Songshan Fort, the forward position of the Ming army.

If the people who have lived here for a long time have found this unbelievable thing. Tens of thousands of Ming soldiers poured out of Jinzhou City and set up a continuous defense line for more than ten miles between Rufeng Mountain and Songshan Mountain.

Not only that, these Ming troops, who did not dare to go out of the city on weekdays, actually began to dig tunnels outside Songshan Fort, and the tunnels stretched from the right near the sea to the left, splitting under Songshan Fort like a divine blade from the sky, dividing the entire land into two. And there seems to be more than one of these deep and wide tunnels, at least three.

The Ming troops were in full swing in the tunnels, countless clods of earth were transported out of the tunnels, and the dust on the positions was flying, and the dust and debris were scattered over the entire Songshan Fort as the gusts of wind blew. On the battlefield, the Ming dragon flag fluttered, shouts and shouts came and went, especially at this time the weather was hot, many Ming soldiers also took off their cloth armor, rolled up their sleeves and trouser legs, and worked hard.

At this moment, Sun Yueling, the commander of Liaodong, was inspecting the forward positions of the entire Ming army accompanied by the general Zhao Shujiao, the governor Zhang Zhiqi and other generals.

The Ming army sent troops to Songshan to block the Liaozuo Jin army, which was a military action taken under the full arrangement of Sun Yueling.

This time, the siege of Jinzhou not only burned the enemy's grain, but also dealt a serious blow to the main force of the yellow and red flags, forcing Haoge to retreat to Dalinghe Fort, and even Yue Tuo, the owner of the red flag flag, was cut off by the Ming army.

The victory of the siege of Jinzhou made the prestige of Sun Yueling of Liaodong Jingluo blazing, and many generals in Jinzhou, including Zhao Shujiao, all bowed their heads and expressed their willingness to listen to his dispatch from now on. Therefore, Sun Yueling judged the situation and ordered Zhao Shujiao and Zhang Zhiqi to send troops to Songshan in time to block Huang Taiji's retreat.

Even though Sun Yueling's prestige soared, it still shocked many people by letting the Jinzhou generals go out of the city to fight against Houjin at this time. After all, the Ming army has never taken advantage of Houjin in field warfare, and now they want to go out of the city to fight, many people are worried, because they are facing the main force of Houjin, and the number is close to twice that of them, even if the enemy is short of food and tired, but their chances of victory do not seem to be very great.

Sun Yueling took a lot of effort to communicate with them, and it took a lot of effort to get everyone to acquiesce to his plan, and Sun Yueling promised them that they only needed to defend Songshan Fort for three days before these generals were willing to go out of the city to fight. As for what happened three days later, Sun Yueling fooled them and said that everything would be left to Yuan Chonghuan at that time, and they only needed to retreat into Jinzhou City.

I heard that I only needed to hold Songshan Fort for three days, and all the generals put down the big stone in their hearts. Even if the Ming army could not fight the enemy in the field, it should be no problem to hold Songshan Fort for three days, if at that time, as Sun Yueling said, Yuan Chonghuan sent troops from Ningyuan to attack the enemy's rear, maybe it could really make Houjin carry a big heel in Liaozuo.

Therefore, at this moment, the Matsuyama Ming Army, from the generals to the soldiers, is all full of high fighting spirit and full of spirit, and the morale of the army can be said to be unprecedentedly high.

Sun Yueling stepped on the high slope and looked at the endless tunnels and several large-scale fortifications behind the tunnels, and he was sure a lot.

This time the large army out of the city to fight is also a risky act like the previous army, the strength of the Houjin field battle is very strong, although they do not have much food left, but if Huang Taiji desperately attacks the Ming army's position, it is also unknown whether they can hold Songshan.

This battle must be a big evil battle, he is not as optimistic as some generals, this is a front and back gold hard bar, even if it is only three days, it is definitely not so easy, every day is bound to kill and wound countless people, blood flowed like a river. Fortunately, the Ming army was well prepared, had arrived at this battlefield ahead of schedule, and built fortifications to block the enemy according to his requirements, whether they could delay the enemy for three days depended on whether these fortifications could play a role.

Zhao Shujiao, Zhang Zhiqi and other generals looked at the continuous fortifications in front of them, and were very puzzled, to say that they could naturally understand the long trenches dug out in front of them, which were used to block the impact of the enemy's cavalry; However, they did not know what the ring tunnels that were dug every fifty paces behind the three long trenches were used for, especially since there were interconnected tunnels in the middle of these semicircular tunnels, and they did not know what they were used for.

Zhao Shujiao couldn't help but ask Sun Yueling: "My lord, what is the purpose of those ring-shaped tunnels dug out behind the unknown long trench?" ”

Sun Yueling smiled faintly and said, "These tunnels have a name, called 'Ring Fortifications.'" ’”

"Ring fortifications?" Even Zhang Zhiqi was surprised, he had also served in the border army for many years, and it seemed that he had never heard of this statement.

