Hongzhou couldn't hold it anymore. Li Yanxian personally led the army to attack the city, and the number of large-caliber artillery was especially large.
After twelve days of bombardment, a section of the city wall collapsed, leaving a gap.
As deputy commander-in-chief, Li Yanxian was in charge of the third and fourth corps. Zhang Xian, Yao Pingzhong, Zhong Yanchong and other generals were under his control.
Therefore, there was no need for him to rush to grab the credit. After learning that Zhong Yanchong had captured Longzhou, Li Yanxian continued the bombardment unhurriedly.
Li Yanxian used infantry and a small amount of cavalry to besiege the city, and a large group of cavalry was scattered between Hongzhou and Youzhou. He hoped to continue the siege of Hongzhou, forcing Zong Cunli to come to the rescue, and then besiege the city for reinforcements and eliminate Xixia's effective forces.
Facts have proved that Li Yanxian thought too much.
Bin Cunli didn’t have the guts to come to the rescue!
The Longzhou defenders abandoned the city and fled. Although Zhong Yanchong led his troops in pursuit, they could not see clearly in the middle of the night, and the Xixia army fled on horseback. After pursuing for more than 20 miles, most of the Xixia soldiers escaped, which was enough.
More than five thousand Xixia Qingqi escaped.
More than a thousand cavalry escaped from Yinzhou City, and more than 600 cavalry escaped from Sicheng, a brave army. They were so frightened that they wanted to cross the desert directly, but found that the Ming army was not pursuing them, so they went south around the edge of the desert to Yanzhou.
Now, Zhang Xian, Yao Pingzhong, Zhong Yanchong, Xiao Heda and others have gathered under Shizhou City to besiege them from all sides.
They received Li Yanxian's order and divided half of them to attack Youzhou.
As for whose troops will go, you decide by drawing lots!
Anyway, it doesn't matter who goes, drawing lots is more fair, don't think of weird things afterwards.
"How many times?"
"Once is enough, don't act like a bitch."
"Okay. For the sake of fairness, let General Duoyou write the lottery papers."
"I can't write Chinese characters."
"Draw a circle and draw a cross. Those who touch the circle will attack Youzhou, and those who touch the cross will attack Shizhou."
Duoyou turned away from everyone, cut the paper and drew circles, then crumpled it into a ball and put it on the table.
Yao Pingzhong was the first to take a wad of paper, and the others also reached for it.
"Haha, my luck finally improved for once!" Yao Pingzhong opened the paper ball, he touched the fork, and stayed to continue playing Shizhou.
Zhong Yanchong unfolded the paper ball and took a look. He was so angry that he started kneading it again and smashed it to the ground to vent his anger.
He led Xiao Heda and Duoyou to besiege Shizhou for several days. Cracks had already been blasted out of the city wall with artillery. It would take at most two or three days to capture it.
At this time, I have to put aside my efforts to destroy the city and lead the troops to attack that damn Youzhou.
After Zhang Xian saw the lot he drew, he said with a smile: "If you are willing to admit defeat, General Zhong invites you."
Zhong Yanchong walked away with a cold face, Xiao Heda followed him dumbfounded, and Duoyou scratched his head and followed him out.
The three men set out with their army and passed by Xiao Heda's hometown, Xiazhou.
Xiao Heda and Duoyou's infantry were all in Xiazhou City. They left a small number of troops to defend the city and continued to march with the rest of the troops following Zhong Yanchong.
Duo You led the three light cavalry units in Dingzhou to speed up the reconnaissance situation on the front line.
However, they found that the villages along the way were deserted and the houses had long been burned down. They continued to move forward and soon met the reconnaissance cavalry sent by Li Yanxian outside Youzhou City.
The city gate of Youzhou was opened, and all the defenders had fled.
Moreover, they led the people to flee, leaving no one in the city. They even burned down large areas of houses and forced the people who refused to move to leave.
Two groups of cavalry entered Youzhou City, and each sent people back to report the news.
After Li Yanxian learned of the situation, he accelerated his attack on the city and captured Hongzhou City the next day.
Zhong Yanchong and Xiao Heda led their troops to advance rapidly and occupied the empty city of Youzhou. They received military orders from Li Yanxian that night, allowing them to rest for a day and continue marching, and then led their troops to kill in the direction of Yanzhou.
…
Yanzhou (Dingbian County).
Nong Cunli looked at the dilapidated city wall and had no confidence in defending it.
A city wall like this would be destroyed by artillery fire in three days at most!
But Brother Richard issued a death order. If Yanzhou cannot be defended, the most they can do is retreat to Tiemenguan or Baichi City.
