The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 154 Desperate

In the ninth year of Chongzhen, the third day of April.

Outside Xing'an City, break into the army camp.

The camp of more than [-] people can't see the edge at a glance, stretching for dozens of miles.

On the side facing Xing'ancheng, a simple camp wall with civil structure has been erected, and there are several simple trenches outside it.

These measures are all to prevent possible raids on the camp.

The Chuangjun camp was filled with solemnity, and the camp walls were covered with guarding soldiers.

Looking through the gate, among layers of military tents and pieces of spears and spears, a huge green curtain military tent is particularly eye-catching.

There are many armored soldiers outside the big tent, and more than ten banners are lined up in front of the tent, the most central banner is the tallest, on the top of the banner is simple and clear, there is only a big "chuang" character.

This is the big tent of the Chinese army where Gao Yingxiang is.

At this time, in the large tent of the Chinese army, Gao Yingxiang was wearing a vermilion arrow jacket and a net scarf on his head, with both sides on his back, standing and hanging in front of the map in the main hall.

Gao Yingxiang had a high nose, deep eyes, and deep eyes. A group of generals in armor stood on both sides of the tent, waiting for Gao Yingxiang's order with their hands tied.

In nearly a month, the three cities of Pingli, Ziyang, and Xunyang, as well as some surrounding towns, have been breached.

Hanzhong Prefecture was not affected by the disaster, so it received a lot of food in the three cities and the surrounding areas.

At present, the most critical food crisis in the army has also been alleviated.

Gao Yingxiang kept Zhuantian Harrier and Wang Cheng to continue guarding Ziyang to prevent the Ming army from rushing to help from Sichuan Province.

The rest of the people were all withdrawn outside Xing'an City by Gao Yingxiang.

The cavalry troops who plundered Hanyin and scouted Shiquan also returned outside Xing'an City, and they also brought news from the central part of Hanzhong Mansion.

Hanyin City was not captured, but all the towns and villages around Hanyin City fell.

The Chuangjun burned everything they could see and took everything they could.

The direction of Shiquan was also looted, but most of the towns were still preserved.

Gao Yingxiang looked at the map in front of him, combined with the news received from various sources, the situation was becoming clearer.

The reconnaissance cavalry arrested many people in Shiquan. From those people, he learned that the 3000-man army led by Zhou Yumao did not stay in Shiquan, but went further west.

And there is no other place to enter the vicinity of Shiquan from the plank road in the north.

Some daring scout cavalry even went deep into Xixiang and Yang County, and the news they brought back gave Gao Yingxiang a reassurance.

Through the collected information, Gao Yingxiang confirmed that Hong Chengchou did not send more troops to Hanzhong Mansion.

Hanzhong Mansion should only have the battalions of Zhou Yumao and Chen Wang and some guards.

Xing'an, the prefecture of Hanzhong, was marked with a red dot on the map. Gao Yingxiang's gaze stayed on Xing'an City for a while, but he quickly looked away again.

His gaze finally settled on the top of the map, above the Hanzhong Mansion—the location of the Xi'an Mansion.

At the top of the map, in the center of Xi'an Prefecture, Xi'an City, the provincial capital, is more prominent on the map than other cities.

Xi'an, Xi'an...

Gao Yingxiang's eyes darkened slightly, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

Attacked Xi'an three times, but there was no way to break Xi'an.

Instead, they suffered setbacks one after another and lost a lot of troops.

Gao Yingxiang's heart is like a bright mirror.

He knew very well that they could be temporary rogues.

However, they cannot be rogues for the rest of their lives.

A rogue is always a rogue, and a rogue is always a rogue.

No matter how they develop now, no matter how they expand, they will be rogues after all.

In the battle of Sanyuan, he had hundreds of thousands of troops under his command, but even if there was a gap of dozens of times in strength, none of them could defeat Hong Chengchou in the end, let alone capture the city of Xi'an.

If they can't attack Xi'an and take Guanzhong, they can only be rogues.

Although the world is big, there is not much room for them.

Daming has two capitals and thirteen provinces, but there are not many that can really be used as foundations.

South Zhili and North Zhili are the core of the Ming court, and the Ming army is the strongest.

Shandong, Henan, Huguang, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian, these eight provinces are either too far away or have no danger to defend.

If these places were used as bases, the Ming army would encircle them from all directions, and if they stood firm, it would undoubtedly be a dead end.

The three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan have dangers to defend, and they are also the careers of kings and hegemons.

