Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 288 Bombarding Jianlu
"Beep-"

"Bang bang bang!!"

In mid-March, the Mongolian plateau has a pleasant breeze, and the sound of riding guns and the continuous sound of falling horses form a pleasant ancient song.

The Tangqi of the Ming and Mongolian armies collided, or rushed, on the grassland at the western foot of the central Harawen Mountains.

"Call..."

When a team of Mongolian Tangqi was eliminated, the small banner officer of the Tangqi of the Ming Army reined in his horse, and then commanded:
"Harvest the head and report the military situation to the Chinese army!"

"Yes!" Tang Qi heard the words, and immediately rode his horse and galloped three cavalry southward. After eight hours of raiding, they finally saw a camp stationed on the vast plain at the western foot of the Harawin Mountains.

A famous Tangqi entered the camp with them, and then reported the known information to Qianhu who was in charge of managing the Tangqi. Finally, this Qianhu passed through layers of guards and came to the gate of the big tent in the center of the camp. .

"Your Highness! The Tang Qi in front reported that the tiger crouched and the rabbit and its soldiers and horses had already fled north for two hundred miles."

"Understood, tell the soldiers to rest well."

Zhu Youjian's voice came from inside the camp, and Qianhu also bowed in response, got up and left.

In the camp, Zhu Youjian stood in front of a simple northeast sand table, and behind him were Man Gui, Saihan, Sun Shoufa, Cao Meng and others.

Zhu Youjian measured the distance with his hands, and then said:
"Our army has been out for more than [-] miles, and the supply line is almost here. There is no need for the infantry to go further north."

"Your Highness, eight hundred miles north of here is Yuyuerhai, why not go directly to Yuyuerhai and build a city in Yuyuerhai?" Cao Meng asked for instructions.

But without Zhu Youjian speaking, Man Gui said directly:
"Nearly [-] civilians, it is not bad to maintain an army of [-] miles north, and the target of this battle is the Horqin tribes."

"From here to the tribes of Horqin, we need to cross the Harawin Mountains and surprise them in the middle, the distance is nearly [-] miles."

"At the moment, the pawns stop or retreat in order to maintain the supplies of the four cavalry guards, so that the four cavalry guards can raid Horqin's tribes."

As soon as Man Gui's words came out, Cao Meng closed his mouth, and Zhu Youjian also looked at the terrain on the sand table, and said casually:

"This is along the way, and you have seen everything along the way. I plan to build a city where we fought the tiger and the rabbit, and another city in the northwest of Dalahaizi."

"In addition, build another city at the southeast foot of Harawin Mountain, that is, build three cities, and relocate criminals and their families from the five northern provinces to settle in the city."

The three places selected by Zhu Youjian are Xilinhot, Duolun County, and Chifeng in later generations.

As long as the establishment of prefectures and counties in these three places is successful, the safety of Beizhili will be guaranteed.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian calculated the time and distance again, and said:
"Today is already March [-]th, and it is estimated that Xiong Tingbi and the others will go north tomorrow."

"A journey of eight hundred miles, according to our daily march of sixty miles in the past few days, it will take at least thirteen days."

"In case Jianlu supports Horqin, Mangui, you are going to mobilize the cavalry of the four-step guard to protect the supply line. In addition, I will take away two hundred five-jin General Yanshan cannons."

Zhu Youjian said, and Man Gui and others also responded one after another.

"The four cavalry guards leave the fortress tomorrow, so get ready."

After all, Zhu Youjian put away the huanghuali wooden stick, and Man Gui and others also bowed and withdrew from the military tent.

At the same time as they withdrew from the military account, Zhu Youjian returned to the main seat and looked at the military information on the main table.

This is the military information sent by Lu Wenzhao, and the military information here is not about the north, but about the two Huaihe Rivers in the south.

Lu Wenzhao told everything about how Zhu Youxiao and Wei Zhongxian dealt with Lianghuai, and explained in the letter that they did not know what Yang Huan was doing in Lianghuai.

What Yang Huan did in the Lianghuai salt merchants was different from what Donglin and the five parties thought, and it was not what Cui Chengxiu and Wei Zhongxian asked to do.

