Chapter 616 0611 [Battle of Chenyang]

This year's plum rain season is shorter, but the summer drought has arrived early.

Wang Xi held a sharpened wooden stick and huddled in the shade of the camp. The hot weather made him want to stick out his tongue.

The water level of the Yuanjiang River has dropped a lot. If the drought continues for another half a month, the paddy fields will probably crack.

The eldest brother is Wang Fu, who died young.

The second brother is Wang Gui, who died in the battle to suppress the Wuxi Barbarians last year.

The third brother is Wang Cai, who was drafted into the army this year and is currently in the barracks.

Wang Xi was a conscripted civilian laborer. When he set out, he helped transport military rations, then cut trees and dug soil to build camps, and usually helped the regular soldiers do some miscellaneous work.

In fact, there is no need for so many civilian laborers here, but Wang Xi was still left behind and was given a sharpened wooden stick to help fight as an auxiliary soldier.

Song Qiao next to him sighed: "The rice is about to grow, what will happen if I don't go back to irrigate it?"

"The owner of the forum will help." Wang Xi was comforting his friends and himself.

Song Qiao laughed sarcastically: "Hehe, last year there was enough rain, and the altar master must have helped. This year it's so dry, he must have watered his own fields first, how can he care about us?"

Wang Xi stopped talking.

Dingzhou divided the land very thoroughly. After killing or driving away the landlords, the families of the soldiers were given priority to get the land, and ordinary people could also get some. Moreover, the water conservancy facilities were also shared by everyone, and the village's small altar master was responsible for arranging them.

In the first year, everyone was full of energy and life was prosperous.

In the second year, the military rations of the Great Chu court were insufficient, and the farmers were eager to pay for them, and they still had surplus.

In the third year, there were wars all the time, and the military rations were even more insufficient. The farmers were still willing to pay for them, but they were already very unhappy.

The fourth year, which is this year. In the spring, there was a shortage of food, and every household was hungry. After the rapeseed was harvested, people close to the territory of the Daming Dynasty often secretly took rapeseed to exchange for food.

Now the summer drought has come earlier. Farmers in Dingzhou rotate rapeseed and mid-season rice. The rice is now in the tillering stage and will soon face the jointing stage.

Regardless of tillering or jointing, basic shallow water irrigation needs to be maintained.

Wang Xi and his brother were pulled to fight. There are no adult men in the family. How can the women and children in the family get water? There is definitely no problem now, but it is hard to say whether the drought will last until next month. At that time, if the river water is insufficient, it depends on which family has more men!

Not only are they worried about their families, but they also have no confidence in the war in front of them.

Because there is not enough military rations.

That evening, civilians like Wang Xi and Song Qiao could only eat a small bowl of porridge.

The next day, they were sent to pick up river clams and snails, and those who knew how to fish went to cast nets in the Yuan River.

In the afternoon, Song Qiao returned to the camp in the heat of the day. He whispered to Wang Xi, "We attacked twice today. The enemy stayed in the camp and refused to come out. I heard that hundreds of brothers died, and many of them returned with injuries."

Wang Xi was worried: "How can we fight this?"

Song Qiao said, "No matter whether we win or lose, I just want to go home early to irrigate the fields. The rice can't do without water."

The two were chatting when suddenly there was a noise in the distance.

They hurried over to see, but they caught a few deserters.

To be precise, they caught a few escaped civilians.

The civilians cried and begged, saying that they were not afraid of death, but wanted to go home to take care of the rice fields.

The military judge didn't care about that. He directly killed all the escapees and summoned the civilians to give them a lecture: "Your Majesty has won a great victory. In a few days, you will be able to bring reinforcements to the camp. I guarantee that the Ming thieves on the opposite side will be defeated. If we hold on for a few more days, we will win. No one is allowed to think about going home. This is the fate of these deserters..."

The civilians were so scared that they dared not speak. They returned to the camp one after another, but they were full of anger in their hearts.

They had received the favor of Master Zhong and were willing to work for him. They had paid all the grain they were supposed to pay. But it was natural for farmers to grow crops to eat. There were too many men recruited this time. Would women take care of the rice fields at home?

In the midsummer drought, men were needed!

After a few days, there was still no rain. The water level of Dongting Lake dropped seriously. More than 70% of the waters of Qingcao Lake were difficult for large ships to sail.

The food for the civilians was reduced to one meal a day, and only a small bowl of porridge.

Early in the morning of that day, an officer came to pass the message.

Then, a low-level officer who managed the civilians found Wang Xi and said, "Your brother is in the army, you can go home."

Wang Xi was very excited after hearing this. The rice at home was saved.

