There was a slight movement behind him, and Xu Ping knew that some troops were taking advantage of the night to change their guards, and the tired units were ready to retreat to the rear to rest, while the soldiers with full strength would replenish the forts and trenches.

At this moment, the sound of rocket launches sounded on the opposite position, and the sky burst into flames, and these dazzling fireworks dragged their long red tails and fell towards the position of the intruding army. Xu Ping had heard his subordinates talk about the New Army's illumination rockets many times, so he was not very surprised, on the contrary, Xu Ping did not think that this kind of rockets could afford the description of "illuminating the night as if it were day" in the report, and they emitted a dim red light, reflecting the figures of the people on the camp position.

Xu Ping couldn't help but look at the opposite side, wanting to see if this kind of rocket could also illuminate the position of the new army, and as soon as he showed his head, he felt someone pounce on him and knock him into the trench ground at once.

"Don't probe, stupid."

After this sentence was scolded, Yue Mu realized that he was making disrespectful remarks to the supreme official, and he hurriedly apologized, but was held down by Xu Ping: "Brother Yue is right, I am a fool." ”

Although it was a quick glance, Xu Ping had confirmed the report of the staff officers, and even when the Ming army fired this rocket, their positions were still pitch black.

The rumbling cannon sounded, and the soldiers who were exposed to the open ground fell down on the snow one after another, and soon Xu Ping saw the long-known mortar cannon shells explode in mid-air. One of them was not very far from Xu Ping's location, and the bright white light of the large mass instantly left only a golden light in front of his eyes, which he had become accustomed to the night. Under the air-burst mortar shells, several soldiers who were lying on their stomachs let out screams, and two of the soldiers' cloaks were also ignited by the explosion, burning in the dark night.

Clothes and other items set on fire by the shells were like torches that guided the Recruits, and the flickering light of the fire sent the sound of guns and whistling lead bullets. Not far away, a wooden ladder was ignited by a mortar cannon, and Xu Ping saw a spear-wielding sergeant pounce on it, pushing the wooden ladder to the ground, and before he could untie his cloak, he pounced on it properly, pressing the fire and light under him.

The mortar gradually stopped, and during the shelling, several soldiers in charge of reconnaissance kept looking at the opposite side, the officers and soldiers did not take advantage of the situation to launch any attack, and the hands of the soldiers in the trench who were holding their weapons loosened a little, and Xu Ping heard some relieved exhalations around him.

"The New Year has not yet arrived, and the officers and soldiers are setting off fireworks like this." Yue Mu said softly.

There was another sound of broken footsteps on the snow behind him, and the soldiers who had arrived at the camp continued to hurry, and the fire in the fortress gradually became smaller, and now Li Dingguo has accumulated a lot of experience in emergency firefighting.

As darkness grew, some of the soldiers of the 1st Infantry Wing silently rose from their trenches, mounted their rifles on the edges, and when they saw a fire on the opposite side, they pulled the trigger and fired back. As soon as the shot was complete, the soldiers shrank back and reloaded, then sneaked two steps out of the other position and continued to wait for the muzzle fire to appear on the opposite side. This kind of blind firing continued for a while, and the cold gunfire gradually fell silent, and finally stopped completely, and the entire position returned to the sleeping state just now.

Before the first rays of the dawn sun hit the land of Henan, Xu Ping evacuated the trench with his personal guards.

