Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 375 Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chick
"Reload with fixed fire, direction Sinan City, fixed fire for twelve rounds, release!"

"Boom boom boom——"

At the beginning of the twelfth lunar month, when the capital learned that the Yang family in Bozhou had accepted the land reform and returned home, Mu Chun, after leaving 10,000 troops to take over Bozhou City and the Sandu Pass in the east of Bozhou, quickly led 20,000 troops and galloped to the surrounding areas four hundred miles away to the east. go.

It has been more than half a month since the Ming army directly controlled Zhenyuan Guards. Tian Chen personally led 30,000 barbarian soldiers to besiege Zhenyuan. However, Sinan Tian Zongding stood still and prepared to wait until Tian Chen and the Ming army were both injured in the fight before taking action.

Tian Zongding's thoughts gave Mu Chun an opportunity.

After half a month's journey, Muchun personally led 20,000 soldiers and horses to repel Tian Chen's Yi soldiers who besieged Zhenyuan, and then quickly went north for two hundred miles to attack Tian Zongding, who wanted to reap the benefits.

Although Tian Zongding's troops had 40,000 Han Yi rebels, they did not expect that Muchun would turn north to attack them after repelling Tian Chen, so they were caught off guard at the first opportunity.

Tian Zongding hurriedly asked Tian Chen for help. However, as Muchun expected, Tian Chen complained about Tian Zongding's earlier inaction and only focused on building up Sizhou city defenses, with no intention of sending troops to help Sinan.

“Guard Sinan and every household will be exempt from taxes for one year!!”

Standing at the head of Sinan City, Tian Zongding risked being shelled and came to the city wall to boost morale.

"The bombardment is almost over, we can stop."

"grown ups……"

"Sir, please open a warehouse and distribute food to boost morale!"

The tangy aroma blew along the wind towards Sinan City, making the Sinan soldiers salivate as they had not tasted meat for many years.

Outside the city, the Ming army mobilized 60 artillery pieces and divided them into three groups to bombard them back and forth. Mu Chun rode a large food horse and scanned the Sinan city wall with a telescope. Seeing that no one had stood up on the Sinan city wall for a long time, he immediately knew the strength of Sinan.

If Yang Sheng and Yang Gang had 80,000 Hanyi armored officers and soldiers, they would never be repelled and besieged by Mu Chun's 20,000 troops in a single assault.

"Boom boom boom——"

When the Ming army's artillery sounded, Tian Zongding was so frightened that he ran down the city wall before he could inspire the morale of his soldiers.

"I..." Seeing this, the general could only lower his head helplessly.

On this basis, Muchun began to have chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep and other livestock slaughtered in front of the army. In front of Sinan's army, he began to cook the meat and sprinkle it with spices.

However, it is said that it is stationed, but it is actually being bombarded unilaterally.

For the people of Sinan, he also prohibited them from using tiled houses or cultivating rice. Instead, they were required to cultivate the crops they liked to eat.

After Tian Zongding retreated from the city, his generals began to persuade him to open warehouses and distribute grain, so as to encourage soldiers and horses to defend the city.

The trained singing voices continued to sound, from chaotic at the beginning to neat and uniform at the end, and then to the loud and clear voice at the end. Their voices could be heard in almost the entire Sinan City.

"Let the army prepare to sing!" Mu Chun turned around and ordered Mu Sheng. After hearing this, Mu Sheng immediately started to make Tangqi run.

During the past morning's shelling, the entire army recited this short sentence.

While they were swallowing their saliva, their food was brought up in bowls.

But the hundreds of years of suppression that was imprinted in their blood still forced them to rationalize.

"No, if the distribution is finished, what will we do in the future?!"

"Today, two liters of rice have been added to all the big pots of porridge. Your Excellency orders you to defend the city and don't be deceived by the thieves and soldiers."

He squinted his eyes and glanced around the city. Seeing that no one dared to show up even after the bombardment stopped, he felt even more confident.

Muchun said: "Tian Zongding is unpopular, so attacking the heart is the top priority and attacking the city is the bottom priority."

Looking at the porridge, pickles and vegetable soup brought up in bowls like pig food, and looking at the proud Tian clan members dusting off their hands, many soldiers could not help but tighten their weapons.

