The deafening sound of cannons and cannons continued, and it seemed that the entire outer defense line of the Xuanda camp was shrouded in thick smoke.
No matter how biting the cold wind in winter is, it can't get rid of the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke and blood. Just around the Jia Zhuangxuan army camp, soldiers from the Ming and Qing Dynasties were risking their lives to tear apart.
Killing.
After the strategy of driving away the captive people of the Ming Dynasty to fill the trenches failed, the Eight Banners sergeants of the Qing army had no choice but to push the shield cart and continue to move forward slowly. They stopped in front of the first trench and picked up the earth baskets and baskets on the ground.
Earth bags were constantly thrown over the shield cart.
The Ming army built walls everywhere, and the artillery on the walls kept bombarding them, but no more threatening volleys were fired. The Qing army also gradually figured out a pattern. When the artillery bombarded them, they freely dodge, and when the artillery was reloaded, they moved forward.
Fill trenches.
The passages reserved by the Ming army were empty everywhere. The Qing army completely bypassed these places and did not even advance their shield vehicles to these places.
Although the Ming army set up walls everywhere, and the artillery on the walls fired volleys and roared, the damage caused to the Qing army was greatly reduced compared to yesterday, and the results were greatly reduced.
Under the urging of the passionate drums, the densely packed Qing soldiers wearing various armors gradually advanced to the second trench. They either carried or pushed the shield car through the first trench with difficulty, and then rushed to the second trench.
The trench continued to slowly advance closer.
The Xuan army was constantly bombarded by the artillery on the walls of various villages. Although it caused a certain impact on the Qing army's shield vehicles, it was somewhat insignificant. The Qing army's shield vehicles were densely packed and there were too many.
Zhang Cheng stood on the turret of the south gate and looked around. He felt okay. Although there were many Qing army shield vehicles slowly approaching, they were not a big threat. However, he did not know that at this time, the east side of Jiazhuang was approaching.
The end of the battle.
The Qing army seemed to have concentrated all its artillery here, and the sound of "bang bang" could not be heard. Lu Xiangsheng's general Chen Anzheng stood on the wall of the village in disgrace.
The two sides engaged in an artillery battle for nearly half an hour. Many of the earthen walls outside Jiazhuang were demolished by slave thieves. Although many large and small artillery pieces in front of the Qing army's formation were blasted away, Lu Xiangsheng's side generally suffered heavy losses.
Two of the Hongyi cannons under his command exploded, and several more were bombarded. Most of the sergeants had withdrawn into Jiazhuang, and were forced to abandon many of the outer defense lines.
…………
Fortunately, the firearms used by the Ming army were slightly superior to those of the Qing army in terms of quantity, operation, and firepower. Although under the fierce offensive of the Qing army, all armies retreated and gave up some peripheral positions, but the overall defense line
Generally speaking, it's pretty safe.
When the battle reached noon, the Qing army retreated again with a shout of gold. Xuanda's sergeants breathed a long sigh of relief. Lu Xiangsheng's military order came from Lu Xiangsheng's side. Each battalion stepped up to cook lunch, and another wave of wounded soldiers were transported off the battlefield.
A simple statistics of the whole morning's battle showed that the Qing army suffered more than a thousand casualties, but the Xuan army also suffered nearly a thousand casualties, and the artillery was more damaged.
In Lu Xiangsheng's military tent in Jia Zhuang, Yang Guozhu said in a deep voice: "My supervisor, we have been fighting slaves one after another. Our army's casualties are increasing day by day. If the fighting gets more intense in the afternoon, I'm afraid it won't last long!"
Before Lu Xiangsheng could say anything, Hu Dawei answered: "The slave bandits' offensive was even more fierce than yesterday. Four of our army's artillery pieces exploded."
Zhang Cheng immediately answered: "Master Governor, none of us are afraid of death, but a true man deserves his death. Even if our entire army is in Mo and Jiazhuang today, can we stop the Tartars from continuing to plunder our Ming Dynasty interior?"
Otherwise, if you lead the army in another direction, you can turn the crisis into safety, and also restrain the slaves and thieves so that they don't dare to act recklessly!"
