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Zhang Xianzhong frowned when he heard this. His original strategy was to rob food along the way and coerce the people to keep marching.

But in the current situation, food cannot be grabbed, and the people cannot be coerced, so they can only slowly attack the city one by one.This mother is still playing a ghost?

How much food and grass does Zhao Han have in his hand, so that he can play against the wall and clear the field!

Counties such as Guangji, Huangmei, and Susong were all occupied by Zhao Han last year, and many people immigrated for less than a year.There is not much staple food harvested at all, just replanting some miscellaneous grains, and half of the people live through the winter by gnawing on sweet potatoes.

The people in these counties are all cumbersome, hiding in the fortified walls and clear fields, most of the rations have to be provided by Zhao Han.

Zhang Xianzhong couldn't understand why Zhao Han used the precious food to evacuate the people?Isn't it good to stay in the countryside to fend for yourself?

Zhang Xianzhong felt that dividing land and property, and lightly paying taxes were a way to win people's hearts.At critical moments, we still have to rely on the army to fight.Now that a big war is about to be fought, what is the situation of using food to feed the people?

Soon, Zhang Xianzhong will understand!

After the pontoon bridge was built, only more than 20 artillery pieces were pushed to the other side of the river to attack the city.

Seeing the launch of the artillery, the defenders left the city wall one after another.

After several rounds of shelling, the effect was not very good, because Zhang Xianzhong did not have heavy siege artillery.

Don't look at the walls made of cement bricks, which were smashed to pieces by the artillery, but the rammed earth walls inside are very solid.How many meters of rammed earth would it take to collapse with inexplosible shells?

Before the city wall collapsed, Zhang Xianzhong already felt sorry for the gunpowder. He had to save enough gunpowder to fight in the field, and he couldn't waste all of it on the siege.

One hundred thousand troops crossed the pontoon bridge one after another, and it took half a day to surround Guangji County.

In the afternoon, besieged on three sides, leaving one side for the defenders to escape.

An Qigong, the magistrate of Guangji County, was born in Xinhua, Hunan. He himself was a scholar, and his elder brother An Qiwen was a juren.Although the An family was divided into thousands of acres of land, both brothers became officials. The younger brother became the county magistrate and the older brother became a judge.

An Qigong sat in the middle of the county government office and commanded, responsible for the logistics affairs of the whole city.

Officials kept coming in and out of the county office, batches of materials were drawn out from his pen, and groups of people were dispatched to various parts of the county.

Even the gentry and merchants in the city organized their families to defend the city, and some gentry and merchants even brought food to comfort the soldiers in person, and symbolically transported and helped some supplies.

Guangji County was occupied by Sun Kewang for a whole year. No matter if they were ordinary people or gentry merchants, they all knew the virtues of enemies outside the city.

The gentry and merchants have been turned into commoners!

There is indeed a regular army in the city, but there are only a few dozen or so officers, all of whom are officers of the regular army, responsible for commanding the peasants, soldiers and common people to defend the city.

After Zhang Xianzhong stopped shelling, the officers quickly returned to the city wall with the peasants, soldiers and civilians.

Not long after, a large number of enemy troops rushed forward carrying ladders.

At each section of the city wall, there were missionaries holding tin horns and shouting to the enemy troops rushing towards the city wall: "Brothers outside the city, don't serve Zhang Xianzhong as a soldier again. Quickly put down your weapons and surrender to the King of Wu. The King of Wu loves the people like his sons." , everyone here has land to plow, everyone has clothes to wear, and everyone has food to eat. You fought against Zhang Xianzhong, what if you died in the family? They still expect you to go back. You are the pillars of the family, but You can't die! Put down your weapons and surrender, Zhang Xianzhong will definitely be defeated, and the Datong Army will take you back to your hometown to divide the fields..."

This kind of propaganda is definitely useless. They are attacking the city. Who dares to surrender?

