The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 196
Chongzhen ten years, November 27th.

Baoning Prefecture, Zitong County.

Zitong is in the southwest of Baoning Province.

If you want to enter Chengdu from Baoning Prefecture, you must pass through Zitong County.

On the South Official Road in Zitong County, there was an endless booming sound echoing over the field on the outskirts of the city. It was the sound of soldiers and war horses marching fast.

From Mian County in Hanzhong Prefecture to Zitong County in the southwestern part of Baoning Prefecture, you need to cross the Qipan and Chaotian mountain passes.

Along the way, the mountains are high and the roads are narrow, rugged and difficult to walk. The road twists and turns for nearly a thousand miles. Even if you travel a hundred miles a day, it will take eight or nine days to reach it.

It is not a problem for cavalry to travel hundreds of miles a day, but for infantry, especially for infantry with more luggage, this is a huge problem.

But at the moment, Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, is in a hurry. Cao Wenzhao ordered light soldiers to travel lightly and abandoned a lot of luggage, but it took nearly 20 days to reach Zitong County.

The difficulty of traveling on the mountain road is far greater than that on the flat road. Even if you travel lightly on the steep mountain road, you can only travel more than thirty or forty miles a day.

The south gate of Zitong County had already been opened at this time, and truckloads of military rations were being transported out by civilian husbands.

All the grain along the way is transported from nearby counties.

The drought has not yet spread to Sichuan, and the counties in Sichuan still have enough food, and officials from all over the country have also received orders to cooperate with the army to attack and suppress as much as possible.

But now there is also a certain crisis in food.

In the south of Zitong County, under a temporary wooden shed.

Cao Wenzhao frowned, examining the map on the table in front of him.

On the table top, apart from the town stone, there is also a rather ornately decorated telescope.

This pair of binoculars was naturally given to Cao Wenzhao by Chen Wang.

Chen Wang bought a total of five binoculars, all of which were single-lens binoculars.

Three of them are large-scale telescopes, which are mainly used for sea observation. The observation distance is relatively long and the length is relatively long. They need to be erected for use, or they can be mounted on people's shoulders.

The other two are small telescopes. The observation distance is relatively short, but they are convenient and fast.

Of the large binoculars, Chen Wang kept one for himself, and the other two, one was given to Hong Chengchou, and the other was given to Sun Chuanting.

Cao Wenzhao often took the lead in leading troops in battle, and rarely stood on the watchtower or sat in the middle army.

So Chen Wang gave Cao Wenzhao a portable small telescope.

Chen Wang and Cao Dingjiao stood beside Cao Wenzhao, one on the left and one on the right, while the rest of the guards stood around the wooden shed.

Mianzhou had already been breached by Li Zicheng more than ten days ago, and it had already become a ruin. How could there be any food supply.

To be precise, most of the Chengdu government has been caught in the flames of war.

The number of people under Li Zicheng's command has now swelled to 15, and the situation in Sichuan has actually completely gotten out of control.

The intruders occupied Weicheng, east of Mianzhou, and built a camp around the mountains for [-] miles, completely blocking the road to Chengdu.

The troops led by Hong Chengchou had just arrived in Wen County and had not yet entered Sichuan Province.

Hou Liangzhu and Cao Bianjiao had few soldiers and wanted to break through Mianzhou, but they were powerless after all.

It's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice, and they have no way to defeat the more than [-] invaders stationed in Mianzhou with more than [-] people.

Chen Wang stood beside Cao Wenzhao, and his eyes stayed on the map on the desktop.

Li Zicheng did not enter Sichuan through Qipanguan, but entered from Wen County.

The current situation is completely out of control, completely out of the original process, and history is changing beyond recognition.

Hou Liangzhu didn't die, and Qipanguan didn't fall, but the current situation is even worse.

Chen Wang was sure that he had no mistakes or omissions in his memory. In the original time and space, Li Zicheng had never set up defenses in Mianzhou.

Li Zicheng's movements are already unpredictable, everything has deviated from the original process...

Just on November 25, that is, two days ago, Li Zicheng had led his troops to the northern suburbs of Chengdu...

……

Wen County, the name of the county follows the ancient Wenzhou language.

It is located at the junction of Shaanxi Province and Sichuan Province, in the Qinba Mountains.

When it comes to Wen County, there may be many people who feel unfamiliar.

But when it comes to its other name, many people should know it.

Thousands of years ago, when the three pillars stood together, this place was called "Yinping".

It was from then on that Wei Jiang Deng Ai went all the way south, traveled hundreds of miles of dangerous roads, and went all the way to Jiangyou Pass.

Facing the Wei army falling from the sky, Ma Miao, the general of the Shu Han, was heartbroken and chose to switch and surrender.

