Zhao Han felt helpless. It was such a wealthy commercial town and there was no city wall to protect it. Why didn't Zhang Xianzhong divide his troops to attack?
As long as the Wujia Point is captured, Zhang Xianzhong can grab a lot of food, because this is Zhao Han's military food transfer station!
Zhao Han himself, together with 2,000 personal guards, 3,000 Jinling peasant soldiers, a large number of local peasant soldiers, and 500 artillerymen, have been staying here. Li Zheng's 7,000 regular troops rode around on mules, and immediately rushed when they saw the smoke.
Back on the other side of the Yangtze River, the 60,000 peasant soldiers and 60,000 civilian men have basically completed their reorganization and can cross the river at any time. They are just waiting for Zhang Xianzhong to come and attack Wujia Point.
Alas, since Zhang Xianzhong won't come, we can only take the initiative to surround him.
Hunan Army——
Jiang Dashan led 30,000 peasant soldiers and 30,000 civilian men, crossed the river from Gong'an, and went directly to Jiangling, Zhang Xianzhong's hometown!
Li Zongheng led 30,000 peasant soldiers and 30,000 civilians, crossed the river from Jiangxia, and marched directly to Hanyang Prefecture. (Li Zongheng was a soldier brought by Li Banghua, who had made many military exploits in southern Jiangxi, and had outstanding performance in suppressing bandits in Guangdong and Fujian.)
Jiangxi Team——
Jiang Liang and Xiao Shan first took a boat to Huangqikou Town and used this town as a military depot and a grain depot.
Jiang Liang led 40,000 peasant soldiers and 40,000 civilians, and immediately crossed the river to attack Qizhou.
Xiao Shan led 20,000 peasant soldiers and 20,000 civilians, and Gu Jianshan led the navy to support them, crossed the river and along the Xishui River to attack Qishui County.
Especially the navy of Gujian Mountain, all small and medium-sized warships came out to block the Xishui River. Even if Zhang Xianzhong could escape from the encirclement, he would not be able to cross the river from the Xishui River and would have to drill into the Dabie Mountains and circle back to his home base.
Even if Zhang Xianzhong can circle back to his home base, he will find that his home base is under attack.
In addition, Huang Yao's new mountain division has begun to cross the river to attack Yiling, and Zhang Xianzhong's major cities along the river will all be attacked.
The Yangtze River is thousands of miles long and cannot be defended against.
It can only be said that Zhang Xianzhong was crazy and would take the initiative to provoke Zhao Han.
But from Zhang Xianzhong's point of view, he had no choice. The road to Sichuan was blocked. If he captured Sichuan by force, his home base might be attacked by Zhao Han at any time. If he went north to Shaanxi or Henan, there were serious famines there, so there was nothing to do if he conquered it.
Useful. In addition, there is a severe drought this year. If we don't make a desperate move in advance, there will definitely not be enough food to send troops in half a year.
Zhang Xianzhong had only three choices, either to lie down and die, or to surrender to Zhao Han, or to fight desperately.
…
Yiling (Yichang).
Huang Yao was the first to cross the river. In fact, Zhang Xianzhong also defended Guizhou (Zigui), but there was no need to attack Guizhou.
Huang Yao only had a mountain division of 7,500 men and 10,000 civilians for logistics.
After landing, we set up camp on the first day, bombarded the area on the second day, and let the civilians fill in the moat.
The stone city wall, more than seven meters high, was built by Zhu Yuanzhang at that time.
There is not much to say about this battle. Zhang Xianzhong took away too much food and soldiers. The Yiling garrison only had a thousand elite troops, and the remaining three thousand were all weak soldiers.
When there was not enough food to defend for a long time, and in cooperation with the missionary officer's constant shouting, three thousand garbage soldiers escaped at night. Even if Zhang Xianzhong's one thousand elite soldiers defended, they could not defend such a large city, and they even made trouble while fighting.
Internal strife.
After Huang Yao captured Yiling, he selected some farmers and soldiers from among the people to defend the city. He took the main force and took a boat down the river to help Jiang Dashan encircle Jiangling.
…
Jingzhou Fucheng, Jiangling County.
This is where Zhang Xianzhong's base camp is located, with a total of 12,000 soldiers stationed there, and there are eight antique-grade bronze cannons on the city wall.
"How is the battle going?" Huang Yao asked when he arrived.
