Looking at the ice and snow that was melting rapidly, Luo Jian felt that this heavy snow and cooling must be the tail of the Xiaoice River period, listening to Huang Degong and others, in previous years, it was at least until mid-February or even early March that the ice and snow were all melted, and this year it started so early.

The second division has arrived in Xuzhou, and is still stationed in Xuzhou City for the time being, the ice and snow outside are melting, if they camp outside the city, it will definitely be made into a muddy field, Luo Jian simply let them be stationed in the city first.

The battle plan has been formulated, and it is very boring to wait for the road to dry, and after the transfer of troops, Luo Jian has nothing to do.

Luo Jian, who had nothing to do, simply ran to Yan Yingyuan's artillery brigade and went to play chess with Yan Yingyuan.

Yan Yingyuan's command tent looks very exquisite, but in fact, his tent is the same as that used by the troops, but it is slightly smaller.

Under Yangzhou's guarantee for the troops regardless of the cost, the first division, artillery brigade and cavalry division were all equipped with standard tents, which were similar to the tents of the troops before Luo Jian, except for the rough production, some of the poles were still wooden, and the others were not too similar.

Because of this, even in such heavy snow and bitter cold weather, these troops can still be stationed outside the city.

Today is a sunny day, and the spring sun shines on my body, and I feel warm all over.

Yan Yingyuan asked people to carry a small case to the side of the tent, put the chessboard on the table, and sat on two Mazha, and the two began to fight.

"Governor, if the weather is so clear, we will be able to act in five or six days, right?" Yan Yingyuan took a white piece and put it on the chessboard, looked up at Luo Jian and asked.

"Almost, as long as your artillery can be dragged, we'll do it." After Luo Jian got down, he said casually.

Yan Yingyuan's chess was played very quickly, and he also played very chaotically, and his mind didn't seem to be on chess.

"Brother Liheng, play chess well, what are you thinking?" Luo Jian quickly established a great advantage, which made him feel a little bored, and it was said that Yan Yingyuan's level should not be like this.

"Governor, I heard that you brought dozens of different shells this time?" Yan Yingyuan hesitated for a moment, looked around again, and saw that everyone was far away, so he asked softly.

"yes, what's wrong? These shells are different from the previous ones, you have to use them on the blade. ”

More than thirty shells loaded with Huang color zha medicine were made by Song Yingxing himself, and this time Luo Jian's guards carried them over, and they were not transported with a large number of materials, and Luo Jian was afraid that they would be confused.

"Grand Duke, after the battle starts, can you give me your binoculars?"

Luo Jian's military-standard telescope is much clearer than the telescope made by Yangzhou Glass Factory, Huang Degong and Liu Zhaoji have asked Luo Jian many times with a cheeky face, but Luo Jian has not agreed, there is only such a one, it is not good to give it to anyone, Luo Jian simply does not give it to anyone.

Listening to Yan Yingyuan first ask about the cannonball, and then mention the telescope, Luo Jian guessed his thoughts.

"Brother Liheng, your idea is good, and it's no problem to hand over the telescope to you, but if the artillery wants to hit some targets, I'm afraid it can't be done now, right?" Luo Jian threw the chess pieces in his hand into the chess box, picked up the water cup and took a sip of tea, and then asked.

"Governor, can't our artillery shoot at direct sight?"

"Brother Liheng, our artillery is firing at a direct point, and the firing distance is very small, at most one mile, right? How do you take the enemy? ”

"This..., Grand Duke, you let me think about it."

Yan Yingyuan squinted his eyes, lowered his head and thought, Luo Jian didn't bother him, picked up the water cup and drank it slowly.

"Governor, I want to give it a try!"

Yan Yingyuan raised his head and said resolutely.

"Okay, the binoculars and thirty cannonballs are all handed over to you, I'm sure you'll use them well, but Brother Liheng, Geng Jimao is not your thing."

