In the eighth year of Chongzhen, September 30th.
Gao Yingxiang led his troops to besiege Jingyang and Sanyuan for a month.
The siege lasted for more than a month. Although they scaled the walls of the two cities many times, they were all driven out of the city without exception.
Unlike the embarrassing situation in history, the Ming army gradually regained the initiative in the later stages of the battle. .
On September 20th, Cao Wenzhao attacked the rogue camp at night, defeated seven camps in a row, and killed King Wabei.
Later, Zuo Liangyu, Cao Bianjiao and other generals also made gains, winning consecutive field battles.
Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong suffered setbacks one after another, the morale of the troops fluctuated, morale dropped, and the offensive was no longer what it was before.
Skeletons were scattered all over the ground outside Jingyang City. At the beginning, some people collected the bones of soldiers who died in the battle.
But when the war gradually became intense, no one stopped to collect the bones of the hungry soldiers and troops who died under the city.
The Ming army was unable to take action and did not have enough energy.
The rogue bandits, on the other hand, did not want to take the risk of being shot to retrieve their own bodies, because it was meaningless.
At this time, in addition to the unpleasant rancid smell that was always permeating the inside and outside of Jingyang City, there was also the smell of blood that lingered no matter what.
In the past few months, at least ten thousand people have died under Jingyang City.
When the pile of corpses was at its largest, the bandits could even climb the hill of corpses directly onto the wall of Jingyang City.
How can this bloody smell dissipate?
The sky is red like blood, and the blood-red sunset reflects on the blood-stained earth. The whole world is covered in blood, and it is strange and terrifying.
On top of the Jingyang City Tower, Hong Chengchou wore a pointed iron helmet with red tassels, a sleeveless fish-scale waist-length armor, a python robe and a brocade war skirt underneath, and stood behind the protective wall with a sword.
The red rays of light shone on Hong Chengchou's body, making people feel extremely uncomfortable at first glance, but Hong Chengchou himself was completely unaware of it.
Behind Hong Chengchou, Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao, He Renlong, Sun Shoufa, Gao Jie and others all stood silently.
The rogue bandits outside the city seem to be ready to retreat, and their offensive is getting weaker day by day. As expected, this battle will be concluded in October.
Except for Gao Jie, everyone looked indifferent, as if victory was the right thing to do.
Gao Jie stood at the back of the group of generals. He could not remain calm like the others.
In the past month, Gao Jie has seen more things than he has seen in more than twenty years of his life.
When he was on the side of the rogue bandits, he only thought that the Ming army was very strong.
But I don’t know exactly how strong it is.
Now that I am truly in the Ming army's camp, I understand a lot of things.
The Ming army is divided into three, six or nine levels. Not all Ming armies are strong. This is common sense. Gao Jie knew it when he was a bandit.
Now that he has entered the Ming army's camp, Gao Jie also knows a little bit more about the inside story.
Among the Ming army, the guards were the weakest and the lowest class. They were generally used as auxiliary soldiers and civilians.
The combat strength of the battalions in Jiubian Town is uneven, and the armaments are also unevenly distributed.
Military towns and camps in Yansui, Yulin, Guyuan and other places in the northwest can only be considered medium-sized and have average armaments.
The battalions in Liaodong, Changping, Jizhou, Xuanfu and other towns are of the highest quality, with the most adequate food and salary, and the best weapons and equipment, and almost all of them are wearing armor.
The Ming army marched and fought in a systematic manner, and they also cooperated with each other.
On the other hand, the bandits outside the city only had the most basic order. Once they started fighting, they completely became chaotic.
Although they fought for a month, they made some progress after all, and obviously had a lot of strategies, but this progress was still far from catching up with the Ming army.
Gao Jie subconsciously glanced to the north.
Gao Jie didn't know much about the north, but he also heard about the Ming army's defeat on the northern battlefield. He knew that the Ming army had an opponent in the north who called himself Jin.
Mongolia, which had been fighting with the Ming army for hundreds of years, was defeated. Now the entire northern land belonged to the Jin, and Mongolia became a subsidiary of the Jin Kingdom.
Jin soldiers entered the pass several times, and even Cao Wenzhao, whom they feared, suffered a lot in Shanxi and was demoted and sent to the army.
Those majestic Liao Zhen soldiers always lost more than they won when facing the Jin soldiers.
Gao Jie felt cold in his heart. Today, there are natural and man-made disasters in the court, and wild beasts are watching outside. It is amidst the storm.
Gao Jie had not read any books, but he instinctively felt something was wrong.
Countless thoughts lingered in Gao Jie's mind. Gao Jie recalled the things that Xing had analyzed for him and sorted them out slowly.
The golden sound of retreating troops sounded outside the city again, and the army of rogue bandits quickly receded towards the south like the ebbing tide of the sea.
Gao Jie narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced eastward unconsciously.
To the east is the location of Sanyuan, which is now guarded by Zuo Liangyu, Zhang Quanchang and others.