Another missionary officer shouted: "Brothers and sisters, guard the city wall. Your family members are all in the city, and your land is outside the city. If the county seat is taken down, your family and land will be gone. The good times are gone..."

"The Great Harmony of the World!"

"Dress and eat!"

The slogan was temporarily changed, because many city defenders are residents of the city, and they usually don't farm.

A ladder was pushed over, these are very formal ladders.There are wooden boards to block the rain of arrows, winches for lifting and lowering, and grabbing hooks to firmly hold the city wall, and it is impossible to push it away when it is placed on the wall.

"Throw firewood!"

A large amount of dry firewood drenched with oil was thrown down the city one after another when the ladder approached, and then the torches were thrown down.

A section of the ground near the wall suddenly ignited a raging fire, baking the ladder and the siege enemy army.

Then the hot oil poured down again, scalding the half-climbed enemy soldiers and falling into the burning firewood pile below, the hot oil on their bodies quickly caught fire.

"what!"

There were screams one after another, and the people guarding the city were also screaming, because there were archers throwing shots from below the city.

This can only be blamed on the fact that the city wall is too short. It took only half a year to build the city, and it was only over four meters high.

Zhang Xianzhong's first offensive was quickly repulsed, and the city defenders were shot to death eight people and injured more than 100 people.

Soon there was a second wave of offensive, and this time the attack from all directions was to pile up the lives of cannon fodder and consume the defenders' supplies as much as possible.

Only when the supplies for defending the city were almost exhausted, Zhang Xianzhong would send elites to attack the city wall.

The ancient siege was so cruel.

At the same time, Zhang Xianzhong was still digging a tunnel, trying to transport gunpowder through the tunnel to blow down the city wall.

In addition, several Lügong vehicles are being manufactured, which are siege weapons.

Half a month later, Zhang Xianzhong's siege cannon fodder killed and injured nearly [-] people, and finally exhausted the firewood, hot oil, and gold juice in the city.

During this period, Lao Huihui sent people back to report that Huangmei County, Susong County, and Taihu County had all been fortified and cleared.He couldn't grab food, and he didn't bring much food and grass, and the main force of the enemy army never showed up, so he asked to return to the army temporarily to join.

The news brought by the old Huihui gave Zhang Xianzhong a bad feeling, this time he seemed to have stepped into a quagmire!

Zhang Xianzhong has never encountered Zhao Han's strong wall and clear field style of play, and Zhao Han is the only one in the world who is willing to do this, so how much money and food will be consumed!

If Zhao Han met Zhang Xianzhong at this moment, he would definitely yell at him: "Fortifying the walls and clearing the fields cost money and food? Do you fucking know how much money I spent on dividing the land and emigrating! I am immigrating a commoner, and it is countless times more expensive than raising a soldier!"

Now that the war has begun, there is no room for halfway.

Seeing that the supplies in the city were getting less and less, Zhang Xianzhong ordered to send out elite soldiers to attack the city, and pushed out those Lu Gong vehicles as well.

"Boom boom boom!"

This time, it wasn't firewood, hot oil, rolling logs, or golden juice, but it was smashed down one by one.

Zhang Xianzhong's face turned green.

So far, he has suffered nearly [-] casualties.Let alone a single earthen city, even the enemy's regular army could not be found.

"My lord, a tunnel is about to be dug through!"

"Okay, those who dig tunnels will be rewarded. The whole army stops attacking the city, and after dark, light gunpowder, blow down the city wall and immediately attack in the chaos!"

Chapter 370 [Disgusted]

Although Zhang Xianzhong had nearly [-] casualties, most of them were cannon fodder, that is, forced laborers.

These folk husbands are very miserable. They were originally farming at home, but they were dragged to transport luggage for no reason.Not to mention the transportation. When attacking the city, you have to be cannon fodder. If you don't go to attack the city, you will be hacked to death by the supervising team.

Li Zicheng fought while fleeing, and the situation was similar.

