When Li Laiheng heard about the miners in Song County, he immediately thought of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which destroyed the southeast in the late Qing Dynasty. He knew that one of the basic teams of the Taiping Army was the miners in Guangxi and southwestern Hunan. In the Taiping Army, the unemployed and bankrupt craftsmen were
The proportion is second only to farmers, among which miners occupy a particularly important position.
This is a big difference between the Taiping Army and the peasant uprising army in the late Ming Dynasty. In comparison, the main source of the peasant uprising army in the late Ming Dynasty was bankrupt and landless farmers, and the proportion of craftsmen, especially miners, was very low.
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In a sense, miners were the group closest to the working class in ancient China. They often had weak clan ties. Under the special production environment, they developed a hard-working character and strict and neat team discipline. The Taiping Army began with the uprising.
From the early days, they were able to hold on to some strongholds and base areas, and quickly conquered famous cities and counties. In addition to the fact that the combat effectiveness of the Qing army in the late Qing Dynasty was much weaker than that of the official army in the late Ming Dynasty, the civil engineering and combat experience brought by the miners also
It played a great role.
Li Laiheng knew that the Taiping Army had a specialized earth camp unit, which was composed entirely of miners. During the Taiping Army's battle to siege the city, they were specifically responsible for digging tunnels. Their nature was actually equivalent to modern engineers.
After the establishment of the Tuying, the overall combat effectiveness of the Taiping Army has been greatly improved. The soldiers used their technical expertise to dig tunnels before each siege, and then placed explosives to blow up the city walls, opening the way for other soldiers to attack.
"When the thieves dig a tunnel, they must dig several feet away from the city to the bottom of the city. Otherwise, it will be easy to see and defend the city, so it is better to stay far away. After digging, use empty coffins to fill the tunnel with gunpowder... to cause the city to collapse.
The destruction caused all the bricks and stones to fly, the smoke created confusion, and the large army had to rush in from the weak point." "Toppling the huge city is like peeling off a piece of paper."
The mining industry in the late Ming Dynasty was not as developed as compared to the late Qing Dynasty, and the main areas of activity of the Chuang Army were not areas rich in minerals and with many miners. Historically, the Chuang Army did not absorb enough miners to change its siege methods.
Therefore, as soon as Li Laiheng heard Gao Yigong mentioned the Songxian miners, he paid special attention to this and kept the things about Pingfeng Village and the miners in mind.
After Gao Yigong talked so much about Pingfeng Village and Yu Dazhong, he rested for a while and drank a few sips of tea. Bai Wang, who was sitting on the other side and returned to the old camp with Gao Yigong, added for him:
"Yu Dazhong is known as the leader of Yizhai Village, but in fact his power has already enveloped Song County and the southern foot of Xiong'er Mountain. For example, Luanchuan Town, where I am, has reached the junction of Xiong'er Mountain and Funiu Mountain, but it is still
They will be influenced by the forces of Dazhong. Now he has said that he will fight against the Shaanxi people to the end, which has even affected the development of Chuangying in the Luanchuan area."
Li Laiheng knocked on the table with two fingers, and after some calculation in his mind, he said: "Is Yu Dazhong so powerful? Although miners have been an excellent source of soldiers since ancient times, our army is all from the Qinzhong border people. After ten years of fighting, we have been tempered.
Practice, the spirit of bravery and resistance will never be worse than that of Yu Dazhong's miner army. Brother Gao and Lao Bai, you can't suppress Yu Dazhong, except that his miner army is very powerful, and Pingfengzhai is a rare fortress.
Are there any other reasons besides the base?"
When Li Laiheng asked this question, he already had an answer in his mind. Without waiting for Gao Yigong and Bai Wang to answer, he said to himself: "Yu Dazhong preaches the difference between Shaanxi and Henan people everywhere.
The leader of Green Forest considers us as aliens who have invaded Zhongzhou like wild beasts. In the past few years, the army has gone through many hardships and fought many battles. Since recently entering Henan, its strength has grown rapidly. But we are not familiar with this place.
, everything is done on the fly, the situation has not been fully opened, and there is a lack of cooperation with the capable and prestigious heroes on the ground in Zhongzhou."
"Laiheng, your vision is really vicious." Gao Yigong praised, "Yu Dazhong used his nostalgia to appeal, which made the development of the Chuang Army in Xiong'er Mountain difficult. The villagers in the mountain did not dare to cooperate with the Shaanxi people.
And we Shaanxi people don’t dare to be alone outside. The current situation is so severe that if there are three or five soldiers in the intruder army who act alone outside, they will most likely be killed by the villagers and sent to Pingfeng Village to receive rewards."
After hearing this, Li Laiheng completely understood the intentions of Gao Yigong and Bai Wang.
The three of them were left by Li Zicheng to guard the old camp in the mountains, regain the stronghold, and develop their strength. However, the situations of the three people were very different.
Needless to say, Li Laiheng, after he conquered the Baitugang Village and established the Xiaohu Village, relied on the tactics of vertical, horizontal, subordinate, and differentiation to win over the southern foothills of Funiu Mountain. The reputation of "Master Li" even spread as far as Nanyang City.
