Yan Yingyuan ordered the artillery soldiers to hurry up and pack up the artillery, which had to be maneuvered for a long time, and the loose parts had to be reinforced.

Seeing Luo Jian sitting on a stone on the side of the artillery position, Yan Yingyuan walked over.

Luo Jian took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, this cigarette was given to him by Liu Lan, knowing that he was under great pressure to bring the soldiers out, he took a few packs and gave him a few packs, telling him that he must smoke less.

To tell the truth, although this battle was won, the whole process could not satisfy Luo Jian, if there were no rifles and grenades, what would this battle look like, Luo Jian estimated that eighty percent would be defeated.

There are only a few hundred rifle bullets left, and there are only a few dozen grenades left, and Liu Zhaoji has a little more left on his side, and the pressure on his side is even greater.

Although the artillery played a great role, the lethality of the shells of the black medicine was indeed unsatisfactory, and secondly, the continuous firing of this artillery was still not good, if the artillery had not stopped, the Qing cavalry would not have appeared on the left flank and rushed directly in front of Luo Jian.

Luo Jian thought that before the new type of fried yao was developed, I was afraid that he could only make up for the lack of quality by improving the quantity.

"Brother Liheng, sit down." Seeing Yan Yingyuan coming over, Luo Jian pointed to the stone next to him and said.

"Governor, this battle is not easy!" Yan Yingyuan said with emotion.

"Yes, the cavalry is indeed too difficult to deal with in the field!" Luo Jian also said with emotion.

"However, in my opinion, there will not be too many elite cavalry of the Qing soldiers, and they will lose three or four thousand in one battle today, and they can't afford such losses." Yan Yingyuan saw that Luo Jian's mood was not high, so he calmly helped him analyze.

"Almost every battle of our Yangzhou army is a battle of life and death, and we must be cautious! We can't be defeated once, and it doesn't matter if the Qing army is defeated ten times, that's what makes me feel the hardest. ”

Luo Jian told Yan Yingyuan his thoughts, and Yan Yingyuan was silent for a long time when he heard it.

"Governor, if only our shells were like the kind of grenades in the bombardments, then our artillery alone would be able to kill all the cavalry of the Qing army." Yan Yingyuan thought of the power of the grenade when it exploded, and fantasized.

Of course, Luo Jian also wanted to, but now Xiao Liu and the others are fully engaged in the production of weapons that are urgently needed now, and they have no time and energy to research and develop them, this kind of development is not as simple as imagined, otherwise the emergence of a new type of fire yao in history will not become an epoch-making invention.

The casualties were finally reported to Luo Jian, and although he had already been mentally prepared, Luo Jian was still distressed.

The Yangzhou army suffered more than 5,000 casualties in this battle, and most of them died, and nearly 4,000 soldiers remained on this land forever.

The cavalry alone lost more than 300 people, which was lost in a few minutes after intercepting the cavalry of the Qing army, and Luo Jian, who heard this report, decided that he would never use cavalry to fight against the white armor soldiers of the Qing army in the future.

The casualties of Li Chengdong's Second Division were surprisingly small, with 500 casualties in the entire division, of which less than 200 were killed in battle.

Although they were responsible for the frontal assault, the artillery fire helped them a lot, and the Qing troops opposite the 2nd Division were already in confusion by the time the 2nd Division began to attack, and the melee that followed was more of an organized slaughter than a battle.

The largest losses were the Fourth Division, one of which suffered almost half of the casualties, and in the face of the onslaught of thousands of cavalry of the Qing army, this loss was also expected.

Only more than 1,000 people and more than 5,000 cavalry of Geng Jimao's troops fled from the 50,000 horses of the Qing army, and all the more than 10,000 auxiliary soldiers became prisoners, and more than 20,000 soldiers were wiped out.

Huang Degong and several division commanders were as satisfied with this result as ever, and they were especially excited about the elimination of three or four thousand cavalry of the Qing army. But when Luo Jian told them that the rifle bullets and grenades were gone, they all fell silent.

