In this era, there is no reinforced concrete, no construction machinery, it is not an easy task to build an earthen city, if you only use sandbags and earth and stone piles, the earthwork required for each high layer will grow in geometric base, and the enemy on the city wall continues to harass with artillery and stone cannons, and if you try your best to build an earthen city can only break through an outer wall, it is better to attack in other ways, so it is already the limit to attack a city like Guilin with an earthen city, and it is useless to encounter a strong city like Wuchang and Xiangyang, and it is useless to encounter Nanjing, There is no need to consider a city like Beijing.

All in all, attacking the city is a stupid way, the small city doesn't have to work so hard, and the big city is useless.

But Guilin is not big or small, but it is a great threat.

The Tucheng of the Western Army began to be built twenty steps outside the moat, just stuck at the edge of the range of the bow and arrow firebolts, at the beginning of their position was low, and the Longwu Army standing on the city wall continued to shoot, causing certain casualties to the Western Army, but as the Tucheng rose day by day, sooner or later one day it will surpass the city wall, and when the offensive and defensive momentum reversed, it was the turn of the Longwu Army to be beaten and unable to fight back, if the Western Army dragged the cannon to the Tucheng, it would form a strong fire cover, and there would be no resistance to attack the city.

Guilin is located in the southwest, rarely war, the city is not too strong, there is no Nanjing, Wuchang kind of composite city wall, once the city head is lost, the entire defense line will collapse. The threat of this Tucheng is too great, although the Western Army has taken the initiative to put the direction in Nancheng today, Emperor Longwu has specially come to Nancheng, just to see the progress of Tucheng with his own eyes.

It's not slow!

Helpless!

There is no doubt that the day the earth city was built was the time when the city of Guilin was broken. Although the Longwu army used all kinds of methods to harass the western army, delaying the speed of building the city. But roughly estimated, there will be a maximum of twenty days before the earth city will be higher than the city wall.

In the city of Guilin. The morale of the people and the army is already unstable.

When the war with the Western Army just started, the Longwu court was impassioned, thinking that the Western Army was just a remnant left by Zhang Xianzhong. Unexpectedly, the Western Army won a complete victory in the first battle of Liuzhou, and after attacking the city of Guilin, the civil and military forces of the imperial court saw their great military might. Compared with Longwujun, I realized that they were evil wolves and their own dogs, and Guilin was probably unable to hold it.

Since they couldn't hold it, of course they had to find another way out, and some ministers proposed to negotiate peace with the Western Army, but they were immediately drowned in everyone's saliva...... Just kidding, the Western Army is not a Fanbang captive who will withdraw troops if he gives a little sweetness, but competes for the succession of the Ming Dynasty under the banner of Yongwang Zhu Cihuan. The Longwu Imperial Court counted one by one, from Emperor Longwu to ordinary civil and military generals, they were all mortal enemies with the Yongwang regime, and there was absolutely no possibility of peace. Unless Emperor Longwu abdicates and returns to the domain, so that everyone can give up the existing high-ranking officials Houlu, there is a glimmer of hope to sign an alliance with the Western Army.

Can't hold it. There was no way to negotiate peace, and the only way out was to abandon the city. In the vernacular, it means to run away.

Unlike Chongzhen, who was trapped in Beijing, most of the civil and military generals of the Longwu court were in favor of retreating. did not persuade Emperor Longwu to defend Guilin.

In the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, Li Chuang's Dashun army has swept the world, and the Ming Dynasty is about to fall, and the civil and military officials of the Chongzhen court are ready to jump ship, ready to take refuge in the new Dashun Dynasty, and conform to the historical trend of changing the dynasty, no one wants to accompany Emperor Chongzhen to toss blindly...... The Longwu Dynasty now has a certain strength, with the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty, there is still a lot of room for maneuver to give up Guilin, and the civil and military officials will not get any benefit from taking refuge in Sun Kewang, of course, they do not want to wait for death in Guilin, and they would rather be broken than broken.

The Southern Party, Chu Xun, Donglin Party, and so on all advocated an immediate withdrawal from Guilin, and although the Western Army was attacking fiercely, they came from a thousand-mile expedition from Yunnan, and without the cooperation of the naval division, they seized the time to escape from the dock on the Li River in Dongcheng, and the certainty of success was at least eight points. The Donglin Party hopes to return to Jiangnan, Chu Xun hopes that Emperor Longwu will go to Hangzhou, and the Southern Party hopes that he will go to Guangzhou.

Since the outbreak of the Battle of Guangxi, Emperor Longwu gave up his blood and the Western Army, and if he withdrew from Guilin now, it would be tantamount to abandoning his previous achievements and greatly losing his vitality, and he would not be able to control the warlords from all walks of life in the future.

