Liu Zongmin knelt on the ground, leaning his head, not daring to meet Li Zicheng's eyes.
After being defeated by the Merchant Army at the foot of Guangzhou City, Liu Zongmin was defeated until Luoshan County, and finally stopped. After counting the troops, more than 3,000 troops were dismantled, especially 2,000 elite cavalry, and only three were left.
More than a hundred people.
In this era, the cavalry was an elite force, so whether it was in the Ming army or the peasant army, the cavalry was the most important unit in the entire army. Li Zicheng's two elites, the guards and the fifth battalion, totaled 100,000
There were many horses, but there were only 25,000 cavalry. Tian Jianxiu sent away more than 3,000 in the first battle, and he threw in nearly 2,000 in the next battle. For the invading army, it was a huge loss.
.
Although Liu Zongmin was not defeated as badly as Tian Jianxiu this time, Tian Jianxiu still had an excuse for not knowing the reality of the enemy. Moreover, before sending troops, Li Zicheng repeatedly emphasized that Liu Zongmin should not underestimate the enemy. At the same time, during the war,
Tian Jianxiu also reminded himself over and over again that the Ming army was trying to lure the enemy again, telling him not to be fooled. Unfortunately, he didn't know what got him into his mind at the time, but he just didn't listen. As a result, it was too late to regret it now.
Two days later, Li Zicheng led an army to Luoshan County. Liu Zongmin also followed Tian Jianxiu's example and knelt before Li Zicheng to apologize.
However, as soon as Liu Zongmin knelt down and had not spoken, Li Zicheng also left his seat and walked away, helping Liu Zongmin up and said: "Brother Zongmin, victory or defeat is a matter of military affairs. The defeat of this battle is not entirely your fault. Look,
Come on, we all underestimated the Merchant Army."
After helping Liu Zongmin up, Li Zicheng turned to Tian Jianxiu and said: "Brother Jianxiu, I wrongly blamed you last time. This Shang Yi is really difficult to deal with. If you lost the last battle, it won't be your fault. From now on.
First, if you resume your original position, you should still command the fifth battalion and let Mr. Li help you first."
Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin were very moved after hearing this. They kowtowed to Li Zicheng and said, "Thank you, King Chuang."
In fact, after hearing that Liu Zongmin was also defeated by the Merchant Army, it would be a lie to say that Li Zicheng was not shocked, but after all, Arita Mianxiu was defeated first, which did not shock Li Zicheng too much. Therefore, Li Zicheng can also compare
Treat this defeat calmly. Since Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin were defeated by Shang Yi one by one, this fully shows that these two defeats were not due to Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin not fighting hard, but to Shang Yi.
His combat prowess cannot be underestimated, and he is probably the strongest opponent he has ever encountered.
Therefore, in this case, Li Zicheng also followed the advice of Niu Jinxing, Li Yan and others and did not hold Liu Zongmin responsible for the failure. At the same time, he also spared Tian Jianxiu and reinstated him to his original position to reassure the two people.
Help comfort the old brothers. After all, dealing with Shang Yi will probably be a tough battle and requires everyone to work together.
After finishing the matter of Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin, Li Zicheng continued: "Brothers, come with me to fight tomorrow. I want to see how strong the merchant army is in combat."
"Haha, there are quite a lot of people coming this time, probably more than 60,000 to 70,000."
Because this time Li Zicheng did not dare to underestimate Shang Yi anymore, and he learned from Tian Jianxiu that the artillery of the Shang Army could hit extremely far, so Li Zicheng stopped almost a thousand steps away from Guangzhou City.
Marxist-Leninist War.
Although from this distance, a person is not much bigger than an ant, it can also be seen that the array of intruders is densely packed, covering the mountains and fields, and there are many more people and horses than the previous times. And a thousand steps is the same as in future generations.
About 1,500 meters is the scanning limit range of the infrared function of Shang Yi's GPS. Therefore, it is impossible to use infrared to scan the number of people who invaded. We can only roughly estimate it. However, we can vaguely see it on a hill.
, the flags were densely packed, and there seemed to be many knights standing on their horses, probably Li Zicheng among them.
Although Shang Yi had already taken precautions against the arrival of Li Zicheng's army and was fully prepared, Shang Yi still felt a little excited when he thought that he would face this great man in history for the first time.
For a period of time in later generations, despite some special reasons, the historians glorified Li Zicheng to a certain extent, over exaggerating his various measures to gain people's support after the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, while ignoring that before that, Li Zicheng also
He also committed many indiscriminate killings of innocent people, but it is undeniable that Li Zicheng can definitely be regarded as a hero.
Li Zicheng's rebellion was actually a typical example of the government forcing the people to rebel in the late Ming Dynasty. Of course, at the beginning, Li Zicheng never had any great ideals to save the people from the fire and water. In fact, he had no way out and could not survive.
Either sit and wait for death, or take a desperate risk and gamble with your life, maybe you can win a chance to survive. To put it bluntly, in the face of death, the difference between a good citizen and a thief is just a thought.
However, Li Zicheng's ability to stand out among the peasant army in the late Ming Dynasty was definitely not due to luck. It had a lot to do with his character and ability. Compared with other peasant army leaders in the late Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng had a firmer will and character.
Even more tenacious, he never pretended to surrender to the Ming Dynasty when faced with the most critical life and death situation, and he was able to endure hardships and stand hard work, share the joys and sorrows with his subordinates, did not like women, and did not have too many hedonistic hobbies. After becoming powerful, he still lived a humble life.
