prosperous age

Chapter 367 Chapter 366
"Go and report to General Yu. The Tatars can't take back the city gate. Now they are scattered in the houses in the city. They probably want to use the houses in the city to hold back our army's encirclement and suppression."

The team officer guarding the city gate greeted the investigating Ming cavalry and said loudly.

They came out of Datong City together, and the captain of the Ming army naturally recognized the person in front of him. Seeing that the gate of the city was indeed guarded by the Ming army, he sent a soldier back to report the message while asking people to play a safety flag.

"go ahead."

Seeing the semaphore of the Ming army, Yu Dayou immediately waved.

Although he is also very strange at the moment, is there no one in the city?
That's right, a cavalryman came from the opposite side and rushed straight in front of him. About ten steps away, the cavalry got off his horse and walked a few steps to Yu Dayou. After entering the city gate once, they dispersed and hid in private houses after being repulsed by Fran's cannon."

"Ok?"

Hearing this situation, Yu Dayou was slightly surprised at first, then raised his eyebrows, he knew what the other party was thinking.

Only attacking the city gate once, and retreating decisively after failure, this shows that the opponent's combat power is not high.

Hiding in a private house will increase the difficulty of extermination, indicating that the other party intends to compete with him in the city and delay their time.

I don't intend to occupy this place, hehe
Yu Dayou thought to himself, he was very glad that Tartar would make such a choice.

But they know that Qiu Fu and Zhao Quan built this place for Alta Khan, and it is said that a palace was built in the city, which is planned to be the place where Altan Khan is proclaimed emperor in the future.
Since he couldn't stay here, the thing he had to do after entering the city was simple, and that was to burn the place down with a torch.

The Tartars and those White Lotus believers all hid in the houses, and they happened to be burned to death, and the losses on their side would be reduced, so why not do it, everyone will save trouble.

"The order."

Yu Dayou suddenly shouted loudly, and a messenger behind him immediately rode over to receive the order.

"Order General Ma Lu and Guerrilla Xu Qin to bring a team into the city and advance along the city wall. Give me the control board to raise the city wall, so that no traitor in the city will be lost."

"Accept orders."

After Yu Dayou issued the order, the messenger immediately shouted loudly, and then galloped away.

Soon, the Ming army outside the city entered the city one after another, and then 3000 people except 1000 stayed here, and the other 2000 people went up the city wall under the leadership of Ma Lu and Xu Qin, moving forward from left to right. city ​​walls.

The city wall of Bansheng City is actually an earthen wall. The earthen wall is more than one foot high and six feet wide. Except for the two gates covered with bricks, the rest are just earthen walls without even the city wall crenels. As for the defensive facilities such as watchtowers is nothing.

The Ming army advanced quickly along the city wall, and saw only a small number of Bansheng soldiers along the way, and they were quickly wiped out. There was no pass that could stop the Ming army from advancing.

Soon, Yu Dayou, who was waiting on the tower, received the latest news that Ma Lu and Xu Qin met at the north gate and completed the control of the entire Bansheng City wall.

"Before our army captured the North Gate, we saw some convoys leaving the city. According to the captured enemy soldiers, they were the family members of traitors such as Zhao Quan and Li Zixin."

The messenger who came back to report reported in front of Yu Dayou at this time.

"Have they all run away?"

Yu Dayou frowned slightly when he heard the words, and then asked.

"General Ma saw a convoy wanting to leave the city quickly, and guessed that it might be an important figure, so he accelerated the attack speed, but still ran away, but we also intercepted the convoy behind."

At this time, Li Zixin in the palace had already received the news when the Ming army advanced along the city wall. He understood the plan of the Ming army. Time is to send people to resist the Ming army's attack, and on the other hand, it is to arrange for people to stay in the city as soon as possible, and the family members of the bandit leader of the White Lotus Sect to evacuate outside the city.

Although many people in Bansheng City went to the Daqing Mountain Pass to escape the summer heat, they had to camp in the wild. Many family members of the leaders couldn’t stand living in the wilderness, even in tents, so there were not a few people who stayed in Bansheng City. .

Now, after the Ming army invaded, Li Zixin arranged for these people to be gathered together for protection. After knowing that the Ming army wanted to completely surround them, they quickly set up a car and planned to send them out, but it was still too late took a step.

And after knowing who were forced to retreat and failed to leave the city, Li Zixin felt even more thunderous.

