Chapter 88 The Next City

As the saying goes, misfortune does not come alone. This idiom is very reasonable. At present, the situation in the Ming Dynasty is not the worst, only worse. Just when Xiao Tianjian led the army to attack Kaifeng, there was news that shocked the government and the opposition in Shaanxi and Huguang.

First of all, in Shaanxi, Li Zicheng was defeated by Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting last year and was driven into Shangluo Mountain. If it hadn't been for Xiao Tianjian's final help and transported batches of supplies to him through the path of Lushi County, Li Zicheng would have really been starved to death in Shangluo Mountain. .

However, Xiao Tianjian's supply of Li Zicheng's supplies is also limited. It can only ensure that Li Zicheng and more than a thousand people under his command will not be starved to death. There are weapons to fight guerrillas in the Shangluo area, but they are unable to grow too much.

However, as soon as Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting led the army to leave Shaanxi, Li Zicheng took the opportunity and rushed out from Shangluo Mountain. First, he captured Shanyin County, gathered a group of people in Shanyin County, and then rushed straight to the Hanyin area, trying to recapture Hanzhong. At the beginning of April, he killed Shiquan and passed through Along the way, the people were wrapped up, and the remnants that had been scattered everywhere earlier were gathered. The troops have recovered to more than 20,000 people again, showing signs of recovery. Ding Qirui, the new governor of the three sides of Shaanxi, was greatly frightened. On the one hand, he had to arrange people and horses around Tongguan to prepare the criminal army to attack Shaanxi in the west, and on the other hand, he also had to mobilize people and horses to block Li. Zicheng, there are basically not many troops available in the whole Shaanxi area after Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanding joined the defense. When he used troops, he could be said to be overstretched and could not immediately eliminate Li Zicheng, a group of thieves.

At the same time, there is also a big news in Huguang that Zhang Xianzhong, who had previously returned to the imperial court, suddenly sacrificed the flag of rebellion in mid-March. After nearly a year of recuperation, Zhang Xianzhong raised nearly 20,000 soldiers in Gucheng, and they were all strong and combative. He recovered quite strongly. After he raised his army, in less than a month, he successively captured Fangxian, Baokang and Xingshan, and his troops quickly recovered to more than 40,000 people, with the posture of going straight to Yichang and forcing Wuchang and Hankou.

It can be said that the gourd has not been pressed, and the ladle has floated again. In addition to the news of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng's recovery, there is also news from Shanxi that Pingyang Prefecture was attacked by the soldiers and horses of the Xingtian Army in Jinnan.

Pingyang Prefecture is extremely important for Shanxi. It connects the north and south of Shanxi. Pingyang Prefecture is lost, and Jinnan is completely divided by Xing Tianjun. Jiangzhou, Xiezhou and more than a dozen states and counties in Jinnan are in danger.

Originally, Wu Jing wanted Hu Dawei, who had just returned to Shanxi, to lead his troops to save Pingyang Mansion, but after Hu Dawei returned to Shanxi, he heard that Xing Tianjun was attacking Pingyang Mansion, so he couldn't get sick and refused Wu Jing's request for him to go to war.

After all, Hu Dawei has been frighted by Xing Tianjun. In every battle, he almost did not please Xing Tianjun, and was almost killed by Xing Tianjun. This time, he was promoted to guard with Lu Xiang. In the battle of Julu, if the Xing Tianjun had not brazenly entered the battlefield to rescue them, he would have guessed that he and Yang Guozhu They died in the giant deer. It was also taking advantage of the Xing Tianjun's containment of the Tarot troops that they led their subordinates to break out and escape from the ascension. Now he still wants to fight with Xing Tianjun, so he won't do it!

So Wu Yong used the commander-in-chief Xu Dingguo to go south from Taiyuan to rescue Pingyang Mansion, but Xu Dingguo was also an old defeated general under the Xing Tianjun. He swallowed slowly all the way. Before he arrived at Pingyang Mansion, Pingyang Mansion had been lost.

In this battle, Yan Chongxi personally led 10,000 elites of the Xingtian army, plus 30,000 reserve camps and people. On March 23, they began to set up from the area of Fushan County and Yicheng County. First, they sent troops to attack the two counties of Fencheng and Xiangling, and then swept the counties around Pingyang Prefecture before the end of March. Fan, the officers and soldiers outside Pingyang Mansion were removed, and on March 30, Pingyang Mansion was officially surrounded.

Compared with many Xingtian troops directly led by Xiao Tianjian in Henan, although the strength in Jinnan is insufficient, because their foundation is the best, coupled with the iron production in Yangcheng, the main weapons field of the Xingtian Army is also in the area of Yangcheng and Lu'anfu, so the soldiers under Yan Chongxi's command are the most elite, all kinds of birds and self-made fire. The proportion of equipment of gun is much more than that of his colleagues in Henan. Even the proportion of gunners in the reserve camp in Jinnan has reached about 30%, and the combat effectiveness is very strong.

Not to mention that Gao Su, a gunner, is casting cannons in Yangcheng. Nowadays, the workshop for casting cannons has developed very much. Basically, it can produce two or three kinds of artillery pieces per day, and has more than 300 skilled craftsmen. Therefore, Jinnan Xingtian Army is the first-come-first-served platform near the water, and there is also a large number of artillery equipment, just Yan Chong. Xi's men have as many as three artillery battalions, and the artillery battalions are all equipped with six-pound and eight-pound guns. By this time, Gao Su, a red-haired devil, has cast more than a dozen 12-pound Hongyi cannons, and this time he was personally led by Gao Su to the city of Pingyang Mansion.

