Chapter 129 If you want to see Shen Futai's appearance, you must pay the price
"Are these the soldiers and horses of Thief Shen Gou? It looks like there are only more than 20,000 people at most. They actually dare to go so deep into the city of Hengzhou. This guy is quite courageous. He has a bit more backbone than other rotten dog officers.
."
At the top of the city of Hengzhou, Zhang Xianzhong raised his eyebrows with his hands and looked at the array of officers and soldiers gradually pressing in from a distance. He felt excited and bloodthirsty, with a bit of relieved contempt.
This is Chen Shuren who has been entangled with him for more than two years.
If Chen Shuren hadn't been such a troublemaker, in the summer of the twelfth year of Chongzhen's reign, after he had surrendered and retreated in the Xiangyang and Yunyang areas, he would have easily been able to join the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo in the east and completely traverse Huguang.
But the man opposite me was said to be just a scholar who had just donated to the prison three years ago. In just one year, he went from being a prison student to Huangzhou Tongzhi and Tongyan, and became the independent leader of one of the five camps of Ge Zuo.
The chief's strength was enough to destroy the opponent.
In the next two years, Zhang Xianzhong got out of control and forced Zhang Xianzhong to the mountains of eastern Sichuan. He also cut off the wings that he had originally tried to coerce! He also brought one of his adopted sons to the capital, and was sentenced to death by Lingchi several times by Chongzhen.
Let Zhang Xianzhong's direct troops suffer small losses and lose their generals!
It's a pity that Zhang Xianzhong had never had the opportunity to see with his own eyes what he looked like to such a person who had such a deep hatred for him.
But today, due to coincidence, numerous strategies, and rumors, Zhang Xianzhong finally stopped running away and had the opportunity to fight a tough battle with Shen Shuren face to face without any fancy!
Of course he wants to take this opportunity to get to know this dog official who can't be shaken off like a dog-skin plaster!
I just hate that as a bandit, his reconnaissance equipment has never been very good. There is not even a telescope in the army, otherwise he would have to smash the telescope in his face to see it!
However, although Zhang Xianzhong could not find Shen Shuren himself for the time being, he could at least have a rough look at the size of the Shen family's army, its military appearance and equipment. This alone made him feel at ease, and he had the emotion he just expressed.
The troops on the opposite side only have more than 20,000 people!
When Chen Shuren sent out troops to fight Li Dingguo, the total strength was 30,000. After all the battles, there were casualties and losses, and there were divisions of troops for the navy. When they arrived in Changsha, there were only 20,000 left.
Before going south this time, five thousand troops should be left in the important town of Changsha. After all, the city had just been brutally massacred, and there were a lot of fleeing rebels. It is still very chaotic. If no one is left behind, the retreat of the Shenshu people will be seriously threatened.
Moreover, Fang Kongzhen, the governor of Huguang, personally went to Changsha to help handle the internal affairs in the rear and restore order. If there were not enough troops left, the governor of the province would be in big trouble if he was attacked by the enemy.
Going forward, key nodes such as Xiangtan County and Hengshan Guards cannot be left completely undefended. Therefore, the initial troops brought by Chen Shuren were actually only 10,000 people able to reach Hengzhou City——
This is also a disadvantage when the official army is fighting against the bandits. After all, the army has to block everywhere, and cannot allocate all its troops to one place, otherwise it will be missed in other places. The bandits do not need a base, they can rob it anytime and anywhere.
If you run away, take all the valuables with you and follow the army. When it comes to concentrating your troops, the bandits will definitely have an advantage.
Fortunately, the battle in Hunan has lasted for nearly a month, so Chen Shuren's rear troops are also coming in a steady stream.
Shi Dun, the prefect of Xiangyang, Zhang Huangyan, the prefect of Huangzhou, and Zheng Chenggong, the prefect of Jiujiang, each sent out 5,000 reinforcements. Ten days and a half after the war, they gathered inland and gathered in Yuezhou. Then they went south and gradually gathered in the hands of Chen Shuren.
