Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 206 The Urn City
The fourth day of the first month.

On the second day after the new year, Li Jing brought Hutou, Li Dingguo and others to Anyi County.

Anyi County is Yuncheng. After Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, the city was once renamed Yuncheng, but later restored the old name.Yuncheng has a long history. During the Warring States Period, the Three Kingdoms were divided into Jin and it became the capital of Wei State. It was called Anyi at that time.

Because of the Chinese New Year, Wang Ziyong and others also stopped their flags and drums. After finding a small town to occupy, they began to celebrate the New Year comfortably.

When Wang Ziyu celebrated the New Year, Wang Ermao, Zhou Daqing and others suffered.Since the army of rogue bandits used by the king is being monitored, the soldiers have to make do with the New Year, and the difficulties can be imagined.

Li Jing was well aware of this, but he ignored it.

The time to live a good life is not short, and we can't just know that enjoying blessings can't endure hardships.

After arriving in Anyi County, Li Jing sent someone to send a letter to Wang Ziyong, agreeing on a time for attacking the city.

Li Jing is quite optimistic about Wang's own army of rogues. Although these people have not received formal training, their combat effectiveness is still worth mentioning.

After going south from Xiangling County, Wang Ziyong and other leaders of the rogue bandits continued to attack the city and break the county as if they had been beaten with chicken blood.The counties in Puzhou can basically take down one in a day. If the rogues hadn't robbed the city after breaking the city, they probably would have hit Jiezhou long ago.

At this time, including Wang Ziyong and others, they also saw the benefits of the joint operations of various ministries. Before attacking the state city, it might not be possible to defeat it after a few days of fighting. Now that everyone is integrated and can attack in an all-round way, the city cannot stop it.

Of course, Li Jing's artillery team played a great role in it.

Generally speaking, there are cannons on the city walls of Zhoucheng, but it is a pity that they cannot compare with Li Jing's cannons in terms of quantity and quality.

As long as the artillery reaches the firing range, it will basically be completely suppressed. After a bombing, there will be basically no one on the city wall, and then the siege will be left to Wang Ziyong and others.

As soon as the army of rogue bandits swarmed up, they would naturally be able to capture the city soon.

In addition, this time a large-scale occupation of Southwest Shanxi, the members of the commando team played a great role in this operation. When Wang Ziyong started to move, the commando team was sent out by Li Jing with only one purpose, to monitor the states and counties , Anyone who finds a messenger calling for help will be killed immediately.

Every time before a county is captured, all the roads leading to outside rescue are blocked by the members of the commando. Anyone who sees a horse running can basically be judged as a messenger. After searching, almost all letters for help can be found.

Therefore, Wang Ziyong and others captured the county one after another without encountering reinforcements from the government army. All the news to the outside world was notified by Li Jing to Cao Bianjiao.

Cao Bianjiao knew that his uncle Cao Wenzhao had benefited from Li Jing, so he had to report it as Li Jing ordered.Therefore, the news that the imperial court learned was that the rogues kept attacking various counties in southwestern Shanxi. Li Jing followed and chased them, wiped out a large number of rogues, and recovered several counties.

However, Li Jing and Wang Ziyong's rogues in Anyi County finally encountered a problem. The city defense of Anyi County was too strong, not to mention the tall city walls, and a large number of artillery were placed on the walls.

The artillery of the officers and soldiers was condescending, which completely made up for the disadvantage in distance. If Li Jing wanted to bombard the soldiers on the city wall, he had to get very close, and he risked being bombarded by the officers and soldiers.

And even if the outer city is broken, there is still an inner city inside. This kind of city is commonly known as the Wengcheng. Once in the Wengcheng, the weapon advantage of Li Jing's troops will be gone.

Li Jing knew why the city defense of Anyi County was so strict, because Anyi produced salt here, and a large part of Shanxi's chief envoy's wealth came from here. How could such an important town not be strictly defended?
For Li Jing in Anyi County, it is inevitable, but he will not let his subordinates die in vain.

It's not that Li Jing has any benevolence for a woman. In Li Jing's current position, things that he valued before are no longer important. In order to realize his ideals, sacrifices are inevitable.

But Li Jing would not do such a needless death. The lives of officers and soldiers are worthless, but the lives of Li Jing's soldiers are very valuable. Even the pension and family compensation for a dead man is not a small fee.

The last time Wang Ziyong attacked Yicheng County, more than 200 people died and nearly 2000 people were injured. Li Jing paid nearly 5 taels of silver for pensions, compensation, and rewards.

Most of the injured last time were recruits. If they were regular soldiers, the compensation for injured soldiers would have to be doubled at least.

If this kind of battle is fought a few more times, Li Jing must go bankrupt.

So how can we attack the officers and soldiers defending the city without losing troops?

……

Anyi County, Xiezhou State Yamen.

Zhizhou Zhang Li frowned as he looked at the material ledger calculated by Xu Han, the chief bookkeeper.

Sighing, Zhang Li looked at Qianhu and Zhou Kang and asked, "Zhou Qianhu, haven't the rogues attacked the city yet?"

Zhou Kang shook his head: "There is still no movement."

"Is there any news about the messenger sent out for help?" Zhang Li asked again.

Zhou Kang sighed and said, "It is supposed to be back, but after so long there is no movement, I am afraid something has happened."

