Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 544
The war in Huguang has just started, but the war in Sichuan and Shu has entered a fierce stage.

After the failure of attacking the mountain, the Ming army began to carry out civil engineering work, and digging trenches and digging cities was carried out almost at the same time.

The Ming army braved the arrow rain on the mountain to dig trenches, and rushed to the city to dig the city with a square table. They suffered a lot of casualties every day.

When the time came to mid-July, everything was going smoothly. Although the Ming army did not make great progress, it was still in order, especially the excavation of the city put tremendous pressure on Wu Sangui.

But at this moment, a major event happened in the Ming army. Sun Kewang took 2000 people and escaped from the army. This was beyond Wang Yan's expectation and shocked the Ming army. The morale of the army destroyed the rhythm of the siege.

For Sun Kewang who ran away, Wang Yan was beyond his reach now, and he didn't have the energy to take care of him at all. He ran away as soon as he ran away, but Wang Yan had to find ways to eliminate the impact of his departure on the Ming army.

Sun Tzu's strategic thinking said, "Ten will encircle it, five will attack it, and double it will fight." If the city surrendered, if the disparity in strength was large, it would be to rush and attack directly to break it; retreat.

At this time, the Ming army had no time to trap Wu Sangui to death, and also could not pay huge casualties to fight for the gains and losses of Wanxian, so they could only find ways to find out their weaknesses to deal with the Qing soldiers.

The Ming army has more than [-] soldiers and has been trapped in Kuizhou for half a month. If there is no result, Wang Yan can only withdraw his troops and let Wu Sangui leave Kuizhou. Then, based on Chongqing in the east of Sichuan and Luzhou in the south of Sichuan, he will gradually cooperate with the Qing Dynasty. Soldiers are vying for the Chengdu Plain, so right now Wang Yan urgently needs a breakthrough, not to mention one hit kills, at least let the soldiers know that this battle is hopeful and the city can be broken.

In order to achieve this goal, revive morale, and eliminate the turmoil caused by Sun Kewang's departure, Wang Yan decided to stop the city that could not be conquered for a while, and pull out the Qing army's stronghold first.

Of course, although the excavation of the city has stopped, the construction of the catapult has not stopped.

At this time, Wang Yan ordered to speed up the progress of trench digging. More than [-] people dug the trench from the foot of the mountain to the mountainside day and night, and then went straight to the bottom of the mountain stronghold.

It was at this time that the fighting immediately became fierce.Li Guoying on the mountain naturally couldn't ignore this. The "Zhi" shaped trench dug by the Ming army can basically avoid the rolling stones and woods of the Qing army, so he has 5000 troops, and he still fights.

For a while, the Ming army dug trenches, and the Qing soldiers rushed out of the stronghold to destroy them from time to time. The two sides fought bloody on the hillside, but the interference of the Qing army obviously failed.

At first, the Qing army raided during the day, but the weather was too hot to climb up and down the hillside, and they had to fight with the Ming army digging trenches. Some northern soldiers couldn't stand it even if they went into battle shirtless.

In the end, they could only attack at night, and there were victories and losses between the two sides. Often, the Qing soldiers who attacked were killed by the Ming army, and some Qing soldiers rushed into the trenches and killed the civilians who dug the trenches.

Among the Five Loyalty Army, apart from the Shun Army and Guan Ning Army who had enmity, others, including Wang Yan, had complicated feelings towards Guan Ning. Although they were annoyed at his behavior of admitting the thief as his father, they did not reach the point of hatred. It's just that everyone on the battlefield is their own master.

But as the fighting became more intense, more and more comrades on both sides died more and more. Under the repeated exchanges, both sides have become red-eyed, and a state of cruelty and vendetta gradually appeared on the battlefield.

This incident began when Li Guoying captured several Ming soldiers and civilian husbands who were digging trenches alive in a raid.Li Guoying was afraid of the progress of the Ming army digging trenches, so on the second day, in front of the Ming army in front of the cottage, he tortured and killed several people, gouged out their eyes and chopped their hands, hoping to scare the Ming army and slow down the progress of digging trenches. speed.

That night the Ming army set up an ambush and captured dozens of Qing soldiers alive. They loyally raised Yanchang, but did not report to Wang Yan, so they ordered them to be cooked at the foot of the mountain.

In this way, the two sides gradually forged an ugly hatred of gnashing their teeth, and it became an endless situation. As the trench advanced, they finally dug under the mountain fortress, and the time to understand the grievances and grievances came.

After Sun Kewang left, Wang Yan punished Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu for not reporting what they knew, and each beat [-] army sticks. However, he also immediately reorganized the remnants of the Western Army, as well as the two troops of Zhang and Huang, and included them in the Five Loyalty Army. sequence to calm the mind.

Liu Wenxiu was included in the supervisory standard, and Li Dingguo was included in Zhongyi. In short, the original structure was disrupted.

At this time, at the foot of the mountain, flags were flying, and nearly [-] Ming troops took hold. Archers, musketeers, spearmen, swords and shields, and cavalry were lined up in order.

Of course, attacking a mountain does not require so many soldiers and horses. Most of the phalanxes are here to strengthen the formation and cheer up the attacking troops.

At this time, in the Chinese army, the war drums were beating. Accompanied by the soul-stirring sound of the drums, the shouts of the Ming army were louder and louder, and then they sang triumphant songs together.

This is also a habit of the Five Loyalist Army. Before the battle, they roar for a while and sing a paragraph. The shouting of tens of thousands of people not only frightens the enemy, but also boosts the morale of the soldiers. After the soldiers finish singing the battle song, they are basically killed Infected by anger, without the need to encourage and mobilize the officers, one by one their eyes were congested and their blood boiled.

In the ancient battlefield, morale was very important. Yue Wumu once said that on the battlefield, if you can hold a gun in your hand and have saliva in your mouth, you are a good soldier. The current Ming army can undoubtedly do this.

Amidst the shouts of the Ming army one after another, in comparison, both the defenders on the city and the Qing soldiers on the cottage were much more deserted.

For the Qing soldiers in the Shanzhai, their fate was doomed from the moment the Ming army dug a trench from the foot of the mountain, and the time left for them depended on the progress of that trench.

Now that Hao is in front of the stockade, it's time to understand.In these days of fighting, they and the Ming army have become in a state of life and death, and both sides are red-eyed.

Looking at the Ming army at the foot of the mountain, they could only mount their arrows with a heavy face, or hold their weapons tightly, looking for a sense of security.

At this time, the Ministry will ask Li Guoying to go forward to mobilize and say some words to boost morale, but Li Guoying shook his head. The fight has already formed a deadly enmity, especially when the two sides tortured and killed each other. Needless to say, the Qing soldiers will also fight desperately , and more than [-] people are shouting at the foot of the mountain, even if he speaks in the ears of the soldiers, he may not be able to hear clearly. The most important thing is that they are few in number, and they can't shout at the Ming army at the foot of the mountain.

At this time, the battle drum at the foot of the mountain changed, and teams of Ming army soldiers entered the deep trench from the foot of the mountain. The trench was like a big python coiled on the mountain, with its tail at the foot of the mountain and its head at the top of the mountain. After entering the deep trench, the Ming army would be able to Like the letter in the mouth of the big python, it spewed out from the snake's mouth and directly killed Qingzhai on the top of the mountain.

(Twelve o'clock in the next chapter)
(End of this chapter)