The Ming army operated in western Guangdong for 10 years, and the area north of the Nandu River was mainly defended by key points, and was not connected into a battle line.

If Hainan Island is the rear area, then the Leizhou Peninsula south of the Nandu River is the core defense area.

There are two main lines of defense in Leizhou.

The first is the Nandu River Defense Line, which is about 60 kilometers long and traverses the peninsula with the help of natural barriers in the central hills of the peninsula.

The second is the Xuwen ring defense ring at the southernmost tip of the peninsula.

Each line of defense was fortified at intervals, with batteries and trenches, and there were 103 permanent and semi-permanent fortifications in the two lines, with a total of 361 cannons of different calibers.

In terms of firepower and troop allocation, the Nandu River defense line focused on the plain near Haikang County, and the larger fortresses were equipped with visual communication stations to provide rapid intelligence transmission and early warning of the enemy's situation.

Behind the two lines of defense is a system of highways, with vertical longitudinal roads and horizontal roads, of which the horizontal roads roughly parallel to the defense line are the main reliance of field troops for maneuvering behind the defense lines.

If this system worked properly, even if the Tatars forced their way across the defense line of the South River somewhere, the field troops maneuvering behind the defense line would be able to quickly reach the enemy's breakthrough.

The defense line of Nandu River and the ring defense ring of Xu Wen were completed three years ago, and a total of more than one million silver grains were spent, and in the opinion of the guard, as long as there were no problems within the Ming army, it was unlikely that the Tatars would break through the defense line of Nandu River without smashing seven or eight million taels of silver, so he was relieved to leave the mainland in those years.

Fighting a war depends not only on the soldier's bayonet, but also on the soldier's legs, and the flintlock unit is more mobile than the mixed cold and hot arms.

Defend the order with the 9th regiment to do a small test to accumulate experience for future battlefield maneuvers.

On the night of the forced crossing, the battlefield of the western front of Leizhou, Guancun.

The 9th Regiment Commander Andrei looked at his pocket watch irritably, the time had exceeded the plan by 3 hours, and the troops had not yet been assembled.

"How many people have you got in your 2 battalions?"

"Not counting the huntsman company, there are 123 people in the 1st battalion who have not returned."

"The 2nd battalion did not reach 98 people."

"What the hell is going on!"

"Regiment commander, there is no way, the troops are on the front line, and it is very difficult for the brothers to withdraw."

Andre took two steps back and forth, "Li Jianjie's cavalry has already left first, we can't wait any longer, we must start immediately." ”

"What about the soldiers who haven't returned yet?"

"Leave 10 people to contain, and the rest will be organized into a sub-battalion, and a captain will be sent to command, don't go to the main battlefield, just stay in Guancun to fight."

"Yes."

"Also, make a note of the details of this operation, and we'll go back and see how we can improve it."

"Yes."

The 9th Regiment engaged in an all-out exchange of fire with the 8,000 Green Battalion of the Lian Decheng Division in the vicinity of Guancun, and the line of fire stretched from the hilly and mountainous areas to the Nandu River, and it was not easy for the soldiers to disengage from the enemy in such a wide area.

The 9th Regiment left chasseurs and artillery to support Li Yuantai, and after the Ming army retreated to Guancun to stabilize it, Andrei had to leave empty.

The cold moonlight shone on the ground, and the officers and soldiers of the 9th Regiment marched on foot, and the drill code did not require the steps under this formation, and the soldiers tightened their leggings, used their most comfortable posture to carry their guns, and left the official village.

More than 1,000 pairs of rubber-soled military shoes stepped on the wooden planks of the pontoon bridge one after another, and the pontoon swayed up and down, stirring up wave after wave of ripples.

Under the moonlight, the 9th regiment trotted, and the whole army withdrew to the right bank of the Nandu River.

The cold moonlight shone on the road ahead, and the 9th Regiment continued to advance 5 miles to the southeast.

The commander of the 1st battalion found Andrei, "Sir, the speed can't be fast, if it goes on like this, we will definitely not be able to get to the battlefield tomorrow morning." ”

"What do you say?"

The major gritted his teeth, "Light the torch." ”

Andrei pulled the reins, and the horse spun around twice.