Cui Chengxiu's order to Yang Huan was to take care of the salt merchants, but it was Zhu Youjian himself who made Yang Huan starve the Lianghuai salt merchants to death...

The reason why he didn't let Yang Huan kill the Lianghuai salt merchants was naturally for waste utilization, and at the same time increased the pressure of the Fujian and Zhejiang salt and tea merchants on the five parties.

There are more than [-] salt merchants in Lianghuai, involving nearly [-] people. If [-] people move to Jiugang, they will be able to reclaim a lot of arable land.

In addition, judging from the present, the merchants in Fujian and Zhejiang have indeed put a lot of pressure on the five parties. After all, if the salt merchants in Lianghuai and Huaihe Rivers are not rescued, maybe no one will rescue them when the imperial court moves Fujian and Zhejiang in the future.

They are putting pressure on the officials of the five parties in the court, and the officials of the five parties are unable to oppose Wei Zhongxian due to the political situation.

In this way, there is a gap between the two sides, and as long as this gap is used properly, it will gradually expand.

As long as the contact between Fujian and Zhejiang merchants and officials is cut off, it will be much easier to deal with either of them alone.

Yao Zongwen and his group still want to play tricks with him, they are looking for a dead end, but Fang Congzhe...

Zhu Youjian squinted his eyes, thinking of Fang Congzhe who probably had returned to the capital, and thought about whether this old man could return to the political arena.

But thinking about it carefully, even if he wants to return to politics, it is impossible. The five parties are now in decline. As long as they are suppressed, time will slowly solve them.

With the graduation of many Yanshan students, the collision between the new conservatives and the reformers will also begin.

The Ming Dynasty will always change. The autocratic monarchy system in the Central Plains Dynasty is only suitable for the feudal era, but cannot adapt to the industrial era.

In order to maintain the monarchy system, it can only be transformed from an absolute monarchy to a monarchy republic and a constitutional monarchy.

This is not to say that the system of absolute monarchy cannot be implemented in the industrial age, but that the system of the Ming Dynasty, the Han people, and the Central Plains cannot be suitable for autocratic monarchy in the industrial age.

Zhu Youjian knew very well that although his innovations would allow Ming to enter the industrial age, it would also create contradictions between the autocratic monarchy and the industrial age.

He is not a god, and a system cannot be applicable in every age.

With the current Central Plains system continuing to be ruled by the Han Chinese, no one can give him an answer as to what system is more suitable for the Ming Dynasty in the seventeenth century.

The system of later generations was determined, after the autocratic monarchy, constitutional monarchy, democracy, and republic in the late Qing Dynasty were staged many times, and it was found that these systems were not feasible, and then began to move towards a definite system.

But in this era, Zhu Youjian is destined not to have so much trial and error costs.

Perhaps if Li Zicheng perishes the Ming Dynasty in history and repels the Manchus with a single stone, Dashun can give Zhu Youjian an answer.

But this answer will not appear after all, and Zhu Youjian can only rely on his own groping.

The lifespan of the autocratic monarchy has entered the countdown. If Zhu Youjian can't find out what the system after this system is, and use the autocratic monarchy to carry out the industrial age.

Then maybe the Zhu family in the future will be sent to the guillotine just like the one on the other side of the ocean.

His only advantage is his age. While taking good care of himself, maybe he still has fifty or sixty years to think of a suitable system...

"Your Highness!"

Suddenly, when Zhu Youjian was thinking about how to reform the Ming system, Man Gui's voice sounded again.

He came in from outside the tent, holding a military newspaper in his hand and said:
"Your Highness, the tribes of Karaqin in the north sent people to the south to send a letter, saying that Bo Yungai has gone to the Hailaerwei area to nomad."

"Run so fast?" Hearing Man Gui's words, Zhu Youjian stepped forward to take the military newspaper and glanced at it, only to find that Bo Yun could really run.

This military report was delivered on the twelfth of March, that is to say, counting from the first day of March, within twelve days at most, Bo Huanxie traveled more than [-] miles to Hulun Buir, the later generation. prairie.

"Now I know why Emperor Chengzuwen was so angry with Alutai back then."

Looking at the military newspaper, Zhu Youjian teased Zhu Di. After all, the Mongols are so capable of running, and no one can catch up with them.