However, there are many native officials in the three regions, the terrain is complex, and the situation is unpredictable. The soldiers of the three provinces are even more powerful. They guard the main roads entering the regions and block all enemies.

After excluding so many regions, only Shanxi and Shaanxi are left that can be used as foundations.

Shanxi is protected by the Taihang Mountains in the east, blocked by the Yellow River in the west, relied on by the Yellow River and Zhongtiao Mountain in the south, and defended by the Great Wall in the north, which can be used as a foundation.

However, Shanxi has experienced severe drought in recent years, and there are many soldiers in the province, especially in Taiyuan Town.

As an important military town of the Ming army in the north, Taiyuan has been operating for hundreds of years.

If Taiyuan is not captured, then the entire Shanxi will be firmly controlled by the Ming court.

In fact, there is actually only one choice left for Gao Yingxiang from the beginning to the present-Shaanxi.

To capture Shaanxi Province, you must first capture the city of Xi'an and the mansion of Xi'an.

In other parts of Shaanxi, due to the severe drought, not a single blade of grass grew, and everything withered.

In the entire Shaanxi Province, only the land in the Guanzhong area can grow a large amount of grain.

Occupy Xi'an City, occupy Guanzhong, and then take the four passes of Guanzhong, then they can have a relatively stable development environment.

Relying on the city of Xi'an and the Guanzhong region, we can do many things.

As the largest city in Shaanxi, Xi'an City is heavily fortified.

You don't need to worry too much about external threats, you can start recruiting craftsmen to make weapons and armor.

Weapons and armor, the impact of armaments on the battlefield is actually extremely huge.

The head of the 72nd Battalion who followed Gao Yingxiang into Hanzhong Mansion, including Zhang Xianzhong, there were five people in total.

Among the five, Zhang Xianzhong was the most powerful, with 4000 fine cavalry under his command, and a total of [-] horsemen.

There are 5000 troops, 4000 hungry soldiers, and more than [-] old and weak women and children.

The total number of troops under Zhang Xianzhong's command is nearly 12, which is even larger than that of Gao Yingxiang.

The remaining four battalions add up to a total of about 4 people.

It's just that the quality of his troops is naturally incomparable with Gao Yingxiang's.

The number of fine cavalry is directly reduced by 5000. Although the number of horse troops is similar, the combat effectiveness of the two sides is not of the same order.

There is not much difference in combat effectiveness between the hungry soldiers, but the gap between the infantry and the horse army is huge.

In fact, the horse army and the infantry are only one with a horse and the other without a horse. Other than that, there is almost no difference in combat power.

Most of the horse troops dismounted and formed formations like infantry when they actually fought.

The infantry and horse troops under Gao Yingxiang's command have undergone long-term training, and their ranks are neat and tidy.

In fact, their combat power is no worse than that of the battalions in some military towns in the interior. What they lack are weapons and armor.

But there is a huge gap between armored and unarmored armies, which is the biggest reason why they still lose more and win less.

In some film and television dramas of later generations, armor is like paper, which can be cut at will.

But on the real battlefield, even the worst leather armor can save a life at a critical moment, not to mention the iron armor with superior protection.

Under the same quality, an armored army can even complete the crushing of an unarmored army.

On the Liaodong battlefield, the most commonly used tactics of the Houjin soldiers during field battles are to push the shield chariot to the front, or ride the horse to the front, and shoot heavy arrows to tear the Ming army's formation. Get off the horse and get out of the car, relying on the layers of heavy armor on your body to charge on foot after forming an formation.

The opponents of the Ming army had always been Mongolian cavalry with little iron and armor. The experience and armaments for hundreds of years were all to resist the Mongols.

When their enemies were replaced by Houjin soldiers, the light bows and quick knives that were invincible before could not even cause any damage to the enemies.

The result was that on the Liaodong battlefield, the Ming army was defeated again and again, and finally even lost the courage to fight in the field.

In the Han Dynasty, one Han became the five Hu, not only because the Han army was well-trained and physically stronger.

The biggest reason is actually that there is a huge gap in armament between the Han army and the Xiongnu army.

Strong crossbows, strong armor, sharp blades, and fast horses are the tactics that are ahead of the entire world. This is the basis for the Han army to sweep Mobei.

Gao Yingxiang is well aware of the role of armor, but the reality is that he has no time to recruit craftsmen to make armor.

Officers and soldiers swarmed from all directions, and he had no way to stop, as long as he stopped, he would be bitten by the tail of the pursuing officers and soldiers.

To stick to one place is to seek death. Gao Yingxiang can only lead the people who follow him to run around, and often dare not stop.

