novelraw Chapter 790 The Carpenter Emperor 45
Chapter 790 The Carpenter Emperor 45
It has not been nine days yet, and the weather in Shenyang is already so cold that the dripping water turns into ice, and the breath turns into frost.After a few heavy snowfalls, no one wants to stay outdoors unless necessary.The northwest wind howled and blew across the city tower, even blowing away the mist from the officers shouting against the wind.
At this time, when I was speaking outdoors, there was a big cloud of white mist in front of my eyes.
The soldiers guarding the city, in pairs, quickly climbed up the battlements with half a bucket of water, and poured buckets of cold water on the city wall continuously, or poured buckets of cold water on the city wall, or a radius of one foot from the base of the city wall Inside.The reason for this is to make the long ladder of building slaves to attack the city no place to stand, no place to rely on.
Since Sentinel reported that Jiannu sent a large group of troops southward three days ago, Shenyang, Fengji, and Liaoyang began to water and build ice.When Nu/Erhachi arrived with the army, what greeted them was the ice city that dared not open their eyes to see it under the sun.
The idea of this ice city was provided by Wang An, the eunuch and eunuch of Bingbi who rushed to Shenyang at the end of October.Wang An led the [-] Imperial Guards who came to support, not only sent enough food, grass and military pay for the winter, but also brought the new emperor's imperial decree, and made great contributions to defending Shenyang and Liaoyang.
Wang An especially emphasized that the meaning of the emperor is to guard, and there is no need for them to go out of the city to fight with Jiannu.Then hand over the [-] forbidden army to Xiong Tingbi for arrangement.For other military matters, even if he followed Xiong Tingbi and Zhou Yongchun every day, he just listened to them and resolutely did not interrupt.Everything is a sentence "Our family does not understand military affairs, and the master of business strategy is in charge."
Both Xiong Tingbi and Zhou Yongchun knew that Wang An was the emperor's trusted predecessor.Don't look at him stepping down from the position of eunuch in charge of ceremonies and losing the admiral of Dongchang, but now he is the eunuch in charge of Qianqing Palace, which is the emperor's bedroom.In private, everyone had speculated why he returned to the position he had when Guangzong was in power, but they couldn't come up with any convincing reasons. In the end, they could only say that Wang An didn't love power.
Not only does he not love power, he is not greedy for money.He would not accept any gold, jewels or treasures given to him.The civilian and military generals under the command of Liaodong Economic and Strategy Mansion were very afraid of this incomprehensible supervising army, even Xiong Tingbi and Zhou Yongchun were worried that Wang An would go back to the emperor and say something.A group of civil servants and generals used countless tricks to get the truth out of the mouths of the two little eunuchs who served Wang An.
——"The emperor ordered that no trouble should be caused in Liaodong, and no money should be collected, otherwise, he will rush to guard the imperial tomb."
If someone dared to ask Wang An, Wang An's answer would definitely surprise people.When he first served as the Supervisor of Rites and the Admiral of the East Factory, he was so busy every day that he still couldn't complete or do well the tasks assigned by the emperor.So he had a clear judgment on his own abilities: he was not that capable, he couldn't manage so many things of the chief inspector, and he couldn't figure out the twists and turns of the inner court's various prisons, let alone those of the East Factory. It needs to cooperate with Jin Yiwei.
Rather than waiting to be beheaded by the emperor if something goes wrong, it is better to let go as soon as possible and choose what you can do well to take on the burden.Anyway, with the trust of the emperor, except for Liu Shimin and Zou Yi who can sit on an equal footing with him, no one else will bow their heads to him and call him Lord!As for the cash register and so on, Xinjun had already made it clear that he would not kill himself if he asked for money.Just look at the fate of those eunuchs who were sent out to be tax envoys. Which one didn't add the looted property to the emperor's West Sixth Palace treasury, and at the same time took his own life.
I still live well, stronger than anything else.
Xiong Tingbi and Zhou Yongchun climbed to the watchtower of Shenyang city wall, looked north, and saw the densely packed slave camps on the white and thick snow, which made people tremble.
And these tents happened to be outside the range of the red cannons defending the city.
Xiong Tingbi cursed, then turned to talk to Zhou Yongchun.
"Meng Tai, do you think there are 10 Jiannu people here? Did all the people come out?"
Zhou Yongchun nodded, "The Son of Heaven kills Shanxi merchants, and the border ban comes into effect, so the slaves will have no food to survive the winter. If they can't get enough food and grass here in Shenyang, I'm afraid Ha Chi will not be able to keep the status of the Jurchen tribes he ordered .”
Both of them knew in their hearts that a few days ago, Jiannu sent a small group of rangers to wander under the Shenyang city wall. If the emperor hadn't ordered the city to guard the city, the impatient commander-in-chief He Shixian would repeat the old incident against Jiannu in summer. Go out of the city and annihilate these scouting rangers.It was Zhou Yongchun who held down Xiong Tingbi, who was about to curse, and came forward to persuade He Shixian, who was asking for a fight.
"He Zongbing, it is a great contribution for the emperor to have a decree to defend the city. If you lead people out of the city to attack the rangers, if you are ambushed, who will guard the city of Shenyang? Don't be greedy for small achievements, there are great achievements waiting for you."
As expected by Xiong Tingbi and Zhou Yongchun, Jiannu who came out in full force surrounded Fengji and Shenyang the next day.Fengjibao and Shenyang City, which made Xiong Tingbi help each other, neither of them could dispatch troops to rescue the beleaguered side, so they could only fight on their own.
