Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 564
In the early years, Zuo Liangyu led his troops to rebel in the East, and He Tengjiao was coerced by the army, and he escaped from the rebel army at the risk of his life. He ran all the way to Changsha to clean up his subordinates and reorganize Huguang. He still had some blood in his heart.

Now that he had to sit in Wuchang himself, He Tengjiao still worked hard, because if the city was not protected, not only his family would be ruined, the He family would lose all children and grandchildren, and the anti-Qing situation would also collapse.

At the beginning, Du Yinxi led more than 20 remnants of the Shun Army to besiege Jingzhou, and it was about to break the city, but because the troops he led easily abandoned Yuezhou, not only did not attack Wuchang as agreed, but let Luke Dehun relax They took advantage of Du Yinxi's retreat, and caused the defeat of more than [-] Shun troops to be extremely miserable. Finally, Wang Yan entered Chu to turn the tide.

Although his military talent is a mess, and his command is purely confusing, but as the number one in Huguang, as long as he shows his face, he can boost morale.

At this time, the Qing army was approaching the city. Hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of civilians set up camp under the city. The tents stretched to the sky, like big white buns just out of the cage, filled the Jianghan Plain, which was very spectacular.

If you have seen the surging tide of the Qiantang River, you can barely describe the strength of the Qing army. The soldiers on the top of the city, looking around, wherever you can see, the whole **** of people are gathering, just like Like the mosquitoes in the stinky ditch on summer nights.

In this crowded Qingying camp, there are almost a thousand equipment ladders, goose carts, and rushing carts that stand like hills, which can be seen with bare eyes.

This is the achievement of the Hong bandits in the past year. When He Tengjiao strengthened Huguang's defense, Hong Chengchou, who was in the south of the Yangtze River, did not rest. Apart from building large ships to seize control of the Yangtze River, he was also building equipment to prepare for a counterattack against Huguang.

Among these equipment, the battering ram is particularly ferocious. The huge log is hung on the frame by iron chains. It may take nearly a hundred people to push it. Once he approaches the city gate, the log that cannot be hugged by one person hits the door. I don't know how many blows the city gate can withstand.

Compared with the equipment, what worried the defenders the most were the red cannons covered with cannon coats. When the iron bullets hit, bricks and stones splashed, and even after being beaten for a while on the solid city wall, they would be dilapidated.

With the posture of the Qing army, the less timid people will definitely have their legs trembling when they see it.

He Tengjiao was also terrified, but he had seen the world before, last year when he joined forces with Wang Yan to encircle Wuchang, it was the same scene.

It is also a coincidence that Tong Yanghe and Tulai were besieged by them in Wuchang City at the beginning, but now it is just the opposite.

At this time, he thought of what happened to all the officials of the Qing court after the city of Wuchang was broken, and he couldn't help but tremble. With a feather and phoenix-winged helmet and a crimson cloak behind him, he came to inspect the city.

At that moment, He Tengjiao led a group of generals and walked past the city wall. They were dressed so coquettishly that all the soldiers could see them. They all stopped their work, saluted respectfully, and called out, "Master Supervisor!"

Since the reign of Chongzhen, although Wuchang City has been destroyed many times, Zuo Liangyu destroyed the city and rebelled in the east in the year of Hongguang. Afterwards, the Qing soldiers occupied Wuchang. Before the repair was completed, the Ming army killed them. In Dacheng, a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. After He Tengjiao's management this year, it has been reinforced and repaired. Of course, the tall and solid city walls need not be mentioned, such as watchtowers, enemy towers, archery towers, female walls, and horse faces. The gates of the city were all repaired, and He Tengjiao looked around, but managed to find some confidence.

In addition, Wuchang's moat, which draws water from the Yangtze River, is quite wide. If the Qing army wanted to seize the city, the first thing to solve was how to cross the moat.

Water and fire have been the most ruthless since ancient times. If Qing soldiers build bridges to attack, once they are shot down and fall into the water, they will be scratched by dogs. The people filled the river, otherwise, how could so many equipment be sent to the city.

