Hu Jichen patted him on the shoulder, and was about to say something more, but suddenly, a shout sounded in the north of the city.

'What's going on?' Why is there a sudden shouting in the north of the city? Could it be that there are a lot of ruffians looting? Hu Jichen thought.

"Your Majesty, the minister will go to inspect immediately." He said loudly, and then rode his horse and hurried over. But before he could set off, a herald ran over with a panicked face, shouting loudly along the way: "The Ming army has attacked the city!" The Ming army and the mutinous soldiers attacked the city! ”

"What! The Ming army has already fought now? Hu Jichen asked in disbelief.

……

……

An hour ago, thirty miles northwest of Thang Long City.

"Let's all lay down our weapons." Zhen Weitong looked around, pointed at their Ming soldiers with muskets in his hands, and said to his subordinate soldiers.

The soldiers listened to him, looked at the Ming troops around them, threw their weapons to the ground, and raised their hands; A few people did not follow his orders and were immediately shot by the Ming army.

The one who was surrounding them was naturally Xu Jingchang, who was sent by Zhang Fu to pursue the rout of Annan.

After conquering Duobang City, Zhang Fu was worried that if they were blocked in the city, they would fight like trapped beasts, resulting in too many casualties of the Ming army, and the art of war had three clouds and three ques, so he did not immediately send troops to occupy the east city gate, but waited for most of the defeated soldiers to escape from the city and then occupy there to block the few remaining routs. The last of the defeated soldiers were all greedy and plundered the city before escaping, and killing them was just enough to get a lot of money.

After Zhang Fu occupied the East City Gate, he sent Xu Jingchang to command Ben Qianhu and Nie Yi's Jiangzhou Qianhu to pursue. There were thirty or forty thousand soldiers who fled from the city, and if Annam's generals were very capable, they might be able to reorganize them; Even if they can't all be organized, they can restore order to thousands of soldiers and horses, which will be very unfavorable for them to attack Thang Long City in the future. Therefore, troops must be sent in pursuit, and they must not be allowed to stop and recuperate.

After Xu Jingchang led his troops to chase out of Duobang City, he was normally pursuing the Annan soldiers, but he didn't want to find the artillery team led by Zhen Weitong, who was retreating. Where would Xu Jingchang miss this opportunity to make a contribution, he immediately led his troops to pursue, and after another battle, forced Zhen Weitong to surrender.

At this time, Xu Jingchangzhi smiled proudly and said to Nie Yi: "Nie Yi, you take your men and horses over and bypass these people to check whether the cannon is in good condition." If the cannon is fine, let them go; If the cannon fails, they are all to be put to death. ”

Zhen Weitong's body trembled when he heard this, and he raised his head and looked at Xu Jingchang, as if he was blaming him for not keeping his promises: just now he clearly promised to spare their lives as long as he surrendered.

Xu Jingchang didn't look at him. He stared at Nie Yi closely, watching him carefully check whether the eleven cannons were in good condition, and after checking them all, he said, "All of them are in good condition." ”

Xu Jingchang breathed a sigh of relief and said to Zhen Weitong: "Okay, you can live." Immediately you will come in a team of ten, no more, no less. He was going to tie their hands and feet together with ropes in groups of ten, so that they would not escape or break out.

Unexpectedly, Zhen Weitong suddenly said: "General Xu is going to escort us back to Duobang City?" ”

"Yes. You can see the walls of Thang Long City here, and it's time for me to return with my troops. What's more, he also captured these eleven cannons, and he will definitely be rewarded if he brings them back, but he can't let Hu Jichen's subordinates snatch them back. ”

"By the way, don't call me General. Our Ming Dynasty is different from you Annan, at least you have to be a deputy general to be called a general, if I accept your title of general, it is a crime of transgression. Xu Jingchang said as he instructed his soldiers.

"Lord Xu," Zhen Weitong immediately changed his words, "Lord Xu, less than thirty miles to the south is Shenglong City." ”

"Of course I know about this, so I have to hurry back with my troops in case the soldiers in Thang Long City will take back the cannons. I've already said that. Xu Jingchang said in a somewhat impatient tone. If it weren't for Zhen Weitong, who was still an official, and took the initiative to surrender just now, he would have knocked him unconscious and thrown him into the field to fend for himself, so that he would shut up.

"My lord, why don't you attack Thang Long City? Thang Long City is empty and unprepared at this time, as long as the adults send troops to attack, they will definitely be able to take it! Zhen Weitong hurriedly said loudly.