Jiang Dashan sighed: "It can't be conquered. The city is too high, the pond is too deep, and there are too many soldiers. It's useless to persuade them to surrender. There are many old thieves among the defenders, and the families of these old thieves are all in the city."
Huang Yao asked: "How about I attack other cities first?"
"It's not necessary," Jiang Dashan said. "According to the news from Xizuo, all the rebels from all over the country have been taken away by Zhang Xianzhong. Other cities can only defend, and it is impossible to send troops to reinforce this place. It's hard to divide the troops to capture the city, and it will take a long time to defeat it.
Leaving troops to garrison will not be of much help to the entire battlefield. As long as Jiangling is surrounded and eaten down, all the neighboring states and counties will have to wait and see."
Huang Yao curled his lips and said: "With so many defenders and enough food, Jiangling will have to fight for at least half a year."
Jiang Dashan sighed: "No wonder Zhang Xianzhong took the initiative to start the war. He raised too many soldiers. He took several armies to attack Anhui, but he could still leave these many soldiers to defend the cities along the river. How much food would be consumed on weekdays! This year we are facing a severe drought.
, if he doesn’t fight him out, he will starve to death!”
Huang Yao thought for a while: "I'm going to Qizhou by boat. There should be troops needed there."
Inside Gangneung Castle.
Liao Zhifang sat on the tower, looking at the Datong army outside the city, and could only sigh secretly.
Two years ago, he suggested to Zhang Xianzhong that he should lay down his troops and work in the fields, quickly establish a system and develop people's livelihood. Zhang Xianzhong did obey at the time.
But it quickly turns sour!
Zhang Xianzhong did not trust civilian officials, so he sent his adopted son and trusted generals to control the military and political affairs of various governments within his jurisdiction, directly creating a typical warlord rule.
Zhang Xianzhong himself was a big warlord, while his adopted son and his confidants were small warlords.
Since he is a warlord, he must not distinguish between public and private matters.
These military generals not only occupied civilian fields wantonly, but also moved all kinds of food from military and civilian villages into their own private treasury. The civil servants could only look at them dumbly and dared not speak.
Moreover, the policy of disarmament has been completely abolished. In order to improve their own strength, military generals are crazy about expanding their military and preparing for war, regardless of people's livelihood.
Zhang Xianzhong could not stop his generals from expanding the army. Once he forcibly blocked it, conflicts would inevitably arise.
Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong's choice to start a war was largely coerced from within. If he did not choose a place to fight externally, his subordinates would most likely start internal strife and fight among themselves in order to seize territory.
Under the setting sun, above the city tower.
Liao Zhifang opened "Datong Collection" and reread this book countless times.
Every time he rereads it, combined with his recent experiences, Liao Zhifang has new insights. He believes that certain chapters of this book contain the principles of heaven and earth. Instead of violating Confucian teachings, Liao Zhifang follows and practices Confucian morality.
Facing the army outside the city, Liao Zhifang actually wrote an article titled "Zhang Xianzhong's Ten Defeats".
The two military advisors, Liao Zhifang and Xu Yixian, were firmly opposed to sending troops this time, but Zhang Xianzhong was already riding a tiger.
Now, Liao Zhifang is in charge of Jiangling and Xu Yixian is in Hanyang. They seem to have the power of the two cities, but in fact they can't command the army at all, let alone surrender the city.
…
Yongji.
"Your Majesty, there is news from behind. Qizhou and Qishui are besieged, and the Jiangxi Navy has blocked the Xishui River!"
Zhang Xianzhong took the detailed newspaper, read it carefully twice, and said to his generals: "Qizhou and Qishui are each besieged by tens of thousands of enemy troops."
Sun Kewang sighed and said: "The main force of the enemy army has circled around the rear of our army and has blocked our army's retreat."
Zhang Xianzhong shook his head and said: "Beyond the two cities, there are farmers, soldiers and civilians, and the main enemy force still has not appeared."
Everyone was horrified.
Since Zhao Han was on the other side of the Yangtze River, they were already familiar with Datong's military system and could clearly tell the difference between regular soldiers and peasant soldiers.
From the beginning, Zhang Xianzhong lost the initiative in the war.
Perhaps Zhao Han's ability to command in battle is insufficient, but his strategic command ability is very good. And from beginning to end, he has always adhered to the same concept: you fight yours, I'll fight mine.