"Ming History" said that Li Zicheng's tactics were "three walls", but the actual situation was "five positions".The front line is full of coerced refugees, the second and third army formations are infantry, the fourth army formation is cavalry, and the fifth army formation is Xiaoqi.

It is obviously a method of warfare that violates military common sense. If the refugees in front are defeated, shouldn't they overwhelm the infantry formation?

However, the actual impact is small.

Because the infantry has long been used to the refugees breaking up, they will not follow in terms of psychology and morale.The refugees will not flee back, because they know that Li Zicheng's soldiers are going to kill people, who would dare to charge in the densely packed gun formation?When they collapsed, they fled to both sides.

Use the large array of refugees to consume the strength of the officers and soldiers, wait for the refugees to disperse, and then let the infantry go up, Xiaoqi and cavalry took the opportunity to circle around the flanks.

If the refugees really crushed his own infantry, Li Zicheng would flee immediately with Xiaoqi and the cavalry.

Anyway, refugees are consumables, and Zhang Xianzhong's husband is also a consumable.

Zhang Xianzhong's [-]-strong army attacked the city for half a month, only killing or wounding more than a thousand people, all of whom were killed or injured by the ten thousand enemies.

At night, Shi Yongen couldn't fall asleep.

He was sent by Xu Ying to Hubei as a spy, and he went to his relatives and became an apprentice in a dyeing workshop—a real relative, a real apprentice.

Three months ago, Shi Yongen went out of the city with his relatives, and went to the outskirts of the city to celebrate the birthday of his relative's old mother.It happened that he met a forced conscript man, and he was arrested in a daze, and worked hard for Zhang Xianzhong to transport the luggage all the way.

One hundred thousand troops, 20 civilians, among the private workers, Shi Yongen is definitely not the only one.

Because Shi Yongen was relatively strong, he was also incorporated into the siege battalion and participated in the siege twice.Every time he attacked the city, he was very timid, hiding behind the arrow-proof wooden boards of the ladder, ignoring the scolding of the supervising team, he took a long time to climb the ladder, and then quickly fled.After fleeing halfway back, he met the supervising team and immediately rushed to the city wall.

There are many civilians who do this, as long as they don't collapse completely, the supervising team doesn't bother to take care of it.Anyway, I didn't intend to let the civilian husbands attack the towers, as long as they can consume the supplies for defending the city.

That being the case, Shi Yongen's arm was also scalded by hot oil, and part of the wound had already begun to fester.

Shi Yongen didn't resent Xu Ying, and sent him to Zhang Xianzhong's site as a spy.Because Shi Yongen's family had already divided the land, his elder brother received a special arrangement and was directly promoted to be a member of the county yamen, and now he has become the chief of the engineering department.And my sister, who married a county magistrate as a sequel, will definitely live a good life in the future.

If only he could go back alive.

"Uncle Cao, are you asleep?" Shi Yongen asked in a low voice.

Uncle Cao was a farmer in his 40s. He sighed and said, "How can I sleep? If I attack the city tomorrow, I'm afraid I will die under the city."

The civilian husbands could not escape, they were divided into several groups, and they were specially arranged in the center of the camp, with Zhang Xianzhong's regular army in all directions.

Shi Yongen said: "It is estimated that there will be a war tonight, and we will be making preparations in the evening. If all the soldiers go to attack the city, we will take the opportunity to escape and call more civilians. If the chaos becomes serious, we will definitely not be able to catch it."

"This... was caught and was about to be beheaded!" Uncle Cao said in horror.

Shi Yongen asked: "If you don't escape tonight, you will die if you attack the city tomorrow. How can it be more cost-effective to die?"

Uncle Cao replied: "It's not worth it."

Shi Yongen said: "There is still a chance of survival if you escape, and you will definitely die if you continue to attack the city. Which one do you choose?"

Uncle Cao thought carefully, gritted his teeth and nodded: "Then run away!"

"Take me with you when you run away." A siege battalion cannon fodder named Zeng Ayang suddenly said.

"Okay, run away together, the more people the better."

