Since ancient times, siege warfare has been extremely difficult. The defenders have a huge advantage and can often win with less.
"Sun Tzu's Art of War" says:
"So the first is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the enemy, the second is to attack the army, and the third is to attack the city."
"The method of siege is a last resort. Repair the oars and culls and equip them with equipment. It will be completed in three months."
"It's three months away from the fort. The enemy will be so angry that the ants will attack it and kill one-third of the soldiers, but if the city cannot be taken out, this attack will be a disaster."
It is difficult to attack a city with sufficient siege equipment, let alone a simple ladder.
It is undoubtedly a fantasy to rely on such a crude ladder to rely on those hungry soldiers who are hungry.
Even if Li Zicheng later invested elite cavalry and cavalry, it would be difficult to capture Chunhua.
It is impossible to bypass Chunhua, because Chunhua is located on the road to the Guanzhong Plain.
If they make a detour, Chunhua City only needs to detach its cavalry to attack halfway through, and it can cause more than 100,000 people to collapse.
As long as we hold on for seven days, ordnance and reinforcements will arrive from Xi'an Mansion, and the siege of Chunhua will be easily solved.
Although there were tens of thousands of rogue bandits, they sounded massive and had an advantage.
But there are not many soldiers but elites. There are not many elite cavalry and horse troops under Li Zicheng. Although he has obtained the equipment of the Liao soldiers, some gaps cannot be narrowed by relying on equipment.
Chunhua City has an advantageous location, with more than 900 Liao cavalry, plus more than 800 infantry who arrived later, plus the guards and young men defending the city. It is really outrageous that they cannot hold it for seven days.
When He Renlong was besieged in Longzhou City, Li Zicheng also led the army.
Li Zicheng continued to attack for two months, but in the end he still failed to break through the city.
The reinforcements promised by Hong Chengchou will definitely arrive.
Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong are now gathered at the junction of Fengxiang Mansion and Xi'an Mansion. The total strength of the two armies has reached about 250,000.
This was already an extremely terrifying scale. After entering the Guanzhong Plain, the Ming army had no danger except the city.
There are many rogue cavalry, and as soon as they enter the Guanzhong plain, they are like birds flying into the sky or fish flying into the sea.
Even including Cao Wenzhao, there are only more than 10,000 people in total.
Ten thousand to two hundred and fifty thousand, one to twenty-five, is already a very disparate number.
Li Zicheng and Hui Deng originally had 60,000 to 70,000 people. Now that they have broken through Sanshui and captured more people, the North Road bandits have exceeded the 100,000 mark.
If Chunhua can be defended by sending a partial force of two to three thousand men, then there is no reason to put the rogue bandits from the North Road into the Guanzhong Plain.
The reinforcements promised by Hong Chengchou were actually the remaining battalions under Tian Yinglong's command. After the integration, there were about a thousand people left, and the rest were transferred to other battalions.
This remnant camp after integration is now led by deputy general Liu Chenggong and is heading north.
Cao Wenzhao led his troops to Xingping and Hong Chengchou in the south for a peace meeting. Xingping was the main battlefield that truly determined the victory of the Guanzhong War.
It is easy to defend Chunhua, but Chen Wang wants to do more than just defend Chunhua.
Now he needs a big victory to exchange for military glory and establish his current status.
Although it is difficult to get promoted, it is not difficult to get promoted.
Battalion military positions can be promoted as long as one has sufficient military merit, and the governor has the power to control the battalion officers and generals.
It's a little difficult to recruit generals and deputy generals, but it's easy to promote generals and guerrillas.
The official rank is different. It must first be reported to the Ministry of War, etc., and then rewards will be given based on merit.
But Chen Wang doesn't care about the grade.
Having soldiers in hand is the real thing.
In troubled times, storms are rising from all directions, and those who have soldiers are the grass-headed kings.
Any official title, any title of wife and son, are all illusory.
The Ming Dynasty is already riddled with holes, and the roots are already rotten.
All the things and glory obtained will perish with the collapse of Mingting.
"History of the Southern Ming Dynasty" can even be read by people who are angry at it. It is simply a ridiculous history.
