Ding Yunyi was showing off his power over Japan, and Wu Sangui, who was far away in Liaodong, was also having fierce battles with the Qing army.
Since Zu Dashou and Hong Chengchou failed to surrender one after another, Wu Sangui has become the last pillar of the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong.
After the Battle of Songshan, this disastrous defeat had a huge impact on the Ming army. From then on, the Ming Dynasty could no longer fight outside the Pass and was completely unable to cope with the situation in Liaodong. With the exception of Ningyuan, everything fell into the hands of the Qing army.
Huang Taiji once said arrogantly: "Taking Beijing is like cutting down a big tree. First cut it from both sides, and then the big tree will fall down. The Ming Dynasty's best soldiers have been exhausted. If I continue to plunder all sides, I will surely capture Beijing."
Huang Taiji set his sights on Ningyuan, the last city in Liaodong.
Ningyuan has become the main target for the Qing army's next attack and capture. Wu Sangui was mentally prepared for this. He was in a lonely place, but still held on. The imperial court tried its best to strengthen Ningyuan's defense capabilities, which in turn strengthened him
Persistence of faith. Chongzhen issued 120,000 gold coins and 300,000 taels of silver from the Ministry of Household Affairs. He then transferred rice from Tianjin and transported it to Ningyuan one after another. He was instructed to "divide the money and grain into various cities as appropriate to prepare for everything."
", the common people are safe". Two-thirds of the grain originally stored in the four cities will be given to Wu Sangui, and the remaining one-third will be given to the troops commanded by Bai Guangen and Li Fuming. If Wu Sangui recruits new soldiers, they will be given to each household.
Food.
With enough money and food, Wu Sangui and others also asked for military supplies such as armor, bows and arrows, guns, etc. Chongzhen immediately ordered the Ministry of War: "Inspect and dispatch immediately." The Ministry of War was ordered not to delay, and ordered the Military Staff Bureau to quickly prepare, and the Ministry of War sent officials to "quickly dispatch"
Before going to the army, we must provide support for the suppression of the enemy. Do not delay." In a short period of time, Ningyuan gathered more than 30,000 troops. The military supplies were sufficient and the defense capabilities were greatly enhanced.
Chongzhen realized the importance of guarding Ningyuan, and allowed Wu Sangui to all requests from Fan Zhiwan. He regarded Wu Sangui as the guarantee of the safety of western Liaoning and was responsible for resisting the Qing troops. Therefore, even though Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong's peasant armies were approaching step by step,
The crisis of the Ming regime was deepening day by day. Chongzhen and Ning could mobilize Bai Guangen and other Liao generals to enter the pass for reinforcements. Wu Sangui was not allowed to get further away from Ning.
Wu Sangui concentrated on defense and continuously strengthened Ningyuan's combat readiness.
But the Qing army still arrived.
On March 16th, the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the Qing army attacked Ningyuan in a large scale!
Abatai and Turge stood side by side in front of the formation. Looking at the Ningyuan city wall more than 300 steps away, they exhaled clouds of white mist.
Although it was early March at this time, we were currently in the Little Ice Age in history. Although the heyday of the Little Ice Age had ended and the climate was gradually warming, the temperature was still very low.
The cold wind blew onto Abate's face, bringing with it a biting chill, and he couldn't help but shiver.
Turg, who was beside him, saw him and said, "Baylor, you'd better put on your mink cloak."
Abatai shook his head and said: "No need. Let's start the attack." But he still sighed in his heart. He was still old after all. If he went back ten years, what would this coldness mean? Even in a snowy day,
Just wear a single shirt as usual.
Following his order, more than eighty shield carts were rolled out from the Qingjun formation, divided into two rows, and pushed towards the city wall of Ningyuan City. Those hiding behind the shield carts were all armored soldiers from the Eight Banners.
A shield car can cover ten to fifteen soldiers, so in this attack, the number of armored soldiers dispatched by the Qing army exceeded a thousand. And behind each shield car, there were auxiliary soldiers, followers, and coats.
A total of nearly five thousand people, holding shields and wooden ladders, followed the tower cart and pushed towards the city wall. From the beginning, the Qing army dispatched all the elite troops of the Eight Banners.
At the same time, the Qing army's rear group also launched twelve artillery pieces and started firing in the direction of the city wall. The Qing army had a total of twenty artillery pieces, but they were all small and medium-sized artillery pieces, capable of firing at a distance of about three hundred paces.
There are only twelve guns, and they all fire solid bullets.
Although except for the Hongyi cannon, generally small and medium-sized artillery does not pose a great threat to the city wall. If a solid bullet hits the city wall, it will only make a small crater at most. Even if it hits the top of the city, it will only
After killing a few soldiers, the impact was insignificant. But after all, this was when the Qing army began to use artillery to attack the Ningyuan army, and they were no longer passively beaten. Therefore, it was also a great encouragement to the morale of the Qing army.