"Hold on to the last five minutes", although Emperor Longwu had never heard this sentence, he had such a plan, he still wanted to persevere, and not admit defeat until the last moment, to see if there would be a miracle.

Under the city walls, groups of soldiers of the Western Army shuttled back and forth, busy and non-stop, harassing and attacking did not stop, while piling up the earthen city, they were also trying their best to destroy all kinds of city fortifications, fill in the moats and moats, and clear a large flat open space, so that large siege equipment could reach the foot of the city wall along the way...... As a commander who has experienced a hundred battles, Liu Wenxiu will certainly not pin all hopes of victory on Tucheng, and various offensive means can only exert the greatest power by cooperating with each other.

The attack of the Longwu army soon attracted the counterattack of the western army, in addition to shooting at the city with bows and arrows, fire guns and the city, a row of cannons in front of the camp opened fire fiercely, the shells continued to hit the city wall, the masonry kept falling, the city tower seemed to collapse at any time, a large group of Western soldiers shouted and rushed to the city wall, the middle of the team was mixed with a few ladder cars, the painless harassing attack turned into a real attack, and the atmosphere on the battlefield suddenly became tense.

Play for real!

The Western Army occupies the initiative on the battlefield and can put in follow-up troops at any time to turn a feint attack into a real attack. Probably seeing the dragon flag of Emperor Longwu, the charging Western army soldiers were very excited, screaming and rushing towards the dragon flag, and the shouts of capturing Zhu Yujian alive resounded throughout the four fields.

Along the horse road on the city wall, several civil and military generals rushed over, led by Shang Shucheng of the military department.

"Your Majesty, it's too dangerous here, please stay away!" Cheng Wen is still dressed as a civil official and is not wearing armor. It's just that the placket of the robe is lifted and pinned to the waist, and a few strands of gray hair poke out of the hair scarf. He looked haggard.

"I don't have to avoid it, and I have nowhere to avoid it! Guilin is at stake. Where can I avoid it?! Alas, although I can't kill the enemy with my own hands like Taizu, I won't run away from the battle...... "Emperor Longwu usually doesn't take the risk to go to the front line in person, but today is just in time, and if he sees danger, he will hasten to avoid it, and it will have too much impact on morale, and he will survive this battle in a hurry."

"Your Majesty is mighty, but ......" Cheng Wen looked at the city, the western army had already rushed to the front of the city wall, and more than a dozen strong men stirred the turntable together. The ladder full of soldiers was slowly raised, and the Longwu army kept throwing down flying stones, which made the soldiers of the Western Army crackle and fall down, but the ladder was very strong, and it continued to rise, and it was about to be put on the battlement.

No, you must persuade Emperor Longwu to leave: "...... However, His Majesty is a member of the Ming Dynasty, and he should not be in danger, and the city is not stable at the moment. It is also necessary for His Majesty to preside over the overall situation, and not to be entangled in the battle array. ”

"This ......" Emperor Longwu hesitated a little.

There are those who fight in the city, there are those who flee, and there may be people who hide other thoughts. At the moment of life and death, when everyone disagrees, the contradiction can easily intensify, and the civil and military officials who advocate fleeing Guilin account for the majority. Some of them have been restless lately, and often secretly conspire with each other. Just in case, Emperor Longwu had already imposed martial law in the city. No one is allowed to mobilize a single soldier without his orders.

Despite this, he was still very uneasy, those Wenchen generals who advocated escaping were frightened by the Western Army, and felt that Guilin would definitely not be able to hold it, and there was only a dead end to stay here, and he didn't know what impulsive things he would do in a hurry, and Emperor Longwu had a feeling that after learning that Yongwang Zhu Cihuan was Chongzhen's own son, some officials in the court had a less firm position, such as Chen Zizhuang, who was the most feudal and moral, such as Zhai Shiyun, the representative of the Guangxi faction officials, even the most determined imperial party officials, When Sun Kewang is mentioned, he will certainly scold the rebellious ministers and thieves, but when he mentions Zhu Cihuan, he is honored as His Majesty the Eternal King.

Heaven and earth monarch teacher, the king is greater than his parents, second only to heaven and earth, since the prince of Chongzhen is alive, it is difficult for ordinary soldiers and civilians and some officials to regard him as an enemy, if Guilin reaches the last moment, maybe someone will defect.