Qu Neng, who was beside Muchun, snorted, obviously looking down on Tian Zongding.

Even though there are relatively few Han people in Sinan's army, the news will undoubtedly spread.

Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Di's guess was correct. Tian's strength was indeed strong, but Tian Zongding and Tian Chen had deep conflicts and mediocre abilities.

But now in the hands of Tian Zongding, the Lord of Sinan, this fierce and fearless army has immediately turned into a bunch of rats that dare not raise their heads and only dare to hide in the city.

The Sinan native soldiers had also participated in many battles to quell the rebellion of the chieftains, so Qu Neng was naturally familiar with them.

When they were under the command of the Ming army, as long as rewards and rations could be distributed on time, every one of them was fearless and very brave.

He couldn't bear to let such a stingy person as him spend real money and silver to reward the army.

"These soldiers are considered elite, but it's a pity that they are attached to an incompetent person like Tian Zongding."

"Sinan Tian Zongding is brutal, everyone opens the door to welcome the army..."

In Sinan, whenever someone disobeyed him, he would kill his entire family at every turn, keeping the people of Sinan under his vicious rule.

The general wanted to persuade him again, but Tian Zongding glared at him: "There are 40,000 troops in the city, but you can't defend the city even if you are asked to do so?!"

Thanks to their daily training, they were now like a loudspeaker, constantly using words to attack the people, soldiers and horses in Sinan City.

"Sinan Tian Zongding is brutal, everyone opens the door to welcome the government and the army, welcomes the government and the army to equalize the land, welcomes the government and the army to reduce the land rent, and welcomes a stable life ahead."

Porridge, pickles, and vegetable soup were what they got for lunch after fighting all morning.

Although Tian Zongding was in his thirties, he was a young man. When his mother quarreled with him over a trivial matter, he had his mother hanged.

Facing a cruel guy like Tian Zongding, many soldiers began to waver. Even if Tian Zongding learned the news and ordered people to come to supervise the battle angrily, he could not stop this trend.

Upon seeing this, Tian Zongding left the city wall with great satisfaction, leaving only the generals and soldiers to guard the city wall.

A quarter of an hour later, as the horn sounded, nearly 20,000 people in the army began to sing.

Eating bland porridge and vegetable soup, it seemed that only by taking a few strong breaths could they inhale some oil and water from the aroma wafting from the Ming army.

After they finished eating the small amount of gruel, when they lay down again, they still saw the Ming army slaughtering poultry and pigs.

Due to Tian Zongding's cowardice in entering the city, the surrounding villages and towns had no soldiers to garrison. Therefore, the Ming army was able to easily capture the surrounding towns and executed all the landowners and chieftains who were close to the Tian family. The acres were divided equally, and the poultry captured were brought to Sinan City. They were slaughtered outside to feed the entire army.

Compared with the comfort of the Ming army, the Sinan soldiers felt uncomfortable. They watched helplessly all afternoon until the sky darkened. The Ming army still lit bonfires and cooked sheep and slaughtered pigs.

"What are we fighting for?"

Smelling the aroma of meat in the air, the soldier holding a bowl of gruel couldn't help but complain.

After he said this, he realized it later and looked around in panic. Fortunately, Tian's supervising team was not there, otherwise he might have been punished by Ming Dian.

He breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the wall again. After taking a sip of the tasteless porridge, he frowned and asked, "Why is there no salt left?"

Due to geographical problems, there is almost no salt production in Guizhou, so serving as a soldier and eating salt is a path that everyone has to choose.

But after fighting for a day, there is not even a bit of salt in the porridge. How can this be tolerated?

"You should be sending pickles later, right?"

The fellow countryman next to the soldier spoke, but his words were full of uncertainty.

The two of them were waiting for the so-called pickles, but they couldn't wait for half an hour, and they all started to become impatient.

Not only them, the other soldiers also shouted.

"Where's the salt!"

"Yeah, why didn't you even give me pickles?"

"You've been sweating all day while wearing armor, and you can't even bear to give me pickles!"

The complaints among the soldiers were particularly loud today, perhaps because of the Ming army's behavior of cooking meat, or because they were anxious because they sweated too much for a day wearing armor and could not replenish their salt.

