blogombal Page 2709
Page 2709
Wang Li Nengyu was shocked: "How come Longzhou didn't arrive so quickly?"
The cavalryman recounted the story in detail:
"Angel (Wang Cunli) led his army from Youzhou, and General Li led his troops from Shizhou. The two armies planned to attack Xiazhou from the north and south."
"Xiao Heda, a traitor from Xiazhou, launched a night attack on Angel on the way."
"The angels abandoned their army and fled, even their banners were taken away..."
"Xiao Heda returned to Xiazhou carrying the banner of an angel. General Li thought that an angel had arrived and hurriedly led his troops to greet him, but Xiao Heda caught them off guard."
"General Li was killed on the spot, Xiao Heda led his troops in a charge, and the Shizhou soldiers immediately collapsed and fled..."
"Xiao Heda led his troops to pursue them to the outskirts of Shizhou City, but fortunately, Supervisor Liu ordered them to hold the city at all costs."
"Seeing that it was difficult to attack the city, Xiao Heda led his army to Longzhou..."
“Longzhou has been bombarded by the Ming army for many days. Xiao Heda then took out the Angels flag and said that the Angels had been completely wiped out.”
"Faced with the enemy's encirclement, the city's defenders dared not fight any longer. They burned their provisions and rode away on horseback at night, and even sent a troop of cavalry back to Shizhou to report the news."
“The enemy forces there (Zhong Yanchong and Xiao Heda) marched north and surrounded Shizhou City.”
After hearing this, Wang Li Nengyu stood there dumbfounded.
With Shizhou City besieged, his escape route was also blocked!
Forget about scorched earth policies and evacuating the people of Shizhou; even the army would have difficulty withdrawing.
The Ming army's siege progressed too quickly, and Wang Cunli was too incompetent, causing the scorched-earth campaign of the Xiangyou and Shenyong military commands to completely fail.
Before it could be implemented, the Ming army had already shut it down and beaten it.
Wang Li Nengyu left the city wall in a daze, completely lost in despair.
The three cities, forming an irregular triangle—Shizhou, Yinzhou, and Shenyongjunsi—were originally positioned to support each other and provide rapid assistance, but now they are all under siege by the Ming army.
They're all like clay idols trying to cross a river; they can barely save themselves!
Yinzhou City, where Li Nengyu was stationed, was in the worst situation, being sandwiched right in the middle.
He might be able to escape to the other two cities, but wherever he runs from here, he'll be surrounded by enemies.
Another troop of cavalry came, and the Ming scouts sounded their horns to probe, and the opposing cavalry responded with their horns as well.
own people.
The cavalry was led to Zhang Xian's tent. After saluting, they reported, "General Zhang, Xiazhou City is still in Xiao Heda's hands, but Longzhou City has been captured by General Zhong."
"Currently, Generals Zhong and Xiao have each left troops to garrison the city and have led their armies to besiege Shizhou."
Zhang Xian was both surprised and delighted: "Longzhou and Xiazhou have both fallen to the Ming Dynasty, and Shizhou has also been besieged by you?"
"Isn't the city of Yinzhou right before us like a turtle trapped in a jar?"
The cavalry captain who delivered the message laughed and said, "General Zhong said that Commander Zhang doesn't need to rush. He should slowly besiege Yinzhou and come to help once he has captured Shizhou."
Chapter 3777 I Don't Need Your Help
"Bullshit, I don't need his help!" Zhang Xian was furious.
Zhang Xian and Zhong Yanchong held the same rank, but Zhang Xian was a local commander-in-chief, while Zhong Yanchong was a commander-in-chief from elsewhere.
Therefore, this army was led by Zhang Xian as the main general and Zhong Yanchong as the deputy general.
Now, the deputy general has captured one city and is besieging another.
And what about the commander-in-chief?
It's not even open for business yet!
The lieutenant even went so far as to say that he would come to help if they captured another city.
This is simply unreasonable.
The next morning, Zhang Xian summoned the head craftsman and gave him a firm order: "Speed up the construction of the cloud ladder and the Lügong chariot; the current pace is too slow."
