Su He was in the military camp reading the battle reports sent by the troops.
From time to time, the roar of cannons could be heard in my ears.
One group had already occupied Guanyin Hall. The gentry there received the news in advance and ran to Yimen Fort.
While the regiment was occupying Yimen Fort, the defenders at Dashan Pass did not move at all.
The first regiment was stationed at Yimen Fort, and Su Ergou also sent a reconnaissance battalion to sneak into Dashan Pass.
The second and third regiments are making very good progress and will be able to join forces tomorrow to lay siege to Yimen Fort.
"Su Que, notify the artillery battalion to take some tiger squat guns and medium-sized artillery and set off for Yimen Fort."
Su Que received the order and went to the artillery camp to deliver the order.
Su He wrote several handwritten orders to mobilize young men and women to transport food, grass and baggage to the army.
“There are no literate scholars now, and we can’t even find teachers to train new literate talents.
There are so many villages in the base area and so many things are mixed together in a mess.
No one has sorted out the priorities and has no idea how to deal with it.”
Su He looked at the messy reports on the table and complained silently in his heart.
These reports were written by soldiers who asked local literate rich farmers.
Everything above is covered, and you have to ask him to make decisions on trivial matters.
The villages captured by the army are all south of the Weihe River. These villages cannot be abandoned and must be directly included in the management of the base area.
The frontline soldiers captured the village, leaving only a few people to take charge of opening warehouses, distributing grain, and lending land.
Because of the threats made by the gentry before fleeing, local villagers did not dare to lend their fields.
…
The artillery battalion and logistics transport team quickly assembled and they moved towards Yimen Fort.
On the way, Zhang Yuliang and Su He discussed the semaphore that Su He had developed during this period.
The semaphore was specially designed by Su He for remote command.
Now only a few people, such as Su Que and Zhang Yuliang, master the semaphore language.
Su He talks about his research on the rest of the ideas.
“With the existence of semaphores, information can be exchanged briefly on the battlefield.
The battlefield is too noisy and it is impossible to command by voice.
In the event of an emergency and the messenger cannot arrive quickly, the flag message can be used to issue orders very quickly."
Zhang Yuliang praised the flag, and he asked again: "Commander Su, Yimen Fort cannot stop the cannons, it is easy to capture it.
After we capture Yimen Fort, should we attack the county seat?
Attacking the county seat has a different meaning.
The imperial court generally dealt with rebels who did not attack the county town as petty thieves and relied on the county's own troops to deal with them.
Once we capture the county seat, we will be regarded as a large group of rebels, and the Governor of Shaanxi will definitely send troops to encircle and suppress us.
It was even marked by the emperor to send the governor to dispatch troops from several provinces to encircle and suppress it."
"There is no way, we must win the county seat. Now that we have enough strength, we must show our due strength.
I received a report that in the newly occupied villages, villagers did not dare to borrow land.
Only after detailed questioning did anyone tell the truth, and the gentry in the village had already informed them in advance.
Whoever dares to accept the land of the thieves in yellow will not be left alive after they come back.
Because the villagers were afraid of the gentry, they avoided borrowing food from us.
We must conquer the county and let the villagers see our strength, so that they can truly support us."
Su He had a reason to capture the county seat, and the successful casting of bronze cannons further strengthened his idea.
Su He took out the simple map from the guard, unfolded it and handed it to Zhang Yuliang for viewing.
"The county seat is close to the Wei River. If we deploy forts on the Wei River, can we block the Ming Dynasty's attack?"
Zhang Yuliang held the map in his hand, carefully thinking about the location of the fort, and calculating the enemies that the fort's firepower could block.
"Commander Su, artillery alone is not enough, but there are enough defenders, and with the performance of our artillery, I am confident that we can hold the Wei River defense line.
But this is because the number of enemy troops is less than five times that of our defenders.
It's just that the Governor of Shaanxi sent troops to encircle and suppress it with all his strength, but I don't think we can hold it.
If the Wei River was still the same Wei River as before, there would be no problem in defending it.
