The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 190 Pros and Cons
"Ugh——"

Outside the Jitou Pass, at a glance, there are messy banners and crowds of people's heads.

Accompanied by the sound of the horn, there were deafening shouts of killing.

As the saying goes, if there are more than ten thousand soldiers, there are no boundaries.

Now there are more than [-] rogues outside the Jitou Pass, and it seems that the momentum may have exceeded [-], connected end to end, stretching as far as the eye can see.

The rogues in front have covered the entire front, rushing towards the location of Jitouguan like a wave.

Behind it, there are still a large number of rogue cavalry pouring out from the camp outside the pass or from the horizon.

"kill!!!"

Countless rogues and hungry soldiers in ragged clothes gathered together and slammed towards the wall of Jitouguan like a black wave.

One after another, the ladders were erected, and one after another, the rogue and hungry soldiers, armed with weapons, struggled to climb upwards against the tattered round shields.

Looking down from the clouds in the sky, the dense black ant colony almost covered the entire wall of Jitouguan, which was extremely terrifying.

"put!"

Accompanied by the shouts of killing like mountains and tsunami outside the pass, hoarse orders were heard from the wall of Jitou Pass from time to time, and then high-pitched swan sounds suddenly sounded.

"Bang! Bang! Bang Bang!!!"

Accompanied by the sound of gunshots resounding through the sky, large swaths of gunpowder smoke rose again from the wall of Jitou Pass.

Rows of firecrackers shot down on the top of the city, and the rogues swarming outside the city fell down like wheat harvesting in an instant, causing heavy casualties.

Firecrackers are no better than bows and arrows, no matter if it is a three-eyed or a bird-crawler, as long as they are hit by a person, even if they are not killed, they will be seriously injured, and they will not be able to fight anymore.

The sound of gunfire on the wall of Jitouguan will only sound every once in a while. After all, it takes time to reload the firecrackers, and there is also a long interval between bursts.

The rogues outside the pass took advantage of this interval to frantically rush towards Jitouguan again.

But the interval between them is not so easy to use.

"Whizzing!"

The sound of piercing through the air resounded from time to time, besides the firecrackers on the wall, there were also quite a few archers as supplementary firepower.

The military academy of the Ming Army on the wall calmly issued a military order. Rolling stones and trees were thrown from the wall one by one, and then fell to the bottom of the city with the wail of a famous bandit.

The Kaiyuan Gong used by the Ming army is a soft bow. A qualified archer can still maintain a certain degree of accuracy and damage even after firing the bow dozens of times.

The arrows shot by the soft bow were not very powerful, basically they couldn't pierce the three layers of heavy armor of the Qing army, but the striding bandits were only wearing single clothes, so they couldn't stop the arrows from attacking at all.

"hiss--"

Although the sound of the gunpowder being ignited was small, it was very clear for some reason.

Accompanied by several thick flames and smoke rising, there was another loud noise from the chicken head door—that was the chicken head door cannon!

Jitou closed more than a dozen tiger squatting cannons and Frang machines and fired at the same time, and the lead pellets and stones shot out were like a big broom, sweeping down the large number of rogues in the city with ease.

The stench of blood pervaded the entire pass in an instant, and the road was filled with the wailing of the wounded who fell to the ground

There was a bloody mess outside the pass, and the bodies of the fallen bandits were all wounded by the bullets.

Those who were directly beaten to death were fine, but those who were not killed were tragic, and the survivors breathed a sigh of relief.

They were hit by lead pellets and stones, and they didn't die for a while. The severe pain made them roll on the ground continuously, making shrill and desperate screams.

They want to ease the pain, but all they do is in vain.

There are no medicinal herbs and no doctors in the bandit army, they can't get medical treatment at all, and they can't get the qualification to live at all.

The salvo of artillery on the pass wall finally destroyed the morale of all the rogues outside the pass.

All the rogues who had swarmed in were heartbroken. They turned around, ignored everything, and fled back screaming. Even the old bandits who supervised the battle could hardly stop their defeat.

The terrain of Jitouguan is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, the defenders occupy a great advantage, and it is difficult for the crowd tactics of the rogues to give full play to their advantages.

Above Guanlou, Chen Wang held a binoculars and looked towards Guanxia.

Chen Wang has been transferred to guard Jitouguan since mid-March, and has been stationed at Jitouguan for four months now.

It has been nearly half a month since the rogues attacked outside the pass. Originally, most of the rogues would have arrived long ago, but it was because the plank roads in some areas were destroyed that slowed down their speed a lot.

Hu Zhiyi, who guarded Xing'an, was transferred back by Chen Wang's family and went to help Mian County.

Chen Wang did not leave a battalion in Xing'an Prefecture, and all defenses were handed over to Du Wugang.

Du Wugang did pretty well, at least he didn't have any big problems in farming.

