Chapter 264 Demolition of Xiangxiang and Destruction of Fanqing Countryside
South bank of Han River.
On Xiangyang City, a group of generals and officials looked at the brick city twelve miles below them with a bit of reluctance.
"Is it really going to be demolished?"
"Destroy as much as possible." Wen An was wearing a Confucian robe and a sword at his waist.
This is a fortified city built on the basis of Xiangyang City in the Southern Song Dynasty. A new city was added to the northeast corner. It faces the Han River in the north and is surrounded by moats on the other three sides. There is Prince Xiang's Mansion in the southeast of the city.
There are thirty-six squares in the city.
Across the river from Xiangyang is Fancheng on the north bank.
"Go west to Xiangyang Baili City, row a boat and buy wine to get drunk in Fancheng!" Wen Anzhi looked at Fancheng from a distance and recited a poem.
"What a poem, Dujian!" Liu Tiaoyuan, Miao Shihua and others praised it quickly.
"This is the work of Gu Lin, a poet from my dynasty, not written by me."
Liu Miao generals were not embarrassed and laughed. He was originally a guerrilla in the Yunyang governor Wang Yongzuo's camp. He was a martial artist. He didn't know that Gu Lin was also normal.
"Now we are recruiting troops, and we have also incorporated the Xiangyang Qing army. We have thousands of soldiers and horses. With this strong city of Xiangyang, we can completely defend it. Why abandon the city?" Liu Tiaoyuan was not willing to part with Xiangyang. When they defended Yunyang, they sent troops more than once.
Come and attack Xiangyang.
It’s just that Xiangyang City is too dangerous.
It faces the Han River in the north, which is a natural hazard. The water of the Han River is introduced to the east, west and south as a moat. It is completely different from the moat of an ordinary city. It is wide and deep. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a lake. Except for taking a boat, it is basically a lake.
It is impossible to get close to Xiangyang City.
After the invading army occupied Xiangyang, they were afraid that soldiers and horses from the upper reaches would flow down the river, so they used large ships to carry huge rocks to the northwest of the city on the Han River and sank them to the bottom of the river from south to north, so that the north of Xiangyang City was blocked.
It is also more impregnable.
This time, if he had not relied on a strategy to lure away the main force of Xiangyang, and then used a combination of internal and external moves, and a normal attack, he would not have been able to defeat them without five or six times the number of troops.
Wen Anzhi said, "There is no invincible fortress in this world. Xiangyang City is indeed dangerous and its location is critical. But for this reason, the Tatars will never sit back and watch us occupy this city. Even if we hold on for a while, there will be
The second wave, the third wave, the Tatars will continue to attack, and in the end we will only be exhausted here."
"But we have defended Yunyang for so long, and Yunyang City is nowhere near as good as this."
"What's different is that Yunyang is located on the upper reaches of the Han River and is in a remote location. As long as the walls are strong and the fields are clear, it will be difficult for any army to attack. If there are too many soldiers and horses, logistics and transportation of supplies will be inconvenient, and if there are few soldiers, it will be difficult to attack the enemy."
"Tear it down. Try to tear down as many holes as possible in the Xiangyang city wall. It is best to fill in a few sections of the moat. We left this time and will come back next time."
Xiangyang City is larger than Xunyang City, and the city is richer in materials than Xiangyang.
However, most of these materials were transported from Nanyang and other places after the Qing army occupied Xiangyang. This is an important passage between Henan, Guanzhong and Huguang, especially the convergence of several major rivers, including Hanshui, Danshui and Baihe, making this a good place.
shipping terminal.
Both Xiangyang and Fancheng had stored a lot of grain, grass, weapons and other supplies, but now they all fell into the hands of Wen An.
These days, they recruited troops, captured prisoners, and expanded their army to more than 10,000 people. Then Wen'an's people continued to carry supplies and food back to Yunyang, and even found time to cross the river and occupy Fancheng on the opposite side.
Fancheng didn't have many soldiers. When Xiangyang was lost, the defender on the other side was so frightened that he surrendered. The defender was originally from the Chuang army. When the Qing army came, he surrendered to the Qing. Now that the Ming army had captured Xiangyang, he surrendered again happily.
bright.
Now the Ming army here in Xiangyang has wanted to form its own town. It has more than 12,000 troops and more than 8,000 pairs of armor. This is the advantage of taking over the military supply warehouse in Xiangfan. There are even more than 100 artillery pieces of various types.