……

After returning to the headquarters, Xu Ping convened all the staff officers to discuss the battle situation, and they had already calculated the number of artillery shots of the new army during this time: "What is the number of shots from these two bells in the past few days? ”

"It's a little bit less than it was at the beginning." Zhou Dongtian immediately replied: "I'm afraid it's not just a little less, but a lot less." ”

"It's a lot less, and the way of firing is changing, at first it was desperate to pour shells at us; Then there was a heavy artillery bombardment, which killed and wounded our defenders as much as possible, and then a swift attack; Now it is mainly interference, disrupting the movement, rest and replenishment of our troops, and the reproduction of killings and attacks to ordinary artillery and infantry. Xu Ping already had some speculations about the changes in the new army, and he felt that the most reasonable explanation was that the new army had limited shells: "I think that the kind of shells used by the big bell are not prepared by the craftsmen of the new army, or even provided by Shandong, they should be transported from the far rear, and the number is extremely limited, and it is likely that there are not many craftsmen in the hands of the new army who can make this kind of shells." The dwindling number of shots indicated that the Forces nouvelles did not have sufficient ammunition reserves to sustain the initial shelling on a large scale, or even enough to warrant the use of such artillery as cover. Now that number continues to decline, there are two possibilities, one is that the Forces nouvelles are continuing to deplete their reserves; One is that the new army is accumulating reserves, which one do you think? ”

"It's the depletion of reserves, the new army is now paying great casualties for every step forward, the wounds and illnesses in their battalion are not treated, and General Pu is eager to attack Kaifeng not only to relieve his brother-in-law, but also to save the lives of his subordinates." Zhou Dongtian immediately replied: "General Pu thinks that we will not be able to withstand it first, he is using this kind of artillery to increase our losses, and he is depleting reserves. ”

This opinion is the same as Xu Ping's: "I completely agree with Brother Zhou's words, since this is the case, then the number of shelling by the new army will continue to decline until it is reduced to the number that can be transported every day." ”

"What's the volume?"

"It's not clear now, I can't figure it out. According to our calculations, they fired thirty rounds the day before yesterday and twenty-five last night, and I think today should be a little less than yesterday. When the numbers are stable, we can know how much they are delivering. "The first time the Forces nouvelles used these shells heavily to bombard the camp positions, the night was shelled for two hours. It was estimated that the Forces nouvelles fired more than 200 of these shells, with devastating consequences for the defending troops, as the formations were scattered, a large number of soldiers were killed or wounded, many survivors lost their fighting spirit and shivered in trenches and bastions, and the Forces nouvelles rushed up at dawn to easily crush, and the first firm stronghold to be held changed hands.

Now that the Chuang army has developed a considerable psychological adaptability to this kind of shells, and the decrease in the density of shelling also makes it easier for the soldiers to maintain their morale and fighting spirit, Xu Ping said the final decision: "General Li must fight for every inch of land to hold his position, consume this kind of shells of the new army, so that the new army can not accumulate this kind of shells." If we take the initiative to retreat because we are afraid of this artillery, the ammunition reserves of the new army will continue to increase, and then no matter where our army decides to make its last hold in the end, they can destroy our army with a large number of these shells, so that our army will not only not be able to retreat, but will also prohibit any retreat. ”

……

The brutal battle continued, and by the night of 16 December, two mortars had fired ten rounds at the intruding fortress before falling silent. Now the mortar's daytime attacks on the trenches have stopped. Pu Guanshui deeply felt that the pre-war deduction of the General Staff Division was all a pile of waste paper. According to the deduction of the General Staff Division, the mortar shells brought by the new army were enough to destroy the three large-scale trench defense systems of the invading army, but what Pu Guanshui encountered here was not a large-scale defense system, but continuous resistance.

The battle between the new army and the invading army became more and more bloody, and while the invading army on the front line was resisting, the invading army in the rear was desperately strengthening the next defensive position. In the face of the invading army, the New Army engineers had to dig trenches almost all the way to the trenches of the invading army, and then let the infantry engage them in face-to-face fire to drive them out.

At the beginning of the battle, the new officers and men who camped and camped every day could not help but feel that the battle at that time was really a pleasure, and the people who accompanied the army also deeply felt that now they really did not need to build new camps every day - because the new army could only seize the positions of the camp inch by inch; Now these men are digging trenches in the frozen ground every day under the command of the new army engineer corps, and the infantry of the new army are firing at the intruders above their heads, and every now and then one or two dead soldiers fall into the ranks of the invading men—of course, it is better than the invading artillery shells accidentally shooting into the trenches.

