The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 365: Decisive Battle in the Capital
"Every hardship will only make me stronger, not kill me."

Liu Zhaosun stood on the Yongdingmen city wall, looking at the "Jingnan Army" coming like a tide, and said to himself silently in his heart.

Yongdingmen is located at the southern end of the capital and is the focus of the rebels' attack. It will bear the main attack after the war starts. Liu Zhaosun judged that Zhang Chun would not surround the point and attack the reinforcements because the field combat capability of this motley crowd was really worrying. Of course, Liu Zhaosun would not be stupid enough to send the defenders out of the city to fight. Before the reinforcements arrived, the Kaiyuan army needed to preserve its strength as much as possible.

Three thousand soldiers were stationed on the Yongding Gate walls, nearly half the city's defenders. Furthermore, the Kaiyuan Army's three thousand East Gate artillery pieces, along with over a thousand French cannons brought in from the Shenji Camp, filled the walls to the brim, ensuring there was a cannon behind every crenel. The density of firepower reached an appalling level.

Of course, considering that it was normal for the artillery produced by the Shenjiying to explode and misfire, the chief officer of the artillery battalion repeatedly reminded the Shenjiying gunners who operated the Portuguese artillery to fill less gunpowder.

Auxiliary soldiers and civilians buried tens of thousands of mines around Jiumen in advance. Due to insufficient quantity, half of them were produced by Shenjiying, and some mines were destined not to explode. However, life is always full of surprises, so it is understandable whether the mines explode or not.

Liu Zhaosun fully learned the lessons from Li Zicheng's attack on Beijing. Except for the artillery, the soldiers stationed at the gates of the capital were all Kaiyuan soldiers. He did not even use the people from the Imperial Stables and the Five Cities Military Affairs Office. He only asked them to help carry gunpowder, roll logs and hit stones to prevent anyone from opening the gates in the chaos.

The Yebushou and Suoyi Guards were all withdrawn, and even the cavalry who were fighting with the rebel scouts outside the city were recalled into the city. The Kaiyuan army seemed to have completely given up the active attack, giving people the illusion of a trapped beast fighting.

Liu Zhaosun knew that in this kind of offensive and defensive battle, the defenders needed to continuously expand their strategic depth as much as possible. Simply put, they must never allow the city to be trapped by the enemy, otherwise defeat would only be a matter of time.

However, for the Kaiyuan army, numbering less than 10,000, the situation was slightly different. Their reinforcements were on the way, and there were more than one, any of which could inflict heavy casualties on the enemy. In this situation, there was no need to leave the city and engage in a reckless battle. As long as they held the city firmly and waited for reinforcements to arrive, the rebels would be defeated. If they rushed into battle rashly, they might end up like He Shixian, with the city taken by a coordinated attack from both inside and outside.

For Liu Zhaosun, giving up the outer positions was a rational choice. In this way, the Kaiyuan army could concentrate its main forces to guard the important city gates. Generally speaking, under the premise of sufficient manpower and food, it is much easier to defend a small city than a large city.

After building the positions in front and behind the moat, the Kaiyuan army shifted its defense focus to the inner city. Auxiliary soldiers and civilians began to build barricades on the streets, using sandbags and wood to form temporary trenches and horse-barracks, preparing for street fighting with the rebels. If the city gates were captured by the rebels, the Kaiyuan army could also organize resistance on the streets to avoid a total collapse.

If the street fighting fails, everyone will retreat to the Forbidden City and continue to fight the rebels through the palace gates. Of course, the Forbidden City is the last line of defense for the Protector of the Country.

The straw raincoat guards and pacification troops were divided into two groups. One group patrolled the city to suppress and quell the mobs who participated in the rebellion and arson, while the other group served as combat soldiers, climbed onto the city walls and fought side by side with the 14th Guards Army, directly participating in the battle to defend the city.

Officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Revenue directed porters to carry gold and silver and recruit civilians on the streets to help defend the city. When someone signed up, they were given half of the silver on the spot. Once a team was formed, they were escorted by pacification soldiers to the top of the city walls to help the artillery transport ammunition and move rolling logs and stones.

"My dear son-in-law, how confident are you in this battle?"

Yang Hao looked at the bustling crowd on the city wall, squinted his eyes and stroked his beard, and was quite satisfied with Liu Zhaosun's strategy.

"It should be 50%. As a general, you just have to do your best. As for victory or defeat, it depends on luck."

After hearing this, Yang Hao smiled and nodded. If the Duke of Huguo said there was a 50% chance, then victory was a sure thing.

"It's good to fight this battle."

The sky gradually darkened and it was still snowing overhead. Liu Zhaosun spread out his iron-armed hands and blew a breath into his palms. He was wearing the woolen gloves that Zhang Yan had knitted for him before her death, but his fingers were still cold as the temperature was already minus ten degrees Celsius.

"Why does father-in-law say that?"

Yang Hao patted his son-in-law's shoulder, carefully knocked the snow off the Duke of Huguo's shoulders, and said with a smile:

"These civil servants and military officers in Northern Zhili appear to be allies, but they're actually at odds. This time, they're taking advantage of the chaos in Shaanxi to fish in troubled waters. If we wipe them all out, there will be no one to cause trouble in Northern Zhili. Then you can truly control the capital and Northern Zhili. You can also legitimately send officials to control various places, laying a solid foundation for your future southward advance. Kill two birds with one stone."

Liu Zhaosun nodded repeatedly. What he was thinking was basically the same as Yang Hao's. He wanted to achieve success in one battle and solve the problem in the north once and for all, so as to avoid having to suppress the rebels every now and then.