"Your Highness, shall we continue to march towards Horqin?" Man Gui tentatively asked, and Zhu Youjian nodded and said:

"Well, continue to march towards Horqin, and at the same time pay attention to the mobilization of Tangqi, and be careful not to let people attack our army's supply line."

"We'll be leaving early tomorrow morning..."

After all, Zhu Youjian put down the military newspaper, and Man Gui also withdrew from the military account, and started preparations for the march of the four cavalry guards tomorrow...

------

"put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

On March [-]th, when Zhu Youjian had already led the four cavalry guards northward, the first artillery shot on the battlefield in the north of Liaodong also sounded with Xiong Tingbi's order.

The gunners of the Ming army were operating in an orderly manner, only to hear the sound of "rumbling" intensive cannons, and stone bullets flew out, shooting towards the outer fortifications outside the moat of the south gate of Yidong River City directly in front.

The huge recoil-shocked artillery cart moved back a bit, and hundreds of stone bullets fell like a shower. The Jin army guarding the stone bridge outside the moat was complaining under the artillery attack of the Ming army.

"Bang bang bang-"

"Get down! Get down!"

In the camp, stones and wood flew, and many Jin soldiers were directly smashed to death, or fell down while fleeing.

Some Jin soldiers were injured by the blasted stones and wood, and wailed in pain.

"Quick! Pass the city..."

"Bang bang bang!"

In the camp, a Jia Laer really tried to ask for support, but before he could finish speaking, another stone bomb hit him, and it fell beside him and turned into a ricochet and hit him. Even if Ding Judun protected him, he couldn't withstand the power of the ricochet.

"what!"

Even though Jiala is really strong, what it faces is a stone bullet after all.

The power of the stone bomb smashed the shield, and Qi Ding was directly thrown into the air, and Jiang Jia La Ezhen fell to the ground together.

"The Ming dog who killed a thousand knives, I will definitely make you wait to die!"

Jia Laezhen, who was thrown into a coma, was helped up by other soldiers of the Golden Army. After waking up, he wiped his face with his sleeve and cursed loudly.

However, while he was cursing, the artillery of the Ming army also stopped, and Dai Shan, who was in charge of observing the battlefield on the top of the city, slowly got up and looked at the tens of thousands of Ming troops on the south plain outside the city with an ugly expression.

In front of the formation of the Ming army, hundreds of artillery pieces lined up. The muzzle of Aohei made Dai Shan's scalp tingle, and the double-sided banners marked with the words "Sun" and "Xiong" in the Ming army also made him realize Who is the main general of the Ming army in Liaodong?

"Send someone back to report to Khan Ama, and say that Xiong Tingbi and Sun Yingyuan led about [-] troops to invade my Dajin Yidonghe City."

"Yes!"

Dai Shan spoke to Gu Shan Ezhen who was beside him, and the other party immediately ordered someone to rush the news to the rear.

"What's Mangurtai doing to eat? It's been seven days since he dispatched troops and he still hasn't arrived in Guangning?!"

Standing on the top of the wall, Daishan changed his usual calmness and began to curse Mangurtai.

Ever since Nurhachi ordered him to take over Yidong River City, Dai Shan knew that guarding Yidong River City was not such an easy task.

However, if Yidonghe City cannot be defended, then once the Ming army takes over here and takes root here, then the distance from here to Xingjing City will only be more than four hundred miles.

Therefore, no matter how much he and Manggurtai fought, he still obeyed Nurhachi's order and came to take over the city.

According to Nurhachi's military order, after Daishan took over the city, Mangurtai took the soldiers and horses of the two blue flags, the artillery, and all the cattle and sheep in Yidonghe City, and began to bypass the Liaohe River and go down to Daning Mansion.

It's just that it's been seven days, Dai Shan didn't wait for the news of Mang Gurtai's successful knockout, but waited for the stone bullets from Xiong Tingbi and Sun Yingyuan.

Looking at the fortress outside the city that had been smashed into mud by stone bullets, Dai Shan's face naturally looked unhappy.

If Mang Gurtai failed to knock the pass, then he alone would not be able to defend Yidonghe City, and there would be no result.

