Xu Jin's military talents were on par with Yang Yiqing's. If we look at his military record alone, he was even slightly superior. It would not be an exaggeration to call him the number one general in the early Zhengde Dynasty.
In the official history, it took Governor Lin Jun several months to kill Liu Lie. However, due to Old Man Xu's siege tactics, it took less than a month to rush from Hanzhong to Qianniu Village.
Liu Lie had never figured out why more than 100,000 Ming troops were everywhere, beating him into a panic and fleeing, but in the end there were nearly 80,000 Ming troops gathered around Qianniu Village!
Among the student army commanded by Zhai Peng, Zhang Yunlin, the cavalry leader of Qianhu, was also chatting with Qian Zhu, the infantry leader of Qianhu. The phalanx led by the two of them was placed directly in front of Qianniu Village by Xu Jin.
Zhang Yunlin once made a great contribution in front of Zhu Shou. He was excellent in acting. "The whole family of a distant cousin who was brutally murdered by the Mongolian Tatars" has now become a regular performance of the student army, second only to "The Family", which must be memorized every day.
"Quotations of the Holy Emperor".
In front of their Qianhu, the words "leader" or "leader" can be removed with 100% certainty after graduating from the martial arts academy. The twenty-year-old Qianhu! For them who come from poor families, it is considered a good choice.
of stairs.
The same fate as these two men was Song Jixian, the leader of the navy team Qianhu. He was currently blocking the Bajiang exit of Qianniu Village with Zhai Peng with the Ming army's navy boat.
"Xu Zuocheng's military strategy is a stroke of genius," Zhang Yunlin said with a smile, "turning left and right, making Liu Lie spin around in circles."
Qian Zhu responded disapprovingly: "They are just rogue bandits. If we encounter the Mongols, who would dare to use this suspicious tactics?"
Xu Jin's encirclement on all sides was actually three false and one true. The Ming army in the direction of Hubei was only a few thousand people, but he forced it to form an army of tens of thousands. The real main force of the Ming army had already moved south from Qipanguan.
, crossed Daba Mountain and waited at Baoning Mansion, waiting for Liu Lie to jump into his pocket.
A professional bandit, plus three amateur magicians, with military talents worth the tinkling sound of half a bucket of water, can escape back to Sichuan, which is a tribute to his ancestors.
The terrain around Qianniu Village is dangerous. The mountain stronghold stands along the Bajiang River and stretches for many miles. It can be attacked when advancing or defended when retreating. It is Liu Lie's home base. Xu Jin did not capture Qianniu Village first, but waited for Liu Lie to escape.
When the old man was in his lair, ambush troops were sent out in all directions, trapping Lao Liu until he could not move.
"Why not ambush halfway and kill the leader of the bandits, it would be easy." Although Zhai Peng's military skills are not bad, he is still young and he obviously wants to use quick, accurate and ruthless strategies.
Xu Jin shook his hand: "It is easy to kill the leader of a thief, but difficult to win over the people."
The problems in Sichuan are too complex and cannot be solved by military suppression.
Old Man Xu himself also knew that it was very easy to kill tens of thousands of people, but to solve the corrupt situation in Sichuan and the disaster in neighboring Huguang, he felt that he did not have the ability to lock these thousands of thieves in one place.
, so as not to cause chaos everywhere after defeating them, this is what Old Man Xu decided to do.
Because he really can't think of any other strategy, just block it for as long as it takes to block these holes in Sichuan. Old Man Xu is not a political genius like Prime Minister Li, nor does he have the demeanor of a civilian leader. Let him fight against those Sichuan colleagues.
It would be easier to play with these rebels.
The south gate of Qianniu Village stands along the river. The wall is about two feet high and has several watchtowers on it. It overlooks the Ming army formations at the bottom of the mountain. The north gate is also on the riverside outside Li Xu, but the terrain is low and relatively small.
Easy to capture.
Zhai Peng suggested to Old Man Xu: "How about attacking the front gate openly and taking the back village secretly?"
He was just a small censor. Although he was in charge of Zhu Shou's heart and soul, the commander of the 80,000 Ming army was still Xu Jin and Xu Zuocheng. Therefore, in terms of military strategy, he only had the power to make suggestions but not to make decisions.
