The officers and soldiers of Hanzhong Prefecture have gathered outside Lueyang County.
They were preparing for the first siege and were arguing about who should attack first.
Liu Yingyu was the first to speak: "My soldiers are not good at siege warfare."
Lu Liang, the commander of the Ningqiang Guards, also echoed: "My soldiers are not suitable either. We are responsible for the feint attack on the west wall and mainly ambush the reinforcements."
"I'm not going to attack the city. I think as long as we surround the city, the thieves in yellow will soon starve to death."
Lu Tianshou also shied away and proposed a seemingly ingenious solution.
Liang Ping, a member of the Qianhu household in Mian County, did not say anything because his position was the weakest.
Zhou Qisheng shook the feather fan in his hand and watched the generals shirk away.
He directly threatened and lured: "You have a total of four teams.
The city wall also has four sides. We have to besiege the city anyway, and each person is responsible for one wall.
The attack began immediately at noon.
Whoever is the first to climb the city wall will be rewarded with 20,000 taels of silver.
Anyone who dares not to attack is just dragging his feet and pretending.
I will ask Mr. Wang to report to the court immediately to punish him.
This is a crime for which the whole family is exiled. If you want to seek death, don’t implicate the family."
Zhou Qisheng looked at the four generals in silence.
He knows that his carrot-and-stick strategy has been successful.
…
Li Fengming saw that the Ming army, which was originally small in number, began to divide its forces.
He said in a relaxed tone: "I guess this is a conflict within the army.
You can see that the four armies are clearly divided, and there is obviously no unified command."
Su He saw the two largest Ming Dynasty official troops attacking the North City Wall and the West City Wall respectively.
Liu Yingyu's gourd soldiers attacked the east wall.
The Qianhu Division in Mian County, which had the smallest number of people, attacked the south city wall.
Su He arranged defensive troops according to the deployment of Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers.
He led a regiment of guards to guard the north wall, which was damaged but had been simply repaired.
The Second Brigade and the First Regiment defended the west wall.
The third regiment and two battalions defended the east wall where Liu Yingyu attacked.
Su Ying led the gendarmerie to command the young and strong men to defend the southern city wall with the least pressure.
Noon.
The Ming army launched an attack at the same time.
When they reached 900 meters from the city head, the cannon on the city wall opened fire immediately.
This distance is the optimal range for 75-gun shells.
There are at least ten 75mm cannons on each city wall, and thirty tiger squatting cannons.
The 75 cannons on the top of the city fired cannonballs, dense iron bullets the size of grapes, attacking the Ming army like a heavy rain.
The huge penetrating power of the shotgun can directly penetrate the armor of the servants.
Not even the intact corpses of Ming officers and soldiers who entered the shooting range could be found.
This Shura hell-like scene scared the soldiers in the rear and turned around and ran away.
…
Zhou Qisheng's face turned livid and he asked: "Let the soldiers rush over directly. Why did you all run away as soon as the thieves in yellow opened fire?"
Lu Tianshou still had a look of fear on his face, and he immediately retorted:
"Master Zhou, this battle is impossible to fight. You have seen that scene. Which soldier would not be afraid."
Lu Liangliang said with lingering fear: "Brother Lu is right, we should still besiege the city.
Our army is here, and the thieves in yellow can't transport the food and grass into the city at all.
There is not much food and grass in Lueyang County.
Even if we don’t feed the people in the county, they won’t be able to eat for long, and the thieves in yellow will be trapped to death in half a year.”
Zhou Qisheng rolled his eyes when he heard this method of siege and consumption.
"The yellow-robed thief has limited food and grass, and the gunpowder in his hands is even more limited.
Lueyang County had no raw materials for gunpowder at all, so he used less gunpowder in his hands.
We can definitely use corvee labor to consume the gunpowder of the thieves in yellow.
The town of Lueyang County is only six meters high and there are no cannons to defend the city. We can only climb the city wall with a simple ladder."
The four Ming generals' eyes changed when they looked at Zhou Qisheng. This scholar was too ruthless.
