In the south of the late Ming Dynasty, there were really no decent battles to fight.
The city is in disrepair, and the military equipment is slack. If Zhao Han really encounters a stubble, Chongzhen can wake up with a smile from his dreams.
This can be seen from the city walls of various places in southern Shonan.
Many are new!
Take Changsha Prefecture as an example, including Changsha City, there are eleven counties and one prefecture. Of these twelve cities, seven of them did not have proper city walls in the last years of Zhengde.
For such an important commercial city as Xiangtan, wooden city walls were still used in the early years of Wanli.
But in the last year of Wanli, all the prefectures and counties in Changsha Prefecture had all the masonry walls repaired. The fundamental motivation of the local officials to build the city was to prevent peasant uprisings that occurred one after another in southern Hunan during the Wanli period.
When a group of untrained peasants came to kill them, they could beat the officers and soldiers to flee.
Local officials were unable to resist, so they could only build cities and defend them, allowing the peasant army to wreak havoc on villages and towns. When the commotion became serious, the imperial court sent troops to encircle and suppress it, and the suppression lasted for several years.
This is the normal state of war in the South, and it is impossible for Zhao Han to encounter decent resistance.
Just when Li Zheng was besieging Changsha, the Xia clan in Xiangyin, Ningxiang, and Yiyang joined forces to recruit troops.
The Xia family originally lived in Yiyang, and migrated to Ningxiang during the Northern Song Dynasty. During the Yongle period, one branch of the Xia family in Jiangxi migrated to Xiangyin, and matched the genealogy with the Xia family in Huguang.
There are three branches of the Xia family, all of which are located next door to Changsha.
Although their reaction was slow, the battle was very big. A total of more than 7,000 village braves were recruited to come to support Changsha.
Li Zheng sent spies to Xiangyin a long time ago, mainly to investigate the enemy's situation in Xiangyin and see if he could send a small number of troops to steal the city.
?As a result, the direction of Xiangyin was detected, and thousands of regiments bravely marched towards Changsha.
Li Zheng was so happy that he wanted to besiege the city and fight for aid!
Not many soldiers were dispatched. Hu Dinggui and Chen Fugui each led 500 regular soldiers, set out at night to circle north, and lay in ambush in Matan Mountain, 40 miles away from Changsha City.
The Xia family's regiment training troop walked very slowly. Hu Dinggui and Chen Fugui rested in Matan Mountain for two full days, and those guys finally arrived late.
The spies sneaked back into the mountains and said: "More than ten miles to the north, those regiments camped bravely by the river. I don't know what kind of river it is, but it's a small river anyway."
Hu Dinggui asked: "The south bank or the north bank?"
"The south bank," said the spies, "the enemy army started to cross the river in the morning, and they brought all their luggage over in the afternoon. They were probably tired and hungry, and they didn't want to continue their journey, so they camped directly by the river. The camp was in a mess, so it was cut down. Some bamboos were used as fences. There are not many tents in operation, most of the enemy soldiers sleep in the open air, and they burn grass everywhere in the camp to smoke mosquitoes.¡±
Is this motherfucker here for an armed outing?
It takes more than 7,000 people to cross a small river, and it takes a whole day.
Moreover, he also crossed the river to set up camp, which was so considerate that Hu Dinggui didn't have to cross the river to attack the camp.
After nightfall, Hu Dinggui and Chen Fugui led their troops down the mountain. They took off their armor and put them in the mountains ahead of time. They all marched lightly for more than ten li in the middle of the night, and finally arrived at the enemy's camp by the river.
The moon was bright tonight, Hu Dinggui touched it quietly, and almost laughed out loud when he got close.
The regiment training troops run by these gentry are no different from the peasants who just started to rebel. Knowing nothing, the camp in front of him has made almost all the mistakes that can be made.
Hu Dinggui and Chen Fugui each led 500 regular soldiers and began to approach little by little.
"kill!"
Hu Dinggui kicked over the bamboo fence and rushed into the enemy camp with ease.
Ordinary Tuanyong, almost all sleep in the open air, with a mat or straw mat under their bodies. Although the grass maggots were burned in the evening, the effect had passed by this time, and many Tuanyong were bitten by mosquitoes and could not sleep.
