Chapter 578: Attack from the South and Defend from the North
Zhang Xianzhong's plan was to attack the city in caves.
First build a dam to block the river upstream, then use chariots to cover it, dig seven or eight tunnels directly from the end of the artillery range of the city head, drain the moat, then insert a few blasting tubes under the foundation of the south city wall and blow up a slope. .
Zhang Shangshu's blasting tubes were made of several two-foot-tall trees.
He had the tree trunk cut open, hollowed out, and filled with gunpowder. The two halves of the trunk were combined into one, the seams were filled with yellow mud, and ropes were tied tightly to make blasting tubes about the same height as the city wall.
During the military meeting, Zhang Shangshu was frothing at the prospect description. He thought that these tree trunks filled with gunpowder and sealed were transported to the bottom of the city wall. With just a bang, the city wall could be blown up... Liu Shizi... That's all I heard.
Because according to his estimation, the charges of these blasting tubes were not enough to blast a gap in Qianzhou City.
If he hadn't interrupted and asked Zhang Xianzhong to implement this plan, the Minister of Rites of the Marshal's Mansion might have run away with his people in four days.
On the one hand, the amount of explosive charge is insufficient. The main problem lies in the shape of the blasting barrel. If it is to blast those small cities with a city foundation thickness of about three feet, this tactic can basically blast a gap in the city wall; but in the face of Qianzhou, For a large city with a city foundation six feet thick, the earthwork needed to shake the city foundation was much greater than Zhang Xianzhong's calculations.
The cave siege itself is not a new technology. Yuan Shao used it when he defeated Gongsun Zan.
However, there was no gunpowder at that time, so we dug tunnels under the city wall, hollowed out the foundation, and replaced the foundation with wooden beams while digging to prevent the city wall from prematurely collapsing and burying the tunnel.
When everything that needs to be done is done and the tunnel is dug, a fire is set in the tunnel to burn down the beams and pillars, and the city wall will naturally collapse.
The key point of this strategy is to dig as deep as you want it to collapse, and even more earth and rocks need to be dug out to leave a margin.
Nowadays, with gunpowder, there is no need to set fire underground, but the principle itself will not change. To deal with a small city, you can set off gunpowder, bury a tunnel, and use the explosive power of gunpowder to push up a section of the city wall. To deal with a large city, you still use gunpowder to cover the tunnel. The supporting pillars inside exploded, causing the city wall to lose its support and collapse under its own weight.
Zhang Xianzhong had a time limit of five days. This time barely allowed him to dig a tunnel into the city outside the range of artillery, but it was not enough to dig a large hole two feet high and several feet wide under the city wall. The explosive power of gunpowder alone was not enough to dig this wall. The city wall is raised.
It's not that it's impossible, it's just that Zhang Xianzhong's calculations were too rough to complete the plan.
Therefore, in order to prevent the Minister of Rites from running away in fear of sin, Liu Chengzong perfected this plan.
First of all, he gave Zhang Xianzhong more ample time, limited to one month. In order to prevent Zhang Xianzhong from only attacking the city, he released the water from the moat into the farmland and damaged the fields. He specifically stipulated the direction of the drainage ditch to drain all the water. Go to the Qishui River. With some repairs next year, it can still be used as a canal.
At the same time, zigzag anti-gun trenches were also drawn to prevent the siege troops from being killed by gunfire when they entered the artillery range.
He also told him that if the first bombing of the city failed, he should carefully calculate the distance outside the city wall, pick two or three places, and dig a cave one foot high and two feet deep underneath to let the rammed earth layer collapse under the explosion.
In this way, although the city wall cannot be blown out of the gap, it can still make the masonry and rammed earth on the top of the city wall slide down, forming a ramp for climbing.
In this way, the defenders have a place they must defend. With the help of tube ladders, cloud ladders, and long ladders, after about ten days of exhausting tactics, they can use the method of attacking in the east and attacking in the west to attack the city, making it easier to achieve victory.
After making these arrangements, Liu Chengzong did not lead his army to wait in Qianzhou. Instead, he assigned Xie Erhu to continue marching southeast toward Liquan, Xingping, Xianyang and other places. At the same time, the three small battalions of Gansu also marched toward Yaozhou under the leadership of Fengweizhen. March forward and get your horses back.
Liu Chengzong personally led three battalions to Maoling between Xingping and Xianyang, with Gao Yingdeng's troops stationed in the east, Zhang Tianlin's troops recruiting ships along the north bank of the Wei River, and Wei Qian'er's troops felling wood and collecting materials to build a pontoon bridge.
