Chapter 37: The Decisive Battle

By the time the Jurchen army entered within a hundred miles of Liaoyang, the Han army was already ready to fight. Outside the city, a twenty-mile-long triple trench was dug, four layers of barbed wire were pulled, a breastwork was piled up, and the most important thing was the repair of artillery positions. Artillery is the god of war, and Chen Cheng will not forget this.

"What? The thieves did not flee, but lined up outside Liaoyang City? ”

Hong Tai was puzzled by this, and his intuition was that this would be a trap, and it was best not to touch it. But those Jianzhou Jurchens were already furious, and the crowd was excited, shouting that they would kill all the enemies of heaven and earth in order to relieve the hatred in their hearts! Although Hongtai is the king of Khan, it is impossible to block everyone's demands at this time.

And maybe you can defeat the enemy in a single charge? Over the years, the enemy only dared to hide in the city and set off guns and cannons, how could anyone dare to fight hand-to-hand with the warriors of Jianzhou?

So the 30,000 army with the intention of revenge and hatred rushed towards Liaoyang. Originally, the main force of the Houjin army could have 50,000 people, but the previous massacre had almost killed the Mongols, Han Chinese, and Koreans among the generals, so the strength of the army was only more than 30,000.

Liaoyang's defense seemed to be very porous in the Houjin generals, and the distance between the positions outside the city and the city was more than ten miles. According to the military cognition of this era, if you are so far apart, you will only be broken by each other, and you will not be able to become a corner. The positions outside the city were only dug with some trenches and piled up a few very low earthen walls, which could be rushed up casually!

The enemy arranged his troops in such a formation, either he didn't know how to fight at all, or he was too arrogant and didn't take the warriors of Jianzhou seriously. After discussing with the generals, Hong Tai decided on the tactic of attacking the position outside the city first, and then attacking Liaoyang. In their opinion, victory in this battle is already in their hands.

In order to prevent the soldiers and horses in Liaoyang City from coming out, Hong Tai also left the Zhenghuang Flag on the side, ready to intercept at any time.

In the sound of drums and trumpets, the Houjin soldiers pushed the shield cart and rushed up with bows, arrows, knives and guns. The main force was three miles away, and the strikers were already approaching the front of the trenches. There was still no movement on the battlefield, allowing these arrogant and brave Houjin soldiers to rush forward. If it weren't for the fact that there were figures shaking on the position, this place would probably be considered an abandoned place.

Chen Cheng divided the 30,000 soldiers and horses into two parts, Liu Xingzuo took more than 10,000 people to guard Liaoyang City, and he and Lin Mengchu took another 20,000 people to line up outside the city. The enemy is getting closer and closer, and they are even slashing the wires with their swords. Lin Mengchu couldn't help but ask, "Is it okay?" Wait a little longer, and they'll have to fill in the first trench! ”

"Well, let the shotgunners fire a volley!"

In order to eliminate as many Jurchens here as possible, Chen Cheng decided to show the enemy weakness first, so for the time being, he only attacked with shotgunners. Thousands of shotgunners rose from their trenches and began to shoot at the Houjin troops, who were destroying the fortifications. At a distance of seventy or eighty paces, the accuracy and power of the shotgun dropped considerably. However, the salvo can largely compensate for the lack of accuracy and Weili. In the rows of volleys, the Houjin army was beaten screaming and wailing.

Many people were struggling to chop the barbed wires, and then they fell down with a shock. There are also many people who have been beaten and covered in blood, but they are still as if nothing happened. Buckshot is poisonous, but it doesn't happen right away. As long as they have a good body of armor, the shotgun on the opposite side may not be able to kill them on the spot.

Hong Tai, who was watching the battle from the rear, let go of half of his worries, it seems that the enemy is relying on the power of a shotgun, so he dares to be so arrogant. The reason why only half of the worries were put down was because the enemy had not yet used artillery. Those who escaped before described the power of the enemy's artillery in very exaggerated language.

Thinking of this, Hong Tai decided that he could not give the enemy a chance to give full play to the power of artillery, so he gave a loud order: "Let Dolgon and Azig's soldiers and horses also rush forward, we will attack together from three directions, so that the enemy will not be able to deal with it!" ”

With the sound of the horn, the Houjin army added some new forces. Tens of thousands of people spread out on the ground, and the black pressure looked very scary. But in Chen Cheng's opinion, it's just a bunch of meat sauce. Seeing that Houjin Bing came up so much, he smiled and said to Lin Mengchu on the side: "It's okay now." ”

The shield cart is a device that can have great restraint on barbed wire and trenches, but in the past, there were Mongol and Han carts, and now even the Koreans have been killed, so of course they can only be pushed by the Jurchens themselves. When the barbed wire is split with a sword, the dirt and sand from the shield cart are poured into the trench.

Although the shotgun on the opposite side fought round after round, it was so powerful that it couldn't penetrate the shield car at all. As long as it does not show its head, there is no danger, so the progress of the Houjin army is very fast, and a trench has been filled, and those messy barbed wire fences have also been cut a lot.

