stubborn thief

After Liu Chengzong met Li Zicheng at Guide Fort, he rode off at full speed, returning to Yulin at midnight.

Fortunately, the central army prepared food for him that night, so Liu Shizi didn't have to eat fried noodles to fill his stomach.

Li Zicheng, newly recruited to the Marshal's Office and eager to make a name for himself, sat in the garrison office on Zhenbeitai, studying the Yulin city defense map hanging there by the light of an oil lamp. He then presented Liu Chengzong with a very good, but completely useless, siege plan.

The entire plan encompasses six aspects: internal and external, top and bottom, orthodox and unorthodox.

Internally, they maintained continuous contact with enemy officers and soldiers of lower rank to undermine the morale of the defending troops; externally, they dispatched troops to fill trenches and cut off rivers to continuously create pressure.

Above, they fired arrows at each other continuously for twelve hours, while below, they dug tunnels under the city walls to collapse them.

They reinforced their forces on the front lines, employing alternating ant-like tactics to breach the city walls. At the same time, a cunning strategy was to recruit wavering defenders within the city as internal agents, allowing them to set fires when the opportunity arose.

"Strengthen the troops in the east of the city to at least 40,000, and have them swarm in and dig through the city walls. Each soldier should bring back a brick and immediately dig a gap in the wall. Once the tunnels collapse and the brickless earthen wall falls away, the army can then attack through the gap. I estimate that we can capture Yulin within seven days!"

This is Li Zicheng's experience in conquering dozens of fortified cities and towns as he fought his way through the north.

However, when Chief Clerk Li of the Military Affairs Office first demonstrated his talent at the Marshal's Mansion, he clearly sensed that the atmosphere in the main hall of the office was somewhat strange.

The subordinates he brought, whether they were his own loyal followers like Tian Jianxiu, Liu Zongmin, and Dang Shousu, or the joint camp leaders like He Jin, Guo Yingpin, and Tuo Yangkun who had been crippled in Yunyang, all looked excited and expectant.

However, the generals and imperial guards accompanying the marshal in the hall had strange expressions. They looked at them with a mixture of wanting to laugh but holding it in, and with a hint of pity in their eyes.

Even Liu Chengzong seemed to be losing his composure.

Li Zicheng's tactical plan was excellent and had very distinct characteristics, highlighting the inexhaustible and ferocious offensive power of manpower.

The only drawback is that it is not applicable to the Marshal's Army.

Liu Chengzong spread his hands, carefully choosing his words so as not to dampen Li Zicheng's enthusiasm, before saying, "Brother, with such an opponent, I don't need to deploy 40,000 troops on one city wall."

Liu Shizi thought to himself, "I only used 30,000 troops to fight against the Later Jin, which is 60,000 of theirs."

You want me to attack Yulin Town, which is now just a town with only the old, weak, sick and disabled? You want me to deploy 40,000 troops outside the east city wall and launch a concentrated attack to breach the city wall?

Crazy?

The Ming army on the city wall could take down Zhang Yichuan's fighting ability with just three cannon shots!

But Liu Chengzong knew that this was not a problem with Li Zicheng's ability, but rather that Li Zicheng had never fought a major battle and had a misunderstanding of the composition of the army.

Unfortunately, this was something he couldn't easily explain to Li Zicheng in a short time.

"You have all traveled a hundred miles tonight and must be exhausted. With Yulin City surrounded, we can't fly. Let's rest after dinner and discuss tactics tomorrow after you have seen the defenses outside the city."

When the generals of the rebel faction heard this, although they didn't say anything on the surface, they were all very indignant. They exchanged glances and all felt that Liu Chengzong was a bit lenient on the outside but suspicious on the inside.

The purpose of such peaceful mergers is to find a better way out. Even if we don't say that the capable should rise and the mediocre should fall, at least people should have a chance to show their talents.

However, the generals on Marshal's side also felt that the rebel general's faction was too fierce.

The militia numbered around a thousand. If they weren't old acquaintances of the Grand Marshal, they would be at most a battalion commander in the Marshal's mansion.

Having received such a great favor, it would be fine if they didn't behave themselves, but on their very first day here they acted like they hadn't had enough and came here to pontificate about everything.

That night, Zhang Xianzhong went to the back hall of the yamen and said to Liu Chengzong, "General, I think that rebel general still needs to be trained. If he doesn't work out, we should merge him into the garrison brigade and find a county to stay in for a year or two."

Upon hearing this, Liu Shizi chuckled and said, "Brother, what are you jealous of him for?"

Zhang Xianzhong's behavior clearly shows that he is jealous of Li Zicheng and also feels threatened by him.

The key point was that Liu Chengzong appointed Li Zicheng as a chief clerk in the military headquarters. Although it was a minor official position, Zhang Xianzhong saw this move as a sign that Li Zicheng was about to be given a more important role.

But he knew Li Zicheng's abilities very well. If Li Zicheng became the Minister of War, wouldn't Old Zhang be unhappy?

The Military Office was definitely more important than the Rites Office.

Despite being hit where it hurt, Zhang Xianzhong showed no embarrassment. He simply explained, "General, I think that Huangwazi is not the kind of guy who can be subservient to others. Look at how resentful he is today. He's brought a wolf into our lives."