The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty pushed the corvee conscripts in front of the army and forced them to attack the city.
They gave the strong men some ladders and a spear.
The servant soldiers stood behind the corvee holding swords.
…
On the city wall, Li Fengming saw this scene and asked: "Commander Su, shall we fire?"
Su He sighed and said, "Fire."
War has no place for Our Lady.
He was able to order gunfire when facing women and children at Yimen Fort, and he would never be soft-hearted here.
The cannon on the city wall roared again.
The corvee fell in pieces like wheat cut by a sickle.
The corvee behind was frightened by the power of the cannon, turned around and ran away.
The servant soldier who was in charge of supervising the army drew out the long knife from his waist and stabbed the fleeing corvee.
They shouted at the same time: "Whoever dares to escape will be punished by military law."
The corvees were suppressed and continued to consume Lueyang City's ammunition reserves.
…
November 11th, noon.
Su He saw the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty pressing down on the corvees and charging continuously.
They had been attacking the city for three consecutive days, and out of more than 10,000 corvees, only less than 1,000 were left.
Their gunpowder reserves were low, and they only had a few hundred grenades left.
Li Fengming saw the Ming army attacking the city again and said: "The army's purpose of consuming our ammunition has been achieved.
The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were too ruthless and would do anything to win.
They are heavily blocked in the west of the city, and our logistics forces are too weak to break through the official defense lines and deliver ammunition."
"Time is with us. Today is the 11th. No matter how slow Su Xiong walks, he will reach Hanzhong.
I'll wait for Su Xiong's good news, what are they waiting for?"
Su He believed that Su Xiong would succeed. He had already attracted most of the troops of Hanzhong Prefecture to Lueyang City.
Hanzhong City has no troops to defend.
…
November 11th, evening.
Zhou Qisheng saw that Lueyang City's cannon misfired and even the grenades were gone.
He laughed when he saw victory in sight.
The frustration of the past few days was gone, and his plan was successful.
Zhou Qisheng issued the order for a general offensive:
"Launch an attack and capture Lueyang County in one fell swoop."
The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty stepped on the bloody mud and launched an attack on Lueyang City.
Zhang Yuliang sighed and said, "What a sin! The mine's match rope is soaked in blood and cannot be lit."
The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty rushed to the bottom of the city and were greeted by rolling logs.
The attack of the Ming army was thwarted again.
Zhou Qisheng gritted his teeth and said: "I don't believe that I can't capture this small city, and I can fill it up even if I take my own life.
Let me attack with all my strength, they will run out of gunpowder, and we will win if we get to the top of the city."
The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty used ladders to continuously attack the city. There were no rolling logs in Lueyang City.
The people's houses were demolished, and the wood was ripped out and used to defend the city.
Li Dazhuang used a knife to cut down a servant soldier from the city. This was the eighth Ming Dynasty officer he had killed who had climbed to the top of the city.
Zhou Qisheng watched as servants and soldiers climbed up the city wall one after another. Victory was already in sight.
A servant soldier from outside ran into the camp and shouted: "Oh no, there is a group of thieves in yellow coming from behind us."
Zhou Qisheng glared and yelled angrily: "You fart, Hanzhong City is behind us, where did the thieves in yellow come from?"
He then reacted and collapsed on the ground.
"The city of Hanzhong is broken, Hanzhong is finished, and I am finished."
Su He saw their unique signal flare rising in the direction of Chencang Road in Hanzhong Prefecture.
The formation of the Ming army also became chaotic.
He knew that Su Xiong had achieved success and sent troops to support him.
Su He encouraged loudly: "Everyone, hold on a little longer, our reinforcements have arrived."
When the soldiers saw the reinforcements arriving, their morale immediately reached its peak and they drove down all the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers who had climbed up the city wall.
From the direction of Chencang Road in Hanzhong Prefecture, a large number of soldiers in yellow uniforms armed with spears launched an attack on the government troops.
The morale of the Ming army collapsed and they were quickly wiped out.
