Although Zhang Xianzhong suffered nearly 10,000 casualties, most of them belonged to cannon fodder, that is, forcibly recruited people.

These people are very miserable, they were originally good at home farming, but they were inexplicably pulled to transport the baggage. Not to mention transportation, you have to be cannon fodder when you siege the city, and if you don't attack the city, you will be hacked to death by the warlords.

Li Zicheng fought when he was wandering, and the situation was similar.

The History of the Ming Dynasty says that Li Zicheng's tactics were "three walls", but the actual situation was "five positions". The front was full of displaced people, the second and third army formations were infantry, the fourth army formation was horse team, and the fifth army formation was cavalry.

It is obviously a tactic that violates military common sense, and if the displaced people in front are defeated, why not break down the infantry formation?

However, the actual impact is modest.

Because the infantry has long been accustomed to the collapse of the displaced people, and will not follow the rout psychologically and morale. The displaced people will not flee back, because they know that Li Zicheng's soldiers want to kill, and who dares to rush in the dense array of guns? When they collapse, they all flee in both directions.

Use the large array of displaced people to consume the physical strength of the officers and soldiers, and when the displaced people are dispersed, let the infantry kill them, and the cavalry and horse team take the opportunity to go around the flank.

If the exiles really routed their own infantry, Li Zicheng would immediately leave with his cavalry and horse team.

Anyway, the homeless people are consumables, and Zhang Xianzhong's people are also consumables.

Zhang Xianzhong's 100,000-strong army attacked the city for half a month, and only killed and wounded more than 1,000 people, all of whom were killed and wounded by 10,000 enemies.

At night, Shi Yongen couldn't sleep.

He was sent by Xu Ying to Hubei, and went to his relatives to become an apprentice in the dyeing workshop - true relatives, true apprentices.

Three months ago, Shi Yongen followed his relatives out of the city to the outskirts of the city to celebrate the birthday of his relative's old mother. happened to meet the forced conscription, he was arrested in a daze, and worked hard all the way to Zhang Xianzhong to transport the baggage.

100,000 troops, 200,000 people, mixed in the people's work, is definitely not only Shi Yongen.

Because Shi Yongen was relatively strong, he was also incorporated into the siege camp and participated in the siege twice. He was very cowardly in every siege, hiding behind the anti-arrow planks of the ladder, ignoring the reprimands of the overseers, and only after a long time did he climb the ladder, and then quickly fled. Halfway back after escaping, he encountered the Warlord's team, and immediately rushed to the city wall.

There are many people who do this, and as long as they don't completely disperse, the overseers don't bother to take care of it. Anyway, I didn't plan to let the people attack the tower, just consume the materials to defend the city.

In this case, Shi Yongen's arm was also burned by the hot oil, and some of the wounds had begun to suppurate.

Shi Yongen did not resent Xu Ying, and sent him to Zhang Xianzhong's territory as a fine work. Because Shi Yongen's family has divided the field, his brother was directly promoted to the county official, and now he has become the chief of the engineering section. There is also a sister, who is married to a magistrate to be a continuation of the string, and will definitely be able to live a good life in the future.

If only I could go back alive.

"Uncle Cao, have you slept?" Shi Yongen asked in a low voice.

Uncle Cao, a farmer in his forties, sighed and said, "Where can I sleep? If you attack the city again tomorrow, I am afraid that you will die under the city. ”

The people could not escape, so they were divided into several groups, and they were specially arranged in the center of the camp, and Zhang Xianzhong's regular army was everywhere.

Shi Yongen said: "It is estimated that there will be a war tonight, and preparations will be made in the evening. If all the soldiers go to attack the city, we will take the opportunity to flee and shout more people, and we will definitely not be able to catch the chaos when it is too big. ”

"This ...... Caught trying to kill your head! Uncle Cao said in horror.