"Hahaha!"

Liu Shizi immediately burst out laughing, then fixed his gaze on Zhang Xianzhong and asked, "He can't stay under someone's thumb for long, so why can't you, brother?"

"Or rather, the Grand Marshal's Mansion—Cao Yao, Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Tianlin, Luo Rucai, Zuo Liangyu, Bai Yan, Batur, Chu Huer, Subadi, Erlinchen—aren't they all ruthless and cunning individuals? Who among them can remain subservient to others for long?"

Zhang Xianzhong was stumped by the question.

The people Liu Chengzong mentioned.

That was a time of shining stars, distinguished guests, and wise rulers everywhere; this question is so difficult to answer.

Liu Shizi looked at the stammering Zhang Xianzhong and chuckled, "Relax, go to sleep, you'll be fine tomorrow."

In fact, just as Liu Chengzong said, when the cannons sounded the next morning, Li Chuang's forces were all convinced.

Seeing the posture of the attacking army, Li Zicheng even blushed a little.

The reason he suggested deploying 40,000 troops outside the eastern city wall was because he had a fixed idea about the composition of the army.

This 40,000-strong army should be centered around 1,000 or 2,000 veteran bandits, with 4,000 or 5,000 elite militia, 7,000 or 8,000 rebellious and stubborn bandits, and more than 20,000 old and weak people, forming a force that can perform its duties in the attack on the city.

This size is actually not considered very large for a peasant army.

It was just a standard siege army.

When dealing with a small city, the siege will be quicker, taking only two or three days to resolve the issue; when dealing with a large city, it can take anywhere from seven or eight days to half a month to resolve the issue.

So when I heard that Liu Chengzong had only deployed 20,000 troops to the east of Yulin City, my first reaction was that this force was not enough.

But this morning, Li Zicheng followed Liu Chengzong to the Zhenbeitai, and listened through binoculars to the Imperial Guard's report on the composition of the 20,000 troops outside the east city wall... What kind of people are Liu Chengzong's men?

The army numbered 20,000, half of whom were former regular soldiers of the Ming army. Xu Yong and Wang Yuncheng were old acquaintances who had fought alongside Li Zicheng in Guangping Prefecture.

The other ten thousand troops were also familiar faces; they were the former troops of King Hengtian, Wang Jiayin. Zhou Qing and Hui Deng were among the first to follow Wang Jiayin in his uprising. The remaining battalion, which looked to be only about two thousand men, carried no guns or cannons, only bows, arrows, longswords, and spears, and appeared to be acting as military supervisors.

Before the Imperial Guards had even been introduced, Li Zicheng had just turned his gaze to the Grand Marshal to ask Liu Chengzong about that gleaming battalion when a messenger cavalryman came running back to report on the progress of the siege.

When Li Zicheng saw the messenger, he knew that this battalion must be even more outrageous.

The way they wore their armor was like that of the elite Northern barbarians, with all the armor plates hanging on the outside, looking frighteningly bright. They spoke in Mandarin, but with a strong local accent.

He took off his helmet—hey, damn it, a fake Tartar from Liaodong!
Only after hearing Liu Chengzong's explanation did I learn that the battalion's adjutant was named Sun Long, and the entire battalion consisted of Liaodong soldiers who scavenged scraps and pieced together a bunch of Eastern barbarian armor from the battlefield.

Li Zicheng was also a leader, but this battle formation was not right.

It's not right.

The militia, the Ming army, the Eastern army—all the forces in the north except for the Marshal's Army were here.

Let them attack the city; isn't that just eliminating dissidents?
Li Zicheng did not understand, but was greatly shocked.

Honestly, in his opinion, putting aside Hui Dengxiang and Zhou Qing's 10,000 militia, even if Liu Fangming, Xu Yong, and Wang Yuncheng's 10,000 former Ming soldiers were in his hands, why would they fight to the death with this broken Yulin City?
With the addition of Zhou Qing and Hui Dengxiang's 10,000 elite militia, Li Zicheng no longer felt that there were too few troops outside the east city wall; in fact, he felt there were too many.

Li Zicheng couldn't help but sigh with envy in a low voice: "Ten thousand armored heroes with warhorses, where in this world can't they go?"

Liu Shizi did not mock Li Zicheng's plan to "increase troops by 40,000" any further. He simply nodded slowly and said, "The two battalions of Zhou Qing and Hui Dengxiang also have a considerable number of border guards from Yansui. Such a battle is sufficient."

At this moment, Li Zicheng was no longer indignant as he had been the night before. He simply nodded and stared intently at the Yulin battlefield not far away through his binoculars. His gaze was first drawn to the artillery battle outside the east city wall, but then he quickly shifted his attention to the opposite bank of the river outside the west city wall.

On the east side of the city wall, the offensive of the former Ming surrendered troops, including Liu Fangming, Ma Xiantu, Xu Yong, and Wang Yuncheng, was fierce. They assembled a large cannon position at Shafeng in the southeast of the city and launched a fierce attack on the battlements of a corner of the city wall from a distance of several hundred paces.

