Chapter 291 Lock the city
The Ming soldiers in Dalinghe City were on duty in shifts, and they did not dare to relax for a moment.
The summer dawn time is much earlier than the other three seasons in the four seasons, it is more than 5 o'clock in the morning, close to 6 o'clock, the sky is already bright, and the sound of swan horns also sounded in the city of Dalinghe.
The Liao army and the Jingbian Fort army defending the city did not take off their armor when they rested yesterday, but when they heard the sound of the horn, they jumped up from their beds, took their blades, and went straight up to the city tower under the leadership of their respective military attachés.
"Let the artillery be ready, if Jiannu comes to attack the city, first bombard them with artillery and rub their sharpness." When Zu Dashou came to the city, he ordered Zhang Dingliao, the general in charge of artillery.
"Yes, Marshal." Zhang Dingliao responded.
"Kefa, go and give an order to General Liu, if Jiannu attacks the city, first bombard it with artillery." Zu Dashou ordered.
"Yes, Marshal." Zu Kefa got the order, so he went straight to pass the order.
"Hmph, Huang Taiji, this town has a strong city, strong soldiers, and plenty of food and grass, even if you come to attack, you will be sent to another big defeat." After Zu Dashou gave the order, he looked back at his own prosperous lineup, and then looked at the mountains of grain and grass in the city, and said to himself confidently.
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"I look at the soldiers and horses guarding the city, busy but not chaotic, and have a moderate demeanor, Zu Dashou is really a good general in the world, and I will want to get it for my own use. Summoned Zhushen and the Mongol banners, quickly dig trenches, build high walls, and trap the defenders in the city of Dalinghe. Huang Taiji first muttered to himself for a while, and then ordered to the leader of the protectors beside him.
"Commandment." When the leader of the army had received the order, he sent some of his men out to give orders.
After a short time, the banner owners who received the order sent troops and sent generals, and ordered them to take their own Aha's soldiers with hoes, shovels and other tools, and began to dig trenches and build earthen walls 10 miles away from Dalinghe City.
The Houjin army worked hard to dig around the city of Dalinghe, and built a total of 4 trenches, of which there were two small trenches, one seven feet wide and eight feet deep; One was five feet wide and seven feet deep, covered with straw and covered with earth.
In addition to the small trenches, there are two large trenches, both of which are one foot three feet wide and one foot three feet deep. At a distance of five zhang from this trench, build an earthen wall, one zhang and two feet high, and add a buttress on the wall, then increase to one zhang and seven feet, and look like an earthen city from a distance.
In addition to the ditch and the earthen city, each banner also dug a small trench near the left of his camp, five feet deep and wide.
In order to guard these trenches, the Houjin also set up camps in these trenches and near the left side of the earthen city.
Houjin set up a total of 45 camps around Dalinghe City, of which 12 camped on the side of the small trench closest to the city, and 11 camped near the side of the big moat.
In the west of the city, between the Daling River and Jinzhou, the shortest route for the defenders to retreat in the Daling River is also the shortest route for Jinzhou to rush to the aid of the Daling River, and Houjin has set up a total of 22 camps.
The purpose of setting up so many camps here is to intercept the fish that escaped from the city of Dalinghe, and the second is to block the Ming army from Jinzhou to help.
In this battle, the Jurchen, Mongolian, and Han armies besieging the Daling River had a total of more than 80,000 people, and the speed of the earthwork was very fast, only five or six days of effort, and the Houjin built a tight siege fortification around the Dalinghe City.
After the construction of these siege fortifications was completed, Huang Taiji specially strictly ordered the officers and soldiers of all banners not to go out to fight at will, to strictly hold their positions, and not to enlarge one person in the Ling River to cross the fortifications by half a step.
Huang Taiji himself raised the throne and sat on the south of the city. On top of the post, he closely observes the movements in the city every day in order to make decisions.
