On the morning of the next day (February 28), amid the continuous rumbling of steps and drums, a large number of Qing troops walked out of the camp in order and lined up. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info As a few days ago, the first to start the action was still artillery, pushing one heavy Hongyi cannon after another to stop two miles in front of the Ming army's defense line, and a row of black holes pointed directly at the direction of the camp, which was daunting.

At the same time, the Ming officers and soldiers were also prepared, except for the person who was left in charge of the lookout and guard, the rest of the people took refuge according to the previous anti-artillery measures.

Not long after, with a deafening loud bang and the constant trembling of the earth, large shells swooped down on the Ming army camp again. Some of the shells fell on the open ground and splashed large balls of flying earth, bounced violently and then ran to another place again, or were destroyed by the dirt bags and baskets, or fell directly on the side or even bodies of the Ming officers and soldiers who were evading, causing some casualties. Some of the shells hit tents, chariots and other facilities directly, bringing out a series of sharp crisps and flying debris.

Compared with the previous few days, the Ming army's experience in firing artillery has become more sufficient, and various measures have been more perfect. Therefore, although the artillery bombardment of the Qing army continued unabated and even increased, the casualties of the Ming army were greatly reduced compared with the past.

Today's shelling lasted a little longer than in previous days. When the shelling stopped, the rumbling steps from the Qing army sounded again, and the commanders in the Ming army camp also sounded loudly, and the officers and men of all departments rushed to their combat posts.

However, when the Ming officers and soldiers were preparing to meet the attacking enemy as before, they found that the Qing army on the opposite side had marched some distance towards this side and then suddenly stopped. Stopped out of range of their own artillery, seemingly unprepared for another major attack.

"Inspector, it seems that most of the Qing captives will not attack again today!" Pang Yue, who had just returned to the command platform of the Chinese army from the hiding place, said to Zhu Dadian after discovering the dynamics of the Qing army.

Zhu Dadian nodded: "Last night, Nushuai Duoduo sent soldiers and horses to Tiezui Bay to meet the sailors, and he knew that as long as this army of soldiers and horses arrived at Changsha City, our army would have to return to the division, so it would not lose men and horses in vain." This current move is nothing more than an attempt to continue to put pressure on our army, slow down the pace of our army, and buy a little more time for their partial division. We can't let it get its way. Let the army hurry up and prepare for the retreat, and leave them alone! ”

Last night. After discovering that the Qing army had sent troops and horses to fight with the naval division, Zhu Dadian sent a team of fast horses to rush back to Changsha City overnight to warn, and sent people to inform the main force of Wugang Town stationed in Lijiawan and the rest of the soldiers and horses of Changde Town stationed in Shitangchong, so that they could withdraw to Changsha first to assist the defenders in the city to strengthen their defenses, and at the same time ordered the three Ming armies of Wanshouqiao to prepare for retreat.

"Don't worry, the last general has already ordered to go down." Pang Yue replied that as soon as the shelling stopped just now, he asked the herald to inform the officers and men of the Huashan Battalion and the Taishan Battalion to load the grain, grass and baggage into the trucks. It should be dealt with soon. In addition, the three or four hundred seriously wounded who survived in the camp of the medical department will also be carefully arranged. The Taishan camp will set aside a part of the side vans or carriages for carrying them. As for those soldiers who died in battle, they were all cremated last night, put them in the urns they carried, and they would be buried after returning to Shichenzhou.

Zhu Dadian was about to say something more, when the soldiers on the hill on the west side and the watchman on the lookout cart issued an early warning signal: the artillery of the Qing army began to load ammunition again.

"Supervisor, go down and take shelter for a while!" After Pang Yue saw this early warning information, he hurriedly persuaded Zhu Dadian.

"Okay!" At this time, Zhu Dadian's expression was not nervous at all, but with a faint smile, he said while walking down the stage: "It's really a poor donkey!" ”

……

After Pang Yue and Zhu Dadian stepped down from the command platform and hid themselves, the Ming officers and soldiers who had rushed to the combat post had already dispersed in formation again after receiving the order and took refuge nearby. Only about half an hour passed. With a sudden loud bang, the Qing artillery opened fire again.

Listening to the deafening loud noise, feeling the tremor of the ground under his feet from time to time, Pang Yue was not as worried as he was two days ago. He knew that things were just as Zhu Dadian said, the possibility of Duoduo using a large number of lives to open the way after having the shortcut of the waterway was already very low, and the continuous artillery bombardment was just a kind of deterrence and maintenance of pressure on the Ming army. On the contrary, to a certain extent, it shows the psychology of Duoduo: he is unwilling to add more casualties, so he has to use the rumbling cannon to show that he is still strong and on the side with absolute superiority.

Pang Yue was not very worried about this kind of shelling, and his soldiers had already prepared for it. The kind of Hongyi artillery of the Qing army, which was specially used for siege cities, did not play a decisive role at all. Moreover, he did not believe that the artillery of the Qing army would continue to shoot from morning to dark, not to mention the hidden worry of the barrel heating and even exploding, how many times could the ammunition carried by the Qing army allow them to carry out such inefficient consumption?

