Chapter 411: Haizhou Periphery

Haizhou, the battle began in the morning. Li Yongfang has always stood at the head of the city, afraid of the artillery fire of the Dengzhou battalion, and did not dare to stand under his "Li" banner. The battle first began between the trenches and fortresses under the city, and how to deal with the defensive line constructed by these trenches, fences, and fortresses, the Dengzhou battalion made targeted preparations.

A fortress in sight was crumbling, and after a direct hit with a single shot, it splashed green bricks and flew wildly, and with a bang, the fortress collapsed. Similar scenes have been repeated again and again today, and Li Yongfang's expression on the head of the city is very dignified. It's not that he didn't think about launching an active counterattack, and even thought about taking the initiative to attack at night. However, according to the results of the reconnaissance, the scouts could not get close to the enemy camp even at night. More than 100 people went out, and none of them came back in 30. The night did not belong to the Qing army, and the service of the Dengzhou battalion was too powerful. What about during the day? The battle that began in the morning, in addition to the artillery bombardment, was a dense platoon of guns, and some brave soldiers, when they rushed to the artillery of the Dengzhou battalion, were intercepted by the volley of guns, and after dropping a varying number of corpses, Li Yongfang strictly ordered not to launch an attack outside the city. If you can't hold it, you will retreat.

Chang Shiren commanded the troops and launched an attack from the west, south, and east. The 12-pounder rifled guns sang the leading role, approaching a distance of up to a thousand meters, and bombarded the forts fiercely. Under heavy artillery fire, the fortresses were knocked out one by one. The remnants of the Qing army hiding in it had to abandon the fortress and retreat. For comparison, the 24-pounder large-caliber gun, which stopped after a short firing. This thing is more suitable for fighting infantry, not fortresses. Unless it hits directly. Otherwise, it won't work. More importantly, this flowering bullet thief is expensive.

In one day's work, more than 300 fortresses were cleared, and the battle line was pushed forward by nearly 300 meters, just like that, Chang Shiren still felt a little slow. When the meeting was held in the evening, he said to a group of subordinates: "It can't go on like this, it's too slow, there are nearly a thousand fortresses outside the city, at the current speed." It would take five days to clean up the city. Start from tomorrow. Don't think about ammo consumption, give me a fierce attack. ”

What Chang Shiren didn't know was that the results of the first day had scared Li Yongfang. You know, in order to build these trenches, fences, and forts. It took more than a year. More than 50,000 people were mobilized before and after. The fence is made of wood and bricks. The fort was made of cement procured from Denlai. According to Li Yongfang's assumption, he had to be able to hold on for half a month.

"You go and report to the emperor, and I will stay and be loyal to the emperor." Li Yongfang explained to his son Li Shutai. It was the only thing he could do. As a veteran traitor, he has absolutely no way out. During the fierce battle during the day, the hot air balloons outside the city dropped countless flyers, and the effect was not as good as in Yaozhou, but in this city with the Han army as the main force, these leaflets may not work for the time being, who knows in the future? There are probably quite a few people who are already preparing a way out.

Li Shutai knelt down for Li Yongfang, kowtowed three times, and left without saying a word. He is a decisive person, he knows the power of the Dengzhou camp, and he also knows that fulfilling his father's wish to leave the Li family behind is the only thing he can do.

In the morning, Li Yongfang, who had climbed to the top of the city again, noticed new changes. The artillery fire of the Dengzhou battalion became more intense, and at the same time, one squad after another, rushed into the trenches of the Qing army from all directions.

This is a new tactic researched by the staff office last night, and there is no advantage in the rifle in the trench, and there is no problem with the short gun. Overnight, the sappers and grenadiers collected their shortarms and handed them over to these tactical squads. Infantry captain Xie Qian personally led a squad and prepared to storm the trench. The tradition of the Dengzhou battalion is that when fighting, the officers must rush to the front.

After the 24-pounder cannon blasted ten rounds at the trench, Xie Qian was the first to leap up, holding a shield in one hand, a short gun in the other, a sapper shovel tied to his back, and a back fence hanging from his chest. Rushing into the trenches, I saw several Qing troops who had been bombarded, and the short guns rang out twice in a row, knocking over two, and the other Qing soldiers were hit one after another and fell in the trenches.

Another group crossed into the trenches and continued to push forward to clear the next wave of Qing troops. Xie Qian seized the time to reload and led the group to catch up, there was a bang in front, and when he rushed up, more than a dozen Qing soldiers rushed over from the nearby trench, half of them were knocked over by the short guns, and the other half were with this team. It is a combination of knives and guns, and on one side is a shield processing shovel.

The sapper shovel is a big killer weapon in trench warfare, to see that his side does not fall behind, Xie Qian did not rush up to help, but first observed the surroundings, and found that a Qing army of about fifty people was rushing over from another trench, and hurriedly turned back and greeted: "Left, grenade." ”

The fuse ignited, the grenade was thrown, and after a few booms, the Qing troops who rushed to a distance of twenty meters were blown up. Xie Qian immediately jumped up, rushed towards those Qing troops, the short gun in his hand rang twice, quickly pulled out the sapper shovel, and faced the Qing army that was pounced, holding a shield in one hand to block the slashing knife, and turning his hand to the neck is a shovel. The sharp edge of the shovel cut open the artery, and the bloody arrows rushed out.

