Because ten people were tied into a team and would fall to the ground together if they were not careful, the porridge was distributed to each person. The bowl Jiang Yougong got was very light when he started to pick it up. If he looked carefully, it looked like a coconut shell. The cook poured each bowl into each hand.
Pour a spoonful of ginger soup into each bowl.
This was obviously because he was afraid that they would get sick. Jiang Yougong knew that the thieves would never want them to die, so he drank the soup with confidence and fell down to sleep.
"Master!" the soldier tied up with him asked in a low voice, "Why did the thief Kun take off our clothes?"
"I don't necessarily want you to be a rabbit!" Jiang Yougong said. He also felt suspicious. He had never heard that being a prisoner required stripping off all clothes - what was the thief going to do with a few tattered gowns? Besides, those gowns were all
I threw it under the embankment and didn't go to get it.
Jia Mofei, who was in charge of logistics and transportation, counted that this unsuccessful sneak attack provided more than 300 healthy prisoners.
"As soon as the rain stops tomorrow, we will put them on the ship and transport them back to Lingao." Jia Murphy said, "If we take the land route, we may be intercepted by the army's cavalry. Anyway, there are ships, so transporting people is fast and convenient."
"Packed together with the wounded?"
"Of course not. There are other ships for the wounded. The conditions of the prisoner ship are much worse. There is a large steerage cabin below the deck, and the grid hatch cover above can be closed. It only takes half a day anyway."
The fiasco of the entire night attack almost happened under the eyes of He Rubin and others. The shaking light beams on the embankment, the volley of guns and the loud voices made the general extremely uneasy. The firearms of the Kun thieves were the same on a rainy day.
The fact that he could emit light no longer shocked him. The sudden bright light and the white light beams patrolling in the dark sky and fields on rainy nights far exceeded his level of cognition. He Rubin's hands and feet were cold: This
How can we fight a war?
Ye Zhengfang and Yan Zungao, who had escaped back, added many details, including that the enemy was obviously well prepared and the enemy's lights were extremely bright. All of a sudden, the officers and soldiers were dizzy and couldn't even open their eyes...
The entire city tower fell into a long silence. Everyone was thinking: How can we fight this battle? Everyone expected others to come up with a solution.
"Sir! The students thought that the stronghold should be defended!" Qian Taichong has never found a chance to comment, and now he finally has a chance to speak. He watched several battles today from the top of the city. The battles gave him great stimulation. Kun
The thief's "sharp firearms" and tactics left a deep impression on him.
Obviously, the Kun thief is not like Zheng Zhilong or Liu Xiang. He is just good at naval combat and is no less good at infantry combat. He realized that the number of Kun thief infantry fighting today was not large, but in the face of so many officers and soldiers fighting on the wall
The reason for being so tenacious and refusing to retreat is obviously not just based on the words "sharp firearms".
Could it be that overseas thieves like the Kun thieves also have a loyal heart? He immediately rejected his opinion. According to the Tang newspaper, most of the Kun thieves are "Fujian and Guangdong traitors" and "traitors" pretending to be Kun thieves. This is meaningless.
Can people whose fathers have no kings be loyal? It must be the true benefactor's promise of huge profits that makes them risk their lives like this.
Thinking of this, he felt a little relieved. In Qian Taichong's opinion, the word "loyalty" has nothing to do with barbarians. After the battle, he knew whether his "Six Strategies for the Aftermath" would be of any use for a while - he would continue tomorrow.
There was little certainty of victory in attacking. He had already made a plan in his mind. When he heard that He Rubin did not want to establish a stronghold and hold on, he felt that he needed to speak out.
According to him, it was beneficial to the officers and soldiers for both sides to establish strongholds against each other. After all, He Rubin had the support of the whole province, while the Kun thieves only had one county, and Lingao was a sparsely populated area.
It is a barren place. Ten thousand troops of the Kun thieves are concentrated in Chengmai, and a lot of manpower is needed to transport food and grass. As time goes by, supply will inevitably be difficult. If the stalemate lasts for several months, when the Kun thieves' food and grass supply gradually becomes unsustainable, chaos will inevitably break out without a fight.
"...No matter how powerful the artillery fire of the Kun thieves is, they can only have more than twenty people. They can't bombard our village all the time. We have a large number of soldiers. We can spend a lot of money and recruit more dead soldiers to loot the Kun thieves' food routes. As time goes by, the Kun thieves will be destroyed."
Thieves will be in chaos without fighting!"
