It was easy to make a decision because... Zhao Han was almost out of food.
On New Year's Eve, I went into the mountains with food rations. It was already the fourth day of the Lunar New Year. I was hiding day and night on the way. I was afraid of being discovered, so it was naturally impossible to grab food.
Then just attack the military camp at night!
At this moment, Tian Younian, the prefect of Yuanzhou, was being harassed by the magistrate of Yichun all the way from the city to the military camp.
The county magistrate Fang Lu complained endlessly: "Master, why did you recruit so many troops? All the big families in the city have broken through the threshold of the county government office."
Yuanzhou government office and Yichun county government office are in the same city.
"Don't worry about the war. You can go back and defend the city. Don't let the rebels steal the city." Tian Younian didn't want to explain anything to a idiot.
The bandits in Duchang have been wiped out by the officers and soldiers, and the entire north of Jiangxi is peaceful.
Tian Younian had made an appointment with the governor a long time ago to send troops together after the Lantern Festival. Since the rebels came to kill them on their own initiative, it would be better to directly surround the Zhao thief in Fenyi County.
Arriving at the military camp, staff officer Hong Yan stepped forward and said: "Master, the army rations have been prepared and more than 2,300 soldiers have been gathered."
2,300 people are "veterans". The temporarily recruited soldiers are not counted as human beings. They are all domestic slaves sent out by the big families in the city, as well as vagrants in the city.
The total adds up to more than five thousand!
Another scholar came forward, it was Zuo Xiaocheng who had joined Jie Xuelong in the past. He was now living at his grandfather's house in Yichun County. He spread the word about the abominable deeds of the Zhao thief everywhere, saying that the Zhao thief wanted to kill all the landlords in the world, and scared the big families in Yichun County. Feeling weak all over.
Because of this, the wealthy families in Yichun actively donated money and grain to support the prefect Tian Younian in recruiting troops to suppress bandits.
Zuo Xiaocheng reminded: "Master Fu, the rebel thief in Fenyi County must be the Zhao thief. This thief is extremely cunning and can advance very quickly. We must be careful to prevent this thief from stealing the city."
"Don't worry, I have left 300 elite soldiers in Fucheng and 800 local warriors." Tian Younian had been confident for a long time.
Zuo Xiaocheng added: "Tonight, thousands of troops have gathered in the military camp, and countless grain and grass have been piled on the boats at the pier outside the city. We must beware of Zhao thieves' night attacks."
Staff officer Hong Yan said with a smile: "Brother Zuo Xian, I think you are scared out of your wits by the Zhao thief. Our army has already sent many sentries along the Yuan River. Can the Zhao thief still fly over and attack at night?"
Zuo Xiaocheng hesitated to speak, feeling that he was overthinking.
Tian Younian frowned, thought for a moment and said: "Set up more sentries tonight, and send more soldiers to guard the army rations. We will march out early tomorrow morning!"
In the Chongzhen Dynasty, there were two Tian Younian. The other one had not yet passed the Jinshi examination, but he was already recognized as a master of Mao poetry.
But the Tian Younian in front of him was only a civil servant, and he was able to quickly become a magistrate, all because of his military exploits!
This guy is a son of a military family in Shaanxi. Both his father and brother are military generals. He has learned archery, horsemanship and military skills since he was a child, and it was only incidental to take the imperial examination. He spent money to buy a magistrate. Everywhere he goes, he must recruit troops to either exterminate bandits or conquer rebels. thief.
After lunch, Tian Younian personally inspected the military camp, constantly condolences to the soldiers, and pointed out the inappropriate layout of the military camp.
Recapture Fenyi County?
Tian Younian had never had such an idea. He just wanted to block the Zhao thieves in Fenyi County, and then join forces with the governor Li Maofang and the minister Wang Siren to kill the thousands of rebel thieves together!
As soon as he received the news of the thief, Tian Younian had already sent a messenger to Nanchang and Jiujiang to contact friendly forces.
