In ancient wars, night attacks were often an unconventional method adopted when a small force defeated a large force, and a weak force defeated a strong force.

Its purpose is mostly to harass the enemy, to cause confusion or collapse in the enemy, rather than to encircle and annihilate the enemy, or to bring much damage to the enemy.

Because of the night attack, the requirements for the attacking army are relatively high. It is a huge test for the discipline and morale of the attacking soldiers, as well as their familiarity with the terrain. Once the organization is not good, it will be a self-defeating end.

At the moment, what is more advantageous to Yang Zhen is that the Songshan defenders are very familiar with the terrain. Whether it is the terrain outside the south gate, the terrain outside the east gate, or the open area between them and the Mantazi camp, they are very familiar with it.

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In particular, almost all of the criss-crossing trenches were dug out by themselves over a period of several months, one by one with a pickaxe. They were naturally very comfortable in using them at this time.

As for the discipline and morale of the Songshan army, except for a few generals, the people below did not know that there was not much ammunition for the muskets and artillery in the city, and they were not as worried as Yang Zhen and others.

In addition, in the past few months, Songshan's officers and soldiers had won consecutive battles with few defeats. Not long ago, they had captured ten princes full of Tatars, so their morale had always been good.

Especially during the day just past, the Manchu Tatar heavy artillery collapsed the west wall of Songshan City, and then the army rushed to the city, first attacking in, and then being beaten out. This process greatly boosted the morale of the officers and soldiers in Songshan.

, I just felt that the Manchu Tatar army was nothing more than this.

Therefore, even though the soldiers who were selected to go out of the city to attack the enemy camp at night had been fighting hard for a day and were exhausted, their morale was still good after they were ordered to assemble.

At least at midnight, the group of grenadiers who were assembled in front of Yang Zhen were all full of energy, and they all looked excited when facing Yang Zhen's review.

Li Lu, this group of grenadiers selected by Pan Xi? They were all grenadiers who had participated in the excavation of the secret tunnel outside the city, and were also those who had previously participated in burying tens of thousands of enemies in the Empress' Palace.

Although these people were ordered not to discuss those things publicly, in their hearts, they had long expected that one day the things they did and the hard work they put in would really make a difference.

Today, this moment has finally arrived.

And these grenadiers obviously knew what they were going to do when they left the city. If it weren't for midnight, when everything was dark and quiet, and they were performing a secret mission, they would have screamed with excitement.

But it is said that after the grenadiers gathered under the east gate, Yang Zhen came down from the city to inspect them.

These people put on the black cloaks they had used to hide their whereabouts the night they left the city. They stood in the darkness like a black forest. Without torches, they couldn't be distinguished at all.

Yang Zhen held a torch and walked solemnly in front of the grenadiers. Finally, he stopped in front of Li Lu and Pan Xi and said to them:

"Remember? Explode if you have a chance? Withdraw if you don't have a chance. Can you infiltrate in the end? If you really can't infiltrate, come back and think of a way. In short, you can't risk the lives of your brothers in order to complete the mission. Remember

, keep the green hills and don’t worry about running out of firewood.”

"I understand the humble position!"

"I understand the humble position!"

Li Lu and Pan Xi answered one after another, their words were simple and powerful, and they were deeply moved by what Yang Zhen said.

Yang Zhen patted the two of them on the shoulders and subconsciously looked up at the sky. The sky was dark. He didn't know if it was fog or smoke. It blocked everything. He couldn't see any moonlight or stars. After looking at it for a while, he turned back to face them.

The person said:

"Go! Let's go!"

Li Lu and Pan Xi didn't say much after hearing the order, they just cupped their fists and turned around to leave.

The other grenadiers followed closely, going out of the east gate, down the ditch, and gradually disappeared into the wilderness.

After Li Lu and Pan Xi left with their troops, Yang Zhen put on the black cloak handed over by Ma Keqing, came to Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan, tied the belt around the neck of the cloak, and said to them

:

"Let's go, let's go out of the city. Zhang Chen, you go to the front line, Zhang Guogan, you come with me!"

Zhang Chen and Zhang Guogan had already assembled the two musketeers under their command who were able to fight, and were just waiting for Yang Zhen to give the order to leave the city.

At this time, they listened to Yang Zhen's words and immediately took the order.

First, Zhang Chen gave a low shout to his subordinates and took the lead to lead the army out of the city. Then Yang Zhen led Guo Xiaowu and Ma Keqing, together with Zhang Guogan's team, and set off right behind Zhang Chen's team.

At midnight, fog and smoke were shrouded outside Songshan City, the stars and moon were dim, and it was almost invisible. Fortunately, they followed one by one and marched in the ditch, so they were not afraid of anyone getting lost.

Of course, the most important thing is that although they did not light any lights, the lights in the camp full of Tatars in the distant wilderness were flickering, marking their target position and direction of advance.

The east gate is about two or three miles away from the camp where the Tatars are full of red flags in the east of the city. They crouched, groping in the dark, sometimes marching quickly under the ditch, sometimes carefully walking through the tall shrubs and tall grass on the wilderness beach, about half way

An hour later, we arrived near a circular trench outside the Mantazi camp.

It might be because the fog was heavier in the second half of the night, or it might be because the wilderness near Songshan City was full of trenches, making it inconvenient to patrol. In short, they sneaked around for about half an hour and didn't meet any Tatars in the wilderness arranging night patrols.

Sentinels, cavalry, and soldiers.