Andre opened his pocket watch, it was half past two in the morning, and he had walked about 3 kilometers, and there were still 15 kilometers to Huaqiaoshui.

Visibility is good tonight, and if a long line of torches is lit, the Tatars on the left bank will surely be able to see it.

"Sir, the Tatars saw it, they saw it, they couldn't figure out the situation at night, and after dawn they had to fight for at least 3 or 4 hours before they could confirm that our troops had withdrawn from the official village."

Andrei nodded violently, "3 torches per row, light at intervals, right away!" ”

Ten minutes later, an intermittent fire dragon appeared on the right bank of the Nandu River, moving eastward.

————

In Haikang City, there are more than 7,000 people whose families have fled.

In the artillery battles and out-of-town raids for several days, many officers and soldiers of the Ming army were wounded.

It was supposed to be bedtime, and the faint sound of artillery in the distance woke the soldiers from their sleep.

The wounded soldiers were wrapped in white bandages and surrounded the Sanyuan Qixiu Pagoda one after another.

Gao Lei Governor Zhang Xiaoqi's team of pacesetters wore helmets and armor, held the handle of the knife, and formed a circle outside the tower.

The wounded soldiers gathered in groups outside the tower, talking about it.

"Futai's personal soldiers surrounded the base of the tower, Lord Zhang must have gone up to the tower."

"I just saw Yang Zhen go up too."

"There must be something important, the two adults will go up to the tower, it is estimated that it has something to do with the sound of artillery outside."

"Brother, did you say that this cannon was fired by our reinforcements?"

"Listen carefully, the artillery is in the southeast, and it must be reinforcements."

"He and Jin have also broken the siege a few times before, but they have not succeeded."

"It is estimated that Hainan has sent new reinforcements."

"Brother, I heard that there is a Tartar brigade in the south of the city marching west in the past few days, and I thought that reinforcements would come from the west."

"I don't understand either, the matter of transferring troops was decided by the adults above, let's just wait."

The wounded soldiers were silent for a while, and tears suddenly fell from the eyes of a young soldier without a beard.

"I heard that the Tartars slaughtered Huazhou, and none of the officers and soldiers in the city survived, if the reinforcements are defeated again this time, will we also die?"

The veteran stretched out his arm, put his arm around the doll, who looked to be no more than 13 or 4 years old, and said softly, "No, it won't." ”

The top floor of the Sanyuan Qixiu Tower.

This tower has 9 floors outside, 8 dark layers inside, a total of 17 floors, up to 57 meters, is the commanding height of the whole city of Leizhou.

Gao Lei Governor Zhang Xiaoqi put down the binoculars, "Yang Zhentai, is that fire dragon in Henan our reinforcements?" ”

"It must be."

"I don't know which soldier it is, it's still marching at night."

"The sound of artillery is coming from the southeast, and the fire dragon is marching towards the east, I estimate that the west was a feint a few days ago, and the sound of artillery in the east tonight is the direction of the main attack of the reinforcements."

"The east is flat land, and the attack must face Geng Jimao's battalion, how can it be fought. The Tartar cavalry could not drive through the mountains to the west, and reinforcements might be able to establish contact with us as long as they controlled the hills and mounted Hongyi cannons. ”

"Futai is right, if there are only two towns, He Huchen and Jin Shiying, they can only go to the western mountains to relieve us. I guess Geng Jimao thought the same way, so he transferred seven or eight thousand people to Liande City to the west to plug the leak. ”

"What do you mean, behind the defense line of the Nandu River, there are more than the people of Hejin Erzhen?"

"It must be so."

"Alas, it's a pity that the siege of the Tartars is too strict, and we can't send people out of the city to contact."

"Don't worry about Futai, I think tomorrow morning there will be a signal pole in the south to tell us what's going on."

"You can only wait until dawn, Yang Zhen, you better go back and rest, maybe you will have to fight tomorrow."

Yang Qianqing smiled, "That's the case, then I'll go down the tower first." ”

Yang Qianqing turned around and went down the wooden ladder, the sound of footsteps echoing in the tower.

Zhang Xiaoqi looked up at the night sky, the galaxy meandered through the sky, and tomorrow should be a good day.

After a while, the sound of the cannon gradually subsided, until the east spit out the white of the fish's belly, Zhang Xiaoqi looked south at the top of the tower, and stayed up all night.