Hearing that Yan Yingyuan's voice was very firm, Luo Jian didn't think much about it anymore, but just reminded him to keep his eyes on Duoduo and not to consume these cannonballs on Geng Jimao.

"Governor, I know it in my heart, you can rest assured."

Yan Yingyuan is extremely safe in doing things, and he is also very careful in considering problems, Luo Jian can feel it from playing chess, seeing him say this, Luo Jian really has a lot of expectations.

After having lunch at Yan Yingyuan's place, Luo Jian went to the Fifth Division to take a look, and saw that the troops were nervously making pre-battle preparations, and his heart was also steady.

Although the waiting days were difficult, five or six days finally passed, and the fine weather made the snow melt quickly, and the road surface quickly became dry.

After the snow stopped, the 1st and 2nd regiments of the 1st Division began to maneuver to a place dozens of miles away from the county seat of Dangshan, where they set up a defensive posture.

According to the battle plan, the first thing in this battle is to completely annihilate Geng Jimao's troops, and the most critical point is to cut off the back road of Geng Jimao's troops.

If Geng's troops fled to Guide, and at the same time the Qing reinforcements came to the rescue, the second division would face the situation of being attacked by the enemy on its back, but Li Chengdong didn't care at all, he thought that one regiment could stop the enemy from escaping, and three regiments were enough to complete the blockade of Duoduo's reinforcements.

Although Li Chengdong was full of confidence, Luo Jian still transferred a regiment from the cavalry division that was the reserve of the whole army and assigned it to the second division.

Geng Jimao was thinking alone in the house in Dangshan County, and the Yangzhou army slowly came forward, of course Geng Jimao knew.

Although the scouts of the Yangzhou army had the upper hand in the confrontation with the Qing scouts, their ability to cut off the entire battlefield was not able to cut off the entire battlefield at present, and the Yangzhou army's large-scale advance was soon known to the Qing soldiers.

Geng Jimao was not very nervous, according to Duoduo's request, his more than 40,000 men and horses were to hold Dangshan County, Geng Jimao felt that it was not impossible to achieve this goal, and Duoduo also allowed him to retreat to Guide when the war was unfavorable.

Duoduo believed that although the Yangzhou army had sharp firearms, its number was too small, and the Yangzhou army could not do it if it wanted to surround Geng Jimao's more than 40,000 people.

And what really made Geng Jimao feel relieved was Gongshun Wang Kong Youde's previous analysis of the Yangzhou army, Kong Youde believed that the firearms of the Yangzhou army were powerful, but the Qing soldiers were not without precautions.

Relying on strong fortifications to defend is the method proposed by Kong Youde.

Kong Youde carefully analyzed the artillery of the Yangzhou Army, and believed that although it was fast firing and used flowering shells, it still used black huo as explosives, which greatly reduced its power, and if it used trenches and mounds as bunkers, it would greatly reduce the casualties of the troops.

This time, Geng Jimao built many such trenches and bunkers on the outskirts of Dangshan County, and he wanted to use these fortifications to kill and injure a large number of Yangzhou troops and force the Yangzhou army to retreat in vain.

What Kong Youde and Geng Jimao didn't expect was that the number of artillery pieces of the Yangzhou army had reached one hundred, not including the twenty mortars that had been distributed to the first division, and according to what they learned from Xuzhou, the number was about thirty.

The artillery of the Yangzhou Army detected by the Qing soldiers was actually more than 20 unmodified old-fashioned artillery pieces that the Yangzhou Army had left in Xuzhou at the beginning.

Although it is not considered exposure, the road surface still dries quickly due to the sunny days.

Luo Jian had already arrived at the headquarters of the First Division, which was only a few kilometers away from Dangshan County, and the artillery was already in place, and the battle would start tomorrow.

Although the two regiments of the 1st Division had fought several battles, it was the first time for such a large-scale all-firearms operation, and Luo Jian and Liu Zhaoji were also a little nervous.

