Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 321: North-South attack

"Fixed shot loading, distance is one mile and three hundred steps, pre-fire one round, ready... beep!"

"Boom boom——"

On the 20th of the winter month of the second year of Yongle, accompanied by the sound of artillery, there was a sound in Jingbei Town, thirty miles away from Shenglong City. At this moment, there were already 40,000 soldiers and horses stationed in Jingbei Town inside and outside the city. However, the number of people could not bring them any success. any advantage.

Since Fu Rang captured Lang Son on the 16th, he had not encountered an opponent like Hu Yuancheng, so he chose to lead his troops south and attack Thang Long.

After his purpose was discovered by Hu Jishen, Hu Jishen quickly mobilized soldiers and horses from Taiyuan and Haiyang towns to help Jingbei Town, preparing to fight stubbornly.

Jingbei Town is the last barrier besides the Red River in front of Thanglong City. If Jingbei Town is uprooted, Xuanguang Town will lose the official road to Tsenglong, and Hu Yuancheng will lose his main source of supplies, and he will have to lead his troops away. Shuiyi withdrew to Guihua Town south of the Red River.

Not only that, Thang Long City will also be exposed to the Ming army's front, and only Duobang City can cope with it.

Because of this, after the Ming army launched an attack on Jingbei Town, Hu Jiyou immediately dispatched 5,000 soldiers and horses to assist and garrison Duobang City, waiting for the retreat of the Jingbei Town army.

However, he overestimated the defense of Jingbei Town, or underestimated the speed of the Ming army to break the city.

From the time of the artillery bombardment to noon, the city wall of Jingbuk Town, whose defense was not as good as Lang Son City, was defeated in less than two hours. Large pieces of earth and stone washed down, and the defenders in the city turned pale.

Compared with them, the Vietnamese army who built goat-horned walls, trenches, and horses outside the city were even more miserable.

The ramrod wall they spent several days building only lasted for less than an hour before being completely destroyed by a single shell from the Ming army.

Without waiting for their reaction, the Ming army's artillery positions advanced one by one under Fu Rang's flexible command.

By the time they reacted, the Ming army's artillery position was less than 200 steps away from them, and at this time the Ming army also began to bombard them with shotgun shells.

Two hundred artillery pieces were loaded with nearly a thousand kilograms of shotshells, a total of more than 200,000 pieces.

When they were fired amidst the roar of artillery, the entire Vietnamese army position was instantly filled with miserable shouts.

"Uh-huh!!"

"The Ming army is here!"

"The entire army came out of the trenches and formed a formation to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Ming army!!"

A round of shotgun caused hundreds of casualties to the Vietnamese army. Li Miao, who was in charge of commanding the troops outside the city, had no choice but to issue a military order to form short troops.

At his whistle, tens of thousands of Vietnamese troops hiding behind the incomplete fortifications filed out, but the formation speed was very slow.

After the Ming army had cleared the barrels of the artillery, they formed a formation and attacked the artillery position.

"The infantry retreated to the left and right. After the solid shell bombardment, the infantry returned to their original position and formed a formation to charge. The cavalry made a roundabout attack on the left and right flanks. Don't give them a chance to breathe!"

Fu Rang, who was observing the battlefield with a telescope, quickly passed on the military order and calmly gave the order when the Vietnamese army was still 200 steps away from the Ming army.

Soon, the infantry regiments blocking the artillery positions retreated left and right, exposing the Ming army's artillery positions to the Vietnamese army.

However, facing the exposed artillery position, the Vietnamese army was not in any excited mood at this moment. On the contrary, their blood became colder.

Less than a hundred steps away, they could see that the soldiers in the artillery position were not cleaning the gun barrels, but were standing quietly around the guns. This meant that they had completed the cleaning and filling of the gun barrels. If nothing unexpected happened...

"Boom boom——"

The dull sound of artillery sounded again, but at such a distance, the Ming army did not use shotgun shells, but solid bullets.

