A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 390

Wang Dou's grandeur made Lu Weiqi, Wang Yinchang and others sigh, but Liu Jianyi and others privately believed that the money was not from Wang Dou, so he could speak so boldly.

Wang Dou also suggested urgently ordering the people in the surrounding suburbs to move all their families, livestock, food and grass into the city, ordering all the trees in the surrounding suburbs to be cut down, all the wells to be filled, and the walls to be cleared to make it more difficult for the army to attack the city.

Everyone in the palace agreed with Wang Dou's suggestion of strengthening the walls and clearing the fields. It is imperative to attack the city with an army. Those livestock, food and grass will be left outside the city, and in the end only the enemy will be left as a result.

However, Kang Menghui, the magistrate of Henan Province, said that Wang Dou's heavy reward proposal was too high, and Luoyang City's financial resources could not support it.He suggested that those who go out of the city to kill a first-level thief should be rewarded with 20 taels of silver, those who shoot and kill a thief should be rewarded with five taels of silver, and those who shoot and wound a thief should be rewarded with two taels of silver.

His suggestion was approved by Wang Yinchang, the deputy envoy of military preparations, and King Fu also thought it was okay.

Wang Dou shook his head secretly, the courage of the Luoyang City government is not as good as that of the Kaifeng government.

Starting from the 21st day of the twelfth lunar month, Luoyang City began to fortify its walls and clear the countryside, forming social soldiers, and the government issued equipment.According to Wang Dou's suggestion, these social soldiers were all sent by wealthy households in various fangs. One of the private households had hundreds of gold producers, one from two families, two from thousands of gold producers, and the same was true for giant merchants.

There are fifty soldiers in each society, and the leaders are selected from the well-off and plain students, squires, and clans in each workshop, led by Lu Weiqi, the former Minister of the Ministry of War.There are more than 60 squares in the city, and there are more than 60 soldiers in the society. They are divided into five headquarters, and more than [-] flags are made.

These social soldiers don't need food and pay, and they are all the children of rich families in the city. Not to mention their physical strength, they still have a deep-seated hatred for the rogues outside the city, and they will definitely not be able to cooperate with the enemy inside.They practice skills when they have nothing to do, and go to the defense when they have something to do. They have become an important auxiliary force for the guards of Luoyang City.

From this day on, the Luoyang government increased its efforts to set up shelters for relief, and the news of the reward came out. Although it was not as high as Wang Dou suggested, it was still exciting for the whole city.Many desperadoes, as well as ordinary people, carried bows, arrows, knives and guns to guard the city, and the momentum of Luoyang City was high for a while.

In a series of preparations, the time soon came to the 14th year of Chongzhen. This Spring Festival, the people of Luoyang did not think about it, and passed the year with anxiety.

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, it was the day when shops were "small openings" for the new year, but there were no shops in the streets and alleys in the city. above people.

Their cavalry wandered outside the "horse blocking wall", and their troops dragged branches and dust outside the wall, acting like a suspicious soldier, which made the soldiers and civilians in the city very suspicious, and they didn't know how many people they had come.The sentry horses of the Chuangjun kept moving, and even forced the defenders in the "horse blocking wall" of Luoyang's first line of defense, causing waves of panic.

These vanguards camped fifteen miles west of the city. On the eighth day of the first lunar month, Li Zicheng's main force finally arrived.If you look down from a high altitude, from the two lines of Xin'an and Yiyang, the road is full of seas wrapped in red turbans and spears, billowing like a prairie fire.

"There are too many rogue soldiers and horses..."

In the binoculars, the dense swarms of intruders were like locusts. They first covered the Pingchuan land in the west of Luoyang city, and then spread to the south, north, and east of the city...

Counting a team of Chuangjun with one flag, if you count it casually, it is tens of thousands of flags.There are so many people here, including all the hungry people, women and children, there are probably nearly 20 people.This is the advantage of the peasant army. If you gather casually, there will be hundreds of thousands or millions of people.

Holding up the binoculars, Chen Yongfu's face was a little ugly. The ants killed the elephants. Although there were nearly 2 soldiers in the main city of Luoyang and Siguan, there were too many people on the other side.The enemy is numerous and we are few, even with the elite Shunxiang army, Chen Yongfu is not sure whether he can hold the city.

Feeling the overwhelming pressure, the sergeants of the Vanguard Battalion under Chen Yongfu's command in Beiguan were all pale. Standing behind his father, Chen De also had his mouth tightly clenched, his fists clenched, and his teeth clenched.

However, after all, Chen Yongfu's subordinates were elites from Henan Province. They fought side by side with the Shunxiang Army in Ruzhou and defeated the enemy army.But in the main city of Luoyang and Yuzhe Sanguan, the officers, soldiers and common people saw the power of the bandits coming, but they were all trembling with fear.

"It's finally here, I've been waiting for you for a long time!"
Wang Dou put down the binoculars, took a deep breath, and sneered in his heart. The Chuang army seemed to be a large army, but most of them were mobs. Wang Dou believed that he could hold the city and defeat the enemy.

Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu patrolled Beiguan City. The city had already been prepared for battle. The walls were full of soldiers in twos and threes, including the Shunxiang Army and the Qianfeng Battalion.

Chen Yongfu's servants each had a double-breasted padded armor and full armor, while the rest of the sergeants only wore red military caps and blue robes and skirts with a girdle, and the armor was quite tattered.

However, after the Battle of Ruzhou, a lot of them were captured, and most of the uniformed Wang Dou who broke into the army were not appreciated, and most of them were given to Chen Yongfu's soldiers and horses, so there were more ordinary soldiers in the vanguard battalion wearing armor.

At this time, the sergeants of the Vanguard Battalion were both nervous and excited. They made a fuss and pointed at the noise of the troops outside the city.Looking at the soldiers of the Shun Township Army patrolling beside them, they were completely silent. Although their eyes showed excitement, they still stood upright in the cold wind.

Chen Yongfu admired the military appearance and discipline of the Shunxiang Army. At the same time, he looked at the excellent armor of the Shunxiang Army, as well as the bird blunderbuss and Lumi blunderbuss they used, Chen Yongfu was very envious.

In fact, he intends to buy some iron armor and cotton armor from Wang Dou, as well as some excellent bird guns.However, at present, the surplus firearms Wang Dou in the army has to keep for himself as a spare. Chen Yongfu wants to buy firearms and armor from himself, and this matter can only be discussed when he returns to the East Road.

Luoyang in the first month of the lunar year was still bitterly cold, and fires were lit on the top of the city, and groups of three and four surrounded the fires, surrounded by soldiers warming the fire.But when the Chuang army arrived, the soldiers of the Vanguard Battalion flocked to the top of the city to watch nervously. Only the soldiers of the Shunxiang Army arranged for patrol personnel, and the rest still chatted leisurely by the fire.

Patrolling all the way, seeing Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu coming over, the soldiers in the city saluted them one after another.

Apart from strict requirements on his son, Chen Yongfu's style of running the army is to share joys and sorrows with the soldiers on weekdays, but he is not strict in terms of requirements, so many generals laughed and joked at him after saluting, and Chen Yongfu just laughed and scolded him.

"...Boy, the intruder is here, are you afraid?"

Chen Yongfu asked a soldier.

The soldier yelled strangely: "I'm afraid of a ball. At worst, my head will fall off and a scar will be the size of a bowl. It's just in time for the intruder to come. If I go out of the city and kill a thief, there will be a reward of 20 taels of silver. Drinking a lot of wine and eating meat in a big bowl is enough for me. It's been a month."

There was laughter all around, Wang Dou smiled and said: "The military spirit is available."

Chen Yongfu was also a little proud, at least with the morale of the army, his own army would not be inferior to Wang Dou's Shunxiang army.

Returning to the General Administration in the pass, there is a fire burning in the wall. Although it is freezing outside, it is still as warm as spring.

Looking at the sand table on the desk, both Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu fell into deep thought. Chen Yongfu said: "Looking at the situation, the bandit's strategy for attacking the city is to encircle three towers and one, and mainly attack the west, south, and north sides of Luoyang. If the defenders are effective, the bandits will Although there are 20 people, given the danger of the main city of Luocheng and the four passes, it is impossible for the intruders to break through Luoyang."

Looking down from the sky, on the north bank of Luoshui River, at the foot of Mang Mountain, stands the huge city of Luoyang.

The so-called four pass refers to the pass city, which is generally in the shape of an upright rectangle, half the size of the main city, or a quarter of the size of the main city, and they all face the direction of the four city gates.After the population of a large city multiplies, a small city will basically be built outside the main city, connected to the big city by the gate road, and the distance is usually within two miles, or even only a hundred steps.

For example, there are four pass cities in the ancient city of Fenzhou in Shanxi, and the distance between the main city and each pass city is only more than 100 steps.Moreover, the four pass cities are very large, especially the east pass, which is basically the same size as the main city. The walls of the two cities are only more than 100 steps apart, leaving a long and narrow strip in the middle.If they wanted to attack the east gate of the main city of Fenzhou, not only would they not be able to deploy their forces, but they would even have to risk heavy casualties due to the firepower of the two city walls.

The same is true for the Guancheng Luoyang City. Dongguan, Xiguan, Nanguan, and Beiguan guard the big city. Each Guancheng also has urns, moats, and trenches.In addition, there is a "horse barrier wall" on the periphery of Dongguan, which is one foot high. There are also female walls and trenches. It can be said that there are solid defense lines around Luoyang City, and mutual support is also very convenient.

If the defenders are strong, it will be very difficult for Li Zicheng to break through Luoyang, given the solidity of the main city of Luocheng and the four passes.

Hearing that Chen Yongfu was lucky, Wang Dou shook his head and said: "Except for my Beiguan, the rest of the three battles must be prepared for the worst."

Chen Yongfu also knew that Wang Dou was right, so he let out a long sigh.

