Chapter Seventy-Five: The Second Battle of Guilin II

Although Cao Zongyu's status in the Southern Expeditionary Army was not explicitly stated, in the hearts of many people, even Zhang Xuan, he had acquiesced in his heart. But no matter what others think, Cao Zongyu is very self-aware. He did not dare to go beyond it.

Therefore, Cao Zongyu is quite bold in many decisions in terms of war, but in political affairs, he is cautious in many places.

In any case, Zhang Xianbi, who came from Hunan, did not dare to disobey Cao Zongyu's orders. Cao Zongyu also completed the integration of this small 100,000 Xia army, and then gave an order to prepare to attack the city.

On the siege of the city, Cao Zongyu did not play any tricks. It is a regular fight, just like the siege of Kaifeng Mansion, all kinds of siege equipment, artillery firearms, and even the method of attacking and collapsing, are rarely used. The reason is simple.

It is because there are several rivers around Guilin. It's too close to the river, dig a few meters down, and there will be spring water gushing out.

In such a situation, it is impossible to use the method of collapse.

And Cao Zongyu's main attack is still at the south gate.

Several battalion leaders worked together, together with local recruits, and it was easy to dig a canal in the upper reaches of the Yangjiang River and divert the water from the upper reaches of the Yangjiang River. To the south of Guilin City, the Yangjiang River, which is used as a moat, has dried up. Cao Zongyu immediately ordered countless soldiers to work together to fill in countless earthworks on the Yangjiang River.

Although the Ningyuan Bridge was demolished.

However, on the Yangjiang River, an attack surface far superior to the Ningyuan bridge deck was paved.

Zhang Xianbi took the men and horses of his headquarters to escort countless siege equipment, ladders, well railings, Lu buses, etc., most of which were not much different from the height of the city wall, and they all seemed to be giants surrounded by ants. And there are large and small rows of artillery in the back.

One door after another spewed flames. One shell after another exploded above the south gate. A large area of masonry was broken, and the Ming army could not raise its head.

The south gate of Guilin was slapped hard when Zhang Xuan retreated. The big banyan trees were already dying, almost dying. It took more than half a year to recover, and the scene where the branches and leaves shrouded the south gate was no longer visible. It's just two swaggering branches and leaves sticking out of the diagonal direction, as if to prove that it is still alive.

However, after surviving last year's war, it seems that it can't survive this year's war.

Although the south gate is the main attack, it does not mean that the other gates have not attacked, especially the east of Guilin is the Li River, Lin Cha simply crossed the boat on the Li River and bombarded the city head with artillery. Although the carrying capacity of these ships was due to the fact that there were not many cannons on each ship. But there was still the rumbling sound of cannon coming from afar.

Cao Zongyu looked at the Ming army at the head of the city from a distance, and the Xia army, which had already rushed up wave after wave, secretly estimated in his heart, and said secretly: "This Guilin city can't last long." ”

No matter how powerful Qu Shiyun is at this moment, it is also difficult for a clever woman to do

Make bricks without straw. Under the attack of nearly 100,000 soldiers, the city of Guilin was in turmoil, and such a situation would accelerate the collapse of the morale of the soldiers defending the city. Maybe it can hold out for a day or two, but it will also be infinitely advanced because of the instinct of the soldiers to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.

"Three days." Cao Zongyu judged in his heart. "Within three days, this Guilin city will be broken."

Just when Cao Zongyu was full of ambition on the front line, Zhang Xuan could finally sleep in Guangzhou.

To be honest, Zhang Xuan never thought that sitting in the rear was more worrying than leading troops to fight.

As soon as the war started in Wuzhou, Fu Shangrui almost worked under Zhang Xuan's nose, and Zhang Xuan looked at everything about the military, and Zhang Xuan stared at all the things such as transferring food and military supplies everywhere, for this one thing. Zhang Xuan dismissed three magistrates in a row.

Let the local officials below suddenly realize that the officers in the Xia Army and Qiu Ba in the Ming Dynasty are definitely not the same status.

The status of civil officials in the Ming army was high, although because of the collapse of the imperial court system, some martial artists such as Zuo Liangyu rode on the heads of civilian officials. But the fundamental perception is still the same. Many people are not in a hurry about military affairs, but Zhang Xuan told them with practical actions what is a major military matter.

With Zhang Xuan's urging, no one in the ministries dared to adjust the chain. It is even said that the transfer of military supplies in various places has been overfulfilled. Let Cao Zongyu have no worries on the front line.