Xiong Tingbi let out a puff of white air, "God, this thief is going to freeze to death. You must guard Chai Guozhu in Fengji."
Zhou Yongchun persuaded him with a smile, "General Chai knows the will of the emperor. We reminded him repeatedly a few days ago. Besides, there are so many slave cavalry, as long as he doesn't want his soldiers to die, he will never lead the army." Get out of the castle. Let's go back to the Jinglue Mansion, and this place will be handed over to Mr. He."
He Shixian immediately stepped forward, "Master Jinglue, don't worry, the last general will guard this city wall."
He accompanied Xiong Tingbi and Zhou Yongchun around the city wall, looked far into the distance, and roughly figured out the strength of Jiannu's siege troops.Generally speaking, the attacking force must be at least five times that of the defending force.Now there are [-] to [-] healthy soldiers in Shenyang City, and [-] to [-] auxiliary soldiers. They can't win a one-on-one fight with Jiannu when they go out of the city, but they are still more than enough to defend the city.
Xiong Tingbi reached out and patted He Shixian on the shoulder, "This is not a matter of a day or two, it may take several months. The soldiers are changed every two hours, and you and the lieutenant are also changed in the same way. I will let people prepare under the tower. I bought enough cold-dispelling ginger soup. If anything happens, you immediately send soldiers to the Jinglue Mansion, and Zhou Jinglue and I will always have someone guarding the Jinglue Mansion."
On the way back, there was only their horse team of more than a hundred people.From the beginning of the Siege of Slaves, martial law was issued, and people were not allowed to go to the streets, and they could only keep their cats at home.Fortunately, people in Liaodong have the habit of storing enough cabbage and radishes at home for one winter.Due to the tension in the form, after the summer of building slaves and besieging the city and not allowing the common people to go to the streets, almost every family also stored a considerable amount of firewood and rice.
Nu/Erhaci took all the Cheng Ding that Jurchen could mobilize, and went south to Shenyang and Fengji Fort.But whether it is Shenyang or Fengji, the city walls are covered with thick ice.The snow under the wall was also because of the watering for several days, the ice surface was slippery, not to mention a ladder, even if the soles of the boots were tied with fur and other anti-slip materials, it would not stand stably.
I am afraid that the city will not be captured.
Nu/Erhachi is surrounded by E Yidu, He Heli, An Feiyangu and Hu Erhan whom he trusts very much.These people followed him in the early days of his army, and their years of combat experience made them tacitly realize that Shenyang and Fengji are difficult to attack this year.
Nu/Erhachi is an excellent commander with great military talent.In terms of military strategy, he has always adhered to the idea of concentrating troops, breaking down individually, besieging cities, cooperating with outsiders, cavalry galloping, and making quick decisions.It is said in history that he "used soldiers like a god".In the Battle of Saerhu, facing several lines of Ming's army, he would take no matter how many lines you came, and I would only fight all the way.Relying on Jurchen's strong mobility enough for war horses, he moved nearly a thousand miles in five days, causing the Ming army to drop [-] to [-] corpses.It has become a classic example of concentrating forces and winning more with less in the history of Chinese military affairs.
He also prefers to use the tactics of luring the enemy, forming a small group of more than a hundred people to detect the opponent's military deployment and capabilities.If the Ming army sent people to pursue them, he would often send several times as many cavalry to intercept, kill half and let go, and then follow the fleeing soldiers into the city.If the general guarding the city did not let these soldiers enter the city, he would shoot and kill those soldiers who fled to the gate of the city in front of the guarding soldiers.As a result, the confidence of the soldiers defending the city was greatly affected.
However, the old tricks used in the past few days did not get the expected response in Fengji and Shenyang.The two places didn't seem to see those rangers, allowing them to wander around under the city wall.
Worse news also came back to Nu/Erhaci's ears one after another. In the villages with a radius of tens of miles, not only could no Han people live, but in those vacant houses, there was not even a grain of rice and half a stick of firewood. Not left.
This is also what Wang An brought to Xiong Tingbi to "strengthen the wall and clear the wilderness".
Er Yidu suggested: "Khan, try using artillery first?"
Nu/Erhachi nodded.He has fought with the Ming army for many years, and has been hit by the Ming army's firearms many times. He knows the power of firearms and knows that if he wants to break through the fortress, "cannons must be used."When attacking Fushun, Tieling, and Kaiyuan, he first used firearms to suppress the defenders of the Ming army on the city wall, and then took the opportunity to lean over the ladder to let the Han slaves lead the way to the city.This time he went south with all the Jurchen artillery and all the guns/powder.
Xiong Tingbi, Zhou Yongchun, and Wang Anku were sitting in the Jinglue Mansion, and the sudden boom of cannons made the three of them jump.
Wang An couldn't hold his breath, and asked, "This is the start of the fight."
Zhou Yongchun listened intently, and then said, "This is Jiannu's cannon, not ours."
Xiong Tingbi stood up and said, "I'll go to the city wall to have a look."
Wang An held out his thumb in admiration, and praised: "Master Zhou is well aware of the difference between the artillery of the enemy and our own."
Zhou Yongchun smiled, "Wang Neixiang praised it. The sound of the artillery is just a bit farther away."
While talking, he got up and put on his cloak, "Brother Fei Bai, I'll go with you to see what's going on."
Wang An also got up and hurriedly followed the two of them, galloping towards Beicheng.
The [-]-day Liaodong Defense War started.