Compared with the war in Henan, the siege of Xi'an Fucheng seemed extremely gentle.
Not to mention others, even Liu Chengzong, the commander-in-chief, felt it was outrageous.
A few days ago, Gao Yingdeng reported that the first field brigade has been reorganized. Two Mongolian divisions and two Xifan divisions have been transferred to Guanzhong and organized in the camp.
Liu Shizi immediately went down to the camp to review the drills and found that the four generals of the first brigade were very capable, so he completely changed the uniforms of the two fourth divisions without a word.
Everyone with a discerning eye knows the level of equipment of the Mongolian soldiers and the Spanish soldiers.
As an auxiliary unit, it uses captured equipment.
The first level is used to capture the equipment of the Ming Army, the second level is used to capture the equipment of the Oara Army, and the third level is used to capture the equipment of Qinghai Mongolia.
Comparatively speaking, if you don't count the muskets in the hands of the Western Fan soldiers, the equipment level of the Mongolian soldiers is even better. After all, the Western Fan soldiers with the best equipment are called Meng Armed Fanzi in the Marshal's Mansion.
In short, sheepskin drags, red tassel hats and helmets, spears that cannot be straightened, hard bows of nomadic cavalry, and wooden sticks with iron heads as bones. These are the more common weapons for regular soldiers, and the better ones will have some of the four.
Protective equipment such as mirror armor, chain mail, and iron-inlaid leather armor.
Liu Shizi's army did not consider the level of their equipment. The original plan was that after the reorganization was completed, as winter approached, the rear in Lanzhou would transport winter clothes to the front line and let the Ordnance Bureau change them as soon as possible.
Unexpectedly, the generals headed by Gao Yingdeng took care of this matter in Xi'an Fucheng.
When he went down to the camp for a drill, two soldiers from the headquarters changed their sheepskin linings to Ming Dynasty military guard uniforms, and their outer chainmails were replaced by purple-patterned cloth-covered iron armors.
The red tassel helmet on the head was replaced by the Ming army's red tassel helmet, and there were also many red-lacquered helmets with the word "Yong".
All the equipment can be seen at a glance as second-hand.
War jackets are generally a bit too big and don't fit well.
Purple cloth armor is not purple, nor does it have flowers, but the fabric is called purple cloth and the color is light ocher.
Especially the armor, they all wore privately modified infantry armor.
There is a big difference in the shape of infantry armor and cavalry armor, and a knowledgeable person can see it at a glance.
Infantrymen are fully equipped with armor that reaches to their feet, and are covered with armor plates from the armpits to the crotch, so there is no need to consider the impact of short stature and other movements.
The current armor of the two Mongols is a modification of the armor-shaped cloth armor, with the hem shortened to over the knees, and the armor plates on both ribs from the armpits to the crotch were removed and made into a plug-in type.
Protect your crotch, armpits, and waist to prevent your nails from touching your armpits and rubbing your crotch downwards when riding a horse.
Some people are even equipped with hanging legs, which are iron greaves.
Not to mention the iron helmets, they also hung chain mail collars under the helmets.
Everyone even stepped on the waist sword, and the crudely made bones were replaced by pumpkin hammers with iron handles; the Mongolian hard bows were replaced by the Ming army's large-bodied soft bows.
It is obvious that these equipments come from the besieged city of Xi'an.
In fact, according to low-level officers on the front line of the siege, armor was not the largest input in the siege trade.
When the Ming army went to the camp to buy food, their favorite thing to use was silver. Because prices in the city were too high, the silver they had was no longer valuable.
In addition, the largest equivalents are fragmentary consumables such as gunpowder, lead bullets, iron bullets, and arrowheads.
According to statistics from each battalion in the siege, they forged more than 20,000 arrowheads alone, and countless lead pellets and iron bullets.
As for gunpowder, more.
After the reorganization of Gao Yingdeng's First Brigade was completed, Wang Wenxiu was appointed as the chief military officer of Longxi Road, and along with Li Wanqing and Yang Chengzu, he led troops and transferred them to Gongchang and Pingliang. When his army left, it had more gunpowder than when it entered Guanzhong.