Shi Yongen asked: "If you don't flee tonight, you will die tomorrow when you attack the city, how can it be more cost-effective to die?" ”

Uncle Cao replied: "It's not cost-effective." ”

Shi Yongen said: "If you escape, you still have a chance to live, and if you continue to attack the city, you will definitely die." Which do you choose? ”

Uncle Cao thought seriously, gritted his teeth and nodded: "Then escape!" ”

"Take me with you when you run away." A siege camp cannon fodder named Zeng Ayang next to him suddenly spoke.

"Okay, run away together, the more people the better."

Shi Yongen quietly climbed out again, climbed out a few steps and whispered, "Lao Li, are you afraid of death?" If you go to attack the city again, you will definitely die......"

……

The lord of Guangji guarding the city will be called Wang Hui, who was originally the stupid son of the landlord of Liuyang County.

The scholarly family is not good at studying, and even Xiucai was not admitted, and he has been chasing chickens and dogs since he was a child. When he was a teenager, he began to play with knives and sticks, and he also rode the family's donkey as a horse, saying that he wanted to practice riding and archery.

A few years ago, Jiangxi thieves crossed the border and plundered.

Under the leadership of Feng Zuwang, the magistrate of the county, Wang Hui recruited the villagers to resist desperately, and he personally beheaded the thief and "flew to the sky".

Then the Datong army came, so majestic military might, Wang Hui immediately surrendered with Xiangyong.

It didn't matter if the family's land property was divided, Wang Huile was conscripted as a peasant soldier. Due to his excellent performance and actual combat experience, when Zhao Han expanded the army for the third time, Wang Hui was not only incorporated into the Datong regular army, but also directly served as the post of sentry commander.

During a series of battles in Dongting Lake, Wang Hui made great contributions one after another.

Moreover, he is also literate, can write and count, and is promoted to battalion commander by skipping the ranks. During the Jianghuai Campaign, he was once again promoted for meritorious service and was quickly promoted to regiment commander.

Or because of literacy, and can write and calculate, not only brave in battle, but also accustomed to using his brain, Wang Hui as the head of the regiment, was selected as the main general of Guangji County.

In fact, in addition to Wang Hui's own reasons, the reason why he was promoted so quickly was that Zhao Han was deliberately biased towards soldiers from other provinces. There are too many officers from Jiangxi, and whether they admit it or not, there must be a phenomenon of forming gangs.

It must be biased towards other provinces, but it can't be too obvious, otherwise it will chill the hearts of Jiangxi soldiers.

Nighttime.

Wang Hui inspected the city wall as usual, comforted the soldiers, and then subconsciously looked out of the city.

He knew that Zhang Xianzhong was digging a tunnel, and the clairvoyant mirror had already seen it. In all directions, there are more than a dozen tunnels, and soil is being transported from the entrance of the cave every day.

As long as you observe carefully, Zhang Xianzhong can be found no matter how well he hides.

The use of tunnels to transport gunpowder to blow up the city walls was not invented by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It was there at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and officers and soldiers used this kind of strategy, Zhang Xianzhong used it, and Li Zicheng also used it.

Such tactics are difficult to work against fortified cities like Nanjing and Beijing, because the foundations are too solid and too deep.

If you want to force it, you need a lot of gunpowder.

Take Nanjing as an example, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom blew up Nanjing, and I don't know how much gunpowder was used, anyway, it was "a lot". Later, the Hunan army blew up the city of Nanjing, and the Chinese side said that 6,000 sacks of gunpowder were used, and the "New York Times" said that 30 tons of gunpowder were used - the data is a bit outrageous, but it also reflects that the city of Nanjing cannot be blown up with gunpowder in a few coffins.

Wang Hui sat on the tower of the city and watched the warriors hang out of the city.

Some people hold iron drills and stick them into the ground, some people pick up sledgehammers and smash them, and some people cover the ground with bamboo tubes and listen to the sound.

He would do this every night, comparing the positions of the tunnels dug by the enemy, and testing them with iron drills in the earth all over the city.

"Dang!"

I don't know how long it took to strike, but another hammer was struck, and the iron drill in a certain place quickly fell, and it was already inserted into the enemy's tunnel.

