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Keep digging holes and pouring water, this tunnel is useless.

Zhang Xianzhong was so angry that he cursed and ordered to continue digging the tunnel.Instead of digging straight through, they dug forward obliquely, making it impossible for the defenders to determine the approximate location of the tunnel.

At the same time, the cannon fodder continued to attack the city, and the number of Lu's vehicles increased to seven.

There are several floors of Lv Gongche, the top floor is higher than the city wall, and it can be condescending to shoot arrows on the city.

The peasants, soldiers and common people defending the city held up shields or pot covers to block the enemy's arrow rain.Behind the shield, a strong person threw ten thousand enemies, most of which fell to the ground and exploded, only a very few could successfully smash into Lu Gong's car, because each layer of this thing has a baffle.

After a fierce battle for a long time, the front and rear three Lu Gong cars stopped moving forward.

But there were still two vehicles driving to the city wall. A farmer and soldier was accidentally shot in the wrist by an arrow when throwing Ten Thousand Enemy, and Ten Thousand Enemy fell directly into the guarding team.

"boom!"

The city exploded.

The elite in Lu Gong's car took the opportunity to jump onto the city wall and quickly occupied a small area.

"Hold on, form an formation and hold on!"

When Wang Hui heard the news, he quickly asked for the flag to be issued, and he quickly led the team to support.

Zhang Xianzhong's elite continued to climb up from this Lu Gongcar, and more than 300 peasants, soldiers and civilians who defended the city were killed.

Wang Hui finally arrived with an elite reserve team of peasants and soldiers, with a three-piece set of wolf traps, rattan badges, and long spears, attacking from both sides.After a bloody battle, hundreds of people were paid again, and finally the enemy army who attacked the city was defeated.

Just as Zhang Xianzhong was sighing, suddenly a cavalry rushed over: "Your Majesty, my general is trapped by enemy cavalry!"

"How many enemy cavalry are there?" Zhang Xianzhong asked.

The old Huihui subordinate replied: "About two or three thousand, most of them don't wear armor, and only use a gun to run far away to release the gun. But there are hundreds of cavalry, and those horses are tall and strong, and they are very serious. Armor, the vital parts of the horse are also armored."

Zhang Xianzhong asked: "How tall can those horses be?"

The man said, "It's much taller than the king's mount."

"There are hundreds of war horses that tall?" Zhang Xianzhong asked in surprise.

The man said: "Not only are they tall and strong, but they also charge very fast. They also have infantry, marching on mules, specially blocking the way of my general, and preventing my general from bringing cavalry back to join us."

Zhang Xianzhong wondered: "Even if the infantry rides mules, they shouldn't catch up with the old cavalry."

The man said: "The enemy army has sentry cavalry everywhere. Each team of these sentry cavalry has only two people. They don't carry any weapons. They march lightly and run very fast. They don't dare to fight. They run away when they encounter our army, and then Run to the nearby market towns to light up the smoke and spread the message. Those towns have dug trenches outside, and there are many farmers, soldiers and people guarding them, and our cavalry cannot attack."

As he said that, the man said anxiously: "Our army is all cavalry, and we don't have much food and grass, and we couldn't get any food along the way. We ran out of food two days ago."

Zhang Xianzhong was silent.

Sun Kewang said anxiously: "Father, it's not an option to encircle the city with 20 elites and [-] civilians. It's better to divide the troops and march eastward..."

"Where do you go east? The first three counties are the same as here. There are no people in the wild. Are you going to divide your troops and forcefully attack the city?" Zhang Xianzhong asked back.

Sun Kewang said: "The spies reported that there are many market towns in the wild. Let's not attack the cities, but only attack these market towns."

Zhang Xianzhong sighed: "The main force of the enemy army has not shown up, I am afraid it is trying to lure me to divide the troops. Once you lead the troops out, it is very likely that you will be surrounded, and you will not be able to return when the time comes."

Sun Kewang thought about it carefully and felt that it was true.

This battle was too suffocating, Guangji County must be pulled out, so as to keep the food road safe.Even if they don't care about the issue of food roads, this is also the channel for their withdrawal. If they don't take Guangji City, they won't be able to withdraw their troops once they lose the battle.

