Tongguan of Ming, the circumference of the city wall is twelve miles, the east, west and north three city walls are five zhang high, and the city wall of the south side, its highest point is ten zhang - 30 meters high. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The city is set up with six gates, the east city gate is the closed gate, the name is "Jin Steep", the west city gate is called "Huaiyuan", and there are the upper south gate, the lower south gate, the big north gate and the small north gate. Among them, there are gatehouses at the east, west and north gates. Later, the South Water Pass and the North Water Pass were built one after another. In the fourth year of Longqing, the east and west urn cities were built, and the gatehouse was built on the urn city. At this point, the magnificent Tongguan City has been completely presented in front of the Qing army.

However, at this moment, what Liu Cheng was referring to was not the Guancheng of Natongguan, but the position of the Guanning army outside the Guancheng.

From Shanhaiguan in western Liaoning to Tongguan in Shaanxi, the Guanning Iron Cavalry finally had the courage to go out of the city and fight with the main force of the Qing army, which is really rare. However, the expansion of Tongguan was the handiwork of the early Ming Dynasty, and the momentum was magnificent, but the engineering means at that time were more scarce than now. Not to mention anything else, the Hongyi cannon appeared, and no one can guarantee how long the city wall can last.

In this case, instead of waiting for the Qing army to move the Hongyi cannon to the place, fire at the city wall, and wait until the city wall collapsed before engaging in street fighting, the defenders had to mobilize their troops to line up in front of the pass. In this way, the defenders could threaten a suitable location for the Qing army to place artillery, so that the city walls would not be shelled and the city would change hands.

Guarding Tongguan, Hu Guozhu put his mind to it, and this was also Liu Cheng's first battle to serve the Manchu Qing Dynasty, relying on Zhu Zhixi, Li Zhifang, these civilian officials, and staff did a lot of homework, and here looking at the arrangement of the Guan Ning army, a plan emerged in his mind after a little analysis.

Liu Cheng pointed into the distance, and Ji Du and Ao Bai only understood his intentions after a little look, and he also showed a look of agreement.

As for the reason, it's simple. When the Qing army attacked Tongguan, it also broke the Dashun army outside the city, repeatedly fought for several times, and then waited for the Hongyi artillery in place, with greater damage, plus Azig crossed the Yellow River and appeared in northern Shaanxi, Li Zicheng had to choose to withdraw under the pressure of being attacked from both sides.

Liu Cheng's move was to copy the strategy and tactics of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the strategy of the Qing army was also to advance in two ways, as long as they achieved a certain degree of victory in Tongguan and cooperated with Tunqi, Wu Sangui recognized the situation and forced him to withdraw his troops and retreat to Xi'an. However, Liu Cheng's words were not finished, and his intentions were not completely so.

"The slave thinks that he should divide his troops to detour to the southern foothills, complete the outflanking of Tongguan, and completely swallow the elite of the traitor Wu Sangui!"

Tongguan is steep and unmistakable, but it is not as good as the old pass of Hangu in the Qin and Han dynasties. However, due to the erosion of the Yellow River and the geographical changes, the old pass of Hangu is no longer as steep as it was and there is a new pass, and the political significance of the new pass is highlighted but the military role is reduced, which highlights the importance of Tongguan. Tongguan is not like the old Hangu Pass, and there is still another way around. It's just that if you don't pull out Tongguan, the army of Guancheng can go out of the pass at any time, cut off the grain road, and outflank the back road of the army that broke into Guanzhong, which is a big taboo that soldiers can't tolerate, so that Tongguan has the status of Tongguan as the gateway to Guanzhong.

Wu Sangui gathered 12,000 troops in Tongguan, although there were not two battalions of loyalty, bravery, and even benevolence and filial piety of the newly formed Spanish phalanx, but most of them were soldiers and horses of the headquarters that had been following for many years. As long as this Guanning army is eaten, Wu Sangui's strength will be slashed solidly, and it will be of great benefit to quell the rebellion.

"Liu will do it, you must know that you must not strangle your teacher, and you must besiege the city."

"Back to the words of the prince, the slave understands these truths, but the slave has heard the Zhejiang bandit Chen Wen talk before, and these principles are not used in the new army. He has besieged the city many times over the years, and his troops have not necessarily outnumbered the defenders. The slave thinks that what the Zhejiang bandit Chen Wen can do, the new army can do the same! ”

The formation and training of the new army itself was based on Chen Wen's Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Ming armies as imaginary enemies, because the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Ming armies were the biggest opponents of the Manchu Qing Dynasty at present, and there was no one. Liu Cheng is obviously full of confidence in this new army. In fact, not only Liu Cheng, but also Jidu and Aobai presided over and participated in the training of the new army throughout the whole process, whether it is intellectually or emotionally, how can there be a reason to be uneasy?

It's just that......

"Liu will do it, such a risk, if it doesn't work, what should I do?!"

