At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was really no decent battle to fight in the south.

The city is in disrepair, the armament is relaxed, Zhao Han is really going to encounter hard stubble, Chongzhen can wake up with a smile in his dreams.

This can be seen from the walls of various parts of Shonan.

A lot of them are new!

Take Changsha Prefecture as an example, including Changsha City, there are eleven counties and one state. Of these twelve cities, in the last years of Zhengde, seven of them did not have serious city walls.

Xiangtan is such an important commercial city, and the wooden city wall was still used in the early years of Wanli.

But in the last year of Wanli, all the states and counties in Changsha Prefecture and the brick and stone city walls were all repaired. The fundamental motive of the local officials to build the castle was to guard against the peasant uprisings that broke out in the southern Hunan region during the Wanli period.

When a group of untrained peasants comes to kill, they can beat the officers and men with their heads in their hands.

Unable to resist, the local officials had no choice but to build fortified cities and let peasant armies ravage villages and towns. When the trouble got bigger, the imperial court sent troops to encircle and suppress it, and it took several years to suppress it.

This is the normal state of war in the south, and it is impossible for Zhao Han to encounter decent resistance.

Just when Li Zheng was besieging Changsha, the Xia clan of Xiangyin, Ningxiang, and Yiyang recruited troops in tandem.

The Xia family originally lived in Yiyang, and migrated to Ningxiang during the Northern Song Dynasty. During the Yongle period, one of the Xia clans in Jiangxi migrated to Xiangyin and matched the family tree with the Huguang Xia clan.

The three branches of the Xia clan, the three-legged stand, are all distributed next door to Changsha.

Although they reacted slowly, the battle was very large, and a total of more than 7,000 villagers were recruited to support Changsha.

Li Zheng had already sent spies to Xiangyin, mainly to investigate the enemy situation in Xiangyin and see if he could send a small number of troops to steal the city.

As a result, the direction of Xiangyin was discovered, and thousands of regiments bravely marched towards Changsha.

Li Zheng was so happy, he wanted to besiege the city and send reinforcements!

Hu Dinggui and Chen Fugui each led 500 regular soldiers, set off at night to go around to the north, and ambushed in the Matan Mountain, which was forty miles away from Changsha City.

The Xia family's regimental training troops walked so slowly, Hu Dinggui and Chen Fugui rested for two days in Matan Mountain, and those guys finally came late.

The spy sneaked back into the mountains and said, "More than ten miles to the north, those regiments are camping by the river. I don't know what kind of river it is, it's a small river anyway. ”

Hu Dinggui asked, "South Shore or North Shore?" ”

"On the south bank," said the spy, "the enemy began to cross the river in the morning, and it took half the afternoon to bring all the baggage. He was estimated to be tired and hungry, and did not want to continue his journey, so he camped directly by the river. The camp was in disarray, so they cut down some bamboo to make a fence. There were not many tents in the main business, and most of the enemy troops slept in the open air, and burned grass and mosquitoes everywhere in the camp. ”

What the is this for an armed outing?

More than 7,000 people crossed the river, and it took a whole day to consume energy.

And also crossed the river and camped, which was extremely intimate, and Hu Dinggui did not have to cross the river again when he attacked the camp.

After nightfall, Hu Dinggui and Chen Fugui led their troops down the mountain. He took off his armor in advance and put it in the mountains, all of them marched lightly, marched more than ten miles in the middle of the night, and finally arrived at the enemy's riverside camp.

The moonlight was bright tonight, Hu Dinggui quietly touched it, and when he got closer, he almost laughed.

The regimental training units run by these gentry were no different from the peasants who had just begun to rebel. I don't understand anything, and the camp in front of me has made almost all the mistakes that can be made.

Hu Dinggui and Chen Fugui each led 500 regular soldiers, and they began to approach little by little.

"Kill!"

Hu Dinggui kicked over the bamboo fence and easily rushed into the enemy camp.

Ordinary Tuan Yong, almost all of them sleep in the open air, and there is a mat or straw mat under him. Although the grass maggots were burned in the evening, the effect had passed by this time, and many Tuan Yong were bitten by mosquitoes and couldn't sleep.

In this state of not being able to sleep, after a few more days of marching, I will be physically and mentally exhausted before the battle.

When a thousand Datong troops entered the camp, the regimental warriors woke up one after another.

Between the shadows and shadows, I don't know how many enemies have come. Their first instinct was to flee, and without even bothering to take their weapons, they ran as fast as they could towards the river.

