Three days before the fierce battle, the situation between the two sides was as follows:
There were more than 28,000 officers and soldiers in Jiangxi, 738 were killed and more than 3,700 were injured.
The death rate was 2.63% and the casualty rate was 13.5%.
The casualty rate seems to be high, but most of the injuries are minor, caused by falls and sprains while escaping down the mountain.
A sprained foot is considered an injury, and it's also a headache. We can't let the soldiers limp up the mountain and charge.
There were more than 5,000 Datong soldiers, with 6 killed and 47 wounded.
It seems that the casualty rate is very low, but the rolling stones, rolling logs, and tens of thousands of enemies have all been used up. The simple fortifications were damaged in many places, and the soldiers of Datong were far more exhausted than the officers and soldiers, because there were more officers and soldiers and they could fight on wheels.
The real hard battle has just begun.
The Datong Navy has just returned to Ji'an. The stretch of river from Zhangshu Town to Fengcheng County is completely dominated by the officers and soldiers of the Navy.
The 400 soldiers brought by Zhang Tieniu and Liu Zhu could only disembark at Linjiang Prefecture and go overland to support the Lion Rock battlefield. The prefect helped recruit a thousand civilians to help the 400 soldiers transport armor and food. Don't look at the straight line.
The distance is only 40 miles, but we still have to cross several small rivers.
At noon on the third day of the Lion Rock Attack and Defense, four hundred soldiers crossed the last river into the mountain and made contact with the members of the Peasant Association hiding in the mountains.
After asking about the situation, he contacted Li Zheng and Fei Yinggon further north.
"When will the fight start?" Zhang Tieniu asked.
Fei Yinggong said: "Don't worry, Huang Yao hasn't lit the beacon yet, he can still hold on for the time being."
Once the beacon is lit on Lion Rock, it means that it can no longer hold on.
Li Zheng also said: "One extra day is one day. The longer it is delayed, the lower the morale of the officers and soldiers will be."
Therefore, Zhang Tieniu and Liu Zhu, with their four hundred soldiers, also joined the crowd watching the show and watched from a distance as the soldiers attacked Lion Rock.
The west side of Lion Rock faces a river, but there are artificial rivers on the other three sides and further away.
The entire mountain, together with the nearby land, can be regarded as a large-scale water conservancy facility. The specific functions can be referred to Dujiangyan.
Hundreds of years later in another time and space, Liu Shuai annihilated a regular national army division on Lion Mountain here.
If Li Zheng, Fei Yinggon, Zhang Tieniu, Liu Zhu and others wanted to attack the officers and soldiers at the foot of the mountain, they had to cross the artificial river. They could easily be attacked by Zhu Xieyuan halfway across the river.
In the evening of the same day, Jiangxi Commander-in-Chief Zhu Guoxun sent 200 naval officers and soldiers to assist in the battle.
To be precise, they were Zhu Guoxun's personal soldiers, all of whom were confidants brought from Fujian, and half of the two hundred men knew how to operate artillery.
"Superintendent, the artillery is coming!"
"Bring it over quickly!"
Twenty Franco cannons were all purchased from Zheng Zhilong at a high price. It took more than half a year to finally arrive in Jiangxi, and Zhu Guoxun quickly sent someone to deliver them.
The morning of the fourth day.
Some of the simple fortifications that were damaged on the mountain were repaired overnight.
Twenty Franco machine guns were carried to the hillside for assembly and began firing at the fortifications and positions.
"Boom boom boom!"
The first round was a test firing, and only one shell hit the target.
A few hundred steps away from Hu Dinggui, a gap was opened in a simple fortification in the defensive area of another brigade.
Although the Folan cannon was less powerful, the Datong Army's fortifications were not strong.
"Boom boom boom!"
Another round of salvo fire. The Folan cannon fires very quickly. The standard configuration of an artillery gun is five sub-guns. Each sub-gun can be loaded with ammunition first, and can be fired directly after replacing it. It is somewhat similar to the magazine of a rifle.
