Ningyuan City.

Ningyuan City is the location of Ningyuan Weizhi, Li Hongyu is the second time to come to this acropolis that presents a square pattern, the last time was in the 47th year of Wanli he was ordered to go to Liaodong to serve as the governor of Liaodong.

After learning that Li Hongyu personally led the army to come, the panicked soldiers and civilians in Ningyuan City were all overjoyed and gathered outside the city to welcome Li Hongyu's arrival.

Li Hongyu rode a tall horse, surrounded by guards, smiling and waving to the soldiers and civilians who welcomed him on both sides of the road.

Ningyuan City could not be compared with the fortified cities of Guangning, Shenyang and Liaoyang, and was at best an ordinary acropolis, and before that it had no particularly important military value.

But now it is different, with the loss of Guangning and the defeat of the Ming army in western Liaoning, Ningyuan City has now become a bridgehead for the Ming army to resist the Houjin army, shouldering the heavy task of preventing the Houjin army from moving south.

Therefore, Ningyuan City is now particularly important, becoming the first line of defense of the Ming Dynasty against the Houjin, once Ningyuan falls, then the Ming army will no longer be able to resist the defense line of the Houjun Iron Cavalry between Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan, and the Houjin's troops will reach Shanhaiguan.

In other words, Ningyuan City left a buffer space of two hundred miles to Shanhaiguan to avoid the iron cavalry of Houjin from coming to the pass, in that case, Da Ming would be passive.

This is also the reason why Li Hongyu and Sun Chengzong both decided to defend Ningyuan City, in fact, Li Hongyu prefers to defend Jinzhou City, which can be described as the southward gateway of western Liaoning, and is the pass in the eastern part of the western Liaoning corridor, which has extremely important military value.

However, what Li Hongyu can think of, Nurhachi can definitely think of it, so now Jinzhou City must have been taken by the Houjin army, so it is not easy to take it back now.

The general stationed in Ningyuan was the deputy commander-in-chief Zhao Shuijiao, who was born as a martial artist, and was promoted to the deputy commander-in-chief in charge of the affairs of the Chinese army because of the appreciation of Yuan Yingtai, the former Liaodong Economic Strategy.

During the battle of Liaoshen, Zhao Shujiao escaped after the fall of Shenyang City, because the imperial court was at the time of employing people, and because Yuan Yingtai committed suicide and took the responsibility for the defeat, Zhao Shujiao was fortunate to be spared punishment and served under Wang Huazhen.

It's a pity that no one thought that Sun Degong would surrender to the enemy, and as a result, Guangning City was easily captured by Houjin, and Zhao Shujiao, who was in the city at that time, had to chase Wang Huazhen and fled to Shanhaiguan, and later took the initiative to ask Wang Zaijin to lead the army to defend Ningyuan.

Zhao Shujiao's two deputies were the staff general Zhu Mei and Zuo Fu, both of whom had been in Liaodong for many years, and were subordinates of Li Hongyu when he was the governor of Liaodong.

Therefore, Li Hongyu was very familiar with Zhao Shujiao and other generals stationed in Ningyuan, and Zhao Shujiao and others were very happy with Li Hongyu's arrival, and personally went out of the city to greet them, looking forward to Li Hongyu being able to turn the tide again and lead them to a big victory.

Ningyuan City is only an acropolis, so there are not many garrisons, only five or six thousand people, but there is a lot of grain and grass piled up in the city.

When Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen arranged for the army and civilians to go south to Shanhaiguan, in addition to destroying the local grain and grass, they also brought back a lot of grain and grass, leaving some of it in Ningyuan.

Although Xiong Tingbi made the decision to withdraw to Shanhaiguan, he also realized that he had to leave a buffer zone in front of Shanhaiguan to ensure the safety of Shanhaiguan, so Ningyuan City became the front fortress to block the Houjin army's approach.

With the arrival of nearly 20,000 Ming troops led by Li Hongyu, the city of Ningyuan suddenly became noisy, and under Li Hongyu's order, all the soldiers and civilians began to strengthen the city defenses, preparing to resist a possible attack by Houjin.

Surrounded by Yuan Chonghuan and Zhao Shujiao, Li Hongyu inspected the construction site in full swing, and all the soldiers and civilians were very energetic, and the panic that had originally shrouded Ningyuan City had been swept away with Li Hongyu's arrival.

The head of Ningyuan City.

Li Hongyu frowned slightly and looked at the twenty or thirty old and new artillery pieces of various types and sizes placed on the city wall, in order to defend Ningyuan, Wang Zaijin and others mobilized the artillery in their hands to support Ning Yuan, these artillery pieces were the only ones in the Ming army in Liaodong.

"It's a pity, so much grain, grass and artillery in Ningyuan City have cheapened Jiannu for nothing!" Yuan Chonghuan couldn't help but sigh secretly when he saw Li Hongyu looking at the cannons on the city wall with a solemn expression.

At least half of the firearms of the Ming army in Liaodong were in Guangning City, and they were originally counting on those firearms to vigorously kill and injure the Houjin army besieging the city, but who thought that a Sun Degong would make the Ming Dynasty's arrangement go to waste, and even a Houjin person could not be killed or injured before becoming a trophy of the Houjin.

At the time of the Salhu War, the Houjin did not have artillery, and they could not make artillery at all with their technological and technological level, but after the Liaoshen War, firearms battalions had begun to appear in the military camps of the Houjin army, which were operated by the surrendered Han Chinese.