"Bang!!"

The sound of flesh exploding was heard, and a five-pound iron cannonball penetrated the bodies of more than ten people before falling, and blood and flesh flew everywhere.

"what!!!"

Looking at the tragic scene, many Vietnamese soldiers who had been dragged onto the battlefield began to collapse, and the military formation that was finally formed suddenly collapsed.

"Brothers, sound the horn and follow me to charge!!"

On horseback, Meng Ying and Zhang Fu each led a thousand cavalry to launch roundabout raids on the left and right wings of the Vietnamese army.

The sound of horns and fearful screams filled the entire battlefield. Lin Su and Zhang Chun commanded more than 10,000 scattered infantry regiments to return to the artillery positions and form formations.

Compared with the laxity of the Vietnamese army, they completed their formation in less than a word and launched a frontal attack on the Vietnamese army.

"Uuuuuu——"

The horn was melodious, but it came from three different directions.

The cavalry on the left and right wings and the tens of thousands of infantry in the front attacked in three directions. Li Miao had never dealt with this kind of situation, and it was difficult to unite the tens of thousands of troops in his headquarters at one time.

"One general is incompetent and will kill the three armies. It seems that the Hu family has no generals left."

Looking at the Vietnamese army in the telescope with no trace of command, Fu Rang shook his head, revealing his disdain for the Vietnamese army.

It's no wonder that Zhu Gaoxu chose to let him lead the East Route Army, which was all young generals. They didn't need the cooperation of Mu Chun of the West Route Army at all. They could take Shenglong City by themselves.

Although the West Route Army was large in number, it was not the main force. The credit for pacifying Annan was destined to fall on the Yanfu and Bohai Department generals of their East Route Army.

"Wealth comes first, and our names are destined to be on Annan's merit monument!"

"Brothers, kill me!!"

"Clap clap clap-"

The two armies were about to engage in combat. The regiments led by Lin Su and Zhang Chun rolled out a mile wide on the broad plains of Jingbei Town. Accompanied by the sound of frying beans and the thick rising smoke, the Vietnamese front troops The position that was finally stabilized under the command of Li Miao was broken again.

The swordsmen and pikemen launched a charge after three rounds of volleys, disrupting the Vietnamese army's position and leaving the left and right defense lines empty.

Seizing the opportunity, the cavalry led by Zhang Fu and Meng Ying launched a surprise attack, flanking the Vietnamese army from the left and right.

When the difference in strength between the two armies was less than 5,000, the Ming and Vietnamese armies were quickly strangled by Zhang Fu, Lin Su and others. The Vietnamese general Li Miao and the Chinese army were wiped out, and thousands of Vietnamese troops fled.

However, in front of the Ming army's cavalry, they did not even have a chance to flee back to the moat of Jingbei Town, and they were all killed on the way to the retreat.

In an hour, all the 10,000 soldiers stationed in the outer city of Jingbei Town were slaughtered.

Such a miserable scene was clearly seen by the Vietnamese generals at the top of the city, and they were extremely frightened.

"In less than an hour, the entire army of ten thousand people was wiped out..."

I don't know who said these words, which made the generals in the city pale and lose the courage to defend the north of Beijing.

It's just that they don't even have the luxury to retreat at this moment, because after taking care of Li Miao in the outer city, Fu Rang asked Zhang Fu and Meng Ying to lead the cavalry to patrol the outside. Obviously, they were not prepared to let go of the 30,000 guards in the northern city of Beijing and the other three walls. The army and the people in the city.

"The battle lasted for an hour and two quarters, and nearly 10,000 enemy troops were wiped out. Our troops were down 272, with 897 slightly or seriously wounded, and there were still more than 13,700 left to fight."

Outside Jingbei City, while Lin Su and others spent an hour tallying up the results of the battle, Fu Rang also arranged for the artillery position to move one mile forward and set up camp less than a mile away from Jingbei City, ready for artillery bombardment at any time.