My old mother is still in the city, and there is a younger brother accompanying her, and the other younger brother has lost contact. I don't know if he rushed out of the city or what, but Li Zixin always has a bad feeling.

In addition, one of Zhao Quan's brothers was still in the city, but Qiu Fu's family might have escaped, but they might have been intercepted and killed by the Ming army at the city gate.

The news is also confusing at the moment, even he can't get accurate information.

At the very least, the people who have already left the city have lost contact with the city and cannot confirm the news.

It can only be said that they were too careless. After staying in Bansheng City for so many years, they never thought that the Ming army would dare to cross the border to attack.

You must know that Bansheng City is more than 300 miles away from the nearest military town of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming army has always shown a defensive posture, and has no intention of attacking at all.

Well, they were paralyzed, and the current Bansheng City was surrounded by the Ming army without the slightest preparation.

Now Li Zixin has received a report from the little leader who came back, that the Ming army's attacking force is about 3000 people.

Now there are about [-] people on the city wall, and there are about [-] Ming soldiers at the south gate. Their goal should be here.

Li Zixin had already made a judgment. The Ming army definitely wanted to capture the palace. Anyway, they built this place for Altan Khan. The Ming army could not let go of the place where they would ascend the throne and become emperor in the future.

Moreover, the palace is located in the center of Bansheng City. At this moment, the high-ranking officials in the city will definitely gather here to direct the resistance of the defenders in the city.

Li Zixin also understood the principle of shooting horses first when shooting people, and capturing the king first when capturing thieves.

For a bandit leader of the White Lotus Sect like him, the imperial court would never let him go easily, and even the family is light.

Although there are still more than 2000 people under his command, the Ming army's offensive did not eliminate too many of his men. Li Zixin is also confident that he can persist for two days. When the Qingshankou army returns to help, the Ming army can only choose to retreat, but he Still made the worst plan, that is to lead hundreds of cronies and family members to break out.

He is very clear about the combat power of his subordinates, and the reason why he stayed is because most of the defenders in the city are his subordinates. Qiu Fu's troops followed Altan Khan to the Xuanfu, and Zhao Quan's soldiers followed the common people. Outside the Qingshan Pass.

Now the people in Bansheng City have become more and more difficult to manage. Most of the Han people who fled here before came here because the Mongols did not collect their taxes and servitude. Every year, the Mongols exchange cattle and sheep for the grain they grow.

It wasn't until the arrival of the White Lotus Cultists that they established a cooperative relationship with Altan Khan that they obtained the right to manage this place.

Naturally, they also had to learn from the officials in the pass and began to collect taxes from the people under their rule.

At first, the people were naturally not happy, but they finally chose to submit to their powerful force.

It's just that over the years, they have trained more and more soldiers, and the demand for resources has also increased. Now the taxes collected have also increased sharply, making many people feel that they can no longer survive, and the people who run back can't. A few more.

Therefore, when the common people went out to Qingshan Pass to escape the summer heat, they would choose to send a large army to guard along the way to prevent anyone from escaping along the way.

Now, besides letting Zhao Quan go, Li Zixin is not sure that he can quickly gather troops to support Bansheng City.

"Array."

Knowing that the walls and gates of Bansheng City have been completely controlled by the Ming army, Ma Lu and Liu Qin are deploying defenses on the walls and gates to prevent the defeated soldiers from breaking out of the encirclement, Yu Dayou knows that it is time to end.

He sent people to bring up the fire oil and other things he had brought, and distributed a large number of torches and rockets to be used to ignite the fire, and arranged a conical array of the guards who remained by his side to rush in along the road, attacking the target. It is very clear that it is the palace located in the center of the city.

As for the low houses along the way, they can be lit directly with torches and rockets. Since the defenders in the city want to stick to those houses, let them die together.

After giving the order, the Ming army's preparations were soon completed, and then Yu Dayou issued an order to attack.

That palace can't be burned for the time being, not because he cares about the result of the hard work and sweat of countless craftsmen, but because the leader of the White Lotus Sect and the ruler of the city should exist in the palace.

Catch them, take away the valuables in the palace, and then turn this place into ruins with a torch and leave it to Altan Khan.

The formation of the Ming army was quickly completed. Following Yu Dayou's order to attack, the knights in front began to move their horses slowly, and gradually began to speed up.

