The Red Mansions

Chapter 573 Jia Heng: If the inside should be available, the city will be broken tonight!

Chapter 573 Jia Heng: If the inside should be available, the city will be broken tonight!

Kaifeng Fucheng

In the afternoon, Jia Heng led a group of soldiers and horses to the capital city of Kaifeng. When they arrived in the capital city of Kaifeng, the team grew a little bit, mainly because Ding Zhuang from the surrounding counties heard that the imperial army came here, and the magistrate of Weishi County They brought two thousand Dingfu from Zhuxian Town in the southeast to support them.

And the relevant officials of the Henan Government Office in Tongxu County also sent people, leading a temporary organization of [-] young men to Zhuxian Town.

Previously, when bandits pretended to be officers and soldiers and attacked Kaifeng Mansion, they were caught off guard and beheaded the officials of the Governor’s Yamen and feudal officials of Henan Province. Some officials of the regular officials escaped from Kaifeng City and organized young and strong rebellions with the local prefectural and county officials. Gao Yue fell to Kaifeng Mansion. Those who have not come yet will clean up the surrounding counties.

At this moment, Cai Quan had already led the sentry to ride outside the city of Kaifeng to guard against the enemy.

At this moment, three thousand soldiers and horses were waiting in line at Xinzheng, Wansheng, and Guzi Gates at the west gate of Kaifeng Fucheng, and at the same time sent scouts along Kaifeng Fucheng to inspect the city defenses.

Because the enemy army and horses were all lost, facing the large-scale cavalry approaching by the imperial court, it was impossible to go out of the city to effectively respond, so they could only hide in the city and defend.

On the other hand, the officers and soldiers, if the siege of the city is found out, they can use cavalry back and forth to help in time, and achieve the goal of concentrating superior forces to attack the city.

At this moment, Gao Yue, Wang Sishun, Luo Jinzhong, He Guosheng, Li Yanqing and others in Kaifeng Fucheng stood on the gate tower, looking at the cavalry soldiers of the officers and soldiers coming and going like the wind. , self-contained, seeing this scene, most of the faces of the people became dignified.

Wang Sishun was a little hesitant, and said: "This army is well-groomed, no wonder the tall leader lost his troops and lost his generals, and returned without success."

As soon as this remark came out, everyone felt strange.

Gao Yue's face turned black, and he snorted coldly. Behind him, Li Zimin, Lai Haiyuan and the others mostly looked gloomy, glaring at Wang Sishun.

There were also four or five brothers beside Wang Sishun, who looked at Li Zimin and the others not to be outdone.

Luo Jinzhong rolled his eyes, made a haha, and said: "The officers and soldiers are coming in large numbers. We should think about the strategy to retreat from the enemy. Why bother to say these words that make others majestic and destroy our own ambition?"

Li Yanqing nodded, and said in a deep voice: "Brother Luo said it is true. Now that the officers and soldiers are coming in menacingly, we are all grasshoppers tied to the same rope, so we should work together."

Wang Sishun had a half-smile on his face, a sarcasm flashed in his eyes, each of you spoke better than you sang, and you are more prepared to escape these days than anyone else.

Luo Jinzhong said: "Great master, you have fought against the government army many times, and you have defeated the government army. Do you have a good strategy to defeat the enemy in the face of the imperial court?"

He Guosheng also looked at Gao Yue, and said: "Gao Da is the head of the family, and now the government and army are coming in menacingly. Whether the grand plan of anti-Han and Ming Dynasty can be accomplished depends entirely on whether Kaifeng can be defended."

Gao Yue shook his head, and said: "Now that things have come to an end, the only thing we can do is guard the city gates, guard the city defenses, and stand against the officers and soldiers."

Wang Sishun looked at the continuous stream of soldiers and horses in the distance, and said in a low voice: "I see that there are still a large number of infantry coming from the imperial court. Zhou Fang in Kaifeng prefecture and county may also have soldiers and horses to help him. I'm afraid it will continue to delay. There will be more and more court soldiers and horses around."