On Ningyuan City, Wu Sangui took Bai Guangen, Li Fuming, Sun Zhongdou and other generals of the Ningyuan Army, as well as a group of Jinyi Guards who came to supervise the battle, to take command on the city tower. The other generals were scattered on the city wall to set up defenses. As the Qing army followed
The attack began, and the Ningyuan Army's artillery also began to launch, launching a strike against the Qing Army.
However, because the Qing army's artillery did not pose a great threat to Ningyuan, the Ningyuan army did not engage in an artillery battle with the Qing army. Instead, it targeted the Qing army approaching Ningyuan City under the city.
Among the fifteen artillery pieces of the Ningyuan Army in Ningyuan, five are squatting cannons that cannot fire solid projectiles. The other ten artillery pieces include six medium-sized Fran cannons and four small Fran cannons that can fire solid projectiles.
Shells and shotshells. Since the Qing army had shield cars as cover, ordinary shotshells had basically no effect on shield cars. Therefore, all ten small and medium-sized Fran cannons fired solid shells to focus on attacking shield cars, and only five Tiger Crouching Cannons fired.
Shotguns are used to attack auxiliaries, followers, and coats that are not protected by shield vehicles.
Generally speaking, a well-made shield car also has a considerable defensive effect against solid bullets, but among the ten small and medium-sized Fran cannons of the Ningyuan Army, eight were newly purchased by the Ming Dynasty from the Portuguese.
Both the range and penetrating power are much stronger than the Fran cannon manufactured by the Ming Dynasty. In addition, a considerable part of the Qing army's shield vehicles were made on the fly and the workmanship was relatively rough. Therefore, during a round of shelling
After that, three shield vehicles were penetrated with a hole the size of a tabletop. The iron bullets that penetrated the shield vehicles still killed several Qing soldiers. Several other shield vehicles were also hit by bullets.
The iron bullets caused wood chips to fly. At the same time, the shotgun shells fired from the Tiger Cannon also fell into the Qing army group, killing many Qing soldiers.
But overall, the effect of this round of artillery bombardment was not strong, with less than a hundred people killed and wounded. And the most elite armored soldiers of the Qing Army suffered less than ten people.
However, Wu Sangui had expected this, so he still ordered the artillery to continue firing, and at the same time ordered the musketeers to prepare, so the Qing troops could only enter the range of the muskets.
Although muskets cannot penetrate shield vehicles, there are still many Qing soldiers who cannot be protected by shield vehicles and can become targets. Moreover, Qing troops cannot always hide behind shield vehicles and will always come out.
.
Since most of the obstacles outside the city have been cleared, although the ground is not very ideal, the Qing army is advancing much faster. Moreover, the Qing army also knows that if they approach the city wall earlier, they can reach the artillery earlier.
The blind spot. So everyone is moving forward faster.
Just after the second round of artillery fire, the first row of shield vehicles of the Qing army advanced to within a hundred steps of the city wall.
The musketeers of the Ningyuan Army also started firing together, so suddenly, the gunshots on the city wall rang out like thunderbolts, and in the Qing army's formation, the auxiliary soldiers who were not covered by shield cars, followed, and Bao Yi immediately
A large piece fell.
The Ningyuan army had a total of more than a thousand firecrackers of various types, and a thousand were placed on the city wall here. Moreover, Wu Sangui divided the musketeers into four rows and fired them in turn. On the one hand, the Qing army would not be able to judge the Ningyuan city.
How many muskets were there? On the other hand, the frequency of musket firing was further accelerated. Under such a density of strikes, the casualties of the Qing Army also increased sharply.
Abatai watched from the rear. He couldn't help but feel a little surprised. It seemed that the Ming army had more muskets than ever before. However, although the losses of the Qing army increased, the most elite armored soldiers were protected by shield chariots.
There were basically no losses, so the Qing army could still bear these losses.
At the same time, the first row of shield vehicles of the Qing army entered the blind spot of the artillery. They would soon be able to approach the city wall and launch an siege.
But after entering the blind spot of the artillery, the Ningyuan Army's attack became even more fierce. The gunshots almost never stopped and kept ringing. And the corpses of the Qing Army began to pile up, and the blood stains left from the day before yesterday were not there yet.
The dry ground was immediately covered with new blood.
But just as Wu Sangui expected, it was impossible for the Qing army to push the shield chariot all the way to the city wall. Just about forty steps away from the city wall, the shield chariot finally stopped, but at this time, behind the shield chariot,
Some Qing soldiers bent their bows and shot arrows at the city wall, and began to counterattack on the city wall.
The archers of the Qing army were indeed elites who had experienced hundreds of battles, and their arrows were very accurate. The first wave of arrows hit more than fifty people on the top of the city. Fortunately, the musketeers of the Ningyuan army also had very good armor.
