stubborn thief

The aftermath of the torrent spread outside the Marshal's Mansion, not only in Taozhou, but also in Gansu.

On April 20th of the seventh year of Chongzhen, at the siege camp outside Gaotai City, the main force led by Liu Chengzong has been besieging Gaotai City for No.[-] days.

During these 20 days, Yang Jiamo's army went out of the city six times. Sometimes a large group stood behind the city in an attempt to challenge, and sometimes a small group went out of the city to take the opportunity to destroy the siege equipment being built.

But without any exception, the six counterattacks were all unsuccessful in the offensive of the six jack cannons and the sixty lion cannons.

Even on the No. 14 day of the siege, the Ming army, which attacked for the fifth time, resisted the shelling, but the leading general was shot and wounded by the infantry under the cover of the shelling, and was carried back to the city in embarrassment.

After that, the defenders who attacked for the sixth time became terrified. As soon as the cannon rang, the cowardly officers and soldiers fled into the city, completely losing the ability to go out of the city to fight back.

This greatly boosted the morale of the marshal's army. People believed that the time had come to storm the city, and the generals and schools of the battalions were vying for the battle.

In the besieged camp, he raised his account every few days to discuss matters, and let the commanders of each battalion talk freely about the methods of siege and defense and field warfare, showing that he was not in a hurry at all.

Until the evening of the No. 20th day of the siege, even Cao Yao, who had been by Liu Chengzong's side, couldn't sit still any longer. Liu Chengzong asked, "Marshal, are you really not worried about He Huang at all?"

Sitting cross-legged on the tiger skin, Liu Chengzong looked up at him, continued to snort a few mouthfuls of rice porridge, and ate the porridge bowl with suet pancakes. Then he hummed comfortably, let out a breath, and said with a smile: "Brother in a hurry?"

The news that Hong Chengchou, the three-sided governor of the Ming army captured Zhuanglangwei and marched into Hehuang, was no secret among the marshal's army. Most of the soldiers did not believe the news, but the generals at the first level were generally skeptical.

Cao Yao still wears the rank of deputy commander when he was guarding the Kangning Mansion. This is the highest-ranking general among the conscripted generals of the Marshal's Army. Although he did not personally lead the army, he is very clear about the ability of the Marshal's Mansion to stay in the army.

For him, there is no need to doubt the news that Zhuanglang Weicheng was captured by the Ming army.

So Cao Yao sighed very naturally: "I am anxious for you, you should be more anxious than me."

"That's right, I should be more anxious than anyone else in the army." Liu Chengzong said: "You only have one aunt in Hehuang, but I have ten aunts in Hehuang. I'm not in a hurry. Why are you so anxious? !"

As soon as these words came out, Cao Yao understood. Apparently, Liu Chengzong had the same attitude towards the news that Zhuanglang Acropolis had been captured. He believed that it was a certainty.

Seeing Liu Shizi beckoning him to sit down as if nothing had happened, and even taking a skin pouch and pouring a bowl of milk tea for him, Cao Yao could only sit cross-legged on the tiger skin mat, leaned forward and asked, "What do you think?" Well?"

Liu Chengzong grinned silently, and said: "There are too many problems in my heart that I can't solve. If I am anxious about everything, I would be anxious to death as soon as we walked out of Yuhebao in the second year of Chongzhen."

After finishing speaking, his face returned to normal: "I've thought about it, but it's no use."

"There are more than a thousand miles to the east of this place, and there are still seven fortresses in the big city and hundreds of them. It can only last until the end of June."

Liu Chengzong said these words quickly and coherently. It was obvious that this step had been repeated countless times in his mind, so he breathed a sigh of relief and said: "If you go beyond the city, you will lose your way back, and it will be difficult to collect grain and grass in Suzhou; It happens that there is no food at the Zhuanglang River, even if there are defensive soldiers in Hehuang, if the Ming army in Ganzhou is not eliminated, we will be blocked in the middle."

"I believe that the soldiers of the commander-in-chief are used to expeditions. Even if the food road is cut off and they are flanked, most of them can make a way out. However, lacking artillery, ammunition, soldiers, food and medicine, even with the most optimistic estimates, the senior generals and elite soldiers still suffer heavy losses. Inevitably, will the war end when we return to Hehuang?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head: "The imperial court will not put out the fire just because it wins a game. We can't keep Hehuang without an army going back. We can only retreat to Kangning. At that time, Kangning will be hard to rest. They will only hear the news and rebel everywhere.”

Cao Yao was very anxious at first, but after listening to Liu Chengzong's words, even if he painted a scene like the doomsday of the commander-in-chief's mansion, his inner anxiety gradually faded away.

He believed in the person in front of him, what he needed to be sure was that this person had really considered this matter seriously.

Because just like all the critical moments encountered in the past, as long as Liu Shizi is seriously considering one thing, he will definitely be able to lead them out of a way of survival in the end, a way of survival that is better than others.

