I

  Chapter 373 371【Counterattack】

  Wujiaxue Town.

  Zhao Han felt very helpless, such a rich commercial market town, and there is no city wall to cover it, why didn't Zhang Xianzhong divide his troops to fight?

   As long as Wujiaxue is captured, Zhang Xianzhong can grab a lot of food, because this is Zhao Han's military food transfer station!

  Zhao Han himself, together with 2,000 personal guards, 3,000 Jinling farmers and soldiers, a large number of local farmers and soldiers, and 500 artillerymen, have been nesting here. Li Zheng's 7,000 regular army rode around on mules, and rushed back immediately when they saw the smoke of the wolf. The 60,000 farmers and soldiers and 60,000 peasants on the other side of the Yangtze River have basically completed their reorganization and can cross the river at any time, just waiting for Zhang Xianzhong to come to fight Wujiaxue.

   Well, since Zhang Xianzhong won't come, he can only actively surround them.

  Hunan troops—

  Jiang Dashan led 30,000 peasants, soldiers, and 30,000 civilian husbands, crossed the river from the police, and went straight to Jiangling, Zhang Xianzhong's old nest!

  Li Zongheng led 30,000 farmers and soldiers and 30,000 civilian husbands, crossed the river from Jiangxia, and took Hanyang Mansion directly. (Li Zongheng was a soldier brought by Li Banghua. He made many military exploits in southern Jiangxi and performed well in suppressing bandits in Guangdong and Fujian.)

  Jiangxi troops—

  Jiang Liang and Xiao Shan first took a boat to Huangjiakou Town and used the town as a military and grain depot.

  Jiang Liang led 40,000 farmers and soldiers and 40,000 civilian husbands, and immediately crossed the river to attack Qizhou.

  Xiao Shan led 20,000 farmers and soldiers and 20,000 civilian husbands, and Gu Jianshan led a navy to assist and protect, crossed the river and attacked Qishui County along the Xishui River.

  Especially the navy of Gu Jianshan, the small and medium-sized warships all came out, stuck in Xishui. Even if Zhang Xianzhong can jump out of the encirclement, he can't cross the river by Xishui, he can only get into the Dabie Mountains and go back to his old nest.

  Even if Zhang Xianzhong can go back to his lair, he will find that his lair is under attack.

  In addition, Huang Yao's new mountain division has already crossed the river to attack Yiling, and Zhang Xianzhong's major cities along the river will all be attacked.

  Thousands of miles along the Yangtze River, there is no way to defend against it.

   It can only be said that Zhang Xianzhong is crazy, so he will take the initiative to provoke Zhao Han.

   But from Zhang Xianzhong's point of view, he has no choice at all. The road to Sichuan was blocked, and if Sichuan was forcibly captured, Zhao Han might sneak attack on his lair at any time. Going north to Shaanxi or Henan, there are all serious famines, and it is useless to beat them down. Coupled with the severe drought this year, if you don't make a desperate move in advance, there will definitely not be enough food to send troops in half a year.

  Zhang Xianzhong has only three choices, either lie flat and die, or surrender to Zhao Han, or fight desperately.

  …

  Yiling (Yichang).

  Huang Yao was the first to cross the river. In fact, Guizhou (Zigui) also had Zhang Xianzhong's garrison, but there was no need to attack Guizhou.

  Huang Yao only has a mountain division of 7,500 people, and 10,000 civilians for logistics.

  After landing, they set up camp on the first day, and bombarded them on the second day. By the way, they asked the civilians to fill up the moat.

  The stone city wall, more than seven meters high, was built by Zhu Yuanzhang at that time.

  There is nothing to talk about in this battle. Zhang Xianzhong took away too much food and soldiers. The Yiling defenders only had 1,000 elite soldiers, and the remaining 3,000 were weak soldiers.

   In the case of insufficient food for long-term defense, and with the continuous shouting of the missionary officer, three thousand garbage soldiers fled one after another at night. Even if Zhang Xianzhong's thousand elite guarded to death, they would not be able to defend such a large city, and even fought with each other and caused internal strife.

  After Huang Yao captured Yiling, he selected some farmers and soldiers from among the peasants to defend the city. With the main force himself, he took a boat down the river to help Jiang Dashan encircle Jiangling.

  …

  Jingzhou Prefecture, Jiangling County.

  This is the headquarters of Zhang Xianzhong, with twelve thousand soldiers stationed there, and eight antique bronze cannons on the city wall.

