Chapter 297: Attack on Zhenjiang II

Li Shouye looked at the artillerymen who were retreating and fleeing, and his heart was overjoyed, his side was at least a mile away from the rebel infantry, and he could quickly destroy their artillery positions at this point in time.

After paying the price of nearly 1,000 casualties, Li Shouye finally rushed to the artillery position, and there were still a lot of ammunition boxes next to the red-colored Shenwu cannon, but their way to destroy it could only be to blow it up with gunpowder.

It was at this time that most of the 1st Division had already pressed up, and another volley of muskets broke out, and fierce fighting broke out between the two sides.

"At least thirty or more guns were lost ..."

Chen Cao put away the clairvoyant mirror: "Order, let the first division not pursue, just guard to the death, the northern army will definitely come again." ”

The abandonment of the artillery array was just an illusion given to Xu Chengqing by Chen Cao, and the main purpose was to let him relax his vigilance against his artillery, although he lost the Shenwu artillery, but the twenty P-1 field guns he carried were unscathed and were quietly staying behind the army.

Not long after, Chen Cao got a battle damage report.

"Shenwu artillery lost thirty-seven guns, more than 100 dead in the first division, another more than 500 were wounded, and they are being treated, the cavalry of the northern army was killed at least 1,000 people, and more than 1,000 horses were captured in front of the battle, and more than 100 people were captured."

"I don't know what the battle situation is on Tang Kainian's side?"

.

Forty miles north of Danyang City, Li Jiaji

There is no Takasaka woodland around Lijiaji, but there are many woods on the east and south sides of it, and because of the river, it is absolutely impossible to set up an ambush in Lijiaji.

It is precisely because of this that Xu Shiji led the army to march to this point without any defense, and when passing through the river bridge south of Li Jiaji, the Longwu army that fought from the southeast and southeast took Xu Shiji by surprise.

Most of the 50,000 northern troops were still concentrated in Li's house, and Xu Shiji was also resting in Li's house, and their marching speed could reach Danyang City before dark, but they never imagined that they would plant a big heel here.

"My lord, the only way is to break through from the north, and let's go back to Dantu."

A staff general came over, and the sound of artillery and gunfire on the periphery of Li Jiaji hit them, and the guards couldn't raise their heads at all.

Xu Shiji sat on the steps at the entrance of Li Jiaji's inspection department with a cold face, he was ordered to rescue Danyang, if the army did not arrive, the consequences would be unimaginable.

"The battalions immediately organized their men and horses, and they had to rush to the south."

It wasn't until the news of the destruction of the Nanmian River Bridge reached Xu Shiji's ears that Xu Shiji, who was full of confidence, felt that this time the rescue operation to Danyang in the south was likely to be unworkable, and suddenly felt that the future was bleak.

"Charge to the death?"

The generals were all frightened, but Xu Shiji, who proposed this plan, had a serious face and did not look joking at all.

"Our army went south, and here it was blocked by the rebels, but in this way, the rebels' forces were dispersed, and the pressure on the side of the general army could be reduced, but from this point of view, in fact, there was no benefit to either side;

Guogong's order is to hold Zhenjiang without losing it, but now that the rebels have arrived in Danyang, presumably the letter of help from the general army has been sent to Nanjing, and we must rush to Danyang to join the general army no matter what. ”

General Zhang Gonghao strode out of his fist: "The last general is willing to lead the soldiers and horses of the headquarters as the vanguard of the breakthrough." ”

Xu Shiji looked up at Zhang Gonghao, and then clapped his hands: "Regardless of the outcome of this battle, Ben will definitely personally ask Guogong for your credit." ”

Although it is a guard army, the establishment is composed according to the structure of the town soldiers, and there are more than 5,000 people under Zhang Gonghao, and the number of people who are the vanguard of the breakthrough is also enough.

"Ben will allocate another 2,000 men and horses to you to help you break through."

Although the Long Wu Army did not change its rifles, the powerful flintlock pistols were simply a killing weapon for the backward army that still fought with cold weapons.

The river bridge of Li Jiaji in the south was broken, Zhang Gonghao took a long wood to build a river bridge, and a unit of the 11th Division of the Longwu Army blocked the enemy head-on, although countless arrows and throwing guns flew from the north, but the headquarters of the 11th Division still caused huge casualties to Zhang Gonghao's command who tried to build the river bridge.

The first wave of 1,000 people went up, but only 100 people ran back, and the remaining 900 people were all killed and wounded by the river.

However, Xu Shiji had already said that this time it was a decisive charge, and Zhang Gonghao's command couldn't help but move in the face of such violent casualties, if it weren't for Zhang Gonghao's promise of a heavy reward and a lot of property distributed before the battle, even his command would not be able to impact again.

The 12th Division was located to the southwest of the river bridge, and forty Tiger squat guns that had been obsolete for a long time were erected in front of the position, and this melee artillery within 20 paces was only suitable for this kind of positional blocking battle.

Xu Shiji naturally couldn't choose to cross the river from just one place, after all, it was a large army of 50,000 people, that is, Zhang Gonghao crossed the river from the Zhengnan River Bridge, and the other troops also had to go sideways.