Wang Dou murmured: "Except for these four passes, the east, south, and west of Luoyang City are not easy to attack. The general estimates that we will defend the northern pass and the north wall of the city. There will be a fierce battle in the future. It is necessary to plan ahead and plan early.”

Chen Yongfu said: "We still can't fight the thieves hard for a long time. We need to find a place where the thieves have food and fodder as soon as possible, and cut off their food and grass, so that they will be defeated."

Wang Doudao: "The sentry cavalry under my command have detected that the thieves have been transporting food and grass to the west of Jianhe River, Wulong Mountain, which is more than ten miles away."

Chen Yongfu's eyes lit up, and he cast his eyes tightly on the area of ​​the sand table.

……

On that day, Li Zicheng's army camped outside Luoyang City. There were camps in the four directions of Luoyang City, east, west, north, south, and especially on the bank of the Jian River twenty miles west of the city. .

Chuangjun encircled and did not attack, and at night, piles of bonfires were lit, and the dense lights looked like cities that never sleep in the dark night.

On the same day, Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu were called by Wang Yinchang, the deputy envoy of military preparations, to discuss matters in the branch guard. It can be seen that there was a tense atmosphere in Luoyang City. There are constant people and horses, and the military and civilians are in a high degree of tension.

Wang Yinchang couldn't come up with any good solutions, but he tried his best to encourage all the generals to stick to the city, and especially expressed high expectations for Wang Dou's army and horses.

In the early morning of the ninth day, King Fu also left the palace, supported his fat body, and took his son Zhu Yousong to inspect various defenses, encouraging the soldiers and civilians to defend the city to the death.And once again hosted a banquet in honor of the officers stationed in Luoyang, promising that as long as they defend Luoyang, they will be rewarded heavily.

The Chuang army did not attack the city on this day, but they sent out troops and horses everywhere, vigorously clearing and burning houses in the surrounding suburbs.

Luoyang City is a prosperous place in Zhongzhou. Not only outside the main city, but also outside the four passes, there are a large number of houses and shops, which spread out one after another along various post roads and official roads.These shops and buildings attached to the country obviously affected the layout of the coming siege of the Chuang army, so they demolished and burned them in advance, just to see what leftover money, food and rice were left inside.

Seeing the flames in the surrounding suburbs, the soldiers and civilians in the city were both angry and sad. Their homes and ancestral houses were reduced to ashes in this fire.

On the tenth day of the first month of the 14th year of Chongzhen, Chenshi.

The weather was still extremely cold. There was a light snowfall last night and another night of north wind, which turned the remnant snow into solid ice. Even the city walls were a little slippery. Although the sun came out slowly, there was no sign of warmth.

Wang Dou held up the binoculars and looked towards the Jinshui River. The generals of the Shunxiang army beside him, wearing red cotton and wool cloaks, also looked out of the city with the binoculars.

It was a desolate scene. After a day of sweeping by the army yesterday, the houses outside the "horse barrier" in Beiguan had been swept away, and the rest were ruins.The essence of the suburbs of Luoyang was completely destroyed.Even the trees on the banks of the Jinshui River have been cut down, leaving everything empty and red, with only loess left.

Even the fields everywhere are in a mess. There were wheat seedlings planted on the fields, but seeing how they are being trampled on, and the Chuang army is about to attack the city, don't expect any harvest this year.

Locusts, these peasant armies do not produce, and they prevent others from producing. Wherever they go, there are only dead and broken.

"Rogue!"

Qin Yi stood behind Wang Dou, and his words were filled with deep loathing: "You must not let these rogues enter the land on the east road, otherwise we will only be left in ruins when we wait for the land of Taoyuan."

All the generals of the Shun Township Army nodded, and the East Road became more and more prosperous, with dense villages and towns, and none of them had city walls.If some rogue army and Tartars entered the East Road, with the style of those people who even snatched an iron pot, they would only leave a piece of destruction wherever they passed.

Wang Dou cast the telescope far away, passing through dilapidated villages and trampled fields, he saw the foot of Mang Mountain twenty miles away, all the way to the upper reaches of the Jinshui River, and the upper source of the Ding River, which seemed to be covered with A continuous barracks flag.Those camps and huts stretched from the north to the east, and then to the west. Although they couldn't see clearly from the south, it must be that the two sides of the Luoshui River must be densely packed with barracks.

"Li Zicheng's barracks is on the west bank of Jianshui."

Wang Dou thought to himself, after detection, Li Zicheng's old battalion was stationed in the Fujiatun area west of Jianhe River.Li Zicheng was old in the army, so he set up the camp very carefully. The old camp was in the middle, and the remaining camps were outside. It was not so easy to attack and steal the camp at night.

When the horn sounded, a black line spread across the sky, from east to north, boundless.

The sound of gunfire, and the Shunxiang army rushing back at night.

Wang Dou took a deep breath: "Chuangjun is here, and the direction is still his Beiguan position."

(End of this chapter)