To the east of Huangshui River in Hezui Fort, trenches have been dug in the valley plains. This is the fifth day of the confrontation between the two armies.
Liu Chengzong looked at the other side with his binoculars. The frontier troops from the three towns tried to advance with cavalry, but were repelled by Yang Yao; they tried to advance in formations with car camps, but the thin and light sidecars could not resist the heavy artillery.
In the end, they could only dig trenches in rotation day and night, moving forward in a zigzag pattern with five-foot trenches, making camp step by step.
Liu Chengzong put away his telescope and said to Huang Shengxiao, who was watching the enemy formation on the city, "They are modifying heavy vehicles."
Huang Shengxiao nodded slightly and looked at the stone bridge south of the mouth of the river. The mouth of the river was surrounded by Huangshui that was seventy or eighty paces wide. Even if the army dug trenches, they could only advance east of the river and would eventually have to risk their advance.<
/p>
So the Ming army made the choice to fight against the artillery... Chariot.
Huang Shengxiao said: "Maybe we can really block the cannons, but if we want to cross that bridge, the carriage can't stop the cannons."
Liu Shishi never dreamed that he had heard Cao Yao talk about the carriage, but when he saw it for the first time, what he saw was the carriage in the hands of the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers.
After thinking about it carefully, I feel that there is nothing strange about it. There is no difference in human brains. The development of different weapons is just a matter of different environments.
The early troops of the Hou Jin Dynasty were the Jisi version of the Liaodong Ming Army. When facing the Liaodong Ming Army, which valued artillery, they chose to use carriages to cover artillery shells to reduce casualties.
At this time, the 20,000 troops in Hedong were the Shaanxi Ming Army whose maintenance costs depended entirely on suppressing bandits. When facing the Ming Army of Marshal Fu, who valued artillery, they would naturally choose to use carriages to cover artillery shells and reduce casualties.
Liu Shishi just chuckled at this, shook his head and said: "We don't need to block it. We can recharge our batteries for a few days and we will be able to counterattack soon."
He just had enough time to pick up the binoculars again and search for the coach in the enemy formation.
Liu Chengzong wanted to find his old acquaintance He Huchen, but unfortunately he was too far away to see clearly. However, yesterday he saw his old boss He Renlong who was supervising the soldiers digging trenches on the front line.
The Ningxia Tang soldiers who surrendered before the formation said that He Renlong had done a lot to suppress the bandits in Shanxi, and now he has been posted as a post in the Shaanxi Dusi. This is a transitional position for garrison promotion, not actual teaching. The next practical official position is guerrilla.
General.
Of course, if you do well, you may be directly awarded the position of general in charge of the first battalion.
Liu Chengzong wanted to send a letter of persuasion to He Renlong to surrender, but every day when the army dug trenches, they would place the gunmen newly recruited from Guyuan Town in front. Those guys would attack anyone they saw, and Tangqi couldn't get through at all.
Although the frontier troops in the three towns were very enthusiastic about digging trenches, there was no pressure on Liu Chengzong.
Because the officers and soldiers are digging trenches and advancing fiercely, it means that they have nothing to do with the current situation, time waits for no one, and there is Liu Shizi's good friend-smallpox on the battlefield.
Liu Chengzong was counting the days. It had been seven days since the official army launched a suppression campaign. The hunting camp in Basang had started vaccination a few days earlier. Now the soldiers under his command had begun to have pox. The official army on the other side of the river who was infected with smallpox was almost at the end of the day.
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Huang Shengxiao was still thinking about using explosive bombs to blow up the carriages at the end of the bridge, when he saw Liu Chengzong hand over the binoculars, pointing at the enemy formation and saying: "Look at the foot of the mountain northeast of the army camp."
Huang Shengxiao looked over there, with great joy on his face.
The place Liu Chengzong was talking about was a place where military tents were spread out, close to the craftsmanship camp where the army made ordnance. There was no such place in the normal military formation. There was no doubt that it was an isolation camp prepared by the army.
