(The anti-theft chapter has been updated to an official chapter and can be refreshed for reading. Thank you for your understanding. In addition, the 500 words given as a gift yesterday have been included in the official chapter.)
Kuai Chengen was so frightened in the city, and Gao Qinggong was so annoyed outside the city.
More than a hundred artillery pieces are not unusual for Gao Pragmatic. In the past, when he fought against Annan, he brought more than this number of artillery pieces. However, for the Annan battle, he started to mobilize troops and supplies long in advance to start the battle.
Later, there were two channels of land and sea to provide supplies, so we did not fall into the dilemma of insufficient supplies.
This time it was quite different. The main combat force under his command was changed from his own servant troops to the Ming army's economic and control army. The corresponding logistics supply system was also replaced by the ordinary Ming army's system. It was already efficient.
It is far worse than before. In addition, this is a battle in the northwest inland. There is obviously not much hope for the waterway, and the logistics support capability is even worse.
Jinghua does not have no ships on the Yellow River, but since the Loop is not in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, Jinghua's activities on the Yellow River are basically limited to the middle and lower reaches. It goes a little deeper to the west, reaching the Weihe River Basin connected to the Yellow River, and generally to Xi'an
To the north, it only reaches Fugu County and Baodou County (the former belongs to Yansui and the latter belongs to Shanxi, the two places are across the river), and it does not extend to tributaries.
As a result, water transportation will be out of the question.
Jinghua Trading Co., Ltd. originally had strong land transportation capacity, but Jinghua Trading Co., Ltd. itself suffered a lot in the Ningxia Incident. Many properties and warehouses were robbed by the rebels. Especially after Liang Wenmeng was rescued, they were even targeted.
After a careful search, even some of the previously hidden goods were confiscated.
With such huge losses, Gao Pragmatic could not force them to continue to help the government and army transport supplies. What was even more difficult was that it was not convenient for him to "privately" hand over the grain, grass and baggage transportation business of the regular army to Jinghua Trading Company to avoid fighting on the front line.
Before the fight is over, I will be impeached by the court first.
In this way, Gao Pragmatic began to experience the trouble of insufficient supplies for the first time.
It is said that the US Army in later generations had a saying, "If you lack everything except the enemy, it means you are already at war." The US Army had the best logistics support system in the world at that time, and Gao Wuchen's current troubles are not the same.
It's not surprising. Speaking of which, it's because he was too prepared for the battles in the past.
After preliminary statistics, there are currently very few types of landmines he carried when he sent troops from Datong. Of course, this is understandable, after all, the Hurihuliang ambush relied on the earth-shattering mine array.
In terms of artillery, the gunpowder is sufficient for the time being, but the projectiles are not enough. Because the solid bullets are too heavy, Gao Pragmatic did not bring many at the beginning, so as not to affect the marching speed. According to the current carrying capacity, the two artillery battalions of the Guards
The commander thought that it was only enough to break Lingzhou City. If he attacked Ningxia after defeating Lingzhou, he would probably be in trouble with gunpowder but no projectiles. Even if some could be recovered, it would definitely not be enough (projectiles with severe deformation would not be able to
It can be used again directly and needs to be recast).
Attacking Ningxia without artillery was something Gao Pragmatic had never considered, but the fact was that now there was only enough to attack Lingzhou, which forced Gao Pragmatic to make a choice.
Should we directly bomb Lingzhou's Kuaibai, which shocked Ningxia, and strive to win without a fight? Or should we use other tactics in Lingzhou and keep these shells to see if we can bomb Ningxia? Or simply dig them out first-hand.
Tunnel and then plant explosives to directly blow down the city wall?
Gao Pragmatic also felt that it was a bit difficult to make a decision for a while. Each one was not without opportunities, but each one could not guarantee quick success.
Speed, this is the biggest problem at present. If you just need to win, it would be much easier, but unfortunately it is not possible. The most important thing now is speed. Every day of delay is equivalent to being won by Tumen and Burihatu.
The time has also brought more variables and greater pressure to Ming Dynasty itself.
