After receiving Yu Chongxiao's military report, Yuan Chonghuan did not blame the Third Army for letting go of dozens of Jiannu soldiers, but instead praised the Third Army's success in the surprise attack on Xiping Fort.

The Ming Dynasty has already launched a full-scale Northern Expedition, Jiannu knows, it doesn't matter, maybe this will, Zhu Youzhen's Left Route Army, Wei Xin's Right Route Army, have already exchanged fire with Jiannu.

Along with the commendation order, there was also a military order. In the military order, Yuan Chonghuan ordered Yu Chongxiao and the Third Army to rest for two days at Xiping Fort, wait for Sun Chengzong's Liaodong Army to take over Xiping Fort, and immediately attack to the east and continue the Northern Expedition.

Yuan Chonghuan personally led the First Army and the Second Army to seize the Sancha River Fort first.

The Sancha River is the common downstream of the Liao River, the Hunhe River and the Taizi River, and the three rivers share a section of the outlet, so it is called the Sancha River. It has abundant water and wide waterways.

The Jurchens built a pontoon bridge over the Sancha River to communicate the two banks of the Sancha River, and on its west bank, there was also a Sancha River Fort built by the Ming army before, and Dolgon stationed four Niu Lu this time.

On March 25, Yuan Chonghuan's army arrived at the Sancha River, and the Ming set up camp ten miles away from the Sancha River Fort.

The Jurchen soldiers who fled back from Xiping Fort had already brought the news of the Ming army's eastward advance, so the Jurchen soldiers stationed in Sanchahe Fort were ready to meet the Ming army.

There are only two gates in the east and west of the Sanchahe Fort, which are now all closed, and all the Jurchen soldiers have retreated into the fort, and they are leaning against the earthen wall, closely monitoring the Ming army ten miles away.

On the Sancha River, there were originally three pontoon bridges, and after the Jurchens learned that the Ming army was advancing eastward, they immediately removed two of them, leaving only a pontoon bridge at the exit of the Zhaimen on the east side of the Sancha River Fort, which was a retreat left by the Jurchen soldiers for themselves.

Dolgon, who has been staying in Liaoyang, heard the news that the Ming army had conquered Xiping Fort, and couldn't help but be shocked, the peace talks between the Ming and Dajin were unsuccessful, and now the Ming army is fighting without declaring it, and it is obviously not a small-scale war.

On the one hand, he sent people to report back to Huang Taiji, and on the other hand, he hurriedly went south to Haizhou and personally commanded the defense of the first line of the Sancha River.

As soon as Xiping Fort was lost, Dolgon knew that the Sancha River Fort would be attacked by the Ming army sooner or later, so he took the east bank of the Sancha River as the focus of defense, trying to use the wide waters of the Sancha River to block the Ming army's eastward advance.

Huang Taiji urgently mobilized the soldiers of Anshan, Haizhou, Yaozhou and Gaizhou, and set up three defensive tents on the east bank of the Sancha River, from south to north, each with three Niulu soldiers.

He also dismantled the tiger cannons from each city and prepared to allocate ten tiger cannons to each big tent, but the tiger cannons moved slowly, and before they could be deployed for the time being, Yuan Chonghuan's army came to the Sancha River.

Yuan Chonghuan is no stranger to this kind of fortress like Sancha River Fort, the Ming army has established a large number of such fortresses in Liaodong in order to fight against the cavalry of Jiannu, but after the Jurchens occupied Liaodong, most of the fortresses were demolished, as long as a small number of fortresses on strategic land were retained, and Sancha River Fort was not only retained to this day because it held the Sancha River traffic artery, but also was simply repaired and strengthened by the Jurchens.

Yuan Chonghuan and Li Hongjun, commander of the First Division, arrived to observe the Sanchahe Fort.

