"Chen Wang..."
On the mountain ridge, Li Zicheng held the riding whip tightly, his expression was cold, and a cold light flashed across his eyes.
There were shouts of killing at the bottom of the mountain. Li Zicheng watched the soldiers under his command retreat again like an ebbing tide, his expression getting colder and colder.
Although attacking Hanzhong is just a false move, it is naturally better to be able to attack it.
There are not many places in Gongchang Mansion that can be plundered, and most places are pitifully poor. On the other hand, Hanzhong Mansion is different.
Most of the cities in Hanzhong Mansion are still intact. Once you break into Hanzhong Mansion, you can obtain a large amount of grain, grass, gold and silver in a short time.
But now, it's Chen Wang again.
Starting from Qiutou Town, Li Zicheng had been planning for a long time, but both Ai Wannian and Liu Chenggong were defeated by him.
Just a little, just a little, just a little away, Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao will be surrounded and killed by him in Qiutou Town.
But this Chen Wang seemed to pop out of the cracks in the rocks and suddenly appeared in the ranks of the Ming army, disrupting all his arrangements.
And when he was in Chunhua, he could have captured Chunhua in one go.
But that fire burned all his plans and everything he had accumulated for a long time.
In the end, he fled Chunhua with less than a thousand people, and even separated from his nephew Li Guo.
When Li Zicheng received news about Li Guo again, it was the news that Li Guo had been killed.
Li Zicheng stared at the situation on the entire battlefield down the mountain with sinister eyes.
After the battle in Chunhua, he had focused part of his attention on Chen Wang.
He watched Chen Wang rise to the top all the way, but he himself was chased almost to the sky, with no way to go, and no way to the earth.
The last news I received about Chen Wang was the news that Chen Wang killed Gao Yingxiang in the Blackwater Valley formation...
This Chen Wang seemed to be his nemesis.
"Woo————"
The low horn sound sounded again at the bottom of the mountain. Li Zicheng looked at the observation tower behind the Ming army camp in the distance. He knew that Chen Wang was on the observation tower right now, observing the entire battle situation like him.
The attack has lasted for nearly a month, and Mian County is right in front of us, but the last hurdle cannot be overcome no matter what.
Li Zicheng had left more than 4,000 corpses here, but he was unable to advance the front even one step.
With the intensification of casualties, successive defeats and lack of progress in battle results, the morale of the army is now frighteningly low.
"Brother, continuing to fight like this is not an option..."
Although Liu Zongmin was usually reckless and had a deep hatred for Chen Wang, he also knew that this battle could not continue.
"The man under his command has excellent muskets and artillery, and he also has a thousand heavy armored soldiers under his command. They can't be cut with swords or pierced by spears. Every time the troops and hungry soldiers who charge past finally break through the walls of the officers and soldiers, they immediately Then he was killed back by the heavy armor of the officers and soldiers in the camp."
During so many days of attack, they had not climbed over the wall, but every time they climbed over the wall, they were quickly driven out of the camp again.
Those who retreated from the front line reported that there were a large number of shield carts placed behind the officers and soldiers' camp, with many officers and soldiers hiding behind them. They were wearing heavy armor and holding strong bows, waiting for them.
The armor on those officers and soldiers was thick, and the crossbows in their hands were powerful. They were completely different from the Kaiyuan bows held by ordinary officers and soldiers. The arrows were like small spears.
If someone is hit by an arrow, regardless of whether he is wearing armor or not, he will lose his fighting power or be killed on the spot, and will be unable to fight again.
Sometimes, officers and soldiers would suddenly open the gate of the village and launch a sudden counterattack.
They were wearing heavy armor, and firearms such as three-eyed guns and bird guns could not do much harm to them, let alone ordinary bows and arrows.
The heavily armored soldiers of the Ming army drew their bows and fired arrows as close as thirty steps away. Their shooting skills were extremely accurate, with almost no missed shots.
After several rounds of rapid fire, they launched an assault forward together. The soldiers in the front line could not cover them at all, and they often collapsed thousands of miles away.
Li Zicheng's eyes narrowed slightly, and he had naturally obtained all the information Liu Zongmin had obtained.
I also heard a little bit about Li Zicheng, the heavy armored soldier under Chen Wang. His soldiers were not only Han Chinese, but also Mongolian.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Mongolians actually accounted for a large proportion of the Nine Borders. Two men, Fierce Tiger and Hu Dawei, were Mongolians who had returned from the north. Both of them eventually became general soldiers.
Gao Yingxiang also had a considerable number of Mongolian cavalry under his command. The military department reported to Chang Ziyu during the incident: "There are hundreds of thousands of rogue bandits, and the strongest is the Chuang King. The Han soldiers under my command have surrendered to Ding many times, and the generals have fled. They are unstoppable."
Li Zicheng naturally had many Mongolian soldiers under his command, and many of these Mongolian soldiers had fought against Hou Jin.