Zhu Yijun should indeed have some money in his internal funds, but this money did not need to be spent in the northwest. If the decisive battle against Tumen could be launched earlier, this money could obviously be spent more meaningfully.
After hesitation, Gao Pingshi simply called Ma Gui over, intending to discuss it with him to see if he could find some inspiration.
Ma Gui, who was summoned by the manager, was very decisive after listening to Gao Pragmatic's words. He said immediately: "Shu Tai, I think that no matter what means Ningxia will take to defeat it, at least this battle in Lingzhou must be defeated."
We must win the battle quickly without any delay."
Gao pragmatic was a little surprised by his decisiveness and asked: "What's the reason?"
Ma Guidao said: "Now that the main force of the shogunate has arrived, I think that the Ningxia rebels may have been panicked for a long time. Now the main force of our army has arrived in Lingzhou. This is the south gate of Ningxia, and the north gate of Pinglu was originally at our gate."
At this point, a counterattack is imminent. If the general is defeated, faced with the trend of outflanking from the north and the south, he must not have the courage to spread the troops into more than 40 forts. The most likely way is to shrink the force and join forces.
Department, stick to Ningxia..."
Gao pragmatic heard the song and knew the elegant meaning, and immediately said: "In other words, do you think that Kuai Cheng'en may not choose to defend Lingzhou, and that the defenders in other places may also transfer to Ningxia?"
Ma Gui nodded and said: "Qi Chengen is currently blocked in Lingzhou City. He only has about two thousand people. Whether he dares to break through and leave is hard to predict. However, except for Weizhou, the rebels from other places should be in an emergency."
Move to Ningxia."
Why is Weizhou excluded? Because Weizhou is further south of Lingzhou. When Gao Pingshi's troops came to Lingzhou, Guyuan's commander-in-chief Li Yu had already sent troops northward to attack Weizhou. In this way, Weizhou
The current situation is actually very similar to Ningxia, with large armies in the north and south.
But the situation in Weizhou is far worse than that in Ningxia, because Ningxia has nearly 40,000 troops, while Weizhou's defenders only have 2,000 from Jiyun's troops, and 8,000 from Li Yu's troops who came to attack - Guyuan
There were 13,000 to 4,000 troops. After leaving some of the defenders behind, the 8,000 people Li Yu brought with him were regarded as the elite field soldiers of Guyuan Town.
It stands to reason that if you can't defeat them, you can escape, but as I said just now, Weizhou is further south of Lingzhou. If Jiyun abandons the city and escapes now, he will definitely be seeking death by going north this way - Gao Pragmatic's main force is to the north. Turn east.
It is unreliable to advance, because the main force of Gao Pragmatic has just arrived from the east, but he is moving fast, and there will be Yansui soldiers and horses heading west in a steady stream. If Jiyun moves to the east, there is a high probability that Jiyun will move eastward.
Will hit head on.
From this point of view, if Jiyun wanted to run away, he could only go around to the west, but he didn't know if he would run into Tuotuo and Yilduzi. If he didn't, it would be fine. If he did... he would probably be over.
In addition to these two troops, there are Liu Chuanbai's 2,000 men on the Ningxia central defender side, but he must have withdrawn to Ningxia after hearing that Tuotuo and Yilduqi were marching westward. The rest are the garrison troops in various forts.
There are 300 people in each location, and they should be mobilized urgently, with the same goal of withdrawing to Ningxia.
Gao pragmatic nodded slightly and said: "In other words, judging from the current situation, as long as our army captures Lingzhou, Ningxia will actually be considered an isolated city."
Ma Guidao: "Yes, that's what the general meant." He paused for a moment and added: "In this way, the faster our army takes Lingzhou, the more destructive it will be, and the more damage it will do to Kuai Bai and other traitors.
The deterrence will be stronger.”
This sentence reminded Gao Pingshi, and he suddenly thought of a strategy, and said with a smile: "Xi Quan sees things clearly, and I think we have a strategy to defeat the enemy."
Ma Gui asked: "Po Lingzhou?"
