Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 233 Liberation of Southern Liaoning
  "Beat the drums and cheer!"

"Boom...boom...boom...boom..."

Early morning on the ninth day of June...

When the sound of drums sounded outside the city, thousands of mighty Mingjia warriors were pushing various siege equipment such as Lu Gong's chariots, archery towers, chariots, hook chariots, and ladders from an open area one mile away.

Two hundred paces away, fifty reciprocating cannons were set up, and stones were being placed on the parabolic leather belts at this moment.

Hundreds of kilograms of stones were placed on top, and with the general's order, hundreds of kilograms of stones were thrown out by the return cannon.

The distance of two hundred steps was very close. They flew into the air and hit heavily on the walls and arrow towers of Jinzhou City.

For a moment, the defenders only felt the vibration under their feet.

"Don't panic! It's just a return of fire. This method is far inferior to my Bohai!"

On the battlefield, the soldiers of Bohai were not in disarray like the [-] soldiers who surrendered from Jinzhou. Instead, they each found a place to rely on the female wall and sat down to talk and laugh.

Cui Jun was leaning against the female wall, chatting and laughing. After five rounds of returning artillery were fired, and the footsteps outside the city gradually approached, he stood up holding on to the horse path and looked out of the city: "Brothers! Get up and take care of the thieves!!"

Under his composure, many frightened Jinzhou soldiers also plucked up the courage to stand up.

But when they saw the siege soldiers numbering no less than five or six thousand outside the city, they still couldn't help but feel guilty.

Under the banner of the Ming army outside the city, standing [-] steps away from the Ming army, Liu Zhen looked at the offensive situation from a distance. The young general on the side also said: "Father, fortunately, the artillery in Jinzhou City has been destroyed." The Marquis of Jiangyin was transferred to Shenyang in advance, otherwise our returning artillery would not be able to make a difference."

"What happened to the southern port and the central left-back of Jinzhou?" Liu Zhen looked back at his son Liu Ang, with a trace of regret in his eyes.

"The horse boats in the port have all been sent to sea by the guard named Cui. The distance is too far to see the number, but based on previous experience, there should be no less than fifty."

"Over at the Zhongzuo Station, the guard named Cui also divided his troops and sent them to defend the city. There are no less than two thousand soldiers guarding the city."

After Liu Ang finished speaking, Liu Zhen nodded lightly and said, "So, this guard general Cui does have two skills."

"Why don't we attack Zhongzuo first?" Liu Ang asked tentatively, but Liu Zhen shook his head:
  "It's not necessary. The Zhongzuo Institute's food is also supplied by Jinzhou Guard, and its granary is small. It can store [-] shi at most. It is not as good as the granary in Jinzhou Guard, which can store hundreds of thousands."

"Only by capturing the Jinzhou Guard can our army turn the corner."

Liu Zhen said this, but he didn't expect the sound of Tangqi's hoofbeats to be heard behind him.

He turned around and saw Tang Qi eagerly dismounting his horse, trotting towards him and kneeling down when he arrived: "Commander, the rebel army has raised its troops and marched south. Now it is only a hundred miles away from Fuzhou. Fuzhou is asking for help!"

"..." After hearing Tang Qi's urgent report, Liu Zhen sighed, but he didn't feel surprised.

Zhu Gaoxu's Tangqi has been patrolling outside Fuzhou, and it is easy to discover the change of generals in the imperial court.

Wu Gao left and Geng Feng was surrounded. Now it seems that he is the only one who can take charge of Liaodong.

But the beam was too heavy, weighing him down and suffocating him.

"Is there any news from Liaoxi?"

Liu Zhen asked Tang Qi that he did not believe that Zhu Gaoxu would only covet a small Fuzhou if he learned that Wu Gao had withdrawn.

"Not yet!" Tang Qi reported back. Liu Zhen waved his hand after hearing this: "Stay back."

"Resign under the bid..."

Tang Qi left, and Liu Ang cautiously asked: "Father, the Marquis of Jiangyin said before that if the rebels go south to surround Fuzhou, we must withdraw to Jiulian City. Now..."

"The Marquis has a good idea, but if we really do this, then you and I will probably end up not far from the Marquis of Jiangyin." Liu Zhen taught his son, and at the same time, Liu Zhen also set his sights on Jinzhou City in the distance. Go up and sigh:

"At least, we have to attack Jinzhou City for a few days before we can report to His Majesty that we have failed."

Under Liu Zhen's gaze, the group of soldiers attacking Jinzhou had reached the front line.

Jinzhou City does not have a moat, so there is no need to attack the city.

In just an instant, a series of siege equipment arrived in front of the city.

