In the early morning of October 23, when the first rays of dawn rose, the fortress of Tumubao, which had been held for nearly a month, was still under the control of the Ming army. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

On the head of the west gate of the civil fort, the sun and moon flag of the Ming Dynasty was waving in the wind, as a figure carrying the banner, Shen Xi stood at the head of the city for a night, although the north wind was cold, and there was a light snow in the second half of the night, Shen Xi was sick, but he still did not get off the line of fire, and persevered all night against the cold wind.

The Tatars attacked the city overnight, and in the first half of the night it was a feint attack on the four city gates at the same time, with the purpose of damaging the fighting spirit of the Ming army and making the Ming army burn out. In the second half of the night, the Tatars began to launch a fierce siege.

The main direction of the Tatar attack was to the west and north of the city, and the number of soldiers and horses used was about 30,000.

At first, the Tatars used the old method, which was to throw sandbags and logs first, and prepare to build a road from scratch, but as a result, the artillery outside the city and the second and third trenches outside the city fired countless bullets and crossbows and arrows, overturning the Tatars.

The Tatars suffered heavy casualties, but as the trenches deepened and widened, the number of sandbags and logs consumed doubled, and the number of casualties increased significantly.

In this case, the Tatars simplified the offensive steps, building three rows of ladders directly on the trenches side by side, and then building planks on the ladders, so that a simple "pontoon bridge" was formed, and then the Tatars quickly crossed the trenches and squeezed forward.

But at this time, the role of the trench is manifested.

For example, when discussing the direction in which the Tatars "forcefully crossed" the trenches, the figures of Ming officers and soldiers would appear on the left and right flanks, and basically there was no need to deliberately aim, but only needed to shoot at the direction of the "pontoon bridge".

Seeing that the situation was not right, the Tatars had to adopt the third plan, jumping directly from the trenches built by the Ming army when they charged, and assaulting the forward positions of the Ming army along the trenches.

But the result is still sad!

In addition to being blocked by the three-stage shooting of the Ming army along the way, traps and mines were buried everywhere in the trenches, the traps were usually only more than one meter deep, and a large number of erected iron nails were buried at the bottom.

The most terrible thing is the mine, because the terrain in the tunnel is limited, the power of the mine explosion is maximized, although it is only a black powder mine, but the power is not small at all, usually a large explosion.

The Tatars were originally full of confidence, but when the general attack was launched, an hour had passed, and they were still in a state of complete blindness.

Ming soldiers can be seen everywhere on the battlefield, the sound of cannons can be heard everywhere, the screams of companions are heard all the time, the arrows keep "swishing" overhead, that is, the crossbow arrows of both sides are staggered in the air, the only difference is that the Tatar bows and arrows do not know where to shoot, while the bows and arrows of the Ming army have a fixed direction, and the results achieved are not the same.

The Tatars found it tragic that every step they took was extremely difficult, and from time to time someone fell around them.

After three or four hours of fierce fighting, the Tatars achieved a "phased victory", that is, before dawn the next day, they fully captured the first four tunnels in the core trench area of the Ming Dynasty, but the cost was also extremely huge, burying more than 6,000 Tatar soldiers.

Just when the Tatars thought that they would soon be able to break through the Ming army's defensive line, the sky finally dawned, and the Tatars looked at it, there was still a mile away from the head of the Tumubao city, and the nearest trench was less than fifty paces ahead.

The Tatars on the front line have the heart to die.

After fighting hard for most of the night, the result was only a mile forward, and if you rushed under the city wall, it was estimated that you would have to pay double the sacrifice, not to mention the subsequent street fighting in the city.

After daybreak, the advantages and disadvantages of both sides were clear at a glance, and at this time, Yismain had hoped to hold the occupied trenches, and then wait for a respite before launching a more fierce attack.

As a result, the six pine cannons made by the Ming army in the past few days were powerful, and in the muffled sound of "bang", each pine cannon threw a cannonball the size of a grinding disc, and then the powder bag wrapped in iron sand, gravel and rubble fragments drew a perfect arc and exploded over the dense trenches of the Tatars.

"Boom" explosions rang out one after another, and the Tatars under the trenches were suddenly drowned in huge flames.

Before the hundreds of Tatars could react, they mingled with the fragments of the explosion that were falling apart and flying in the sky.

Within a radius of ten feet from each powder pack, all the Tartars bled and fell to the ground in the deafening sound of explosions, and the huge shock wave shattered the fog in the sky.

With just one blow, the Tatars once again lost six or seven hundred lives, and in a panic, Yismain had no choice but to give up.

After a night of hard fighting, the Ming soldiers were also exhausted, and could only watch the Tatars withdraw along the trenches, and the artillery at the head of the city rang out from time to time, continuing to harvest the lives of the Tatars.

By midnight, the Tatars had withdrawn to their starting camps, but soon they began to withdraw from their camps and retreat farther away.

At this time, the Ming army burst into cheers, convinced that they had won another crucial battle, and soon under the leadership of officers at all levels, they went out of the trenches to harvest the heads of the Tatars and obtain military merits.

The First World War was a success!

After Shen Xi walked down the city, he finally understood the meaning of this sentence.

Although the Ming Dynasty's defensive measures were extremely perfect, and a sophisticated plan was made before the war, five or six hundred officers and soldiers died in the night battle.

As Hu Songyue, who guarded the west road, the pressure on this night was undoubtedly the greatest, not only the Tatars would make mistakes at night, but also the Ming army, so there were many times when the Tatar soldiers caught the butt of the retreating Ming army, Hu Songyue took the lead to meet the battle, using the machete and spear in his hand, to buy time for the retreat of the fire soldiers and crossbowmen, and Hu Songyue killed seven Tatar soldiers with his own hands on this night.

After dawn, seeing the Tatars withdrawing their troops, Hu Songyue leaned on the thick tunnel wall, "snorting" and panting, and then saw Shen Xi with his personal entourage to the forward position to inspect.

Shen ...... Lord Shen? ”

When Hu Songyue saw Shen Xi, his expression was a little dazed.

He originally thought that Shen Xi would not appear in such a dangerous position, but when he saw Shen Xi coming with a solemn face, he still quickly got up from the ground, but unfortunately, because he was in a tense state all night last night, he was just relaxed, and he couldn't even stand on his feet.

"Sit and talk back!" Shen Xi said, "How was the battle last night?" Quickly report the summary! ”

"Huh?"

Hu Songyue was stunned by the question, he knew very little about the battle last night, he only knew where there was danger, he rushed to it, and his body collapsed after the fight all night.

Now that the war is over, and the battlefield has not even had time to be cleaned, Hu Songyue doesn't even know how many brothers have been lost under his hands, let alone how many Tatars have died.

Hu Songyue couldn't answer, Shen Xi was not reluctant, patted Hu Songyue on the shoulder hard, and said, "Old Hu, it's hard work, let's rest first, this official will continue to inspect!" ”

Hu Songyue originally wanted to accompany him, but his condition was really not good, and the heads of the seven Tatar soldiers who had been cut off next to him also looked very cold, so he sat back down.

A soldier next to him handed Hu Songyue a bowl of hot water, and he knew that the logistics supply of Tumubao was so strong, and it could be supplied with hot water just after the end of the war, which was still in the forward position.