When Tan Wen and the other three battalions arrived in Chongqing, the city of Chongqing was already besieged by the army.
Although Zhu Shuren could not attack for the time being, internal and external news had been completely cut off. Bai Wenxuan's eyes and ears were also completely blocked. He had no idea about the subsequent development of the situation outside. Naturally, it was impossible to know that reinforcements from the government and army had arrived.
The day the reinforcements arrived was already the evening of the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month.
At that time, the army had finished a day's exploratory siege. Zhu Shuren himself was in the Chinese army's tent, setting up wine to entertain the two generals Wang Guangchang and Wang Guangxing, who had retreated from the sneak attack at dawn and killed hundreds of people.
The conditions for appeasing and wining over:
"Don't you blame me for letting you risk a sneak attack? The hundreds of brothers who were killed and injured will be healed and compensated. The injured will be nourished with good medicine and meat. In addition, each person will be given three taels of silver, and each disabled person will be given."
Ten taels of men, thirty taels of dead in battle.”
Wang Guangchang and Wang Guangxing were both thieves anyway, and their former superiors didn't take them seriously. After starting to follow Fang Guoan this year, Fang Guoan himself couldn't get much food and salary from the court, so he just went hungry and sated.
Very satisfied.
"There are bound to be casualties in battles. How can we attack a city in one fell swoop? It's because the generals and other generals are too weak to fight and dare not blame others." Wang Guangxing was the first to express his position.
Zhu Shuren nodded and did not hide anything from him: "Chongqing's terrain is complex and mountainous. The victory or defeat cannot be determined by breaking through a city wall. The key is to ensure that the enemy's morale is low before climbing the city. As long as the wall is broken, we will have no intention to fight again.
It's so easy to hit the target in one go.
Although we only had a small taste today, we still ran aground and damaged a few boats at the mouth of the Jialing River. Bai Wenxuan will become more and more lazy. And the more urgent we attack in the west of the city, Bai Wenxuan will sooner or later transfer the direct line veterans who have been deployed until the defenders are tired.
, will naturally allow you to make meritorious deeds."
Wang Guangxing and Wang Guangchang listened to Zhu Shuren's heartfelt remarks and carefully understood it for a while. Only then did they realize that everything was still under control and regained some confidence.
Just as they were talking, a guard came in and announced that the Tan family's soldiers and horses were coming to join forces. Zhu Shuren immediately asked people to invite the Tan family brothers and question them face to face.
After a while, Tan Wen and others were called in. When they saw Zhu Shuren, they quickly saluted.
Zhu Shuren had enough time to ask: "How is the fighting over in Hezhou? Since you can get here smoothly, there must be no bandits in the counties east of Hezhou to stop you, right?"
Tan Wen energetically took the lead in asking for credit: "Thanks to Tai Hongfu, our army went down the Qujiang River. Even in several counties, no rebels dared to defend it. When they arrived in Hezhou, our army also divided its troops according to your instructions before the war.
Passing around the city,
And in the south of Hezhou, the Jialing River passes through the dangerous point of Tanjialing, and the Jiajiang River is lowered to the village to cut off the return route of the Hezhou rebels from going south along the river to join forces in Chongqing.
It is said that the rebel army in Hezhou City has plenty of food and grass and can defend it for a long time. However, after the news was cut off, they did not know the current situation in Chongqing in the south, so their hearts were wandering, and they did not know how long or how long they would defend.
Our army also followed Futai's instructions before the war. Every one or two days, we used firewood boats and rocks to disguise the grain boats, and escorted them with a small number of troops from the Qujiang River, across the mouth of the Jialing River, and then down the river.
It is only said to the outside world that Wanxian County has not been liberated by the official army. After the official army on the South Road surrounded Wanxian County, the main force circled the city and continued to advance towards Chongqing. Moreover, it was inconvenient to transport food upstream of the Yangtze River, so it was necessary to transport food down the river from Dazhou.
Chongqing Military Front'.
