Zhang Xianzhong has nothing to worry about, so naturally he can rely on the fierceness of "If I win the world, I will have it, if I lose, I will kill the nine tribes." He will block everything in his decision-making every time. If you are unlucky, you will lose directly.
If it's good, you've lost all your money and your life is still there, then just continue to block it from the beginning.
It is precisely because of the mentality of these people that they come to this world to fight for their lives for a while and fight until they lose. Therefore, in history, after they lose everything, they have nothing left.
It is obviously impossible for Shen Shuren to be so stuck - what is the ability of playing stud? Everyone can play stud with ten thousand dogs. Even if 9999 people die, there will always be a Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong out in the end.
, this is a random event, not a real skill.
Therefore, after the Chen Shuren captured Linxiang County, they had to proceed step by step, advance steadily, and only then concentrate their forces after confirming the enemy's next move.
Otherwise, if he rushes in with all his troops and goes deep south, but Liu Wenxiu in the west suddenly loses his composure and has the courage to counterattack along the south bank of Dongting Lake and cut off Chen Shuren's Xiangjiang grain route, the situation will be troublesome.
Zhang Xianzhong could slaughter the city to raise food, and he could also use the scorched-earth policy to leave no food for the Chenshu people wherever he went, but the Shenshu people could not massacre the city to raise food. The combat patterns here were inherently unequal.
This gap led to the fact that two days after Zhang Xianzhong's main force had left Changsha and headed south, Shen Shu had a thorough understanding of Changsha's reality and headed south from Linxiang County.
When going south, he had to replenish Shen Lian and Li Yu's 6,000 naval divisions, and leave two or three thousand infantrymen to garrison Linxiang and control the waterways and grain routes around Dongting Lake and the Xiangjiang River. The remaining troops were
Let him take him to Changsha.
When Shen Shuren's army went south before, the total strength was about 30,000. After all the battles, the army also suffered a certain amount of losses. Even if there were not many dead, there were definitely many sick and wounded.
After calculation, the total force available now has fallen below 30,000, including the lightly wounded. Excluding the troops left in Linxiang to protect the retreat, the total number of troops going to Changsha is just 20,000.
Of course, it was fully loaded with 20,000 soldiers without any wounded, and they were full of energy and high morale.
On June 21st, the day after the bandits had just defeated the Hengshan Guards, and before taking Hengzhou City, Shen Shuren's troops arrived in Changsha and began to besiege the city.
Because Zhang Xianzhong's army had not found a new base at that time and was just continuing to move south to attack indiscriminately, the bandit defenders here in Changsha City did not know that the king would abandon Changsha in the future.
They were ordered to hold on tight and try their best to transfer supplies to the south. If it was too late in the end and the city was at risk of being breached, Zhang Xianzhong also asked them to set fire to the city as much as possible to scorch everything and destroy supplies for the Chen Shu army's subsequent march.
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After all, the end of May and early June is the harvest season for summer grains. Now in late June, the summer grains have been harvested for 20 days, and it is almost time for the grains to be dried and ready for storage.
If Zhang Xianzhong did not destroy the local economy, Shen Shuren would be able to raise food wherever he wanted, and would be more confident in his pursuit, and would not be able to delay Shen Shuren's actions.
The bandit garrison in Changsha City was mainly composed of new auxiliary troops, and Zhang Xianzhong was reluctant to leave his brothers from the old camp in Shaanxi and Henan to perform such cannon fodder tasks.
Among them, the most senior one had only been a thief for three years. He was captured by Zhang Xianzhong in the twelfth year of Chongzhen's reign, when he was in Xiangyang and Yunyang when he surrendered and then returned.
Of course, there are still a small number of people who were surrendered by the officers and soldiers of the guards in Xiangyang and Yunyang three years ago. Strictly speaking, these people have served as soldiers for more than three years, but due to the corruption of the guards, they cannot learn from it.
What kind of skills are there? Most of the guardsmen are actually farmers.
After the Chenshu people besieged the city, they took some time to patrol the city in person and asked the generals around them about the situation in the city: "Can anyone find out how many troops are defending the city? Who is leading the troops?"
Zhu Wenzhen, who was in charge of the cavalry unit, had captured a small group of thieves who were transporting money and food south from Changsha due to his previous detours. He tortured and obtained a confession, and now he rushed to report:
"Reporting to Futai, we found out from the prisoners that the Changsha garrison general Liu Jinzhong, Li Dingguo's subordinate, did not know the exact number of troops. The prisoners themselves did not know, but they only said that they were in the tens of thousands. Liu Jinzhong was originally affiliated with Ai Nengqi. I heard that he was there last year
Li Dingguo was assigned to follow Ai Nengqi after his death."
Chen Shuren nodded: "It's Li Dingguo's general again, and it's a miscellaneous army that was kicked around. It seems that the so-called tens of thousands of people were just a bluff. They mobilized Hongyi cannons to bombard the door and made an emergency landing.
Zhang Xianzhong doesn't pay much attention to Changsha, and the defenders won't be too determined in fighting spirit."
