Finally, the two heavy and riddled siege towers were slowly pulled away, and the cannons, which were important siege and defense weapons, were also pushed away, leaving only one that had been damaged by a large number of kerosene stones.
The siege engines must be in dilapidated condition.
There was a temporary truce between the two armies, and most of the intruders withdrew in a hurry, leaving behind countless corpses. Although there were still sporadic attacks, they were all repelled by the defenders on the city. This battle was considered a complete victory for Meng Zhaoxiang! The battle between Luo Rucai and Niu Jinxing
The plan was ruthlessly destroyed and destined to fail.
The defenders also suffered heavy losses, losing most of their weapons. Even the defenders suffered a lot of casualties. There were 5,000 soldiers in the Beijing camp. After this battle, there were more than 3,500 left, and almost one died in the battle.
More than 1,500 people.
Most of them were accidentally shot by bows and arrows outside the city, and some were killed in close combat with the intruders attacking the city through ladders. To be honest, although Meng Zhaoxiang won this war, the price was much higher.
.
The 80,000 soldiers who invaded outside the city suffered more than 20,000 casualties, which was not a huge loss for them. Inside the city, there were 15,000 soldiers guarding the gate, with 3,000 to 4,000 casualties, which was almost 40-50%.
Faced with the current shortage of soldiers guarding the city, Meng Zhaoxiang did not begrudge money at all. He first distributed money to the soldiers with meritorious service. The pension of fifty taels of silver for those who died in battle plus rewards was sent to their homes. After that, he directly ordered people to post notices.
.Word: Those who are willing to join the army will be given thirty taels of settling-in allowance, accommodation and food will be borne by the army, weapons and armor will be borne by the army, and silver taels and twenty taels per year will be provided.
When the people saw such a large price, they were shocked. This kind of treatment was not available in the imperial court before, but now it was the treatment of the city guards.
Of course, this statement was met with a lot of shaking heads as soon as it was posted. People thought that this notice was just to trick people into getting in. Once they got in, they would not be able to get out even if they thought about it.
Although this statement shrouded the hearts of many people, there were still some people who were willing to give it a try. A family named Cui in the north of the city insisted on joining the army, despite repeated persuasion from neighbors to no avail.
"A few days ago, my father and mother died of the plague, and my sister also died. Now the money for the coffin was paid in advance by the fellow villagers. I have always wanted to pay you back, but I suffer from the lack of a good livelihood. There is this notice today, and it is just right for me
I have strength, and it is of use."
"Silly boy, the notice said that, do you really think it is like that?" An old man couldn't bear to see the boy from the Cui family being deceived and unable to come back, so he kept trying to persuade him.
"That's right, they are lying to you. When you go in, they will give you some money and leave you there, let alone thirty taels. Not even five taels!" Another butcher looked at such a stubborn fool and couldn't bear it.
He kept saying.
"Why don't you become a nursing home for those wealthy people? Although you won't earn much, you will feel at ease."
Hearing these words, the boy from the Cui family just bowed to the neighbors who had helped him. He couldn't help but shed some tears from the corners of his eyes. He clasped his fists and said, "My mind has been made up! You don't need to say anything, even if you don't give me any money, how about it?"
?When I kill the enemy, I will also get you some reward money!"
After that, he left without looking back.
…
Beijing Recruitment Office
"What's your name?" A master with a mustache asked the name while sitting on a chair without raising his head.
"Cui Yi!"
"age."
"twenty two."
After asking for some basic information, the master waved his hand, and a soldier standing behind him understood. He immediately took out some silver from the box below, weighed it and gave it to Cui Yi.
Looking blankly at the silver in his hand, Cui Yi suddenly felt a little dazed at this moment. He had never seen so much silver in his life. He usually held just copper plates in his hands. It was true that he held so much silver today.
Shocked him.
"Go to the back to get clothes and weapons, and someone will tell you how to do it." After the master finished speaking, he started the next one.
Cui Yi, who walked to the side, looked at the silver in his hand and couldn't help but look up to the sky. The excitement in his heart suddenly surged into his heart.
"Folks! I have money! I will definitely make military exploits to honor our ancestors!"
…
"Governor, our army has suffered heavy losses today and must be replenished in time to deal with the intruders who may attack at any time." Zhang Mo stood aside, holding today's roster in his hand. Those who died in the battle, those who are alive, and those who have made military exploits are all
record on file.
"The intruders will not come for the time being. This time their plan to rescue Liu Zongmin was defeated by us. In addition, they also exposed many flaws in the process of attacking the city. I have written them down one by one. Even if they come to attack,
It will definitely cause them heavy losses!"
Meng Zhaoxiang slowly sat on the Grand Master's chair and said in a deep voice. If he hadn't woken up and sent people to snatch Liu Zongmin back today, and the siege chief below would personally lead his troops to attack the city, the capital would really be in danger.
"The intruder has been defeated several times in a row, so his morale must have been greatly reduced, why not?"
"explain."