.
In that position, two of the thirty-man brigade were killed by artillery shells in an instant, and another had his arm broken off.
The other soldiers fled one after another.
"Boom boom boom!"
Another volley.
Only one person was killed this time, but the morale of the Datong defenders dropped quickly. They were considered elite soldiers if they did not collapse on the spot.
"Defend my hometown and protect my fields!"
The scholar Wan Huaxin began to attack the mountain with his self-recruited local warriors. After entering the battle on the first day, he had rested for two days and two nights.
"Boom boom boom!"
As the officers and soldiers charged, another round of artillery hit them.
The Xiangyong was recharging his energy, and while his morale was greatly boosted, he also felt a little guilty, fearing that he would be accidentally injured by his own artillery.
Of course, the artillery did not dare to fire again. I took the opportunity to dismantle and carry it away, cool the barrel, and planned to aim at another position and fire.
"Get up, get up, get in formation!"
Most of the fortifications here have been demolished. More than twenty Datong soldiers quickly got up and formed a defensive formation.
Huang Yao received the emergency report and sent a reserve team of thirty people to support.
The wolf's sword poked wildly, and the warriors who attacked the mountain did not dare to step forward.
"Rope bolt!"
Wan Huaxin roared, and these local warriors suddenly took out their newly invented weapons.
This kind of weapon is a rope tied to a length of bamboo pole, and a stone is tied to the end of the rope. Just wave the bamboo pole, and the stone will drive the rope to rotate, and it can easily disturb the wolf. To put it bluntly, it is a thing specially designed to deal with wolf soldiers.
Under the violent drag, a Wolf Guard soldier was caught off guard and was dragged down with weapons. He was shot several times and died in an instant.
The rest of the wolf warriors whose weapons were entangled either gave up their weapons or held firm.
"kill!"
The remaining Xiangyong took the opportunity to charge, but the Tengpai players quickly blocked the attack, and the spearmen began to jab at Xiangyong.
"Kill the thief Yasuda!"
“Farm and eat!”
Soldiers from both sides shouted slogans and fought with real swords and guns.
"Oh, my hand!"
"Run away!"
Only a dozen people died, and the group of rural warriors began to collapse.
The supervising team stood ready to prevent them from escaping further, and another team of local warriors immediately took over.
However, the soldiers of Datong could not rest. After repeated battles, all of them were exhausted.
Huang Liangying, who had followed Zhao Han as early as in Wuxing Town, was only a captain in charge of thirty men due to lack of ability. His hands holding the gun barrel were trembling, and he warned his subordinates in a hissing voice: "Hold on, hold on again."
In a few days, reinforcements from the main town will arrive!"
After repelling three waves of attacks in a row, a gap suddenly appeared on the side, but the rattan player was distracted due to fatigue.
"kill!"
Eight townships bravely attacked the position, and three Datong soldiers fell instantly.
Huang Liangying immediately filled the gap, raised his gun and stabbed one person to death. He was also stabbed in the thigh. Another gun stabbed his waist, but the cotton armor blocked most of the force. Huang Liangying put the gun back and then stabbed him again.
Turn over one person.
Collapsed, this team of country warriors collapsed again.
While the supervising team prevented the rout, another team of local warriors bypassed the rout and hurriedly attacked from the side.
The morale of these country warriors is very low, and they will collapse if they die a few more times.
At the same time, their morale was very high. Even when their friendly forces were defeated, they were able to rush forward and continue fighting.
"kill!"
Huang Liangying was injured in two places. Taking advantage of the newly arrived Xiang Yong's unsteady footing, he led his troops directly out of the position.
Another captain who was fighting side by side saw this situation and led his troops to fight out.
More than 40 Datong soldiers descended the mountain like tigers. The more than 300 newly arrived local warriors were so frightened that they turned around and fled, and even the command team was routed.