The officers and soldiers immediately began to make preparations. However, because the ships transporting the Hongyi cannons arrived slowly and took a long time to load, unload, and assemble, it was almost in the evening that day before the cannons were in place and the bombardment began.
In a fortified city like Changsha, it would take ten and a half days to break through by bombardment, especially since the defenders could block the gate and fill the gate with rammed earth for reinforcement, so the storm would definitely be a protracted battle. The key is
Or destroy morale and make the enemy surrender.
Previously, Yin Xianmin, the commander-in-chief of Changsha, surrendered within a few days under Zhang Xianzhong's attack. Could it be that if Zhang Xianzhong's men were replaced to defend the city, they would suddenly become averse to death?
From dusk to dark, the defenders still persisted. Because the visibility was not good and it was inconvenient to observe, the officers and soldiers stopped firing and temporarily withdrew their troops to maintain the siege.
Zhu Wenzhen's cavalry, who had rested during the day, became busy at night and was asked to lead troops to patrol various gates.
In the middle of the night, the south gate of Changsha City suddenly opened in the dark. Some troops tried to escape and break out, but were blocked by Zhu Wenzhen's troops. After a fierce battle broke out between the two sides, the Ming army immediately sounded the fire signal. Each battalion saw a fire outside the south gate.
They came over one after another for reinforcements and killed the troops who broke through.
Only a part of the scattered deserters managed to infiltrate out. The remaining large groups of deserters were driven back and wanted to return to Changsha City through the south gate, but the defenders had already closed the city gate and did not dare to open it at all.
These deserters made their own mistakes and were wiped out by the army under the city walls.
Because the matter was not serious, Zuo Zixiong and Zhu Wenzhen did not disturb Shen Shuren's rest. It was not until dawn that Chen Shuren learned the results of last night's battle. He also defeated thousands of the enemy. He immediately summoned the participating generals and made prisoners
The bandit officers were also brought up.
Zhu Wenzhen looked proud, but he did not dare to make any mistakes in front of Futai. He just couldn't help but said: "Thanks to Futai's caution and letting the general patrol the night, at least four to five thousand enemies were annihilated last night, but only two were beheaded, wounded and captured."
There are more than a thousand people, and the rest are probably scattered. It is difficult to hunt down in the dark."
Chen Shuren waved his hand: "It doesn't matter. It's normal for some people to escape after a big battle. Many of Zhang Xianzhong's new auxiliary troops are ordinary people. They hope that after they escape, they can return to their hometowns to farm, so there is no need to pursue them. I'm afraid some of them will
People have tasted the sweetness of killing people and stealing goods, and they can't hold back."
Chen Shuren praised a few officers who participated in the battle, and then saw a rogue captain and several commanders being escorted up.
Chen Shuren didn't bother to ask them their names. He just confirmed that Liu Jinzhong was not among them. He felt a little sorry and then asked:
"Zhang Xianzhong asked you to defend the city, but he didn't pay much attention to Changsha. Why did he still resist when the heavenly soldiers arrived? Why didn't Liu Jinzhong surrender? Nor did he break out and escape in advance?"
Those middle-level generals and officers had no integrity at all. They just wanted to avoid death. They kowtowed and said everything: "Master Futai clearly shows you! It's not that we don't want to retreat early, it's really the Eight Kings..."
In fact, Zhang Xianzhong gave a death order, asking us to hold the army in Changsha for a while. If we break out before half a month, we will be prosecuted by military law when we get to Hengzhou. We don’t know anything else."
What these people told was actually the truth, because Zhang Xianzhong would not tell the ordinary generals below about his purpose of continuing to go south to attack Hengzhou. Telling him would only make morale collapse faster.
Chen Shuren: "Since you will be punished if you escape, why not surrender? If Yin Xianmin had abandoned the city, he would have been punished by the court's military law! But he surrendered the thieves! Is Liu Jinzhong more courageous than Yin Xianmin?"
The captured officers looked at each other for a few seconds before one of them boldly kowtowed and said: "Yesterday, we heard the officers and soldiers begging for surrender, but we couldn't believe that surrendering would save us from death..."
"Shura Martial God"
Zhang Xianzhong went crazy a few days ago. Before sending troops south, he changed his previous promise not to massacre the city. He slaughtered everywhere and plundered people's property and food. Our hands are stained with the blood debt of the massacre, and we are afraid that sooner or later the account of the massacre will be liquidated."
When Chen Shuren heard this, his face turned pale.
Indeed, the troops who massacred the city cannot be pardoned immediately, especially if they just massacred the city and surrendered a few days later. If they were pardoned so quickly, the bandits would have no scruples in raising troops to massacre the city in the future.
Zhang Xianzhong is forcing tens of thousands of people to "get a fresh vote"! It can also be seen that he has no intention of hanging around in Huguang anymore, and he doesn't care about public support and reputation.
