Chapter 522: Sacrifice your life

After weighing it repeatedly, Ma Jinbao's strategy is mixed.

On the one hand, he felt that what Cui Duyan said was still very reasonable-the risk of setting fire to the city was too great, and if he could directly resist it and wait for help, it would naturally be the best.

For this reason, he did not fully follow Ye Bin's strategy, and made adjustments to the deployment of troops on the same day.

Because the strong enemy came from the north, he reinforced a battalion of Cao soldiers who had withdrawn from the southern city to the north of the city, and ordered them to strengthen the existing fortifications outside the north gate, dig more trenches, and set up more artillery forts to make a defensive posture.

In addition, he ordered some of the ships to be filled with sandbags and scuttled in shallow water to prevent the fleet of thieves from entering the moat in the north of the city.

At the same time, he was also ready to burn the city - to transport the grain outside the city, and then order the most elite Chinese army to withdraw from the west of the city at night, forming a corner with the city.

At the same time, he planned to deploy some Cao soldiers at various points along the waterway from Yangzhou to Yizhen to prevent the Ming thieves from plundering the back road and ensure that they could advance and retreat freely......

Unexpectedly, people are not as good as heaven, and in just one day, his entire plan fell through.

As soon as the plan to break the thief was decided during the day, he was robbed by the thief that night - he actually blocked the water west gate.

This time, Ma Jinbao was a little dumbfounded.

Speaking from his heart, this bold move of the thief in the south of the city greatly surprised him and surprised him very much.

Didn't you say that there were only a thousand people in total?

I don't know what they think, could it be that just by virtue of these people, they want to surround Yangzhou City?

However, he couldn't help but secretly admire the decision-making of the opposing commander.

Being able to react in such a short period of time grabbed the sore foot of Yangzhou's city defense in one fell swoop, this person is by no means an ordinary person.

In any case, for the sake of today, the only way to do it is to give it a go.

To go further, it is to live, and to take a step back, it is to die!

……

As soon as the sky was bright, Ma Jinbao rode his horse to the West Gate surrounded by more than 100 Ding.

Simon's preparations for war were quite satisfactory.

Although many boats were abandoned on the dock outside the city last night, there are still a lot of boats in the city, and at a glance, the Slender West Lake is full of large and small civilian boats, presumably that Meng Tietou spent a lot of effort.

Meng Tietou's firearms battalion was not slow, and he had already boarded the ship to stand by, and Cui Duyan, the deputy general of the Chinese army, was shouting loudly with his hands and feet, commanding the 3,000 Chinese troops to form a chaotic team, and also prepared to board the ship......

"I've seen Lord Junmen under the mark!"

Seeing that Lord Admiral was here as promised, Meng Tietou and Cui Duyan trotted forward all the way, clasping their fists and saluting.

"Excuse me,"

Ma Jinbao waved his hand and asked as he walked into the city, "How's the morale?" ”

"Back to the adults, the morale of the little ones is good, and there are no deserters."

Cui Duyan followed closely and replied first.

"Well, tell them, fight well,"

Ma Jinbao looked back at the team and said approvingly, "Recapture the West Gate, the official who is an official will be promoted to one level, and the reward will be one hundred silver, and the one who will be a soldier will ...... All the silver taels. ”

Although the team of thousands of people was a little crowded, the banners and weapons were quite neat, and most of the soldiers were silent, not shouting, let alone crying.

This made Ma Jinbao very satisfied, although he was distressed, but it was customary and necessary to spend some money and blood before the battle.

"Huh! Thank you, sir! ”

Cui Duyan and Meng Tietou hurriedly bowed and thanked them.

"Well, excuse me,"

Ma Jinbao turned around and asked Meng Tietou, "Are the artillery ready?" ”

"Ready, sir."

Meng Tietou is the highest commander stationed at the West Gate, and although there is a separate artillery operation, the artillery fire is naturally under his control.

