10-51 Build a strong fortress and fight a dull battle
10-52 Descend to Qingzhou
The Qing army in Qingzhou City would not sit still and wait for death. They organized death squads to go out of the city for night attacks overnight. A thousand warriors, with their backs bare and swords in hand, rushed outside the dark city. Their tactical goal was not to conquer the enemy's camp, but to seize the surrounding trenches.
, and then implemented the same tunnel operation to defeat the Ming Army.
It happened to be a dark and windy day. The Qing army's death squads all had whips wrapped around their heads. Their backs were smeared black with pot ash, and their faces were also swarthy. When they opened their mouths, they could only see two rows of white teeth, steel
The knives were also smeared with mud so that they would not reflect light. In addition to weapons, everyone also brought fire starters and quietly climbed out of the city and approached the Ming army's trenches.
The Ming army only had some torches on the barracks to shine, and the light could not take care of the trenches in the distance. It was still dark outside the vast Qingzhou City. The Qing army was very particular about not wearing clothes. In night attacks, it was often difficult to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy. Just open your mouth and you would be able to tell the difference.
Your identity will be exposed, so the best way is to wear no clothes and use your hands to identify the enemy and yourself. Although this method is simple, it is very effective. It is a night attack tactic developed by Zhou Peigong.
Who would have thought that the devil was one foot high and the road was one foot high. When they were still some distance away from the first trench, dogs barked on the Ming army's position. They didn't know where they got hundreds of country dogs to serve as warning dogs.
Use it. The ability of this grass dog is not much worse than that of a hunting dog. It is very satisfying if you just eat the leftover dog head. At night, its two ears stand high. The crawling of the Qing army can be hidden from the Ming army sentries. It is astonishing.
Unable to hide it from the ears of these dogs, they immediately started barking. One dog's bark caused countless dogs to bark, and there was a commotion on the battlefield.
Knowing that their cover had been exposed, the Qing army simply got up and rushed forward. Unexpectedly, their eyes suddenly lit up and they were dazzled by the arc lights erected high up. The Ming army's trench suddenly turned into a line of fire, with countless muskets pointed at the light.
The suicide squads, who had nowhere to hide, were bombarded with fierce force, leaving hundreds of corpses behind, and they hurriedly retreated into the city.
The next day, Zhou Peigong simply sent troops to attack directly, with shield soldiers in front and firecrackers behind. The city gate opened and they surged out, filling the ditch with human lives to capture it.
This kind of trench warfare had no tactics to speak of, and all that was required was bravery. Liu Ziguang personally beat drums in the camp to cheer up, and the generals led their own soldiers to supervise the formations, and fought head-on with the Qing army in a positional battle.
In wars in the era of cold weapons and primitive firearms, the defensive side always had the advantage. The Qing army spent a huge price to rush into the first trench, but what greeted them was indeed short-barreled and trumpet-mouthed shotguns.
This kind of fire blunderbuss was originally developed for the city patrol team of the Wucheng Soldiers and Horses Division. It is an urban riot weapon, but it is extremely effective when used in trench warfare. It is not easy to dodge in the trench, and long weapons cannot be used. Single-shot fire blunderbuss
The effect is not very good, but this kind of firearm that sprays a large area is the most powerful. You don't need to aim, just hit it directly. One shot can knock down a group of people. Although it cannot kill them immediately, it can at least lose their resistance. Therefore, even if the Qing army kills
After entering the trench, they were unable to further expand their victory. After a stalemate, they were finally driven back by the Ming army.
The Ming army was ready to engage in a protracted siege. Zhou Peigong was extremely anxious. If this continued, all the strategies formulated by Marshal Hong would come to naught. However, Zhending Mansion was besieged by the Jing Dynasty again. Dengzhou Mansion
Fei Gechuan wrote that he was also surrounded by trenches by the Ming army and could not send troops to rescue him, so he was left to deal with it on his own.
Zhou Peigong was a handsome man. After careful consideration, he decided to surrender. The lowering flag was finally erected at the top of the Qingzhou city. More than ten people under Zhou Peigong knelt bare-chested and carried thorn sticks all the way to the Ming army camp to beg for surrender. Liu Ziguang was overjoyed and came out to greet him in person.
He took off the thorns from Zhou Peigong's back, took off his cloak and put it on Zhou Peigong. He laughed loudly and said, "This handsome man has Pei Gong, just like Liu Xuande has Kong Ming." Zhou Peigong bowed his head and said that the guilty ministers will die.
Comparable to Zhuge Kongming.
Qingzhou City was lost and recovered in this way. The siege lasted only half a month, with only hundreds of casualties. It was considered a complete victory. Moreover, the people of Qingzhou were not harmed by the military disaster, and the losses were reduced to the lowest point. The only regret was that the Ming army dug a mess outside the city.
, the landscape has been changed.
The remaining 20,000 Qing troops in the city were immediately reorganized into the Jing Army. The military uniforms and flags were not changed, and they went directly to Dengzhou to fight. Most of these people were Han people and had long since stopped wanting to work for the Qing Dynasty. Now that they have changed their ranks, their future has become brighter.
, there is no reason not to fight bravely.
Liu Ziguang has a theory. His Red Shirt Army is like a dog that he has raised since he was a child, so loyalty goes without saying, while Jingqing is like a mangy dog picked up halfway and is about to die. The owner can kick them out at any time, so loyalty is
Especially the red shirt army, so he didn't even change his personnel, and let Zhou Peigong lead the army to fight against his former colleague Wang Fuchen.
