Chapter Ninety-Six

Faced with this situation, Song Sheng could only give up the competition for the important places on the periphery of Yulin.

Put the cavalry in the second line and maintain the connection between Yulin and the rear.

This is the life and death line of Yulin, and it must not be severed.

Once cut off, Yulin will really become an isolated city.

However, Qu Neng did not want to completely surround the enemy. Instead, from three directions, attack Yulin.

Numerous artillery positions began to be laid out under the city.

And all the outer fronts outside Yulin City began to exchange fire with the Northern Army in an instant.

The city wall is the core of the city's offensive and defensive battles. In the age of firearms, it can no longer be the core. Because the walls are too easy to collapse. There are already signs of this trend.

Song Sheng didn't know if he felt this. However, when he was fighting, he did not completely stick to Yulin City, but arranged many peripheral camps outside Yulin City.

Trenches, wooden fences, artillery, guns, a series of rockets, and even a lot of spontaneous fire mines were planted in some places.

Several highlands on the periphery are even more strengthened. as an important support. ap.

And Qu Neng's way to deal with it is that after the artillery bombardment, the cavalry charges, the cavalry rushes, and the infantry advances.

Especially with the help of the railway, several thousand pounds of heavy artillery were transported to the front. It's really hard to say who is heavier of these cannons compared to the Byzantine cannons that broke through Byzantium in history. Anyway, when this artillery was designed, the load capacity of the railway was considered, and even so, when crossing Yanshan, it was once necessary for the soldiers to get down and push the cart before they could come over.

However, it is definitely an extreme in terms of power.

That is, the extreme of black powder.

That's how the power of black powder looks.

He Xi had already used many methods to purify black powder, and under his guidance, the power of black powder produced in Beijing far exceeded that of Nanjing. But that's about it. Black powder has its own limitations.

It's not that He Xi doesn't like to make better gunpowder.

But He Xi can't do it.

On top of black powder, Daming has a foundation. In history, Qi Jiguang's black powder power was quite good. He Xi just mentioned it, which was enough to increase the power of black powder by a few levels. Moreover, Beijing has a complete advantage in gunpowder.

Cheap raw materials from the Ryukyus of Japan continue to flow to Beijing, far better than Nanjing in terms of cost.

This is not a priority.

And most importantly, there is no talent.

With the change of gunpowder, it is necessary to train enough chemical talents. But He Xi worked hard for so many years to get the steam engine out, it can be said that other mechanical improvements are due to the steam engine project technology spillover.

He Xi simply doesn't have enough talent to overcome other problems.

So this can only be put to rest.

Therefore, in terms of chemical limitations, there is no qualified primer, which restricts the development of firearms, such as flowering bombs. He Xi has always wanted it, but there can only be that kind of flowering bullet with this arquebus. The explosion time is controlled by controlling the length of the leads.

But He Xi always vetoed this plan.

No, because this plan does not guarantee that the shell will not explode inside the barrel.

He Xi has always learned a lesson from history, that is, unqualified firearms cannot be used by soldiers, otherwise, once the following are disgusted, after the inertia of thinking is formed, even if it is very good, it will be difficult to implement it in the future.

Of course, the most important reason is that the demand for flowering bombs is not so high. Because, on the battlefield, the Northern Army always has a firepower advantage.

It's the same today.

In the face of the strong camp built by the Southern Army, countless cannons turned into demolition teams, and in the roar, the camp became fragmented. Artillery opened up roads for the army, and a large number of cavalry rushed in.

Although there are ravines, there are many obstacles. However, the artillery made gaps one by one, and the southern army in the camp could not recover for a while, and the cavalry rushed through quite quickly. Not yet

They organized.

The cavalry of the Northern Army had already rushed in.

A large number of cavalry rushed in, and the originally fragmented Southern Army was even more unorganized.

Randomly, a large number of Northern infantry soldiers rushed in with bayonets.

However, since ancient times, the Qin soldiers have endured hard fighting. The Southern Army, which was cornered, also gritted its teeth in the position, fighting for the day, and it was only after this place was conquered.

Naturally, there were casualties. But Qu Neng has experienced a hundred battles and knows that this time is not the time to feel sorry for the soldiers. Meetings were held overnight, lessons were summed up, arrangements were made, and only a day later, another attack was launched on another camp.