"I have been with the Hou Ye for many years, from Liaodong to the southwest, and then to Fujian, I have never fought such a hard battle." Pu Guanshui said to the staff officers with emotion. Batches of soldiers were wounded in the battle, and many more fell ill from exhaustion in the cold winter, so in order to allow the army to continue to advance towards Kaifeng, Pu Guanshui had to smash every mortar shell on the head of the intruding army, and this kind of shell could only be transported an average of ten rounds a day.

"Fortunately, Xu Ping uses a strong wall to clear the wilderness, otherwise such a long road would be really troublesome." This was the first time that Pu Guanshui felt fortunate because of the opponent's strategy, and he was glad that such measures would also have some benefits for the New Army. The harsh cold of the winter wilderness made it impossible for the invading army to have a proper attack position, and there were no people living along the official road for dozens of miles, and it was difficult for the invading army to reconnoiter and grasp the situation of the new army's transport convoy. Pu Guanshui found some flank reconnaissance operations of the intruding army, but under Pu Guanshui's strict arrangement, no baggage team could be shaken by the reconnaissance cavalry that broke into the camp alone, and if they turned back and walked through the no-man's land dozens of miles wide to find reinforcements, not to mention whether they could return that day, or whether they could not have the physical strength to fight, let alone whether they could still find the original target.

Since the invading forces were unable to effectively harass the supply lines of the Forces nouvelles, the transportation of various supplies was maintained, and not a single day has so far been delayed because of the invading forces rather than the weather. The 10 rounds of mortar shells that were sent from the south every day were thus secured, and Pu Guanshui was able to devote all his forces to the attack.

The supply line continued to extend, and the replenishment troops could not make up for the losses completely, and the replenishment that Pu Guanshui received this month was less than 10% of his losses. Shandong's new army has been weakened to a very dangerous level of strength, and due to the fear of Ji Huisi and the distrust of friendly forces, the supply line from Beijing to Henan through Shandong is also protected by Shandong's new army, and this intolerably long front cannot be shortened without taking Kaifeng.

"You can't rely on our new army for everything, if you want me to say, Lord He's troops are still too rich." Pu Guanshui couldn't help but complain in private, he hoped that He Baodao would make more use of the strength of friendly forces, so as to squeeze out some more troops to supplement the new army in Henan: "I really want more friendly troops here, but whether it is the Lu army or the Bian army, they are now hiding far away from Henan, and it seems that they will not come to help if they do not capture Kaifeng." ”

……

"General Pu's rearguard deployment is very good, and our scouts report that we don't have any chances." At Xu Ping's headquarters, the staff officers reported to him a summary of the recent battle situation: "General Pu used some of our forts to build temporary outposts, leaving enough guards to resist several hundred cavalry in each place, and the redundant forts in the middle were completely destroyed by him, and even if we wanted to, there was no suitable blocking position. The distances between these forts were just right, and it was evident that General Pu had carefully calculated enough to ensure that his baggage party would arrive at one of them before it was discovered by our scouts and brought back to the cavalry. ”

"In short, we don't have a chance to take out his baggage team, right?" Xu Ping asked.

"My lord."

"But if there is a chance or possibility to defeat a certain baggage team, does General Li plan to disobey my orders and attack?" Xu Ping had already forbade the cavalry that broke into the camp to engage the new army, and no one was allowed to use the cavalry without his own permission. Xu Ping's discharge of the probe horse to Pu Guanshui's logistics line was actually just a bluff, Xu Ping only intended to deter the new army, he knew very well that Pu Guanshui did not dare to bet that Xu Ping was bluffing, after all, if Xu Ping really wanted to turn into actual action, the new army would be difficult to predict in advance.

"If there is a real chance, General Li will not be able to say anything about it." The staff officers laughed one after another, Xu Ping's plan was to use bluff probes to consume the combat effectiveness of the cavalry of the new army, but Li Dingguo always hoped to fight a successful ambush, and he thought that this would be more effective.

