In general, Hong Chengchou felt that the defense of Beacon Hill was still doing a good job. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Needless to say, when the tide is high, don't say that Jianxuan has no navy now, even if the navy in their hands is the strongest, it is not the opponent of the sailor in Zheng Zhihu's hands, not to mention that there are two "Dutch" plywood boats to help in the battle. And even at low tide, the width of the road and bridge is very limited, and there are not many people rushing up at one time, and the two plywood ships cannot get too close because they are worried about running aground, but their shells can still hit the land bridge, and the other warships with a shallower draft can get up, and the Franc cannons on those ships can also work. Of course, if the war drags on until winter, there may be some trouble after the sea freezes, but it is still early in winter, and by then, the island's defenses should be stronger.

After more than ten days, Zhang Ruoqi finally waited for the holy decree he had been waiting for for a long time. So Hong Chengchou's more than 100,000 troops began to leave Tashan Fort and advance towards Jinzhou.

The way Jilharang attacked Jinzhou was almost a replica of Huangtaiji's siege of the Daling River: digging long trenches on all sides to completely cut off the connection between Jinzhou and other regions, and then farming near Jinzhou (this is a historical fact, the Qing army not only robbed the Ming army's Zhuangzi outside Jinzhou, but also simply planted the fields reclaimed by the Ming army, which can be regarded as doing it themselves, and having enough food and clothing. There are a lot of savings in Jinzhou City, if the Qing army does not rely on this trick, it may not be able to consume Zu Dashou), while slowly consuming the defenders in the city, while waiting for the Ming Dynasty to send reinforcements. Then concentrate on destroying the Ming reinforcements in the field, and then threaten the defenders with the might of defeating the reinforcements and force the defenders to surrender.

It's just that this time the Ming Dynasty actually sent more than 100,000 troops in one go, which was really much beyond Jierharang's previous expectations, so he asked Huang Taiji for help while letting the army set up camps and prepare for battle.

In the original history, Huang Taiji's physical condition at that time was already very bad, it is said that when the news came, he was bleeding from the nose, so he used a bowl to catch the nosebleed, all the way to Songshan, it is said that the nosebleed several bowls. And after that, in the Battle of Songshan, his favorite wife Hai Lanzhu died, which hit Huang Taiji hard, and it is said that he was in a coma for a while. However, in this time and space, it is probably because Hai Lanzhu's short-lived ghost son did not die, and he replaced the name of Da Yu'er's son later. Hai Lanzhu naturally did not fall seriously ill because of the loss of her child, and even with Huang Taiji's physical condition, it was much better than in the original history. Although high blood pressure caused by obesity still makes him dizzy from time to time, it is much better than the history of nosebleeds and coma or something. At least it won't cause him too much trouble in handling government affairs.

So Huang Taiji also immediately ordered a general mobilization, and sent out almost all the remaining Ding Zhuang in the country, intending to have a strategic decisive battle with the Ming army.

By the beginning of July, Hong Chengchou's army had finally reached Songshan, and beyond that, the barracks of the Manchu army surrounding Jinzhou.

Previously, Hong Chengchou determined that there were about 100,000 Qing troops outside Jinzhou City based on the information he had discovered, and he felt that he had 130,000 troops here, plus Zu Dashou in Jinzhou City also had tens of thousands of horses in his hands, so he should be able to barely break the siege. But I didn't know that at this time, the Eight Banners soldiers outside Jinzhou City, plus the Mongols, plus the traitors or something, the number had exceeded 200,000.

Hong Chengchou spent several days outside Songshan City to build a set of solid camps. And the Qing soldiers opposite him were not idle, they were digging trenches from the time Hong Chengchou set off from Ningyuan. Early this morning, Hong Chengchou left the auxiliary troops in the camp, and together with Cao Bianjiao, Wu Sangui and Zhang Ruoqi, he brought some cavalry to explore the camp of the Qing soldiers.

The Qing soldiers occupied several hills near the official road, and they cut down almost all the trees on the mountains, and built camps on the mountains, which were unfurled and heavily fortified, and it was difficult to attack them at first sight. Looking at the official road again, I saw that several large and small trenches had been dug on the official road outside Jinzhou City. From a distance, the largest of these trenches is about more than a zhang wide, and the excavated soil is piled up on the side of Jinzhou City, piled up into an earthen wall, and above the earthen wall, the Qing army also set up cannons, and the muzzles of the cannons are also facing this side.

In conjunction with this large trench, the official road was crisscrossed with a number of small trenches, which were only three or four feet wide, and the soldiers should easily jump over them. But it's difficult to get past the shield cart or something. A little behind these small trenches, there were also some repulsion horses, and some extra-long horse pistols leaned on top of the horses. These pistols are longer than regular pikes and require the barrel of the gun to be placed on top of the repellent. Several Qing soldiers stood behind the rejection of the horses, but they did not panic when they saw the cavalry of the Ming army, but only looked at them coldly. Farther back, the Qing soldiers also built some lookouts several feet high with wood. A little farther away, there were several camps of the Qing army.