Gao Pragmatic shook his head and smiled: "No, Lingzhou can be easily defeated, so why use tactics? We are talking about defeating Ningxia."
Ma Gui was about to ask again, but Gao Pingshi had already ordered Tan Ma to quickly deliver a message to Pinglu, telling Xiao Ruxun not to annihilate all Tu Wenxiu's troops, but to leave him at least 2,000 people, and then rush back to Ningxia.
Ma Gui thought carefully for a moment, his eyes lit up, and he asked: "Is the Privy Council trying to use counterintuitive tactics?"
Gao Pragmatic laughed and said: "Whether the counterattack can be successful depends first on whether Lingzhou can be defeated quickly. Xiquan, I will give you all the artillery. I will give you one day tomorrow. Can you take Lingzhou?"
Ma Gui recalled the Lingzhou city defense he had just inspected, cupped his fists and said, "Go back to the pivot platform, yes!"
Now that Gao Jingshi has made the decision and Ma Gui has taken the order, naturally today's half of the afternoon and the whole night have become preparation time, and the main reinforcements of the Ming army have begun to prepare for tomorrow's war with all their strength.
Early the next morning, the Ming army had breakfast and began to calmly prepare to attack the city. According to Gao's pragmatic arrangement, Ma Gui gathered the main force of the artillery battalion in Nancheng, intending to directly blast through the city wall and forcefully enter.
Kuai Chengen in the city responded quickly. More soldiers quickly swarmed up on the towers and walls of the south city gate, and artillery began to appear on the walls.
The artillery in Ningxia Town is not that many in the entire nine-sided system, but just because it is not many does not mean that there are none. At this moment, there are also eighteen cannons on the wall of Lingzhou. Gao Pragmatic and Ma Gui raised their binoculars to check.
Later, I discovered that the artillery on the tower were also light artillery. About twelve of them were old-fashioned tiger squatting cannons, and six were No. 3 cannons produced by Jinghua.
The No. 3 gun was originally a field light artillery. According to the design purpose, it was not very suitable for defending the city. At this time, most of the people who appeared on the tower were ill and sought medical treatment. I thought it would be better than nothing.
This is not wrong. After all, even if it is not applicable, if the cannon is fired from the tower, as long as it hits the target area, there will always be some damage, which is indeed better than nothing.
But Ma Gui watched for a while, but did not order any changes to the planned deployment. The Ming army's battle formations were still arranged in an orderly manner, and then began to slowly move forward as the drum beat changed, including the artillery carriages of the artillery battalion.
The rebels at Chengtoushan were obviously in a panic, their heads were constantly moving, and they seemed to be planning to fire first.
Neither Gao Pragmatic nor Ma Gui responded. They knew that firing at this distance was actually meaningless. If they had to say it, it might be emboldened.
"boom!"
Artillery fire was actually fired from the city tower, but unfortunately it was too far away and could not reach the Ming army's battle formation. The projectile from that artillery shot only landed 200 steps south of the moat, which was not too wide.
Gao Pingshi snorted contemptuously and said calmly: "If all the gunners in Ningxia Town are of this level, Zhang Weizhong will be the one to blame."
Instead of gloating over the misfortune, Ma Gui analyzed seriously: "This shot was not fired by the Jinghua No. 3 cannon, but by the old-fashioned Crouching Tiger Cannon. From the general's perspective, I am afraid that not only the firing angle was not adjusted correctly, but also the amount of powder charged."
It’s enough, maybe it’s only filled with 70% of the medicine.”
Gao Pragmatic nodded. He knew that Ma Gui discussed artillery with the two battalion commanders of the Guards Artillery Battalion every day along the way, and his progress could be said to be rapid. Although it was all about experience and theory, he might not be able to personally operate the artillery.
But as a commander, it's quite impressive.
Although the artillery fired just now was far from a threat, the battle formation of the officers and soldiers seemed to be somewhat affected, and their forward speed was visibly slower.
Gao pragmatic glanced sideways at Ma Gui. Ma Zongrong's face turned red and he shouted at Ma Chengzhao beside him: "Ma Chengzhao, lead your troops forward to supervise the battle! Anyone who doesn't advance according to the beat of the drum - beheaded!"
