Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

"Can't you bear it anymore?" Zhang Shikang muttered, and immediately hurried to find Qin Liangyu.

The reason why Qin Liangyu left 20,000 troops in the rear was to guard against Li Zicheng in the north.

The factory guards under Zhang Shikang were responsible for reconnaissance behind enemy lines, so they naturally learned the news earlier than the troops in the rear.

However, Zhang Shikang was not too alarmed by the news.

According to the investigation of the factory guards, Li Zicheng's total number of troops was about 60,000 to 70,000.

Sun Chuanting, who had stationed troops along the Hanzhong Prefecture, was eyeing Jianmen Pass covetously. Li Zicheng had to send heavy troops to defend against possible attacks from the north.

In other words, the troops led by Li Zicheng this time would definitely not be too large.

The bandits' troops were mostly infantry and cavalry, and they had no heavy armor or firearms such as artillery.

What the current Guards are least afraid of is field defensive battles. As long as Li Zicheng dares to come, he will be guaranteed to never return.

The only thing Zhang Shikang was worried about was that the old man would not dare to attack, or would bypass Tongchuan Prefecture and harass the rear.

The 20,000 troops left behind by Qin Liangyu were basically surrendered soldiers from Zuo Liangyu's army. Although Qin Liangyu must have given them rigorous training, Zhang Shikang would give them a discount on the actual combat capabilities of these ruffian soldiers.

Zhang Shikang's guards could strategically defy Li Zicheng, but other troops did not have this strength.

Although Li Zicheng's military force was not as large as Zhang Xianzhong's, Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng had had many conflicts in the past year or so.

Not only did Zhang Xianzhong fail to gain any advantage, but he also lost several cities to Li Zicheng.

From this point of view, the combat effectiveness of Li Zicheng's troops was higher than that of Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Shikang found Qin Liangyu and told her the news as well as his own speculations and concerns.

Qin Liangyu pondered for a moment and said:

"Don't worry, Marshal. If he dares to attack our rear, we won't fight in Tongchuan. We will go through Shunqing and attack Baoning directly.

I think he would never dare to take the risk."

Qin Liangyu said this with almost certainty.

The Jianmen Pass defense line needs to be heavily guarded to prevent possible attacks from Sun Chuanting. If Li Zicheng goes around again, he will lose his own nest.

Once they could capture Baoning Prefecture, Sun Chuanting might be able to bypass Jianmen Pass and take a shortcut through Hanzhong.

If Sun Chuanting's Qin troops could enter Sichuan from the north, Li Zicheng would be finished.

The bandits today are just like the imperial court a few years ago, only caring about their own safety.

The imperial court could attack Tongchuan, or Shunqing, or even not attack at all, and could attack whenever it wanted.

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong could only accept the attack passively.

In someone's words, the offensive and defensive momentum is different!

"General Qin is still unique. I feel relieved."

After hearing Qin Liangyu's inference, Zhang Shikang felt more confident.

He looked through the telescope at the surroundings of Tongchuan City, and after a moment of hesitation, he said:

"General Qin, I've heard in military books that it's important to surround three sides and leave one side empty.

But this military book is inaccurate. In my opinion, we'd better surround one and leave three open."

Sun Kewang had about 30,000 soldiers and horses in Tongchuan City. As the saying goes, if there are ten of them, you can surround it. The guards and white-pole soldiers only had more than 50,000 soldiers, so it was naturally impossible to reach the target.

The military strategy of surrounding three sides and leaving one gap means leaving a gap for the defenders in the city, so that the enemy defending the city will not fight back in a desperate situation.

As Zhang Shikang said, military books are dead. Those who wrote them would never have dreamed that there would be gunpowder and so many firearms in the future.

Dispersing troops to the three walls of Tongchuan City was a somewhat unwise decision, as it dispersed too much firepower.

Zhang Shikang was not afraid that the people in the city would run away, because if they did, they would not have to attack the city.

Wherever you run, I will bomb you. Once you run away, the city will belong to the imperial court. If you have the guts, just keep running.

Of course, Zhang Shikang was not afraid of this group of people coming out of the city for a decisive battle. This was what he was waiting for.

The tactics used in the Battle of Yongchuan were very successful, that is, fire suppression. Unless the bandits also had the heavy armored troops of the Jiannu, there would be no solution in a short period of time.

After all, it was the first time that Qin Liangyu commanded a unit that was almost entirely equipped with firearms, and she thought Zhang Shikang's words made sense.

Soon, the 30,000 troops besieging the other two city walls moved towards the south city again, and half an hour later, they formed a complete square formation again.

Zhang Kewang and his men in Tongchuan City were all numb.

It was the first time he encountered such a situation. The attackers did not surround the city, nor did they use siege equipment such as ladders. They just bombarded the city walls with artillery.

He admitted that the court's artillery was very powerful. Based on the defensive strength of the Tongchuan city wall, forty cannons would have to bombard for at least three days.

The most outrageous thing is that, apart from bombarding the city walls, the imperial army did not deploy any defenses on the other three walls, which means that they could leave the city at any time, either for a surprise attack or for withdrawal.

In the great battle at the beginning of the month, Zhang Kewang's troops suffered heavy losses. Now, nearly 30% of his troops are general reinforcements.

His adoptive father's army of 100,000 men was no match for the imperial court's 60,000 men, so of course, his 30,000 men had no intention of launching a surprise attack.

But he just felt something was strange and couldn't figure it out, so he wrote a letter to inform his adoptive father in Chengdu Prefecture of the situation here.

However, the messenger was caught by the imperial army as soon as he left the city. Zhang Kewang watched on the city wall and couldn't help frowning.

Cut off his food supply and communications and force him to leave the city. There are only two ways to leave the city: either fight a decisive battle with the imperial army or go to the next city.

Grandma's legs are closed!

Almost at the same time, Zhang Shikang had already obtained the letter written by Zhang Kewang to Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong was not well educated, and neither was Zhang Kewang. The letter was even written in plain language:

"Father, that bastard Zhang Shikang attacked instead of besieging. This is forcing me to leave the city. I don't have any good solution. What do you think, Father?"

I think this won't work!'

Zhang Shikang couldn't help but find it funny after reading the letter. Sometimes this world really seems like a makeshift troupe.

For the next two days, the two sides lived in peace. Forty artillery pieces continued to attack every day, except for a half-hour pause after firing twelve rounds to wait for the barrel to cool down. The fire continued even at night.

Finally, on the morning of the third day, huge cracks appeared on the south wall of Tongchuan City. Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the south wall would not hold out for much longer.

In the woods not far away, Li Zicheng was looking at Tongchuan City with a frown.

His army was just a dozen miles away from Tongchuan City, but Qin Liangyu had already predicted whether to retreat or advance.

He already knew about the great battle between the Eight Great Kings and the imperial army in Yongchuan, and he also learned the details of the battle through the defeated soldiers of the Eight Great Kings.

Putting all the information together, the court is no longer the same as it was two years ago.

Even though Li Zicheng kept a low profile in Sichuan, he was still unable to withstand the huge gap in military strength.

Once the sick dragon of the Ming Dynasty court is cured, it will be a disaster for their rebel army.

"King Chuang, what should we do?

Should we charge directly and join forces with Sun Kewang in Tongchuan City to attack the government troops from both sides?"

Hao Yaoqi asked Li Zicheng somewhat anxiously.

……