But after beating Nima for more than half a month, the opponent's regular army has not been seen, and the county seat is still standing there safely.

In the evening of the same day, Lao Hui came back with his cavalry, and he said in a panic, "I came back by a detour. Zhao Han's cavalry is disgusting, and the infantry on mules with a large number of sentry cavalry is also disgusting. I lost more than 200 cavalry , I didn’t die in battle at all, but I was so hungry that I had no energy! Quickly order the rebellion, I haven’t eaten for two days!”

Zhang Xianzhong ordered the Huotou army to rebel, first brought some pancakes to satisfy their hunger, and asked, "How many cavalry does the enemy have?"

"In the beginning there were only over 2000, and then there were a thousand more, and there were hundreds of heavy armored cavalry." Lao Hui said.

Zhang Xianzhong asked: "Are they all much taller than my mount?"

The old Hui Hui said: "It's not just tall. Compared with those horses, our horses are like mules! This battle can't be fought. We can't see people in the field, and we can't get food. The enemy army has no horses at all except cavalry. Come out to fight, just wait for us to attack the city. This Guangji City cannot be taken down, how dare you divide your troops to attack other places?"

Sun Kewang said: "Father, I'm afraid the situation in the north is similar, and Dingguo can only attack the city by force like this."

It is easier to clear the fields in the north with strong walls. The drought in that poor area is severe. This year, it has been clear that there is no harvest.

Old Huihui said: "When we are exhausted from attacking the city and our morale drops, the main force of the enemy army should come out. Moreover, the enemy army controls the Yangtze River and may send the main force behind us at any time. At that time, we will not be able to withdraw even if we want to. This battle is impossible. Fight, quickly withdraw the entire army!"

Wouldn't it be a big joke to withdraw troops now?

The three-way army totaled 20, and the civilian husbands spent nearly 40.Didn't take down a city, didn't grab a grain of rice, just go back in despair like this?

Damn Zuo Liangyu, why didn't he go south to help?

And Luo Rucai, who made an appointment to go south together!

Zuo Liangyu was facing the plague in Shandong. He didn't dare to move, and the rear would explode if he moved. Moreover, the soldiers were often infected with diseases, so they couldn't fight at all.

Luo Rucai actually dispatched troops, and came down for a walk.After running two counties in a row, they found that there was no food to grab, and they didn't dare to go too deep, so they simply rolled back to the hinterland of Henan with the cavalry.

"This Zhao is really shameless!" Zhang Xianzhong hated.

In the south and north, there are six or seven counties with solid walls and clear fields, and the food consumed is enough to fight a big battle!

Zhao Han just doesn't want to fight, he just wants to waste food to save the people, and drag the enemy until he's tired before fighting.

It doesn't matter if Zhang Xianzhong drives straight in, it's better to go all the way to the prefectures and counties where there are no strong walls and clear fields.When the time comes to stay away from the territory, the battle line will be stretched, and you can find countless opportunities to defeat it.

Zhang Xianzhong gritted his teeth and said, "Attack for another three days. If you can't defeat them, you will withdraw your troops and let the miners speed up digging tunnels. As long as you break through Guangji City, you will definitely get countless food and grass!"

Chapter 371 [Strike Back]

Wujiaxue Town.

Zhao Han felt very helpless, such a rich commercial market town, and there is no city wall to cover it, why Zhang Xianzhong didn't divide his troops to fight?

As long as he captures Wujiaxue, Zhang Xianzhong can grab a lot of food, because this is Zhao Han's military ration transfer station!

Zhao Han himself, together with 7000 personal guards, [-] Jinling peasant soldiers, a large number of local peasant soldiers, and [-] artillery soldiers, have been nesting here.Li Zheng's [-] regular army rode around on mules, and rushed back immediately when they saw the smoke of the wolf.The [-] farmers and soldiers and [-] peasants on the other side of the Yangtze River have basically completed their reorganization and can cross the river at any time, just waiting for Zhang Xianzhong to come to fight Wujiaxue.

