It's hard to do!

Li Rusong returned to his big tent exhausted and sighed from the bottom of his heart.

In this day, the Liaodong Army launched four rounds of attacks on Ningxia City, which were successively repulsed by the Ningxia Army. Seeing that it was getting late, the soldiers couldn't hold on, so Li Rusong had no choice but to order the troops to be withdrawn and prepare to fight again in the coming day.

Retreating is not a simple matter, the corpses of those dead soldiers on the front line must be recovered, and all kinds of siege equipment must be brought back to prevent the rebels from sabotage. After returning to the camp, it is necessary to arrange a bright post and a secret post to prevent the rebels from stealing the camp. For such a hundred battles journey of the Liaodong Army, these things naturally do not need to be arranged by the Lord in the future. Li Rusong only gave the general order to withdraw the army, and then came back on his own.

Although he had already left the battlefield, Li Rusong's heart was not easy at all. The difficulty of today's battle was far beyond his imagination, and he began to doubt his previous decision.

The Liaodong Army is the most capable of fighting in the border army, and in the past, only Qi Jiguang's Jizhen Army could be compared with the Liaodong Army. Since Qi Jiguang was dismissed from the post of chief military officer of Jizhen, the combat effectiveness of the Jizhen army has dropped significantly, and the Liaodong Army is unique among the border troops.

This time, Ningxia mourned the rebellion, and the military department transferred the Liaodong Army to quell the rebellion, and Li Rusong came with the idea of making a great contribution. When he first entered Ningxia, he fled and retreated in the city of Ningxia, which made Li Rusong have a strong contempt for Li Baijun's strength. In his opinion, this kind of rabble is not the opponent of the Liaodong Army at all, plus the rebels have no reinforcements at all, the military spirit must be unstable, as long as he waves his army to attack the city, Ningxia City will fall into his pocket in an instant.

When Ye Mengxiong was negotiating, Xiao Ruxun and Su Hao both opposed the proposal to attack the city, and in Li Rusong's view, this was just a manifestation of the other party's unwillingness to let him monopolize the first credit. Especially Su Hao's plan to break the city with artillery made Li Rusong feel ridiculous. In his opinion, Su Hao was just a courtier, and for some reason he won the favor of Wanli and Wang Yibustard, so that he could sit on the throne of the deputy chief soldier at the age of strength. When it comes to war, Su Hao probably doesn't even have the experience of Li Rusong.

Under his strong request, Ye Mengxiong made the decision to attack the city, and designated the Liaodong Army as the main attacker, Xiao Ruxun and Ma Qiancheng as the auxiliary attackers Li Rusong did not notice that the Kandian battalion was not included in the list of siege troops, and took a step back and said, even if he noticed, he would not say anything, Su Hao and his Kandian battalion were difficult to enter Li Rusong's eyes.

The siege began, but the process surprised Li Rusong. The fighting effectiveness and fighting will of the mourning army are astonishing, and this can be seen from the reaction of the retired Liaodong officers and men.

Of course, Li Rusong did not expect to be able to capture the head of Ningxia through a wave of charges, but he felt that in the round after round of attacks, the fighting spirit of the Ningxia army would gradually decline, and the combat effectiveness would take a sharp turn. But the actual situation is the opposite, the Ningxia army seems to be more and more courageous, the Liaodong army attacked four rounds in a row, and the Ningxia army did not show any decline. Within one day, the casualties of the Liaodong Army had exceeded 2,000, and Li Rusong no longer cared about the lives of the sergeants, and such casualties were not something he could afford.

But what if you don't attack like this? Li Rusong was confused.

"Chief soldier, Chen Langzhong of the military department asks to see you."

The soldiers walked into the big tent and reported to Li Rusongtong.

"Hurry up, please." Li Rusong commanded.

With a haha, Chen Dao, who was chubby and harmless to humans and animals, walked into Li Rusong's big tent, and as soon as he came in, he gave Li Rusong a deep salute and made a full gesture. Li Rusong hurriedly stepped forward a few steps, took Chen Dao's hand, and said, "Chen Langzhong, how dare you dare, isn't this a torture for the young general?" ”

Li Rusong's father, Li Chengliang, is Ning Yuanbo, and there are honorary positions such as Tai Yan Zi Shaobao, Taifu, and Shiyin Jinyi Commander, so Li Rusong is a well-known second generation official, plus he also has the title of chief military officer, which is much higher than Chen Dao's status among the soldiers, so it is reasonable for Chen Dao to salute him. However, Li Rusong knew that Chen Dao was a Beijing official, and casually moving his mouth would be more effective than breaking his leg in these border troops, so where would Li Rusong put something in front of Chen Dao.

After the guest and host sat down and ordered the soldiers to bring tea, snacks and other things, Li Rusong smiled and asked Chen Dao: "Chen Langzhong, how can you have time to come to my Liaodong Army today, could it be that Governor Ye sent this to be the supervising army?" ”

"I can't be a superintendent, Mr. Li, is this a pastime for Chen?" Chen Dao said with a smile. The supervisors in the Ming army are all eunuchs, and Li Rusong said that Chen Daolai was the supervisor, didn't he say that Chen Dao had the potential to be a eunuch, which should be regarded as a curse. Of course, Li Rusong's original intention was not to refer to the position of supervising the army, but to specific things.

