In front of Lianshan Pass, gunpowder smoke filled the air and shouts shook the sky. A fierce battle was taking place on another battlefield where Pingliao was to exterminate the captives.
Kong Youde's rear associates, Fan Hualong's Feibiao Cavalry Regiment, and a mixed force of more than 20,000 infantry, cavalry and artillery were attacking Lianshanguan, the gateway to the east of Liaoyang.
Lianshanguan is an important traffic pass leading to the capital of Liaodong. Before the Tianshun year, it was a natural "pass limited by the river", not a "border pass" with the Great Wall building.
In the fifth year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, Han Bin built ten forts and "barriers" to resist guarding here, and Lianshan Pass became the inner pass.
Although Lianshanguan is not steep, it forms an angle with Benxi and is the gateway and stronghold for Liaoyang to face the enemies of Liaodong.
Especially after the sudden rise of the Dongjiang Army and the two major victories in Jianzhou and Liaodong, Jianlu had to implement a contraction strategy, and the status of Lianshan Pass became unprecedentedly important.
After setting off from Fengcheng and taking the Qingtai Valley Fort and Tongyuan Fort, more than 20,000 Dongjiang troops approached Lianshan Pass and began to seize positions outside the pass.
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In addition to the 3,000 elite defenders of Lianshanguan, the other 6,000 to 7,000 men were all mobilized old men and young men.
Although the number of men and horses is no less than that of Anshan Yi, their combat power cannot be complimented, and they do not have the confidence and capital to fight with the Dongjiang Army for manpower.
Even the trench positions outside the city are less than two miles deep due to the terrain.
Because Guannan is a small river in the Taizi River system, flowing through Zhonghe, Liujia, Shiha, Motianling, and Lianshanguan, and then passes through Xiamatang and enters the Taizi River.
In other words, although Lianshanguan does not have deep trench fortifications, it does have a small river as a barrier, which is like a wider moat.
However, the Dongjiang Army was well prepared and had soldiers who were good at water to assist in the battle. Under the cover of mortars, they set up three pontoon bridges on the Xihe River, crossed the Xihe River in one fell swoop, occupied a stable bridgehead, and launched an attack on Lianshanguan.
attack.
Boom, boom, boom... Hundreds of mortars were bombarding the Lianshan Pass unceremoniously, with streaks of smoke and balls of flame rising into the sky inside the pass.
Lianshanguan suffered a fierce attack. Kong Youde commanded the soldiers of the rear alliance to rush into the trench and start a fierce and bloody battle with the Jianlu.
Although Jianlu did not want to compete with the Dongjiang Army for manpower, he still wanted to rely on the advantage of close combat and use trenches to inflict a large amount of damage to the opponent, thereby preventing the enemy's attack plan.
Unfortunately, at the beginning of the war, Jianlu discovered that in addition to their powerful firepower, the Dongjiang Army was not much worse than them in fighting in the trenches.
Jianlu hopes to fight one against two, or a higher ratio. This can offset the Dongjiang Army's strength advantage and cause the Dongjiang Army to reassess the damage of the attack and lose the desire to attack.
But let alone a higher exchange ratio, even the minimum bottom line of one to two is an unattainable extravagance for Jianlu.
"The damage from the artillery fire offset the ferocity of the Jianlu, allowing our army to achieve a one-to-one or even smaller casualty ratio."
Kong Youde held up the telescope and observed the battle ahead, showing a satisfied smile.
For close range bombardment, various units of the Dongjiang Army in Liaodong also used trebuchets and the simplest and most easy-to-make bombs.
The parabolic trajectory is suitable for dealing with trenches, and is more powerful than the Hongyi cannon.
Mortars with a longer range were bombarding Lianshan Pass fiercely, constantly killing and injuring the captives, and causing fires inside the pass.
As mentioned before, Lianshanguan is an inner pass, which is different from the forts of the Liaodong Great Wall. Although Jianlu has reinforced and repaired it, it still appears to be relatively fragile.
Of course, Jianlu used Lianshanguan as the first line of defense, and the second line of defense was located at Motian Ridge, which is more than a thousand meters above sea level.
The name of Motianling should be familiar to those who know the history of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894.
Nie Shicheng, a famous general in the late Qing Dynasty, organized a defensive battle at Motianling. He held on for five months and killed many enemies. He killed the Japanese general Fugang Sanzao and won one of the few victories of the Qing army.
The towering Motian Ridge stretches across Liaodong. It has been described as a land barrier since ancient times. It is the east-west boundary mountain between Benxi and Liaoyang, and the dividing point between Lianshanguan and Xiamatang in the north and south.
In other words, if the Dongjiang Army launched from Fengcheng wanted to invade the Liaoyang area, it would have to break through two passes in a row.
One is Lianshan Pass, and the other is Motian Ridge. After passing through these two passes, Jianlu will have no danger to defend, and the road to Liaoyang will no longer have any obstacles.
Of course, for the Dongjiang Army, there is no difference between Motian Ridge and other fortified city passes. Compared with mountain roads, jungles, and tall city walls, the difficulty is basically the same.
Fan Hualong dispatched his lancers and dismounted to assist in the battle, approaching the wall step by step. Taking advantage of the range of the heavy musket, he was able to open fire on the city.
"It seems that Jianlu is not determined to defend this pass." Fan Hualong observed the progress of the battle and said his analysis and judgment, "If we continue to fight at this speed, we may be able to capture Lianshan Pass today."
Kong Youde put down the telescope and said: "The treasure should be deposited in Motian Ridge, where the terrain is more conducive to defense!"
After a pause, he added: "As long as the Jianlu are contained, the mission has been completed. Waiting for another group of troops to capture Benxi and outflank the Jianlu's retreat, they will be turtles in the urn and cannot escape."
Conquering cities and plundering territory was not the main purpose. Taking advantage of the Jianlu tribesmen to flee before they could make up their minds, destroying as many of their effective forces as possible was the purpose of Guo Dajing's repeated warnings to remind the generals.
In the original plan, Kong Youde and Fan Hualong's Dongjiang Army did not rush to capture Lianshanguan. They pinned down the Jianlu and waited for the friendly forces to outflank them, and then attacked from both front and back to completely annihilate the defenders of Lianshanguan.
But now it seems that the attack was a bit fierce. Originally, they planned to seize the positions outside the pass and then stop the attack and wait for news of friendly forces. However, judging from the performance of the Jianlu, it seems that there is a possibility of abandoning the pass and retreating.
Fan Hualong glanced at Kong Youde and asked inquiringly: "Should the attack be slowed down? If it is too fierce, it will scare the Jianlu away."
Kong Youde pondered, slowly shook his head, and said: "The Jianlu retreated and continued their defense at Motian Ridge. The outflanking by friendly forces was not affected. The two armies jointly attacked the enemy at Motian Ridge, and they did not deviate too much from the battle plan.
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It is not difficult for the special operations battalion and the Korean army to capture the Six Forts of Gushan. There are few enemies in the forts and they are scattered, so it is easy to defeat them one by one.
Only in Benxi will they encounter strong resistance. However, the Jianlu there are not as strong as Lianshanguan in terms of military strength. If they fight normally, they will not be able to stop their continued advancement.
The key is that the main force in southern Liaoning is approaching Liaoyang, which has restrained most of the rebel forces, making it difficult for the defenders of Lianshanguan and Benxi to receive strong support.
Although the Dongjiang Army's military fronts were all directed towards Liaoyang, and Jianlu also invested the main force, the loss of peripheral key points still played a decisive role in the development of the entire war situation.