There was an uproar, the ladder that was raised high slammed on the battlement, the soldiers of the Western Army on the ladder jumped on the city wall, and the Longwu army that had been prepared to kill together, although the soldiers of the Western Army were brave and good at fighting, but the number of people in the city was too small, they were cut down and stabbed down one after another, the blades were divided into corpses, and the blood was splashed, and the remaining soldiers of the Western Army roared like beasts, holding the ladder at the battlement, covering the companions behind to continue to rush up...... Immediately afterwards, there were a few loud bangs, and several other ladders also set up the city, and more soldiers of the Western Army rushed up, and the advantage of the Longwu Army gradually shrank.

The dragon flag retreated slightly, the armor soldiers moved forward, and the Imperial Forest Army, which was responsible for protecting Emperor Longwu, did not go out lightly, but only lined up in a thick defensive line, blocking the front of Emperor Longwu, but they also blocked the passage of friendly troops, and the follow-up troops of the Longwu Army were not replenished, and they were constantly rushed up the city wall by the Western Army.

Time to go!

"Cheng Qing, where are the two generals Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong now?" Emperor Longwu's imperial spirit, before leaving, he still maintained a calm and calm demeanor, and asked Cheng Wen lightly, the Chu army's immobility is relative, not really motionless, from time to time also do an interspersed scheduling, small fights and two battles, just not a decisive battle with the Western Army, Guilin's shape is so critical, Emperor Longwu does not expect the Chu army to relieve the siege, as long as it can be more active, it is good to play a certain role in containing Zuò.

"Tan Xiao is in the Quanzhou area, Zhou Guodong is in Lingqu, and the forward soldiers and horses are approaching Lingchuan and are fighting fiercely with the Western Army." Cheng Wen is the secretary of the military department, and he knows the movements of each ministry well. Lingqu is the Xianggui Canal, Wang Kefan invested a lot of capital, as the Western army approached Guilin, the Chu army also moved forward to the Lingqu, and no one else was allowed to touch it.

"Arrived in Linchuan? Okay, good ......" Emperor Longwu nodded, feeling a little relieved in his heart, Linchuan County is the north gate of Guilin, but more than 60 miles away, the Chu army marched here, the Western Army must not sit idly by, the only fly in the ointment is that the Chu army only has a forward force to arrive in Lingchuan, if Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong's main forces are here, Liu Wenxiu will transfer at least half of the troops to meet the battle, Guilin can be greatly relieved.

Talking about this meaning with Cheng Wen, Cheng Wen has already had a response.

"Your Majesty doesn't know, although Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong are good at fighting, but there are fewer soldiers and horses than the Western Army, if they rush forward in case of setbacks, no elite soldiers dare to come to relieve the siege of Guilin, only wait for Hao Shaoqi and Liu Fangliang to enter Guangxi, and Guangdong and Jiangxi soldiers and horses will also arrive from the east of the Li River, and several families will work together to drive Liu Wenxiu away......"

……

Under the city of Lingchuan, the Chu army and the Western army lined up against each other, and the battle was about to break out.

Unlike the information held by Emperor Longwu, Zhou Guodong only left a small number of defenders in the Lingqu area, but he brought the main force to fight Lingchuan in person.

"Lingchuan must be taken, otherwise we won't be able to get to Guilin, and in case of an accident, we won't be able to explain it to the military gate." Zhou Guodong pointed to the Western Army formation opposite with a horsewhip, his eyes were as sharp as lightning: "The Western Army was not inferior to the Chuang Army back then, and the military gate was extremely recommended to Liu Wenxiu, saying that he was second only to Li Dingguo in the Western Army. ”

Although Zhou Guodong is young, he has been leading his troops to fight in the past few years, and he has been perfecting the use of the law, and he has quietly stirred up the morale of several generals.

The generals asked for battle, with Zhou Guodong's order, the war drums suddenly sounded, thousands of Chu troops lined up in a neat formation and slowly pressed forward, the musketeers were in the center, the pikemen and sword and shield soldiers covered the left and right flanks, the rangers were cruising around, and the various arms formed an organic whole, and it was the posture of the decisive battle as soon as it came up.

After the Western Army captured Lingchuan County, there were more than 4,000 elites left here to monitor the movements of the Chu army in Huguang...... I have long heard that the Chu army has a secret technique of attacking the city, Lingchuan is just a county town, and guarding the city may not be able to block the attack of the Chu army, so it is better to pull it out for a happy field battle, and defeat the Chu army that dares to attack with the strength of the Western Army.

What's more, staying in the city is too passive, even if the city is not lost, it will not be able to remove the threat of the Chu army, if Tan Xiao and Zhou Guodong's main forces all arrive, they will be under double the pressure, it is better to take advantage of Zhou Guodong's lone army to go deep and completely defeat them, Tan Xiao will not be in trouble.

After removing the threat of the Chu army, Guilin was naturally at your fingertips. (To be continued......)