The cannons roared, but that was no longer within the reach of Zhenbeitai. And beyond the northern part of the eastern wall, where they could see, there were only crisscrossing trenches, which were merely a diversionary tactic to disperse the defending troops and were not worth seeing.

On the contrary, outside the west city wall, Ren Quan'er's siege position was deployed in accordance with the marshal's army's siege strategy. In front, there were three chest-high earthen ramparts between the trenches, and behind, there were two layers of artillery positions at both near and far distances. In the middle, there were more than ten earthen mounds arranged in a triangular pattern, as high as the city wall, which were continuously fired at the defenders on the city wall by heavy musket musketeers.

Although the gunfire was not dense, the layered firepower targeting the defenders still greatly shocked Li Zicheng.

He never even considered that in a siege, or in a confrontation with the Ming army, he could completely overwhelm them in terms of firepower, range, and numbers.

This was a novel and powerful tactic for Li Zicheng.

Seeing Huangwa's serious expression as he watched the battle intently, Liu Chengzong couldn't help but smile briefly: "Brother Huangwa, come here, you're just about to be intimidated."

In fact, he knew even better that the Second Brigade led by Ren Quan'er had demonstrated capabilities in the west that far exceeded those of the Marshal's army in a normal siege.

The number of defending troops was limited, so they would not go out of the city to fight in the field, nor would they fight with their backs to the city, while the Second Brigade had ample time to set up positions.

It is a battle that closely resembles an exercise under an absolutely ideal state.

But precisely because of this, Li Zicheng was able to see the most standard way for the Marshal's army to attack cities.

He discovered that the essence of the siege of Xicheng was that although the Ming army in Xicheng had a large number of troops and many cannons, almost all of them were rendered useless.

The Ming army's artillery was not suppressed in the exchange of fire with the Marshal's army's artillery.

Instead, it was the Marshal's army's muskets.

The heavy muskets and matchlock guns on those ten-odd earthen mounds arranged in a triangular pattern, with their terrifying length and caliber for a single soldier, and their close proximity to the city wall and range far exceeding that of a musket, densely and accurately killed the artillerymen on the city wall. As a result, no defender dared to raise the heavy bullets of the general's cannon, causing the defender's artillery to fall silent.

This allowed the Marshal's heavy artillery outside the city to operate like ferocious beasts without natural enemies, leisurely firing slowly from north to south, clearing the battlements over a hundred paces wide, moving the artillery positions slightly south, and continuing to fire densely at the battlements.

This was a powerful offensive he never dared to imagine.

It was this scene that made Li Zicheng truly realize how outrageous the plan he had presented the day before was.

He always felt that the difference between him and Liu Chengzong was a two- or three-year head start.

It has only now become clear that they are on completely different paths, and the difference lies not only in superficial things such as food supplies, provisions, and territory.

It seems that Liu Chengzong's army was truly built with the goal of crushing the Ming army.

Who in the peasant army could have such ambition?

No.

Of course, this does not mean that leaders like Li Zicheng and Wang Jiayin were weak. On the contrary, the orthodox peasant army aimed to gradually train a group of displaced people into Ming soldiers through mobile warfare, which was an extremely high standard.

The most formidable army people could come into contact with was the Ming army, and their goal was the same: to hone their own army into the most powerful force they had ever seen in the Ming army.

The problem was Liu Chengzong, who from the very beginning wanted to build a force capable of crushing the Ming army.

Just as Li Zicheng was intently watching the Second Brigade use cannons to sweep away the city walls, several riders carrying a messenger flag rode out of the city from the east and rushed all the way to Zhenbeitai.

Soon, a guard rushed up to the city wall and reported to Liu Chengzong: "General, General Zhou of Mantianxing has led his troops to fill in the southeast moat, break through the Mamian wall, and occupy the Haichao Temple under the southeast city wall."

Liu Chengzong nodded slowly.

Haichao Temple is located between the southeast city wall and the moat of Yulin City. That location was not originally intended for a large building complex. However, due to the long period of peace, even a defensive stronghold like Yulin became more residential and became the best location for digging tunnels.

With the fall of Haichao Temple, Zhou Qing and Hui Dengxiang's forces have begun digging tunnels from the temple.

Liu Chengzong wasn't an expert at digging tunnels, so he didn't interfere and let Zhou Qing do it.

Once the city walls are breached, Liu Fangming and the other Ming generals who surrendered will have received their pledges of allegiance and will be considered true marshals and generals.

"Haichao Temple has been captured, and it's only a matter of time before the city falls."

Liu Chengzong clapped his hands and said to Li Zicheng, "Once Yulin City is captured, you, brother, will be very busy as the head of the military office. First, register the soldiers and record their military merits for the camps outside the city, and then arrange for the various camps to be incorporated into the local government..."

Liu Shizi shook his head as he spoke. This time, the eastern expedition had added several more battalions. Once they entered the border region, there wouldn't be many more places to send troops.

"As for Li Guo's camp, they will stay in Guyuan for now and deal with the bandits along the way. This time, on their return to Xi'an, they should also clear out some trade routes in Shaanxi." (End of Chapter)