"Water!"

Buckets quickly fell from the city, and the guards pulled out their iron drills and poured water through small holes below.

The enemy troops in the tunnel were planting gunpowder, and when they saw that water was pouring in, they hurriedly blocked the hole with mud.

All the nearby iron drills were taken, and more than a dozen iron drills were smashed down in that piece. A few of them were pulled out with blood, apparently stabbing the enemy in the tunnel.

Constantly digging holes, constantly filling water, this tunnel is in ruins.

Zhang Xianzhong was so angry that he scolded and ordered to continue digging tunnels. Instead of digging straight through, they dug diagonally forward, leaving the defenders unable to determine the approximate location of the tunnel.

At the same time, the cannon fodder continued to attack the city, and the number of Lu buses also increased to seven.

There are several floors in the Lu bus, and the top layer is higher than the city wall, so you can condescendingly release arrows into the city.

The peasants and civilians defending the city held shields or pot lids to block the enemy's rain of arrows. Behind the shield, there were sturdy people who threw 10,000 enemies, most of them fell to the ground and exploded, and only a few managed to smash into Lu's car, because this thing has baffles on each layer.

After a fierce battle for a long time, the three Lu buses in front and behind stopped advancing.

But there were still two cars driving to the city wall, and when a peasant soldier threw 10,000 enemies, he was accidentally shot in the wrist by an arrow, and 10,000 enemies fell directly into the defending team.

"Boom!"

Explosion in the city.

The elite in Lu's bus took the opportunity to jump on the city wall and quickly occupied a small area.

"Hold on, form a formation and hold on!"

When Wang Hui learned the news, he hurriedly asked people to raise the flag order, and he quickly led the team over to support.

Zhang Xianzhong's elite continued to climb up from this Lu bus, and more than 300 peasants and soldiers defending the city and ordinary people were killed.

Wang Hui finally arrived with an elite peasant reserve, a three-piece set of wolf stalks, rattan cards, and spears, and flanked them from both sides. After a bloody battle, he once again paid the price of hundreds of people, and finally defeated the enemy army that attacked the city.

Just as Zhang Xianzhong sighed, a cavalry suddenly rushed over: "King, my general is entangled by the enemy cavalry!" ”

"How many enemy cavalry are there?" Zhang Xianzhong asked.

The old man replied, "There are about two or three thousand, and most of them are not armor-piercing, but they only use a fire gun to run away and release the gun." But there were hundreds of horsemen, and the horses were tall and strong, and the men were heavily armoured, and the vital points of the horses were also armored. ”

Zhang Xianzhong asked, "How tall can those war horses be?" ”

The man said, "Much taller than the king's mount." ”

"Hundreds of war horses, all that tall?" Zhang Xianzhong was surprised.

The man said, "Not only are they tall and strong, but they are also very fast. They also have foot soldiers, marching on mules, specifically blocking the way of my general, and preventing my general from coming back with cavalry to join us. ”

Zhang Xianzhong was puzzled: "Even if the foot soldiers ride mules, they shouldn't catch up with the cavalry of the old Huihui." ”

The man said: "The enemy has set up sentry horses everywhere, and these sentry horses have only two people in each team, and they do not carry any weapons, and they march lightly and run very fast. They did not dare to engage in battle, so they fled when they encountered our army, and then ran to the nearby market town to light the wolf smoke and spread the message. Trenches were dug outside those towns, and many peasants and civilians were guarded inside, and our cavalry could not penetrate them. ”

As he spoke, the man said anxiously: "Our army is all cavalry, and we don't have much grain and grass with us, and we can't grab food along the way, and we have run out of food two days ago." ”

Zhang Xianzhong was silent.

Sun Kewang hurriedly said: "Father, 100,000 elites and 200,000 people, it is not a way to besiege the city here. It's better for the children to divide their troops and march east......"

"Where to go east? The first three counties are all the same as here, there are no people in the wilderness at all, did you divide your troops and forcibly attack the city? Zhang Xianzhong asked rhetorically.

