Chapter 513: Win Wuzhou and grab a monthly ticket (seeking a monthly ticket)
Although the Tang Dynasty is very similar to the traditional feudal dynasty in terms of etiquette, especially the imperial system, in the eyes of outsiders, the Datang Dynasty is still very different from traditional dynasties.
Not to mention anything else, the Tang Dynasty's cabinet alone had more than a dozen ministries. This kind of thing has never happened since ancient times.
In addition to the traditional six ministries, the Tang Dynasty also had a tax department that specialized in finance and industrial and commercial affairs, an agricultural department that specialized in agriculture, animal husbandry, and forestry, and a law department that specialized in law formulation, lawsuit adjudication, prison management, and legal aid.
Responsible for the Public Security Patrol Department.
And recently, Li Xuan has been preparing to separate commercial affairs from the tax department and establish a commercial department.
The differences in these central cabinet institutions are enough to prove the difference between the Tang Dynasty and traditional dynasties.
Not to mention the military system of the Tang Dynasty. In terms of military system, the Ming Dynasty completely implemented the separation of military and political affairs. Not only did it differentiate between civil and military affairs, but it also implemented strict separation of military administration, military orders, logistics and other departments within the army.
The most obvious sign is that the army cannot recruit soldiers on its own. Soldiers' pay is no longer directly distributed to superior officers, and then officers distribute it to soldiers, as in the ancient army. Instead, personnel are specially dispatched by the special Pay Department under the Privy Council.
Pay salaries to soldiers, prevent officers from interfering with soldiers' salaries, and avoid empty pay.
All these things reveal the difference between the Tang Dynasty and the traditional dynasty!
However, this does not affect the fact that the Tang Dynasty is still a traditional feudal dynasty. Its centralization of power, or the emperor's centralization of power, is even greater than the previous traditional feudal dynasty. Li Xuan reorganized the Hanlin Academy of the previous dynasty into a secretarial agency.
Through the Hanlin Academy, he directly controlled all military and political affairs.
Moreover, the Tang Dynasty did not set up any six departments for officials such as Shizhong, and the ministries did not have the right to directly reject the emperor's imperial edict.
At the same time, there was no formal imperial edict in the Tang Dynasty. There was no distinction between a central edict and a central edict. As long as it was Li Xuan's decision, it was an imperial edict. As for the cabinet's decision, it was an ordinary official document.
Li Xuan, who controls military and political affairs without any restraint, has astonishing power!
In other words, the centralization of power in the Tang Dynasty and the centralization of power by the emperor had basically reached the peak of the feudal dynasty, and were no weaker than the later mid-Qing Dynasty.
And this emperor's highly centralized model allows Li Xuan to do whatever he wants. Although most of the time he will let his ministers cover and will not end easily, but when he really wants to do something,
, almost all civil and military officials in the dynasty could not stop him.
The same is true for the storming of Wuzhou, and the same is true for the armed Liuzhou Independent Regiment!
After such changes in the Liuzhou Independent Regiment, the number of people and the organization have not changed, but the officers have been replaced by officers from the Wu Academy and the Imperial Academy, and the equipment has also been greatly improved. Apart from anything else, the
The hundreds of pieces of armor inside are something that cannot be underestimated.
Liuzhou Independent Regiment, in addition to two temporarily pulled out assault battalions, the Tang Dynasty prepared a total of 2,500 assault troops for the decisive battle in Wuzhou. Of these 2,500 men, they were all wearing heavy armor.
The number of soldiers reached 600, all heavy armored sword and shield soldiers, heavy armored spearmen, and even archers and grenadiers were all wearing armor.
Currently, these two thousand five hundred people are undergoing intensive targeted training!
At the same time, the First Engineer Battalion of the Tang Army also carried out intensive construction. In order to avoid the destruction of the Ming army, they dug tunnels forward from multiple directions at the same time.
And the logistics department is also stepping up its efforts to transport gunpowder from the rear!
On the fourth day of February, seven days had passed since the launch of a strong attack. During these seven days, the Tang Dynasty King's Division and the Ming Army started a battle of wits and courage. In order to provide strong conditions for the subsequent storm, the Datang King's Division
The garrison was the main force and launched many exploratory attacks. Although it suffered certain casualties, it also exposed the Ming army's artillery, and the heavy artillery of the two artillery battalions in the rear were targeted immediately.
Sexual blow.
In order to achieve results, artillery battalions often used multiple artillery pieces to bombard a single artillery position of the Ming army.
In addition, during the digging process of the trenches, the Ming army also fought back, but the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty King's Division in the trenches naturally would not just be beaten without fighting back, but would also use muskets, bows and arrows to fight back.
However, in this kind of battle where both sides have bunkers, the casualties will not be large.
However, these tentative attacks and counterattacks were relatively frequent. Although the Tang Dynasty itself suffered many casualties, the Ming army on top of the city was also not feeling well.
Because the medium and long-range firepower was far inferior to that of the Tang Dynasty, whenever the Ming army tried to emerge from the top of the city to counterattack with bows, arrows, and bowl-mouth cannons, they would always suffer more or less casualties. This kind of every time
Although there were not many casualties, the continuous casualties made the Ming army feel very hurt.
If the fighting continues like this, it may further cause the morale of the defenders in the city to drop.
