Inside the Guancheng of Shanhaiguan, as a complete defense system of Shanhaiguan, the facilities of its defense are not isolated from the city defense, but there are four walls similar to the city defense, embedded in the Great Wall, Shanhaiguan has Luocheng (a four-sided city wall structure built on the outside), urn city, Yicheng (build a prominent small city on one or more sides of the city wall, and connect it with the main city defense with the city wall) and other forms of defense, which are easy to defend and difficult to attack for the enemy, but for the Tang Army, these defenders, it is troublesome enough. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

It can be said that now the first battalion of the Shenwu Regiment of the Tang Army is completely integrated into the defense of Shanhaiguan, and its food and accommodation are in the city defense. And the fortifications of Shanhaiguan were so huge that Xie Jinwu realized that even if the entire Second Brigade was thrown at Shanhaiguan, it would be enough. On the contrary, now he guards the Shanhaiguan with an infantry battalion and a part of artillery, and there is an extreme shortage of manpower.

Therefore, Xie Jinwu could only adopt the mode of mobile defense, and he set up fixed town guard soldiers in the most important positions, and in some places there were actually only sentinels, just for show. Because the Qing army simply looked at a city wall, there were one or two sentinels on the city wall guarded by formed troops, and there were also one or two sentries on the city wall without soldiers, and there was absolutely no difference. However, Xie Jinwu also set up reserve forces in some central positions, and once the defense was tight, he could immediately send the reserve force out.

The position guarded by troops is the key, and it is generally the main direction of attack of the Qing army. The actions of the Qing army were completely under the observation of the Tang army, so whatever the situation, Xie Jinwu could react in advance. In addition, the use of machine guns to defend the city was brutal to the ancient army of the Qing army. Hardly anyone could climb a ladder up the city under machine-gun fire. So actually defending is much simpler than it can be described.

The headquarters of the Jimmu Regiment within the Seki Castle. Xie Jinwu set up his regimental headquarters at Shanhaiguan, but in fact, his entire infantry regiment with a strength of nearly 1,500 people had been completely dismantled to the front line of the Great Wall, from Shanhaiguan in the east to Juyong Pass in the west, and was responsible for the defense of the entire northern line of the Great Wall. Some places even have actually only one or two platoons. However, this kind of defense is sufficient, because of the unrestricted communication, if some places are attacked, the situation can be reported immediately, and then the troops of the second line will take over.

The southwestern line of defense in the Gyeonggi area was the Bauhinia Pass Great Wall, which was given to another regiment, the Zhaoyeol Regiment of the 2nd Brigade. The Zhaolie Regiment was also responsible for the defense of the Baoding area on the southern front and the Tianjin area. The above areas are all the areas that Datang has substantial control, and although these places have been occupied, in fact, Datang's effective control is limited. Only big cities such as Baoding and Tianjin could be effectively guarded by the Tang army. And some surrounding counties, the Tang army even after the attack. Wiped out any resistance of the Qing army, and then declared this a demilitarized zone, and no armed resistance movement was allowed, and went away with dignity.

Therefore, the original Qing local administration of these cities is still retained, of course, if it is the Manchurians who are accidentally in charge, then it will be embarrassing and take it away. Although the Tang army did not embarrass the seventh-rank and ninth-rank officials in those places, they still fled to other places with their families. Many towns were in a state of chaos, and in the end, Yuan Zong had to send troops to maintain law and order, and this maintenance of law and order also included a large number of urban management personnel. Those who surrendered to Cheng or served the Tang people were deemed qualified and were sent to these towns to serve as chengguans. This made chengguan begin to bloom everywhere, and it also caused people in many places to mistakenly believe that chengguan was the yamen that managed local affairs under the rule of the Tang Dynasty. This misconception started here and lasted for decades before it was corrected. Of course, from the very beginning, the chengguan was really in charge of everything.

In this way, just maintaining law and order and basic defense of the entire occupied area has already consumed most of the troops in Bai Nan's hands. The 2nd Brigade suffered some losses in the previous battle of Juyong Pass, and is now mainly responsible for the local defense of the capital and the second line of support for the defense of the Great Wall, and the same is also responsible for the 3rd Brigade's Xiongwei Regiment. The Tiger Regiment, as a mechanized unit, plus the two cavalry units of the Cavalry Hunting Regiment and the Xiao Cavalry Regiment, is a mobile combat force in the North China Theater. The 1st Marine Corps Regiment, the 2nd Army Brigade Snow Leopard Regiment, the 3rd Brigade Zhichong Regiment, and the Xiandeng Regiment are already preparing to go to Guangdong to launch operations against the Tiandihui forces under the command of Xue Yue, the newly appointed theater commander.

So to put it simply, Bai Nan hardly has any extra strength to support himself in any more complicated operations. Not to mention expanding the Tang army's control area, even if he conclusively managed the vast area of Jingshi Shuntianfu, Yizhou, Zunhua Prefecture, Yongping Prefecture, northern Tianjin Prefecture, northern Baoding Prefecture, and northern Hejian Prefecture that he now controlled, he felt that he was not able to do so.