According to the regular fighting method, Zhang Xianzhong's three armies marched eastward. Zhao Han should mobilize his army to fight, look for opportunities to annihilate the main force of the enemy's army, and then counterattack.
This is how the imperial court suppressed bandits, and Zhang Xianzhong thought so too.
As long as Zhao Han deployed a large army, Zhang Xianzhong could play countless tricks. Because Zhang Xianzhong and his generals had more than ten years of war experience, but the generals of the Datong Army were very immature and were very likely to make mistakes and be caught.
In that case, the Datong Army will be led by the nose.
Zhao Han knew very well what was going on with his general, so he refused to accept the move at all.
Are you entering the country in large numbers?
Then I will also enter the country with an army!
You come to my territory, I will fortify the walls and clear the fields, waiting for you to attack the city.
You slowly attack the city here, and my peasants and soldiers also slowly attack the city at your house.
Moreover, my regular army is hiding and I will wait until you are tired to calculate the general ledger.
Do you want to retreat?
Sorry, the two cities behind you have been surrounded by me, and the river you must cross to withdraw has been blocked by my navy.
If you want to kill the whole army back, you can attack my peasant soldiers. My regular army can support you by boat at any time, and my peasant soldiers in Guangji City can also slowly come to support you.
If you are desperate, just go to my hinterland where there are no strong walls and clear fields. Kill so deep that you won’t even have a city of your own along the way. Just wait for the whole army to be annihilated!
Zhang Xianzhong was extremely aggrieved at this moment. He only had an army of 100,000 men, and he still had 190,000 civilians. He had all the strength but didn't know where to hit his fists.
Lao Huihui kept calm: "I have two methods, I don't know if you will listen to them."
"Tell me." Zhang Xianzhong said.
Lao Huihui said: "The first way is to give up the more than 70,000 infantry and the 190,000 civilians. The cavalry, horse team, and mule team should cross the river to the north and return to the mountains."
"Why don't you lead the army to Bailian Town and cross the river back close to the edge of the mountain?" Sun Kewang asked.
Lao Hui replied: "Zhao Han's navy is lying across the Xishui River. It must send a large number of small boats to patrol the entire Xishui River. If it brings an army of 300,000 people, even if it is not discovered by the sentinel boat, it will be spotted by Zhao Han.
Han's cavalry followed, and if they attacked halfway across the river, everything would be over."
Zhang Xianzhong sneered: "What's the point of going back with only cavalry, horse teams, and mule teams? If we leave the army to Zhao Han, our troops will be empty, and our territory will be swallowed up sooner or later."
Lao Huihui said again: "Then don't leave your family, and don't even think about going back. Take 300,000 people and fight all the way north. Maybe you can join up with the North Route Army, maybe you can help the Middle Route Army break through the encirclement!"
"Fighting like that is like fighting without roots. If there is a slight accident, the whole army may be wiped out at any time." Zhang Xianzhong shook his head and said.
Lao Huihui said: "If something unexpected happens, just bring the elites and run around and cause chaos in the Jianghuai area!"
Sun Kewang said depressedly: "Are we becoming bandits again? We don't want our land, we don't want our family anymore. They rob and kidnap us along the way. We will be punished wherever we are beaten, and we will be counted as long as we live."
"After fighting until now, do you still want to keep the army and withdraw it intact?" Lao Huihui said speechlessly.
Sun Kewang clenched his fist and said: "Father, I think we should withdraw our troops in a big way, lure Zhao Han's main force to show up, and fight with real swords and guns. Whoever wins will win the world; whoever loses will meet the King of Hell!"
Lao Huihui's two strategies, one is to escape back with the cavalry, horse team, and mule team, but the result will definitely be to survive. The other strategy is to make a big gamble. If you win the gamble, you can withdraw from the north, and you can also loot along the way. If you lose the gamble
He became a bandit again.
Sun Kewang's strategy is simple and crude, which is to set up a strong position and give the initiative to Zhao Han. The winner is king, and the loser will die!
Zhang Xianzhong was undecided.
"Your Majesty, a tunnel has been dug, but the defenders in the city did not discover it!"
Zhang Xianzhong stood up suddenly: "Set the explosives to detonate immediately, don't wait until night to be filled with water again!"
No matter how we fight, we must first capture Guangji County. This city disgusted Zhang Xianzhong.
