Marshal Lin looked at the Taihe River behind Daoshan City and asked Ma Gui: "Did you say there is water on the mountain?"
Ma Gui pointed to a ditch leading to the mountain city and replied: "Looking at the topography, this mountain is not big, so there should be no water source.
That’s why the Japanese pirates dug this trench, channeled the Taihe River into the mountain city, and built stone barriers on top of the trench for protection.”
Marshal Lin said thoughtfully: "The terrain here is also difficult to attack, but we can try our best to find some dead mules and horses and throw them into the trench!"
This poisonous plan to pollute water sources may not have obvious effects in a short period of time.
But who knows whether the siege will turn into a long-term siege? Marshal Lin has made two preparations.
After personally surveying the terrain of Daoshan City, Lin Tailai saw that there was still some time, so he ordered a general cannon to be brought in to conduct a trial bombardment of Daoshan City at close range.
The result was not very satisfactory, because the terrain of Daoshan City was high, so horizontal fire could not hit the city, and it was of little use to hit the mountain. However, if the elevation angle of the artillery was too high, it would be difficult to aim and penetrate the city.
In fact, the mountain itself is not very high, maybe only a hundred or ten meters, or even less than that.
However, this situation of attacking from the bottom of the mountain upward is indeed very detrimental to the artillery.
In this way, Marshal Lin sighed to Ma Gui: "It seems that the Japanese pirates have fought with our army for so many times and have gained experience. They know how to restrain our army's advantages as much as possible."
Ma Gui suggested: "To the northwest is Hecheng Mountain. You can try to pull the heavy artillery to Hecheng Mountain and bombard Daoshan Castle.
The main camp of the army is at the foot of Hecheng Mountain, so you can give it a try when you go back."
So Marshal Lin ordered the troops to retreat. The main military operation ended today. The Japanese pirates' outlying strongholds were cleared and the old city of Ulsan was recovered.
After returning to the main camp, the officers and soldiers transported twenty more general cannons up to Hecheng Mountain.
Then they aimed these heavy artillery in the direction of Daoshan City, adjusted the muzzle angle based on the gunner's experience, and bombarded them hard for a while.
At this distance, the effect of the artillery bombardment could no longer be seen clearly, and could only be judged by the reaction of the Japanese troops on Dosan Castle.
Marshal Lin and General Ma both stood at a high place and took a careful look at Daoshan Castle. They saw that the Japanese troops defending the city were not affected, so they continued to do whatever they were supposed to do.
Ma Gui withdrew his gaze and said, "It probably didn't hit Zhongdaoshan City, and we have to continue to adjust the muzzle."
The accuracy of artillery in this era is quite impressive. It is normal for a test shot to miss the target.
So after adjusting the angle of the muzzle, another round of bombardment was carried out on Daoshan Castle.
This time the effect was very obvious, but the Japanese troops of Sannomaru and Ninomaru on Shimayama Castle seemed to have exploded, running around in panic like headless flies.
Ma Gui said with joy on his face: "We hit it this time! Tomorrow, all the general cannons will be brought up, and the muzzles of the cannons will fire at this angle!"
Under Marshal Lin's deliberate mobilization, there were about 400 heavy artillery pieces in Ulsan at this time. Most of them were general cannons, and a few were tiger squat cannons. They were all vehicle-mounted and had more than 200,000 pieces of various ammunition.
catty.
However, Marshal Lin did not respond to General Ma's words, and still looked at Daoshan City in silence.
"Is there anything else wrong?" Ma Gui asked.
Marshal Lin pointed to Daoshan City in the distance and said: "Now the Japanese pirates are not the Japanese pirates who just fought with the heavenly soldiers. They should have adapted to the artillery. Why are they so panicked?"
Ma Gui is at a loss, is there any problem with this? What does the commander want to express? "
Lin Tailai frowned and said: "Japanese people have always been cunning, and they are also very good at learning and summarizing. They cannot always look at it based on old experience.
Is it possible that when the heavy artillery was tested for the first time just now, it actually hit Doshan Castle. The Japanese soldiers just deliberately stayed still to confuse us?
The second test shot did not hit Nakajima Castle, but the Japanese soldiers deliberately acted like they were panicking and running around to trick us into thinking they had hit?
If we were fooled, we would keep bombarding from the angle of the second test fire, but in fact there would be no lethality at all."
Ma Gui: "."
It's just a simple and crude artillery bombardment. Do you want to play this hard?
Marshal Lin instructed: "When we formally attack the city, we should first bombard it from the angle of the first test firing to see the actual effect.
I don't believe that in actual combat, the Japanese soldiers could remain calm and not move at all when faced with precise artillery fire."
Ma Gui agreed first, then added: "In short, heavy artillery can definitely hit Daoshan City from Hecheng Mountain, which is a good thing.
It’s just that it’s difficult to communicate with the siege front line on Hecheng Mountain, and it’s more laborious to coordinate with the siege troops. I’m afraid we won’t be able to fight several rounds in a day.”