Judging from the artillery power of the Ming army just now and the number of soldiers and horses revealed at the moment, with less than [-] troops in his city, it can hold for ten days at most...

Thinking about it this way, Daishan's face became even more ugly, and at the same time, the artillery of the Ming army, which had a cup of tea, gradually cooled down.

"Fixed shot reloading! The direction remains the same, the distance is two miles and four miles, the outer camp of the target..."

"put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

With the wave of the command flag of the artillery battalion general, all the artillery of the Ming army were ignited, and then roared amidst the sound of the fire wire burning out.

The rumbling cannons rang out one after another, which made Daishan, who was still thinking, squat down immediately.

The stone bullets kept hitting the barracks outside the city and the south wall of Yidonghe City, so that even Daishan who was squatting down and all the Jin soldiers could feel the vibration of the city wall.

Gradually, the fort arrangement on the other side of the moat outside the city began to disintegrate.

The fortifications such as the horn wall, horse refusal, and traps were all destroyed by stone bombs. Xiong Tingbi, who was sitting on horseback, immediately put down his binocular clairvoyance and ordered:

"Advance the artillery one mile, shelling the city wall!"

"Obey!" Sun Yingyuan responded, and then directed the artillery battalion to move forward.

When the artillery battalion's hundreds of cannons advanced a mile, the bores of the guns had almost cooled down.

Accompanied by the action of clearing their chests and filling them with medicine, they once again let out the roar of thunder, and the shower of stone bullets began to continuously hit the city wall of the southern city of Yidonghe City.

A ten-pound stone bullet flew over and smashed through the female wall, making Daishan not far away sweat from his forehead.

The Ming army no longer chose to bombard the camp. He knew very well what this meant.

To put it bluntly, Xiong Tingbi believed that the peripheral fortifications could no longer stop the Ming army, so he only needed to blow the city wall out of the gap to launch a full-scale attack.

Such a change in tactics made Daishan lose even the idea of ​​sticking to ten days, and he immediately ordered everyone:
"Go down the city wall and wait for the Ming army's shelling to end."

Without his urging, when the military order was issued, the prisoners of the two red flags walked down the city wall one after another, and at the same time, the artillery of the Ming army stopped again.

"It's better to have more cannons. If there are three thousand ten-jin cannons, I'm afraid I can take down Yidong River City in one day."

Looking at the gunner who was clearing his chest, Xiong Tingbi actually expressed such emotion.

However, if Zhu Youjian heard these words, he would be very speechless.

Three thousand ten-pound guns are three thousand twelve-pound guns. Now all the countries participating in the Thirty Years War on the other side of the ocean can't put so many twelve-pound guns on land at one go. He dares to think .

"Let's continue the bombardment like this. When Jianlu can't hold on anymore, he will retreat..." Sun Yingyuan smiled, and Xiong Tingbi also felt that this battle was getting more and more meaningless.

It seems that the results of the Battle of Restoring the Liao Dynasty frightened many Jian captives. They no longer dared to fight the Ming army head-on as before, and most of the time they stayed in the city.

This kind of offensive and defensive battle is very boring. It is not surprising that Xiong Tingbi, who has rested for more than three years, feels bored.

After a while, he and Sun Yingyuan did not continue to stay in the front army, but returned to the central army tent, where they drank tea.

Time passed little by little, the bombardment during the whole day, nearly hundreds of thousands of stone bombs were bombarded wildly, and the south wall of Yidong River City was bombed terribly.

But fortunately, when it was built, Mangurtai built it extremely strong, so the city wall did not hurt the root.

But even if this continues, it will only be a matter of time before the Ming army breaks through Yidonghe City.

As the main general, Daishan had no choice but to send Tangqi to Xingjing for help one after another, and took advantage of the night to repair the city wall.

But as time passed, when the night faded and day fell, the artillery of the Ming army fired again, making the Jin army in charge of defending the city look tired.

Everyone squatted at the base of the city wall and rested. They knew that the Ming army would not attack the city unless they blasted the city wall, so all the members began to slack off.

This situation was seen by Daishan, but he had nothing to do.

Not to mention that the artillery of the Jin army was taken away by Mang Gurtai, but even if it had artillery, its range and power were far inferior to those of the Ming army.

