When Su He walked into Feng County, the county was completely controlled.
Soldiers stood guard on the main streets, and people hid in their homes.
"Mr. Li, tell the soldiers to rest for the night, and a battalion from the Second Brigade and the Third Regiment will be sent on duty."
Li Fengming received the order and began to arrange for various troops to rest and recuperate.
Su He moved directly into the county government office and called Honeysuckle and Wu Donglin.
"Appoint Honeysuckle as the magistrate of Feng County and immediately establish corresponding systems in Feng County based on the experience of Baoji County.
This is our rear area, and we must ensure the stability of Feng County."
Honeysuckle took over the seal of Feng County Magistrate from Su He. He was extremely excited. He had finally waited for this day.
Su He continued to give instructions: "Wu Donglin is responsible for judging the gentry. After handling the affairs of Feng County, he will go to Lueyang.
You must also establish a framework for punishment in Feng County."
"Please rest assured, Commander Su, I will judge impartially and never let a bad person go." Wu Donglin promised with a serious face.
"You should go and inspect the former subordinate officials in Feng County now. Those with better conduct can be absorbed into our team."
Wu Donglin and Jinyinhua took the order and left to inspect the arrested subordinates.
Su He asked Su Que to notify the officers and convene a military combat meeting.
When he saw all the officers present, he unfolded the battle map.
"The situation has changed, and Hanzhong Prefecture has known the news of our attack in advance.
We have to make a time difference now, we must march quickly and use our fastest speed.
I am going to send a surprise force to attack Hanzhong from Lianyundao."
Su He arranged specific combat deployments.
"The Second Brigade and the Third Regiment are responsible for maintaining the security of Chencang Road, eliminating the remaining enemies, and ensuring the safety of the logistics supply line."
Su Li stood up and said decisively: "Commander Su, please rest assured that the Third Regiment will definitely live up to public expectations.
Do your best to protect the safety of Chencang Road with the army."
Su He continued to make arrangements: "Su Xiong will set off immediately with a brigade and engineering battalion tomorrow morning, directly from Fengyang to Lianyundao to attack Hanzhong.
As the main attacker, Su Xiong must pay attention to the concealed march.
I led the Second Brigade, First Regiment and other troops as well as the young men transporting grain, pretending to be the main force, to attract the attention of Hanzhong Prefecture."
Su He arranged the battle plan, and the officers all left to prepare for tomorrow's battle.
"Su Que, inform Baoji County that supplies can be delivered to Feng County."
Su He said to Li Fengming: "Mr. Li, please arrange for the young men of Baoji County to put on our military uniforms and pretend to be soldiers with captured weapons."
…
Early the next morning, the army began to move.
As the only officer in Feng County, Su Li also made corresponding arrangements.
The first battalion is responsible for the section of Chencang Road from Dasanguan to Fengxian, the second battalion is responsible for the section of Chencang Road from Fengxian to Lueyang, and the third battalion is responsible for the section of Chencang Road from Lueyang to Hanzhong.
Honeysuckle changed into the county magistrate's clothes early in the morning, took the subordinate staff recruited yesterday and started handling various affairs in Feng County.
With Baoji County as a model, he believes he can do better.
…
On November 5th, Su He led the army to the outside of Lueyang County.
The army surrounded the entire Lueyang, leaving only the eastern city wall unencircled.
The soldiers on the other two walls are young and strong in disguise, and only the northern wall is the main force.
Su Que walked in and said: "Commander Su, Staff Officer Li, the army is ready. Please ask us for instructions on whether to attack the city."
"Start the siege."
After Su He gave the order, he and Li Fengming walked out of the camp together.
Li Fengming looked at the small county town not far ahead.
"Lueyang is a small county. Its geographical location is very important, but it is not dangerous."
Su He glanced at the undulating mountains around him.
"This place is so poor that the officers and soldiers guarding the city don't even have a cannon.
