After Tian Jianxiu and Liu Fangliang arduously discussed how to get away with sacrificing soldiers and generals, they dared to go back to meet Li Zicheng.
Tian Jianxiu, the person directly responsible for the defeat, specially took off his armor, got some canes, and asked Liu Fangliang to draw a few blood marks on his back in advance, as if he were guilty.
Li Zicheng had already heard that today's siege failed and he lost a lot of men and horses. He was originally furious. Seeing Tian Jianxiu coming in in such a miserable state, he felt as if he had been splashed with cold water. He suddenly calmed down and changed his face to someone who shared the joys and sorrows with Pao Ze.
:
"Old Tian, what do you mean by this? Our brothers, victory and defeat are common affairs of the military. It is better to be brave after knowing your shame. When we attacked Kaifeng, there were many more casualties than this. How could I ever blame my brothers!"
Li Zicheng's words are not entirely true. There were indeed more people attacking Kaifeng than Shangcai's side, more than ten times more, but those were the cumulative casualties of more than half a year of continuous bloody battles.
If we compare the "single-day casualty density" and the casualty speed, then today's fierce battle is definitely more than any single day of the Kaifeng siege.
It can only be said that Shen Shuren is too vicious. He is very good at seeing opportunities for the attacking side, seeing that "if you work harder, you may win", he is like a gambling dog who wants to make a comeback. He keeps placing bets without knowing it.
Stop loss.
However, since Li Zicheng showed off his brotherly loyalty, Tian Jianxiu's guilt was finally wiped away.
Li Zicheng simply asked about the specific number of casualties, and the latest number Tian Jianxiu reported to him was already over five thousand - because in the hour or so when he and Liu Fangliang were discussing countermeasures and excuses, there were hundreds more
With the seriously injured dead, the number has exceeded the 5,000 mark from more than 4,000.
After Li Zicheng accepted the numbers, he quickly asked about the lessons and reasons. The two of them hurriedly poured out the lessons they had summarized before, just like pouring beans into bamboo tubes. Li Zicheng listened in silence.
Next to Li Zicheng, Song Xiance, a deer-headed and rat-eyed man, was also observing his actions. Although he was not good at battles, he also had basic strategies and knew how to plan.
Song Xiance thought for a while, then acted as a peacemaker and said: "Your Majesty, in this case, General Tian's defeat is understandable. Officer Shen Gou used unprecedented tactics and deployment, and our army was temporarily
If you don't pay attention, it is inevitable to suffer heavy losses.
Since General Tian can understand the disadvantages of Shen Gouguan's method, we will besiege the city with heavy troops in the future and attack from all sides. We will first test with a small number of soldiers and horses, and even just use the newly captured piles of soil to fill trenches with cannon fodder to test out Shen Gouguan.
How many cannons are there, which wall sections are missing cannons,
Then put the main force into the attack in a targeted manner. Of course, we cannot completely relax on the other sides of the Sheep Attack. There are many people and horses, and they must be ready in formation. Once the official army really transfers the artillery on the Sheep Attack side, our Sheep Attack
The troops can also switch to the main attack at any time.
Anyway, our army has nearly 200,000 troops, and so many soldiers are idle to begin with. It is indeed a waste of manpower to only let the direct troops of General Tian and General Liu prepare today."
However, Song Xiance's words obviously could not win the trust of everyone in the Chuang Army.
All the generals in the army knew that Song Xiance was trusted by Li Zicheng, but there were still some generals who didn't like a talkative person like him.
At this moment, Yuan Zongdi, a general in the army who was famous for his aversion to pretense, came out to retort: "Your Majesty, please don't be reckless. The military advisor of the Song Dynasty said that our army has nearly 200,000 troops. How can we still have 200,000 troops now?"
That was just the original plan. In fact, 30,000 to 50,000 people have temporarily gone to Ye County. It’s not that we didn’t know about it. Now the maximum number in Yancheng is 150,000 to 60,000. Do we still have to go to Ye County to mobilize reinforcements to besiege the city?
?
Secondly, although Song military advisors were good at cunning strategies, they ignored common sense about the correct way of war. Although there is no moat in Shangcai City, only dry trenches and pits, after all, the city relies on Ru River, and it is difficult to besiege on both sides. Do we still have to go around to the west?
, the south, are you ready to besiege from both sides?
Although the walls on both sides of the city were not built directly to the Rushui River, the narrowest part was only a few steps away from the river bank, and the widest part was only three or four miles. When the troops penetrated deep into the two sides of the siege city, they had to avoid the crossbows at the top of the city.
The range of the artillery and the depth of the formation are extremely insufficient. Once the enemy troops leave the city and counterattack, it will be easy to cut off our army."
Yuan Zongdi was a typical member of the army who did not know the general strategy but had good tactical knowledge. Therefore, he always had problems with the geographical details of the battlefield.
Song Xiance couldn't help but feel a little angry when he heard this. He was a fortune teller and had never fought in a war. Although he was a counselor, tactical micromanagement was indeed his biggest shortcoming, and he couldn't refute it at all.