The officers and soldiers also had this concern, so they had to rush the attack even though they were at a disadvantage with artillery.
But I'm afraid smallpox won't give them such a long time to prepare, and it will spread quickly.
Camp on the east bank of Huangshui River.
Ming army commander You Shilu stared at the artillery on the city on the other side with his eyes rounded on the mountain.
You Shilu is a tough guy.
Ever since he was shot in the abdomen by an arrow when he personally came to the city of Liaozhou City in Shanxi to attack the city with soldiers, You Shilu knew that his health was failing.
Although it has been a long time since the injury, the injury has never healed. The arrow should have been stained with dirty things such as gold juice, which caused him to have constant fever and the pain in his lower abdomen was unbearable.
While cultivating at home, he could still use decoctions instead of food and rely on his body to hold on, barely suppressing the heat and poison of his injuries; but the environment on the battlefield was simply not enough to keep him alive.
But as a lieutenant general with the emperor's command, he must stand here, even if the high fever makes him almost faint.
Faced with Liu Chengzong's advantage in heavy artillery, You Shilu had no choice but to let his soldiers rotate day and night, swing their pickaxes in the east of the river, and dig five-foot trenches from outside the range of the artillery, spreading towards the bridgehead on the Huangshui River.
He really wanted to use Hou Jin's method to deal with the Ming army's artillery to deal with Liu Chengzong, but at the same time he was also making two preparations. From the beginning of the confrontation, he discovered that the range of the artillery in the Marshal's Mansion was far beyond that of the Franco machine, so he ordered his nephew You Shilu
Return to Lanzhou to dispatch firearms that can match them.
Smallpox was like a knife hanging over the head of the commander-in-chief of the three towns. For Liu Chengzong, he could accurately know the time of smallpox infection due to the comparison of the vaccinated soldiers. However, this was not the case for the commander-in-chief of the three towns.
The military rations were not enough to support them spending several months to vaccinate. You Shilu, He Huchen and Yang Qi also knew very well that Liu Chengzong could not give them time to vaccinate.
They were all fully prepared to fight this battle amidst the raging smallpox.
The reason why smallpox is called smallpox is because it is the time of heaven's movement. It is God who wants to take over people. For people, the way of heaven is no bigger than a sentence to control the destiny of heaven.
During the war, smallpox did not recognize people, so You Shilu planned to compete with Liu Chengzong to see who had the tougher life.
So not only Liu Chengzong was waiting for smallpox, but You Shilu was also waiting for smallpox. While waiting for smallpox, he was also waiting for his nephew to bring back artillery to eliminate the artillery advantage of the Marshal's Mansion.
You Shilu's plan was divided into two steps. The first was to wait for the soldiers under his command to get acne, and then engage in hand-to-hand combat with Liu Chengzong; second, he selected soldiers from three towns and set up a pock-marked camp. From the acting general to the soldiers, they all had suffered from smallpox or
People who have been vaccinated against acne.
After the two armies fought, they retreated slightly, and when Liu Chengzong's army showed signs of acne and their combat effectiveness declined, they could then use the Mazi camp to defeat them.
The following day, the trench spread closer and closer to the river, and the artillery sent from Lanzhou also arrived. You Yangkun escorted the first batch of heavy artillery from Lanzhou to the front line.
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"Commander, I have humbled myself to come back to you."
You Yangkun climbed Tushan and saw that He Huchen and Yang Qi were both there, so he called You Shilu by his military title. He said: "After comparison, among the existing artillery in Lanzhou, only these eight can rival the enemy's artillery."
Tianzihao General Cannon."
After that, he said to You Shilu: "I have ordered people to go to Lintao, Jinglu, and Gongchang to mobilize three guards. Within twenty days, three batches should arrive, and there should be more than thirty people."