He had a solid idea and didn't need to continue to ask Liu Shizi what his plan was. He raised his hand and drank the milk tea before getting up to leave, and said, "I see, the commander has a plan in mind."

"Don't be in a hurry, we can't talk about a plan." Liu Chengzong stretched out his hand to stop him, saying: "Just follow the steps and not be affected by partial divisions. We are the main force. Even if Hehuang is captured, we will win, and we will win everything."

"Suzhou's [-] shi of rice and grain will be collected at the end of April, which can be used for three months. Huang Shengxiao's newly cast thousand catty guns will be cast in seven days and transported to Gaotai in two days. Therefore, the storm on Gaotai will be ten days later. ; and then captured Ganzhou before July, divided the fields and divided the land, enough autumn grain for winter, captured Liangzhou in early winter, and sent troops out of Gulang Gorge to complete the encirclement."

After all, Liu Chengzong pointed in the direction of Gaotai City in the tent: "The commander-in-chief and a deputy commander-in-chief of Gansu surrounded this city. The artillery was sent to destroy Yang Jiamo, and the capture of the important town of Ganliang is just around the corner."

Cao Yao nodded slowly with a particularly complicated expression, not because Liu Chengzong's plan was so extraordinary, but because it was their plan in the first place, and every general in the army knew about it.

What makes his expression complicated is that it is easy to put yourself in the shoes of one's own conditions to plan something, and anyone in the world can do it; but it is difficult to implement a plan, and it is even more difficult to complete the conditions for implementing the plan. Planning is even more difficult.

But Liu Chengzong is not complacent about his firm belief. On the contrary, he does not think that he is a man of steel with a firm will.

Even if his heart is as hard as a stone, and his parents and aunts are all in Hehuang, if there is a way to lead the army into an organizational system and fly back to Hehuang, he will give up the territory he laid down in Gansu and fly back to Hehuang without hesitation, even if the price is that the war returns to the original point .

He only entered the sage's time passively after careful consideration and careful planning, confirming that running back with his troops would not bring the war back to its original point, but would suffer a greater loss than Hehuang's defeat... If losing Hehuang is inevitable, Then restore it.

At this time, Cao Yao had fully agreed with Liu Chengzong's plan in terms of strategy, and became interested, so he narrowed the topic down to tactics, and asked, "I still have one thing I don't know. The general of the self-defense army was injured by our army. There are fewer battlements, but the high morale of the marshal's army is available, and the high platform is a small city, so it is barely enough, why not take it down as soon as possible?"

There was a map of Gansu hanging behind Liu Chengzong. He turned around and glanced at it, and said, "In the past [-] days of besieging the city, I have observed that the Marshal's army has very little experience in attacking the city."

In fact, it is not considered a lack, because in this matter, everyone is pecking at each other.

The enemies of the Ming army did not occupy cities, but the generals read many military books, which belonged to paper. The Marshal's Mansion, which was born out of the Ming army, was similar. It was nothing more than capturing a few cities.

As for the several branch troops of the Marshal's Mansion, Fanbing has rich experience in attacking and building cities, but the level of offensive and defensive technology still remains at 500 years ago; for the Mongolian soldiers in Mobei and Monan, siege is a myth and legend.

The four Oirats under the command of the Marshal's Mansion need to be listed separately in this matter. The entire Oirat has not had a single city. Before they knew Liu Chengzong, there was no such thing as siege and defense.

The small wooden castle built in front of Weilat's house by the South Russian gangster is considered an impenetrable city.

Throughout the Northwest, Liu Chengzong has the most experience in large-scale field battles himself, but he is not good at siege. The most experienced people should be Li Zicheng and Yao Zhangru who are making trouble in northern Sichuan. Hundreds of prefectures and counties have already been captured.

Of course, if counting only by the number of times the city has been trapped, and not counting cheating, Wang Jiayin, who has repeatedly gained experience in the cities of Fugu and Hequ, should be the boss.

However, Liu Chengzong is very confident in himself: "The next few battles in Gansu will focus on siege, practice siege methods that are unmatched in the world, and win the entire territory of Gansu, Duanlong is just around the corner."

It is rare for Cao Yao to grin and pop out an idiom: "Long Wang Shu!"

"You can hope."

Liu Chengzong smiled happily, but followed him and shook his head and said: "You don't have to look forward, after all, you can hone your siege skills by attacking Gansu, but you can't train your ability to open mountains. Sichuan is a good place, but food and grass soldiers are hard to get into." It involves too much energy and too much energy, and its importance is slightly less than that of Guanzhong."

As he spoke, Liu Shizi slashed along the grain of the tiger's skin with a knife in his hand: "Take Guyuan, break Long!"

He raised his hand to the east again, and slashed three times from north to south: "Enter Guanzhong, Guihua, Yulin, Tongguan, all of Shaanxi!"