Just as the Houjin army continued to assault the position, a desolate horn sounded, and the shotgunners all retreated into the trench together. Behind the breastwork, more than 800 flintlock musketeers stood up and pointed their guns at the enemy, but instead of firing, they waited for further orders from the officers.

The officers did not immediately give the order to shoot, and a moment later the sound of artillery roaring sounded from the rear of the position. The accuracy of rifled guns is incomparable to that of smoothbore guns, but at such a close distance, no matter what kind of cannon bombards down, it is meat sauce in one place.

More than twenty cannons were aimed at the main forces of the Houjin army, dropping tons of shells on the enemy. Every time a single shot goes down, there are more than a dozen people, dozens of casualties. The blast blew up, and the horses were frightened into running around, just like their masters. How could the enemy's artillery still be able to hit it from a distance of several miles?

Just one round of shelling, the main force of the Houjin army fell into chaos. Hong Tai himself was even farther away, and he could clearly see the tragic situation of his soldiers and horses being shelled, and he immediately understood that there was indeed a trap in front of him!

"Retreat, retreat immediately!"

Hong Tai shouted loudly on horseback, and before he could say it, the Jurchens who had been shot had already retreated.

When the main force in the rear was bombarded by artillery, the forward of the Houjin army was also hit by artillery. According to the "Infantry Drill Code", every 1,000 people should be equipped with four infantry guns, although the Han army did not reach this number, but behind the breastwork, more than 40 infantry guns were also arranged.

At a distance of sixty paces, a group of Jiannu was shot down. Not to mention the armor on the body, even those sturdy shield cars can be shattered with a single shot. The splintered sawdust splattered in all directions, causing a second damage, killing or injuring the surrounding Houjin troops.

The rate of fire of the infantry artillery was not comparable to that of the field artillery, and in less than a minute, most of the sixty or seventy shield vehicles of the Houjin army had been destroyed. At this time, the officers' orders resounded on the position.

"Shoot!"

The gunners had been aiming their rifles against the earthen wall for a long time, when they pulled the trigger together, and the sound of fried beans kept ringing. In an unprecedented salvo, the Houjin army was knocked to the ground, and the flintlock pistol was far more powerful than the shotgun, and after a shot, even if he was wearing iron armor, he had to kneel.

In the continuous salvo fire, whether it is the white armor soldier or the flag soldier, it is the same ending. After a few rounds of volleys, both the forward and rear formations of the Houjin Army had collapsed. Manpower is sometimes exhausted, and muscles can't compete with gunpowder and steel! At least, there's no way to fight it in this world.

Then Chen Cheng asked Lin Mengchu to continue to command the artillery, and he chased after him with the infantry. Liu Xingzuo, who was in Liaoyang City, saw that the Houjin army had collapsed, and he also opened the city gate and joined the pursuit with 10,000 soldiers and horses.

Hong Tai withdrew more than ten miles in a hurry with the demoralized Houjin army, and when he saw the enemy chasing after him, he gritted his teeth and let the two yellow flags launch a counterattack. But in front of the platoon guns and infantry artillery, the cavalry was only a target to send up. was defeated again, and the Houjin army felt the coming of the end up and down.

It is now the end of January, the coldest time of the year, and the army's food stocks have already bottomed out, and if they can't find a place to rest, these tens of thousands of soldiers and horses will be scattered. "Soldiers gather with pay, and if there is no food, they will disperse", this principle will never go out of fashion. The most critical thing is that the backbone of the Houjin army has been broken.

In that overwhelming artillery fire, there is no difference between a warrior and a coward. The Jurchens' proud martial arts had no place to display at all. Before rushing to the front, a lot of shells were killed, and then there were rounds of platoon guns, how can this be fought?

As a result, Hongtai's prestige has dropped again and again, and many people are already publicly accusing him. If he hadn't run away to the territory of the Ming Dynasty with everyone, how could there be such a catastrophe? There is even a public discussion about the legitimacy of his Great Khan, who, according to Nurhachi, should have reserved the position of Khan as the youngest son, Dord.

Just when the Houjin army was accusing each other and arguing, the Han army had already caught up. Five or six miles apart, the field artillery was a bombardment. The Jurchens who were still arguing immediately dispersed, and now Hong Tai could no longer command those banner lords Baylor, and everyone was fleeing for their lives.

Azig continued to flee with his men, while Dorgon and Dordor raised the white flag and surrendered to the Han Kingdom.

Chen Cheng accepted the surrender of these two, and then used them as the vanguard to continue to hunt down Hong Tai and others. When the battle was fought to this point, it was a person who knew that the Jianzhou Jurchens were finished, and those who were in the original Dongjiang Army, as well as those who surrendered not long ago, were all full of spirit and wanted to make greater contributions.

From February to April, the Han army was chasing and killing the Jianzhou Jurchens, except for a part of the army that left some people to monitor Liaozhen. Chen Cheng and Lin Mengchu ordered, "You must catch or kill Hong Tai, even if it is to chase him to the ends of the earth!" ”

Hong Tailian suffered several defeats and retreated all the way to the Horqin grassland, and the Han army behind closely pursued him.