The Fourth Division was left in Shouzhou and Fengyang, guarding the two places while resting and expanding the army.

Luo Jian took the Second and Fifth Divisions, which had rested for a day, and began to maneuver in the direction of Xuyi.

Duoduo has personally led an army of 80,000 or 90,000 to the outside of Xuyi City, Duoduo's big tent is set up on a hillside about ten miles away from the city in the southwest of Xuyi, and there are countless camp tents around the hillside, and the outside of the camp has been like a deep ditch barrier like Li Shuotai's army, and even a number of trenches have been dug in the camp.

The Qing soldiers did not immediately attack the city, and Duoduo was still waiting for Kong Youde's red-coated cannon.

There are also more than a dozen red-coated cannons of the Yangzhou army on the city wall of Xuyi, and Liu Zhaoji is directing the red-coated cannons to adjust the firing position at this time, and this kind of artillery weighing two or three thousand catties is very difficult to move, and four or five soldiers keep shouting trumpets before adjusting the gun position.

Wang Qiang and Wang Sicheng were gathering the riflemen and Nimi gunners together at this time, explaining that they must take the generals of the Qing army as the primary target when shooting, and that half of the more than 200 people had to be set aside as a reserve, and in case the city wall was destroyed by the Qing artillery, the gap must be blocked with firepower.

Liu Zhaoji raised the binoculars in his hand and looked at the Qing army camp, and saw that countless siege vehicles were being assembled, and secretly sneered in his heart, hundreds of ten-pound fried yao bags made according to Luo Jian's requirements were already waiting for these large siege equipment, and the small trebuchet designed by Guazhou Xiao Liu was small, but it could throw these fried yao bags out of about a mile.

The Qing soldiers were still constantly passing through the pontoon bridge erected on the Huai River, and the red-coated cannons weighing several thousand pounds were in great trouble when they passed, and even one of the artillery pieces had crushed the pontoon bridge and rolled into the Huai River.

Kong Youde had to transfer more ships to erect the pontoon bridge, and it took two days to toss and mobilize tens of thousands of people to transport all 60 red-coated cannons across the Huai River.

Kong Youde, who arrived in a hurry, saw that all the Qing soldiers were gathered outside Xuyi City, and hurriedly ran to Duoduo's big tent, and suggested to Duoduo that it was not necessary to besiege Xuyi City with so many troops, and that it was enough to leave half of the men and horses to attack Xuyi City, and the army should continue to advance towards Tianchang.

Duoduo convened the generals to discuss for a long time, and finally adopted Kong Youde's suggestion, ordering Turai to lead 70,000 horses to Tianchang, and Duoduo led the remaining 70,000 horses to attack Xuyi.

The information that the Qing soldiers marched to Tianchang was quickly reported to Luo Jian by Kuaima, and Luo Jian, who had arrived in Guandian Town, and the generals began to be anxious, Luo Jian decided to personally lead the two divisions to quickly return to Tianchang with light equipment, leaving a regiment of the fifth division to escort the baggage and prisoners and then arrive.

The artillery of the Qing soldiers still seriously slowed down the marching speed of the army, and the effect of several months of physical training of the Yangzhou army was finally reflected, and the Yangzhou Second Division, which was fifty or sixty miles more than the Qing soldiers, actually arrived in Tianchang before the Qing soldiers.

Yan Yingyuan's artillery withstood the test of long-distance rapid maneuvering, not only did not slow down the marching speed of the infantry, but also maintained a good condition, and the artillery maneuvered in place on time, giving Luo Jian more confidence in the defense.

The official road leading from Yangzhou to Tianchang has been congested, and the people fleeing to Yangzhou are still running on the road in an endless stream, and Yangzhou's grain, grass and war materials are also being transported to Tianchang in a truckload.

The staff officers of the General Staff Department and the soldiers of the garrison division kept clearing the road all the way, and Shi Kefa personally escorted the newly produced thirteen artillery pieces and more than a hundred Nimi guns on the road.

