Zhu Yuanzhang is located in Hengjian Mountain, preparing to conquer a group of bandits in Hengjian Mountain.
This group of bandits were originally Yuan soldiers. After Yangzhou was captured by Jiangdu's army, a man named Miao Daheng gathered the defeated Yangzhou army here and slowly developed into a green forest force of more than 3,000 people.
Originally, there were many bandits in Dingyuan, and they had good relations with Guo Zixing, so Zhu Yuanzhang was very sure of conquering them.
It was a pity that these bandits later defected to Jiangdu Army. In desperation, Zhu Yuanzhang had no choice but to take the risk and come to Hengjian Mountain to find Miao Daheng, hoping to get this force.
This time, Zhu Yuanzhang only brought Tang He and Xu Da with him. After arriving at Hengjian Mountain, the other party took them to a room to wait. However, after waiting for a long time, Miao Daheng did not see them.
While waiting, the three of them heard the bandits talking outside the door, talking about Jiangdu's army's defeat of Jia Lu.
Tang He listened for a long time, sighed, and said: "Brother, we and Zhao Junyong and Sun Deya couldn't defeat Jia Lu, but Jia Lu was defeated by Jiangdu Army. I think we should give up attacking Chuzhou and don't offend Jiangdu Army."
Let’s do it!”
Zhu Yuanzhang was silent.
Tang He continued: "I heard that Miao Daheng and Manager Zhang are enemies, and now that he has this attitude towards us, there is no point in staying here!"
"Xuda, who do you think will win the battle of Yangzhou?" Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly asked.
Xu Da sat upright on a chair and said slowly: "Although the Yuan army is powerful, they are not united, and the outcome is uncertain!"
Zhu Yuanzhang asked again: "You also think that Chuzhou cannot be attacked?"
Xu Dadao: "Zhang Yangquan attacked Tongzhou and cut off Zhang Shicheng's opportunity to go south. Now we are not allowed to attack Chuzhou. Obviously he is aiming for Jiangnan. If we give up, we might as well return to our hometown to farm and stop talking about making contributions!"
Zhu Yuanzhang laughed: "This is exactly what I want. Zhang Yangquan was just a bandit at the beginning, Zhang Shicheng was a salt seller, and Xu Shouhui was a cloth seller. They can get to where they are today because they worked hard step by step. Are we no match for them?"
Them?"
Tang He smiled and said: "You two are right, I have no objection!"
Xu Dadao: "The attack on Chuzhou needs to be as fast as possible, otherwise we will lose the opportunity when Jiangdu army defeats Yuan army or when Yuan army recovers Yangzhou!"
Tang He frowned and said, "But we only have more than 500 people now, and Mr. Miao doesn't see us. What can we do?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said calmly: "I know what Mr. Miao is worried about!"
Both of them asked: "What?"
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled but did not answer, walked to the door, and said to the bandit guarding the door: "I would like to tell you Master Miao Village, I want to attack Chuzhou, and I hope to get help from Master Miao Village!"
The bandit agreed and went to report. After a while, he came back and said: "My village leader said that if you can capture Chuzhou, he will be willing to join your army!"
Zhu Yuanzhang smiled slightly and said: "Very good, please tell Master Miao that I will wait for him in the Chuzhou County Yamen!"
Tang and Xu were both in a daze.
Xu Da realized it first: "Brother, do you want to prove to Miao Daheng your determination to oppose Zhang Yangquan by attacking Chuzhou?"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said: "What Miao Daheng is most worried about is that if we join Jiangdu Army in the future, he will not be able to live with himself, so we will reassure him!"
Tang He said: "Without the help of Miao Daheng's three thousand people, how could we conquer Chuzhou?"
Zhu Yuanzhang said slowly: "Just take it one step at a time. The solutions are all thought up by people!"
In early March, Tuotuo sent envoys from Zhao'an to Wenzhou.
Recently, Fang Guozhen fully seized the opportunity of Jiangnan Army being sent to Jiangbei, silently expanding his own strength, first conquering Wenzhou Road, and now attacking Chuzhou Road.
