The Constitution Division has been completely isolated from the inside and outside for more than a month, and no one from Tang Desheng and his staff to the lowest soldiers knows what is going on outside, and they don't know if reinforcements are coming here, or whether there is a rescue plan in the rear.

In Tang Desheng's headquarters, another fierce quarrel broke out between his regimental commanders and staff officers, and the 35th Regiment insisted on launching a fierce counterattack to regain the outer positions lost in the previous section; The other two regiments had an ambiguous attitude, while the staff officers were resolutely opposed, because until now the Shun army had not shown obvious flaws, and the failure of the counterattack would cause great casualties, and the counterattack would be successful, and it would only be a matter of delay, and the positions that the Shun army could still gain and lose were snatched away again.

The staff officers pointed out that the original purpose of the outlying positions was to delay time, but now that the goal has been achieved, there is no need to seize it back, and the besieged constitutional division should still take preserving its strength and delaying as much time as possible to wait for the siege to be lifted as the operational purpose.

Tang Desheng could understand the uneasiness of his three regiment commanders, who were more concerned about the condition of some troops, and now the morale of the officers and men was getting lower and lower, and the troops were being beaten every day, but there was rarely a chance to fight back. This kind of beating is not a big problem, because the offensive launched by the Shun army in order to save orders is very weak, and according to this momentum, the constitutional division can hold out for a long, long time, but morale is indeed a big problem.

The 35th Regiment pointed out that the current Shun army was showing symptoms of paralysis and carelessness, their attack frequency became longer, and the Shun soldiers on the front line seemed to have become fewer, and the three regiment commanders of the Ming army and Tang Desheng were all classmates of the military academy, and they pointed out that this seemed to be an opportunity for Xu Ping to counterattack before - the enemy thought that victory was in his hands. Perhaps it will be able to break through the positions of the Shun army in one fell swoop and inflict some blows on the enemy's rear, and even if it cannot deal a heavy blow to the enemy, it will be good for morale to recapture some positions, so it will be worth sacrificing some officers and men.

The cries for battle became louder and louder as time went on, and the commander of the 36th Regiment made it clear a few days later that he had made it clear that his soldiers were beginning to get tired of being tortured in the trenches, and that they were especially forced to watch the Shun army on the opposite side practice and move as if they were in a peaceful area, and the two commanders of the 35th and 36th Regiments believed that the change in the morale of the soldiers had both advantages and disadvantages, and everyone was holding back a lot of energy, and if it was used well, it would also be beneficial for offensive operations.

At the same time, both regimental commanders warned that if this delay continued, the anger in the soldiers' breasts, which might have been transformed into fighting spirit, would soon turn into pessimism and despair.

Tang Desheng felt a lot of pressure, the staff officers all thought that it was unwise to launch a counterattack at this moment, the besieged Ming army needed to save troops, bandages and medicines, the staff officers believed that the current battle situation was not bad in terms of casualty figures, morale was the only problem, they strongly suggested that Tang Desheng do more encouragement work, and still insisted on waiting for the Shun army to attack without a fight - as the Ming army became more and more dense, the Shun army wanted to concentrate its forces and gnaw a piece of Ming army position at a time The opportunity was less and less, and the staff officers felt that the defensive war was still more favorable.

It's just that Tang Desheng can't think of any new ways to inspire the morale of the army, and the Shun army on the opposite side is launching a propaganda offensive, and after the heavy rain last time, Xu Ping sent people to shout to the Ming army position all day and night: tell the Ming soldiers that their comrades who surrendered in the past have been treated well, and they have also been released home after swearing.

Since yesterday, Xu Ping sent people to shout to the Ming soldiers, saying that after they surrendered, they could take a bath and change into clean clothes and return to their hometowns. In the past few days, twenty or thirty soldiers have fled every night, and the Shun army has a clearer understanding of the difficulties of the Ming army, and the demagogy has become more favorable. If left unchecked, Tang Desheng felt that sooner or later a large number of soldiers would desert, so it seemed to be an increasingly tempting option to raid the Shun army to boost morale.