The congestion of the road made Shi Kefa very annoyed, but in the face of all kinds of big cars and small cars of the common people, Shi Kefa could only sigh helplessly.

The two divisions finally stopped them before the Qing soldiers besieged Tianchang County, Tianchang County did not have the same defensive force as Xuyi, if it was surrounded and cut off from the connection between inside and outside the city, and then wanted to solve the difficulty, I don't know how much more difficult it would be.

The Yangzhou army backed the Tianchang county, and set up a camp in a mile outside the city, and the material resources of the camp in the city of Tianchang County were continuously sent, and the Yangzhou army equipped with sapper shovels and sapper pickaxes camped very fast, and the thigh-thick wood was nailed down to form a fence, except for the red-coated cannon, the Qing soldiers could not break through the fence.

Yan Yingyuan has already put the artillery behind the camp to open the formation, Yangzhou artillery is a curved artillery, the camp does not block the artillery shooting, but this time it is not within the visual range, Luo Jian set up a few high platforms in the middle of the camp, and specially arranged people to guard it and use walkie-talkies to direct the artillery to shoot.

Seeing that most of the Yangzhou army had arrived, Turai did not rush to attack, but set up camp steadily.

According to the strategy discussed before departure, if you can capture Tianchang, of course, it is the best, in case you can't capture it, you must also stay here and block the reinforcements from Yangzhou to Xuyi.

Luo Jian was in a courtyard in Tianchang County at this time, moved a chair to sit on, lit a cigarette and carefully thought about the current situation.

Tianchang's defense should not be a problem at present, Tianchang, who is backed by Yangzhou, can continue to receive reinforcements from Yangzhou, and Xuyi, who makes Luo Jian most anxious, has now become a lonely city, and the first division has also become a lonely army.

To solve this problem, it is necessary to repel the 70,000 Qing soldiers on the opposite side, there are not many bullets and grenades left in the 95 rifle, and now Luo Jian can only rely on artillery.

The only consolation is that there are not many cavalry among the 70,000 Qing soldiers, and their auxiliaries also account for 20,000, and there are only more than 50,000 soldiers.

Although the Qing soldiers on the opposite side put on an offensive posture, their essence should be defensive, while although the Yangzhou army put on a defensive posture, it must attack in the future, and the passivity of the Yangzhou army is clear at a glance.

"Xinghua, I finally found you!" Without waiting for the guard at the door to report, Shi Kefa walked directly into the courtyard.

Shi Kefa, who finally reached the Tianchang, first handed over the artillery to Yan Yingyuan, and Yan Yingyuan, who received thirteen artillery pieces, was overjoyed, manpower was not a problem, everyone participated in the previous training, and the artillery could be used directly after receiving it.

"Oh, Brother Ken, why are you here?" Luo Jian stood up to greet Shi Kefa and let him sit down.

"Didn't you bring artillery over, and a lot of supplies were brought over together." Shi Kefa sat down while staring at the cigarette in Luo Jian's hand.

"Give me one of your stuff too." Shi Kefa's current pressure is also extremely great, and he has already considered the problem that Luo Jian is worried about.

"Another artillery has arrived? How many doors are there? Luo Jian was amazed at Xiao Liu's speed, and he didn't know that Xiao Liu was produced without sleeping.

"There were thirteen of them, and more than a thousand shells. The number is still not much, Xiao Liu and they have done their best, I have been to see them, many people have not slept for a few days. Shi Kefa said with a sigh.

When Luo Jian heard this, he began to calculate whether these forty or so artillery pieces could smash a passage in the defense of the Qing soldiers.

"By the way, there are more than 160 of the new muskets, and I brought them with me." Shi Kefa said casually.

He didn't know how these muskets were different from the previous muskets, but when Xiao Liu handed them to him, he said that they were new muskets, and he just copied them.

Luo Jian was overjoyed when he heard this, with these mini guns, the Yangzhou army's assault ability would be greatly enhanced.

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