Now that the Wei River is almost at its bottom, soldiers can just wade through the water. The Wei River is no longer a natural hazard."
Zhang Yuliang gave the answer based on his experience.
When Su He heard Zhang Yuliang's answer, he felt relieved. It was not difficult to hold the Weihe defense line.
No matter how shallow the water in the Wei River is, it can still delay the attack of the Ming army.
Besides, the Ming Dynasty simply doesn’t have enough troops now.
Shaanxi's military forces are making every effort to encircle and suppress the rebels led by the "Second Kings", and the rebels will not be driven into Shanxi until the end of next year.
Jiannu will join the Koubei Zhili at the end of this year, and other regions will have to support the Gyeonggi region, and they will not be able to mobilize troops into Shaanxi.
He continued to develop for a while, cast enough cannons, and trained a large number of qualified artillerymen.
It's no problem to make cement, build a fortress artillery group, and defend the base.
…
The army passed by many villages, and some villagers were not afraid of them at all. They also asked if they could recruit young men, who wanted to join the army.
When some villagers saw the troops holding the Great Wall military flag and wearing khaki clothes, they immediately dodged as if they were encountering the god of plague.
Su He sent the guards to change clothes and pretend to be hawkers to understand the situation.
Finally, we received news that the local village gentry was extremely cruel.
The gentry spread the word, as long as the villagers had contact with the thief in yellow, even if they just said a word.
When they come back, they will kill the three tribes of this villager.
When Zhang Yuliang heard the news, his face turned red with anger and he said angrily: "I didn't expect these gentry to be so cruel. They completely regard themselves as the local emperors here."
“The imperial power of the Ming Dynasty did not go to the countryside, and the villages were completely managed by the gentry and their clans.
After being oppressed for a long time, these people thought they were the emperors of the country.
We must directly manage the villages to prevent them from being controlled by local clans.
The gentry as a group are like leech lying on the peasants to suck their blood."
Su He gritted his teeth and said that from the reports he had seen in the past few days, the actions of the gentry had exceeded the lower limit of human imagination.
…
The army gathered at Yimen Fort, a small city protected by a bluestone wall.
Now the gate of Yimenbao is closed, and the walls are guarded by gentry and servants.
Some of the servants had strong bows and crossbows, and large pieces of rolling logs were piled on the city walls.
Su He and Su Xiong are observing Yimen Fort and discussing tactics for attacking Yimen Fort.
Su Xiong briefly introduced the process of commanding the army to surround Yimen Fort in the past few days.
"When the gentry noticed our attack, they all fled in advance, and we basically encountered no resistance.
Before they escaped, they threatened and intimidated the villagers, causing panic.
I gained the trust of some villagers by opening a warehouse to distribute grain.
We surrounded Yimen Fort last night, and the gentry even sent servants to attack us at night.
We used ropes and flints to arrange some simple mechanisms for igniting mines.
The servants were so frightened by the power of the mines that they never dared to leave the city again."
Su He pointed at Yimen Fort and asked Su Xiong: "If our army does not have artillery, how are you going to attack Yimen Fort?"
"Then there are only two ways, besiege the city or use human lives to fill it."
Su Xiong thought for a moment and then gave his answer.
"Yes, although Yimen Fort is small, it is built stronger than the county seat. But we have cannons." Su He smiled and ordered, "Artillery battalion, fire the cannons."
Su Que, who was beside Su He, raised the green flag in his hand and drew it twice.
…
Zhang Yuliang led the artillery battalion, and he placed six cannons at the north gate of Yimen Fort.
Three slightly larger bronze cannons and three somewhat compact iron cannons.
He personally adjusted the angle of the cannon so that the cannonballs could hit the gate and city wall of Yimen Fort.
He saw Su He giving him the order to fire in semaphores.
"fire."
Zhang Yuliang gave the order to the artillery to fire.
The fire origami in the hands of the artilleryman has been lit.
Zhang Yuliang saw that the flags in Suhe had changed again, which was a signal to stop firing.
"Stop firing."
Zhang Yuliang issued an urgent order to stop firing.