Chapter 19: The Battle of Niuzhuang V

"Blocking messages." Zheng Chenggong immediately reacted and said, "Don't let a trace of news come out." His eyes widened, almost jumping out of his sockets, as if he could swallow Liu Guoxuan with this eye alone, and said: "Sightseeing, you are also a hero on the sea, now you want to tell me that you won't fight without artillery." ”

Sightseeing is Liu Guoxuan's word.

Liu Guoxuan listened, knowing that Zheng Chenggong was a radical general, Liu Guoxuan couldn't bear it, and said loudly: "Please rest assured, within three days, the downstream channel will definitely be opened." ”

"It's only two days." Zheng Chenggong interrupted Liu Guoxuan's words and said, "The army doesn't have that much time. If you don't succeed in two days, you won't have to see me. ”

"Yes." Liu Guoxuan said loudly.

Immediately, Liu Guoxuan turned around and went out.

Liu Guoxuan was desperate, and naturally he didn't have any reservations.

The Xia army was prepared, on the Liao River, countless boats were almost paving the river, and the two sides were fighting fiercely, and Liu Guoxuan also took the lead. It can be said that he is desperate. In contrast, the Qing soldiers were indeed not very suitable for this kind of water fighting.

Although there are many people, they are still not opponents.

For a whole day, Liu Guoxuan fought to the death and did not retreat, and forcibly opened up the Liao River.

It's just that he found that the water situation of the Liao River has changed again. The water level has dropped quite a bit.

It turned out that Dolgon ordered the mobilization of the people in the vicinity and excavated the gap, as if to divert the water of the Liao River and let the Liao River enter the sea by a different path.

This is a rather huge project, and I am afraid that it will not be possible to complete it in a few years. But Dolgon didn't have to do it, and his unconcealed move was to put pressure on Zheng Chenggong.

Niu Zhuang is fighting fiercely.

Azig did not seem to care about the casualties of the soldiers, a large number of Qing troops rushed forward one by one, and with the escort of cavalry, pushed the artillery position forward, and between the Qing army camp and the summer army camp, built a mound, and placed artillery on it to bombard the summer army camp.

Seeing this, Zheng Chenggong knew that he would not be able to achieve the goal of the Qing army, so he sent Ma Sanbao to lead the army to seize the mound.

This is Azig's anti-guest strategy, if the Xia army camp, the Qing army's casualties will naturally be extremely heavy, so Azig first stood up in front of the camp to cover up the fact that the soldiers dug the soil to build a mound, and when the Xia army found out, it had already completed most of it.

As long as the Xia army didn't want to be bombarded by the Qing army day and night, all they could do was to immediately counterattack and capture the mound.

So Azig forced the Xia army to have to fight in the field.

However, the Xia army has its back to the big camp and can only fight hard, and at this point, the Xia army is not afraid of the Qing army.

Naturally, the Qing army would not give up, and the two sides repeatedly circled this mound

Scramble.

The two sides fought fiercely, first the Xia army took the artillery as the guide, like Mount Tai pressed the top, and forced the Qing army to retreat step by step, and then near the mound, the white blades fought, and the two sides were almost between square inches, not giving in at all.

Almost stained the mound with blood.

After the defeat of the Qing army, Azig sent cavalry to insert the distance between the Xia army and the main camp, as if to surround the Xia army occupying the mound.

These dozen or so mounds that were to be used as forts were nothing more than local soil, and there was nothing special about them, let alone water sources.

On the one hand, the Qing army sent a large number of Han troops to counterattack after the artillery bombardment, and on the other hand, they wanted to cut off the reinforcements of the Xia army's camp. In the afternoon, the Xia army had to withdraw from the mound, there were many reasons, the first was that the casualties were too large, in this kind of field battle, the casualty ratio of the two armies, it was still the Xia army that had some advantages, but now Azig was ruthless, and he didn't care how many people died.

The three battalions that attacked the mound were less than 8,000 men when they went, and less than half of them were when they returned.

The second and most important reason is that there are not enough supplies of all kinds.

Repeated fighting is the most physically exhausting. Generally speaking, Sergeant Xia carried three days' dry food with him, but he did not always carry water. In addition, repeated fighting, the most physical exertion, the soldiers will drink a lot of water. It was only one or two miles from the camp to the mound, but it was the center of gravity of the fierce battle between the Qing army and the Xia army.