"Why don't we conduct a night attack to completely confuse them, and they will not despise our capital in the future." Zhang Mo's eyes lit up. If this move is successful, his contribution is not small.
Of course, the reason why I dare to propose this idea is because I have been winning big against Chuangjun recently, so naturally some fighting spirit is boiling in my heart.
"Your Majesty's decree is to order us to guard the capital. Attacking them is not your intention. Besides, the intruders were not defeated by us today, but were forced to retreat by our army. I am afraid that they still want to capture the capital at this moment, or even
I am more motivated than ever to attack the city."
As Meng Zhaoxiang expected, the camp of the intruders had already been blown up due to today's retreat.
"Why are you retreating in a hurry today? You are about to knock down the capital!" Niu Jinxing was furious and refused to fight. Seeing that the defenders on the city had persisted to the end, they could be completely driven back with just one more blow, but suddenly they received
Ming Jin's order to withdraw troops.
"Your Majesty Prime Minister!"
Luo Rucai was quite angry at this moment. He put all the responsibility for the retreat on Niu Jinxing and said loudly: "If it weren't for the failure of the internal response of the Prime Minister, you would be pushed to the tower. I'm afraid you would be hurt."
How could I retreat?"
"If the internal response succeeded, the defenders would be completely defeated by our army in just one hour. But! The internal response failed."
"General Luo, you mean that all the blame for this retreat is due to me?" Niu Jinxing couldn't help but stand up and said coldly.
"That's natural!"
"General Luo!" Niu Jinxing was no longer gentle, but said equally loudly: "If the general captures the city regardless of the changes in the city tower, it will be a great achievement! Even if you die, you will sacrifice for my Dashun! It is a meritorious service! But!
Now, because of the general's indecision, our army has suffered a lot of losses, and all the internal officers have been killed, but in the end they all returned without success!"
"I would like to ask, who has been such a general since ancient times?"
The last sentence was almost pointed at Luo Rucai's nose and cursed. The implication is that you are the stupidest of all the generals since ancient times.
After hearing this, Luo Rucai was naturally furious. He turned to look at Niu Jinxing, the anger in his eyes almost bursting out, and said: "Li Guo was defeated before, and I was already responsible for failing to rescue him. If Ru Hou was killed today,
All the responsibilities are mine, so what if we capture the city? Will you die for me?"
"If I were to lead the general, I would definitely..."
"Here, I am the commander-in-chief! I am the commander-in-chief of these 80,000 soldiers!"
"General Luo, there are no 80,000 soldiers left, only 60,000! Wake up! Twenty thousand soldiers were killed in this battle. Their deaths were meaningless!"
After a furious shouting, the two finally stopped. The argument was fruitless and they did not want to attack the city again, so they packed up the camp and evacuated hastily that night. As for Li Zicheng's reaction after returning, they were already well aware of it.
.
The second day.
The southbound team took advantage of the fact that there were no pursuers behind them, so they marched relatively smoothly. Apart from encountering some bandits who were frightened by the army, nothing happened on the way.
"How much time do we have to reach Tianjin?" Zhu Ling, who couldn't get used to sitting on the dragon chariot, got on the horse. It was getting hotter and hotter these days, but it was not that dry heat, but with a layer of sultry heat.
"Reporting to your majesty, we will arrive in about half a day. I have already discussed with Commander Wang and General Yang that both sides will send some people to rush to Tianjin first, so that Feng Yuanyang, the governor of Tianjin there, can arrive in advance.
Respond."
Wang Jiayan reported from the sidelines.
"How is Governor Feng Yuanyang like this person?"
"Your Majesty, this man is indeed a loyal and capable minister of our court. When Your Majesty had not made up his mind to go south fifteen days ago, Feng Yuanyang had prepared more than a hundred ships for His Majesty's southern tour. He even sent his son Feng Kaizhang to secretly go there.
Beijing wants to hand over his father's secret information. Moreover, Huai'an is an important town in the north of the Yangtze River. As long as the Holy One arrives in Huai'an, there is no need to worry about rampant rebels."
This was said by Li Banghua on the other side. Feng Yuanyang had long believed that the situation was critical and sent his son Pegasus to Beijing. He has been staying at the home of his uncle Feng Yuanbiao. At that time, His Majesty failed to express his intention to patrol the south, so he did not dare to
Easily transferred to density.
"I regret that I couldn't listen to the words of a good minister. If I had patrolled the south earlier, I wouldn't have almost lost my life. I was so stupid!"
Zhu Ling naturally scolded Chongzhen for these words, and he had never traveled through time before. Naturally, Chongzhen had to resist these responsibilities.
"Your Majesty, there is no need to be like this. Our army is approaching Tianjin and the intruders have not been able to catch up. There is hope for the revival of the Ming Dynasty!" Wu Linzheng also said from the side. As a loyal supporter of the emperor, he naturally did not want his Majesty to blame him.
"The day before yesterday, I ordered someone to give Wu Sangui a letter, telling him that he will be the governor of Liaodong from now on and that he will make the final decision on everything. What do you think?"