The defenders on the city used the Hongwu copper blunderbuss and bows and arrows that had not been taken away by Wu Gao before the war to fight back, and the rolling stones were also smashed down one by one.

After Lu Gong's car leaned against the wall, the city head immediately mobilized to crash the car, knocking Lu Gong's car to the point of collapse.

The ladder of the cloud chariot was set up at the top of the city. Before the soldiers climbed up, they were greeted by boiling water and golden juice, which burned their skin and flesh to pieces. They fell off the ladder wailing.

Seeing that tragic scene, the siege soldiers were filled with fear, and the defenders were also terrified.

"The sycophants in the court have deceived Your Majesty, causing Your Majesty to persecute his own uncles and cousins. Now that we, Bohai, are raising troops to quell the troubles, we are following the orders of Taizu Emperor Gao. The soldiers outside the city will help the evil. How can we compare with us?" Righteousness!"

"Brothers, now we can only continue the policy of equalizing land just by holding on to Jinzhou City."

"Is it possible that you still want to go back to the hard days of helping the guards to farm dozens of acres and only receiving more than ten shi of food every year?!"

"Now His Highness has sent us here to teach you how to liberate yourself and how to protect yourself."

"There is nothing wrong with it. Even if it is for the land we have just divided, we must fight bravely and sacrifice our lives to give our families a prosperous and peaceful life!"

"His Highness has already led his troops south. We only need to wait for reinforcements for a month."

"If this city is defended, all the soldiers guarding the city will be given twenty acres of land as a reward!"

"Brothers who died in battle will be given an additional thirty acres of land as compensation and twenty stones of grain as compensation!"

Looking at the panic-stricken tribesmen below, Cui Jun first elaborated on the justice and honor of his side from a theoretical level, and combined with the specific situation, lied that the Bohai Army had moved south, and Liu Zhen's troops outside the city could not be too arrogant. Long.

Finally, he made another big move and promised various rewards and compensation during and after his lifetime.

All in all, as long as they follow Bohai and work hard to defend Jinzhou City, their family can become rich farmers with dozens of acres of land.

If he were to die in battle, he would have enough food and land to support his family, and he would be able to turn his family into small landowners.

"Kill! Kill! Kill..."

Inspired by Cui Jun's passionate speech that was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the Jinzhou defenders suddenly swept away their previous depression and despair, and became enthusiastic and high-spirited.

It can be said that Cui Jun completely inspired the team's enthusiasm and combat effectiveness with just his sharp tongue.

Although Liu Zhen ordered his men to divide into multiple echelons to attack the city in turn, trying to use wheel warfare day and night to capture Jinzhou City in the shortest time, the results were not satisfactory.

For a whole morning, Liu Zhen paid the price of the death of more than [-] soldiers and [-] generals above the flag officer level, but still failed to break through Jinzhou as he wished, and not even a single man climbed onto the city wall of Jinzhou.

Such results made Liu Zhen look very ugly, and the morale of his soldiers was also low.

After resting for a whole noon, Liu Zhenling returned to the artillery and continued to attack Jinzhou City. From no time (13 o'clock) to You hour (17 o'clock), he continued to throw stones at the city for two full hours. There were many casualties on the top of Jinzhou City, and the city wall But it still stands firmly at the southern end of the Liaodong Peninsula.

"Dad, I have changed the leather belt five times, do you want to continue?"

Riding his horse to come to Liu Zhen, Liu Ang asked with difficulty, and Liu Zhen also looked ugly.

He took a look at the sky, and finally shook his head helplessly: "Retract the troops and rest, let the whole army bury the pot and make rice."

"Yes" Liu Ang was also very helpless. The imperial court spent a lot of effort to reinforce Jinzhou City in the [-]th year of Hongwu, but now instead of using it to deal with Japanese pirates, they are using it to deal with their own people.

"Clang clang clang..."

The sound of Ming Jin withdrawing his troops came, and the Ming army retreated like a tide, but thunderous cheers erupted from the top of Jinzhou City, as if mocking the Ming army's incompetence.

"Count how many brothers have been killed or injured!"

Cui Jun, who was as steady as a mountain, turned to ask Zheng Jun, and Zheng Jun also quickly led people to inquire and investigate.

Half an hour later, a list of the dead was handed to Cui Jun.

Fifty-two Bohai soldiers and ninety-six Jinzhou soldiers were killed. Compared with the Ming army attacking the city, the gap was too obvious. Therefore, even Cui Jun, who did not know the number of Ming army casualties, breathed a sigh of relief.

"Call their families here. I can't distribute the pension fields outside the city, but the food for the pension must be distributed to the families of these soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country in front of all the brothers!"

