The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 297 Yang Sichang

With the help of telescopes, almost every move of the bandits outside the pass was clearly seen by the Hanzhong Army's detectives.

On the 26th, the camp of the peasant army was almost half empty.

However, the offensive outside the pass has not decreased but increased, and it has strengthened several points compared to the first day.

All of this was naturally hidden in Chen Wang's eyes.

Just after noon, the peasant army launched another attack on Guancheng, this time with equally huge momentum.

After two days of baptism of blood, many recruits of the Peasant Army have begun to lose their initial fear, and their momentum has begun to change.

After several more days of siege fighting, experiencing the cruelty of the battlefield, and passing the test of fire, these recruits will inevitably be able to transform themselves into real soldiers.

It's a pity that many of them are destined not to reach the point of being reborn.

They were just abandoned sons from the beginning. Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai had already transferred to Sichuan. They were just left to attract the attention of the suppressing troops.

The peasant army outside the pass rushed to Guancheng again like a tide.

But this time, what greeted them was not the rain of arrows and lead bullets fired from the crenels.

Just as they put the simple ladder up the wall, the Baitu Pass door opened wide, and the sharp and piercing sound of the trumpet penetrated the ears of everyone outside the pass like a magic sound.

The next moment, the sound of horse hooves as loud as thunder was heard.

A large number of Ming army cavalry came out of the pass. Chen Wang and Cao Bianjiao, one on the left and one on the right, each wearing battle armor, leaping on their horses and holding spears, led the cavalry behind them to gallop out of the pass.

Above Guancheng, dozens of artillery pieces fired in unison, and the sound of the artillery pieces was like thunder.

The Shaanxi soldiers, who had been suppressed for a long time in the two forts on the left and right outside the pass, came out to kill the generals with the sound of cannons like thunder.

The Ming army advanced in four directions, rushing into the peasant army's formation like four evil dragons with teeth and claws.

The dragon's claws are indestructible, and the dragon's teeth are unstoppable.

Amidst bursts of miserable howls, countless peasant army soldiers were knocked to the ground wailing.

The saber flying up and down ruthlessly cut through the flesh and blood of one peasant soldier after another.

The stench of blood filled the surrounding countryside outside the pass.

The mournful wails of the dying were mixed with the desperate and shrill wails, lingering over the fields outside Baitu Pass.

The sound of horse hooves was like thunder, the headwind was like a knife, and the red flag stood straight in the headwind.

The iron hooves of the war horses trampled one peasant army after another. The Ming army soldiers wearing red armor on the horses had a cold expression and just mechanically waved the saber in their hands to kill all moving enemies in sight.

The bowstring vibrated and made a sound like playing cotton, and a large number of arrows shot rapidly from the cavalry formation to the left and right sides.

The Yanling knife kept slashing down with blood drops, and kept flying up and down, until all the peasant soldiers standing in front of them fell to the ground.
The peasant army outside the pass had withstood a round of artillery bombardment first. The formation was already in dilapidated condition, and the morale of the army was greatly affected.

The cannonballs rolled into the formation, plowing out bloody traces.

This absolute power frightened the soldiers of the peasant army.

The armored cavalry coming from both sides made them panic, and the armored cavalry coming from two directions in front made them even more desperate.

The army was defeated like a mountain, and the peasant army's formation collapsed almost instantly.

The collapsed peasant army completely lost its organization, and the generals and commanders at the top and bottom could no longer control the army, and could only flee towards the rear along with the defeated army.

The Shaanxi soldiers pressing in from both sides kept slashing and killing the rogue bandits blocking the front, driving these panicked soldiers to sweep towards the troops behind them who could still maintain their array.

The red dragon composed of armored soldiers of the Ming Army circled and drove away the defeated peasant army outside the pass. Those defeated soldiers were driven into groups and continued to sweep towards the peasant army in the rear.

Thousands of defeated troops spread across the earth like mercury leaking out.

The elite of the peasant army had already followed Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai to the east of Sichuan on the nights of these two days.

Most of the peasant troops outside the pass were new soldiers. They were defeated like a mountain and could not stop the defeat.

The peasant army in the center still wanted to resist, but when they wanted to resist, the horse troops and fine cavalry hiding in the rear fled first.

The general's escape further weakened the morale of the peasant army.

The defeated troops were dragged into the formation of the peasant army in the central formation. Amidst the roar of the mountains and the tsunami, the soldiers of the Ming army rushed into the formation like tigers entering a flock of sheep.

The tens of thousands of peasant troops outside the pass, who were originally fierce and powerful, were completely defeated.

Chen Wang led his troops out of the pass and pursued them for more than twenty miles before finally leading his troops back to Baituguan.

