stubborn thief

Zhang Xianzhong's plan was to attack the city in caves.

First build a dam to block the river upstream, then use the cover of chariots to dig seven or eight tunnels directly from the end of the city's artillery range, empty the moat, then insert a few blasting tubes under the foundation of the south city wall and blow up a slope. .

Zhang Shangshu's blasting tubes are several two-foot-tall trees.

He had the trunk cut open, the core hollowed out and filled with gunpowder. The two halves of the trunk were combined into one, and the seams were filled with yellow mud and tied tightly with ropes to make blasting tubes about the same height as the city wall.

During the military meeting, Zhang Shangshu was frothing at the description of the prospect. He thought that these tree trunks filled with gunpowder and sealed were transported to the bottom of the city wall. With just a bang, the city wall could be blown out... Liu Shizi... That's all I heard.

Because according to his estimation, the charges of these blasting tubes were not enough to blast a gap in Qianzhou City.

If he hadn't interrupted and asked Zhang Xianzhong to implement this plan, the Minister of Rites of the Marshal's Mansion might have run away with his people in four days.

On the one hand, the amount of explosive charge is insufficient. The main problem lies in the shape of the blasting tube. If you are blowing up small cities with a city foundation thickness of about three feet, this tactic can basically blast a gap in the city wall; but in the face of something like Qianzhou For a large city with a city foundation six feet thick, the earthwork needed to shake the city foundation was much greater than Zhang Xianzhong's calculations.

The cave siege itself is not a new technology. Yuan Shao used it when he defeated Gongsun Zan.

However, there was no gunpowder at that time, so tunnels were dug under the city wall, the foundations were hollowed out, and wooden beams were used to replace the foundations while digging, to prevent the walls from prematurely collapsing and burying the tunnels.

When everything that needs to be done is done and the tunnel is dug, fire is set in the tunnel to burn the beams and pillars, and the city wall will naturally collapse.

The key point of this strategy is to dig as deep as you want it to collapse, and even dig out more earth and rocks to leave a margin.

Nowadays, with gunpowder, there is no need to set fire underground, but the principle itself will not change. To deal with a small city, you can set off gunpowder, bury a tunnel, and use the explosive power of gunpowder to push up a section of the city wall; to deal with a large city, you still use gunpowder to burn the tunnel. The supporting pillars inside exploded, causing the city wall to lose support and sink under its own weight.

Zhang Xianzhong had a time limit of five days. This time barely allowed him to dig a tunnel into the city outside the range of artillery, but it was not enough to dig a large hole two feet high and several feet wide under the city wall. The explosive power of gunpowder alone was not enough to dig this wall. The city wall is raised.

It's not that it's not possible, it's just that Zhang Xianzhong's calculations were too rough to complete the plan.

Therefore, in order to prevent the Minister of Rites from running away in fear of crime, Liu Chengzong perfected this plan.

First of all, he gave Zhang Xianzhong more ample time, limited to one month. In order to prevent Zhang Xianzhong from only attacking the city, he drained the water from the moat into the farmland and damaged the fields. He specifically stipulated the direction of the drainage ditch to drain all the water. Go to the Qishui River. With a little repair next year, it can still be used as a canal.

At the same time, zigzag anti-gun trenches were also drawn to prevent siege troops from being killed by gunfire when they entered the artillery range.

He also told him that if the first bombing of the city failed, he should carefully calculate the distance outside the city wall, pick two or three places, and dig a cave one foot high and two feet deep below to let the rammed earth layer collapse under the explosion.

Although this cannot blow out a gap in the city wall, it can still slide down the masonry and rammed earth on the top of the city wall to form a ramp for climbing.

In this way, the defenders have a place they must defend. With the help of tube ladders, cloud ladders, and long ladders, after about ten days of exhausting tactics, they can use the method of attacking in the east and attacking in the west to attack the city, making it easier to achieve results.

After making these arrangements, Liu Chengzong did not lead his army to wait in Qianzhou. Instead, he assigned Xie Erhu to continue marching southeast toward Liquan, Xingping, Xianyang and other places. At the same time, the three small battalions of Gansu also marched toward Yaozhou under the leadership of Fengweizhen. March on and get your horses back.

Liu Chengzong personally led three battalions to Maoling between Xingping and Xianyang, with Gao Yingdeng's troops stationed in the east, Zhang Tianlin's troops recruiting ships along the north bank of the Wei River, and Wei Qian'er's troops felling wood and collecting materials to build a pontoon bridge.

