Chapter 679 Jiang Yingchang, the prefect of Hanzhong
Liu Chengzong loved expanding his territory.
Even the desire for territory exceeds that of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji, Lin Dan Khan or any other ruler in this era.
Because he clearly knows that the era he lives in is catching up with the last train of disorderly expansion of territory.
This is also the reason why he dared to risk his life for a small profit in his early days.
However, as he annexed more and more territories, he became more and more aware of the key to this skill. Although land is valuable, it is not just expansion of territory that will bring benefits.
How much land he wins depends on how good he is at attacking, but whether that land can generate enough revenue actually depends on demand.
This demand comes from both internal and external sources.
For example, in the Hehuang area of Qinghai, the demand comes from within his Lion Camp. They need a piece of land to recuperate.
Therefore, within a short period of only two or three years after acquiring Hehuang, the intelligence of the entire Marshal's Mansion was gathered together to defeat all opponents extremely efficiently, allowing Hehuang to develop rapidly.
The Tianshan Oirat was based on the needs of both parties, but at this time there was very little internal demand, and only Sunday's strong will to expand the territory.
Basically, it was Oirat's unilateral effort to send batches of cattle, sheep, horses and high-quality furs to Qinghai in exchange for the most advanced firearms and equipment of this era.
To some extent, this has fed back the manufacturing industry of Marshal Mansion in Tay Ninh Province.
The Oirat nobles headed by Batur Hutaiji, with their great desire for advanced firearms, organized huge camel caravans to cross the barren land and complete huge trades again and again.
Human will can overcome natural barriers.
As for the choice between Hanzhong and Huguang, it was not Liu Chengzong who chose Hanzhong. In fact, most generals in the Marshal's Office preferred the direction of Huguang.
Although the generals had some resistance to the topography of Huguang in their hearts, it was a stranger land to them than Monan, Mongolia, and it was full of rivers, so water battles that they were unfamiliar with were bound to take place.
But they have Li Zicheng who has already gone south to Huguang. If they can capture Huguang, their management will not be a problem. In the future, with the help of Huguang, they will be able to have enough food and grass.
But therein lies the problem.
Liu Chengzong could not contact Li Zicheng at all.
He was pushed into the mountains by Lu Xiangsheng and hid for a whole winter. No one knew where he was.
Liu Shizi was very surprised by the news at first. General Xunsi Chuang shouldn't be such a bad guy. How could he be beaten like this? He's not as good as Zhang Yichuan!
Later, after Zhao Zhirui, who was stationed in Wuguan, made inquiries from various sources, he learned the general situation of the battlefield in the direction of Huguang.
The generals dispatched by the Ming court and those who fled from Guanzhong to Huguang all had certain strength.
Prime Minister Lu Xiangsheng, Governor of Huguang Wang Mengyin, Governor of Yunyang Song Zushun, generals Yang Zhengfang, Lei Shisheng, Qin Yiming, Li Chongzhen, Yang Shien and Zu Dale who made a fortune while being beaten by others in the pass.
More importantly, in order not to enter Guanzhong and be beaten, they showed unprecedented unity in beating Li Zicheng. The civil officials stopped and the military attachés became less domineering.
In fact, the generals of the Ming army who were skilled in field warfare were not tactically wrong in not wanting to go into the mountains.
Entering the mountains means leaving all the superior weapons such as heavy artillery and muskets to the rear, and carrying light weapons to attack the peasant army who are sitting in a favorable location.
This is still feasible when the peasant army is weak. Once the enemy army is an elite force composed mainly of out-of-service border troops and supplemented by long-standing mountain bandits, they will most likely suffer losses when entering the mountains.
But in Huguang, these players would rather go to the mountains and get beaten up than enter Guanzhong again.
Take Zu Dalue as an example. Although he was not the most domineering person after entering the customs, he was still full of complaints and found it difficult to listen to other people's suggestions.
Good thing now, Lu Xiangsheng will hit wherever he wants, and he will go into the mountain as he is told. If any of his subordinates dare to murmur a word, Lu Xiangsheng will not bother him, he will just draw his sword and behead him.
Anyway, they were all fucking soldiers.
Even if you want to go into the county town to rest, the county will not open the city gate. Well, if it doesn't open, then don't open it. You have kicked the cotton, and we will sleep in the wilderness.