When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, his eyes flashed, but then dimmed. After a long time, he said in a deep voice: "We have received the emperor's favor and we should serve you. Now we are surrounded by slaves and thieves. We should rise up and fight."
,
How can we abandon the camp and run away? In the future, all the princes in the court will be panicking: How will we face the emperor's grace and how will we face our second ancestors?"
Zhang Cheng and others knew that Lu Xiangsheng had made up his mind, so they could only follow him and fight to the end.
But at this time, there were some subtle changes in my personal thoughts. However, these were no longer relevant to the overall situation. The top priority was how to deal with the battle in the afternoon. The generals had another discussion with Lu Xiangsheng.
…………
Many soldiers of the Ming army thought that the Qing army would fight like yesterday and then suspend the attack until noon to allow the soldiers on both sides to take a rest, but that was not the case today.
Less than half an hour later, the densely packed shield vehicles of the Qing army began to slowly approach the Jiazhuangxuan army camp. In the turret, you could faintly see that the Qing army's shield vehicles were still two levels apart, with a distance of about
About a hundred paces.
They advanced slowly and still stopped steadily at a distance of 200 steps.
Suddenly, the first row of shield cars in the north of Jiazhuang quickly staggered to both sides. In the gaps, red barbarian cannons appeared. At a rough look, there were dozens of them, not to mention other Franconian cannons.
Machine guns, mortar cannons, squatting tiger cannons, etc. are even more numerous.
Hu Dawei was secretly frightened. He stood on the wall of the Beimen Village and shouted loudly to the people below: "Little Huzi, go and report to the governor. The slaves are attacking the northern front, and our army may not be able to hold on."
Hu Zichen, the general who was organizing the sergeants to defend under the wall of the village, heard the news and hurriedly accepted the order, then rode his horse towards Lu Xiangsheng's main tent of the Chinese army.
At the same time, the Qing troops outside the south gate also advanced to a distance of 200 steps. They did not have as many artillery pieces as there were in the two places. Instead, the shield vehicles continued to advance slowly, and they crossed the first trench again before they looked at it.
Three steps away from the second trench, the shield car stopped. As the shield car staggered back and forth, the coated Aha in each banner, the auxiliary soldiers and the soldiers, as well as some relatives selected by the Qing army
The people of the Ming Dynasty kept ducking out from behind the chariots.
Two or three of them carried a large long plank, Ku Bu rushed up, and laid the long planks on the trench.
Although the gunmen in Xuan's army opened fire one after another, making explosions and flying bullets, these people were of extremely low status in the Qing army and did not dare to resist even if they were used as cannon fodder.
The archers of the Qing army gathered behind the shield chariot fired shots one after another. Although they did little harm to Xuan's army, they still had to be distracted to avoid them. For a time, the situation became extremely critical.
"Uncle, the Tatar army is several times stronger than mine. If this continues, it will be difficult to defend Jiazhuang."
Zhang Cheng was on the turret, reminding Zhang Yan.
Zhang Yan's face was as cold as iron, and he said in a deep voice: "I, Zhang Yan, have been favored by the emperor. At this time of national crisis, I should sacrifice my life to serve the country."
After that, he turned around and shouted to his general Lin Zhiyi: "Gather the cavalry and prepare for close combat."
After Lin Zhiyi and Liang Song got off the turret, Zhang Yan turned around and faced Zhang Cheng, with a faint look of sadness in his eyes, and said softly: "Cheng'er, uncle, I have fought all my life, and I have never cared about life and death. It's just that you are the sole child of the Zhang family.
, shouldn’t die here,
In today's war, we must try our best. If it is really impossible, you must lead your troops to break through the siege and leave. You must not be trapped and die, and your Zhang family will be extinct!"
Zhang Cheng hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed Zhang Yan's arm, and said in a deep voice: "Uncle, since you can't do anything, why don't we go together."
Zhang Yan looked at the battlefield outside the village and the slowly approaching Qing army, and said in a deep voice: "Silly boy, my Zhang family has been in the army for generations. In this battle with slaves, there must be someone who will be loyal to the country!"