Now, the Manchu Qing can no longer afford to lose, not only against Chen Wen, but also against any opponent in any direction, as long as they are defeated, the overall situation will collapse. But when it was necessary to be safe, Liu Cheng tried his best to encourage them to take risks, if it wasn't for such a long time together, he was afraid that he would have drawn his sword early.

Aobai's eyes widened, and Liu Cheng met Aobai's gaze without the slightest retreat. It wasn't until a moment later that he slowly said to the two Manchurian masters: "If you can't even beat Wu Sangui, Lord Wang and Lord Guerjia, let's hurry back to Beijing and ask the emperor to take us to escape from the capital." Perhaps on the way, the Mongolian tribes will take care of one or two for the sake of the master and servant. ”

Liu Cheng said this, although Jidu and Aobai were dissatisfied with the performance of this Han army banner man just now, they also knew very well that Liu Cheng had no other intentions, and what he said was right. Now they not only want to defeat Wu Sangui, but also to destroy the withering and decaying, and solve the rebellion in the northwest as quickly as possible, so as to deter the Quartet. Although Liu Cheng's method is risky, it is the fastest way to do it today.

Because of time, from the day Chen Wen defeated Zilharang, he was already the biggest enemy of the Manchus!

"Are you sure this trick works?"

"If you go back to the prince, the slave will be able to live a good life, and it will definitely work."

"Okay, then let's listen to you minion for a while!"

Jidu made up his mind, and then ordered Ao Bai to lead the new army of the two towns and part of the cavalry to take the road south of Tongguan and move to the west of Tongguan, so as to form a two-sided flank effect. He, on the other hand, led the infantry and other cavalry of the other three towns with Liu Chengqin to attack Tongguan from the front.

The order was issued, and it was conveyed level by level, Ao Bai slowly left with that army, and Jidu and Liu Cheng were not idle, sending an infantry at the head of a battalion to attack from the front, and two smaller cavalry to flank, that's all.

It's not that Jidu and Liu Cheng don't want to send more troops, it's just that the terrain is limited, and the army is inconvenient to deploy, and the troops they send out are a small number of troops outside the city compared to the defenders, but if they want not to interfere with the follow-up offensive, they can only do so for the time being.

The head of a battalion of the new army had only 540 soldiers, including 180 spearmen and 360 musketeers. Such a ratio is unprecedented in China, even Chen Wen's Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Ming armies were organized according to the ratio of hand-to-hand combat troops and musketeers that Qi Jiguang had when he was guarding the border in the north, but this new army, with the help of Jesuit missionaries, was the first to break this ratio.

A battalion of new troops slowly moved forward, with spearmen in the center and muskeoners on both sides, slowly marching towards the battle formation of the Guanning army in a line of six men.

According to common sense, the infantry formation, before the engagement, the projection class is consumed in the front, and the hand-to-hand class is prepared in the rear, and after the engagement, it is the opposite, so that the hand-to-hand combat class attacks and defends in the front, and the projection class is projectile in the rear, so as to achieve maximum lethality. You should have prepared in advance when you march in formation, but the arrangement of the new army's troops is completely different from the two, with a column of six men and a group of ninety men, only the middle is a hand-to-hand combat class, and the two sides are projection troops, which looks as if the firecrackers are protecting the spearmen, which is completely unreasonable.

The battlefield is narrow, and Hu Guozhu at the head of the city wants to figure out how this legendary new army fought. In this regard, the Guanning army outside the city did not move lightly, because they had already noticed that the cavalry of the Qing army was detouring from both sides. The east gate of Guancheng was wide open, and the Guanning Iron Cavalry attacked, heading straight for the roundabout cavalry of the Qing army.

Cavalry warfare broke out first, cavalry shooting and hand-to-hand combat, guerrilla fighting and slashing, the Guanning army somehow abandoned the signboard three-eyed gun, and the new army was still using the cavalry bow because of the resistance of the Mongolian Eight Banners. The arrows crossed the parabola above the heads of both sides, and then fell overwhelmingly, and as they fell, a long and short weapon was swung at the rushing enemy.

The flanks clashed, and in the center of the battlefield, the artillery of the Guanning Army also took the lead in firing. The shells whistled in, but the head of the new army did not touch it in the slightest, and continued to move forward slowly at the speed just now, and the steps of each soldier even seemed to be as neat as carved out of the mold.

With the continuous advance of the new army, the artillery shells also began to explode in the battle formation of the new army, but there was damage, and it was only the infantry in the back row to follow up and fill the gap, and the entire battle formation was still slowly moving forward.

Although there were only more than 500 infantry, this coercion came to his face, making Hu Guozhu, who was on top of the city, feel that his breathing was not smooth. The artillery fire of the Guanning army was not fierce, but after a few rounds of shelling, the casualties of the new army were as if they had never happened.

