It’s hard to describe what kind of city this is. The layout is that of the cities of the Ming Dynasty, a typical “well” layout. However, in this layout, there are many other styles that cannot be seen in the cities of the Ming Dynasty.
of buildings.
I can't tell what the taste is, but it always feels a bit nondescript.
The people who built the city here must have been people from the Ming Dynasty. However, since the rise of the Hou Jin Dynasty, this Fengcheng was probably the first batch of cities to be captured from the hands of the Ming Dynasty. The people of the Hou Jin Dynasty moved many people here, but
, most of the people in the city are still "Ming people".
In theory, he is just a Ming Dynasty man.
Even though Li Zicheng led his army to capture the city, he did not regard the people in the city who spoke with Ming accents as Ming people. Instead, he strictly controlled the entire city. For the entire East Route Army,
, this means that the entire army has entered the enemy's hinterland, and the people in the enemy city are naturally the enemy.
There were not many Houjin Tatars left in the city, probably because the location of the city was not important and the terrain was not steep, so there was little point in stationing heavy troops here.
When the East Route Army advanced here, the defenders in the city, that is, hundreds of enemy troops with Han military flags, put up a symbolic resistance, and then died, unable to escape, unable to escape.
What made Li Zicheng even more angry was that this was originally a transit city from Shengjing to Kuandian, and there should have been some storage of grain, grass and ordnance. However, after Amin led his army, almost all the grain, grass and ordnance were swept away.
, the grain, grass and ordnance that they could not take away were burned directly with a fire, leaving him with almost nothing except the ten or twenty thousand people in the city.
The escape in the city had already begun, and after Li Zicheng captured Fengcheng, he did not stop the people in the city from fleeing. It has been more than half a month now, and those who can escape in the city have almost escaped. As for those who cannot escape,
Those were the people who really couldn't run away and had nowhere to go. These people were gathered by Li Zicheng and sent to search for food near the city.
Some people never came back, and some people came back with some food they didn't know where they found. Li Zicheng didn't care about the life or death of these people at all. He knew the group of Tartars he was chasing.
The army is around Fengcheng. If you want to know the situation in Fengcheng, these people sent out to search for food are the best spies.
The Tartars will not give up contact with these people.
Of course, in turn, Li Zicheng could also find traces of this Tartar army from these spies.
The weather is getting colder and colder. No matter how unbearable it is in the city, it is more comfortable than camping in the wilderness in the wind and snow during this season. The East Route Army is not a lonely army. Behind him, there is an entire army.
The Ming army in Kuandian was supporting them. If anyone could endure it better, Li Zicheng absolutely believed that the sneaky Tatar troops outside who wanted to fight but did not dare to fight would never be able to survive him.
"How about it!"
Xu Xianchun walked in from outside. The strategy of sending people out to search for food was proposed by Xu Xianchun. Finding traces of the enemy from these people was also Xu Xianchun's strength. Li Zicheng did not ask how he did it specifically.
Anyway, it is said that this Xu Zhenfu is better at doing this kind of thing than anyone else in his East Route Army.
"There has been no news from the Tartars for three full days!"
Xu Xianchun took a breath of hot air and rubbed his hands vigorously: "The people who were sent out three days ago can still get some clues when they come back, but the people who have been out in the past few days have almost no contact with the Tatars!"
"Impossible!" Li Zicheng shook his head: "Last time you found out the direction of the Tartar camp, have the scouts you sent out to check it come back?"
"The building is empty, there is no one left!" Xu Xianchun sighed: "We are late, the Tartars have been gone for more than a day!"
"In such weather, a camp with thousands of people stationed can be replaced at any time?" Li Zicheng said with a solemn expression: "Moreover, they also carry a lot of food, grass and ordnance brought from Fengcheng, and there are so many war horses. It's not like they just leave.
You can just leave!"
"I also found it strange. I sent people to check for dozens of miles in the direction of Shengjing along the place where they once stationed. However, as time passed, the wind and snow covered most of the traces. There were no traces beyond dozens of miles.
No traces can be found!"
"Run away?" Li Zicheng asked: "Are you planning to wait until spring to see us again?"
"It's hard to say!" Xu Xianchun shook his head: "Fortunately, we occupied Fengcheng before the heavy snowstorm came. If it had been a few days later, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to withstand this terrible weather!"