The only thing that made Pang Yue feel unwilling was that he had clearly discovered that Duoduo had sent some troops and horses to join the sailors but still couldn't take strong measures to stop them, and Duoduo also seemed to see this, and did not hide the signs of the march at all, so that Kong Youde and other troops swaggered at night and drove towards Tiezui Bay, as if they were waiting for him to retreat to Changsha and make way for them.

This feeling of being led by the nose made Pang Yue feel very unhappy, but at the same time, he was a little powerless, who put his troops at a disadvantage, who let himself not have a strong combat division?

……

Near noon, the sound of the Qing army's artillery finally stopped, and it seemed that they couldn't put their minds on the barrels until they exploded. As soon as the artillery was heard, wisps of smoke rose from the Qing army's camp, which meant that the morning's shelling came to an end. During this period, the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, especially the auxiliary soldiers of the second battalion of Mount Tai and Huashan, were not idle, and they worked in the interval between the Qing army's artillery fire, and had already loaded most of the materials into the truck and pushed them to the south end of the camp. It is estimated that it will not take long to complete the project in the afternoon.

At noon, he couldn't afford to eat, so Zhu Dadian asked Pang Yue, Ma Jinzhong, and Chen Youlong to go to his tent to determine the last link in the retreat plan.

At last night's military meeting, the general procedure for the retreat, such as which battalions to retreat first, which battalions to cover the rear, and the marching distance to be maintained between the various units, were all decided. However, for the sake of secrecy, Zhu Dadian did not announce the exact time of the retreat, and in order to prevent accidents, he only called the supreme commanders of the three Ming armies at Wanshouqiao at noon this day.

"Both of you agree with Ding Wubo's proposal to start a formal retreat at night?" Zhu Dadian asked Ma Jinzhong and Chen Youlong.

Ma Jinzhong nodded: "Supervisor Mingjian, at the moment, the forces of the Qing captives are still in an advantage, if our army withdraws during the day, it will definitely come to pursue." Moreover, there are many cavalry and fast movements in the Qing army, while our army is mainly foot soldiers and carries a lot of baggage, once they catch up, I am afraid that the situation will be very unfavorable for our army. ”

"General Ma is reasonable," Chen Youlong also echoed, "And if our army retreats at night, and the Qing captives do not know the situation ahead, they will definitely have some scruples and dare not chase them too quickly, which can buy our army more time." ”

Seeing that the three military commanders had already unified their opinions, Zhu Dadian naturally would not speak out against it again, in fact, this was also his initial idea. Therefore, after thinking for a while, Zhu Dadian agreed, and instructed the three of them: "Okay, the retreat time will be set at three o'clock in the evening (about six o'clock in the evening), and the specific method will be implemented according to the original deployment." After the three of you return to your respective camps, seize the time to prepare, check whether there are any mistakes in all matters, do not announce the time of retreat for now, and wait until half an hour before the official retreat to inform the officers and men of the battalion. ”

"Yes!"

……

Facts have proved that Pang Yue's prediction was really correct. In the afternoon, although the artillery of the Qing army was fired again, the sound of the artillery was noticeably much thinner, and it only lasted for about an hour before it completely stopped. It seems that Dordor did not want to use all the ammunition used in the siege to smash the field to pieces.

Although the sound of artillery stopped, the Qing army still maintained the pressure on the Ming army, and the black army drove out of the large camp array, eyeing the Ming army outside the range of the artillery, and it seemed that it could attack at any time. In addition, all the watchpost carts in the camp have also been moved to the southern end, and you don't need to think about it to know that there must be soldiers on it who are using clairvoyant mirrors to watch the movements of the Ming army's camp. In addition, a continuous small group of cavalry rushed to the front of the Ming army's camp, carefully observing various situations, and was driven away by the Ming army, and a group of them came again, which can be described as perseverance.

……

When the sky began to darken, the lookout post on the lookout car in the Qing army camp finally saw that there was a change in the direction of the Ming army's camp, and quickly reported it to the official on duty under the car, and the official on duty quickly reported this important situation to the commander Duoduo.

Knowing this, Duoduo put down the rice bowl in his hand and came to the command platform with all the Qing generals, which was also several meters high, although it was not as real as the view from the pole car, but the general situation could be seen.

After raising the clairvoyant mirror and observing the direction of the Ming army's camp with the last bit of light before nightfall, Duoduo was convinced that the Ming army had finally retreated.

"Prince Yu, Minggou has begun to retreat, do you want our army to pursue it? They can't just be so cheap! Manchuria inlaid with blue flags, Gushan Ezhen Ilden suggested to Duoduo.

Duoduo said disapprerovingly: "Most of the people who have withdrawn at the moment are Minggou's baggage and auxiliaries, you can see that on their defensive line, the number of defenders has not decreased compared to the previous few days, which shows that they have been prepared for a long time." In addition, it is getting late, and if our army pursues rashly, it will definitely add a lot of unnecessary losses. ”

Hearing what Duoduo said, Ilden didn't insist anymore, but he secretly said in his heart: Could it be that Prince Yu, who has always been known for his bravery, has also begun to worry about casualties and dare not fight?

As for Ilden's inner thoughts, since Duoduo had no way of knowing, after rejecting Ilden's proposal, he said to the generals beside him: "However, the Ming army is destined to retreat as a whole, and it will not exceed the morning of the Ming army at the latest. At that time, this king will definitely go over and see for himself what is different about this camp that has blocked my Qing king's division for three days. ”