Song Qiao asked, "What about us?"

The officer said, "Only one of the two men in the family can go back."

Song Qiao lowered his head and turned away, cursing secretly.

Wang Xi asked, "Will you give me food when I go home?"

The officer said, "We will give me food when we harvest rice this year. When we pay taxes, we will deduct some of the food."

Wang Xi was immediately depressed. He had to go back hungry.

The reason why some civilians were allowed to go home was purely because the military food was running out.

Wang Xi packed his bags and left the camp with more than 20 fellow villagers. After walking only a few miles, he suddenly heard the sound of drums behind him.

The decisive battle has begun!

Bai Qi also had insufficient military food. He transported two batches of wheat and sorghum from Xiangyang and Jingmen, and requisitioned some rice from Huainan, so that he could fight against the Chu army until now.

The new rice in Sichuan has not yet matured, so he can only supply some corn. Bai Qi has to fight before the army has less food.

Wang Xi looked back every few steps. His third brother Wang Cai was still in the camp. He didn't know if he could go home alive.

After standing and looking for a long time, Wang Xi sobbed and wiped his tears, and set off on the road home hungry.

On the battlefield.

The wooden cannons unloaded from the navy warships were placed in front of the battle.

They were so cautious even with firearms because the opponents were veterans who had experienced many battles. Even the farmers who were temporarily recruited had been seriously trained during the slack season, and each person had fought three or four tough battles.

Bai Qi only had 6,000 elite soldiers from Shuzhong, and the combat effectiveness of the rest of the troops was only slightly better than that of the Song Dynasty's wing troops.

The real elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were all transferred to the north to deal with the Jin people this year!

As soon as Bai Qi moved, not only did all the reinforcements of Zhong Quan leave the camp, but also the garrison of Liu Heng in Chenyang City was pulled out.

The Ming army was close to the Yuan River in the north, and due to the drop in water level, small warships could not come to support. To the west were tens of thousands of reinforcements from Zhong Quan, and to the south were the garrison of Liu Heng in Chenyang, which meant that Bai Qi had to defend against the enemy on both sides.

The monk soldiers from Fujian stationed in Chongxiao Village were also brought over by Fan Ruwei.

As for the surrendered soldiers under Huang Zuo and Liu Rui, they were not trustworthy at this time and were thrown by Bai Qi to besiege Yuanjiang County.

After the Ming army lined up, they were not in a hurry to attack.

The row of wooden cannons in front of the formation also made Zhong Quan and Liu Heng nervous.

The two sides were going to fight a decisive battle, but they confronted each other on the battlefield.

After all, the food-deficient Chu army couldn't stand it first, and the drums were beating, the flags were waving, and the front army was sent to make a tentative attack.

These Chu soldiers were afraid of being bombarded, and the teams were scattered.

Bai Qi asked Fan Ruwei to lead the monk soldiers to deal with the Chenyang defenders on the side, and also assigned Fan Ruwei 3,000 Huainan recruits.

Thousands of Huainan recruits were sent to fight the Chu army's front army head-on.

The Chu army was indeed elite, but they had not eaten enough these days, and their cheeks were visibly sunken.

After several rounds of bow and arrow shooting, the front armies of both sides fought to a draw and were directly stalemate in the center of the battlefield.

Moreover, the Chu army also used the Mandarin Duck Formation, which has been learned by Zhong Xiang!

Bai Qi's female formation was in a defensive posture, but it was actually attacking. The protrusions at both ends of the female formation were all wooden cannons.

The formation moved forward slowly as a whole. If Zhong Quan's army did not move, its front army would soon be surrounded.

The left and right armies of the Chu army moved forward quickly, and the left and right armies of the Ming army also carried wooden cannons to speed up.

"Boom boom boom!"

The wooden cannons fired solid stone bullets in volleys, and the range was not far, only about 100 meters.

The marching Chu army did not suffer too many casualties, but the formation was in a small range of chaos.

The distance between each other was closer, and the wooden cannons were replaced with shotgun shells, and small stones flew out like flowers scattered by fairies.

In open terrain, the lethality of wooden cannons was really limited.

"Boom boom boom!"

The drums sounded loudly, and Bai Qi's left and right armies, after rotating artillery fire, rushed up to engage the Chu army. And immediately achieved results, because their enemies were disrupted by the wooden cannons.

Seeing this, Zhong Quan immediately deployed more troops to stabilize the formation of the left and right armies.

On the side, Fan Ruwei and Liu Heng also fought together.

Until this time, Bai Qi's elite troops had not yet joined the battle.

