Chapter 238 The Situation in Shaanxi
When Xia Guoxiang arrived at Wu Sangui's tent, Wu Sangui asked him, "How are the arrangements for the surrendered generals going?"
"Everything has been arranged, please rest assured, Your Highness!" said Prime Minister Xia.
"Our strength has expanded now, but our food supplies are almost insufficient. The Jianlu people are afraid that we will turn against them in the middle of the battle, so they won't give us enough! Let's think of a way to get more food from everywhere! The stronger we are, the safer we will be!" said Wu Sangui.
"I understand!" said Prime Minister Xia.
"We have taken Shanxi. The next step is to attack Yulinwei. This is a tough nut to crack. Zhang Xianzhong has elite troops there, not many rabble. Duoduo and Ajige want to weaken our strength! Tell the people below, take down Yulinwei and search for them for three days! I have found out everything. Zhang Xianzhong brought all the silver from Chengdu here!" Wu Sangui said.
When Xia Guoxiang heard this, his eyes lit up and he said excitedly, "I think this will help us capture Yulinwei very quickly!"
Li Zicheng transferred Zhang Xianzhong to Yulinwei, and stationed Yuan Zongde in Weicheng, forming a pincer attack with Zhang Xianzhong, helping and monitoring each other.
Zhang Xianzhong was no fool. With all the money and food, how could Li Zicheng let him live comfortably? It was impossible for him not to work for him. Jiang Xiang's rebellion triggered a domino effect. A large number of former Ming army generals surrendered to the Jianlu, causing Li Zicheng to distrust the remaining surrendered generals.
Suspicion grew between the two sides, and Li Zicheng had no choice but to transfer them to less important positions. This only led to more defections from the surrendered generals. Song Xiance tried to stop them, but was unable to do so, secretly calling them a bad move. When Li Zicheng learned of this, he scolded him profusely.
"Damn it! Wu Sangui actually reached here so quickly? How many miles away are they from us?" Zhang Xianzhong asked Sun Kewang.
"There are still two hundred miles to go, and it is estimated that there are no less than 200,000 troops and horses!" Sun Kewang said.
"Where did he get so many troops?" Zhang Xianzhong gasped.
"Most of them are surrendered generals! Add to that the able-bodied men he recruited privately, and almost nine out of ten houses in Shanxi are empty! All those who can fight have been taken away, and there is almost no one who can farm." Sun Kewang said.
"Let's make preparations for both situations. Let's defend first. I want to let them know how powerful I am. In addition, you send someone to negotiate with them and see what conditions they can give me. At worst, we will surrender! Isn't it just a haircut? If these two ways are blocked, we can go west and become the king of the Western Regions!" said Zhang Xianzhong.
"I understand, son!" Sun Kewang went down to make arrangements after hearing this.
Bandits are bandits, they always want to escape. Wu Sangui sighed, he didn't expect Zhang Xianzhong to want to surrender, how naive. You are a person who let the emperor go, how can the Jianlu let you go. Looking at the people sent by Zhang Xianzhong, he smiled and said, "Go down! I will report your request to the emperor!"
After the messenger left, Xia Guoxiang came to Wu Sangui and said, "They are stalling for time. I guess they are trying to buy them time to prepare their defenses, or they are trying to escape!"
Wu Sangui threw Zhang Xianzhong's surrender conditions directly to the ground, making it almost impossible for Zhang Xianzhong to surrender. It would be best if he could force him to leave, so as to save himself from wasting strength.
"I understand! Tell him that surrender is impossible. I will leave the west gate unattacked and let him go on his own!" Wu Sangui said.
The messenger returned and told Zhang Xianzhong what Wu Sangui meant. Zhang Xianzhong laughed heartily and said, "Looks like we have to try our hand at Wu Sangui first! Let him attack one and see. I'll knock a few of his teeth off first!"
So the battle of Yulinwei began. Yuan Zongdi watched from the side, not caring about Zhang Xianzhong's life or death. He was lucky to be able to save himself, and Zhang Xianzhong was a treacherous villain. I don't know what the emperor was thinking, so he let him guard such an important place as Yulinwei.
Wu Sangui's Guanning Iron Cavalry will not charge in the front, it is Jiang Xiang and Tang Tong's troops who will charge in the front. As surrendered generals, they have to pay tribute, so you have to work hard anyway.
Tang Tong and Jiang Xiang then began bombarding Yulin City, and then the infantry began to attack the city. Everywhere was filled with shouts of killing and bloody slaughter.
As a defending general, Sun Kewang was quite capable. As long as they weren't like Zhao Xiaofei's Kenan Army, with incredibly powerful weapons and the ability to drop bombs from the sky, the others were a piece of cake. Sun Kewang didn't think that Wu Sangui's 200,000 men could take down Yulin City.
After two days of continuous attack, Wu Sangui lost 18,000 people and there was no sign of being able to break through.
Jiang Xiang and Tang Tong came to Wu Sangui's camp and complained to him.
Jiang Xiang said, "Your Highness! The Yulin Guards are not easy to defeat! We have suffered heavy casualties. Please, Your Highness, send me more troops!"
"Yes! Your Highness! We don't have enough artillery for attacking the city. I hope Your Highness can allocate a few red cannons to me!" said Tang Tong.
"Okay! But once Yulinwei is captured, I will have to take more silver from it! Don't forget, Yuan Zongde is far away, I still have to keep an eye on him!" Wu Sangui said.
"Your Highness, let's try again tomorrow. If it doesn't work, we'll talk about it later." Tang Tong said immediately.
"I still ask Your Highness to allocate more manpower. I believe that the most important thing is to capture Yulinwei as soon as possible!" Jiang Xiang said.
Tang Tong glanced at Jiang Xiang and quickly stopped him with his eyes. But Jiang Xiang didn't stop him!
Yesterday, the Imperial Guard's secret historian came to him and asked him to quickly cooperate with Wu Sangui to enter the vicinity of Xi'an, and not waste time on the journey to conserve strength. That's why Jiang Xiang said this.
Wu Sangui glanced at Jiang Xiang and said, "It seems that Lord Jiang is eager to achieve great things. Very good! I will allocate another 30,000 troops to you! You must capture Yulinwei tomorrow!"
"I will do my best!" Jiang Xiang said.
Seeing them leave the tent, Xia Guo said to Wu Sangui, "I always feel that Jiang Xiang is weird!"
"Oh! Why didn't I see that?" Wu Sangui said.
"Everyone is thinking about preserving their strength, except Jiang Xiang, who only wants to make achievements. It's a bit confusing!" said Prime Minister Xia.
"It's nothing! Look at those who surrendered, who doesn't want to show off in front of their new master? After a long time, they won't think so anymore!" Wu Sangui said.
In Yulin City, Zhang Xianzhong cursed Yuan Zongde as a villain who only watched from the sidelines and had no intention of attacking to help him.
"Sun Kewang, send someone to see Yuan Zongde! Ask him to send troops, and we will attack Wu Sangui together tonight and give him a big gift!" Zhang Xianzhong said.
When Yuan Zongdi met Zhang Xianzhong's envoy, he simply said he understood. He did not say he had to help Zhang Xianzhong. He knew that the emperor wanted to use this opportunity to wear down Zhang Xianzhong. He would never take action until the last possible moment.
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