The number of officers and soldiers of Pingyang Prefecture is only more than 3,000. In addition, there are only less than 10,000 people who are temporarily captured inside and outside the city. There is no possibility of defeating the Xing Tianjun, which is armed to the teeth.

Yan Chongxi did not play anything fancy this time. With a strong force and an absolute advantage of firearms, he made a strong attack on Pingyangfu for ten times.

Gao Su hasn't been addicted to war for a long time, and this guy was originally a mercenary, relying on fighting to make a living. This time, he also came to the battlefield of Pingyang Prefecture by taking the opportunity to transport the newly cast 12-pound Hongyi cannon to Yan Chongxi.

Yan Chongxi agreed to Gao Su's request for war. He handed over the heavy artillery of the artillery of the artillery battalion to Gao Su and ordered him to bombard the south gate of Pingyang Mansion. After Gao Su agreed, he mobilized more than 40 eight-pound and 12-pound heavy artillery to set up a gun array outside the south gate of Pingyang Mansion, and bombarded the south gate of Pingyang Mansion day and night. I had a gun addiction.

And the gunners of Xing Tianjun also have great respect for this red-haired devil. After all, their main force has been personally trained by Gao Su. Gao Su is also the main instructor of the artillery department of Yangcheng, so he is very easy to command the artillerymen of Xing Tianjun.

Under the command of Gao Su, the heavy artillery team bombarded for two days and two nights in a row. Finally, the south gate of Pingyang Prefecture was bombarded by them, exposing the south gate. On the morning of the fifth day of April, Gao Su commanded a heavy artillery team to bombard the tower above the south gate of the city and bombarded it into pieces.

Under the order of Yan Chongxi, his generals flocked into Pingyang Mansion. Wang Zhong, the general of Pingyang, saw that the gate was broken. Even if he announced his surrender to the Xing Tianjun, he led his troops to stop the resistance and handed over Pingyang Mansion to Yan Chongxi.

For the civil servants in Pingyang Mansion, some of them chose to die and be killed in the country. There are also more people who simply chose to defect and surrender to Xing Tianjun. There was Fu Deming. As soon as Yan Chongxi broke through Pingyang Mansion, Fu Deming took over the civil affairs of Pingyang Mansion. In addition to Xiao Tianjian's requirement that the surrender officials should be cautious. Fu Deming learned about the style of most of the officials in Pingyang Prefecture, and showed some of the greedy officials on the spot. For most of the low-level officials, their criminal responsibility was spared, and some of them were directly valued and quickly recovered. The order of Pingyang Prefecture.

And the Pingyang general general Wang Zhong, Yan Chongxi did not treat him badly, kept his family property, did not confiscate, protected his family from infringement, and ordered him to go to Henan to report to Xiao Tianjian. Xiao Tianjian has his own arrangements for him. After all, Yan Chongxi is the head of a town, but he is not There is no such right.

The loss of Pingyang Mansion is another heavy blow by the Xing Tianjun to them in just a few days. Anyone can see it. As long as Daming's territory is lost, it is basically impossible to take it back from Xing Tianjun, and Pingyang Mansion is as big as Jinnan. The position is really important. As long as the Xing Tianjun takes down the Pingyang Mansion, it will never be easily returned to the court. It will definitely leave a heavy guard. With the current strength in Shanxi, even with the Xuanda troops under Chen Xinjia's command, it is estimated that it will be difficult to get it back.

What's more, when Yan Chongxi attacked Pingyang Mansion, Wang Chengping and Li Lingfeng in Jinbei also officially launched the Xingtian army flag. In just a month, nearly 10,000 people and horses gathered in the area of Shuozhou, north of Jin. Among them, there were more than 3,000 cavalry composed of fierce horse thieves. In addition, they Three battle camps were also set up, and completely began to reorganize according to the regular organization of the Xingtian Army. A large-scale Xingtian Army regiment was also formed in Jinbei. Moreover, when Yan Chongxi began to use troops in Pingyang Prefecture, they also began to attack in the Shuozhou area.

And at the instruction of Xiao Tianjian, as soon as Yan Chongxi returned to Jinnan, he transferred nearly 1,500 bird balls and self-made fire balls from the warehouse, and hundreds of short self-made fire balls. Through the business group of Fan Yaoshan's family, they were placed in the mezzanine at the bottom of the cart and transferred to the Jinbei area, which was handed over to Yan Chongxi and Li Lingfeng. In addition, the continuous secret support for them in the early stage made the two of them armed more than 2,000 firemen in a short time, and suddenly had quite strong combat effectiveness.

Although the regiment of Yan Chongxi and Li Lingfeng belongs to the newly formed regiment, Xiao Tianjian has also transferred a lot of personnel from Jinnan over the years to build the backbone of their regiment. They are basically the old subordinates of the Xing Tian Army, and in terms of training, the methods they use are also the standard military regulations of the Xing Tianjun. Although there are many new recruits, their combat effectiveness is not very weak. At least to deal with the officers and soldiers who are also short of training, they are only strong but weak. In addition, they have a cavalry formed by old horse thieves, and the combat effectiveness of the cavalry is even more fierce, so in just a month, they are reorganizing while fighting. Within the Great Wall, they quickly captured several counties such as Ningwu, Shenchi, Shanyin and Dai County. Although their ability to attack was limited and did not attack Dai County and Shanyin County, they swept away the territory outside these counties, basically cutting off the connection between Xuanda and Taiyuan, and also greatly restraining the energy of the Shanxi government. It makes it impossible to focus all on the war in Pingyang Prefecture.

(Chapter 6 is here today. Do you dare to ask which brother still has flowers in his hand? Stay!)