A fast horse came galloping and went straight into Yanzhou Yamen.
I opened and read the letter without cunli, and I was very happy after reading it.
The new king of Xixia, Li Renxiao, has completed his wedding. He can not only rely on marriage to win over the country's big families, but also make the sixteen-year-old emperor appear more stable.
Bong Cunli’s daughter has been officially named queen!
This matter was not only due to the strength of the Zong family, but also because Zong Cunli spent money to operate it, and it was also the result of a compromise between Li Renzhong and Brother Richard.
He is a confidant of the Prime Minister Li Renzhong who has no regard for etiquette.
Damn it, my daughter is a queen, what else do I have to be afraid of?
Retreat directly to the direction of Xingqing Mansion, building strong walls and clearing fields along the way to lure the enemy deeper.
Anyway, I can't fight head-on anymore.
The enemy is really terrible.
Bin Cunli didn't even have the confidence to defeat Xiao Heda, let alone those Ming troops who were like wolves and tigers. Historically, Bin Cunli held an army of tens of thousands and was defeated by Xiao Heda at least five times, and finally retreated with his troops.
Lingzhou is a tortoise.
Just do it!
Not only did Bin Cunli evacuate with his troops and civilians, he even sent people to destroy several major local salt ponds as much as possible, so that the Ming army could not recover in a short time.
What he now has in his hands are soldiers and horses from seven states under the jurisdiction of the three major military divisions.
To be precise, it was the soldiers and horses of the six states, because the soldiers and horses of Xiazhou were in the hands of Xiao Heda.
Moreover, except for the soldiers and horses of Yanzhou who had not yet fought, the other armies were all defeated and defeated, and they fled back to Zong Cunli in embarrassment. Even if the burden soldiers (auxiliary soldiers) were included, the total number was only 70,000.
Remain.
There are more than 100,000 old, weak, women and children.
During the withdrawal, there were loud cries all the way. Old people and sick people kept falling down and being abandoned on the semi-desert grassland.
The morale of the entire army has declined to the extreme, and the soldiers all want to know the status of their families.
Many soldiers wanted to escape, but were worried that they would not be able to take their families with them, or that they would be executed if they were involved.
??????55.??????
Zhong Yanchong, Xiao Heda and Duoyou traveled all the way and arrived in Yanzhou and found that it was also an empty city. Not to mention the city, not even a single ghost could be seen in the several large salt ponds.
Well, actually there are a few who are hiding and haven't left. It's impossible to search every place because Neng Cunli is in a hurry to retreat.
"Can Yanzhou be abandoned?" Zhong Yanchong was shocked.
Xiao Heda pointed to the dilapidated city wall and said: "There has been no war in Yanzhou for a long time, and the city has not been repaired for decades. Let alone General Zhong with artillery, even if I bring Xiazhou soldiers, I can defeat Yanzhou in a few days."
Take it."
Zhong Yanchong nodded: "That's true."
Although Wang Cunli was very timid, he really did the right thing in retreating.
Otherwise, all the 70,000 remaining soldiers in his hands will have to be handed over here. Retreating can at least preserve the living strength.
If the Ming army pursued them all the way, the food road would be stretched extremely long.
Not to mention the grain roads within the Ming Dynasty, after leaving the country, there are still five to six hundred miles ahead!
Moreover, after passing Yanzhou, there are mostly semi-desert grasslands along the way. On the long grain road, the grain transport team may be attacked at any time, and Xixia Qingqi can come and go like the wind in this area.
…
Xingqing Mansion.
News of the frontline's retreat came like snowflakes.
The monarchs and ministers of Xixia were completely panicked. They urgently recalled Brother Richard from the north to take charge, and sent Privy Councilor Wang Shu to replace Brother Richard to guard Keyi Gate - which was being attacked by Yue Fei and Han Shizhong.
Compared with the hundreds of thousands of Ming troops in Shaanxi, this partial army of Yue Fei and Han Shizhong was obviously not as valued by the Xixia monarchs and ministers.
Brother Richard, who has just rushed back to Xingqing Mansion, is listening to the latest battle situation.
"The Mu brothers rebelled and led their tribes to join the enemy in Huizhou. Lingbo Mountain, Weijing Mountain and other dangerous villages were all captured by the enemy. They were all mountainous areas, and many mountain tribes did not want to fortify their walls and clear the fields, so they brought food with them.
If you hide in the mountains and refuse to leave, you will most likely defect to the enemy due to lack of food..."