"I will take Yinzhou in one fell swoop within ten days!"
That afternoon, while the artillery was still bombarding the area, the craftsmen were busy working to finish their work.
Suddenly, a bugle call sounded from the north, urgent and continuous, signaling Zhang Xian to send troops.
As Zhang Xian donned his armor, he shouted, "All troops, don your armor! Cavalry, mount your horses and prepare! Infantry, guard your camp!"
Fighting has broken out to the north, and the sounds are getting closer.
Wang Li Nengyu, who was in Yinzhou City, was also drawn to the battle in the north.
He saw a large group of Western Xia cavalry fleeing from the north, with Ming cavalry in hot pursuit, while Zhang Xian dispatched scout cavalry to help intercept them.
Soon, Zhang Xian led several thousand elite cavalry to the scene, joining forces with allied troops to launch a pincer attack on the Western Xia cavalry from the north and south.
Only two or three hundred of those Western Xia cavalrymen survived, fleeing westward and unable to get close to the walls of Yinzhou.
what's the situation?
Wang Li Nengyu stared blankly to the north, wondering if the city of Shenyongjun had also been captured by the Ming army.
Zhang Xian was also confused, so he rode forward himself and asked, "How is the battle going?"
Yao Pingzhong's subordinate Wu Lin laughed and said, "Let General Zhang know that Shenyong Army's city has been captured by us, and the four Western Xia strongholds further north have also been wiped out by our army."
"General Zhang, there's no need to rush. Just surround Yinzhou City. My general will come to help no later than the day after tomorrow."
Zhang Xian hesitated for a long time before finally managing to utter a few words: "I can manage on my own."
Wu Lin burst into laughter.
Zhang Xian returned to camp feeling depressed, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
Those damn bastards, they took the city way too fast, making me feel like a useless piece of trash.
Wu Lin's military rank was not high, and his strengths were overshadowed by his older brother Wu Jie, so he never had the opportunity to fully demonstrate his abilities.
Now, Wu Jie is a general in charge of a major force, while Wu Lin is still Yao Pingzhong's subordinate.
He sent a small cavalry unit back to report the news, while he led the remaining cavalry to Zhang Xian's camp to freeload.
Before long, Zhang Xian dispatched a large number of cavalrymen to shoot surrender notices into Yinzhou City, and also had these cavalrymen shout out messages.
"The cities of Shenyongjunsi, Xiazhou, and Longzhou have all been occupied by our Ming army."
"Shizhou City is also besieged; your city is completely isolated!"
"Bound in this isolated city, why not surrender? Are we all just waiting to die inside?"
After his speech, the morale of the soldiers in the city was thrown into chaos.
Of the surrounding cities, all except Shizhou City, which was besieged, had fallen.
Yinzhou is now a completely isolated city!
An isolated city means there are no reinforcements.
Wang Li Nengyu was at a loss, unable to imagine how many troops the Ming Dynasty had mobilized.
Without hundreds of thousands of troops, it would be impossible to attack all the Western Xia border cities simultaneously along a long battlefront.
Chapter 3778 Siege
With such a large force and such strong fighting power, not to mention the already declining Western Xia, even the Western Xia at its peak could not withstand it!
Let alone resist, the Ming army's offensive was so fierce that the Western Xia border troops didn't even have a chance to retreat.
A scorched-earth policy couldn't have been implemented last winter; otherwise, the Ming army wouldn't have needed to attack.
Countless displaced soldiers and civilians could rise up and kill the Western Xia emperor.
We can only take action after the snow melts in the spring. What kind of action is that?
Before anything even happened, the whole city was besieged.
Wang Li Nengyu was unwilling to surrender to the Ming army, so he summoned his generals one by one to talk and test their thoughts.
Half of the generals, especially the local chieftains, vaguely expressed their intention to surrender.
They refused to be trapped in an isolated city and die.
Wang Li Nengyu said to these generals, "You all return to your camps. I will organize the maps and household registers, and we will open the city gates and surrender to the Ming army tomorrow."