"Okay,"

Ma Jinbao nodded, "You stay in the city to command the artillery bombardment, and the matter of the assault will be taken care of by the one-eyed dragon and Jiao Qian." ”

"Lord Junmen......"

Meng Tietou's heart was hot when he heard this, but he had to make a gesture and express his determination.

"Needless to say, you stay in the city with me to watch the battle."

Ma Jinbao didn't wait for him to speak, then waved his hand and said, "Look at your skinny talent, you are not young, so don't go for it."

"Huh!"

Meng Tietou looked regretful.

On the top of the city, as soon as Ma Jinbao stretched out his hand, a personal servant immediately handed over the monocular clairvoyant, Ma Jinbao lifted the clairvoyant, leaned on the female wall, and looked out from the battlements.

It was still early, the scorching sun had not yet risen, and the four rivers were gray and filled with a piece of water vapor.

On the bank of the river, two miles away, he saw piles of sandbags, which he knew were fortifications built by thieves overnight.

The fortifications were long, intermittently hidden in mottled trees, and stretched for more than three miles along both sides of the riverbank.

However, there was no figure behind the sandbag, and Ma Jinbao frowned.

These thieves, I don't know how many of them, are well hidden.

However, this distance is still within the range of the heavy artillery defending the city, and a cannon bombardment must be more or less lethal.

"General Meng, order the artillery battalion to fire a few more cannons, aim at those sandbags, and smash them hard!"

"Yes!"

"One-eyed dragon, you transfer a battalion of men and horses, and accompany the firearms battalion as the first echelon, and the rest as the second echelon,"

Ma Jinbao waved his hand violently and shouted, "As soon as the cannon stops, immediately assault!" ”

"Huh! The mark will never fail in the mission! ”

……

At this moment, Wang Jijun commanded the firearms battalion and was sitting quietly on more than a dozen flat-bottomed boats, ready to go out of the city to attack.

There were no captains on board, and the errands of rocking, steering, and supporting the ship were carried out by the soldiers themselves who were good at water.

The bloody battle was coming, Wang Jijun was a little nervous, and he felt that the sweat pores all over his body were open.

He knew better than anyone else the firepower of the thieves outside the city, and he only had two hundred flintlock muskets, and the rest were armed with spears, ready for hand-to-hand combat.

This battle, nine deaths!

However, this battle was what he had been waiting for for a long time.

Although I came earlier, since I can't dodge, let's give my life a fight!

Since it is unrighteous to assassinate a leader with appreciation behind his back, and it is also unrighteous to betray his master, let's make a grudge on the battlefield with dignity......

Behind them, Jiao Eryong led eight hundred green battalion soldiers and began to board the ship.

Most of the soldiers were expressionless, and they couldn't see how scared they were, but they were a little numb.

Although they knew that the opponent in this battle was very dangerous, everyone had a resigned attitude, and almost no one deserted.

They all know that desertion at this time is an act of fear of the enemy who flees from the battle, and if they are caught by the officer, they must be beheaded, which is the same in any army.

These people are all Ma Jinbao's Chinese military supervisors, and many of them were brought out by him from his hometown in Shanxi, even if they can successfully escape, after all, they are too far away from home and hiding in Tibet, and it is very questionable whether they can go home alive.

Besides, escaping from the barracks means losing their jobs, and for these Qiu Ba, who are used to eating and wearing ready-made clothes, this is not much different from death.

It is impossible to go home all the way to eat, and it is impossible to work and sell coolies, if it is said that it is a grass for a coward, this business is not easy to do, then it is better to gamble, in case a small life is saved, you can also receive a few taels of silver, and you can go to the kiln, drink flower wine, and have a good time for a few days.

Even if they lose the battle, it has nothing to do with them if the Admiral is dismissed from his post by the imperial court in the future, as long as their soldiers live, there is always a way out, and no matter how bad they are, they can receive a few taels of silver for dismissal......

(End of chapter)