However, when they chased them further down, two thousand Xiang Yong were waiting in a tight formation. The defeated Xiang Yong could only escape around the military formation.
Huang Liangying did not dare to pursue anymore and led his troops back to their positions. This kind of war of attrition could not cause a major rout.
While the enemy was reorganizing their attack, Huang Liangying counted the number of people. Eleven of his team of thirty people had been killed, and several others were injured. The casualty rate was close to 50%.
If Xiang Yong had fought harder, the Datong Army might have collapsed.
This position was of particular interest because it was chosen as the first target for artillery attack.
Zhu Xieyuan held up the telescope sent yesterday to watch the whole battle. His scalp was numb immediately after seeing it. Under normal circumstances, he should have been defeated long ago!
Each time, 300 village warriors took turns attacking the position garrisoned by 60 people, and that position also suffered several rounds of artillery fire.
As a result, several groups of officers and soldiers were killed and defeated, but the rebels were still able to hold on.
Although there is a terrain advantage, the morale is too ridiculous.
How to fight this kind of battle?
Zhu Xieyuan had never encountered such rebels. He felt that there was something wrong with his tactics, and immediately ordered: "Don't fight anymore in the northwest. Surround three and one is missing, leaving the rebels to go down the mountain and jump into the river to escape."
After repelling the attack of the officers and soldiers again, Huang Liangying was injured again, and finally two brigades came to change the defense.
"Old Huang, you guys retreat and rest." The new captain said.
Huang Liangying gritted his teeth and said, "No, I can still fight."
The new captain smiled and said: "The officers and soldiers in the northwest have withdrawn, and Huang Beiyuan (Huang Yao) has released a lot of troops."
The Folan cannon was still firing, taking breaks to prevent the barrel from overheating and leaving the residue unprocessed.
Chen Fugui was seriously injured and it was unclear whether he could survive, so the entire team was withdrawn to rest.
Hu Dinggui was also resting, and this guy even fell asleep soundly. The sound of fighting and shelling could not wake him up.
I don’t know how long he had slept, but Hu Dinggui was suddenly woken up by a slap: “Get up and fight!”
Hu Dinggui suddenly jumped up and led his soldiers back to the position. The officer in this position was killed by a cannon.
Another wave of Xiangyong rushed up, holding that strange weapon. Although it was of little use in fighting on flat ground, it made it difficult for Langzhen to perform its magic when attacking mountains.
Both sides can only use shields as cover, and then the spearmen poke each other.
The Datong soldiers were condescending and liked to poke the heads of the officers and soldiers, while the officers and soldiers liked to poke the legs and feet of the Datong soldiers. Therefore, the shield hands of both sides adjusted their protective positions.
"kill!"
The sound of fighting came from the northwest again, but the surrounding area was ineffective.
Zhu Xieyuan simply took advantage of the Datong Army's withdrawal of part of its troops and wanted to take advantage of the situation and launch a massive attack from there.
Hu Dinggui's arms were already sore, and he didn't know how many enemies he had killed. He was numb at the moment, and he just thought about when he could get some sleep, and it would be good to lie down and rest for a while.
"Well!"
Hu Dinggui suddenly woke up. He was awakened by pain. His shield hand was not well protected, causing his calf to be stabbed.
Two soldiers under his command had fallen, and the enemy attacked the position again. Hu Dinggui endured the pain and stabbed one of the heroes to death with one shot. The other soldiers worked together to stab the other heroes to death.
Seeing that the attack failed, the country warriors were immediately defeated.
"kill!"
Hu Dinggui limped out and led his troops. He chased and killed several local warriors one after another and quickly ordered them to retreat to their positions.
"Just attack there!"
Zhu Xieyuan pointed at Hu Dinggui who retreated to his position and said.
