Ping An Biography

Gaodu City is just a small city with rammed earth walls and bricks, no urn city, and no artillery on the city.Zhang Ningjun built an artillery array less than a mile outside the North Gate. Eleven short and thick mortars with thick wooden bases were buried in the earth pit. There were more than 200 people in two brigades and engineers from the Weapons Bureau. operating these guns.The charge is granular black gunpowder, and the cannon is solid stone, weighing more than 20 kilograms. If it is filled with iron, it can reach 35 kilograms according to the caliber.

This kind of gun shoots hundreds of paces away, and the high throw has almost no accuracy at all, so it can only be estimated.However, in the face of a city wall target of three or four miles wide, too high precision is required.

A large group of people and horses worked hard for a long time on the open ground on the banks of the Yuanshui River, and finally a thunderous cannon shot broke the peace between heaven and earth; after a while, more loud noises exploded, and the city seemed to start to tremble under the roar of the cannon.

……

Three days later, the obese Changde Guard Commander knelt outside the gate of Zhu Yong's central army, trembling with trembling hands and feet; he was the Commander Luo who guarded Gaodu City. , Then he was ordered to fortify Gaodu County to stop the rebels, but he was defeated. [

When the word came out from inside, Commander Luo scrambled and scrambled into the lobby. Just as he entered, he knelt down on the ground and kowtowed, looking really frightened.More than a year ago, he met Zhang Ning, the enemy who defeated him in Changde Mansion. At that time, Zhang Ning was a Huguang inspector, just a civil servant.Commander Luo was too fat to get on the horse, and he was still arguing in front of the patrol censor that he had fought in Changde and paid the grain on time.

He prostrated himself on the ground, not daring to raise his head to look at Cheng Guogong who was sitting on it, but he could imagine the expression on the man above him.

An official next to the seat asked: "Your troops are twice as large as the rebels, and you are defending the city. How come the city was destroyed and the whole army was defeated in two days?"

Commander Luo hurriedly cried: "That afternoon, we couldn't even see people clearly at the top of the city, and suddenly there was a thunderbolt, and the cannons fell on the city wall, and the bricks and stones on the wall collapsed. In the city, damage to houses, people and animals is counted... the army is already in panic, and the next morning, the rebels dragged the "general cannon" to the city gate and fired it; our bows and crossbows were too weak, so we could only watch In an instant, the gate of the city was smashed open, and the rebel army swarmed in. The last general led dozens of his own soldiers to fight the rebel army in the city, but the soldiers and soldiers just fled, and the troops were chaotic. People seized boats from the south water gate and fled. Some fell into the water and drowned due to heavy armor; more discarded their helmets and armor and swam naked. Bind away..."

Cheng Guogong finally couldn't bear to plan his long nonsense, and said coldly: "You dereliction of duty, you deserve to die!"

Commander Luo hurriedly begged for mercy loudly: "My lord, spare me! Forgive me!"

There were generals from Changde in the army who helped to intercede, and Zhu Yong's staff also advised him to lock up the defeated general first and let the court convict him.But Zhu Yong was extremely angry, and roared: "Come on, pull it out and chop it!"

Two guards went forward to Tuoluo to command, but they were too heavy to drag him, and two more came, and the four of them almost lifted him out with their combined efforts.After a long time, I could still hear the begging for mercy outside.

Zhu Yong got up angrily, went to the back hall, took a sip of tea and sat down to rest for a while, before he recovered.

A confidant next to him will fight for him: "If it weren't for those two eunuchs, we would have defeated the Miao people in Luxi first, and then the army would go north to recover the three counties. If the wind is smooth, we would not have encountered such a thing; how is it now? Well, the eunuchs said they wanted to attack the Suzaku army first, which made them confuse with the Miao people. If you say those eunuchs are really hateful, they don’t know the army, but they want to point fingers."

Zhu Yong opened his eyes, hissed, and said, "In the future, don't say such complaints again. If the eunuchs are just in the way, can I listen to them?"

After hearing this, the general was suddenly stunned, and hurriedly said: "The Duke of the country has taught you well, but the general will slip up in the end."

"Do you know Liu Heju, the former commander of the Yongding Guard who has been demoted to Chief Qian?" A white-faced and round-faced officer next to him said, "I have been with him a few days ago, and I think this person is not a mediocre general, but a man. "

A general said disapprovingly: "It's not yet the defeat of the traitor, but it's better than Commander Luo who died today, at least he didn't lose the Acropolis."

The round-faced official said sternly: "Liu He said that the rebels' weapons are fierce, and the officers and soldiers have suffered from that thing; now there are more than 2000 people in Gaodu County defending the city, and they were defeated in two days. Even if Commander Luo and other generals can The defeat was too fierce. I think we should find a way to get some rebel firearms to figure out and learn more about the enemy."

Zhu Yong said: "The barbarians are afraid of firearms. It's because they are ignorant. The officers and soldiers are used to the sound of guns and flashes of fire, so how can they fall on it? Then Liu Heju lost the battle, just to make excuses for himself, don't be fooled by him. "

The general hurriedly echoed: "As Cheng Guogong said, the defeated general will naturally find some excuses to say that he is useless. There is only one reason for defeat, and that is that he can. Just like the Commander Luo we saw today, he How did you climb up to the position of Commander of Changdewei? The government in this place is really corrupt!"

