The battle at the mouth of the Sancha River in the early spring of Chongzhen's third year also made Xiao Xuan and many people in the team understand a truth in their post-war summary: that is, although tactically speaking, the attacking side often suffers, but if it can win the final victory, the blow obtained and even the blow to the opponent will be far more than the previous cost.

If the team still adopts a passive strategy as before in the battle of the Sancha Estuary, giving the opponent a chance to attack calmly, perhaps there is still a chance to repel the opponent. However, while the losses may not be able to be reduced much, such a record will never be achieved.

What is even more important is that active operations can more clearly expose the quality of the troops and the advantages and disadvantages of the commanders, thus sweeping away the sand in a big wave. In this way, even if the war is unfavorable and ends up losing, considering the significance of the big waves and sands, it will not lose too much.

Thinking about this, Xiao Xuan only took a short rest after organizing the reorganized First Division of the Volunteer Army to withdraw from Yanshan to Beijing by water, and continued to march westward after concentrating many of the remaining troops in Beizhili, and launched a sweep of the remaining enemy forces in the entire Shaanxi.

Almost at the same time, in accordance with the military order, the main force of the combat group remaining in Xuzhou also began to take the initiative to launch an attack on Henan and other places, the goal of course was to first sweep away the remnants of the enemy in the entire north and control the entire north, and not give the internal and external opponents a chance to unite with each other. When the canal north of Yangzhou had not yet resumed navigation, the great war once again began on the entire northern land.

Zhou Dayong did not show too much talent in leading troops, but at this time, the armies and brigades of the revolutionary army were already somewhat different from the old army in the traditional sense. That is, among the brigades where the membership organization of the Datong Society is relatively weak and the quality of the army is far less than that of the First Division of the Chinese People's Volunteers, a relatively complete staff organization has also been established. In addition, a "soldiers' committee" has also been initially established, which can overcome some feudal shortcomings within the army of hierarchical organization to the greatest extent, so that middle- and upper-level officers can have a clearer understanding of the morale of the entire army, and will not be covered by some lower-level officers with their hands and unable to discover possible hidden dangers.

With a better understanding of themselves, the scouts and scouts sent out could not only accompany the team within a radius of about thirty miles. In the end, Xiao Xuan decided not only to personally establish and organize the members of the Datong Society, but also to appoint representatives of the Datong Society to organize the organizational construction within the army. At this time, although the characteristics of the traditional modern army were still stronger, the various armies and brigades of the revolutionary army led by Zhou Dayong also began to quietly have some differences.

"The enemy also seems to have heard the rumors, our army in Kaifeng Luoyang near the scouts sent some information and intelligence to analyze, now gathered in Kaifeng, Luoyang around the enemy decent regular team at least seventy or eighty thousand troops, a lot of grain in various places also began to desperately to Kaifeng, Luoyang and other big cities, it seems that the enemy has given up the plan to start a decisive battle with the main force of our army, ready to defend the city with all their might. . . ." A revolutionary army commander said at the military meeting.

Although Zhou Dayong is not a very keen person in command, some situations can also be seen: "It seems that King Fu, King Zhou and others are still very self-aware, and they do not plan to use our so-called newly built army to fight a decisive battle with our army in the past winter, but plan to concentrate on defending the city." They are not arrogant, but our army should also tell each other that times are different now! ”

In this way, the main force of about 60,000 mobile troops of the four armies and twelve brigades led by Zhou Dayong quickly swept away those villagers who were not very strong in combat effectiveness along the way after entering Henan, approached the city of Kaifeng, and launched a siege operation with the fastest speed and the easiest method.

Summing up and summarizing all kinds of experiences is now a relatively important task in the revolutionary army, and this has enabled Zhou Dayong, who has not commanded many operations, to also learn some experience in operations and campaigns. And not just tactical, but also strategic.

In the case of its own absolute superiority and overwhelming strength, if Kaifeng City is easily taken, it will be difficult to test the gold content of the combat brigades transformed from the militia. Therefore, when the tentative offensive was first carried out, the method adopted was to draw the numbers of about 30 infantry companies from the 12 brigades, and directly lead the battalion commanders to carry out siege operations during the day, when it was easier to supervise and supervise the battle. With the sound of fierce cannons, and even the explosion of horsetail black powder grenades that approached the head of the enemy city, the offensive and defensive battle on the head of the city also began in an instant.

After a winter or so of war preparations, the defensive preparations on the city of Kaifeng were relatively decent, although at this time the trees in Henan and other places were not common, but by demolishing the houses inside and outside the city or forcibly plundering tables, chairs or bed boards, the entire city wall was covered with simple wooden planks, and it was not passive under the grenade offensive of the attacking enemy.

Many of the teams that attacked with simple ladders or even hooks encountered setbacks in the initial siege, and many were killed and injured by the catapult projectiles, firearm projectiles, and even various explosives and incendiary objects thrown from the city.

Moreover, because the strength of the attacking team was relatively scattered, many of the companies that broke through to the city were lost under the counterattack of the enemy at the head of the city because of the lack of effective support from each other.

However, there were also some tactically well-organized troops who effectively deployed the support of guns and firearms under the city head, and bravely used three or two guns and light shotguns at a place of about ten zhang or even ten paces, so that the defenders at the head of the city hardly dared to face the enemy. In addition, the attacking team is also more courageous, and can skillfully use the blasting rod to attack the fortification, when many companies took the initiative to occupy the city without too many casualties, the neighboring companies also launched the main attack, and more and more troops began to be able to stand on the head of the city of Kaifeng.

In the final analysis, when there are many Pingchuan and the contradictions between the government and the people are serious, and the commanders lack good generals in the real sense, although Kaifeng theoretically has 30,000 or 40,000 regular forces and a large number of armed Ding Zhuang, its combat effectiveness is not very strong. That is, in the face of the peasant army that was not deeply rooted, it was able to show decent resilience. When faced with the attack of the new army led by Zhou Dayong, the fundamental limitations of combat effectiveness were soon exposed.

When Zhou Dayong and the others, who learned that they no longer planned to continue to test the team, but ordered the team to attack with all their might, the resistance on the head of Kaifeng City gradually subsided near dusk.

(End of chapter)