Correcting a mistake, some readers pointed out that Daning's keeper is He Zhen not He Jin, the author has seen the view that "He Zhen and He Jin are one person", the original source is Wang Fuzhi, and today I downloaded a study after seeing the reader's reminder, which is indeed a very problematic point of view.

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After conquering Yunyang, Yuan Zongdi and Liu Tichun wanted to move the population back to their base areas.

The walls of Yunyang have been tossed by Liu Tichun to the point that it is difficult to repair, and besides, it is too far away from the base of these two people to divide their troops to defend. But this plan was opposed by Deng Ming, who had previously understood the idiom "the king and the thief" as follows: the loser was unfairly slandered; But now Deng Ming thinks that this idiom should actually be understood as: the victorious bandit has taken off his thief name.

According to the values of Deng Ming's modern people, although the Manchus were bandits full of evil, the behavior of these people who broke into the camp was not much different from that of the bandits, and the behavior of those in the western camp in Jianchang was similar. Deng Ming felt guilty about the Ming army's relocation of the people, and this uprooted migration would cause some people to fall ill and die on the way, and even if they did not lose their lives, the people lost their hometowns, land, and possessions.

These people have always prided themselves on being the teachers of benevolence and righteousness, because the actions of the Manchu army and the Ming Dynasty army greatly lowered the standards of the division of benevolence and righteousness in this era, and the army that never regarded the slaughter and plunder as a reward for the soldiers seemed to be the most benevolent army of this era - although they also levied the people's rations without compensation, relocated the people, and adopted a serf-like system in their own military camps.

Since he has been trapped in this era, Deng Ming could not push the camp to death just for his own morality, before breaking through Yunyang, although he was dissatisfied with some of the practices of the Kui Dong Army, Deng Ming pretended to be invisible; But now that the materials in Yunyang have been seized, Deng Ming feels that he has the capital to meet the needs of his conscience a little.

First of all, Deng Ming put forward the concept of volunteering in the army. There will definitely not be any volunteers before, because Kui Dongjun can't come up with anything to buy people's hearts; But now the Kuidong Army can get food and silver, and in this kind of world, there are many people who are willing to join the army for a bite to eat.

Deng Ming originally thought that this construction would be fiercely opposed by Liu Tichun and Yuan Zongdi, so he also prepared a set of rhetoric in advance to persuade the two, such as if it aroused the hatred of the people, then the people of other cities would help the Tartars to defend it in the future. Unexpectedly, after Liu Tichun and Yuan Zongdi listened to Deng Ming's construction, they agreed after a little thought: first of all, Deng Ming came up with a way to take this city, and his opinion should certainly be respected; Secondly, Liu Tichun and Yuan Zongdi did not know that enmity with the common people would bring hidden dangers, but they were originally forced to do so, but now they were reminded by Deng Ming that they immediately woke up and realized that they already had the capital to recruit soldiers; The most important thing is that after the initial excitement of these two people, they also considered that this place is too far away from the Three Gorges, and it used to be very difficult and expensive to relocate so many people, and the mortality rate is estimated to be low.

After He Zhen returned to Yunyang, he also agreed with the decision to recruit soldiers. This place is not far from Hao Shaoqi's base, presumably Hao Shaoqi will still move most of the population away in the end, and then ask Hao Shaoqi again, there is no need to come out and be this villain. Recruits, on the other hand, can collect a group of the more desperate and strong people among the inhabitants, who may serve as soldiers if they have undergone a certain amount of training.

That night, the Kui Dong army put up a notice, calling on the people with lofty ideals in Yunyang to come to the barracks for dinner, and the Kui Dong Ming army had prepared rice for them, and they had enough to eat. Relying on the temptation of food, the Ming army recruited more than 2,000 people, plus more than 2,000 Qing troops who surrendered, Liu Tichun and others expanded the army from 10,000 to 15,000.

Although it is impossible to transport everyone away, Chuang Ying and Xiying will definitely have to move some people, so Deng Mingjian tried his best to be voluntary, and finally was able to come up with some settling-in money to compensate for the loss of the relocated residents. The third general of Kui Dong told Deng Ming that they deeply agreed, and not only would they definitely give compensation, but they would also adhere to the principle of voluntariness. Deng Ming praised their benevolence, but whether they did it or not, Deng Ming did not inquire, nor did he ask whether the people who were relocated were all voluntary, for the time being, he could only do it for his conscience.

