In the 12th year of Zhizheng in the Yuan Dynasty, the right prime minister Tuotuo led a large army to suppress the Li Er uprising in Xuzhou.
The city of Xuzhou was destroyed by artillery fire.
Later, a new city was built at the foot of Kuishan Mountain and renamed Wu'an City.
During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, Wu'an City was abolished and Xuzhou City was rebuilt on the original site.
In the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, the Yellow River broke its dike and the city of Xuzhou was flooded.
The flood did not recede for a long time.
The city of Xuzhou had to be rebuilt at Ershilipu in the south of the city.
In the first year of Chongzhen, the flood receded, but the silt accumulated in the city could not be cleared.
Tang Huan, then military governor, rebuilt Xuzhou City on its original site.
The circumference of the city wall is nine miles and the height is twenty-three feet.
There is a moat outside the city, which is three meters wide and three meters deep.
There are four gates in the city, namely Heqing Gate in the east, Tongbian Gate in the west, Ying'en Gate in the south and Wuning Gate in the north.
......
June 30th, the 27th year of Chongzhen.
Under the command of Zhu Guobi, Marquis of Funing, the Qinwang Army arrived at the city of Xuzhou.
Looking at the towering city walls, Zhu Guobi ordered not to attack the city, but to directly surround Xuzhou.
After successively capturing Yangzhou and Huai'an, Zhu Guobi's military strength had increased from 30,000 to 40,000.
The additional troops included surrendered soldiers from prefectures, counties and cities along the way, as well as many desperate civilians.
The surrendered soldiers had only received training in defending cities and had no experience in field combat or sieges.
Needless to say, the common people could only provide great momentum to the army that was sent to defend the king, but were unable to fight a decisive battle.
Letting them attack the city or fight in the field would only lead to their deaths.
Although Zhu Guobi did not mind sending cannon fodder to die, blindly sending them to die would only reduce military strength and weaken the morale of the army that was defending the king.
So his method was to let the surrendered soldiers and civilians surround the city of Xuzhou.
After setting up camp, defending the camp is similar to defending a city.
This was not difficult for the surrendered soldiers and civilians.
At the same time, in order to ensure that the camp was not lost, Zhu Guobi also left some soldiers of the Royalist Army in the camp.
After making all the arrangements, Zhu Guobi personally led the main force to the bank of the Yellow River.
In the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River flowed through Xuzhou, and the river channel was in the north of Xuzhou city.
Looking at the troops moving towards the north of the city, Yangzhou prefect Zhang Huangyan on the city wall was stunned: "Hey? Why are the rebels leaving?"
Guerrilla General Zhang Mingzhen glanced at the rebel camp outside the city, then at the troops moving north of the city and said, "It looks like the rebels are going to surround the point and attack the reinforcements."
"How do we fight specifically?" Zhang Huangyan asked.
Zhang Mingzhen replied: "Use the old, weak, sick and disabled to besiege the city, and use the elite troops to guard the banks of the Yellow River to block our reinforcements! When the siege time increases and no reinforcements are seen, many people will be forced to consider surrender."
Zhang Huangyan looked into the distance and asked, "What if we organize soldiers to go out of the city and attack the rebel camp outside the city?"
"It is not wise to attack the enemy camp without knowing the enemy's strength."
"So we're just going to waste time like this?"
Zhang Mingzhen let out a long breath: "Of course we can't waste time. Even if it's not a wise move, we have to give it a try."
After finishing the conversation, the two men immediately found the governor of Xuzhou and the commander of Xuzhou Guard to discuss leaving the city to launch a surprise attack on the rebel camp.
The governor of Xuzhou and the commander of the Xuzhou Guard immediately shook their heads: "No, you can't leave the city."
Zhang Huangyan said seriously: "The main force of the rebels has gone to the bank of the Yellow River for defense. The strength outside the city is unknown. At this time, a sneak attack outside the city can not only find out the enemy's strength, but also kill the enemy. Why not?"