In the sea of ​​colorful flags just outside the pass, two towering banners, one on the left and one on the right, occupy two high slopes, surrounded by a group of bandits and elite riders, which attracts people's attention very much.

Under the lens, Chen Wang can see the words written on the two big banners and the people below them.

There are two big banners, one is the big banner of Scorpion Kuai Tuo Yangkun, and the other is the big banner of the second team's breakthrough player Gao Yingde.

The flags used by the rogues of the 72nd Battalion were basically recorded by the Ming army. As the deputy commander, Chen Wang naturally had access to this information.

Just on April 25 this year, Hong Chengchou dispatched Cao Bianjiao, Zuo Guangxian, Zu Dabi, and Sun Xianzu to jointly attack.

The officers and soldiers entered the mountains and met the rebels at Guojiaba. The two sides fought fiercely in the rain, causing countless deaths and injuries to the rebels.

Although the initial success of the campaign was successful, but later because of the difficulty in food transfer, after the lack of food in the army, they had no choice but to retreat.

"what happened?"

Chen Gong keenly noticed that something was wrong with Chen Wang's expression.

"The banner is right, but the people under the banner are wrong."

Chen Wang frowned slightly, and handed the binoculars in his hand to Chen Wang who was standing aside.

Chen Gong stretched out his hands and took the binoculars from Chen Wang's hand carefully.

This telescope was bought by his elder brother last year at a place called Haojing in the southeast. Just one pair cost tens of taels of silver, and he bought five pieces in total, not counting the travel and shipping costs.

Chen Wang's main purpose was to send people to buy classics, a series of Western classics such as "Illustrations of the Far West's Strange Artifacts".

Of course, there are also some domestic classics, such as Wang Zheng's "New System of Various Vessels", Song Yingxing's "Tiangong Kaiwu", Xu Guangqi's "Nongzheng Quanshu" and so on.

In addition to buying classics, there seems to be another main task, which seems to be to find a person, who seems to be called Bo Jue, in Jiashan, Zhejiang.

I heard that Bo Jue was a very talented person, he was a student in the county, and in layman's terms he was a scholar.

But his talent does not lie in academics, but in craftsmen.

From farm tools, tools, houses, waterwheels, to firecrackers, cannons, and telescopes, it seems that Bo Jue knows a lot about them.

Chen Gong didn't know where Chen Wang knew about the trench mirror and so many things.

From the initial construction of the city to the later military training in the field, Chen Wang handled it with ease and knew a lot of things very well.

Chen Gong found that he didn't seem to know anything about this elder brother who grew up with him and served in the army for many years.

Chen Gong raised the looking glass and looked in the direction where the two big banners were located.

"It seems that it is indeed not Tuo Yangkun and Gao Yingde."

Chen Gong also frowned, and he also noticed something was wrong.

"Gao Yingde heard that he was wearing a white robe, so he shouldn't be able to wear red clothes. The only one who likes to wear red clothes among the rogue bandits in Qin Dynasty is Little Red Wolf?"

Chen Gong's tone was a bit uncertain, and the distance between them was quite far, even with a telescope, they couldn't see clearly.

But looking at his attire, it is indeed similar to the description of the little red wolf.

Chen Wang's eyes were slightly focused, and his gaze swept across the rogues outside the pass. He already understood the general situation pretty well.

"There is a ninety-nine percent chance that it's someone who is messing around with Shiwan and Xiao Honglang, under the banner of Scorpion Block and Gao Yinglang."

Chen Wang looked at the big banners standing on the road on both sides in the distance, and said in a deep voice.

"The rogues outside the customs are basically infantry and hungry soldiers. There are more than 3 people. The rest of the cavalry and elite cavalry add up to less than 7000 people. If there are more, it will be [-] horse troops. and Jingqi."

If Gao Yingde and Tuo Yangkun had only [-] horse troops and fine cavalry under their command, Zhang Xianzhong would have wiped them out long ago, so why would he let them go into Shaanxi.

Furthermore, there are only more than 1 cavalry cavalry, and it is estimated that they will not run away. If there are few people, they will probably simply join Zhang Xianzhong's command.

"It's different in Mian County. There are more fine cavalry troops. The bandit's banner is Li Zicheng, who seems to be the main force of the bandit."

There seemed to be nothing wrong with the Tang newspaper from Mian County, and it seemed to be the main force of the rogues, but Chen Wang still felt something was wrong.

If it was the main force under Li Zicheng's command, according to the Tang Bao sent by Zhou Yumao, it seemed that the intensity of the attack was not high.

Chen Wang supported the railing with his hands, frowning and thinking.

According to the original process, without him being in Hanzhong, Zhou Yumao was not able to block the little red wolf's attack, allowing the little red wolf to invade Hanzhong mansion, and even surrounded Hanzhong city for a while.

The battalion guards in Hanzhong Mansion could not resist and could only maintain a defensive position.

