Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 241 The Strongest Rebel, Zhang Yun, Unleashes His Power (Part 1)
Time flies, and August is here in the blink of an eye.

The weather at this time of year is the hottest, and the capital region is bustling with activity.

At Zhu Jue's command, countless steamships, naval fast ships, and grain transport boats began to carry artisans from the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty toward the capital region. Soon, the number of artisans and their families gathered along the grain transport canals and the Luan River in Jizhou Town exceeded one million!
Wei Zhongxian mobilized almost all of the Embroidered Uniform Guards to acquire land everywhere, Tian Hongyu was also conscripting farmers and able-bodied men to dig foundations, and Yuan You was directing artisans to build cities everywhere.

The entire town of Jizhou, except for the area around Jizhou City, Zunhua City, and Santunying, seemed to have become a construction site. The bustling scene was so rare that it was a once-in-a-century event, or even a once-in-a-millennium event.

The Central Plains were bustling with activity at that time.

The rebels weren't building cities with great enthusiasm; they were engaged in a chaotic battle.

Zhang Yun, the King of Hanzhong, went berserk, beating anyone he could get his hands on. The fighting never stopped, and the entire Central Plains was thrown into chaos by his rampage.

Of course, this so-called excitement was only for Zhu Jue, who was watching the spectacle.

For Zhang Xianzhong and the various rebel kings who were being attacked, it was not a lively occasion, but a terrifying experience.

Zhang Yun was truly acting like a madman. He didn't care how many men they had, nor was he afraid of being defeated one by one. He simply divided his forces into six routes and advanced frantically.

Nanyang Prefecture, Runing Prefecture, Ruzhou, and Henan Prefecture were quickly captured by this guy. Zhang Xianzhong's main force was nearly half bitten off by this guy. Other rebel kings in the Central Plains who did not flee when they encountered this madman were all swallowed up by him.

Those who fled to Kaifeng to join Zhang Xianzhong were not much better off. This madman didn't care how many troops Kaifeng had and was still advancing frantically in six directions.

Xiangcheng, Shenqiu, Shangshui, Sishui, Rongyang, Mixian, Heyin, Rongze, Chenzhou, Yancheng, Xihua and other places were quickly taken over by this madman, and they were about to be forced into a corner by Kaifeng Prefecture.

Forced into a corner, Zhang Xianzhong and the various rebel kings had no choice but to gather their forces in Zhengzhou, the city where the four main roads from the east, west, north, and south converged, for a decisive battle against this madman.

Although Zhengzhou was a prefecture city at this time, it was not very large, with a total area of ​​less than 10,000 mu and fewer than 5,000 households and a population of less than 40,000.

Zhang Xianzhong and the various rebel kings immediately crammed in 100,000 troops!
As a result, Zhu Tianzhe's Hanzhong army, which was attacking Zhengzhou, was indeed held off by them.

Just as they were secretly rejoicing, Zhao Tianlin and Li Tiandou, who had just captured Heyin and Rongze, led their men in a massive swarm.

Upon hearing the news, Zhang Xianzhong and the various rebel kings had no choice but to quickly mobilize nearby troops and swarm into Zhengzhou.

As a result, they crammed more than 200,000 troops into the small city of Zhengzhou. On each side of the city wall, which was less than four miles long, there were 20,000 troops stationed in shifts every twelve hours.

Zhao Tianlin, Li Tiandou, and Zhu Tianzhe were all at a loss; they had attacked the city wall three times in succession but still couldn't breach it.

There was no other way. The city wall, which was less than four miles long, was less than two thousand meters long, yet it was packed with twenty thousand people. What does that mean?
It was so crowded that even if their men climbed up the arrow stomp, they couldn't jump down because the ground below was made of planks, doors, spears, or other weapons. If they jumped down, they would be riddled with holes.

Zhang Yun rushed over upon hearing the news.

Early that morning, around 7 a.m., he ascended the command platform that had been erected beforehand, about five miles east of Zhengzhou.

The city wall of Zhengzhou is about two zhang high, and the command platform he had ordered to be built beforehand was three zhang high. Therefore, he could simply raise his telescope and have a clear view of the situation on the city wall.

The number of rebels on the city wall was indeed frightening. The top of the city wall was completely filled with densely packed wooden planks, door panels, long spears, and other weapons, which was enough to make one's scalp tingle.

Many of the wooden planks and door panels still bore traces of fire, clearly indicating that his three disciples had even tested rockets.

These rockets are quite effective for defending a city, since it's inconvenient for the attacking side to get water; at most, they can bring some wet bedding. However, rockets are generally not very effective for attacking a city, because plenty of water can be stored on the city walls beforehand, and any number of rockets fired will be extinguished. How can such a dense defensive formation be broken?

If only we had artillery.

The cannonballs couldn't withstand the impact of those shells on wooden planks or doors. After a few rounds of shelling, the city walls would be littered with corpses.

Unfortunately, he is no longer a general of the capital garrison, but a rebel leader, and His Majesty would never equip his troops with artillery.

If there are no cannons, there is another way: build catapults. When huge rocks weighing tens of kilograms are dropped, even wooden planks and doors cannot withstand them.

The problem is that catapults take too long to build. If he wants to build enough catapults to cover the entire top of the city wall, it will take at least several months.

He couldn't afford to waste several months in this tiny city of Zhengzhou.

So what to do?

He glanced at the filled-in moat below the city wall and suddenly thought of a solution.

The city wall was only about two zhang high, and it wouldn't take long to fill it with sandbags. They could even fill the entire top of the city wall with sandbags!
After thinking it over carefully, he decisively said, "Tianlin, Tiandou, Tianzhe, quickly modify Wu Kui, nail a wooden board to the bottom to put sandbags, and nail two more sets of handles to the back, so that the three of you can carry it forward together."

Today, get all the Wu Kui modified and prepare enough sandbags. Tomorrow, you will order your men to start filling the area under the eastern city wall with sandbags, all the way up to the top of the wall, creating a slope.

Then continue filling the city walls, until they are completely filled. Let's see how they defend themselves. If they still try to crowd onto the walls, bury them alive!

This tactic would be ineffective against well-trained Ming soldiers.

The reason is that even with sandbags in front of the giant shield, it can only withstand arrows or fire arrows. The defending side can also throw rolling stones, logs, or even pour hot oil and set them on fire, which the giant shield with sandbags cannot withstand.

However, these rebels hadn't prepared any rolling stones or logs at all, and there were no large pots of hot oil on the city walls, not even a pot for boiling water.

Generally speaking, the rebels felt that it was too hot, and the city walls were crowded with people. If they were to heat oil or boil water, they might die of heatstroke before the attackers were burned or scalded to death.

In short, this group of rebels is just a rabble who doesn't understand military strategy, and there's no need for sophisticated tactics to deal with such rookies.

At Pan Yunteng's command, the Hanzhong army camp immediately sprang into action.

Wu Kui found the modification incredibly easy; it only required nailing a wooden board and four handles, making it much simpler than building a ladder.

They had already prepared a lot of wood for building siege equipment. The planks were readily available, and the handles were also very simple. They could just take a piece of wood about the thickness of a palm, saw a groove that could fit into the palm, and then nail it to Wu Kui's back.

Wu Kui completed the entire modification in less than a morning.

As for the sandbags, they have plenty of cloth, people, and needles and thread. If each person sews one, that's 300,000. Besides, it's impossible for one person to sew one sandbag in a day, even if it's filled with sand. It's impossible for one person to make only one sandbag in a day.

Soon, sandbag walls were piled up in front of each tent in the camp, and they kept getting higher and higher, just like the defensive fortifications of later generations.

(End of this chapter)