In fact, this plan is still the same old strategy of advancing troops cautiously. He Rubin originally just listened to the young scholar's suggestion, but now he suddenly has hope: Yes! However, retreating the enemy in a long siege was originally the governor's opportunity. It's just that
The original plan was to besiege the enemy camp in Bopu and finally force them to retreat. Now the place has been changed to Chengmai——
But if we want to maintain a long-term stalemate with the Kun thieves here, we must ensure the safety of food transshipment. Once the army is short of food and its morale fluctuates, it will only take an instant for the entire army of 100,000 to collapse.
He held a meeting with the generals and asked everyone to dig trenches and hold on to prepare for a long-term stalemate with the Kun thieves. Shishan was an important grain platform on the way from Qiongshan to Chengmai. He Rubin ordered Yan Zonggao to take 2,000 men there to protect the grain platform and the roads along the way.
In order to transport military grain, he also sent his staff to Qiongshan to handle the transportation of grain and grass. He also wrote a letter to Wang Zunde, reporting that the army had broken the siege of Chengmai and captured many Kun thieves. However, the Kun thieves formed a stronghold and defended with firearms, and the army could not succeed after repeated attacks.
, are building a long siege to besiege the entire Kun bandit army in Chengmai, and hope to mobilize more than a dozen Hongyi cannons. As for food and wages, they must also be transferred as soon as possible.
Early the next morning, the army did not launch a full-scale attack as expected. Instead, the entire army was dispatched to dig trenches, erect strongholds and reinforce fortifications under Chengmai City.
He Ming saw the officers and soldiers busy reinforcing the fortifications, and knew that the enemy had lost their spirit and did not dare to come out to fight again. He was prepared to fight with them for a long time. This is certainly a good thing, but the enemy's 20,000 men and horses gathered together, and all his troops
If it's less than half the opponent's size, it might be difficult to form an effective encirclement.
"Our army cannot engage in a long-term stalemate with the enemy in Chengmai. The result of the stalemate is that we suffer losses." At the combat meeting, Dongmen Chuiyu said, "Although the enemy's logistical means are backward, he has the financial and material resources of Guangdong Province.
Support, as long as Wang Zunde is willing, he can confront us as long as he wants. This will be disastrous for our finances."
"We originally hoped that He Rubin would attack again today, cripple his main force, and take the opportunity to defeat his entire army. It seems that there is no hope." He Ming shook his head and said, "Now we have to fight a siege."
It is certainly not uncommon in the history of war for a party with a small number of people to besiege a party with a large number of people. However, the Fubo Army's strength was too small after all. He Ming was very worried about this.
At this time, the special reconnaissance team sent a report that about 2,000 troops had left the camp and were moving in the direction of Qiongshan.
"Is the enemy going to start retreating?"
"No, He Rubin definitely didn't dare to retreat." He Ming judged, "He rushed to repair the fortifications in order to confront us for a long time. This group of troops is probably used to defend the grain station."
"The enemy may also be building the plank road openly." Someone reminded.
"It's possible. But since the enemy wants to protect the food road, we will cut off the food road." He Ming looked at the map and made up his mind. "Call me the 1st and 4th Infantry Battalions!"
Just after noon, He Rubin and others were planning to deploy a fortification system. Suddenly, they received a report from Tanma: Thousands of Kun thieves had cut off the road from Chengmai to Shishan. Yan Zungao's troops were defeated and were heading to Chengmai.
Escape direction!
"Where is General Yan?"
"Life or death is unknown!" Tan Ma said in a trembling voice, "General Yan's flag was not seen among the defeated troops."
"Explore again!" He Rubin lost his composure for a moment. The Kun thief unexpectedly cut off the road to the rear. He immediately ordered the Chinese army to guard the guerrilla Sun Changzuo to follow his order and lead 500 troops to collect the defeated troops along the way. Then he ordered people to invite Zhao Ruyi and
The main generals came to meet and discuss.
"As soon as General Yan Shen is defeated, our army is in danger," He Rubin said solemnly, "The enemy army will break General Yan's troops and turn around to attack Shishan and seize our food platform!"
The Kun thieves defeated Yan Zungao's men in one fell swoop. The next step must be to attack Shishan. Shishan was only guarded by 500 soldiers. Even if the enemy could defeat 2,000 men, it would not be difficult to capture Shishan. Once Shishan loses food, the food road will be cut off.
As soon as Dao breaks, the entire army collapses before our eyes!
This horrific prospect sent chills down the spines of everyone present.
He Rubin immediately deployed the defenses of each battalion and ordered all troops to guard the camp and not run around in a noisy manner, let alone withdraw from the defense line without permission.
"Generals, we are now in an unexpected place!" He Rubin said sternly, "Our camp is stable, and the overall situation is not irreversible yet. The Kun thieves can only rely on their sophisticated equipment to seize the enemy first! The Kun thieves have little food.
