Because each unit was established at different times, and its understanding and foundation are not the same, the training progress is also different. This is true even within the same division or regiment. In order to strengthen the training progress of the military project in Chongzhen in the past four years, each unit formed a number of intensive training groups based on the two more important items of bomb throwing and equestrianism, especially in the equestrian training, not only relying on many experienced riders, but also spending a lot of time on the study of how to find out the temperament of the horse, how to select and control the horse, and how to master the reins of different horses. Training is also carried out in teams of more experienced riders.

In addition, the main force of about 70,000 people in the divisions of the volunteer army and the first and second armies also had a certain foundation in riding skills in the training and marching of the third winter of Chongzhen, so the training task was effectively completed before the summer of the fourth year of Chongzhen. Although it is obviously reluctant to be a cavalry for most officers and soldiers, a large-scale long-distance march in a group, or even a forced march, will not face much of a problem at least.

As the first batch of troops preparing to launch an expedition, when the summer of the fourth year of Chongzhen was approaching, about 70,000 men and horses first began to divide their troops into three directions, from the direction of Chahar and Mongolia, the direction of western Liao, and the direction along the Liao River to launch a devastating offensive against the remnants of Jianzhou in eastern Liao.

Perhaps it was the experience of fighting with the elite of Jianzhou a few years ago that made many people feel a little apprehensive, this time there were few people in the Liaodong area who dared to underestimate the enemy, and all the teams were gathered as much as possible and marched very cautiously, until in the middle of summer, the troops of more than 70,000 troops of the four armies and thirteen divisions were deployed in place from all directions, basically blocking all directions where the remnants of the enemy might flee, and the long-planned total was suddenly launched.

According to the original expectations, even if the main force of Jianzhou has been transferred to the Hezhong area to a large extent, there are only tens of thousands of core population and less than 10,000 decent troops in Liaodong, if the opponent does not choose to face him head-on, then I am afraid it will take a lot of time to clear the mountains and forests.

However, to Xiao Xuan's surprise, the remnants of the enemy's main force remaining in the Jianzhou area did not go into the mountains and forests or flee to other places as expected, let alone choose to take the initiative to fight against the enemy on the periphery as they did when Salhu was in the past. Instead, they concentrated all their men and food in the area around Tuhala, and used the civil forts that had been built over the past few months to prepare for stubborn resistance in the defense.

Although the divisions of the First Army and the Second Army behind the flank did not carry any heavy firearms, the Volunteer Left Army led by Xiao Xuan personally also relied on the waterways and even the baggage and engineering troops in the summer to carry at least 20 Hongyi cannons weighing about 1,000 catties and slightly smaller specifications.

It was in this context that the heavy shelling began. According to the original estimate, 2,000 shells fired by 20 guns in a few hours should be able to easily destroy the fortifications made of tree trunks, timber and even mounds of earth on the other side. After a full day of bombardment, although the enemy's Tumu fort was heavily riddled with bullets, it seemed that there was still a long way to go before it could really shake the outer defenses with artillery fire. Moreover, there is a big difference between the walled fort built on the mountain and the flat land, and it is often difficult for the attacking team to effectively coordinate the siege through the way of shooting the head of the city from the side in the previous siege battle.

This situation also began to make Xiao Xuan somewhat understand why the main force of Jianzhou, which was obviously weak in strength after staying behind, had no intention of escaping or taking the initiative to fight on the outside line. Fundamentally speaking, the Dangjianzhou Division, which is more akin to an agrarian people and has a relatively low fishing and hunting component, is different from the Qianjin and is more suitable for a stable settled life, and is also very different from the real nomadic people in terms of combat system. It is precisely for this reason that the main force of Jianzhou that remained behind chose to rely on strong fortresses instead of maneuvering around to fight.

However, Wang An, the commander of the Volunteer Left Army, did not feel that this was too much trouble: "Although the enemy's fortifications are dangerous and difficult to attack, as long as a decisive blasting attack is put in, it should be able to effectively break through... ”

Seeing that the team seemed to have some tendencies to rely too much on blasting attack methods, Xiao Xuan said solemnly: "Now our army has a lot of reliable gunpowder background, more than two or three million catties, in fact, the average is more than 200,000 horses in the preparation for the western expedition, and the average person is only ten catties of gunpowder and more than 20 catties of various projectiles, which is not very rich, not to mention how much foundation is left in the sea." We can't get into the habit of relying too much on firepower and being afraid to face difficulties head-on, after all, we don't have that kind of conditions at this time. Hearing this, Wang An, the commander of the Volunteer Left Army, also began to understand some of Xiao Xuan's plans.

When night fell, 200 bombardiers from the whole army were selected from the back of a hundred and very good at using horsetail grenades. In the same way, there were 1,000 strong archers who were the most outstanding in night marksmanship, and together with the selected steel shield men and the flintlock bayonet men of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Volunteer Division, they formed an elite assault formation of 4,000 or 5,000 men, and launched a night battle and strong attack on the defeat of Tuhala's remaining defenders.

In addition, some small trebuchets of some demolition teams also came in handy, although they were not large, they could effectively throw two-pound black powder grenades into a hill hundreds of meters high, and shoot them beyond the threat distance of the enemy. If the trebuchet were to be used in this way on flat ground, those black powder grenades with fragile shells would not be able to withstand such a large impact, but throwing upwards was completely different from attacking.

Of course, the use of this method at night also put forward high requirements for the technical level and training level of the relevant personnel of the demolition team, and more than 100 small trebuchets prepared soon threw more than 300 fire bombs, mainly incendiary bombs, onto the enemy's fort in several rounds of engagement.

In this era, whether it is fire oil or gunpowder, the lethal effect is imperfect, and these more than 30 two-pound fire bombs did not bring too many casualties to the enemy in the defense, but the sporadic fire points and even the fire light pointed out the way of attack.

When the team launched a surprise attack, the enemy who had been prepared for a long time also counterattacked by various means ranging from simple rolling logs and rocks to thunder and thunder, and took advantage of the fire of the explosion and the advantage of defense to release arrows one after another in the dark night, and the attacking team just reached the mountainside and people fell down one after another, only because of the excellent protection, they did not suffer too serious casualties, but continued to move forward, because of the attack of fire and thunder and bow and arrows, the difficulty increased sharply.

(End of chapter)