After several days of spreading such rumors, they were discovered by rebel scouts. Hezhou Guardsman Di Sanpin, who did not know the art of war, finally lost his temper and rashly went out of the city to rob and burn grain in an attempt to cut off our army's food route. However, he was on the north side of the Tanjialing River.
In a dangerous place, we were ambushed and intercepted by our army and were defeated.
Di Sanpin must have been worried about losing Chongqing and felt that there was no hope of holding on, so he led his army over the mountains and ridges to break out. Our army took advantage of the situation and captured Hezhou, which the rebel army had abandoned, and then the entire division arrived here."
Zhu Shuren was not able to see the ins and outs of the Battle of Hezhou in person, but from what Tan Wen and others recounted, he had a general idea that everything was not very different from his original plan.
The terrain of Hezhou Diaoyu City is indeed very dangerous, and it is not cost-effective to attack it by force. But the problem is that if Chongqing is also lost, there is no point in just defending Hezhou.
The rogue bandits are meant to fight on the run, and the awareness of the base area is weak. There are only dangerous points with no economic value and being alone behind the enemy's rear. It is difficult for people to have the determination to defend for a long time.
The official army cut off the communication between Hezhou and Chongqing, and the rebels there had no idea what was going on in the main battlefield in the south. In addition, the rumors spread by the official army about the grain road sounded so real and reasonable——
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Zhu Shuren currently relies on transporting military supplies from Fengjie to Wanxian and then to Chongqing, but this is actually very costly and difficult.
First of all, you have to capture Wan County quickly. This is not something ordinary people can do. The Hezhou defender didn't know that Zhu Shuren could do this.
Secondly, for water transport, it is easier to transport heavy loads and empty ships against the current. However, to go from Fengjie to Chongqing, you need to go upstream of the Yangtze River. From Dazhou to Chongqing via Hezhou, you need to go along the Qujiang River and the Jialing River downstream.
A general who underestimates the strength of water transport can easily think that if the army is advancing so quickly, it must choose a channel with heavy loads along the current and light loads against the current. It is also easy to believe that the grain fleet that Tan Wen brothers passed from Hezhou City is
real.
To put it bluntly, Di Sanpin didn't have a military adviser around him. He was like a military general with an intelligence value of 30 or 40 in the Three Kingdoms game. It was very normal for him to fall into the trap.
The only regrettable thing about the Battle of Hezhou is that Di Sanpin abandoned the city and fled over the mountains, so it was impossible to annihilate him like Zhang Mingzhi in Wan County.
The Tan brothers only defeated part of the enemy army in a field battle where they lured the enemy to rob them of food. Their total gains were less than a thousand levels. The rest all ran away, and in the end they only took over the city in an almost peaceful manner.
Fortunately, Di Sanpin had to cross the mountain, so he could not take away any heavy or heavy belongings. He only took soft goods and grain. When he took it back to Huizhou, there was actually some food in the city that he had not taken away and had not set fire to.
At this point, it's just a way out for Fang Fang.
…
After figuring out the situation, Zhu Shuren thoroughly planned everything in his mind, synchronized the information, and then adjusted his plan for the next stage.
Early the next morning, on the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, the government troops continued to attack the city in the west of the city as usual and destroy the peripheral fortifications of the bandits. While attacking, Zhu Shuren did not forget to send out scolding soldiers to further damage the morale of the defenders.
He first asked someone to shout: "Bai Wenxuan, listen! Hezhou has been captured by our army! Now that the Yangtze River and Jialing River channels have been completely opened, our army can surround Chongqing City for several months, and it is more than enough! Don't worry.
The food is gone!
Finally, I will give you one more chance to surrender and avoid death, otherwise you will not be spared! The rebel soldiers and soldiers also listen up! If the general is greedy for wealth and refuses to surrender, he can still avoid death as long as he kills his boss and surrenders, and can also be reorganized into the army.
The officers and soldiers receive food and pay!
Mr. Guo is the most considerate towards the soldiers. He never withholds military pay. For several years, everyone has been paid in full. If you don’t believe it, you can ask!"