Deng Ai then led the army all the way to the south, conquered Mianzhu, and reached the outskirts of Chengdu. Liu Chan, the empress of the Shu Han, surrendered, and the Shu Han perished.

But the route that Li Zicheng is taking now is exactly the route that Deng Ai took when he entered Shu.

After thousands of years of development, the road to Sichuan is no longer as steep as it used to be, and many places have opened up a lot.

Li Zicheng did not encounter the difficulties that Deng Ai encountered. He led more than [-] elite cavalry and more than [-] cavalry troops all the way south through Wen County.

Thousands of years ago, Deng Ai smuggled into Shu from Yinping, and when he arrived in Mianzhou, the main force of the Shu Han led by Jiang Wei was in Guangyuan.

But this time, Li Zicheng defeated Pingwu first, then defeated Jiangyou, and when his troops approached the city of Mianzhou, Hou Liangzhu and Cao Bianjiao were also around Guangyuan.

In the past, Jiang Wei was restrained by the main force of the Wei army led by Zhong Hui and could not go south to help in time. Although Hou Liangzhu and Cao Bianjiao were not in the same situation.

However, it is more than [-] miles from Guangyuan to Mianzhou, and it takes at least ten days to get there.

History seems to repeat itself.

Like Deng Ai, Li Zicheng broke through Mianzhou with ease, and then went all the way south with great momentum, reaching the northern suburbs of Chengdu.

At the beginning, Deng Ai faced Liu Chan, the incompetent empress of Shu Han.

But now Li Zicheng is facing the equally incompetent Sichuan governor Wang Weizhang.

The once bustling and bustling city of Chengdu is now extremely lonely.

A large number of Ming army soldiers stood on the city wall holding ordnance.

But the weapons in their hands did not bring them much sense of security.

Their faces were full of fear, and all of them looked out of the city nervously.

Smoke and dust filled the sky outside the city, and the densely packed intruders were like locusts, completely covering the wilderness in the northern suburbs.

"It's over..."

Wang Weizhang stood at the crenel, looking at the Chuangjun coming from the brigade outside the city, his face was pale and his whole body was trembling.

If it wasn't for the help of an attendant, he might have already collapsed on the ground.

Wang Weizhang only thought that Hou Liangzhu and Cao Bianjiao had been defeated, and that Li Zicheng had come all the way from Qipan Pass, but he never thought that Li Zicheng came from Long'an Mansion by detour.

If Chengdu is broken, he will inevitably bear the name of falling into the city and losing his land, and become a sinner through the ages.

There are only less than [-] soldiers in Chengdu at this time, but the Chuangjun outside the city is so vast that you can't see the end at a glance, and the mountains and fields are as vast as a sea of ​​smoke.

As the governor, Wang Weizhang was in chaos and lost his mind. Naturally, it was difficult for other people to remain calm.

All the elite soldiers were taken to Guangyuan by Hou Liangzhu, and only a few soldiers stayed in Chengdu.

Now there are more than [-] soldiers in Chengdu, many of them are temporary guards, so there is no combat power.

Panic spread like a plague in Chengdu.

But fortunately, no matter how cowardly and timid Wang Weizhang was, Wang Weizhang still did not choose to surrender in Kaesong like Liu Chan.

Not wanting, but not dare.

Chengdu is the seat of the Si Yamen, the chief envoy of Sichuan, and the king of Shu was also sealed in Chengdu.

Falling into the city and losing land, and killing his relatives, no matter what kind of responsibility it is, he can't bear it.

The remaining rationality made Wang Weizhang still support everything. He knew that once he surrendered, he would be completely nailed to the pillar of shame in history, and even his family and relatives would be implicated by it.

……

Li Zicheng's eyes were deep, looking at the city of Chengdu standing on the southern field.

All the way, even breaking Zhucheng, all the news proves that there are not many soldiers in Chengdu, and most of the elite were brought to Baoning Mansion in northern Sichuan by Hou Liangzhu.

Chengdu City seems to be able to win a battle...

"Ugh——"

On the outskirts of Chengdu, there are forests of swords and guns.

Accompanied by the low sound of horns, a large number of hungry soldiers carrying crude siege equipment rushed towards Chengdu like a tide.

And behind the hungry soldiers of the Chuangjun, there is a cavalry team of Chuangjun who is constantly roaming, and the dense flags are shot one after another, spreading to the rear without end in sight.

The black mass of people seems to spread all the way to the end of the world...

Looking down from the clouds in the sky, dense black ants almost covered the entire north city wall of Chengdu.

Looking from the top of the city, smoke and dust are billowing below, people's heads are surging, and the sound of killing is loud.

All that can be seen in the field of vision are all kinds of rogues and hungry soldiers with heads wrapped in various turbans and various robes.

……

"Brother, there are only more than 4000 people in Chengdu, and most of the defenders are guards. A strong attack may not be impossible?!"

