Chapter Seventy-Seven: Meeting the Red River to Conquer Tokyo

The soldiers of the Dashun Army, who attacked Lang Son City, and the soldiers of Annam in the city engaged in brutal street fighting, which lasted almost the whole day. The tenacious Annam soldiers showed great tenacity in the street battles, and the main forces of the Annam army gathered in Lang Son Castle also knew that if this place was broken through, Tokyo (Hanoi) would be even more dangerous, and Lang Son was lost, if they did not die in battle, Le Li would kill them when he returned, so the Annam soldiers in Lang Son Castle almost did not surrender, and they all fought desperately with a breath. The people of Lang Son City also fought to the death regardless of men, women, and children. The red-eyed Dashun army carried out a whole day of slaughter the city the next day.

In the blood-stained city of Lang Son in the end, the number of soldiers and civilians killed was no less than 100,000.

Li Laiheng ordered all the corpses in Lang Son to be transported out of the city and thrown into the Qiqiu River. Not only did the corpses stain the Qiqiu River red, but the floating corpses even blocked the river.

When Li Laiheng's brigade, which broke through the barrier of Lang Son, attacked and advanced, there was nothing to stop along the way. On the Great Plains, Li Laiheng's main force was not affected by any enemy interception. Those who stand in the way will be directly attacked, and when they encounter other towns, they will be divided into a part of the force to solve them. On the way, although the Annamites destroyed the roads and bridges, which affected the speed of their march to some extent, three days after they left Langshan, the vanguard army had already approached Tokyo. At the same time, Tian Jianxiu's army also caught up, almost in line with Li Laiheng's vanguard team.

Li Li in Tokyo City saw that something was wrong, and he had a faint feeling that the Ming army attacking outside the city was not unable to enter the city, and it was likely that it was an army waiting for the landing route to attack.

The strategists around Li Li came to persuade Li Li to make a plan early, but there was enough food in the city of Tokyo, and Li Li was unwilling to abandon the city without a fight because there were still hundreds of thousands of troops in the city of Tokyo. Li Li ordered: "If there are those who persuade me not to fight and abandon the city, kill them!" ”

Li Li was a hero in the hearts of the Annan people, and there can be no doubt about his words. So no one dared to persuade him to retreat anymore. However, Li Li himself had already made plans for a long time, and his princess and children had been quietly withdrawn.

Li Laiheng and Tian Jianxiu were two people, a total of 150,000 people *** The capital surrounded them.

Liu Zhongmin also led people into Annan after all the troops of the Dashun Army entered Annam. He left 100,000 men along the way to garrison the captured places and take care of transportation. After the arrangement was made, Liu Zhongmin took his own soldiers and rushed forward all the way without stopping, catching up with Li Laiheng before they arrived in Tokyo.

Liu Zhongmin and Li Guo have a very good relationship, and Li Laiheng has a good relationship with Liu Zhongmin.

Seeing Liu Zhongmin catching up, Li Laiheng deliberately said: "Grandpa Liu, you see that we are about to besiege Tokyo, catch up and grab the credit!" ”

"Little rabbit cub, I gave you all the things that showed your face all the way, do you dare to say that Lao Tzu came to steal the credit?" Liu Zhongmin pointed at Li Laiheng with a horsewhip and scolded.

"Hey! Grandpa Liu, don't be angry, sit down and drink some water first. Li Laiheng hurriedly smiled and gave up his seat to Liu Zhongmin, "Let's see if this is the case, let's immediately build a bamboo raft and cross the Red River (Fuliang River)." You're here to rest for a few days, and when we meet up with Grandpa Huang, we will go to Tokyo and I'll go to Tokyo City to invite you to drink! ”

Originally, Liu Zhongmin had already taken a sip of water from the bowl when he sat down, and when he heard Li Laiheng say this, he squirted out a mouthful of water and scolded: "Little rabbit cub! Do you really think that Lao Tzu can't cure you? I'll take your power out of it right away. I dare to do this with Lao Tzu. ”

"Oops! Grandpa Liu, I want to honor you, I'm afraid that you will be tired, and I'm afraid that my father-in-law will complain about me and let you rest more, but you still don't appreciate it. Li Laiheng deliberately said very aggrieved, "That's okay, you're not afraid of being tired, you're tired." But when I see my stepfather and grandfather, don't say that I don't think about you. ”

Seeing Li Laiheng acting like a real thing, Liu Zhongmin was happy, "Okay! Tell me, little rabbit, how did you take the mountain lightly? ”

As soon as he said this, Li Laiheng came to his senses, and added fuel and vinegar to Liu Zhongmin to tell him about the clever Langshan.

