Chapter 566 was taken aback

About half an hour later, the main battle near the South Gate ended.

Soon, the various combat groups of the guard company returned to Yang Yuan's command position one after another.

When all the squad leaders reported that all the personnel were in place, Yang Yuan immediately issued a pursuit order.

Next, they had to chase the butt of the rout, and advance all the way north along the main street, until they reached the vicinity of the North Gate camp, and joined the company commander.

A part of the Zheng army will also follow, on the one hand to protect their backs, and on the other hand, to clean up the stragglers who are hiding in the houses......

……

Outside the north gate, on an earthen hill at the foot of Guanyin Mountain, Mei Jianyong, the commander of the second platoon, set up a temporary command post.

At this moment, he touched a mound on the shore, crouched in the grass, and carefully observed the position of the Tartars on the opposite bank.

At this time, Yangzhou City, is an irregular square city, the original moat has been abandoned, the north city wall is built along the ancient ditch, from the canal to the west to the ancient city ruins of the Han and Song dynasties, the north gate of which is on the opposite bank of the east peak of Shugang.

Guanyin Mountain, located in the east peak of Shugang, faces the north gate across the river, and the carriage and horse avenue out of the city winds at the foot of the mountain.

This mountain was originally the representative of the mountain temple, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty had built the palace "labyrinth" here, and there were temples built in successive dynasties in the future.

However, six years ago, after the devastation of the war, all the buildings on the hillside have been destroyed, and a dirt road overgrown with weeds up the mountain is winding and steep, and as far as the eye can see, there are barren mounds everywhere.

The highest altitude of Guanyin Mountain is only about ten zhang, which in the eyes of Mei Jianyong, a person from Guangxi, is at most so-so and hilly, but it is a commanding height around Yangzhou City, much higher than the city wall on the opposite bank.

According to the reports of the scouts, there were about a thousand Tartars outside the north gate, and these Tartars were not only armed with a large number of archers, but also a number of light Furlong cannons.

As a veteran, Mei Jianyong certainly knew that this light Furlong cannon was not so much a "cannon" as a heavy arquebus, and although it was bulky and did not shoot fast, it had a good lethality at close range.

At the moment, he doesn't have many troops at hand, and if he rushes into his range and doesn't have enough firepower to suppress it, this thing is likely to cause a lot of damage to our side.

In addition, it seems that this gang of Tartars is also mixed with all kinds of old-fashioned firearms as usual, and the power of these things is uneven, but it cannot stand the advantage of numbers, as long as the timing of the launch is well controlled, it can still give the attacking troops a considerable threat.

Judging from the scouts' several tentative reconnaissance attempts, the Tartars were a little more "calm" than the various armed forces they had encountered in the past - they rarely fired at random, and each time they fired, they formed a large number of firepower projections, and the fire was relatively dense at close range.

Most problematicly, they also built more than a dozen wooden and stone fortifications along the moat.

In the battle between the late Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin, in order to deal with the impact of the Houjin heavy cavalry, the Ming army mostly used the tactics of building camps in the field and refusing to defend with firearms, and the heavy cavalry of the Eight Banners often had to wait until the gunpowder projectiles of the Ming army were almost consumed before launching a fatal blow......

Although it was night, with the help of the bonfire at the head of the city, Mei Jianyong could still see the general situation of the camp in these shadows.

As far as the eye can see, the huge city gate hole in the distance is black, and it is obvious that the city gate is closed.

The city, on the other hand, was lit with fire, and it looked as if the Tartars had smelled something, and soldiers were constantly patrolling back and forth as if they were facing a great enemy.

The whole camp outside the city was built according to the city wall, and the further east it went, the narrower it became, and it was generally an irregular wedge, and because of the bending of the river, it could not be directly connected to the east of the city.

On the front, there is a large pontoon bridge.

What Mei Jianyong didn't know was that there was originally a large-scale and imposing chariot and horse stone bridge here.

Not long ago, in order not to give the thieves a chance, Ma Jinbao ordered the bridge to be demolished, and then built this bamboo and wood pontoon bridge that was easy to collapse with cannons at the head of the city on the original site, so as to facilitate the temporary entry and exit of his personnel.

The Franc cannon mentioned by the scout is probably placed in several towering wooden ramparts, and the stone ramparts near the pontoon bridge are quite large but not very tall.

Mei Jianyong frowned, and muttered something softly.

If he had relied on his own temperament, he would have given the order to attack without hesitation, and directly relied on his powerful firepower to defeat the Tartars nested in the stone ramparts in one fell swoop.

However, this time the company commander gave him the order to monitor and intercept, not to siege the city.

What's more, judging from the current situation, his manpower is far from enough, and the Tartars on the opposite side are not only outnumbered, but also equipped with many firearms and bows and arrows.

Judging from the reports of the scouts, they saw that the fighting spirit of this group of Tartars was not bad during the day, and they were all coaxing when they went out to exercise, and the training was a bit disciplined.

The scattered houses on both sides of the river have long been demolished, and even the trees have been almost cut down, and they are bare and very open.

Mei Jianyong understood that it was difficult for the deer in front of the camp to break through to the camp with a short charge, and once the troops came to a standstill and were exposed to the mixed fire of bows and arrows and muskets, casualties were inevitable.

Although he was very confident in breaking the formation in one fell swoop regardless of casualties, it was completely insufficient to completely annihilate or capture so many Tartars, relying on the few people he had at hand......

After a moment's hesitation, he turned back to the headquarters, and he decided to do what he was told.

On the opposite side of the official road out of the city at your feet is a large paddy field - it is enough to block the Tartars who have fled into the establishment and seal the official road.

However, he could not build a position directly on the main road - they did not even have a sandbag on hand when they were lightly armed, and they did not have to think about digging a trench on such low-lying flat land.

After some consideration, he decided to use the only machine gun to set up the first blocking position on a small earthen hill in front of the protrusion, and for this purpose, the deputy platoon commander led a whole squad of soldiers to assist in the defense.

The location of this earthen hill, which was only more than 100 steps away from the main road, was excellent, and he secretly estimated that it was about 300 steps from the river bank, and it should be outside the threat of the Franc machine guns on the opposite bank.

However, there was a certain danger at this distance - it was still within the range of the heavy artillery at the head of the city.

But he was not very worried, the number of this kind of Hongyi cannon is very small, although it can hit far, but the cannon is scarce and the accuracy is poor, compared with the light cannon that pays attention to surface killing, there are few cannons that directly smash into the trench......

Behind this mound, Mei Jianyong spread his other two squads on the hillside in turn.

It's a little farther from the road, but it's also safer - with limited troops, he can't afford to have all his fighters braving artillery fire.

Soon, the fighters dug trenches on the slopes of the hill at night.

Now, there are only two people in his improvised command post, him and the communicator - this is his only mobile reserve.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he got his position, a soldier who was on guard at a high place noticed something strange behind him and immediately ran to report to the platoon commander.

Mei Jianyong was startled, and immediately took the messenger to the north slope......