"When Chang Dewei was transferred to Longtou Temple, I was in Luxi. I had never seen the commander. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes in a hurry, I would not have let him lead the army." Zhu Yong said, "Speaking of this accident, I There is also a certain responsibility.”

"The local commander was not appointed by the Duke, so you don't have to say that." [

At this time, the round-faced official changed the subject calmly: "In the current situation, the bandit army has already controlled Gaodu, and the garrison at Longtou Temple has disappeared. They are equivalent to controlling the Yuanshui upstream of Changde Mansion. The lower official thinks that the bandits There are three main reasons for the army to occupy this place: first, it can connect with the Miao people in the west and echo each other; second, the main force of our army’s food supply mainly comes from Changde Mansion, and the food road is under threat; Jun Shunshui can directly threaten Changde Mansion... Of course, because they have too few troops, and under the threat of our superior force, it is impossible to attack Changde Mansion..."

"Mr. Geng really speaks clearly and logically." A military commander praised him with a bit of a weird tone.Civil and military are always not harmonious, especially in the military, the literati are still eloquent, which sounds nice to the generals, but it really hits each other.

This round-faced Mr. Geng is named Geng Huaiyuan. Speaking of which, he is from Anhui Province like Zhu Yong, and he is also an aide. He is still a talkative person around Zhu Yong; The gentleman who usually only talks about it is bad.

Geng Huaiyuan's contemptuous expression made the generals even more unhappy.He raised his head, clasped his fists and said: "The late student has a trick, I wonder if I can say something in front of the lord?"

Zhu Yong has long been used to such scenes, so just now when Geng Huaiyuan mentioned that he had a relationship with the military general Liu Heju, Zhu Yong was unreliable, and he immediately said calmly: "Mr. Geng has something to say, but it's okay to say it. "

Geng Huaiyuan said: "For today's plan, don't be impatient. It is not advisable for us to cut off the bandit army's retreat in Yongdingwei overnight. The last plan is to enter Longtou Temple."

"What is the advantage of going to Longtou Temple?" Zhu Yong was puzzled.

Geng Huaiyuan looked complacent: "Four words, divide and conquer. Naturally, simply marching to Longtou Temple will not be effective, and countermeasures must be used to prevent the Miao people from connecting with Zhang Ning. It's very simple. Send someone to see the old man, tell him what is good or bad, and promise some false benefits, so that the Miao people will stay away from the traitors."

"It's easy to say." The general who was despised just now said suddenly.

Geng Huaiyuan said coldly: "Even if the Miao people have contacts with the rebels, the relationship is very shallow. Obviously, they can't trust each other. Besides, what is the purpose of the Miao people's rebellion? It is not to trouble the officers and soldiers who suppress the rebellion first, so as to make the war protracted." Never let it go, and then try to use appeasement policies when the imperial court fails to destroy them. Maybe they can ask the king of Miao to ask for an official to help the imperial court manage the Miao border in name. This is what they have in mind, so we will go along with the boat and pretend to be appeased , Miao people can not appreciate it?"

At this time, Zhu Yong said: "Mr. Geng's words are very reasonable. I think it's the case. You can send someone to handle it. However, the real effect of the rebellion is to defeat the rebels on the battlefield, and the strategy is assisted." It's not impossible."

The general echoed: "That's right, if you can't beat it, it's useless to say anything!"

Zhu Yong was very straightforward, so he nodded at Geng Huaiyuan and said: "It's up to you to deal with indirect tricks, but you must not promise anything to the Miao people, just make a show of goodwill or verbally say something false and true. So as not to leave excuses for nothing when dealing with the Miao people."

"If the Miao people really want to join them, as long as the conditions are acceptable, they can write to the court to appease them, so as not to prolong the military disaster and waste food, grass and human lives."

Zhu Yong shook his head and said: "When the King of Han was occupying Nanjing, the imperial court also said that they would suppress the rebellion in Miaojiang, and there was a reason for suppressing it. If there is a rebellion, it would be a good idea to appoint an official. Wouldn't it encourage those who are ready to move? ?”

Zhu Yong already has a rough idea of ​​the Miao people's combat power of more than 1 "heads", so a chance of great merit is presented to him, and he should be caressed?This is really a bit difficult.How can he achieve his reputation after the famous general Zhu Yong if he doesn't kill someone with blood flowing into rivers and shocking the world?

The current situation is not very good. Even after losing battles, it is really because the soldiers in the southern hinterland are a little bad. Zhu Yong thought that if he brought the frontier army from the north or the veterans of the Cochin Army, it would not happen that they were twice as powerful as the enemy. Defend the city, but lose the situation.However, the more than 6000 main forces under his command and rectification will never be as unusable as the Gaodu defenders.

He was thinking to himself, only to hear Geng Huaiyuan say again: "If we can win over the Miao people to restore the relationship, the land of Gaodu will really be a deadly place for the traitor Zhang Ning."