Optimus One Pillar of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 157 Suppressing Bandits in Shandong

The day for the attack was set, and the next step was intensive preparations. The next day, Wang Daoqiu asked Qi Jiguang and Ma Fang to drive the team across the canal, and organized the guardsmen, township braves, and flags from Henan and South Zhili. Zhaozhan went over to make up the numbers, and a large army was assembled on both sides of the canal opposite Yanzhou City, known to the outside world as 20 heavenly soldiers.

20!This frightened the leader of the White Lotus Sect in Yanzhou City, King Sweeper.Now the government troops occupy the favorable terrain of Mount Tai, Mount Lu, and Mount Yimeng, compressing their rebel army in the plain area between the three mountains and the canal.And Yanzhou City is the largest city they currently control. If Yanzhou City is lost, then where will they go to continue to be "city dwellers".After all, after enjoying the prosperity of the city, how many people are still willing to continue to be country bumpkins?
So after knowing that [-] officers and soldiers were about to attack Yanzhou City, King Sweeper called a meeting of the White Lotus Cult leaders in Yanzhou City. After a while of arguing, they decided to shrink the defense line first and move the border counties and villages in the controlled area to a meeting. All the rebels and supplies were first concentrated in Yanzhou City and the four counties surrounding Yanzhou City.They planned to concentrate all their efforts on seizing the city and fighting with the army until the canal was frozen in winter, then they would cross the canal and go to Henan for dinner.

Wang Daoqiu likes to concentrate all his efforts on defense. After all, the peasant army is at an absolute disadvantage in terms of combat effectiveness and weapons and equipment. The consequences of a positional battle with the official army have been clearly recorded in history books.

So after learning that the peasant army had reduced its defense line and planned to defend the city, Wang Daoqiu postponed the attack for three days.At the same time, he also asked Ma Fang to lead a limited cavalry attack to moderately eliminate some of the peasant army's shrinking troops and rob some of the peasant army's grain and grass during transportation.

This is used to put pressure on the leaders of the White Lotus Sect in Yanzhou City, making those people feel that if they don't move faster, the troops and food outside may not be able to come back, and the illusion that the officers and soldiers are afraid of their concentration of power prompts them to speed up their contraction Concentrated speed.

Things were just as Wang Daoqiu thought. When Wang Daoqiu put pressure on Ma Fang and led the cavalry to continuously attack the peasant army's troops and food in the field, the leader of the White Lotus Sect really let all the outside troops swarm to Yanzhou, and they could escape. Count as many as you come here.

Three days later, Wang Daoqiu saw that the fire was almost done, so he ordered the army to march to the gate of Yanzhou City.

The army rested under Yanzhou City for a day, and the next day Wang Daoqiu asked Ma Fang to lead the cavalry to patrol the outskirts of Yanzhou City. He and Qi Jiguang led more than [-] infantrymen to set up formation under Yanzhou City.

Facing the Yanzhou city wall that had been raised to more than four feet, Wang Daoqiu said to Qi Jiguang: "According to the detailed work of Jin Yiwei in the city, the news came back that the White Lotus Sect now wants men over 14 years old and under 60 years old in the city. Ding all joined the army, forming an army of 15. They also organized a women's front team. The strong ones built the city and fought like the men, while the weak ones washed and cooked meals during the day and slept with them at night. Most of the city The houses have been demolished now, and the bricks and stones have been used to build the city, and the beams and tiles have been prepared to be used to hit us when we attack the city. This is the situation, Yuan Jing, how do you plan to fight this battle?"

"Enxiang, it is not difficult to win this battle. Although there are many thieves, they are all a bunch of chickens and dogs. Moreover, their weapons and equipment are not good. Enxiang, look at the rioters at the top of the city. Most of them have They are all hoes, poles, wooden sticks, and few swords and guns. Even the things in my hands are so makeshift, let alone strong bows, crossbows and firearms. So Enxiang, I plan to attack the enemy forces in the city first. A few days of long-range strikes, just using trebuchets to throw at the city walls, the explosive packs you invented, Enxiang. Kill the arrogance of the rogues in the city, and at the same time give our soldiers a boost."

"It's not enough to use explosive packs! Yuan Jing, the opponent does not have long-range attack weapons such as crossbows. You have the archers guard the trebuchet, get to a distance of [-] feet from the city wall, and throw the fire oil can into the city."