In the process of shouting, Zhu Shuren only concealed the fact that "Hezhou City was voluntarily abandoned by Di Sanpin because of the military action and the isolation of internal and external news." He said that it was the Tan brothers who attacked and fought to the death before breaking the city.
However, in order to better suppress the morale of the bandits, Zhu Shuren gave the scolding players an exaggerated version of the fate of the Third-Rank Di Division. He only said that the entire Di Third-Rank Division had been annihilated and even took a few Hezhou.
The heads of the rebel generals were carried on spears and paraded outside Tongyuan Gate to show off to the defenders at the top of the city.
Anyway, Chongqing has been completely surrounded, and Bai Wenxuan is also isolated from the inside and outside, and it is impossible to verify it. From a distance of more than a hundred feet, no one with the best eyesight can see clearly a egg that has been pickled with lime for several days.
Does the head belong to Di Sanpin?
As a result, the morale of the defenders at the top of the city became even lower. Even Bai Wenxuan was slightly shaken. The only thing he could be thankful for was that he estimated that the officers and soldiers must have suffered heavy casualties as well - the steepness of the Diaoyu City in Hezhou was even scarier than the main city of Chongqing.
Much more. If the officers and soldiers really attack with a heavy casualty, they will definitely have to pay a huge price even if they use artillery to breach the city.
After the day's siege battle ended, both sides withdrew their troops and returned to their camps. The city of Chongqing was also shrouded in an increasingly sad atmosphere, and everyone was in danger and suspicious of each other.
They are a little worried that their comrades or even subordinates may want to suddenly do something behind their backs, and then surrender their heads to the officers and soldiers in exchange for rewards and whitewash.
Even ordinary soldiers would be so suspicious of each other. Naturally, the war between Bai Wenxuan and Pan Duao, the military advisor who supervises the army, would be further heightened.
Bai Wenxuan also knew that Pan Duao was wary of him, so when discussing military aircraft, he could only be more inclined to listen to Pan Duao's suggestions to show that he had no different intentions.
The two were originally going to argue again tonight about "whether the elite old camp should be withdrawn from the Jialing River bank in the north of the city and returned to the west of the city to reinforce the defense line." Now Bai Wenxuan was afraid of intensifying the conflict, so he had to choose to listen to Pan Duao again.
of.
The two discussed military aircraft for a while, and the atmosphere of mutual suspicion became more and more intense. Bai Wenxuan was about to end the discussion and let the suspicion cool down. Suddenly, at this moment, a rogue captain in Xicheng who was responsible for the defense of Tongyuan Gate suddenly sent
Someone came to inform Bai Wenxuan:
"Captain, there are suddenly new siege generals outside the city today, and they want to send someone to contact the general. Captain Liu did not dare to open the door, so he just used a hanging basket to hoist the man up."
Bai Wenxuan was also a little confused: "Oh? There are only messengers, no letters? Is it a fraud? That's all, bring the people up for a meeting first."
Pan Duao listened at the side and was also suspicious: "Right Governor! Since you suspect fraud, it's not good to just accept him like this, isn't it?"
Bai Wenxuan's face darkened: "Commander Pan is still worried that I am colluding with the officers and soldiers? Then you can just listen together."
Pan Duao was a little timid again: "How could I be like this! I'm worried that the government army will send assassins! This Zhu Shu man has always been vicious and has no martial ethics. He used a fire blunderbuss to assassinate the eight kings in Hengzhou. I heard that this time in Kaifeng, another
Shooting King Chuang into a one-eyed dragon, how can such a secret envoy from the human army be easily seen? It is better to send more guards to protect him!"
Bai Wenxuan chuckled and did not comment. He just ordered: "Come here, find ten iron shield guards to protect Military Advisor Pan!"
Pan Duao's face turned red, and he didn't point out that Bai Wenxuan was mocking him for being afraid of death, so he shamelessly continued to listen under the protection of the iron shield guards.
And assassins obviously don't exist. Anyone who wants to enter the former Chongqing magistrate's office, which was temporarily used as the shogunate, will be searched closely. Carrying weapons will only be self-defeating.