His purpose was to cross the river and directly threaten Xi'an Prefecture from the south bank of the Wei River.

Soon, Zhang Zhen abandoned his army and ran back from Yaozhou.

"Commander, I was humble enough to obtain war horses with the seal of the guarding eunuch. However, there were not more than 4000 horses, only 770. In addition, I also hired more than 40 horse-raising officials from the horse supervisor." Speaking of these things, Zhang Zhen was very happy: "In addition, Liangzhou General Mila printed a letter stamped with the seal of the guarding eunuch and tricked the Yaozhou City Gate into opening yesterday. Now the Liangzhou Battalion has taken over the defense and settled in the city."

But there was no joy on Liu Chengzong's face, and he just asked: "You abandoned the army and ran back just to repay your merits?"

"How dare you take such a humble position!"

As Zhang Zhen spoke, he looked around and saw that he was surrounded by people from the Huben camp. There were no newly surrendered generals or revolting guest troops. Then he said to Liu Chengzong: "I came back from my humble post because I met an official and military spy in Yaozhou. He said that Yaozhou The city cannot be occupied, and I was asked to send word to the commander as soon as possible that the officers and soldiers are coming down from Qingyang."

"I was afraid that the news was true and had to be sent as soon as possible; I was also afraid that the news was false and would disturb the morale of the army, so I had no choice but to run back from Yaozhou without permission."

The officers and soldiers came down from Qingyang Mansion?

Liu Chengzong frowned and asked, "Did that person say, who is he?"

"I didn't say that." Zhang Zhen shook his head, took out a wild goose feather from his arms, and offered it: "But he said that the commander will know who he is when he sees this, and he also said that the news is worth 110, five taels, four cents and three cents of silver. .”

After Zhang Zhen said this, he smiled and said: "There are still some things that are in order, Marshal..."

Halfway through his laughter, he noticed that Liu Chengzong took Yan Ling and fell into deep thought.

Of course Liu Chengzong knew who it was. This was his old informant, He Yong, the head servant under He Renlong. 110 Five taels, four cents, and three cents was the salary owed to him by the court back then.

Liu Chengzong made an agreement with He Yong. As long as a piece of information is useful, he will send him everything the court owes.

When he attacked Xigu last time, He Yong reported to him once. The report was quite effective, allowing the marshal's army to land at the mouth of the river to avoid the mine array and the official ambush, so Liu Chengzong snatched it from the chieftain. The third-class royal seal of the Yuan Dynasty came to him.

In comparison, Liu Chengzong believed that if the person who sent this message was He Yong, then the information would have a certain degree of credibility.

Liu Shishi didn't complain about Zhang Zhen running back without authorization at this time, and asked: "Did he say who led the officers and soldiers who came down from Qingyang Mansion?"

"As I said, there are the vanguard officer He Renlong leading the Yansui camp, the middle army Zhang Quanchang leading the governor's pacesetters, the left wing Yang Yanchang leading the Yan'an battalion, the right wing Ren Quan'er leading the Yan'an flag guard, and the palace army Cao Bianjiao leading the Pingliang recruiting troops. These five generals led The five-pronged army went south, with a strength of about [-]."

Zhang Zhen cupped his fists and said: "Suzhou General Ding Guodong has sent people to investigate north. If the situation is true, the information can be sent back in the future."

Liu Chengzong became happy when he heard the names of these five generals, and stared at Zhang Zhen.

He thought to himself that the Generalissimo was the Generalissimo, and even though five groups of troops were marching from the north to the south, he could still laugh!
The strength of their three small battalions in Gansu is just over [-]. Even if they include the Mongolian brigade, it will be difficult to resist such a large imperial army. Obviously, only Liu Chengzong personally leading Huben and the three major battalions can compete with them.

But in Liu Shishi's eyes, this army formed by an unknown genius was obviously not that scary.

It is true that with the passage of time and the intervening years, Liu Chengzong has no trust in those old officers, veterans of the old army, and blood relatives in the clan, and he believes that others view him the same way.But no matter what, even if you think about it from the worst angle, as long as these people lead troops, they cannot come with the idea of ​​​​fighting with them. Even if they want to fight, it will definitely be a design to make them relax their vigilance.

