In the early morning, a steamship sailed into the dock of Duolun.
A messenger came down from the ship and shouted to the soldiers at the dock: "Give me a horse, urgent military situation."
A quarter of an hour later, An Sanxi and Huang San had gathered the generals in the main hall of the Yamen.
"The latest news is that I defeated 100,000 Mongolians at Sandaowan and annihilated 4,000 infantrymen of Jiannu Zhenglan Banner. Now there are still 3,000 cavalry of Zhenglan Banner. They are surrounded by me."
"Now there are only 20,000 organized Mongolians outside the city, mainly the Tumut tribe. The other Duoyan and Haraqin people have dispersed." An Sanxi said.
As soon as this statement came out, there was a buzz of discussion below.
No one expected that the master led 18,000 regular soldiers and more than 10,000 auxiliary troops out of the customs. He faced 50,000 Mongolian cavalry, 50,000 tribesmen, and nearly 30,000 slaves, and actually won.
This is simply appalling.
For a moment, all the generals were so happy that they were a little silly. They couldn't believe that this was true.
An Sanxi coughed, and then everything became quiet.
"Now is not the time to talk about these specific situations. I know everyone finds it unbelievable, and I also find it unbelievable."
"However, soldiers are very fast, and fighter opportunities are fleeting. Now, I order the whole city to mobilize. All strong men, whether Mongolian or Han, will follow me out of the city according to their respective production organizations and annihilate the people of the Tumote tribe.
"
"Boss, what should we do with the Mongolian herdsmen outside? They were defeated and their tribes are still outside." Huang Hao asked.
"We'll attack the Tumuts first. They are the only ones who are organized. We wiped out 10,000 of them last time, and the remaining 20,000 are the last elite soldiers of the Tumuts."
"After defeating them, the city of Zhao (Hohhot) was like a treasure hunt. The cavalry and I went to attack the Tumuts. The others went to gather the tribes brought by Haraqin and Duoyan. Capture these people and bring them into the city.
We will make arrangements when the master comes."
Huang San said: "Since the battle has been fought like this, let's go out. No Mongols will come to attack the city. Just leave some militiamen to defend the city."
Huang San's original mission was to guard the dock and Bastille Castle and protect this nail on the grassland.
During this period of time, so many battles were fought, but the infantry regiment was never used. This was to ensure the safety of the retreat. As long as the dock and castle were still in hand, no one could drive Yang Fan's forces away from the grassland.
Even if they conquered the city of Duolun, it would be useless. They could not take down the pier and the castle. The earth buildings and castles made of cement and granite sandwiched the pier, and there were long wall forts in the north and south.
As long as the water transportation is unobstructed, they will be firmly anchored on the grassland. The Mongols will eventually have no choice but to evacuate. Therefore, Yang Fan issued a death order, and Huang San's infantry regiment was only responsible for defense and must be foolproof.
They were equipped with the best flintlock rifles and three-pound cannons. They did not participate in other battles and were only responsible for guarding the earth buildings, castles and docks.
The people stationed in the earth building are family members of soldiers and government personnel. Both the earth building and the castle have towers and are connected by an iron cable bridge across the two sides. It is convenient to transport troops back and forth.
If the city of Duolun is destroyed, all the people and soldiers in the city will retreat to the earth buildings and castle. Military supplies and grain warehouses are also in the earth buildings.
The city here is high and the walls are thick, so it can be defended for a long time.
Coupled with water transportation, there was a steady flow of supplies and reinforcements.
Mongolia has no chance of conquering this place. Yang Fan had already planned this.
Be invincible first, then wait until the enemy becomes victorious.
Therefore, An Sanxi has no pressure at all and can fight with confidence and boldness.
Duolun's ability to build such a large city completely exceeded Yang Fan's plan. This is entirely the credit and unexpected surprise of An Sanxi.
An Sanxi rubbed his chin. Except for the early Mongolian attacks on the castle, in which hundreds of people were killed, the infantry regiment had never had any decent military exploits. It was indeed a bit unsightly.
The Mongols are not fools either. This one-to-one replica of the Bastille covers an area of about 2,670 square meters. It has eight towers about 100 feet high, and the towers are connected by a city wall that is 24 meters high and 3 meters wide. There are also Equipped with 15 heavy guns.
The castle is surrounded by a trench 26 meters wide and 8 meters deep, with only a suspension bridge connected to the outside world. It is an impregnable castle.
The Mongolians had never seen such a high city wall in their lives. When they looked up, even their hats fell off.
The most majestic city they had ever seen was Datong. Anyway, after they returned to the grassland, their ancestors had never conquered it.
The height of the ancient city wall of Datong is about 14 meters, which is 2 meters higher than the city wall of Xi'an. The widest part is 16.6 meters, which is 6.6 meters wider than the widest part of the ancient city wall of Nanjing. The perimeter of the city wall is 7270.7 meters.
But the height of the walls of the Bastille simply made them worship them. They fought in a daze for a month, but except for more than 800 corpses, they found nothing.
They never fought again. They all turned to attack the rammed-earth city of Duolun.
"Okay, you leave a battalion to defend the city, and I will give you a brigade of militiamen to assist. You go and attack the Duoyan and Haraqin coalition forces that have retreated. The master wrote a letter saying that they may still have 20,000 to 30,000 remnants, but all I’m already discouraged. It’s not that difficult.”
At this time, Zhao Xuan, the captain of the scout team, hurried in.
"Antou, the tribes of Duoyan and Haraqin outside the city are packing up. Some people have begun to retreat with their cattle and sheep. I don't know what happened. The Tumut people have abandoned their cattle and sheep and are running to the west. .”
An Sanxi squeezed his palm, and his joints made a crisp sound.
It seems that Khan Ahai and Buyan Ahai escaped last night. Otherwise, they would not have packed up their escape early in the morning.
Moreover, Duoyan, Haraqin and Tumut ran in two directions. They were obviously afraid that we would pursue them. If they hesitated again, these people would flee in all directions and scatter like birds and beasts, making it impossible to pursue them.
"We can't wait any longer. We must leave the city immediately. We will count as many herdsmen as we can grab."
"We can't wipe out all the Mongolian soldiers in this battle. They are fleeing in all directions and we can't catch them. But the herdsmen are driving their cattle and sheep with their families and they can't escape."
"As long as we capture all the herdsmen, it will be the greatest victory. I only want the herdsmen, not those Taiji masters and nobles. If they run away, just run away."
"Adjust the order. The Tumuts did not bring herdsmen with them. They came with the army. They ran away as soon as they ran away. There is no need to chase them."
"Three cavalry regiments went out with me, gathered all the strong men, and immediately left the city, looted cattle and sheep supplies, and captured as many herdsmen as they could," An Sanxi said.
Subsequently, the mobilization order was quickly conveyed, and the general mobilization began immediately.
Huang San's infantry regiment was also mounted infantry. The most indispensable thing here was horses. They had enough horses to ride on. With the sound of bugles, large numbers of troops rushed out of the city.