"Father, have you forgotten Wang Xian's Shandong army?" Zhu Zhanji said shamelessly. He was extremely afraid of Shandong from the beginning. In order to guard against Shandong's army, he established three lines of defense: Cangzhou, Langfang and Daxing. , there are 50,000 troops stationed in Daxing alone. He simply does not believe that the Shandong army can break through layer by layer.
However, it is reasonable to scare the emperor and ask for more troops. Zhu Zhanji said softly: "How about withdrawing part of the army from Juyongguan?"
"No!" Zhu Gaochi refused again.
"Your Highness, just as you were on your way back to the capital, Chengshan Hou sent an urgent report that Liu Sheng had begun to attack Juyong Pass. Although the attack was not violent, he should be cooperating with Wang Xian to contain our Juyong Pass army." Yang Shiqi explained for the emperor: " But we really can’t dispatch troops to leave. Once there is a gap in Juyongguan’s military strength, Liu Sheng is likely to turn the feint attack into a real attack!”
"Hey!" When Zhu Zhanji saw that his proposal was rejected again, he couldn't help but said angrily: "Father, please order the princes to raise troops to serve the king! When can those officials with foreign surnames see soldiers?!"
"Nonsense!" Zhu Gaochi flatly refused without thinking. In order to reduce the vassal state, Emperor Jianwen even used his own throne. The late emperor, who raised an army in the name of opposing the reduction of the vassal state, also changed his methods to eliminate the power of the vassal king after he ascended the throne. Finally, After eliminating all their threats, how can I go the other way and release these monsters from the cage again?
In the end, being driven out of control by Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Gaochi agreed to allocate the 50,000 Liaodong troops who had arrived in Miyun to his command.
Zhu Zhanji reluctantly agreed and resigned with the two bachelors. He was like a gambler who had lost all his money and wanted to squeeze out the last bit of his father's coffin, and then went to the casino to make money with all his belongings!
It's just that his casino is a battlefield; his bets are soldiers and horses; his winning or losing is the flower world and his own life!
After leaving Qianqing Palace, the three of them felt as if they were in another world. Only then did they realize that the middle laner under the official robe was all wet with cold sweat.
"Anyway, I finally got a month." Yang Shiqi sighed longly, his face still aching from being slapped.
?"Stop saying anything," Zhu Zhanji said coldly with a dark face: "Xueshi Yang and I will fight Wang Xian, and the capital will be handed over to the chief assistant!"
"You two must return in triumph." Yang Shiqi smiled bitterly and said, "Otherwise, we will all have to answer for this."
"Absolutely not!" Zhu Zhanji said fiercely: "I am the son of destiny! I will never lose to anyone!".
Before leaving the capital, Zhu Zhanji also did one more thing. He ordered Hu Hao to escort all the family members of Wang Xian's officers and soldiers in the capital to Tongzhou. Originally, he wanted to take Yin Ling and Yu Qian with him, but he learned that the emperor Yesterday, they were brought into the palace, and His Highness the Crown Prince had no choice but to give up.
Then Zhu Zhanji and Yang Rong left the city and rushed to Tongzhou to command the siege!
Tongzhou City has been attacked by the army for a day. Seeing that there are more and more troops outside the city, the offensive is getting more and more fierce. The army even brought a variety of siege equipment, a large number of pine torches and wood, Obviously, they are going to fight at night and attack the city on wheels without distinguishing between black and white!
The situation in the city was not optimistic. Not only were the troops far inferior to the enemy, but what was even worse was that the commander-in-chief Wang Xian was not in the city. However, the more than 15,000 soldiers showed no fear because the person commanding them now was Mo Wen.
Wang Xian was an all-rounder and was regarded as outstanding in military attainments, but compared with the unborn military genius Mo Wen, he was still quite inferior. Mo Wen's talent was all about leading troops in battles. Once he went to Mongolia, he
He took up the position of counselor and tried his best to assist Wang Xian to show his prowess. Now the time has finally come for him to show his talents.
To put it bluntly, Wang Xian left a mess on Mo Wen. At that time, Yang Rong's army outside the city was attacking the city frantically. There were still more than 10,000 soldiers in the city who had not yet disarmed, but Mo Wen was not afraid at all.
He ordered half of the soldiers to guard the city, and he took half of the troops. It only took half a day to completely clear the city. He imprisoned more than 20,000 prisoners in a granary that had been emptied by the army, and only had more than a thousand people to guard them.
Then he led the rest of the troops back to the city.
At this time, the prince's army had arrived in Tongzhou and joined the siege sequence. The pressure on the defenders suddenly increased, and the city was in chaos. As soon as Mo Wen arrived, he immediately stabilized the situation. I saw him
The troops defending the city were redistributed in an orderly manner, and the generals and horses on hand were rationally assigned to the four walls. There were actually 3,000 soldiers and horses left to mobilize to support various places at any time.
Although it is said that the outcome of a war is the result of the joint efforts of all soldiers, the role of a super general cannot be overestimated. There is a city with Mo Wen in charge, and there is a city without Mo Wen.
, completely different. He completely filled the void left by Wang Xian's absence, allowing the soldiers to have a backbone again. They no longer had to worry about what was there and what was not. They only needed to follow his instructions, complete the mobilization and combat in an orderly manner, and that was it.
He could easily repel the enemy troops attacking the city time and time again.