   "How is the battle going?" Huang Yao asked when he arrived.

  Jiang Dashan sighed: "It can't be conquered. The city is too high, the pond is too deep, and there are too many soldiers. It is useless to persuade them to surrender. There are many old thieves among the defenders, and their families are all in the city."

  Huang Yao asked: "How about I go to fight other cities first?"

"No need," Jiang Dashan said, "According to the news from the secret work, Zhang Xianzhong took away the bandit soldiers from all over the country. Other cities can only be defended, and it is impossible to send troops to reinforce this place. Dividing troops to capture the city is also a hard fight, and you have to fight it down." Keeping troops stationed will not help the entire battlefield. As long as Jiangling is surrounded and gnawed down, all the prefectures and counties next door will have to surrender."

  Huang Yao curled his lips and said: "With so many defenders, if there is enough food, Jiangling will have to fight for at least half a year."

Jiang Dashan said with emotion: "No wonder Zhang Xianzhong took the initiative to go to war. He raised too many soldiers. He took a few troops to fight Anhui, and left so many soldiers to defend the cities along the river. How much food would be consumed on weekdays! Facing a severe drought this year , if he doesn't fight out, he will starve to death!"

  Huang Yao thought for a while: "I'm going to Qizhou by boat, there should be a need for troops."

  In Gangneung City.

  Liao Zhifang sat on the city tower, looking at the Datong army outside the city, he could only sigh secretly.

  Two years ago, he suggested that Zhang Xianzhong lay off troops to garrison the fields, quickly establish a system and develop people's livelihood, and Zhang Xianzhong did obey at that time.

   But sour quickly!

  Zhang Xianzhong didn't trust civil servants, so he dispatched his adopted son and confidant generals to handle the military and political affairs of the various governments under his jurisdiction, directly making it a typical warlord rule.

  Zhang Xianzhong himself is a big warlord, while his adopted son and confidants are small warlords.

  Since he is a warlord, he must not distinguish between public and private.

  These military generals not only wantonly occupied the civilian fields, but also moved all kinds of food from the military and civilian villages to their own private warehouses. The civil servants could only stare stupidly and dare not speak.

   Moreover, the disarmament policy has been completely abolished. In order to improve their own strength, the generals have crazily expanded their arms and prepared for war regardless of people's livelihood.

  Zhang Xianzhong couldn't stop his generals from expanding their army. Once they forcibly stopped them, conflicts would inevitably arise.

   Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong chose to go to war, and to a large extent he was coerced by the inside. If he doesn't choose a place to fight outside, his generals are likely to fight among themselves, and they will fight themselves in order to grab the territory.

  Under the setting sun, above the city tower.

  Liao Zhifang opened "Da Tong Ji" and re-read this book many times.

  Every re-reading, combined with recent encounters, Liao Zhifang has new insights. He believes that some chapters of this book contain the ultimate principles of heaven and earth, and instead of violating the teachings of Confucianism, it is following and practicing Confucian morality.

   Facing the army outside the city, Liao Zhifang actually wrote an article titled "Ten Defeats of Zhang Xianzhong".

  The two military advisers, Liao Zhifang and Xu Yixian, were resolutely opposed to the dispatch of troops this time, but Zhang Xianzhong was already riding a tiger.

  Now, Liao Zhifang sits in Jiangling and Xu Yixian sits in Hanyang. They seem to hold the power of the two cities, but in fact they can't command the army at all, let alone offer the city to surrender.

  …

  Yongji.

   "Your Majesty, there is a report from the rear. Qizhou and Qishui are besieged, and the Jiangxi Navy blocked the Xishui River!"

  Zhang Xianzhong grabbed the detailed pond newspaper, read it twice carefully, and said to the generals under his command: "Qizhou and Qishui are besieged by tens of thousands of enemy troops."

  Sun Kewang sighed and said: "The main force of the enemy army has gone around to the rear of our army, and has blocked our army's retreat."

  Zhang Xianzhong shook his head and said: "Beyond the two cities, there are farmers, soldiers and peasants, and the main force of the enemy army still hasn't appeared."

  Everyone was horrified.

  Since Zhao Han was on the other side of the Yangtze River, they were already familiar with the military system of Datong, and they could clearly distinguish the difference between regular soldiers and peasant soldiers.

  From the very beginning, Zhang Xianzhong lost the initiative in the war.

