national surname chiming

Chapter 319
After Zhu Shuren fully released the last round of smoke bombs through Wang Gonggong, he can do almost all the information deception work he can do.

The follow-up part can only be handed over to God's will, to the natural progress of other opposing parties.

For example, if Chongzhen suddenly changed his temper, became timid and cowardly, willing to give up, and admitted that a certain part of Ming's territory could be given up, then Zhu Shuren had no choice but to admit it, and change his life as a loyal minister of Ming for the time being. Wait for the time.

For another example, if Li Zicheng also suddenly gained his temper and became no longer cowardly and picks soft persimmons, but is as tough as Chongzhen, then Zhu Shuren's plan will also be greatly affected, and he also has no way to do it for the time being.

However, human nature is not so easy to change.

Chongzhen's too rigid three views, Li Zicheng's too flexible three views, these two points seem to be brought out of the mother's womb, deeply rooted in their respective bones.

……

He has done everything he should do in terms of cheating, but a busy person like Zhu Shuren certainly wouldn't wait to waste time.

So after dealing with the prince, he quickly shifted the focus of his work to the defense of Dasan Pass and Baoji County, trying to lure the enemy in, and fighting for a year of peace in the Hanzhong area.

Zhu Shuren knew very well that so far, Li Zicheng on the opposite side still didn't know that Zhu Shuren had arrived in Hanzhong. He probably thought that there was only one Cao Bianjiao in Hanzhong, and that Cao Bianjiao might not come to Dashan Pass in person.

This cannot be blamed on Li Zicheng's poor intelligence work, but that the road to Shu is difficult. When the side occupying Sichuan is closed, it is difficult for the warlords occupying Guanzhong to understand the current situation in Sichuan——

Just to give an example, in the Three Kingdoms period, after Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang chose to close the customs and not trade with the Wei people.Tell Chen Cangdao that Wei Guo didn't know about Ji Han's situation for several years, and thought that Zhuge Liang would always be autistic, which was why he was so sudden when he left Qishan for the first time.

Now Zhu Shuren has only blocked the news for two months, which is not a long time in comparison, and it is not difficult to say.

It's just basic operations.

This kind of poor information made Li Zicheng very confident. The First World War created peace on the southern front of Guanzhong for several years, preventing Guanzhong from dividing troops all the time to guard against the harassment of officials and troops.

Compared with the benefits of this strategic goal, even if 5 to [-] people were temporarily killed or injured, as long as they were not old elite soldiers but newly recruited cannon fodder, Li Zicheng felt that it was completely acceptable.

As early as July 24th, Li Zicheng sent Yuan Zongdi, one of his confidants, to besiege Baoji County.

Yuan Zongdi mobilized 1 to [-] soldiers and horses, of which more than [-] were old battalions who came back from the Henan battlefield last year (some old battalions are not very old, but if they can come back alive from Henan, they will be upgraded to "new and old battalions"). The most important ones are the newly drawn young men after the Henan War.

Among the major generals under Li Zicheng's command, Liu Zongmin is still the strongest, but Liu Zongmin has other uses. Li Zicheng needs him to further develop in the direction of Shanxi, and ensure that the forces of the official army are completely driven out of the Fen River Basin.

Only in this way can Li Zicheng ensure the complete safety of the northeast of his territory, occupying a place of victory in Shanxi.

Therefore, the Baoji County battlefield in the southwest corner of Guanzhong can only be ranked second in Li Zicheng's priority. It is already good to send Yuan Zongdi to take charge.

In the battle of Henan last year, among the top generals under Li Zicheng's command, his nephew Li Guo and his general Tian Jianxiu all confessed to the battlefield of the decisive battle in Chen County.Therefore, in history, only Liu Zongmin, Liu Fangliang and Yuan Zongdi were left to be the commander-in-chief of the Five Armies under Li Zicheng's command.

Liu Fangliang's headquarters also participated in the Chen County War last year, but he himself suffered no casualties, but the losses of the troops were definitely not small.