Among them, 3,000 elite troops were in Bai Qi's central army. The other 3,000 elite troops were led by Lin Chong to make a large detour and encirclement.

A few nights ago, Lin Chong led his troops to leave, and took small boats in batches along the Yuan River to Dongting Lake. He took a navy warship to 30 miles east of Chenyang and camped on the shore of Dongting Lake to recuperate for three days.

Last night, he took a small boat from Dongting Lake to the west, then abandoned the boat and hurried at night, and reached six miles south of the battlefield, lurking in the woods by the Cangshui River (Cangshui and Langshui merge into Canglang River).

He was so cautious because he was afraid that he would be discovered by the people and the local farmers would inform the Chu army.

"Woo woo woo~~~"

The horn sounded on the top of Chenyang City to warn, and the Chu army finally found that a large number of enemies were coming from the southwest.

The battlefield was surrounded by rice fields, but the water had dried up, and even small cracks appeared. If it was not irrigated, it would be very likely that the harvest would be lost.

Lin Chong led 3,000 elite soldiers and first trotted along the ridge of the field.

Each of them wore armor weighing 30 kilograms, and they were almost fainting under the scorching sun.

Two miles away from the battlefield, they jumped into the rice fields and lined up, wading through knee-deep straw and slowly advancing.

Lin Chong appeared at the side and rear of the Chu army's formation.

At this time, the two sides were in a stalemate, and the Chu army had already fallen behind. The main reason was that the army was not getting enough food and its physical strength was reduced. It was also hit by two rounds of artillery fire. The left and right armies that were severely damaged had withdrawn three troops.

The morale of the Chu army had already plummeted.

Lin Chong rushed into the battlefield from the side and rear, and immediately caused chaos in the enemy's army.

Zhong Quan urgently mobilized the reserve troops and civilians to try to stop Lin Chong from charging towards the central army formation.

Bai Qi also sent the elite troops around him to the battlefield, but he went to cooperate with the monk soldiers in Fujian, intending to deal with the Chenyang defenders on the side first.

Liu Heng's Chenyang defenders were even more short of food, and the people outside the city fled into the city. The people inside and outside the city had to eat every day, and they couldn't be fed for nothing, so they simply recruited a large number of young and strong people to defend the city, and the rations had been reduced to two thin meals a day.

Under insufficient physical strength, they were already suppressed by the monk soldiers, and the elite troops in Shu suddenly rushed out, so Liu Heng could only take his personal soldiers to resist.

The two sides had just engaged in battle, and a group of Chenyang Chu troops that were temporarily recruited began to flee without any signs. Not only were they tired and hungry and unable to last, but they could not withstand the pressure of the battlefield and fled towards the direction of the county town.

At this time, a group of troops in the right army of the main force of the Chu army also collapsed.

Those were the civilians who had just been replaced. They were already in low morale, and they found that the main force was fighting on the side and rear. These civilians had no idea what was going on. They only knew that the main force had been surrounded. In a panic, they just wanted to escape back to their hometown.

Gaps appeared almost simultaneously on the front and side battlefields of the Chu army.

"Give the order, let Gong Yi lead the troops to tear open the enemy formation!" Bai Qi finally seized the opportunity.

Gong Yi is the second son of Gong Xiu. He was transferred to Chengdu as a cavalry general last year and trained 600 cavalry with the help of southwestern war horses. He was temporarily transferred this year and arrived at Dongting Lake last month. Due to acclimatization, only more than 530 cavalry recovered, and there were still many sick people in the barracks.

These hundreds of cavalry seized the opportunity to rush through the gap, rushing through the dry rice fields, chasing the fleeing enemy army.

After chasing for a while, they turned back to attack and shoot arrows, and cooperated with the infantry to cause chaos in the right army of the Chu army.

The Chu army did not have a large-scale cavalry, only some scattered sentinels. When the formation was intact, they were not afraid of cavalry, but at this moment, they were difficult to resist.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, the various units of the right army of the Chu army collapsed one after another.

The morale of the Chenyang Chu army close to the right army was also affected, and the second and third scattered troops appeared.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom!"

Bai Qi personally beat the drum and ordered the whole army to attack.

Amid the deafening shouts and screams, the local soldiers and civilians recruited by the Chu army fled in a hurry, and tens of thousands of defeated soldiers rushed towards the Canglang River.

"Prince, hurry up!"

The guards dragged Zhong Quan away. If they didn't leave, they would have no chance of escaping, because Zhong Quan's central army had been broken through by Lin Chong.

Zhong Quan seemed to have lost his soul, looking at the battlefield with a dead face, and let the guards drag him away.