Chen Han implemented the system of separation of military and government, setting up guards at the government level to command, and at the county level, the Qianhusuo or county captains stationed at the county level were given the rank of six ranks of defense. In coastal provinces such as Shandong and Fujian, according to the needs of guarding against pirates Add the title of admiral of the first rank and be in charge of the military affairs of one or several provinces, while military prefectures in the border areas have the military affairs of the third and fourth ranks. government control.

However, the former commander of Xuanwuwei had already died in the battle in Runing Mansion, and the surrounding prefectures and counties were short of troops. After the city was broken, they either died or fled. Ding Zhuang, I heard that when the imperial army arrives, it is bound to draw troops to help Kaifeng Mansion.

Li Zimin said coldly: "Wang, if you are afraid, you can run away by yourself, don't say these depressing words again and again."

Gao Yue looked solemn, and said, "Third Brother, don't be rude."

Wang Sishun sneered and said, "I'm afraid of the officers and soldiers. I'm just worried that I won't be able to fight the great cause. Now that the officers and soldiers are powerful, let me say that we should keep our useful bodies and plan later. We will fight the battle of defending the city. Where is it?" The opponent of the official army?"

As soon as this remark came out, the faces of everyone around changed, and their hearts murmured.

It can be said that the mutterings in the hearts of everyone in the past few days were expressed at once.

The city of Kaifeng has been fought, and what should be robbed is also robbed. It is time to go to the next place, and spend a lot of money in the city against the government and the army.

As for taking revenge on those three thousand brothers, wouldn't it be possible to take revenge in another place?

Gao Yue saw that the masters of more than a dozen forces not far away were all excited, and he couldn't help but feel even more disappointed. He thought about his words and encouraged him: "Everyone, now a large number of imperial court officials and troops are coming, and most of them are on horseback. Pawn, even if we want to withdraw from the Kaifeng mansion, we have nowhere to go, and the only way we can do it now is to survive."

When everyone heard the words, they all nodded in agreement, but they were actually absent-minded. After Gao Yue hurriedly explained, they each returned to the city walls and gate towers they were assigned to defend.

However, at this moment, everyone suddenly heard an exclamation.

I saw a rain of arrows from the cavalry of the officers and soldiers in the distance, and everyone was hiding.

Suddenly, a bandit picked up the notice of surrender made of yellow paper and books on it, and asked a leader, "What is written on it?"

The fat boss opened his head and looked at it, but he was stunned, only to see the words on it: "10 officers and soldiers have arrived in Kaifeng Mansion. Those who kill Gao Yue will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of silver, and those who are captured alive will be rewarded with twenty thousand taels of silver..."

Not only the notice of surrender, but also various rewards.

At this time Gao Yue was leading Lai Haiyuan and Wei Bochuan towards the Governor's Yamen, and Ma Liang, the commander of the personal guards, also held a notice in his hand, saying, "Brother, look at this."

Gao Yue's pupils shrank sharply, and he said coldly: "This is the court's trick to attack the heart!"

He rolled it into a ball and said: "Immediately order someone to confiscate these notes, and they must not be passed on."

"Brother, I'm afraid it's too late. The officers and soldiers are shooting arrows at the city walls everywhere. I'm afraid it has spread by now." Ma Liang said worriedly.

Wei Bochuan also took a piece of paper from the accompanying staff, his complexion changed, he gritted his teeth and said, "Only my name is on it, and the other companies don't mention a word. Obviously this is to divide us."

His name was also impressively on it. Those who were captured alive were rewarded with 2000 taels of silver, and those who were killed were rewarded with 5000 taels of silver. Obviously, the imperial court wanted to die!

special!

Gao Yue's face was ugly, and he walked towards the governor's office without saying a word.

I don't know if it was his illusion, but he always felt that the people around him looked at Gao Yue and his men with vaguely strange eyes along the way.