Zhang Li waved his hand: "Then continue to send people to ask for help, find Cao Wenzhao, or go to Xi'an to find Hong Chengchou, I don't believe it, Anyi is besieged, and they won't come to rescue?"

Zhou Kang shook his head and said: "Hong Chengchou can't be counted on. He would never dare to come to the rescue without the order of the imperial military department. As for Cao Wenzhao, you can look for it. It's just that Cao Wenzhao is now in the area of ​​Lu'an Mansion. We will go all the way here. It’s a rogue, it’s hard to say whether this letter will be delivered.”

Zhang Li looked at Zhou Kang and sneered: "Zhou Qianhu, I'm afraid it's not that the deliveries can't be delivered, but the people below are afraid of death and dare not go out!"

Holding up the account book in his hand, Zhang Li sneered and said with a sneer: "Zhou Qianhu, I might as well tell you that the existing grain in the state can't last for even a month, even if all the grain merchants in the city have all the grain collected It can't last for two months, and the rogue soldiers are approaching the city, and the [-] army has surrounded the county. The food can't be brought in outside, so let the soldiers drink the wind?"

"The rogues wouldn't be able to surround the city for two months, would they?" said Liu Bo, the magistrate of the prefecture.

Zhang Li glanced at Liu Bai, snorted and said, "I really want the rogues to leave tomorrow, even if they come to attack the city. But whether the rogues leave or attack the city is up to us, it depends on the reinforcements." When will it come, there will be no reinforcements, and the rogues will not go away, what can you do to them?"

Liu Bowen listened silently, and knew what Zhang Li said was right. Whether the rogues go or not really depends on when the reinforcements will come. Without reinforcements, why would the rogues leave?The people in Anyi area are rich, and you can make a lot of money by grabbing a few places.

Zhang Li sighed and said: "I originally thought that the rogues would attack the city when they came to the city, but after the rogues surrounded the city, they didn't do anything, but occupied a nearby town to celebrate the new year. What is this? Have even the rogues become smarter in the new years?"

A group of officials nodded repeatedly. To be honest, they were not afraid of the rogues attacking the city. Anyi County had high walls and thick walls, and there were many artillery pieces in the city. Moreover, there was an inner city. If the rogues came to attack the city, they would definitely suffer a lot.

But the rogues surrounded and did not fight, just caught their sore feet.

Although Anyi County is a famous city, it is not a big city like Xi'an or Taiyuan after all.The army of rogues is coming, and a large number of refugees are pouring into the city. How can a county town maintain so many people's food and clothing?

Zhang Li looked at Zhou Kang and said: "Zhou Qianhu, do you dare to lead troops to fight against the rogues? You don't need to fight big, just win a small battle, and they will be angry."

Zhou Kang smiled wryly and said: "Master Zhang, what joke are you kidding? You don't know how many soldiers I have under my command? If the bandits attack when I lead the troops out of the city, who will command the defense?"

Zhang Liwen nodded silently.

Zhang Li is a civil servant, and he is a layman in commanding and fighting. It is really like what Zhou Kang said, when the bandits started attacking the city when they went out to fight, there was no one in the city who would command the defense.

Now the officers and soldiers in Anyi City are mainly soldiers and horses from the Thousand Households Office of Zhou Kang, plus the defeated officers and soldiers who escaped from other counties, the total total is less than 5000, and the rest are temporarily recruited Min Zhuang, with a total of more than [-] people, is obviously not enough to fight against [-] bandits.

Liu Bai glanced at Zhang Li, and then said cautiously: "How about we talk to the rogues in private? They attacked Anyi just for money and food. As long as the price is right, I think the rogues will retreat after taking the money and food."

After listening to Liu Bai's suggestion, everyone looked at each other in blank dismay.Immediately, everyone's eyes turned to Zhang Li.

Zhang Li glared at Liu Bai, and cursed an idiot in his heart.

You must know that negotiating with rogues is a taboo, no different from surrendering. If the court finds out that they use this method to retreat from the enemy, everyone present will have no guarantees.Therefore, if it is not a last resort, you must not negotiate with the rogues.

And why the rogues rebelled, natural disasters are one aspect, and being forced by those local officials is another aspect.The rogues hated the officials deeply, and every time they captured a city, they would definitely kill those officials.You want to negotiate terms with the rogues?Let's die!
After thinking about it, Zhang Li suddenly smiled and said, "Lord Liu has a good idea, but who is going to talk to the rogues? How about this, since Master Liu came up with the idea, then Master Liu should go out of the city for a walk!"

After listening to Zhang Li's words and looking at Zhang Li's expression, everyone knew that what Zhang Li said was ironic. This was a run on Liu Bai.

Sure enough, when Liu Bai heard that Zhang Li asked him to negotiate, he was shocked, and while cursing himself for being talkative, he said with a mournful face, "Ah? Let me negotiate with the rogues? Master Zhang, that's all I'm saying, don't send me there! Just find someone to tell the bandits what we mean, won't it be over?"

After hearing this, Zhang Li sneered and said, "Can anyone else make the decision? Who knows how much money we can give apart from the adults here? You don't want me to talk about it, do you want Mr. Xu to go? Or is it Let Zhou Qianhu talk? Or is it Mr. Tongju?"

(End of this chapter)