Yu Xiuwen was determined to defend Linxiang to the death, so he never wavered in his idea: to defend Linxiang to the death!
He tried every means to defend Linxiang, and before the Chu army launched a large-scale attack on the city, he had already rejected his subordinates' suggestions to retreat from Linxiang several times.
This change is also a huge change from the previous sand table deduction conducted by the Chu Army.
When the sand table deduction was conducted, Chen Yongfu, who played the role of the Ming army general, did not have so much burden on his heart, so he was able to make more rational judgments.
When it is necessary to hold on, we will hold on, and when things cannot be done, we will decisively lead the army to break through.
During the sand table simulation, Chen Yongfu led the defenders to not only inflict thousands of casualties on the attackers, but also successfully led an elite main force of two to three thousand to retreat in both sand table simulations, leaving enough for the subsequent defense of Changsha. of elite strength.
But in reality, the real commander of the Linxiang garrison, General Xiuwen, had never thought of retreating.
Similarly, during the sand table simulation, in order to conquer the defenses outside Linxiang City, the attackers paid the price of at least a thousand casualties.
However, in actual combat, the Chu army only paid the price of two to three hundred men and conquered all the protrusions outside Linxiang City.
The difference between sand table deduction and actual combat is huge.
This is also the time when the staff department formulates a combat plan. Although it will refer to the process and results of the sand table deduction to a certain extent, it will not refer to it too much.
In war, human factors have a great impact.
And people are uncontrollable.
Therefore, there will always be many surprises in wars, which is why most wars will not proceed according to the pre-war predictions of the warring parties.
The same is true for this Linxiang attack.
According to the previous expectations of the Chu army, when our side conquers all the protruding defenses outside Linxiang City, the morale of the Ming army in the city will be greatly shaken, and the Ming army will most likely retreat and flee. If it doesn't work, a certain amount of strength will flow out to prepare for a breakout.
But in actual combat, the Ming army in the city did not do this at all.
On the third day, after clearing the protrusions outside the city, the Chu army began to launch a real fierce attack on the front line of the city wall. It was still an overwhelming artillery bombardment, and a large number of elite infantry in heavy armor began to attack the city.
The Ming army in the city resisted very tenaciously, and sent armored elites to the top of the city many times to carry out resistance operations.
However, after this situation occurred, Luo Zhixue and others outside the city were not unhappy at all. Instead, their smiles gradually grew.
Now at the beginning of the battle, most of the Ming army's elites were sent out to resist, and they resisted head-on. This situation is a good thing in Luo Zhixue's view.
Because the Ming army sent its elite to fight from the beginning, it seemed that it could better resist the Chu army's attack. However, the limited number of elites in the Ming army would also be quickly consumed in the early stages of the battle.
When the few elite soldiers of the Ming army are all used up, even if there are ten or twenty thousand soldiers left, it will probably be of no use.
The total strength of the Ming army defending the city is only about 20,000. According to the investigation of the Chu army, the number of combat soldiers is about 3,000. The rest are ordinary guardsmen, temporary recruitment of young and strong people, etc. The Ming army.
The real core combat strength of the Ming army defending the city is the three thousand soldiers who have undergone formal long-term military training and are well equipped.
These people had already killed and injured hundreds of people in the previous battle for the outer protrusion.
In the previous battle for the outer protrusion, it seemed even more cruel. Without a considerable number of elite soldiers to serve as the backbone, and relying solely on the support of ordinary guard soldiers, it would probably collapse on its own after a casual shelling by the Chu army.
Therefore, the Ming army at that time dispatched many soldiers to serve as the backbone and lead the guards to resist.
After the protrusions outside the city fell one after another, although some soldiers escaped, most of them were not able to recover them and either died in battle or became prisoners of war.
Now the Ming army defending the city immediately sent out its only elite troops to resist.
The situation seemed okay, but it further accelerated their collapse.
No, when a group of Chu army garrison commandos rushed up from the northeast corner of the city wall and began to climb the city, a large number of armored Ming soldiers also appeared on the city top in this direction.
The Chu army's attacking troops saw that things were not going well and quickly chose to retreat.
But although the Chu army's infantry retreated, the bombardment still continued!
And because after their own infantry retreated, they fought more intensively because they didn't have to worry about accidental injuries.
After all this, they counterattacked and killed only about 20 Chu troops, but the number of troops killed and injured due to the shelling reached over a hundred, half of which were elite soldiers.
Similar situations occurred in other places, even in several places at the same time.
On this day, the Chu army only dispatched the 8th garrison division as the main force to attack the city. After a day of vigorous fighting, they lost about 500 people.
However, they killed and wounded at least a thousand Ming soldiers in the city, half of whom were Ming soldiers.
On the fourth day, the Chu army replaced the Sixth Defense Division as the main force and continued the attack. Although Yu Xiuwen was heartbroken at the huge loss, he still had to hold on and resist.
But as he fought, Yu Xiuwen gradually discovered that the number of elite soldiers at his disposal had dropped from more than 3,000 before the war to less than a thousand now.
The total number of casualties in the past few days is probably more than 5,000, but half of them are soldiers.
At the same time, he also noticed that during the two consecutive days of siege operations, the Chu thieves sent out only second-rate troops like the garrison. Although the real gray thieves would be dispatched every time, they basically stayed behind and used guns and artillery to provide firepower. Support, and rarely personally participate in wall-climbing operations.
"The thieves are trying to consume our strength!"
