After the Qing army captured Huangmei, Guangji, Susong and other places on the eastern front, they advanced northward to Luotian, and first they had to capture Datong Town on the east bank of Qishui. Therefore, after moving to the eastern front, Li Dingguo first stationed his troops in the area of Datong Town, waiting for the opportunity. He thought that he could still use the same as before, using large-scale transfers and movements to mobilize the Qing army, and then use tactics such as interweaving and division to find opportunities to annihilate the Qing army.
But after arriving in Datong Town, Li Dingguo discovered that the Qing army's tactics had undergone fundamental changes. At this time, fortresses and military camps were established on the periphery of Datong Town, and they were gradually advancing towards Datong Town.
The construction of the fortress of the Qing army was very simple, generally with four square shapes. The length of the one-sided side was about twenty-five to thirty steps, the height of the wall was about one twelve feet, the cross-section was trapezoid, the bottom was six or seven feet wide, and the top was about five feet wide. It was to use cloth bags to pack soil, make wooden piles, build the outer periphery of the wall, fill the soil, stones and other objects in the middle, and leave a city gate on each side, and an arrow tower more than two feet high in the four corners, and a beacon tower was built in the middle to convey messages.
Such a guarantee building was built very quickly. If you send out five or six hundred manpower, you can basically build one in just two or three days. Each fortress can be garrisoned about 200 troops, and the distance between them is generally no more than five or six miles. Some are only three or four miles apart, and if there are no obstacles in the middle and the weather is clear, you can even see each other very clearly. When you encounter an attack, use beacon towers to warn each other.
In some areas where the construction and insurance are in a difficult situation, the scale of the Baolin will also be expanded to 60 or 70 steps in a unilateral position, and the garrison can reach one or two thousand. In addition, all the population, materials and food in all the villages along the way will be moved into the Baolin, and all the things that can be taken away will be taken away, and all the houses and buildings that cannot be taken away will be demolished. The people were driven to build forts for the Qing army, and wood, stone, tiles and other items will be transported into the Baolin for use in defense.
At the same time, Hong Chengchou also issued strict orders, and all the soldiers guarding the fortress survived and died together with the fortress. When the fortress is there, the fortress is destroyed and the fortress is destroyed. Anyone who is defeated and fled from the fortress is killed by the merchant army. Because there is a precedent for killing Liu Zeqing and others, the Qing army guarding the fortress dared not underestimate this strict order at all.
The fortress tactic was originally a solution that the Ming army had used to siege the peasant army when they were used by the Ming army to siege the peasant army. Because the peasant army had no place to live, came and went, and was good at climbing mountains and crossing ridges, it also gave the Ming army a headache. Therefore, this method was proposed at that time to build fortresses in some important roads to siege the peasant army. In the early battles with the peasant army, this tactic also played a great role. On several occasions, almost all the peasant army were dispersed and some famous peasant army leaders were captured and killed, such as Li Zicheng's old Si Gao Yingxiang.
However, since the Ming Dynasty simply conquered and suppressed the peasant army without trying its best to appease it, the peasant army was dispersed. In the short term, another team could still be raised. Not only did it continue to be destroyed, but it also became more and more suppressed. In the later period, the peasant army's strength gradually increased and could engage in a head-on battle with the Ming army, so the fortress tactics lost its effect.
Hong Chengchou was a capable general in the expedition and suppression of the peasant army, so he was not unfamiliar with the fortress tactics. This time, he picked up this tactics in response to the characteristics of the merchant army's good at movement, and further developed it to the extreme. Both the number and density of the fortresses were much larger than when the peasant army was conquered. The purpose was to use the dense fortresses to trap the hands and feet of the merchant army and restrict the movement of the merchant army.
Therefore, as soon as Luke Dehun's army arrived in Qizhou, it began to build forts. After taking down a place, it immediately built forts. When Li Dingguo led his army to Datong Town, the Qing army had built more than 50 small forts and three large forts in the area of more than 100 miles in length. It was gradually advancing northward.
The tactic used by the Qing army did give Li Dingguo and others a headache, because no matter how the merchant army sent troops to lure the Qing army, the Qing army was unmoved and still proceeded step by step, advancing step by step, surrounding layer by layer, and forcing step by step. Wherever the army marched, it built a fortress. Wherever the army went, it would build a fortress, pushing every three or five miles, and pushing every ten or eight miles, and then advancing steadily. First, it would slowly advance towards Datong Town.
Although Li Dingguo also tried to launch a Jinzi approach to the Qing army's fortress, whenever he encountered the attack of the merchant army, the Qing army would immediately retreat to the fortress to defend and wait for assistance. He slowly consumed the strength of the merchant army and then advanced steadily again. In this way, the merchant army could not mobilize the Qing army, nor could it be interspersed and divided the Qing army's fortress, and could not find fighter jets in the movement.