Rather than worrying the soldiers, it is better to let them rest well during the day and repair the city wall at night.

It's just that shrinking like this can't stop the collapse of the defense line.

"put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

At six quarters of the hour on March [-]th, accompanied by the early morning chill, the walls of Yidonghe City, which had been bombarded for four consecutive days, finally began to collapse.

The collapse of the city wall caused some of the Jin army to be buried alive. Fortunately, the city was not high and they were wearing armor, which prevented them all from being smashed to death.

"What's up!"

Dangdai Shan was awakened by the collapse of the city wall. All he saw was a gap that was two feet wide and more than one foot high.

The surrounding golden army is constantly repairing the gap, they either use sandbags, or use stones, in short, they use all means.

Just when they were about to finish their repairs, the Ming army's artillery sounded again.

The sound of "rumbling" guns and stone bullets hitting the city walls and gaps continued to appear.

Under the indiscriminate bombardment of stone bombs, the sundries that filled the gap did not survive a few breaths, and finally began to collapse on a large scale.

The Jin army behind the city wall fled in all directions, and finally waited for the sound of the Ming army's artillery to end before they ran back to continue repairing the gap.

Their actions were naturally seen clearly by Xiong Tingbi and Sun Yingyuan, who use binocular clairvoyance. Sun Yingyuan's thoughts on this are very simple:
"We must first send people to storm the other city walls to attract the attention of Jianlu, reduce the number of people who repair the gap, and then use artillery to open the gap in one fell swoop."

"Yes..." Xiong Tingbi slightly nodded his head to express his approval, and Sun Yingyuan also turned his head when he saw this and said:

"Get ready first!"

"Boom!"

With the issuance of the military order, as a mixed army of infantry and cavalry, shirtless drummers began to beat drums on one hundred drum carts in the army.

The appearance of the sound of beating drums made the battalions of the Ming army prepare, and when Daishan in Yidonghe City heard the sound, he hurriedly ran to the city wall with his soldiers and horses, beat the wolf teeth hidden in the gate tower, and warmed them up. Oil and other items were moved onto the Chengtou road.

When they were getting everything ready, Daishan ordered someone to set up the trebuchet, and began to swing the gavel as the Ming army approached!
"boom!"

The mallet hit the organ, and then a stone the size of a human head was thrown by a simple trebuchet, flying hundreds of steps away, and landed in front of the marching Ming army.

"Calculate the distance, and counterattack when the Ming army reaches this line!"

Daishan gave the order loudly, and Gushan Ezhen and Jiala Ezhen beside him also went to various ministries to deliver the order.

Under their order, all the Jinjun trebuchet players were ready, and Daishan followed up with the order:
"Mobilize a group of soldiers and horses to support the camp outside the city."

"As ordered!"

His military orders were issued one after another, and the gates of Yidong River City were opened, and then thousands of Jian prisoners rushed out of the corridor, trotted across the stone bridge on the moat, and came to the camp on the opposite bank.

There were two Niulu soldiers and horses inside this camp. When reinforcements from one Jiala and five Niulu arrived, they had more than [-] people.

Although a large number of fortifications were destroyed by the Ming army's artillery, they still had the confidence to stop the Ming army's footsteps by relying on shield vehicles.

"Boom! Boom! Boom—"

The dull drum sound seemed to hit Jin Jun's chest with every hammer, making it difficult for everyone to breathe.

Sun Yingyuan dispatched three battalions of troops, of which [-] were armed with rifles, approaching the camp outside Yidonghe step by step.

The Jin army in the camp also used bows and arrows and bird guns to defend, but compared with the number of Ming army rifles, their proportion of firearms was pitifully small.

Time passed little by little, and the distance between the Ming and Jin armies was gradually shortening.

Accompanied by drums, five hundred steps, four hundred steps, three hundred steps...

"put!"

On the top of the city, some Jialaerzhen who were ready began to order their trebuchets to throw stone bombs.

All of a sudden, the sound of the hammer being smashed was heard one after another, and hundreds of stone bullets flew out from the top of the city, hitting the Ming army infantry.

It's just that the Ming army was not unprepared for this. When the trebuchet broke out, the Ming army's artillery also started to shoot...

(End of this chapter)