In this state of being unable to sleep, if you march for a few more days, you will be physically and mentally exhausted before the battle.
? When the One Thousand Datong Army entered the camp, the regiment warriors woke up one after another.
In the shadows, I don't know how many enemies have come. Their first reaction was to flee, they didn't even bother to take weapons, and ran towards the small river quickly.
Plop, plop
The sound of falling into the water can be heard endlessly, and they all jumped into the river on their own initiative. These Hunan men can almost swim, and they haven't worn armor yet. They had figured it out a long time ago that they would jump into the river to escape if they encountered an enemy. Except for the children of gentry, ordinary soldiers did not want to fight at all.
Especially those tenants, they participated in the group training purely because the landlord promised to reduce the rent this year, and the group training troops can still manage meals every day.
The regiment of more than 7,000 people agreed, as if they had received a military order, they scrambled to the north,They snatched it. "
The moat outside the city has been filled with soil for a large section by Li Zheng's grain transportation team every day.
Tao Aizhi looked at the part of the moat that had been filled in, and quietly instructed the three younger brothers. Then he went to Wang Zhiliang, cupped his hands and said, "Fu Shuai, Wansheng can hang out in a basket at night and go to the camp of the rebels to feign surrender. Make an appointment to be an internal response. Three days later, we will raise a fire as a sign. When they enter the Wengcheng, we will come here." Catch the turtle in the urn. Although it can't wipe out the bandit army, it can dampen their morale and boost our army's morale."
There were more than 11,000 defenders in the city, and the Tao family recruited more than 4,000. Wang Zhiliang attached great importance to the four Tao brothers.
Wang Zhiliang shook his head and said: "Rebels will not be fooled, and will detain you, don't take such a risk."
Tao Aizhi said: "Wan Sheng can tell the rebels that it was Fushuai who made Wan Sheng feign surrender, and that Wan Sheng really intends to follow the bandits. Then he can get away calmly under the pretext of going back to the city to set up arrangements."
Wang Zhiliang did not agree, but fell into deep thought.
The city of Changsha is tall and strong, and it must be no problem to defend the city. The problem is that morale has been falling.
In ancient times, the offensive and defensive battles of cities often lasted for several months. Unless the whole army has the will to die, they will never block the gates of the city. One of the important reasons for keeping the city gate is to go out of the city to play a few games at any time. A small victory can boost morale, and even a tie can boost morale. Otherwise, the longer the siege lasts, the lower the morale of the defenders will be.
However, the mob under Wang Zhiliang's command had only been besieged for half a month, and their morale had already fluctuated. A small victory was necessary.
At this moment, Wang Zhiliang was looking forward to the rebels attacking the city quickly, so that he could use the city to continuously inflict damage on the rebels. As long as it can cause damage, it can boost morale, but Li Zheng is just slowly filling the moat.
Seeing the moat being filled section by section, it was simply a torment for the mob in the city.
When the rebels really attacked the city, they didn't panic so much.
That feeling, as if there is still a boot left.
After thinking about it, Wang Zhiliang decided to take the risk and said to Tao Aizhi, "Then you should leave the city tonight."
Tao Aizhi also had no choice, the city gate was full of Wang Zhiliang's soldiers. And his Tao family's soldiers were all used to guard the city wall, and they were divided into four groups.
He wanted to set fire to the city at night, but he was afraid of failure, and the four brothers would definitely be beheaded.
Only by letting Li Zheng lead his troops to attack the city and attack the sections of the walls defended by Tao's soldiers, can the two sides cooperate perfectly. But this is tantamount to letting Li Zheng take a risk. If Tao's soldiers cheat, under insufficient preparation, Datong soldiers will definitely suffer heavy casualties.
Neither Li Zheng nor Tao Aizhi really trusted each other.
In Li Zheng's view, Tao Aizhi has 4,000 soldiers, and he can just jump back inside the city, and then he will be able to take the opportunity to attack the city.
To put it bluntly, I want the other party to do it first, so that it has been delayed until now.
Tao Aizhi's adventure out of the city this time is to communicate with Li Zheng face to face, otherwise they will not cooperate with each other tacitly.