But this did not completely reassure Zhang Xuan.

Even if Zhang Xuan knew that Zhang Xuan didn't believe in the ability of others, he couldn't help but believe in Cao Zongyu's ability, and a large part of Zhang Xuan's ability to lead troops to fight was taught by Cao Zongyu. Cao Zongyu is Zhang Xuan's master on this.

Zhang Xuan thought to himself that even if he was on the front line, he might not be able to do better than Cao Zongyu.

But the worry is still the worry.

First, I was worried that Qu Shiyun was not an easy person to deal with. Second, I am worried that there are too many accidents on the battlefield. All kinds of cranky thoughts, endlessly.

If he had been commanding the war on the front line, he probably wouldn't have so many messy ideas.

Fu Shangrui has been getting along with Zhang Xuan day and night for the past few days, and he seems to have figured out a little bit of Zhang Xuan's thoughts, and said: "How can the general not worry, why not sit in Wuzhou?" ”

Zhang Xuan's heart moved, and he had a feeling of eagerness to try, and then he forcibly pressed it down and said, "No need." ”

In later generations, there were too many cases of the rear remote control allowing the front line to be defeated. What is done in the empty space is an obvious counterexample. Zhang Xuan has been admonishing himself about this. Zhang Xuan also understands that with his status, sooner or later he will become a big man in the center, and there may be big battles that need to be personally commanded, but some small battles may have to be entrusted to his subordinates.

Zhang Xuan had to adapt to this change.

In addition, with the current means of communication, not to mention that he is in Guangzhou, he is now in Wuzhou, and he can have some confidence in the war under the city of Guilin. And he really wants to go to the city of Guilin,

Cao Zongyu will definitely give up the position of coach.

This is also not suitable for the cultivation of Cao Zongyu.

However, Zhang Xuan believes in Cao Zongyu more. If you have not gone through the process of leading an army alone, you may not be able to stand up to a general all the way in the future.

At least from the current point of view, Cao Zongyu has played well all the way. So he has been restraining his urge to reach out to the front.

He took a deep breath, tried to divert his attention, and said, "Are all the generals here?" ”

Zheng Lian said: "I'm already waiting outside." ”

Zhang Xuan pondered for a while and said, "Let Duosheng come in." ”

"Yes." Zheng Lian said.

After a while, the Portuguese came in in a uniform and said in stiff Chinese: "The last general will meet the general." "One word at a time, although a little absurd. But in general, I can understand it.

Zhang Xuan also heard that Duosheng belonged to the sailors. I put my mind on Chinese, and I can speak stiff Cantonese.

Zhang Xuan said: "Can your ministry fight?" ”

Tasheng said, "Wait for the Duke's order at any time. ”

Zhang Xuan said: "Okay, you can escort a battalion of infantry and attack Lianzhou by sea." ”

Duosheng said, "Yes." ”

The attack on Lianzhou was also a check and fill in the gaps in the front-line war.

Although Deng He divided his troops to occupy various places in the west, Deng He gave priority to occupying the prefectures and counties along the Xijiang River, and a large part of Lianzhou Prefecture was not in the Pearl River Valley. It is almost impossible to reach Lianzhou from Xijiang by water.

However, it is not difficult to attack the Lianzhou Mansion by sea.

From this point of view, it is not without reason that Lianzhou is divided into Guangdong instead of Guangxi.

Since Deng He couldn't reach it for a while, Zhang Xuan naturally made up for him.

If it drags on for a long time, the Ming army has one or two loyal people like Qu Shiyun, and when they occupy this place and free up their hands to attack, it will take a lot of effort. However, the best arrangement for this matter was Lin Cha, and as a result, Lin Cha ran to Guilin City for his military exploits.

Many other generals were also involved in the maintenance of the Xijiang waterway.

Only the strength of the multi-victory department is complete.

Zhang Xuan had almost no choice. However, he had already advised: "After occupying Lianzhou, we must settle the people and do not cause trouble." Everything must be subject to General Chen's moderation. ”

The so-called General Chen is a member of Guangdong. Zhang Xuan didn't have too many generals available in his hands, as long as he was enabled.

"Please rest assured, General." Duosheng said: "If you don't follow, come and see you." ”

Zhang Xuan smiled dumbly, knowing that Duosheng was talking about himself, but he didn't know, and thought that Duosheng wanted to kill General Chen.