Young Master, our army can turn defeat into victory as long as we retake Shishan and protect the grain road!"
At that moment, he ordered the guerrilla Sha Jianbi of the Fubiao Battalion stationed in Xiaoyingchang to immediately lead the entire army to withdraw from Xiaoyingchang.
"You will lead your troops to Shishan, defeat the Kun bandits, and ensure the safety of Shishan." He Rubin said, "If the enemy takes Shishan away, you will also take back this place."
"I understand!" Sha Jianbi knew the importance of it.
"I'll give you another two thousand troops."
Sha Jianbi had just led his troops out. Bad news soon came: Shishan had fallen! After the Kun thieves defeated Yan Zungao's headquarters, they immediately returned to capture Shishan and took away all the military supplies stored in Shishan.
"Three thousand Kun bandits have formed an array on Shishan!" Tan Ma came to report again, "And there are cannons!"
"cannon?!"
"Yes, according to what the defeated soldiers said, the Kun thieves were equipped with cannons, which were extremely powerful. General Yan didn't know that he had cannons, so he was caught off guard and was killed by the cannon!"
He Rubin didn't want to listen anymore. This series of bad news made him almost despair. But he tried to stay calm and continued to deploy his troops to prevent the bandits from attacking his camp in chaos. He heard that the enemy had artillery, and ordered Li Guang to lead it quickly.
Two thousand people then reinforced Sha Jianbi.
Sha Jianbi led 3,000 people to open the camp gate and hurried along the post road to Shishan. Of course, such a big movement could not be hidden from the observation post and the special reconnaissance team. A few minutes later, the 1st Infantry who had established a position near Shishan
and the 4th Battalion received the news.
Zhu Mingxia and Xiong Maozhang, commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion, were cleaning the battlefield and building fortifications. After receiving the order early in the morning, the two infantry battalions rushed to Shishan at a rapid march speed. Xiong Maozhang's 1st Battalion used the three 12-pound mountain howitzers they brought to shell the mountain.
Together with a determined bayonet charge, they captured the Ming army camp in Shishan, captured more than 300 prisoners, and seized 70,000 to 80,000 kilograms of grain accumulated in the grain platform and hundreds of chicken buses transporting grain. Then the 1st Infantry Battalion
Formed an array at the foot of the stone mountain.
The two thousand men and horses led by Yan Zungao were rushing all the way. They were constantly harassed and sniped by the special reconnaissance team on the road. Many generals were killed and people were in chaos. Fortunately, the soldiers knew that they were going to the safe direction of Qiongshan, and everyone had only one hope.
If they could get to Shishan, they would have more chances to survive, so they rushed on. Because Yan Zungao had to rush to Shishan before the Kun thieves completed their defense, he urged the troops to march all the way, and the infantry fell behind many. In the end, he only took 1,200 people with him.
Arriving at Shishan.
The red flag was fluttering, and a gray battle line was waiting at the foot of the stone mountain. Yan Zungao saw that the enemy had not yet built a camp, and there was only a trench to cover the entire army. There were only about a thousand soldiers. But he had no strength advantage. Kun Thief
He had seen the advantages of firearms yesterday, and the chance of immediate victory was extremely slim.
At that moment, he retreated to a hill opposite the stone mountain, preparing to set up camp and wait for the arrival of follow-up troops before making any plans.
But the Fubo Army had no time to give him this opportunity. At 11 o'clock at noon, with the support of two 12-pound mountain howitzers, Zhu Mingxia commanded the 4th Infantry Battalion to suddenly rush out from the flank of the stone mountain with a company column and launch a fierce attack on Yan Zungao's troops.
.
Yan Zungao was caught off guard - under the constant harassment and shielding of the special reconnaissance team, he was unable to grasp the movements of the nearby enemy troops. At this moment, the men and horses were exhausted, and the morale of the soldiers was low. Suddenly, a new force came out from the flank to attack. He quickly ordered a Qian Commander to lead
Three hundred men went to fight in order to temporarily delay the enemy's momentum and gain time to form an array.
The three hundred men were defeated as soon as they engaged under the fierce attack of the 4th Battalion. Yan Zungao had to lead the main force to fight in person. His men and horses could not withstand the firepower of the Fubo Army and were forced to retreat. Ye Zhengfang led his soldiers and servants everywhere
Supervising the battle, the order of the troops and horses was barely maintained, but all the troops and horses were still forced to retreat to the foot of the stone mountain.