A few arrows started to shoot out from the houses. Yu Dayou's soldiers were all wearing double-layer armor. These arrows made on the grassland really couldn't penetrate their armor, but the first few people quickly changed their body. He became like a hedgehog, covered with arrows all over his body.

Perhaps some arrows pierced through the defense, but they didn't go deep into the flesh. For these men who have been fighting in the army all year round, such minor injuries are commonplace, and it is not worth mentioning at all.

No one slowed down to deal with the arrows and wounds on their bodies. The soldiers maintained their formation and continued to charge forward, while the Ming army behind them held torches and lit the houses along the way. Almost instantly the roof was in flames.

The dense houses shot by the arrows were the target of these rockets. Several rockets were nailed to the door panels and windows, which quickly ignited the wood, and even the rockets that fell on the roof quickly ignited the house beams and other wood.

The actions of the Ming army not playing cards according to the routine made the Bailian believers hiding in the house a little confused, but they couldn't wait to see them. Many doors that had been closed before were opened, and Ban Shengbing escaped from the burning room. , But what was waiting for them was the Ming army cavalry who rushed past them quickly, and was killed by the Ming army on the spot between the intersections.

The people in the border town can more or less know how to ride horses, but those who are good at riding are selected to serve as cavalry in the army, and these people have already followed Qiu Fu to Xuanfu, and those who stayed were used as infantry. pawn training.

They ran out of the house scatteredly, facing the fate of the Ming army cavalry, naturally they had nothing to do but wait to die.

And when the door is opened, after the Ban Shengbing rushing out is killed, one or two torches will be thrown into the house from outside the door. The Ban Shengbing behind sees that there is no way to escape, so they have to climb over the courtyard wall Flee to the houses on the other three sides.

It's just that the Ming army kept setting fires everywhere, shooting rockets into the houses from time to time, igniting larger houses inside.

The Ming army did not go into those battlefields that were the best for guerrilla warfare, such as narrow alleys. When they saw houses inside, they just shot a few rockets over them.

As large areas of houses were set on fire by the Ming army, the area where the remaining Bansheng soldiers could move became smaller and smaller, but they were no longer surrounded by the Ming army, but by the fire field.

As usual, the victorious side should have killed the resistance in the city, robbed property from house to house, and then burned down the house, but this time the Ming army's operation really caught Li Zixin and other leaders of the White Lotus Sect by surprise.

It's just that at this time, even if Li Zixin got the news, it was too late to gather the scattered soldiers.

Now the Ming army has rushed outside the palace wall and is robbing the palace wall to enter. Although they haven't set fire to it yet, Li Zixin knows that the palace cannot be defended.

Soon, a section of the palace wall was taken down by the Ming army. Dozens of Ming soldiers who climbed over the wall opened a palace gate, and a large number of Ming soldiers entered in a single file. The resistance along the way was very slight.

Yu Dayou followed the brigade to the palace, and when he heard the news, he quickly realized what was going on in his mind.

"Speed ​​up and go in, the bandit leader must want to escape through the northern city gate."

Yu Dayou began to urge his soldiers to attack loudly, and there was no time to count the belongings in the palace.

The attack speed of the Ming army was very fast. They passed through the palace, and even many halls were too late to be cleared. They quickly passed through the so-called imperial palace and rushed towards the north gate.

At this time, there was a massacre under the wall of the north gate, and the Bansheng soldiers composed of hundreds of Bailian believers rushed to the Ming army's defense line regardless of life and death. Under the leadership of Li Zixin, he began to charge again.

These are Li Zixin's personal soldiers who stay by her side. They are well-equipped and fearless. They are all gangsters with lives in their hands, and their combat power is not weak.

They made full use of the familiar characteristics of the terrain, and they suddenly launched an attack when they were very close to the city gate, which also caught guard Xu Qin by surprise.

After paying a heavy price, he finally broke through the blockade of hundreds of Ming troops. Even though the guerrilla Xu Qin urgently summoned the soldiers on the surrounding walls to support him, it was still a step too late.

The cavalry team led by Li Zixin finally rushed out, although there were only more than 20 people left after leaving the city.

But the thing that worried him most happened.

Although the Ming army was broken through the city gate by them, as the Ming army on both sides of the city walls continued to come to support, the passage was soon sealed up again, but the family members behind them failed to rush out, and they were all blocked in the city.

(End of this chapter)