Gao Jie suddenly remembered something. When he was in Chunhua, Zuo Liangyu recruited more than 2,000 surrendered troops.
That was a deal between Zuo Liangyu and Chen Wang. Chen Wang not only gave Zuo Liangyu 2,000 surrender troops, but also surrendered nearly 3,000 troops himself and gave him 2,000 troops.
It was these two thousand troops that allowed him to be directly promoted to camp officer.
You must know that last year, He Renlong only promised him a thousand presidents.
I heard that Zuo Liangyu left nearly 3,000 people in Wucun and Wawu, which meant that Zuo Liangyu had nearly 8,000 soldiers under his command, including the troops in the main camp.
Gao Jie's eyes wandered to the generals in front of him, and he suddenly remembered something.
At a party at the beginning of the month, a military officer drank a little too much and told an old story about Zuo Liangyu.
While in Huaiqing Mansion, Henan Province, Zuo Liangyu had a dispute with the local governor and even left the court.
Then the governor used documents to recruit his troops, but Zuo Liangyu failed to enlist on time. The matter was once brought to the court, but was suppressed in the end.
Gao Jie's eyes flickered. He felt that he had vaguely grasped an extremely important point, and there was only a thin layer of window paper between him and the truth.
But it is this layer of window paper that cannot be penetrated and the truth cannot be seen.
At this moment, Hong Chengchou's deep voice came from the front.
"How is the situation in Gongchang Mansion now?"
Hong Chengchou had turned around at this time and asked in a deep voice.
Gao Jie hurriedly stood still, his expression became solemn again, and he held his breath and did not dare to make a sound.
Guerrilla Sun Shoufa, who was standing in front of him, took a step forward and walked out of the queue, bowed his head and reported the report.
"Gongchang Prefecture sent a message to Qinzhou that the bandit chieftain Li Guo and his troops have passed through Qinzhou, and guerrilla Chen Wang led his troops to pursue them."
"Chen Wang chased the rogue bandits and fought a battle at the foot of Qinzhou City. The bandits' troops were completely wiped out. A tiger named Li Guo led a fine horseman army and was defeated southward."
Sun Shoufa had already sorted out all the messages that had been sent to him, and when Hong Chengchou asked about it, he immediately responded.
"Chen Wang reported that in the battle at Qinzhou, he beheaded 327 enemies and captured 2,000 of their infantry. Li Guo escaped with his cavalry and fine cavalry."
"But the men and horses under his command were exhausted, and the losses were serious. The magistrate of Qinzhou refused to pay the army rations on the grounds that the three-day deadline had not yet expired. Now the army rations are about to be cut off, so we can only temporarily garrison the south of Qinzhou..."
Hong Chengchou frowned and his expression darkened.
All the generals on the tower were shocked. Everyone knew that Hong Chengchou was actually angry, but he just didn't show it.
It is common for local states and counties to use various reasons to avoid providing military supplies to guest troops.
They all heard the military report that Chen Wang pursued Li Guo all the way from Chunhua in Xi'an Prefecture through Pingliang Prefecture to Gongchang Prefecture. On the road of hundreds of miles, only a few prefectures and counties provided food and grass, and the rest found various kinds of supplies. Reason to shirk.
However, the prefectures and counties of Pingliang Prefecture could still find suitable excuses for their evasion. After all, the southern area of Pingliang Prefecture that Chen Wang passed through was the most severely affected by disasters and famines.
A large number of places were looted by rogue bandits, and nine out of ten houses were empty. Even if they were not provided with military rations, there was nothing to blame.
The reason why Hong Chengchou allocated an extra portion of military rations and military resources was because he considered the situation in Qingyang and Pingliang.
However, most places in Gongchang Prefecture were not affected by disasters this year, and war and banditry were only in Zhangjiachuan, Qingshui and other places, and did not affect Qinzhou and other places.
Hong Chengchou also had a ledger in his mind regarding Chen Wang's military rations. Those military rations would last for about a month at most before they would be exhausted.
Sun Shoufa saw the obvious change in Hong Chengchou's expression and stopped talking.
Hong Chengchou's eyes moved slightly and he said in a deep voice
"go on."
Sun Shoufa did not dare to disobey the order, lowered his head again, and reported.
"Li Yangchun, the Four Heavenly Kings who fled from Fengxiang Mansion to Gongchang Mansion in early September and plundered, and the two Climbing Heavenly Kings are now in Jizhong Mountain in the south of Qinzhou."
"Chen Wang reported back from the reconnaissance cavalry sent out. Li Guo seems to want to join his two troops."
"Once they are reunited, the bandits' strength will swell to 30,000, and his troops alone may not be enough to cope with this new situation..."
Hong Chengchou raised his hand to stop what Sun Shoufa wanted to say next.
The Four Heavenly Kings Li Yangchun and the Climbing Heavenly King ran from Fengxiang Mansion to Gongchang Mansion in early September.