Generals who hoped to surrender were overjoyed, those who were unwilling to surrender were resentful, and those who were undecided breathed a sigh of relief.
Wang Li Nengyu quietly summoned the angry-looking general back, gave him some instructions, and began to rotate the troops. They agreed to burn the grain and escape at night.
They fled northwest, first to Anqingze (Uxin Banner), then across the desert to Shengwei City—the same route the Dingzhou uprising army took to escape to Xiazhou last year.
The plan is good, but it's too optimistic.
If Wang Li Nengyu doesn't think about burning the grain, even if his plan is discovered, the tribal chiefs who are preparing to surrender will probably turn a blind eye.
But burning grain is wrong.
These are all grains collected from various tribes, and every grain represents the hard work and sweat of our people.
Moreover, we surrendered to the Ming Dynasty with cities and grain, so we deserve some credit.
You bastard burned the grain! Aren't you just blatantly trying to trap us? What if you anger the Ming army?!
With so much grain and fodder, it would be too difficult to burn it all; the deployment was discovered as soon as the garrison was being rotated.
The tribal chiefs secretly contacted each other and decided to protect the grain and, incidentally, kill the enemy soldiers who were going to surrender the city of Linengyu to receive a reward.
"kill!"
A military camp in the northern district took the lead and charged towards the city gate.
The soldiers near the granary rushed to kill those preparing to set it on fire.
The remaining tribal chiefs attacked from all sides towards Li Nengyu's residence.
Wang Li Nengyu sent his trusted confidants to his own military camp, while he stayed at his residence pretending to organize maps and household registers. He was only protected by a mere twenty-odd personal guards.
Suddenly, all the departments rose up, and Li Nengyu was so frightened that he jumped over the wall and fled.
His entire family was arrested, and he himself was arrested on a street.
Wang Li Nengyu's trusted generals, as well as those who planned to escape with him, all panicked and fell into disarray.
Some led cavalry to break out of the city gates and escape, while others led troops to fight the rebels inside the city.
Two or three miles north and south of Yinzhou City, there were mountains, and Ming soldiers on the mountains were constantly observing the city with binoculars.
Seeing the fighting break out inside the city, the lookouts quickly waved their flags.
Upon learning of the situation, Zhang Xian laughed heartily: "Finally, I don't have to see their ugly faces anymore. My men, follow me to take Yinzhou!"
Hongzhou could not hold out any longer. Li Yanxian personally led the army to attack the city, and the number of large-caliber cannons was particularly large.
After twelve days of bombardment, a section of the city wall collapsed, creating a breach.
Chapter 3779 They All Ran Away
As the deputy commander, Li Yanxian was in charge of the Third and Fourth Army Corps, and generals such as Zhang Xian, Yao Pingzhong, and Zhong Yanchong were under his command.
Therefore, he didn't need to rush to claim credit. After learning that Zhong Yanchong had captured Longzhou, Li Yanxian continued his bombardment at a leisurely pace.
Li Yanxian besieged the city with infantry and a small number of cavalry, while a large force of cavalry was scattered between Hongzhou and Youzhou.
He hoped to continue the siege of Hongzhou, forcing Wang Cunli to come to its rescue, and then attack the reinforcements to eliminate the remaining forces of Western Xia.
As it turns out, Li Yanxian was overthinking things.
Wang Cunli didn't have the guts to come to the rescue!
The garrison of Longzhou abandoned the city and fled. Although Zhong Yanchong led his troops in pursuit, it was too dark to see clearly in the middle of the night, and the Western Xia army was fleeing on horseback.
Despite pursuing them for over twenty li, most of the Western Xia soldiers still managed to escape, with more than five thousand Western Xia light cavalry fleeing.
More than a thousand cavalrymen fled from Yinzhou City, and more than six hundred cavalrymen fled from Shenyong Army Commandery City.
They were so frightened that they wanted to cross the desert directly, but found that the Ming army was not pursuing them, so they circled around the edge of the desert and headed south to Yanzhou.