His purpose was to cross the river and directly threaten Xi'an Prefecture from the south bank of the Wei River.
Soon, Zhang Zhen abandoned his army and ran back from Yaozhou.
"Commander, under my humble position, I successfully obtained war horses with the seal of the guarding eunuch, but there were not more than 4,000 horses, only 3,770. In addition, I also hired more than 40 horse-raising officials from the horse supervisor." Speaking of these things, Zhang Zhen was beaming: "In addition, Liangzhou's general Mila printed a letter stamped with the seal of the guarding eunuch, and tricked the Yaozhou city gate into opening yesterday. Now the Liangzhou camp has taken over the defense and settled in the city."
But Liu Chengzong didn't look happy, he just asked: "You left the army and ran back just to repay your merits?"
"How dare you take such a humble position!"
As Zhang Zhen spoke, he looked around and saw that he was surrounded by people from the Huben camp. There were no newly surrendered generals or revolting guest troops. Then he said to Liu Chengzong: "I came back from my humble post because I met an official and military spy in Yaozhou. He said that Yaozhou The city cannot be occupied, and I was asked to send word to the commander as soon as possible that the army is coming down from Qingyang."
"I was afraid that the news was true and had to be sent as soon as possible; I was also afraid that the news was false and would disturb the morale of the army, so I had no choice but to run back from Yaozhou without authorization."
The officers and soldiers came down from Qingyang Mansion?
Liu Chengzong frowned and asked, "Did that person say, who is he?"
"I didn't say that." Zhang Zhen shook his head, took out a wild goose feather from his arms, and offered it: "But he said that the commander will know who he is when he sees this, and he also said that the news is worth one hundred and fifteen taels of silver. Three cents for the money.”
After Zhang Zhen said this, he smiled and said: "There are still some good ones, handsome..."
Halfway through his laughter, he discovered that Liu Chengzong had taken Yan Ling and was deep in thought.
Of course Liu Chengzong knew who it was. This was his old informant, He Yong, the head servant of He Renlong. One hundred and fifteen taels and three cents was the salary owed to him by the court back then.
Liu Chengzong made an agreement with He Yong that as long as a piece of information was needed, he would send him everything the court owed.
When he attacked Xigu last time, He Yong reported to him once. The report was quite effective, allowing the marshal's troops who landed at the mouth of the river to avoid the mine array and the official ambush. Therefore, Liu Chengzong snatched the chieftain from the chieftain. The third-class royal seal of the Yuan Dynasty came to him.
In comparison, Liu Chengzong believed that if the person who sent this message was He Yong, then the information would have a certain degree of credibility.
Liu Shishi didn't complain about Zhang Zhen running back without permission at this time, and asked: "Did he say who led the officers and soldiers who came down from Qingyang Mansion?"
"As I said, the vanguard officer He Renlong led the Yansui camp, the central army Zhang Quanchang led the governor's model troops, the left wing Yang Yanchang led the Yan'an battalion, the right wing Ren Quan'er led the Yan'an flag guard army, the palace army Cao Bianjiao led the Pingliang recruiting troops, these five generals led
The five-pronged army went south, with about 20,000 troops."
Zhang Zhen cupped his fists and said: "Suzhou General Ding Guodong has sent people to investigate north. If the situation is true, the information can be sent back in the future."
Liu Chengzong became happy when he heard the names of these five generals, and made Zhang Zhen stare.
He thought to himself that the Generalissimo was the Generalissimo, and even though five groups of troops were marching from the north to the south, he could still laugh!
The strength of their three small battalions in Gansu is just over 6,000. Even if they include the Mongolian brigade, it will be difficult to resist such a large imperial army. Obviously, only Liu Chengzong personally leading Huben and the three major battalions can compete with them.
But in Liu Shizi's eyes, this army formed by some great ingenuity was obviously not that scary.
It is true that with the passage of time and the intervening years, Liu Chengzong has no trust in those old officers, veterans of the old army, or blood relatives in the clan, and he believes that others view him the same way.
But no matter what, even if you think about it from the worst angle, as long as these people lead troops, they can't come with the idea of fighting them. Even if they want to fight, it will definitely be a design to make them relax their vigilance.
In the best case scenario, there are five groups of soldiers and horses, four groups of rebels, and a spy named Zhang Quanchang is mixed in.