Even if the army can transport some supplies. However, it is unlikely that a large amount of water will be transported. Because the Qing cavalry focused on attacking water trucks, there was no one in a hundred who could pass, and they were always missed by the Qing army's various methods.

There is one more important reason.

It's just that the gunpowder is insufficient.

The casualties were heavy, the Qing army also suffered heavy casualties, and there was a shortage of drinking water. But the lack of gunpowder is a big problem. The improvement of the combat effectiveness of the Xia army is inseparable from the Xia army's extensive use of firearms.

Zhang Xuan was the heaviest firearm in the army, and the large use of firearms also greatly increased the consumption of gunpowder in the army.

It is too much to say that Liu Guoxuan would not have fought without firearms, but it is indeed true to say that Xia Jun would not have fought without gunpowder. Although the gunpowder has not been exhausted in the Niuzhuang camp, the waterway is not passable, and the ships transporting gunpowder have been detonated again.

The remaining gunpowder had to be used sparingly.

In the battle for the mound, Sergeant Xia used excessive gunpowder, which made Zheng Chenggong calculate that if he fought with the Qing army like this, the gunpowder was estimated to take less than three days.

Moreover, the army will always have to retreat, and when it retreats in the future, it is estimated that the mound in the salient will probably not be able to retreat.

It's just that in this way, the Qing army immediately lined up on the mounds, although after the Xia army retreated, these mounds had been destroyed, but it was originally one

It's just a bit of dirt, and it's easy to rebuild. Immediately, the Qing army put the cannon on it, and the cannon was fired mercilessly, and the sound of the cannon did not stop from morning to night.

At the beginning, the Xia army also destroyed many artillery pieces of the Qing army with colors, so that the Qing army had to frequently change gunners and even artillery. But gradually, the frequency of artillery fire of the Xia army became less and less.

The reason is simple, the amount of gunpowder is insufficient.

The absence of gunpowder was the mortal wound of the Xia army.

Under the bombardment of artillery, Zheng Chenggong had to move the sergeants and soldiers into the unfinished Niuzhuang City. and behind the camp, outside the range of the Qing artillery.

It's just that in this way, the morale of the army is even lower.

If it weren't for the high quality of the officers of the Xia Army, I am afraid that the people below might have all the people below.

At this time, Xia Jun also got good news that Liu Guoxuan opened up the river downstream and captured many boats. Although it is not a big boat, although the water level of the Liaohe River continues to decline, the Liaohe River is a big river after all.

Not all the big rivers are like the Yellow River, they are hanging rivers on the ground, and the channels of the big rivers are formed by natural erosion for thousands of years. If you want to divert the route with manpower, you can't say no, but with the ability of this era, it can't be done in a while.

Even if Dolgon used almost all of Liaodong's manpower, the water level of the Liao River dropped a lot in a short time, but it was impossible to stop the flow of the Liao River.

It's just that the fate of this group of people is not very good.

Because Dolgon had consolidated the camp at Yingkou and placed an unknown number of artillery at the mouth of the Liao River. Under the attack from both sides, the small boats of the Xia army wanted to go to sea, but they could only rush through this attack of artillery rain.

These small boats are all civilian ships, and they are dense, under the bombardment of artillery, there is almost no resistance, and the thin ones are like paper, although the Xia army ships came to respond, but there are still I don't know how many Xia soldiers died here.

When this news reached the Niuzhuang camp, the Qing army had already rushed into the Niuzhuang camp under the cover of artillery, and Zheng Chenggong withdrew some of his manpower, so there was naturally a shortage of troops. This situation was also caught by Azig, who wanted to take down the Xia army in one fell swoop, but he didn't want the Xia army to be extremely tenacious, even in this situation, he almost fought with the Qing army for his life, and drove the Qing army out.

This is also one of the advantages of Xia Jun's system.

It's not that Sergeant Xia is not afraid, not afraid of death.

A person may not be afraid of death, but a group of people is rarely all afraid of death.

It's just that they are afraid of death, but they are afraid of something more important than death. For example, a small family, such as a family.

Because of the system of the Xia army, from a pawn to an officer, their families are in the control of the imperial court. No exceptions.