"This kind of earthen fort is not as tall as Songshan Fort and Tashan Fort in western Liaoning, and this kind of earthen wall can also block Jiannu's bow and arrow." Yuan Chonghuan pointed to the earthen wall of Sancha River Fort and said to Li Hongjun with a smile.

Li Hongjun immediately understood Yuan Chonghuan's intentions: "The commander is planning to use artillery?" ”

"Using artillery will reduce the casualties of soldiers," Yuan Chonghuan reined in the reins of his horse and slowed down his horse's speed, "Do you know why His Majesty makes so many advanced firearms?" ”

Li Hongjun did not hesitate: "Of course, it is to improve the combat effectiveness of the soldiers." ”

Yuan Chonghuan completely stopped and stood side by side with Li Hongjun: "You are right, but this is only the minimum goal of His Majesty. ”

Li Hongjun was stunned for a moment, and then his eyes widened: "Your Majesty has a higher goal?" ”

"Of course," Yuan Chonghuan nodded, his gaze was still swirling on the Sancha River Fort, "Your Majesty is not only to defeat the opponent, but also to reduce casualties, or even no casualties, that's why Your Majesty has made so many cash firearms, you see, last year's recovery of the three cities in Liaodong, the casualties of Jiannu exceeded 15,000, and the casualties of our army were less than 2,000, and this is the first time that the flintlock pistol has been on the battlefield." ”

"Commander, is Your Majesty using a new firearm to deter the opponent?"

"This is also a layer, if the opponent is scared by us, they will not dare to invade Daming for at least thirty years."

"So the Commander is particularly fond of using these new firearms?"

"We try to minimize our own losses while killing and wounding our opponents, and we also have to experiment with the maximum energy of various firearms, such as how many times the flintlock can be reused, the rate of fire of the artillery, and so on."

"Commander......

Yuan Chonghuan gestured with his hand and made a shooting posture, "Red Army, you say, if you bombard Sanchahe Fort with artillery, what will be the result?" ”

"Commander, this kind of earthen wall, at most three rounds of shelling, the earthen wall will collapse."

"Red Army, you don't understand what I mean," Yuan Chonghuan shook his head, "I mean, we are not in a hurry to collapse the city wall. ”

"What does the commander mean......" Li Hongjun didn't understand for a while.

"Red Army, now that Jiannu is closed the gates, we can't go in, and they can't come out, if we don't rush to destroy the earthen wall, but let the flowering bombs explode inside the fort......"

"Commander, I see." Li Hongjun's pupils widened sharply, flashing with excitement, like a dreamer who was thinking about it for a long time, and appeared in front of him very unexpectedly, "We don't need to break through the Sancha River Fort, just release the flower bombs into the fort, and then block the two walled gates, the Jiannu in the fort is naturally the turtle in the urn." ”

"That's what it means, when Jiannu is almost dead, we will enter the fort again and clean up the mess."

"Commander, then we must guard the east and west gates, the west gate is facing our direction, it is easier to guard, but the east gate is ...... Commander, I'll go and take a look at Dongzhai Gate nearby. ”

"Red Army, you think well, don't let Jiannu sneak away from the east gate," Yuan Chonghuan laughed, "However, since I'm here, let's take a look together, there are soldiers to escort, Jiannu doesn't dare to attack out of the city for the time being."

"Yes, Commander."

The two of them, with hundreds of soldiers, approached the Sancha River at a distance of five hundred steps from the Sancha River Fort.

The river water is quite clear, and the flow speed is not fast to the naked eye, but the river surface is quite wide, and as far as the eye can see, the shadow on the opposite bank is not clear at all.

"Red Army, can you estimate how wide the Sancha River is?"

Li Hongjun shook his head: "Commander, the other side of the strait can't be seen clearly at all, and his subordinates really can't estimate it." ”

"Oh, actually, I can't estimate it."