……

In addition to sending a batch of ammunition, the King of Liao also sent Yi Cheng, the chief writer of "The People's Observer of Liaodong", to the south. Now there are a large number of newspaper reporters (mainly from the south) gathered in Nanjing, who inquire for news, exchange rumors and gossip in each other's hands, whether true or false, and then sort out these news and send them back to the provinces under the Southern Ming Dynasty.

At the suggestion of the King of Liao, Xu Ping held a grand return ceremony for the surrendered Nanming soldiers, and recently he released hundreds of Nanming soldiers at one time, and invited many Nanming reporters to watch, Yi Cheng wrote an article explaining that this meant that Tang Desheng, who was trapped in Chunhua, had lost the morale of the army, and now relied on cruel military law to force the soldiers to continue a hopeless war.

Xu Ping himself originally had an indifferent attitude towards this kind of propaganda, but later considered that if the propaganda was effective, the Ming army would not have much courage to persist when it confronted him in the future, so he cooperated with Yi Cheng's work.

"Both Qi Gong and I have repeatedly emphasized that a defense without a counterattack is an incomplete defense, and I believe that Tang Desheng will definitely not be unclear about this. Now that the number of deserters in the Twelfth Town of Nanming is increasing day by day, I guess he can't help but rush out to fight. In Xu Ping's headquarters, he made this judgment to his subordinates, and the Shun army showed off their might in front of Chunhua every day, brazenly let the recruits swagger through the market, and called on the Ming soldiers to surrender day and night. From the mouths of the Ming prisoners who deserted these days, the Shun army also learned that the soldiers of the Chunhua Ming army were becoming more and more uncomposed, and this impetuous atmosphere in the army would definitely affect their commanders, Xu Ping estimated that the other party must be eager to rely on a victorious counterattack to boost morale, even if it was a small victory: "If Tang Desheng sits down again, he will kill himself, I don't think he will sit still, so it is a matter of time before he fights, and we must continue to increase the pressure to force him to leave the strong position and kill him." ”

……

Chunhua Town,

"For the sake of the silver of the second tael of January, does Lao Tzu have to stay in this ghost place and get moldy?"

The soldiers of Li Hong's battalion complained dissatisfied, and this was echoed in a low voice.

"Bad seeds!" But some people couldn't help but retort: "To be a soldier is to work hard, you should have thought of this, you shouldn't have come to be a soldier at all." ”

"Lao Tzu is not a bad seed," the soldier jumped up as if he had been stabbed, and retorted angrily: "Lao Tzu is not afraid of death, but he doesn't want to die like this. ”

The junior officers of the 35th Regiment had begun to pretend not to hear the complaints of the soldiers, and they also asked to go to the top one after another. However, the determination of the division headquarters still seemed unshakable, and Tang Desheng insisted on waiting for the Shun army to attack, and the breakthrough was completely out of his consideration.

"No one came back to save us." Another soldier muttered: "The guys of the 11th Division are in Longtan, they eat river fish every day, take refuge in the summer by the river, and live happily, they just watch us being surrounded here, and they don't move for two months." ”

"The Shun army will not come to fight us, they will watch us fall ill one by one, be dragged into the nursing camp to die, and then be buried in this hellish place. They weren't so stupid to come and eat guns, they would hide in the shade of the trees, eat barbecue, and watch us dig trenches and laugh. ”

The soldiers' complaints grew louder.

"We have to kill, we have guns in our hands, and we can at least die on the battlefield, right?"

Listening to the discussions of his companions, Li Hong unconsciously held the weapon in his hand tightly, and the days of being besieged in the past two months seemed to be longer than his previous life, and there was no end in sight.

"Are our more than 10,000 heroes trapped to death like mice?"

"How can we not kill us if we are all united?"

The soldiers complained for a long time, and some of them got tired of it, so they went to the barracks next door to complain. As the sun set, an officer entered the camp, and although most of the soldiers were silent, a few were still muttering quietly, and the officer deafly called out a few names and told them to go to the vigil outside the town.