Of course, what Yang Zhen didn't know was that the reason why they did not encounter the Manchu Tatar patrol was mainly because these Manchu Tatars fought bloody battles with the defenders of Songshan City for a day and were more exhausted than the Songshan officers and soldiers under Yang Zhen's command.

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Moreover, the Manchu Tatars were not afraid of the officers and soldiers of Songshan City leaving the city, or they were not worried that the officers and soldiers of Songshan City would dare to go out of the city to rob the camp.

Although Huang Taiji repeatedly told Daishan and Dorgon to guard the camp and take strict precautions to avoid being exploited by Yang Zhen from Songshan City to rob the camp in the middle of the night, his words were in vain.

There were not many Jia La Zhang Jing, Niu Lu Zhang Jing and Ma Bu Yi Jia under various banners of Manta. They believed from the bottom of their hearts that the officers and soldiers in Songshan City dared to go out of the city to attack them.

In the Mantazi camp in the west and south of the city, Huang Taiji and Dorgon were personally in charge. The defense patrol arrangements at night were naturally much stricter, but this place in the east of the city was different.

After Prince Li Daishan led his army back to the camp, he only explained some camp affairs, and then took a group of his cronies and entourage, as well as Ba Yala, the elite guard of Zhenghong Banner, and set off to the Queen's Palace to rest for the night.

Only one of his sons-in-law was left, Zhenghong Banner Manzhou Gushan Ezhen, Heshuo Fudu Lei, Zhenghong Banner Han Army Maile Zhangjing Wu Shojin was in the camp, leading Zhenghong Banner Alihachaoha soldiers and part of the Han army

Niu Lu guards the camp.

This Heshuo, with Du Lei on his forehead, stormed Songshan City with his red flag Alihachaoha soldiers during the day. The armored soldiers under his banner suffered a lot of casualties, and everyone was exhausted. He also knew that he would lead his army the next day without heavy artillery to destroy it.

He attacked the east city of Songshan while the city wall was still intact, so after returning to the camp, he sent off his father-in-law, Prince Daishan, and took an early rest.

He also ordered the soldiers of Alihachaoha under his banner to rest early and recharge their batteries, and continue to attack the city the next day. He only asked the Zhenghongqi Han army Meile Zhangjing and Wu Shojin to handle the defense of the camp for him.

Daishan handed over the defense of the camp to Du Lei, and Du Lei immediately handed over the defense of the camp to Wu Shojin. Wu Shojin also worked hard all day during the day and wanted to rest at night, so he simply handed over the defense to his own men.

In the middle of the night, it was okay to say that the soldiers of the Zhenghong Banner Han Dynasty were working hard. Those who should dig ditches, those who should feed horses, those who should be on night watch, and those who should patrol, were working hard and conscientiously.

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But in the second half of the night, the situation was different. The Manchu masters and gentlemen they had worked so hard to serve had all rested, so the trick of cheating and sneaking was naturally used.

The two Tatars under the Han Army Niulu under the Zhenghong Banner, like the two Tatars under other banners, most of them were from the old Liao Army. The method of deceiving the superiors, which was both overt and underhanded, certainly could not be completely changed because of the surrender of the Manchu Tatars.

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Therefore, in the second half of the night, the Han troops under the Zhenghong Banner, who could no longer hold back the tired and sleepy troops, pushed the defense of the camp to me and I to you.

At the end, all the officials rested, and those who worked as soldiers, of course, followed suit and found a warm place to rest. Only the most unlucky servants were left, who had to endure their sleepiness.

Standing on duty all night despite the frost and dew.

When Zhang Chen, Yang Zhen and others arrived near the Red Banner Camp of Mantazi, what they saw was this situation.

The Mantazi camp is not small, but it is quiet. Not only are there no sentries outside the camp, but there are no guards walking around in the camp. Only the lights on the watchtowers set up around the camp are flickering, as if someone is on duty at night.

Yang Zhen was among hundreds of musketeers, crawling together on the deserted beach near the Mantazi camp, observing the quiet enemy camp through the tall shrubs and tall grass in front of him.

"Captain, I really didn't expect that the Manchu Tatar Red Flag Camp would dare to be so slack. Look at their camp. Apart from the ditches, earthen fortresses, some fences and watchtowers surrounding the camp, there is nothing else.

!”

Not long after Yang Zhen arrived, Zhang Guogan came to Yang Zhen's side and whispered to him: "With such an enemy camp, we can completely attack it and break it with one attack!"

"Don't worry, we'll wait until Li Lu succeeds. It's easy to break into the camp, but what will you do once you fall in?"

Yang Zhen couldn't figure out what was going on at the Zhenghongqi camp in front of him. Was he really negligent and slack, or was he playing some conspiracy and deliberately pretending to be careless to induce him to rob the camp.

Therefore, he resolutely insisted on executing the original plan. Unless the main camp in front of him was full of Tatars and left the camp, he would rather retreat to the original route.

Yang Zhen had just finished his words and was waiting for a few more words when he suddenly felt the ground beneath him shake violently, followed by a loud noise that rumbled from the northeast, just like bursts of thunder from the northeast.

Like a thunderstorm.

"We succeeded! We succeeded! Governor, Li Lu and the others succeeded!"

Yang Zhen raised his head and looked north, and saw a sudden fire shooting into the sky in the direction of the Empress's Palace. He was overjoyed. Zhang Guogan, who was lying next to him, jumped up and squatted on the ground, dancing with joy while suppressing his excitement in his voice.

The ground screamed softly.
Chapter completed!