The commander of Xuzhou said: "There are only a few thousand soldiers in the city, and they are all old, weak, sick and disabled. If we rashly leave the city, we will not only lose soldiers and generals, but also anger the rebels. It is better to hold the city and wait for reinforcements."
Zhang Huangyan was a little angry: "What if the reinforcements take a long time to arrive?"
The governor of Xuzhou patted his chest and said, "Then just wait. Anyway, I have ordered people to transport all the grain in Guangyun Warehouse into the city. I can't say if there is more, but this amount of grain is enough for us to eat for three to five years."
The words of the Xuzhou prefect were not exaggerated at all. On the contrary, they were very cautious.
There were four national-level granaries next to the canal during the Ming Dynasty.
They are Fengji Warehouse in Huai'an, Guangyun Warehouse in Xuzhou, Dezhou Warehouse in Dezhou and Linqing Warehouse in Linqing.
Guangyun Warehouse has a thousand granaries and can store up to one million shi of grain.
Even if there are only 500,000 stones in stock, it will be enough for the soldiers and civilians in the city to eat for several years.
Looking at the conservative attitudes of Xuzhou officials, Zhang Huangyan and Zhang Mingzhen felt helpless.
Although they hold official positions, they are not local officials.
He could only find a place to live and had no way of commanding the troops in the city.
After some further persuasion, the officials in Xuzhou still refused to leave the city to launch a surprise attack on the rebel camp.
To the end.
Zhang Huangyan simply asked: "Can I recruit soldiers and civilians in the city to sneak out and attack the rebels?"
The commander of Xuzhou said: "Master Zhang can recruit civilians, but not soldiers."
Zhang Huangyan clasped his hands together and said, "Okay, I'll go recruit the people right away. I hope you two adults won't stop me then."
"Master Zhang, please do as you please!"
Zhang Huangyan and Zhang Mingzhen walked down the city wall and entered the city to recruit civilians.
It is easy to recruit ordinary people, some of them are willing to risk their lives for money.
But they didn't have enough armor.
Although Xuzhou City had some spare armor, Xuzhou officials refused to lend it out.
Those recruited civilians could only fight wearing simple homemade armor.
That night.
The death squad organized by Zhang Huangyan sneaked out of the city at night and attacked the rebel camp.
Although they succeeded in killing some rebels and burning down many tents, the suicide squad also suffered heavy casualties due to the lack of armor.
In order to avoid making unnecessary sacrifices, Zhang Huangyan had to stop recruiting civilians.
Waiting for reinforcements, waiting for the situation to change.
On the first day of July, Shi Kefa arrived in Pei County.
After learning that Zhu Guobi had set up a defense line along the Yellow River, Shi Kefa felt a little relieved.
His mission was to keep the rebels in the Xuzhou area.
As long as the rebels no longer move north and Xuzhou is not lost, his mission will be accomplished.
Considering that Xuzhou City had enough food reserves to survive, Shi Kefa decided not to send troops to rescue for the time being, so as to avoid falling into the enemy's strategy of besieging the city and attacking its reinforcements.
He issued an order: "Set up a defense line along the Yellow River and confront Zhu Guobi across the river."
On the day he issued the order, a scout came to report: "The western rebels left Fengyang and are approaching the city of Guide Prefecture. Guide Prefecture requests support!"
"What?" Shi Kefa was very surprised: "Weren't the Western Route Rebellion still in Suzhou, Fengyang Prefecture three days ago? How come they suddenly came to the city of Guide Prefecture, more than 300 miles away?"
The scout shook his head: "I don't know."
Shi Kefa's forehead began to sweat.
Guide Prefecture is located upstream of Xuzhou.
Once Guide Prefecture was lost, the rebels in the west would be able to cross the Yellow River and appear on his flank.
By then, he will be attacked from both sides and it will be difficult for him to win.
So he had to issue an order: "Immediately mobilize the troops of Xuanwuwei (near Kaifeng) and Suiyangwei (Suizhou) to support Guidefu."
Soon after the order was sent out, Shi Kefa received news from the Donghai Soso (Lianyungang): A large number of rebel warships were found near the Donghai Soso!
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