"Guard, guard, guard, guard?"

"What is stubbornly guarding Chunhua, it is purely guarding Chunhua."

The officers took the soldiers away, and the rest of them made another pointless complaint.

At this time, in Tang Desheng's headquarters, except for the 34th Regiment, which was still neutral, the other two regiment commanders were here to resolutely ask for battle, and this time several division staff officers were also on their side. In recent days, the Ming army has also organized its own reconnaissance team to carry out very cautious spying on some of the forward positions of the Shun army, and in their opinion, the main force of the Shun army has not remained in the position, and in addition to the vigilant troops, there are many new recruits who are familiar with the battlefield. There were two exchanges of fire between the small detachments of the Shun army and the Ming army, but there were no losses, and the Shun army has not launched any attacks in the past ten days, and it seems that the possibility that the other side wants to trap itself is becoming more and more obvious.

"At least let the soldiers have something to do," the commander of the 35th Regiment has the strongest desire to fight, because it is closely surrounded, the Ming army's grasp of the movements of the Shun army is very limited, and the Ming army's every move is under the nose of the other party, the commander of the 35th Regiment admits that there will be considerable risks in the current situation of information warfare, but he feels that if he does not fight, it will only make the other party more relaxed and his own side more nervous: "Even if it is not successful, it can make the Shun army unable to recuperate so comfortably." ”

"And the success of the offensive depends on the suddenness, we have not launched a counterattack since the beginning of the war, and the Shun army must also be impetuous, our actions are under their surveillance, and most of them will not think that we dare to attack." The commander of the 36th Regiment was inclined to launch a large-scale offensive, and he advocated that one regiment should be the main attack, and one regiment should be assisted to sweep the forward positions of the Shun army. If it succeeds in achieving major results, it will undoubtedly greatly boost the morale of the officers and men of the Constitutional Division.

"We've sent out reconnaissance teams many times in the past few days," Tang Desheng's instinct told him that attacking was not a good idea, and he retorted, "It's likely that the Shun army is aware of our intentions." ”

"That's why it's time to hurry, my lord." The commander of the 35th Regiment and Tang Desheng were classmates at the military academy, and the two were the same age, so the division commander also had absolute authority over him, and he tried his best to oppose Tang Desheng's conservative policy: "My lord, we can't just be beaten and not fight back, this has no future. ”

Tang Desheng was silent, before entering the encirclement, he had repeatedly discussed with He Feihu and Chen Wei, firmly believing that in front of an experienced general like Xu Ping, he must make every effort to avoid complicating the situation, at present, the supply of the constitutional division is still sufficient, and the health regulations are also strictly enforced, as long as there is no problem with morale, there will be no problem to hold on for a few more months. As long as there is no problem with morale, then Tang Desheng feels that no matter how much Xu Ping changes, in the end, he will have to rely on storming the Ming army's position to end this confrontation.

"With 15,000 officers and men in the division, we can't sit still and wait for death without firing a shot," the commander of the 35th Regiment refused to give up his efforts, and he bitterly persuaded him: "Just fight a battle, and if the enemy is on guard, we will retreat, and we will never be greedy for merit." ”

"Okay," Tang Desheng's determination finally wavered, and he nodded reluctantly: "Just make a tentative attack." ”

"Massive tentative attacks." The two commanders of the main battle shouted at the same time.

"Massive." Tang Desheng agreed, and as soon as these words came out, he noticed that the face of the commander of the 34th Regiment, who remained neutral, also looked relaxed, and several staff officers even let out a small cheer, and everyone was excited and eager to try.

……

"Tang Desheng refuses to sit still, attack or wait for death, he still has to try in the end, I guess it's just one or two days." Based on the desertion and reconnaissance results of the Ming army, Xu Ping made a judgment.

The Ming army around Chunhua made some deployment adjustments, and the staff of the Shun army issued an alarm that the Ming army was about to attack, and the reconnaissance activities of the Ming army and the deployment of the Ming army troops during this period of time, the generals of the Shun army predicted several Ming army attack locations. These points were not too far away, and Xu Ping planned to give up the first line to the Ming army, and use some open areas farther behind them as a blocking field.

