Wang Mingqian's desperate reporting made the city, which was already on guard, even more cautious.
The alarm bell sounded, and the entire recovery battalion went to the city to defend.
Angry, Zhang Guozhu changed the order from deceiving the city to attacking by force. However, although Qian Sule, Ge Shizhen and others were not people who knew the military, although the recovery camp was composed of gentlemen and scholars, they were real soldiers from Ningbo.
They are guarding their homeland, and their enthusiasm for fighting is unprecedentedly high.
"Archers cover, swordsmen attack!"
Zhang Guozhu stood up with his sword drawn and shouted commands. His most elite battalion of 500 archers took up their strong bows and fired a dense rain of arrows to cover the siege.
The first group sent out to attack the city was the Dinghai Defense Battalion. These soldiers had been suddenly deceived before and were surrounded before they could even defend.
After being coerced into joining Zhang Guozhu's army, many people actually regretted it.
At this time, they were ordered to take the lead and go directly to attack the city. Many officers were secretly dissatisfied. They were pointed at swords and guns, but they deliberately delayed their steps.
The shouting was quite loud, but the thunder was louder than the raindrops.
The main force of the Dinghai Battalion was soldiers from the former Zhejiang General Town, but they were not the old troops brought by Wang Zhiren and his son from Wu Song, but soldiers from the original Zhejiang Province. Originally, they were not direct confidants of the Wang family and his son. After Zhu Yihai came, he brought the soldiers from Zhejiang Town
The troops were disrupted and most of them were transferred to other newly established flag bearers, brave guards and other camps, and some of them followed Wang Zhiren to the Beijing camp.
Therefore, the Dinghai camp has a quota of 1,000. In fact, Zhengyong has only 800, and there are more than 100 soldiers and servants among them. Earlier, they saw that Wang Mingqian had fallen into the hands of Zhang Guozhu, and they heard what they said about the Lu Supervisor State, and Wang Zhiren was in Cixi
Having been defeated and captured by Chen Wu, he was half convinced and had no will to resist.
Anyway, they have always been like this.
As for the new recruits, it was their first time encountering such a situation and they were completely at a loss.
But now Wang Mingqian's performance shows that things are not what Zhang Guozhu said, and Zhang Guozhu does not really regard them as his brothers. His old camp archers are shooting arrows from a distance behind, but he wants these new brothers to attack the city. This is not right.
Are they being used as cannon fodder?
It should be noted that the late officers and soldiers were still very skilled at working as foreign workers.
Here Zhang Guozhu was in command, and over there the Dinghai Defense Battalion pretended to kill and shouted for a long time, but in the end they were still far away from the city wall.
Zhang Guozhu was so angry that he had to send out many of the recruits and strong men he had brought along the way when he went south. However, these people were originally just ordinary people, and few of them could rush forward.
They are all petty, but who is willing to die?
"What the hell are you doing with me? Go and cut off the commander of the Dinghai camp and take his head back!"
Several officers from the Dinghai camp over there were always on guard against this attack. When they saw a group of Zhang Guozhu's servants running towards them, they immediately shouted and called on their servants to take the lead in mutiny.
The other officers of the Dinghai Battalion were also veterans. They kept taking one step forward and two steps back. They were observing from left to right. When they saw that the situation was not right, they immediately mutinied.
It should be said that this was a routine operation of the Ming army.
Although Zhang Guozhu took some precautions in advance, for example, after defrauding Dinghai, he quickly handed over the weapons of Dinghai Camp, then seized the money and food from Dinghai Camp's treasury, took out some silver to pay a reward, and then made Dinghai Camp a
Made a simple reorganization.
Break up and mix in sand.
But for a while, there was no way to be too detailed. A thousand men from the Dinghai camp were mixed into several battalions with the strong men he had brought down from the south, and some old brothers were also sent over.
However, in the late Ming Dynasty, the military leaders always focused on protecting their lives. The truly most trusted servants did not dare to break up too much, so the so-called old brothers were actually just a bunch of rabble.
Although the Dinghai Battalion was dispersed into several battalions, most of them were organized as complete sentries and entire teams. This was also to ensure a certain combat effectiveness.
But now, these Dinghai camp officers mutinied, and Zhang Guozhu quickly lost his wife and surrendered his troops. Not only did the original thousand men and horses of Dinghai camp basically mutinied, but they also led two to three thousand other mixed men and horses to follow suit.
.