"That's enough! What's there to argue about?" Fortunately, Li Zicheng still had unlimited trust in Song Xiance, and finally shouted down Yuan Zongdi himself.
Perhaps it was because for more than a year, Song Xiance often instilled "destiny and auspiciousness" into Li Zicheng and made some mysterious prophecies saying that the Ming Dynasty would be overthrown and the new emperor would be born, which made Li Zicheng very happy.
Li Zicheng himself had fought bloody battles for more than ten years and knew tactics very well, so he personally helped Song Xiance sort out the details: "Mr. Song is right, the geographical location you are entangled in is a trivial matter.
Gu actually felt that since Shen Gouguan's city defense tactics relied on deploying the Fo Lang machine guns sideways on every tower and horse, then if his numbers were insufficient, he would most likely reduce the southwest two who were considered unable to attack the city.
side.
Then we will do the opposite. We will clearly prepare on the northeastern sides when the time comes. On the day when we really want to formally attack, we will suddenly extend the encirclement and mobilize our troops to the southwest and launch together. We can even move and deploy before dawn.
The general attack was carried out at dawn when the sky was dim.
In this way, the officers and soldiers cannot clearly see how much our troops are mobilizing at night. Maybe there will be no artillery on the southwest sides after dawn, and there is no chance that our troops will rush up at once!"
Li Zicheng personally spoke up to help Song Xiance plug the leak, so naturally no military commander would question it again.
Tian Jianxiu also cast a grateful look at Song Xiance because Song Xiance supported his original suggestion.
Song Xiance enjoyed this state of being grateful by the general, and his heart felt slightly floating. With his mind broadened, he had an idea and came up with some additional strategies, and then flattered him proudly:
"Your Majesty is really a master in using troops. He can come up with such detailed tactics so quickly, check for leaks and fill in the gaps, and build a strategic position from a high position. His subordinates are really in awe of him!
Inspired by the king's strategy, my subordinates thought of another detail. While preparing more siege weapons and planning a new wave of siege, we can send more troops to patrol around the city every night with torches.
Let's not pretend to besiege on all sides. We just pretend that it is to prevent the officers and soldiers from abandoning the city and breaking out of the siege. We don't want to let a dog officer escape. If the officers and soldiers still have scouts who dare to go out of the city and are captured by our army, we can also ignore this purpose.
Be careful to leak it to the other party, and then find an opportunity for the other party to sneak back to the city.
As a result, the officers and soldiers will be paralyzed within a few days, thinking that our patrols are really just to isolate the inside and outside. On the eve of the general attack, when the men and horses are mobilized, they can light fewer torches and deploy in the dark as much as possible. The officers and soldiers are already used to the city.
If there are people patrolling the outside every night, they will not notice changes in the number of people, and a general attack will be sudden enough."
"Brilliant plan, just do what Song's military advisor said!" Li Zicheng heard this and was convinced. Song Xiance's little cleverness in trying to figure out people's hearts was always very good.
The entire army finally learned their lesson, got over the bad luck in the first battle, and began to prepare wholeheartedly for the next siege.
…
Due to the disastrous defeat on the first day, the invaders suffered heavy losses in siege equipment. Many wooden ladders and trench wagons were either smashed, burned, or abandoned.
Therefore, there will be a buffer period of at least three or four days before the next full-scale attack can be launched.
The officers and soldiers will also be able to take the opportunity to breathe a sigh of relief, adjust their defense deployment, and check for gaps and strengthen weaknesses.
On the night after the victory, Chen Shuren prepared a small amount of wine in the county government office to celebrate the success of Huang Degong and other generals.
Shen Shuren also had no airs of a civil servant at all. After drinking, he wiped his wine directly on his sleeves, and also followed the generals in making vulgar drinking orders of five and six.
Unlike the other two civil servants who were born as Jinshi, even if they are willing to drink with the generals to celebrate their achievements, they are still very polite. Even if they drink to the point of being ordered to drink, the perverted ones will even be shot by Cao Cao; even if they follow the locals and are willing to play
A martial artist should at least throw an arrow into a pot.
Unlike Chen Shuren, who was drinking with the generals and just fist-bumping with his thumbs, no matter how vulgar it was, Huang Degong and other generals were of course very happy, and they increasingly regarded Chen Shuren as one of their own, an old buddy-type boss.
When he was hanging out with Shi Kefa, Shi Kefa had already made up his mind and could only throw pots.
The difference is as big as drinking with Xue Baochai and drinking with Shi Xiangyun.
And Huang Degong is a drunkard. For him, whoever is willing to drink happily with him is an important condition for being a close buddy.
If a boss refuses to drink with him, he will at most respect him, but it will be difficult for him to have a heart-to-heart friendship with you.
Huang Degong's addiction to alcohol was very famous at the time, and everyone in the army knew it - as early as twenty years ago in the early years of Tianqi, when Huang Degong was still a twelve-year-old child, he got into trouble because of drinking in his hometown in Liaodong.
It was a big sensation together.
