Chapter 367 366 Arson

"Go and report to General Yu. It seems that the Tatars cannot retake the city gate. They are now scattered in the houses in the city. They probably want to use the houses in the city to delay our army from encirclement and suppression."

The team officer guarding the city gate greeted the investigating Ming army cavalry and said loudly.

Coming out of Datong City together, the captain of this Ming army naturally recognized the person in front of him. Seeing that the city gate was indeed guarded by the Ming army, he asked someone to raise a safety flag and sent a soldier back to report the news.

"go ahead."

Seeing the Ming army's flag, Yu Dayou immediately waved his hand.

Although he was very strange at the moment, was there no one in the city anymore?

That's right. A cavalryman came from the opposite side and rushed straight in front of him. About ten steps away, the cavalryman turned over and dismounted and walked a few steps to Yu Dayou. He knelt down and clasped his fists and said: "Tell the general, the news from the city gate. The Tatars in the city are only attacking." Once they entered the city gate, they dispersed and hid in private houses after being repulsed by Fran machine guns."

"Um?"

Hearing this situation, Yu Dayou was slightly surprised at first, and then raised his eyebrows. He knew what the other party was planning.

Attacking the city gate only once and retreating decisively after failure showed that the opponent's combat power was not high.

Hiding in private houses will increase the difficulty of extermination, indicating that the other party intends to compete with him in the city and delay their time.

I have no intention of occupying this place, hehe

Yu Dayou thought to himself that he was very happy that the Tatars would make such a choice.

But they knew that Qiu Fu and Zhao Quan built this place for Anda Khan. It is said that a palace was built in the city to prepare the place where Anda Khan would be crowned emperor in the future. Can they still keep it?

Since he can't stay, what he has to do after entering the city is simple, which is to burn the place with fire.

The Tatars and the White Lotus believers all hid in civilian houses, and if they were burned to death, their own losses would be reduced. Why not, it would save everyone trouble.

"Pass the order."

Yu Dayou suddenly shouted loudly, and a messenger behind him immediately rode over to receive the order.

"I ordered General Ma Lu and guerrilla Xu Qin to each bring a force into the city and advance along the city wall. Give me the control panel to raise the city wall. Don't let any of the traitors in the city get lost."

"Take the order."

After Yu Dayou issued the order, the messenger shouted loudly and then rode away.

Soon, the Ming troops outside the city entered the city one after another. After that, all but one thousand of the three thousand people stayed here. The other two thousand people, led by Ma Lu and Xu Qin, climbed up the city wall and advanced one to the left and the other to quickly The control panel raises the city walls.

The city wall of Bansheng City is actually an earth wall. The height of the earth wall is about one foot and the width is about six feet. Except for the two city gates covered with bricks, the rest are just earth walls. There are not even the crenellations of the city wall. As for the defensive facilities such as archery towers, there are more It's nothing.

The Ming army advanced rapidly along the city wall. Only a few Bansheng soldiers were seen along the way, and they were quickly eliminated. There was no barrier that could stop the Ming army from advancing.

Soon, Yu Dayou, who was waiting on the city tower, received the latest news. Ma Lu and Xu Qin met at the north gate and completed control of the entire Bansheng City wall.

"Before our army captured the North Gate, we saw some convoys leaving the city. According to the captured enemy soldiers, they were the family members of traitors such as Zhao Quan and Li Zixin."

The messenger who came back to report now reported the report in front of Yu Dayou.

"Did everyone run away?"

Yu Dayou frowned slightly when he heard this, and then asked.

"General Ma saw that there was a convoy that wanted to leave the city quickly. He guessed that it might be an important person, so he accelerated the attack. However, some of them still ran away, but we also intercepted the convoy behind it."

At this time, Li Zixin, who was in the palace, had already received the news when the Ming army advanced along the city wall. He understood the Ming army's plan, which was to completely block the city wall so that people in the city could no longer get out, so first The plan was to send out manpower to resist the Ming army's attack. On the other hand, the plan was to arrange for people to evacuate the family members of the bandit leader of the White Lotus sect who were stranded in the city as soon as possible outside the city.

Although many people in Bansheng City go to Daqing Mountain Pass to escape the summer heat, they have to camp in the wild. The families of many leaders cannot bear to live in the wilderness, even in tents, so there are not a few who stay in Bansheng City. .

Well, after the Ming army invaded, Li Zixin arranged to gather these people together for easy protection. After knowing that the Ming army wanted to completely surround them, he quickly set up a car and planned to send the people out, but it was still too late after all. One step forward.