"The Tian Zi Hao General Artillery really depends on Ye Gong." You Shilu was so burned that he was unconscious. He was sitting on a chair in Tushan with red eyes. He suddenly looked like he was vomiting blood, and everyone around him came forward in shock. He himself didn't take it seriously. He just took a handkerchief and wiped it. He laughed slowly and asked someone to take some loose soil to cover the blood. He shook his head and said, "It's okay. Bring the cannon to the front and hide it. Then dig forward two hundred steps."
The Franco machine can also hit the top of the city, and then it will blast everywhere, catching the rebels by surprise!"
As soon as You Shilu heard the name, he knew that these artillery pieces could be trusted.
The Tianzihao general cannon can be traced back to Qi Jiguang's appointment as the commander-in-chief of Jizhen. The general cannon at that time was an old cannon that was finalized in the Yongle period. It was changed by Qi Jiguang into a Folang machine-type rapid-fire cannon. It used a cast gun body and the single gun weighed twice as much.
One hundred and fifty pounds.
But later Ye Mengxiong was dissatisfied with the cannon. The 250-pound sub-gun was too bulky, so he simply used the sub-gun as the standard and made forged general cannons in three specifications: Tian, Di, Xuan, and three-wheeled gun carriages.
,Use the 'Gonglingsun' shell.
This kind of forged general cannon was carried forward during the Wanli period, and five specifications appeared. The eight cannons shipped by You Yangkun were the largest among the forged general cannons.
The gun is four feet five inches long, weighs a thousand kilograms, has lugs, and the gun body is reinforced with nine iron hoops. The gun carriage is a three-wheeled light vehicle, which is light, fast, and durable.
When equipped with special public ammunition, it can shoot eight kilograms of bullets, three kilograms of bullets, one kilogram of kilograms of bullets and 200 group bullets, all of which are lead bullets, with a total weight of sixteen kilograms.
When loaded with closed-mouth iron bullets, the weight is seven kilograms.
However, just as You Yangkun sent people to send the eight Tianzihao general cannons into the trench and quietly transport them to the appropriate location, Liu Chengzong received a letter asking for help from Wang Wenxiu.
"Commander, General Wang is reporting urgently!"
Liu Chengzong frowned, waved his hand and ordered someone to let the messenger go: "Report quickly."
Wang Wenxiu's messengers ran to the city, prostrated themselves and took out the letter and presented it to them. They said: "Commander, good news from Xining. General Wang has led his army to defeat the Lintao army and pursued the defeated army in the area of Pingrongyi and Laoyacheng. Please tell me, Commander-in-Chief,
Send reinforcements to the west."
When Liu Chengzong heard the word "good news", he was already relieved. He couldn't help but blame the messenger. Good news was good news. Why did he call it "urgent news"? He thought Xining City was besieged.
As a result, he opened the letter and couldn't help but smile. He finally knew what Wang Wenxiu was worried about.
Wang Wenxiu sent not only a letter asking for help, but also a battle report written by Cheng Yun, detailing that two Yanyue knives were slashing each other in the river valley. Wang Chengen's knife collapsed, so that during the retreat, Wang Wenxiu used infantry to beat him for a day.
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Every time before the formation was stable, Wang Wenxiu rushed up to cover his head and beat him, throwing away all the artillery. They fought three times in succession on the mountain platform and in the river valley, and were finally defeated.
But compared to chasing down the defeated army, frontal combat was easier for Wang Wenxiu.
Wang Wenxiu even thought that Wang Chengen might have dispersed the army himself, because Wang Wenxiu had a huge advantage by setting up a majestic formation, but once the two armies withdrew from the large formation, he would not be able to take advantage of the small-scale conflict. p>
The main reason was that the two armies gathered on the flanks were holding them back. Wang Chengen's Lintao troops, as stragglers, were able to fight back and forth with Wang Wenxiu's infantry camp.
As for the left wing that Liu Chengyun had accumulated, they were just a bunch of people who gave up.
Wang Wenxiu admitted in his letter asking for help that his biggest failure in this battle was not telling the three generals not to pursue.
There were quite a lot of people on the left wing, but as soon as the formation dispersed, it was like magic and it was gone.
