Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 264 Demolition of Xiangxiang and Destruction of Fanqing Countryside

South bank of the Han River.

In Xiangyang City, a group of generals and school officials looked at the brick city around twelve miles away, feeling a little bit reluctant.

"It's really going to be demolished?"

"Destroy as much as possible." Wen Anzhi was wearing a Confucian robe, with a sword at his waist.

This is a strong city, built on the basis of Xiangyang City in the Southern Song Dynasty. A new city was built in the northeast corner, facing the Han River in the north, surrounded by moats on the other three sides, and Xiangwang Mansion in the southeast of the city.

There are 36 squares in the city.

Facing Xiangyang across the river is Fancheng on the north bank.

"Go west to Baili City in Xiangyang, row a boat to buy wine and get drunk in Fancheng!" Wen Anzhi looked at Fancheng from afar and chanted poems.

"Everyone supervises good poems!" Counselors Liu Tiaoyuan, Miao Shihua and others hurriedly praised them.

"This is the work of my court poet Gu Lin, not written by me."

The generals Liu Miao were not embarrassed, they laughed. He was originally a guerrilla in the standard battalion of Wang Yongzuo, who was Fuzhi of Yunyang.

"Now we are recruiting soldiers and horses, and we have incorporated the Xiangyang Qing army. There are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses. With this, Xiangyang's strong city can be defended. Why abandon the city?" Liu Tiaoyuan was not very willing to give up Xiangyang. Come attack Xiangyang.

It's just that Xiangyang City is too dangerous.

He faces the Han River in the north, which is a natural danger.The water from the Han River is introduced into the east, west and south sides as the moat. The moat is different from the moats of ordinary cities. It is wide and deep. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a lake. It is impossible to approach Xiangyang City except by boat.

After the Chuang army occupied Xiangyang at the beginning, fearing that the Yunmen and horses in the upper reaches would go down the river, they specially placed huge stones on the Hanjiang River in the northwest of the city, and sank to the bottom of the river, from south to north, so that the north of Xiangyang city It is also more solid.

This time, if it wasn't for relying on tricks to lure away the main force of Xiangyang first, and then attacking normally with a combination of inside and outside, there is no five or six times the troops who can't take it down.

Wen Anzhi said, "There is no invincible fortress in this world. Xiangyang City is indeed fortified and its location is very important. But because of this, the Tartars will never sit back and watch us occupy this city. The second wave, the third wave, the Tartars will continue to attack, and in the end we will only be exhausted here."

"But we have guarded Yunyang for so long, and Yunyang City is far behind."

"It's different. Yunyang is located in the upper reaches of the Han River and is located in a remote place. As long as the walls are strong and the fields are clear, it will be difficult for any army to attack. If there are too many soldiers and horses, it will be inconvenient to transport and supply logistics, and if there are few soldiers, it will be difficult to attack."

"Let's demolish it. Try to tear down as many openings in the Xiangyang city wall as possible. It's best to fill up a few sections of the moat. We're leaving this time, and we'll come back next time."

Xiangyang City is larger than Xunyang City, and the city is also richer in supplies than Xiangyang.

However, most of these materials were transported from Nanyang and other places after the Qing army occupied Xiangyang. This is an important channel between Henan, Guanzhong and Huguang, especially the confluence of the Hanshui, Danshui and Baihe rivers, making this a very good place. shipping terminal.

Both Xiangyang and Fancheng stored a lot of food, grass, military equipment and other materials, but now they all fell into the hands of Wen'an.

These days they recruited troops, recruited prisoners, and expanded their army to more than 1 people. Then Wen Anzhi sent people to carry supplies, food and grass back to Yunyang continuously, and even took time to cross the river and occupy Fancheng on the opposite side.

There were not many soldiers in Fancheng. Once Xiangyang was lost, the guard on the opposite side surrendered in fright. The guard was originally a Chuang army. After the Qing army came, he surrendered to the Qing. Now that the Ming army captured Xiangyang, he surrendered again happily. Bright.

Now the Ming army here in Xiangyang already wants to form a town of its own, with more than 8000 troops and more than [-] sets of armor. Although they are basically small cannons weighing hundreds of catties, there are also dozens of heavy cannons.