As a result, the officers and soldiers attacked until dark and did not get any benefits. They had to leave thousands of corpses and returned to the camp in despair. But everyone knew that today's siege was just the prologue. After all, the prince and Yang
Rong's army needs to be coordinated and unified, and so many siege equipment need to be debugged and prepared. When they are ready overnight, the most brutal battle will really begin.
Mo Wen was not idle either. Taking into account the characteristics of Tongzhou City's thick walls and complete facilities, he re-adjusted the deployment of the army and established a three-dimensional defense system to exert the strongest attack power with the smallest number of troops. He also ordered people to open Tongzhou.
From the Ministry of War warehouse in the east of the city, gunpowder cans, thunder stones, crossbows, and artillery piled high in the warehouse were all transported to the top of the city, improving the already powerful defense system to a terrifying level.
As soon as the mist dissipated the next morning, the prince and Yang Rong commanded the siege army, pushing hundreds of carriages, hook ladders, building carriages, ballistae, and more than 80,000 people on foot and horse, and swarmed to attack the southern city wall.
I saw heavy chariots crushing the frost all over the ground, and 80,000 soldiers with swords and spears like a forest, with a dazzling cold light, overwhelming the sky. If they were ordinary defenders, just looking at the momentum of swallowing up the world, they would be scared to death, and directly
Abandoned the city and fled.
However, Mo Wen had already judged that the army would give up the siege on all sides and attack only the south side of the city. He concentrated his troops on the south wall in advance and also pushed dozens of cannons manufactured by the Military War Bureau and the Ordnance Bureau onto the top of the city.
.
The officers and soldiers were still a mile away, so Mo Wen ordered the cannon to be fired. The soldiers used torches to light the cannon fuses. Amidst the thundering roar of the cannons, countless artillery shells roared and smashed into the densely packed army of officers and soldiers!
Although the artillery shells made by the imperial court are solid, they are more powerful when fired from a high position. Every time a cannonball falls into the official formation, it will kill dozens of enemy soldiers. The bombardment of those huge siege equipment
Go up and immediately smash it into pieces!
Dozens of artillery shells were blasted down, and the officers and soldiers could no longer maintain a tight formation. Seeing this, Zhu Zhanji immediately ordered the formation to disperse and approach the city wall at full speed, not giving the defenders a chance to show off their weapons. At the same time, he ordered the officers and soldiers to also use cannons
Fighting back, the sound of artillery boomed, and the two armies actually exchanged fire!
It's just that the Tongzhou city wall is too high, so it's difficult for the army's artillery shells to hit the defenders on the city. When they hit the solid city wall, they can only leave a shallow white mark!
However, there were too many officers and soldiers, and under the personal command of His Royal Highness, the army approached the city wall despite the artillery fire from the city head, and began to shoot at the city wall with crossbows and muskets. In one moment, thousands of arrows fired at the city and on the battlements.
The arrows are like raindrops, and the hanging cards are like hedgehog thorns!
At the same time, the officers and soldiers began to set up ladders and prepared to climb the city wall, but they were horrified to find that a thick layer of ice appeared on the Tongzhou city wall that was fine yesterday. That was because Mowen's soldiers kept pouring water on the city wall last night.
As a result, in the twelfth lunar month, dripping water turned into ice in Beijing, and a thick layer of ice formed overnight. No wonder the cannonballs leaving white marks when they hit the city walls!
Even though it was an inconspicuous layer of ice, it caused great trouble for the siege troops. Their ladders were placed on top and they could not hold on tightly. The defenders above pushed them with their spears, and the ladders began to slide.
He fell down and broke the bones of the officers and soldiers above him.
Fortunately, the prince was well prepared, and the ladder was useless. There were also large siege equipment that were not afraid of this thin layer of ice. The officers and soldiers braved the arrows and pushed tall building carts, carriages, and hook ladders to the
At the bottom of the city, they relied on these devices to swarm up!
It's a pity that the defenders were well prepared. In addition to the regular routines such as crossbows, muskets, and oil-burning wood, they also dropped countless medicine cans and thunder stones from the top of the city... This is a grenade-like weapon made by the Ordnance Bureau for the officers and soldiers.
.Because there was an explosion in Beijing, it was moved to Tongzhou for storage, but it was cheaper.
Countless watermelon-sized stone jars, iron jars, and porcelain jars were thrown down and exploded on the siege equipment. Those who were caught were directly blown into the air. What was even more terrifying was that the jars were filled with nails, stones, and explosions.
Debris from the neutralization jar roared and splashed, and the officers and soldiers fell down screaming. In just a short cup of tea, the officers and soldiers who were densely packed with ants on the building's car were swept away!
The defenders threw down the oil cans, torches, and siege equipment that had temporarily lost the protection of the soldiers, and immediately a raging fire broke out. The officers and soldiers tried to put out the fire, but they were splashed with kerosene, and they immediately burned into flames.
He screamed and ran around, causing his colleagues to retreat in shock. No one dared to approach the burning equipment.
Zhu Zhanji didn't care about the casualties of the soldiers at all, and still ordered the follow-up troops to regroup and continue to use all means to attack the city. But under Mo Wen's advice, he tried again and again without success, and fought until late at night, still unable to
After attacking the city, Zhu Zhanji, under Yang Rong's persuasion, abandoned nearly 10,000 corpses and reluctantly paid gold to withdraw his troops.
A new moon hung high in the sky, covering the blood-stained city head with its cold light.