In contrast, Yuan Zongdi, who was defeated by Huang Degong in Shangqiu before the decisive battle last year, was a blessing in disguise. Although Huang Degong killed and wounded the captives and dispersed more than 1 episodes, he escaped the Chen County battle because of this.

Finally, when Li Zicheng withdrew to the west of Hulao Pass, Yuan Zongdi's troops had surpassed Liu Fangliang in terms of size and combat power, ranking second among the generals under Li Zicheng's command.

In addition, when Liu Zongmin and Yuan Zong went out together, Li Zicheng himself was still stranded in Xi'an until the end of July and the beginning of August. The soldiers and horses in his headquarters, plus Liu Fangliang's soldiers and horses, were also stationed around Xi'an and the Tongguan and Heluo.

At the instigation of Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance, Li Zicheng was considering the matter of the self-built ship, so he had to stay in a big city like Xi'an for a period of time.

Historically, Li Ziben should have started to think about the Zijianguo when the winter of Chongzhen's 16th year entered the winter, and it was not officially announced until the New Year of Chongzhen's 17th year.

It's only July and August now, so I started thinking about it a month or two earlier than the same period in history.This may seem a bit exaggerated, but it is actually reasonable-because Sun Chuanting's death was also about two months earlier. For Li Zicheng, he started to think about it one and a half months after Sun Chuanting's death.

In his opinion, Chang'an and Luoyang were the ancient capitals of the Six Dynasties, and the two capitals of history are now in his hands. It is not too much to build a country, right?

There is no need to rush to become emperor, but it is necessary to set the name of the country first and prove that you want to change the dynasty and not be a thief.

When Chen Sheng and Wu Guang fought back then, Chen Sheng didn't dare to call himself King of Chu at the beginning, but the title of "Zhang Chu" was established first.

Li Zicheng's current thoughts are similar, so he stayed in Xi'an, and he was not in a hurry to fight in all directions himself. He kept the main force of the Chinese army and could reinforce the various fronts of his subordinates at any time.

……

After Yuan Zongdi's troops initially besieged Baoji County at the end of July, they spent three to five days preparing siege equipment, digging camps and fortifications for siege, and then organized a tentative attack.

The guard of Baoji County is a guerrilla under Cao Bianjiao's command. His name is Ma Guanglie. He has no name in history.

He only has 5000 veterans under his command, and [-] soldiers Cao Bianjiao added after he returned to Taiyuan last year. There are a total of [-] people. It is still a bit difficult to resist Yuan Zongdi's [-] to [-] troops including cannon fodder, so he can only choose cages. It is absolutely impossible to go out of the city to fight back against the city.

After the Chuang army killed Sun Chuanting, they also seized a batch of low-quality firearms that were in disrepair. Therefore, when they attacked Baoji County, the number of Frangji was barely enough for momentum——

At the end of the Ming army, the military equipment was slack, so before Sun Chuanting died, the quality of the firearms of his Shaanxi army was not good, otherwise it would not be so easy to lose the battle.Li Zicheng didn't do production, and only relied on grabbing Sun Chuanting's use, which of course lowered his grade even further.

When the Baoji defenders suddenly heard that the bandits were attacking the city with artillery, they were also a little worried, but Ma Guanglie soon discovered that the firearms used by the bandits were not of good quality, so he asked the defenders to counterattack with the firearms that Cao Junmen had previously reinforced.

The firearms that Zhu Shuren assigned to Cao Bianjiao’s various armies were also of low quality, but they were still much better than those of Sun Chuanting and Li Zicheng. They were just a little old, but they would be inspected and confirmed before being sent to the front line. I will not cheat my own people.

Moreover, most of the old-fashioned firecrackers in Zhu Shu's army have been eliminated, so it doesn't feel bad to give them out, and the quantity is enough.Ma Guanglie has more than [-] guns and dozens of Flang machines.