Liu Zhongmin nodded and said, "Boy, you can do it!" is stronger than your father-in-law, even if he is in Langshan, he may not dare to be so bold. Along the way, I asked myself, did I dare to do this in Lang Son? Regardless, the battlefield is all about results. In this way, you have opened the north gate of Annan, which is a great achievement. Lord Chuang also sent me a telegram to praise you. Taking a sip of water, Liu Zhongmin said again, "Okay! We have successors, and they are stronger from generation to generation. ”

When Li Zicheng knew that Liu Zhongmin and his army had reached the edge of the Red River, he told Mu Yi that he took a warboat over to help them cross the river.

As soon as Liu Zhongmin and Li Laiheng came to Li Zicheng's warship, and when they saw Li Zicheng, Liu Zhongmin strode over and said, "Master, this farewell is like a few years, how are you?" ”

"Look, I'm fine now." Li Zicheng said, "In addition to suffering a lot of sins at sea on a boat, now I eat well and sleep well." ”

Liu Zhongmin and Li Zicheng exchanged pleasantries for a while, and Li Laiheng came over and kowtowed and said, "Hello Grandpa Huang!" ”

"Come on! Get up! Li Zicheng said, "You kid is very competitive, and he has fought very well all the way." You have to thank you Grandpa Liu! ”

"Yes, Grandpa Huang, thanks to Grandpa Liu for taking care of you all the way!" Li Laiheng is very good at speaking.

"Come on!" Liu Zhongmin came over and said, "This little rabbit cub has always been afraid that I will come and take credit from him!" ”

"Huh! Grab the credit? Li Zicheng knew that they were joking, and said with a smile, "Grab merit with General Quan?" Let's go in the next life! ”

After Liu Zhongmin came over to meet Mu Yi and Zheng Zhilong, they came to the command room together and studied in detail the plan for besieging Tokyo City.

Mu Yi pointed to the map and said, "The city of Tokyo is bordered by the Red River to the north, and we have now blocked the east side. General Kwon's army crossed the river and headed south, besieging the city of Tokyo from the south and west. After General Tamihide's team came, they strengthened the encirclement, and they must completely surround the city of Tokyo, and they must not let Li Li escape. Only in this way can we achieve our goal with such great effort. ”

waited until Tamihide's army crossed the Red River, and the encirclement of Tokyo City was like an iron bucket. At this time, it is impossible for Li Li to leave even if he wants to.

On this day, Song Xiance also came to the warship, held a meeting with everyone, and finally decided on a plan to attack Tokyo City.

Since Li Zicheng and his family wanted to use Tokyo City as the capital in the future, in principle, this attack should not cause too much damage to Tokyo. However, in order for the attack to go smoothly, it was necessary to use heavy artillery to blow up two breaches to the east and west of Tokyo Castle.

This was also a way to demoralize the defenders of Annam. Mu Yi suggested that if any of the Annan soldiers surrendered, they should take as many prisoners as possible, and a telegram came from home saying that they would take as many prisoners as possible.

Listening to Mu Yi's words, Li Zicheng laughed and said, "Haha! This must be Zhang Dongjia's idea, and Zhang Dongjia will not forget to settle accounts at any time! ”

Everyone laughed together for a while, and Song Xiance said: "This war is really a matter of money. We went on this expedition, and Zhang Dongjia didn't know how much silver it spent. Let's just say the air-burst shell, which is made of silver. Let's catch more prisoners, even if it is to compensate Zhang Dongjia a little! ”

It was the first time Liu Zhongmin heard about the airburst bomb and asked, "Strategist!" What kind of airburst bomb were you talking about? ”

Before Song Xiance could answer, Li Zicheng couldn't help but say, "Zhongmin, you don't know!" This time we used a new cannonball from the Yaogang people, which exploded above the heads of the Annamite people before and after it was fired. And that kind of shell is prefabricated with a lot of shrapnel, and the lethality is really terrible. One shell on top of several shells. ”

"Oh my God! Exploding overhead? Liu Zhongmin couldn't believe it, "That's nowhere to hide!" ”

"Yes! I personally looked at it with a telescope, and that kind of shell was a big explode, it was simply terrible! Song Xiance shook his head as he spoke.

