Chapter 51 Occupy Taiyuan and besiege Yaogang

Li Zicheng's crusade to the east not only made full preparations militarily, but also paid great attention to strategy politically.

Whenever they arrived, before sending troops to attack, they would send surrender tokens to publicize the policies of the Dashun army. The main content of the signboard is to tell the soldiers and civilians defending the city not to disobey, when the first time the fire gun sounds, the official who hangs the seal must go out of the city to greet it, the second time when the fire gun sounds, the squire must come out to surrender, and the third time when the fire gun sounds, the people in the city come out and kneel down to greet it.

After the capture, Li Zicheng will immediately send people to take over the formation of the government, and send troops to stay behind.

During this march, Li Zicheng attached great importance to the public opinion offensive. Before attacking a place, a large number of people will be sent into the city in disguise to carry out public opinion propaganda. Propagating Li Zicheng's policy of not paying for food, mobilizing soldiers to lay down their arms and stop resisting.

When Li Zicheng's troops besieged Taiyuan, they had already swept away the entire southern Jinnan and all the state capitals and counties. In fact, Li Zicheng's army occupied Pingyang (Linfen) and already directly threatened Taiyuan, but Li Zicheng did not directly attack Taiyuan, but waited for the army to pacify the entire Jinnan before waving his troops to surround Taiyuan.

When Pingyang was lost, the prefect Zhang Lanran abandoned the city and fled, and Zhu Xinzhen, the king of Hexi who lived here, and more than 300 people from the clan were all captured and killed. What's even worse is that in the middle of the night, those defeated officers and soldiers wantonly plundered on the way to retreat. However, after Li Zicheng's army entered the city, it did not commit any crime against the people.

Li Zicheng's army completed the encirclement of Taiyuan on 26 February in accordance with the original historical trajectory. According to Li Zicheng's forces, he could start the offensive against Yaogang while encircling Taiyuan. Although Li Zicheng was very confident in his hundreds of thousands of troops, he was still jealous of Yaogang. After he conquered Taiyuan, he would personally deal with the kiln gang. His intelligence told them that the total number of people in the kiln was less than 200,000. Although they have the advantage of firearms, they are hundreds of thousands of troops, and one person can bury the kiln with a handful of soil. This time, we must take revenge for being humiliated by the kiln gang people a few times. However, a few days ago, the intelligence department said that it was ready, and this time it was very certain that it would be able to kill Zhang Zhimu in the kiln. Li Zicheng himself also cooperated as much as possible, and recently those people have lost contact again. However, the access channel of his "Kiln Gang Weekly" is still smooth, and it seems that those people have been discovered and there is a great possibility that they have been eliminated. Although Li Zicheng very much hopes that they will succeed, he also knows that this possibility is too small. It seems that the kiln gang people must finally solve it with strength. Now I'm afraid that Zhang Zhimu of this kiln gang will run away. But the strategists said no. The people of Yaogang have all their businesses here, and they will not leave it behind. And they also began to build fortifications.

Taiyuan controls Jingcheng to the east, connects Qinshui to the south, borders Pingyang to the west, and is close to Yansui in the northwest. However, in Taiyuan City, there are not many guards. The new governor Guo Jingchang heard that Li Zicheng's Dashun army was invincible, and he stopped when he came to Guguan. Although Cai Maode was dismissed, Taiyuan was surrounded before the new governor arrived. He continued to plan with Zhao Jianji, the political envoy, and others about defending the city. Li Zicheng sent people to the city with a surrender token to surrender. Cai Maode is also bloody, he smashed the sign of surrender and killed the envoy who persuaded him to surrender.

Li Zicheng personally came to Taiyuan City to command the siege operation. Cai Maode sent his subordinates Zhu Kongxun and Niu Yong to meet them, but Zhu Kongxun was seriously injured in the cannon, Niu Yong was killed immediately, and the army led by him was annihilated. At this time, Zhu Qiugui, the king of Jin, only took out 3,000 taels of silver and sent them to the city to distribute them to the defenders to encourage the soldiers to kill the enemy.

Until the seventh day of the new month, a strong wind suddenly blew. Li Zicheng's Dashun army took advantage of the situation to launch a fierce attack and first captured Nanguan. Zhang Xiong, the guard of the Great South Gate, went out of the city with a rope to surrender, and when he left, he also ordered his accomplices to set fire to the city tower, and as a result, there was an explosion in the inventory of the southeast city.