There are still two or three groups of bandits raging in Fengxiang Mansion, and Yan'an Mansion has now turned into a pot of hot porridge.
Yu Chongxiao's death in battle caused the morale of the entire Yansui Town army to fluctuate. Since the civil uprising began in the first year of Chongzhen, this was the first time that a general soldier died on the way to the suppression.
Hong Chengchou looked sideways at the sunset that was slowly fading downwards to the west.
"This is an order to Chen Wang. No matter how well you train your troops in peacetime, it is useless. If you don't go to the battlefield, you will be a weak force after all the blood."
"The matter in the west has been delayed for too long and cannot be delayed any longer."
Hong Chengchou turned his head, facing the generals standing on both sides, and said in a deep voice.
Cao Wenzhao raised his head slightly, and he heard the implication of Hong Chengchou's words.
It is not a secret that Chen Wang recruited 2,700 surrender troops.
When Hong Chengchou mentioned troop training, he was referring to the surrender of the battalion recruited by Chen Wang.
To be honest, most generals and commanders have done this as a driving force for recruiting troops to surrender.
Although Cao Wenzhao himself did not recruit them as soldiers, he also used them as auxiliary soldiers and dead soldiers.
Cao Bianjiao also recruited a lot of surrender troops when he suppressed the rebellion in the south.
Among the generals, the two who recruited the most surrendered troops were Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong.
Sun Shoufa is currently under the direct leadership of Hong Chengchou, but in fact he is subordinate to He Renlong.
Sun Shoufa was originally a rogue bandit. He was captured by He Renlong in the fifth year of Chongzhen and was recruited and surrendered. Later, he was promoted to guerrilla due to his merits.
The more than a thousand cavalrymen under Sun Shoufa are all elite cavalrymen who were once rogues, and they are quite powerful in combat.
Including Sun Shoufa, He Renlong's descendants numbered about 3,000 people.
Zuo Liangyu has recruited almost five to six thousand surrender troops.
An average general has more than a thousand surrendered troops under his command.
As a guerrilla, it was normal for Chen Wang to recruit about a thousand surrender troops.
But after the Battle of Chunhua, Chen Wang suddenly recruited 2,700 surrender troops, which naturally attracted a lot of attention.
This number is normal for a commander-in-chief and a deputy general, and there is nothing wrong with the general's words.
But for guerrillas, this number is a bit too much.
Because the average guerrilla commander only has about a thousand soldiers. Although Chen Wang's guerrilla army was given two thousand soldiers, this was because of the special circumstances of the current campaign.
Hong Chengchou cast his eyes at the right time, and Cao Wenzhao lowered his head a little again.
Cao Wenzhao knew clearly that Hong Chengchou was telling him to hit Chen Wang.
"Human Dragon."
Seeing Cao Wenzhao's understanding, Hong Chengchou's eyes no longer lingered on Cao Wenzhao.
"The humble position is here."
He Renlong responded to the order, clasped his fists and promised with a deep voice.
He Renlong himself was extremely burly, and the fish scale armor that was just right on others looked bulging on him.
"After this battle is over, you will lead your troops and join Zhang Quanchang in Yan'an Prefecture to suppress the bandits."
"As commanded."
He Renlong answered simply and calmly, then stood back in line.
Hong Chengchou looked slightly relaxed, although the battle situation was unfavorable.
But with the two obedient Dinghai Shenzhen, Cao Wenzhao and He Renlong, the situation would not be overturned no matter what.
Hong Chengchou was about to give another order, but the sound of rapid footsteps in his ears made Hong Chengchou stop talking.
Under the gaze of everyone, a soldier carrying an order of cavalry has stepped onto the city tower.
"There is an urgent report from Miyuan. A large number of rogue bandits have been found in the south of Miyuan City, and their troops are moving eastward."
"The reconnaissance cavalry was repulsed by the rogues' elite cavalry. Looking at their flags from a distance, they saw the flags of the eight kings Zhang Xianzhong, Lao Huihui Ma Shouying and other ten battalions of bandits."
"There are about one hundred thousand bandits marching eastward. The soldiers under Zuo and Zhang are very exhausted and cannot bear to be pursued. They urgently come here to report and ask for instructions from the military on how to proceed."
Hong Chengchou's expression condensed slightly.
The rogue bandits marching eastward again did not exceed his expectations.
Shaanxi has suffered from natural disasters for many years, and the military strength of the rogue bandits has continued to expand, now reaching nearly 300,000 people.
How could Shaanxi feed such a large population just by plundering it? The rogues would definitely need to move eastward again.
"Ignore them, wait until the number of the besieging troops is reduced to 50,000, and then order them to leave the city and attack with all their strength."
Hong Chengchou looked eastward.
The east side was gradually being swallowed up by darkness.
Lu Xiangsheng has entered Henan, and Zu Kuan and other generals have also led their troops to gather in Henan.
There are now tens of thousands of soldiers in Henan, and he had also laid out layers of defense in Henan before.
The rogue bandits fled eastward, playing into their own ambitions.