After a while, the envoy was brought in, and Bai Wenxuan asked the other party's identity in a very dignified manner. The envoy only said that he was sent by Dazhou garrison Tan Hong and wanted to discuss some methods with Governor Bai to avoid losing both sides.
Bai Wenxuan was full of suspicion: "They were sent by brothers Tan Hong and Tan Yi? I have heard of them. What do they have to discuss with me?"
As Bai Wenxuan said this, he also thought about it in his mind. These people named Tan had dealt with Zhang Xianzhong's army when they attacked Wanxian and Fengjie.
When Bai Wenxuan attacked Wanxian County, Qin Liangyu's troops huddled in Fengjie. Instead of coming to Wanxian County for rescue, Tan's army went directly over the mountains to Dazhou. It didn't look like he had the guts to die for the Ming Dynasty. Such a person would think
To preserve one's strength is the proper meaning of the question.
As expected, the envoy said: "Haojiao, Governor Bai, learned that although the offensive of the army has been fierce in the past few days, the Zhushu people are really harsh on our local armed forces, as well as those who have been bandits anyway!"
These hard and tough battles in which people suffered death were all fought by our Tan family army! In the two days of fierce attack in the west of the city, those who died were all our Tan family members. A while ago, those who were defeated in a sneak attack across the Jialing River in the north of the city were Wang Guangchang and Wang Guangxing's troops.
The direct descendants Zhu Shuren brought from Huguang were only responsible for supervising the battle, or operating fire cannons to fire and cover from a distance! Even the remuneration he offered to local peasants for transporting grain and pulling fiber was lower than usual! We Sichuan people really don't want to do it for him
An outsider who just gets a piece of credit and leaves will fight to kill you!"
When Bai Wenxuan heard this, his eyebrows suddenly raised, and he captured a key piece of information that he had never obtained before: "Wait a minute, you said Zhu Shuren is a migrant? What does this mean?"
The envoy was stunned, obviously not expecting Bai Wenxuan to be so ill-informed: "The imperial court only gave Zhu Shuren a surname and a title, but he is still only the governor of Huguang, and has not also been in charge of Sichuan, nor has he been promoted to governor. Doesn't Governor Bai know this?"
The new governor of Sichuan is Fang Kongzhen, the former governor of Huguang, who was dismissed because of Zhang Xianzhong's rampage in southern Hunan."
Bai Wenxuan and Pan Du'ao looked at each other, but Pan Du'ao couldn't help but show off his "Zhuge's wisdom" and laughed wildly: "It's just as I expected! That Chongzhen was headstrong, envious of talents, and afraid of his subordinates.
The governor's tail cannot be removed, which requires Zhu Shuren to contribute without giving full power to Zhu Shuren.
I don’t know how many times this kind of ugly behavior has appeared in Zhu Ming’s court! If the famous generals could be given full power, King Chuang and the Eight Great Kings would not have developed to their current power. Chongzhen would have destroyed the Great Wall! Zhu Shuren’s strong attack will not last long!”
Bai Wenxuan shook his head and said worriedly: "Even so, the offensive of the army is in full swing now. Will your Tan garrison surrender to the eight kings at this time and seek not to die for Zhu Shuren? Otherwise, why are you here?
thing?"
Even if Bai Wenxuan believed that the other party had been treated unfairly by Zhu Shuren, he still couldn't believe that the other party would defect to the peasant army at this time.
After all, Zhang Xianzhong's current situation is not good, but Zhu Shuren has repeatedly established his authority in the south.
After Bai Wenxuan came to Sichuan, he also saw that the people of Sichuan were not living in dire straits, nor did they look like they could be summoned by Zhang Xianzhong to mobilize a million-strong army.
It is precisely because the living standards of Sichuan people are relatively good, and Zhang Xianzhong, who was not a bad person in history, was killed half by half and won over by such a heavy hand. Otherwise, Zhang Xianzhong would not be able to give out enough rewards without killing too many people and grabbing enough property.