As for the sudden recruitment of domestic slaves and gangsters, it was purely to frighten Zhao Han with superior force, so that Zhao Han cowered in Fenyi County and did not dare to come out. The longer the delay, the greater the chance of victory for the officers and soldiers. He knew that he could just wait for reinforcements from friendly forces.
Tian Younian did not dare to underestimate the Zhao thieves. Those who could send troops in winter were ruthless people.
What's more, Thief Zhao also attacked Binjiang Town and took away hundreds of elites he had trained for two years!
After the patrol, Tian Younian went back to the house to rest and took out a copy of "Jixiao New Book" to read. He had been reading this book for twenty years.
This guy seems to be a civil servant, but in fact he doesn't have much knowledge. It would be difficult for him to be a scholar in Jiangxi Province. But he is familiar with the art of war and is skilled in bow and horse. In battle, he can lead the charge and lead the charge.
While reading, Tian Younian suddenly put down his military book and went out to observe the mountains behind him.
It was already afternoon, and Tian Younian ordered: "Cut down the woods under Yuegong Ridge and send a few people into the mountain to search for the enemy!"
Yuegong Ridge is a very large mountain that rises abruptly in the southeast of Fucheng. Yuegong Ridge is only its highest peak.
It is definitely useless to send a few people to search the mountain. It is possible to cut down the woods near the military camp.
In fact, the military camp is thousands of steps away from the foot of the mountain, and it is not directly next to the mountain.
This military camp is fixed, and many barracks have been built, all of which are mud houses made of rammed earth. It is sheer nonsense to plan a night attack and set the camp on fire.
Several sentry towers were built in various corners of the military camp, which could be used for sentry duty and as arrow towers.
After nightfall, Tian Younian personally inspected the military camp and ordered the sentry soldiers and archers on the sentry tower to cheer up.
After doing all this, Tian Younian finally went back to sleep. He was exhausted and soon started snoring like thunder.
…
Zhao Han set out on the third watch and arrived at the foot of the mountain close to the fifth watch, which is equivalent to walking from zero to four o'clock.
Walk slowly to save energy.
On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, there was no moonlight, and it was extremely dark before dawn.
The soldiers who attacked at night often fell down accidentally. How could the sentries in the camp see clearly? In order to keep out the cold, they placed a brazier in the sentry tower, which became a beacon for the rebels.
Huang Yao led 800 people around to the north, Huang Shun led 800 people around to the south, and Zhao Han led 900 people to the east.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a watch, so I can’t determine the time to attack together.
After the two of them arrived at the attack site, they both waited for a while. Huang Yao was the first to light the torches, with two torches per person and 1,600 torches rushing towards the military camp.
Hearing the shouts of killing, Zhao Han and Huang Shun also lit torches, and a total of more than 5,000 torches were lit in the three routes.
Because Tian Younian's layout was too tight, he could not reach the camp quietly. He would always light a fire and start the attack two to three hundred steps away from the camp. If he got closer, he would be discovered by the sentries.
"Thief...thief attack!"
The sentry was shocked and blew his horn one after another, and the archers in the sentry tower quickly cocked their horns.
The officers and soldiers in the barracks panicked, and the temporarily recruited domestic slaves and gangsters ran out without wearing clothes. Seeing countless torches lit up in all directions, they were so frightened that they immediately camped and fled for their lives, rushing to the west where there were no enemy troops. They even closed the gate of the camp.
Pushed down.
The soldiers who had been trained for about half a year were not much better. They just put on their clothes and ran for their lives.
There were only more than a thousand real veterans, and they spontaneously armed themselves with weapons and moved closer to Tian Younian's residence without any instructions from their superiors.
This prefect is really good at training soldiers!
It was Xie Xuelong's subordinates. If they had encountered this situation, they would have been so frightened that the entire army had lost its organization.
Each sentry tower has six archers.
Huang Yao was the first to rush to the outskirts of the camp. The wall was as high as a man. The man threw away his torch, struck the ground with his spear, and used his strength to easily rush through the wall. Then he killed the two gatekeepers and opened the gate to the south.
Open.
"Boohoo!"
From two nearby sentry towers, twelve archers fired arrows, but in a panic, they only hit four targets.