These days, the cavalry of the New Army has been on guard on the supply line, Xu Ping's scouting horses have found many fallen New Army horses on the side of the road, and they have also found that the number of war horses in the New Army's supplementary convoy has also increased greatly recently, and it is obvious that the cavalry units of the New Army are also being continuously weakened.

"At first, after the Forces nouvelles received supplies, they would put back the carts that transported supplies, and by the way, they took some of their injuries and illnesses, but they didn't put back any cattle or carts in recent times, on the contrary, our scouts found a lot of abandoned vehicles by the Forces nouvelles on the road, and their cattle were dying in large numbers, so even if they didn't put back the supply convoys, their baggage vehicles might still be decreasing. We estimate that they may have already started to use some of the grain that would have been shipped to Kaifeng to ease the supply pressure in the rear. "The staff team has calculated the passing capacity of this road, and with Pu Guanshui's caution, the amount of materials transported on this road will further decline, and now minus all kinds of other materials that need to be replenished, Xu Ping's staff officers believe that the food supply is beyond their means.

"In that case," Xu Ping frowned, not putting back the baggage convoy meant that he would not be able to evacuate the wounded: "Then General Pu can only bring all the wounded soldiers." ”

"yes, that's a huge burden on him."

"Do you estimate how many people need to be taken care of around General Pu now?"

"Thousands, even more so if you count the people, General Pu used a lot of these people to dig trenches, they were untrained, and the wounded were indispensable." The staff officers believed that with the current state of the new army, even if the intrusive army did not resist like this, they might not be able to attack Kaifeng before the New Year: "The annexation of the baggage brigade from the rear will put more pressure on the Shandong side, and it will have to collect livestock and vehicles everywhere to build a new convoy for them." ”

"If it was not the new army but us who insisted on forcing the war in winter, it is estimated that we would have collapsed long ago," Xu Ping knew that behind the new army was the Ming court, although there were various problems such as corruption, but compared to the camp in Henan, the mobilization power of the Ming Dynasty still seemed to be endless: "I don't know how long General Pu's supply line can last, with the staff of the new army, maybe he can really hold out until he reaches Kaifeng City." ”

Although it was a local battle, as the war continued, the camp gradually felt exhausted, and it was not easy to supply the tens of thousands of troops surrounding Kaifeng. Now there are battles every day, the wounded and sick need medicine, the weapons need repairs, the army needs food and gunpowder, the soldiers need more warm clothes – the fighting has caused a surge in attrition. A large number of the barracks needed to be reinforced, which required not only the cutting down of trees and the carrying of stones, but also the need for cattle and vehicles to transport them, which were precious to the camp, and they were also depleting the reserves of food and forage, and the inevitable losses.

In order to supply the consumption of the front line, Xuzhou is using precious stocks, which are all saved from between the teeth little by little by the hard work of the Kaifeng Mansion Camp for a year.

"This war has overwhelmed us, the sooner it ends, the better," Xu Ping sighed: "But we can't fight a decisive battle now, right?" ”

"If there is a decisive battle now, it is unlikely that our army will repel the new army." Zhou Dongtian said without emotion: "General Pu's command is a new army of three battalions, tens of thousands of people hug each other and refuse to separate, they have not been weakened to the point where we can repel them. ”

"Where's General Jia?"

"It's still very honest for the time being," the staff officers also paid close attention to the movements of the Shanlan camp in Jia Minghe, if they wanted to fight out of the siege and reinforcements, then they would face a large number of sieges outside the city, if necessary, Xu Ping might also return to the division first to clean up this lone army trying to break through: "King Chuang said that they have no intention of attacking at all, not even a tentative attack, we estimate that before the reinforcements arrive in Kaifeng, before approaching the range that General Jia can arrive at in a day's hurry, the new army in Kaifeng will remain on the defensive." ”

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