Although Hauge is reckless, he is not stupid. He needs to be strategic when charging head-on.
The Manchu and Qing armies were very patient in fighting. In the Battle of Daling River that year, they shelled each other for a long time.
Huang Taiji prepared 8,500 light and heavy artillery shells, and forcibly pulled out all the Ming army forts on the periphery of the battlefield one by one. Almost every Ming army fort was bombarded by more than 200 Manchu artillery shells.
Moreover, the Manchu and Qing armies fought together with infantry, artillery and cavalry!
Now Hauge followed suit and ordered the entire army to wear only one layer of armor. This was because they had figured out the path of the Datong Army and knew that there were no archers in the Datong Army, but an extremely large number of musketeers.
In this case, there is no need to wear multiple layers of armor, as they will be penetrated by firecrackers anyway.
When the battle was about to begin, Shang Kexi came over again to offer advice: "Your Majesty, the enemy's guns and artillery are fierce. It is better to dig trenches and move forward, digging all the way to those slopes!"
Before the emergence of powerful explosive bombs, there were three ways to attack the bastion:
First, use human lives to pile them up until the defenders cannot kill them.
Second, bombard with mortars. The mortars shoot at a large angle and use a large number of mortars to project against the city wall.
Third, dig tunnels and advance. First dig a circular tunnel, then dig a parallel tunnel, then dig a circular tunnel... the cycle goes on and on, little by little.
The Manchus and Qing Dynasties naturally did not dare to use human lives to pile up. Moreover, they only had cannons and had never been in the habit of carrying mortars.
Then we can only dig tunnels. Although Shang Kexi did not propose a circular tunnel offensive, it is still very powerful if he can think of digging tunnels.
Hauge shook his head and said: "When the tunnel is dug, the wheat in the countryside will be rotten. This battle must be fought quickly! The castle opposite is very short. We only need to break through the outer slope and brave the arrows to capture it quickly. I plan to
Attack from all sides, with a looser formation, and at the cost of one or two thousand casualties, we will definitely be able to capture this castle."
Shang Ke was so happy that he wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say.
Digging tunnels is indeed very labor-intensive. The Manchu and Qing troops were mainly sent to harvest wheat.
By the way, we are calling for reinforcements during the siege of Gaizhou.
Hauge's side was a partial force and did not dare to besiege the city for reinforcements. If he stayed too long, reinforcements might arrive and attack from behind.
…
"The enemy is about to attack!" Jiang Quan said while standing on the tower.
Xiao Zongxian smiled and said: "I'm here to die in a hurry."
Xiao Zongxian was stationed in Fuzhou before. After the Pinglu Fort was repaired, he came over with his firecrackers, while the melee infantry and dragoons remained in Fuzhou.
Due to time and condition constraints, Pinglu Fort is not a serious fortress, and is actually relatively crudely built.
The low castle is surrounded by circles of trenches and earthen walls.
The earth and rocks dug out from the trenches were piled into slopes on the outermost perimeter and low walls between the trenches.
The low walls everywhere are only half a person high, and the fire rifle soldiers can hide behind and shoot. After the enemy rushes over the slope, there are still trenches waiting, and each trench is a chasm of life and death.
All trenches and earthen walls must be breached before the real castle can be attacked.
At this moment, outside the slope, there were small groups of enemies everywhere, attacking in extremely loose formations.
Xiao Zongxian held up his telescope and said slowly: "Here's the order, no artillery fire. This attack is all done by weak troops. It is not the Eight Banners Army at all. It should be to test the firepower arrangement of our army."
Above the castle, not a single shot was fired.
These were the soldiers (coated soldiers accompanying the army) who were forced to feign an attack. They ran to the vicinity of the slope before being defeated by the Datong fire gun soldiers on the slope.
Jiang Quan flattered him and said, "General Xiao has good eyesight, but all of them are really weak soldiers!"
Xiao Zongxian smiled and said: "Although they are all wearing cotton armor, the charging momentum is not right. They are not even as good as our Datong peasant soldiers in the south. What are they if they are not cowards?"