After the joke, Chen Daozheng said: "Mr. Li, Chen also saw the situation of today's siege battle, I don't know what Mr. Li thinks?" ”

Li Rusong is not a fool, when he heard Chen Dao say this, he knew that he had something to say, so he confessed: "The combat power of the traitor is beyond Li's expectations, this battle, I'm afraid it will be a tough battle." "The throbbing is originally a Tatar, and he is fat by nature. The Cangtou Army under his command is a private army that he has operated for many years, and its combat effectiveness is also quite good. The Ningxia army rebelled this time, and the generals knew that they were guilty, so it was also expected to do the battle of the trapped beasts. Previously, Xiao and Su said that Ningxia City was not easy to attack, but it was all about lungs. Chen Dao said.

In front of Chen Dao, Li Rusong did not have the arrogance in front of Xiao Ruxun and Su Hao and others, he knew that Chen Dao was here to speak for Xiao, Su and others, and it would be boring to make a high-minded posture. He followed Chen Dao's words, nodded and said, "Li knows the name of General Xiao, and what he said naturally makes sense. It's just that Li wants a quick solution, and Mr. Xiao's strategy to break the city is too slow. ”

"So, what about the artillery offered by Su Gaizhi to break the city?" Chen Dao asked, he noticed that Li Rusong only mentioned Xiao Ruxun, but did not mention Su Hao, and the purpose of his trip was to talk about Su Hao.

Li Rusong can admit that Xiao Ruxun's strategy is reasonable, and it is already very good, and if he wants him to admit that Su Hao's point of view is reasonable, he will inevitably be a little unable to pull down his face. He said with a hesitant attitude: "The strategy offered by General Su Xiao is difficult for Li to agree with. To smash the city wall with artillery, this kind of thing is unheard of by Li. ”

Chen Dao said: "This matter is also blamed on Su Gaizhi for not making it clear, the artillery he said about breaking the city is not an ordinary artillery, but an artillery with flowering shells." The artillery that had been improved by the Soviet Union was very powerful when using flowering shells, which Chen had personally witnessed. ”

Seeing that Li Rusong still didn't believe it, Chen Dao briefly talked about the experience of accompanying Su Hao to Chongqing back then, especially the power of the explosives invented by Su Hao. When Su Hao was in Banzhou, he used explosives to blow up a dam, creating a man-made flood that flooded Yang Yinglong's elite soldiers, although Chen Dao did not see it in person, he could more or less imagine the scene at that time.

Li Rusong knew that Chen Dao was not a man of his own words, and after listening to his statement, he remained silent for a long time, not knowing what he was thinking.

Chen Dao said: "A few days ago, Li Tu invaded Pingyu City, and Su Gaizhi assisted Xiao to defend the city, and the consumption of firearms was very large, so it was impossible to mobilize the artillery shells needed to attack the city for a while. However, I had already asked him, and he said that it would take at most ten days for him to be able to bring a new batch of shells from the city. Can General Li join forces with him and try this artillery method of breaking the city? ”

Li Rusong said: "Chen Langzhong, since the military department has such sharp firearms, why don't they distribute them to our border army?" As far as Li knows, this survey battalion is just a mainland garrison, why do you need such a strong firearm? ”

This question is not only what Li Rusong wants to ask, but in fact, Xiao Ruxun, Ma Qiancheng and others also have the same question. Chen Dao said: "General Li is mistaken, these firearms are not equipped by the Ministry of War, but purchased by Su Gaizhi at his own expense. Although the name of his firearms workshop is hung under the Scepter Bureau, the expenses for making firearms are all paid by Su Hao himself. ”

"I see." Li Rusong nodded, indicating that he understood.

According to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, all kinds of weapons, especially firearms, should be made by the Staff Bureau and the Ordnance Bureau directly under the imperial court, and then distributed to various armies.

However, since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there have been more and more cases of local military manufacturing their own weapons, and they have also been recognized by the imperial court. Li Rusong's Liaodong Army also had its own military factory, which produced not only cold weapons, but also firearms such as cannons and firearms, which were also filed in the imperial court.

Su Hao is the chief general of the Kandian Battalion, and he is also a member of the military, as long as he obtains the permission of the imperial court, it is not inappropriate to make weapons by himself. To say that it is strange, that is, the size of his army is too small, and a team of many people in the sword field actually set up his own arsenal, which is really too extravagant.

Why did Su Hao make his own firearms, this question has nothing to do with Li Rusong, what he is most concerned about now is the plan proposed by Chen Dao, that is, the problem of letting him and Su Hao join forces to break the city.

"Chen Langzhong, in your opinion, if Su Hao's firearms arrive, how much will it be possible to break the city?" Li Rusong asked.

Chen Daodao: "With Su Hao's firearms and the courage of the Liaodong Army, more than ninety percent of the success of breaking the city is calculated. ”

"Is it really like the north?" Li Rusong asked.

Chen Daodao: "There is no joke in the army, how dare Chen talk nonsense about such a thing?" ”

Li Rusong asked again: "Then what Su Hao means, how should our two armies join forces?" ”

Chen Daodao: "Su Hao used firearms to blow up a section of the Ningxia city wall, and the Liaodong army entered the city through the gap to break the enemy. ”

"Then after the deed is done, how should the credit be calculated?" Li Rusong finally threw out the most critical question.

Chen Dao said: "I have already asked Su Gaizhi about this matter, and he said that if this move can break the city, he doesn't want to do anything!" ”

Li Rusong's eyes widened, he couldn't believe it was true.

(To be continued)