Chapter 307 Clearing Obstacles and Filling Trenches

Regarding the affairs of those women, Chen Xie knew and took a tacit attitude. Chen Xie didn't kill them, but they had to eat, and every grain of food in the city was found and taken, and they couldn't get out of the city, so they had no choice. Compared with them, in the central and western regions of the Ming Dynasty, many women have no place to change a bite of food even if they sell it, and even turn it into food.

It has been a long time since Master Chen abandoned the idea of compassion for the heavens and people, and this era is like this.

Zilharang waited for seven days before he saw the shadow of the Dengzhou camp. The people who were digging a ditch under the city threw down their tools and prepared to run back, but they were immediately ruthlessly slashed by the soldiers. Tens of thousands of people ran back together, afraid that the city gate would soon be blocked.

In fact, at this time, the Dengzhou battalion was still seven or eight miles away, and the officers at the head of the city used monoculars to discover the vanguard of the Dengzhou battalion. When Zilharan came to the city, it was already early afternoon. The scout Fei also seemed to flee back, and behind him was the pursuing green-skinned cavalry, and when the distance was less than five miles, the Dengzhou soldiers stopped chasing.

The thirteen-person scout team belonged to Tong Jia's subordinates, went out for three days, and came back six, and all of them were bloody.

The captain of the scout was led to the city, knelt down and saluted: "Master, the slave is not doing well, please punish him." ”

Zilharang waved his hand and said, "Tell me what you found, how did you find Xingzang?" ”

"Back to the master, the slave took people to plan to go around behind enemy lines, and found a Dengzhou scout halfway down the road, and quietly touched it. Let's move first and kill both of them. I didn't expect that when we rushed up, they all had short guns in their hands. A short meal. Six brothers are gone. This Ming dog was very prickly and approached to fight. didn't take advantage of too much and killed the two of them. I also folded three brothers. If it weren't for the woods on the side, I almost didn't run away. The servants saw that their great camp was twenty-five or six miles away. I can't really see how many soldiers there are, I don't have a chance to get close. ”

"Go down and rest." Zilharang sent the scouts away, looked back at Tong Jia and said, "Have the other scouts come back?" ”

"It's back, and it's all bad news. There was a cavalry in Dengzhou, and there were quite a few of them. Yaozhou Station, Tangchi Fort, Ximu City. They all told them to order. The crops that ripen in the field are burned. The farthest of this cavalry ran to Niuzhuangyi. In addition, a Dengzhou naval division went up the river from the mouth of the Liao River, and the garrison in the direction of the Daling River had not yet withdrawn in a hurry, and it was afraid that the Guanning army in Shanhaiguan would fight out. Tong Jia's tone was heavy, a Ming cavalry was wreaking havoc in Houjin's territory, who would have dared to think of this kind of thing before? The county seat or something is fine. Towns and villages have suffered. If the bridge on the Liao River is destroyed, staring at the Houjin army on the front line of Shanhaiguan, the problem will be really big.

"The Guanning Army is not the Dengzhou battalion, they don't have the courage to fight."

"I'm afraid that Dengzhou Camp will go ashore by sea. Cooperate with the cavalry to the north. is really like this, looking at the Dengzhou battalion in western Liaoning, the Guanning army may not dare to fight. Once the Guanning army was out of Shanhaiguan. The whole of Liaoxi will inevitably erode. If that's the case, it's good to be able to hold Quang Ninh. "Tong Jia is still very strategic. But he still didn't expect that Chen Xie really didn't think that far. The General Staff Department was in accordance with the occupation of Fuzhou. The battle plan was formulated for the purpose of consolidating Fuju and destroying the deep economy.

Ji'er Harang guessed right, Chen Xie had already sent someone to send a letter to Shanhaiguan, but Zu Dashou just didn't move. It is said that the two sides have been doing business all these years, and many weapons such as chain mail, plate armor, and sabers have been sold to Guan Ningjun. In addition to firearms, everything that can be sold is sold, and the combat effectiveness of the Guanning Army is still very strong, so why don't you have the confidence to fight it?

With only more than 5,000 soldiers in his hands, Zilharang naturally did not dare to go out to Haizhou to fight. While sending a letter to Mukden, he organized the people to go to the city to prepare for war, and at the same time stepped up digging trenches and building fences outside the city. At this time, I can only prepare like this, there is no good way. Guarding until Huang Taiji comes back is victory, and going out to fight in the field is death.

At dawn, Zilharang, who had not slept much all night, came to the city again. The Dengzhou soldiers, lined up one after another, were slowly approaching the city. On the front of the south gate, there are at least 3,000 green-skinned soldiers. After setting up the formation, the green-skinned artillery appeared, and set up an artillery position outside the city, a distance of about five miles. This is what it means to bully people's cannons.

Can you hit the city at this distance? Zilharang didn't understand this! But when I think about Yue Tuo, I feel that it may not be impossible. The more terrifying thing was still to come, four huge balls rose in the direction of the Dengzhou camp, and a basket was hanging underneath, as if it was still on fire. What's going on? This discovery frightened Zilharang.