"There are still nearly 14,000 people available, which is not bad, but logistics is holding back too many troops."

Fu Rang glanced at the merit and reward book, and felt a little headache about the supplies and the rear area that required 16,000 troops and 50,000 civilians to recover the city.

Fortunately, his target is Shenglong City. As long as all the troops in Jingbei Town are surrounded and annihilated, Duobang City, which has only 5,000 people, is not afraid. The remaining Shenglong City, which has only a few thousand people, is in the pocket of the Ming army. .

After taking Thang Long City, the rest can be left to the Western Route Army.

"Prepare for bombardment and capture Jingbei Town within two days!"

Fu Rang closed the book and looked only at the somewhat dilapidated Jingbei Town.

Fifteen thousand against forty thousand, now more than a thousand were killed or wounded, and a quarter of the enemy's troops were killed or wounded.

The scene just now was definitely seen by the Vietnamese generals. Taking advantage of their low morale and continuously expanding the results is what Fu Rang should do as the coach.

"Fixed shot loading, ready...fire!"

"Boom boom boom——"

Fierce artillery fire hit Jingbei Town and also took place on South Fifth Road in Annan.

As the capital of the West, Qinghua was originally the gathering place for direct descendants of the Hu family, but at this moment it was in devastation.

In the early morning, the navy raided the unsuspecting Thanh Hoa Port. Hundreds of warships emerged from the thick fog and launched a bombardment on Thanh Hoa Port, wiping out all the defenders on the port in an instant.

If Qinghua City were not located thirty miles away from the coastline, I am afraid that the city walls of Qinghua would have become ruins within a few hours.

However, even though there was a distance of thirty miles, when Zheng He and the other three commanded nearly 20,000 naval forces landed at the dock, they quickly began to use their few horses to pull 200 field guns and gallop towards Thanh Hoa City.

Shortly after Fu Rang wiped out Li Miao's troops, Zheng He and his three men led a large army to arrive outside Qinghua City in light equipment and began to launch an artillery bombardment.

Despite early warning and preparation, the Vietnamese army did not expect the Ming army's attack to be so fast.

Taking the situation of the Vietnamese army as an example, their normal marching speed was only thirty miles per day, which was less than half that of the Ming army.

Therefore, they originally thought that the Ming army would arrive in Thanh Hoa early the next morning, but the fact was that the Ming army arrived outside Thanh Hoa in the afternoon.

Outside the city, Yang Zhan and the other three had a clear division of labor.

Because they were traveling lightly, the entire army did not carry enough food. Therefore, Zheng He led the navy's 500 cavalry and the 200 draft horses that carried the artillery to collect food and grass around Qinghua. Yang Zhan and Cui Jun went to Qing Dynasty to collect food and grass. They launched an encirclement and launched an artillery bombardment.

By dusk, Thanh Hoa City had been bombarded for two hours, and the less than 10,000 defenders in the city had not organized a successful counterattack at all.

"I'm afraid these Vietnamese troops are all civilian warriors who were recently forcibly recruited."

Looking at the dilapidated Thanh Hoa wall stacks through the telescope, Yang Zhan lamented: "It's a pity that Hu Jima managed the Thanh Hoa city wall like this, but no one can command the counterattack."

"This is good news for us." Cui Jun did not feel sorry, but instead smiled with the generals.

The worse the quality of the Vietnamese troops on the southern fifth route is, the faster they can attack cities and seize territory. While the main force of the Vietnamese army is in the north, they only need to win the fifth southern route quickly. By then, the 780,000 Vietnamese troops in the north will be trapped in the battlefield of the Vietnamese plain, which is less than 400 miles from east to west and less than 200 miles from north to south.

To fight them in such a "narrow" strategic space, it can only be said that the Vietnamese army's future is doomed.

"It's our luck and their misfortune."

