Zhu Yuanzhang in the cellar

Chapter 180: Fire! Collapse
At the beginning of the morning, white mist rose from the Qinling Mountains in the distance.

The tent of the commander-in-chief in the rebel army camp outside Tongguan City was opened, and a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties or fifties with a dark and weathered face came out.

He is Li Zicheng. He is actually only 37 years old this year, but years of running around and fatigue have left his temples gray and his face full of wrinkles.

Li Zicheng had the perseverance unique to the Qin people, and he suffered all the hardships that Zhu Yuanzhang had endured in his childhood.

He once herded sheep for a landlord, worked as a monk, and was even hung up and beaten by the landlord.

After much difficulty, he was fired from his job as a postman. He finally wanted to join the army to serve his country, but his superiors withheld his salary. His life can be said to be a microcosm of the bottom of society.

From the perspective of the people, Li Zicheng was just.

He represented the people.

The late Ming court was just like any other dynasty at the end of its reign; it was rotten to the core.

The people urgently needed someone like Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Zicheng who came from the lower class and raised the butcher knife to change the dynasty and find a way out for the people.

just now.

Li Zicheng felt that this was the time when he was closest to success.

Since the Battle of Songjin, when all the border troops of the Ming Dynasty were annihilated by the Qing army, Sun Chuanting's troops had become the last elite troops of the Ming Dynasty.

He wiped out most of them in the battle of Ruzhou, leaving only Sun Chuanting with only a few thousand remnants who retreated to Tongguan.

As long as Sun Chuanting's troops are destroyed.

Then this huge, ancient and corrupt empire will be completely submerged in the long river of history.

As Li Zicheng put on his leather armor, he asked the guards around him, "Go, call the generals of each camp to come and discuss matters."

"Yes."

The imperial guards immediately sent messengers to each camp to call their commanders.

In Xiangyang, Li Zicheng reorganized the military equipment. The Five Battalions were actually not composed of five armies, but more than twenty armies.

The main generals of the Central Camp were Tian Jianxiu, Liu Zongmin, Dang Shousu and Zhang Nai. Their four divisions formed the Central Ji Camp.

The five main generals of the Left Camp were Liu Fangliang, Ma Shiyao, He Jin, Liu Xiyao and Wang Liangzhi, who formed the Left Auxiliary Camp.

The right camp was composed of Yuan Zongde, Bai Jiuhe and Liu Tichun, and the three together formed the right wing camp.

The vanguard battalion only had Tian Hu's troops.

The Houjin Battalion was led by Li Guo, Luo Yingbiao, He Lan, Ma Chongxi, Zhang Neng and Gao Yigong.

Therefore, the Dashun Army was already quite bloated at this time, with nineteen combat battalions, in addition to the old battalion, which was also the family battalion that followed in the battle.

Among them, the old camp has the largest number of people.

Li Zicheng now has more than 400,000 people, and the old camp accounts for nearly 300,000 of them.

There were only about 100,000 actual combat troops. After the demise of Dashun, about 60,000 to 70,000 remnants fled south with about 300,000 family members.

Some of them later surrendered to the Qing army, some allied with the Southern Ming, and some eventually disappeared in history.

However, even if there are only about 100,000 people now, it is enough to defeat Sun Chuanting.

About a quarter of an hour later, military advisors Niu Jinxing, Li Yan, Song Xiance and more than 20 men including Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu and Li Guo arrived at the main camp tent.

Li Zicheng had just gotten up early and washed up, and was already waiting for them in the tent.

Candles were lit in the tent.

There were some maps and tactical planning documents on the table.

Everyone entered the tent. Li Zicheng looked around and said, "After two days of exploration, we have found out the details of Tongguan."

He pointed in the direction of the Forbidden Valley and said, "Bai Guangen is defending this place. Even though our attack is not fierce, he dare not leave the valley to rescue Tongguan. This is enough to show that he is timid. Today, we will launch a fierce attack on the south gate of Tongguan and leave a part to guard the Forbidden Valley."

