Section 84 March

On June 29, 1630 in the Gregorian calendar, the field army of the Fubo Army was stationed in the camp under the city of Chengmai. He Ming set up the camp two kilometers northwest of Chengmai County. It is less than 200 meters away from the post road. If the officers and troops wanted to pass through the post road to Lingao, they had to capture this place.

The Great Camp is a large camp in the shape of a pentagonal fortress built according to the fortress-like defense system. The entire camp was defended by an earthen embankment more than a man high, with artillery and bunkers set up on it, and deep trenches and deer barricades underneath it. As usual, a tall watchtower was built on the earthen embankment. With the help of high-powered telescopes, every move within more than ten kilometers around the entire Chengmai county can be seen clearly.

He Ming ordered: Immediately cut off all connections between Chengmai County and the outside world. Hidden outposts have been set up outside the three gates of the county seat, and anyone who tries to enter or leave the city will be apprehended.

Seeing that it was impossible to enter and exit the city gate, the government sent people to enter and exit the city from the city wall. Bei Wei ordered the snipers of the special reconnaissance team to ambush them with scoped rifles, and in the following days, all those who tried to enter and exit the city were killed under the city. Then there were attempts to storm the city at night, but deadly gunfire rang out in the night, and by morning those who tried to leave the city were often lying dead under the walls. No amount of darkness at night can protect them.

Judging from the people who were killed, almost without exception they were carrying emergency newspapers. The captured Tang Bao was quickly sent to the headquarters to be dismantled, and in addition to the cliché pleas for help and false boasting of the results of the battle, they had already written everything they saw in the city into the Tang Bao.

He Ming ordered: "Immediately block the city, and the enemy is not allowed to spy on our army"

"Phew."

With the crisp sound of the SKS rifle, a villager who was lying on the battlements and was peeking into the city shook and fell.

"Shot in the chest," said the soldier who was monitoring the movement on the city wall with high-powered binoculars from the watchtower.

"It's 7:2, you have to do it." Bei Wei said with a smile. Behind him stood five or six fighters of the special reconnaissance team. Yang Zeng, commander of the light infantry company of the 1st Infantry Battalion, stood beside him. Behind him were also a few light infantry with green ornaments.

They stood in a small mound about two hundred meters from the city wall. At this distance, the bows and arrows and firearms on the head of Chengmai City were powerless.

The special reconnaissance team and the light infantry stood here, originally carrying out the task of clearing the enemy troops at the head of the city -- He Ming ordered that the enemy should not be allowed to spy on the movements of the field army under the city, and the light infantry of each battalion used accurate shooting to clear the enemy at the head of the city, and at the same time practiced actual combat marksmanship. It turned out to be a match between the special reconnaissance team and the light infantry. The target is all the people and villagers standing on the Chengmai city wall.

"The special investigation team uses guns better than us," Yang Zeng was a little unconvinced. The special investigation team used Australian fast guns, which were much higher than their Mini rifles in terms of rate of fire, accuracy, and range, and there was no smoke when the guns were released. Some guns also have mirrors that can hit targets from incredible distances.

"Oh, okay, I'll use the Minnie gun too." Bei Wei said as he threw the SKS rifle in his hand to the soldier behind him and replaced it with a Mini rifle.

Judging by the fact that the butt of this Mini rifle is branded with the English letters WLB, this is probably the first batch of rifles assembled from seamless steel tubes and parts from the old time and space. The guns are well maintained. Bei Wei looked at it, and there was also a J+ mark on the butt, which is the mark of a high-precision rifle, indicating that this rifle can be used by snipers.

"This gun is good," he praised, and asked Yang Zeng, "Yours?" ”

Yang Zeng said: "It's mine." Now this gun is only available to sharpshooters in light infantry companies. ”

Bei Wei gestured, took a round of paper-wrapped ammunition, and skillfully loaded the gun with ammunition -- the special reconnaissance team also conducted shooting training on Mini rifles, and even used a variety of captured British-made, Portuguese-made, Japanese-made, and self-made bird guns and three-eyed guns for shooting training, so that they could use all kinds of weapons at hand to shoot in an emergency.