"Most of them will still try to start with a night attack, in order to ensure that most of the concealment will not even be used for artillery bombardment," the Ming army's artillery position did not make any major adjustments, this was because of the fear of being guessed by the Shun army, and Xu Ping planned to pretend that he did not notice: "It seems that the Ming army's movement this time is not small, at least 3,000 people will be killed." Commanding 3,000 men at night, I really don't think much of them. ”

When the Ming army was carefully fine-tuning its deployment, the Shun army, which always paid attention to their movements, also transferred several battalions to several of the most dangerous areas and hid them, and the Shun army estimated that the most likely offensive mode of the Ming army was to use the infantry group to quickly assault, not shelling, not blind shooting, directly enter the front line of the Shun army, and then decide whether to continue to advance according to the situation.

"We can just take advantage of their idea to let the front-line soldiers shoot indiscriminately and retreat at full speed, so that they think that the raid was successful, and our front-line troops fled in a panic, if they don't get any results and have no losses, they will never stop immediately, they will definitely rush forward a little more after holding back their grievances for so long." Xu Ping pointed to several selected blocking fields to assign tasks to his subordinates, and when the Ming army crossed the first line abandoned by the Shun army and continued to charge forward, no matter which road they chose, they would face the interception of a field battalion of the Shun army: "Don't make any attempt to block the front, I don't want the Ming army to stop attacking because they feel that there is a threat to the rear road, let them have no worries about the rear, and let their commanders feel that they can safely withdraw to Chunhua at any time." ”

Xu Ping had no intention of annihilating a force of the Ming army, he just hoped to rely on this blocking battle to deal a heavier blow to the opponent's fighting spirit and morale, and he told his subordinates that he would not outflank the Ming army that had hedged out in order to seek a war of annihilation: "Let their wounded soldiers go back to Chunhua, so that all the Ming troops can see their comrades who attacked come back with blood, if the Ming army sends an aid team after dawn to rescue their wounded, do not carry out any blocking shooting, if they want to bring the corpses back, they will do it." ”

"We don't have to bandage their wounded soldiers, and we don't have to bury their dead." Liu Zongmin liked the idea, his only regret was that his cavalry was useless under this plan, and these wounded would increase the burden on the Ming army - it would take a lot of manpower and resources to care for the wounded, and their miserable situation would make the Ming army in Chunhua even more frustrated; As for burying the dead, it was impossible for the Ming army not to do so, but if the Ming army erected thousands of tombstones for yesterday's comrades on the edge of the town after one night, it would have a devastating effect on morale.

"I don't think the Ming army will ignore the issue of coordination, so if you hear that the battle is happening to the friendly troops next to you, don't breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that you will have nothing to do." Xu Ping believed that if he was in the position of the other party, he would definitely arrange a slightly delayed coordinated force on the two flanks of the main attacking force, and if the main attacking force encountered strong resistance, the backward troops on both flanks would try to insert forward and then strike together to eliminate the resisters: "Pay attention to maintaining vigilance and ensure the safety of the flanks of friendly and neighboring troops." ”

The battalion commanders stepped forward to receive their respective assignments and then went down separately to prepare.

……

The atmosphere in the regiment today was somewhat peculiar, and in the afternoon all the officers were summoned to a meeting, and a subtle mood spread between Li Hong and his companions, and all the soldiers were whispering, secretly speculating whether there was going to be any action in the regiment.

The door was opened suddenly, and the team officer rushed in in a hurry, his excitement was overflowing, he waved his hand vigorously, and his face was flushed: "Counterattack tonight, our regiment will attack!" ”

"Hooray!"

Cheers rang out in the barracks.

"Shut up!" The squad officer scolded, then began to introduce the mission with a smile on his face.

After nightfall, the soldiers of the 35th Regiment took advantage of the darkness to enter the forward position, and Li Hong glanced at the opposite side, and there was no sign of enemy activity in the dark, and there were still a few scattered fires in the distance—it seemed that the enemy was holding a picnic again.

