Number of People

Chapter 2160 The Gui Zi Juan is full of fighting spirit, and the soldiers are pointing forward

Wang Wenyan achieved a crushing victory in this dialogue with Zhu Ruqi. After making a promise, he would not only absolve Zhu Ruqi of the responsibility for the loss of the southern states and counties, but also provide him with powerful logistical support after the victory over the rebels. After the achievement, Zhu Ruqi decisively handed over the remaining two guards to Wang Wenyan, and combined them with Zhao Qianshan's Tongguan guards. In addition, he also handed over the Minzhuang of the three guards of 2,000 people to Wang Wenyan.

Even Wang Wenyan somewhat admired Zhu Ruqi's decisiveness. Previously, he looked down on this guy's timidity, but now it seems that this guy has some courage, but this courage must only be used after seeing the benefits.

When Wang Wenyan asked what to do about Puzhou's defense, Zhu Ruqi had already escorted all the gentry in Puzhou City to the lobby of Puzhou Institute and forced them to hand over control of all their soldiers and servants. In this way, he collected thousands of dollars. The remaining people serve as the city defenders to replace Minzhuang.

 Zhu Ruqi's move was quite smooth, but it was considered to offend these gentry to death.

But think about it, if Wang Wenyan and the others were defeated on the front line, or if Puzhou was captured by the rebel army, it wouldn't matter whether they offended these gentry or not. But once they won, the attitude of these gentry would change. After a big change, with power in hand, there are naturally other ways to deal with it.

Wang Wenyan and Zhao Qianshan could not care less about what Zhu Ruqi was doing in Puzhou City. After completing the logistical supply of grain and grass, they quickly sent troops northward and headed straight for Jiezhou.

Puzhou - Jiezhou - Changle Town - Siyancheng - Anyi - Xia County - Wenxi and Shenghui Town, this line is only two hundred miles away, but it is the essence of the entire Pingyang Prefecture, not only the Yanchi and the Nvyanchi The Great Salt Pond is here, and six prefectures and counties, plus the salt transfer offices of Hedong and Shaanxi, are established here. There are also two inspection departments and tax cards in Changle Town and Shenghui Town, one in the east and one in the west. In addition, this is the intersection of three provinces. It can be said that merchants gather here and materials are distributed here. It is no wonder that the rebel army is divided into two groups, but the main force is coming to this area.

As Feng Ziying said, if the rebel army really conquered this area and obtained the food and weapons from Puzhou and Xiezhou, as well as the warehouse salt and salt class silver from Si Yancheng, then their strength would have truly undergone a transformation, and they would be directly Now that we have reached a higher level, if the officers and soldiers want to annihilate them, they will have to spend several times more effort.

And more importantly, if they succeed and their strength grows, they are very likely to cross the river and return to the west to attack Xi'an Prefecture, or they can directly go east to attack Zezhou, Huaiqing, and Weihui, and disrupt the Central Plains. The world is in chaos.

This was also a factor why Feng Ziying had to spare no effort to get Tongguan Guard to send troops to intervene in the situation. Otherwise, if southern Shanxi was not peaceful, Xi'an would be uneasy. In addition, this was also the most sufficient reason he could explain to the court why he sent Tongguan Guard troops to Shanxi.

The Tongguan Guards led by Zhao Qianshan only had more than 2,000 people when they arrived in Puzhou. When they left Puzhou, they suddenly expanded to more than 6,000 people. Although 2,000 were just people, the people in Puzhou were not bad. , of course, it is impossible to expect them to fight a tough battle. If they can follow up to ensure food and grass supplies, it would be good to use them as masters. However, the two guards of Puzhou Institute are real elites, no better than the Tongguan Guards. How inferior.

When the 6,000-strong army rushed all the way to Jiezhou, there were already one or two scattered groups of rebel troops outside Jiezhou City. They did not expect that there would be officers and soldiers coming north for reinforcements. They were caught off guard and suddenly rushed out. scattered.

In less than two hours of this battle, more than 400 people were killed and more than 1,000 people were captured. However, Zhao Qianshan did not stop and directly handed over the more than 1,000 people to Jiezhou, and asked Jiezhou Prefecture to lead Minzhuang imprisoned more than a thousand prisoners and waited until they were done going north to discuss matters.

We also received some news from Jiezhou. Changle Town has been captured by the rebels, and Si Yancheng is under siege. The fighting is very fierce, but it has not yet been captured.

Wang Wenyan became more energetic after learning the news. When he left Puzhou, he had already met the people sent by Duan Xipeng to report the news. He knew that their group was waiting for help in Siyancheng. Now it seems that they are really heroes. At the same time, Duan Xipeng also chose Siyancheng, which was guarded by the guards, as a place to defend, and his judgment was not wrong.

Stabilizing the situation in the southern part of Pingyang Prefecture is just a rough idea of ​​Feng Ziying. It is obviously a bit difficult to do it with the strength of Tongguan Guards.