By the time Chen Wang led his troops back to Baituguan, all the peasant army camps outside Baituguan had been cleared by the soldiers who subsequently left the pass.

A group of soldiers were cleaning the battlefield outside the customs, sorting the corpses, picking out weapons and armor that could still be used, looking for anything that could be used again.

There were only a hundred casualties, but more than [-] thieves were killed and wounded. This was a real victory.

At the beginning, relying on his reputation and his resolute actions, Chen Wang was able to temporarily overwhelm a group of proud soldiers who came for help.

However, during these days, facing the siege of the peasant army, Chen Wang issued a military order to stand firm and chose to avoid the battle, which also made the generals in Sichuan and Shaanxi below criticized him.

Especially when a group of Sichuan generals heard that the bandits might divert to Sichuan, they became even more anxious and asked for a fight one after another. They even signed a very fiercely worded petition for war.

With the great victory outside Baitu Pass, all doubts and objections disappeared among the army.

All the Sichuan generals and colonels who had signed a petition calling for war are now waiting outside Bai Tu Pass to apologize.

Although Zhang Ling did not sign the joint letter, he followed a group of Sichuan generals waiting for Chen Wang to return outside Baitu Pass.

After Chen Wang dismounted, he quickly walked up to Zhang Ling and lifted up Zhang Ling, who was half kneeling on the ground, with both hands.

"Commander Zhang, please get up. Everyone, please get up too."

Chen Wang wanted to win over the Sichuan Army and lay a solid foundation for future actions.

Therefore, naturally he will not be arrogant or domineering.

"The two thieves Xian and Ru are acting strangely. It is indeed very likely that they will escape into eastern Sichuan. As Sichuan people, it is natural for you to worry about Sichuan. I have reported this matter to the Yang Ge Department."

"It's just that the time has not come yet. If the start is unfavorable, once the rogue bandits break into Hanzhong Mansion, enter Shaanxi from Hanzhong Mansion, or join forces with Li Zicheng's tribe, the rogue bandits will flourish again and be out of control."

Not long ago, we received news that Li Zicheng left his general Liu Zongmin to garrison in northern Sichuan.

Li Zicheng led a group of elite soldiers and galloped out of northern Sichuan at starry night. From Long'an Mansion in northern Sichuan to Gongchang Mansion in southern Shaanxi, he made a surprise attack on Qishan Mountain and rushed into Fengxiang Mansion, stirring up the situation in Shaanxi again.

These are now well-known news.

A group of Sichuan Army generals stood up one after another.

"Yang Gebu ordered me to guard Hanzhong Mansion and not allow rogue bandits to enter Shaanxi. As a general, naturally I can only act according to orders." In just a few words, Chen Wang had already shied away all the responsibilities on his shoulders.

He also brought out Yang Sichang's order and explained that he had told Yang Sichang the news that Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai might enter eastern Sichuan.

Everything Chen Wang said was true. Even if he went to verify it, it would be true.

Although Sichuan can be saved, there will be too many variables to save Sichuan, and the price Chen Wang will have to pay is equally huge.

Historically, the reason why Yang Sichang wanted to replace Zuo Liangyu with He Renlong was precisely because Zuo Liangyu repeatedly put forward opposing opinions to Yang Sichang.

Although the final result did prove Zuo Liangyu was right, Yang Sichang was still dissatisfied because of it.

Yang Sichang had a narrow-minded personality, had little tolerance for others, and was extremely cruel and ruthless.

This can be seen from the fight between Yang Sichang and Lu Xiangsheng.

Although the party struggles in the late Ming Dynasty were fierce, they usually ended with one party being dismissed from office.

However, all the methods used by Yang Sichang against Lu Xiangsheng were to make him the scapegoat for the defeat of the Wuyin Revolution, and to force Lu Xiangsheng to go to a dead end.

"Now that the outbound bandits from Baituguan have been defeated, the defense pressure on Hanzhong Prefecture has been reduced. I have dispatched fast horses to report the battle report to Yangge Department here, and reassigned you to return to eastern Sichuan to defend."

After Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan this time, he caused a lot of damage. Chen Wang said these words in advance precisely because he knew what would happen next.

If this matter is not handled properly, all the rivers and lakes will be resentful, and when they enter Shu, these resentments will inevitably break out one day.

Zhang Xianzhong caused so much damage when he entered Sichuan for the first time that after entering Sichuan for the second time, he encountered a crazy counterattack by forces from all over Sichuan at that time.

With Zhang Xianzhong's lessons learned from the past, Chen Wang naturally did not want to repeat the past.

Naturally, he said these words to win the favor of the Sichuan Army generals.