In the end, Hong Chengchou sent Cao Bianjiao into Hanzhong, and Cao Bianjiao defeated the little red wolf to lift the siege of Hanzhong.

It is precisely because of this that the Hanzhong government changed to guerrilla warfare in the second year and set up a deputy general.

But now, because of Chen Wang's influence, this matter has already been brought forward.

"Hanzhong, Sichuan..."

Outside the pass, the deafening shouts of killing came again, and the rogues stopped the offensive again, and they once again launched an attack on the pass city.

Chen Wang looked at the rogues who came back to pass like a tide, and his thoughts became clearer.

Li Zicheng did not invade the Hanzhong mansion, but went all the way south from Lueyang and directly entered the territory of Ningqiang Prefecture.

Then go to Ning and Qiangzhou, pass Qipan Pass and enter Sichuan directly.

After entering Sichuan, Li Zicheng went to Chaotian Pavilion and entered Guangyuan, and then went all the way like a broken bamboo, breaking through more than [-] counties in Sichuan Province.

The Sichuan soldiers are good at fighting and have a favorable location. Logically speaking, they shouldn't have lost so badly, but most of the Sichuan soldiers were recruited out of Sichuan at this time and went to Huguang and other places.

In the huge northern Sichuan, including the guards, there are only more than 2000 people, and they still need to guard the dangerous roads. At that time, the Sichuan General Soldier Hou Liangzhu had less than [-] soldiers.

At that time, there were still many rogue bandits in Sichuan Province. In May, some rogue bandits rushed into the territory of Nanjiang and Tongjiang and captured the two cities.

Hou Liangzhu had no choice but to divide his troops again, and his troops were even weaker.

Chen Wang's eyes narrowed slightly, and he discovered something that he hadn't noticed before.

According to historical records, Li Zicheng captured Ning and Qiang in September, and then went south to Sichuan.

Hou Liangzhu hurriedly refused to fight in Mianzhou, but was outnumbered and killed.

Mianzhou is not in Baoning Mansion, but in the northeast of Chengdu Mansion. Judging from the previous situation, Hou Liangzhu should be in Guangyuan, guarding Qipanguan.

But I don't know why it was in Mianzhou in Chengdu Prefecture in October.

The empty situation in Sichuan may have already been controlled by the rogues.

Chen Wang suddenly had the feeling that he could see the sun behind the clouds. For Li Zicheng, Sichuan was the real fat.

All his actions are just to confuse, whether it is the battle with Cao Bianjiao and Zuo Guangxian in April before, or the current attack on Hanzhong Mansion with great fanfare, everything is just a trick to deceive one's eyes.

Li Zicheng did not learn Gao Yingxiang's mind and strategy, but instead learned the method of setting up suspicions that Hong Chengchou had always used, and he learned it to the point of mastery.

Although he figured it out, there was no joy on Chen Wang's face.

Because now there is a more embarrassing thing for him to make a choice-whether to prevent Li Zicheng from going south to Sichuan.

Choose no, although there have been a lot of changes in history, what Li Zicheng did after entering Sichuan this time should be similar to the original process, and will not change much.

And as the deputy guard of the Hanzhong Mansion, he needs to bear the responsibility for the fall of Ning and Qiangzhou, and also needs to bear the responsibility of allowing the rogues to pass through the Hanzhong Mansion.

The greater the damage caused by the rogue bandits in Sichuan Province, the greater the blame will be on their backs.

The choice is to gather troops at Qipan Pass, or Ningqiang Prefecture, perhaps it is really possible to block Li Zicheng on the road to Shu.

It can also save more than [-] people in Sichuan Province who would have been coerced or slaughtered.

But rabbits can bite people when they are in a hurry, let alone a jackal like Li Zicheng.

Chen Wang was very clear about the strength of the battle that broke out in the Battle of Heishuiyu back then.

And there is another thing that needs to be paid attention to, once the bandits are frustrated in Qipanguan or outside Ningqiang Prefecture.

Facing the situation of being surrounded by the north and the south, there is a high probability that the rogues will turn east to Hanzhong Mansion, and the soldiers in Hanzhong Mansion alone may not be able to defend it.

Even if it was the best result, Li Zicheng was blocked and killed in Ningqiang, and Li Zicheng was captured and killed.

Without Li Zicheng, what would the situation in the pass be like? It would be completely untraceable and become a mess.

Chen Wang's mind was in endless chaos, with countless thoughts constantly dancing in it.

　Bo Jue, courtesy name Zijue, a native of Changzhou, built a bronze cannon for the governor Zhang Guowei during the reign of Chongzhen. It had an advanced structure and was equipped with a telescope.

　　He also manufactured waterwheels, firecrackers, landmines, and ground crossbows.

　　Zhang Guowei once recommended him to the court, but he didn't report it, so he returned to the Wu family and died of poverty.

　　He is the author of "Illustrations of the Armillary Sphere", "Geometry and Geometry", etc.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)