Exploding the city walls and burning the city walls is a great idea!So Wang Daoqiu gave the order, and Qi Jiguang immediately went to organize it.Qi Jiguang first ordered thirty trebuchets to be pushed more than 40 feet away from the city wall.Using explosive packets weighing ten kilograms each, the top of Yanzhou City was blown up into smoke, causing ghosts to cry and wolves to howl.He also ordered ten trebuchets to be pushed to a distance of twenty feet away from the city wall, and then filled wine jars with kerosene and threw them into the city, burning the city with thick smoke.

In this way, for the first three days, the officers and soldiers did not attack the city. They just blew it up with explosive bags and burned it with kerosene every hour.At the beginning, the peasant army was afraid that the official army would take advantage of the situation and climb into the city, so they gritted their teeth and stood guard on the city.But after being bombed again and again, thousands of their brothers had their arms and legs cut off, their faces completely mutilated, and the city was covered in blood, they couldn't bear it anymore.So as soon as they saw the officers and soldiers outside the city finishing their rest, standing up from the ground and starting to work at the trebuchet, they immediately swarmed down to the city and hid in the soldiers' cave under the city.

On this day, Wang Daoqiu and Qi Jiguang came to the city again to watch the battle. Seeing the strange things on the top of the city, Wang Daoqiu felt keenly that this was a good opportunity to break the city.So he said to Qi Jiguang beside him: "Yuan Jing, I think the city will be destroyed today. After this round of artillery fire, you let the soldiers sit down and rest as usual, but make preparations secretly. After the next round of artillery fire begins, first Mobilize [-] men who dare to die, and each person rushes to the city gate with a pack of explosives. When they reach the city gate, they build all the explosive packs together to blow down the city gate, and then the army rushes into the city. , first control the city wall and force the rebels to escape through the east gate."

"Here"

Wang Daoqiu gave the order, and Qi Jiguang hurriedly accepted the order and went down to prepare.

After a stick of incense, this round of artillery fire ended, and after an hour's rest, the second round of artillery fire started again, and explosive packets flew towards the top of the city one by one.At this time, [-] death squads, each holding a dynamite bag, rushed towards the gate of the city under the cover of the explosion of the dynamite bag.When the death squad approached the city gate, Qi Jiguang ordered the trebuchet to avoid the direction of the city gate, and only bombed the sides of the city gate.

After the death squads entered the city gate, Qi Jiguang did not wait for them to blow down the city gate. He silenced everyone, and then led five thousand officers and soldiers to rush towards the city gate.

With a "boom", when Qi Jiguang and his 5000 troops were still about [-] feet away from the gate of the city, there was a loud noise. Falling down with a crash.

Seeing that Yanzhou City was broken, Qi Jiguang immediately raised his spear and shouted: "Kill", and then led the five thousand officers and soldiers who also shouted "Kill" towards Yanzhou City.

Twenty feet is 60 meters in later generations, and it only takes a few seconds for an adult to run fast.So the peasant army guarding the city, before they could react to the loud noise of the bombing of the city gate, Qi Jiguang led the team into the city.Seeing Qi Jiguang entering the city, Wang Daoqiu hurriedly ordered his two guards: "You two, go and inform Ma Qianhu, saying that the bandit army may break out from the east gate soon, and let Ma Qianhu use all his cavalry." Move towards the east gate and prepare to intercept and kill the rebellious people."

"Here"

In ancient siege battles, as long as you did not have an overwhelming advantage in terms of strength or had a deadly feud with the opponent, you would usually surround yourself with only one person missing, leaving a living hope for the opponent and preventing the opponent from ruthlessly fighting you to the death.This approach is also in line with psychology. After all, survival is a human instinct. If there is hope for survival, people will not fight you desperately.

Wang Daoqiu followed the same pattern when he attacked Yanzhou City this time. He surrounded the north, south, and west sides of Yanzhou City, leaving only the east side facing the Shandong Peninsula, leaving the peasant army with a chance to survive.Of course, all this is superficial, because Wang Daoqiu has a powerful cavalry in his hands.And once the defeated infantry encounters organized cavalry on the plains, what will be the consequences?
So now that he saw Qi Jiguang rushing into the city, Wang Daoqiu immediately sent his bodyguard to notify Ma Fang to gather the thousand cavalry outside the city at the east gate of Yanzhou, preparing to hunt down the fleeing peasant army.