Puff, puff......

The sound of falling water is endless, and they all take the initiative to jump into the river. Almost all of these Hunan men can swim, and they don't wear armor yet. They had already figured it out that they would jump into the river to escape once they encountered the enemy, and except for the children of the gentry, ordinary soldiers did not want to fight at all.

In particular, those tenants participated in the regimental training purely because the landlord had promised to reduce the rent this year, and the regimental training troops could still take care of their meals every day.

More than 7,000 people agreed to the regimental training, as if they had received a military order, and rushed to the north, jumping into the nameless river with brushes. Then make a variety of swimming positions, some doggy, some breaststroke, some freestyle, and the night raid seems to turn into a swimming competition.

On the edge of the Xiangjiang River, there were also some grain boats docked, and when they heard the movement, they immediately rowed away.

A thousand Datong troops chased to the river, looking at the churning river under the moon, and they were all dumbfounded.

Hu Dinggui and Chen Fugui glanced at each other, and they couldn't cry or laugh.

"How many did you kill?" Hu Dinggui asked.

Chen Fugui said: "I only cared about chasing the enemy and disrupting the enemy's camp, and I haven't killed a single one." ”

1,000 Datong elites, attacking more than 7,000 regiments at night, killed the enemy's camp, and it seems that neither side shed any blood.

There was no time to escape, so he directly lay on the ground and surrendered. And in order to disrupt the camp as soon as possible, the Datong army didn't care about killing those lying on the ground, and they were all rushing deeper in a frenzy.

Hu Dinggui joined the army until now, and it is the first time to fight such a strange battle.

After daybreak, the number of people was counted and more than six hundred prisoners were captured.

And finally found casualties, one regiment was trampled to death, and seven regiments were poked to death.

"Is this a win?" Chen Fugui was a little puzzled, because most of the enemy troops managed to escape.

Hu Dinggui pointed to the grain and grass in the camp and said with a smile: "It must have been won, the enemy army has no grain and grass, and I don't know when I will have to wait until I think about it." ”

Chen Fugui scratched his head and said, "They are here to deliver grain and grass." ”

"Hahahaha!"

Hu Dinggui laughed happily.

More than 7,000 people must have a lot of food and grass. It's a pity that half of it was transported by boat, and it had already been rowed and run away at night, otherwise more could have been captured.

Hu Dinggui summoned the captives and asked, "Where did you come from?" ”

"Xiangyin, Xia Jiachong." A captive replied.

Hu Dinggui was a little surprised: "You actually speak Jiangxi dialect?" ”

The captive said, "I heard from the elders that our entire village was moved from Dexing, Jiangxi. ”

"Old watch," Hu Dinggui said with a smile, "I am from Fengcheng, not far from Dexing, and there are several counties in between. Why do you want to help the government fight? ”

The captive replied: "Master Xia said that as long as you join the army and become a regimental brave, this year's field rent will be reduced by 10%. When sending troops to fight, the old men still have to take care of the food. ”

Hu Dinggui simply called hundreds of prisoners, all of them, and said loudly: "You guys, it's really worthless, a few buckets of rice help the landlord to die." Has anyone heard of Zhao Tianwang? ”

"Listen...... Heard. The captives replied in a sparse manner, many with horrified expressions.

Hu Dinggui felt that there was a problem, so he said: "Let's talk about it, what kind of person is Zhao Tianwang over there?" ”

No one answered, and no one dared to speak.

Hu Dinggui pointed to the previous captive: "Old watch, you are not allowed to tell lies!" ”

The captive shuddered: "King Zhao likes to kill people, and he also likes to eat human flesh. Zhao Tianwang's soldiers want to kill all the young and strong, rob all the women, and take the children as military food. ”

"Damn, these landlords really know how to make it up!" Hu Dinggui was furious and shouted, "Missionary, come and tell them, Lao Tzu will go to bed first!" ”

The soldiers took turns to rest for half a day, and after lunch, Hu Dinggui ordered to return, and the hundreds of captives were all used to transport food.

Along the way, the missionaries repeatedly explained the policy, and the prisoners' eyes lit up.

Not only tenants, but also yeoman farmers yearn for the fact that as long as Mr. Zhao comes, they can also divide the land.

Hu Dinggui wanted to give Li Zheng a suggestion, and when the fight was over, he would give food to the prisoners, and let these people go home and take the initiative to publicize it.