"Last year, Dabin rebelled in Weizhou. Although the chaos was successfully put down, the remnants of Dabin fled into Leshan, and Weizhou was in short supply of food and grass because of the quelling of the rebellion. The Jingsai Military Division did not have enough food, so the soldiers there could only
They abandoned the city and retreated. But the people did not want to leave. Their food supplies... were severely confiscated to suppress the rebellion last year. There were even two tribes that did not rebel last year, but this year they surrendered."
Brother Richard was extremely shocked: "That's the shortest route for the Ming army to kill, and it's also the main area for clearing the country. Did everyone fail to clear the country?"
Li Renzhong nodded: "The commander-in-chief, deputy commander-in-chief, supervisor of the army, and the magistrate of Weizhou should all be killed. These bastards work together to exploit the people. They have to send more troops in the year of drought. Last year, a tribe was killed
To force rebellion. Although the other tribes did not rebel, they were still estranged from the imperial court. How could they be willing to relocate their tribes and strengthen the walls to clear the country?"
"When employing people, you cannot casually kill the generals in charge of the army." Brother Richard said.
Except for the supervisor and the magistrate, they are all the confidants of Brother Richard. How can Li Renzhong be killed?
Li Renzhong said: "The soldiers and tribesmen who withdrew, especially the chiefs, are clamoring to kill corrupt officials before fighting. These people must be given an explanation, otherwise there will be no more fighting. They are very likely to
Rebellion and surrender to the enemy.”
Brother Richard said: "Then first take the supervisors and magistrates back to Xingqing Mansion and temporarily detain them. This can be considered as an explanation to the soldiers and the people. At the same time, we must also appease the capital and deputy capital to prevent them from becoming too frightened.
think."
Li Renzhong did not dare to kill all the people, so he could only agree to this method: "The one who captured Weizhou was Deng Chun, the commander-in-chief of the Ming army. This man was an old member of Emperor Zhu's army. He became Emperor Zhu's entourage before the army started, and he was known as
He has not lost a single battle in the southern and northern campaigns. He has continued to advance and capture Pule City, and is now probably besieging Yaode City. It is only more than 300 miles away from Xingqing Mansion!"
Brother Richard quickly said: "Hold on, we must hold on. The water volume of the Yellow River is not large now, we must wait until the water rises before we dig the embankment!"
Li Renzhong showed a bitter look on his face: "I can't hold off. The Ming army is not the Song army, and the siege speed is too fast. Our Daxia soldiers are not as brave and fearless as before, and many tribal soldiers passively avoid fighting."
"Moreover, after we captured Xi Zuo, there were Ming troops from all walks of life, Xi Zuo, who persuaded the tribal chiefs to defect to Xia and join the Ming Dynasty. The chiefs did not dare to defect directly, but they gave themselves a way out to preserve their strength."
"Take Mengjing Village as an example. The Ming army was still a few miles away, but the soldiers guarding the village fled. After the guard fled back, he was beheaded and executed. As a result, the chief of his tribe defected with his tribe..."
Brother Richard was speechless.
People's hearts are broken!
The reason why the Xixia army in the direction of the Jingsai Army Division collapsed at the first touch and fled was not entirely because the Ming army was too powerful.
The real reason is successive years of disasters and excessive exploitation.
Before the Ming army came, there was a tribal rebellion last year. When suppressing the uprising, food and supplies were collected nearby, forcing the local tribes to become full of resentment.
If Da Mingxiao went to instigate rebellion again, many tribal chiefs were wavering, how could they risk their lives to help the Xixia court fight the war?
A eunuch stood outside the palace and said anxiously: "There is urgent news from the front."
Li Renxiao said: "Bring it in."
The urgent report was sent by Zong Cunli, telling him that he had abandoned Yanzhou and retreated.
Li Renzhong was furious: "This guy is so brave. He has been defeated in battle and yet he dares to withdraw his troops without permission!"
Brother Richard said: "He did the right thing. We underestimated the Ming army before and overestimated our own combat power. The three military divisions in the left wing were defeated too quickly. Let alone fighting in the field, we could not even defend the city.
.If Wang Cunli stays and defends Yanzhou, his tens of thousands of soldiers will be wiped out. It is better to retreat all the way to lengthen the Ming army's supply line."
"What should we do next?" Li Renzhong asked.
Brother Richard said: "Let Ren Dejing defend Lingzhou until the water in the Yellow River rises and then dig dikes, which will flood the Ming army's food roads and retreat routes. On the other side of Zongcunli, the Ming army's food roads will be dragged down.
Very long, I personally led the cavalry to attack the Ming army's grain transport team. On Wang Shu's side, Keyimen City is high and deep, and the troops are well-equipped with food. It should be difficult for Han Shizhong and Yue Fei to break it."