At this time, the guards of the four cities saw that the city tower was on fire, and thought that Taiyuan City had been lost, so they scattered and fled for their lives. At dawn on the eighth day of the first month, the Dashun army entered the city through the south gate. Cai Maode was hanged after being captured, and Ying Shisheng was hanged next to Cai Maode. Shanxi's political envoys and Taiyuan prefect Sun Kang and other local officials were executed by Li Zicheng. Zhu Qiugui, the king of Jin, had already escaped from the city, but he was still chased back, and as a result, the Ming Dynasty had another prince who surrendered.

Li Zhi's meticulous work in Taiyuan constantly used flying pigeons to report the situation in Taiyuan City to Yaogang, and Li Jing's special forces also constantly reported the deployment of Li Zicheng's army to the command center.

After Li Zicheng conquered Taiyuan, Li Zicheng stayed in Taiyuan for eight days and issued the "Edict of the First Year of Yongchang". Li Zicheng also sent someone to send this "Edict of the First Year of Yongchang" to Yaogang.

When I got this "Edict of the First Year of Yongchang", Zhang Zhimu and others happened to be there, and Ouyang He took this "Edict of the First Year of Yongchang" and read it out:

After listening to Ouyang He's reading of this edict, Zhang Zhimu said: "This edict was obviously carefully prepared, and this is an ultimatum issued by the Dashun government to the Ming government. However, he personally sent someone to send this edict, which shows that Li Zicheng still takes our kiln people to heart. ”

Chen Yufeng said: "They will send someone to send a sign of surrender soon." ”

Ouyang He said: "Our soldiers are waiting a little anxious. However, in the past few days, we have taken in more than 10,000 officers and soldiers, and those who can't be taken in have been let go to Xishan to make a bubble. There are also some officers of the official army, we also picked, and we also left some of them in the prime of life. It was all arranged by Qin Peng and them first. ”

Ouyang said: "We are ready to support a regiment of Xiurong, and it is ready. Li Wei will also send out two heavy mortars. I think I'll go to Xiurong City tomorrow. They can also familiarize themselves with the situation there earlier, and they can also get acquainted with Xiurong's defenders, so that they will cooperate a little better. ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "You can decide on military matters." I just need to know about it. However, let me remind you that if Li Zicheng can't take down the kiln post quickly, they will concentrate their forces on attacking our fort closest to Xiurong. There were too many defenders there to fit in, because there was only a limited amount of space on top of the fort. ”

Ouyang He said: "We have considered this. This battery has two layers of positions that can be arranged with infantry, and our batteries are arranged around the ** formation. The infantry's bunkers were covered, and their bows and arrows could not help our infantry. Besides, the density of mortars on our batteries is also scary. Li Wei placed five more heavy mortars on the battery. I heard Li Wei say that Sun Liang's rangefinder is a treasure, as long as Li Zicheng's artillery position is discovered, you can immediately see how far away they are, and our artillery will be able to counterattack immediately. As long as Li Zicheng's artillery is suppressed, our muskets and hands ** will be the nightmare of Li Zicheng's Dashun army. ”

Zhang Zhimu asked: "Are the 2,000 cavalry we are going to respond to on the periphery already in place?" ”

Ouyang He said: "The two thousand cavalry, led by Liu Chenghuang himself, are already in position, and the telegram has been sent back. You can rest assured, they have made a circle to the standby position, and now that it is snowing, it will not leave a trace. The standby positions were prepared in advance, and there was room for men and horses, and there was plenty of food and grass. This time, Liu Chenghuang not only brought mortars, but they also had a company of rifle cavalry. ”

"There's one more thing that I've never been worried about. Li Wei: When they lay mines, they must work according to the map. After the war, they were also responsible for demining. Zhang Zhimu knew that it was easy to lay mines and difficult to clear mines, and until his previous life, mine clearance was a big problem faced by mankind. The number of people killed or injured in ** every year is a horrific number.

Ouyang said: "Mr. Chen and I have told Li Wei more than once about this matter, telling him that if someone is injured after the war because they are not clean in mine clearance, they will be asked for them." They also guaranteed to work according to the map, each ** was implemented to the person, and the minelayer who did not explode after the war was responsible for the discharge. There were several anti-infantry jumping mines and directional mines, which were laid by Li Wei personally under the leadership of people. It should be even more fine. ”

For the small kiln, Li Zicheng's soldiers are very confident, and they are all waiting for this day. The revenge that was made disgraced by some small kiln gang people in the past can finally be avenged. However, it is one thing to have confidence, and it will not affect the serious preparation of the Dashun army. Regarding the three-point arrangement of the kiln gang, Liu Zongmin said: "They scattered the defense in three places, and committed a taboo in the soldiers. The forces are scattered, and there will not be too many troops in any place. We might as well do all three at the same time, so that they don't have to support each other. Take them down in one fell swoop. ”