The armor methods they can obtain are extremely limited, and they are basically captured after defeating officers and soldiers.

Although Gao Yingxiang captured a lot of armors, these armors were not enough for him to arm all the troops under his command.

Not counting the hungry and the weak, but only the infantry, cavalry, and fine cavalry, Gao Yingxiang now has more than 15.00 people under his command, but the armor rate is only about [-]%.

There are about 5000 fine riders with armor, and about 3000 of the rest of the cavalry and infantry have armor.

And it is this amount of armor, and it is also because he led the troops in the Xunyang Mountains, relying on the favorable terrain, defeated the officers and soldiers led by Lu Xiangsheng in one fell swoop, and captured a lot of weapons, so that the armor wearing rate rose to about 15.00%. ,

It turns out that the armor and armaments held by the army are even less.

"Xi'an..."

Gao Yingxiang clenched his fists, his eyes gradually brightened.

His gaze moved away from where Xi'an was, and refocused on Xing'an City.

Gao Yingxiang's eyes flickered, and his heart sank involuntarily.

He planned for nearly two years, and everything he did during this period was to work hard to capture Xi'an.

The reason why he kept Li Zicheng, Hui Deng and others in Shaanxi, and let Li Yangchun, Lin Shengquan and others stay in Fengxiang Mansion and Gongchang Mansion was to prepare for another attack on Xi'an Mansion.

Li Zicheng and Hui Dengxiang stirred up the situation in Yan'an Prefecture and other places in the north, attracting the main force of officers and soldiers led by Hong Chengchou to go north.

At that time, the defense force in Xi'an Mansion will be at its most empty, and at that time he will break into Xi'an from Hanzhong Mansion through the plank road.

Li Yangchun, Lin Shengquan and others responded from the west.

It's just that Li Yangchun and Lin Shengquan were beheaded by this Chen Wang who came out of nowhere, and the other two camps left by him in Fengxiang Mansion were also wiped out by Cao Wenzhao.

And just some time ago, Gao Yingxiang also received news from the north.

In February, Man Tian Xing and Hun Tian Xing were beheaded, and Guo Tian Xing Hui Deng surrendered, was awarded the title of Guerrilla, and was assigned under He Renlong's command.

Now in the north of Shaanxi, only Li Zicheng is still supporting alone.

It was difficult to pass on the news from the north, and these news came from the officers and soldiers who were captured in the Battle of Xunyang. Li Zicheng's situation did not seem to be very good.

Gao Yingxiang's gaze moved up a little, and stopped at Shangluo, the southern part of Xi'an Prefecture.

The only good thing is that he asked old Hui Hui Ma Shouying and others to lead the troops into the mountainous area of ​​Shangluo.

Ma Shouying did not let him down, the officers and soldiers who went to attack were repulsed by Ma Shouying, and now Ma Shouying has stabilized the front in Shangluo Mountain.

If he leads troops to attack Xi'an City, then Ma Shouying can immediately lead troops to respond.

Gao Yingxiang's face was solemn, and his eyes were full of worry.

To be honest, he doesn't have much confidence in his heart now.

Now only Li Zicheng's army is left in northern Shaanxi Province. He doesn't know whether Li Zicheng can follow the predetermined plan to bring the main force of Shaanxi officers and soldiers led by Hong Chengchou to Yan'an Mansion.

If the main force of the officers and soldiers led by Hong Chengchou does not move, then his plan to break into Xi'an Mansion through the plank road from Hanzhong Mansion is likely to have an accident.

Once the intention of marching is discovered, the officers and soldiers are waiting for work and setting up nets, then they will be lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

And even if the officers and soldiers didn't find out that they led the troops to the Xi'an Mansion, there were tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in the city of Xi'an, and their chances of capturing the city of Xi'an were extremely slim.

Gao Yingxiang sighed inwardly and frowned.

There are not many choices he can really make, and most of the time he can't help himself.

And he has no way out now.

In fact, when Henan Province was transferred to Xunyang Mansion in Huguang Province, he already had no way out.

Lu Xiangsheng is now constantly dispatching troops in Nanyang City, and then adding troops to Xiangyang City.

Lu Xiangsheng will be able to block their way north to Henan Province in a month or so.

The situation is constantly deteriorating, and if you continue to escape, this situation will continue like this.

The places they pass through in Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan will become more and more corrupt.

Even if these places are occupied in the future, it will be of no value.

The cards in his hand were so bad that he had no other choice but to choose the path of taking risks.

(End of this chapter)