He added: "After this battle, we can return to Guanzhong. From now on, we will have Henan in the east and Shaanxi in the west. We can send troops to Hebei and Shanxi in two directions and directly take the capital Beijing. This is a crucial battle and we must win!"

"We must win, we must win, we must win!"

The morale of the generals was very high. They were once chased everywhere by Yang Sichang, Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting. At the worst time, only 18 riders escaped into Shangluo Mountain.

Now, in just a few years, not only has the rebellion spread like wildfire, but it has also killed Yang Sichang and Hong Chengchou, and Sun Chuanting is also on the verge of destruction.

In this situation, everyone felt that the future was bright and morale was high.

"Ah."

Li Zicheng was very pleased with this and said, "Tian Hu, you will be the vanguard. After the army moves forward and the artillery bombards Tongguan, you will lead your troops to attack from the south gate of Tongguan first to tire out the Ming army."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Tian Hu bowed in response.

"Tian Jianxiu, I order you to launch a feint attack from the southeast corner of Tongguan to lure the Ming army to defend it."

"Yes."

"Liu Zongmin, you will immediately launch a surprise attack from the southwest corner of Tongguan and make sure to get on the city wall."

"Yes."

"Liu Fangliang, if Liu Zongmin fails to attack, you will take over from Tian Hu. You must not let the enemy rest for even a moment."

"Yes."

"Li Guo, Yuan Zongdi, the two of you lead the troops to garrison the Forbidden Valley and stop Bai Guangen."

"Yes."

"The rest of you should lead your own troops to hold the fort, concentrate all your artillery, and bombard the Tongguan city gate first. If you can blow the city gate open directly, it will be twice the result with half the effort. If things change, you can launch a surprise attack immediately."

"Yes."

All the soldiers responded in unison.

Li Zicheng waved his hand and said, "Everyone go and act according to orders."

Everyone then retreated.

Niu Jinxing, who was wearing Confucian clothes, flattered Li Zicheng and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty. Congratulations, Your Majesty. If you can enter Guanzhong in this battle, you can be crowned emperor."

"Hey, it's too early to declare yourself emperor. Let's defeat Sun Chuanting first."

At this time, Li Zicheng still maintained a rare rationality, and was not overwhelmed by victory. He waved his hand and said, "You all should follow me to see it. Today, I want Sun Chuanting to die here."

"Yes."

Several counselors followed Li Zicheng out.

As orders were issued to each camp, the sounds of trumpets, gongs, drums, and whistles of assembling troops could be heard in each camp.

Li Zicheng stood on a tall wooden tower in his headquarters camp and looked out. Flags blocked out the sky all around. The camp, which did not have many defensive facilities, stretched for more than ten miles and there was no end in sight.

And Tongguan in the distance stands majestically there, quietly waiting for its fate.

soon.

About half an hour later, around the beginning of the Si hour, that is, nine o'clock in the morning, Tian Hu's troops in the front had assembled, and the 8,000 vanguard troops began to get ready to set off.

Soon after, generals Tian Jianxiu, Liu Zongmin, Liu Fangliang, Li Guo, Yuan Zongde, Dang Shousu, Zhang Nai and others also led their troops out of the camp.

One artillery cart after another was pushed out. There were more than a dozen people pushing the cannons that weighed more than a thousand pounds.

Dense crowds of people began to gather towards Tongguan.

Li Zicheng then brought his own guards and the commander's banner and joined the tidal wave, slowly arriving at the south of Tongguan Pass.

Their position was about one mile away from Tongguan, which was almost the limit of the reach of the artillery of both sides.

But it is not absolute.

Because Sun Chuanting was defeated, about 10,000 artillery vehicles of his troops were seized by Li Zicheng, and Sun Chuanting did not have many artillery pieces left.

Therefore, Li Zicheng believed that the enemy's artillery posed no threat to him, and thus ordered the artillery to be moved forward to a position of 300 steps.

In the Ming Dynasty, one li was 180 zhang, one zhang was 3.11 meters, and one li was about 560 meters.

One zhang is equal to ten feet, and five feet is one step, so one step is 1.55 meters, and three hundred steps are equivalent to 466.5 meters.