Liu Chengzong also prepared a deputy general named Ouyang Gun for Wang Wenxiu.
Ouyang Gun was from Ganzhou. He had just received the order to be promoted to deputy commander-in-chief of Lintao, and he caught up with Liu Chengzong to attack Gansu.
He helped Yang Jiamo form two Ganzhou battalions, but was surrounded by Liu Shizi and imprisoned in Liangzhou until he surrendered along with Li Hongsi.
The Marshal's Mansion feels more at ease with this person than with Li Hongsi.
Because Li Hongsi is from Shaanxi and Ouyang Gun is from Gansu, in the final analysis it is still a matter of place of origin.
His hometown has become the land under the jurisdiction of the Marshal's Mansion. The Ming Dynasty is too far away and Xining is too close, and people have to eat. So not long after he surrendered, he was hired by the old man as an instructor at Xincheng Academy to study cavalry tactics.
Later, he worked with Dalai Taiji in the training camp.
Wang Wenxiu was transferred to Longxi because Liu Chengzong wanted to transfer Ren Quan'er back to Guanzhong to form the Second Field Brigade of the Marshal's Office.
With the experience of forming the first brigade, things were much easier for the second brigade, and Liu Chengzong was able to focus more on the direction of Henan.
The person in the Marshal's Office who pays the most attention to Henan's developments is Zhang Tianlin.
As soon as Zhang Yichuan captured Yongning, Zhang Tianlin cooperated with his troops to open a Tangbao route between Tongguan, Hongguan and even Yongning County.
After all, the western Henan area is still under the threat of the plague. With their capabilities, Henan is beyond their reach, but intelligence is indispensable. Therefore, they can only balance the two evils and select soldiers to risk their lives to escape, forming a fast channel for transmitting intelligence.
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Liu Shizi was very happy to establish contact between Henan and Guanzhong.
In the commander's tent, he chatted with Zhang Xianzhong, King Han and other ministers of rites, looking through letters with a smile, and even praised Zhang Yichuan.
The Henan Fifth Battalion fought brilliantly in several field battles in western Henan.
There are many mines in western Henan, which have always been rich in desperadoes. Recruiting an army with the mountain miners as the backbone and fighting a few tough battles can greatly improve the quality of Zhang Yichuan's army.
At the same time, the idea of attacking Yongning first and then Luoyang is also very good. Having a rear can maximize the morale of the besieging army.
Taking ten thousand steps back, the army will not panic too much when it encounters a setback. At worst, it can retreat to Yongning County. Even if Yongning cannot stop it, it will retreat directly to Tongguan.
But as soon as he finished his words of praise, he saw Zhang Yichuan's letter saying that after conquering Yongning County, he killed Zhu Caiqing, the king of Wan'an County.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! This made Liu Chengzong's face turn green.
King Han was sitting in the commander's tent and observing his actions. When he saw Liu Chengzong's smile solidifying, he asked: "Commander, what's the matter?"
"Zhang Yichuan, after the city fell, he killed a county king."
The smile on King Han's face also solidified, and he paused for a moment before returning to normal, and said: "The prince of Yongning City is King Wan'an, right? He is a branch of Yi Fan. Just kill him, Marshal. His family has no weapons."
What a good person."
Liu Chengzong was noncommittal.
"Consecrate him, Commander!"
Zhang Xianzhong, the Minister of Li Yamen, obviously knew more about etiquette. His eyes widened and he said angrily: "What a Zhang Yichuan. He took the county king and escorted the prisoners to Guanzhong, but he killed them privately in Yongning County. Is that what he can kill?"
Liu Shishi raised his eyelids and looked helplessly at the Minister of Li Yamen and the chief executive. Neither of them got to the point.
He didn't care whether the executed vassal king was an evil king or a good king, nor did he care that Zhang Yichuan, a bandit leader, had no subordinate consciousness.
What he cared about was that Zhang Yichuan had no brains in doing this.
Just like Zhang Tianlin likes to destroy Buddhist temples, it is meaningless.