Putting away the telescope, Yang Zhan glanced at the stopped artillery position and turned back to ask Cui Jun: "How long will it take for the gunpowder and iron cannonballs to arrive?"

"Based on the strength of the civilians, I guess we have to wait until late at night." Cui Jun answered without thinking, and Yang Zhan also nodded and said:

"As soon as the ammunition arrives, the shelling will continue immediately."

"In addition, someone was sent to inform Zheng Zhengshi, asking him to collect iron materials and blacksmiths to smelt them into iron cannonballs. In addition, the civilians only need to transport gunpowder. It is too slow to transport the cannonballs by foot."

After Yang Zhan said that, he walked towards the camp that had been set up, and Cui Jun also conveyed the news in time.

Soon, the sky was getting dark, and the Annan Hu family and the Yu Dynasty looked in danger under the night.

News from all over the place was quickly delivered to Thang Long City, which forced Hu Jima to summon the ministers to Qinzheng Hall late at night.

He was wearing a middle coat and a simple robe outside, and was walking back and forth anxiously.

The ministers in the palace all looked ashen, because they all knew how serious the impact of Qinghua's siege was.

"I should have thought that since the Ming army could use its navy to capture Nanjing, it could also cross the sea and cut off our army's retreat. It was my mistake, my mistake..."

Hu Jisao's voice was anxious, and he said that he had changed from being a loner to being just like me.

He is not good at war personally, but he is good at commanding generals.

The reason why the early conquests against Champa were successful was because Annan's metallurgical technology was better than that of Champa and its iron output was higher than that of Champa.

But these advantages turned into disadvantages when facing the Ming army. The power of the Ming army's artillery made Hu Jishen still dare not think about it.

Judging from the letters from Beijing and Thanh Hoa, the city defenses in the two places are already in danger, and the city will be broken in just a few days.

It's okay for northern Beijing. If it is really breached, there will still be Duobang City and the Red River...

But once Qinghua is breached, he will really be doomed.

But what can he do?

It was too late to dispatch Xuan Guang's troops and horses. The troops in Thang Long and Duobang City were less than 10,000, and the troops in Jingbei Town were surrounded by the Ming army again.

At this moment, his Great Yu seemed to be at the end of its rope, and it was only six days before the war started.

The strength of the Ming army far exceeded Hu Ji's imagination. He had obviously studied Muchun's battles against Luchuan and Yunnan Tusi, and predicted that the Ming army would be defeated for a long time in Langshan and Wangnongshan. However, they did not even last more than three days in these two places. sky.

"Your Majesty, I suggest that the capital be moved to Xinghua, Tuojiang Town."

"I second the proposal"

"I second the proposal..."

Faced with the approaching Ming army, more than a dozen ministers of the Hu family suggested moving the capital. After hearing this, Hu Jiya did not immediately refuse. Instead, he thought for a moment and then said: "In this case, move the capital to Tuojiang to Xinghua."

"Your Majesty the Holy Ming..."

Tuojiang Xinghua is not far from Thanglong City, only 140 miles west of Thanglong City. However, its advantage is that it is within the Changshan Mountains to the west of Annan, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack. Previously, It is usually the front line for the Vietnamese army to suppress the Cheman barbarians on Tuojiang Road, but now it has become Hu Jima's life-saving straw.

He had no choice but to retreat to Xinghua in the west in the face of a pincer attack from the north and the south.

If they are really defeated, they can at least escape into the Changshan Mountains and wait for a comeback in the future.

"Don't alarm the people. The soldiers and horses in the city left the city at night. The leader of the country, Hu Hancang, stayed behind."

When Hu Jiyao said these words, Hu Hancang, the leader of the Dayu Kingdom, turned pale, and the ministers also looked at each other, but in the end they did not say anything. They just sang that your majesty is wise, and then retreated at Hu Jiyao's signal.