In short, they are like a powder keg at this moment, ready to explode at the first moment.

"What are you shouting about! What are you shouting about!"

Suddenly, the supervising team came over and scolded: "Didn't I give you vegetables and pickles at noon?!"

"Noon is noon, now is now!" Hearing the words of the supervising team, the soldiers also became red-eyed.

"Are you fucking dizzy?!" Seeing that the soldiers dared to shout at him, the team leader pulled out his sword.

"Tie him up and punish him!"

The leader of the supervising team Baihuguan opened his mouth, and the surrounding team members stepped forward.

But unlike in the past, who were resigned to the situation, today's soldiers appear particularly united.

"You try to move!"

"Yes! Try moving!"

"Haha..." Baihuguan laughed angrily. These people who had been slaves and maids for hundreds of years actually dared to show their face to him.

After laughing angrily, he swung his knife directly to chop him. Fortunately, the person next to him stopped him, otherwise the soldier might have been stabbed in the face.

"Straight mother-in-law! Enter your mother's home!"

When the soldier reacted, he swung the hammer in his hand and hit the Baihu officer in the face. The Baihu officer did not expect that the soldier would do it. Blood foam and teeth flew out in an instant. The members of the supervising team also reacted and hit the soldier. The soldiers waved their swords.

"Fuck your mother! It's against your will!"

"Brothers, open the city gate with me and go outside the city to eat meat with the officers and soldiers!"

"Do it!"

"Cut off your mother's head!"

The words "Fuck you mother" from the war supervisor completely ignited the anger of the soldiers. More than a hundred soldiers fought with this team, and soon aroused the response of other soldiers.

At the moment, they have no intention of eating meat and dividing the land. They just want to vent out the humiliation they have suffered over the years.

Soon, the walls of Sinan City became noisy, and the noise even alerted the Ming army who were cooking sheep and slaughtering pigs.

Their movements slowed down, and they were all looking at Sinan City in the dark at a loss. "Beep--"

Suddenly, a whistle sounded. Except for the soldiers who were responsible for killing chickens and pigs, the other soldiers stood up and put on their armor, waiting for further military orders.

Muchun and Qu Neng rode out of the battle and looked at the dim Sinan City with binoculars. However, Tian Zongding was too stingy and was reluctant to place too many torches. Therefore, even with a telescope, they could not see clearly in the dim situation.

"Did the trick work?" Qu Neng asked in surprise, but Mu Chun shook his head:

"We can't be sure at the moment. What if Tian Zongding is disguised as a idiot and deliberately lures us into the trap?"

"Let's wait and see if the city gate will open."

Not long after Mu Chun finished speaking, less than a quarter of an hour later, a large amount of fire suddenly appeared at the base of the wall of Sinan City. It was obviously caused by kerosene hitting the city wall and igniting it.

"I will lead five hundred cavalry to go take a look. You wait here for my news."

Muchun told Qu Neng, then urged his horse and led his five hundred elite cavalry to rush towards the Sinan city gate.

Qu Neng clicked his tongue and said regretfully: "He was the one who got ahead of me."

As soon as he finished speaking, he paid full attention to the situation in Sinan City, and Mu Chun also led the five hundred elite cavalry behind him across a distance of one mile and arrived in front of the moat of Sinan City.

At this moment, the gate of Sinan City has been opened. There are still dozens of bloody soldiers on the suspension bridge. The corridor of the city gate is full of fire and the shadows of fighting.

Seeing Muchun and the others arriving, the soldiers on the suspension bridge quickly dropped their weapons: "General, we surrender, Tian Zongding is in the city!"

"Drive!" Hearing this, Muchun quickly urged his horse forward, and the cavalry on the left and right also took the initiative to block in front of him.

The cavalrymen on the left and right dismounted and checked the man. After confirming that there was no problem, they brought him to Mu Chun.

"General, we have few people, you lead people to occupy the corridor first!"

The native soldier's words were poorly spoken, but Mu Chun understood them.

"You lead 200 men up to rush for reinforcements, and then blow the wooden whistle after making sure there is no ambush."

Muchun gave orders to those behind him and did not take any risks himself.

Under his command, two hundred fine cavalry dismounted and rushed straight into the corridor of Sinan City Gate. They waved their weapons regardless of whether they were friendly or foes, just to occupy the corridor.

