Compared with the war-torn mountains and seas of blood and corpses outside Tongling City, Anqing City, a hundred miles away across the river, seems to have been peaceful. There is a lake in the north of the city named Linghu Lake, which the locals call the Great Lake. Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers are on the banks of the Great Lake. This camp surrounded the city of Anqing. It is unknown what the mood of the rebels in the city was, but the officers and soldiers outside the city were very leisurely. Apart from logging and building cars, they seemed to be playing at other times every day. Some gathered together to chat and gamble for money, and some While playing in the lake and catching fish, coach Li Yan and his generals walked around the city in the morning, noon and evening every day to watch, but otherwise there was no other movement.
The tens of thousands of troops outside Anqing City have their own backgrounds. The guards led by Li Yan, Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo and Liu Wenbing can be said to have strong backgrounds and domineering generals, but these people are all It is under the control of Li Yan and everyone has to give him some face.
However, there is a special group of people who can even supervise Li Yan even if they are not under Li Yan's supervision.
Gongziying of Dongchangwei was also the old camp where Chang Yu started his business.
Gongziying is a very special existence. He is both a eunuch soldier and a Dongchang fan. He can fight when he mounts his horse, and investigate cases when he dismounts. But now that he has retired and no longer has to rush to the front line, he was appointed by Chang Yu to supervise the army, but he Unlike the previous military supervisors, they did not interfere in military affairs and only focused on military discipline.
The tens of thousands of troops are mixed, good and bad. Let’s not talk about what happened to the officers and soldiers below. Let’s take a look at what Gao Jie and his group of generals are like. The so-called up and down actions of these officers and soldiers in the past can be said to be no different from thieves or even worse. Although during this period There was a slight restraint, but what Chang Yu wanted was not restraint, but correction!
If Li Yan alone could only make them restrain themselves, the arrival of Gongziying would have a different deterrent effect. Everyone in the army knew that although the people in Gongziying were eunuchs, they were also eunuchs. A soldier with great military exploits, who doesn't have a few lives in his hands, not to mention that they belong to Dongchang, some generals will take them as soon as they ask, and when dealing with some big soldiers, they will kill them at any time.
Along the way, Gongziying was responsible for supervising military discipline, which really made Li Yan feel a lot more relaxed. Anyone who disturbed the people along the way would be beaten to death by Gongziying, and those who were serious could be beaten directly to death. For a while, the army regarded Gongzi as The camp is a ghost of the King of Hell. He stays far away when he sees it, even if he sets up camp, he stays far away. Gong Ziying is also happy to be quiet and comfortable.
After arriving outside Anqing City, the surrounding villages were empty of houses. The soldiers could not disturb the people even if they wanted to. They only gathered people to gamble or fight. The palace camp turned a deaf ear and did nothing for several days. Commanders Fan Jiaqian and Hu Ling simply led their troops. I went hunting in the mountains to the west and lived a very comfortable life.
The officers and soldiers outside the city seemed to be peaceful, but the city was on fire in the east. During the few days when the officers and soldiers besieged the city, he was busy defending the city from morning to night, mobilizing the people to demolish their houses and transport wood and stones to the city, and mobilizing the wealthy gentry in the city to donate money and donations. To provide food, we went up and down the city more than ten times a day, trying to make sure there was no leakage.
Cheng Niandong kept up his morale all the time, telling them that we could win and repel the officers and soldiers. The officers and soldiers were simply unable to capture Anqing City, and reinforcements from Marshal Bai would arrive soon...
It seems that he is confident and has a chance to win, but he is getting more and more anxious.
The officers and soldiers who had been besieging the city for several days did not start to attack the city as hastily as he expected. Instead, they were busy making various siege equipment outside the city. They didn't seem to be in a hurry. It was a good thing for him to be so calm. This is not a good sign. It either means that the officers and soldiers are prepared to be trapped in the city for a long time, or... the East Route Rebels are not in good shape in the war.
More than half a month ago, Bai Wang crossed the other side of the river and went north to attack Nanjing City to attract the firepower of the officers and soldiers and buy time to consolidate the Anqing regime. The purpose and tactics were the same as Li Zicheng's original Eastern Expedition.
However, bad news suddenly spread that Wang Tizhong surrendered to the court and led his troops to counterattack. At that time, Cheng Niandong felt that with Bai Wang in charge, Fanchang would be stopped.
So when he learned that the officers and soldiers had run all night long and Bai Wang had taken Tongling in his hands, he felt sorry but still not too panicked. Bai Wang was the best at making use of various dangerous terrains, so it would be difficult for the officers and soldiers to go further!