Marshal Lin did not answer, silently thinking about something in his heart.
When coming down from Hecheng Mountain, Marshal Lin suddenly said to Ma Gui: "Old Ma! You did a good job! You made up for my negligence!"
When Ma Gui heard this, he was extremely flattered!
Marshal Lin, who has always been very picky, actually praised him so straightforwardly. How much merit did it take to earn it?
Mr. Ma, who was completely unprepared, responded incoherently: "If you did something wrong next time, you will definitely continue next time! Oh no, if you did something well, you will definitely correct it next time!"
Marshal Lin added in detail: "I want to say that you did a very good job in taking in North Korean volunteers!"
General Ma was confused from the bottom of his heart. Two days ago, the commander-in-chief complained that he had taken in more than 3,000 useless Korean volunteers. Why did he praise him again today?
Why is the commander so erratic in his mood changes?
However, as an old military leader, General Ma soon began to suspect that he wanted to use Korean soldiers as cannon fodder to fill in the passages of the island mountain city.
However, given the fighting will and level of the Korean soldiers, General Ma did not feel that they had the ability to attack the city.
Then I heard Marshal Lin say: "Are there any Korean volunteers nearby? Let's collect them together for the time being. We are not short of this little military ration at the moment."
In the next two days, the Ming army had been making special preparations for the attack on Daoshan City, actively deploying artillery positions on Hecheng Mountain, and conducting several rounds of test firings from time to time.
At the same time, the government and army took in more than 500 North Korean volunteers who came to seek refuge, bringing the total number of volunteers to more than 3,700.
It is said that there are many volunteers who are eager to defect to the Ming Dynasty's official army and are on their way over.
Although Lin Tianshuai's image among North Korea's upper echelons is becoming more and more controversial, Lin Tianshuai still has money in hand.
In this lean spring, as long as he is taken in by the Ming army, he can be guaranteed to have food to eat and not starve to death.
Lin Tianshuai divided the 3,700 people into four death squads, each with 800 people.
The remaining few hundred people formed a supervising team, which seemed to implement the rule of using North Korea to control North Korea. This actually made many North Koreans feel reassured.
Two days later, in the early morning, after the army had eaten enough, they surrounded Daoshan City with Ma Gui's troops on the front and Li Rubai's troops on the west.
At the same time, the Ye Bangrong Division of the Biaoying Battalion was sent to the upper reaches of the Taehwa River to provide warning and surveillance to prevent the Japanese troops from Sesaengpo from coming to support by boat.
At the specified time, three hundred artillery pieces from Hecheng Mountain fired several rounds of bombardment at Daoshan Castle.
After the sound of artillery stopped, the Ming Dynasty army rushed forward from the front and the west to conduct a tentative siege.
It has to be said that this kind of Japanese mountain castle is indeed much more difficult to defeat than a normal castle.
Generally speaking, the walls of a city are built on flat ground, and the city is attacked from the flat ground. But for a fortress like Daoshan Castle, one can only attack along the mountain road, so the difficulty can be imagined.
What's more, the Japanese army set up a large number of shooting holes on the wall and fortress based on their own habits, so that they could use firecrackers to carry out intensive shooting.
At this time, Marshal Lin no longer bothered to take the lead, and only went back and forth from behind to supervise the battle.
Although the Doshan Castle in front of us is compared with the original one in history, due to the limited construction time, the fortifications are definitely not as strong as the original Doshan Castle in history.
But the terrain advantage is here, and it is difficult to fight.
From morning to noon, the Ming Dynasty's army rotated three times, but still failed to capture the Sannomaru at the bottom of Shimayama Castle.
Marshal Lin ordered the attack to be suspended and allowed the soldiers to have a meal first to replenish their strength.
Then he called over a few Korean volunteer generals whose names he didn't remember, and warned them: "My soldiers will not support idlers!"
After several rebel generals looked at each other, they all lowered their heads and pretended to be stupid.
Lin Tianshuai continued: "In the morning, our soldiers took turns to attack the city. Now that we are exhausted and need to rest, it is your turn for the volunteers to attack the city!"
Several volunteer generals sighed, what should come will always come. The heavenly soldiers will feed their volunteers, and they will definitely make them sacrifice their lives.
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There is no point in continuing to act stupid, they cannot refuse the order from Tianshuai.
Then I heard Lin Tianshuai drawing a big cake and saying: "Now that the Japanese pirates will be wiped out completely, there will be no government management in Gyeongsang Province, Jeolla Province."
If you and others can go to the Japanese city and perform meritorious service, I, the commander-in-chief, can make the decision and support you in taking charge of military affairs in various places."
Regardless of whether the pie is real or not, Lin Tianshuai has shown that he will be rewarded for his merits.
With nothing to say, nearly four thousand Korean volunteers arrived at the mountain city and prepared to go out.
The several volunteer generals leading the team didn't need to communicate too much. They could understand each other's thoughts with just one look.
To be continued...