The 4th Battalion was like a hammer, and the 1st Battalion formed in horizontal formation at the foot of the mountain was an anvil. These more than a thousand hungry and tired soldiers could not withstand such front and rear attacks, and the entire army was crushed to pieces at the foot of the stone mountain. The rest of the army was crushed.
All seven to eight hundred people were taken prisoner. Only the stragglers escaped by chance.
Xiong Maozhang was sitting on the low wall built at the foot of the stone mountain, smoking a pipe. His soldiers had stripped off their arms and were digging trenches. The trenches must be further deepened and widened to effectively contain the enemy's attack. The ground in the distance was piled with
Cleaning up the weapons, armor and flags captured on the battlefield. The naked prisoners tied into strings were being escorted to the original Ming army camp on the mountain. It is now the temporary headquarters of the two battalions.
Zhu Mingxia was galloping back and forth on a captured bay-red Mongolian horse. It was a general's mount and was very impressive. Zhu Mingxia had dark skin and shaved his hair very short. He looked very capable. The horse hanging from his waist
It is not a standard Fubo Army officer's command knife, but a folding patterned steel Tang knife that he customized in the old time and space, and it is very beautifully decorated.
"This horse is good." He rode the horse to the low wall, turned over and dismounted, "but the harness is not good, and I am not used to the old-fashioned saddle."
"We are infantry officers," Xiong Maozhang blew out smoke rings. "You should not be a dragoon."
"I wish I had a horse." Zhu Mingxia patted the horse regretfully and asked a captured officer and soldier groom to take the horse away and send it to a village on the mountain.
"It was said on the radio that 5,000 more officers and soldiers have arrived, with 3,000 in front and 2,000 in the back to support them. There are 1,800 of us in total, and we just suffered 100 casualties."
"It's not a big problem." Zhu Mingxia opened his map bag and spread out the map. "The enemy got anxious and used the most taboo tactic of adding fuel to the fire. We will continue to beat him until he can wait for work. Three thousand against one thousand eight, we still have something.
The odds are against it."
Generally speaking, the tactics remained unchanged. The 1st Infantry Battalion relied on simple field fortifications to defend, attracting officers and soldiers to attack the front. After the battle entered a stalemate, the 4th Infantry Battalion came out from the side and rear, directly swept its flanks, and severely damaged it.
Defeat. As long as there is a strong shield against the officers and soldiers by the special reconnaissance team, it will be difficult for the officers and soldiers to discover such a simple tactical cooperation. They can only rush towards the 1st Battalion's preset position and then crash like a blind man riding a blind horse.
His head was broken and bleeding.
"As long as we don't let them go to Qiongshan, we don't need to annihilate them all, and we don't need to rush to capture the prisoners - we can't deal with them if we capture too many. At this time, the official and military camp is still there, let the defeated soldiers escape to Chengmai and let He Rubin
Send someone to contain him. If he cripples his troops, he will be of no use to the frightened bird. Instead, it will drag down the morale of his entire army."
"That's it!" Xiong Maozhang nodded, "How much ammunition do you have now? I don't have much ammunition anymore. Each infantry only has a hundred rounds of ammunition."
"I will give you twenty rounds each. I am an assault force, and fifty rounds for each person is enough. When the time comes, I will see the red on my bayonet!" Zhu Mingxia said and wrote a ***, telling the orderly: "Go, give it
Battalion Quartermaster, ask him to send 20,000 rounds of ammunition immediately."
"It's a pity that there are not enough artillery shells, and we are still a little short of people."
Although the four 12-pound mountain howitzers that played a decisive role in the battle were portable and could be easily dragged by a few people, the shells and gunpowder contained a lot of weight. More than half of them had been consumed in the battle just now.
"It's okay, there are still grenades." Zhu Mingxia was very confident. In his opinion, having cannons would make the battle smoother and cause fewer casualties, but there was no suspense about the outcome of the battle.
"Two battalion commanders! The body of the Ming army general was found." A corporal came to report in a hurry.
"Oh? Go take a look!" Zhu Mingxia suddenly became energetic, and the two of them walked towards the health team who was cleaning the battlefield.
An armored corpse was lying on a stretcher. He looked like he was about thirty or forty years old. The armor on his body was very delicate. It should be a type of scale armor, not the rough armor worn by infantry that was just made of iron pieces.
, he and Xiong Maozhang knew very little about armor, but from the pattern of the armor, the brocade used for decoration and trimming, they knew that this armor could not be worn by ordinary officers, and it must be worn by a general.
At that time, several people were recruited from among the surrendered soldiers and generals to identify him, and they soon recognized that this was Huizhou General Yan Zuggao who had come to reinforce the grain platform.