Qu Neng found that if he was caught in hand-to-hand combat, the bayonet was still a little thin.

So he pulled out a batch of armor from the storeroom. And selected those who are good at fighting from the whole army and formed a jumping regiment.

The jumping soldiers are actually the tradition of the squadron, and the Tang, Song and even Ming dynasties had this establishment. However, He Xi deleted it in the military reform. The Jumpers are the elite who charge into battle.

This jumping group. There are not many people. But they are all big men, wearing heavy armor, and they can still walk like flying. When the cavalry rushed in, the provocateurs entered, and in hand-to-hand combat, they were almost invincible. Of course, if you let the fire gun bang at the chest, it will also be fatal.

Therefore, the jumping regiment also had to cooperate with ordinary soldiers to attack.

In short, one battle after another.

There is almost nothing fancy, it's all a clash of artillery and artillery, blood and blood.

And in the midst of such a collision. The Southern Army has never been hard every time. Under Song Sheng's organization, the most tragic offensive and defensive battle was on an unnamed high ground outside the north gate of Yulin City. It's almost a little dirt bag. The city gate of Yulin is not rich.

It was here that the two sides fought over and over again several times.

Guy placed heavy artillery here, which could be aimed directly at the north gate of Yulin City. And the Yulin city wall will definitely not be able to withstand such a bombardment.

It's just that the situation is stronger than people.

After folding in a commanding emissary.

Song Sheng could only give up the fight for this place.

After this stronghold was abandoned, other out-of-town support points also fell and either retreated to the city. The northern army strode on three sides and approached the outside of Yulin City. It was like a big hand, holding Yulin City tightly.

Let Yulin City breathless.

Song Sheng was also out of breath, and he ordered and asked, "What's going on over there in Shanxi? Haven't the reinforcements come yet?"

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The closest reinforcements to Yulin are not in Guanzhong, but in Shanxi.

At this moment, the leader of Shanxi is Zhao Yong.

Zhao Yong understands very well that if there is no problem in northern Shaanxi, Shanxi relies on northern Shaanxi, even if it faces enemies on three sides, there will not be too many problems. However, if Yulin is broken. Northern Shaanxi is in danger, so Shanxi is in danger.

How could Zhao Yong not be willing to rescue Yulin.

He was more than willing to come to the rescue.

He brought tens of thousands of troops to the border at this moment.

Tens of thousands of troops are not much. But it is already a mobile force that the whole of Shanxi can squeeze out.

At the beginning, the battle of Sanggan River almost broke the backbone of the Shanxi army. It can be said that the elite of the Taiyuan army was thrown outside the Yanmen Pass. After a year, under Zhao Yong, the Shanxi army also recovered a lot. But the problem is that the situation in Shanxi has deteriorated too quickly.

Shanxi needs to allocate a lot of troops and horses to the southern Jinnan area to prevent the northern army entering Huaiqing Mansion from attacking the Shangdang area in the north, so as to besiege Shanxi on several sides.

That would be too dangerous for Zhao Yong.

And it's not just a dangerous thing.

In this case, Nanjing's support for Shanxi was intermittent, and there were also interceptions from Henan and Shaanxi in the middle. The distance from Nanjing to Shanxi is too far. Shanxi has become the fact that the stepmother raised. Especially firearms. At this time when firearms are being replaced particularly quickly. Shanxi firearms have retained the style of Hongwu Nian.

And Shanxi also thought about establishing an iron factory on its own.

But Nanjing is not allowed. In this way, the combat effectiveness of the Shanxi Army almost stood still.

In fact, this is the normal state. But the problem is that now the combat effectiveness of the southern army and the northern army are improving, and the Shanxi army is standing still, and it seems that it is very backward.

No matter what the situation of the Shanxi army is, Zhao Yong can't let the northern army break through Yulin, but it is only hindered by the army's combat effectiveness. Plans such as attacking Datong and even attacking Beijing are impossible to do without even thinking about it.

All he could do was to cross the Yellow River to rescue Yulin, but now, Zhao Yong suddenly found that crossing the Yellow River was a difficult thing.

Because the Northern Army actually had the Yellow River Water Division.