Hei Huan Bolie finally chose to temporarily give up the attack during the day and retreat the army, not to say that the main force of Jianzhou at this time had completely lost the determination and courage to fight. Although the cumulative casualties and losses reached 40%, if some Niu Lu with less serious losses were selected, it would still be possible to organize another wave of offensives, especially when the 3,000 or so reinforcements from the north might arrive soon.

The will to fight and the limit of the casualties of the Eight Banners of Jianzhou were actually slightly higher than Xiao Xuan's predictions. The strength that can take the initiative for a long time and fight viciously for many years is certainly not comparable to ordinary ancient armies. Just like the Swiss mercenaries who are no less than the modern army. Otherwise, he would not have shown extraordinary determination in the two battles of Xiamen on the other side.

It's just that Hun Tai Yoshihei still thinks that the last force of the last wave of large-scale attacks should be tried in the night battle. In the previous confrontation, the strengths and weaknesses of this Ming Court Forbidden Brigade were actually very obvious: the use of firearms was very strong. However, hand-to-hand combat is relatively mediocre compared to the Jianzhou army, and in terms of bows and arrows and even related armor, it is far inferior. Under such circumstances, there is no doubt that an effective night raid can maximize one's strengths and avoid one's own shortcomings.

From the defeat of the Jianzhou army and the chaotic retreat, Xiao Xuan also had a premonition that the enemy might not be able to give up easily, and after losing a large number of corpses and armor, it was likely that he would launch a decisive night attack at night in order to flop.

If you deal with the night attack of the Jianzhou army, which is good at archery and melee hand-to-hand combat, and has obvious superiority in armor and equipment, in fact, since the battle outside the capital, Xiao Xuan's personal responsibility for the pro-military battalion deduction office has carried out a lot of confrontational paper operations and estimates. The conclusion is that the previous defensive methods against the Ming army and Li Zicheng's troops, which were mainly based on trenches and concealed maneuvers at night, may be ineffective in the face of the elite Jianzhou army. Because the protection ability of the enemy's armored soldiers is far from being comparable to that of the ordinary Ming army or Li Zicheng's department, even the head and face also have relatively good protection. Nowadays, the five-bucket bow or seven-bucket bow in the team is almost useless. In this case, it is quite dangerous to rely on trench systems and lighting systems. Not to mention that after the fierce battle during the day, the ammunition resources in the team are not very abundant now.

Therefore, the plan prepared by the whole army in this situation was to build a defensive system consisting of a breastwork fortress and a moat near night, similar to the one that Zeng Guofan had done during the march.

Although at this time there were no more than 3,000 men to remove the wounded and be ready to deal with the enemy's attack, but the construction of fortifications within a radius of about 100 paces still seemed to be more than rubbing. After a year of training, although the whole team still had a great shortage of horseback archery, the training of firearms and formations did not consume much time, and most of them were also proficient in earthwork at this time. The frozen ground in early winter, where there is no snow, is not so hard that it is difficult to excavate. In less than an hour or so, the breastwork fortifications within the large formation within a hundred paces or so had already taken shape. It is about one zhang high, with a cross-sectional area of several square meters, and the total amount is only about 2,000 cubic meters of earthwork.

Many Jianzhou officers and generals, including Hei Huanbule, did not expect that under such serious attrition, the entire army would be able to build the simplest breastwork in such a short period of time under its own constant attack.

However, after Yue Tuo carefully observed this improvised breastwork rampart, he did not think so: "The other party's conditions are limited, and this fortress with a radius of about 100 steps is still too small. At night, the elite of our army approached from both sides of the intersection to a distance of about dozens of paces, and they could also be suppressed with heavy arrows. And the enemy's earthen ramparts are the same as those we have seen in many places. In this way, at night, our army concentrated archers to shoot flanks in the direction of the opponent's earthen ramparts, and they will definitely be able to effectively suppress the opponent... ”

After seeing that although the opponent's earthen fortifications were being built quickly, there were still many weaknesses that could be exploited, Hei also put his mind down and began to repair the team and select the elite, preparing to launch a decisive attack when it was just dark, at least, so that the opponent who had been fighting and working hard for a long time during the day would greatly reduce his combat effectiveness because he did not have enough time to rotate.

In early winter, the night seems to be much earlier, when the last rays of the red light from the setting sun fall, and the sky becomes deep blue and dark. The Jianzhou cavalry, who had no scruples about choosing a few people to hold torches as a guide to the direction of the army, once again inspired their courage. Although the enemy's firearms are terrifying, many previous experiences have shown that once it is dark, then the advantages brought by bows and arrows will be fully realized.

The fierce cannon sound once again rang out one after another, Xiao Xuan did not let go of any opportunity and means that could weaken the opponent's strength, even if it seemed to be a little inefficient after the night gradually fell, but he still used the general's artillery group to fire fiercely in the wall, firing pieces of heavy shotguns, so that the approaching Jianzhou army had to gather with more scattered forces closer to the earthen fence, and launched a continuous release of arrows.

The heavy arrows that fell one after another from the night were not dense, but they continued continuously for a full hour. The arrows were like eyes in the experienced archers, and in the dark of night, they could make the arrows fall from the side and back to the inner circle of the earthen fence, probably no more than two or three feet. More than 100,000 heavy arrows shot by thousands of elite archers in turn almost turned the core area of more than 10,000 square meters or so adjacent to the earthen fence like grass.

Hei Huan Bo Lie believed that with such a level of investment, even if some enemy troops could survive by fleeing deeper or other methods, not too many enemy troops would dare to approach the earth siege in such a dangerous environment.

At this moment, at least 3,000 Jianzhou elite main forces began to gather from all directions on the periphery of the earthen fence about a hundred steps away, quietly put the ladder board wrapped in black cotton cloth in front of the earthen fence, and soon climbed on a high place and threw fire pots inward, covering many other Jianzhou elite soldiers who used spears to easily climb over the not too high earthen fence.

It was only at this time that when the elite main force of Jianzhou illuminated the inner side of the earthen fence with rockets, it was discovered that there was another winding earthen fortification at a distance of one to two zhang. This will obviously increase the chances of the defenders surviving under the rain of arrows at night. Knowing this, the black also continued to order the team to launch a tentative attack, and had no intention of giving up.

(End of chapter)