Bei Wei put the gun on his cheek a few times, tried to aim again, and then shouted: "Indicate the target"

"2 o'clock ahead," shouted the soldier on the watchtower.

The barrel of Mini's rifle quickly pointed in this direction, and then Bei Wei saw a figure flickering behind the battlements, he didn't shoot, and paid close attention to the nearby battlements.

Sure enough, he saw a figure next to three or four battlements, and it was almost entirely a knee-jerk reaction of his body, and he completed the adjustment of his posture in an instant and pulled the trigger.

The bullet grazed Xiang Yong, who was spying on, and smashed a brick on the battlement, and Xiang Yong was so frightened that he fell directly to the ground.

There was a burst of laughter on the mound. Bei Wei smiled and shook his head: "Almost"

The accuracy of the Mini rifle is not comparable to that of a rifle like the SKS, and if he uses an SKS, or even a bolt-action rifle, he will be able to refill a shot quickly. This is not the case with the Mini rifle.

"I'll come" Yang Zeng was eager to try. He retrieved his J+Mini rifle and reloaded it to "point the target"

The observation post reported: "Enemy, 11 o'clock ahead." ”

Yang Zeng held his breath.

"Whew-"

"Hit in the shoulder"

"This kid counts him as hiding fast," Yang Zeng said, "hiding behind the battlement."

"The enemy is moving an artillery," the observation post in the tower suddenly shouted. "9 o'clock direction"

"Free fire" Beiwei ordered.

The gunfire rang out messily, and because it was a free fire, there was a great deal of controversy in determining who fired the gun that was being shot. From time to time, there are arguments on the mound about who shot a certain target.

The people who were moving the artillery were shot and fell, and the rest of the people lay under the battlements and did not dare to move.

"Quick, push the cannon" Behind the guard, the commander of the guard always waved a knife and threatened with decapitation, forcing the people to continue to move the artillery.

The men barely managed to move the cannon to the firing position directly facing the mound with their bodies almost lying on their stomachs.

Beiwei did not issue an order to enter the hidden trench, the largest artillery in Chengmai City is only a few bowl cannons, this is the cannon in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, it is not as good as the medium-sized Franc machine gun, the range is only 100 meters at best, and the cannon can't hit the mound at all.

Sure enough, the hastily lit cannon had no effect other than a puff of smoke rising from the city walls, slightly obscuring the sniper's view.

After the smoke cleared, a new round of fire knocked the gunner down several times. The general was unwilling to hide behind the battlements, wielding a knife to force the other people to come up and continue firing.

Bei Wei could see in the telescope that the general knife was waving between the battlements all the time, but his person never showed a little bit, and it seemed that he was a rather cunning guy.

He felt a little pity for the yellow-skinned Minzhuang and Xiangyong, who were forced to die in vain - even if they were only injured, there was a high possibility of death under the medical conditions of the Ming Dynasty.

"Take my 308 rifle," Bei Wei ordered.

A Saiga-308 semi-automatic rifle was in his hands, which used NATO's 7.62mm bullets, and the firing kinetic energy and penetration were far greater than those of Minnie and M43 rounds.

He raised his rifle, which was still waving from battlement to battlement, as if to intimidate the men into reloading. He estimated the lower distance, the force of the wind, and the size of the human body, adjusted the muzzle slightly, and pulled the trigger.

Yang Zeng and the others only saw dust and fragments of masonry flying on the battlements with the sound of gunshots, and in an instant, blood spewed out from behind the battlements.

Blood sprayed all the way to the brick wall of the South Gate Tower. Everyone was taken aback, and everyone cheered. There was a dead silence on the walls.

This terrifying contest swept away all the defenders on the city walls. Minzhuang and Xiangyong could only lie behind the battlements, secretly peeking through the perforation to see the situation of the thieves, even if this was not safe, more than once, the bullet directly passed through the narrow perforation and smashed the head of the peeping Xiangyong.

From July 3rd, the morale in the city of Chengmai began to collapse, the people and the villagers were clamoring, unwilling to go to the city to defend, the Chengmai county commander tried to commit suicide in the chaos, and later the master advised him not to rush to martyrdom - looking at the appearance of the thief did not look like he wanted to take the city, it was better to wait and see.