Shi Yongen quietly crawled out again, took a few steps and said in a low voice: "Old Li, are you afraid of death? If you go to attack the city again, you will definitely die..."

……

The city guard of Guangji is called Wang Hui, who was originally the silly son of a landlord in Liuyang County.

The scholarly family didn't study well, and he didn't even pass the exam as a scholar. He was chasing chickens and dogs and messing around since childhood.When he was a teenager, he started to play with knives and sticks, and even rode the family donkey as a horse, saying that he wanted to practice riding and archery.

A few years ago, bandits from Jiangxi crossed the border to plunder.

Under the leadership of Feng Zuwang, the county magistrate, Wang Hui recruited the courage of the village to resist desperately. He personally beheaded the thief's head and "flyed to the sky".

Then the Datong army came to attack, so majestic and mighty, Wang Hui immediately surrendered with Xiang Yong.

It doesn't matter if the family's land is divided, Wang Huile is conscripted as a farmer and soldier.Due to his excellent performance and actual combat experience, when Zhao Han expanded his army for the third time, Wang Hui was not only incorporated into the Datong Zhengbing, but also directly served as the post of post.

During a series of battles in Dongting Lake, Wang Hui made great contributions one after another.

Moreover, he is also literate, can write and count, and was promoted to battalion commander by leapfrogging.During the Jianghuai Battle, he made another meritorious service and was promoted to the head of the regiment quickly.

It was also because of his literacy, ability to write and count, not only being brave in battle, but also able to use his brain, Wang Hui, as the head of the regiment, was selected as the city guard of Guangji County.

In fact, apart from Wang Hui's own reasons, the reason why he was promoted so quickly was that Zhao Han deliberately favored soldiers from other provinces.There are too many officers from Jiangxi, whether they admit it or not, there must be a phenomenon of forming cliques.

It must be biased towards other provinces, but it must not be too obvious, otherwise it will chill the hearts of Jiangxi soldiers.

at night.

Wang Hui inspected the city wall as usual, comforted the soldiers, and then looked out of the city subconsciously.

He knew that Zhang Xianzhong was digging a tunnel, and the telescope had already seen it.There are a total of more than ten tunnels in all directions, and soil is being transported from the entrance of the cave every day.

As long as you observe carefully, no matter how well Zhang Xianzhong hides it, you can still find it.

The use of tunnels to transport gunpowder to blow down city walls was not invented by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.It existed at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Officers and soldiers used this strategy, Zhang Xianzhong used it, and Li Zicheng also used it.

Such a method of warfare is difficult to be effective against fortified cities such as Nanjing and Beijing, because the foundation is too strong and too deep.

If you insist on forcibly blasting, you need a lot of gunpowder.

Take Nanjing as an example. When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom blew up Nanjing, I don’t know how much gunpowder was used, but it was “a lot” anyway.Later, the Hunan Army blew up the city of Nanjing. China said it used 6000 sacks of gunpowder, and the New York Times said it used 30 tons of gunpowder. Nanjing City.

Sitting on the tower, Wang Hui watched the warriors leave the city on ropes.

Some people held iron rods and inserted them into the ground, some people swung a sledgehammer and smashed the iron rods, and some people covered the ground with bamboo tubes to listen to the sound.

I would do this every night, compare the positions where the enemy dug tunnels, and use iron rods to drive into the soil everywhere under the city to test.

"when!"

I don't know how long it took to strike, and then another hammer was swung down, and the iron rod somewhere quickly fell, and it had already been inserted into the enemy's tunnel.

"water!"

Water buckets quickly fell from the city, and the guards pulled out the iron rods and poured water down through the small holes.

The enemy soldiers in the tunnel were placing gunpowder, and seeing that water was pouring in, they quickly blocked the entrance of the cave with mud.

All the nearby iron rods were brought over, and more than a dozen iron rods were smashed down there.A few of them were still bloody when pulled out, obviously stabbing the enemy in the tunnel.