Li Zicheng also learned some news about Hou Jin from these Mongolian soldiers, such as how those people fought...
Chen Wang used exactly Jiannu's tactics.
Li Zicheng's eyes jumped, and the defeat on the battlefield did not affect his mood too much.
Anyway, the attack on Hanzhong Prefecture from beginning to end was just an attack in the east and in the west, in order to hide his real intention-to attack Sichuan.
Li Zicheng was thinking about one thing now. He had never really seen Jiannu's fighting method before. He had only heard it mentioned a few times by his Mongolian soldiers in conversations, so he didn't have a detailed understanding.
Therefore, we have always adopted the same old tactics as when we were in the border town, including fast horses, light swords, soft bows and long arrows.
After fighting for many years, this method is indeed effective. The reason why we can survive until now is precisely because of these four things, and we have fought thousands of miles and still not been defeated.
But this time he saw Chen Wang using Jiannu's tactics with his own eyes, and he felt that the tactics used by Jiannu did have merit.
Heavy armor, heavy arrows, and shield-carrying artillery are indeed very powerful in improving combat power. They are absolutely invincible when used to attack fortresses and break formations in the field.
Perhaps, this method of warfare can also be extended to the military.
Select elite cavalry, one person with two horses, or three horses, and equipped with three layers of heavy armor, a strong bow and heavy arrows.
They rode up to the front of the battle, opened the gap with strong bows and heavy arrows, put on heavy armor and directly rushed away from the enemy's formation. The subsequent horse troops followed closely to expand their advantage.
It's just that the shield car is a bit difficult to make. How to make a shield car that is difficult to damage with cannons is still a problem. Moreover, if you bring a shield car, the transfer speed will inevitably slow down. If the Ming army encircles you, it will be too late to take it away, so the shield car will not be able to be taken away in time. I can’t get the car.
The shield vehicle cannot be carried, but hungry soldiers can be used as a substitute, so that the hungry soldiers can act as human shields to resist cannons.
Li Zicheng's thoughts were spinning rapidly. In many places, he could not compare with his uncle Gao Yingxiang.
But there is one thing Gao Yingxiang cannot do compared to Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng is good at learning, accepts many new things faster than ordinary people, and is often able to draw inferences from one example.
At the beginning, Chen Wang of Qiutou Town used round-robin fire and concentrated the instantaneous firepower from cannons and Franchise machines to cover his retreat.
Li Zicheng quickly summarized a set of tactics suitable for his own army after the war. He used a small number of bird blunderbuss as medium and long-range firepower supplements. Most people used three-eyed blunderbuss, and he did not forget the Tiger Crouching Cannon and the Crouching Tiger Cannon. Franco machine.
It was precisely because of this set of tactics that Zhang Waijia rashly went out of the city to fight without knowing what was going on, and suffered a lot of losses under Li Zicheng, which indirectly led to the subsequent defeat at Sanshui.
Li Zicheng held the riding whip and walked forward a little, looking up at the defense line built by Chen Wang.
Tactical tactics were one aspect, but he felt that the camp set up by Chen Wang at the intersection also had merit.
In the past month, after the initial testing, and now the organized crowd attack, many consecutive attacks have failed to achieve any results. A large part of the reason seems to be because of the strange building set up by Chen Wang. 's camp.
Different from ordinary square camps or simple concave and convex camps, the camp set up by Chen Wang has many protruding sharp corners, as many as eight or nine densely packed, like a thorny bouquet with sharp edges.
Between those large sharp corners there are some small sharp corners, which are all made of piles of earth and wood.
The wall is not vertical, but slopes to a certain extent.
From the top of the mountain, Li Zicheng could have a panoramic view of everything on the battlefield.
He could see that the charging soldiers were not only difficult to climb and browse through such a camp, but they would also be attacked in multiple places while attacking.
The sound of guns and artillery fired by the officers and soldiers almost never stopped. According to the reports of the generals who retreated from the front line, when they were in the front line, they could only feel the sound of gunfire and artillery in all directions. There were enemies on the front and back, and there was almost no room to hide.
Perhaps, it can also be used for defense in the future...
It's just that some of the details still need to be observed. Li Zicheng is still a little unclear in many places and has not figured out the key points.
"For the next wave of attacks, let the Ma Army take some of the craftsmen from the army to the positions of the front line and the middle army. Let them observe how the officers and soldiers' camps are built. Let them keep it in mind. It will be of great use to me in the future."
Li Zicheng raised his riding whip and gave an order to Liu Zongmin who was standing beside him.
"Don't worry, brother, I will handle this matter myself."
Liu Zongmin did not dare to neglect. He immediately received the military order and walked straight down the mountain.
His intuition told him that the matter that Li Zicheng was concerned about was not a trivial matter.
When Liu Zongmin walked towards the bottom of the mountain, he happened to meet Gao Yigong who was hurriedly walking up from the bottom of the mountain.
Gao Yigong's expression was solemn, as if he had received some bad news, but Liu Zongmin did not ask.