Two thousand governor-general soldiers marched out. This was the army that Zhu Xieyuan had raised for six years. He selected Miao slaves aged 15 to 20 as soldiers. It is said to be Miao, but in fact it includes Yi, Zhuang and other ethnic minorities.
These ethnic minority youths lived a very difficult life under the exploitation of the chieftains.
Zhu Xieyuan recruited them so that they could have enough to eat, and all of them were willing to die to be loyal.
They were all dressed in rattan armor and wore rattan helmets on their heads, as if the rattan armor soldiers in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" had reappeared in the world.
In fact, there were no rattan armor soldiers in the Three Kingdoms, but they were common in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The Ming Dynasty's "Wubei Zhi" also specifically recorded the method of making rattan armor.
Moreover, after being impregnated with tung oil, the ignition point of rattan armor is very high. It is not as afraid of fire as in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Of course, if it does burn, it will be more difficult to put out than ordinary rattan wood.
It takes a year to make the rattan by repeatedly soaking it in water and then shading it. The rattan armor made in this way is both light and strong.
These Guizhou soldiers climbed the mountain very quickly, climbing the hillside as if they were walking on flat ground. Two thousand people were divided into four teams and attacked four positions including Hu Dinggui's at the same time.
"Go and ask for support!" Hu Dinggui exclaimed.
Without Hu Dinggui's request, Huang Yao had already sent a reserve team, and Huang Yao even came with his own soldiers.
"Stab them in the arms and throat!"
These rattan armor soldiers have large areas of their necks, arms and legs exposed. The main reason is that the rattan armor is inconvenient to wear.
But they are very flexible, and their entire body of rattan armor weighs less than ten kilograms.
Huang Yaoting stabbed a man in the arm with his spear. The vine-armored soldier was so ferocious that he rushed to the battlefield even with the injury. Another soldier stabbed the vine-armor, and he couldn't bear the force and rolled down the hillside. The soldier was shaken after falling to pieces.
Shaking his head, he got up again and continued to rush upward.
Hu Dinggui shot the Tengjia soldiers in the throat, but two soldiers nearby were hacked to death.
More and more vine-armored soldiers rushed forward, and the position gradually showed signs of being lost.
"ignition!"
There are still 20 pieces left for the enemy with 10,000 people, which are what Huang Yao has at the bottom of the box. These enemies with 10,000 people, as well as the reserve team, are specially designed to prevent unexpected situations.
"Boom boom boom!"
The upper body of the Vine Armor Soldier was not afraid of the explosion (the power was too small), but his legs were injured in various ways, and some even had their legs blown off if they were close enough.
At the same time, the spreading chili noodles also made the Tengjia soldiers very uncomfortable.
Huang Yao and Hu Dinggui took the opportunity to counterattack, killing back the Tengjia soldiers who had invaded the position, and then went to support the neighboring positions.
After finally driving back the vine armor soldiers, those defeated vine armor soldiers actually wanted to organize an attack again.
"Pull, pull up the mountain!"
Huang Yao quickly ordered to shrink the defense line. After repelling the enemy, all positions were moved toward the top of the mountain, where there was a second line of defense.
However, the water pool in the middle of the mountain was gone, and the Datong soldiers could only drink a small amount of mountain spring water and some water that had been stored in advance.
Hu Dinggui suffered two injuries to his legs and one to his chest. If it were not for the protection of cotton armor, he would have died.
He ordered a head count and found that only sixteen of his thirty-strong team were left.
However, after abandoning the first line of defense, the second line of defense is more conducive to persistence, and the problem of insufficient drinking water can be temporarily ignored.
Although the officers and soldiers occupied the first line of defense and seemed to have made a major breakthrough, the camp at the foot of the mountain had already become noisy.
"Supervisor, we can't fight. If we fight again, there will be deserters!"
"The Zhao thief in Luling knows magic. He must have asked the gods to come to him. Every one of the rebel thief will die."
"That's right. Even if you don't retreat even if you suffer more than half of the casualties, you must be using magic!"