Before the army left Qingyang Mansion, He Yong, the pioneer officer under He Renlong's tent, reported to him first. Not to mention Yang Yanchang and Ren Quan'er, Cao Bianjiao, who was the palace army, also led the army from Pingliang.
If Liu Shishi remembers correctly, it seems to be the place where he placed wounded soldiers.
To be honest, when he heard what Zhang Zhen said about the Ming army's lineup, Liu Chengzong was instinctively a little confused... Even if he was asked to arrange the Ming army's troops in person, the lineup he arranged would probably be of this virtue.
However, before he could figure out how to face the Ming army moving south from the north, the guards from the camp gate of the Chinese army ran into the tent and presented a report from Zhang Tianlin, the general of the southern camp.
Liu Chengzong took the letter and glanced at it. He also encountered enemies in the south.
Zhang Tianlin's mission was to recruit ships on the north bank of the Wei River, but because of the Marshal's Mansion's Eastern Expedition, all the boat owners on the river fled to the south bank of the Wei River. Even wealthy households and civilians in Xingping County fled by boat to Hu County on the south bank of the Wei River.
Therefore, Zhang Tianlin could only send a cavalry team to cross the river in a slightly radical way and go to Henan to recruit ships.
Fortunately, although Zhang Tianlin was bold, she behaved very cautiously. The first soldiers to cross the river were the Tang soldiers, followed by the main soldiers. After that, the Tang soldiers spread out and wandered around for dozens of miles to provide cover. Soon they discovered that more than ten thousand Ming troops were heading towards the Wei River.
The movement of the gathering on the south bank.
In Zhang Tianlin's report, it was mentioned that veterans in his unit recognized that the Ming army assembled in Weinan included Mao Gourd soldiers and Liaodong cavalry.
These two armies are very distinctive in terms of uniform colors and are easy to recognize. The Liaodong Army's cloth armor is heavier, also called Qingjia, and is mostly blue; while the Mao Hulu Soldiers are mountain soldiers from southern Henan, and their armor is blue.
The arrows are a squeeze quiver made of wild animal fur squeezing the arrows inside. They are very small and most of the arrow shafts are exposed.
Discovering that nature is mutual.
When Zhang Tianlin discovered the Ming army, the Ming army also discovered him. Moreover, there was only one brigade of Tang soldiers in the camp, which could not cover the main force on the south bank of the Wei River. Therefore, the letter stated that if there was no accident, Liu Chengzong would have already seen the letter when he saw it.
Back to the north shore.
Returning to the north bank with him were twenty-six ferries and fishing boats that had been temporarily collected. When a large number of Ming troops appeared in Weinan, this number of ferries basically declared the failure of Liu Chengzong's plan to cross the river.
Relying on more than 20 boats, they could only transport troops to the other side of the river one group at a time while the Ming army defended the river bank. This was obviously a ridiculous idea that cost people their lives.
At this time, Zhang Tianlin sent a letter, dejectedly asking the Chinese army for instructions on the next plan because the plan could not be completed.
However, from the perspective of Liu Chengzong, who has the overall intelligence, the situation is a bit interesting.
What he knows so far is that there are 20,000 troops led by He Renlong and other five generals in the north, and more than 10,000 troops have been found in the south. Liu Chengzong estimates that they are Lu Xiangsheng's troops in Yunyang Prefecture, and they can also be calculated as 20,000, plus the northwest
The Ningxia border troops heading south were also 20,000, and Hou Liangzhu's Sichuan army in the southwest encircled his troops on the Guanzhong Plain. It was basically a dumpling situation.
At this time, there were changes in the north and south at the same time. In Liu Chengzong's opinion, this must be the Ming army's joint command of the north and south Qi Jin, who wanted to complete a pincer attack on him.
So as soon as he made this judgment, he sent people to quickly send the analysis to Li Zicheng and Zhang Yichuan in the west, and asked them to retreat to Fengxiang Mansion first and guard Longzhou, Baoji, and Sanguan along Liupan Mountain to avoid unnecessary trouble.
He was eaten by the Ming army outside.
After making arrangements for the west, Liu Shizi considered the current situation of the north-south pincer attack with a cautious attitude.
His mentality is quite peaceful, but Zhang Zhen can't sit still anymore. There are 20,000 in the north and 20,000 in the south. The peasant army in the west will definitely not be able to defeat Ningxia. The Sichuan army has been around for too long. I don't know if there are any in the east. They have already
surrounded.