After He Zhen came back, Liu Tichun kept clamoring to cooperate with Hao Shaoqi to fight the grain city. Everyone knows that Liu Tichun is itchy, and if he learns to blast but doesn't give it a try, Liu Tichun will not be able to sleep at night. After listening to Liu Tichun's detailed description of the method and effect of blasting, He Zhen was also moved, there were not only materials that had been collected by the Qing army in the city, but also craftsmen and a large number of potential soldiers. He Zhen did not contribute to the attack on Yunyang this time, and he had no say in the distribution of the spoils, and Yuan Zongdi and Liu Tichun gave him a part only to thank him.

Before the Ming army arrived in Yunyang, in order to ensure the safety of the Hanshui Valley, the prefect also collected all the nearby ships and put them together with the official ships, so as not to give the Ming army a chance to use them. The location where the Yunyang prefect hid the ships was offered by the surrendered Qing army, and the Ming army had already sent troops to take over all these ships, and it was very easy for the Ming army to go down the Han River with these ships, and there was no need for those wooden rafts and bamboo rafts of Hao Shaoqi. Now that the Ming army has also captured the supplies of Yunyang, it has suddenly become very rich, and it can maintain mobility outside for a long time, and it can be maintained for a longer time if it carries less people.

Yuan Zongdi also had no objection to attacking Gucheng, but he didn't think it was necessary for the three of them to go together. The soldiers were very fast, and Yuan Zongdi felt that Liu Tichun and He Zhen could take Deng Ming and set off immediately, and as for the finishing work here in Yunyang, he could undertake it alone.

"Anyway, I don't have many soldiers, so fighting won't help much, but it's okay to escort the prisoners and supervise the rear team to transport things back."

If street fighting broke out in Gucheng, Yuan Zongdi's five hundred soldiers would indeed not play a big role. Liu Tichun was anxious to put into practice the theories he had summed up in the past two days, and strongly agreed with the plan of separate actions. He Zhen also wanted to go to Gucheng to divide things - to help Hao Shaoqi take down Gucheng, and Hao Shaoqi would definitely not be able to swallow the things in it alone - He Zhen felt that Yunyang was actually quite unfair in this matter, because he did not contribute, so he got a small share, but after thinking about it carefully, Yuan Zongdi and Liu Tichun did not contribute much, the method was thought up by the third prince, and the guards were beheaded by the subordinates of the third prince. He Zhen asked herself, if Liu Tichun or Yuan Zongdi went to sweep the suburbs, what he did beside Deng Ming would not be worse than the two of them, standing on the side and watching the excitement, could anyone be stronger than whom?

All three agreed, and Deng Ming also had no reason to oppose it, and the next action was determined. Liu Tichun announced that he would set off by boat early in the morning, and then asked Yuan Zongdi for his share of gunpowder.

"It's okay to have one gunpowder for each person," Yuan Zongdi shook his head and said, "Yours have all been blown up, and you have begun to wonder about mine, how much gunpowder are you going to waste on the wall of Yunyang?" ”

"You don't need it anyway, do you still use gunpowder to carry grain and grass home? Give it all to me, and I'll exchange it for food. Liu Tichun said anxiously: "Besides, I'm not still using it to blow up the Yunyang City Wall, I'm going to blow up the Valley City." ”

"With Hao Shaoqi's gunpowder, he must have it in his hand." Yuan Zongdi still didn't plan to agree: "Of course, I don't need it on the way back, but what about the future?" I'll have to use it when I'm attacking the city in the future. ”

"When the time comes, you can make some more gunpowder," Liu Tichun exclaimed impatiently, "Maybe it's too stingy." ”

"Why am I being stingy? Didn't all the gunpowder I brought with you use to blast the walls of Yunyang? Yuan Zongdi thought about it, and finally relented: "Give you half of it, and exchange it for food." ”

After the discussion was settled, Deng Ming went back to his camp to rest. At the instigation of Yuan Zongdi, he would set off with Liu Tichun early tomorrow morning -- Yuan Zongdi repeatedly pointed out that the terrain of Gucheng needed to be trampled on by a demolition expert like Deng Ming. Although he knew that he was not an expert in explosives at all, Deng Ming felt that going to the front line might help improve the morale of the Ming army, and the sooner he met with Hao Shaoqi, the better, so as not to be misunderstood for his own composition.