The combat style of this firearm is also something that Luo Jian has never experienced, he handed over the command of the entire battlefield to Liu Zhaoji, and Huang Degong also said that he had no opinion, after all, Liu Zhaoji had several combat experiences.

Early the next morning, Luo Jian and Huang Degong, who had hastily eaten breakfast, took their escorts to the front line, found a high ground on the side of the artillery position, and carefully observed the entire battlefield.

The terrain around Dangshan County is extremely flat, even the high slope where Luo Jian and them are located is only a few tens of meters high, from the high slope, the snow has not melted in some places, and several huge green arrows have appeared on the black and white ground towards Dangshan County.

The Yangzhou army only changed the color of the military uniform from red to green at the end of last year, with the arrival of Luo Jian and others, the pace of the arrival of the firearms era has also been greatly accelerated, and then the red color of the Ming military uniform is purely for the enemy as a target, Luo Jian will not do such a stupid thing.

This is the four regiments of the Fifth Division are preparing to encircle Dangshan County from several other directions, and it is not entirely accurate to say that it is encircled, Geng Jimao has already expanded the defensive scope of Dangshan County a lot, and it is somewhat difficult to encircle them with the current number of Yangzhou troops, and it is just to block the direction of their escape.

The 1st and 2nd Regiments of the 1st Division were tasked with the main attack, and their task was to open the defensive line on the periphery of Dangshan, and then the 3rd and 4th Regiments would follow and attack Dangshan County.

Looking at the large number of civil fortifications on the periphery of Dangshan County, Luo Jian felt a sense of time and space confusion, and he had the impression that there were many such scenes in the Huaihai War seen from movies and TV.

The Qing soldiers did not concentrate on the defense in Dangshan County, which did not surprise the Yangzhou army, Dangshan County was originally not large, and most of Geng Jimao's troops were stationed outside the city in the past, and now more than 10,000 people have been added, and Dangshan County cannot accommodate so many troops at all.

It's just that the Qing soldiers found a way to deal with firearms with civil fortifications so quickly, which made Luo Jian a little surprised.

Now the Yangzhou rifle used by the Yangzhou army is a front-loading gun, which makes the soldiers have to stand after a bullet is reloaded, and the body exposure of the standing soldiers is much greater than that of the Qing soldiers behind the trenches and bunkers, Luo Jian is a little worried about the casualties of the troops.

When the sun rose high, the Yangzhou army was ready for all the battles, and on Yan Yingyuan's artillery position, the shells were already loaded, and they were waiting for an order to fire a hundred cannons.

Ma Yingkui led a regiment at the front, and the soldiers, led by the junior officers, were anxiously waiting for the artillery to open fire.

The troops of a regiment basically use a platoon of 30 men as a firepower unit, and this is the experience that Liu Zhaoji summed up in training; of course, the denser the firepower in the defensive formation, the better, but the offensive and defensive are very different, and too dense the formation is not conducive to rapid advance.

Liu Zhaoji stood at the forefront, looked at the Qing army position in front, muttered something softly in his mouth, suddenly raised his hand, and gave a loud order: "Artillery, open fire!" ”

The Qing soldiers in the forward position waited even more uncomfortably, and many people stuck their heads out from behind the trenches and mounds to look at the Yangzhou army two miles away.

A sharp whistle sounded from the Yangzhou army position, and soon the relay was transmitted to the artillery position, and at the same time, the flag bearer also kept waving the flag in his hand, directing the artillery to fire with the flag, and the two methods were used at the same time, purely for the sake of insurance.

The power of a hundred artillery pieces firing at the same time was extremely amazing, although it was a black medicine, even Luo Jian was a little shocked when he heard it, as the shells continued to explode on the Qing army's position, the artillery position and the Qing army's position were all shrouded in gunsmoke.

Yan Yingyuan held Luo Jian's telescope and carefully observed the forward position of the Qing soldiers, although the smoke covered the entire position and it was not clear to see, Yan Yingyuan still observed without blinking.