The forces of the 36th Regiment were gathered behind the flank of the 35th Regiment, and in the event of an emergency they would rush to the aid of friendly forces, and the senior officers and staff officers of the Ming Army believed that it was possible for the Shun Army to react in time and then block the front of the main attack regiment to resist. If this happens, the 36th Regiment will throw a left hook and attack from the flank to wipe out the Shun troops.

"Don't shoot first!" The officer walked lightly behind the soldier and re-emphasized in an inaudible voice: "We must stick our bayonets in the chest of the intruders, and do not shoot first!" ”

Li Hong held the gun tightly in his hand, and he felt that the fighting spirit in his heart was about to burst through his chest and burst out of his body, and the companions around him also tensed their bodies one by one, waiting for the order to attack.

……

Hu Chen didn't know that his troops were on the predetermined attack route of the 35th Regiment, but he knew that something big would happen tonight, either here or elsewhere, and the Ming army would finally rush out and fight to the death.

In front of him was an open field, Hu Chen and his subordinates were hidden behind trenches and low battlefield bunkers, and today there were not only veterans of the Second Infantry Wing of the Guards Battalion who participated in the battle, but also recruits who had participated in training for more than a month and a half in the battalion were incorporated into the combat unit, and they would stay behind the veterans and touch the battlefield for the first time.

On the position of thousands of people, Hu Chen could only hear some slight breaths, these breaths were not from the veterans, they were all too familiar with this kind of scene. Those recruits were still a little nervous, according to the order from the wing, Hu Chen did not allow any recruits to reload, they had to see with their own eyes, when the commander's order was to "get closer and then fire", what distance their seniors had to fire at. They were not allowed to reload in order to prevent them from losing control of their own hands, and Hu Chen knew very well the momentum of thousands of enemy troops rushing forward, and there were few recruits who could not be in a hurry when they saw such a scene for the first time.

All recruits were required to use their weapons only after the first round of fire from the veterans, a battle that did not require the firepower of the recruits, and the number of veterans in the Guards Battalion was enough to repel even more enemy night attacks. Moreover, the Guards Battalion also prepared artillery for this battle, in the past, Xu Ping people thought that mortars could no longer play a major role in field battles because of the problem of firing range and loading speed, but tonight is different, several mortars are placed behind the back of each field battalion, they have been loaded, and the firing angle has been adjusted. When the Ming infantry rushed through the open field in front of them in a dense formation, the Shun mortars would explode the air-burst shells above their heads.

Hu Chen gently shook his saber, although the chance of using it tonight was slim, but Hu Chen still carefully roasted it on the charcoal fire, and the bayonets of all the soldiers around him had also been similarly dyed, and these sharp blades would not emit a little cold light in the night.

On the right hand of the second infantry wing was the fifth infantry wing, just as Hu Chen did not expect that they were on the main attack route of the Ming army, the fifth infantry wing did not know that the coordination plan of the 36th regiment of the Ming army was that if the friendly forces encountered fierce resistance, they would make a side hook from this route.

The position of the 5th Infantry Wing was slightly further back than that of the 2nd Infantry Wing, because there was a stream in front of their position, and the commander of the Shun army decided to make the most of this advantage: this stream would not cause much trouble for the attacking army, but if the Ming army retreated, it would increase their confusion a little, allowing them to stay longer on the open terrain, and the movement of a large number of soldiers stepping into the stream would also allow the Shun artillery to carry out accurate blind fire - the artillery assigned to the 5th Infantry Wing set the impact point on both sides of the stream, Shotguns other than mortars are loaded with shotguns.

……

"Is the fight still going on?" Xu Ping waited for the battle report at his headquarters, and now the Shun army had also learned the word.

"Yes, General." The staff officer reported that everything was as usual, but no deserters from the Ming army were found on the position until midnight today, and it was clear that something unusual was happening in the dark night opposite.

