Nanming Engineer

Chapter 334 Encirclement and Anti-Encirclement
Wu Sangui didn't know anything about what happened in Fengxiang City at Qinling Pass after he left the camp. There was a little movement, but after the Kuizhou army led by Wang Huan entered the city, it didn't take much effort to calm down, and no one could go out of the city to report to the Qing army.

Therefore, neither Wu Sangui, Hahamu nor Meng Qiaofang knew about the news of a gap in the Qinling Mountains' natural dangers.

All in the dark.

Seen from the sky, the two groups of men and horses, separated by less than [-] miles, drove toward the direction of Xi'an City at full speed, one in front and the other in the back, like two dragons churning on the Loess Plateau, menacing.

Behind, of course, was Wang Huan's Kuizhou Army. They deliberately lagged behind Wu Sangui's Liaodong Army by almost a day, and rushed forward.

The one in front was Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi. He divided the army into two parts. Wang Pingfan and Li Benshen led 2000 elite Guanning iron cavalry, one man and two horses, to help Xi'an at full speed, and strive to appear in Xi'an in one day. Outside the city, on the one hand, spy on the real situation to see how many rebels there are; on the other, make an impression on Meng Qiaofang and Hahamu on the top of the city.

He himself led the infantry and the supply battalion, and moved forward steadily, keeping a distance from the cavalry, so as not to plunge into the pockets that the rebels might have laid.

……

The siege battle under the city of Xi'an has entered its fourth day.

On the first day and the second day, Wang Yongqiang sent about 5000 people every day to fill the trenches with mud bags and brave artillery fire, and filled the moats on both sides of the north gate and west gate of Xi'an City with a length of more than ten feet. The road was smooth, and the siege vehicle could be pushed directly to the base of the city wall, posing a great threat to the Qing troops defending the city.

The price paid for this was not small. Thousands of corpses were densely packed in the wilderness extending two miles away from the city wall. Blood flowed all over the field, and the yellow land was dyed red. Those who were lucky enough to survive were still alive. Groaning in pain, rotting flesh and bloody stumps were everywhere in the bomb craters, the smoke was like pillars, and the whole outside of the city was like hell.

The barrels of the artillery on the top of the city were all red, poured with water to cool them down, and fired again. Several Francophones exploded due to excessive use, and injured more than a dozen gunners. Even so, none of the Qing soldiers dared to There is no need for cannons for stacking children. There are so many people in the city, only cannons can give people a sense of security.

From the third day onwards, the official siege began.

Crowds like ants swarmed up, surrounding the north gate and west gate, surging like a torrent that submerged the earth. The eardrums, the long and simple ladders are as dense as the seedlings growing in the crops, several hastily built huge nest carts, with rollers on the bottom and shields on the top, arrows and birds can't be broken, and the height is higher than the city wall A few minutes, the upper hanging plate is equipped with iron hooks, once it is close, it can hold the crenel on the city wall tightly, and it cannot be pried open, and the dead soldiers on the nest car can rush up along the hanging plate and attack the city. head.

Meng Qiaofang had already personally boarded the North Gate Archery Tower, because the rebel attack here was the most ferocious, wave after wave of attacks continued, from sunrise to sunset, no less than tens of thousands of people shouted and rushed over.

Those mud-legged people don't even have a minimum of leather armor or other protective equipment on their bodies, so they dare to charge up with nails, rakes, and dung forks with red eyes. Facing the iron bullet and strong arrow, his body froze to bear it.

"Shoot, shoot, shoot!" Meng Qiaofang roared, holding a hard bow, and continuously shooting spikes and arrows out of the holes in the archery tower. He was originally a military commander, and he was skilled in bows and horses. At this time, he also regarded himself as an ordinary person. Little soldier, desperately trying to save his life.

What made Meng Qiaofang a little puzzled was that there were four city gates in Xi'an, and Wang Yongqiang obviously had so many people, why he only attacked the north gate, Anyuan Gate and West Gate, and ignored the South Gate and East Gate. besieged on all sides.

If the four gates attack together, Meng Qiaofang's men will only be so small, and there will be many loopholes. The fall of Xi'an City is only a matter of time.

Now only the north gate and the west gate are attacked, and there is a focus. The west gate is a feint attack, and the north gate is the main attack. Meng Qiaofang directly transferred most of the troops and concentrated them at the north gate. Some old and weak were left on the east and west to watch, basically undefended. , relying on the two thousand banner soldiers of Hahamu to support them.