Liu Tiaoyuan and others wanted to guard Xiangyang, and they themselves wanted to be the general soldier.

But Wen Anzhi still insisted on demolishing the city and retreating, not only to withdraw, but also to evacuate all the things that can be moved in the city, and even mobilized the people of Xiangyang and Fancheng to move to the Xunyang mountain area. Although it is a mountainous area, it can be reclaimed There are many fields.

In the early years, because of the influx of millions of refugees into the Yunyang mountainous area to reclaim wasteland, the imperial court later set up such a Yunyang Fuzhi. Since Chongzhen, the Yunyang area has become a gathering place for the peasant army. It has been fighting for more than ten years. The population has dropped sharply, and even a large number of mountains and fields have been barren.

Although many people in Xiangfan are unwilling to move to the mountains, the relocation at this time is not really voluntary.

The brutal war has made many things less free.

Yunyang wants to stick to it for a long time, needs food, equipment, farmers and craftsmen, so they have to find a way to get more people, and moving the population of Xiangyang will make it difficult to recover here, so that the Qing army will come over Re-occupation, they will not be able to support themselves for a short time in the future, and they will have to transfer food and grass to the army from other places. This will increase difficulties and slow down their offensive against Yunyang.

In times of war, everything is based on war.

Of course, there are also many people who are willing to go to Yunyang, mainly people who have been devastated by the war. They are no different from refugees. Land is also a battleground for military strategists, which also means that it is too difficult for the people in this place to survive.

Under the auspices and persistence of Wen Anzhi, the more than 1 soldiers here in Xiangyang, although they are still marching under the banner of Yunyangzhong's camp, are already imitating the imperial camp in an all-round way.

For example, the captured money, food, armor, etc. are all owned by the grain platform, rather than being privately distributed by the generals. In addition, the soldiers are also included in the register, paid according to their names, and have fixed food and salaries. Food and other subsidies.

Wen Anzhi tried his best to keep these soldiers on the right track, and even the battalion was made up of the imperial battalion, with [-] soldiers plus [-] auxiliary soldiers in one battalion.

At the beginning, Liu Tiaoyuan and others firmly opposed it, thinking that it would be difficult to sustain such an operation. Even if the salary was paid at half, a battalion would have to pay 2000 taels a month.

An auxiliary soldier pays three taels of silver a month?Half pay one tael five, is it necessary?There is even no need to set up auxiliary soldiers in the army. Wherever the army marches, it is enough to arrest the civilians temporarily, and just take care of the meal.

But Wen Anzhi insisted, and said that there is food and salary in hand, which can be maintained. As for the future, he can also find a way.

Even the newly recruited soldiers, even those who were recruited into the army, were each given two taels of silver to An Jiayin, but after the money was taken out, the effect was really good, and the recruits were very active.

"Let's take it down, let's take it down." Liu Tiaoyuan didn't insist anymore.

So there was a very spectacular scene here in Xiangfan. Countless ships of various sizes and even rafts on the Han River, loaded with various supplies and belongings, went upstream, forming a long stream.

As for the two cities of Xiangfan, countless people are tearing down the city walls to fill in the moats, forcibly digging out big gaps in the two big cities, and filling in the lake-like moat of Xiangyang to fill in several roads.

Generals Liu Tiaoyuan and Wang Guangtai also took soldiers to the countryside to mobilize the people to move to Xunyang.

Wen Anzhi took some time off from his busy schedule, leading the military officers from Taiwan to visit the poor people everywhere, and in order to start a loyal camp, he got thousands of young girls from the people to be soldiers' brides.

When Luo Xiujin, governor of Sichuan and Lake, arrived from Henan, he was stunned by the second city of Xiangfan in front of him.

This was completely different from the two cities he had seen just a few months ago. There were gaps in the walls, moats filled with silt, empty villages, even filled wells, destroyed bridges, and roads.

For dozens of miles around Xiangfan, even the smoke from the cooking stoves could not be seen.

For hundreds of miles on both sides of the Han River, you can't even find a single scorpion.

Here has become a silent dead place!

The two cities of Xiangfan are like the two monsters that died by the Han River, leaving only their broken bodies on the river.

(End of this chapter)