I have a cornucopia

Chapter 275: God's Backstab

His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi soon emerged from the frozen surface of the Huai River amid cheers, riding on the broken ice like a submarine breaking through the ice.

As for the battlefield behind him...

It has turned into a piece of broken ice that stretches for hundreds of meters.

Of the Eight Banners warriors who had originally crowded on top to besiege him, only some messy weapons, helmets and other items were left on the broken ice. In addition, there were more than a hundred who had escaped the disaster and were still in shock on the intact ice around them. The rest had all entered the river water under the ice.

King Yang, covered in broken ice, walked to the shore as his followers greeted him. He then put on the cloak that his followers had prepared for him and looked back at the city of Xuyi across the way...

"Kill all the Jianlu!"

He roared while holding up his Fang Tian Hua Ji.

Because it was almost dark, the lights on his cloak that he had modified turned on, and the countless LED lights made him look like a god...

Household light strips will do, just glue on a few extra strips and bring a few extra batteries.

Then, with the command flag on the city wall behind him waving, the Ming army, which was already in a frenzy, shouted and began an all-out attack.

In fact, the area around Xuyi was full of Ming troops at that time.

Ten thousand Zhejiang new troops, Shandong general Liu Yuanqing, Fengyang general Liu Zhaoji, Xuzhou general Jin Shenghuan, Henan general Cao Youyi and other troops totaling 50,000 official troops, ten thousand Huai'an militia, and 70,000 troops besieged the city under the command of Kong Youde, including one thousand and eight banners Manchus, the rest were eight banners Han troops, and then there were ten thousand green flag troops.

To be precise, this siege has lasted for a year, starting after Ajige's defeat in Yangzhou, but it has always been a state of mutual fighting.

We can't say that they are just weaklings fighting each other. After all, these two companies now have certain combat capabilities.

Except for Liu Yuanqing's Shandong Corps and Zhejiang New Army, the other generals were composed of one or two thousand elite servants and four or five thousand combat-capable recruits.

This is the rule Yang Feng set for them. They can eat the empty salary, but it is definitely not okay to fool people with hundreds of servants and then conscript men before the war.

After all, it's not his job to eat empty salaries, but the fighting capacity can't be too poor, and it's actually not easy to recruit able-bodied men now. The local gentry is strong now, and the generals' recruitment of able-bodied men affects their interests, and they can't allow them to be recruited at will, so the generals recruit mainly refugees from the north and south, and then do some reclamation in their own areas. There are plenty of wastelands north of the Huai River these days, although it's hard to say what else to grow, but you can get some sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn and the like from Yang Feng, and then rely on the court's military pay to subsidize it, so the generals have some people like vassal under their command.

Elite servants serve as the backbone, and when needed, young and strong men are recruited from these troops and taken to the battlefield to make a fortune.

The latter are also willing to fight along.

After all, eating sweet potatoes will only keep you from starving to death.

But by going to war, they received military pay and could also eat canned rice and flour. Although it was certainly not as good as being a servant, they were no longer stuck in a life of eating sweet potatoes.

If you can grab some on the battlefield, you will make a fortune. Whether you capture the Jianlu and sell them as slaves, or grab other things, it will be considered a windfall.

Therefore, this kind of cannon fodder still has some combat effectiveness.

Of course, their shortcomings were also obvious, that is, they were unwilling to fight desperately, after all, fighting desperately would not make them rich, but this could not be said to be their shortcomings, who on the battlefield liked to fight desperately? Facing a solid fortress like Xuyi, plus an experienced veteran like Kong Youde, and the elite Qing army, they basically gave up, just like Shi Kefa's men at the beginning, mainly eating and drinking.

What's more, the situation is chaotic during this period and no one knows what will happen next. In this situation, there is no need to fight desperately.

Dry rice is best.

But it's different now.

Yang Dawang's violent painting style makes the fans excited, watching his figure shrouded in auspicious light on the bank of the Huai River...

This is God!

If I don’t fight hard now, when will I fight hard?
The 70,000-strong army that surrounded Xuyi, under the call of their gods, launched a desperate charge towards the Xuyi city in front of them. The enemy troops, having run out of gunpowder, could no longer effectively stop them, not to mention that the most elite Eight Banners Manchus in the city had also been almost wiped out. Although the Eight Banners Han troops under Kong Youde were also powerful, they relied more on firearms, and without gunpowder their combat effectiveness was sharply reduced.

As for the Green Flag Army, of course they defected again. These guys had defected many times before, so it would be strange if they didn't defect under such circumstances.