Seeing the appearance of the Ming army, the soldiers who wanted to surrender quickly dropped their weapons and ran out of the corridor, while the supervisory team and most of the soldiers who resisted tenaciously were driven out of the corridor by the Ming army.

"Beep--"

"on!"

Hearing the whistle, Muchun did not hesitate to signal to the guards beside him, but he did not commit any dangerous move.

Soon, more than two hundred Ming troops dismounted and rushed into the corridor. Muchun also said to the soldiers: "Bring your brothers over here and take off their armors. I will mark your great achievements!"

"Yes!" the soldier said excitedly, and led hundreds of soldiers across the suspension bridge, and took off his armor with numb hands and feet.

At the same time, Qu Neng heard the whistle and quickly led his army towards the suspension bridge.

The distance of one mile was not short for the armored soldiers. It took at least a quarter of an hour for them to reach the foot of Sinan City.

Seeing the arrival of Qu Neng and others, Muchun also immediately ordered: "Enter the entire army into the city and capture Tian Zongding alive!"

"General, take your orders!" Hearing this, Qu Neng took the lead and rushed into the corridor.

Although he is over sixty years old, Qu Neng can still use a heavy gun on horseback, turning people upside down wherever he passes.

He held a big gun in his left hand and a golden melon hammer in his right hand. After reaching the inner city through the corridor, he fought hard on the streets from left to right. The Ming army who followed him into the city also instantly defeated some of the soldiers who were still trying to stop them.

"Those who surrender will not be killed, and the fields will be divided equally!!"

The Ming army shouted and waved their weapons. Tian's war team was killed and was completely defeated. When the other soldiers saw that the war team was retreating, they instantly dropped their weapons and stood on both sides of the road.

"kill!!"

The cry of killing penetrated the night, awakening Tian Zongding from his deep sleep.

"What happened?!"

Tian Zongding pushed open the door to his bedroom and looked at the frightened guards at the door with sweat dripping down his face. However, he didn't hear any useful news from everyone, so he could only quickly put on his clothes and wait for news about the soldiers guarding the city.

As the shouts of killing became louder and louder, Tian Zongding, who ran to the main hall, finally saw a general running into the mansion in embarrassment.

"Sir, it's not good. Some barbarians have rebelled and opened the city gate. The Ming army has poured into the city and is almost here!"

"Idiot, what are you still doing? Send me out of the city quickly!"

Tian Zongding cursed loudly and trotted towards the backyard.

"Don't forget the gold and silver in the treasury. All the food is burned, don't leave it to them."

Tian Zongding had not experienced too many wars and was nothing more than a spoiled prodigal.

But even so, he also knew how valuable food was in Guizhou where transportation was difficult, so after ordering it to be burned, he watched with his own eyes as more than a dozen boxes of gold, silver and copper coins were loaded into trucks, and then he escaped northward under the escort of more than a thousand guards. go.

At this moment, Sinan City was in chaos. Qu Neng led his two thousand soldiers from Xichuan to fight all the way. He killed countless local soldiers who tried to stop them from the front, and fought all the way from the south gate of Sinan to the Xuanwei Si Yamen.

"Master Hou, that bastard has escaped!"

"Master Hou, there's a fire somewhere!"

Suddenly, two different pieces of news came. Although Qu Neng was exhausted from fighting all the way, he still managed to cheer up and loudly ordered: "Take people to put out the fire and seal the city gate!"

"Yes!"

Two Qianhu officials immediately divided their troops to put out the fire and take over the city gate.

The fire set by Tian Zongding was put out by the Ming army before it burned for a quarter of an hour. The local soldiers in the city also fled and surrendered.

When the sky got slightly brighter, 20,000 of the 40,000 native soldiers in the city were captured, more than 3,000 were killed, and more than 17,000 escaped.

Mu Chun led Mu Sheng into the city on horseback. All the people were too scared to leave the city, worried that the Ming army would massacre the city.

But obviously their worries were unnecessary. Not to mention that Zhu Gaoxu had said not to kill too much in Guizhou, and Mu Chun was not a general who liked to massacre cities.

Under the guidance of the military attache, he came to the granary that Tian Zongding tried to burn. At this moment, Qu Neng's eyes were red after fighting all night.