The distance is constantly getting closer, and the queue of the new army, only in the middle of the way, like, left three artillery groups in place to start loading, but the queue is still slowly advancing. Until a distance of 100 paces, the new army suddenly stopped, and under the rain of arrows fired by the archers in front of the Guanning army, the musketeers on the left and right flanks of the new army strode forward, and then extended the queue in the process of turning six columns into three columns.

"Damn, that's what happened!"

Before Hu Guozhu's words fell, the artillery of the new army burst into anger after suppressing it for a long time, only three shells, but only one fell in front of the formation, and the other two directly entered the ranks of the Guanning army.

At the same time, the three columns of the new army were converted, and with a command, the loading was unfolded at a great speed. In an instant, with the swing of the handsome flag on Guan Cheng, the queue of Guan Ning's army began to come slowly. But before this Guanning army walked a few steps, the Qing army's side had already been loaded, and one by one the firearms were aimed straight at the Guanning army column in the distance, only to hear the bang, and the shooter in the front row only pulled the trigger without the slightest hesitation under that order.

Bang this burst of gunshots, gunsmoke and sparks erupted together, and the projectiles that came out of the gun *** poured on the soldiers in the front row of the Guanning Army in just a blink of an eye, and they fell down on the spot.

A wail of pain sounded, and such a volley was fired, and the damage was even more numerous. Most of the Guan Ning troops are veterans, even if they are not selected to be the head of the battalion that trains the Spanish phalanx, similar scenes are seen a lot. The battle formation only paused for a moment and continued to advance, and in the face of projectile troops, it can only be effectively contained by entering hand-to-hand combat as soon as possible, especially in a battle formation with a thin spear formation like the New Army.

Guan Ning's army continued to move forward, and the auxiliaries behind the formation would take care of the wounded, but they didn't take two steps, and the second round of volleys rang out again, and the soldiers in the front row fell again.

The new army's guns are built in the past two years, this weapon belongs to the light arquebus, but the range and power are better than the birds, the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming armies have been equipped for a long time, and later there are turtledoves and the guns have not been completely replaced, and the advantage in the rate of fire is that the Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Ming armies and the new army can not be separated.

The New Army relied on missionaries in Europe, Macau, and Beijing for the manufacture and acquisition of firearms. Importing guns from Europe, the profit margin at the normal price is too low, and the maritime merchants are unwilling to bear it; The psychological price of the maritime merchants has arrived, and the finances of the Manchu Qing cannot afford such a scale. In this way, the only way to do this is to manufacture the guns that are easy to use and have more skilled craftsmen in order to buy them from Macao, and to make them in quantity.

The range of the Lumi gun is longer and more powerful than the bird gun, and the cotton armor worn by the Guan Ning soldiers dissolves a certain degree of kinetic energy, so many people are saved from being shot on the spot, but there are still many wounded, even if the density of the salvo is reduced because the arquebus needs to leave a certain distance between them.

After two volleys, the formation of the Guanning army began to appear a little chaotic, the brave wanted to speed up, the cowardly wanted to slow down, and the casualties had obviously begun to affect the morale of the army - there was still a long distance in between, and the shooting continued, God knows how many people would have to die before they could get close to the front of the formation, and God knows if there would be that person among the people who were shot.

"The Tartars have few spearmen, keep going, and when you get into the distance, rush up and slash those fire-gunners."

The guerrillas of the battalion shouted loudly in the formation, and the morale was finally restored. Next, the third salvo from the Nova Nova side came as scheduled, and the Guanning army continued to move forward while leaving behind some casualties. But at this moment, just like the interval between the first round and the second round, the second round and the third round, the fourth volley of the new army sounded again, and the front row of the Guan Ning army was once again knocked down.

After such four rounds of shooting, the loss of soldiers of the Guanning army actually did not reach such an unimaginable level, in the final analysis, because the density was too low and the distance was too far, so that many firearms were shot out of the air, and it was impossible to achieve a more effective scale effect. But it was precisely after these rounds that this Guanning army could only rely on the back shots and hits of the infantry archers to find a place that was completely inferior to the opponent's artillery shots, and the fluctuation of the formation became more and more large.

Next, a new round of shooting sounded again, and Guan Ningjun was still silently advancing. Until they reached the established distance, with an order, the sword and shield soldiers in the formation rushed out with a shout, and threw the javelins and flying axes in their hands into the smoke of gunpowder that was only thirty or forty paces.

The screams rang out as expected, but not as much as expected. However, for this Guanning army, they no longer have the spirit to care about this much, and in the second and third rounds, after the projection, the pikemen and sword and shield soldiers shouted and rushed into the smoke that gradually dispersed.

It's just that the moment they rushed up, what they saw was a glittering jungle of spears, and the Manchurian ironclad infantry who formed this jungle wearing heavy armor in the uniforms of the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming armies.