, although they are basically small cannons weighing a hundred or so kilograms, there are also about a dozen cannons weighing a thousand kilograms.
Liu Tiaoyuan and others originally wanted to guard Xiangyang, but also appointed a general army of their own.
However, Wen Anzhi still insisted on demolishing the city and retreating. Not only did he have to evacuate, but he also evacuated everything that could be moved from the city. He even mobilized the people of Xiangyang and Fancheng to move to Xunyang Mountain. Although it is a mountainous area, it can be reclaimed.
There are many fields.
In the early years, millions of refugees poured into the Yunyang mountainous area to reclaim wasteland, so the imperial court later set up the Yunyang area to govern. Since Chongzhen, the Yunyang area has become a gathering place for peasant armies, fighting for more than ten years.
The population dropped sharply, and a large number of mountains and fields were even deserted.
Although many people in Xiangfan are unwilling to move to the mountains, the relocation at this time is not really voluntary.
The cruel war has made many things less free.
If Yunyang wants to hold on for a long time, it needs food, grass, equipment, farmers and craftsmen, so they have to find a way to get more people. Moving the population of Xiangyang will also make it difficult to recover and let the Qing army come over.
After re-occupying it, they would not be able to support themselves in the short term and would have to transport grain and grass from other places to supply the army. This would increase the difficulty and slow down their offensive against Yunyang.
During the war, everything is dominated by war.
Of course, there are also many people who are willing to go to Yunyang. They are mainly people who have been devastated by the war. They are no different from refugees. They would rather go to Yunyang Mountain to reclaim wasteland and farmland than stay in this place. This is the place where the Fourth World War began.
Land is also a battleground for military strategists, which also means that it is too difficult for people to survive in this place.
Under Wen Anzhi's auspices and persistence, the more than 10,000 troops in Xiangyang were still deployed under the banner of Yunyang Zhongkai Camp, but they were already fully imitating the imperial camp.
For example, the captured money, food, armor, etc. are all returned to the grain platform instead of being divided privately by the generals. In addition, the soldiers are also registered and paid according to their names. They have fixed grain rates. Officers have officers' salaries and even have names as soldiers.
Food and other subsidies.
Wen Anzhi tried his best to make these soldiers as regular as possible, and the company and battalion organization also adopted the imperial camp, with one battalion of 500 combat soldiers and 180 auxiliary soldiers.
At first, Liu Tiaoyuan and others firmly opposed it, thinking that it was impossible to maintain this approach. Even if they were paid half pay, a battalion would only need one or two thousand taels a month.
Is it necessary to pay an auxiliary soldier three taels of silver a month? A half salary of one liang or five taels. Is it necessary? There is even no need to set up auxiliary soldiers in the army. Wherever the march goes, it is enough to temporarily capture civilians and provide meals.
But Wen Anzhi persisted and said that he had food and salary in hand now, so he could maintain it, and he could also think of ways to do it in the future.
Even the newly recruited soldiers, even those who were recruited and surrendered, were each given two taels of Anjia silver. However, after the money was taken out, the effect was indeed very good, and the recruits were very active.
"Tear it down, tear it down." Liu Tiaoyuan didn't insist anymore.
So a very spectacular scene appeared in Xiangfan. Countless boats and even rafts on the Han River were loaded with various materials and belongings and headed upstream. The stream continued and formed a long queue.
As for the two cities of Xiangyang, countless people were demolishing the city walls and filling in the moats. They cut out large gaps in the two big cities and filled in the lake-like Xiangyang moat to create several roads.
Generals Liu Tiaoyuan and Wang Guangtai also led their troops to the countryside to mobilize the people to move to Xunyang.
Wen Anzhi also took some time out of his busy schedule to lead Liangtai officers to visit poor people everywhere, and he opened a camp for loyalty and procured thousands of young girls from the people to become soldier brides.
When Luo Xiujin, the governor of Sichuan and Lake, arrived from Henan, he was stunned by the two cities of Xiangfan in front of him.
This was completely different from the two cities he had only seen a few months ago. There were gaps in the city walls, filled-in moats, and deserted villages, even filled-in wells, and destroyed bridges and roads.
For dozens of miles around Xiangfan, not even smoke can be seen.
For hundreds of miles on both sides of the Han River, not even a single boat can be found.
This place has become a silent place of death!
The two cities of Xiangfan and Xiangfan were like two monsters that died on the Han River, leaving only their broken bodies on the riverside.