However, the process of attacking Chuzhou was not smooth. A marshal named Liu Ji led thousands of militiamen and defeated his troops many times.
Later, Fang Guozhen gathered a large army for encirclement and suppression, but Liu Ji avoided the truth and led his troops to hide in the mountains.
When Fang Guozhen attacked Chuzhou City, he came out again and harassed the rear.
After a long battle, Fang Guozhen's men and horses were all exhausted.
He was thinking about whether to return to Wenzhou for some rest, when the envoy from Tuotuo came over.
Fang Guozhen was overjoyed and received the envoy in person.
"In fact, Mr. Fang has never had any intention of turning back, but the court has repeatedly forced him to do so. As long as the court is willing to let things go, I am willing to accept the imperial edict and withdraw immediately!"
The envoy said: "The Prime Minister has an order. As long as Fang Shenzheng is willing to conquer Tongzhou, Fang Shenzheng will also make a great contribution to Yangzhou after he recovers it in the future!"
Fang Guozhen said repeatedly: "The Prime Minister is willing to give me the opportunity to perform meritorious service, which means that he does not treat me as an outsider. Please don't worry, after I take a rest, I will attack Tongzhou immediately!"
The envoy frowned and said: "The situation in Yangzhou is urgent. Please join us in politics and attack Tongzhou immediately without delay!"
Fang Guozhen sighed and said: "Zhang Yangquan once humiliated me in Tongzhou, and I want to take Tongzhou immediately to take revenge. It's a pity that the soldiers are tired from long battles. If they rush to attack now, they may lose the battle and inflict trouble on the prime minister."
Trouble!"
The envoy was startled and said, "How long will you need to rest?"
Fang Guozhen said: "At most half a month!"
The envoy hesitated for a while and said: "Well, after half a month, I hope Fang Shenzheng will send troops immediately, without any further excuses! I will stay here and return to Yangzhou with Fang Shenzheng!"
Fang Guozhen's eyes flashed coldly, and he smiled and said: "That's fine."
The generals under his command were very puzzled. After the Tuotuo envoy left, Li Desun said: "Commander, are we really going to turn around and attack the rebels again?"
Fang Guozhen said calmly: "We are developing well in Zhejiang, why go to the muddy waters of Yangzhou? You have also seen the strength of Jiangdu Army, is it easy to deal with?"
Li Desun was even more confused: "Then why should we accept the imperial edict?"
Fang Guozhen said in a deep voice: "In fact, we have already been at a disadvantage in the Chuzhou battle. Liu Ji has been consuming us. If Tuo Tuo had not come to help us rescue us, we may not have been able to escape unscathed!"
Li Desun smiled strangely and said: "So let's borrow the ladder to go down the wall, go back to Wenzhou to recuperate for a while, and then turn around to attack Chuzhou!"
Fang Guozhen narrowed his eyes and said: "We must fight, but we need to get rid of that old boy Liu Ji first. Take someone to the Marshal's Mansion, bring more gold, bribe the officials, and get rid of Liu Ji!" p>
"Understood!"
Unexpectedly, Li Desun came back just after leaving for a day.
Fang Guozhen asked in confusion: "Why did you come back so quickly?"
Li Desun laughed and said: "Liu Ji opposed the imperial edict for us, broke up with the officials of the Marshal's Mansion, and left in despair!"
Fang Guozhen laughed: "It seems that the Tatars are really at the end of their strength, and God will not help them! Send the order to let the brothers rest for five days, and continue to attack Chuzhou after five days!"
"What to do with the envoy Tuotuo?"
Fang Guozhen said coldly: "Five days later, use his head to sacrifice the flag!"
……
In the blink of an eye, Gaoyou City has been besieged for more than 20 days.
Since the defeat of Jialu, the main force attacking Gaoyou has become Tuotuo's middle route army and Chahan's right route army. The two armies, one from the south and one from the north, attacked Gaoyou City fiercely.
The morale of the Tuotuo army was low, but the Gaoyou garrison's fighting spirit was high. The battle at the north gate was surprisingly easy, and the Yuan army was unable to climb the city wall.