And after knowing who was forced to retreat and failed to leave the city, Li Zixin felt even more thunderous.

His mother was still in the city, and she was accompanied by a younger brother. The other younger brother lost contact. He didn't know whether he rushed out of the city or something, but Li Zixin always had a bad feeling.

In addition, one of Zhao Quan's brothers is still in the city, but the Qiu Fu family may have run out, but they may also be intercepted and killed by the Ming army at the city gate.

The news was also confusing at the moment, and even he couldn't get accurate information.

At the very least, those who have left the city have now lost contact with the city and cannot confirm the news.

It can only be said that they were too careless. After staying in Bansheng City for so many years, they never thought that the Ming army would dare to cross the border to attack.

You know, Bansheng City is more than 300 miles away from the nearest military town of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming army has always shown a defensive posture, with no intention of attacking it.

Well, they were careless, and now Bansheng City was surrounded by the Ming army without any preparation.

Now Li Zixin has received a report from the small leader who came back from the front. The attacking Ming army has about 3,000 soldiers.

There are about 2,000 people on the city wall, and there are about 1,000 Ming soldiers at the south gate. Their target should be here.

Li Zixin has made a judgment that the Ming army must want to capture the palace. After all, this is the place they built for Altan Khan. It is the place where they will ascend the throne and become emperor in the future. The Ming army will not let it go.

Moreover, the palace is located in the center of Bansheng City. At this moment, the senior officials in the city will definitely gather here to command the resistance of the defenders in the city.

Li Zixin also understands the principle of shooting the horse first and capturing the king first.

The court will never let a White Lotus bandit leader like him go easily, and implicating his family is not a light punishment.

Although he still had more than 2,000 men under his command, the offensive of the Ming army did not kill too many of his men. Li Zixin was confident that he could hold out for two days until the Qingshankou army came back to help. At that time, the Ming army would have no choice but to retreat. However, he still made the worst plan, which was to lead hundreds of his trusted men and their families to break out.

He knew the combat effectiveness of his men very well. The reason why he stayed was because most of the defenders in the city were his men. Qiu Fu's men followed Altan Khan to attack Xuanfu, and Zhao Quan's soldiers followed the people to the outside of Qingshankou.

Now the people of Bansheng City have become more and more difficult to manage. Most of the Han people who fled here before came here because the Mongols did not collect taxes from them. Every year, the Mongols also exchanged cattle and sheep for the food they grew.

It was not until the arrival of the White Lotus Sect and the establishment of a cooperative relationship with Altan Khan that they gained the right to manage this place.

Naturally, they also had to learn the behavior of officials in the pass and began to collect taxes from the people under their rule.

At first, the people were naturally unwilling, but in the face of their powerful military force, they finally chose to surrender.

However, over the years, they have trained more and more soldiers, and the demand for resources has also increased. Now the taxes collected have also skyrocketed, making many people feel that they can no longer survive, and there are no fewer people running back.

Therefore, when people go out of Qingshankou to escape the summer heat, they will choose to send a large army to guard along the way to prevent people from escaping halfway.

Now, if they want to dispatch a large army outside Qingshankou, except for Zhao Quan, Li Zixin is really not sure that he can quickly gather troops to support Banshengcheng.

"Line up."

Knowing that the walls and gates of Banshengcheng have been completely controlled by the Ming army, Malu and Liu Qin are deploying defenses on the walls and gates to prevent the defeated soldiers in the city from breaking out. Yu Dayou knows that this should all end.

He sent people to bring up the fierce fire oil and other things he brought, distributed a large number of torches and rockets prepared for ignition, and arranged the personal soldiers who stayed with him in a cone formation to rush in along the road. The target of the attack is very clear, that is, the palace in the center of the city.

As for the low houses along the way, they can be set on fire directly with torches and rockets. Since the defenders in the city want to defend those houses, let them die together.

After the order was given, the preparations of the Ming army were soon completed, and then Yu Dayou issued an order to attack.

The palace cannot be burned for the time being, not because he cares about the result of countless craftsmen's hard work, but because the White Lotus bandit leader and the ruler of this city should exist in the palace.

Catch them, take away the valuables in the palace, and then turn this place into ruins and leave it to Altan Khan.

The formation of the Ming army was quickly completed. As Yu Dayou issued the attack order, the knights in front began to slowly urge their horses and gradually began to speed up.