Although the structure of the fortress is very simple, it is quite solid. The merchant army in Hubei lacks heavy artillery, so it is very difficult to open the wall of the fortress and can only launch Qiangzi. The Qing army's defenders would have some musket soldiers and archers, and also prepared a large number of throwing weapons such as javelins and flying axes, as well as a large number of stone and tiles and other defending equipment. Generally speaking, relying on this fortress, the Qing army was able to withstand the attack of the merchant army of the same force, while a large number of troops were concentrated behind the fortress, ready to encircle and annihilate the attack of the merchant army at any time.
Although the attack of the merchant army could break several fortresses of the Qing army, due to Hong Chengchou's strict orders, all the fort guards and purses resisted very tenaciously. Even if they were attacked by the merchant army, they would not retreat, which caused considerable losses to the merchant army. Moreover, there were too many fortresses of the Qing army, and it was useless to break five or six. In addition, in the Qing army's fortress group, the merchant army could not be stationed for a long time. As a result, once the merchant army retreated, the Qing army could repair the fortress again in a few days. This loss was obviously affordable for the Qing army.
Therefore, after the two sides fought for each other for five or six days, the merchant army not only did not break the Qing army's fortress encirclement, but the Qing army's fortress continued to advance and marched into the periphery of Datong Town. The number of Qing army's fortresses exceeded 80. At the same time, the Qing army also formed a siege of Datong Town, and the merchant army was forced to have only two of them to go. One was to defend Datong Town, concentrate its forces to fight the Qing army in a decisive battle, and the other was to give up Datong Town, retreat to Luotian County, and then look for fighter opportunities.
But from the current situation, even if the merchant army retreated to Luotian County, the Qing army would probably build the fortress all the way to Luotian County. By that time, it would be too passive. Therefore, Li Dingguo also decided to concentrate the forces of two divisions and one brigade and most of the artillery in the Hubei War Zone now, fight with the Qing army in Datong Town, and break the Qing army's fortress siege tactics at the bottom.
This battle was first launched by the merchant army on the Qing army.
On September 13, the artillery regiment of the 9th Division began to enter the battle. Ten three-inch and six-point heavy bronze field artillery and thirty medium and heavy artillery were pushed to the position and bombarded the two fortresses of the Qing army at the same time.
Although the explosion power of black gunpowder is not strong, heavy artillery and medium and heavy artillery still have a great effect on the fortress of this civil structure. Because of the solid bombardment fired by heavy artillery, the fortress's guardrail can be collapsed with just a few guns. Therefore, after several rounds of artillery bombardment, the two attacked fortress guardrails were bombarded by artillery, causing mud and sand to splash, and collapsed in many places. The soldiers of the merchant army immediately rushed into the fortress from the collapsed gap and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Qing soldiers.
Although the Qing soldiers were forced by Hong Chengchou's strict orders to fight the merchant army to the death, they obviously were no match for the merchant army after losing the cover of the protective wall. Therefore, these two fortresses were quickly captured by the merchant army. Most of the Qing troops guarding the fort died in the fortress, but a small part of them escaped.
After breaking through the two fortresses, the two teams of the merchant army immediately spread to both sides and continued to attack the other fortresses. They were still opened by artillery and were invincible. They also lost four or five fortresses in succession. So in less than an hour, a large hole of more than 30 miles was torn open in the fortress group of the Qing army.
The soldiers of the Shangjia Army immediately entered the fortress and fought fiercely with the Qing army. Because the area of each fortress was not large and there were not many defenders. After the wall was blasted open, it was enough to send one or two companies of troops to fight. No matter how much troops were invested, it could not be launched. Therefore, the battle was also carried out in multiple fortresses at the same time. Although the hand-to-hand combat in some fortresses was not over yet, the Shangjia Army had immediately begun to develop in depth. This time, the two artillery troops merged together and launched an attack on a large fortress in the Qing army's fortress group.
This big fortress was the key target of the Merchant Army's attack this time. According to Li Dingguo's plan, after breaking through this big fortress, it will serve as a fulcrum for the Merchant Army to penetrate the Qing army's fortress position, and then launch a continuous attack in other directions of the fortress group to completely break through the Qing army's fortress encirclement.
After a series of earth-shaking sounds of cannons, sand and gravel flew around, and many mud bags were knocked out. The guard wall on the front of the fortress was also opened a large gap of more than twenty steps wide. The soldiers of the two battalions immediately launched a fierce attack on the Qing army in the fortress, and the Qing soldiers guarding the fortress immediately fought, blocking the gap to no avail. The two sides immediately launched a fierce battle. The sound of gunfire, explosions, shouts, and the sound of fighting were also heard.
Although the Qing army fought very hard, compared with the merchant army, both in terms of number and combat effectiveness, it was quite a distance away. Therefore, it was killed by the merchant army and retreated continuously. In a short time, several places were broken through by the merchant army. However, this fortress was also a core position in the Qing army's fortress group. There were more than 1,500 defenders, including a Manzhou Niulu and a Han army Niulu. They were defending the fortress. Although the merchant army had a large number of troops, they could not be expanded and could not be captured for the time being.