In the first month of the first year of Wuding, Chuang King Li Xianzhong continued to besiege Hequ, and Centipede Block also marched to the west bank of the Yellow River to block the retreat of Kaiyuan's army from the west.
The sheepskin rafts and canoes on the west bank of the Yellow River were all destroyed by bandits. Li Xianzhong and his old buddy Centipede Block gave up their eastward march and concentrated their efforts to attack from the east and west. Hundreds of thousands of bandits gathered in northwest Shanxi and surrounded the Kaiyuan Army in an attempt to Destroy this lone army in the isolated city of Hequ.
Deng Changxiong was aware of the bandits' intentions early on, so he ordered Wang Zengbin to lead his cavalry to rush westward, giving the illusion of reinforcing the Xi'an Prefecture. Dozens of times more, and the more he fought, the more he fought. Deng Changxiong realized that blindly breaking through the encirclement would only lead to an earlier defeat. After casualting some of his elite troops, he once again retreated to Hequ and waited for reinforcements.
This lonely army without foreign aid will soon be destroyed.
In early February, the food in Hequ City was exhausted. The reinforcements and supplies promised by Emperor Wu Ding last year had not yet arrived. Deng Changxiong and Wang Zengbin had long despaired of the reinforcements. Only Sun Chuanting still believed that the Protector of the Country would never abandon the Western Expeditionary Army. Help is on the way.
However, there are less than 5,000 defenders left in Hequ, and the number of bandits gathered around is increasing day by day. These bandits have enough food and grass, and they can collect food more efficiently, burn, kill, loot and requisition food on the spot. They hated the Kaiyuan army so much that Li Xianzhong declared many times that he would massacre Hequ to avenge his nephew, a bear.
The strict military discipline of the Kaiyuan Army determined that the soldiers could not rob the people like the bandits, nor could they surrender to the bandits, because surrendering now would mean death.
On the eighth day of February, the county government hall of Hequ County.
The skinny Deng Changxiong sat at the top of the lobby, flanked by Sun Chuanting, Wang Zengbin and others. More than 30% of the Kaiyuan civil and military officials who filled the county government lobby two months ago have disappeared. I'm much thinner than I was a few months ago.
"The auxiliary soldiers have started killing the mules. There is no food transportation anyway, so there is no use keeping them."
Wang Zengbin lowered his head, not knowing whether it was because of hunger or depression, or both. He lowered his head when he spoke and did not look at the other people around him.
"oh."
Deng Changxiong opened his mouth to express that he understood.
Sun Chuanting heard the two talking and looked up at the thin Deng Changxiong. It was hard to imagine that the thin man in front of him was still big and round three months ago.
“After killing the mules, is it time to kill the horses?”
After hearing this, the commander of the cavalry regiment immediately turned back and glared at Sun Chuanting, as if he had been beaten to death, and replied in an unquestionable tone:
"It's absolutely impossible. We have to rely on cavalry to break through. How can we break through without horses? You can't kill horses even if you kill people!"
Sun Chuanting sneered and shook his head. His face was pale and it seemed a little difficult to smile.
Hequ City has been without food for seven days. In order to prevent the soldiers defending the city from starving, several generals took the lead in halving their daily rations. The military trainers and staff members only ate one meal a day. Of course, This is just a drop in the bucket.
"Reinforcements have not arrived, food and grass have been cut off, and the bandits will not retreat. Now that the matter has come to this, let the wealthy families in Hequ City take the lead in donating. If the Kaiyuan Army is defeated, it will be useless no matter how much food, gold and silver they leave behind. .”
Sun Chuanting's eyes became cold. Despite Liu Zhaosun's repeated suppression, Sun Baigu would immediately return to his true nature of not caring about human life whenever he was in desperate situations.
The two generals looked at each other without saying a word. Everyone knew the character of Emperor Wu Ding. To put it bluntly, it was to attack the bandits. He was the one who besieged Hetuala. No matter how great your military achievements are, as long as you dare to slaughter people, you will be killed by him. Behead.
Wang Zengbin said worriedly: "What if they refuse to hand over?"
Sun Chuanting's eyes became cold: "If he refuses to hand over, he will be charged with being a thief, and his family will be confiscated and his clan will be exterminated. Emperor Wu Ding handed over the affairs of Shanxi and Shaanxi to us, but did not give us any assistance. We can only act in an expedient manner. We will take advantage of the rich in the city." All the households and those with surplus grain were killed, and it was only said that they were killed by bandits. I heard that there were many Shanxi merchant branches in Hequ County. These people usually smuggled trade and were only interested in profit. There was no guarantee that there were no spies of Li Xianzhong among them, so they killed To avoid future troubles, the door should be opened when someone is inside.
Only the two generals and this officer are aware of this matter. Find trustworthy subordinates to do it. Don’t worry. If the news leaks out in the future, I will be responsible for everything. "
Deng Changxiong took a breath and looked up at Sun Chuanting blankly. The ruthlessness shown by Sun Chuanting shocked even him, a warrior who had experienced hundreds of battles and killed many people.
"I'm afraid it's inappropriate to do this."