Among the early division commanders, apart from Fei Ruhe, Xiao Zongxian was the most well-educated. He was really not comparable to a reckless man like Zhang Tieniu.
Of course, Huang Yao, Li Zheng and Hu Dinggui also insisted on reading in these years, although most of them were military books.
Lu Xiangsheng suddenly said: "It's better to put up a little resistance on the outside to show the enemy's weakness, and then let the Tatars in and fight again."
"Mr. Lu's words are exactly what I want." Xiao Zong said with a smile.
People in the city were chatting, but people outside the city were frowning.
The lives of some soldiers were wasted, but the firepower of the defenders was unable to be tested, which made Haug feel very uncomfortable.
He missed fighting in Shanxi a little bit. There were many surrendered soldiers and generals available, so there was no need to waste the lives of the Eight Banners warriors on trials.
This time with the retreat to Liaodong, Dorgon also took away more than 20,000 surrendered troops and generals, and reorganized the Eight Banners Army in Liaodong. More than 20,000 surrendered troops, of which 16,000 were incorporated into the Eight Banners of the Han Army, were supplemented.
However, the combat effectiveness was worrying, so they could only arrange to garrison various cities to prevent the Datong army from crossing the sea to make sneak attacks.
Hauge was also a battle-hardened man, so it was naturally impossible for him to be a stud. He sent some Eight Banners soldiers to mix with the armored soldiers on the ship, and continued to conduct reconnaissance feints, and took turns to attack all directions of the fortress.
It was found that as long as the next main attack direction is far away, the sound of muskets must be more sparse, and artillery must be used on the castle to suppress it.
This made the Eight Banners nobles very happy.
Even Donny, who was unwilling to attack by force, said happily: "There can be at most one or two thousand fire gun soldiers inside!"
"One or two thousand gunmen is not a small number, but it can still be fought." Haug said with a smile.
Duolong said: "If you spread out the formation more, you won't be afraid of firecrackers and artillery."
Ao Bai knelt down and clasped his fists: "Your Majesty, let me take the lead in attacking the city!"
Haug immediately arranged an attack plan. He only left cavalry and gunmen, and the remaining infantry and archers attacked from all sides.
This time there is no need to push the cart, we spread out and rush forward.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
Nearly thirty Manchu and Qing artillery pieces were wildly bombarding those slopes.
Under the cover of artillery, the Manchu and Qing troops began to attack. When they rushed to the firing point, the artillery on the castle also began to fire back. However, the Manchu and Qing Eight Banners soldiers rushed forward despite the artillery fire.
They often do this kind of thing because Ming Dynasty's firepower is also very fierce.
When the Eight Banners soldiers approached the slope, the Manchu and Qing artillery stopped bombarding them. The Datong army on the slope fired a few sporadic shots, and then they all chose to retreat and directly gave up the position on the slope.
Obai rushed up the slope with his knife, and when he saw the situation inside, he was a little dumbfounded.
Because there are several trenches behind the slope. These trenches are designed to allow the defensive soldiers to retreat and move.
At this moment, I can't think of anything else.
When Obai saw the enemy retreating into the trench and using the trench to move, he immediately shouted: "Follow me to pursue the enemy!"
The Eight Banners soldiers everywhere made the same choice as Obai. They chased him down the slope, ran across a section of flat land, and then jumped into the ditch to start chasing him.
Many of them were carrying simple ladders, as if they wanted to rush up to the castle in one fell swoop.
Hauge, who was sitting in the central army formation, could not see what was going on inside at all, and could only let the frontline generals perform freely.
"Boom boom boom!"
The passage connecting the circular trench has a low wall on both sides.
Behind the low wall, grenadiers suddenly stood up and threw thousands of enemies into the passage.
After being hit by two rounds from ten thousand enemies in succession, several people behind Obai were killed, and he himself was injured by shrapnel.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
Then there was another shot of firecrackers, aiming at the enemies in the trench from a high position.
There are trenches and earthen walls here, and it is impossible to see the terrain clearly. Where are the passages in the trenches and where are the passages on the ground? It took the defenders half a month of training to become familiar with them.