"Two generals, what do you think of this barracks?" Hong Chengchou asked Cao Bianjiao and Wu Sangui.

"It's not easy to deal with." Wu Sangui shook his head and said, "Inspector, look at this road, Jianzhi not only dug many trenches, but also dug pits everywhere on the road. This is to protect against our shield cars. If there are no such pits on the ground, we will push the shield carts, and only these cannons on the Tartar side can move these shield carts, and the other bows, crossbows, javelins, flying swords, etc. But these cannons were slow, and it took half a day to fire a few shots, and there was no guarantee that every cannon would be accurate, so we let those auxiliaries push the shield carts and go up against the shelling, and in a few clicks we could fill in the small trenches in front of us. They had to rely on the soldiers to fight us. Now the road is full of potholes, and the shield cart pushes two steps, and then it has to stop and fill the holes, so that the ascent will be slow, and then the Tartars can use those cannons to beat us slowly and leisurely. If there is no shield car to cover, just let the unarmored auxiliaries go up to fill in those pits, you see, Inspector, those small trenches are not far from these pits, if the Tartars hide in them, whether there are people or not, how many people we can't see, suddenly killed, those auxiliaries are afraid that they will be doomed. ”

"That's what Mr. Wu said." Cao Bianjiao said, "Supervisor, you look at some small trenches, criss-crossing them, like a chessboard. We don't see how many people there are or how they are mobilized in these trenches. They are in the dark, we are in the light, and if we don't do it well, it is easy for them to play the trick of attacking back and forth, which is really not easy to fight. See, Governor, the high places in this vicinity are occupied by the Warriors, and they are condescending from above, and everyone in that trench can see them, and if you look at those towers, I am afraid they are also used to give orders. ”

"Then how does Chief Cao think he should deal with these trenches?" Hong Chengchou asked again.

"This ......" Cao Bianjiao looked at the trenches again, and then said, "It can only be filled a little bit, and it must be filled flat on the first line, just doing this, I don't know if there are heavy soldiers in those trenches, so it can only be that when every place is filled, soldiers are sent to cover, but it is ......"

"If you want to fight like this, but you will fight until the Year of the Monkey?" Zhang Ruoqi, who had been silent, said suddenly.

"It's the youngster's lack of consideration." Cao Bianjiao hurriedly said, he is not Hong Chengchou, Zhang Ruoqi is the confidant of Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the Ministry of War, who offended him, and many times he will be put in small shoes.

"The last general feels that in order to deal with these trenches, the first important thing is to take the two mountains next to them first!" Wu Sangui interjected, "If you take these two mountains and are condescending, you will be able to see the movements of the Tartars in the trenches clearly, and when the time comes, it will be much easier to beat them." Otherwise, there will not be enough people to fill these trenches......"

A few people pointed in front of the Manchu camp, and the Manchus naturally couldn't see it.

"Master, there is a group of Ming troops watching our formation at the bottom of the mountain. They were all cavalry, and there were about 300 horsemen. One of the soldiers knelt on the ground and said to Dord, who was sitting in the middle of the tent.

Duoduo was Nurhachi's youngest son-in-law, and he was very much of Nurhachi's favorite. So Nurhachi left him the most troops at the beginning. Now, in terms of his subordinate Niu Lu, Duoduo, as the owner of the White Banner, is one of the most powerful figures in the Eight Banners.

Because in the skirmish some time ago, the Manchus suffered a little loss, so Huang Taiji transferred Dolgon, who was in charge of these battles at that time, back and replaced it with Duoduo's inlaid white flag. Duoduo was not yet thirty years old at this time, and it was when he was young and vigorous, and Huang Taiji was about to use his sharp energy to fight against the last elite of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the power in the hands of the three brothers Azig, Dolgon, and Duoduo (they are the same father and mother, and their biological mother was also forced to death by the four major Baylors led by Huang Taiji) is too strong, and Huang Taiji can't be without ideas.

In order to split these three brothers, Huang Taiji suppressed Azig more, but attracted more to Duoduo, plus Duoduo was strong in his hands, so Duoduo has always been domineering, no one in his eyes, and often likes to do something out of the ordinary. Now that he heard that the Ming army had run to his barracks, he suddenly became interested, so he stood up and said to a few leaders under him: "Come out with me to have a look!" ”

The group came out of the military tent, looked down from the mountain, and saw more than 300 Ming Dynasty cavalry at the bottom of the mountain, and several of them were still pointing towards the mountain.

"Master, the older one in the middle is said to be Hong Chengchou, the commander of the Ming army. The emperor also mentioned many times that this person knows soldiers and can fight. An officer explained.

"Looking at their equipment, these people are afraid that they are the elite of the Ming Kingdom? I just don't know if it's an embroidered pillow or a bag of grass. "Dordor said. Since someone mentioned earlier that Huang Taiji had praised Hong Chengchou, Duoduo couldn't help but belittle his opponent.

"Master, is it a good thing, don't you know if you hit it?" The officer said.

"Good! Haning, take your people, bring three hundred, and weigh those Ming troops! Dodor ordered.