A few arrows began to be shot out from the houses. Yu Dayou's personal soldiers were all wearing two layers of armor. The arrows made on the grassland really couldn't penetrate their armor, but the first few people quickly became like hedgehogs, with arrows hanging all over their bodies.

Perhaps some arrows pierced the defense, but did not penetrate deeply into the flesh. For these men who have been in the army for many years, this little injury is commonplace and not worth mentioning at all.

No one slowed down to deal with the arrows and wounds on their bodies. The soldiers kept their formation and continued to rush forward, while the Ming army behind them held torches to light the houses along the way. From time to time, rockets were fired and shot at the roofs of the huts. Almost instantly, the roofs were a sea of ​​fire.

Those houses with dense arrows were the targets of these rockets. Several rockets were nailed to the door panels and windows, and soon ignited the wood. There were also rockets that fell on the roofs that quickly ignited the beams and other wood.

The actions of the Ming army that did not follow the routine made the White Lotus Sect hiding in the house a little confused, but they didn't care much because of the urgent situation. Many doors that were previously closed were opened, and the Bansheng soldiers escaped from the burned houses, but what awaited them was the Ming cavalry that quickly rushed over their bodies and was killed on the spot by the Ming army when they met.

The people in the border towns could ride horses to some extent, but those who were good at riding were selected to serve as cavalrymen in the army. These people had already gone to Xuanfu with Qiu Fu, and those who stayed were trained as infantrymen.

They ran out of the house one by one, and naturally had no choice but to wait for death in the face of the Ming cavalry.

And when the door was opened, after the Bansheng soldiers who rushed out were killed, one or two torches would be thrown into the house from outside the door. The Bansheng soldiers behind saw that there was no way to escape, so they had to climb over the courtyard wall and flee to the houses on the other three sides.

But the Ming army kept setting fires everywhere, and from time to time fired rockets into the houses, setting fire to larger areas of the houses inside.

The Ming army did not go into those battlefields that were best for guerrilla warfare, such as narrow alleys. When they saw houses inside, they just shot a few rockets at them.

As large areas of houses were set on fire by the Ming army, the area where the remaining Bansheng soldiers could move became smaller and smaller, but they were no longer surrounded by the Ming army, but surrounded by the fire.

As usual, the victorious party should have wiped out the resistance forces in the city, robbed property from house to house, and then burned down the houses, but this time the Ming army's operation really caught Li Zixin and other White Lotus leaders off guard.

However, at this time, even if Li Zixin learned the news, he would not have time to gather the scattered soldiers.

Now the Ming army has rushed to the outside of the palace wall and is robbing the palace wall to kill in. Although it has not been set on fire, Li Zixin knows that the palace cannot be defended.

Soon, a section of the palace wall was taken down by the Ming army, and dozens of Ming soldiers who climbed over the wall opened a palace gate, and a large number of Ming soldiers entered in a line, but the resistance along the way was very slight.

Yu Dayou had already arrived at the palace with the brigade. When he heard the news, he quickly realized what was going on.

"Speed ​​up and charge in. The bandit leader must want to escape from the north gate."

Yu Dayou began to loudly urge his soldiers to attack. There was no time to count the property in the palace.

The Ming army attacked very quickly. They passed through the palace, and even many halls did not have time to enter and clean up. They quickly passed through the so-called imperial palace and rushed towards the north gate.

At this time, the north gate wall was already a scene of killing. Hundreds of Bansheng soldiers composed of White Lotus Sect rushed to the Ming army defense line regardless of life and death. After quickly consuming the Ming army's firearms, the hundreds of cavalrymen remaining in Bansheng City began to charge again under the leadership of Li Zixin.

These were the personal soldiers that Li Zixin left by his side. They were well-equipped and fearless. They were bandits with lives on their hands, and their combat power was not weak.

They made full use of the familiarity of the terrain and suddenly attacked when they were very close to the city gate, which also caught the defender Xu Qin off guard.

At a heavy price, they finally broke through the blockade of hundreds of Ming troops. Even though the guerrilla Xu Qin urgently summoned the soldiers on the surrounding city walls to come for support, it was still a step too late.

The cavalry led by Li Zixin finally rushed out, although there were only more than 20 people left after leaving the city.

But the thing that worried him the most still happened.

Although the Ming army was broken through the city gate by them, as the Ming army on both sides of the city wall continued to come to support, the passage was soon blocked again, but their families behind them were unable to rush out and were all blocked in the city.