Sun Yueling didn't answer and asked, "General Zhao, if Houjin crosses the three long trenches in front, how will they attack our army?" ”

Zhao Shujiao Yao looked at the continuous fortifications in front of him, and said slowly after a while: "Because our army's circular fortifications are built all the way from the bottom of the slope to the top of the slope, and our army is condescending, the enemy's cavalry is bound to not be able to play a role. In this way, they can only use white-armored soldiers to open the way to attack our army's position. ”

Sun Yueling praised: "General Zhao is reasonable, and he deserves to be the leader of the border generals. Then he added, "But if we gather all the musketeers together and arrange them in these ring fortifications, will we be able to block the onslaught of the white-armored soldiers?" ”

Zhao Shujiao frowned and said: "The nine battalions of the Jinzhou Guanning Army, all the firecrackers add up to a total of 2,000 people, if they are arranged in the tunnel, they may be able to stop a few rounds of enemy impact, but after the firecrackers are fired, reloading the ammunition is extremely slow, and the enemy has already rushed into the fortifications at that time, how is it good?" ”

Sun Yueling nodded and said, "Mr. Zhao is reasonable. Pointing to the ring fortifications at the front, he added, "That's why a ring fortification is built every fifty steps, and a tunnel is dug in each of them." Imagine if the enemy rushed up, and after a few rounds of firearms, they could retreat from the first fortification to the second along those tunnels. And our army placed a large number of spearmen and sword and shield men after the first ring fortification, and pressed on the enemy when they stormed the first fortification, and those enemy soldiers who rushed into the fortifications were bound to be frustrated, thus providing a lot of time for the musketeers who were hiding in the second fortification to reload their ammunition. ”

Then he continued: "The first round of sword and shield soldiers and spearmen only need to buy time for the musketeers, and they don't need to fight hard with the enemy, and if they can't fight, they will retreat to the second fortification, then waiting for the enemy will be a few rounds of shooting, and by the time they rush to the second fortification, the musketeers should have almost all retreated to the third fortification." ”

Zhao Shujiao stared at the fortifications in front of him tightly, as if he was in a state of thought, and after a while, he said: "What do you mean, my lord, not to fight hard with the enemy, but to adopt this method of exchanging positions for opportunities, and to strike at the enemy as much as possible?" ”

Sun Yueling laughed and said, "Yes, this is this method, this method of exchanging space for time. Don't fight hard with Houjin, and maximize the role of the firecrackers to kill and injure the enemy. ”

When Zhang Zhiqi heard this, he couldn't help but interject: "But if the enemy rushes into the third fortification, won't we fall into passivity?" ”

"Not really." Zhao Shujiao said categorically at this time, "Even if the enemy sends a banner of troops to attack our position, if the battle situation is really as Lord Sun said, the enemy rushed into the third fortification and lost at least half of it, it would be an unbearable blow to them. ”

Sun Yueling said: "Yes, unless Huang Taiji disregards the life and death of his subordinates and forces several flags to charge at the same time, otherwise our army should be able to stop them for three days with these three ring fortifications, plus the car battalion and cavalry battalion on the side of the pillow." ”

A smile appeared on the corner of Zhao Shujiao's mouth, and said, "My lord forgot, do we still have four red-clothed cannons here?" ”

Sun Yueling also smiled: "How could I forget, this is a big killing weapon that even the old slaves were afraid of, of course, it must be used on the blade." These four cannons are located in our current position, and the coverage of the artillery fire is the path of the enemy's impact, so it is important to inflict as much damage as possible on the enemy. ”

Zhao Shujiao hugged his fists and said, "It's according to the will of the adult." ”

Sun Yueling looked into the endless distance to the south and pondered.

This time, a total of six battalions were brought out from Jinzhou, nearly 20,000 horses, and the remaining 10,000 people were commanded by deputy generals Zuo Fu and Zhu Mei, all of whom were used to defend Haoge in Daling River. The two flags on Hauge's side have been damaged a lot, so naturally there is no need to worry about what moths he can make.

As for Huang Taiji's side, there are only five banners of troops, with a total of more than 40,000 people, which is twice as many as them. In fact, at this time, although the Ming army was difficult, he thought that Houjin was even more difficult, and now it was more difficult than which side had perseverance and which side could hold on longer. Since he came to Liaozuo, he found that Houjin was not the so-called invincible at all, they also had weaknesses and would also suffer defeats, so with favorable terrain and sophisticated equipment, Houjin could be completely blocked in front of Songshan Fort.

What he was most worried about was Yuan Chonghuan's side, and he didn't know if Qi Liao had moved Man Gui and Sun Zushou. It is impossible for Yuan Chonghuan to listen to his orders, and he is afraid that Yuan Chonghuan will pull his hind legs and prevent Man Gui and others from coming to Songshan, and then the Houjin army will have no worries and will inevitably launch the most violent impact on the Songshan position, so that the goal in his heart will not be achieved.

Because now in the entire Songshan position, except for him alone, who knows that blocking the enemy for three days is a big fool, the others don't know anything at all.

Sun Yueling secretly prayed in his heart, and said silently: "Qi Liao, please, the key to success or failure depends on your own work!" ”