The Qing army's array stopped two miles away. After their army reorganized, they slowly advanced forward. With yesterday's experience, the Qing army was no longer in a hurry when marching.
Today, the Qing army's shield car is actually divided into two layers: the inner and outer layers. The outer shield car is driven by the coats of the banners. Behind the shield car are some young men in ragged clothes. The inner shield car is followed by the auxiliary soldiers of each banner.
Pushing forward, there are densely packed Qing army archers behind them.
Compared with yesterday, the Qing army's rolling array seemed much quieter. When they entered within a mile, another roar came from three sides of the Xuanda camp, and there were clouds of smoke rising everywhere.
The large rockets, such as a nest of fronts and a hundred tigers running together, roared and flew away again, forming an overwhelming rain of arrows, covering a large area of the Qing army array for about a mile.
Compared with arrows thrown by humans, rockets are faster and more powerful. Rockets fly high and deep, covering a very wide killing area. Moreover, rockets are famous for flying randomly. You cannot guarantee that they will fly straight or not.
Turning a corner, or coming from the air, the direction is unpredictable, and everyone in the Qing army is in danger.
In addition, when the rocket is launched, it roars like a huge thunder and drags a long tail flame. War horses with poor psychological quality often jump in surprise and refuse to move forward. Even for people, it is a great deterrent.
However, with yesterday's experience, the attacking Qing soldiers at this time were aware of protection and did not appear particularly panicked. Therefore, these waves of rockets not only disturbed many Qing troops' horses, but also caused many casualties.
But not very big.
Not long after the big rocket was launched, a more violent "boom" sound came from the Xuanda camp. It was the thunderous bombardment of the Buddha Wolf aircraft artillery on the defense line of Lu Xiangsheng Supervisor Biao Camp on the east gate.
Rockets such as flying guns, flying knives, and flying swords were also fired one after another on the Xuan army's front line, and many horses in the Qing army's front line became violently commotion.
Despite the dense rain of artillery fire, the Qing army finally pushed closer to about 200 steps in front of the formation. They stopped again and stopped advancing. A shield-carrying vehicle slowly staggered left and right.
They were really smart this time. The shield vehicles only advanced slowly in front of the trenches. There was not a single shield vehicle in the passage reserved by Xuan's army. Obviously, they deliberately avoided the artillery bombardment at the end of each passage.
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Seeing the Qing army's shield car parked there from a distance and not moving for a long time, Sergeant Xuanda was puzzled. Zhang Cheng stood on the turret of the south gate of Jiazhuang, staring more than 200 steps away with a suspicious face.
Qing army shield car.
Liang Song, the infantry commander, was also puzzled: "Hey, what do these Tatars mean? To fight or not to fight?"
Soon, noises and cries came from the Qing army's formation, and a large group of young and strong people in tattered clothes were whipped and driven out from behind the shield car.
There were men and women among them, mostly young and strong, with few old and weak, but all of them were in tattered clothes, carrying earth burdens, or carrying earth bags and other objects.
Hit with whips or guns and sticks, many people were knocked to the ground and had to get up with difficulty.
Seeing those people getting closer and closer, the officers and soldiers of Xuanda on the village wall and behind the earthen wall were dumbfounded. Liang Song also stared at the people blankly, not knowing what to do.
For a moment, the entire Xuan Dajun defense line fell silent, and one could only faintly hear the cries of the common people, as well as the angry shouts and curses of the Qing soldiers. It was obvious that all defense lines encountered the same situation.
Zhang Cheng said to Zhang Yan in a deep voice: "Uncle, you can't just ask them to fill up the trench."
"But those are all my people of the Ming Dynasty!"
Zhang Yan said through gritted teeth, and punched the crenellation of the village wall.
"Uncle, stay here, I'll go see the governor,"
After Zhang Cheng finished speaking, he turned around and walked down the village wall, heading towards the watchtower where Lu Xiangsheng was.
He had just hurried to the watchtower. Before he went up, he saw Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei also galloping towards them. The three of them looked at each other and understood in their hearts that they were all here for the people who were filling the trenches.
Zhang Cheng followed the two commander-in-chiefs and went up to the watchtower, only to see Lu Xiangsheng, his face sinking like water, pressing his hands tightly on the railings of the watchtower, looking at the people walking slowly to the east without saying a word.
Lu Xiangsheng didn't say anything, turned around, went down from the watchtower, and ran to the turret on the east gate. Zhang Cheng and other generals followed closely behind, went up to the turret of the east gate, and watched from a distance the common people in ragged clothes being whipped.
OK.
At this moment, they have walked more than 20 steps, only a few dozen steps away from the first trench. They are staggering forward with hand-carried bags on their shoulders. Through the backs of the common people, some Qing soldiers can be seen walking out from behind the shield vehicles, dodging and dodging.
All the people were beaten and slapped behind them.
The shouts and curses continued, and the whip was raised from time to time. Each time the whip was struck, there was a rain of blood, and there were constant beatings with spears and sticks. The cries of the people who were beaten were even more desolate and sad.
Seeing this situation, Zhang Cheng, Lu Xiangsheng and others were extremely angry. Zhang Cheng stood next to Lu Xiangsheng and said in a deep voice: "Supervisor, you can't ask these people to fill up the trenches, otherwise our army's defense line will be destroyed.
There is a danger of Qing troops attacking!"
Lu Xiangsheng looked miserable, shook his head and said: "The people are all citizens of the country. It is a sin for me to fail to protect them. How can I have the heart to attack them?"
Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei looked at each other with very anxious expressions. If their troops had encountered such a situation alone, they would have ordered the firing of cannons.
However, with Lu Xiangsheng here at this moment, who would dare to bear the consequences of massacring the people without obeying military orders?
Hu Dawei suddenly said: "Supervisor, look at those people, although their clothes are in tatters, they are all strong and strong. It is very likely that they are slaves and thieves disguised to break my camp defense. There is no harm in killing them."
Lu Xiangsheng slowly shook his head. He could tell with just one glance whether the people on the opposite side were pretending to be Qing troops.
Unlike the generals around him, Lu Xiangsheng didn't really care about the impeachment of the imperial censors. However, he really couldn't bear to attack the people. But he couldn't bear to attack the people. After they had leveled the trenches, how could he resist the Qing Dynasty?
Army attack?
Yang Guozhu was also impatient and hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Perhaps we can select archers with good shooting skills to shoot the slave thieves behind the people, or we can prevent them from approaching, or even disperse the people..."
Speaking of this, he sighed to himself. The effect of this method can be said to be minimal and will not have any big effect. Lu Xiangsheng also gritted his teeth and wanted to order to fire several times, but he held back.
Driven by the Qing soldiers, the common people moved forward timidly, and when they saw that the Ming officers and soldiers on the opposite side did not fire cannons or muskets, they felt relieved and walked faster, and they would soon reach the trench.
Zhang Cheng said anxiously: "Master Governor, we can't just sit back and wait for death!
You can ask the artillery everywhere to raise their muzzles to bombard the Qing army's rear lines. You can also intimidate the people filling the trenches. You can also ask the sergeants to raise the muzzles of their guns slightly. Our army's guns and artillery will fire in unison. When the people are panicked, they may run away.