He breathed again and rubbed his hands vigorously: "It's too cold in this damn place. There have been many people with frostbite in the army. The cannons and muskets of our artillery team and firecrackers team are fine in the city. This is
If you're fighting outside, it's a big problem if you're really frozen!"
He thought for a while: "Our ration team is fine. We can tear down houses and burn them in the city for heating in the army, but it would be troublesome for training!"
"The first batch of grain teams to escort grain and grass from Malanyu has arrived. The grain delivered in the first batch alone is enough for the entire army to eat for half a month. Let's search the city again and save some food.
It’s no problem to stay up for a month. After the snowstorm passes, the second batch of food teams will set off from the opposite side. The commander-in-chief will use this method to replenish our military strength and food and grass, and it will not be cut off!"
"Then I'll be relieved!"
Xu Xianchun nodded, and then he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, and Xu Jian hurried in from outside.
"There is news from Zhenjiang Fort. Because of the wind and snow, the messenger was delayed for several days!" He handed a letter to Li Zicheng: "This is the handwriting of the commander-in-chief!"
Li Zicheng picked up the letter and read it carefully. Xu Xianchun glanced at Xu Jian: "Something happened?"
"Liaoyang was defeated, and Lu Xiangsheng died in battle!" Xu Jian said.
Xu Xianchun's expression changed slightly, and he sighed: "It is considered a worthy death, and a loyal man will live forever, but it is a pity for Liaoyang's 40,000 troops!"
"The Tartars are besieging Zhenjiang Fort!" Xu Jian said again. This time, Xu Xianchun was finally moved.
"I only know this much from the person who sent the letter. The specific information must be in the commander's handwriting!"
Xu Jian cooed at Li Zicheng, who was reading the letter, and signaled Xu Xianchun to be calm. When Li Zicheng put down the letter, he couldn't wait for Xu Xianchun to speak and spoke impatiently: "Master Li, what did the commander-in-chief say in the letter?"
"The situation is worse than you said!" Li Zicheng put down the letter in his hand: "The West Route Army formed by the Pi Dao Third Battalion assisted Liaoyang. Liaoyang was defeated halfway. Coach Yao Chunyong led the team back to Zhenjiang Fort, but forward Kong Youde and his
Kong Ziying directly surrendered to the Tartars!"
"This bastard!" Xu Jian was stunned, and then started to curse: "I said why do I always dislike this guy? Sure enough, he is not a good person with his evil looks! He should have been killed in the first place!"
"Don't say these useless things!" Xu Xianchun glared at Xu Jian: "How is the situation at Zhenjiang Fort now?"
"It's not good!" Li Zicheng pondered for a moment: "But it's not bad either!"
Seeing the two people looking at him, he waved his hand and said hello to the outside. After a while, two guerrillas from the East Route Army, Li Gan and Li Guo, also hurried over, and the entire senior East Route Army
The generals were all in front of Li Zicheng at this moment.
"The Tartar brigade currently besieged in Zhenjiang Fort should be no less than 20,000 people. However, according to the commander's information, the enemy chief Huang Taiji is not in the army, but is led by Beile Daishan. Part of the Tartar army has already returned to Shengcheng.
Beijing, part of which is stationed in Liaoyang, can dedicate 20,000 people to attack our Zhenjiang Fort, which is probably the maximum force they can mobilize at the moment!"
"Only 20,000 people!"
All the generals breathed a sigh of relief. I don't know when, everyone felt that the Tartars with the same strength no longer looked down upon them. The Zhenjiang Fort garrison and the main force of the West Route Army formed by the Pi Dao Third Battalion did not dare to
It must be said that there are more people than the Tartars, at least not much less.
If you want to attack a city, according to the military manual, compared with the strength of the siege and the besieged city, three against one is the basic configuration, and five against one is unpredictable. If you really want to be sure, ten times
It is normal operation to have twice as many troops as the defenders.
If there are 20,000 people, then there is nothing to worry about.
Li Zicheng slowly glanced at the crowd, and was also affected by their emotions: "Twenty thousand people are nothing, and the commander-in-chief doesn't care about it. However, the commander-in-chief doesn't want to defend Zhenjiang Fort, but wants to protect this city."
Twenty thousand people stay in Zhenjiang Fort!"
Everyone's eyes lit up, this is right, a commander should have such a pattern and courage, and it would be inappropriate for him to fight in a small way.
