The coup d'état in North Korea changed hands. This originally had no impact on the Ming Dynasty of the suzerain, but the situation of the conquest in Liaodong made this incident very sensitive and serious.

The news was immediately reported to Dengzhou and the capital, and this major diplomatic event was the first time that Zhu Youxiao had encountered it since he took the throne.

Of course, with the speed of information transmission at that time, Zhu Youxiao, who was far away in the capital, would not be able to receive it for some time.

The deployment and preparation of the Ming army in western and southern Liaoning were in full swing, and no news was received. Because of the geographical location, even if they knew it, it would not affect their implementation of the established battle plan.

The ice has melted, and the sea has regained the courage and strength to storm the shore. There was no longer any need to worry about the Jiannu attacking through the ice, which also reduced the area that the Ming army needed to defend, and the land defense line was also more stable.

"Fight and don't fight, retreat and don't retreat." Kong Youde put down the binoculars and looked at Zhang Pan suspiciously, "What kind of conspiracy is Jiannu playing?" ”

Zhang Pan shook his head lightly and said, "I can't figure it out." But no matter what conspiracy Jiannu has, let's strengthen our vigilance and let the enemy have no gaps. ”

Kong Youde was a little unwilling, and said: "Look at the flag, it should be the white flag of Huang Taiji." Our army has already built a batch of chariots, and they can take the initiative to attack and meet the battle, so that Huang Taiji knows that it is powerful. ”

Zhang Pan smiled and said, "It's better to be cautious and wait and see what happens." There is no room for loss in the Luda area, and we still have to be patient. ”

Kong Youde was a little helpless, raised the telescope again to look, and said fiercely: "When there is a Hongyi cannon, I will bomb you all to death." ”

Zhang Pan exhaled a long breath gently, and he was also very envious of Ning Yuan's Hongyi cannon. If there are Hongyi cannons in the defense line of the brigade, it will not only be solid, but also make Jiannu dare not even approach.

In order to show his martial bravery, Huang Taiji on the opposite side had already refused the advice of his subordinates several times, but he was also a little apprehensive in his heart. After such a long time, he was basically sure that the Ming Army was not equipped with Hongyi artillery.

As a result, Huang Taiji behaved more calmly in front of the generals, pointing at the defense line of the Ming army, and was even more unscrupulous.

Although Huang Taiji finally persuaded his father Khan, he allowed him to bring troops to Liaonan to act cheaply, and gave him an additional banner of Amin's men and horses, as well as Menghan miscellaneous troops to help.

But Huang Taiji knows that trust also means responsibility and pressure. After observing, he retreated without a fight, although it was a toss, but there was no loss, and the father Khan would not blame.

However, if the war is unfavorable and the army is lost, not only will his father Khan be angry and angry, but it will be a blow to his prestige.

The reason is very simple, Daishan, Amin and other Baylors have all suffered losses in the hands of the Ming army, and Mang Gurtai has become a wasted person.

Moreover, even Nurhachi hit his head and bled under Ningyuan City, at this time, you have to fight, is it a show, or do you really have a chance of winning? Others will definitely have suspicions and suspect that Huang Taiji is using this to highlight himself.

Therefore, even if Huang Taiji found out that the Ming army was not equipped with Hongyi cannons, he did not dare to take it lightly in the face of trenches, wooden stakes, barbed wire fortifications, and pier-shaped batteries with artillery.

This time the troops were sent to southern Liaoning, and Huang Taiji also deliberately brought several figures who had experienced the battle of Ningyuan as staff officers or think tanks. Among them, Fan Wencheng is quite valued and accompanied by Huang Taiji.

"Four Baylors, please look." Fan Wencheng also seized the opportunity to perform hard, stretched out his fingers, and introduced Huang Taiji, "The enemy gunners hid behind the trenches and low walls, and while our army was blocked by the trenches, they continued to shoot, and the fire was very fierce. ”

Huang Taiji nodded and said, "I know that the Ming army's firearms are no longer bird's guns, the lead bullets are heavier, and the armor piercing is very sharp. ”

After a pause, Huang Taiji almost imperceptibly glanced at Amin not far away, and his voice was lowered, "The Ming army also has a kind of firearm, which is even more fierce, and Jaisangu and Derge died here. ”

As he spoke, Huang Taiji shook his head again, and his voice became even lower, "Not only the two of them, but many generals of our army were also killed by this firecracker. ”

Fan Wencheng smiled bitterly and said: "I think that the Ming army has some kind of tactics, focusing on those who are good at shooting, and specializing in beating the generals of our army. ”

"Capture the thief and capture the king first, and our army also has this trick." Huang Taiji pondered for a moment and said: "There are carts and trench bridges, so let's attack them for a while!" ”

"The enemy has widened the trench, and the trench bridge is useless for the time being, so we can only fill in the trench and advance first." Fan Wencheng said: "And the wooden stake, it seems to be smeared with mud, and it is difficult to burn it. ”

After a pause, Fan Wencheng turned to say, "But compared to Ning Yuan, the defense is not as good. It is necessary to attack for a while and test the truth and reality. ”

Fan Wencheng knew that he would definitely fight, and if he was frustrated, he would have a reason to retreat; Wouldn't it be a shame to retreat without a fight?