The coarse grains of millet are as sweet as food, and they are highly respected and supported by the tribe. Therefore, although they have experienced ups and downs, they are always able to rise. It can be seen that whether it is a person who has been famous for a hundred years or a person who has been infamous for ten thousand years, there is always something different from ordinary people.
A distance of more than a thousand steps is nothing for a high-power telescope. Shang Yi adjusted the focus and looked around. Surrounded by hundreds of knights, he saw "Chuang" embroidered on his face.
In front of the large scroll with the Chinese characters "Yellow Dragon", under the cover of a small yellow cap, one can clearly see a person of medium build, wearing a large-brimmed Fanyang felt hat, a blue cloth shirt, and a saber belt, riding a white horse. He has high cheekbones and deep cheekbones.
Cheeks, eagle eyes, eagle nose, and slight beard on the chin. But one eye was covered by black cloth - this was the left eye shot by the defenders during the first attack on Kaifeng, which became an obvious sign of Li Zicheng.
Shang Yi put down the telescope. Li Zicheng's image was indeed at least 70-80% similar to what was circulated in later generations. To be honest, Shang Yi had no ill feelings towards Li Zicheng and did not want to destroy Li Zicheng. The reason why he fought so hard against the Chu army was
On the one hand, it was to show the strength of the merchant army to the officials and people in the Huguang area; on the other hand, it was also to establish a new base in the Huguang area.
In fact, Shang Yi also hoped in his heart that Li Zicheng would send his troops north earlier as he did in another time and space, so as to take the opportunity to capture Xiangyang, because if he wanted to establish a base in the Huguang area, he had to capture Xiangyang and Wuchang, and Li Zicheng was late.
If he still refuses to leave, then he has no choice but to drive him away himself, so this time he has no choice but to feel sorry for Li Zicheng.
Gwangju is not a big city, nor is it a strategic location. A single city wall is 540 steps long, and the total length is only six miles. There are four towers at each corner, and there are four protruding horse faces on one wall, but there is no acropolis.
, although there is a moat, the river water is basically dry and has not been maintained all year round. The river bed has been raised a lot and is only more than three feet deep. When Shang Yi entered the city, he did not see any sheep and horse walls outside the city, nor did he see it.
I don’t know if it was originally there or it was in disrepair and was destroyed. However, during this period, Shang Yi arranged for prisoner-of-war coolies to dig a prismatic trench outside the four cities, about 20 steps away from the city wall, and beside the trench
They are all covered with earth bags, which can also be used as a substitute for the sheep and horse wall.
Currently stationed in Guangzhou City, there are only all the troops and logistics personnel of the Merchant Army, as well as the prisoner-of-war coolies they captured and more than a thousand officers and soldiers preparing to join the Merchant Army. Liu Zeqing, Xie Ke, and Gao Junyuan have already been captured.
Shang Yi arranged to leave Guangzhou and hid more than ten miles away. Of course, in name, Shang Yi was the three men who went out of the city to ambush, waiting for the signal from the city, and then came back, cooperating inside and outside, and defeated the invading army.
Such an arrangement was naturally what the three of them wanted, and Shang Yi was saved a lot of trouble, because leaving them in the city would not only be of no help, but would also be a hindrance. Moreover, Shang Yi never expected them to come back.
This time Li Zicheng set out from Xiangyang, and almost all the generals accompanied him. He also brought 70,000 troops, including 15,000 elite guards and 5th battalion troops each, and the other 40,000 casualties. In addition, Liu Zongmin
Hotan Jianxiu's defeated army still had more than 15,000 people, including more than 8,000 elite guards and the fifth battalion. It can be said that Li Zicheng also dispatched a large army this time.
In addition, Li Zicheng had been fighting with the Ming army for many years and also captured some artillery and muskets. Knowing that the Merchant Army mainly relied on firearms, he brought them all so that he could use firearms against firearms when necessary.
The direction of the invasion army's attack was the West City of Guangzhou. At this time, Shang Yi deployed Zhou Shaohuan's Second Regiment to guard the city. The four Hongyi cannons and three No. 1 Fran cannons assigned to the Second Regiment were placed on the wall of the West City.
, four No. 2 Fran cannons, three No. 3 Fran cannons and six Tiger Crouching Cannons were all arranged in positions outside the city. The other three gates were guarded by Cheng Jin's third regiment, who had just arrived.
Luo Yuanbin's fifth regiment served as the response force. He also sent many scouts to check on the outskirts of the other three gates. Once he found out that there was a sneak attack by the intruders, he immediately sent back a signal. Shang Yi took an overview of the overall situation from the tower in the West City.
Command and deploy troops. Now that everything is ready, Li Zicheng's army can only attack.
After more than ten years of fighting, Li Zicheng was a soldier and personally fought on the front line in all previous battles. But now, for the first time, he was commanding a battle from so far away. This had never happened before in previous battles.
Because he didn't have a telescope, he couldn't clearly see the opponent's position layout. He could only vaguely see that the opponent seemed to have dug a trench as Tian Mixiu said, and the soldiers were hiding in the trench.
There were vaguely artillery pieces behind me, so I felt very unaccustomed to it, and felt like I couldn't control the situation.
But now Yi Jing could no longer think so much, so Li Zicheng ordered to send 10,000 soldiers to attack Guangzhou City first.