Although Zhang Xianzhong suffered nearly 10,000 casualties, most of them were cannon fodder, that is, civilians who were forcibly recruited.
These civilians were miserable. They were just farming at home, but for no reason they were dragged into transporting baggage. Not to mention transport, they had to be used as cannon fodder during the siege. If they didn't attack the city, they would be hacked to death by the supervising team.
Li Zicheng fought while on the run, and the situation was similar.
"History of the Ming Dynasty" said that Li Zicheng's tactics were "three walls", but the actual situation was a "five-layered position". The front line was full of refugees, the second and third military formations were infantry, and the fourth military formation was
It's a cavalry team, and the fifth military formation is a heroic cavalry.
This is obviously a tactics that goes against military common sense. If the refugees in front are defeated, why not overwhelm the infantry formation?
However, the actual impact is small.
Because the infantry has long been accustomed to the collapse of the refugees, they will not collapse psychologically and moralely. The refugees will not flee back, because they know that Li Zicheng's soldiers are going to kill people. Who dares to charge into the dense formation of guns? When they collapse, they will all face the enemy.
Both sides fled.
Use the large formation of refugees to consume the physical strength of the officers and soldiers, wait for the refugees to disperse, and then let the infantry attack them, while the cavalry and cavalry take the opportunity to move around to the flanks.
If the refugees really routed his own infantry, Li Zicheng would immediately flee with his cavalry and cavalry.
Anyway, refugees are expendables, and Zhang Xianzhong’s husband is also expendable.
Zhang Xianzhong's 100,000-strong army attacked the city for half a month and only suffered more than a thousand casualties, all of which were killed and wounded by the 10,000-strong enemy.
At night, Shi Yongen could not sleep.
He was a craftsman sent to Hubei by Xu Ying. He went to live with his relatives and became an apprentice in a dyeing workshop. He was a true relative and a true apprentice.
Three months ago, Shi Yongen followed his relatives out of the city and went to the outskirts of the city to celebrate the birthday of his relative's old mother. He happened to encounter a forced labor force and was taken away inexplicably. He worked hard to transport Zhang Xianzhong's supplies along the way.
There are one hundred thousand troops and two hundred thousand civilians. Shi Yongen is definitely not the only one who works among the civilians.
Because Shi Yongen was relatively strong, he was assigned to the siege camp and participated in the siege twice. He was very timid every time he sieged the city. He hid behind the arrow-proof plank of the ladder, ignored the scolding of the supervising team, and took his time before going.
Climb the ladder, and then quickly flee. After escaping halfway back, you encounter the supervising team, and immediately rush to the city wall.
There are many civilians doing this, and as long as they don't completely collapse, the war team doesn't bother to take care of it. Anyway, they don't intend to let the civilians attack the city tower, as long as they can consume the defense supplies.
In this case, Shi Yongen's arm was also burned by hot oil, and part of the wound had begun to suppurate.
Shi Yongen did not resent Xu Ying, so he sent him to Zhang Xianzhong's territory as a laborer. Because Shi Yongen's family had divided their fields, his brother received special arrangements and was directly promoted to a county official, and now he is the chief of the engineering department. There is also his sister,
If you marry a magistrate as a second wife, you will definitely live a good life in the future.
It would be great if I could go back alive.
"Uncle Cao, have you slept?" Shi Yongen asked in a low voice.
Uncle Cao, a farmer in his forties, sighed and said: "How can I sleep? If we attack the city tomorrow, I'm afraid I will die under the city."
The civilians could not escape, so they were divided into several groups and specially arranged in the center of the camp, with Zhang Xianzhong's regular troops on all sides.
Shi Yongen said: "It is expected that there will be a battle tonight, and preparations will be made in the evening. If all the soldiers go to attack the city, we will take the opportunity to escape and call more civilians. If the chaos gets bigger, we will definitely not be able to catch them."
"This... person will be beheaded if caught!" Uncle Cao said in horror.