"Capture the tower!"
The two commanders who rushed in first immediately led the nearby soldiers and captured the guard tower according to the predetermined plan. The remaining people followed Huang Yao and continued to kill inside.
"Mother!"
"Spare my life!"
Some of the fleeing officers and soldiers were killed by Huang Yao's troops, and they just ran with their heads covered in the darkness.
Zhao Han in the east was hit by an arrow, but was not injured yet. The arrow hit the cotton-padded clothes under his ribs, piercing the clothes diagonally downwards, and almost went in close to the flesh.
He led his troops straight into the depths of the military camp, while Zhang Tieniu and Li Zheng led their troops to seize the tower respectively.
Zhang Tieniu had also thrown away his torch, took no shield, and crazily climbed up the ladder. The enemy archers were even more panicked than him. They were stringing their bows with trembling hands. One arrow hit Zhang Tieniu's shoulder, and another arrow hit Zhang Tieniu's shoulder.
Shoot down the soldiers behind him, and all other arrows will miss.
"kill!"
Zhang Tieniu had already climbed up, facing the sentry's spear.
This guy was really reckless. He stretched out his right arm to block, but his sleeve was pierced by the spearhead, and his arm was also cut with a big gash. Another spear came, Zhang Tieniu ducked, and while dodging, he took out his ax and pounced.
Come out and chop off half of the enemy's hand with one axe.
Two sentries armed with guns, plus six archers, Zhang Tieniu rushed in with an axe. He first wounded one person, then killed another, then charged sideways and knocked an archer off the sentry tower.
Finally, teammates rushed up and killed all the remaining enemies.
"Kill the enemy!"
Zhang Tieniu held his ax high and roared as he descended from the sentry tower and rushed towards the main battlefield in the military camp.
Tian Younian didn't take off his clothes at all, he even wore armor. After waking up, he immediately took off his bow and arrows and sword, walked out of the barracks and let the trumpeter blow the trumpet to gather the troops.
More than 1,300 elite veterans quickly surrounded Tian Younian and formed a military formation.
Fortunately, Zhao Han made a surprise attack on Binjiang Town and took away hundreds of veterans, including more than a hundred archers. Otherwise, Tian Younian's elite number must have exceeded 1,800 at this time.
This fellow is extremely strict in running the army, and military pay is never withheld.
To be able to raise so many soldiers, in addition to large households donating money and food, they must also have used extraordinary methods. For example, during the suppression of bandits in Pingxiang County, they killed two big landowners and claimed that it was a good thing done by the rebels.
A large amount of money and food were used as military pay.
Facing the tight formation, Huang Yao did not dare to approach at all, and formed a formation at a distance to wait for the arrival of friendly forces.
Tian Younian did not dare to go out to attack. Although both sides had torches, charging at night would easily lead to a messy formation, and there were bandit troops coming from the north and east of him.
The rebels were surrounded on three sides and numbered more than 2,400 people.
There were only more than 1,300 soldiers in Tian Younian's besieged camp, but there were more than 800 archers.
Zhao Han couldn't help but admire: "Zhifu Tian is really powerful. In terms of his talent in military training, he is comparable to famous generals in the past!"
"Are you Luling Zhao Yan?" Tian Younian asked.
"Exactly." Zhao Han replied.
Tian Younian smiled and said: "You are not bad, you can actually lead troops to climb mountains in the snow."
"Stop it." Zhao Han was unwilling to attack forcefully, as the opponent's archers were a headache.
"Okay." Tian Younian agreed immediately.
"Um?"
Zhao Han was a little surprised because Tian Younian surrendered too readily.
Tian Younian said: "My hometown is in Shaanxi, and my whole family died at the hands of bandits. Some time ago, news came that my father and brother also died in the battle. The Tian family has repaid the king's kindness, and the rest should be considered for themselves. I am in Yuanzhou Fucheng
There is a concubine who gave birth to a son who is almost two years old. This is the only incense left in the Tian family."
Well, thanks to the Shaanxi bandits, Tian Younian no longer has any worries.