After Deng Ming left, He Zhen and the three of them talked about Zhao Tianba again. Today, Zhao Qianhu's table is very eye-catching, except for Deng Ming, the most popular person is none other than him, and the Ming army is talking about Deng Ming's strange tricks, but also sighing Zhao Tianba's invincibility.

"It seems that Mr. Zhao Qian seems to be even better than your Zhou Qinwei." Liu Tichun said to Yuan Zongdi. Zhou Kaihuang is also well-known in the Kuidong Army, and everyone knows that he is excellent in martial arts, but he doesn't seem to be particularly outstanding in Deng Ming's guards.

"Who said that? In my opinion, if you talk about martial arts, Zhou Kaihuang and Zhao Qianhu are almost the same. Yuan Zongdi did not hide his inclination in the slightest.

Although there are not many guards in Deng Ming, Yuan Zongdi and a few of them know that they are all good at a glance, and He Zhen is still a little strange why Deng Ming can have such a guard.

Liu Tichun had heard of this: "In the battle of Wanxian, Mr. Deng decided to lure the enemy with his body, and the people selected were all strong men from a hundred. Starting from Wanxian, one battle after another, from Jianchang all the way to Kunming, not to mention that they were all heroes in the first place, and no matter how bad they were, they became sharp warriors after so many battles. I'm afraid that the young guards in our hands can't be compared, how many young people can go into battle more than a dozen times, dozens of times? I don't know if you have any, but I don't have any. That Zhao Qianhu turned out to be the right-hand man of the King of Jin, and the King of Jin sent him as a messenger, and he traveled back and forth in the territory of the Tartars many times, and he was an enemy of a hundred people. ”

"It's Mr. Deng himself," Yuan Zongdi also held a similar opinion, he once asked Zhou Kaihuang in detail about Deng Ming's actions in Wanxian, Dongchuan Mansion, and Kunming: "I personally participated in more than a dozen battles, and after fighting for several months in a row, I was at least a ten-man enemy. ”

……

The next day, Deng Ming and Liu Tichun set off early in the morning, and in the afternoon, He Zhen also boarded the ship with the army, and the two teams of 11,000 Ming troops marched towards Gucheng downstream. Yuan Zongdi told them that as soon as his affairs here were over, he would take some of his guards to Gucheng to meet with everyone.

"Come early, if it's too late, Gucheng will be broken." He Zhen said, unconsciously, leaked out the words in his heart: "If the city is broken, you won't be able to divide things." ”

"There is already too much to gain from this military dispatch." Yuan Zongdi said that he didn't expect to have such a big harvest in advance, so he was already very satisfied.

"No wonder you don't learn how to blast seriously." He Zhen thought so in her heart. After hearing that there was such a new tactic to break the city, He Zhen was also itchy and unbearable, and yesterday he surrounded Deng Ming and Liu Tichun and asked again and again. Before Deng Ming and Liu Tichun left, He Zhen also agreed with the two that they must wait for him to arrive before starting the acupoint attack, so that he can also see it.

Although Deng Ming and Liu Tichun both agreed, He Zhen was still not at ease, and sent a personal guard of Jīng to lead a small team of people in his camp who were good at cave attacks to follow Liu Tichun and them away; He Zhen was in a hurry to set off this afternoon, one purpose of course was to ensure that he could arrive before the city of Gucheng was broken, so that he could divide things in the name of righteousness; Another purpose was to fear that the team sent would not be able to learn the craft smoothly.

Yuan Zongdi said a good sentence, which made He Zhen also feel the same way, that is, he never thought that he could have such a big gain before sending out the army. However, He Zhen thinks that Yuan Zongdi's idea of being rich is unacceptable. Thinking about the battle situation on the side of Gucheng, He Zhen did not continue to talk to Yuan Zongdi, but hurriedly led the troops to set off.