After they left, Hu Ji Ya walked up to Hu Hancang and comforted him: "I will leave a thousand guards for you. If Jingbei Town is lost, don't hesitate and flee to Xinghua immediately. I will arrange everything. "

Although he promoted this son Hu Hancang to be the leader of the country and used him as a puppet, in fact Hu Jiya still paid attention to this child, otherwise he would not have handed over the position of leader of the country to him.

If Jingbei Town is really lost, then defending Shenglong City will be useless. It is better to flee directly to Xinghua.

The reason why they did not take Hu Hancang and fled to Xinghua now was because they were worried that the immigrants from the Chen Dynasty would cause chaos after learning the news.

Although Hu Hancang could guess his father's intention, he still couldn't help but feel cold in his heart.

"Father, even if we retreat to Xinghua, can we really make a comeback?"

Hu Hancang's forehead was covered with fine sweat, his eyes were full of hope, eager to get a hopeful answer from Hu Jiya's mouth.

Facing his words, Hu Jiyou didn't answer for a long time. Instead, he answered after a moment: "There will be a chance."

After saying that, Hu Ji Ya patted his shoulder, and Hu Hancang also left the Qinzheng Hall in despair.

Not long after, a mule cart loaded with grain and goods left the city under cover of darkness. In one of the carts sat Hu Jiya, wearing the official uniform of the ruler.

He reluctantly glanced at Shenglong City under the night, and finally headed to Xinghua Town, one hundred and thirty miles away, under the protection of more than 3,000 guards.

He knew very well that if Jingbei and Xuanguang could not hold on, it would only be a matter of time before Xinghua fell.

Therefore, escaping into Changshan is his only way out. Now he must seize the time to arrange things in Changshan.

Thinking like this, he gradually moved away from Shenglong City, and a touch of fish belly white appeared on the horizon.

"Boom boom boom——"

On the 21st of the winter lunar month, the seventh day when the Ming army advanced into Annam, accompanied by the sound of artillery, not only Qinghua and northern Beijing were bombarded this time, but also Tuyuan Quang Town in the northwest of Annam.

Xuanguang Town is protected by the surrounding mountains and hills. Since ancient times, it has been a place that is easy to defend, difficult to attack, and easy to separatist forces.

Relying on the pass, Hu Yuancheng was ready for a protracted war with the Ming army. Anyway, there was enough arable land in Xuanguang Town, and he also conscripted more than 70,000 men to cultivate it, so he could replenish the damaged troops at any time.

As long as he blocks Muchun's troops, and the north of Beijing blocks Fu Rang's march to the south, then they may still have hope of peace talks with the Ming Dynasty.

I have to say that Hu Yuancheng thought very well, but the passes he relied on did not perform much better than the fortress he set up at Wangnong Mountain when faced with heavy siege artillery.

More than a dozen 10-pound heavy iron cannonballs and dozens of 5-pound heavy iron cannonballs fell like raindrops on the pass city wall of Xuanguang Town, leaving cracks and white spots.

The three thousand Vietnamese troops responsible for garrisoning here could only hide behind the pass. When the Ming army's artillery rounds stopped, they used the crossbows and catapults on the horse road to counterattack.

Although they were unable to cause damage to the Ming army's artillery one and a half miles away, at least they showed the attitude of the Vietnamese army in Tuyen Quang Town to fight back.

"boom--"

Looking at the stone thrown more than 200 steps away, Mu Chun, who was standing on the camp sentry pavilion, said to Mu Sheng below: "How long will it take to defeat the pass?"

"Uncle Zhenyuan said at least two days." Mu Sheng responded to his eldest brother. Mu Chun also nodded after hearing this, without revealing too many thoughts.

He naturally knew where the main attack direction of this expedition against Annan was, so it was not difficult to guess that Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di and his son wanted to give the main credit to Fu Rang, Zhang Fu and others.