At this moment, in the inn [-] paces north of the Governor's Yamen, the window was opened, and three young men dressed in coarse cloth looked at Gao Yue and his party in front of the Governor's Yamen.

"My lord, the governor is outside the city right now, when will we?" Ding Jing, a well-dressed household beside him, asked in a low voice.

Since Qu Lang entered Kaifeng City, he led more than 50 or [-] masters in brocade clothes. It didn't take long for him to gather two or three hundred people. Now he is guarding the Dailou Gate in the south with four other forces.

"You need to get in touch with the adults, otherwise it will be difficult for us alone to make trouble." Qu Lang said in a low voice, then looked at Ding Jing, and said in a low voice: "When it gets dark, you can go across the city , and communicated with the outside world, there are a lot of thieves fleeing at this time, just to deceive people's eyes and ears."

Ding Jing nodded and agreed.

Outside the city of Kaifeng, it was already afternoon, the sun was shining on the surface of the Bian River in front of the city of Kaifeng, the breeze was blowing slowly, and the waves were sparkling.

The Jingying army led by Jia Heng has also arrived at the ancient city of the previous year one after another, dispatching soldiers and horses to the south and east walls of the city, while more than ten thousand soldiers and horses are waiting at the west gate of Kaifeng Fucheng in front of the north gate.

As the saying goes in the book, there are more than ten thousand people, and there are no boundaries. At this moment, nearly ten thousand officers and troops are in front of the Kaifeng city, forming a team of one thousand people, forming five outposts in the front, back, middle, left, and right. Take two thousand.

The army of [-] in the rear and the [-] peasants organized by Weishi County loaded the temporarily found mule carts with siege equipment and ladders, and transported them to several other cities. At the same time, they erected archery towers. Only the hunting sound of the flags and banners of the army camp and the yelling of pushing the chariot can be heard.

From time to time, under the city, there are still some officials and cavalrymen from hundreds of households in the Beijing camp looking at the city of Kaifeng, talking with their companions in low voices.

The atmosphere before the war was too quiet, even a little depressing.

But it was so silent, but it made the thieves on the city wall fearful.

In fact, even if Gao Yue was stationed in Huguang, Henan and other places, he had never seen such a quiet army, let alone the bandits who had been hunting down and hiding in Tibet.

Jia Heng was sitting on the horse watching the city of Kaifeng, and asked Liu Jixian, "Go and send someone to call Cai Gueran over."

"Yes, my lord." Liu Jixian clasped his fists in response, then turned his head and ordered his guards to look for Cai Quan.

Princess Xianning looked at the city of Kaifeng and said: "Sir, I look at the city, it seems that there are not too many people."

In her imagination, thieves gathered hundreds of thousands of people, even if it was false, but even if there were 6 or [-] people, it would still be crowded with banners and crowds.

Jia Heng explained: "Earlier, Cai Quan said that the rebels were engulfing the rebels in Kaifeng Mansion. I heard that many officers and soldiers fled. Now there are only more than 2 people in Kaifeng Mansion, and the defense force is quite insufficient. Don’t underestimate them, we’ll test their defensive strength later.”

The essence of attacking a city is to mobilize the opponent's defensive force, not to distribute troops equally.

At this moment, two captains in Jinyi led Cai Quan on horseback.

Cai Quan cupped his fists and said, "Jie Shuai."

"The enemy situation on the city wall has been detected, how is it?" Jia Heng asked straightforwardly.

Cai Quan said: "Reporting to Marshal Jie, there are many soldiers and horses in the west city wall, and the two city gates in the south and the Chenzhou gate, Nanxun gate, and Dailou gate in the east are less thieves. At the end, you will try to let the cavalry approach you. Pay attention. After a while, some city walls don’t even see people.”

Even though Gao Yue had already sent a few of his brothers to patrol the city, beating gongs and waving flags as warnings, so that troops could rush to help, but the city walls of Kaifeng Prefecture were long, like spreading sesame seeds, and there were always places that could not be taken care of.