At that time, his father died early, and his mother made a living by making wine and selling wine. However, Huang Degong became addicted to alcohol when he was ten years old. When he was twelve years old, he took advantage of his mother to go out and secretly drank all the batch of wine that his mother borrowed money to brew.
When her mother came back, she saw that all the wine was gone. Not only could she not make any money, but she was afraid that she would not even be able to repay the principal of the loan shark, so she burst into tears. Huang Degong, on the other hand, was so drunk that he was so bold that he told his mother directly that it was only a dozen taels of silver.
, I heard that Xiong Jinglue (Xiong Tingbi, who was the Liaodong Economic Strategy five years before the Apocalypse) offered a reward of twenty taels for the head of a Tatar. If we sneak into the army and kill a few Tatars, we can pay off all the rewards.
Then Huang Degong, who was only twelve years old, actually took advantage of a battle before, brought his own dry food and a long-bladed hatchet, sneaked into Xiong Tingbi's army, rushed with the army, killed two Jiannu cavalry, and took
The head was exchanged for a reward of silver, which paid off his mother's debt, and left a capital to continue making wine and selling it.
From then on, no one cared about Huang Degong's alcoholism. Several times when he was too poor to buy alcohol, he would rush to kill Tatars and exchange their heads for bounty to buy alcohol. He was so reckless that he would kill Tatars whenever he was short of money.
, and then he got the name of "Huang Chuangzi".
At this moment, Huang Degong was so drunk that he spoke without any scruples, and without any courtesy, he put his arms around Chen Shuren and complained:
"Sir! You are a cheerful person! We have never seen many civil servants as generous as you. Thanks to your knowledge of soldiers, you even came up with the idea of turning the French machine sideways to blast the roots of the city wall sideways!
It was really a pleasure to kill the thief today! I started killing the enemy when I was twelve years old, and we have been killing for twenty years. The battle we fought was either our army was defeated, it was not a crime of war, or the enemy ran away quickly. I have never been such an enemy.
Obviously I can't defeat you, but you still stalk me and refuse to run away, allowing me to kill you all the time!
Next time we have this kind of opportunity, if there are enemies who are clearly outmatched and yet don't know how to die, lining up for me to kill, Sir, you will let me be the vanguard! This kind of refreshing opportunity cannot be taken advantage of by others!
Hiccup, tell me, why didn’t anyone think of such a useful trick before, and it’s so easy for us to keep it until today?”
Shen Shuren also drank a little too much, but he always stayed sober. When Huang Degong asked for advice after drinking, he immediately pointed out the other person's negligence.
"You think it's enough to just turn the cannon sideways? No one could use our trick before, because their cannons were not good at hand! For other cannons, if the muzzle is slightly downward, the shells will roll out.
, how to build the foundation of the city wall?
Our guns and ammunition have been carefully polished and improved over the years. As for this tactic, we also need some prerequisite inspiration - we are just a few months ago, during the Dongting Lake water battle, our navy and Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son Liu
Wenxiu's naval forces were fighting each other, it was an impromptu idea.
At that time, two of our army's guards, Shen Lian and Li Yu, used a Folang machine with a wooden barrel to mount cylindrical ammunition, and fired the muzzle downward at a certain angle, specifically attacking the top of the boat's bottom plate, blasting a hole in the boat.
It sank immediately, killing thousands of Liu Wenxiu’s people in vain!
It was after that battle that we were inspired to sum up our experience in the army and thought of many wonderful uses of the feature of "cylindrical fixed ammunition cannons that can be fired downwards". The one we use today is just one of them. For the general
, if you can’t draw inferences from one instance, then you’re just mediocre.”
small book booth
Huang Degong touched his head, and suddenly felt convinced, and slapped his thigh: "If all the civil servants and scholars in this world, when they are thinking about the method of battle formation, go straight to the basics like you, my lord, why will the Ming Dynasty be worried!
Sir, we are really convinced! You are a student who has learned a lot. You can see and think about everything. We have followed so many civil servants and I have never seen you like this."
Chen Shuren waved his hand, indicating that this was nothing to be proud of, but it was just a basic operation.
At the same time, he did not forget to take the opportunity to encourage everyone not to relax their vigilance: "These are nothing, they should be. Such a plan only killed thousands of thieves, so what's the big deal."
My strategy also has drawbacks, and it also has more back-ups. When Tian Jianxiu attacked those horses today, I could actually use my back-ups to make him lose faster, more miserably, and more completely.
But I don't think it's necessary to expose too much. Besides, I also want to see Mr. Huang's heroic appearance and your ability to supervise the battle, so I will tacitly allow you to lead the team to counterattack and kill all Tian Jianxiu's dead soldiers.
As a result, Tian Jianxiu must not be willing to lose. He feels that "the officers and soldiers are just like this, and we are not far behind." In a few days, there will be a more ferocious offensive. We must stay vigilant and see that
Recruit and demolish."
Huang Degong roared like a tiger and promised: "Don't worry, sir! We will fight you however you want!"
——
PS: Today’s two updates are all 4,000 words, which is about the same as the previous few days. I’ve gotten used to writing 4,000 words recently, so today it’s 8,000 words, so that’s it.