Upon seeing this, some people mutinied with Dinghaiying, some took advantage of the chaos and ran away, while others retreated on alert.
For a time, it was a vivid interpretation of a rabble from the late Ming Dynasty.
Rape is commonplace, and most people are coerced into doing so.
In troubled times, these people were forced from common people to become soldiers. In the end, they were indistinguishable from soldiers to bandits, but no matter what, no one was willing to die.
It was a routine operation for Zhang Guozhu to let his recruits serve as cannon fodder for the siege, but now the very unstable factor of Dinghai camp, coupled with the strong men who had been forcibly recruited, quickly fermented.
Many of the new recruits in the Dinghai camp are also natives of Ningbo. What's more, Lu Jianguo also gave everyone a silver reward and paid their wages in advance. They still feel for Lu Jianguo in their hearts.
With the Dinghai camp officers taking the lead, they happily rebelled.
Zhang Guozhu jumped angrily from behind.
There is no way to attack Yincheng again. Firstly, we have not prepared the artillery equipment to attack the city. Secondly, all the cannon fodder have mutinied, so we must deal with these first.
He led the archers and began to leave Yin City alone and attack the rebel soldiers.
Wang Mingqian successfully escaped from his pursuers and was hanged into the city.
When he turned around, he saw the chaos below the city, and the Dinghai camp actually switched sides.
"Please ask Mr. Qian to open the city to meet you!"
Qian Sule was very dissatisfied with the performance of the Dinghai camp and was not willing to let them enter the city at all.
Wang Mingqian thought about it and felt a little ashamed. He himself was captured carelessly, and although a battalion of his men was deceived into entering the city, they surrendered without resistance. This shows that he is incompetent as a general. Even if he can say that he has just taken over the battalion,
But after all, the result was that Dinghai camp surrendered directly.
"Please ask Mr. Qian to have someone hang me down again."
"Why did General Wang leave the city?"
"The Dinghai camp has been restored anyway, so naturally I, the commander-in-chief, have to go with my subordinates."
Qian Sule was a little hesitant. He felt that Dinghai Camp was unreliable and it was very dangerous outside now. At this time, he did not dare to risk going out of the city to respond. After all, who knew whether Dinghai Camp was really mutinied or trying to lure the enemy?
The recovery battalion is also a new recruit. If he is fooled, he will not be able to explain it to the prisoner.
"I, Wang Mingqian, will atone for the mistakes I made!"
After Wang Mingqian finished speaking, he resolutely asked people to hang him down from the city.
After Wang Mingqian was let down from the city, he mounted his horse, circled half a circle, and ran back to Dinghai camp.
Originally there were a thousand people in the Dinghai camp, but at this time, there were actually three thousand people.
They ran outside the north wall of Yincheng, and with their backs against the city wall, the officers from each battalion gathered together and jointly pointed their swords at Zhang Guozhu.
As soon as Wang Mingqian came over, these officers came up to him shamelessly and apologized, saying that they were caught off guard and had been looking for opportunities to stab Zhang Guozhu.
Some officers from Zhang Guozhu's miscellaneous troops also came forward with embarrassment, saying that they were not from Zhang Guozhu's group and had all been coerced.
"We are willing to obey Vice General Wang's order and fight against the traitor Zhang Guozhu together, so as to respect Lu Jianguo together!"
These guys don't care about King Yiyang, and now they are willing to support Lu and supervise the country.
The conversion was so fast, there was no psychological pressure. As for being sincere, it was actually not even half.
But he didn't want to be Zhang Guozhu's cannon fodder and attack Ningbo Prefecture. Although Ningbo Prefecture was not the governor and the general garrison was stationed in Dinghai City, it was not as strong and dangerous as Dinghai City. But Ningbo was also a large city with high walls, so it was not so easy to fight.
If you insist on fighting, wouldn't you risk your own life?
Therefore, they usually follow Zhang Guozhu in robbery, and they are never slow-hearted, but if they are forced to go all out, they are unwilling.
Although Wang Mingqian was young, he knew what these traitors were thinking, and he did not tell them anything. He just comforted these guys in public, and said that they had meritorious service anyway, and that he would ask His Highness Lu Jianguo to seal Yunyun.
Anyway, I promise to throw away a bunch of money first.
Then with their backs against the north wall of Yincheng, each battalion moved closer to each other, preparing to fight Zhang Guozhu.