When He Tengjiao was patrolling the city, Duoduo, who returned to the camp, had already taken the blueprint presented by Fu Shangrui and studied it with many generals.

To be honest, after the Qing soldiers entered the customs, they were really lucky. They fought a field battle that the Qing soldiers were good at, and then Li Zicheng abandoned the city and fled. A strong city like Beijing was occupied without a single soldier. Since then, he has been chasing all the way, and Li Zicheng voluntarily gave up on Xi'an, Tongguan, and Xiangyang.

It was the same when the Qing soldiers went south. Except for Wang Yan guarding Yangzhou, all the soldiers surrendered along the way, and the city of Nanjing also fell into the hands of the Qing soldiers inexplicably.

Ganzhou, where the battle was fiercest, was also Jin Shengheng’s green battalion. The Qing soldiers did not have much experience in attacking strong cities. They especially thought about a big city like Nanjing. They had basically never fought a single one. Although Duoduo got the city defense blueprint, he wanted to attack a city like Wuchang. , is still extremely challenging.

Duoduo and the generals looked at the blueprints, and couldn't help but gasp. They walked around the city just now, and felt that Wuchang was not small. Now, looking at the markings on the blueprints, they are really fucking big. The circumference of the four walls is 20 Duoli is three feet three feet high and two feet wide. Although it is not as good as the outer city of Nanjing, which is known as a hundred miles, it is about to stand shoulder to shoulder with the inner city.

No wonder before leaving, Hong Chengchou insisted that he bring enough siege equipment, even if he walked slowly, he would bring the cannon in red.

Duoduo and a group of Qing generals read the drawings and asked everyone to express their opinions. Tong Tulai of Hanlan Banner Gushan poured cold water on him, "My lord, this Wuchang is so tall, there are probably a lot of equipment in the city. , I'm afraid it's not easy to fight."

The Tong family has almost become a family with Manhua and Aixinjueluo, so Tong Tulai dared to express his opinion in front of Duoduo.

Duoduo heard this, and saw that the generals in the tent showed approval, and felt that it was necessary to cheer these people up, "Tong Gushan is too worried, and he doesn't need to be prestige of the enemy. This king drives 20 people, and Wuchang is an iron wall. The warriors of the Qing Dynasty could also step on it! Furthermore, Wuchang is big enough, but the Ming army also had to defend a city wall that was more than [-] miles long. Such a long defensive area, the pressure was bound to be huge. How much troops would He Tengjiao use to ensure that nothing happened? "

After hearing this, everyone reluctantly took the reassurance issued by Duoduo, but Duoduo himself knew that Wuchang was really not easy to fight. According to the Chinese art of war, if ten times, it will be surrounded, if it is five times, it will be attacked, and if it is twice as many, it will be fought. According to Fu Shangrui According to the information, his current force is about twice that of the Ming army, and the siege and assault forces are not enough, so how should we break the city?
"Governor Fu, how did Wang Yan break Wuchang last year?" Duoduo asked suddenly.

After hearing this, Fu Shangrui saw that there was an opportunity to perform, and turned his eyes desperately to think back, but he was in Yuezhou at the time and had not experienced that war, so he only knew a general idea, "Reporting to the lord, Wang Ni filled the river and built a platform and bombarded the city at that time. In the end, the rebels in the city acted as the internal response to break through Wuchang."

Duoduo frowned slightly when he heard this, and seeing that it was really not easy to attack a city like Wuchang from the front, he turned around, stared at the generals in the tent, and said loudly: "The battle of Wuchang, there are only two possibilities. Either The Qing soldiers broke through the city! Either the defenders surrender! In any case, Wuchang must be taken, there is no third choice. Starting tomorrow, the river will be filled first, the platform will be built, and after the fortifications are complete, the whole army will attack. Offer the city to surrender."

(Thanks to Wang Daye for the five hundred book coins, and thanks to Yuedong Woxin, gdrthg, Happy Woodpecker, Donghuadong Xiaoke for their rewards)
(End of this chapter)