Soon, the Zhejiang New Army responsible for the attack from the north was the first to rush up the city wall. These soldiers, who had evolved into half-body plate armor, were so well-equipped that, except for some of the powerful bows of the Eight Banners Manchus, ordinary bows and arrows could not break through the defense at all. They rushed up the wall of Xuyi bravely under the attack of bows and arrows, just like their predecessors who attacked the wall of Pyongyang on the Korean battlefield, and then began to throw sugar bombs into the city.

They already know how to do this themselves.

After all, it is just an ordinary grenade wrapped in nitrate. The core technology is to boil nitrate, which was gradually mastered through many experiments.

The continuous rain of fire exploding inside the city gate quickly dispersed the Qing army that tried to counterattack.

Then the city gate was opened by the Zhejiang New Army that rushed down, and the soldiers waiting outside stepped across the frozen moat and poured into the city that had been occupied for more than a year.

The next to break through the city wall were the Shandong soldiers. Their protective equipment was indeed not as good as that of the Zhejiang New Army, but fortunately they had a large number of flintlock musketeers, as well as a lot of sugar bombs, Molotov cocktails, and even flamethrowers...

The flamethrower, wearing heavy armor, holds a fuel injector modified from a cylinder and equipped with a metal nozzle. After filling it with oil, his assistant holds a torch and puts it on the nozzle. Then he pushes the cylinder hard to spray the oil out. The gasoline ignited by the flame from the nozzle will sweep across the enemy like a fire dragon.

In fact, the effect is not as good as a Molotov cocktail.

After all, there isn’t much oil that can be put into the cylinder.

But the momentum is very strong.

After all, the scene of slow-moving tin cans, carrying bows and arrows or even bullets, walking towards them with the friction of steel, and then a dragon of fire spraying from their chests, was a huge blow to the spirit of the soldiers of that era. When dozens of such tin cans appeared on the battlefield, it would easily cause an army with weak will to collapse.

The top of Sizhou city.

Zhu Datian, who was originally holding a telescope, put it down and looked at King Yang, who was surrounded by auspicious light and made the surroundings bright.

The latter threw away his cloak, and the followers behind him quickly took it, and at the same time the auspicious light disappeared.

"Your Majesty is truly a god!"

Zhu Dadian sighed.

Yang Feng took his modern high-powered telescope and looked at the Xuyi city gate opposite. A group of Qing soldiers rushed out from inside and tried to counterattack the attacking Shandong soldiers, but then a row of flamethrowers came forward and sprayed fire dragons at the elite Qing soldiers who were rushing towards them on the bridge. The fire dragons instantly hit the Qing soldiers who were rushing towards them. The latter were immediately engulfed in flames and then jumped off the bridge in horror. These flamethrowers and assistants, relying on the steel plates on their bodies and the asbestos lining inside, were like a group of robots, slowly and mechanically moving forward firmly along the narrow bridge.

At the same time, the burning Qing army was forced to retreat.

Of course, the result of retreating was that more Qing troops were affected by the flames.

The flamethrowers pushed the burning Qing soldiers into the city gate and then into the city wall. Then the soldiers behind them swarmed in.

Of course, Yang Feng could not see the battle inside the city wall, but the soldiers were carrying short heavy artillery similar to recoilless guns, which made it easy to blast open the main city gate.

"As long as the soldiers are not afraid of death, there is nothing that cannot be solved."

Yang Feng said.

“But everyone is afraid of death, and soldiers are no exception. They have parents to support, children to raise, and a family to pass on. Everyone wants to die in their hometown and watch their children and grandchildren grow up. But if you die on the battlefield at a young age, you will lose everything.

Therefore, the militia dared to charge, because they knew that even if they died in battle, their families would be taken care of by their clansmen, but the government troops did not dare to charge, because they knew that if they died in battle, no one would take care of their families.

Zhu Datian also felt the same way.

"Are you saying that the government troops cannot defeat the militia?"

Yang Feng said.

"I am just speaking from the facts. After all, I have led troops for many years and have seen a lot."

Zhu Dadian said with a smile.

Of course, what he said was actually true.

The real government troops are now really no match for the militia.

But now there are not many official armies in the true sense. Basically, those on the battlefield are private armies. Yang Feng's men are private armies, and he recruits soldiers from his manors in southern Shandong, plus retainers like servants. The knights of Confucius and Mencius are all private armies, and local elders will recruit soldiers. Even the generals are private armies, and the servants bring their own troops to recruit soldiers. The Zhejiang New Army is also a private army, but it is a provincial army. They are all private armies, and none of them truly belong to the court. They are all like Jiedushi.