Of course, this is also the reason why Huang Taiji wants to bring Han and Mongolian vassals here. Since there is cannon fodder, how can the Jurchens easily pay for casualties?

The horn sounded and whimpered, and the Jin army adjusted its ranks and prepared to attack.

The Ming army on the opposite side was also ready to face the battle, and after several defenses, they were already familiar with the road, and their tactical tactics had also formed a standard.

After the war, Zhu Youxiao's plan must be submitted in detail, which should be studied by martial arts and circulated throughout the army, so that the Ming army could learn from experience and draw lessons as soon as possible.

The course of the Battle of Ningzhan has been informed by both the Ming Army and the Dongjiang Headquarters. The first thing that gave them a warning was the burning of wooden stakes by the Houjin army, and the use of moats and bridges.

Wuxue gave some ways to deal with this, the wooden stake can be coated with mud in summer, and watered and frozen in winter; To deal with trench bridges, artillery bombardment and fire can be used, and the depth of defense can be increased, and obstacles can be increased, making it difficult to continuously advance.

Naturally, the Ming army in various places will also pool their wisdom and come up with some ways to do it themselves. For example, the brigade Ming army deepened and widened the trenches, so that the Houjin army had no better way than to fill the trenches.

Moreover, although the new artillery was given priority to Liaozhen, many old artillery pieces were transferred from various places and erected on the piers that were built. The condescending blow made the defense capability of the brigade Ming army further improved.

In the lead in science and technology, there are also telescopes, and gunpowder formulas.

One can look far away and be able to anticipate the enemy first; The other is that it is powerful, which increases the lethality of firearms.

"It's the Han soldiers and the Mongols." Zhang Pan looked up at the signal from the watchtower, sneered, and said to the herald next to him: "The second-line troops will not move forward for the time being, and the artillery is only allowed to bombard the single pier." ”

For defense, the brigade is already extremely experienced. Not only the tactical play, but also the command and orders are being planned more and more carefully.

Kong Youde smiled and said, "Jiannu is afraid, so he only dares to use cannon fodder to tempt." Well, it's just a waste of gunpowder buckshot for our army. ”

Zhang Pan sighed lightly and said, "It's a pity that most of those Han soldiers were forced to come. It's sad that compatriots are killing each other. ”

Kong Youde blinked his eyes, his lips opened and closed twice, and finally he didn't say that he didn't want a woman's kindness.

He knew that Zhang Pan was such a character, although his heart was a little soft, but he could still understand the big things. It will not relax because it is the Han soldiers who come to attack, and put the brigade in danger.

Of course, whether it is Zhang Pan, Kong Youde, or even the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, they are all very confident in defeating the enemy.

Looking at the banner of the Houjin army, there are two banners of men and horses, plus Han and Mongolian vassals, no more than 30,000 people.

The total number of Ming troops on the defensive line has reached fifteen thousand or six thousand. This is not counting the transfer from Dengzhen, who is mainly responsible for the defense of Lushun and serves as a group of men and horses in the reserve army.

According to the deduction of the professor of martial arts, as well as the experience of officers such as Zhang Pan and Kong Youde. Even with the same equipment, the casualties of the attack will be at least twice as high as that of the defender.

In other words, the Houjin army that came to attack this time was exhausted. It only consumed more than 10,000 Ming troops, and the brigade still couldn't capture it.

The war drums rumbled, and the wagons began to move, pressing towards the Ming army's defensive line.

The uninspired attack, although it showed a certain degree of might, did not put too much pressure on the Ming army.

The Ming soldiers behind the breast wall of the trench set up their muskets one after another, waiting to open fire; The soldiers operating the grenadier were loaded with thunderbolts and waited to be smashed with iron hooks and bombarded.

Some improvements have been made to the wagons, with thicker planks in the front and gravel bags in the back for moats.

In war, both sides are advancing. But in terms of amplitude, the Ming army has far surpassed the Houjin.

When the wagon advanced fifty or sixty meters in front of the trench, the artillery on the pier platform let out a loud roar far beyond the war drums.

In the flash of flames and the rise of white smoke, solid shells flew out of the chamber at a low angle and slammed into the enemy.