Zhang Guozhu kept swearing, thinking that 10,000 donkeys had passed by, and the evil plot in Dinghai City was successful. The number of men and horses increased to 5,000. In just half a day, 3,000 people suddenly ran to the opposite side, and he only had 2,000 left.
Although there were still 500 elite archers and more than 1,500 who could be considered as camp leaders who had been following for a while, it still made him furious.
He plotted against others, so how could he be plotted against others?
"Cut all these damn accounts down."
He planned to wait until they were defeated, and then he would kill all the officers, kill one of the ten remaining soldiers, and then disperse them all. No more betrayal or defection would be allowed.
Wang Mingqian was also very angry. He had been fighting with his father for a long time, but he didn't expect the ship to capsize so badly today. Fortunately, he still had a chance to make a comeback.
"The thieves and I swear to be incompatible. Whoever kills Zhang Guozhu will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver!"
Although the three thousand men and horses were just a mob, they had a city wall behind them, which gave them a lot of peace of mind. They set up a spear formation, raised their shields, and fought to the death.
Fight for your life!
On the city.
In the end, Qian Sule did not order reinforcements to be sent out of the city, but after seeing the situation below the city, he was convinced. He sent an order to move most of the recovery camp to the north wall, and used bows, arrows, firecrackers, etc. as high cover.
Zhang Guozhu's 500 archers were very elite. The arrow formation they formed sent a rain of arrows into the sky, and then scattered them fiercely on Wang Mingqian's military formation in front of the city.
These soldiers were just cannon fodder, and their equipment was very poor. Most of them did not have armor. On the contrary, the original units of Dinghai Camp were relatively good.
Each wave of arrows shot down large numbers of men and horses, causing them to scream in agony.
Fortunately, at this time, the recovery camp and Dinghai camp fought back with bows and blunderbuss, which somewhat restrained Zhang Guozhu's archers.
Zhang Guozhu ordered the remaining 1,500 people to line up several phalanxes of spears and approach step by step.
Arrows were flying back and forth from both sides, and the infantry formations were on top of each other. They were stabbing and slashing with spears and knives, and there were loud shouts of killing.
"Cut it for me!"
Zhang Guozhu shouted fiercely.
Zhang Guozhu had two thousand against Wang Mingqian's three thousand, but he had the upper hand. Even if the restoration battalion came to support the city, it would be difficult for the men below the city to resist.
In particular, Zhang Guozhu's five hundred archers were very brave. Every burst of arrows could bring down a large area of Wang Mingqian's improvised army.
Less than half an hour into the battle, many officers who had just shouted that they wanted to atone for their crimes began to take the lead in fleeing.
Wang Mingqian rode his horse and chopped down several guys one after another, barely stopping the defeat, but he still managed to hold on.
Seeing that he could no longer hold on, Qian Sule finally decided to take action at this time, ordered the north gate to be opened, and personally led the recovery camp to rush out to respond.
Zhang Guozhu became even more excited when he saw troops coming from the city to fight.
"Charge, fight through, and enter the city!"
This is a rare flaw, an opportunity to win Ningbo City.
Zhang Guozhu's personal soldiers blew the horn for a fierce attack, and the sturdy long archers also began to run.
At this moment, a black tide emerged in the distance.
The ground also began to shake.
A louder horn sounded.
The governor of the capital camp of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Ningbo Wang Zhiren, led five armies and three thousand two battalions to attack. He divided his troops at Songpu and Zhu Yihai, which was not far from Yincheng. He hurried all the way and finally arrived.
Zhang Guozhu, who was excited, turned his head and saw the king-character flag, his expression changed drastically.
His lips trembled, and finally he gritted his teeth and sighed, "Withdraw!"
Wang Zhiren returned to support, but he had no chance. This military leader who was also experienced in the battlefield decisively ordered the retreat without any entanglement.
He even took the lead in escaping, followed by five hundred confidant archers, while the remaining fifteen hundred subordinates were still fighting with Wang Mingqian below the city, regardless of whether they could withdraw.
Just run away and never fight hard.
Move the flag south.
The more than a thousand men and horses under the city also quickly turned around and ran away, showing no signs of fighting.
Wang Mingqian chopped down a guy who was running away with his sword. He glanced at the Wang Qi that was rapidly approaching from a distance, and then at Zhang Qi who was escaping south.
He clamped down hard on the horse's belly, raised his sword and shouted, "Follow me, kill the thief Zhang!"