Ma Chengzhao said nothing, cupped his fists and saluted, immediately turned around on his horse, led three hundred soldiers forward to announce the general's military order, he also drew his sword in his hand, and looked at the Datong soldiers with a fierce look on his face.
The major general personally went to the front of the formation to supervise the battle, and he also brought 300 Majia soldiers with him. When the Datong soldiers saw this situation, they knew that they could not mess up again, otherwise they might be killed later.
——This is not even a pension. Rather than die like this, it would be better to be killed by Ningxia's cannon.
The officers and soldiers immediately regained their speed and pushed forward firmly on the southern city wall. The Ningxia rebels on the tower became even more nervous and fired a few more shots in a chaotic manner. Unfortunately, the most accurate shot only hit the corner of a certain phalanx.
Two unlucky guys were crushed to death or injured - since the implementation of the new drill method, no one in the Datong army dared to see the specific situation of these two people during such an advance, and the medical officer would not step forward now.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! This is a bit cruel, but in Gao Pragmatic's eyes, the modern army did replace the feudal army with cruel regulations, not just weapons, so he ignored this
a little.
The officer's artillery battalion finally moved to a suitable position. Under the orders of the two battalion commanders, it stopped and began to prepare for firing. The infantry also stopped and lined up stiffly in front.
The air among the rebels on the city tower seemed to have solidified. The Datong soldiers were first-class elites. They knew this originally, but they did not know that the Datong soldiers could now stand so solidly in front of the cannon without moving.
, even if this was accomplished only by the world-famous Ma Jiada Bing Supervisor, it was far beyond their previous expectations.
After all, everyone originally felt that there was not much difference between themselves and each other.
Through the flag-raising of the artillery battalion, Ma Gui knew that they were ready. He had just ordered the attack and ordered the artillery battalion to start firing directly at the tower of Lingzhou South City Gate. Gao Pragmatic beside him said softly "Hey"
.
Ma Gui turned around and asked: "The pivot platform?"
At this moment, Gao Pangshi was holding a telescope to observe the enemy's situation, and said intently: "You have good eyesight, look at the tower - is Kuai Chengen gone?"
Ma Gui was startled and quickly raised his telescope to check. Sure enough, there was no sign of Kuai Chengen on the tower, but strangely, Kuai Chengen's banner was still standing there.
Ma Gui quickly reported his findings to Gao Jingshi. Gao Jingshi put down his telescope, thought for a moment, narrowed his eyes and said, "It seems that Yi Chengen wanted to attract us at the south gate, and then took the opportunity to escape."
Ma Gui immediately said: "Then I will immediately order the other three soldiers and horses to prepare to intercept."
"No, don't block it." Gao Pragmatic said with a smile but not a smile: "Let them prepare to release the water and let Chengen go."
"Ah?" Ma Gui was stunned for a moment, then hesitantly said: "Shu Tai, Kuai Cheng'en is Kuai Bai's eldest son. Killing or capturing him can greatly improve the morale of our army and also greatly reduce the arrogance of the rebels.
And if he is released, the court will..."
Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "All these headquarters know it, but it is more beneficial for Yi Chengen to return to Ningxia than to die here. According to my follow-up plan, the more organized the chaos in Ningxia city is, the better. As for the court, you
There is no need to worry about this, the Honbudo is here not only to act expeditiously, but also to bring Shang Fangjian, who is responsible for military affairs in the northwest, but it is not the turn of others to talk."
As soon as Ma Gui heard this, he knew that Gao Pragmatic had other considerations, and the situation in the court must be stable enough. He thought about it, and it was indeed the truth - the current princes in the court, looking at it horizontally and vertically,
It seems that no one is worthy of discussing military affairs with Gao Shutai. Since the Shutai said that we should fight like this, I think the emperor must be from Xinshutai.
Ma Gui said no more and took the order to summon the messengers, instructing the other three sects that once they discovered that Kuai Chengen had broken through, they must pretend to be caught off guard and let Kuai Chengen go.
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