One by one, the trucks were damaged and destroyed, and one by one stepped forward to replenish them. What was left on the ground were broken parts, or the corpses of Han soldiers, or the wounded and wailing.

Huang Taiji narrowed his eyes, he could foresee this situation. Moreover, he saw that the Ming army was not doing its best. If all the artillery fired, it would certainly not be such a scene.

Not only are the firearms fierce, but the Ming army is also very confident. Compared with the former, Huang Taiji was more afraid of the Ming army's psychology and unhurried performance.

By now, the trench had advanced to a distance of less than twenty meters from the trench, but the Ming army's muskets did not go off.

The Ming army is no longer what Huang Taiji remembers, although he has expected it for a long time, but when he sees it with his own eyes, he is still shocked.

After so many years of fighting, that is, the psychological shock caused by the bloody battle of the Hunhe River is still there. Now, the feeling of uneasiness became more and more intense, and Huang Taiji frowned.

The wagon finally approached the first wide trench, and the Han soldiers and the coaters began to fill the trench. Although the artillery of the Ming army was fierce, it seemed that there were not many of them, and their fear was not very strong.

The artillery was still sparsely falling to the ground, destroying the cart unhurriedly, and by the way, inflicting casualties on the enemy behind the cart.

A canopy of rockets rose from the Ming position, swept through the sky, and flew towards the wagons lined up in front of the trench.

This was a tentative sabotage, and when it was seen that the planks of the cart had been wet and the rockets were not working, the Ming army gave up.

But it was the burning of the car that was abandoned, not a powerful counterattack.

A black thing flew up in the air, swept through the air in a curve, flew past the car, and smashed into the pile of people behind the car.

Moments later, explosions rang out one after another. The flames flickered, black smoke rose, and the dirt was lifted into the sky, screams and wails were endless.

"This weapon is very powerful, the lethality is not small, and it has the effect of restraining the car." Fan Wencheng was beckoned to his side by Huang Taiji, and he hurriedly took the initiative to introduce him.

Huang Taiji pondered for a moment and asked, "Can our army make this weapon?" ”

Fan Wencheng immediately nodded and said, "It's not difficult to build a stone thrower, the key is a cannonball that can explode." He felt that this thing was similar to the earth-shattering thunder of the Jin Dynasty, and it was not very laborious to build. ”

Huang Taiji bowed his head slightly, and said, "After this battle, I will work hard for Mr. Fan to supervise the creation of this thing." ”

Fan Wencheng immediately bowed down to receive the order and said: "I will do my best to live up to Lord Baylor's expectations." ”

Explosive gunpowder weapons did appear as early as the Jin Dynasty. However, the development was very slow, and the reason for this was that the formula of gunpowder was wrong and the process was not scientific, resulting in unsatisfactory power.

Fan Wencheng thought that it was not very difficult to build, but it was because he did not understand the scientific principles.

Powdered gunpowder is easy to make, but it is not inferior to the weapons made by granulating and purifying the raw materials.

The advantage of grenadier vehicles is that they are easy to build and fast to launch, and there are thousands of vehicles distributed on the defense line of the brigade Ming army.

Moreover, they also built a larger, longer-throwable heavy grenadier that could throw a thunderbolt more than 200 meters.

Again, the defenders retained their firepower and did not go out at full strength. This may lure Jiannu to dispatch, which is exactly what Zhang Pan has in mind.

The trench filling continues, the wagons are still being lost, and the people are still being killed or wounded. Now it's just a foreshadowing of the real offense, and the fight is quite lively, but it's not very intense.

Huang Taiji watched from a distance with a blank face, if it continued like this, it would take a lot of time to fill in the trenches.

If it weren't for the cannon fodder-like Han soldiers but the Jurchens, the casualties were no longer something he could bear.

Even so, looking at the vertical and horizontal trenches on the Ming army's position, Huang Taiji also felt a sense of powerlessness.

The enemy hid part of his firepower and wanted to lure the Jurchens into the attack, which was quite insidious. On the other hand, it also shows that the enemy is confident and does not worry about being breached at all.

Even if you attack a trench, there is still one. Well, not one, but many. Such a defense will continue to consume the men and horses of the army until finally it is unable to attack again.

Huang Taiji shook his head slightly, he knew that this attack in southern Liaoning could almost be declared a failure. Fighting for consumption, Houjin is not the opponent of the Ming army in any case, but such a defense is hitting Houjin's soft underbelly.

Even if one can be exchanged for two, how many people in Houjin can fight with Daming, who has a population of hundreds of millions? Huang Taiji knew that there was a way, but his father Khan was in a difficult situation.

………………