"This Taisilen Fort is really very different from my Ming Fort!"

"Yes, brother among people. You see, this concave surface is just right to cover the enemy's fire. The firecracker only needs to go there for a while, and then he will be closed. ”

Zheng Chenggong waved his fist excitedly.

It was also the first time he had seen the fortress, and it was no less shocking to him than the new ships of the Dutch.

After setting out from Nanjing, they went all the way north to Dezhou, Shandong, and visited the fort that had been built under the arrangement of Qin Gongming, the general soldier of Dezhou.

Although some of the forts are still under construction and cannot enjoy the panoramic view of the forts, they are content.

Chen Zilong stroked the inner wall of the fortress, closed his eyes and imagined that the Tartar was beaten by the fire gun when he rushed forward, which was very refreshing.

"The only question is, can this fortress really withstand the bombardment of the Hongyi cannon?"

At this time, Qin Gongming, the general soldier of Texas, ordered people to bombard the fort with a six-pounder cannon after it was built, and found that the fort wall was unscathed.

This somewhat proves the authenticity of the defensive fort in the mouth of Instructor Tessie.

However, the six-pounder cannon can't compare to the power of the Hongyi cannon after all. At present, there are no Hongyi cannons in Texas City, so it is impossible to measure the ability of the fortress to resist attacks.

"I'll know when Kong Youde's dog traitor comes!"

Chen Zilong is naturally optimistic. In his opinion, even if the Qing army mobilized Kong Youde, who had heavy artillery, to come to Shandong, the dense group of fortresses would be enough for him to eat a pot.

The most important role of the fortress group was to block the advance of the Qing army, so that the assault battle had to be turned into positional warfare.

Unlike ordinary siege warfare, the Qing army could not allocate enough men to attack all the bastions at the same time.

The most important thing is that the Qing army doesn't have so many Hongyi cannons.

Facts have proved that artillery under the six-pounder cannon is no threat to the fortress, and Kong Youde's Hongyi cannon is more, at most a dozen, right? And there are hundreds of fortresses outside Texas City, and he can't take care of it!

"Hehe, I'm afraid the Tartars won't be able to catch up for a while. I heard that Li Chuang's thief mobilized heavy troops to guard Tongguan and vowed to fight to the death with the Tartars! ”

Gu Yanwu was very concerned about the war on the Western Front, and said eloquently: "Although this thief is very rebellious, I have to say that he still has two wars. In the battle of Shanhaiguan, he probably suffered a secret loss, if it wasn't for the sudden killing of Tatar when he and Wu Sangui were fighting, how could he win so easily. ”

"That's right, let this guy and the Tartar dog bite the dog, and wait until they are both defeated, and the court will come out to clean up the mess!"

Chen Zilong said excitedly.

"I'm afraid Li Zicheng won't be able to stop the Tartars' offensive."

Zheng Chenggong suddenly spoke up, but he gave a completely different opinion.

"Why?"

Chen Zilong was puzzled.

"This time, the Tartars are attacking Shaanxi with the strength of the whole country, not only the army in the direction of Tongguan, but also the army that detours through northern Shaanxi."

Zheng Chenggong paused for a moment and said: "If the Tartar only attacks one place, Li Chuang can still grit his teeth and persevere, but if he resists two places at the same time, he doesn't have that strength." I think there will be a crash first. Most of his elite has already been lost, and it is not enough to survive. ”

In Zheng Chenggong's view, Li Zicheng lost a lot of troops in the Battle of Shanhaiguan, which can be described as a great loss of vitality.

Although in the past, Li Zicheng was able to quickly recover his strength after facing the encirclement and suppression of the official army, but this time the situation is different.

In the past, Li Chuang's losses were all exiles who were coerced, although he claimed to be hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands, but his real combat effectiveness was very limited, that is, he waved his flag and shouted to fill the trenches and rush to the city to be cannon fodder.

These people are dead, and Li Zicheng will not have the slightest heartache.

As long as the main force is still there, there is no need to worry about replenishing new recruits if Li Chuang's flag is inserted there.

But once the elite is lost, it is very difficult to replenish it.

A recruit needs to go through many actual battles before he grows into a veteran, and a veteran needs many life-and-death battles to become an elite.

It can be said that it is difficult to train an elite without three or five years.

"Why did Ming Yan conclude that Li Chuang's elite had suffered heavy losses?"

Chen Zilong was puzzled.

"It's simple. If it weren't for that, why would Li Chuang give up Jingshi without hesitation? Why don't you even stick to Shanxi? ”

Zheng Chenggong's vision can be described as vicious, and he got to the point in one sentence.

It is impossible for Li Zicheng not to know the importance of Beijing, otherwise he would not have hesitated to send troops from Guanzhong after the year, defeat Ningwu Pass, and go straight to Beijing.

The political significance of the Jingshi is very important, and whoever can occupy the Jingshi will be able to take advantage of this to make a big fuss and promote themselves as orthodox.

As a result, after Li Zicheng returned to Beijing and became emperor, he did not hesitate to lead his troops to retreat westward, and refused to defend even the fortified city. What does this mean, it shows that he has a weak heart.

It stands to reason that even if Li Zicheng can't defeat the Qing army in the field, he still has the strength to fight with his back to Jiancheng. He didn't even dare to defend the city, which can only show that the main force has suffered serious losses, and he really doesn't dare to fight and can't win in a short time.

If the abandonment of the Jingshi can be explained as a mistake in Li Zicheng's personal decision-making, it is even more incomprehensible to take the initiative to cross the Yellow River and return to Guanzhong.

Shanxi and Shaanxi are one. If Shanxi could not hold it, the Qing army could cross the Yellow River without any scruples.

Without the natural defense line of the Yellow River, there will be no place to defend east of Tongguan. Li Zicheng gave up a large area of land to the Qing army.

With Li Zicheng's knowledge, he can't see this?

The correct way was to retreat to Shanxi, and Li Zicheng personally sat in Taiyuan to collect the defeated troops for rest and training, and mobilized Guanzhong soldiers and horses to enter Shanxi to strengthen the defense.

Even if Li Zicheng himself is not in Shanxi, he must send Liu Zongmin to take charge, so that the army can feel the determination to defend Shanxi.

As a result, Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin both returned to Guanzhong.

This can only show that Li Zicheng is really bottomless in his heart, because his old book is about to be lost.

People will have two mentalities when they lose a bet, one is to give up conservatively, and the other is to continue gambling.

Li Zicheng is clearly the former. He didn't want to make a desperate gamble and fight the Tartars in Shanxi, so he retreated to Shaanxi, wanting to rely on the banner of defending his hometown to inspire the fighting spirit of the Qin people.

But I didn't know that I had already lost in momentum.

The most important thing is that Li Zicheng has been defeated in successive battles, and has been pursued by the Qing army since he retreated from Beijing, and has hardly tasted victory.

This can be devastating in terms of morale.

It is true that Tongguan is a strong city, but Tongguan has also been conquered many times in history.

In the end, it depends on the comparison of the strength of the two sides.

Zheng Chenggong believes that in this case, if Li Zicheng wants to win, he must at least concentrate his forces to defeat the Qing army on one side, and with his character, he will obviously not make such a gamble.

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