Wang Zengbin is well-informed, and he also knows that Hequ County is based on commerce, and seven out of ten merchants in the city. If Sun Chuanting's method is followed, it is estimated that the surviving merchants in the city will also be slaughtered by the Kaiyuan Army. .
Remembering the last time they massacred the city in Hetuala, Emperor Wu Ding almost killed Kang Yingqian and Sun Chuanting. Everyone around them shuddered and did not dare to agree with Sun Chuanting's suggestion.
Sun Chuanting looked around and saw that everyone had different expressions. Except for a few young generals, everyone else had their heads lowered, not knowing what they were thinking.
Seeing this situation, he would only take a step back and continue:
"In that case, let's ask them first and let them collect military supplies first. If they can collect the necessary supplies for the army to defend the city, there will be no need to go into such a big fight. Killing people is always a bad idea."
Under Sun Chuanting's coercion and inducement, the wealthy households in the city donated grain one after another, especially those grain merchants who had connections with Shanxi merchants. They knew the Kaiyuan Army's attitude towards Shanxi merchants, so they rushed to donate grain.
Hequ was originally a prosperous place. It was not difficult to find a dozen pigs, tens of thousands of catties of grain, and tens of thousands of catties of pasture.
Soon, the fat pigs, grain, and fodder were escorted by two virtuous squires - one tall and one short - to the bank of the Yellow River to work for the army. ,
Both gentlemen brought two bags of dongzhu and ginseng, in order to show their respect to the generals of Emperor Wu Ding and to show that the people who came out of Hequ had seen the world.
The grain and fat pigs were given away, but Dongzhu and ginseng were returned as they were. The Kaiyuan Army gave them gold and silver of equivalent value, which was used to buy grain and grass. The two squires lowered their heads, holding the gifts, and kept thinking. road:
"This is a divine weapon! This is a divine weapon! Don't take advantage of the common people!"
The "magic weapon" spread throughout the city in a short time.
But the people in Hequ who heard the news began to feel scared - they had never seen a Ming army that neither robbed nor stole from the people.
If you don't rob the people, how can the generals and generals make a fortune? If the gentlemen don't make a fortune, how can they be willing to use all their strength in war? How can they defeat the thieves without using all their strength?
The people of Hequ once doubted: Emperor Wu Ding only sent a thousand men. Can these thousand men stop the enemy?
Now, they fully believe that Kaiyuan's army is worth one to a hundred. Even if the bandits really have 100,000 troops, they are still here to die.
~~~~~~
The long-awaited reinforcements from Ji Town finally arrived. Man Gui's 1,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry troops had just arrived at Hequ when they were besieged by bandits ten times their own number. Mangui refused to retreat and was shot dead by the intruders.
When the news that Liu Zhaosun proclaimed himself emperor reached King Chuang's ears, Li Xianzhong didn't believe it at first. He was so angry that he almost fainted.
"I haven't even proclaimed myself emperor yet, and this bitch has already become emperor! How unreasonable! Send troops with me to capture Beijing, and I want Liu Liu and his grandson to be emperor for only one month!"
Ma Jinxing suggested that King Chuang use the slogan of revenge for Emperor Tianqi, because he had heard that the vassal kings in Jiangnan, Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou and other places had begun to raise troops to serve the king, and some vassal kings had even declared themselves emperors.
After all, Ma Jinxing was born in Juren, and he still had some political awareness. He realized that now was an opportunity, an opportunity for King Chuang to conquer the world and become the most powerful person in the Ninth Five-Year Plan.
So Ma Jinxing strongly suggested that King Chuang not to bother with the isolated city of Hequ for the time being, but to mobilize elite troops and travel day and night to enter the city of Beijing before other Qinwang armies, defeat the Kaiyuan army, and obtain Emperor Tianqi's final edict. Bring the capital to order the world.
Li Xianzhong listened to the think tank's suggestion and said disapprovingly:
"What kind of edict? When did Emperor Tianqi write his edict? Why didn't I know about it? Besides, Liu Zhao and Sun's elite troops are all in Beijing. Do you want me to die?"
Ma Jinxing patted Chuang Wang on the shoulder, raised his elegant goose feather fan out of habit, fanned it into the cool air, squinted his eyes and said:
"I have three strategies: upper, middle and lower. Which one do you want to hear first, lord..."
Li Xianzhong was blown by a gust of cool wind and sneezed. He grabbed the goose feather fan, threw it to the ground, and said angrily to Ma Jinxing:
"Stop talking nonsense! Talk about the best policy."
Ma Jinxing shook his head, sighed, and said after a long time:
"At present, all the heroes in the world are going to conquer the Liu thief. Emperor Tianqi is dead, and the edict of the dead can be written by the living. Liu Zhaosun even ignored his generals. It can be seen that the troops are stretched at this time. It is a good opportunity to destroy him. The best strategy is Use the power of the world to enter the capital and occupy the territory of the capital..."
Three days later, Li Xianzhong left 20,000 troops to besiege Hequ, while he led the main force to the east quickly, ensnaring the refugees along the way. The Ming troops in Shanxi Province had been owed wages for a long time, and no matter who Emperor Wuding was or Emperor Wending, he did not wait for the invasion army to approach. They all looked at the wind and joined the army of thieves who came to Beijing to ask for wages.