Yu Xiuwen realized that he had guessed what the bandits were thinking, but now he had no other choice.
The rebel army's offensive was so fierce. If the soldiers had not been used to lead the stubborn resistance, I am afraid that they would not have been able to survive the first day, and they could still have defended there until now.
This is life!
If it were Chen Yongfu here, he probably wouldn't agree with Yu Xiuwen's ideas and actions... You idiot, you wouldn't have gathered three thousand soldiers and assigned them to different places to serve as a supervising team!
Fighting with the bandit army, let those guard soldiers, let the young and strong come forward.
With elites supervising the battle, we are not afraid that these guardsmen will not resist desperately.
In this way, even if we can't hold on until the end, our elite troops won't suffer too many casualties, and we can break out of the encirclement directly...
You fool, you'd better fill in the elites as soon as the battle breaks out!
However, Chen Yongfu will never understand Yu Xiuwen's thoughts and practices.
Similarly, Yu Xiuwen would also dismiss Chen Yongfu's ideas and practices.
According to Yu Xiuwen, this battle will be lost!
Similarly, Yu Xiuwen never thought of retreating and escaping with a group of elite soldiers. He even lined up his elite soldiers on the battlefield in advance.
How can I put it, I am not prepared to live anymore, and naturally you who are my subordinates don’t expect to live either.
If they are all dead, then the matter is over, and he can be considered worthy of Yang Sichang's kindness, and he can also get rid of the current situation that is extremely painful every day.
On the fourth night after the Chu army launched the siege, Yu Xiuwen wrote many letters, asked several of his confidants to carry the letters, and took advantage of the night to leave the city and head toward the west.
One of the letters was to his father, telling his son that he was prepared to fight to the end and would repay the kindness of raising him in the next life.
The second letter was to the eldest son, saying that I am going to die. You should remember better in the future, be more thoughtful in doing things in the future, and take good care of your mother and grandfather.
In addition to letters from home, there is also a letter to Yang Sichang!
In his heart, Yu Xiuwen truthfully stated the situation of the Chu army in the four days since they attacked the city, without any concealment!
He also said that there are less than 800 elite soldiers left in the city, and the ordinary guardsmen and young men are already panicked. Many people have already escaped in the face of the battle, and they may not be able to survive tomorrow.
The humble position has decided to live and die with Linxiang in order to repay the favor of being appreciated and used.
In the end, he even cursed the imperial court in the letter. Even Chongzhen was called a coward by him. There have been so many emperors in the country for more than two hundred years, but you are the most stupid...
Everyone in the imperial court is a loser!
He also drew out the fake Chu for comparison, saying that Chu's thieves, monarchs and ministers were of one mind, and the high-ranking civil and military officials acted with integrity.
On the other hand, when the imperial court pulled out a pound of rice, the soldiers could not even eat a tael.
In such a dynasty, how do you ask the soldiers to use their lives? What's the use of life?
The man is about to die, but his words are good...
No, it should be said that Yu Xiuwen knew that he was going to die, so he had no scruples about what he said, so he sprayed everything that should be sprayed and shouldn't be sprayed.
——
The next day, which was the fifth day after the Chu army launched the attack, just as Yu Xiuwen expected, the Chu thieves on this day only used the garrison to attack at the beginning, and the intensity of the artillery bombardment was not too strong.
But when it was approaching noon, the Chu bandit generals outside the city seemed to see that many of the elites in the city had been exhausted and the guardsmen were fleeing in large numbers, so they immediately increased the intensity of their attack.
The intensity of the artillery bombardment was even comparable to the intensity of the bombardment on the first morning. The rumbling sound of the artillery was very dense and non-stop.
Not only was the artillery fire very fierce, but the troops attacking the city were not just the garrison divisions. The main force of the rebel army, the Fifth Division and the Guards Division, each sent troops to participate in the siege.
When the Chu army sends out even the main force to participate in the battle for the city head, it means that the Chu army will launch a final attack, and the outcome will be decided in one battle.
In the city, after hearing that many city walls and even city gate towers had been lost, Yu Xiuwen, dressed in military uniform, was sitting in the lobby holding a knife!
He looked around at several of his close subordinates, took a deep breath and said, "Where is Mr. Wang?"
The confidant next to him said: "Master Wang has hung the beam a quarter of an hour ago, and Mr. Li County is also going with him. The younger one has put them into the coffin according to their instructions before they died!"
Yu Xiuwen looked calm: "Well, it's almost time, it's my turn!"
At this time, a close soldier nearby said: "Master, it's more than that. As long as we leave now, we can still leave!"
Yu Xiuwen snorted coldly: "Shut up, today the army has been destroyed and Linxiang has fallen. How can I survive alone?"
After saying that, he swept around again and said: "After I die, two people will be left to handle my affairs. They will burn it directly with kerosene. They must burn it completely. They must not let the thieves take away my body!"
"I, Yu Xiuwen, am an official of the Ming Dynasty in life, and a ghost of the Ming Dynasty in death. I will definitely not let those Chu thieves humiliate me!"
After that, Yu Xiuwen waved his hand and asked these people to go out. After everyone went out, Yu Xiuwen slowly pulled out his waist knife, and paused for a while while holding the knife, until the sound of gunshots and fighting could be heard outside.
He took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, grabbed the waist knife and wiped it on his neck...
After a while, two soldiers came in, poured kerosene directly on Yu Xiuwen's body, and then lit it on fire.
The fire suddenly shot up into the sky, lighting up half the sky!