——————

On the left bank of the Nandu River, the 1st Regiment established a defensive line near Tai Po Town, and the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment sent stragglers to extend 2 km along the embankment to the right flank to occupy the confluence of the embankment and the seawall.

On the river, two engineering companies of boats and bridges are struggling to build pontoon bridges. At this time, the tide had fallen, the water level had dropped by 2 meters, and the mud of the tidal flats was exposed.

On both sides of the pontoon bridge are the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment crossing the river on a sampan.

Behind the embankment on the right bank, on both sides of the temporary roadbed, field artillery consisting of 6 12-pounder guns, 6 6-pounder guns, and 6 4-pounder cavalry guns waited to cross the river.

The artillery battalion consisted of about 600 horses and horses, and the long column stretched to the rear, and these well-trained horses were not afraid of the sound of cannons, and together with their masters, they waited peacefully on the side of the road.

In the rear of the field artillery were the Sikh cavalry regiments, 2 cubirscarier squadrons, 3 Hainan hussar squadrons, a total of 9 cavalry squadrons with 2,100 cavalry. The cavalry dismounted and fed the horses.

Farther away were the cavalry and infantry of the Ming army, and the marching column was originally the artillery of the Ming army at the end, but now the officers and men of the 9th regiment fell exhausted at the end of the line, in groups of three or five, lying on the ground and sleeping.

Commander Andrei found Shou Xiang by the river, "Report that the main force of the 9th Regiment has arrived, and there are 1,431 officers and soldiers. ”

"You're late, and there are a lot fewer soldiers."

"Yes, Führer, I'm sorry!"

"What, you're still a little unconvinced?"

The 9th Regiment marched all night, Andrei's eyes were bloodshot, and the expression on his face looked very dissatisfied.

"Yes, Führer, I think that the General Staff, in its planning, ignored the difficulty of disengaging the front-line troops from the enemy."

"This issue will be discussed after the war, and there is no need to mention it now."

"I will submit a detailed report after the war."

"Disband, go back and rest, you have four hours to recuperate."

"Yes, sir."

André stood up and saluted, turned and strode away.

Carl Langemann laughed, "Straightforward, what a lovely officer." ”

Shou Xuan shook his head, "He has fought in the Chinese battlefield for several years and participated in every big war. ”

"You like him a lot?"

"Seeing the scars on his body, you will also like a regimental leader like Andrei."

"Perhaps. The pontoon bridge is about to close, how do you plan to fight? ”

Shou Xuan shook his head, "Follow me." ”

Shou Zhi and Carl Langemann turned and walked up the embankment and pulled open the binoculars.

To the east of Haikang is a rectangular plain about 6-7 kilometers wide and 10 kilometers long.

The Tatar camp is 5 kilometers north of the embankment on the left bank of the Nandu River, the camp has a wooden fence and a ditch, and the camp is roughly divided into four parts, the front three and the back one are in a T-shaped configuration, extending to the rear.

Between the Tartar camp and the embankment, there are two multi-sided forts made of civil wood, which are located in the middle of the camp and the embankment on the left bank, and the distance between the two forts is about 2 kilometers.

The multi-sided fort on the east side is larger, with more than 20 cannons, and it is about 2 kilometers away from the seawall. The multi-sided fort in the west is smaller, there are more than 10 cannons, 2 kilometers away from the siege trench of the green camp under Haikang City, and the two cannon bases basically divide the battle line equally, which is the core fortification of Geng Fan to control this plain.

Between the multi-faced fort and the river embankment, there are 2 deserted villages.

Langemann looked around the battlefield and let out a long sigh, "It's not easy to fight." ”

"I only know until I fight."

The plan was to control Tai Po Harbor with one part of the Ming Army, and the rest of the troops formed an oblique northwest front between Tai Po and the seawall to storm most of the forts.

Until then, the defenders of Haikang City must be notified.

The signal corps erected a wooden communication pole on the river embankment, and the visibility is very good today, and the lookout post on the Sanyuan Qixiu Tower in Haikang City can see far away.

The communication pole changed shape and sent a brief message to the Haikang defenders.

"I'm on my way, hold on! Orderly. ”