Liu Zongmin squinted his eyes, with a fierce light in his eyes, and said in a low voice.

He couldn't figure out why Chengdu City was so close, but Li Zicheng had no intention of capturing Chengdu.

The current attack looks huge, but in fact it is full of wind and rain.

The besiegers were all newly attached hungry soldiers, and they didn't have much combat power at all.

With these hungry soldiers, how could it be possible to capture Chengdu?

Li Zicheng looked sideways slightly, glanced at Liu Zongmin who was beside him, and then at the generals around him.

The other generals also had doubts on their faces, and they also had the same doubts as Liu Zongmin.

Li Zicheng sighed inwardly, a little powerless in his heart, no one could understand what he was thinking.

These generals and schools under his command have followed him all the way to the north and south for many years, but they still haven't made much progress.

"Taking down Chengdu, so what?"

Li Zicheng raised his whip, looked around at the generals beside him, and asked in a deep voice.

Liu Zongmin was taken aback by Li Zicheng's question. To conquer the city, he naturally recruited young men, searched for military resources, and collected military rations...

"Defeat Chengdu...defeat Chengdu..."

Li Zicheng's eyes didn't stay on Liu Zongmin, but looked at a group of soldiers who were constantly marching beside him.

There was no change in his face, and there were not many emotional fluctuations in his eyes.

"Not to mention whether we can take down Chengdu, even if we do take down Chengdu, it won't do us any good at all now."

"Now we have almost 15 people under our command. It is already enough to loot so many cities with military resources and food. Many things can't be taken away, or even burned."

Chengdu is nothing more than tasteless to them.

It is a pity that it is tasteless.

Sichuan is mountainous, and prefectures and counties stand side by side with chieftains. The relationship between them is complicated, and many problems are difficult to solve, so it is not suitable as a foundation.

Sichuan is not a place to live for a long time. Sichuan is easy to defend and difficult to attack. It is rich in products and fertile land. It seems to be a treasure land.

But it is difficult to enter Shu, and it is also difficult to leave Shu. Even a wise man like Zhuge Wuhou can hardly succeed.

Li Zicheng didn't think he was smarter than Zhuge Liang, he knew his abilities.

And even if he can capture Chengdu, there is no way to occupy Chengdu and control Shu.

Li Zicheng had watched "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and he knew very well that this time he led the troops from Wen County all the way south and overcame the interception of officers and soldiers.

Now those officers and soldiers are probably like Jiang Wei in history, frantically rushing towards Chengdu for help.

Moreover, the situation in Sichuan and Shu at this time is not the same as it was thousands of years ago. At that time, most of the soldiers in Shu Han were almost on the front line, and there were not many soldiers left behind.

But now Sichuan Province is only empty in northern Sichuan, and there are still a large number of soldiers in southern Sichuan, western Sichuan, and eastern Sichuan. At this time, they have definitely received the news, and they will never sit back and watch Chengdu fall.

The troops from southern Sichuan and eastern Sichuan are probably already gathering, rushing towards Chengdu for help.

Northern Sichuan is the main force of officers and soldiers led by Hong Chengchou.

The officers and soldiers surrounded Chengdu from three sides. If they really occupied Chengdu, it would be tantamount to seeking their own death.

"Chengdu is nothing more than a seemingly empty space."

Li Zicheng shook his head, Chengdu looks like a battle, but actually wanting to capture Chengdu is tantamount to nonsense.

Deng Ai smuggled through Yinping, but he did not capture Chengdu. It was Liu Chan's surrender that led to the final demise of the Shu Han.

Although Wang Weizhang in the city of Chengdu is worse than Liu Chan, and they are going all the way south, they dare not send a troop out of the city to fight, but they don't show any intention of surrendering.

The city of Chengdu is solid, easy to defend and difficult to attack, no better than those states and counties that were captured by them along the way.

Now they don't have large siege equipment in their army, and they don't even have much time to make ladders for siege.

Even if they really ordered the cavalry to attack, they might not be able to capture Chengdu.

Li Zicheng reined in his horse and stopped, his eyes were still on the city of Chengdu in the south, but his mind was already on other places.

He never thought of conquering Chengdu, and never thought of occupying Sichuan. Everything he is doing now is to realize his other project...

Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan Province, and the king of Shu lived in Chengdu.

When Chengdu was under siege, officers and soldiers were bound to fall into madness.

Neither Hong Chengchou nor Sun Chuanting could bear the responsibility of losing their relatives.

The officers and soldiers in Shaanxi are probably frantically flocking towards Sichuan.

One ebbs and another, the officers and soldiers of Shaanxi have all entered Sichuan, so the defense force of the officers and soldiers in Shaanxi must be unprecedentedly weak...

(End of this chapter)