Therefore, he felt very frustrated. As a result, it started to rain first and then hail. Wei Qian'er, who was hanging his armor, was covered in black bruises and his head was bleeding. He has never been more embarrassed in his life.
Unexpectedly, just when his army was in such a state of disarray that he almost lost his belief in victory-the defenders left the city.
Sun Peng left the city with the landlord's armed forces he personally trained!
To be fair, that was indeed the best time to go out to fight in the city. The more than 5,000 soldiers in Wei Qian'er's camp dispersed due to the report, and were scattered in various houses and villages on the outskirts of Fucheng's four passes. Heavy weapons such as guns and artillery were also carried out because of the report. Not suitable for use when it rains.
If the anti-rebellion frontier troops fighting all over the world leave the city, they will most likely defeat Wei Qian'er.
But the landlords’ armed forces?
Wei Qian'er's camp didn't even use firearms. They only used swords, guns and bows to beat the defenders out of the city to pieces. They followed the defeated army into Wengcheng until they captured Fengxiang Fucheng. I just made a wheel.
This sudden change in the situation made Wei Qian'er have a silly smile on his face.
Until Liu Chengzong arrived in Fengxiang Fucheng and ordered people to open the grain depot, Wei Qian'er couldn't laugh anymore.
The grain depot was so empty that even the old rat had to wipe his tears when he walked in.
Liu Chengzong's face was livid. He didn't care about Fengxiang Prefecture. Ever since he led his army out of the mountains and entered the plains of Fengxiang Prefecture, he thought it was a blessed land that had not suffered from military disasters. He never thought that the famine situation in Fengxiang Prefecture was far worse than that in Liupan Mountain. The barren areas to the west were even more shocking than what he saw in Yan'an Mansion.
Desolate areas can be seen everywhere on the plateau, where hungry people migrate. The wasteland is full of dirt roads trampled by groups of people in the fields. Even some good fields near rivers and canals are not cultivated. Villages are in ruins. The scene of farming and living can only be seen in the fields near the remote and large household forts.
Just when Liu Shizi led his army from Longzhou to Fengxiang Fucheng, which was more than a hundred miles away, Tang soldiers picked up a dozen abandoned boys on the roadside.
In the past, Liu Chengzong and his group of soldiers in the military forts along the Jiubian line had heard about selling children for money, which means selling children for money; but now in Fengxiang Mansion, what they saw was selling children. Women abandon men.
Liu Chengzong knew the reason all the way here.
Selling sons and daughters is not something that people can sell or vend as they want. What these big-headed soldiers encountered in the border areas was not just drought. In fact, the suffering they suffered was just the impact of drought in Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places. Border, so it just creates a big gap between rich and poor.
Yan'an Prefecture is the second most populous prefecture in Shaanxi, but it is not the second most densely populated place because Yan'an Prefecture is so large that it can almost equal four Fengxiang Prefectures. In the past, there were more than 45,000 households and a population of nearly 600,000.
As most of Fengxiang Mansion is located on the Guanzhong Plain, the population is very dense, with a population of up to 300,000.
In this era when the equipment gap between the peasant uprising and the regular army was the largest in history, it was difficult to raise a peasant army on a large scale on the plains. Liu Shizi knew this best.
At the beginning, he also went through the process of grain robbery by more than a dozen backbones and dozens of clan youths, and obtained a large amount of grain.
With the money and wealth from successful cases, we can select a dozen backbones from people, gather people to rob the city, rely on complex terrain to guerrilla, and then snowball to grow.
Fengxiang Mansion obviously does not have this foundation. There are five checkpoints with troops stationed in all directions in seven counties in one state, five inspection departments with a small number of armed forces, and a guard station for thousands of households. In the process of the refugees transforming from bandits and robbers to rogues, In the middle of the war, hundreds of ordinary people who rose up in rebellion could not even run into the mountains. A ninth-level patrol inspector came over and wiped them out.
The problem before Liu Shishi now is that not only are people in Fengxiang Mansion starving and needing government relief, but his more than 40,000 troops also need food.
Wei Qian'er said: "Commander, although there is no food in Fengxiang Prefecture, there are many wealthy families in Fengxiang Prefecture who can get food."
Liu Chengzong frowned for a moment, weighed it in his mind, and then returned to his normal color, saying: "After so many years of drought, last year there were still locusts... I'm afraid that even if we collect grain in Fengxiang Mansion, the grain and grass obtained will not be enough to relieve the hungry people at the same time. It’s for the army to eat, but it doesn’t matter, you can handle this first, and according to our old rules in Gansu, get the food first.”
He thought that by gathering grain in Fengxiang Mansion, he conservatively estimated that he would be able to get enough food for the army for one or two months. However, the food would be spent very quickly, and the local government would definitely have to provide some relief. After the relief was completed, this batch of food would probably be used by the army. I ate to a great extent.
The current situation in Shaanxi has been marked by droughts for consecutive years and a locust plague last year. Even in the Guanzhong Plain, the pressure on the people has probably reached its extreme. Xi'an Prefecture may not be able to meet his military needs.
After all, Xi'an Prefecture is wealthy, but its population density is higher than that of Fengxiang Prefecture. More than half of the entire population of Shaanxi is gathered in Xi'an Prefecture. The most numerous people in the world are the poor. The poor have no defense against natural and man-made disasters - of course the sufferings of others are not The most critical question.
The most critical issue is that Liu Chengzong has become greedy in recent years.
With a population of millions, he can't just fight a war on his own and let everyone starve to death.
But if he wanted to take care of the hungry people, the difficulty of the Guanzhong Battle would have to go to another level: he had to end this battle as soon as possible.
Because of the current lack of officials in Fengxiang Prefecture, the large Hao families who each sweep their own snow are not enough to deal with the threat of a locust plague. Last autumn and winter, there was obviously no organizational capacity to exterminate locusts. There is not only Fengxiang Prefecture in the north with this kind of situation. ? Xi'an Prefecture also has no prefect, and the situation is not much better.
At the turn of summer and autumn this year, locusts will come back.
To resume production, the campaign must be ended as soon as possible.
Liu Chengzong still had to ask the princes of Xi'an Prefecture and Hanzhong Prefecture to provide his military supplies.
Wei Qian'er had just gone down to gather his troops and went to the countryside to look for rich households in search of food. Yu Linqi came running from outside the city and reported: "Commander, Zhang Tianlin, the commander of the front camp, sent a messenger to report that when the front camp besieged Baoji, The Tang soldiers encountered Li Zicheng's troops and learned that Zuo Liangyu of Qinzhou had been lured out of the city by Zhang Yichuan and was setting up camp to fight in the field."
Yu Linqi said: "General Zhang asked if it is possible to withdraw from the siege of Baoji and join forces with General Chuang to attack and suppress the general army?"
Liu Chengzong's spirit was shaken, and he waved his hand and said: "That's it! Let the front camp withdraw from the encirclement, send troops to the west to assist Zhang Yichuan, and try to annihilate Zuo Liangyu as much as possible. I will fight Baoji!" (End of this chapter)
