Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 871
In the Ming army camp, Chen Bangyan was dressed in a scarlet official robe and a beam crown, sitting in front of the commander-in-chief, flanked by Ming army generals.

He glanced at the generals, and then said in a deep voice: "His Royal Highness the King of Chu issued an order to urge you to break through Yangzhou before the Huaihe River freezes, otherwise you will have to return to the south of the Yangtze River in despair. The face of the pavilion and all of you has broken the spirit of my Ming Dynasty, so to attack Yangzhou, all the generals must do their best, if anyone dares not to do their best and refuse to obey orders, don't blame the pavilion for its ruthless military law."

Chen Bangyan had always assumed the role of a military adviser. This was the first time he commanded a large army to fight alone. He had to speak harshly to deter this group of arrogant soldiers.

He is talking about the ugly words first. If there are still people who shoot at the gun, no matter if it is Chu, Zhejiang, or Tang support, he will not be polite. The prestige of the teacher.

Qi Qi, the general in the tent, bowed and clasped his fists, expressing that he did not dare. Chen Bangyan waved his hands, and then continued: "Everyone has seen the defense of Yangzhou City. This cabinet is a civil servant, good at strategy, weaker than tactics, you are all A general who has fought for many years, can you teach me anything?"

Many generals and schools looked at each other, and not long after, Liu Shun winked, and one of them stood up and saluted, "Report to the cabinet, the last general Zhang Youde, a person from Yangzhou, once guarded Yangzhou with the king, and today he is visiting the city with the cabinet , found that Duoduo built the city wall of Yangzhou higher than before, and the moat was only wide but not narrow. If it is a hard attack, I am afraid it will not be easy."

Chen Bangyan was a scholar of the Chu Party, and Liu Shun had to give him a face. Wang Yi from Zhejiang, Hu Yiqing from Tang Wang and others didn't speak, so he immediately gave his subordinates a wink to prevent Chen Bangyan from being cold.

Liu Shun started from the market place, but his cleverness and thoughts are still relatively quick.

Of course, he wasn't all clever. He asked Zhang Youde to speak out because Zhang Youde had guarded Yangzhou and was familiar with the situation, which made it easier for Chen Bangyan to understand.

Zhang Youde's qualifications are not much different from those of Dai Zhifan and Hu Weizong. The reason why there is such a big gap now is unknown. It is because after he left the city to ask for help, he was seriously injured. After his injury recovered, Wang Yan had already withdrawn to Zhejiang. , and then went to Fujian. He didn't catch up, so he joined Chen Zilong's Taihu Rebel Army nearby. After the Taihu Rebel Army failed, he followed Chen Zilong to Guangdong and joined Wang Yan. After a period of time, the gap widened. .

When Chen Bangyan heard what Zhang Youde, who had guarded Yangzhou, said, his face darkened a little, and he remained silent for a while, then leaned forward and asked, "Commander Zhang, when you guarded Yangzhou, what did you feel was the biggest threat?"

In the battle of Yangzhou that year, Duoduo led an army of 30, engulfing countless people, and it was the time when the Manchu and Qing troops were at their peak, but Yangzhou blocked them for three months.

Now that the Ming army is attacking Yangzhou, the number of soldiers and horses is less than twice that of the Qing army. It is really not easy to break through the city.

This kind of difficulty Chen Bangyan had long expected that Yangzhou would be a protracted battle. He saw that there were generals who were familiar with the situation back then, so he naturally wanted to learn more, hoping to find a way to defeat the enemy.

"Gebu, that Jian slave is inhumane. He used all methods, and even threw his corpse into the city to create a plague. There are 80 Yangzhou people and more than 20 strong men. In the end, there are only 30 left, of which only less than 5 men are left. [-] people. If it weren’t for the king, the people of Yangzhou would have been wiped out by Jiannu.” Zhang Youde recalled that many generals in the tent who participated in the Battle of Yangzhou couldn’t help but clenched their fists, and the hatred in their hearts was obviously still there. exist.

There was a moment of silence in the tent, Zhang Youde let out a heavy breath, and then continued: "At that time when Jiannu and the rebels attacked the city, the biggest threat to Yangzhou was Xicheng. Outside the west city, a hill next to the city wall was controlled by Jiannu. They bombarded the city with artillery, and they were condescending and knocked down a large section of the city wall. The king led us to build another short wall inside the city, and fought desperately to hold the city. Many brothers collapsed at the collapse of the west city. Old Feng, who was still a big salt merchant in the city, led a thousand family members to help the battle, and half of them died in one morning. Looking at the rows of corpses, Old Feng's son sat on the ground and howled continuously. It’s still very emotional.”

