The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 374: Bandits Advance Eastward
In the first month of the first year of the Wuding reign, Li Xianzhong, the King of Rebellion, continued to besiege Hequ, and at the same time, he advanced his troops to the west bank of the Yellow River, cutting off the retreat route of the original army from the west.

The sheepskin rafts and canoes on the west bank of the Yellow River were completely destroyed by bandits. Li Xianzhong and his old friend Centipede Block gave up advancing eastward and concentrated their forces to attack from the east and west. One hundred thousand bandits gathered in northwestern Shanxi, attempting to wipe out this isolated army in Hequ.

Deng Changxiong realized the bandits' intentions early on, so he ordered Wang Zengbin to lead the cavalry to advance westward to create the illusion of reinforcing Xi'an Prefecture, while at the same time sending elite soldiers to break out to the east.

However, regardless of the east or west, the bandits in both directions were dozens of times more numerous than the Kaiyuan army. The more Liu Zhaosun fought, the more bandits there were. Deng Changxiong realized that a blind breakout would only lead to his early defeat, so he retreated to Hequ again and held on waiting for reinforcements.

This Western Expedition Army, which had lost external support, was soon doomed to destruction.

At the beginning of February, the Kaiyuan army had run out of food, and there was still no news of the reinforcements and supplies that Liu Zhaosun had promised last year.

The news that Liu Zhaosun ascended the throne finally reached Shanxi. The generals of the Western Expedition Army were rewarded. In the edict, Emperor Wu Ding ordered the Western Expedition Army to continue to hold on and wait for reinforcements.

However, they had already given up hope for reinforcements. Only Sun Chuanting firmly believed that the Duke of Protectorate would never abandon him and that help was on the way.

The defenders were reduced to fewer than 5,000 men, and the bandits gathered around them in increasing numbers. The enemy had ample food and fodder, and they burned, killed, looted, and requisitioned food on the spot. They hated the Kaiyuan army to the core, and Li Xianzhong repeatedly declared that he would massacre Hequ to avenge his nephew Yixiong.

The harsh military discipline of the Kaiyuan Army meant that the soldiers could not rob civilians like the bandits, nor could they surrender to the bandits, as surrender would mean death.

On the eighth day of the second month, in the lobby of Hequ County Government Office.

The thin Deng Changxiong sat at the top seat, with Sun Chuanting, Wang Zengbin and others sitting on his side. Of the civil and military officials who filled the hall two months ago, only half were left now, and the rest had died in battle.

The survivors also looked haggard and had lost a lot of weight compared to a few months ago. They looked nothing like the pampered Shangguan.

"The auxiliary troops have started killing the mules, and there's no food to transport. There's no point in keeping them."

Wang Zengbin hung his head, not sure if it was because of hunger or frustration, or both. He kept his head down while speaking and didn't look at anyone else.

"Oh."

Deng Changxiong moved his mouth to indicate that he understood.

Sun Chuanting looked up at the thin Deng Changxiong. It was hard to imagine that this thin man in front of him was a strong man with broad shoulders and thick waist three months ago.

"Now that we've killed the mules, is it time to kill the horses?"

The commander of the cavalry regiment seemed to be energized. He glared at Sun Chuanting and said without question:
"Absolutely impossible. How can we break through with cavalry without horses? Even if we kill people, we can't kill the horses!"

Sun Chuanting shook his head. His face was pale and it seemed difficult for him to smile.

The food supply has been cut off for seven days. In order to prevent the soldiers defending the city from starving, several generals took the lead in reducing their own rice rations by half, and the training officers and staff only ate one meal a day. Of course, this was just a drop in the bucket and actually had no effect.

"Without reinforcements and food supplies, the bandits will not retreat. Let the wealthy families in the city take the lead in donating. If the Kaiyuan army is defeated, leaving behind a lot of food and gold will be useless."

Sun Chuanting's eyes were grim. Although Liu Zhaosun had warned him many times to make this cruel official have more conscience, whenever he was in desperate situation, Sun Baigu would immediately return to his nature of disregarding human life.

The two generals exchanged glances, neither speaking. Everyone knew the character of Emperor Wu Ding. Even during the siege of Hetuala, even if he had made great military achievements, anyone who dared to massacre civilians would be executed.

Wang Zengbin asked tentatively:
"What if they refuse to hand it over?"

"If they refuse to surrender, we will charge them with collusion with the bandits, confiscate their property and exterminate their clan. Emperor Wuding has handed over the affairs of Shanxi and Shaanxi to us, so we must act according to our own discretion. First, kill all the wealthy families and those with surplus food in the city, and simply say that the bandits killed them. There are many branches of Shanxi merchants in the city. These people usually engage in smuggling and trade, and are only interested in profit. There is no guarantee that there are not bandits and spies. Killing them will eliminate future troubles, so as to avoid bloodshed in the front and someone inside opening the gate.

This matter needs to be handled by someone I trust. If the news leaks out, I will be held responsible."

Deng Changxiong sucked in a breath of cold air and stared at Sun Chuanting in a daze. The ruthlessness displayed by Sun Chuanting was so shocking and horrifying that even he, a warrior who had experienced hundreds of battles and killed countless people, felt shocked and terrified.

"I'm afraid it's inappropriate."