Although Bai Wang's strength is not developing rapidly, the Luanchuan Town area where he is located has been a central town in the Funiu Mountain and Xiong'er Mountain Mountains since ancient times. It has relatively rich material resources. Although the increase in military strength is small, the material resources have increased a lot; only Gao Yi
Although the Xiong'er Mountain area where Gao Yigong is located has always been a source of troops, and the Red Scarf Army in the late Yuan Dynasty also caused huge waves here, due to Yu Dazhong's interference and suppression, Gao Yigong's troops were stationed in Xiong'er Mountain.
Not only did Shan fail to open up the situation and develop his strength, but he suffered a certain blow, and his military strength shrank instead of increasing.
Up to now, not only Gao Yigong was suppressed by Yu Dazhong in Xiong'er Mountain, but even Bai Wang who was far away in Luanchuan was suppressed by Pingfeng Village.
Gao and Bai came to Funiu Mountain this time, obviously not only to learn from Li Laiheng, but also to seek help from him.
Li Laiheng was very ambitious. Li Zicheng originally only ordered them to attack and subdue the various cottages in the mountainous area and develop their strength. According to Li Zicheng's plan, the army only wanted to maintain an "influence zone" in the mountainous area, but Li Laiheng was not satisfied with just maintaining
A "zone of influence" in the form of a sphere of influence.
The "influence zone" envisioned by Li Zicheng only hoped to ensure that this area was friendly to the Chuang army, so that the Chuang army could pass through the area safely and purchase or exchange sufficient supplies from this area.
What Li Laiheng wanted to develop was to first reach the level of a "guerrilla zone", ensure that the Chuang Army became the largest force outside the imperial court in the area, and recruit and suppress all other powerful and local bandits that were not subordinate to the Chuang Army.
After that, he could continue to consider further developing the "guerrilla zone" into a "base area", that is, attacking central towns such as county towns in the area, and completely destroying the imperial court's ruling order in the area.
In order to realize Li Laiheng's plan to develop "guerrilla zones" and "base areas", he must first completely defeat all local dissident forces in Funiu Mountain and Xiong'er Mountain. Either completely eliminate all powerful and armed bandits, or make them obey Xiaohu
Under the command of the team, it became a subordinate armed force.
Therefore, even if Gao Yigong does not take the initiative to ask for help, after Li Laiheng completely controls the southern foot of Funiu Mountain, he will continue to develop into the mountainous areas to the north and help Gao Yigong conquer Dazhong and Pingfengzhai.
"Laiheng, Yigong has approached me before. But I have carefully weighed the strength comparison between us and Pingfeng Village. I think even with the strength of my side, it will still be very difficult for Yigong and I to join forces to fight against Pingfeng Village.
things."
Bai Wang was very calm. He gave Li Laiheng a detailed introduction to the strength of Yu Dazhong in Pingfeng Village. Bai Wang investigated very carefully during this period, not only the strength of Pingfeng Village itself, but also those close to Yu Dazhong who would obey the orders of Pingfeng Village.
The investigation of the strength of the cottage troops was clear. The eloquent explanation at this time was very convincing, and it also allowed Li Laiheng to grasp the distribution of forces in the Xiong'er Mountain area at the first time.
After Li Laiheng pondered for a while, he replied: "I know that Brother Gao's visit this time is not just for 'begging'. What's more important is that our three teams join forces to see how to defeat this Yu Dazhong."
After the development of the Little Tigers during this period, there were 300 capable soldiers. Hao Yaoqi also trained a group of local hungry people. Although they were not particularly reliable and good at fighting, there were still 600 to 700 soldiers available.
use."
"With the current strength of the Little Tigers, coupled with the troops on hand by Brother Gao and Lao Bai, I don't think there will be a problem in defeating Dazhong's miner army in the field. But I also think about it, and there are two problems that need to be solved.
"Li Laiheng raised two fingers and explained one by one, "The first is that Pingfeng Village is built on a high ground. Since it is a fortress built by He Fu, the magistrate of Song County, it must be very difficult to attack the village; the second is that Pingfeng Village is built on a high ground.
The rules are still the same as mentioned before. We are not familiar with the place in Henan, so to deal with a local snake like Yu Dazhong, we still need the help of some reputable local figures."
When Li Laiheng said this, Gao Yigong and Bai Wang looked at each other and smiled. Gao Yigong stood up and said to Li Laiheng: "This time we come to Xiaohu Village, naturally we will not come empty-handed. Since we are here, we will
I have the confidence to win. This confidence lies in the second point you mentioned."
"Oh?" Li Laiheng's eyes lit up, and he naturally understood what Gao Yigong meant. "Brother Gao means that you have found a local hero in Zhongzhou. Are you willing to cooperate with us?"
Gao Yigong nodded and said with a smile: "That's exactly it. It's a coincidence, maybe this is the so-called retribution. Didn't Yu Dazhong destroy three businesses selling grain to the invaders in Xiong'er Mountain in one night in order to establish his authority?
Did the village of Shanzhai wipe out nearly a thousand families? One of the Shanzhai happened to be related to a hero from Xiong'er Mountain. After this hero knew that our army was no worse than the miners in Pingfeng Village, he took the initiative to contact us.
We must cooperate with us to take revenge on Dazhong."
"Good! With local heroes as guides, everything will be easy to handle!" Li Laiheng praised him. He knew that Gao Yigong always had a target in mind when he spoke. Since Brother Gao said this, things were already pretty safe.
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"I wonder who this heroic hero from Zhongzhou is, who his name is, and who he is?"