"Supervisor Rongzhen, the Xiangyong recruited late in life are no longer willing to fight anymore. The last attack was defeated with just a few pokes, and all the Xiangyong were scared!"
"..."
In the first three days combined, only over 700 officers and soldiers were killed.
On the fourth day of the bloody battle, in just one day, more than 3,100 officers and soldiers were killed, and there were thousands of wounded in various conditions (most of them were still injured by fleeing and falling).
The death rate has exceeded 10%. The reason why there is no large-scale rout is simply that both sides are scattered on the surrounding hillsides. If the two armies were to gather for a confrontation, just based on this death rate, the entire army would have fled.
On the Datong Army side, the casualties in the dangerous terrain were very small.
The real losses were in positions with less steep terrain. The casualty rate of individual sentries exceeded 50%. Especially the charge by the Tengjia soldiers caused heavy losses to the Datong soldiers, who had to give up the first line of defense.
In one day, the Datong Army suffered more than 1,200 casualties.
Among them, 441 people were killed, 106 were seriously injured, and the rest suffered minor injuries of varying degrees.
The casualties mainly come from being too exhausted, slowed down reaction speed, loose formation, and the impact of the vine armor soldiers.
Otherwise, if the Datong Army occupies a favorable terrain for defense, and the officers and soldiers are easily defeated, how can they not even suffer a 1 to 10 battle loss?
"Supervisor, we can't fight anymore!"
There was a quarrel in the camp, and Zhu Xieyuan was hesitant. At this time, he was already riding a tiger.
The situation surrounding the siege against the rebels was completely beyond Zhu Xieyuan's expectation. He had never seen such an army before, and could not even imagine in his dreams that there was such an army in the world that was not afraid of death!
If we withdraw our troops now, even if they can return to Nanchang safely, the officers and soldiers will definitely be frightened by the news of rebels in the future.
The officers and soldiers are already afraid of being killed, and they are afraid at the spiritual and will level.
If we fight again from now on, I am afraid that every time we face each other, there will be many people who will run away!
But if we don’t withdraw our troops today, we won’t be able to fight again tomorrow. The rattan soldiers can still use them, but the local braves are tired of fighting. The few attacks in the evening were all fake attacks. If you just run away from the battle, you are considered a warrior.
Many local warriors fled midway through the charge.
"Every time the drums are beaten, the troops will be withdrawn at midnight!"
At about 24 minutes at one o'clock, that is, every 24 minutes, the drums are beaten to disturb the Datong soldiers.
While beating drums and preparing to retreat, Zhu Xieyuan wanted the entire army to flee.
This battle is really unwinnable. Let alone an eight-day siege. If we continue this siege for two days, the officers and soldiers will desert every night. After a five-day siege, half of them can escape during the night.
After all, Wang Tingshi had been a governor, so he was left alone by Zhu Xieyuan.
"Why are the thieves and soldiers dying in vain, while the officers and soldiers are timid?" Zhu Xieyuan said to himself while looking at the Lion Mountain.
Wang Tingshi said: "The rebels are all assigned land. To protect the land, they must die."
Zhu Xieyuan pointed to the military camp and said: "But these country warriors are mostly from good families, and they fight to protect their own land."
Wang Tingshi said: "When a commoner protects his land, he protects his life. When a gentry protects his land, he protects his wealth."
"No, no, it must be more than that." Zhu Xieyuan shook his head repeatedly.
Not only was Xiang Yong afraid of being killed, but Zhu Xieyuan himself was also afraid. His inner fear was mixed with a sense of powerlessness. He really didn't know how to fight in the future.
The same terrain and the same troop strength, if it were to conquer the Sichuan and Gui chieftains, those chieftain soldiers could last for up to three days!
This mountain attack made Zhu Xieyuan lose his confidence.
The coach has no confidence anymore, how can he still count on the soldiers below?