In the best case scenario, there are five groups of soldiers and horses, four groups of rebels, and a spy named Zhang Quanchang is mixed in.

Before the army left Qingyang Mansion, He Yong, the pioneer officer of He Renlong's tent, reported to him first. Not to mention Yang Yanchang and Ren Quan'er, Cao Bianjiao, who was the palace army, also led the troops recruited from Pingliang.

If Liu Shizi remembered correctly, it seemed to be the place where he placed wounded soldiers.

To be honest, Liu Chengzong was instinctively a little confused when he heard what Zhang Zhen said about the Ming army's lineup... Even if he was asked to arrange the Ming army's troops in person, the lineup he arranged would probably be of this virtue.

But before he could figure out how to face the Ming army moving south from the north, the guards at the camp gate of the Chinese army ran into the tent and presented a report from Zhang Tianlin, the general of the southern camp.

Liu Chengzong took the letter and glanced at it. He also encountered enemies in the south.

Zhang Tianlin's mission was to recruit ships on the north bank of the Wei River, but because of the Marshal's Mansion's eastern expedition, all the boat owners on the river ran to the south bank of the Wei River. Even wealthy households and civilians in Xingping County fled by boat to Hu County on the south bank of the Wei River.

Therefore, Zhang Tianlin could only send a cavalry team across the river in a slightly aggressive manner and ran to Henan to recruit ships.

Fortunately, although Zhang Tianlin was bold, she behaved very cautiously. The first soldiers to cross the river were the Tang soldiers, followed by the main soldiers. After that, the Tang soldiers spread out and wandered around for dozens of miles to provide cover. Soon they discovered that more than ten thousand Ming troops were heading toward the Wei River. Movements gathering on the south bank.

In Zhang Tianlin's report, he mentioned that veterans in his unit recognized that the Ming army gathered in Weinan included Mao Gourd soldiers and Liaodong cavalry.

These two armies are very distinctive in terms of uniform colors and are easy to recognize. The Liaodong Army's cloth-covered iron armor is heavier, also called Qingjia, and is mostly blue; while the Mao Hulu Soldiers are mountain soldiers from southern Henan, and their armor is The arrows are squeezed quivers made of wild animal fur squeezing the arrows inside. They are very small and most of the arrow shafts are exposed.

Discovering nature is mutual.

At the same time that Zhang Tianlin discovered the Ming army, the Ming army also discovered him. Moreover, there was only one brigade of Tang soldiers in the camp, which could not cover the main force on the south bank of the Wei River. Therefore, the letter said that if there was no accident, when Liu Chengzong saw the letter, he had already Back to the north shore.

Returning to the north bank with him were 26 temporarily recruited ferries and fishing boats. With a large number of Ming troops appearing in Weinan, this number of ferries basically declared the failure of Liu Chengzong's river crossing plan.

Relying on more than 20 boats, they could only transport troops to the other side of the river one brigade after another while the Ming army defended the river bank. This was obviously a ridiculous idea to sacrifice people's lives.

At this time, Zhang Tianlin sent a letter, dejectedly asking the Chinese army for instructions on the next plan when the plan could not be completed.

However, from the perspective of Liu Chengzong, who has the overall intelligence, the situation is a bit interesting.

What he knows so far is that there are 1 troops led by He Renlong and other five generals in the north, and more than [-] troops have been found in the south. Liu Chengzong estimates that they are Lu Xiangsheng's troops in Yunyang Prefecture, and they can also be calculated as [-], plus the northwest The Ningxia border troops heading south were also [-], and Hou Liangzhu's Sichuan army in the southwest encircled his troops on the Guanzhong Plain. It was basically a dumpling situation.

At this time, there were changes in the north and south at the same time. In Liu Chengzong's opinion, this must be the Ming army's joint command of the north and south Qi Jin, who wanted to complete a pincer attack on him.

Therefore, as soon as he made this judgment, he sent people to quickly send the analysis to Li Zicheng and Zhang Yichuan in the west, and asked them to retreat to Fengxiang Mansion first and guard Longzhou, Baoji, and Sanguan along Liupan Mountain to avoid unnecessary trouble. He was eaten by the Ming court army outside.

After making arrangements for the west, Liu Shizi considered the current situation of the north-south pincer attack with a cautious attitude.