Every time Yuan Zongdi launched a charge, there were bursts of dense platoons of guns firing in turn, overwhelming the siege cannon fodder.

Baoji County has always been an important military location, the ancient Chencang Fortress. The city is small but strong, and the terrain is very advantageous.
The city is sandwiched at the corner where the Qinling Mountains and Longshan Mountains meet, and one side is adjacent to the Weishui River, and the other side is adjacent to the Qianshui River that flows into the Weishui River against the eastern foot of the Longshan Mountains.

Mountains on two sides and rivers on both sides, this kind of terrain has been easy to defend and difficult to attack since ancient times. During the Three Kingdoms period, Hao Zhao, the defender of Wei State, blocked Zhuge Liang's offensive several times here.

Although Ma Guanglie is just an ordinary general, not as good at defending as Hao Zhao, but Yuan Zongdi's attacking method is far inferior to Zhuge Liang's ten streets.The officers and soldiers still had the advantage of firearms, which caused Yuan Zongdi to fall into a quagmire.

The war of attrition lasted until the beginning of August, that is, when the prince in Hanzhong had just met Zhu Shuren and delivered the decree.Yuan Zongdi finally asked Li Zicheng for instructions and changed his tactics.

He chose to besiege Baoji County with 2 people, and then led more main forces to the south, entered the valley entrance of Chencang Road, blocked Dashan Pass, and planned to try to attack Dashan Pass instead, while encircling Chencang instead of fighting and consuming The train of thought of its material is slowly exhausted.

What Yuan Zongdi thought: It would be best if the officers and soldiers left more defenders in Baoji County, but the Dashan Pass was insufficient in strength and firearms.

If the defense of Dashan Pass is also tight, it is also difficult to capture. As long as the Chuangjun blocks the valley entrance to the north of Dashan Pass and camps firmly, then the official army will have to forcibly break through the camp of the Chuangjun if they want to support Baoji County.

At that time, the offensive and defensive situation will also be reversed, from the attack of the army to the attack of the official army.

The road from the Qinling Mountains to Sichuan is steep. Obviously, whoever plays the offensive side will suffer a lot. If the Chuang army switches from offense to defense, the pressure of the battle will be greatly reduced.If the officers and soldiers fail to rescue them for a long time, then sooner or later the defenders in Baoji County will be defeated without a fight when they are surrounded by gunpowder and food.

Of course, Yuan Zongdi can be considered a bit of a general, and he also knows that if the officers and soldiers want to reinforce Baoji County, there is more than one road to Chencang Road—to the east, there are plank roads such as Baoxie Road and Tangluo Road.

But the plank road must be several times more difficult than the Chencang Road. If the officers and soldiers dare to drag the snake formation into Guanzhong through those roads, they will definitely suffer.Yuan Zongdi will also divide his troops to block the two valley entrances, and he is absolutely confident and sure to wait for work at ease.

After changing his mind, on the sixth day of August, Yuan Zongdi officially launched a tentative attack on Dasan Pass.

It's still the same routine, first dig a ditch to build a village, build a ladder, and rush a car.Dig the city wooden donkey.

Dasanguan is located in a valley and the terrain is relatively high, so there is no moat, and the bridge and car are saved.

The defenders only have some dry ditches, covered with camouflage, and bitter bamboo guns inserted in them. These traps do not use trench bridge vehicles, they only need to get some cannon fodder, old and weak, carry sacks of soil bags, or even pick up soil with a pole and throw it into the pit Just fill in the path.

This trick of breaking into the army is also very familiar. When Li Zicheng attacked the city of the official army in the past few years, he always temporarily dragged the local refugees who were about to starve to death, "Promised each person to carry three shoulder poles of soil to the city wall to close it. , and then give them enough food for ten days and half a month" trick.