Shi Yongen asked: "If you don't escape tonight, you will die if you attack the city tomorrow. How can it be more cost-effective to die?"
Uncle Cao replied: "It's not even worth it."
Shi Yongen said: "You still have a chance to survive if you escape, but you will definitely die if you continue to attack the city. Which one do you choose?"
Uncle Cao thought carefully, gritted his teeth and nodded: "Then run away!"
"Take me with you when you escape." A cannon fodder from the siege camp named Zeng Ayang next to him suddenly said.
"Okay, let's run away together, the more people, the better."
Shi Yongen climbed out quietly again, took a few steps and whispered: "Old Li, are you afraid of death? If you try to attack the city again, you will definitely die..."
…
The general who defended the city of Guangji was named Wang Hui, who was originally the foolish son of a landlord in Liuyang County.
He came from a scholarly family and did not study hard. He was not even admitted as a scholar. He chased chickens and chased dogs since he was a child. When he was young, he started playing with knives and sticks. He also used the family's donkey as a horse, saying that he wanted to practice his riding and archery skills.
A few years ago, Jiangxi bandits crossed the border and looted.
Under the leadership of the county magistrate Feng Zuwang, Wang Hui recruited village warriors to fight to the death. He personally beheaded the thieves and "flyed into the sky".
Then the Datong army came to attack. Such a majestic military power that Wang Hui immediately surrendered with Xiang Yong.
It didn't matter that his family's property was divided, and Wang Hui was happily recruited as a peasant soldier. Due to his excellent performance and actual combat experience, when Zhao Han expanded his army for the third time, Wang Hui was not only incorporated into the Datong regular army, but also directly served as a soldier.
The post of captain.
During a series of battles at Dongting Lake, Wang Hui made great achievements one after another.
Moreover, he was literate, able to write and do math, and was promoted to battalion commander. During the Battle of Jianghuai, he was promoted again for meritorious service and was quickly promoted to regiment commander.
Because he was literate, could write and do calculations, and was not only brave but also capable of using his brains in battles, Wang Hui was elected as the leader of the Guangji County city guard as the regiment leader.
In fact, in addition to Wang Hui's own reasons, the reason why he was promoted so quickly was because Zhao Han deliberately favored soldiers from other provinces. There were too many officers from Jiangxi, and whether they acknowledged it or not, there was definitely a phenomenon of forming cliques.
It is necessary to favor other provinces, but it cannot be too obvious, otherwise it will chill the hearts of Jiangxi soldiers.
at night.
Wang Hui inspected the city wall as usual, comforted the soldiers, and then subconsciously looked outside the city.
He knew that Zhang Xianzhong was digging tunnels, and he had already seen it through his telescope. There were more than ten tunnels in all directions, and soil was being transported out of the cave entrances every day.
As long as you observe carefully, you can still find Zhang Xianzhong no matter how well he hides it.
The use of tunnels to transport gunpowder to blow down city walls was not invented by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It existed in the late Ming Dynasty. Officers and soldiers used this strategy, including Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng.
Such a strategy would be difficult to use against fortified cities like Nanjing and Beijing because the foundations were too solid and too deep.
If you insist on blasting it by force, you will need a huge amount of gunpowder.
Take Nanjing as an example. When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom blew up Nanjing, I don’t know how much gunpowder was used, but it was “a large amount” anyway. Later, when the Hunan Army blew up Nanjing, the Chinese side said that 6,000 sacks of gunpowder were used, and the New York Times said that
The figure of 30 tons of gunpowder is a bit outrageous, but it also reflects that a few coffins containing gunpowder cannot blow up the city of Nanjing.
Wang Hui sat on the city tower and watched the warriors hanging ropes out of the city.
Some people hold iron drills and insert them into the ground, some people use sledgehammers to smash the iron drills, and some people cover the ground with bamboo tubes and listen to the sound.
He would do this every night, comparing the positions where the enemy dug tunnels, and driving iron drills into the soil at various places under the city to test them.
"when!"