Later, Tuotuo simply ordered to stop using ladders to attack the city, and instead used long-range attacks with firecrackers and returning artillery, trying to blast a gap in the city wall like in the Battle of Xuzhou.
However, the city wall of Gaoyou was unexpectedly strong. At night, the people would spontaneously help repair the flaws. With the army and the people working together, the offensive at the north gate reached a deadlock!
The really fierce battle was at the south gate. Chahan Timur's right army had not attacked the city before. In addition, they had experienced hundreds of battles, and their combat power was extremely terrifying.
On the first day of the siege, soldiers from the right flank climbed onto the city wall. Although they were quickly killed, their morale was greatly boosted, and soldiers continued to climb onto the city wall.
Zhang Shicheng wore armor and held a sword, and personally led more than a dozen of his generals to guard the south gate wall. He also drew 5,000 people from the north gate. There would be a bloody battle on the south gate wall every day.
In these days, numerous gaps were broken through the north gate of Gaoyou, while the south gate wall was painted purple with blood.
The south gate city wall became a slaughterhouse. More than 2,000 people died on the city wall every day, half of which were divided between the Right Route Army and the Gaoyou defenders.
On the tenth day of the Right Army's attack on the city, the city gate was knocked open by the Right Army's charge.
At the critical moment, Zhang Shicheng led a group of old brothers from Baijuchang to defend the city gate. The two sides engaged in a bloody fight, blood flowed into a river, and the bodies piled up, and finally the city cave was almost blocked. p>
The right-wing army attacking the city was also shocked by the tenacity of Gaoyou's army.
Especially when they saw Zhang Shicheng, who looked like a bloody man, standing on a hill of corpses, glaring at them, the soldiers lost the courage to continue the attack.
Chahan has rich experience in leading troops and knows that forcing his soldiers to attack will cause heavy losses to his own side, leading to a further decline in morale. Not only will the attack be impossible, but it will also affect subsequent sieges.
So Ming Jin retreated his troops and made repairs.
Although the Gaoyou army held on in this battle, they paid heavy sacrifices. Counting the losses in the previous few days, the number of defenders was less than half, and the civilian casualties exceeded 10,000.
Zhang Shicheng knew very well that if the battle continued like this, the destruction of the city would be inevitable.
That night, the sound of the enemy calling for gold and withdrawing troops was heard outside the city.
Watching the enemy disappear like a tide, Zhang Shicheng held on to the parapet and panted violently.
After working hard for this day, his whole body became disheveled, covered in blood, and his golden cloak turned bright red, looking extremely embarrassed!
After a while, the generals slowly gathered together. Everyone was similar to Zhang Shicheng, as if they had taken a bath in the sea of blood.
Zhang Shicheng looked at them one by one and found that one of the "eighteen poles" of the original uprising was missing, and he felt a burst of sadness in his heart.
"Haha, these Tatars are so stupid. Their number is several times greater than ours. If they are divided into several teams and attack day and night, we may not be able to defend it!" Pan Yuanming said with amusement in the bitterness.
Zhang Shide glared at him and said, "What are you doing so loudly? Aren't you afraid that the Tatars below will hear you?"
Zhang Shicheng wanted to smile, but found that his face was covered with blood. He could only say with a straight face: "Don't worry, they still want to retain their strength to attack Jiangdu, and they won't use everything against us!"
Zhang Shide said in a deep voice: "It has been so long, but Jiangdu Army has not made any movement at all. It seems that they are not planning to rescue us!"
Pan Yuanming said: "It may be that there is something wrong with the envoy sent. If Bian Yuanheng goes to ask for help, he will definitely succeed!"
Zhang Shide said angrily: "Bian Yuanheng is guarding Xinghua, and only he can lead more than 10,000 people to withstand the fierce attack of Dong Tuanxiao's army of more than 100,000 people. This is no easier than us!"
Seeing that the generals still had the energy to quarrel, Zhang Shicheng was both angry and amused. He waved his hand and said, "Okay, hurry up and go back and have a rest. We will continue to defend the city tomorrow!"
After receiving the order, the generals descended the city wall one after another and returned to their tents under the city wall to rest.