After seeing Muchun, he immediately cursed: "That eggless guy Tian Zongding, if I hadn't put out the fire in time, this food would really have been burned by him."

"How many?" Mu Sheng asked curiously. Obviously, the amount of granary storage that could make Qu Neng so angry would not be too small.

"At least five hundred thousand stones!" As soon as Qu Neng spoke, Mu Sheng subconsciously looked at Mu Chun.

Muchun's face was dull. Hearing this, he just said calmly: "With so much food, if Tian Zongding's ancestors saw this scene, I'm afraid they would be pissed to death again."

He had already listened to the prosecution of the soldiers who opened the city gate last night, and after understanding that the reason for their rebellion was just a few pots of pickles, Mu Chun only felt that Tian Zongding was very stupid. Even if he defeated him, Mu Chun seemed to feel that he should not brag about it.

In his long combat history, this was indeed the first time he faced such a stupid opponent.

"Where did he flee to?"

Not seeing Tian Zongding next to Qu Neng, Muchun knew that he had probably escaped.

"You have fled to Yinjiang. Do you want the army to rest and rest before pursuing us?"

Qu Neng asked with red eyes, but Muchun shook his head: "The north is full of mountains. We are not familiar with the situation and it is easy to be ambushed."

"Besides, if Tian Chen of Sizhou learns that we have conquered Sinan, he may take the opportunity to mobilize troops and continue to attack Zhenyuan."

"Although I don't think the two of them have such talents, it's always good to be careful."

After Mu Chun said this, he turned to look at Mu Sheng: "I will leave you 10,000 soldiers. While recruiting the local soldiers, I will open a warehouse to stock up on grain."

"The more than 700 native soldiers who opened the city gate were each given one hundred dan, and the common people and surrendered soldiers in the city were each given one dan of food to recruit and support the people."

"In addition, tell them that after the imperial court solves Tian Zongding and Tian Chen, it will immediately start to allocate land and salt to them!"

"I will write to the envoy Jian shortly and ask him to transfer 50,000 dans of salt from Sichuan."

After learning that the soldiers were short of salt, Muchun mixed a batch of salt for them without saying a word.

One load is one hundred kilograms, and 50,000 kilograms is five million kilograms of salt. Although this is worth 70,000 to 80,000 kilograms to Sichuan, as long as Muchun speaks, Jian Yi will naturally not violate Zhu Gaoxu's order.

As long as Mu Chun lacks something, he will find a way to make up for it.

"Brother, is it too much?"

Mu Sheng was a little worried about the food and salt, but Mu Chun said, "What? You also want to learn Tian Zongding?"

"No..." Mu Sheng lowered his head and bowed. Seeing this, Mu Chun looked at Qu Neng:

"Write a letter to Qu Yu and ask him to closely supervise the Song and An families in Bozhou. At the same time, let Cao Guogong advance into the hinterland of Miao territory from the south. While returning several senior officials in the south to their native states, he also cooperated with General Gu to squeeze out the ideas. Zhouhe Sinan Tusi.”

"Today the army is exhausted. Let's rest for the day. Tomorrow at midnight the army will head south."

"Okay!" Qu Neng nodded upon hearing this, and at the same time, the news that Sinan City was breached spread as the soldiers fled out of the city.

For a time, Tian Zongding's prestige suffered a blow, and many small and medium-sized chieftains under his control stopped and did not dare to move forward, for fear that Tian Zongding would be defeated before he arrived.

You know, it is not easy to save a batch of armor in Guizhou.

Tian Zongding lost 40,000 armored soldiers in the first battle, almost destroying the Sinan Tian family's accumulation of more than 800 years.

Even if the Ming army didn't hunt him down, he probably wouldn't have lasted long.

Rather than being buried with him, it would be better to return to the mountain village honestly and see how the situation outside the mountain will develop.

Thinking of this, many small and medium-sized chieftains retreated one after another, and Muchun also led more than 10,000 troops to retreat towards the Zhenyuan Guards.

Before Tian Chen could react, Muchun, Qu Neng and Qu Tao of the Zhenyuan Guards joined together, and the 20,000-strong army marched out of the city and headed toward Sizhou in the east...

(End of this chapter)