"No wonder you killed so many Annamite people!" Liu Zhongmin said.

"General Quan, that's not all, you haven't seen the power of the solidification ***, that guy is like a devil when he explodes. I'll tell you about it in the future! Song Xiance said, "We still take down the city of Tokyo as soon as possible according to the plan, and then take advantage of the fact that Commander Mu and his warships are here to take more places." ”

The battle for Tokyo began in the morning, and the attack went from two directions, east and west. At this time, the Annam army had long been preparing for the attack of the Ming army, and their observation post discovered the movement of the army outside the city and immediately notified the army to kick the city. Today's battle is a complete and hard-fought battle.

As soon as the battle began, all the artillery of the Dashun army first bombarded the city. The fights of different calibers of different sizes are also "dong dong" and "tongtong" and earth-shattering. The artillery of the defenders of the city did not show weakness, and they also hit downward with "dong dong". At this time, the warships of Yaogang were also divided into two groups, east and west, and they fired at the Tokyo city wall from the east and west at the same time.

The 130 and 2031 cannons are both direct fire at the city walls at close range, and this cannon is different from the artillery of the Annan and Dashun armies, both in terms of firing and the sound of shell explosions. A 130 cannon shell can blow a hole in a strong wall by hitting it directly, but a 203 caliber cannon shell hitting a wall can blow a hole in the wall. Speaking of 130 caliber and 203 caliber, it is not half the same. However, the power of ten 130-caliber shells is not as powerful as one 203-caliber shell. The 130 and 203 caliber cannons on the warship fired a burst of fire, and the Annam soldiers and cannons on the city wall were blown into the sky along with the city wall, blowing a gap in the city wall. The soldiers of the Dashun army did not wait for the smoke and dust to dissipate, so they rushed forward with heavy machine guns, and mounted the heavy machine guns on both sides of the gap to cover the leading Dashun army musketeers to rush into the city. As soon as the Annan soldiers who were about to plug the gap showed up with bags of soil and straw, they were knocked over by heavy machine gun bullets. The Dashun army that rushed into the gap was all three soldiers, charging directly into the city all the way, and climbing the city walls on both sides. Capture the walls and attack along them.

When Li Li received the news that the east and west walls of Tokyo City had been blown open and there was a large gap, a large number of Ming troops had rushed in. Li Li completely understood, it turned out that the Ming army could not attack because he did not want to attack it, in order to wait for the army to arrive and annihilate his own army. In fact, there was no need to report it, and hearing the sound of explosions coming from both sides of the city wall, Li Li could roughly guess what was going on. At this time, Li Li, who had made up his mind to die, was very relaxed, telling the people around him that they all took up arms, and if they didn't kill the Ming army, they would be ready to be killed by the Ming army.

There are also more than 300,000 Annam troops in the city of Tokyo, plus hundreds of thousands of people. They all began to fight desperately with the Ming army entering the city. The first to storm the city were the well-trained musketeers of the Dashun Army. The musketeers knew that this was a street fight, so most of the bullets they carried were shotguns. Shotguns are used to deal with the Annan soldiers and civilians armed with broadswords and spears in street battles, which is simply a one-sided massacre, and the close-range shotgun shooting is often a shot of "Peng", knocking down a large area, so that the Annan soldiers are often not killed at once, and those soldiers who are injured by the shotguns roll and howl all over the ground, so that the city of Tokyo will soon become like hell. The soldiers of the Dashun Army, who entered the city later, did not have muskets, but now they are all elite soldiers who have been carefully selected and have undergone strict training after reorganization, and they have long held back their strength and want to fight a big battle. But when they arrived in Annan, they were always very depressed, and many people did not have the opportunity to fight with the Annanites at all. This time it's time to go on a killing spree.