I don’t know how long I kept hammering, and then I swung the hammer again. The iron drill somewhere quickly fell down and was inserted into the enemy’s tunnel.
"water!"
Buckets quickly fell from the city, and the defenders pulled out iron drills and poured water through the holes.
The enemy troops in the tunnel were placing gunpowder, and when they saw water pouring in, they quickly blocked the entrance with mud.
All the nearby iron drills were brought over, and more than ten iron drills were smashed down on that area. Some of them were pulled out with blood on them, apparently stabbing the enemies in the tunnel.
With constant digging of holes and constant filling of water, the tunnel became useless.
Zhang Xianzhong was so angry that he cursed and ordered to continue digging the tunnel. Instead of digging straight, he dug diagonally forward, making it impossible for the defenders to determine the approximate location of the tunnel.
At the same time, cannon fodder continued to attack the city, and Lu Gong's chariots were also increased to seven.
Lu Gong's chariot has several floors, and the top floor is higher than the city wall. You can shoot arrows on the city from a high position.
The peasants, soldiers and common people who defended the city held up shields or pot lids to block the enemy's arrows. Behind the shields, there were strong men throwing thousands of enemies at them. Most of them fell to the ground and exploded. Only a few were able to successfully smash into Lu Gong's chariot because
This thing has baffles on every floor.
After a fierce battle for a long time, the three Lu Gong cars in front and behind stopped moving.
However, two vehicles still drove up to the city wall. When one of the peasant soldiers was throwing thousands of enemies at them, he was accidentally shot in the wrist by an arrow. The ten thousand enemies fell directly into the midst of the city defenders.
"boom!"
There was an explosion on the city.
The elite men in Lu's car took the opportunity to jump onto the city wall and quickly occupied a small area.
"Hold, form a formation and hold!"
When Wang Hui heard the news, he quickly asked someone to raise a flag and quickly led his team to provide support.
Zhang Xianzhong's elite troops climbed up from the Lu Gong's car one after another, and more than 300 peasant soldiers and civilians who were defending the city were killed.
Wang Hui finally arrived with an elite reserve force of farmers and soldiers, equipped with a three-piece set of wolves, shields, and spears, and attacked from both sides. After a bloody battle, and at the cost of hundreds of people again, he finally killed the enemy troops who stormed the city.
Collapse.
Just when Zhang Xianzhong was sighing, a cavalry suddenly came running towards him: "Your Majesty, my general is entangled by the enemy's cavalry!"
"How many enemy cavalry are there?" Zhang Xianzhong asked.
The subordinate of Lao Huihui replied: "There are about two or three thousand, most of them are not wearing armor and only use a musket to run away and fire the musket. But there are hundreds of cavalry, and the horses are tall and strong, and the people are focused."
Armor, the vital parts of the war horse are also covered with armor."
Zhang Xianzhong asked: "How tall can those war horses be?"
The man said: "It is much higher than the king's mount."
"Are there hundreds of war horses that tall?" Zhang Xianzhong asked in surprise.
The man said: "Not only are they tall and strong, they also charge very fast. They also have infantry and march on mules, specifically blocking my general's path and preventing my general from returning with his cavalry to join them."
Zhang Xianzhong said doubtfully: "Even if the infantry rides mules, they shouldn't catch up with Lao Huihui's cavalry."
The man said: "The enemy has placed sentries everywhere. Each team of these sentries only has two people. They don't carry any weapons. They march lightly and run very fast. They don't dare to engage in battle. They flee when they encounter our army, and then
We rushed to the nearby market towns and lit up the smoke to send messages. Trenches were dug outside those towns, and many peasants, soldiers and people were guarding them. Our cavalry could not attack them."
As he spoke, the man said anxiously: "Our army is all cavalry, and they don't bring much food and grass. We couldn't get food along the way. We ran out of food two days ago."
Zhang Xianzhong was silent.
Sun Kewang said anxiously: "Father, there is no way to surround one hundred thousand elites and two hundred thousand civilians to attack the city. Why don't we divide our troops and march eastward..."