The princes and princes of the Ming Dynasty have no meaning to the Marshal's Mansion, nor to the bandits.
The only meaningful things in the feudal mansion are the mountains of wealth and the educated population in the feudal mansion.
The former can enrich financial and material resources, while the latter can also be sent to the barren and cold Tianshan Mountains, allowing them to use their waste bodies and limited talents to do something meaningful for the world.
As for the princes and princes, once they leave the feudal government, if they don’t kill them, it will be a waste of food, and if they kill them, they will waste their knives. To put it bluntly, they are useless people.
"He killed Prince Wan'an just to pursue his own pleasure regardless of the consequences. He shouldn't have killed him. It's my fault for not telling him in advance."
Liu Chengzong shook his head with some annoyance: "This generation of vassal kings enjoys wealth and honor. When faced with the danger of siege, they are like lambs waiting to be slaughtered and stay out of the matter. Firstly, the patriarchal law is in control. Secondly, there are no vassal kings who have been killed. Even if the city falls, they will not be killed."
I don’t realize that my death is approaching.”
He didn't say what he said next, but his meaning was already very clear.
In the past, the vassal government did nothing when faced with siege, because there was no vassal king who was defeated and killed. In the final analysis, the bandits and troops outside the city did not hang over their heads and were easily dismissed as common people. The imperial clan system that eliminated the country was terrible.
With Prince Wan'an taking this initiative, in the future the princes in the vassal government will be afraid of death and may really use their money to recruit troops in times of crisis.
The key is that Zhang Yichuan is still in Henan Prefecture, and Luoyang is right in front of him.
Liu Chengzong disapproved of this matter. The biggest reason was that in Luoyang, the capital of Henan Prefecture, Prince Fu Fan was famously wealthy in the world.
You, Zhang Yichuan, really want to kill a prince, save the life of Prince Wan'an, and send him to Luoyang City to give a message to Prince Fu, asking him not to act rashly in the city, which will lower the morale of the Ming army, capture Luoyang, and kill Prince Fu.
Now that Luoyang has not been captured, but the Prince Wan'an who is very close to him has been killed, how can Prince Fu not be afraid?
The key prince was not a general. He was afraid and could not abandon the city and escape. He could only risk his life and throw money at it.
Thinking of this, Liu Chengzong shook his head, raised his hand and called Yu Linqi, and said: "For Zhang Yichuan's contribution to the capture of Yongning, let the military office create a merit plaque to encourage the soldiers to keep up their efforts. When the plague in Henan subsides, another reward will be given and sent there first...
…Then the Li Yamen will report it to all the generals and commanders at all levels in the army.”
Zhang Xianzhong failed to reply immediately.
Liu Chengzong's views on vassal kings touched him a lot.
He studied Liu Chengzong obsessively again.
But this time, there is also a little new inspiration mixed in.
He felt that although Zhang Yichuan was more cruel to the feudal king, he was obviously more respectful than Liu Chengzong.
At least to Zhang Yichuan, the Ming vassal king was the number one enemy worthy of killing, and even worthy of boasting after killing him.
This is basically similar to Zhang Xianzhong's own view. For any leader who started out as a bandit, executing the vassal king can bring great inner satisfaction.
But he found that Liu Chengzong obviously didn't see it that way. Liu Chengzong really didn't have any respect for the vassal king from the bottom of his heart. He didn't even regard the vassal king as a person. He didn't mix any good or evil joy and anger, but just regarded him as a cutting board for fish and meat or a tool for flies and mosquitoes.
It was this view that deeply touched Zhang Xianzhong - he was working as a mantis in Zhuanglang Acropolis, and Liu Chengzong also had this view of him at the time.
When Liu Chengzong frowned and King Han touched Zhang Xianzhong with his arm, he realized what he was doing and quickly accepted the order: "Yes, what does the commander want to report under his humble position?"
"What can I report?"