The main force of Li Zicheng's army is still the big men from the northwest, and they are all tall and tall, and where can the monkey soldiers in Annam resist when they pick up their big swords. After the soldiers of the Dashun army entered the city, they rose up one by one. For a while, the city of Tokyo was really a mountain of blood and flesh, and they had long forgotten to keep the prisoners.

Liu Zhongmin ignored Li Zicheng's repeated telling him that he was not allowed to go to the front, and no one around him could persuade him, so he personally led people to attack the city wall of Tokyo from the west. Liu Zhongmin, who had ascended the city, had his soldiers carry heavy machine guns and attack along the city walls. Although Liu Zhongmin was a brave general, he never fought to the death, and when a large number of Annan soldiers rushed over, they retreated, letting the heavy machine gunners kill them all before advancing. Due to the openness of the city walls, progress on the city walls was faster than in the city. By noon, Liu Zhongmin and the others had occupied the western part of the north and south walls, as well as the west walls. Song Xiance, who commanded the attack from the east, also commanded the army to occupy all the eastern city walls, almost completely occupying the city walls.

In this way, there was no need for many troops to surround the city of Tokyo on all sides, and more soldiers of the Dashun army attacked the city in the afternoon. By night, the walls of Tokyo were completely occupied.

At night, the soldiers of the Dashun army suffered some losses. Those Annamites who had been hiding during the day shot some bows and arrows from time to time from the shadows, killing and wounding the soldiers of the Dashun army standing guard. When the soldiers of the Dashun Army found that someone was attacking, it was not easy to find someone at night. The soldiers of the Dashun Army had a very hard time surviving this night. As soon as the morning dawned, the soldiers of the Dashun Army, who had been aggrieved all night, began to take revenge frantically.

After Mu Yi's repeated reminders, Li Zicheng personally used the radio to talk to Liu Zhongmin and Song Xiance, asking them to restrain the soldiers and show mercy to those Annan soldiers who surrendered, and those people would resolutely not kill as long as they laid down their arms. The reason why Mu Yi told Li Zicheng is that you just defeat Tokyo City, but if it is an empty city, it will also be a failure. Because a big part of the value of a city is because of the people, and a city without people is of no use.

Li Zicheng understood what Mu Yi didn't say was that Zhang Zhimu needed to be taken prisoner. Li Zicheng's orders to Liu Zhongmin and Song Xiance were very serious. After receiving the order, Liu Zhongmin and Song Xiance both sent their own guards to inform the generals in front of them, asking them to strictly implement Li Zicheng's military orders.

The soldiers of the Dashun Army, who received the order, began to shout everywhere: "Surrender and don't kill!" "The Annan soldiers, who knew that there was no hope of fighting, began to surrender en masse, so that the speed of the march was much faster. Finally, the attacking teams from the east and west will be outside the palace.

Song wrote a letter to Li Li, shot a bow and arrow into the palace, ordered Li Li to surrender, and promised him that as long as he surrendered, his life would be guaranteed. If you want to live in the Ming Dynasty, you can also satisfy him.

However, no reply was received, and as soon as the soldiers of the Dashun army approached the palace, the defenders inside shot with bows and arrows.

Song Xiance discussed the situation outside the palace with Liu Zhongmin, Li Laiheng, and Tian Jianxiu.

Song Xiance said: "The defenders in the palace are so tough, it means that Li Li is in the palace, otherwise the defenders would not be like this." When we attack the royal palace, we must tell the soldiers not to harm Le Li, and whoever harms Li Li will be beheaded immediately. If we can't capture Rily alive, Annan's battle will be a long time coming. ”

Li Laiheng said: "I have already transferred a few heavy machine guns, and after a while, I will use heavy machine guns to cover the nurses and soldiers to send ** to the palace wall, blow up the palace, and then the musketeers will rush in." No matter how good their guard work, it didn't work. ”

Song Xiance said: "It's still the east and west attacking at the same time, so that they can't take care of both ends." This way, the offense will go a little smoother. It is also necessary to prepare for the explosion of several courtyards in the palace. ”

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New progress in "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty": the Battle of Yashan, the defeat of the Yuan army, the counterattack of the Song army, and the landing in Fuzhou.