Generally speaking, Li Zicheng would also fulfill his promise. Anyway, several percent of these cannon fodder might die under the city and be buried in a ditch directly, and they would not be able to eat the military rations that were distributed after the war.The existence of cannon fodder can also disperse the firepower of the officers and soldiers in large quantities, greatly reducing the pressure on the soldiers of the old battalion.

In the land of Shaanxi, after so many years, there is almost no living person who can eat enough to eat. After a few days, enough people can buy enough people to take risks.

Yuan Zongdi repeated his old tricks and quickly solved all the traps outside the Dasan Pass. The cost was only the lives of thousands of Shaanxi people who were about to starve to death.

After clearing the pits and trenches, the siege weapons of the invading army began to approach the pass wall, and the crossbow team of the firearms team also shot bloodily at the defenders on the pass wall.

There was a great roar on the battlefield, and the number of muskets accounted for less than [-]% of the long-range weapons, but the momentum was astonishing, covering up the much larger number of bows and crossbows, shocking the morale of both sides.

On the first day of the storm, Yuan Zongdi observed coldly, and felt that he had gained some information.

"It seems that the defense of Dasanguan is not as strict as that of Baoji County! At least I didn't see a few Flang machines, and there were no Hongyi cannons. If the firecrackers are just shooting each other, the rattan-branded firecracker team may not be able to withstand it.

But another day, dig a hole with a wooden donkey and bury a few coffins with gunpowder, and it should be able to blow up a few slopes.This wall is also made of rammed earth, not even covered with bricks, let alone built with bluestone..."

After carefully observing the strength of the defenders, Yuan Zongdi secretly planned in his heart and continued to adjust his tactics in the next few days.

But he didn't know that this was Cao Bianjiao's army, and he had been ordered a long time ago: The troops in Baoji County should use all their firepower as soon as they encounter a strong attack, trying to scare the enemy away as soon as possible and divert their targets.As for the troops at Dasan Pass, because they have no worries about the future, they can show weakness and lure the enemy at the beginning, and seduce the Chuangjun to feel that there is hope, so they can invest more troops into this meat grinder.

This is also what Zhu Shuren had taken care of Cao Bianjiao before the outbreak of the war.After all, Baoji County may be completely surrounded by the enemy, and it cannot withstand the consumption of a long-term violent attack, and Dasanguan can replenish supplies at any time.

The other party didn't know that Zhu Shuren was here, nor did he know the strength of Huguang's military support for Dasan Pass. Of course, they had to take this opportunity to make them misjudge.

Yuan Zongdi stormed for a day, and over a thousand people were killed in battle, and even more were injured. Some of them were brought here temporarily by hungry people.

From the next day, Yuan Zongdi concentrated the gunpowder in the army, loaded a total of seven or eight coffins, and dispatched a total of [-] wooden donkeys made of hardwood, covered with bark and wet mud on the top of the slope. Under the cover of a few Frangji gates of the Chuangjun, they pushed towards the wall of Dashan Pass.

The officers and soldiers continued to shoot stones like rain, but musket bullets were completely useless on the city-digging wood donkey, and the thrown logs were all bounced off by the "slanted armor" on the top of the slope.

Only if a very heavy boulder hits directly, can it be possible to directly smash the wood donkey on the top of the hardwood slope, but most of the stones prepared by the guards are sheep's head stones, and there are very few boulders weighing more than [-] catties.

"After digging deep enough, you can bury gunpowder in it. Although Cao Bianjiao is a famous general, Sun Chuanting is dead. The dog court lacks weapons and ammunition, and the military equipment has been corrupted by those dog civil servants! They deserve to be defeated!"

Yuan Zongdi became more and more eager.When he thought of those corrupt officials in Daming, he couldn't stop his hatred.

Although King Chuang also killed people indiscriminately, after all, there were more dog officials killed. As long as whoever killed the dog officials, he would do it with whoever he was.

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PS: I will write about Chongzhen's last moments this week... It's not a spoiler, but a book friend asked about the progress of the writing in a private message, and I want to give everyone a promise.

(End of this chapter)