As a result, he is now seriously short of troops, and more than half of his limited infantry battalion elites are used to guard prisoners and surrendered troops. The rope from the west has not yet been delivered, and he cannot catch up with the enemy troops who are running all over the mountains and plains, nor can he surrender them. He said in the letter: "If the commander still has some strength left, please send reinforcements to the west quickly. The defeated enemies have fled all over the valleys and hills. The general's troops are limited and cannot be captured. They are all good soldiers. It is strange to let them escape."
What a pity!"
At the same time, Chengyun also asked in the letter whether a reward should be set for Wang Chengen, the commander-in-chief of Lintao, to see if he could be recruited to surrender.
When Liu Chengzong read the letter, he thought, is there such a good thing?
He mentally calculated the food and grass in his pocket for a while, and halfway through the calculation, he slapped his left hand with his right hand, and immediately ordered: "We will draw a team of three thousand cavalry from Xie Erhu and Ahai Daiqing's men, and lead them to the west to help General Wang Shen gather them, led by Dai Daozi."
Surrender, if you don’t want to surrender, take prisoners first.”
After that, he said to the messenger: "You go back and tell General Wang Shen and the soldiers who went out to defeat the Lintao army. I will remember it for them first and reward them together when the battle is over."
As for the reward mentioned by Cheng Yun, Liu Chengzong attached great importance to it.
This was something that they had ignored in the past, and there was no institutionalized reward for recruiting and surrendering, because Liu Chengzong himself did not think there was a chance to surrender the generals of the imperial court.
But now that the Marshal's Mansion has greatly improved in terms of territory and strength, a special set of rules will be formulated for this matter in the future. Once this set of rules is formulated, it will be of great help in taking over the imperial land.
However, this time, Liu Chengzong did not plan to give high-ranking officials generous salaries. He just wrote a letter asking Chengyun to take care of the defeated generals until the battle was over. If Wang Chengen was willing to surrender and could save the clan, he would give his subordinates a job if he was unwilling to surrender.
I'll reward him with a reward of five thousand taels of silver. I'll catch him first and then talk about it.
If no one wants to surrender, forget it, kill those who deserve to be killed, and keep the reward for your own people.
Liu Shizi knew that Wang Chengen might be the first general to be surrendered. After all, his clan was brought to Xining City by his father and was defeated head-on, so there was a high chance of surrender.
He can set an example for the imperial generals to surrender in future battles, but Liu Chengzong does not have the conditions to promise high-ranking officials generous salaries. The best condition he can give is nothing more than a hereditary commander.
It's not that he is stingy. According to the role Wang Chengen can play, it doesn't hurt to give him a marquis.
However, Cao Yao and Liu Chengzu are still only deputy commander-in-chief, and Yang Yao and Wang Wenxiu are also ranked as generals. Even if Liu Chengzong wants to be awarded a knighthood, the first person to be awarded the title will be the monkey Liu Jiusi.
This is just the treatment for the old brothers. To grant a marquis to a defeated general at this time, not to mention whether the generals are sensible or not would be chilling, but Liu Shizi himself would not be able to overcome the hurdle in his heart.
Liu Chengzong finished writing the letter, recorded the end of the battle in his notebook, discussed with his father and brother the granting of official titles and annual salary to the meritorious generals, turned around and handed the letter to the messenger, and sent a few more cavalry to escort him back. p>
Then he stood at the top of the city and sighed, there are too many temptations in life, and it is too difficult to resist these temptations.
This is just the defeat of the Lintao Army. I don’t know how many veterans will be surrendered. There are two officers, two mates and four general officers in front of him. If the subsequent battle goes well, how many people will he have to surrender?
How many more people do we need to feed?
Thinking of this, Liu Chengzong shook his head, picked up his binoculars and took another look at the enemy formation. He hoped that the generals of the five towns would carry more rations, but if that didn't work, I'm afraid he would have no choice but to cross the Yellow River and seek help from the philanthropic Prince Su.