Cui Jun opened his mouth to explain, and Zheng Jun was also quite moved.

Once upon a time, if he could have met a general who was as reasonable and fair as Bo Hai when he was stationing troops, how could they have lived such a miserable life.

Zheng Jun sent people to summon the family members of the ninety-six Jinzhou soldiers, including their parents, wives and children.

They wailed and cried bitterly. In front of everyone, Cui Jun found a white linen cloth and tied it on his head.

He stepped forward and led people to help the heartbroken family members, and promised them and others:
  "Twenty stones of pension grain, twenty acres of reward land, and thirty acres of pension land. Now I hand it over to the widows of these brothers who died in the war in front of everyone."

"Aweng, I know that you are sad. The brothers who died in the war are also my relatives. You are older and I am still young. If you don't mind it, I am willing to wear sackcloth and mourn for the brothers who died in the war and burn enough yellow rice for them. Paper!"

After saying that, Cui Jun knelt down and kowtowed three times to the brothers who died in the battle in front of thousands of people both above and below the city.

After the ground in Jinzhou City was reinforced, it was already a hard ground made of three-component soil and gravel. Therefore, Cui Jun's three hard bangs made his forehead red and swollen on the spot.

"No way..."

The family members originally expected Cui Jun to fulfill all of his promises, but they did not expect that Cui Jun would not only fulfill all of his promises, but would also be willing to show mourning for their children and husband.

Cui Jun was young, only twenty-one, and most of the Jinzhou soldiers who died in the battle were in their thirties or forties. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were Cui Jun's fathers.

Seeing Cui Jun kowtow, they couldn't help but look at their baby.

Cui Jun was not a few years older than them, but he was here to put mourning on their father.

Seeing this, several family members helped Cui Jun up, and Cui Jun also bowed to them, as well as to the soldiers and civilians above and below Sifang City.

"The policy of equalizing land will not change, and land rewards and compensation will not occupy Jinzhou's land."

"Today I looked through Jinzhou's "Fish Scale Atlas" and found out that Jinzhou Wei has more than [-] acres of land, while our army and people in Jinzhou only have a population of more than [-] ."

"Logically speaking, these fields are divided equally. Every villager here has at least ten acres of cultivated land, and each family has at least forty or fifty acres of cultivated land. After working hard for a year, they can harvest thirty or forty shi of grain."

"But I asked the brothers in Jinzhou carefully, and I found that except for the five or six stones of food obtained from the remaining fields in my hands, and the twelve stones of military pay for the military households, I actually got nothing else." "The hardships of the military households have already begun. But the sycophants in the court didn't know the hardships of military households, and actually encouraged Your Majesty to deal with his own uncles and cousins."

"The purpose of Bohai's trip south this time is to liberate the military households along the border, so that everyone can be soldiers if they want to be soldiers, and citizens if they want to be citizens. I will distribute the land to you so that you can live a good life and eat the food you grow. Just eat it and throw it away if you want, we will never go back to the hard days before!"

Cui Jun's words made people burst into tears. In fact, before Cui Jun arrived, they did not feel that they were in poverty. After all, for those people in their thirties and forties, they had witnessed the chaotic times at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, so as long as they had food, they could Being alive is already very happy.

But under Cui Jun's words, they began to feel very wronged. The family of seven or eight helped the guard cultivate dozens of acres of military farmland every year, but they could only get one stone of monthly grain and a few kilograms of salt.

If these fields really belong to them as Cui Jun said, then what kind of life can they live?

Gradually, people around him began to cry in aggrievedness, as if they had finally found catharsis after suffering for many years.

Zheng Jun stood in the crowd, looked at Cui Jun's back, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

When he was Cui Jun's age, he was just a garrison soldier farming in the fields. Cui Jun had already commanded more than [-] people and was fighting against the governor Liu Zhen head-on.

Looking at it this way, I may have really wasted the first half of my life on my own.

While Zheng Jun was still sighing, Cui Jun's words had completely inspired the soldiers and civilians of Jinzhou City. At this moment, they were no longer fighting for the Bohai Sea, but for themselves.

Even if there is no reward land or pension land, as long as the land equalization policy can be implemented, they can become rich farmers and no longer have to live the life of farming for the guards.

Early the next morning, Liu Zhen once again sent an army to attack Jinzhou City.

Facing the menacing enemy army, Cui Jun led his soldiers to defend the city tightly. Although he was very young among the people, he took the lead and fought bloody battles on the front line, which inspired the whole army.

The morale of the defenders was greatly boosted, and in one go they defeated Liu Zhen's army so much that they couldn't even touch the female wall.

"Bang!!"