This allowed the total force of the Chenshu people to finally arrive at Hengzhou City, reaching a scale of 23,000 to 23,000. Before the war, the Chenshu people were said to have "80,000 troops", and so far more than 50,000 have been deployed to Hunan.
on the battlefield,
It is really inconvenient to redeploy other troops. After all, the northern side of Wanfu's jurisdiction still has to hold back Li Zicheng. Located to the north of the Dabie Mountains, Xinyang Prefecture under Liu Guoneng's rule is also the jurisdiction of Chen Shuren. A considerable number of troops are needed to fill the defense line.
, other places must also ensure security forces.
In comparison, Zhang Xianzhong had an old battalion of 50,000 to 60,000 before the war began, and a similar number of new auxiliary troops, of which more than 20,000 old battalions remained with Liu Wenxiu and Sun Kewang.
The old battalion brought out by Zhang Xianzhong and Li Dingguo was less than 40,000, and the new auxiliary army was about the same. Later, they invaded Changde and Changsha expanded the army several times.
However, in the previous battles in Baling, Xiangyin and other places, Li Dingguo lost a total of about 5,000 old battalions, including 2,000 cavalry. Including Zhang Xianzhong's losses in previous sieges, there were a total of 7,800.
Today, the total number of remaining old battalion soldiers on the battlefield in southern Hunan has been reduced to approximately 32,000.
Of the 40,000 new auxiliary troops brought out at the beginning of the war, more than 10,000 were blocked in Changde and were unable to come over, so they turned back with Liu Wenxiu. Another 20,000 were lost and abandoned by Li Dingguo in the Battle of Baling.
Coupled with the troops that were annihilated by the Chenshu people in the Changsha Liberation War, the total number of people lost by the bandit's new auxiliary army is almost as large as when Zhang Xianzhong brought it out. Therefore, the tens of thousands of people left now are all thanks to Zhang Xianzhong
Along the way, money was being thrown around to attract new people.
Today, the size of the newly attached army is still around 40,000 to 50,000, but the quality has further declined. The number of people with more than two years of experience as thieves has dropped sharply to less than half.
Among the remaining people, at least 20,000 were ordinary people who had just been recruited and had been thieves for less than a month. There were also 4,000 to 5,000 former army officers and local village warriors who had surrendered with General Yin Xianmin and He Yide.
Therefore, at this moment, the situation on the battlefield around Hengzhou is that there are 24,000 officers and soldiers responsible for the attack. Zhang Xianzhong's army of about 75,000 is responsible for the defense.
Among these 75,000 people, there are 32,000 veterans from Shaanxi and Henan, and they are also Zhang Xianzhong’s most valuable family assets. About 15,000 Xiangyang and Yunyang soldiers have been thief for two to three years, and only one of 23,000 has become a thief.
Five thousand peasants in the month surrendered to the Ming army, which added up to just enough.
In terms of troop distribution, of the 75,000 men, 50,000 are in Hengzhou City, under the direct command of Zhang Xianzhong himself. There are also 25,000 men, led by Wang Shangli, ambushing other counties on the east flank and encamping at the Hengshan Pass.
In order to cut off Chen Shuren's food route.
Zhang Xianzhong was initially worried that the quality of his troops was not high enough and their fighting spirit was not strong enough.
But in the end, he found that the size of the army that could catch up to Hengzhou City was only one-third of his total strength. His nervousness finally subsided, and he felt that the advantage was with me.
Even if we don’t count the new auxiliary troops, we only rely on the old Shaanxi and Henan battalions to fight with the official army, and we still have more people on our side! How dare Chen Shuren!
…
While Zhang Xianzhong was watching the enemy's situation at the top of the city and deducing the subsequent battle situation, Shen Shuren was also secretly observing his enemies in the military formation.
He even arranged in advance for all the 600 turtledove gunmen brought by the army to have them all loaded and on alert. They would ambush the spearmen and swordsmen in the first two rows, waiting for an opportunity just in case Zhang Xianzhong himself.
If you can show your face, you can directly cover it with a wave of firepower!