Buy a large number of people to sell their lives.
If all this happened today in Henan or even Shaanxi, Bai Wenxuan would never doubt the sincerity of the other party, because in Shaanxi it is really hard for everyone to survive, everyone will be a thief, and the mass base is completely different.
Fortunately, the trusted envoy sent by the Tan family did not say that "the Tan family brothers want to join the peasant army directly because they were treated unfairly."
The other party just said: "Tandusi and Tan Shoubei really have not thought about surrendering to the Eight Kings now, but it is always good to have more good relationships and multiple escape routes.
Our head of the family has said that as long as Governor Bai is willing to break out of the siege and abandon Chongqing, they will be in charge of the siege camp on the west side of the city in the past few days. When the time comes, they can make noises and not attack, and let you pass, so that we can avoid consuming each other under the city of Chongqing anymore.
If you are afraid of being pursued by the army, we can also give you a choice. Our family master is willing to steal some ships assigned to them by the Zhushu people and send them to the bank of the Yangtze River in the south of Chongqing. You can evacuate via the Yangtze River waterway.
If you still can't believe it, we can only temporarily ask your army to reach a tacit agreement with our army in the next few days. We will all be unable to do our work to reduce our respective casualties. If the official army sends Zhu Shuren's direct line Huguang soldiers to attack the city, our family master will naturally
I am willing to inform your army, and then your army will fight hard."
Bai Wenxuan thought about it and found that the other party's proposal was quite cautious. It was not that he wanted to surrender to Zhang Xianzhong just because he wanted to. This actually added a bit of credibility.
After repeated consideration, he added a question: "In that case, why didn't your family master send a letter and only asked you to take the words verbally? If you tampered with the conditions, how would the governor know?"
The visitor seemed to have prepared for this question, and said bluntly: "If the general is interested, you can write back a letter and state the conditions you are willing to agree to. After the villain brings it back, our family master will naturally write another letter to finalize it.
When I first came here, if something unexpected happened and the letters were found, wouldn't that leave a clue? Our family leader also has General Fang, who is suppressed by Zhu Shuren. Once it is leaked, it will be a big deal. The general has great power in Chongqing City.
, you don’t have to worry about being suspected by anyone you want to contact, how can this be the same?”
This sentence was originally rehearsed to cope with this situation and increase credibility.
Unexpectedly, it hit the deepest pain in Bai Wenxuan's heart. He couldn't help but glance at Pan Duao, the supervising military advisor left by Zhang Xianzhong from the corner of his eye.
Who says that only the Tan brothers will be monitored by their superiors? He, Bai Wenxuan, also wants to see how his superiors look!
At this moment, since the topic has reached this point, in order to avoid suspicion, Bai Wenxuan simply put on a high profile and said to Pan Duao next to him:
"Commander Pan, it seems that outsiders are unaware of this. Now that we have reached this point, it is up to you to write the specific conditions and reply. I am only a rough reader of writing and I am afraid that inappropriate words may ruin the matter."
Pan Duao was also a little embarrassed, but he still accepted the matter, which put an end to mutual suspicion.
Of course, it is impossible for the two parties to reach complete mutual trust so quickly in the first contact, and the follow-up will have to last for a few days.
However, after the envoy sent by Tan Wen to pretend to surrender returned to the army camp with a reply, Tan Wen immediately sent him to Zhu Shuren and told him everything.
Zhu Shuren also listened very carefully, especially when he learned that Bai Wenxuan seemed to be under the control of others in Chongqing City. The military advisor Zhang Xianzhong still left behind to oversee the army had to decide whether to accept surrender to the outside world and whether to fight a tacit understanding to break out of the encirclement.
When Commander Pan came to take action,
Zhu Shuren immediately realized that he seemed to be able to catch a bigger crack.
"Bai Wenxuan can't even keep his word when he's in Chongqing? It seems that Zhang Xianzhong, a thief, has detained the general's family, so he can safely let them lead the troops outside. It seems that he can fine-tune his plan to surrender.