"General Gaoyi, we have misunderstood General these days."

Chen Yilong was the first to come up. Originally, he had accumulated a lot of complaints against Chen Wang in his heart these days.

But now these complaints have disappeared with this victory and what Chen Wang said.

"The rogue bandits outside the pass have dispersed, and the eastern front army is in Fang County. It won't take much time to get back and forth quickly. You can receive your reward as soon as the evening. Tomorrow morning you can lead the troops south and return to Sichuan."

Now Zhang Xianzhong is leading a group of elite cavalry to gallop into Sichuan.

The fall of Eastern Sichuan is almost a certainty, and everything is already too late...

……

On the evening of the 26th.

The messenger sent by Chen Wang to report the victory wasted no time, and met the Ming army on the eastern front stationed in the countryside thirty miles east of Zhushan County.

Leading the troops was guerrilla Liu Shijie under Zuo Liangyu.

After Liu Shijie received the news from Baituguan, he naturally did not dare to neglect it. He immediately sent a dozen servants to escort the messenger as he continued eastward.

At this time, Yang Sichang was leading the soldiers and horses of the Yongwei Battalion and was stationed in the western suburbs of Yufang County.

By the time Yang Sichang received the news, it was already the early morning of the next day.

When he heard the news of the victory at Baituguan, Yang Sichang was in a good mood.

The previous dissatisfaction due to Chen Wang's delay in sending troops also disappeared at this time.

"Capture and behead the leader of the thieves, Xiao Qin Wang Bai Gui, behead three thousand heads, kill countless others, good, good, good!"

Yang Sichang held the battle report in his hand, read it over and over again, and said three good words in a row.

However, Yang Sichang only read the previous paragraphs about the beheading. As for the report in the last Tang newspaper that most of the bandits were heading south, and the report that Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai seemed to have entered Sichuan, Yang Sichang didn't read much.

Chen Wang's follow-up request in the Tang newspaper was to dispatch two battalions of Sichuan soldiers to guard eastern Sichuan. Yang Sichang immediately agreed and sent someone to write a reply and quickly deliver it.

Yang Sichang did not care about the rest of the matter, but continued to observe in the tent with the newspaper reporting the victory.

Three thousand levels were achieved, and he also killed a thief leader. Such a record was enough for him to settle with Chongzhen for the time being.

Yang Sichang now has a sense of crisis. Since Sun Chuanting and King Qin went north to win the victory at Qingshan Pass, Sun Chuanting's status has been increasing day by day.

He originally didn't even want Sun Chuanting to come to Beijing to face the saint, but there was really no excuse for him.

Finally, Sun Chuanting and Chongzhen were allowed to meet.

Now Chongzhen has more and more trust in Sun Chuanting, but he has lost a lot of trust in him because of the bankruptcy of Xiong Wencan's recruitment plan.

Before he went south to supervise the division, he recommended Fu Zonglong to act as the Minister of War. It was really a lot of effort.

At that time, Chongzhen had already intended to let Sun Chuanting take his place and take charge of all affairs of the Ministry of War.

The great victory Chen Wang has now won is like a timely rain, allowing him to regain the trust Chongzhen has lost in him.

A stern look flashed in Yang Sichang's eyes. After Sun Chuanting took office as the governor of Baoding, he made many drastic changes.

In the past few months, he had put forward many different opinions on various matters regarding his appointment as Minister of War, including reforming the military base, retraining troops, and renovating ordnance, and even made some inappropriate remarks in succession.

Yang Sichang did not want Sun Chuanting to indulge in such indulgence in the north again.

"With this good news and a memorial, the effect will be much better."

Yang Sichang put down the newspaper in his hand and turned to look at the dim light inside the tent.

A scribe wearing a square scarf and a dark blue robe was sitting quietly on a chair, bowing his head and listening to Yang Sichang's orders.

"Sun Baigu's wanton behavior in Baoding has already made the court dissatisfied, and memorials to impeach him are issued every ten days."

"This time the Pavilion Department went south to supervise the division and achieved a great victory. Sun Baigu is currently troubled by illness. This is a God-given opportunity."

The scribe stood up, bowed his body, lowered his voice and said firmly.

"Now the plan is [-]% certain to be successful. The cabinet is in Huguang and we only need to wait for the good news."

"Eighty percent is not enough."

Yang Sichang's eyes narrowed slightly. He stood beside the square table, pressing the newspaper with one hand and placing the other hand on the jade belt around his waist.

His voice was cold, without concealing the cold murderous intent in his body.

"[-]%, I want to be [-]% sure, and this matter must be done cleanly and beautifully."

(End of this chapter)