The next day, December 11, before dawn, more than 10,000 Qing army cavalry came from the east. Together with the Qing army that arrived last night, at this time, two Qing troops had gathered outside Jiazhuang.
More than fifteen thousand people.
They camped on the south, east and north sides of Jiazhuang, surrounding Lu Xiangsheng's Ming army.
For a time, a few miles outside Lu Xiangsheng's Ming army camp became lively, with Qing cavalry galloping back and forth from time to time, already covering the entire battlefield.
Zhang Cheng led Chen Zhong on horseback and ran out of Jiazhuang. On a high ground, he looked at the Qing army camp with his clairvoyance. Looking through the mirror, he saw groups of young and strong men in ragged clothes, under the threat of Tartar whips.
, working back and forth.
It seems that they are building walls, digging ditches, and building camps. Some are also building shield vehicles and other equipment needed to attack cities and strongholds. They were originally citizens of the Ming Dynasty, but now they are helping slaves and thieves to attack the officials of the Ming Dynasty.
Jun, how can we reason in this world?
Before entering the defense this time, Zhang Cheng had already made preparations based on his understanding of history. His cavalry headquarters carried a large number of firearms and artillery.
It's just that artillery is not easy to carry and will slow down the marching speed. Therefore, the artillery in his department was transported to Changping together with the infantry headquarters under Zhang Yan.
The artillery carried by it included ten No. 3 Folang machines, thirty No. 4 Folan machines, thirty Tiger Crouching cannons, and other firearms, etc., especially the cannons were more abundant.
Nowadays, these artillery and gunpowder are handed over to the infantry headquarters of Xuanzhen Commander Zhang Yan and Shanxi Town Commander Jiang Mingwu. After all, they have to defend the north and south sides of Jiazhuang, even though the village wall is highly dangerous.
And combined with Zhuangwai's lifelong defense, it almost forms a simple three-dimensional defense form, but you still have to fight it to know how it actually works.
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Zhang Yan's troops defended the south side of Jiazhuang. The village wall was quite long. He used infantry outposts to set up defenses on the village wall. He deployed a total of twenty No. 3 Fran machine guns, arranged on the left and right sides of the village gate.
The two infantry sentries on the left and right lined up behind the earthen wall outside the village. The earthen wall where their musketry was located was about thirty steps away from the village wall. Their position was within the shooting range of the musketry and artillery on the village wall.
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The artillery was placed ten steps behind the cannons, and was protected by double protection from the upper and lower walls of the village, thus forming a three-dimensional defense system with upper and lower layers.
Although the section of earth wall defended by Zhang Yan was long, many obstacles such as trenches and earth walls were set up in front, as well as various defensive equipment such as horses and iron caltrops, which blocked the path of the Qing army's attack.
Therefore, there were not many places for the Qing troops to attack, and because the earthen walls were watered with cold water, there was also a thin layer of ice on the ground in front of the earthen walls, which was extremely slippery and made it impossible to run.
Here, Zhang Yan deployed three sentry soldiers, which should be enough. He also sent an infantry outpost sergeant to guard the wall on the south side of the west gate of Jiazhuang, and could rush over at any time to provide support.
There is also a sentry infantry on standby inside the south gate of Jiazhuang. As Zhang Yan's reserve force, it is ready to support everywhere at any time. What's more, there is also a sentry cavalry led by general Lin Zhiyi. They are not arranged to defend but can also provide support at any time.
Go everywhere, or rush out from the south gate to pursue the slave thieves.
Shanxi Town Counselor Jiang Mingwu was responsible for the defense to the north of Jiazhuang. His layout was almost the same as Zhang Yan's. However, when he entered the defense, he was too anxious and Jiang Mingwu did not carry enough artillery and ammunition.
Zhang Cheng gave some of the artillery and explosives he carried to Jiang Mingwu's army for use, which made Jiang Mingwu very grateful. Although having more artillery did not mean that he could defeat the Tartars.
However, the addition of these artillery can indeed reduce the defensive pressure on Jiang Mingwu's infantry, and can also effectively kill slave thieves and reduce his own casualties.
Such a defensive weapon was not easy to carry, and each battalion did not carry much. Except for Zhang Cheng, who was prepared, who among the other generals could bring out artillery to support others.
The four sentry cavalry under Zhang Cheng gathered at the west gate of Jiazhuang. His mission was mainly responsible for attacking the slave thieves from the west gate. The cavalry under Jiang Mingwu was deployed in the central square of Jiazhuang. He was responsible for attacking in the south and north directions.
Lu Xiangsheng led the Biao Battalion to be responsible for the defense of the east side of Jiazhuang in the direction of the official road. According to predictions, this side may be the focus of the slave bandit's attack.
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Some large tents were erected in the centers of the three camps. Pots of fires were lit in these tents, and large amounts of hot water and other supplies were prepared as a place to rescue wounded soldiers.
This arrangement can be said to be very orderly, and the defense line is a simple three-dimensional defense system. These designs were all conceived by Zhang Cheng, which amazed Lu Xiangsheng and others.
Lu Xiangsheng, Zhang Cheng and others inspected Yang Guozhu again after dawn. They were all very satisfied with the camp defense of the two generals Hu Dawei.
Zhang Cheng was more confident if the Qing army that came to besiege Lu Xiangsheng only had 30,000 troops as in history.
There is no problem in holding on for three or five days. After all, the Qing army is fighting in the enemy's territory, and it is impossible to maintain a long-term stalemate with Lu Xiangsheng, Zhang Cheng and others in the wilderness.
If the Qing army attacked hard, the 30,000 Qing soldiers would probably bleed into rivers, and it would be difficult to break through the camp of Zhang Cheng and others.
In this way, even if the high-altitude Guan Ning army does not come to reinforce and the elite Qing troops entering Dorgon's tribe are lost, it may be difficult to move into Shandong to plunder, and future history may change here.
Zhang Cheng also carefully looked at the camp defenses of Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei. They also had many firearms. Except for the fact that there were slightly fewer artillery pieces than Zhang Yan's, they were basically enough for defense.
Moreover, their cavalry battalions also have a high proportion of firearms. Although most of them use three-eyed blunderbuss, they are very conducive to cavalry combat and are also more conducive to close combat on foot.
Judging from the high morale of their sergeants, there should be no problem if they hold on for three to five days.
Everything is ready and waiting for the Qing troops to arrive.
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Most of the Ming army was having breakfast. Since the war was about to begin, they had enough to eat for two meals a day. In addition, yesterday's victory over the captive cavalry resulted in hundreds of wounded and dead horses, which was enough to feed the army for several days.
"Look at this posture, the Tatars outside are worth at least twenty to thirty thousand." A sergeant leaned on the pillar of the village wall in Jiazhuang, holding a bowl of broth in his right hand and half a steamed bun in his left hand.
The sergeant beside him muttered.
"Look at that flag, it's so gaudy. There must have been a lot of Tatars here, and some of them are fighting today." After a bearded sergeant finished speaking, he took a big sip of broth, which made his beard look like fried twists. He didn't care.
Carefully, I wiped the sleeve of my cotton-padded jacket with my left hand.
"Don't worry about me. The general has his own arrangements. You just have to eat enough and fire guns and cannons as ordered." Liang Song happened to come over and scolded him a few words.
Zhang Cheng walked beside Liang Song. He patted Liang Song on the shoulder and said in a deep voice: "Tiger, tell the brothers to have a good meal. Look at the flags outside the city. Most of the Tatars from all walks of life are gathered here. It is estimated that there will still be many people here today."
There will be a large number of Tatars coming, and it will be a fierce battle."