His mentality is quite peaceful, but Zhang Zhen can't sit still. There are [-] in the north and [-] in the south. The peasant army in the west will definitely not be able to hold up the Ningxia and Sichuan official troops for too long. I don't know if there are any in the east. They have already surrounded.

After careful consideration, Zhang Zhen cautiously said to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, if it doesn't work, we...take away the property and food and go back to Longxi?"

Liu Chengzong raised his eyebrows unconsciously, looked at Zhang Zhen and asked: "Tell me what you think, do you think it is appropriate to retreat at this time?"

In such a huge marshal's mansion, the more than 20 generals are well-deserved core members. Liu Shishi cares about their thoughts. At the same time, Bee Tail Needle is very good at judging battlefield situations, so he is willing to calm down and listen to his opinions. .

What's more, even if he doesn't want to hear what Zhang Zhen wants to say, he won't be angry.

Liu Shizi will never forget that in the fierce battle with the national division Khan on the Heka grassland, it was Zhao Fuhuan and Beetail Needle who led their troops into the enemy's formation to turn the tide of the battle.

Zhang Zhenxin said, it's not that I want to retreat, I'm really afraid that you will be trapped by the situation and want to retreat but are afraid of losing face, so I said it.

He organized his words a little, and then said: "This is what I think. If we fight in the wilderness, the morale and armor supply of our commander's army will be better than those of the official army, and there will be a commander in the center to strategize. Then we need to be [-]% stronger, and six thousand can be used as an army of ten thousand."

This bragging made Liu Chengzong embarrassed.

Fortunately, Zhang Zhen soon changed the subject: "However, this time there are still [-] Mongolian brigade troops, [-] newly surrendered rebel troops, and [-] Lintao brigade banner troops. The troops are good at guerrilla warfare and cannot stand formation battles. The Lintao brigade troops It is difficult to fight a war with complex interpersonal relationships, and the newly surrendered rebels may not be able to withstand a hard fight... Therefore, I believe that our army cannot be surrounded in the pass and lose morale."

Liu Chengzong nodded slightly: "Our army is very strong, but it may not be as strong as we imagined, is that what you mean? What you said makes sense."

"So the top priority is to prevent the Ming army from completing the encirclement. If he wants to advance from the north to the south, we will let them separate from the north and the south."

Liu Shishi said, his relaxed expression gradually tightening: "Whether the intelligence is true or false, the three small battalions of Gansu Province are stationed in Yaozhou first. If the coalition forces of the fifth battalion are really going south, send envoys to them to communicate, and leave this matter to you. "

"How much gold and silver were obtained from the destruction of the city of Yaozhou?"

"Come back to the commander-in-chief, the spoils of war are still being investigated, and General Mi Shen is appraising the wealthy households according to the law." Zhang Zhen came over and ran in a hurry, and replied: "The results will be available soon."

Liu Chengzong nodded and said: "Divide it into three parts, one for the army, one for the Central Army, and the other for you to keep in the army."

"He Renlong, Yang Yanchang, and Ren Quan'er are all three generals who have an old relationship with me. If you can build relationships, build relationships, and bribe those who can. If that doesn't work, just negotiate peace with them, pretend to surrender, and rely on intelligence to get back and forth. Time, drag them north.”

Zhang Zhen responded with clasped fists, and Liu Chengzong waved his hand to summon Yu Linqi: "Quickly report to Zhang Tianlin and order him to lure Yunyang's army across the river to fight. After a brief confrontation with the vanguard crossing the river, he will feign defeat and retreat, allowing his army to cross the river."

In fact, it is difficult for anyone to take the bait under normal circumstances.

But the [-] officers and soldiers lying in the north are different, so this is also the basis for Liu Chengzong to dare to attack the south and defend the north. The officers and soldiers thought that there were [-] officers and soldiers in the north and south, but in fact only the south had [-] officers and soldiers. Yang Yanchang and Ren Quan It would be more useful for Er and the others to stand on the side of the Ming army than to be directly recruited and surrendered.

It is the best choice to let them eat the food of the Ming army, receive the pay of the court, and let the friendly forces think that there are [-] helpers on the side, but in the end they do nothing on the battlefield.

"Don't worry, just stay in Yaozhou with peace of mind." Liu Chengzong looked back at Zhang Zhen and said: "When I wipe out this Yunyang army, or they really don't take the bait, I will go to the north. Although the total strength of our army is not as good as the official army, But at this time, there are many more mobile elites than the official army!" (End of Chapter)