Not to mention Song Zushun, the governor of Yunyang.
In view of the lessons learned from the fall of Yunyang earlier, he experienced the pain of siege and witnessed the difficulty of defending the city. Based on Lu Kun's "Life-saving Book", which is also Liu Chengzong's "Marshal's City Defense Book", he combined the previous generations' city defense measures
The military manual was summarized and the essence was compiled into a "Guidelines for City Defense" and distributed to all counties.
During the Chongzhen period, the grand scene of unified command by civilian officials and concerted efforts of military and military officials, which the high officials in the DPRK dreamed of, was easily achieved in Huguang.
With this group of civil and military generals working together as one, the Marshal's Army and the Eight Banners of the Hou Jin Dynasty were beaten several times when they entered Huguang, let alone Li Zicheng's four battalions.
He was beaten so hard that he was running away with his head in his arms.
Since Li Zicheng could not be found, and the major event of the Northern Expedition was imminent, Liu Chengzong naturally would not consider dividing his troops in Huguang.
However, he was very interested in Song Zushun's "Instructions for Defending the City" and ordered Zhao Zhirui to try his best to get him a copy.
Zhao Zhirui was stationed in Wuguan, which was close to Yunyang. When the plague subsided in winter, he found some idle refugees from Shanyang County and sneaked into Yunyang as spies.
He was deceived once by his spies, took five taels of gold and ran away.
He also sent his trusted veteran to let the spy take him into Yunxi County, and then bribed a subordinate official under Liu Yuanbo, the magistrate of Yunxi County, to buy a set of manuscripts for five taels of gold.
This subordinate official is very interesting. He seems to think that "Guarding the City Essentials" is not worth five taels of gold. He also gave it a set of "The Great Complete Collection of Military Records" compiled by Song Zushun and Wang Minghe.
The former is a manuscript, with a total of more than 20,000 words, just one volume, simple.
The latter directly sent out the official journal issued by Governor Yunyang to Xunxi County.
When Zhao Zhirui delivered it, Liu Chengzong was dumbfounded. Good guy, it's a whole box and it was brought back by a carriage.
The two books added together make twenty-one volumes.
He knew that during the Wanli period, Wang Minghe, the military Jinshi and the chief military officer, wrote a large tome with more than one million words divided into 72 categories. Even if Song Zushun excerpted it, there was still a lot of content left.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! This actually makes Liu Shizi feel very emotional. The book is a good book, but it has fallen into the hands of unwanted people.
When Jiang Yingchang, the prefect of Pingliang, entered Xi'an City, Liu Chengzong was in the Chinese army tent in the west camp of the city, holding the "City Defense Guidelines" and looking at it in fascination.
After receiving the notice from the Lang Guan, and waiting for Jiang Yingchang to enter the account, Liu Shishi put down the scroll in his hand, smiled and gestured: "Prefect Jiang, no, Prefect Jiang is here, sit down."
Jiang Yingchang politely bowed his hands to Liu Chengzong and said, "I'm here to pay my respects to the Generalissimo." Then he sat on the futon opposite the table.
I heard Liu Chengzong look at him up and down, and said with a smile: "It's not fun for you. My troops and horses have all entered Pingliang, and you didn't even say you came to see me. I told you that I wanted to be promoted. You came here quickly."
In fact, Jiang Yingchang, like Zuo Maodi, was more stubborn than Ju Sirang, the prefect of Qingyang Prefecture. Ren Quan'er had already stationed in Pingliang City, and Jiang Yingchang didn't even say he would surrender to the Marshal's Mansion.
Until now, when I met Liu Chengzong, he was still demoted.
Jiang Yingchang said to himself, "You think I want to come. The Pingliang garrison scared me to death earlier. Now it's even more outrageous. Jin Chanzi ran to Pingliang to recruit troops while holding the banner of his clan."
Can I stay in a hellish place like Pingliang?
What's more, at this time, your letter has been sent to Pingliang, how can I not come?
Jiang Yingchang was speechless.
Liu Chengzong was not surprised. He did not hate Jiang Yingchang. He just put away his smile and said: "I understand you. An official with a teaching background was petitioned by the people to be the county magistrate. There was a vacancy in Pingliang Prefecture, and he was selected by the Ministry of Civil Affairs to be the magistrate.
, how many years have it been?”