To defend Chunhua, Hong Chengchou gave him a mediocre evaluation at best, acquiescing to his status as a battalion general. By then, the number of troops would be reduced to more than 2,000.
But this is far from enough. He needs more soldiers and more power.
As a battalion soldier, there is very little autonomy. Unlike the Guards, which has a fixed station, they can farm and develop, and they even have craftsmen who can make ordnance.
Once the battalion soldiers receive military orders, they must obey the dispatch and set off on the road.
Many battalions and generals of the Ming army were constantly being mobilized inside and outside the pass, and they were exhausted.
Even if he is as arrogant as Zuo Liangyu, he can only delay it for a little time at the beginning and dare not really disobey the order.
As a battalion soldier, it is almost impossible to find a place to develop.
Moreover, during the Chongzhen period, there were very few places where one could farm with peace of mind.
In the early years of Chongzhen, the drought was limited to Shaanxi, and the number of people affected was not large. The grain harvest was severely reduced, and people and animals were hungry, which set off the prelude to the civil uprising.
But as time goes by, the drought continues to spread and expand from north to south.
From Shaanxi to Shanxi, then to Beizhili, then to Henan, to Huguang and other places.
By the thirteenth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, the precipitation was less than half of previous years.
The price per stone meter even rose to five taels.
Large areas of farmland were affected, with all the seedlings drying up and the crops failing.
All drinking water such as Fenshui and Zhanghe in Shanxi dried up, all nine rivers in Hebei dried up, and Baiyangdian dried up, making the civil unrest more intense.
Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan and other places were not only hit by drought, but also suffered from locust plagues and more serious plagues.
An official in Henan announced: "A severe drought has spread throughout the province. All grasses have withered. The water in Luo River is no more than a foot deep. All vegetation, animal skins, insects and flies have been eaten. Many people have died of hunger. Deaths from starvation are carried along the roads. The land is desolate."
The famine in Shaanxi has made matters worse. The record says: "The rice market is extremely prosperous, the wood bark and stone noodles are all gone, the father and son and the couple cut each other apart, and eighty-nine out of ten people died."
South Zhili, Jiangnan, Shandong and other places are beyond reach and cannot be visited at all.
There are only two places that I can go to in the future that are not seriously affected by the disaster.
One is Sichuan, and the other is Huguang.
There are not many roads that Chen Wang can take. There are only a few people placed in front of him, and many of them are dead ends.
In the late Ming Dynasty, it was not easy to be a loyal minister. Those who were loyal to the court wholeheartedly would listen to both the tune and the propaganda. The examples of Ai Wannian, Cao Wenzhao, Lu Xiangsheng and others showed reluctance.
It is said that those who did evil in the previous life will be attached to the province in this life. They are full of evil and attached to the provincial capital.
So most of those who served as camp soldiers in the late Ming Dynasty were probably full of evil in their previous lives.
There is actually only one path left for Chen Wangneng to take - to follow the path that Zuo Liangyu took in history.
The shadow of Zuo Liangyu flashed in Chen Wang's mind.
Zuo Liangyu was one of the best among the generals in the late Ming Dynasty.
He was not beheaded by the Qing army because he was tired of running for his life, he was not killed in battle because of the governor's mental retardation, and he was not casually beheaded by civilian officials.
Of course, you can't completely follow Zuo Liangyu, then this is also a dead end.
In the later period, Zuo Liangyu was actually being carried forward by his generals. He had no way to control such a huge army at that time.
It is now August, and the Ming court's edict has been issued.
Lu Xiangsheng was appointed as the premier of the five provinces, overseeing the military affairs of the five provinces of Nanzhili, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan and Huguang.
Hong Chengchou was responsible for encircling and suppressing the rogue bandits in the northwest of Shanxi and Shaanxi, and Lu Xiangsheng was responsible for encircling and suppressing the rogue bandits in the southeast.
The majority of the troops led by Chen Wang are still Liao soldiers, and their organization is also that of Liao Town. It is very likely that he will follow Lu Xiangsheng to Henan...