"By the way, I now know where the Tartar cavalry group outside our Fengcheng has gone. The commander's message mentioned this, and it is suspected that there are thousands of reinforcements coming from the back.
And it’s a flag with a blue flag and a pure white flag!”
"Holy shit!" Xu Jian almost cursed with a foul language: "These grandsons ran away quietly, and we are still here to carefully guard against them, just to tease us!"
"This is a good thing!"
Xu Xianchun nodded fiercely: "If the Tatars all gather together, our West Route Army will have nothing to worry about..."
He looked at Li Zicheng and asked thoughtfully: "Does the commander-in-chief's letter contain any orders for our West Route Army?"
"have!"
Li Zicheng said categorically: "The commander-in-chief ordered our West Route Army to wait for the opportunity and cut off the enemy's retreat!"
"We all believe in the commander-in-chief. A mere 20,000 Tartars are definitely no match for the commander-in-chief!" Xu Xianchun said slowly: "However, what does the commander-in-chief mean by cutting off the enemy's retreat? After the Tartars are defeated
, will our Western Route Army block their way to escape north?"
"wrong!"
Xu Jian reacted: "If the Tartars were defeated and fled directly back to Liaoyang instead of going north, wouldn't it be more convenient? They still have soldiers and horses in Liaoyang. We are in Fengcheng now.
Block their escape route, but go around behind them!"
"The commander didn't elaborate on the details!"
Li Zicheng Yang Yang read the letter in his hand: "But the Commander-in-Chief's order has come down. How to implement it is our business. If there is a war, the Commander-in-Chief will arrange everything in detail, so what do we need to do?"
Everyone nodded in agreement, and then all looked at Xu Xianchun.
Xu Xianchun was the oldest and had the best background. In the Western Route Army, almost several generals regarded him as their adviser. Even Li Zicheng valued Xu Xianchun's opinions.
"With this kind of weather, the commander has given us a difficult problem!"
Xu Xianchun smiled bitterly: "If we want to block the enemy's escape route, we must first go around behind the enemy, then determine the enemy's movements, and then set the battlefield in advance and then wait and see. All this must be clear and clear to be foolproof.
, this takes a lot of effort!”
"I'm not afraid of this!" Li Zicheng said: "With this kind of wind and snow, the fighting at Zhenjiang Fort will have to be temporarily stopped, and we can also write to the commander-in-chief and ask him to do it in the direction of the enemy's escape when formulating a military strategy.
Click on the article and let the enemy only choose one direction, then it will be much easier for us. As for preset battlefields and so on, this is not a problem at all!"
He grinned: "Don't forget, I am General Ditch. Although the weather is not easy to dig ditches in the wilderness, it is not difficult for us. As long as we are sure where the Tartars are fleeing, we can make it in a few days.
In the course of time, thousands of ditches and gorges were dug, so that the Tartars could only forget about the ditches and sigh!"
Everyone was stunned and laughed. Thinking about it carefully, it seems that the West Route Army is the most suitable to do this kind of thing. It is not suitable for the Nanhai Battalion to do it alone.
The handsome man really knows people and makes good use of them!
"I'm here to write a letter to the commander, and you guys will pass the news on!"
Li Zicheng waved his hand: "We have been here for half a month, and the morale of the army has dropped a lot. This good news makes everyone very excited!"
Everyone said yes and dispersed.
"Uncle, are you imitating the handsome man in your words and deeds now?"
Li Guo, who was walking at the end, turned his head and lowered his head to Li Zicheng and muttered: "The Marshal is a learned man. You don't want to imitate the Marshal's speech. Why do you look at thousands of ravines and sigh in disbelief? I almost missed him just now."
I couldn’t help laughing!”
"Get out!"
Li Zicheng kicked him over, and Li Guo ran away with a smile. The solemn atmosphere in the room just now dissipated with his laughter.
"This little bastard!" Li Zicheng glared at his nephew fiercely: "You still need to deal with it..."
He looked outside and suddenly discovered that the sky, which was originally filled with snowflakes, had suddenly become extremely quiet. Except for the thick snow, there was no more snowflake in the sky.
The thick clouds in the sky seemed to be being fiddled with by a pair of invisible hands. They were slowly separating. Wisps of sunlight worked hard to get out of the gaps in the clouds, dyeing the thick clouds with a golden edge.
At the same time, it also threw a trace of warmth into the vast white land.