This distance can be said to be completely within the range of artillery.

But it was also within the artillery range of the Chuang army.

Li Zicheng was confident that Sun Chuanting no longer had any artillery, so he would completely suppress Sun Chuanting's firepower and then take down Tongguan in one fell swoop.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

A desolate horn resounded through the sky.

Groups of rebel soldiers arrived outside the south gate of the city and began to form a battle formation.

The mountains and plains were filled with the flags of the Chuang army, creating a sense of oppression.

After a while, the soldiers of the Chuang army came out pushing a large number of artillery pieces, as many as thousands of them.

They were arranged in rows and their guns were pointed at the Tongguan city gate in the distance.

When the remaining Ming troops on the city wall saw this scene, their faces turned pale and they were speechless.

Sun Chuanting and Gao Jie followed behind Zhu Di and Li Wenzhong, watching the formation of the rebel army from afar, with a trace of fear and uneasiness in their eyes.

In the previous two days, the rebel army only launched a tentative attack, with a maximum of only 10,000 to 20,000 people. But today, they moved in full force, and the shock they brought was far greater than that of the previous two days.

In the face of such a scene, even the calmest person would not be able to remain calm.

Only Zhu Di and Li Wenzhong remained calm.

Li Wenzhong needs no further explanation. He had commanded hundreds of thousands of troops and had seen a lot of things. Naturally, he would not be frightened. Although Zhu Di had not commanded so many troops now, he had commanded even 500,000 troops in the future. Moreover, he had received many years of military training since he was a child and had led tens of thousands of troops in Fengyang, so he was not afraid at all.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

Young Zhu Di picked up a telescope and observed the Chuang army and said, "It looks quite capable."

"It's a far cry from your majesty's military management."

Li Wenzhong praised Zhu without leaving any trace, and then said: "It seems that they are preparing to bombard the city."

"Well, let everyone get ready."

Little Zhu Di said: "Once the cannon fires, open the city gates, and when all the shells are used up, rush out."

"Yes."

Li Wenzhong responded.

Little Zhu Di’s tactical configuration is actually very simple.

The firepower advantage is too great.

Fifty mortars and more than a thousand shells were all used up, and then the soldiers launched a charge.

The core idea is "artillery bombardment, artillery bombardment, and after artillery bombardment, infantry charge."

This is the most famous tactic during the entire World War II, the infantry and artillery coordination tactic.

When there are mortars, only a fool would play hedging with you.

The Hongwu Dynasty soldiers on the city wall operated a mortar in units of two.

A large number of artillery shells were transported to the top of the city, with about twenty shells piled around each soldier.

It seems like a lot, but in fact, well-trained artillery can use them all up in one minute, so they can only choose to kill them all in one battle.

Inside the city wall below, five hundred cavalrymen were ready to rush out of the city immediately once the war broke out.

Different from the narrow city wall imagined.

In fact, Tongguan is very large. There should be twelve linked city gates to its south, and the narrow path is further south, closer to the Qinling Mountains.

If the military force is sufficient, they can control the twelve city gates in the south and connect with Tongguan City in the north. Together with the Forbidden Valley and the surrounding Qilin Mountain and other places, they can support each other. One hundred thousand people will be enough to stop five hundred thousand people.

But Sun Chuanting's troops were too few to defend the city and he could only hold the city.

Therefore, the space inside the city is very large, and there are even more than a thousand acres of land that can be cultivated to achieve self-sufficiency.

There is no street inside the South City Gate, but simply a large parade ground where soldiers are ready for battle.

The opposing army was also on high alert.

They were carrying a large number of iron bombs in preparation for bombarding the city gates.

By noon, the 100,000-strong rebel army was ready. The crowd stood densely together, and the flags formed a dark cloud, as if they were going to flatten the entire Tongguan.

"Everyone is gathered together. It's better to gather together."

Seeing that the enemy's formation had been assembled, young Zhu Di sighed heartily, then looked towards the south, pointed at the main force of the Chuang army and said, "Do you see that?"

"I see!"

The artillerymen who had already adjusted their guns shouted.

