Hanseong. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Arrows rained down, and the sound of killing shook the sky.

Zhang Xianzhong's troops from the east gate, Gao Yingxiang's troops from the west gate, attacked Hancheng on both sides. This time, they mobilized about 40,000 troops, with 2,000 as an echelon, and used a flowing rotation attack to attack Han Cheng.

In the past, they attacked Hancheng only to consume Hancheng's troops, arrows and ammunition, and did not intend to capture it early. Because their established tactic is to encircle the point and send reinforcements, using Hancheng to attract reinforcements from all walks of life of the Ming army, so as to annihilate them each by ambush. Therefore, they have been adopting a combat posture of attacking Hancheng but not taking it for several days.

Not anymore, though.

On the one hand, the major battalions near Hancheng have almost been annihilated, and the officers and troops in other places have also known that there is an ambush near Hancheng, and it is difficult to surround and send reinforcements. And Qin Shuhuai's troops are also about to enter the ambush area of Yichuan, and it doesn't make much sense to stay in Hancheng any longer. On the other hand, after He Renlong stopped west of Hancheng, he was summoning reinforcements from other large battalions in Shaanxi to converge, and he would kill them after the convergence. Therefore, Zhang and Gao's second divisions must occupy Hancheng as soon as possible, so that they can use the thick walls of Hancheng to repel He Renlong and occupy Hancheng permanently.

In this context, an offensive and defensive battle of Hanseong began, in which both sides tried their best.

East City Gate.

More than 20 simple archers stand tall on the platform. These wooden platforms were three or four meters higher than the city walls, and were topped by huge platforms and parapets on which crossbowmen stood up. Each platform can stand nearly twenty crossbowmen. These crossbowmen were condescending, frantically suppressing the Ming soldiers on the city walls with a rain of arrows.

And some of the soldiers of the Ming army wore big shields, and some carried door panels, doing their best to defend against the rain of arrows. Even so, there were people who were shot and died in the city in wailing and groaning.

More difficult to defend against than the archers are the thieves' ladders. After a few days of siege, the thieves adopted a new type of ladder according to the height of the city wall of Hancheng, this kind of ladder is slightly higher than the city wall, the top is tied with two iron hooks with thick hemp rope, after the ladder is against the wall, the iron hook hooks the city wall, if you want to push it to, you must first cut or use fire to break the rope that helps the iron hook, under the suppression of the rain of arrows, it often costs several people to break a rope, not to mention how many soldiers' lives need to be pushed to push them!

One by one, the ladders frantically erected up to the city walls, and the tide of thieves and soldiers rushed in.

Fortunately, Hancheng still has relatively sufficient firearms, and there are four Furlong cannons on each city gate alone. Under the cover of the shield soldiers, the gunners frantically loaded and fired, using flowering shells, almost without aiming, as long as they fired at a crowded place, a group of thieves would inevitably fall.

In addition, the firearms on the city wall are also full of birds. Angry bullets were fired, wisps of green smoke came out of the muzzles, and one by one, the thieves who had no light armor fell.

At the same time, on the inside of the city wall, cauldrons were neatly arranged in several columns, and two people were responsible for each cauldron. One is responsible for adding firewood and water to it, while the other is responsible for scooping boiling water into buckets. The bucket was attached to a rope so that the soldiers on the city wall could pull it up directly, and then poured it on the thieves who were afraid of the ladder.

And on the city wall, there are three large vats, which are burned with asphalt. If there are too many thieves and soldiers gathered under the city, then pour asphalt first, and then pour fire oil, and then only one rocket can instantly detonate a fire, which is definitely a big killer.

Zuo Guangxian, the deputy commander-in-chief of Shaanxi and the city guard of Hancheng, personally ascended to the top of the city and commanded the battle at the east gate, while the deputy general Xia Peicheng ascended to the west gate to command. Seeing that the two main generals were determined to defend the city to the death, the morale of the generals in the city was greatly improved, and they fought back like crazy!

The combined forces of Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong have been attacking for an hour, but they have not yet climbed the city wall!

At that time, the equipment of the rogues was still very backward, although they already had some earthen cannons and armor, but they were far from equipping the whole army, so they suffered a great loss when attacking the fortified positions.

Zhang Xianzhong was furious, killed two cowering generals in a row, and personally came to a place 300 meters away from the city to command the soldiers to fight.

At the West Gate, Gao Yingxiang entrusted the command to Li Zicheng. Seeing that he could not attack for a long time, Li Zicheng organized 500 death squads, concentrated the best armor and shields of the whole army to arm them all, and prepared to carry out a surprise attack after dark.

It was dusk.

The Ming army in the city suffered heavy casualties, and the original army of 15,000 was now only more than 7,000 people left. However, the casualties of the thieves were even more serious, at least more than 20,000. The Ming army had the advantage of the city wall, and it was better equipped and trained than the peasant army, so the casualty ratio of 1 to 3 was not surprising.

However, the number of thieves was large, and only 20,000 horses did not hurt their roots, especially under the wheel war, which was a great test for the physical strength of the Ming army defending the city.

On the eighth day of the second month of the third year of Chongzhen, Qin Shuhuai led an army of more than 40,000 people and suddenly appeared in Longmen Town, 60 miles north of Hancheng.

When Zhang Xianzhong's spies stationed in Longmen Town saw that Qin Shuhuai's army did not go to Yichuan at all, but suddenly fell from the sky in Longmen Town, which was a stone's throw away from Hancheng, they were immediately frightened, and immediately got on their horses and ran to Hancheng to report this sensational news to Zhang Xianzhong.

At the same time, in the vicinity of Baimatan, 80 miles west of Hancheng, the horse sentry of Gao Yingxiang's department found a large number of Ming cavalry whistling past, because the Ming army's horse sentry came out in all directions, and anyone who approached was killed, so the horse sentry of Gao Yingxiang's department did not dare to approach, so that there was no way to know its whereabouts. These horse whistles knew that the situation was serious, and they ran to tell Gao Yingxiang in a desperate way.

Zhang Xianzhong's camp.

Zhang Xianzhong jumped like thunder and sharply reprimanded several generals who were unfavorable in attacking the city. After a day's siege, he lost more than 7,000 people, plus the more than 6,000 people lost in the previous days, the total casualties have reached more than 13,000 people, and he was heartbroken when he thought of this number!

After scolding, he asked people to select 500 elite soldiers, equipped with the most sophisticated equipment, and prepared to cooperate with Li Zicheng's troops in the west to carry out a joint raid.

At this time, the soldiers outside the tent came to report.

"Report! Qin Shuhuai's department has passed Longmen Town and is rushing towards Hancheng!"

Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai, Li Dingguo and all the generals present were shocked!

"What? He didn't go to Yichuan?!" Zhang Xianzhong grabbed the collar of the pro-soldier and roared almost hysterically.

The pro-soldier turned pale with fright, and shook his head desperately, "No, no! There is no news from Yichuan's side, presumably it must be that Qin Shuhuai who cheated and didn't go to Yichuan at all, but came to Hancheng from another way!"

"Why didn't our spies find out?" Zhang Xianzhong roared again.

Luo Rucai thought for a while and said, "He first went west, and must have entered the border of Shaanxi, and then bypassed Yichuan and rushed over from Luchuan and Shoufeng." But it's also strange, even if he takes that road, didn't Gao Yingxiang send a horse sentry to monitor there? With the talent of these generals under him, he wouldn't have thought of this, right?"