In Xiangyang, the moment the Ming army sentry cavalry appeared outside the city, the whole city was in turmoil. The original speculations and worries turned into terrible facts at this moment. Xunyang and Gucheng had fallen, and Xiangyang was facing the front of the Ming army.
In the city, the Qing army hurriedly deployed for defense and became a mess. Outside the city, the Ming army came in force. Hearing that they were going to attack Xiangyang, Hao Yaoqi couldn't sit still and left Xunyang and Gucheng to his men.
, Pi Dian Pi Dian caught up. At this moment, Hao Yaoqi accompanied Li Laiheng and Wang Qilong to observe the Xiangyang city defense, and naturally took on the role of guide.
"Xiangyang City was built by King Ninghe of the Ming Dynasty. The city is two feet and five feet high. The wall thickness is from one foot and five to three feet. The city is twelve miles around. It is considered to be one of the few fortified cities." Hao Yaoqi sighed, "
It is adjacent to the Han River in the north and is surrounded by the Han River. There are moats on all sides, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack."
Listening to Hao Yaoqi talking endlessly about Xiangyang's city defense, Wang Qilong asked curiously: "Why is the Marquis of Nan'an so familiar with Xiangyang?"
Li Laiheng smiled and said: "Uncle Hao once captured Xiangyang, last year, right?"
Hao Yaoqi also smiled and said: "That's right, I just couldn't stand, so I was kicked out by Hu Quancai." He did not shy away from the fact that he could not defeat Hu Quancai. Indeed, it was not shameful. Hu Quancai had two talents in Hubei and Hunan.
With all his power, Hao Yaoqi could only occupy a corner of Fang County and Zhushan District, so it was normal that he could not defeat them.
Wang Qilong nodded and asked curiously: "How did the Marquis of Nan'an capture Xiangyang last year?"
"It's just a sneak attack when they are unprepared." Hao Yaoqi shook his head and said, "But it won't work this time. You have delayed in Gucheng for too long, and Xiangyang has already been prepared. According to the Lu family boy, Xiangyang now has no one other than the local guards.
There is also a Wuchang army that is guarding the military supplies of the Wu thieves. This is not easy to fight. I don’t think there is much hope of breaking the city from the front. In the end, it depends on the skills of the boys who sneak into the city."
Li Laiheng nodded and said: "Yes, but we still have to fight. We don't have enough troops, so we can only attack one gate."
Wang Qilong agreed: "Attack the south gate. If the hook enters the city from the east gate, they will probably attack at the east gate. If we attack the south gate, it will be closer to the east gate then."
Everyone nodded. The army acted vigorously and resolutely. They made a general plan and immediately began to implement it. The Ming army immediately set up camp south of Xiangyang and set up a defense line. At the top of the city, seeing that the Ming army had chosen the main attack point, the Qing army also followed suit.
, set up camp outside the south gate, clear the houses, and prepare to stay for a long time.
"The Tatar guard general is good at fighting." Seeing that the Qing army was mixed but not chaotic, and the defense was quite orderly, Li Laiheng said with a smile. Hong Chengchou is a good knower, and the guards assigned to Hubei have all been in battle, but
It was not enough to defend the generals to fight. In order to defend against the three kings of the Southern Ming Dynasty, the Manchu Qing Dynasty demobilized all the main troops from various places. The remaining soldiers were the former auxiliary soldiers or the strong men of Xinla. These soldiers were no match for the Loyalty Battalion.
"General Bing Ma, there don't seem to be many thieves?" the prefect of Xiangyang huddled behind the battlements, observed the Ming army for a while, then turned around and asked.
"Less than tens of thousands, even this small force dares to covet my Xiangyang. This time he will definitely be defeated." On the side, Xiangyang guard Ma Zhenjin snorted coldly, "Don't let the thieves stand firm, wait for me to lead the way.
The soldiers go and charge for a while, killing the thieves with vigor."
The prefect was shocked: "General Ma, I think it's important to hold on to the city. If the thieves can't attack for a long time, they will retreat. Then it will be a great achievement." In the early Qing Dynasty, the officialdom structure of the nobles and the lowly had not yet been fully formed.