Later, he was besieged by Li Yan and lost contact with Bai Wang. Although he didn't know the battle situation on the east bank, he started to feel hairy because the officers and soldiers here were too calm. Just imagine if Bai Wang from the east road counterattacked Tongling and broke through the city northward. The officers and soldiers here must return to rescue them. For them, the safety of Nanjing City is far greater than that of Anqing City, which has fallen into the enemy's hands.
Since there is no movement here, it means that the East Road may still be in a stalemate, which can make Bai Wang, who has rich combat experience, fall into a stalemate. What are the backgrounds of the officers and soldiers over there?
However, it is certain that Bai Wang has not yet defeated Chizhou at this time, otherwise he would have either withdrawn south to De'an or came to aid Anqing. Cheng Niandong stood at the head of the south city and looked at the rolling Yangtze River, feeling very irritated. It may have rained in the upper reaches recently and the river has swelled and the water flow is fast. , even if Bai Wang came to help from the other side, it would not be easy to cross the river. How could tens of thousands of officers and soldiers outside the city allow him to do so easily.
Perhaps we need to be prepared for a protracted war.
In comparison, Li Yan outside the city is indeed much more relaxed, but he is also loose on the outside and tight on the inside. The looseness on the outside is for the thieves in the city to see. This is a psychological tactic, and secretly he seizes the time to catch up. While using the siege equipment, I worked with the generals to calculate the siege tactics, where to attack, who to attack, how to attack, and the bottom line of acceptable casualties.
But one thing is that Li Yan is really not in a hurry to attack the city now. If the war on the east road goes unfavorably, he will immediately ask Bai Wang to return to the rescue even if he is not fully prepared. However, the other side has made a steady move recently. When he heard that Bai Wang When the news was about to drop, Li Yan couldn't help but laugh and said to everyone: "It's a delaying trick." Zhang Qingzhen was still worried about whether the little eunuch would fall into the trick, but Huang Degong understood Chang Yu: "He only knows how to use tricks and play dirty tricks." I have never seen anyone take advantage of him."
Li Yan concluded at that time that Bai Wang's delaying strategy must be to prepare for a war. Sure enough, the good news came last night. Chang Yu led his troops to fight fiercely with Bai Wang for a day, and his troops were severely defeated. Bai Wang fled to Chizhou.
The generals were overjoyed when they heard the news, and influenced by their emotions, they all urged Li Yan to attack the city quickly. After all, many of them had gone south without success, and they were all hoping to gain military merit by attacking Anqing.
But after hearing the good news, Li Yan was not anxious at all. The officers and soldiers on the east road were unstoppable, and Bai Wang was too busy to take care of himself that he could not help Anqing. Then he could make full preparations before taking action, and he would give the thieves in the city a chance during this period. Applying psychological pressure, even if it cannot cause a mental breakdown, will have a huge impact on their morale, and there may even be surprising surprises.
Li Yan, who was a counselor, naturally had many tricks. For example, when night fell, Cheng Niandong, who had just come down from the city and returned to the Yamen to rest, was shocked by a letter of surrender sent by his own soldiers.
The letter was sent in by officers and soldiers from outside the city, and was written by Li Yan himself. Bai Wang was defeated yesterday and lost most of his troops. At this time, he was tied up in Chizhou City. He had to surrender in the next day. The general should find another way out. He should leave the city and surrender. Let's forget it. Yan, willing to die to ensure that the general's life is safe and the future is bright...
Ahhhh, Cheng Niandong angrily tore the letter into pieces: "You are deceiving the public with your evil words, even if I am the real person, I will not surrender to him!"
However, the soldiers told him that in addition to this letter, the officers and soldiers outside the city also sent in many surrender documents. They said that Baiwang was defeated on the east road, and he had to surrender within three days, otherwise the army would attack the city. , a reward of a thousand taels and the possibility of promotion. For a while, the thieves in the city were whispering.
Cheng Niandong was shocked when he heard this and hurriedly led his people to the city. He was afraid that the soldiers' morale would change and they did not dare to go back to the city.
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To explain the problem, under normal circumstances, Chang Yu will call himself the governor when he is in front of military generals or unfamiliar court officials or in formal occasions. People who are close to him, familiar people or some top bosses will call himself our family, Dongchang. His subordinates or personal attendants would call him Governor, Governor, military generals or ordinary officials would call him Governor, and more powerful people, such as some princes, nobles and even important officials in the court would call him Eunuch Chang.