"Aim over there!"

Little Zhu Di shouted: "Fire!"

"fire!"

"fire!"

"fire!"

The surrounding soldiers shouted angrily.

The grenadier then stuffed the shell in his hand into the gun barrel.

“Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom!”

The sound of countless shells being fired suddenly rang out. The first shell was still in the sky when the second one came one after another, followed by the third and the fourth.
Dozens of artillery shells drew a brilliant arc in the air, like a graceful parabola, and quickly approached the army of the Chuang army.

At this moment, Li Zicheng did not notice this at all. A soldier beside him was reporting to him: "Report, my king, the artillery camp is ready and can fire at any time!"

"it is good!"

Li Zicheng shouted: "Pass the order, fire hard and use up all the shells!"

"Yes!"

The messenger then waved the flag.

"fire!"

Wu Ruyi, the commander of the artillery camp of the Chuang army, shouted.

next second.

Before the soldiers of the Chuang army's artillery battalion could load the shells.

Suddenly, they heard countless "whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh" sounds breaking through the air.

Many people looked up and saw black objects coming towards them from the city wall in the direction of Tongguan in the distance, and getting closer and closer.

At that moment, everyone panicked.

Because they were too familiar with this thing, it was the Ming army's artillery!

No one expected that after suffering many disastrous defeats and having a large number of artillery captured, there would still be remnants of the Ming army.

But before they could react, the shells had already fallen into the crowd.

"Bang bang bang bang bang bang!"

Explosions were heard everywhere.

And it continues.

Dozens of shells exploded in the previous second, and dozens more in the next second.

Chuang Jun was completely stunned by the explosion.

Many people didn't even know what was happening and thought it was a dragon turning over and an earthquake occurred.

Explosions continued, earth and rocks splashed, and the sky was filled with white smoke and dust, blocking out the sun.

Many of the rebel soldiers were blown to pieces. Even if they were lucky enough not to die, they were dizzy, covered in dust, with vibrating eardrums and a blank brain.

No one knew what weapons the Ming army used. They were completely different from the solid iron bullets they knew.

The solid iron bullets were not very lethal. If you were lucky, one person would die directly. If you were unlucky and a ricochet occurred, only a dozen casualties would be caused, rarely exceeding double digits.

But the enemy's artillery shells were extremely lethal. After one shell was fired, no one within a thirty-meter radius could stand up. If they were lucky, only a dozen people would die, and the rest were mostly injured by shrapnel.

As luck would have it, no one survived within the killing radius of 15 meters.

However, the battle formation of the Chuang army was very dense, with people almost standing next to each other. It was normal to have dozens of people standing within an area of ​​15 square meters.

In this situation, the damage caused by thousands of artillery shells of the Ming army in just one minute was extremely terrifying.

In an instant, there were tens of thousands of casualties, and countless others were caused by being dizzy, having their eardrums burst, or being knocked over and injured by the shock wave, as well as various casualties from panic and trampling.

"Run!"

"what is this?"

"Mother, mother, my legs, my legs are gone."

"Save me, save me."

In an instant, the entire rebel army was in chaos, with wailing, screaming, and cries for help ringing in the ears.

Explosions were heard everywhere, and the artillery camp of the rebel army was blown to pieces.

Many people instinctively started running backwards.

Including Li Zicheng, his position as the leader was given special attention.

But he was lucky not to be killed in the explosion immediately. The horse was frightened and ran away with him.

However, because the big banner was blown off, many people thought that Li Zicheng was dead and fled.

When the gate of Tongguan was opened, Ming army soldiers poured out like a tide.

"kill!"

Little Zhu Di said on the intercom.

"Kill!"

The Ming army soldiers shouted loudly.

There was silence on the city wall at this moment.

All the soldiers in Sun Chuanting's unit, including Sun Chuanting, Gao Jie and others, opened their mouths wide with a look of disbelief.

The other side has eight hundred people.

Was it really so easy to defeat Li Zicheng's army of hundreds of thousands?

I'm afraid it would be no more than this if Li Shimin were still alive!
(End of this chapter)