The father-in-law and the son-in-law were talking as they walked. Not far from them, the auxiliary soldiers were directing the laborers to set up an iron pot on the top of the city wall. The laborers carried buckets of water to the top of the city wall, boiled the cold water, and then poured it down from the top of the city wall onto the wall. In this way, when the rebels climbed up to attack the city tomorrow, they would feel like they were skating on ice.

"My dear son-in-law, did you learn these city defense techniques from Liu Dadao?"

"Self-taught."

~~~~~~
At 3:15 pm on November 20th, the second year of the Tianqi reign, the rebels arrived at Yongding Gate and immediately launched a fierce attack.

Thousands of ragged civilians were driven from behind by the rebels, moving towards Yongding Gate like a flock of sheep. Most of these civilians were captured by the rebels from around the capital, and many of them were captured with their entire families.

"The rebels want to drive the people to fill the trenches."

Liu Zhaosun raised his telescope and looked for Zhang Chun's flag behind the crowd.

"People from Yongping Prefecture, Zhengding Prefecture, Shuntian Prefecture, and even Datong Prefecture have arrived. It's quite a big move."

Under the banners of the generals and lieutenant-generals, the retainers of the various lieutenant-generals and lieutenants were driving the common people forward, through the newly dug trenches. The retainers, clad in iron armor and carrying heavy swords at their waists, would occasionally brandish their scabbards and loudly scold the cannon fodder as they advanced. "Look! The rebels' shield carts!"

Ma Shiying pointed at the shield carts that were slowly advancing behind the cannon fodder. The Duke of Protectorate used the telescope to look in the direction of Ma Shiying's finger and saw a row of neatly arranged tortoise shells slowly moving towards the moat.

The servants held horse whips and whipped the slower-moving civilians in front. Most of the civilians were old, weak, sick, and disabled, and all their belongings had been looted by the rebels. Many of them were left with only a single layer of clothing and were walking barefoot in the freezing wilderness.

It has to be said that when it comes to bullying the weak, the weak are more talented, and drawing a knife against the weaker ones is human nature.

Those refugees who had joined the rebels from Yongping Prefecture, after experiencing all kinds of hardships, did not feel even a trace of sympathy for the refugees at the foot of the imperial city. On the contrary, at this moment, their animal nature was fully aroused.

Now is the time to show off their martial arts skills.

“Hurry up and leave!!”

A strong refugee from Hejian Prefecture cursed and swung his horsewhip, hitting the old man hard on the back. The whip tore his clothes and splashed blood.

The old man groaned a few times and fell to the ground. The other party did not stop and continued to beat him hard.

This scene was seen by Qiao Yiqi who was holding a telescope on the city wall. Qiao Dazui gritted his teeth and his eyes were wide open with anger.

"No firing without my order."

In ancient times, when cold weapons were used for warfare, filling trenches with living people was not uncommon. During the An-Shi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Xun defended the city of Suiyang, and the rebels used civilians to fill the trenches. In fact, many ancient sieges often ended with the attackers stepping on corpses taller than the city walls to enter the city.

"Lord Protector of the Country, the Divine Fire Crows are ready! The artillery asks if we can fire!"

Liu Zhaosun was about to give the order when the enemy suddenly stopped and the earth-shaking wails of the people were heard on the plain.

Two servants surrounded a surrendered Kaiyuan civil official and rode their horses forward to the moat.

"Listen, Liu thief!"

The civil affairs officer held up a loud speaker and shouted loudly.

"Liu Zhaosun has lost the support of the people, Shaanxi was badly defeated, and all the soldiers Deng Changxiong brought were killed. You should stop working for Liu the thief. General Zhang and the other generals are here to save the people. If you want to live, quickly kill your officers, open the city gates, and welcome the army. General Zhang said that those who surrender now will be rewarded handsomely. Each person will receive 50 taels of silver! Cut off an officer's head and you will receive 300 taels. You will also be given land and women! Kill Liu Zhaosun and you will be promoted to general officer! The reward is 10,000 taels of silver!"

The person who made the call was a civil official from Hejian Prefecture named Zhu Liang. Before Zhang Chun started his rebellion, he had captured this man and ten other civil officials from Kaiyuan. The other ten refused to surrender and were all executed. Zhu Liang rebelled before he was even tortured.

After Zhu Liang surrendered, he told Zhang Chun about all the shops that the Liaodong Trading Company had stationed in various places in northern Zhili, which resulted in the deaths of more than 50 people from the civil administration.

Zhu Liang knew that Kaiyuan's firearms were powerful, so he stayed away from the moat and did not dare to get too close.

When people on the city wall heard Zhu Liang's call, anger flashed in their eyes. If it weren't for the strict military discipline in Kaiyuan, they would have rushed down and torn the traitor alive.

Zhu Liang shouted twice, but no one responded from the city wall. Most of the soldiers guarding Yongding Gate were refugees struggling on the line between life and death half a year ago. Without Liu Zhaosun to provide them with food, clothing and shelter, most of them would have turned into dry bones long ago.

"Traitor dog!"

"kill him!"

Liu Zhaosun pushed away Lin Yu who was blocking his way, came to the battlement, and shouted loudly to the people below the city.

"Go back and tell Zhang Chun to surrender immediately, and I will spare his life!"

After that, he shouted to the people filling the moat who were slowly approaching the moat:

"If you open the city gates now, the rebels will come in! Then, not only you, but everyone will die!"

"If you don't want to die, turn around and fight the rebels! If you die in battle, I will use their hearts and livers to sacrifice to your souls in heaven!"

(End of this chapter)