Liu Chengzong was a little dissatisfied with his stunned look and said: "The way to report the treatment of clan princes and princes is just as you just said. Capture the clan princes, collect their merits and demerits in the vassal country, and escort them to the commander's palace. The army should not
Execution on the battlefield.”
"Not only the whole army will be informed, but also sent to Henan, Hanzhong, and Monan."
Henan is Zhang Yichuan, Monan is Yang Qi, and Hanzhong is Gao Yingxiang.
It was really bad luck for Gao Yingxiang to send troops this time.
Everyone sent troops together, Liu Chengzong was invincible in Guanzhong, Li Zicheng also rushed into Huguang and advanced vigorously, but Gao Yingxiang was trapped in the mountainous area between Jialing Valley and Hanjiang River, and was in a dilemma.
Liu Chengzong encountered a locust plague. Gao Yingxiang's side had just advanced into Hanzhong and had just fought a few battles. They only conquered Fengxian County and two cities in Lueyang. Heavy rains fell for forty days in a row in the Hanzhong Basin, causing flash floods and flooding.
A few days ago, the road had just been opened, and Gao Yingxiang sent someone to deliver a letter, frankly saying that he was farming in the mountains and would wait for the land to be collected before going down the mountains to attack Hanzhong.
When Liu Chengzong saw the letter, he laughed so hard that his stomach hurt, and he immediately expressed his support for a batch of gunpowder.
Master Gao is considered an expert in construction. He deserves the title of King of Farmers. He farmed in northern Shaanxi and continued to farm in southern Shaanxi.
Liu Chengzong first asked the Bing Yamen to send encouragement to the soldiers and give post-war rewards; then he asked the Li Yamen to send regulations to various ministries and establish a system for dealing with clan relatives in the Ming Dynasty in the future.
Finally, he wrote a letter to Zhang Yichuan himself.
The letter did not mention Zhang Yichuan's punishment for killing Wan'an County King without permission, but only told him the reasons for not killing the clan king, and reminded him to send troops to attack Luoyang as soon as possible, and at the same time block the news, and never regard killing the clan king as spreading fear.
Media.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! However, Liu Shizi himself also knew that his letter was probably an afterthought, and it would probably be too late to reach Zhang Yichuan.
So he didn't say much on this matter, as it didn't make much sense.
He only ordered Zhang Yichuan to send to the pass the topographic maps of Henan Prefecture and Nanyang Prefecture, as well as his troops' defense plans for besieging Luoyang.
Liu Chengzong estimated that Zhang Yichuan was going to lose the battle.
Not only because Zhang Yichuan killed the clan king, it was possible that King Fu would use his family wealth to recruit soldiers to boost morale.
It was also because he had not heard about Zhang Yichuan's capture of Mengjin, Sishui, Xingyang and other places.
It has always been difficult to defend a fortified city because the siege party had already removed important strongholds outside the fortified city before capturing it, and a large-scale battle would probably break out in the wild.
For example, before Liu Chengzong attacked Xi'an Fucheng, he broke through the encirclement of tens of thousands of Ming troops on the Xianyang plateau.
When he attacked Xi'an, he had no troops and food inside, no help from outside, tens of thousands of hungry troops and a fortified city. He had no ability to go out to fight in the field. He surrounded the city and lost the ability to defend.
The situation in Henan Prefecture was not the same. Zhang Yichuan did not clear out the important strongholds of Henan Prefecture, nor did he cut off the Koguan Ancient Road, which was connected to Songyue Mountain in the south of Sishui River and bordered the Yellow River in the north. He also did not capture Mengjin County, which intercepted Shanxi.
To attack Luoyang, Zhang Yichuan could only win quickly, otherwise he would most likely fail when the Ming court reinforcements entered Henan Prefecture.
Of course, for Liu Chengzong, it would be best if Zhang Yichuan could win, but if he could not win, he should prepare to deal with his defeated troops.
"Inform Zhang Tianlin to see how many of the soldiers who survived the Tongguan plague under his command have recovered, and to organize troops to station in Hongguan east of Tongguan. If the battle on the front line is unfavorable, the Henan Fifth Battalion can be asked to withdraw to Hongguan."
