Chapter 362 Xi'an Meat Grinder 2
"Is Pingxibo feeling better now?" Zhao Xiaofei asked.
"For people who practice martial arts, this injury is nothing and will heal long ago!" said Wu Sangui.
"I'm afraid you will think that I am deliberately weakening your strength, so I didn't let you charge again. There will be many battles in the future, so why rush at this moment?" Zhao Xiaofei said.
Just as Wu Sangui was about to continue speaking, he saw Kong Youde, Geng Jingzhong and Shang Zhixin coming here and kneeling down.
Zhao Xiaokun asked, "Why are you guys here? Didn't I just send someone to tell you to refit today and fight again another day?"
"Admiral, Prince, we are here today to request a fight! We have committed heinous crimes in the past, and today we are here to repay the court and the kindness of Your Highness and Your Excellency. Please allow us to lead the troops to eliminate Li Zicheng as soon as possible!" Kong Youde said.
"Your Highness, please grant us permission, Admiral!" Geng Jingzhong and Shang Zhixin said.
"This... you have suffered too much loss in the past few days. If the losses are too great, we will still need you in the future Liaodong war. What will you use to fight without your soldiers?" Zhao Xiaofei said.
"We have now become the official army, and the court will naturally replenish the casualties. We are soldiers and should not have too many ideas. We should just focus on fighting, and this is our duty!" Kong Youde said.
"Okay! Since you are so eager to make achievements, I don't want to hurt your feelings. After breakfast, you can get ready!" Zhao Xiaofei said.
"Thank you, Your Highness, and thank you, Admiral!" several people said at the same time.
After they left, Zhao Xiaofei said, "Brother! Your idea is really good. When they saw the death-proof golden medal, they all wanted it!"
"They have something to hide, so of course they need something to protect themselves. At this time, the golden medal of immunity from death is the most tempting. If they didn't have it, they might have come to us to complain yesterday afternoon." Zhao Xiaokun said.
"Brother is really good at understanding people's hearts!" Zhao Xiaofei said with a smile.
The three armies set about cooking, and everyone ate their fill. The horn blew, and the chariots, which had been converted from tracked farm vehicles, were used as charging weapons, followed by the Guanning Army, who drove towards the city.
The streets were quiet, devoid of any human activity. It was as if everyone had disappeared, leaving no trace of movement.
Just after the chariot and its men had passed three streets, a brick fell from a wall, and a musket extended from the gap between the bricks. It fired at the Guanning Army in front, and a Guanning Army soldier fell to the ground with a bang.
This shot was like a signal, and muskets, bows and crossbows came out from countless places and shot at them.
This immediately caused chaos among the Guanning Army, while the Chuang Army began to hunt them down calmly.
Fortunately, there were still some clear-headed soldiers in the Conquer the Nation Army. A captain shouted to the soldiers: "Throw grenades at the yard on the left. One, two, three, four, throw!"
After the captain finished speaking, the rest of the well-trained soldiers immediately pulled out the grenades from their waists and threw them into a courtyard. Because the resistance in this courtyard was the most intense, the grenades exploded in the air as soon as they were thrown in.
Because the instructor said that this method has the greatest power and the greatest lethality.
Sure enough, after a few grenades were thrown in, there was no movement in the yard.
Several Guanning soldiers rushed in like wolves and tigers, killing everyone they saw. Those who were not dead were also stabbed a few times to vent their anger.
Even so, some of them were ambushed. One Guanning soldier had one eye blinded, and he ran out of the house, covering his face with his hands, howling with blood on his face.
Every time they advanced, they would encounter surprise attacks and resistance. Guns and arrows would appear from any unexpected place. From time to time, they would attack the Ming army, so much so that when the chariots were almost at Li Zicheng's palace, they found that there were only a few soldiers left behind.
In front, there were a lot of small cannons from somewhere that the rebel army came from. They started firing at the tanks at close range, boom, boom, boom, some of the tanks had some minor problems and broke down, causing considerable damage to these modified tanks.
They were allowed to see the palace but could not go any further, so they had to go back and mobilize troops.
When they went back to replenish their troops and rushed towards the palace again, they found that the rebel army had reappeared in the courtyards and houses that they had captured.
They had to fight again, clearing out the enemies one by one before they could reach the place they had just been at. But when they got there, there were not many people behind the chariot.
So, the Guanning Army and the former Wuzhen Chaoha began to clean and inspect every place on the street one by one.
Zhao Xiaofei took the battle report and said, "I didn't expect Li Zicheng to be such a quick learner. He's already mastered street fighting. It seems he's dug the entire city of Xi'an into an underground city, with tunnels everywhere."
"Tunnel warfare?" said Zhao Xiaokun.
Zhao Xiaofei nodded and said, "This is troublesome! Even if we throw in Wu Sangui and Kong Youde's armies, we may not be able to make much progress. If the losses are too great, there is no need for us to have a complete Xi'an city."
"If that's the case, the officials in Beijing will point at us and scold us every day!" said Zhao Xiaokun.
"If they are like this, capture them and let them command the battle in Xi'an! I guess they will be so scared that their legs will go weak when they get here." Zhao Xiaofei said.
On the front battlefield, Wu Sangui, Kong Youde and others put aside their past grudges and began to discuss how to deal with Li Zicheng's underground warfare.
Their method was simple and crude: they would first occupy a yard, then start searching, and when they found the entrance to the tunnel, they would immediately throw a grenade inside. They would then seal it with bricks and stones, regardless of the cries of the elderly, children, women, and others inside.
As a result, the progress was very slow. It would take at least three months, not to mention three days.
Meanwhile, in the capital, a new quarrel erupted at court. The cause was a demand by the Mongols and the Jianlu to expand the trade in high-quality rice. Zhao Xiaofei had previously shipped a large quantity of old rice and rice containing excessive amounts of metals, which had been sold through Shanxi to the Mongols and Jianlu, as well as to Goryeo and Fuso.
By this time, the rice had long been sold out. The Mongols and the Jianlu needed more food to survive the winter, so they sent envoys to Beijing to request further increases in trade.
The court officials were unaware of all this. They couldn't possibly tell them that the rice was poisonous and would make people sick and die if eaten for a long time. They couldn't expect these people in the court to keep a secret. It would be worse than expecting a sow to climb a tree!
However, these court officials wrote letters to impeach the Zhao brothers and even called them traitors who only cared about their own interests and not the country.
The cabinet, led by Ni Yuanlu, demanded that their military power be reduced and Zhao Xiaokun be allowed to return to Jiangnan. "Aren't you the governor of Jiangnan? Go back and sort things out in Jiangnan, and stay out of the north."
In the palace, after reading the memorial, Princess Kunxing threw it aside and said, "No one is worrying about it. There's still a war going on in the front, and they're bickering in the back! And they're still thinking about taking over the military power!"
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