Whoosh, a bow and arrow broke through the wind and stabbed hard at Xie Qian's back. The huge momentum caused him to fall forward, but fortunately he was wearing a stab-proof suit with a layer of chain mail inside. Even so, it hurts to leave in the back. When I looked back, the bow and arrow came from a fortress twenty meters away, and I saw three archers, who were shooting desperately, and one soldier fell with arrows in a row.

"Fortress, grenade." Xie Qian shouted to the soldier who was leaning over, and the soldier immediately lit the grenade, threw it at the fort, and immediately lay down. With a bang, the archers on the fortress flew. "Well done, go on. Follow me. ”

A total of a hundred similar squads were dispatched, and under the cover of artillery fire, the speed of the assault was indeed much faster. Explosives packets, grenades, and constantly knocking out one fortress after another. The speed is fast, and the casualties are also large. After a day of fighting, nearly 500 fortresses were destroyed and more than 300 people were killed.

One by one, the fences were breached, knocked down, and filled in the trenches. Under the cover of artillery and infantry, migrant workers pushed carts up, and sandbags were thrown into trenches one after another. Before dark, it successfully advanced to about 200 meters outside the city. This result made Li Yongfang almost desperate, the combination of trenches, fences, and fortresses, and the defense of more than 5,000 soldiers seemed to be able to hold out for only three days.

The casualties caused by the 24-pounder large-caliber artillery were not too great for the Qing army, but the deterrent effect was excellent. Due to the shelling, Qing troops constantly ran out of the trenches, and they fled the battlefield and died in the explosions.

Li Yongfang's only choice was to die in battle, and he was in the city every day in battle, which really played a role in encouraging morale. However, the change in the mode of war, the Qing army, which was accustomed to fighting with the Ming army, was very accustomed to the tactics of the Dengzhou battalion. The contrast in casualties was very great, especially in the face of the artillery, and those fortresses were badly suppressed.

On the third day, the Dengzhou battalion continued its efforts and finally cleared the trenches and fences outside the city. The Qing army in the fortress was also cleaned up, and more than half of the 5,000 Qing troops surrendered. The Dengzhou battalion attacked regardless of casualties, and the result was three days of fierce fighting, with more than 50 casualties and about 500 minor and serious wounded. The main causes of casualties, one was melee combat, and the other was the archers of the Qing army. After so many years of dealing, the Qing army knew how to deal with the Dengzhou battalion to be effective. Bows and arrows must be shot at the door, or with bare hands and feet. Shooting anywhere else doesn't hurt much.

"The Qing army in the city has hundreds of furlong cannons, and tomorrow they will release all the hot air balloons, and they must find out the location. Although this thing can't be hit far, if it is hit within a distance, people will have to become a hornet's nest. ”

"You can put some marksmen in the balloons, that's what Haizhou did back then. Bring some more explosives bags and throw them down. ”

At the meeting, you said a word, and the officers all fought the last battle of Haizhou with Chen Xie. Experience is readily available.

"Li Yongfang has blocked the city gate. Ant-attached siege casualties are inevitable, let's dig and blast. Look at the sappers. Chang Shiren's words decided the key way to attack the city this time. In fact, for the past three days, the sappers have been digging tunnels. It has now advanced to a hundred meters from the city gate. In order to deceive the Qing army, a tent was also arranged near the tunnel. The fierce attack made the Qing army in the city flawless to take into account the tunnel tactics.

The meeting didn't end until midnight, and when the officers dispersed, Chang Shiren sat in his chair and yawned. In the past three days, I haven't slept much, and I sit there with eyelids fighting. pressure, saying that there is no is a lie, Chen Xie gambled with his life, as a subordinate of his cronies, he did not dare to be sloppy in the slightest. I found some cold water, washed my face, and found the siege plan again, trying to find every detail I hadn't thought of.

At two o'clock in the evening, Chang Shiren went to sleep, and got up at six o'clock the next morning. The attacking forces are all in place. Dig another day, and the tunnel will reach the bottom of the city. Today's battle is actually to deceive the opponent, but it has to be pretended to be the same as the real thing.

The fierce artillery fire turned the city into a sea of fire, 24-pounder guns, 12-pounder guns, these two smoothbore guns can fire flowering shells, and a large number of kills and injuries to the Qing army are the effect of flowering shells. After ten rounds of artillery fire, the infantry on the ground was dispatched. Pushing the shield cart slowly, the guns were lined up to suppress the Qing army at the head of the city. The hot air balloon was less than twenty meters away from the city gate, and the height ranged from sixty or seventy meters. The marksmen constantly killed the archers and gunners of the Qing army at the head of the city, and the signal soldiers guided the artillery and attacked the artillery positions of the Qing army.

Li Yongfang played with his old life, constantly running back and forth on the city, shouting loudly and cheering up the soldiers. The offensive of the Dengzhou battalion was too fierce, constantly investing in new forces, frantically using various weapons and brigade platoon guns to consume, and the fierce battle lasted for nearly an hour before the first attack was repulsed, but the moat was also filled in for a long time. The hateful Dengzhou battalion, when it retreated, the wounded soldiers and corpses were brought back, which Li Yongfang never expected. (To be continued......)