Wang Fuchen's troops are stationed in Denglai Prefecture. Now Dengzhou is also suffering from the same trench siege. However, this Ming army is not a regular army, but the Shandong Minzhuang Volunteer Army organized by Shi Kefa. The volunteers are all farmers, playing hoe competition.
They were even better at playing with swords and guns. They dug trenches much more ruthlessly than the army. They dug trenches outside Dengzhou City into three layers inside and three layers outside. The trenches were so intricate that they were beyond recognition.
The army arrived in Dengzhou, where the two armies met. Liu Ziguang led the generals into the volunteer army's camp. Everyone was surprised to find that the camp was exactly the same as the one they built outside Qingzhou City. Just as they were wondering, Shi Kefa came out to greet them.
, when he saw Liu Ziguang, he immediately prostrated himself: "I'm going to pay my respects to the commander-in-chief."
Liu Ziguang laughed loudly, and quickly helped Shi Kefa up and introduced to everyone: "This prefect Shi can be regarded as my teacher. He taught me the tactics of building a stronghold, digging trenches and siege the city. You have achieved military merit."
I would like to thank Master Shi very much."
Everyone was shocked. It turned out that this method of fighting stupid battles was actually invented by him. Looking carefully at this man, he was wearing a chainmail armor underneath an old official uniform and an iron helmet on his head. He looked like a Confucian general. Although
He was just a small prefect, but since the commander-in-chief gave him such respect, everyone did not neglect his courtesy and came forward to compliment him one after another.
Shi Kefa was a member of the Donglin Party, but he had always been on Liu Ziguang's side. Liu Ziguang, the magistrate of Qingzhou, helped him get a job out of gratitude.
He was good at archery. When Hong Chengchou's army captured Qingzhou and drove them to Qingdao, he began to think about how to deal with the highly mobile Qing army, and spent several sleepless nights to develop such a systematic strategy.
, taking into account the characteristics of both sides, the disadvantages of the Ming army were turned into advantages, achieving the goal of "controlling others without controlling others". As the saying goes, "A good defender hides under the Nine Earths; a good attacker moves under
"Above the Nine Heavens". Using this method of warfare, not only the official army led by Liu Ziguang achieved a complete victory, but also the peasant army hastily formed by Shi Kefa, who also defeated the brave and capable Wang Fuchen's troops.
This set of tactics was sent to Xu Zengshou's desk by someone, but it didn't receive any attention at all. He just threw it aside. It was Liu Ziguang who dug out these pieces of paper from the waste paper pile in the commander's mansion. It can be said that they were two pieces of paper.
People are destined.
Shi Kefa was a smart man, and naturally he would not be stupid enough to ask why the things given to Xu Zengshou fell into the hands of Liu Ziguang. They were all for the purpose of defeating the Qing army, and no one would use them. He politely and modestly said a few words to everyone.
After entering the commander's account, Liu Ziguang sat in the first place without hesitation, and the generals lined up on both sides to listen to his orders.
Liu Ziguang said: "Dengzhou is already surrounded by us. If Wang Fuchen is destroyed, the enemy in Shandong will be reduced to seven or ten, which is not worth mentioning. If the siege is long, I am afraid that life will be ruined and the people will suffer. It is better to send a general into the city to persuade Wang Fuchen to surrender."
If you are willing to surrender, then do so; if you are not willing to surrender, then bombard Dengzhou until he surrenders."
As soon as Zhou Peigong heard this, he knew that the commander-in-chief was interested in him, so he quickly went out and said: "The general and Wang Fuchen have always been on good terms, and I am willing to go to the city alone to persuade him to surrender."
Liu Ziguang was waiting for his words, and immediately said: "This will help General Zhou. If we are successful and take Dengzhou without a bloody battle, I will definitely ask for your merits in front of the emperor. You will be indispensable for the title of marquis and the chancellorship."
.”
Zhou Peigong didn't know whether the emperor Liu Ziguang was talking about was the Emperor Tianqi of the Ming Dynasty or the Emperor Gongrong of the residual Qing Dynasty. But logically speaking, their emperor Jing seemed to be under the name of Emperor Gongrong. Alas, what happened now
He couldn't care about that much. It would be best if Wang Fuchen persuaded him to surrender. If he failed to persuade him to surrender, his own surrendering troops would have to take the lead. No matter what, he would have to bite the bullet.
Wang Fuchen was also depressed. The battle was really heartbreaking, and he was actually surrounded by a group of militiamen in the city. Fortunately, he took advantage of the autumn harvest to rob a lot of wheat and brought it into the city. He had enough grain to last a year. He had enough food, but not enough confidence.
, I heard that the coach of the Ming Army has changed, and Qingzhou Prefecture has been completely surrounded. The contact between him and Zhou Peigong relies entirely on flying pigeons to pass messages. There have been no carrier pigeons for several days. Is it possible that Qingzhou has been broken?
Just as he was puzzled, his subordinates notified Zhou Peigong of his arrival. Wang Fuchen was shocked and quickly ordered people to welcome him in and talk in the government office. Zhou Peigong was still wearing the uniform of the Qing army, but when he came in, he took off his hat and his braids were gone.
Wang Fuchen asked: "Could it be that Peigong has already surrendered?"
Zhou Peigong smiled but did not answer. Wang Fuchen knew what he was doing and asked again: "Could it be that you wrote a letter to persuade me to surrender?"
Zhou Peigong said: "No, brother is here to save your life."