After careful consideration, Zhang Zhen cautiously said to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, if that doesn't work, let's... take away the money and food and go back to Longxi?"
Liu Chengzong raised his eyebrows unconsciously, looked at Zhang Zhen and asked: "Tell me what you think, do you think it is appropriate to retreat at this time?"
In such a huge marshal's mansion, the more than twenty generals are well-deserved core members. Liu Shishi cares about their thoughts. At the same time, Bee Tail Needle is very good at judging battlefield situations, so he is willing to calm down and listen to his opinions.
view.
What's more, even if he doesn't want to hear it and Zhang Zhen wants to say it, he won't be angry.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Liu Shishi will not forget that in the fierce battle with the national division Khan on the Heka grassland, it was Zhao Fuhuan and Fengweizhen who led their troops into the enemy's formation to turn the tide of the battle.
Zhang Zhenxin said, it's not that I want to retreat, I'm really afraid that you will be trapped by the situation and want to retreat but I'm afraid of losing face, so I said it.
He organized his words a little, and then said: "This is what I think. If we fight in the wilderness, the morale and armor supply of our army will be better than those of the official army, and there will be a commander in the middle to strategize.
Then we need to be 30% stronger, and six thousand can be used as an army of ten thousand."
This bragging made Liu Chengzong embarrassed.
Fortunately, Zhang Zhen soon changed the subject: "However, this time there are still 7,000 Mongolian brigade troops, 3,000 newly surrendered rebels and 3,000 Lintao brigade banner troops. The troops are good at guerrilla warfare and can't stand formations. Lintao brigade
It is difficult to fight a war with complex interpersonal relationships, and the newly surrendered rebels may not be able to withstand a hard fight... Therefore, I believe that our army cannot be surrounded in the pass and lose morale."
Liu Chengzong nodded slightly: "Our army is very strong, but it may not be as strong as we imagined, is that what you mean? What you said makes sense."
"So the top priority is to prevent the Ming army from completing the encirclement. If they want to advance from the north to the south, we will let them separate from the north and the south."
Liu Shishi said, his relaxed expression gradually tightening: "Whether the information is true or false, the three small battalions of Gansu Province are stationed in Yaozhou first. If the coalition forces of the fifth battalion are really going south, send envoys to them to communicate, and leave this matter to you.
"
"How much gold and silver were obtained when the city of Yaozhou was destroyed?"
"Come back to the Commander-in-Chief, the spoils of war are still being investigated, and General Mi Shen is appraising the wealthy households in accordance with the law." Zhang Zhen came over and ran hastily, and replied: "The results will be available soon."
Liu Chengzong nodded and said: "Divide it into three parts, one part will serve the army, one part will go to the Chinese Army, and the other part you will keep in the army."
"He Renlong, Yang Yanchang, and Ren Quan'er are all three generals who have an old relationship with me. If you can, build relationships with them, and bribe those with whom you can. If that doesn't work, just make peace with them, pretend to surrender, and rely on intelligence to get back and forth.
Time, drag them north."
Zhang Zhen responded with clasped fists, and Liu Chengzong waved his hand to summon Yu Linqi: "Quickly report to Zhang Tianlin and order him to lure Yunyang's army across the river to fight. After a brief confrontation with the vanguard crossing the river, he will feign defeat and retreat, allowing his army to cross the river."
In fact, it is difficult for anyone to take the bait under normal circumstances.
But the 20,000 officers and soldiers lying in the north are different, so this is also the basis for Liu Chengzong to dare to attack the south and defend the north. The officers and soldiers thought that there were 20,000 officers and soldiers in the north and south, but in fact only the 20,000 officers and soldiers were in the south. Yang Yanchang and Ren Quan
It would be more useful for people like Er to stand on the side of the Ming army than to be directly recruited and surrendered.
It is the best choice to let them eat the food of the Ming army, receive the pay of the court, and let the friendly forces think that there are 20,000 helpers on the side, but in the end they do nothing on the battlefield.
"Don't worry, just stay in Yaozhou with peace of mind." Liu Chengzong looked back at Zhang Zhen and said: "When I wipe out this Yunyang army, or they really don't take the bait, I will go to the north. Although the total strength of our army is not as good as the official army,
But at this time, there are much more mobile elites than the official army!" If you like Naughty Thief, please bookmark it: (www.sodu777.net) Naughty Thief Search and Reading Novel Network has the fastest update speed on the entire Internet.