Meng Qiaofang was puzzled, and neither was Wang Yongzhen.

He is heartbroken.

To be honest, Wang Yongzhen is a guerrilla general in the Yan'an camp. He has led soldiers for more than ten years under his brother Wang Yongqiang. He has never had so many people on hand, 10 people. He is more ambitious and wants to go to Beijing to become a soldier. The emperor has had enough.

But the eldest brother led such a huge team to Xi'an City. Although this was to support the overall situation of Ping Liangbo, a great man in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, it would be good to conquer Xi'an and be the local tyrant of Shaanxi for a few days.

It stands to reason that if 10 people go together, one person can tear down a brick and level the city of Xi'an, but the eldest brother just doesn't do that. He doesn't care about the east and south sides, and only focuses on the north gate, which is so wide in front. The power invested at one time is no more than [-] people, and the rest can only sit back and watch the show, wasting it in vain.

Looking at the people in front of him who fell like cutting wheat under the artillery fire of the Qing army, Wang Yongzhen felt more uncomfortable than others cutting his flesh with a knife. Although these people are untrained farmers, they are real resources. If one dies, one will be lost. It's just wasted in vain. What will I use to maintain my position in the future?

He licked his lips, looked in Wang Yongqiang's direction, and saw his elder brother standing on the top of the mound, looking nervously and solemnly at the city of Xi'an a few miles away, standing still while leaning on a long knife. The scabbard of the knife is several inches into the ground at the bottom.

Wang Yongzhen didn't dare to disturb him, so he could only touch Gao Youcai's hand and complained to him: "Tell me, why don't we leave the south and east side open, and pile them up to attack the north gate? Isn't this a waste? If four If we hit the door together, the city may have been broken."

Gao Youcai looked at him with contempt in his eyes. Although it had only been more than a month since he joined forces with the Wang brothers to rebel, he had already figured out the nature of the two brothers. You can't get rid of the limitations of your vision, but you can also be called a hero.

But his younger brother Wang Yongzhen is different. This guy is just a fool. He has no brute strength. He is tall but not very smart. He is not as good as a kid in the county.

Contempt is contempt, the explanation should be explained, lest Wang Yongzhen make trouble without authorization.

Gao Youcai said to Wang Yongzhen: "You can't say that. Of course we can do it, but in this way, our people have to be scattered. Xi'an City University, each gate is more than ten miles apart. General Wang You know, although there are many people in the army, they are mixed with dragons and snakes. There are all kinds of people. Most of them are refugees. .”

Wang Yongzhen was puzzled, and said in a muffled voice: "What's the matter? The generals of each faction will lead the army and scatter to attack the city. It's not easy to gather, so they gather slowly. What's the matter?"

Gao Youcai looked at this elm lump, and wished he could give him a whip, but he didn't dare, so he had to be patient and said: "At present, there are not many troops in the city, and they dare not go out to fight with me, of course it can be done as you said, but in case it is clear When the reinforcements arrived, they came in like a thunderbolt, and our army was scattered, and we were defeated one by one. If we want to gather together in a hurry, these refugees will only collapse in panic, and by that time, everything will be over."

Wang Yongzhen was stunned for a while, opened his mouth wide and thought for a while, then said, "No way? It's been so many days, the Qing army's reinforcements..."

Before they could finish speaking, they heard a shrill cry from a distance accompanied by the sound of horseshoes raining down. The two of them turned their heads to look, and a flying horse came between them. The soldier with a yellow flag on his back was a scout.

"Report~~~!!" The scout ran forward with panic, rolled his saddle off his horse, knelt on the ground and shouted to Wang Yongqiang: "Commander Zhen, ten li away to the west, we found a large group of Tartar cavalry coming to the city of Xi'an. , In the distance behind the cavalry, there is a large cloud of smoke and dust, judging from its scale, there should be a large group of people following!"

"What?" Wang Yongzhen turned pale with shock, and couldn't help but look at Gao Youcai.

Gao Youcai's face was serious, he was afraid of something coming, just now he said that the Qing army's reinforcements are coming.

Wang Yongqiang flicked the scarlet cloak on his body, turned around and turned around, his face was full of calmness, as if what the scouts said was in his expectation.

"Ming Jin withdraws troops." He said, "Self-defense in the stronghold!"

(End of this chapter)