Of course, the muskets of this era had no accuracy at all, especially the single-head bullets that pursued lethality range, but when the number was increased, the coverage and sniper killing effect was still very fast.
The target of the turtle dove gun is not as big as that of the artillery, but the gunpowder charge of two to three taels and the lead bullets weighing two taels are more than five times that of the bird gun. This firepower is enough to make them attack at a distance of three to four hundred steps.
Easily kill any heavily armored target.
However, Shen Shuren has also done experiments. At a distance of 200 steps, the hit rate of the Turtle Dove's single-point bullet has dropped to less than 10%. Only 78 out of 100 rounds can hit the pre-aimed target.
At one hundred steps, it is further reduced to the point where only two or three shots out of a hundred can hit. At four hundred steps, one shot out of a hundred may not be guaranteed.
Of course, Chen Shuren's own flag formation must be more than a mile away from the city wall, and the cunning Chen Shuren would not ride his horse personally to stand under the flag formation. And two hundred steps in front of him are the formations of the army.
, Turtle Dove Gunslinger left the city wall, almost three hundred steps away.
This distance can exceed the effective range of all the crossbows and muskets of the bandits. Unless Zhang Xianzhong uses some of the only Fran machines in his army, he will not be able to threaten the Ming army. Even if there are Fran machines, there will not be many of them.
, it was too late for the Ming army to retreat one after another.
Unfortunately, Chen Shuren observed the appearance of the defenders for a long time, but did not see Zhang Xianzhong, so he had enough observations, so he found a group of scolding soldiers and asked them to shout at the top of the city to lower the morale of Zhang Xianzhong's troops, while he quietly watched them.
Change.
After a while, fifty loud voices armed with wooden trumpets and shields rushed forward to about two hundred paces from the city gate so that their words could be heard by the defenders on the city.
The Ming army at the back was also well prepared, just in case Zhang Xianzhong's army couldn't hear the insult and sent cavalry to rush out from the city gate. They could immediately provide fire support to cover the retreat of the scolding soldiers, and then take the opportunity to counterattack and seize the gate. Of course, this possibility is very slim.
How can a bandit who has been fighting for many years be so restless? Being humiliated is nothing to worry about.
"Listen, Zhang Xianzhong! You have fallen into my Futai's scheme! The rumor that your army said that you would abandon the new vassals and only take the old camp and the kings' gold, silver, wealth and silk to escape was spread by my Futai!
The fact that you stay obediently in Hengzhou City today and don't dare to act rashly again, waiting for us to kill you, is proof that you have fallen into the trap!
My Futai is not afraid to tell everything at this moment, which will restore the morale of your newly attached rabble, because my Futai simply looks down on their fighting power! Those bastards are just training marksmanship for my great tomorrow's soldiers.
target!
I, the Shen Family Army, dare to come here because I am absolutely sure that I will kill you all! As long as you don’t surrender, no chickens or dogs will be left behind! Before the attack on Changsha, Liu Jinzhong did not surrender, but he fought to the death with us. Tens of thousands of troops were defeated in just a few days.
Destroy!
Liu Jinzhong was so stubborn that he dared to set fire to the city before leaving, so all 2,000 of his direct relatives were beheaded in Changsha City in public display! If you dared to set fire to Hengzhou before it fell, you would suffer the same fate!"
The defenders at the top of the city had heard Shen Shuren reveal some of his rumors and strategies, and they still shared some of the same hatred, because they realized that the king had not abandoned them, and that the previous rumors were all false! It was the government and the army that were responsible!
But the next few words, as well as the subsequent insults that need no elaboration, made the morale of the newly attached soldiers even lower, and it was far lower than at the beginning.
It turns out that the officers and soldiers have always looked down upon them! The officers and soldiers were only worried about not being able to catch up and not being able to fight. They were never worried about "catching up but not being able to defeat them."
The officers and soldiers took the initiative to publicize the whole story of Changsha's liberation war, which is even more emotional. Although Zhang Xianzhong's army captured Changsha very quickly before, it was thanks to Yin Xianmin's surrender after all, but Shen Shuren was solidly wiped out.
The defenders keep their word.