"The Ming Dynasty has been kind to you, and you are grateful. This is good."
As Liu Shishi said, he changed the subject and said, "But you shouldn't stop coming to visit me."
Jiang Yingchang was very embarrassed, but he kept nodding in agreement.
Liu Chengzong did not buy this, raised his finger and pointed at him and said: "If you know how to be grateful, you should remember who attacked the county but spared your life; who killed the powerful people in the county and made you the real magistrate of the county with great power;
You should remember who killed the previous prefect of Pingliang and asked him to make room for you."
Jiang Yingchang was stunned. Is this how gratitude is calculated?
However, he also recognized these things in his heart. After all, his resume did have a lot of luck.
Jiang Yingchang nodded and said: "Yes, the kindness of the generalissimo will not end even if I work as a cow or a horse in my next life."
"You can't make a good cow or horse even if you are a cow or a horse. Can you plow the land or run fast? Hanzhong suffered from floods last year, and there may be waterlogging again this year. You can become the prefect for me."
Jiang Yingchang also saw that Liu Chengzong was really not angry with him and had no intention of blaming him.
"Alas." Jiang Yingchang lamented: "Generalissimo, how difficult is it to be a human being?"
When the Marshal's army won the battle in Guanzhong, Cao Bianjiao ran outside Pingliang City and scolded him.
Cao Bianjiao spoke incoherently, saying nonsense that all his Pingliang soldiers had fled, blaming it on him, the prefect of Pingliang, and leading two hundred Liao soldiers to storm the city.
Jiang Yingchang still doesn't know why he was scolded. At that time, he thought Cao Bianjiao, a guest of the Liao soldiers, was crazy.
Then Ren Quan'er came and led a mighty army to scare Cao Bianjiao away.
Who doesn't recognize Ren Quan'er, the commander of the Yan'an Guard, the Yan'an Guard with the best military discipline in Shaanxi, and the celebrity in front of Governor Chen Qiyu?
A local general who was born and raised in Shaanxi is such a good person, who would not open the door to him?
As a result, when I entered the city, my city was taken away. Can you believe it?
Oh my God, I, Jiang Yingchang, am just a petty official with little talent. I am too busy farming and teaching to have any skills. Your friendly troops are like the enemy's partial divisions, and the enemy's troops are like our own main force... You don't understand.
"It's boring to say this. It's easy for me to get into the sea. It's hard for you, the prefect, to be a human being. What are the people going to do?"
Liu Chengzong curled his lips and turned a blind eye to his difficulties. He even made a sarcastic remark: "Besides, there is something wrong with your brain. It would have been easy to follow me to Qinghai. You see, it is not difficult to be an official in the Marshal's Mansion."
.”
"I won't talk about what happened in the past. You still have to pay back the favor of the imperial court."
Liu Chengzong said to Jiang Yingchang: "In the rest of my life, it's time to repay me for my contribution to reconstruction."
Jiang Yingchang was choked and lost his temper again, so he had to ask about business matters: "As far as I know, this Hanzhong Mansion has not yet been under the rule of the generalissimo, right? I am afraid that the matter of war is beyond my control."
"You don't have to worry about the war. Gao Yingxiang will fight the battle over there, and I will also send you a general to accompany you. Your benefactor Luo Rucai was the one who killed the former Pingliang prefect. Now let him help you kill the Hanzhong prefect."
Jiang Yingchang burst into laughter at this arrangement.
Liu Chengzong didn't care about him. He asked Jiang Yingchang to go to Hanzhong anyway, so he had no greater expectations there.
Jiang Yingchang was a talented person in the prefecture and a conservative official. He was ignored in the management of a small county in Heshui and had to muddle along and do what he could do.
When he took power in Pingliang, he did nothing out of the ordinary. Wherever he was in office, things were not better, but they were not worse either.
Being able to stabilize and maintain is Liu Chengzong's greatest hope for Hanzhong.
Just half a year after we really planned to do something big, a heavy rain and the Han River swelled, and it was all over.
And having Luo Rucai here can ensure that Jiang Yingchang has no second thoughts.
It's useless to have second thoughts. Gao Yingxiang went south to Sichuan, and Hanzhong was cut off from the Ming Dynasty. The time it took for the news to reach Xiangyang, thousands of miles away, was enough for Xi'an to send troops to fight back and forth twice.
