In Zuo Liangyu's trench position in the southwest of Huai'an City, Wu Sangui frowned and walked forward with his family. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Wu Sangui has found that the movement of the Tiger Army is very unusual in the past few days: soldiers from all sections of the Tiger Army have been dispatched, constantly digging trenches to the side of the Jiangbei Army, shortening the distance between the trenches of the two armies to less than one mile.

What does the Tiger Army want to do?

Wu Sangui couldn't figure out what the intention of the Tiger Benjun was in this move.

Previously, the Jiangbei Army also tried to dig into the position of the Tiger Ben Army by digging trenches, but before they could dig through the trenches, they were blown back by the grenades of the Tiger Ben Army.

But what does it mean that the Tiger Army is digging a trench on this side? After the withdrawal of the naval artillery of the Tiger Ben Army, there were only 70,000 left, which was far inferior to the 160,000 of the Jiangbei Army. Could it be that the Tiger Ben Army is crazy and wants to dig trenches and come up to fight hand-to-hand?

Wu Sangui decided to go to Shi Kefa and Zuo Liangyu to discuss.

Beside Wu Sangui, the soldiers of the Jiangbei Army stood curiously in the trench one by one, looking at the Tiger Ben army digging a trench under the ground a few hundred meters away.

The soldiers of the Jiangbei Army held in their hands the Mini rifles, which the Jiangbei Army called "Jiangbei Guns".

In fact, the Jiangbei gun has become the common equipment of the Jiangbei Army.

Although the Mini rifle is a weapon that appeared in the nineteenth century, in fact the body of the Mini rifle is no different from the rifled flintlock pistol of the seventeenth century, the only difference is in the conical bullet with a hollow tail. And the production of conical buckshot is also very simple.

Therefore, although the Mini rifle is a weapon with great results, it is extremely difficult to manufacture. Li Zhi dared to produce this weapon in the seventh year of Chongzhen.

As the only hope for the southern gentry to keep their family business, the Jiangbei Army collected more than 10,000 craftsmen from the southern provinces with the help of the gentry. Under the tutelage of the Dutch, these craftsmen quickly mastered the construction of the Mini rifle.

For the production of firearms of the seventeenth century, although the use of machines can improve efficiency, as long as there are enough skilled craftsmen, the numerical advantage can also compensate for the lack of industrial level.

The Jiangbei Army has a population of nearly 100 million in the south, and some of them are people.

The quality of these rifles is related to the survival of the Jiangbei Army, so Zuo Liangyu and Wu Sangui attach great importance to it and send their right-hand men to manage the production of Jiangbei guns. So on the whole, although the quality of Jiangbei guns is not as good as Li Zhi's rifle, it is not much worse.

As for the scope, it's actually a low-magnification telescope, completely hand-polished. Li Zhi and the Jiangbei Army used exactly the same method, and there was no technological lead. In the past six months, the Jiangbei Army has found a lot of jade craftsmen to polish the glass transported by the Dutch, and made a lot of scopes to equip the troops.

The Jiangbei Army has now reached the same level as Li Zhi in terms of firearms.

Therefore, even if the Tiger Ben Army increased its troops to 70,000 in Huai'an, the Jiangbei Army was not afraid at all. In fact, the Jiangbei Army has been playing an offensive role in recent months. It was unlikely that the trench would be attacked head-on, so the Jiangbei Army continued to expand the front on Huai'an's flank, trying to detour back to the flank of the Huben army.

Now the length of the battle line in the south of Huai'an has been stretched to one hundred and fifty miles, and the Tiger Ben army is even short of manpower. In some sections, the Tiger Army was responsible for trenches several meters wide by one person.

The strategic intention of the Jiangbei Army was to hold back the 70,000 Tiger Army, wait for the 100,000 Japanese Shogunate Army to invade the north, and then flank the seriously undernumbered Tiger Army in the north and south. So far, the strategy is going well.

The only question is, what did the Tiger Ben Army want to do when they dug a trench on the side of the Jiangbei Army?

Due to the characteristics of trench warfare, Zuo Liangyu's current command post of the Chinese army is also built in the trench. As soon as Wu Sangui walked into the house, he saw Zuo Liangyu and Shi Kefa drinking tea there.