Wang Zengbin was well-informed. He knew that Hequ County was a commercial city, with merchants occupying the majority of the population. If Sun Chuanting's plan were implemented, the Kaiyuan army would likely massacre the civilian population. Remembering the Hetuala massacre, when Emperor Wuding nearly executed Kang Yingqian and Sun Chuanting, Deng Changxiong shuddered. He dared not agree with Sun Chuanting again.

Seeing this, Sun Chuanting had to make concessions:
"In that case, we should ask them first and gather military food and supplies. If we can gather what the army needs, there will be no need for such a large-scale war. Killing people is always the worst option."

Under Sun Chuanting's coercion and inducement, the wealthy families in the city responded one after another, especially those grain merchants who had connections with Shanxi merchants. They probably knew the consequences of not handing over grain, so they rushed to donate grain.

Hequ was originally a prosperous place. It was not difficult to find a dozen pigs, tens of thousands of kilograms of grain, and tens of thousands of kilograms of grass.

Soon, fat pigs, food and fodder were escorted by two elderly and virtuous local gentry - one tall and one short - to the Kaiyuan military camp on the bank of the Yellow River to entertain the troops.

The two gentlemen brought two bags of oriental pearls and ginseng as a gift to the generals who were meeting Emperor Wuding, and to show that the people of Hequ were worldly-wise.

The food and fat pigs were sent out, the pearls and ginseng were returned to them, and the Kaiyuan Army gave them gold and silver of equal value to buy food and fodder. The two gentry lowered their heads, holding the gifts, and kept saying:

"This is a divine weapon! This is a divine weapon! It won't take a single needle or thread from the people!"

The news of the "magic soldiers" spread throughout the city in a short time.

However, the people of Hequ began to feel afraid when they heard the news - they had never seen a Ming army that did not rob or steal from the people.

If they don't rob the people, how can the generals and lieutenant commanders get rich? If they don't get rich, how can they be willing to fight with all their might? If they don't fight with all their might, how can they defeat the bandits?
The people of Hequ once doubted: Emperor Wuding only sent 500 people. Can these 500 people stop the enemy troops?

Now, they fully believed that the Kaiyuan army was worth a hundred men at a time, and even if the bandits really had 100,000 troops, they were only here to die.

~~~~~~
The long-awaited reinforcements from Jizhen finally arrived.

On the ninth day of the second month, Man Gui's 1,000 cavalrymen and 3,000 infantrymen had just arrived at Hequ when they were besieged by bandits who outnumbered them ten times.

Man Gui fought to the death and after two days of fierce fighting, the cavalry was defeated. Part of them fled into Hequ City, and most of the rest, including the general Man Gui, were shot and killed by the rebel army.

Li Xianzhong was overjoyed to have killed Man Gui and driven back the reinforcements. From then on, he showed even greater contempt for the Kaiyuan army. Just as he was about to order an all-out attack on Hequ, news arrived that Liu Zhaosun had proclaimed himself emperor.

Li Xianzhong didn't believe it at first, but after he confirmed it, he became so angry that he fainted on the spot.

"I haven't even become emperor yet, and this bastard has already done so! How absurd! Send troops with me to capture Beijing. I want Liu Zhaosun to be emperor for only one month!"

Ma Jinxing suggested that King Chuang raise the slogan of revenge for Emperor Tianqi, because he had heard that the princes in Jiangnan, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other places had begun to rise up in arms to support the king, and some princes had even declared themselves emperors.

After all, Ma Jinxing was born into a juren family, so he had some political awareness. He realized that this was an opportunity, an opportunity for the King of Rebellion to conquer the world and become the emperor.

Therefore, Ma Jinxing strongly suggested that King Chuang should not worry about the isolated city of Hequ for the time being, but to mobilize elite troops, march day and night, enter Beijing before other royalist armies, defeat the Kaiyuan army, obtain the dying will of Emperor Tianqi, and then use the capital to rule the world.

Li Xianzhong listened to the think tank's advice and said disapprovingly:
"What will? When did Emperor Tianqi write it? How come I don't know? Besides, Liu Zhaosun's elite troops are all in Beijing. Do you want me to die?"

Ma Jinxing patted King Chuang's shoulder, raised his elegant goose feather fan as usual, fanned the cool air, squinted his eyes and said:
"I have three plans, the best, the middle and the worst. Which one would you like to hear first..."

Li Xianzhong sneezed in a gust of cool wind. He grabbed the goose feather fan and threw it to the ground, then angrily said to Ma Jinxing:

"Stop talking nonsense! Tell me the best strategy."

Ma Jinxing shook his head, sighed for a while, and said after a long while:

"Right now, all the heroes in the world want to conquer the traitor Liu. Emperor Tianqi is dead, and the edict of a dead person can be written by a living person. Liu Zhaosun even ignored his generals, which shows that his military strength is stretched to the limit. This is the best opportunity to destroy him. The best strategy is to take advantage of the situation to enter the capital and occupy the capital area..."

Three days later, Li Xianzhong left 20,000 troops to besiege Hequ, and he led the main army rapidly eastward, taking refugees along the way. The Ming troops in various parts of Shanxi had been owed wages for a long time, and they did not care about Emperor Wuding or Emperor Wending. Without waiting for the approach of the rebel army, they surrendered and joined the army of bandits who were going to Beijing to demand wages.

(End of this chapter)