When the Qing army went south, it was when the Manchu Qing entered the customs and was invincible. When nearly 50 people in the north of the Yangtze River were looking forward to surrender, Duoduo attacked Yangzhou with the sharp and prosperous Qing army but failed. It may not be easy for the army to attack Yangzhou.

Chen Bangyan nodded, did not let him continue, but looked at the crowd and said: "Now Duoduo, the chief culprit who besieged Yangzhou back then, is in the city. This time it is your turn to take revenge."

Zhang Youde and other generals who had experienced the Yangzhou War felt very touched in their hearts. Many of their relatives died in Yangzhou, and they immediately came out and clasped their fists, "Just give orders from the Ministry of Defense, and we will fight for the destruction of Yangzhou. We will not hesitate to die."

"Very good! This time, one is to take back the old place, and the other is to seek revenge from Duoduo. Just now Commander Zhang said that the west city was the most difficult to defend, so we will focus on the west city." Chen Bangyan said in a deep voice.

After he finished speaking, Zhang Huangyan, the supervisor, looked around and saw no one was talking, so he came out and said, "Gebu, the city of Yangzhou is high and the river is wide. At the beginning, the 30 people of Duoduo failed to break into the city. Now we can do it by following his old road." ?"

Although the few people just now mobilized the emotions of many people, Zhang Huangyan, as the supervisor of the army, is still relatively calm.

Chen Bangyan nodded, waved Zhang Huangyan to retreat first, and then said to Liu Shun: "Grand Liu, tell me your opinion?"

Liu Shun had been in Yangzhou for half a year, although his aptitude was not particularly good, but he had been discussing the strategy of defeating Yang with deployment for more than half a year, so he naturally had some gains in his heart.

"Zhang Jianjun, Your Highness can guard Yangzhou for three months. Jiangyin is smaller than Yangzhou. Chen and Yan Ergong can also rely on the villagers to resist more than 20 Qing troops and besiege them for more than 10 days. The key is that the people's hearts are on our side, just like The desperate poem written by Yan Gong "leads the loyalty in eighty days" and "[-] people live and die together". The army and the people are united, so they can defeat the Qing Dynasty. Duoduo originally wanted to evacuate Yangzhou, but the news spread before he moved. Now that you are in this general, it can be seen that Duoduo has no popular support at all."

Wang Yan has always ordered the generals in the army to study more. In fact, before the imperial examination, China has always been civil and military, which is similar to the nobles in the West. In the Song Dynasty, there were people like Xin Qiji. The modernization of the army inevitably required a large number of educated officers to join the army.

A pure literati would certainly not be able to command an army, and a pure warrior would not know morality. The lessons of the late Tang Dynasty should be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

The warriors actually shouted that "the son of heaven has strong soldiers and strong horses." Of course, if you want to be an emperor, you must have soldiers and horses, but having soldiers and horses may not necessarily rule the world.What does this sentence represent? It represents endless rebellion. If you are strong and strong and become the emperor, then I have soldiers and horses. Do I also want to be emperor? The thoughts he conveyed are terrifying. How can the world be peaceful?

Civil and military are like two poles, extremes of things must be reversed, heavy military, prone to rebellion, heavy text, the army's combat power will inevitably decline.

Wang Yan ordered the generals to read more books, and Liu Shun obviously listened to it this time, and even read a lot.

Zhang Huangyan listened to Liu Shun's words, nodded, but still reminded: "Liu Guogong is right, but Yangzhou is a fortified city after all. If you attack by force, you still need to make more preparations. Besides, what about the moat? If the river is filled, I'm afraid there will be many casualties, and it will take a lot of time!" Chen Bangyan nodded, and interjected, "Siege of the city is nothing more than a strong attack, outsmarting, and there are people in the city who are interested in Ming Dynasty, so we should contact them to see if we can break through Yangzhou from the inside. However, preparations for a strong attack must be made. Liu Guogong has long since found out that the sinking ships of the Qing army will block the canal, but have you thought of any way to deal with the moat?"

Liu Shun clasped his fists together, "Yes, but it's not filling the river, but digging a canal to connect the moat, and then just like hitting Quanzhou, the warships rush in and directly board the city."

He paused, and then explained: "Filling the river has to face arrows and artillery from the city, and the casualties are huge. It is better to dig a canal, and it won't take long."

"How long will it take to finish digging?" It's already September, and Chen Bangyan has to think about the time.

Liu Shundao: "The distance is not very long, it only takes more than ten miles, and you should be able to dig and play in one and a half months."

After a month and a half, Chen Bangyan frowned, "After a month of digging, the pavilion agrees to this method." "Then the court will have to recruit civilian husbands."

(End of this chapter)