Old man Xu was silent for a long time, and then asked: "Do you want to train soldiers?"...
Zhai Peng suddenly realized, yes, killing thieves is a small matter, but training troops is a big deal. Why did he forget the emperor's explanation before leaving? As long as all the student soldiers are not dead, Zhu Shou will not blame him. This time going south,
Isn't it because of his saying, "The survivors make a strong army"? If you want to be a good commander, you must not be a woman's benevolence. One general's success will cause thousands of bones to wither. This is the mentality you should have.
Although it was extremely stupid to use 1,700 men to forcefully attack the south gate guarded by more than 2,000 thieves, after the student army went south, they just followed the guard army and relied on their sophisticated ordnance to defeat some stray dogs.
That's all.
A tough battle is the key to building a strong army! The student army needs a tough battle, even a stupid tough battle.
The most indispensable thing in the Ming Dynasty is manpower. This is what Zhu Shou meant. If you want to honor your ancestors and gain a wife and son, if you can, then you can trade it with your life.
Zhai Peng sighed. After all, he was only twenty-seven years old, and his heart was not so cold as to be unnatural. When he issued military orders to the students, he was not only impassioned but also somewhat sad.
The hundred-man team led by Zhou Dai was the vanguard of the attack on the Nanzhai Gate. The seventeen-year-old boy was seen with his upper body naked, revealing his large muscles. He was carrying a short-handled ax in his right hand and holding a square shield in his right hand.
, lifting his weight as lightly as he could, he strode toward the village gate.
Accompanying the attack of this hundred-man team was the explosion of gunpowder from the divine machine cannon and the huge flying rocks from the Xiangyang cannon.
The baggage train of the student infantry consists of a thousand guardsmen sent by Xu Jin. Although these veterans are weak in fighting, they are very good at operating artillery and stone cannons, and their accuracy is not bad enough to smash into the village gate.
in the river.
Watching Zhou Dai jump to the path in front of the village gate, Zhai Peng smiled at Song Jixian beside him and said, "I haven't seen this kid for more than a month, and his martial arts have improved so much."
Song Jixian didn't dare to expose Master Zhai's tricks, so he could only hold back his laughter and nodded desperately.
The gate of the village was closed tightly. Dozens of small holes suddenly opened on the wall along the path, and countless crossbow arrows shot out. Zhou Dai and others protected themselves with shields and moved forward slowly. When they arrived near the gate of the village, only one person died.
Five people were injured. More than a dozen injured people were lying beside the path, covered with shields, and did not dare to move.
Seeing that there were still more than twenty steps before they could reach the village gate, Zhou Dai and others had cans of fierce fire oil with them. This was a good thing obtained from the Shenji Camp in the capital. It is said that with one can in hand, all the access control will be eliminated.
A good companion for home travel and murder.
While all the students were rejoicing, the thieves on the wall suddenly roared, and stone bullets about half a foot flew up in the air and attacked everyone!
Damn it, it's a homemade Xiangyang cannon! When Zhou Dai saw the big rocks pressing down on the top, he quickly ducked sideways. Fortunately, the rebels' stone cannons were poorly made, and after one round of fire, they had no accuracy. Only a dozen unlucky students were beaten.
He was caught dead and died tragically in front of the village gate.
Among them, one student suffered the worst. The fire oil tank he was carrying was inexplicably ignited, and he was burned to ashes after his death.
Naturally, the Xiangyang artillery of the Ming army was not far behind. They launched another fierce attack and smashed the watchtowers on the wall of the village to pieces. However, the stone artillery at this time was really cheating. Most of them fell into the village, and a few others fell into the village. They even almost hit the Ming army in front of the village gate.
The remaining nearly sixty student soldiers gathered around Zhou Dai, carrying shields on their heads, and threw the cans of fire oil they carried onto the wooden gate of the village.
The fire grew in the wind, and the shield and turtle formation formed by the student army seemed to be able to achieve success in a single battle. At this moment, a large flag was set up behind the village gate with a big Chinese character "Liu" written on it.