Liu Zongmin didn't want to think too much about troublesome things. Anyway, it would be no problem if Li Zicheng came to pay attention to the big things. His trust in Li Zicheng was already deep in his bones.
"King Chuang..."
Gao Yigong looked embarrassed and stepped forward.
Li Zicheng frowned slightly, he had noticed something wrong with Gao Yigong's expression.
He sent Gao Yigong to collect intelligence. With Gao Yigong's expression now, there might be something wrong with some important link.
"It's nothing, but it doesn't matter."
Li Zicheng stabilized his mind. He knew that at this moment, he must keep his heart as calm as possible.
Gao Yigong thought and glanced around, but did not speak immediately. Instead, he stepped forward a little again and spoke in a low voice that only Li Zicheng could hear.
"The scouting horse reports that the officers and soldiers from northern Sichuan are concentrated at Qipan Pass. The surrounding areas of Qipan Pass are on full alert."
"A troop of about 2,000 soldiers and horses passed through the southern part of Mian County, followed Ningqiang, and galloped towards Qipanguan. After checking the flag, they became the general..."
Gao Yigong stopped talking, his voice trembling slightly.
"who is it?"
Li Zicheng was a little dissatisfied with Gao Yigong's attitude. He saw the fear on Gao Yigong's face.
Gao Yigong calmed down and said.
"I found the flags and soldiers. They seem to be Datong soldiers under Cao Bianjiao..."
Li Zicheng's hand holding the riding whip froze in mid-air. Hearing Cao Bianjiao reminded him of some bad memories.
"Qipanguan..."
Li Zicheng's expression changed slightly, and he felt a little embarrassed.
"Didn't Hou Liangzhu lead his troops to retreat to Guangyuan? Why did they arrive at Qipanguan again?"
In order to attract the attention of the Ming army, he stormed Hanzhong Prefecture and asked King Zhengshi to lead troops from Jiezhou and Chengxian to attack Xihe and Lixian.
The chess he played had already been effective. In May, Hou Liangzhu withdrew his troops from Qipanguan, stood firm in Guangyuan, and began to suppress the bandits in the province.
But now that there is less than a month before the plan is launched, the Ming army suddenly increases its troops towards Qipanguan.
Not only did Hou Liangzhu lead his troops northward and stationed at Qipanguan, Cao Bianjiao, who originally followed Sun Chuanting, actually entered Hanzhong Mansion early and then rushed to support northern Sichuan via Hanzhong Mansion.
Qipan Pass is easy to defend but difficult to attack. In the seventh year, Li Zicheng entered Ningqiang of Hanzhong Mansion once. At that time, he saw the defense of Qipan Pass with his own eyes.
Qipanguan Pass has a dangerous terrain and is easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is located at the mouth of the lower mountain of Qipan Ridge. The pass road is winding and winding, circling seventy-fold, so it is called "Qipanguan".
Hou Liangzhu has more than 2,000 people under his command, and Cao Bianjiao has brought more than 2,000 people. Now there are more than 4,000 people guarding Qipanguan.
Hou Liangzhu and Cao Bianjiao are both first-rate generals. With them guarding Qipan Pass and so many soldiers following them, it would be much harder to conquer Qipang Pass without going to the sky.
Li Zicheng looked gloomy and raised his head to look at the battlefield in the distance again.
It was a small matter that Qipan Pass was difficult to attack, but this action of the Ming army undoubtedly meant that they had seen through his original plan and knew that his real intention was to attack Sichuan.
The road to Baoning Prefecture in Sichuan was cut off, and the heavy defenses set up by Chen Wang of Hanzhong Prefecture were difficult to overcome. Hong Chengchou of Gongchang Prefecture in the north had already set up a dragnet.
To the west is the desolate and mountainous Minzhou Guard with fierce folk customs.
The original trail to Xi'an Mansion was discovered after it was used, and now it has been blocked by troops sent by Sun Chuanting.
From the Tang report received not long ago, I heard that Sun Chuanting was already leading the Dubiao Battalion under his command, together with generals such as Luo Shangwen and Li Yuchun, as well as thousands of guardsmen, passing through Fengxiang Mansion and heading south towards Fengxian County. Fight away.
You can't go south, you can't go east, you can't go west, and there is no way out from the north.
The current situation seems to be like being in a carriage canyon, falling into a deadlock and falling into a siege...
Li Zicheng narrowed his eyes, and a cold look appeared in his eyes.
He did not fall into panic because of this. Since the battle of Chunhua, he had become more and more cautious. Gao Yingxiang's defeat also sounded the alarm for him, so he always had a backup plan when making plans.
There is not only one way to go south via Qipanguan, he also knows a way to Sichuan.
The Ming army is now increasing its troops at Qipanguan and gathering troops, which is actually not a bad thing.
On the contrary, it is a good thing...
I will draw a situation map for you tomorrow, otherwise you may not understand it well.
(End of chapter)