After He Zhen left, Yuan Zongdi handled the aftermath with peace of mind. In the afternoon of the next day, he sent one of his subordinates to go with Liu Tichun to rush back to Yunyang and report safety to the Ming army left behind.

"Well," Yuan Zongdi listened carefully to the report of his subordinates, and it seemed that Deng Ming had already gone away: "Mr. Deng didn't delay, right?" ”

"There was no stop on the way, and even the food was eaten on the boat, and it didn't stop at night, and I kept hurrying." This subordinate reported that he had broken up with the front team this morning and galloped back on horseback to report to Yuan Zongdi.

"Very good, Mr. Deng has gone far." Yuan Zongdi thinks that the biggest distraction has been eliminated and he can start his own reality: "It's time for us to dig a hole by the wall...... Come on, get gunpowder, find a good section of the city wall, and we'll blow it up too. ”

Two days ago, when Liu Tichun was busy doing practical work, Yuan Zongdi had been watching coldly from the sidelines, how to make the fuse, how to seal the wall, Yuan Zongdi had already found a group of clever subordinates, observed and inquired clearly. Before the attack on Yunyang, Liu Tichun used half of the gunpowder used by Yuan Zongdi, and he shared this lesson with confidence.

……

Yuan Zongdi's real yàn continued to consume the few remaining walls of Yunyang, and when he left Yunyang satisfied, he thought that Gucheng had been captured by Liu Tichun and them at this time. However, Yuan Zongdi's expectations were disappointed, and Liu Tichun's progress did not go smoothly, and Gucheng had not been broken by the Ming army until Yuan Zongdi arrived.

Liu Tichun led his troops to Gucheng to Hao Shaoqi very surprised, he did not expect that the Ming army had such a rapid ability to break through Yunyang, after listening to the former triumphantly introduce the new tactics, Hao Shaoqi immediately urged Liu Tichun to bomb the city - General Liu originally planned to do the same, until he found that there was water in the trench on the lower side of Gucheng.

In order to strengthen the defense capability of Gucheng, the defenders brought water to some of the trenches, if someone else came, this change would not have any effect, there was still a considerable part of the trenches in Gucheng without water, and the blasting conditions were not much different from Yunyang. But Liu Tichun, who is in charge of the work, is already a well-deserved chief blasting expert in this era, and if he is second in the world, no one can call him the first, not even the traverser Deng Ming.

When Liu Tichun, the master of demolition, found that part of the city walls of Gucheng were under the protection of the moat, he resolutely opposed to blasting the walls behind those dry trenches, but had to get along with these walls with moats. Hao Shaoqi wanted to take Gucheng quickly, and by the way, he saw the new tactics that were said to be very powerful; He Zhen just wants to share more things after breaking the city, if the city is not broken for a long time, Yuan Zongdi will come later, and there will be fewer people who can get it; But Liu Tichun is different, he is more concerned about how to perfect this kind of tactics that can dominate the world.

Liu Tichun insisted that the opportunity should be used to try blasting the moat-protected walls, because the Ming army would surely encounter more similar situations in the future. It is impossible for the Ming army to only encounter a city wall without a moat, and the target to be attacked in the future will not be divided into canals and moats like Gucheng. No one could convince Liu Tichun, who was stubborn, and finally everyone had to agree to his plan, first digging a ditch to divert the water from the trench, and then starting to dig a tunnel.

This, of course, greatly slowed down the progress of the siege, and to make matters worse, Liu Tichun's first blast was unsuccessful. Deng Ming believed that the high-temperature and high-pressure gases gathered together were very dangerous, so he waited for six hours before sending a death squad to check the situation in the tunnel, and the result was that the gunpowder did not explode at all.

Because the soil near this section of the tunnel is relatively wet, water seepage occurs in the tunnel. For the Ming army, this was a new situation, because in the past, if there was a problem of underground water seepage, there would be relevant pumping methods. However, the soil around Yunyang was relatively dry, and the Ming army took it for granted that as long as the coffin filled with gunpowder was pushed under the base of the wall, closed, and then lit the arranged fuse, it would be done.