The special investigation team then took Chengmai County as the center and established a shelter layer with a radius of 10 kilometers, and any government officials, Tangma and even ordinary people who entered this shelter layer were captured or killed.

He Ming's thinking is very clear: the enemy is outnumbered. With the combat effectiveness and weapon superiority of the field army, there was no problem in defeating He Rubin's troops in a battle with the whole army outside Chengmai City. The challenge was to make sure that most of the captives were captured. This forced him to ambush the next part of his troops in other directions, so that the enemy could not retreat to Qiongshan, let alone scatter and flee.

The general situation around Chengmai County is that Chengmai County is located on the south bank of a small river, about three kilometers away from the coastline, this river is not only the moat of the county, but also forms a river triangle in the south of the city. However, the river is very shallow, with a depth of at most 1 metre before the rainy season, making it impossible to form an effective obstacle. To the northwest of the county seat is a peninsula called Xiaoyingchang, on which there is a deserted village with a well, but according to pre-war reconnaissance, the well has been polluted by brine, making it unfit for drinking. The post road from Qiongshan passes outside the south gate of the county seat, and then turns to the northwest.

After repeated calculations, he decided to use only 2 battalions, with the support of artillery, to hold on to the large battalion to block the passage of the Ming army through the post road. The 3rd Battalion stood by in the mountains east of the county seat, waiting for an opportunity to cut off the retreat of the officers and troops while forcing them to continue to move closer to the brigade, while the 5th Battalion waited in ambush south of the city to launch an attack. Roughly formed an encirclement of the Ming army.

Of course, with the strength of the field army, such an encirclement is not tight, and only by relying on the soldiers of the Fubo Army to have more mobility and powerful firepower can we be able to maneuver and intercept the enemy with fewer troops. If the other party has one or two outstanding organizational skills and better judgment, he can organize people to break out of the encirclement in time. So he also had to leave Zuihou in his hands a 6th Infantry Battalion as a reserve.

The idea of the battle was simple: intercept the Ming army, crush the Ming army, and then force its remnants to the coastline.

Intercepting nearly 20,000 enemy troops with 2 battalions of 1,800 infantry is already a very amazing thing just from the comparison of numbers, He Ming thinks that the problem will not be too big, with enough artillery and fortifications, although it may not be easy to win, but it is enough to resist the enemy.

"No matter how many people He Rubin has, it is impossible for them all to come up and charge - besides, there is no formation here. He must only attack with a small number of elite troops. He Ming explained his combat determination to the officers, "It is difficult for the enemy to outflank and launch a flank attack: north of the battalion, we have naval artillery support, and if he wants to send his troops to the north of the battalion to attack, he will fall under the double artillery fire of the navy and our camp, and the enemy will be attacked on his back." ”

After Jihua was determined, the 1st and 4th Battalions, which were responsible for holding the position, reinforced the position of the main battalion, and in addition to the artillery of the artillery battalion, the spare artillery brought by the artillery cadets was also placed on the camp to intercept the enemy. A handful of the 5th Battalion. Used as mobile firepower.

Then he called Bei Wei: "Can you guarantee a radius of 10 kilometers?" ”

"Yes." Bei Wei said without hesitation, "I have already arranged a number of undercover posts and patrols to ensure that no one can detect our movements within a radius of 20 kilometers. ”

"Are there enough troops?"

"Barely enough, I have ordered all the detachments of the special investigation team except for the training detachment and the Sanya detachment to go to Chengmai immediately to wait for the call-they will arrive at night. As soon as these detachments come, the blocking will be more reliable. ”

"It's very important." He Ming emphasized repeatedly. Everything he did was based on the mobility of the troops. No matter how strong the mobility of the Fubo army is, it relies on two legs, so the ambushed troops cannot be too far away from the battle area, otherwise it will be difficult to arrive in time to participate in the battle. Since the ambush is in close proximity, it is necessary to completely block all reconnaissance of the enemy so that he cannot grasp the movement.