The battle went extremely smoothly, and soon the officers and soldiers entered the city through the gap, went up to the city first, and compressed the defenders at the top of the city toward the east gate.As for the White Lotus Cult leaders in the city, just as Wang Daoqiu expected, when they saw that the city was broken and only the east gate was still in their hands, they were afraid that the officers and soldiers would close the door and beat the dogs, so they quickly prepared to run away. .

In the palace of Prince Lu in Yanzhou City, the leader of the White Lotus Cult, King Sweeper, once he received the news that Yanzhou City was broken and the army had already controlled three gates, and only the east gate was still in his hands, he quickly prepared to run away without even thinking about it.

He asked his soldiers to quickly pack all the gold and silver into boxes. He was afraid that the soldiers would be lazy or run away, so he held a knife and supervised at the door, shouting: "Quick, quick, Come on, why bother? With these gold and silver, I will take you to Jiangnan to buy a house and land. As long as I can survive this disaster today, I will reward you with 100 taels of silver each when you get to Jiangnan. Hurry, hurry, move quickly."

King Sweeper was busy packing gold, silver and soft goods in Prince Lu's Mansion. At this moment, his men broke into the sky and rode over with dozens of his soldiers.

As soon as they saw Sweeping Sky and Chuangtanting, they said anxiously: "My lord, it's impossible, it's impossible, the team has dispersed. There are now 10,000+ people gathered at the east gate, each carrying large and small bags, and they are fleeing. The gates of the city were blocked. The guards on the city saw others fleeing. If it weren't for the supervising team pressing behind them, they would have fled long ago. My lord, don't worry about these external things, run away! Otherwise! Once the officers and soldiers capture the east gate, then we will all be finished. My lord, keep the green mountain stronghold, don't be afraid of running out of firewood, let's go!"

The situation is critical, and he may be locked up and beaten by officers and soldiers at any time!The Sweeping King loves money, but he loves life even more, so driven by the remaining trace of reason, the Sweeping King gritted his teeth and stamped his feet, and said fiercely to the soldiers: "Okay, don't move anymore, let's go. But this Prince Lu’s Mansion, Lao Zhi can’t use it, and he won’t leave any money for the six yuan grade, so he burned it, so he burned this Prince Lu Mansion with Lao Zhi.”

Following the order from King Sweeper, his soldiers hurriedly lit torches and rushed to the mansion to set fires everywhere.

After lighting the fire, hundreds of soldiers of King Sweeper and dozens of soldiers of Chuangtaotian fled towards the east gate, protecting King Sweeper, Chuangtantian and dozens of carts of gold and silver.

When we arrived at the east gate, there was already a sea of ​​people and it was so blocked.Listening to the sound of metal clashing of swords approaching from both sides of the east gate, and the screams of killing.At this time, the Sweeping King didn't preach any religious doctrines. We were all brothers in any religion. Gritting his teeth, he ordered his soldiers to slash at the people's backs to clear the way for him.

The Broom King's soldiers also want to live, and don't want to be stuck here and be locked up and beaten by the army.So King Sweeper gave the order, and without thinking, they slashed the backs of their former brothers in the cult with their swords. Suddenly, the east gate of Yanzhou City was filled with blood and screams.

In this way, the soldiers of the Sweeping King continuously cut down thousands of people blocking the east gate. At this time, the peasant soldiers blocked here also reacted. They couldn't squeeze out for a while, and there was a Sweeping King behind them. The broadsword "clears the road". If they don't resist at this time, they will die at the gate of the city today.

So I don't know who yelled first, then blocked the peasant army at the east gate, then turned around and started fighting with the soldiers of the Sweeping King.

The Sweeping King only has a few hundred soldiers, but the peasant army now blocking the east gate has nearly 10 people. This requires both sides to fight for their lives, and the result is self-evident.So he rushed into the sky with a clear head. Seeing that the situation was not right, his own life was important, and he didn't care about his superiors or not. He whistled, took his dozens of soldiers, turned around and ran away.

Seeing that his dog broke into the sky and ran away without caring about his master at a critical moment of life and death, the sweeper king was furious. He pointed at the back of the dog who was running away from the sky and cursed endlessly.

(End of this chapter)