However, Li Xuan does not plan to wait too long. Today, the engineering battalion reported that they have successfully dug two tunnels to reach the Ming army's city wall, and have completed laying gunpowder. As long as His Majesty gives the order, they will be there immediately.
Blast the predetermined city wall!
Li Xuan nodded after hearing this, and then said: "The soldiers of the engineering battalion have worked hard, and their sacrifices will be rewarded even more!"
In order to dig tunnels and blast the city walls, the engineering battalion paid a high price!
After all, there is movement when digging tunnels, and the movement is not too small. The Ming army discovered it many times and carried out corresponding countermeasures, such as digging tunnels in reverse, sending dead soldiers to intercept and kill, or even blowing up the tunnels, and even pouring kerosene.
Then set fire to it.
In addition, during the process of digging the tunnel, due to the rush of time, it was impossible to dig the tunnel very solidly. Several tunnels collapsed, causing many casualties to the engineers who were digging inside.
In addition, although the direction of the tunnel has been carefully calculated by the staff, errors will still inevitably occur. Several times, the direction and height of the tunnel were dug in the wrong direction, resulting in the tunnel that was finally dug out being of no use at all.
However, all these efforts have now paid off. After seven days of hard work, the engineering troops finally succeeded in digging two tunnels and laying gunpowder.
After the gunpowder was successfully planted, it meant that the most important pre-war preparations for the storming of Wuzhou were complete!
Next, it’s time to officially launch the Wuzhou offensive and seize Wuzhou to grab monthly tickets!
That night, Li Xuan formally issued an order to his subordinates to launch a strong attack tomorrow morning!
That night, the civil and military officials of the Ming army in Wuzhou City remained as usual. Counting carefully, it has been more than ten days since the city was besieged by the puppet Tang rebels. After the initial panic and discomfort, they slowly adapted to the war.
atmosphere.
Anyway, the puppet Tang bandits outside the city can't get in, so they can stay in the city and guard with peace of mind. Anyway, Wang Yue, Wei Yan and others also know that the imperial court has sent Zhang Yue south to supervise the division, although they have not yet
He knew what Zhang Yue would do after he went south, but he knew that it was impossible for Zhang Yue to remain indifferent when Wuzhou City was besieged. As late as three to five months, as early as one or two months, it is estimated that the imperial court's reinforcements would be
coming.
When the time comes, those adults who have defended Wuzhou, blocked the puppet Tang rebels to the west of Wuzhou, and trapped the rebels in the central and western parts of Guangxi, will definitely be able to gain military exploits, and they may even be able to become officials by then.
, get a knighthood or something.
It's just that Wang Yue and the others don't know that although Zhang Yue went south, he didn't come to Guangdong and Guangxi. After going to Huguang, he didn't say anything about raising troops to rescue Wuzhou as soon as possible. Instead, he directly sent troops to attack Xingquan Prefecture. On the one hand,
If you want to capture Xingquan Prefecture, the Longxing land of the puppet Tang rebels, and thus gain certain political points, a very important point is to try to force the puppet Tang rebels to leave by attacking Xingquan Prefecture and even eastern Guizhou.
He withdrew his troops from Wuzhou and returned north to Guizhou, and then took this opportunity to completely trap the puppet Tang rebels in Guizhou and Liuzhou.
In military terms, this strategy is to encircle Wei and save Zhao, even disregarding the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Wuzhou City. It can be said to be a very vicious strategy!
But Wang Yue and Zhang Yue did not expect that Li Xuan was more decisive and resolute than they imagined. In other words, Li Xuan was more ruthless than they imagined. He was more vicious than Zhang Yue. He would rather sacrifice a large number of garrison troops.
The cannon fodder soldiers are not willing to retreat from Wuzhou City in such a dejected manner!
This is not because Li Xuan insists on launching a forceful attack on Wuzhou, but because the situation no longer gives him any other good options!
Withdraw troops from Wuzhou and then return directly north to fight against the Huguang Ming Army? Let’s not talk about whether this choice is good from a military perspective, but it is absolutely unacceptable in terms of military morale and material supplies.
Since the Tang Dynasty formally entered into battle with the Ming army, that is, when it launched its attack on Zhengtai County, it has not fought a hundred large-scale battles. Sustained victory is an important part of the civil and military officials within the Datang Dynasty regaining their confidence in the future. If
Saying that troops were withdrawn from Wuzhou today, it is possible that many Ming army officials and generals who surrendered would immediately rebel, and that the internal gentry and merchants might immediately jump out to resist the Tang Dynasty.
Because this allowed them to see the possibility that the Tang Dynasty might be completely defeated, and the possibility was not small!
In addition to the political influence, another key point is material supplies. The Tang Dynasty maintained so many armies, but it was unable to provide sufficient military rations on its own and had to rely on continuous seizures.
Nowadays, the grain stored in the army is less than half a month. Even though the tax department at the back is using all means to collect grain and transport it through the Logistics Department, the territory they occupy is only so large, and the Ming army almost completely evacuated from Wuxuan and Xunzhou Prefecture.
Took everything away.
So even with the most optimistic estimates, the Tang Dynasty will run out of food in two months!
During the transition period between spring and summer, there would be no food supply before the summer harvest. This could basically declare the demise of the Tang Dynasty. There would be no food, and the tens of thousands of troops would collapse in minutes.