According to the materials provided by the historical data group, the Ming army placed 24 ponds during the normal march, about 20 miles away, and 30 miles before and after the horses. Moreover, the Ming army's exploration horses are all cavalry, and the mobility is still very impressive. In addition, the Ming army may have sent a detailed visit in advance. Therefore, it becomes a matter of urgency to cut off the eyes and ears of the enemy.

After meeting Beiwei, Chen Haiyang also landed to discuss the coordination with him, and the two sides agreed on the contact signal and method, and Chen Haiyang also ordered to dismantle the ten typewriters on the battleship and land ashore with the shooters and ammunition to assist in the defense.

By this time, all units of the field army were fully prepared for battle, and all units not only knew their own operations, but also made on-the-spot surveys of the battlefields where the major battle was about to begin, so as not to miss anything.

On the morning of 3 July, the scouts of the special reconnaissance team in Qiongshan sent a report: "The enemy army is dispatched." The second anti-encirclement campaign officially kicked off.

He Rubin's army set out from Qiongshan and marched all the way along the post road. In the war, his attitude was still based on seriousness, so as soon as he left Qiongshan, he sent a large number of scouting horses and meticulous investigations.

Chaozhou General Tong Yizhen led more than a dozen partial generals, and more than 2,000 soldiers walked in front. At the front were three hundred cavalry led by his commander He Zhanran, ready to attack quickly once they encountered the enemy on the road, covering the infantry and firearms behind them.

Cavalry is a very useful type of troops, but there are not many cavalry available in Guangdong, so the whole army has 800 cavalry. He Rubin thought that the cavalry in Hainan was of little use, and this time it was mostly based on siege and siege warfare, and it was useless to bring more cavalry. And everywhere it was reported that the thieves lacked mules and horses and posed no threat.

Huizhou General Yan Zunhe led 2,000 soldiers to break off. They were the firearms battalion led by Li Baidao, the commander of the firearms battalion of the general town, and most of the heavy artillery was pulled by oxen, and there were many vehicles, so the marching speed was very slow, and they were in the penultimate position. Before the firearms battalion was the ladder battalion. This is a professional unit specially used to storm the city, and 600 ladder soldiers carry disassembled ladders and many equipment. In case it is necessary to attack the fortress directly, the ladder soldiers will act as the assault striker.

The army in the Zhenbiao battalion garrisoned Sun Changzuo, and Ye Zhengfang led more than a dozen personal generals, 1,500 soldiers of the standard battalion and 500 He Rubin's family members to guard the old battalion. Zhao Ruyi and his staff moved with the old battalion, because they were sending troops to fight, he said that he would march on horseback, but He Rubin still took care of the sedan chair and prepared a sedan chair for him and a sedan chair driver in the third class at any time.

He Rubin walked in front of the old camp with his own soldiers and some of the main generals. People on the post road shouted and neighed, and smoke and dust billowed out. Despite the rain in the past few days, the weather has been a little better these days, the sun is very hot, and the road is very dusty, and many soldiers have not walked much to drink the water in their crockpots and skins.

Almost every time they came to a river with clear water, soldiers and horses would crowd to the river to drink. People crowded and neighed, and there was a mess.

"Tell the generals, men and horses go quickly" He Rubin urged his generals not to let the soldiers stay by the river for too long, so as not to disturb the march and be attacked by the enemy.

However, the enemy obviously had no intention of making a surprise attack, and in such a high-risk state as the whole army wading across the river, the Tanma did not find any trace of enemy activity in the near distance.

The 24 ponds of horses released continued to send back reports of safety on all sides. He Rubin was a little relieved.

"Give orders to all armies, without delay," he commanded.

The normal mileage between Qiongshan and Chengmai is only half a day's journey, and if the officers and soldiers walk an average of twenty or thirty miles a day, this little road can be walked for three or four days. However, Hainan is different from other places, and there are very few prefectures and counties along the way, and the countryside is also very barren, except for prefectures and counties such as Qiongshan and Danzhou, which have official warehouses with large reserves of grain. Otherwise, there will be no way to supply a large army, and if the march is slow according to the old rules, it will run out of food carried by the army in advance. He Rubin instructed the generals to urge all departments to move forward as soon as possible.