"Attack Thang Long City?" Xu Jingchang originally wanted to teach him a lesson, but after hearing his words, he smiled and said, "Are you trying to lure me into attacking Shenglong City, so that Hu Jichen can take back more cannons?" ”

"I also asked other captives along the way, and they all said that there were tens of thousands of soldiers in Thang Long City, and the city was very tall and strong. I only have 2,000 men in my hands now, how can I take Thang Long City? ”

"You better not bother with that. If you speak again, be careful that I dispose of you! ”

"Lord Xu, although there are tens of thousands of guards in the city, after hearing that Duobang City has been lost, people will definitely be terrified, and their combat effectiveness will not be able to exert one or two. Besides, they are all ordinary armies, how can they be compared to the two thousand elites that the adults are now commanding? If it is a field battle, it is by no means an opponent of adults. Zhen Wei said.

"You also said that it was a field battle, and now I am going to attack Thang Long City! Even if their combat strength is not strong, now they are afraid, after all, they are guarding Thang Long City. I don't have siege equipment in my hands now, how can I take this city? Xu Jingchang said.

But as soon as his voice fell, before Zhen Weitong could speak, he heard Sun Bingwen whisper beside him: "My lord, now we have siege equipment." ”

"How can we have ......" Halfway through the words, Xu Jingchang reacted to himself: he does have siege equipment in his hand now!

Xu Jingchang's mind turned, and he said to himself: "Could it really be that you can really defeat Shenglong City?" ”

He suddenly felt that he might be able to take down Thang Long City. Now he has eleven cannons in his hands, and it is rumored that there are no cannons in Thang Long City now; There are only 10,000 soldiers and horses in the city, and people are still terrified, although there are only 2,000 people in their hands, they are all elite.

What's more, Hu Jichen was still in the city at this time. Hu Jichen is still in the city, which may lead to two situations: the first is that the soldiers are fighting desperately, and the second is because Hu Jichen fled and the whole army quickly collapsed.

'There is no danger to defend on the way from Duobang City to Thang Long City, and Hu Jichen will not think that Thang Long City can be defended as long as he is still sensible. After he found out that there was a Ming army with cannons attacking Thang Long City, he probably thought that the Ming army attacking Duobang City did not rest and immediately attacked Thang Long City, so he retreated. Xu Jingchang thought in his heart.

Xu Jingchang was also a bold man, and suddenly realized that he had the possibility of leading such a small number of soldiers to capture Shenglong City, and he suddenly couldn't care about the danger. He immediately said loudly to Nie Yi: "Don't tie them up anymore, let them all go, let's go attack Shenglong City!" ”

"Lord Xu, we are willing to surrender to the Ming Dynasty and follow the Lord to attack Shenglong City." When Zhen Weitong heard this, he said loudly.

Xu Jingchang glanced back at him. The meaning is very clear: you are an Annanite, we have just fought, how can I trust you right away.

"My lord, we are an artillery team, and we can control the artillery for adults. Although you are also in command of a firearms unit, the soldiers you lead will not be able to use cannons, and the soldiers under my command can fire cannons for you when you attack Thang Long Castle. Zhen Weitong shouted again.

"Then come along. Nie Yi, hand over the gun carriage to them again. ”

……

……

As Xu Jingchang guessed, after Hu Jichen said that sentence, he immediately thought that this was the tens of thousands of Ming troops attacking Duobang City, and they immediately attacked Thang Long City without resting.

He immediately panicked. Although Hu Jichen is very ruthless in dealing with domestic political opponents, he cherishes his life very much and is never willing to throw it away easily. In history, when the Xianziguan was defeated and the Hu Dynasty was basically finished, his general Wei Persimmon persuaded him that "the country is about to die, the king will not die, please burn your majesty", he immediately became angry and killed Wei Persimmon. It can be seen how much he spares his life.

At this time, Hu Jichen immediately ordered the remaining chariots and horses that had not left to leave, and said to Congdao: "Your armies in the cities have no time to gather, and your commanders will stay here, as long as you can hold for a quarter of an hour and let the chariots and horses leave here, I will credit you." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Promise from the word.

Hu Jichen then got into a carriage and left Thang Long City.

After Hu Jichen left, Congdao turned around and began to arrange defense.

……

……

Xu Jingchang really couldn't imagine that it would be so easy to attack Shenglong City!

Two quarters of an hour earlier, he led his soldiers and horses to a forest in the north of Thang Long City, and after a short rest, he came to the city and ordered Zhen Weitong to unload the cannon from the gun carriage and start bombarding the head of Thang Long City. Zhen Weitong commanded the soldiers to shoot a round of artillery,

The army of Annam, which was guarding the city walls, collapsed.