At dusk, Liu Zhen overturned the desk in front of him. He held the casualty booklet in his hand and could not hide his temper.

"Today our army has been prepared, and we have prepared seventy artillery pieces. We have been fighting for three hours in a row. Why are the casualties greater today?"

Liu Zhen looked at the "nine hundred and sixty-seven" written on the album. This is not a number, but the flesh and blood of his Liaodong capital, the soldiers under his command...

Liu Zhen was angry, but before he could vent his anger, he saw Liu Ang walking into the tent with the urgent military information.

"Dad, the bandit army arrived at the north of Fuzhou City at noon. Their number is no less than [-]!"

As soon as Liu Ang opened his mouth, Liu Zhen snatched the urgently sent military information.

He read everything at a glance, and his emotions fluctuated.

"Tomorrow..." he said after being silent for a long time: "From tomorrow onwards, the whole army will be on the ground, and you will also lead the troops to attack the city."

"General, take the order!" Liu Ang knelt down on one knee and bowed to receive the order.

Day and night passed, and on the third day of Liu Zhen's siege, all the [-]-strong army, except for [-] cavalry, had pressed into the formation.

On this day, Jinzhou City suffered a three-hour artillery attack on all sides, and then experienced a four-hour hand-to-hand attack.

The Ming army finally boarded the horse path at the top of the city, but was driven down the city by Cui Jun and Zheng Jun themselves.

It's just that the Ming army was as tenacious as the Bohai navy. They were driven down the city, but they tenaciously attacked the city.

You come and go, and the two sides have experienced a tug-of-war of attack and defense for several days, but until June [-]th, Jinzhou City still stood at the southern end of the peninsula like an indestructible fortress.

The red-backed and black-edged Suzaku flag at the top of the city still stands, buzzing in the archery tower above the city.

Originally, Liu Zhen was still thinking about arranging his army to prepare for war, but when the news about Fuzhou City came, he had no idea anymore.

"Yesterday at noon, Fuzhou City was defeated, the defender Zhao Qian did not die in the battle, and half of the defenders surrendered..."

In the camp, listening to the news brought by Liu Ang, the Ming army generals in the tent were completely desperate.

After nine days of fighting, all the generals were wavering when they saw that they could not capture Jinzhou City despite all their efforts. Instead, the Bohai Navy captured Fuzhou City, the only other city in Liaodong.

Of course, they did not want to surrender, but wanted to persuade Liu Zhen to withdraw to Jiulian City.

Liu Zhen could also see what they were thinking.

He thought of Wu Gao's words, got up and walked to the door of the camp, looking at the city where they fought bloody battle for nine days, feeling unspeakably sad in his heart.

"Withdraw the troops and return to Jiulian City..."

Liu Zhen regretfully gave the order, but none of the generals dissuaded him. This shows that their arrogance has been dampened by the fortification of Jinzhou City.

The army began to clean up the battlefield, burying the corpses outside the city, and loading armor into vehicles.

At noon, Liu Zhen took one last look at the Jinzhou City standing between heaven and earth with regrets, and led his army to withdraw to Jiulian City.

When they came, they had an army of [-], but when they left, they only had three-quarters of the number when they came.

"Withdraw! Withdraw!!"

At the top of Jinzhou City, all the defenders couldn't help but cheered as they watched Liu Zhen's troops evacuate.

Zheng Jun was also one of them. After cheering, he searched for Cui Jun and finally found Cui Jun sleeping in a corner of the city gate tower.

Looking at him sleeping soundly, Zheng Jun couldn't help but smile.

Maybe at this time, Cui Jun would do something consistent with his actual age.

Zheng Jun retreated and sent [-] horse infantry as Tangqi to go outside the city to inquire about the whereabouts of Liu Zhen's troops.

An hour later, after confirming that Liu Zhen really wanted to retreat, Zheng Jun ordered all the soldiers in the city to go out to clean the battlefield and cut down trees to build firewood.

After nine days of consumption, there was no firewood in Jinzhou City. If Cui Jun hadn't ordered the demolition of houses, Zheng Jun and the others would have almost demolished the people's houses.

Now that it's better, Liu Zhen retreats, and they can breathe a sigh of relief.

Half a day passed, and Cui Jun slept until the early morning before slowly waking up.

He fell asleep after hearing his own cheers after Liu Zhen retreated, so when he woke up, he clearly understood why Liu Zhen retreated.

Based on the direction of Liu Zhen's retreat, Cui Jun also guessed that Fuzhou fell, otherwise Liu Zhen would not have retreated in such a hurry and the direction was still Jiulian City, which is more than [-] miles away from here.