For the attacker, it is like entering a maze.
"Retreat, retreat quickly!"
Obai shouted in fear, finally realizing how dangerous it was.
A bastion is not an isolated castle, but a defense system that can be understood as a "man-made preset battlefield". All the terrain here is arranged by the defender, and the attacker can only be beaten. That is, the defensive advantage is
Maximize it and maximize the offensive disadvantage.
Although the peripheral defense fortifications such as Pinglu Fort, which combines trenches and low walls, are more similar to the defense of a large camp due to limited conditions, they are enough to confuse the enemy.
It's easy to get in, but it's hard to get out.
Because there are no steps to climb in the outermost circular tunnel. Even if the defenders want to fight their way out, they have to temporarily build wooden boards. The trench is tall enough for the enemy to climb slowly.
Fortunately, the Eight Banners Army brought many ladders and put them on the walls of the tunnel, scrambling to climb up.
When you are running for your life, you don't have to worry about so much. It's normal for you to fight for each other, often to the point of overturning the ladder.
But the firecrackers guarding the low wall above the tunnel could shoot down easily.
Lu Xiangsheng looked at the situation on the battlefield and said regretfully: "It's still not deep enough, otherwise these Tatars won't be able to escape."
Hauge was unable to direct the battle, and the same was true of Xiao Zongxian and Lu Xiangsheng.
Because the ambushed soldiers had to squat behind a low wall, it was difficult to see clearly the flag orders on the city wall, so the frontline commanders had to deal with them themselves.
When Obai climbed the ladder, he was shot in the calf.
The greatest warrior in Manchuria crawled faster despite the pain, and rushed up in a matter of seconds.
"boom!"
Another shot hit the Eight Banners soldier behind Obai, and the unlucky guy happened to help Hauge block the shot.
Obai led his defeated troops and limped out of the slope, only to face the artillery bombardment from the city again.
"Boom boom boom boom!"
It is difficult for the attacker's artillery to hit the bastion, and it is easy for the bastion's artillery to bombard the enemy. Moreover, this angle is very easy to produce ricochet. Almost every time a shell hits the ground, it will jump up and fly very far forward, hitting an enemy.
Either dead or seriously injured.
Oboi lost one of his legs and managed to escape, only to face Hauge's anger.
Hauge couldn't figure out what was going on inside, and when he saw a bunch of defeated troops, he was furious: "We have already rushed in, why did we escape again?"
Ao Bai explained with a grimace: "Your Majesty, there are trenches and low walls inside. There are twists and turns, so you can't hit the enemy, you can only be hit by the enemy."
Hauge was immediately speechless.
The defeated soldiers fled back one after another. Haug counted the casualties and found that this attack lost more than 1,600 people!
In fact, some of them survived, but they couldn't get out, so more than a hundred prisoners were taken.
Donny didn't bother to argue with Hauge and sighed: "Stop attacking the castle and go to the countryside to harvest wheat. At least three or four hundred of my warriors have not escaped."
Hauge glared at Shang Kexi: "Since you have heard of this kind of castle, why don't you warn it?"
Shang Kexi forced himself to explain: "My lord, I really don't know. I only know that this kind of castle is difficult to attack. I don't know what it's like inside."
Hauge gritted his teeth and said: "Reorganize your respective troops and withdraw your troops slowly to avoid being pursued by the enemy one after another!"
Only a fool would continue to attack. Hauge can only choose to leave now.
This kind of castle is so terrifying. The enemy has not suffered any damage. After several attacks, he has suffered more than 2,000 casualties.
Two thousand Eight Banners warriors!
This battle has nothing to do with morale, equipment, training, or organization. It is purely the first time the Qing Dynasty encountered a bastion, and it was a bastion that was transformed into a mess by the Datong Army. It has no experience in dealing with it, so it is really important not to lose. Damn it.
The Datong Army could not pursue immediately, as the outer trenches could not pass through, so they had to slowly build wooden planks.
Temporary construction of things is so troublesome.