There is no way to do this, if Bai Nan really comes like Britain and France during the Opium War, he can leave a mess after the fight, and let the Qing government solve it by itself. But after all, the Tang people also regard themselves as China, so they can't be so irresponsible, they need to maneuver around the north for a long time, so they must also build a good defensive posture.

"It's really uncomfortable to watch these Qing soldiers wandering around the city, regiment commander, are we still not going to fight?" Liu Zhiyu, a staff officer of the Shenwu Regiment, asked a little anxiously.

The head of the regiment, Xie Jinwu, smiled unhurriedly and said, "We are the defensive side, and the advantage is also on our side, why do you want to summon it?" ”

Liu Zhiyu said: "There are 30,000 Qing troops below, as long as they are defeated, then there will be no enemy outside the pass that is enough to pose a threat to us, and our defense will become easier." ”

Xie Jinwu disagreed: "This group of Eight Banners Army in the northeast has been defeated, and we still have the princes of Inner Mongolia in the north, maybe the princes of Outer Mongolia will also want to join in the fun, and the battle will definitely not be finished." Besides, we only have 500 troops on our side, but our opponent has more than 30,000 people, and we feel that our troops are insufficient to defend the city, so do we still have to take the initiative to attack? ”

Liu Zhiyu was somewhat contemptuous of the Qing army, he said: "They are all soft-footed shrimp, as long as we rely on city defense and artillery to fight for a while, we will definitely be able to achieve good results." ”

Xie Jinwu shook his head, "You want to be meritorious, you can't be rash." If we go out to fight, even if the Qing army suffers losses in the face of our superior firepower and retreats, we can't pursue deeply, because once the Qing army kills a horse pistol, our infantry will be out of the support of our city defense, and will eventually be eaten by the Qing army. I know that we have been winning all the time, and we have a huge advantage over the Qing army, but now that the ranks are becoming more and more impetuous, your idea of defeating 30,000 men with 500 men is left-leaning and adventurous, and it is unacceptable. ”

Liu Zhiyu waited to look at Xie Jinwu with big eyes, with a strange smile, and said: "The regiment commander will use the word left-leaning and enterprising now." ”

Xie Jinwu smiled and said, "I shouldn't have used it for so many years, and that's pretty much the truth." ”

Liu Zhiyu also knew that it was unrealistic to let the soldiers of the Shenwu Regiment defend the city fight, so he asked again: "Then let's just watch the Qing army wander here every day?" ”

Xie Jinwu said: "The order that President Yuan refers to is for us to defend the Great Wall, not to destroy the enemy's living forces. Moreover, the first thing we fight is to preserve our own strength, even if we achieve any amazing results, it is not worth it to exchange our own huge sacrifices. Besides, Fukangan is now on the verge of exhaustion, and he can send troops to attack us, but as long as he has no way to defend our Great Wall, his logistics will be tight in the end, and the 30,000 Eight Banners Army will only be scattered in one group. Why should we waste our energy and ammunition? ”

Xie Jinwu understood this very well, he was a cautious soldier, and it was precisely because of this characteristic that Bai Nan valued him and appointed him as the commander of the Great Wall defense line. Xie Jinwu also strictly implemented Bai Nan's requirements, ordering his troops to guard all passes, echoing each other from afar, and strictly prohibiting any surprise attacks. If the enemy buckles the level, he will fight hard, but if the enemy does not move, he will not move either.

Liu Zhiyu, as a staff officer, naturally understood all this, and he didn't think that he could say that the regiment commander would make a risky attempt.

"Alas, it's really a fire to see that the enemy is right in front of you but can't be destroyed. But these Qing soldiers are really stupid, let's use 81mm mortars to hit them, and they won't fight when they are 4,000 meters away, they really think that our city fire artillery only has a range of 4,000 meters, and set up a camp at 5,000 meters. Liu Zhiyu sneered, in order to enhance the garrison capacity, the defenders of Shanhaiguan added a large number of machine guns and artillery, the Tang Army is not a poor KMT unit, and the various weapons brought by the expeditionary force are greatly exceeded and can be replaced on the spot. In Shanhaiguan alone, the Shenwu regiment obtained more than 40 81-mm mortars and 8 105-mm howitzers, which were enough to inflict serious damage on the enemy.

Obviously within his own range, but he didn't fight, it was just a small trick used by Xie Jinwu, and it can be seen from this setting that Xie Jinwu actually considered the route of counterattacking at the gate.

The two chatted and chatted, and suddenly the military line rang, Xie Jinwu picked up the phone, his expression changed, and he said continuously: "...... Yes, yes...... The lowly duty must act in concert with the fraternal forces...... Mission completion guaranteed! ”

Liu Zhiyu listened to his words, and his eyebrows fluttered. (To be continued.) )