When Zhang Xianzhong saw that something was wrong, his own morale seemed to have been hit, and he quickly ordered people to scold him. However, they were not very educated. In addition to greeting their ancestors and simply cursing, they could only say, "I have killed so many vassal kings."
, no one in your Huguang officialdom will die a good death! Even if you don’t die on the battlefield, you will be killed by Chongzhen Dog Emperor!"
Unfortunately, Zhang Xianzhong's awareness of confidentiality was obviously not as good as that of Shen Shuren. The scolding players in the city were rushing back and forth to spread the word, and the location of the command center was soon exposed through the telescope.
Chen Shuren observed the stairs and doorway on the left side of the tower, and there were figures coming in and out during the scolding, so he knew that Zhang Xianzhong must have been commanding and observing in that area.
Although he couldn't see Zhang Xianzhong directly, Shen Shuren could only take a gamble: "All turtle dove gunners are ready to shoot three rounds at the stairs and three rows of windows near the left door of the tower."
The 600 turtle dove gunmen of the Shen family army immediately stepped forward to the first row, inserted the long-handled moon-blade ax on the ground as a gun stand, placed the barrel of the gun on it, and then aimed and shot. Counting from the time when the gun was raised, the entire
The process takes no more than five seconds (the time for inserting the ax is not included),
Therefore, the people at the top of the city did not even realize what this group of officers and soldiers nearly 300 steps away were doing.
Six hundred gunshots exploded intensively within two to three seconds, and six hundred lead bullets with a weight of 20 ounces flew towards the city. The total weight reached 120 kilograms of lead bullets. The power instantly overwhelmed Zhang Xianzhong.
The morale of the soldiers was suffocated.
They had been fighting against the army for fourteen years, and had never seen such a uniform, rapid and fierce concentration of firepower.
The archers and musketeers of Zhang Xianzhong's army behind the more than a dozen battlements near the corridor on the east side of the North Gate Tower of Hengzhou were all harvested in an instant.
In fact, the officers and soldiers were not targeting them at all, but who made the muskets inaccurate? Under covering fire, these unjust ghosts could only blame themselves for standing too close to the king.
Compared to the soldiers behind the battlements, those hiding inside the towers were much luckier. After all, 90% of the projectiles fired at the towers would hit the stone walls or wooden pillars, and only 10% to 20% would escape from the shooting openings.
Shot through windows and door openings.
Even so, seven or eight people in the tower were still directly shot, and many more were injured by flying gravel and broken wood.
Those who were directly shot were of course killed immediately. Those who were not wearing heavy armor had a transparent hole as big as a bowl in their body.
For those who have worn iron armor, at least they have completely smashed the iron armor through the hole. The momentum of the projectile is slightly reduced, and it is deeply embedded in the body, but it will not penetrate from the back and kill the people behind it.
"Shen Gouguan's firearms are so many and sharp!" Everyone in the building felt their heads buzzing and trembled uncontrollably.
Soon, even greater chaos broke out. A group of people scrambled to help and shouted: "The king is injured! Heal the king quickly!"
In the chaos, Zhang Xianzhong was strong-willed and yelled loudly. He even pulled out his sword and hacked to death a guard who shouted in the most frightened voice: "Don't mess up! I'm fine! It's fine... Those who yell will be punished for shaking the morale of the army!"
Zhang Xianzhong struggled bravely to get up. His face was covered with blood and he looked scary. However, in fact, he was just sticking his head next to the shooting window to observe the enemy's situation and was not directly hit by the projectiles.
At that time, several two-liang lead bullets hit the stone wall and window frame of his window. The kinetic energy of the broken lead bullets after the bullets collapsed had been sharply reduced, and mixed with gravel and sawdust, it hit half of Zhang Xianzhong's face, beating him all over the face.
It was pockmarked and an ear was cut off, but fortunately the other bits did not penetrate deeply into the flesh.
Who made him want to search and see what Chen Shuren looked like? This was the price. Any enemy leader who wanted to see the appearance of Chen Shuren with his own eyes would have to go through such a difficult process.