Jia Heng frowned, thought for a while, and ordered: "It seems that the bandits are not strong enough in the four cities, so we need to respond flexibly at this point of the battle. Later, my army will make a tentative attack. You take five hundred Sentry cavalry, spread out to observe the city defense, the bandits belong to many departments, once the city is defended, there will be no coordination, and then it will be our chance."

In fact, Kaifeng City has not been defended much during the several experiences of being besieged, from Li Cunxu in the Later Tang Dynasty to the Jin soldiers going south, and then to the peasant army besieging Kaifeng Mansion later.

"Yes, Jie Shuai." Cai Quan obeyed and rode away.

Princess Xianning said: "Sir, are you going to attack the city soon?"

"Explore the attack first, and try the defense of the bandits." Jia Heng said in a low voice.

Attack first, and wait for Qu Lang's news when it gets dark again.

If you don't wait for the pawns to come, you can only use internal tactics. Otherwise, if you can't attack in one wave, you have to wait another four or five days for the pawns to catch up.

A look of worry appeared on Princess Xianning's jade face, and she secretly prayed in her heart, hoping that everything will go well.

At this moment, Xia Houying was staring at the Kaifeng city in the distance, her eyes seemed to see through the walls, and she fell on the hundreds of thousands of people in the city.

And as time passed, it was Shen time, at which time in the evening, all the earthworks of the officers and soldiers were ready, several archery towers were erected, and the dismantled door panels were placed in front of the carts to cover the attack.

"Dong dong..."

With the rumbling of war drums, a large number of officers and soldiers began to carry the ladders, set them on the relatively narrow part of the extradition ditch, and rushed towards the city gate. The officers and soldiers with shovels were going to dig a hole in the west wall of the city nearby, and use the magic machine battalion they carried Flint powder exploded the city wall because there was no horse face on the west wall.

At this moment above the city gate, He Guosheng and Li Yanqing saw the scene of the officers and soldiers attacking in an orderly manner. They looked at each other, and they could see the solemnity in each other's eyes.

Then with just a quick glance, one can detect the gap between the officers and men and the others.

"Beat the drum, all the troops are on alert, defend the city to the death!" He Guosheng gave an order, then drew his waist knife, and began to order his brothers to resist the attack of the army, no matter how timid they were, they had no choice but to fight first Besides.

And Li Yanqing also brought bows and arrows, and began to shoot long distances at the officers and soldiers relying on the turret.

Gao Yue in the city led Wei Bochuan, Lai Haiyuan, Li Zimin and more than a thousand men as a reserve team to go to and fro on the city wall to warn. Of course, so many soldiers and horses scattered in the city were obviously not enough to defend, and they played the role of firefighters.

In the city of Kaifeng, there are 9000 bandits and 5000 strong men, and 8000 bandits and [-] strong men are gathered on the west wall, which is a total of [-] people. In the south, there are [-] bandits and [-] strong men. To the east were [-] rebels plus [-] men, and to the north there were still [-] rebels plus [-] men.

At this moment, the three walls were attacked in unison. The officers and soldiers rushed towards the city wall, set up ladders to climb towards the city wall, and set up a dozen archery towers below, shooting bows and arrows at each other.

As time passed, "Boom!!!"

A hole was blasted under the southwestern city wall, but it was not penetrated for a while. When arrows rained down on the rocks, the soldiers hurriedly hid in the hole for a while.

The ladder was built on the city gate tower, and began to climb the ladder, and attacked the city wall. The rolling wood and rocks were thrown down, and the officers and soldiers fell along the ladder.

There were also those who rushed up the city wall to fight against the bandits, but after all, there were too few people, and they were driven down before the results of the battle were expanded.

While excavating soil and blasting the hole in the wall, amidst the continuous "booming" sound, I saw the hole wide for two people, leading directly to the city of Kaifeng.