"Doesn't the commander know either? Didn't the commander come to Liaodong before? ”

Yuan Chonghuan smiled bitterly: "I have been to Liaodong, but I have only been to Ningyuan and Jinzhou, not even Guangning, when I went to Liaodong, Jiannu had already occupied Guangning." However, he immediately smiled, "It's still Your Majesty's strategy, Your Majesty's succession to the unification, but in two years, we have not only recovered Ningyuan, Jinzhou and Guangning, but now the soldiers have reached the Sancha River." ”

"It's true that His Majesty is strategizing, but you have to rely on the commander to fight on the front line."

"Haha," Yuan Chonghuan looked up to the sky and laughed, "Red Army, you are wrong, strategizing, your majesty is indispensable, and no one can replace it, but it is not necessary for Yuan to kill the enemy on the front line." ”

"Commander means ......"

"The Red Army, there are too many people who are competent to kill the enemy on this front line, even if you are asked to be the commander of the First Army, you can also be competent."

"Commander......

Yuan Chonghuan waved his hand, "As long as you don't make mistakes in military common sense, people who have a certain amount of experience in military life should be fine, flintlock pistol to bow and arrow, just like an adult, to fight a seven or eight-year-old child -- to be honest, if it weren't for Lord Sun, who was about to become old, the commander of the First Group Army would be none other than him." ”

"Commander, I kind of get it."

"Haha, it's good to understand, it's good to understand-huh? What's that on the river? Yuan Chonghuan pointed to the river in the distance.

Li Hongjun looked in the direction of Yuan Chonghuan's finger, and there was a long line like a white # belt on the river, "Commander, is that the pontoon bridge of Jiannu?" ”

"Well, it must be a pontoon." Yuan Chonghuan stroked his beard and nodded incessantly, "Hmm." ”

Originally, the Sancha River Fort was built behind the river, and the east exit was facing the pontoon bridge, and if the Jurchens could not hold the Sancha River Fort, they could also retreat from the pontoon bridge to the east bank and defend according to the river.

"Does the commander want to ......?"

"Haha, of course......" Yuan Chonghuan shook his horse's head, "Red Army, go, we are worth the trip today." ”

The main attack on Sanchahe Fort was the first division of Li Hongjun.

Forty artillery pieces stood quietly in the northwest of the Sancha River Fort, only four hundred steps away from the earthen wall of the Sancha River Fort.

The distance of 400 steps is the result of the actual measurement of Yuan Chonghuan and Li Hongjun.

More than 10,000 soldiers of the 1st Division had already loaded their flintlock muskets and were waiting for the order to enter the fort.

The Second Division temporarily served as cavalry, guarding the two flanks of the First Division, and their task was not only to protect the infantry of the First Division, but also to prevent Jiannu from escaping from both sides, so their eyes were firmly fixed on the two gates of the Sancha River Fort.

The 3rd Division followed the 1st Division far behind as a reserve, and if the 1st Division attacked unfavorably, or if there were Jiannu soldiers escaping from the encirclement of the 1st Division, they would have a combat mission.

Yuan Chonghuan didn't go to the front line at all, he was at the station of the Second Army, drinking tea and talking with Du Wenhuan.

"Commander, how many troops does Dorgon have?"

"A month ago, Hai Dongqing sent back a message, he said that there are twenty-eight cattle in Dolgon."

"Twenty-eight cows? That's eight thousand four hundred. Du Wenhuan thought in his heart, "The four Niu Lu in Xiping Fort have been annihilated, if the first division can annihilate his four Niu Lu today, then he will have twenty Niu Lu left." ”

"I hope that the first division can completely annihilate the Jiannu of Sanchahe Fort."

"Commander, the Jiannu of Sanchahe Fort was counted to death by you, they never dreamed that they didn't even see the face of the first division, so they went to report to their Immortal Heaven."

"Wen Huan, Jiannu's combat effectiveness is still very strong, we must not underestimate the enemy."

"Commander, aren't I bragging right now? The hero of today's battle is Li Hongjun. ”

"Wen Huan, you're here again, do you want to make meritorious service again?"