As for the military pay given to them by the imperial court...

When the Jiedushi went abroad to fight, they still had to receive money and food from the court, otherwise Emperor Dezong of Tang would not have fled. Wasn't it just that he gave too little?

But this is the reality. Private armies are the most powerful, and the real official armies are all trash.

Zhu Dadian reminded Yang Feng that this was the situation now. There were strong local forces in various places. There were no weaklings who could be bullied at will. Anyone who tried to annex others would face stubborn resistance. Even if Li Zicheng tried his best, he still did not dare to move forward. Li Zicheng had not stopped at Jiujiang until now because he knew that he could not win if a fight broke out. He wanted to attract more partners and let them serve as cannon fodder for him. But in fact, the effect was very poor. After all, people these days were not stupid. He had to at least show that he could conquer Jiangnan, so that others would bet on him. He could not get something for nothing.

So Li Zicheng is now in a difficult situation.

Similarly, if Yang Feng wanted to learn from Li Zicheng, he had better consider the consequences.

Isn’t it good now?
Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone just lived in peace?
The empress you wanted already exists, and the separatist regime you wanted is already a fact. Silver and food are not worth mentioning. Wouldn’t it be good for everyone to maintain the current status, continue to guard their respective territories, and continue to be loyal subjects of the Ming Dynasty?
As long as you still recognize the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, even if she is an empress, you are a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty!

Yang Feng and Zhu Datian stood on the Sizhou city wall, watching the battle in Xuyi city on the south bank. As more and more places were broken through, the 70,000 troops outside were pouring into the city.

However, the battle cannot be ended in a short time. After all, the situation in Xuyi City is rather special. The real core is actually the mountain rather than the city.

At this time, Xuyi City was not the huge fortress that it was originally. Legend has it that it was demolished by Zhu Di, but in fact it was impossible to demolish such a large fortress. There were still many remaining city walls and gates. In the later period, with the war, local officials also repaired it. After all, it was still a county town. Kong Youde took this as a basis and then made some repairs to make it barely usable, but he also knew that this circle of defense was only barely usable, so the real core was the relatively independent fortresses on the hills.

Fortunately, the defensive capabilities of these fortresses were greatly reduced because the gunpowder was almost exhausted.

But unless Yang Feng allowed them to surrender, the Eight Banners soldiers in these fortresses would eventually fight to the death.

It takes time to clean them up.

It also requires a lot of casualties.

but……

"No matter how many casualties there are, we must wipe out these Jian enemies!"

His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi said.

Of course, there are not many real Jianlu, and most of them are Han army and Green Banner army, but this has nothing to do with him. Anyway, he has already said that each army can do whatever they want. Besides, even if they are Eight Banner Han army, they will still be treated as Jianlu.

"We must eradicate all the evil. We didn't kill them all back then, so we must kill them all now."

Zhu Dadian said with deep agreement.

Of course, he didn't know that at this time, Yang Feng's army that was launching a surprise attack on his hometown of Zhejiang had already assembled on Jeju Island and was about to set sail.

Jeju Island.

"The masts are like a forest, and the flags cover the sun!"

Zheng Chenggong, the supreme commander of the raid, could only describe it this way when standing on the deck.

After all, there is really no other suitable adjective.

At this moment, in the bay in front of him, countless large and small warships and troop transports were densely arranged, with masts forming a dense forest that could not be seen, sails were raised, flags of various colors were fluttering, and the soldiers on the deck who were about to set sail looked at the women on the shore reluctantly. Because there were too many wolves and too little meat, after all, the population of Jeju Island was limited, and even if the local officials on the island tried their best, they could not meet the requirements of so many soldiers, but the fisherwomen on the island who were in good health still gave some comfort to the heavenly soldiers from Daming.

"Captain?"

The officers under him looked at Zheng Chenggong.

The latter held up a telescope and looked around the surrounding sea, watching the flags raised on the flagships of each team, ready to set sail.

"Launch the rocket and take off!"

Zheng Chenggong said.

The officer immediately walked to the bow of the ship and lit the rocket fuse that had been prepared long ago. After all, there were too many warships and relying on flags to convey messages was no longer enough.

The rocket then shot straight into the sky, exploding a cloud of red smoke in the blue sky.

At the same time, the large battleship pulled up its anchor, and under the strong northeast wind, the nearly 600-ton ship began to slowly move forward and continued to accelerate. In the entire bay, all the battleships and troop transports also pulled up their anchors and followed their commander to begin their thousand-mile raid...

(End of this chapter)