In addition, the Qing army fired from the top, and the intensity was also limited. Therefore, although most people were hit by arrows, they escaped. However, more than ten people were still hit by arrows and died.
Other musketeers also hurriedly put up blocking boards on the battlements, protecting themselves first, and then continued shooting from the holes. Some musketeers also retreated to the back row and shot at the Qing troops from the high platform. But in this way,
The shooting frequency of the musketeers has obviously dropped a lot, and the striking power is much worse than before. Taking advantage of this opportunity, another Qing soldier emerged from behind the shield vehicle, leading the auxiliary soldiers behind, and followed
Soldiers, coaters, etc., carrying the ladder, rushed towards the city wall.
Although people continued to be shot and fell to the ground in the middle, the Qing army approached the city wall one after another, crossed the moat, set up ladders, and began to climb to the top of the city. The Ningyuan army also removed the barriers at the battlements.
The pikemen stood in front of the battlements, preparing to fight the Qing soldiers who climbed the city wall, while the musketeers all retreated to the second line. Except for those occupying the high platform, everyone else had their bayonets fixed and were ready to fight the Qing soldiers who were charging up the city wall. New soldiers
They all also moved the stones and rough wood that had been prepared on the city wall. As soon as the Qing soldiers started to attack the city, they threw them down to hit the Qing soldiers.
Moreover, at this time, there were more than twenty large iron pots placed on the city wall, hung on a pole, with firewood burning underneath for heating. The water in the pot had already boiled. Under the command of Zhou Shaohuan and other reserve generals,
The soldiers had already moved each large pot to the edge of the city wall, waiting for the Qing soldiers to attack, and poured them head-on.
However, Abatai and Turg, who were watching the battle in the Qing army formation in the distance, also let out a sigh of relief. At the same time, they felt happy in their hearts. They could finally start the siege battle. In this way, the advantage of long-range strikes of the Ningyuan army was basically lost.
, what is now competing is the fighting spirit and fighting ability of the soldiers on both sides. In this regard, I believe that the Qing army must be stronger than the Ningyuan army.
Therefore, Abatai ordered all the artillery in front of the Qing army's formation to stop firing to avoid accidentally injuring his own people, and then mobilized 5,000 troops, including 2,000 from the Manchu and Eight Banners Army, 1,500 from the Han Army, and 1,500 from the Mongolian Army.
, and all of them went to reinforce the troops attacking the city.
At this time, on the edge of the city wall of Ningyuan City, the Qing army had set up more than fifty wooden ladders with scriptures. The people climbing up were all armored soldiers of the Qing army. Each of them had at least two layers of heavy armor and ordinary swords and guns.
It was difficult to penetrate, and he was holding a shield in one hand and a wooden ladder with the other, climbing up quickly. Soon, soldiers on more than a dozen wooden ladders approached the battlements. A fierce offensive and defensive battle was about to begin.
expanded.
When Wu Sangui saw the opportunity, he immediately ordered loudly: "Pour in the water."
After the order was given, with the joint efforts of the soldiers, more than twenty large pots were tilted outside the city wall, and the entire pot of boiling water was immediately dumped down the city wall.
Pity the soldiers who had climbed to the entrance of the battlements and were able to hide there, but they were immediately doused with water, covering their heads and bodies, and they were drenched. No matter how thick the iron armor was, it could not protect them from the boiling water, and it only burned them to death.
He screamed, but he was still standing there, and immediately fell straight down from the ladder. Moreover, water is different from other weapons, it is pervasive. After drenching a person, it will not stop there, but will immediately follow it.
It fell down, and almost all of the large group of people following behind were spared.
After all the boiling water in more than twenty large pots was poured out, at least half of the Qing soldiers on the ladder were poured down and fell down. Along with some Qing soldiers under the city, they were also drenched a lot, and every one of them was wet.
They were burned until their skin was torn apart, and many people had blood blisters on their bodies. Especially those Qing soldiers who had climbed the highest and were soaked the most. At this time, they fell to the ground beside the city wall and rolled and struggled, letting out bursts of heartbreaking sounds.
The pitiful screams of cracked lungs. Some people kept banging their heads against the city wall, hoping to end the pain with death. The image was really too horrible to look at.
This boiling water attack almost completely incapacitated the 200 Qing soldiers, most of whom were armored soldiers. Immediately after, the stones, bricks, and rough wood on the city wall were all thrown down, and they were smashed again.
The army screamed in agony, and many people were hit with bloody heads, broken muscles and bones. They also knocked down many Qing soldiers on the ladders. The first round of the Qing army's attack was suddenly defeated by Ning Yuan.
The army was beaten down.
But in the Qing army formation in the distance, horns were blown one after another, urging the Qing army not to stop and continue the attack. And at this time, the second batch of reinforcements to attack the city also rushed to the city in order to join the first batch.
The Qing army attacking the city once again launched an attack on the city. Piaotian Literature registered members recommend this work