Alas, since Zhang Xianzhong doesn't come, he can only actively surround them.

Hunan Army——

Jiang Dashan led [-] peasants and soldiers, and [-] civilian husbands, crossed the river from the police, and took Zhang Xianzhong's old nest, Jiangling!

Li Zongheng led [-] farmers and soldiers and [-] civilian husbands, crossed the river from Jiangxia, and took Hanyang Mansion directly. (Li Zongheng was a soldier brought by Li Banghua. He made many military exploits in southern Jiangxi and performed well in suppressing bandits in Guangdong and Fujian.)

Jiangxi troops——

Jiang Liang and Xiao Shan first took a boat to Huangjiakou Town and used the town as a military and grain depot.

Jiang Liang led [-] peasant soldiers and [-] civilian husbands, and immediately crossed the river to attack Qizhou.

Xiao Shan led [-] farmers and soldiers and [-] civilian husbands, and Gu Jianshan led a navy to assist and protect, crossed the river and attacked Qishui County along the Xishui River.

Especially the navy of Gu Jianshan, the small and medium-sized warships all came out, stuck in Xishui.Even if Zhang Xianzhong can jump out of the encirclement, he can't cross the river by Xishui, he can only get into the Dabie Mountains and go back to his old nest.

Even if Zhang Xianzhong can go back to his lair, he will find that his lair is under attack.

In addition, Huang Yao's new mountain division has already begun to cross the river to attack Yiling, and Zhang Xianzhong's major cities along the river will all be attacked.

Thousands of miles away from the Yangtze River, there is no way to defend against it.

It can only be said that Zhang Xianzhong is crazy, so he will take the initiative to provoke Zhao Han.

But from Zhang Xianzhong's point of view, he has no choice at all.The road to Sichuan was blocked, and if Sichuan was forcibly captured, Zhao Han might sneak attack on his lair at any time.Going north to Shaanxi or Henan, there are all serious famines, and it is useless to beat them down.Coupled with the severe drought this year, if you don't make a desperate move in advance, there will definitely not be enough food to send troops in half a year.

Zhang Xianzhong had only three choices, either to lie flat and die, or to submit to Zhao Han, or to fight desperately.

……

Yiling (Yichang).

Huang Yao was the first to cross the river. In fact, Guizhou (Zigui) also had Zhang Xianzhong's garrison, but there was no need to attack Guizhou.

Huang Yao only had a mountain division of 7500 people, and [-] civilians for logistics.

After landing, they set up camp on the first day, and bombarded them on the second day, and asked the civilians to fill up the moat by the way.

The stone city wall, more than seven meters high, was built by Zhu Yuanzhang at that time.

There is nothing to talk about in this battle, Zhang Xianzhong took away too much food and soldiers, the Yiling defenders only had [-] elite soldiers, and the remaining [-] were weak soldiers.

In the case of insufficient food for a long time, and in conjunction with the missionary officer's continuous shouting, three thousand garbage soldiers fled one after another during the night.Even if Zhang Xianzhong's thousand elite guarded to death, they would not be able to defend such a large city, and even fought with each other and caused internal strife.

After Huang Yao captured Yiling, he selected some farmers and soldiers from among the peasants to defend the city.With the main force himself, he took a boat down the river to help Jiang Dashan encircle Jiangling.

……

Jingzhou Fucheng, Jiangling County.

This is where Zhang Xianzhong's base camp is located, with a full [-] soldiers stationed there, and there are eight antique bronze cannons on the city wall.

"How is the battle going?" Huang Yao asked when he arrived.

Jiang Dashan sighed: "It can't be conquered. The city is too high, the pond is too deep, and there are too many soldiers. It is useless to persuade them to surrender. There are many old thieves among the defenders, and their families are all in the city."

Huang Yao asked: "How about I go to fight other cities first?"

"No need," Jiang Dashan said, "According to the news from the secret work, Zhang Xianzhong took away the bandit soldiers from all over the country. Other cities can only be defended, and it is impossible to send troops to reinforce this place. Dividing troops to capture the city is also a hard fight, and you have to fight it down." Keeping troops stationed will not help the entire battlefield. As long as Jiangling is surrounded and gnawed down, all the prefectures and counties next door will have to surrender."