Wu Sangui saluted and sat down.

Shi Kefa looked at Wu Sangui and smiled.

Now Shi Kefa is the hope of the southern gentry, which can be described as calling for wind and rain. He has tens of millions of donations from the gentry of the southern prefectures, prefectures and counties, and rules the Jiangbei Army through Zuo and Wu, with great power, and can be described as the uncrowned lord of the south of the Ming Dynasty. Now he has a kind of momentum in his demeanor, which is very different from the previous Nanjing Military Department Shangshu.

Soon, a soldier handed over tea.

"Lord Benbing, the actions of the Li Thief Tiger Army have been quite unusual recently."

Shi Kefa stroked his beard and asked, "What the eldest uncle said is abnormal, but is it the Tiger Army's move to dig a trench?" ”

Wu Sangui arched his hand and said, "Exactly." ”

Hearing Wu Sangui's words, Zuo Liangyu seemed to hear a nonsense, and took a teacup and drank tea by himself.

Shi Kefa pondered for a while, and said with a smile: "The eldest uncle is too worried. The Tiger Ben Army is now surrounded by 20,000 people in Japan, and the naval army is not Hongyi's opponent, so the next thing is to be caught between our Jiangbei Army and the Japanese Shogunate Army. ”

The communication between the Jiangbei Army and the Dutch was carried out by sailing ships, and the messengers only went back and forth once a month, and Shi Kefa was completely unaware of the total annihilation of the Anglo-Dutch combined fleet in the Seto Inland Sea at this time.

After a pause, Shi Kefa said: "At such a time, the Tiger Ben Army is dying and struggling, and it is very possible to make some bluffs, and the eldest uncle does not need to worry. ”

Wu Sangui said: "However, the Li thief has magical methods and is full of tricks..."

Shi Kefa laughed and said, "Uncle, now we have the same weapons as the Li thief, and the number of people is twice that of the Li thief. Even if the Li thief dug the trench and rushed over, we are also sure to win! ”

Shi Kefa said: "Uncle, think about it, the cannons in this trench can't hit, and the guns can't shoot. Even if the Li thief's rocket came over, it had no angle to shoot into the trench. The only way to deal with this trench is to dig a circle of trenches on the opposite side and hold on. Other means are useless in front of this trench hidden underground! ”

"Don't worry about it, uncle!"

Wu Sangui looked at Shi Kefa, a little uneasy.

Zuo Liangyu sneered and said, "Junmen, why are you so afraid of Li Zhi. Do you think Li Zhi is really a star? Can he conjure up a magic weapon with a blow like Sun Monkey and break this invulnerable trench? ”

"If Li Zhi can invent the trench warfare method by himself, and then figure out the means to crack this trench warfare by himself, I will really obey him from the stars!"

When Shi Kefa heard Zuo Liangyu's words, he seemed to hear a very funny joke and laughed.

"If Li Thief has such means, we don't need to confront him, just give away the wealth of the eight southern provinces and the gentry of the world!"

Hearing Zuo Liangyu and Shi Kefa's words, the two maids of the Zuo family who were guarding behind Zuo Liangyu also covered their mouths and laughed, as if they were laughing at Wu Sangui's unfounded worries.

Zuo Liangyu's personal soldiers glanced at each other a few times, and there were smiles in their eyes.

Wu Sangui was ridiculed by everyone, and he was not embarrassed.

He swallowed his saliva and smiled, "Speaking of which, I do have some worries..."

Shi Kefa waved his sleeves and said, "Uncle Chang, you have been a little too anxious recently. Don't worry, when we invade Tianjin with the shogunate army, I will definitely let the Son of Heaven make you a marquis! When the time comes, as soon as the Li thief is eliminated, this world will be our scholars. As long as Li Zhi is not a star in the sky and an immortal on the earth, we are not afraid..."

However, before Shi Kefa could finish his sentence, he suddenly heard "Boom! Rumble! "A few loud bangs. Then there were a few terrible screams.

Shi Kefa suddenly panicked, his hand shook, and he slammed the teacup in his hand to the ground with a clang.