"Where to go east? The first three counties are all the same as here. There are no people in the wild. Are you going to divide your troops and attack the city by force?" Zhang Xianzhong asked.
Sun Kewang said: "The spies reported that there are many market towns in the wild. We will not attack the cities, but these market towns."
Zhang Xianzhong sighed: "The enemy's main force has not shown up yet, and I'm afraid he is trying to lure me into dividing our troops. Once you lead your troops out, you will most likely be surrounded, and you won't be able to come back even if you want to."
Sun Kewang thought carefully and felt that this was indeed the case.
This battle was too frustrating. Guangji County must be pulled out, so as to keep the food road safe. Even if the food road problem is not concerned, this is their withdrawal channel. If Guangji City is not captured, they will not be able to withdraw their troops once they are defeated.
.
But for more than half a month of fighting, the opponent's regular troops were not seen, and the county seat was still standing there safely.
In the evening of the same day, Lao Huihui came back with his cavalry and said in a panic: "I came back by taking a detour. Zhao Han's cavalry is too disgusting, and the infantry on mules combined with a large number of sentry cavalry is also disgusting. I have lost two hundred cavalry."
Many, he didn’t die in battle at all, but because he was starving and had no strength! Quickly order a rebellion, I haven’t eaten for two days!”
Zhang Xianzhong ordered the Huotou Army to rebel. He first brought some pancakes to satisfy his hunger and asked, "How many cavalry does the enemy have?"
"At first there were only more than two thousand, and later there were one thousand more, and there were hundreds of heavy armored knights." Lao Huihui said.
Zhang Xianzhong asked: "Are they all much higher than my mount?"
Lao Huihui said: "Not only are they taller, compared with those war horses, our war horses are like mules! There is no way to fight this battle. There are no people in the wild and no food. The enemy has no cavalry at all except the cavalry."
Come out to fight, just waiting for us to attack the city. If Guangji City cannot be taken, do you dare to divide your troops and attack other places?"
Sun Kewang said: "Father, I'm afraid the situation in the north is similar, and Dingguo can only attack the city by force in this way."
It is easier to clear the countryside with a strong wall in the north. The drought in that poor place is severe. This year it is clear that there will be no harvest, and the people did not show any nostalgia when they evacuated.
Lao Huihui said: "When we are tired from attacking the city and our morale has dropped, it is time for the enemy's main force to come out. Moreover, the enemy controls the Yangtze River and may transport the main force behind us at any time. We will not be able to evacuate even if we want to. This battle is impossible.
Fight, withdraw the entire army quickly!"
Wouldn't it be a big joke to withdraw our troops now?
The three armies totaled 200,000, and the civilians used nearly 400,000. They didn't capture a single city or snatch a grain of rice, so they just went back in despair?
Damn Zuo Liangyu, why don't you go south to help?
And Luo Rucai, we made an appointment to go south together!
Zuo Liangyu was facing a plague in Shandong. He didn't dare to move. If he moved, the rear would explode. Moreover, his soldiers were often infected with diseases, so they couldn't fight at all.
Luo Rucai actually sent out troops and went down for a tour. After traveling to two counties, he found that there was no food to plunder, so he did not dare to go too deep, so he simply returned to the hinterland of Henan with his cavalry.
"This guy named Zhao is so shameless!" Zhang Xianzhong was furious.
In the south and north, there are six or seven counties with strong walls and clear wilderness. The food consumed is enough to fight a big war!
Zhao Han didn't want to fight, he just wanted to waste food to protect the people and wear down the enemy before fighting.
It doesn't matter if Zhang Xianzhong marches straight in. It's best to rush all the way to prefectures and counties where there are no strong walls and clear fields. By then, he will be far away from the territory and the battle line will be stretched, and he can find countless opportunities to defeat him.
Zhang Xianzhong gritted his teeth and said: "We will attack for three more days. If we can't defeat it, we will withdraw and let the miners speed up digging tunnels. As long as Guangji City is conquered, we will definitely be able to obtain countless grains and grass!"