Song Xiance disagreed, saying: "We only need to take the kiln gang, the other two places do not need to be attacked, the smelter and the wharf are ours, and we will be of great use in the future." ”

As a result, Li Zicheng agreed to Song Xiance's suggestion, first deal with Yaogang, and press him in two places before talking. In the eyes of Li Zicheng and his generals, they didn't expect that they would not be able to take the kiln gang, and now they are only thinking about how to take it. This is also carried away by the victory, they have forgotten how much they have lost by the kiln people. They don't want to think about it, are the kiln people waiting for death here quietly?

Li Zicheng's army first surrounded the kiln and cut off the road connection with the Lingshui wharf and the smelting factory. They felt that they had isolated the kiln. How did they know that the kiln gang not only had contact with these two places, but also had telegraph and telephone connections.

Before Li Zicheng could send a signboard to Yaogang, the two sides fought first.

This siege of Yaogang was led by Liu Zongmin's army, and he had long wanted to meet the Yaogang people with real swords and guns. This time he sent a team of cavalry out to reconnoitre, and these arrogant cavalry, invincible all the way, actually drove their horses to the formation of the Yaogang people. It happened that Li Wei went to Qianran to inspect it, and he heard a report that there was a group of cavalry in front of the formation. Li Wei smiled and said, "It seems that Li Zicheng knows that Lao Tzu is here and has given us gifts." ”

He picked up the binoculars and saw that there were more than thirty horses in front of the formation, and from the telescope, even their eyebrows could be seen from the telescope.

Li Wei said: "Order the artillery to cover these rabbit cubs with Lao Tzu." ”

The front of the kiln gang formation has been measured in detail, each position has been marked in detail, and the firing elements of the artillery have been marked. Ten artillery mortars quickly covered the cavalry. Of the more than thirty horses, only five ran back.

Li Wei laughed and said, "Remember, in the future, this will be the case, and the outcrops must be eliminated." The horses have just died, and you go around the minefield to drag the horses back, and today there is horse meat to eat. ”

The front commander, of course, was happy and immediately ordered people to go out and tow the horses.

When Liu Zongmin heard that his cavalry scouts were almost killed by other artillerymen, and only ran back to five horses, he was angry and thunderous, and at the same time, he also felt a little chill in his heart. It was something he had never felt after years of fighting. He personally went to Li Zicheng's camp and told Li Zicheng, Prime Minister Niu Jinxing, and military advisor Song Xiance about the situation. But Liu Zongmin found that several people in the camp didn't speak, which made Liu Zongmin a little puzzled.

"Master, what's going on, why don't you speak?" Liu Zongmin was a little anxious, stood up and asked.

Prime Minister Niu Jinxing said: "Zong Min, you sit down first, don't be impatient." ”

Liu Zongmin had no choice but to sit down again.

Niu Jinxing said: "It seems that we still have to take this kiln seriously. Judging from Zong Min's introduction, they did not send a single soldier, but almost wiped out more than 30 of our cavalry with artillery fire. It's horrible. ”

Song Xiance said: "What the prime minister said is true. Zong Min, Liu Fangliang, the general of the left battalion, sent a report that they were in a little trouble there. ”

Saying that, Song Xiance introduced the situation on Liu Fangliang's side.

According to the original plan, Li Zicheng and Liu Fangliang's troops were divided into two routes, and Liu Fangliang marched along the north bank of the Yellow River to the north of Henan as a partial division, and went straight to Baoding to cooperate with Li Zicheng to attack Beijing. He first had to take Yuncheng Jiezhou. Because this is a salt-producing area, the salt gang is very rich. In the past, Li Zicheng's army harassed here, and the Salt Gang resisted desperately and gained very little. This time the army has arrived, and it has already taken this place as a bag. But when Liu Fangliang's army arrived, the salt gang and the official army all withdrew without a trace. When the people who caught it inquired, they found out that tens of thousands of people in the Yan Gang had withdrawn to Lishan. There used to be a bandit's den there, which was later suppressed by the kiln gang people, and now the salt gang and the kiln gang people are in the same place.

This made Liu Fangliang very angry, so he ordered someone to lead 2,000 men and horses to exterminate Lishan. Before leaving, Liu Fangliang repeatedly instructed that he must get back all the gold and silver treasures transported by the Salt Gang, and King Chuang has always taken the wealth of their Salt Gang seriously.