"The leader of the village is here!" The bandits and soldiers were jubilant up and down the gate of Nanzhai, and their morale was greatly boosted.
Liu Lie has been a professional bandit for many years and has many desperadoes under his command. There are also two to three thousand people who are willing to fight for him despite being surrounded by tens of thousands of Ming troops. Currently, they are all concentrated at Nanzhai Gate to resist the Ming troops. The first wave of attack….
Zhou Dai spit out a mouthful of thick phlegm and made a retreat gesture. As a pioneer, his first task was to burn down the village gate. Now that it was almost completed, he naturally retired with success.
Unexpectedly, before everyone could dodge, they heard the sound of water rushing above their heads, and several large pots of boiling oil rushed down. At the same time, several large holes were opened in the walls on both sides of the village gate, and dozens of spears flew out. !
More than 20 student soldiers couldn't care less about their heads than their bodies. They had boiling oil splashed on their heads and spears in front of them. They died tragically on the spot.
Zhou Dai was also unable to dodge, and his naked upper body was burned with several big blisters. In anger, he flew the big ax in his hand towards the blazing village gate.
With a "dong" sound, the ax struck the village gate!
The bandit soldiers on the wall quickly poured down dozens of buckets of water, and actually suppressed the fire at the gate of the village.
Xu Jin sighed at the rear and ordered Ming Jin to withdraw his troops. Zhou Dai led the remaining thirty or so student soldiers, supported his companions who were lying on both sides of the path, and fled back in embarrassment.
Seeing that the attack of the officers and soldiers had been repelled, the bandits in the stronghold cheered in unison, which shook the sky, but they did not leave the stronghold to pursue the enemy.
One hundred people went up, but only forty-three came down! And not a single one of the bandits died.
After this battle, more than 1,600 student soldiers were all shocked, and their understanding of the war deepened. You must know that those who died were all their companions who had lived with them for more than half a year. Those people had no feelings for the DPRK. To Lord Ting, it may be just a small number, but to them, it is a living person, a living person who can laugh, cry and curse.
Zhou Dai's face was filled with smoke and dust. He knelt down in front of Xu Jin and Zhai Peng and shouted loudly: "Two adults, please give me five hundred more brothers. If you can't take down the village gate, I will come to see you!"
He didn't cry, but his face was full of tears, and several white grooves appeared on his dark cheeks.
Fifty-seven brothers who lived together day and night died, and the casualty rate was as high as about 60%. This young man, who was the same age as Zhu Shou, was so sad that he almost collapsed.
You know, in the era of cold weapons, if the casualties exceeded 20%, it was basically a situation where the entire army was defeated. Of course, there were special cases where the casualties were as high as 70% or 80%, and the army refused to retreat.
Xu Jin ignored Zhou Dai's request to fight and said solemnly: "We lost the first battle. According to military regulations, we will be punished with ten sticks."
Zhai Peng hardened his heart and said: "Second formation, cavalry!"
In the next two days, the student army took turns attacking, suffering four to five hundred casualties, but failed to capture Nanzhai Gate.
On the fourth day, Xu Jin did not force the students who had completely collapsed to die. Instead, he ordered 80,000 Ming troops to set up camp along the dangerous points. If any rebels dared to rush out in groups, they would surround and kill them all, leaving no room for anyone.
Escape. As for the scattered thieves who surrendered privately, they were taken to neighboring counties and imprisoned until the civil unrest was quelled before being dealt with.
As for those martial arts academy students who were in tears, talking nonsense, and dejected, they were taken to Bazhou County by Zhai Peng to recuperate.
It is strange to say that among the more than a thousand students who survived the disaster, more than 500 of them actually became famous in the Hebei expedition the following year after regaining their sanity. However, the rest of them have never been seen in the annals of history.
Liu Lie saw that the officers and soldiers had been attacking for several days and brought hundreds of corpses, but they also had the idea of a long-term siege, and he couldn't figure it out for a while.
Yan Benshu and Liao Hui also didn't understand what the officers and soldiers meant, so they went to ask Lan Tingrui.
Lan Shengun smiled slightly, weighed his beard, and said softly: "The time has come!"