This is not a border area, and the Ming Dynasty will not invest too much financial resources here.
But we must capture Lueyang and defend it.
Lueyang's failure shocked Hanzhong greatly and would definitely attract everyone's attention here.
Since ancient times, Chencang Road has been the most important road to attack Hanzhong.
As long as the Hanzhong Mansion army is attracted here, Su Xiong has a high chance of success."
The army began to attack the city, but the 75-gun artillery battalion was not good at attacking the city.
They hid among the young men and attacked the city with iron bullets, pretending to be the main force.
The soldiers of the Second Brigade and the First Regiment dug trenches. They were not as skilled as the archer battalion, but they dug trenches very quickly.
When the Ming garrison in Lueyang City saw the thieves in yellow starting to dig trenches, they laughed and said:
"These rebels really don't understand that they are digging trenches instead of tunnels.
The foundation of our Lueyang County town is one foot deep, and even those shallow pits dug by the rebels can be drilled into the city. This is not a dream.
The rebels don't have red cannons, so they can't break through our city wall. There's no need to be afraid.
To defend the county seat, I have notified the nearest Ningqiang guard that our reinforcements will arrive soon.
The archers come out and shoot them to death for me."
The defenders of Lueyang County began to use bows, arrows and crossbows to attack the engineers digging trenches.
Few arrows reach the trench.
Seeing the defenders starting to shoot arrows, the soldiers also held up large iron shields to block the arrows.
The soldiers quickly dug under the Lueyang city wall.
The officers and soldiers on the city began to pour gold juice down.
The boiled dung was so hot that when it came into contact with the soldiers, a large area of their skin was burned.
The contaminants in gold juice can easily cause infection.
The soldiers wrapped themselves in quilts as a precaution and quickly dug holes in the city wall.
They paid a certain amount of casualties and quickly placed five siege mines under the city wall and lit the fuses of the siege mines.
The siege mine fuse is specially prepared and burns for half a stick of incense (more than 2 minutes) before lighting the match behind it.
The soldiers immediately ran back along the trench and soon heard five loud bangs.
The east wall of Lueyang City collapsed in response.
Su He issued an order: "The entire army attacks."
The soldiers carried their spears and immediately rushed into Lueyang City.
Li Fengming saw that Lueyang City had been occupied.
With a smile on his face, he said happily: "We won Lueyang, and we basically managed to advance and attack, and retreat and defend.
There is no problem with the security of the logistics supply line.
Now we just need to drive away the troops from Lueyang and make the Hanzhong government believe that we are the main force."
The soldiers cleared out all the resisting officers and soldiers in Lueyang City.
When the officers and soldiers saw that the city wall had collapsed, they immediately ran out from the east gate and ran along Chencang Road towards Hanzhong Mansion.
Zhang Wansi led the reconnaissance battalion and chased the officers and soldiers on horseback. Only a small number of officers and soldiers on horseback escaped.
Su He entered the Lueyang County Government and made arrangements similar to those in Feng County.
Deng Haoman was appointed magistrate of Lueyang County to appease the people in Lueyang County.
Su He immediately arranged for Qingzhuang to repair the damaged city wall of Lueyang County.
All the troops of Hanzhong Prefecture are going to attack Lueyang. The army here is not the main force and can only rely on firearms to defend the city.
Lueyang has the Guards Regiment, the Second Brigade and One Regiment, the Second Brigade and the Third Regiment and two battalions, the artillery battalion, and the reconnaissance battalion, with a total of more than 4,000 people, and 3,000 young men.
It seems that the army has a relatively large number of people, but they are basically new recruits who have never been on the battlefield.
Su He did not have the confidence to lead a group of new soldiers into a field battle against an enemy several times their size.
The difficulty of defending a city is completely different.
They have brought enough food for ten days, and with the seizure from Lueyang County, the food is enough.
There are also several ancient wells in the city, so drinking water is no problem.