There is no need to worry about the south side. If even he cannot make Jiang Yingchang work with all his heart, then Gao Yingxiang will have no chance.
Because of this, it was very safe for Jiang Yingchang to go to Hanzhong.
"In addition to the normal management of the place, you had three other things to do."
Jiang Yingchang was used to being submissive. He quickly adjusted his mentality and accepted his fate. He cupped his hands and said, "Please give me your instructions, Generalissimo."
"First of all, there don't seem to be many people in the Rui Fan clan. In addition, there are some who are helping the vassal country. I need to send a list of talented people. They will stay in Hanzhong and listen to my arrangements."
Liu Chengzong was very familiar with this matter: "If there is no use, just send them to Lanzhou. They will have a place where they should go."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Second, if the Ming army in Sichuan counterattacks, you may have to defend the city, but don't be afraid when the attack happens. This book is very good."
Liu Shizi clicked on the "Guidelines for City Defense" placed on the desk and said: "I learned a lot of new things from it. When I revise it, I will print it and send you a volume. Please read more frequently."
If you do this, you will not panic when defending the city."
Jiang Yingchang was amazed and looked at this book, which he had never heard of before, and said: "The Generalissimo has conquered thousands of miles, and he can learn something from this book. I guess it is a strange book."
"Well……"
Liu Chengzong was choked by Jiang Yingchang this time. He shook his head slightly and said: "This book is not that magical. It is very conventional. It is written for people who have no experience in defending the city, such as me."
This book has a total of 23,000 words. It is a textbook for city defense. It is not written exquisitely at all.
Just like Ji Xiao's new book is a textbook for training and leading troops, this one is specifically for teaching people to defend the city.
Song Zushun stipulated the appropriate height, thickness, depth and distance between city walls, sheep and horse walls, and moats in today's era. He also discussed key matters such as reserve supplies and response methods.
It also summarizes the five defeats and five complete losses during the defense of the city.
The five types of defeat are the strong and the weak, the city is big and the people are small, the food is small and the people are many, the livestock is stored outside, and the strong and powerful are useless.
In addition, the water outside is high but the inside of the city is low, the soil is sparse and the pond is shallow, there are insufficient defensive tools, and wages are not provided, the city wall cannot be defended no matter how good it is.
Wuquan is the city god who cultivates the city, has tools and equipment, has few people but has plenty of food, has close ties between the top and bottom, and is punished severely and rewarded generously.
In addition, the location is under the mountains and above the long river. The height is not close to drought and there is enough water. The bottom is not close to water and ditches are protected. Due to the weather, the location is favorable, the soil is strong and the water flows, dangers can be relied on.
The meaning of "City God Xiu" is not the City God Temple. The original meaning of "City God" refers to the moat, which means the construction of a moat.
A city without a moat is more or less the same as a city with no walls, and it is easy to be blown open by holes.
Even if the siege party does not have gunpowder, they can use earthworks to dig holes under the city and use wooden pillars to support them while digging. After digging, set fire to the wooden pillars and burn them. If the wall cannot support it, it will collapse.
It's nothing more than changing firewood into gunpowder, and it doesn't require too much technology.
The acupuncture method is not a new method that needs to be invented. It was neither invented by Li Zicheng nor the Taiping Army. It existed as early as the Spring and Autumn Period.
However, the emergence of moats later made it impossible to drill holes under the riverbed, making the method of attacking the city in caves unfeasible.
Therefore, it rarely appeared in history later, and people more often chose to fill in moats and dig out walls.
The whole book is written very conventionally, but military relies on common sense.
"The Art of War states that in all battles, a person must use the right combination to win by surprise."
Liu Chengzong raised his hand again and tapped the book on the table: "Everything that is routine, boring, and should be done well is correct. Then use better preparations and responses to deal with the enemy."
"If your true troops are unable to defeat the enemy from the front, you are still short of food and fodder, and the enemy's main force is holding you back, and it is a strange thing to deviate from your troops and cut off your food routes. If you cannot do this correctly, everything they do will be strange."
Liu Shishi said casually, and then said emphatically: "Third, and the most important thing when you go to Hanzhong, fungus and fungi can grow in humid places, and you are neither afraid of drought nor floods. You must encourage the merchants and native people of Hanzhong to do more
Kaier Factory, Fungus Factory and Tea Mountain, this matter must not be ignored."