According to Wang Wenyan's prediction, it would be good to be able to defend the corner of Puzhou, Jiezhou, Ruicheng and Pinglu. It would be difficult to defend Siyancheng and Anyi Xia County, but this battle can be fought first, and Siyancheng's If the salt and salt class money are removed and the rebels cannot get their hands on it, it will be considered complete.

 If the situation is really bad, Jiezhou, Ruicheng, and Pinglu can be abandoned, and just hold on to Puzhou to ensure that the rebels cannot easily return west. After all, Feng Ziying is only the governor of Shaanxi, not the governor of Shanxi.

Just when Zhao Qianshan and Wang Wenyan defeated the rebel army at Kaizhou City, Man Gui and Duan Xipeng in Si Yancheng were already in danger.

The city wall of Siyan City is really too low, and the warehouse salt and Yanke silver in Siyan City are too attractive.

Originally, we thought that the rebel army would increase slowly. Who would have thought that within two days, there would be more than ten rebel troops outside Siyan City, more than 18,000 people, and they were still increasing.

Fortunately, they were not affiliated with each other and could not form a joint force. They fought independently, so they were defeated by Man Gui's troops during the two-day siege battle. However, as their strength continued to increase, they also realized that this Such aimless and random attacks are difficult to win, and these rebel armies have begun to cooperate with each other and even negotiate a tacit understanding, which is quite dangerous.

Once the rebel army truly unified its command, with an army seven or eight times their own, it would only take a day or two to capture Siyan City.

Mangui licked his chapped lips and inspected the city under the scorching sun.

The blade of the ring knife at his waist was a little curled up. He could no longer remember how many rebel soldiers he had chopped down, but he could remember at least five rebel leaders who were killed by his ring knife. That might have been ferocious. Faces of fear or anger still dangled before his eyes, giving him a sense of discomfort.

He is not a young man who has never fought and killed people, but it has to be said that he has killed ten times more people in the past two days than he has killed since the beginning of the army.

He also believed that his three soldiers stationed in Si Yancheng had never imagined that they would fight such a tragic battle. They never dreamed that in just two days, his side would kill more than 100,000 people. A thousand people rebelled against the soldiers, and their own side also suffered more than 200 casualties.

 The war will only become more and more fierce, especially as the enemy's organization and cooperation become more skillful and tacit, and their tactics become more and more targeted.

The rebel army is also growing, and of course, so is our own side.

Although it has been said before that the two battalions of the Puzhou Guards are considered to be the best among the entire Shanxi Dusi Guards, this only refers to the guard system.

To be honest, these guards have not gone through many **** battles. Compared with the border troops who have been harassed by the Tumut and Chahar people on the border wall all year round, they are inferior in terms of combat experience and fighting will. Even Mangui himself knows that, so he has been trying to change this.

 It’s just that combat experience and will cannot be accumulated through training alone. They cannot truly acquire and mature without going through a real war.

 Obviously, this battle can be regarded as serious. Even in Man Gui's eyes, the intensity of the battle was not enough. It was just because the number of rebels was too large and the casualties caused by repeated tug-of-war were too great.

If the same number of Tumuts were replaced, I'm afraid it would be far less able to hold on than it is now.

Don't think that the Tumuts are all cavalry and can only ride and shoot. They also have countless farmers who make a living by farming and living near the border walls. Once they are recruited, they are also good at attacking cities and villages. Here, At this point, Mangui had already seen it in Laoyingbao.

The city wall of Siyan City is less than two feet high. Even a random ladder built by the rebels can be easily put up directly on the top of the city. And the engineering vehicle made of some wood combinations has become the most dangerous siege weapon. A dozen or so crude siege engines can put the entire Siyan City into crisis.

Even if these siege vehicles and ladders are destroyed, in less than a day, the rebel army with sufficient manpower can easily build countless ladders and siege vehicles to come back. This situation has happened several times, and every time it will be He had to make his men pay hundreds of casualties to defeat the rebel army.

Still able to bear it, Man Gui assessed his subordinates and licked his lips.

 After these two days of fierce fighting, the temperament and will of the men have improved qualitatively, as if they were reborn.

This feeling is very subtle. Just by taking a glance, you can tell that they are different from what they were two days ago. They were leaning against the wall, gnawing on cooking cakes, sipping the water in the water bag, or sitting in the water. With the help of his companions, the wound was bandaged, and every movement revealed a difference from the original.

I have to be grateful that this group of rebels did not have a better understanding and proficiency at the beginning, nor did they launch attacks from several walls at the same time. Their previous clumsiness and unfamiliarity gave their side time to grow. and opportunities, otherwise Si Yancheng may be breached in the first wave of impact.

Mangui also had to thank the group of guys who fled into Siyancheng to ask for asylum. It was said that they were the soldiers of the governor of Shaanxi, but their combat effectiveness was indeed worthy of praise. Each of them should be veterans who had practiced in the border towns. The calmness and indifference shown by the rebels in the face of the crazy attack was indeed not comparable to that of the guards under his command. It was only because of the dispersed help of these people to stabilize the position that they were able to survive the past two days. Shockwave.

 (End of this chapter)