, the prefect could not yell at the commander-in-chief like he did in the Ming Dynasty, so even if the Xiangyang prefect did not agree with the guard's opinion, he could only discuss it and persuade him.
"Prefect, there is no need to worry. The soldiers in my camp are all heroes who have fought and killed the enemy. They are extremely brave and can never be defeated by thieves. I will lead the cavalry to attack and return with one blow. The thieves don't have many cavalry. I will come
You can go freely, and nothing will happen to you." Ma Zongbing said confidently.
The prefect locked his neck and looked at the Ming army again. It seemed that there were only a few cavalry. Thinking that if they charged for a while, they could gain some gains, he nodded in agreement.
"Are we going to start attacking the city now?" Wang Qilong asked. Time was tight and the Ming army could not afford to delay.
Just as Li Laiheng was about to nod, he suddenly saw the Qing army's camp wide open and laughed and said: "It seems that the Tatars are unwilling to sit still and wait for death. They also want to have a field battle with our army."
General Ma carried a long spear, was fully clothed, and led more than a hundred light cavalry to rumble out of the camp. He once served as Hu Quancai's supervisor. He fought bravely and won Hu Quancai's trust. He used his talents to serve as an official. His personal soldiers
They were all brought from Hu Quancai's supervision. They were the only cavalry on the ground in Hubei, which made him extremely proud. Now that he saw that most of the Ming army were infantry, he even looked down upon them.
He rushed towards the Ming army's formation in a daze.
Wang Qilong was about to command his troops to meet the enemy, but was stopped by Li Laiheng. Li Laiheng smiled and said: "The Tatar Qingqi raid must have wanted to catch us off guard, and they had the idea of taking a bite and running away. This is the first battle in Xiangyang, we must win
It’s beautiful, let’s leave it to three walls.”
Wang Qilong nodded in agreement, and was looking forward to it in his heart. The Three Walls have such a big reputation, and today they can finally see them taking action. One hundred and thirteen Walls cavalry were seen rushing out from behind the formation, controlling their horses and trotting while lining up.
, when the horses picked up their speed, two neat and slightly curved rows had been formed, heading towards the Qing army's cavalry.
Ma Zongbing originally planned to raid the Ming army's infantry formation, but unexpectedly the Ming army chose to fight with him on horseback. Instead of being surprised, he turned his horse's head and planned to teach these reckless Ming army cavalry a lesson. Two teams of two sizes
The small cavalry collided with each other, and the heart-wrenching sound of blade scraping and falling horses kept ringing out. As they passed each other, Ma Zongbing was shocked to find that this Ming cavalry, which was not even equipped with carbines, was so powerful and scary that it fired.
For a one to two exchange ratio that made his heart tremble. There were still more than sixty people left on his side, but only ten people were lost in the three walls. He felt chilled and regretted that he was too trusting, but at this moment
The city gate is behind three walls. If he wants to return to the city, he has to break through the three walls.
General Ma suppressed the fear in his heart, loudly encouraged the morale of his soldiers, and led the charge again. On the other side of the three walls, the leading officer saw Ma Zhenjin's eyes flashing and knew that he had begun to retreat. After this charge, he would definitely not be able to retreat.
Will stay. He was determined to keep Ma Zhenjin, frowned and looked at the knights beside him, and suddenly shouted: "Fill up the second row and insert it into the gap in the front row." After the three walls were adjusted according to orders, he then shouted: "Keep the formation.
, don’t exceed your companions, if you are afraid, close your eyes and charge, don’t let even a Tatar go!”
Ma Zhenjin watched in surprise as an unprecedentedly dense queue formed on the three walls. But soon, he realized in despair that he would definitely hit the three walls. They were too dense and there was no room for movement.
He gritted his teeth and felt fierce in his heart. My lance is longer than your saber. As long as I kill one of you, there will be an opening.
The cavalry collided again. This time, the fighting and casualties were much more tragic. The three walls at this moment, as the name suggests, were really like a wall blocking the path of the Qing army's charge. Ma Zhenjin looked closer and closer.
The dense formation of enemy soldiers gave him the urge to turn his horse's head and run away, but the dozens of galloping horses had already lost their temper, and his futile move was of no use.