Huang Yao curled his lips and said, "With so many defenders, if there is enough food, Jiangling will have to fight for at least half a year."

Jiang Dashan said with emotion: "No wonder Zhang Xianzhong took the initiative to go to war. He raised too many soldiers. He took a few troops to fight Anhui, and left so many soldiers to defend the cities along the river. How much food would be consumed on weekdays! Facing a severe drought this year , if he doesn't fight out, he will starve to death!"

Huang Yao thought for a while: "I'm going to Qizhou by boat, there should be a need for troops."

In Gangneung City.

Sitting on the tower, Liao Zhifang looked at the Datong army outside the city, and could only sigh secretly.

Two years ago, he suggested to Zhang Xianzhong to lay off troops and garrison the fields, quickly establish a system and develop people's livelihood, and Zhang Xianzhong did obey at that time.

But it goes sour quickly!

Zhang Xianzhong didn't trust civil servants, so he dispatched his adopted son and confidant generals to handle the military and political affairs of the various governments under his jurisdiction, directly making it a typical warlord rule.

Zhang Xianzhong himself is a big warlord, while his adopted son and confidants are small warlords.

Since he is a warlord, he must not distinguish between public and private.

These military generals not only wantonly invaded the civilian fields, but also moved all kinds of food from the military and civilian villages to their own private treasuries, and the civil officials could only watch stupidly and dare not speak.

Moreover, the disarmament policy has been completely abolished. In order to improve their own strength, the military generals have completely disregarded the people's livelihood and frantically expanded their arms and prepared for war.

Zhang Xianzhong also couldn't stop his generals from expanding their army. Once he forcibly stopped them, conflicts would inevitably arise.

Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong chose to go to war, and to a large extent, he was coerced by the inside.If he doesn't choose a place to fight outside, his generals are likely to fight among themselves, and they will fight themselves in order to grab the territory.

Under the setting sun, above the city tower.

Liao Zhifang opened "Da Tong Ji" and re-read it countless times.

Liao Zhifang has new insights every time he rereads it, combined with recent encounters.He believes that some chapters of this book contain the ultimate principles of heaven and earth, and instead of violating the teachings of Confucianism, it is following and practicing Confucian morality.

Facing the army outside the city, Liao Zhifang actually wrote an article titled "Ten Defeats of Zhang Xianzhong".

Liao Zhifang and Xu Yixian, two military advisers, were firmly opposed to this dispatch of troops, but Zhang Xianzhong was already on the verge of riding a tiger.

Today, Liao Zhifang sits in Jiangling and Xu Yixian sits in Hanyang. They seem to hold the power of the two cities, but in fact they can't command the army at all, let alone offer the city to surrender.

……

Yongji.

"Your Majesty, there is a report from the rear. Qizhou and Qishui are besieged, and the Jiangxi Navy blocked the Xishui River!"

Zhang Xianzhong grabbed the detailed pond newspaper, read it twice carefully, and said to the generals under his command: "Qizhou and Qishui are besieged by tens of thousands of enemy troops."

Sun Kewang sighed and said: "The main force of the enemy army has gone around to the rear of our army, and has blocked our retreat."

Zhang Xianzhong shook his head and said: "Beyond the two cities, there are farmers, soldiers and peasants, and the main force of the enemy army still hasn't appeared."

The crowd was horrified.

Since Zhao Han was on the other side of the Yangtze River, they were already familiar with the military system of Datong, and they could clearly distinguish the difference between regular soldiers and peasant soldiers.

From the very beginning, Zhang Xianzhong lost the initiative in the war.

Maybe Zhao Han's commanding ability in front of battle is insufficient, but his strategic commanding ability is very good.And from the beginning to the end, it has been adhering to the same concept: you hit yours, I hit mine.

According to the normal way of fighting, Zhang Xianzhong's three-way army is going east, Zhao Han should dispatch the army to fight, look for an opportunity to wipe out the main force of the enemy army, and then counterattack.

This is what the imperial court did to suppress bandits, and Zhang Xianzhong also thought so.