Hot air balloons are not very demanding in terms of technology. After repeated attempts, the craftsmen of the Dengzhou camp made ten, the material was lined with sheepskin, and the outside was covered with a layer of cotton cloth. The problem of fuel was a bit annoying, and then I built a coal stove and burned coke. It can't be compared with a kerosene stove, and it looks bulky. The advantage is that it can be used, and you don't have to fly too high.

At an altitude of fifty meters, fly to around a thousand meters. This distance is so nasty that you can't hit anything. I could only watch as the people above saw the city clearly. An independent artillery battalion, four artillery teams, and 24 12-pounder rifled guns, this thing is not very lethal, but the effect of hitting the city wall of Haizhou is absolutely good.

Chen Xie didn't plan to take down Haizhou in one day, that was a paragraph in a fantasy novel. With a hot air balloon, a distance of five hundred meters, staring at the head of the city, you can see what underwear the Jin soldiers are wearing on the head of Haizhou City. After finding the position of the cannon at the head of the city, the artillery on the position began to test fire.

Zilharang felt that this was wrong, and saw the white smoke flickering under the city, and after a while, a cannonball hit the city wall, and it was still a distance of more than ten meters from a gun position. The city wall trembled violently, and it seemed that the city wall would not last long. It's really troublesome, how can there be a cannon that hits so far and is so accurate?

The second cannon came again, twenty meters away from Zilharang, and hit the battlements directly, no more than three meters from the gun position, and the flying debris wounded two gunners.

Chen Xie has been holding a telescope to observe, he doesn't want to be greeted by Houjin's cannon when his soldiers attack. War is a normal thing. An opponent like Houjin doesn't have too much artillery, so let's kill the artillery first. Other casualties will be borne within the scope of bearing.

Weng Zhengqing is now a guerrilla general, and he is not uncommon for military generals in this imperial court. He cares more about the position of artillery commander, and the two heavy artillery battalions under his command symbolize Master Chen's trust. The Dengzhou Artillery has been established for many years, and has spared no expense in training and personnel training, and has finally trained a group of qualified gunners and observers. The characteristic of these people is that they are young, and they only joined the army after graduating from the Dengzhou Academy, and after learning this year's arithmetic and some calculation methods, they will provide the artillery with a yardstick for preparation.

It is not a skill to be able to shoot artillery, and it is not considered capable to fight fast, and only those who can shoot accurately are qualified artillerymen. It is natural for the Dengzhou artillery, which is trained according to this standard, to be superior to others.

Two rounds were corrected, three rounds were corrected, and the roaring cannon sounded one after another. When the third shell landed on the city, the correction was complete.

Solid shells are really not very powerful, but they can't hold much. 48 cannons, staring at this section of the city wall of about 500 meters, bombarded, but in two rounds, the two precious cannons on the head of the city were overturned, smashing and injuring seven or eight gunners.

Zilharang witnessed the tragic situation of several people not far away after being directly hit by shells, and the city was full of strong people, how much courage to fight. Many of them were minions before, and in the face of such fierce artillery fire, they ran down the city after watching their companions being smashed.

Zilharan's own soldiers were also anxious, and they set him up and went down to the city. The whizzing cannons were surprisingly accurate, and very few shells flew over the walls, either landing on the top of the city, hitting the battlements or hitting the walls.

The shelling lasted a whole moment before it stopped, which was not a long time, but the soldiers who held out at the head of the city seemed to be as long as years. No matter who it was, the shells kept falling not far away, and some of the companions were constantly being killed and wounded. Anyone can feel fear.

After all, it is a breech gun, and it has to stop to dissipate heat after fifteen minutes. The prepared minkers let out a scream at this time, carrying straw sandbags and rushing forward with a roar. These people are all people captured from Gaizhou and nearby areas, working for the Dengzhou camp, and taking care of two meals a day. The work is done quickly and well, and the soldiers are given broth to drink. During your work, you won't be beaten for no reason, and even if you're the captain, you can't bully people without a valid reason.

It is necessary to fill in the trenches, otherwise it will be impossible to attack the city. The previous artillery fire knocked out the cannons at the head of the city, and when he returned to the city, he could only watch the people throw sandbags into the trench more than 500 steps away. Originally, it was a good calculation, and the cannon from the top of the city could hit it, but now that there is no cannon, I can only stare dryly.

There was no blow, and the people worked harder. Constantly going back and forth, an hour later, a hundred steps forward.

Seeing this, the Houjin army at the head of the city felt that it was not a problem, and Tong Jia found Zilharang: "Master, I will take the cavalry out of the city and rush to kill for a while." They can't just be allowed to fill in the trench so easily. ”

The hot air balloon that had been floating found out in time that hundreds of Houjin cavalry were gathering, and immediately sent out a signal. All the cannons were aimed at the city gates, and at the same time, two rifle battalions and ten squares began to press towards the city gates from the left and right sides.

A creaking sound sounded, the gates opened, and the drawbridge was lowered. At this moment, 48 cannons rang out one after another, and when they heard the sound of cannons, they immediately lay down, which is a rule that must be memorized. (To be continued......)