"Three walls, three walls!" Fear seemed to open up his long-lost memory. He only knew this one of the cavalry that rushed in like a wall. He had just hit some bad luck, and he casually went out of the city to make a surprise attack.
The Ming army will meet the trump card of breaking into the camp. There is no time to think too much, two shining sabers have already slashed in front of him. Ma Zhenjin shouted, thrust out the spear in his hand, and at the same time lowered his head and turned sideways to avoid the attack.
saber.
"That's all." Ma Zhenjin breathed a sigh of relief. His decades of equestrian skills were enough to handle such an attack. "It just looks scary..." Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in his right waist. "It turns out there is a knife.
..." Ma Zhenjin gave a bitter smile and fell down sadly. When the smoke cleared, there were less than twenty Qing troops left. All of these survivors were injured, and fear and pain remained on every face. Each of them
They were all attacked by two to three people with three walls. It can only be said that they survived because they were lucky and no vital parts were injured. These Qing soldiers did not hesitate, clamped the horse's belly, and went straight to the camp. They could not fight anymore.
The cavalry of the Ming army were all lunatics, and the cavalry used their own abilities to defend each other. How could they fight in formation like infantry?
Looking at the three walls that were equally damaged, Wang Qilong said in shock: "My lord, three walls are fighting, why, why..." He couldn't say the next words for a long time, calmed down his emotions, and then continued, "
Isn’t this using cavalry as infantry?”
Li Laiheng was silent for a moment and sighed: "Otherwise, where do you think the name Three Walls comes from?"
On the city, when the horse Zhenjin fell from his horse, the magistrate of Xiangyang almost fell to the ground. Didn't this arrogant warrior say that he was brave and invincible? If you die, you will die. What will Xiangyang do? He kept shouting to the guard
City, and asked the Qing troops in the camp to withdraw quickly. The general soldiers were dead, so what kind of camp was needed? It was the last word to defend the city. After being stunned for a moment, he suddenly thought of the troops and horses coming from Wuchang.
He shouted: "Come on, come quickly, go and ask Vice General Hu from Wuchang to command the defense of the city."
Outside the city, the Ming army would not wait for the Qing army to slowly adjust. With the idea of taking advantage of your illness to kill you, Wang Qilong gave an order, and the first division immediately moved. The artillery battalion set up its position, and after a simple adjustment, it immediately launched firepower
Fully open. How could the hastily built camp of the Qing army withstand the destruction of the Hongyi artillery? It was beaten to a pulp in less than a quarter of an hour. Xiangyang did have artillery, which was cast in the Ming Dynasty. It could not move on the fort at the head of the city.
, the Qing army in the city did not have many gunners, and could not fight against the Ming army. The prefect had no choice but to urge his men to find Deputy General Hu. The Ming army was about to come up, and he did not know how to fight.
"Vice General Hu, General Ma died unexpectedly in battle, leaving Xiangyang without a leader, so we ask Vice General Hu to take charge of the war." Seeing Vice General Hu coming in a hurry, the prefect of Xiangyang felt like seeing a savior. After Ma Zhenjin died in battle, the prefect could not stop.
He was shivering. He was a civil servant. Although he had the rule of keeping the land, he didn't know much about the military. He had been busy organizing the people and raising supplies for the past few days, and he hadn't slept much for a few nights. His eyes were all red now.
, coupled with the tears squeezed out, it looks pretty decent.
"Don't worry, sir, I will definitely try my best." Vice General Hu did not refuse and responded with clasped fists.
"That's good, that's good." The prefect breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that the Ming army began to debug the cannon again, he worried: "General, here, the thieves have red cannons, can Xiangyang handle it?"
"Don't worry, Sir, the walls of Xiangyang City are high and thick. Even if the thieves have red cannons, they will not be able to break through the walls of Xiangyang in an instant. The general will definitely be able to hold on until reinforcements arrive." Vice General Hu said with confidence. The walls of Xiangyang City are more than ten feet thick.
Even the Hongyi artillery would not be able to destroy it within ten days and a half. By then, reinforcements would have already arrived. This chapter has been completed!