After thinking about the situation clearly, he immediately sent Tangqi to the direction of Fuzhou to report Liu Zhen's retreat, Jinzhou's defense, and Jinzhou's grain situation.

When the news was sent to Wang Yi, Wang Yizheng was leading his army to camp and rest in Bolanma Station, preparing to go south to Jinzhou tomorrow.

Wang Yi was woken up from his sleep by Ta She. He was happy and at the same time, he also sent people eight hundred miles to rush to send the news to Shenyang.

Two days later, when the news arrived in Shenyang, it was already the [-]th day of Zhu Gaoxu's siege in Shenyang.

"Good! Good!"

On the bank of the Hun River, Zhu Gaoxu, who was wearing a bamboo hat, cheered, which made several Qianhu officials who were fishing with him look at him helplessly.

"With Jinzhou captured, there are still more than [-] shi of grain and [-] guan of money left in the city!"

Zhu Gaoxu also felt the gazes of the Qianhu officials. In order to prevent these guys from thinking that they could not catch fish, he deliberately made them unable to catch fish, so he also explained.

"Five hundred and thirty thousand?"

When the Qianhu officials heard the amount of food, they no longer cared about fishing, and slowly stood up and looked at Zhu Gaoxu.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu also smiled heartily and told Zhao Mu, who had sent the news: "Tell Cui Jun that I know all his arrangements, but he is still too petty."

"Tell Cui Jun that thirty acres of farmland will be given to the brothers who defended the city in Jinzhou. The [-] brothers who died in the battle will be given a farmland reward of [-] dan and [-] shi of food as compensation. An additional [-] shi of food will be given as compensation. Change and issue fifty acres.”

"Let the defenders of Jinzhou City move north and place them in Fuzhou City."

"In addition, tell Wang Yi that the people of Fuzhou will be moved to Hanzhou (Siping) on ​​Qianjin Xianping Road, and they will be given two kilograms of food per day, and let them build a city in Hanzhou and reclaim wasteland. All reclaimed wasteland will be divided according to the rules and will be divided per capita. point."

"Finally, let Wang Yi transfer [-] shi of grain to the Bohai Sea. In this way, the Bohai Sea can survive until the autumn harvest."

Zhu Gaoxu made several arrangements to completely solve the Bohai Navy's food and worries.

The [-] shi of grain transferred from Liaoyang and Jinzhou is enough for the [-] soldiers and civilians outside the customs to eat until the autumn harvest. By then, as long as there is enough food left for the coming April of the next year, the remaining grain can be transported to Hanzhou and [-] soldiers and civilians. , Tieling, Puhe and other places, allowing the people in northern Liaoning who have just moved there to open up wasteland and cultivate with peace of mind.

As for the grain grown in the autumn harvest in Sanwanwei and other places, all of it was sent to Shenyang. More than [-] shi of grain was enough to feed Zhu Gaoxu's more than [-] people until March of next year.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu asked Zhao Mu: "Have Meng Zhang and Xu Sheng met up?"

"We have already reunited. We just crossed the Liao River yesterday and captured the Panshan Horse Post." Zhao Mu handed over a piece of military information. Zhu Gaoxu took it and looked at it carefully, and finally said:

"The number of troops in western Liaoning is only [-]. You ask Wang Yi to send people from Jinzhou to Yongping to deliver the message. Tell him about our attack on Guangning and capture Jinzhou. Let him attack Shanhaiguan and ignore Daning. ."

"Yes!" Zhao Mu agreed, but raised his own doubts: "Your Highness, Daning still has [-] troops, we don't care whether it will..."

"It's not that I don't care, it's that my father doesn't need to care. We can take care of it." Zhu Gaoxu chuckled, then stood up and looked at Shenyang City in the distance.

"How many days has it been since there was no smoke from cooking in Shenyang?"

"In about six days, it is estimated that the houses in the city have been demolished." Zhao Mu responded with a chuckle.

"How long do you think they can last?" Zhu Gaoxu put away his fishing rod, seemingly absent-minded.

Regarding this issue, Zhao Mu thought for a while: "With the amount of food they have, they can last for a long time, but if there is no boiling water and only cold water to cook rice, I am afraid that Kaicheng will surrender before long."

"I think so too..."

Zhu Gaoxu responded, and then his eyes met with Zhao Mu's, and laughter spread along the bank of the Hun River.

　"Bohai Chronicles": "Renchen really besieged Jinzhou for nine days and could not attack by force. When he heard that the king's troops were coming, he left Jiulian City."

　　"Records of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty": "Renchen really attacked Jinzhou and almost wanted to capture the city. However, when the king's troops arrived, he heard about it and went to Jiulian City."

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)