Countless Annan soldiers shouted in panic in Annamite that "the Ming army has come over" as they ran towards the city. In the blink of an eye, there were no more people alive in the city, except for a few people who had just been unfortunate enough to be hit by a cannonball and could not move.

Xu Jingchang couldn't believe his eyes at all! He once heard the generals who participated in the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty talk about it, whether it is Chen Youliang or Zhang Shicheng, or Ming Yuzhen and the Yuan army, they are very tenacious in fighting, especially when defending the city, except for those cities that were voluntarily abandoned, it is not easy for the Ming army to take down any city.

Annan, who was named Dayu by Hu Jichen, is a country anyway, the field battle is just enough, now it is a city defense war, obviously it was very tenacious when it defended the city of many countries before, and it collapsed like this in Thang Long City! Xu Jingchang suspected fraud for a while, and although he stopped firing shells, he didn't dare to let his soldiers attack the city.

It was Zhen Weitong who adjusted the angle of the cannon to bombard the city gate and smashed the city gate to pieces, Nie Yi saw that Xu Jingchang had not ordered to lead his troops to attack the city gate without authorization, and easily defeated the Annan soldiers guarding the city gate, so he believed that the Annan people were not deceitful, but really collapsed like this.

Xu Jingchang immediately ordered some soldiers to guard the artillery, and he rushed into the city with the rest of the soldiers and Zhen Weitong's department.

The rest of the battle is also very easy. Everywhere the Ming army and the surrendered soldiers who temporarily tied red turbans went, they all knelt down and said in a strange tone: "I am a good citizen", and some even waved the Ming flag in their hands to show their obedience.

Most of the Annan soldiers immediately threw away the swords and guns in their hands when they saw the figure of the Ming army, raised their hands and knelt on the ground; There were also some people in silk clothes, who spoke in Chinese that were more standard than most of the Ming people, saying that they were the gentry in the city, and asked to see the commander of the Ming army.

How could Xu Jingchang have time to greet them! All soldiers were ordered not to stop until the city was occupied, and to go straight to the south gate. He had already inquired clearly, Hu Jichen had already prepared to retreat in the morning, and mobilized all the troops with a little combat effectiveness to escort him to retreat, and the people at the head of the city were all temporarily captured, so he collapsed so easily. When he first started to attack the city, Hu Jichen hadn't withdrawn, and now he might be able to stop Hu Jichen and capture him alive!

This is the king of a country! Now that he has captured Thang Long City, the capital of Annam, if he captures Hu Jichen again, the credit may be enough to be crowned a duke. Xu Jingchang couldn't resist this huge temptation and rushed to the south gate with all his might.

When he arrived at the South City Gate, he saw that there was only a simple line of defense here, and there were not many carriages, and he immediately understood that Hu Jichen had withdrawn, and his heart was disappointed.

Fortunately, he understood that the possibility of capturing Hu Jichen alive was extremely small, and although he was disappointed, he could accept it, and immediately arranged for soldiers to attack this simple line of defense and completely occupy Thang Long City.

But as soon as he came up, he suffered a big loss! At this time, Xu Jingchang despised the Annan army to the extreme because it was too easy to enter Shenglong City, at this time there were only more than 100 people around him, and there were 2,000 Annan people on the opposite side, and he actually led his troops to rush forward after everyone loaded the projectiles and gunpowder.

How can you let go of this opportunity from the Tao? Immediately shouted: "Release!" Immediately, thousands of arrows were shot at Xu Jingchang. Although Xu Jingchang had already ordered to dodge when he saw the opposite side with a bow and arrow, many soldiers had no time to dodge and were killed by arrows.

Xu Jingchang's eyes immediately turned red, and he was about to rush up again, but was hugged by Sun Bingwen desperately. "My lord, no! It was impossible for more than a hundred people to defeat the two thousand people on the opposite side, and it was better to wait until the follow-up soldiers arrived before attacking. ”

"Let go of me!" Xu Jingchang shouted loudly: "Our great soldiers are enough to be a hundred, just just carelessly, otherwise we can definitely break through the defense line on the opposite side." ”

But although Xu Jingchang said this in excitement, he also understood that what Sun Bingwen said was right, and after calming down, he said: "Old Sun, let it go, I will wait until the follow-up soldiers arrive before attacking them." ”

But as soon as he finished speaking, he heard a soldier next to him say: "Xu Qianhu, Sun Baihu, it is possible for our more than 100 people to break the 2,000 people on the opposite side." ”

"Ahh Hearing this, Xu Jingchang couldn't help but turn his head to look at the person who spoke.