Cao Yao couldn't help laughing. He was stunned before he realized, "The commander-in-chief's Shaanxi is a bit big, including Wusi Tibet in Tianshan Mountain and Monan area. It doesn't matter if you add Sichuan, anyway, it's all in the west of Shanzhou in Henan."

Liu Chengzong was also happy, including Shaanxi in Sichuan. Are you west of the Shanzhou meridian connecting the North and South Poles?
After laughing, Liu Chengzong still didn't change his strategic concept. He didn't answer about Sichuan, but said seriously: "There are too many cities in the middle, and there are countless giant cities and powerful passes. Therefore, it is best to strengthen our siege capabilities now." when."

"Now that we've come to this point, I need my brother's help in this matter."

Cao Yao knew that Liu Chengzong was going to issue an order as soon as he heard it, and the expression on his face changed immediately. He stood up and cupped his fists and said, "Commander, give the order."

"It's still too slow to temporarily recruit civilians to make wooden mantles, tube ladders, and rush carts. I plan to add a post of general manager of equipment under the battalion commander in the future, with [-] civil, gold and blacksmiths. During wartime, folk craftsmen can be recruited. , Civil servants expanded to [-] people, as the equipment guide during the siege, this can increase the ability of the participating generals during the siege.”

"In addition, under the commander of the brigade, there will be an additional member of the Divine Artifact Thousand Commander, with a hundred goldsmiths. During wartime, civilians can be recruited to a thousand people. The requirement is to be familiar with casting artillery and be able to cast heavy artillery in the besieged camp. A heavier gun."

When Liu Chengzong said that there are hundreds of weapons, Cao Yao didn't react, but when he heard that the siege cannon was made heavier than the thousand-jin cannon, he blurted out: "Then you can't walk with the army."

The cannons of the Marshal's Mansion have always been of two specifications: the lion cannon pulled by two mules and the jack cannon drawn by four horses. They are made of three materials: iron, copper, and iron-coated copper. The two types have the same power and range. But there are six types of guns with slightly different weight, durability, and cost.

The guiding ideology of casting cannons is to maneuver with the army, and the jack cannon is almost the heaviest artillery under this ideology.

Liu Chengzong nodded: "If you don't walk with the army, the Hongyi-shaped Qianjin gun has enough advantages in field battles, but when attacking the city, the defenders on the city wall are higher than our artillery array, and the range and power of the Qianjin gun are even stronger. The lighter general gun has no obvious advantage."

The siege artillery he wants is not the kind of siege artillery that shoots stone projectiles close to the city wall with large calibers. For the city walls that were generally covered with green bricks and rammed earth in the Ming Dynasty, he wanted to use artillery that fired solid bullets to knock down the city walls. No doubt whimsical.

The focus of artillery attack is still the city gates, battlements, defensive weapons and simple reinforcement facilities at the top of the city.

However, the increase in weight determines that it is difficult for this kind of gun to maneuver with the army. This is a problem that Liu Chengzong was aware of when he came up with the idea of ​​​​casting heavy guns.

After all, the thousand catty gun already needs four horses to draw it during the march, and a gun crew needs six horses including two backup horses, and two horses dying from exhaustion during the march is an acceptable loss.

As for the two to three thousand catties of cannons, the total weight of the cannon carts carrying them is almost doubled. The transportation cost of such a large piece has skyrocketed. Liu Shizi is reluctant to take dozens of horses to wait for a cannon slowly.

Liu Chengzong said: "In the past, we were short of materials. When we captured Gansu, there was no such problem. Even if the iron materials were scattered with the army, it would be too late to recast them in the besieged camp. Iron cannons weighing two thousand or even three thousand and four thousand are just the difference in materials. It’s not convenient to march anyway.”

"These craftsmen need brothers to recruit and collect them."

In Cao Yao's stunned eyes, Liu Chengzong described that after the capture of Gansu, the era of unprecedented wealth in copper and iron in the Marshal's Mansion is coming.

"The best cannons are still made of copper. The big offensive guns cast by iron cannons can only be thrown into the city as defense guns. It is too difficult to recast. There is no such condition in the battlefield. Copper cannons can also be melted into copper ingots and carried along with the army. Go together, but there is not enough copper, iron will do."

"Temporary casting and temporary use in the siege camp, and even cannon molds can use iron shells instead of clay molds. It doesn't matter if the quality of the cast is slightly poor."

Finally, Liu Chengzong waved his hand and said: "This is not a field cannon accompanying the army. Don't worry about whether it can be fired a thousand times with copper wrapped in iron, or cast with copper for [-] times, or cast iron with [-] times. Fifty generals of the three-thousand-jin Eastern Expedition, as long as each of them can fire and release a hundred times without blowing up, no one can stand on the walls of any fortified city in front of us!"

good evening!