Sun Kewang said: "The spies reported that there are still many market towns in the wild. Let's not fight the cities, but these market towns. ”

Zhang Xianzhong sighed and said: "The main force of the enemy has not appeared, I am afraid it is tempting me to divide the troops." Once you take your troops out, you will most likely be surrounded, and you won't be able to come back when you want to. ”

Sun Kewang thought about it carefully and felt that this was indeed the case.

This battle was too aggrieved, and Guangji County must be pulled out in order to ensure the safety of the grain road. Even if they don't care about the grain route, this is also their withdrawal channel, and if they don't take Guangji City, they won't be able to withdraw their troops once they are defeated.

But for more than half a month, the regular army of the other side has not been seen, and the county seat is still standing there safely.

In the evening of the same day, Lao Huihui came back with the cavalry, and said embarrassedly: "I came back from a detour, Zhao Han's cavalry is too disgusting, and the foot soldiers riding mules with a large number of sentry horses are also disgusting." Lao Tzu's cavalry is gone, and they are not killed in battle at all, but they are starved and have no strength due to lack of food! Quickly order a rebellion, I haven't eaten for two days! ”

Zhang Xianzhong ordered the Huotou army to rebel, first brought some bread to satisfy his hunger, and asked: "How many cavalry does the enemy have?" ”

"At first, there were only more than two thousand, and then there were another thousand, and there were hundreds of heavy armor riders." The old man replied.

Zhang Xianzhong asked, "All of them are much taller than my mounts?" ”

Lao Hui said: "Not only is it high, compared to those war horses, our war horses are like mules!" There was no way to fight this battle, and there was no one to see in the wilderness, and there was no food. Except for the cavalry, the enemy army did not come out to fight at all, just waiting for us to attack the city. This Guangji City can't be taken, do you dare to divide your troops to attack other places? ”

Sun Kewang said: "Father, I'm afraid that the situation in the north is similar, and Dingguo can only forcibly attack the city like this. ”

The north side of the strong wall is simpler, and the drought in that broken place is serious, and this year it is clear that there is no harvest, and the people do not have the slightest nostalgia when they evacuate.

Lao Hui said: "When we are tired of attacking the city and our morale has dropped, the main force of the enemy army should also come out." Moreover, the enemy forces control the Yangtze River, and they may transport the main force to our rear at any time, and they will not be able to withdraw when the time comes. This battle can't be fought, so hurry up and withdraw the whole army! ”

Wouldn't it be a big joke to withdraw the troops now?

The total number of troops on the three routes was 200,000, and nearly 400,000 were used by the people. A city was not defeated, not a grain of rice was snatched, and it slipped back like this?

Damn Zuo Liangyu, why didn't you go south to help?

And Na Luo Rucai, made an appointment to go south together!

Zuo Liangyu was facing the plague in Shandong, he didn't dare to move, he would explode in the rear as soon as he moved, and many soldiers were infected with diseases, so he couldn't fight at all.

Luo Rucai actually sent troops and came down for a walk. ran two counties in a row, and found that there was no food to grab, so he didn't dare to go too deep, so he simply rolled back to the hinterland of Henan with the cavalry.

"This surnamed Zhao is really shameless!" Zhang Xianzhong hated.

In the north and south, there are six or seven counties in the fortified and clear fields, and the food consumed is enough to fight a big battle!

Zhao Han just didn't fight, he wanted to waste food to keep the people, and drag the enemy to exhaust before fighting.

It doesn't matter if Zhang Xianzhong drives straight in, it is best to rush all the way to the state and county where there are no strong walls and clear fields. When the time comes, stay away from the turf, the battle line is stretched, and there are countless opportunities to look for it to defeat.

Zhang Xianzhong gritted his teeth and said: "Attack for another three days, and if you can't beat it, you will withdraw the army, and let those miners speed up digging tunnels." As long as you break through Guangji City, you will definitely be able to obtain countless grains and grass! ”

(Ask for a commuter pass.) ）