"All battalions have received a report, and they will teach the Ming army a good lesson tonight," Chen Zhe said lightly, although the Ming army carefully concealed its offensive intentions, but all kinds of clues were too obvious in the eyes of Xu Ping, Chen Zhe and Zhou Dongtian and others, although the Shun army had made preparations in many places just in case, Xu Ping and Chen Zhe's prediction of the Ming army's counterattack was highly consistent, and they both believed that the most likely place for the Ming army to attack was in the ambush of the guard battalion and the armored battalion- This is also the reason why the Shun army placed these two battalions in that position. Chen Zhe drank tea leisurely, not worried about the outcome of the war, and prophesied to Xu Ping and Zhou Dongtian: "This will not be a battle, it will only be a one-sided slaughter. ”

The two people who listened to him had no objection to this.

……

"Alright, it's almost there." As soon as the Shun army's round of fighting was over, the commander of the 35th regiment could not wait to say: "Inform the brothers, let us go and kill them all." ”

"Wait a minute," a herald rushed into the temporary headquarters of the 35th Regiment: "Stop the attack!" The division commander gave an urgent order to stop the attack. ”

Less than a quarter of an hour later, a fierce quarrel broke out in Tang Desheng's headquarters, and the commander of the 35th Regiment even used the word coward to accuse the division commander in anger, but Tang Desheng was unmoved: "I have thought about it carefully, General Xu must be looking forward to our attack...... I really don't dare to say that our surprise attack may not be successful, maybe we can achieve some results, but we may also fail...... As long as the strength of our constitutional division is still there, General Xu will have to stay here with us, and he will not be able to divide his troops to the south...... We must be careful to protect our offensive capabilities and never use them lightly. ”

……

"Between attacking and waiting for death, Tang Desheng actually chose to wait for death, which is too unexpected for me." The next day, after Xu Ping asked the Ming army who had sneaked over again, he was surprised and said: "Let the battalions be on guard, Tang Desheng is spending money with us." ”

"What is the General going to do?" Chen Zhe asked, the well-prepared ambush failed to make him very angry, and what made Chen Zhe even more angry was that if the deserter of the 35th Regiment was not talking nonsense, the other party actually changed his mind at the last moment.

"There is no good way, Nanming's Twelfth Town is still very powerful, and we must continue to be careful to prevent him from coming out and causing trouble." Xu Ping said helplessly: "If I see this posterity in the future, I will tell him that he almost made a mistake, and I will definitely be able to catch it." Well, although he wisely made up for his mistake at the last minute, he hesitated for a moment, and this hesitation would have caused the morale of his men to collapse faster, and he was still sitting still. ”

……

Li Hong, who was napping, was awakened by the slight movement around him, and he immediately grabbed his musket and threw himself in front of the trench, and a black shadow shook not far away, and Li Hong violently raised his gun to aim at the black shadow.

The black shadow did not make any hostile moves, but softly called Li Hong's name.

"What the hell are you doing!" Li Hong immediately relaxed when he heard the familiar voice, and his companion on duty climbed out of the trench instead of staying at his post, and he whispered dissatisfiedly: "Come back quickly." ”

But the black shadow did not move, still lying motionless on the ground, Li Hong looked at his companion in confusion for a few seconds, and suddenly realized, he gritted his teeth sharply, and here he aimed the musket straight at the companion on duty, and asked in a stern voice: "What are you going to do?" ”

"Brother Li, I have a son and a daughter." The dark shadow whispered something that Li Hong had known for a long time.

After hearing this reply, Li Hong maintained an aiming posture and stood still for a while, and suddenly put away his gun with a light sigh.

"Thank you, Brother Li." Judging by the dark shadow's movements, it seemed that he had made a fist.

"Have a nice trip." Li Hong sighed softly: "But you should wake me up before leaving." ”

"I'm sorry, Brother Li, great kindness, never forget." After saying this, the companion crawled away without looking back.

……

The day before yesterday, the deserters of the Ming army reached the highest peak in history, and more than 110 people surrendered to the Shun army in one night.

It was only a matter of time before the 20,000 Southern Ming generals who were besieged in Chunhua by 100,000 royal divisions were eliminated.

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