   Perhaps Zhao Han's ability to command in battle is insufficient, but his ability to command strategically is very good. And from the beginning to the end, it has been adhering to the same concept: you hit yours, I hit mine.

  According to the normal way of fighting, Zhang Xianzhong's three-way army is going east, Zhao Han should dispatch the army to fight, look for opportunities to wipe out the main force of the enemy army, and then counterattack.

   This is what the imperial court did to suppress bandits, and Zhang Xianzhong also thought so.

  As long as Zhao Han puts out a large army, Zhang Xianzhong can play countless tricks. Because Zhang Xianzhong and his generals have more than ten years of experience in wars, while the generals of the Datong Army are very immature, and they are very likely to make mistakes and be caught.

   In that case, the Datong Army will be led by the nose.

  Zhao Han knew very well what was going on with his generals, so he didn't accept the move at all.

  Your army enters the country?

   Then I will enter the army too!

  You come to my territory, I will fortify the walls and clear the land, waiting for you to attack the city.

  You are slowly attacking the city here, and my farmers and soldiers are also slowly attacking the city at your home.

   Moreover, my regular army is hiding, and I will settle the account when you are tired.

  You want to retreat?

  Sorry, the two cities behind you are surrounded by me, and the river you must cross to withdraw your troops has also been blocked by my navy.

  If you want to fight back with the whole army, you can also hit my farmers and soldiers. My regular army can take ships to support at any time, and my farmers and soldiers in Guangji City can also come to support slowly.

  If you are desperate, you can go to my hinterland where there are no solid walls and clear fields. The killing was so deep that there was not a single city of your own along the way, just wait for the entire army to be wiped out!

   Zhang Xianzhong was extremely aggrieved at the moment. He had 100,000 troops and 190,000 civilians left.

  Old Huihui remained calm: "I have two ideas, I don't know if you will listen or not."

   "Speak." Zhang Xianzhong said.

  The old man replied: "The first method is to get rid of the 70,000 infantry and 190,000 peasants. The cavalry, horse team, and mule team should go north and cross the river close to the mountains."

   "Why don't you lead the army to Bailian Town and cross the river back along the edge of the mountain?" Sun Kewang asked.

Old Hui said: "Zhao Han's navy is in Xishui, and they must send a large number of small boats to guard the entire Xishui River back and forth. If they bring an army of 300,000, even if they are not discovered by the sentry boats, they will be caught by Zhao Han. Han's cavalry followed, hitting halfway would be the end of everything."

  Zhang Xianzhong sneered: "What's the use of bringing back only cavalry, horse teams, and mule teams? If we throw the army to Zhao Han, our troops will be empty, and the territory will be swallowed up sooner or later."

  Old Huihui said again: "Then don't want your family, and don't even think about going back. Take 300,000 people and kill all the way to the north. Maybe you can join the North Route Army, and maybe help the Central Route Army break through the pass!"

   "If you fight like that, it's like a rootless duckweed. If there is a slight accident, the whole army may be wiped out at any time." Zhang Xianzhong shook his head and said.

  Old Huihui said: "If there is an accident, take the elite and run away, and stir up the Jianghuai land!"

  Sun Kewang said depressedly: "Could it be that he has become a bandit again? I don't want the land, I don't want my family, and I'm robbed along the way. Wherever I hit it, I count it, and the day I live counts."

   "Until now, you still want to save the army and withdraw it intact?" Old Hui said speechlessly.

  Sun Kewang clenched his fists and said: "Father, my child thinks that we should withdraw the troops in a big way, lure Zhao Han's main force to show up, and fight with real swords and guns. Whoever wins will win the world; whoever loses will see the king of Hades!"

  Old Huihui's two strategies, one strategy is to flee back with cavalry, horse teams, and mule teams, and the result is bound to be lingering. Another strategy is to gamble heavily. If you win the bet, you can withdraw from the north and plunder along the way. If you lose the bet, you will become a bandit again.

  Sun Kewang's strategy is simple and crude, which is to put on a strong battle and hand over the initiative to Zhao Han. The winner is king, the loser dies!

  Zhang Xianzhong was indecisive.

   "My lord, a tunnel has been dug through, but the defenders in the city haven't found it!"

  Zhang Xianzhong suddenly stood up: "Immediately put explosives to detonate, don't wait until night to be flooded again!"

  No matter how you fight, first capture Guangji County, this city disgusts Zhang Xianzhong.

   (Ask for a monthly pass.)

  (end of this chapter)