The prisoners and grain and grass were still halfway there, and Li Zheng had already received the news and immediately asked people to write more letters of persuasion.

"Fu Shuai, there is a thief army in the north!"

Wang Zhiliang immediately ran to the northern city wall, and sure enough, he saw a thousand Datong troops, escorting hundreds of prisoners. There was too much food, and hundreds of captives were too busy to keep up, and hundreds of Datong troops were divided to transport grain.

Li Zheng immediately asked people to shoot letters into the city, and the officers and soldiers guarding the city were so frightened that their faces turned dirty.

Especially those gentry who recruited troops and ran regimental training, they were trembling with fear at the moment. The content of the letter is very simple, Li Zheng lied that he had captured Xiangyin, and Changsha had become an isolated city.

The gentry collectively went to Wang Zhiliang, and Wang Zhiliang said calmly: "Don't panic, this lie is eary." ”

A gentry hurriedly said: "But the thieves really came from the north, and they brought many prisoners and baggage, Xiangyin must have fallen!" ”

Wang Zhiliang explained: "Either the thieves ambushed the reinforcements, or the thieves went to the north to plunder, and they grabbed the prisoners and baggage. ”

The moat outside the city has been filled with a large section of the grain transportation team sent by Li Zheng every day.

Tao Aizhi looked at the section of the moat that had been filled in, and quietly instructed his three younger brothers. Then he went to Wang Zhiliang and said, "Fu Shuai, you can hang the basket at night and go to the camp of the thieves to surrender." Make an appointment to do the internal response, and after three days, raise the fire as a number, and when they enter the urn city, they will come to catch turtles in the urn. Although it cannot annihilate the thief army, it can demoralize it, so as to boost the morale of our army. ”

There were more than 11,000 defenders in the city, and the Tao family raised more than 4,000, and Wang Zhiliang attached great importance to the four Tao brothers.

Wang Zhiliang shook his head and said: "The thief will not be fooled, and he will detain you, don't take such a risk." ”

Tao Aizhi said: "Wansheng can say to the anti-thief that it was Fu Shuai who let Wansheng deceive him, and Wansheng really intends to be a thief." Then under the pretext of going back to the city to arrange, you can get out calmly. ”

Wang Zhiliang did not agree, but fell into deep thought.

Changsha City is tall and strong, and it must be no problem to defend the city, but the problem is that morale has been falling.

In ancient times, the offensive and defensive battles of cities often lasted for several months. Unless the whole army is determined to die, the city gates will never be blocked. One of the important reasons for keeping the city gate is to go out of the city to play a few games at any time, as long as a small victory can boost morale, or even a tie can boost morale. Otherwise, the longer the siege lasts, the lower the morale of the defenders.

And this group of rabble under Wang Zhiliang has only been besieged for half a month, and the army's morale is already floating, and a small victory must be achieved.

At this moment, Wang Zhiliang is looking forward to the thieves attacking the city quickly, and he can use the city to continuously inflict damage on the thieves. As long as it can cause damage, it can boost morale, but Li Zheng is just slowly filling the moat.

Seeing the moat being filled in piece by piece was a torment for the rabble in the city.

The thieves really attacked the city, but they were not so panicked.

It was like a boot that hadn't been dropped.

After thinking about it, Wang Zhiliang decided to take the risk and said to Tao Aizhi: "Then you will go out of the city tonight." ”

Tao Aizhi also has no choice, the city gate is full of Wang Zhiliang's soldiers. And the soldiers of his Tao family were all used to guard the city wall, and they were scattered into four arrangements.

He wanted to set fire to the city at night, but he was afraid that if he failed, the four brothers would definitely be beheaded.

Only by letting Li Zheng lead the troops to attack the city, and attacking the sections of the wall defended by the Tao soldiers, can the two sides cooperate perfectly. But this is tantamount to letting Li Zheng take risks, in case the Tao family soldiers cheat, under insufficient preparation, the Datong soldiers will definitely suffer heavy casualties.

Li Zheng and Tao Aizhi didn't really trust each other.

In Li Zheng's opinion, Tao Aizhi has 4,000 soldiers, and he can jump back directly in the city, and then he can take the opportunity to attack the city.

To put it bluntly, they all want the other party to do it first, so that it has been delayed until now.

Tao Aizhi ventured out of the city this time to communicate with Li Zheng face to face, otherwise they would not cooperate with each other.