These arrogant Dashun troops have gone too smoothly along the way, and they feel that it will not be too annoying to exterminate a bandit den this time.

The original bandits in Lishan were actually the officers and soldiers of the original partial pass, and after they were subdued by Li Mao, the leaders later took turns to go to Yaogang for training, and some of them with families were sent to Yaogang. When these people were fine, they began to use the equipment sent by the kiln to saw wood and beat stones, and their eating and use soon improved greatly. Grain, cattle and sheep were sent from the kiln, and later the kiln sent a lot of chickens, ducks and piglets to the mountain, and the mountain also began to breed. Due to the feed additives sent by the kiln, chickens and ducks can lay more eggs, and pigs can grow more meat. The days on the hill are getting better and better.

Later, the kiln gang assigned them the task of building a large number of residences in the ravine of the back mountain, which should be able to arrange tens of thousands of people, and the kiln gang also sent a lot of silver and building materials, and the people on the mountain were ready according to the requirements, quality and quantity. They knew that this was a strategic arrangement made by the Yaogang headquarters, otherwise they would not have built so many residences in this big ravine.

The weapons on the mountain are also slowly getting better. At first, more than 200 muskets were brought to the mountain, and everyone was very happy, and then everyone was equipped with muskets. With this form of tension, the mountains were equipped with mortars and a large number of hands **. The leaders of the mountain were all officers, and they knew the severity of the form. Later, several of their leaders went to Yaogang for a military meeting, only to learn that their goal was to hold out in Lishan at least until the beginning of spring next year, when the Yaogang headquarters would start a counteroffensive, and during this time they would be responsible for the settlement and security of the Salt Gang.

Several of the leaders of Lishan, all of whom were military officers, said: "With the natural danger of Lishan and the weapons in our hands, we can deal with tens of thousands of people coming here." Lishan is easy to defend and difficult to attack, there are fewer people and we can't fight, and there are too many people to show them. ”

Before the war, not only did the kiln gang send a lot of supplies to Lishan, but the salt gang also sent a lot of food to eat. Besides, the tens of thousands of disciples of the Salt Gang are also a large force, and they are not all burdens.

When the news of the loss of Yuncheng and Jiezhou came from the mountain, the mountain knew that Li Zicheng's army would not ignore them and would definitely encircle and suppress them. They have been ready and waiting for them for a long time.

The road up the mountain has been destroyed by the mountain, and it took a lot of effort for Li Zicheng's Dashun army to come to the mountain. Especially in order to scare people, it took a lot of effort to bring up two cannons. All this was clearly seen by the lookout post on the hill with a telescope.

In front of the mountain, the Dashun army first ordered someone to shoot a letter of persuasion to surrender into the stockade. Tell the people on the hill to give them a quarter of an hour to open the gate and surrender, otherwise they will not be left behind after capturing the cottage.

These Dashun troops thought that there was still a possibility for the bandits on the mountain to surrender, after all, the prestige of the Dashun army had already frightened the officials and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, how could a small bandit cottage go against hundreds of thousands of troops. What they didn't expect was that there was no reaction from the mountain. This can make the leader of the Dashun army who led the team angry.

He ordered the artillery to be fired at the cottage to scare and scare these bandits, who only knew how to drill ravines.

When the artillery under the mountain finally set up the guns, what they didn't expect was that the guns were fired first on the mountain. Rows and rows of shells fell, blowing up both guns and the artillerymen.

This made the leader of the Dashun army mad, and he ordered to charge and capture the cottage. The firearms under the mountain "all shot" at the gate of the walled city to cover it, and the soldiers rushed down the gate with ladders on their shoulders. Strangely, there was no reaction at all on the cottage. By the time the soldiers set up ladders under the gate, the gate was already crowded with soldiers, because the gate was too small. At this time, the leader of the Dashun army, who commanded the attack, also noticed that something was wrong, but now he could only continue to attack and not retreat. At this moment, a batch of smoking things suddenly fell from the walled door, and these things fell in the crowd and exploded with a "boom", and for a time the bottom of the walled gate immediately became a hell on earth.

The leader shouted "Retreat". However, few of the more than 1,000 people who rushed forward were able to retreat, and they were either killed by the explosion or trampled to death by their companions.

The leader stomped his foot angrily, and just as he was thinking about what to do, an explosion suddenly broke out at the foot of the hill where they were staying.

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Paragliding, rubber model airplanes, piano making, and building an air force. --Progress of "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty".