In this way, Li Siyuan and others, who are not too old and are still very energetic in terms of action, took action immediately after making a decision.

The volunteer troops from Lanzhou to Xi'an and even the capital, Li Siyuan still did not dare to move. Because this is the basic arrangement of the reserve force before departure. If the remaining volunteer troops are mobilized to the southeast, the western and northern frontiers will be abandoned. Based on Li Siyuan's understanding of the king, even if there is no rebellion in name, this will definitely be regarded as a rebellion in the substantive sense. However, the artillery used to mobilize some of the remaining troops and even the armaments that have been hoarded over the past few years are completely different.

During the six years of Chongzhen's war, it was obvious that the combat strength of the military system still had obvious advantages, but it was only because of the lack of sufficient gunpowder and artillery resources that it did not finally take Hangzhou City or even Guangzhou City in the far south. Now that the western expedition has ended earlier than expected, a lot of artillery and even gunpowder that have been hoarded should not be a big problem even if it is transferred from the east to the south at this time.

In this way, it took only about two months for the army in the northwest to mobilize hundreds of medium and heavy artillery pieces, more than 200,000 near-gunpowder, and about 20,000 troops from the northwest to the southeast, along the Yellow River, where the water flow was not too turbulent in the spring, and even the canal, which was gradually beginning to resume navigation. The fledgling and unstable political and power structure left behind in China led to a fierce civil war that reached a climax when the army was about to return.

The artillery positions outside Hangzhou, which had been besieging the city for nearly two years, once again opened fierce fire at this time. Although the reinforcements mobilized from the northwest have not yet really arrived by water. However, the news of reinforcements also shocked the morale of the more than 100,000 allied troops of the military management committees outside Hangzhou. At this time, thousands of field artillery pieces continued to launch fierce shelling from the small mounds outside the city that had been piled up with sufficient human resources.

These artillery, which was improved from a general cannon of about three to five hundred catties, actually still has a certain ability to attack fortifications. However, the internal expeditionary force took away the vast majority of officers and men who had some experience in new artillery skills, and the actual level of the gunners in the temporary volunteer coalition troops of the military management committees in various places was much lower than when they were fighting in the south. The defenders of Hangzhou City, who had summed up a lot of lessons and lessons from the beginning, and had a lot of routine tactics and tactics materials left by Xiao Xuan, had much more experience in defending the city, not only built internal earthen walls within the city walls, but also should have newly built reconnaissance hot air balloons to guide the artillery fire in the city to launch a counterattack.

As a result, although the besieging army outside the city clearly had the upper hand in terms of the supply of gunpowder and ammunition, as well as human and material resources such as artillery and gunners, it still suffered considerable losses in this kind of artillery battle. Under the interference and suppression of the defenders' artillery fire, the field artillery of the allied forces outside Hangzhou was not very powerful in the first place, and the use of more than 100,000 shells and even hundreds of thousands of catties of black powder did not make any decisive breakthrough.

However, when reinforcements from the water arrived, everything seemed to be a little different. The arrival of those gunners and even combat engineers who stayed in the northwest once again showed good effectiveness in the most advanced level of artillery warfare in this era.

The reinforcements used the method of winding the iron sheet on the outside of the iron-core bronze cannon to the small Hongyi cannon up and down the first line after the modification at least two thousand catties of heavy artillery and power, and at a distance of about two miles through continuous test firing, nearly half of the shells could be smashed on the city head with great power, and then, the heavy artillery continued to advance to the forefront of about 200 steps, with the help of the tunnel fortification bunker to carry out effective heavy shotgun side fire, and soon suppressed the firepower on the head of the city of Hangzhou.

When the heavy artillery unit cooperated with the engineers to attract the attention of the defenders of Hangzhou, the tunnel operation began to be carried out in an orderly manner. Of course, Li Siyuan did not think of breaking the city directly by digging tunnels and blasting, which had been used before. For the more experienced defenders in this area, the effect was not too great. However, if an early morning blasting attack is organized at a distance of about half a mile from the head of the city, combined with a joint assault by well-prepared engineers and infantry, to a large extent, it is a kind of "yang conspiracy" in which it is difficult to have a solution even if the defenders know about it.

Just when preparations for the siege outside Hangzhou were in full swing and were about to enter the decisive general offensive stage. Along the way, about 1,000 light cavalry rushed over with the smoke and dust billowing on the post road. Without the slightest scruples in the army, he went straight to the rear camp of the defenders outside the city, which made Li Siyuan have to order to personally draw his strength to deal with the uninvited guests who came quickly.

At this time, Li Siyuan also began to have a not very good premonition in his heart: the main armed forces of the rebel forces in the southeast should have been completely compressed in Hangzhou City and even Guangzhou City in the south. Who is this daring team? If it's a fish that slips through the net elsewhere, that's fine, but what Li Siyuan is most worried about is the vanguard force of the expeditionary force.

However, the fact was just as Li Siyuan had worried before, that when the expeditionary army led by Xiao Xuan had just set foot on the way home, he ordered Zhou Dayong to lead more than 1,000 elites who were good at riding to rush back to the Central Plains as quickly as possible to stabilize the situation there by constantly changing horses while making use of the horses in the post station in the occupied area as much as possible. If the situation is irreparable, it is also necessary to send the news back as effectively as possible before the army reaches the river on the way home.

There is a distinction between countries and between nations and between nations, and there is a distinction between the strong and the weak, the superior and the inferior under the geographical and historical pattern. It is unfair to insist on equality. Resources should be allocated in the best place in order to bring the greatest output and benefits, especially in the context of the global per capita resources can be expected to be insufficient in the future.

Apart from capital and violence, do not be under the illusion that there is anything else that can build broad international solidarity. And don't try to unite those who shouldn't.

The Western world, led by the United States, and the United States and its allies have much to learn from in handling international relations. If there is any problem with the international strategy of the United States, it is that domestic and foreign affairs are not enough to give full play to the advantages that imperialist and white-left thinking should have.

The history of betrayal and dissatisfaction between the socialist camp (especially Albania, a bad example), proves that imperialism is the only way to compete in international strategic competition. Other third world countries are unreliable

(End of chapter)