But even if you guessed him, you weren't prepared to do anything. After all, he was already the Duke of Guizhou and was in a position where he could not be promoted. There was no need to strive for credit.

Therefore, along the way south, he gave credit to Qu Neng, Gu Cheng, He Fu, and even Qu Yu, Qu Tao and others.

Therefore, the generals were very convinced of him, and the chieftains...

Mu Chun looked back at the noisy corner of the camp. Seeing this, Mu Sheng looked back and then said, "Do you want me to remind them?"

"No need." Mu Chun walked down from the sentry booth and led Mu Sheng towards the tent. As he walked, he asked, "How many people did they kill and how much did they plunder along the way?"

"The massacre is difficult to calculate. Anyway, many towns and villages did not escape their plundering. The number of women who were kidnapped and sent back to the southwest alone is probably tens of thousands."

Mu Sheng answered his eldest brother's question, feeling very nervous. After all, although the Yunnan Dusi also made some moves to drive out the seedlings and expand the industry, most of them were aimed at the rebellious chieftains and local officials. Things like this, which directly attack the people, even It was rare to see him, so I was naturally nervous.

"Have you turned in all the loot?"

Muchun walked into the tent, washed his hands and sat back down. Mu Sheng also washed his hands and sat down at the bottom right: "I handed in a lot, but I feel like I didn't hand it over completely."

"Brother, do you want me to take someone to pick out some thorns and clean them up?"

Mu Sheng said tentatively, but Mu Chun picked up the brush and shook his head: "No, these are all evidence and excuses for attacking them in the future. The more they hide, the easier it will be for us to attack them in the future."

"In addition, let people write down all the things they did and compile them into books. When Annan is settled in the future, these books will be sold in the streets, so that Annan will have conflicts with them."

Pulling one hand against another, supporting one faction and suppressing another, this was the local policy throughout the Ming Dynasty.

Whether in the northeast, southwest, or Uzang, the Ming Dynasty used this method to maintain the peace of the Han minority for most of the time. At the same time, it co-opted the small ones and suppressed them, constantly leaving local forces in a scattered situation.

The reason why the Shapu Rebellion occurred in the late Yunnan period was mainly because the three generations of descendants after Mu Changzuo's death failed to play this trick well.

Otherwise, with Mu's control over Yunnan, there would never have been a scene where the chieftain conquered Kunming and drove the Mu family out of Kunming city.

Mu Chun had the same attitude as his father Mu Ying. As long as the chieftain showed any signs of restlessness, he would regard it as a factor that would shake the imperial court's foundation in Yunnan and plan to deal with them.

But now Muchun has a better target, the Annan people who were plundered, and the southwest chieftain who plundered people.

Using the Annan people to deal with the southwestern chieftains will continue to consume the strength of both parties. If this continues for a few years, the proportion of Han people will gradually increase, and the imperial court's foundation in Yunnan will become deeper and deeper.

Thinking of this, he wrote a memorial to attack Xuanguang Town with a firm gaze...

　"Records of Emperor Taizong of the Ming Dynasty": "On the seventeenth day of the winter lunar month, the governor Fu Rang captured the seven counties of Taiyuan and Haiyang towns and surrounded the north of Beijing with his troops. On the twentieth day of the winter lunar month, Zheng He went out from the sea and surrounded Qinghua with his troops. The soldiers surrounded Xuanguang, and Hu Jiyou, the leader of the Annan Kingdom, fled westward to Xinghua."

　　"Record of the Southern Expedition": "The Duke of Guizhou heard that the native soldiers were plundering the people, and punished them according to the military law. He released the captive women and men by the native soldiers, compensated them with money and food, and escorted them home. However, the native officials and chieftains were arrogant, and many people in Annan were robbed. Everyone, the Duke of Guizhou said: "The local soldiers are arrogant and ignore the imperial court. The people of Annan know the king's way and abide by etiquette. It is my fault to suffer this disaster."

　　

　

(End of this chapter)