Chapter 211 Battle of Chengdu 1
Qin Liangyu and his men were actively preparing for battle, while Zeng Ying and his men had also completed their rest and recuperation in Ziyang, summarizing their experiences and lessons. Their combat effectiveness had also improved significantly.
The two armies, numbering approximately 200,000, advanced together on Chengdu. Zhang Xianzhong's veteran troops and recently recruited and trained soldiers, totaling 600,000, formed a fan-shaped defensive fortification, effectively blocking the two southwestern offensives.
The Chengdu Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty was an irregular shape, while other cities were square, making it very different. The city wall surrounding the Chengdu Prefecture was somewhat like an irregular rectangle, divided into two walls: the outer city and the inner city.
Zhang Xianzhong divided the garrison into two parts, with 30,000 veterans leading 100,000 new recruits. They established a large defensive position outside Zhonghe Gate in the southwest of Chengdu City and at Wanli Bridge on the moat. They also raised the walls of Wengcheng and equipped it with artillery. Sun Kewang was in command!
Meanwhile, Yinghui Gate to the west was defended by Li Dingguo, commanding 50,000 veteran soldiers, along with 100,000 newly trained soldiers. Meanwhile, Qingyuan Gate and Da'an Gate to the north were guarded by former General Zhang Hualong and Right General Feng Shuangli, respectively. Each of them had 20,000 veteran soldiers on guard, with the remainder deployed to defend the Imperial Palace, formerly the Prince of Shu's residence.
Zhang Xianzhong's plan was a brilliant one: to concentrate all his forces and fight the Ming army to the bitter end. He was confident that his own 600,000 troops wouldn't be enough to hold Chengdu. The Ming court had only 200,000 troops combined, so taking Chengdu was practically impossible without a million men. If this were true in a time and space without Zhao Xiaofei, Chengdu's defenses would have been impregnable.
But with Zhao Xiaofei as their cheat, Chengdu was only a matter of time in the eyes of Qin Liangyu and Zeng Ying. They were all full of confidence.
Let's start with Zeng Ying's journey. Zeng Ying and his men rested in Ziyang and replenished their troops. The Nanjing court also sent a large amount of supplies, including artillery shells, catapults, and siege weapons. Zeng Ying, Li Zhanchun, Yu Dahai, and others led their troops to Chengdu.
However, the prefectures and counties along the way almost surrendered, including the chieftains. Only a few chieftains, allied to Zhang Xianzhong, resisted to the end. However, they believed they would receive Zhang Xianzhong's support, and even after their strongholds were breached, no reinforcements arrived. Zeng Ying and his men showed no mercy to these diehards, slaughtering them all, young and old. With their heads hanging on spears, they marched to the next stronghold, showing the chieftains the consequences of opposing them.
Zeng Ying was sitting on his horse when a messenger came up to him, dismounted, clasped his fists, and said, "General, the Wuyi Camp ahead has already hung the heads of the family members who married into Sun Kewang's family outside the city walls. Please give your instructions!"
"Let them hand over their heirs to the army and go to Chengdu with us! In addition, select 500 able-bodied men to go to Chengdu together!" Zeng Ying said.
"Yes! General!" The messenger answered and went to Wuyi Village to report.
The leader of Wuyi Village was a Miao ethnic minority, known in Chinese as Wu Xiange. Initially, he had feared offending Zhang Xianzhong, having chosen the most beautiful girl in the village and married her to Sun Kewang as a concubine. But only a few days later, the imperial army arrived again. The fact that the other villages had agreed to help and protect each other was a joke to him. Whether they could defeat Zhang Xianzhong was a question for now, but they certainly could defeat him. Could their small village withstand the imperial army? Seeing their fate, the leader of Wuyi Village immediately surrendered to the imperial court.
He even cruelly killed the entire family he had chosen to marry Sun Kewang, and presented their heads to the village. More than a dozen bloody heads were hung on the village gate, and blood was dripping down from the gate.
Wu Xiange stood at the gate of the camp, waiting for news from the Ming army. At this moment, a Ming army messenger approached and said, "Commander Wu! My general has said that your son should be sent to the army. Let's go together to see how Zhang Xianzhong is defeated! Are you willing?"
"I obey your command!" said Wu Xiange.
"Also, select 500 strong men from your unit to serve as porters!" said the messenger.
"Yes!" Wu Xiange had no choice. It was her fault first! As long as the other person's request was not excessive, she could only try her best to meet it.
In fact, Zhao Xiaofei had already issued an order: these chieftains must be dealt with thoroughly. Those die-hard fans of Zhang Ze should be resolutely eliminated. Don't waste time talking to them, just kill them all. The rest should be kept in check for a while, and they will be dealt with after peace is restored.
So Zeng Ying resolutely carried out Zhao Xiaofei's orders!
Zeng Ying used this method to conquer countless chieftains along the way and formed a chieftain army of about 10,000 people. He then organized this chieftain army into a 10,000-man team.
Li Zhanchun and Yu Dahai will treat you differently based on your situation. If your tribe is weak, they will directly dismiss you from office. If you don't accept it, they will directly destroy your tribe.
In this way, almost no chieftain in southwestern Sichuan surrendered to Daxi. Zeng Ying actually received another order from Zhao Xiaofei, which was to require all chieftains to hand over a son and daughter so that they could go to Nanjing to study.
Whether you call it a hostage or a threat of assimilation, chieftains who don't go to Nanjing to study can forget about inheriting the family business.
Zhao Xiaofei also asked the Ministry of Households to organize a training class to teach them how to govern the tribe and how to assist the government in collecting taxes.
This move was powerful. Once the chieftains' children saw the power of the Ming court, they almost no longer thought of resisting. They saw countless people, countless armies, and warships as tall as mountains in Nanjing.
From then on, they knew that the Ming Dynasty tolerated their mistakes, not that it lacked the power to deal with them.
In addition, the children of chieftains went to Nanjing to study, which was also a way for them to be assimilated. In Nanjing, they had to study hard, graduate, and return with a diploma before they could inherit the family business.
A few years later, there was even a situation where the chieftain's successor was unwilling to return to the tribe, and the position of chieftain of the tribe was lost, and finally the tribe was taken over by the court.
Just when everything was going smoothly, a female chieftain appeared. It's unknown what benefits Zhang Xianzhong had given her, but she had the envoy sent by Zeng Ying executed, which infuriated Zeng Ying and his men. A secret agent in the Imperial Guard reported the incident to Zhao Xiaofei, who was furious. He ordered everyone to capture the chieftain alive, planning to hold a national chieftain conference in Chengdu. He intended to make a human meat bread out of her in front of the chieftains, as a warning to others.
Zeng Ying was also surprised when he received Zhao Xiaofei's order. He hadn't expected the prince to know the news so quickly, and to be so fully aware of the military affairs. He couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. He seemed to see the peak power of the Imperial Guard during the Hongwu and Zhengde eras.
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