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However, it is said that at the beginning of the ancestor of Dalinghe City, he saw that Jiannu sent a large number of soldiers, Aha with hoes and other tools, and rushed to Dalinghe City to kill him, so he smiled slightly, looked around and said: "Jiannu siege the city, it has always been the same old, the pawn Aha impact, consumed our army's medicine bow and arrow, and when our army was tired and the medicine bow and arrow were consumed, he sent dead soldiers to the city, and the sharp soldiers took advantage of the situation to cover up and kill, and there was no change." It is not difficult for us to repel them, tell the artillery to be ready, and bombard them for a while. ”
"Yes, Marshal." When Zhang Dingliao received the order, he issued a loud order, telling the artillery on the city walls on all sides to be ready to shell the siege army of Jiannu at any time.
The artillery at the head of Dalinghe City was given military orders, and those soldiers who were holding mops and preparing to cool the barrels, soldiers who were preparing to load gunpowder and artillery, soldiers who were preparing to aim, soldiers who were ready to put fuses and ignites, and artillery commanders who commanded and coordinated all performed their duties and were ready, just waiting for Jiannu to run to the city and die.
The Ming army defending the city waited for Jiannu to arrive, but Jiannu just didn't come.
I saw that Ahha, the soldier sent out by Jiannu, took hoes, shovels and other tools, and began to dig trenches and build earthen walls outside the extreme range of the Hongyi cannon, that is, ten miles away from Dalinghe City, with three layers inside and three layers outside, to enclose the Daling River.
"Dashuai, it seems that Jiannu is not going to attack the city, looking at their posture, it seems that they really plan to besiege our Daling River, and then besiege and send reinforcements. In this way, General Liu is right. Liu Tianlu saw the behavior of Jiannu in the distance at the head of the city, and couldn't help but think of what Liu Renyu said before.
"Why Tianlu is so careful, yes or no, you have to look more to know. We don't care what Jiannu is doing, all we need to do is a little bit, always ready to meet the enemy, and not slacken. Zu Dashou said solemnly.
"Yes, Marshal." The generals responded in unison.
In the following days, the defenders in Dalinghe City were tense day by day, and they never saw Jiannu attacking, and gradually this spirit was greatly relaxed.
Zu Dashou was in the city every day, and found that Jiannu had always refused to attack, but only dug trenches and built walls wholeheartedly, so he said to the generals on the left and right: "It seems that Jiannu really refused to attack the city, and only used this method of locking the city to surround our Daling River, and then used the invincible advantages of the field to kill the reinforcements and trap us." ”
"Don't be afraid, we have 10,000 elite soldiers in our hands, and 200,000 stones of food, even if the reinforcements sent by the imperial court can't save us, we can drag on with them for a year and a half, and see if they can hold on." He Kegang said to his own general with a good attitude of having food in his hands and not panicking in his heart.
"That's true, although General Liu is young, he still has some ability." Zu Dashou looked at Liu Renyu, who was observing the enemy's situation in the distance, and said with a complicated expression.
Liu Renyu didn't know that Zu Dashou was praising himself, at this time, he was like Zu Dashou, observing the city for several days, and found that Jiannu was digging deep trenches according to what he did in the history books of later generations, planning to learn the method of python hunting, and trap the Daling River for life and death.
When he saw the tactics used by the Houjin, he was immediately convinced, since history still followed the original trajectory, then he could be sure that the Houjin army must have mastered the artillery technology.
Even if Houjin's cannon is not high-tech and is a shoddy counterfeit and shoddy product, it can at least sound. According to his previous plan, he also wanted to go out to fight with Jiannu in order to win the first rank of meritorious service, if Jiannu had artillery, this battle would be a little difficult, but he was not very afraid, this was because he also had a secret weapon, which could be used to deal with Houjin's artillery.
As soon as he thought of this, Liu Renyu said to Li Jiye, who was standing beside him: "Jiye, how is the tower repaired?" ”
"Back to the general, the tower is 20 zhang high, but it will take some effort to repair." Li Jiye counted the days with his fingers, and it was not easy to reply to the date, so he said the time.
"I started construction 10 days ago, and I haven't had a letter until now, so I'll give you another 3 days, and if you don't fix it within 3 days, Lao Tzu cut you, understand?" Liu Renyu didn't have a good airway.
"Humble duty understands." Li Jiye responded.