The officers and soldiers were overjoyed to see this, and were about to rush into the entrance of the cave.

The thieves were in a hurry when they learned that the army had blown up the city wall. Ma Liang, Gao Yue's personal guard, led 300 people to rush all the way to help, resisting the attack of the imperial army. I was in a hurry for a while.

The officers and soldiers took the tins and gunpowder and threw them at the people at the entrance of the cave. For a while, a raging fire ignited and the sound of explosions kept ringing. Blind in one eye, he was rushed to the city for treatment by his subordinates.

The raging fire prevented the officers and soldiers from advancing, and naturally gave the bandits time to react.

Gao Yue and Li Yanqing arrived with 500 people to cover Ding Zhuang and built a blockade with earth bags, and sent additional troops to defend from a long distance with bows and arrows, and sniped the officers and troops who entered from the cave.

In this way, the army and the bandits came and went, unknowingly, the sun was setting and the dusk was getting darker. Except in the southwest corner of the city, after the army once occupied a piece of land at the head of the city, it was not too difficult for the army to attack the city. Big progress.

Although the thieves' will to resist was mediocre, their geographical advantages were obvious. Coupled with the rapid rescue of Gao Yue's troops, they blocked the siege of Guan Guan's army for nearly an hour.

Jia Heng looked at this scene expressionlessly, and told Liu Jixian beside him, "Ming Jin withdraws troops."

"Clang clang..."

Accompanied by the sound of the gong, the officers and soldiers receded slowly like the tide, but the bandits cheered from above the city gate, as if they had won the victory.

However, He Guosheng's face was gloomy, and he hurriedly ordered his men to light up torches to prevent the officers and soldiers from attacking at night, and then went to the governor's yamen to meet Gao Yue.

The combat power of the officers and soldiers far surpassed that of the soldiers and horses of the capital. They still defended the city, but they were caught in danger several times. If the officers and soldiers attacked with all their strength, they would definitely not be able to stop them.

Not long after, Jinyi Qianhu called Cai Quan, Qu Guang and other generals over, clasped their fists and said, "Jie Shuai."

Jia Heng frowned and asked, "How about attacking the city from the other two directions?"

Qu Guang shook his head and said: "The bandits relied on the fortified city and gained the benefits of the city. Although our army was brave and killed a lot, the bandits ran to support and failed to open the city gate."

"It's from Gao Yue." Jia Heng's face was gloomy, and he said in a low voice: "Today, the city wall can be breached several times, and they have to be assisted by this person, but they can't last long like this."

This kind of firefighting is very exhausting. Gao Yue's troops now only have more than a thousand soldiers and horses, and they lost a lot of troops just now.

"Jie Shuai, the thieves in my place are lax in defense, and have rushed to the city wall several times, but they are a little far away from the city gate. If we send more troops, we may succeed." Cai Quan said in a low voice.

Jia Heng frowned and asked, "Where?"

"Dailou Gate and Chenzhou Gate." Cai Quan said in a low voice.

Jia Heng thought for a while, and said: "The bandits initially resisted our army's siege, and tonight is bound to celebrate with each other. Our army will first bury the pot and make food, and gather the wounded soldiers, and we will make calculations later."

It was originally a test before, but now it has basically been tested, and the defense in the south is empty. Of course, this is also because the heavy troops are concentrated in the west to block the main force of the official army.

If the number of casualties is not required, as long as the Kaifeng mansion is needed, it can be done overnight, but the losses will inevitably increase. These are the cavalry pawns that the imperial court has managed to accumulate. He is the commander of the Beijing camp and cannot be quick. broken.

"Sir." Princess Xianning said with concern on her face, "The bandits are powerful, do you want to wait for the pawns to come?"

Jia Heng pondered and said: "Your Highness, please be safe and don't be impatient. We will mobilize troops and horses in the middle of the night before making any calculations."

He is still waiting for news from Qu Lang, if it is available, the city will be broken tonight!

(End of this chapter)