The first blast failed to explode, Hao Shaoqi was okay, he didn't expect to succeed at one time, and he didn't have particularly huge expectations for this new type of acupoint attack. But He Zhen was extremely disappointed, he hurried all the way, and finally arrived in time, and because he saw the Yunyang city wall that was ravaged by Liu Tichun, he was extremely enthusiastic about blasting, and he also took care of his subordinates to carefully record the details of every step of Liu Tichun's blasting - the result was unsuccessful!

Fortunately, this is difficult to defeat the blaster genius Liu Tichun. While thinking about it, he discussed with Deng Ming, and soon came up with a solution, ordering the construction of a closed "blasting room" with stone bricks - a term that Deng Ming mentioned, and Liu Tichun gladly accepted. In the past, the Ming army only dug a hole, and the second attempt to blast Gucheng was the first time that the Ming army consciously took the initiative to create a blasting space.

After completing these anti-cháo works, the Ming army completed the closure work and detonated it as quickly as possible. This time, the gunpowder exploded and blew down a section of the walls of the valley city. Hao Shaoqi was surprised and delighted when he saw this, and he was about to order the army to seize the city - unlike Deng Ming's first realization, the Ming army had already expected the consequences of the blasting, so Hao Shaoqi had already prepared the assault team.

General Liu bitterly pointed out that in order to ensure success this time, his charge was greater than when Yunyang was blasted, and the city wall of Gucheng was not as strong as Yunyang's, so there was no such good breakthrough as Yunyang, which obviously showed that the power of gunpowder could not be fully utilized - although the city wall was blown up the second time, there was no clean opening like Yunyang, but a large slope similar to the previous cave attack. Liu Tichun speculated that this must have been due to the cháo, although the blasting chamber was built, the water vapor still invaded it during the sealing process, and the anti-cháo effect of dry soil was obviously limited.

After stopping Hao Shaoqi's attack, Liu Tichun immediately began to organize the third blast. This time he ordered the coffin to be disposed of by the same method as the fuse, and the inside and outside were brushed with a layer of tar. When Yuan Zongdi arrived, Liu Tichun had just finished building a new blasting room. After stuffing the specially treated coffin under the foundation of the wall, the blasting achieved the effect of Yunyang, blowing a large gap in the city wall.

Although the conjecture was correct and the method was improved, Liu Tichun still wanted to blow it up again to consolidate the new blasting technique that had just been developed. However, this time Hao Shaoqi and He Zhen will never give him the opportunity to interfere with the siege again, including Yuan Zongdi, who has just arrived, they are not willing to accompany Liu Tichun to continue to make trouble, they don't want to give the Qing army a chance to burn down the warehouse in order to satisfy Liu Tichun's blasting yù - yes, the Yunyang guards did not burn, but who dares to say that the Qing army in Gucheng will be as unprepared as Yunyang?

Before the smoke and dust cleared, the commandos prepared by Hao Shaoqi and He Zhen rushed into Gucheng through the gap, easily subduing the Qing troops who had been stunned around them. Like Yunyang, at this time, the main force of the Qing army was busy defending the slope that Liu Tichun blew up for the second time, and was busy repairing that section of the city wall.

The Qing army in Gucheng was less than Yunyang, and there were more than 25,000 Ming troops outside the city, and the battle ended in an hour, the county governor and the defender were killed by the Ming army, and the Qing army that was not killed surrendered to the Ming army en masse.

After recruiting rebels and recruits again, Kui Dongming's army has swelled to more than 30,000 people.

"Mr. Deng, let's go and take Xiangyang!" Hao Shaoqi looked at Deng Ming with blazing eyes, when he had just carved up the income of Gu City, Hao Shaoqi was very happy, and felt that he had made a lot of money this time. But this expedition was initiated by Hao Shaoqi, and it was also the most troops, seeing that Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongdi, and He Zhen got more than he got this time, Hao Shaoqi's heart was suddenly a little unbalanced, and he decided to take this grievance out on the Qing army in Xiangyang.

"Agreed!" After the city of Gucheng was broken, Liu Tichun was the first to run to the arsenal to protect the gunpowder, and he obviously did not enjoy the bombing of Gucheng this time: "Go to Xiangyang!" ”