After this battle, we must publicize it well and provide ironclad evidence so that the guards in Huguang, Guangdong, and Jiangxi can clearly see that Zhang Xianzhong did go crazy and massacre the city, or he broke his promise and massacred the city after Changsha surrendered.
This can at least arouse other generals and the people to resist in the future, so that they will not surrender without firing a shot.
"It seems that even if the surrenderers are pardoned, they can only pardon ordinary soldiers. The rogue officers of this army that massacred the city must all be executed! Even if the troops are to be retained, they must be completely broken up and used as death camps.
, fight under supervision! Think of it as a deterrent and atonement! Otherwise, what is the difference between me and Chen Qiyu and Xiong Wencan back then?"
Chen Shuren waved his hand and did not spare the lives of those captains and commanders just because they confessed truthfully. For this kind of massacre army, it is necessary to execute all captured officers.
The bandit generals had pale faces and begged for mercy again and again, but to no avail, and their heads were quickly thrown into the tent.
Chen Shuren also learned his lesson and told the generals: "Yesterday, our army's surrender slogan was indeed out of touch, and we did not fully understand the situation around Changsha.
Since there is a massacre of the city, I am announcing again today, saying only that ordinary soldiers can surrender, but officers are not allowed to surrender. If a soldier kills his superior and offers his head as a sacrifice, he will be exempted from being sent to the hard labor camp. If an officer kills his superior and surrenders, he will be exempted from death! Everything else is the same.
No forgiveness!"
Shen Shuren's prisoner policy is also the best way to make a forced landing and reform troops with bad records. After many generations of testing, it is best to allow surrendering troops with original sins to capture their commanders.
Let them trust.
At the same time, after giving the instructions, Shen Shuren also briefly discussed with Zuo Zixiong, Jin Shenghuan, and Zhu Wenzhen: "Since the reasons why Liu Jinzhong did not dare to surrender or escape in advance have been understood, do you think Liu Jinzhong will
Are you going to die with the city?"
Zuo Zixiong scratched his head, thought for a while, and said frankly: "The general thinks... he has no other choice but to enjoy himself before death and fight hard to die?"
Chen Shuren shook his head: "Don't use the heart of a gentleman to save the belly of a villain. How can such an abandoned son be so perseverant? In my opinion, it's not that he doesn't want to break out, but he knows that after breaking through, he can no longer go to Zhang Xianzhong.
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When he gets really desperate, he might want to escape from the city, hide his name, or set up his own business. In this way, we can pretend to continue to besiege the city with heavy troops in the south to prevent him from breaking out and heading south to join forces with Zhang Xianzhong.
But in fact, in the west of the city, the outer pine is loose and the inner is tight, which shows the enemy a weak point, but actually hides an ambush. Going west from Changsha, heading southwest, and entering Luoxiao Mountain, it is enough for Liu Jinzhong to set up his own business and guard this road. "
After hearing this, Zuo Zixiong, Jin Shenghuan, and Zhu Wenzhen all admired Master Futai's opinion. Indeed, from a geographical point of view, if you want to escape around Changsha, you can't go south but to the west.
The Ming army immediately followed the new deployment, tightly arranged the situation outside and inside, and then attacked the city step by step for two or three days.
As the defenders in the city felt increasing pressure and psychological offensive, some troops actually killed officers and secretly opened the door to surrender. Several times, the Ming army almost seized the opportunity to seize the city.
If it weren't for the fact that the garrison's gatekeepers were all Liu Jinzhong's confidants and fought to the death to recapture the city gate as soon as possible, Changsha City would have been recovered.
Liu Jinzhong's troops were frightened all night. Even with more than 20,000 new troops, they did not dare to defend for any longer.
It was not until the night of June 25th, the fourth night after the official army began to attack the city, that another group of thieves who killed the officers finally started a riot in the city and once captured the city gate.
This time, Liu Jinzhong's direct troops finally failed to control the city gate immediately. The officers and soldiers poured in, and the two sides started a bloody and chaotic fight.
Liu Jinzhong's direct descendants had no choice but to follow Zhang Xianzhong's previous order and set fire to the city randomly, hoping to burn more supplies that could not be taken away. Then Liu Jinzhong led 5,000 die-hard soldiers to the west gate to break out of the siege. Sure enough, he had thought better of it and did not dare to surrender.
Zhang Xianzhong wanted to go to Luoxiao Mountain and establish his own business.
Zhu Wenzhen had already been waiting there for a long time. When Liu Jinzhong passed by, he immediately attacked with two thousand cavalry as the main force. Liu Jinzhong was among the rebels and was shot in turn by the pistol cavalry of Zhu Wenzhen's front army. He turned into a hornet's nest and was killed on the spot.
Most of the remaining troops were killed and injured in the chaos. In the end, two to three thousand people were captured, and only a few hundred escaped. This was also thanks to the Shenshu people who had told them several days in advance to stay at the dangerous point on the road to the west of the city.
An ambush was set up. The officers and soldiers came well prepared, so very few escaped this time, and they basically fell into pockets and surrounded them.
The Changsha bandit garrison has been basically wiped out.