Although the scale of the firearms battalion of the Later Jin Army was small and could not be compared with that of the Ming Army, it meant that the Later Jin had begun to learn the use of firearms.

Nurhachi knew the power of Daming firearms, so he paid special attention to the production of firearms, and began to use captured craftsmen to imitate Daming's standard artillery after the battle of Liaoshen.

This is a bad sign, the Ming army compared with the Later Jin army its advantage is to have a strong city defense and artillery damage, once the Hou Jin army mastered the production and use of artillery, then the only advantage of the Ming army can be gone.

Now, the city of Guangning was taken by the Houjin soldiers without blood, not only the heavy firearms inside, but also the craftsmen who made the artillery were also captured, and it must not be long before the Houjin will use firearms on a large scale to deal with the Ming army that held the city.

"Scholar, if Jiannu uses the artillery captured from Quang Ninh to attack the city, then Ning Yuan Ke is in danger." After listening to Yuan Chonghuan's words, Zhao Shujiao, who was standing aside, also expressed his worries.

He escaped from Guangning City, and naturally knew that the power of those artillery in Guangning City was the latest new artillery produced by Daming, and it was the best in Daming in terms of power and range.

"Jiannu just got those firearms, and now they haven't had time to practice, so they will definitely not be put into battle."

Li Hongyu pondered for a moment when he heard this, and said methodically, "Besides, those firearms will definitely be regarded as treasures by Jiannu, and they will not be put into the battlefield easily." ”

"My concern is how to make these guns more useful."

As he spoke, Li Hongyu's gaze fell on the artillery at the head of the city again, and he said with a serious expression, "These cannons can only hit Jiannu in the distance, and once Jiannu gets close, they will lose their effectiveness." ”

Yuan Chonghuan and Zhao Shujiao and others couldn't help but glance at each other when they heard this, what Li Hongyu said was indeed a great problem, as long as the Houjin army rushed to the front of the city wall, then the artillery on the city wall would be useless, and the artillery would be the most lethal to the Houjin army.

"This officer has an idea."

Seeing that everyone fell silent, Li Hongyu glanced around the scene and then stretched out his hand to the corner of the far side of the city wall, and said in a loud voice, "Build a convex fort with three sides at each of the four corners of the city wall, so that you can attack the enemy on the front, left and right with crossfire, so that Jiannu has nothing to dodge." ”

"This is a wonderful move, so that I am not afraid of digging the city wall after Jiannu arrives." When Yuan Chonghuan heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up, with the mutual support of the four forts, there would be no dead end for artillery firing in Ningyuan City.

Zhao Shujiao and others also showed joy on their faces, but they didn't expect Li Hongyu to solve the problem that had plagued them for a long time as soon as he came, not only killing and injuring the Houjin army who were besieging the city, but also preventing the Houjin army from digging the city wall after getting close, which is the main means of attacking the city now.

Subsequently, Zhao Shujiao ordered the soldiers and civilians in the city to build forts in the four corners of the city according to Li Hongyu's idea, as long as the crossfire was formed, the safety of Ningyuan City would be more guaranteed.

What Yuan Chonghuan and others didn't know was that the construction of a fort at the corner of the city was not something that Li Hongyu had come up with on a temporary basis now, and the new city being built in Shanghai now adopted this kind of defensive design, and there was a fort with a three-story turret at each of the four corners of the new city, and the firing angle reached 270 degrees, which can be said to have the most powerful fortifications in the Ming Dynasty.

After the construction of the forts at the four corners of Ningyuan City was completed, it made great achievements in the future, although Li Hongyu did not use it, but it fulfilled Yuan Chonghuan.

Yuan Chonghuan naturally didn't know now that he would be the biggest beneficiary of the Ningyuan City Fort, and at this time he was busy preparing to accept the refugees rescued from the Thirteen Mountains.

There are more than 100,000 refugees in the Thirteen Mountains, and if they want to return to Shanhaiguan, they will definitely pass through Ningyuan City, so Ningyuan City has become the most important transit point for those refugees on the way, and it will definitely be a busy time.

Li Hongyu seized the time to reorganize the troops in Ningyuan City, don't look at the current Ningyuan City has more than 20,000 people, but in addition to the 8,000 forbidden troops and sailors, at most half of the remaining 10,000 people are suitable for killing the enemy, and the rest belong to the category of the old, weak, sick and disabled.

After all, the Battle of Sarhu, the Battle of Liaoshen and the Battle of Guangning have buried the main force of the Ming army in Liaodong, and the remaining troops can be described as second-line personnel.

Taking the Ming army that went to the rescue of the Thirteen Mountains this time as an example, don't look at the 40,000 people on the surface, in fact, there are 60% of the number of thank God.

The reason for this situation is also very helpless, in the roster of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, the places reported by the Governors of various places are full, so when the imperial court transfers troops, it is naturally transferred according to the roster of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, and the phenomenon of empty salaries is widespread in the local Governors' Offices, so where can they go to make up for the number of people for a while.

The lack of troops has been valued by the imperial court since the Xuande period, so the Xuande Emperor also sent the "Qing Army Imperial History" to the local capital to check the actual number of people in the local capital, but unfortunately it could not solve this stubborn disease caused by the military system formulated by the Hongwu Emperor.

By the time of the Apocalypse, the situation was even more serious, and some guards even had only about half of the troops, and because the imperial court had nothing to do about it, it turned a blind eye.