"There are artillery in the Northern Army..."

Tang Kainian watched the battle from a distance in the Chinese army, and he was also startled when the sound of artillery from far and near came.

Then the forward positions of the 11th Division were covered by artillery, and the smoke of gunpowder suddenly filled the battlefield.

As Xu Chengqing's deputy general, Xu Shiji guarded the land at the mouth of the Dantu River, and obtained the artillery earlier than Xu Chengqing, that is, the artillery in Xu Chengqing's Danyang City was also transported from Dantu.

Thirty general cannons, fifteen Hongyi cannons, and ten Hongyi cannons imitated by Wang Gongchang, a total of fifty-five cannons, can be regarded as powerful firearms, but this configuration, Tang Kainian did not know before.

The Longwu army went north to intercept, and in addition to the tiger squat cannon, the artillery carried by the whole army also had 30 Shenwu cannons, as well as grenades and bullets carried by various troops.

"Careless..."

Tang Kainian put down the clairvoyant mirror, and then said: "Immediately send artillery up to support the forward position of the 11th Division." ”

Man Gui was on top of the 12th Division's position, and he was also startled after the explosion of the artillery in the southeast, and immediately ordered the 12th Division to retreat the forward position a mile back and empty the river: "Order, the grenadiers enter the trench, and if the Northern Army moves, it must be intercepted." ”

When Xu Shiji got the report that the rebels in the southwest had retreated, he suddenly laughed and said: "The rebels don't know that we have artillery, hmph..."

'Knock knock...'

Accompanied by the sound of large-scale artillery, the artillery positions of the Longwu Army bombarded indiscriminately in the Li family, and the two sides began a large-scale artillery battle.

Zhang Gonghao drew his knife and shouted: "Kill... Crossing the river..."

..

"They didn't act?"

Chen Cao frowned suddenly, the destruction of the artillery array did not attract Xu Chengqing to send troops to attack.

Huang Chunyao walked into the big tent, he had just returned from the forward observation post: "The students looked at the reaction of Danyang City, except for the trench in front of the city gate, there was no movement of the northern army at all;

Grandpa, maybe we misjudged. ”

'Smack...'

Chen Cao slapped the sand table in front of him vigorously: "Damn, Lao Tzu is wrong...

The purpose of Madexu Chengqing is only to stick to Danyang and ensure that the east of Nanjing is not lost, and there must be only one military order given to him by Nanjing, and it is the top priority to hold Zhenjiang. ”

Song Che raised his head and said: "They know that our army's artillery is sharp, so they will definitely make them jealous, Xu Chengqing sent cavalry out to destroy our artillery array regardless of the consequences, the purpose is to ensure that Danyang City is not shelled." ”

As soon as a few people said it, Chen Cao suddenly felt that he had lost blood this time, destroying thirty-four Shenwu cannons, and originally wanted to stimulate Xu Chengqing to send troops to take the initiative to attack, but he didn't expect to think about it the other way, Xu Chengqing's purpose was to hold Zhenjiang and block Chen Cao's march into Nanjing, and he didn't have the order to take the initiative to attack at all.

What's more, he suffered a big loss of artillery in Changzhou Mansion, and he will definitely not take the initiative to attack again, after destroying the artillery, he can better guard against the strength of Chen Cao's troops during the attack, without the support of most artillery, the chance of holding Danyang is much greater.

The atmosphere in the big tent was a little frozen, because this plan to show weakness to the enemy was thought up by Chen Cao himself but implemented, but he didn't expect to lift a stone and shoot himself in the foot.

Seeing this, Huang Chunyao broke the embarrassment and said in a straight voice: "Since Xu Chengqing is unwilling to go out of the city to fight our army, then our army does not have to choose to take the initiative to attack the city; ”

Saying that, Huang Chunyao pointed to the sand table: "Isn't it a good thing to eat the reinforcements of Dantu Xu Shiji?" ”

Wake up the person in the dream with a word, Chen Cao immediately came to the spirit, since Xu Chengqing does not play according to the routine, then he will also choose other targets: "How is the battle situation on Li Jiaji's side?" ”

"There is no news back for the time being, and my subordinates have sent more than a dozen groups of people over." Zhao Xin interjected on the side.

"Xu Chengqing doesn't want to stick to Danyang, then let him stick to it, let's go north to the Li family to gather reinforcements."

Chen Cao said loudly: "This old guy actually didn't play according to Lao Tzu's routine, and Lao Tzu lost so many divine weapons in vain. ”

Xu Fuyuan circled around the position of Li Jiaji: "You can let Commander Tang divide his troops to immediately surround Li Jiaji, and then set up blocking positions along the way, Xu Chengqing will surround the point to help, if you don't rescue, our army can slowly eat Li Jiaji's Dantu reinforcements, 50,000 people, the students think Xu Chengqing can't sit still." ”

Chen Cao also looked at the terrain around Li Jiaji: "The two places are forty miles apart, and they can be reached within one day, presumably Xu Chengqing will not be able to sit still after getting the news that Xu Shiji was besieged. ”

Chen Cao's action on this side was immediately launched, and when Xu Chengqing, who got the news, was still entertaining himself for deceiving Chen Cao, the news that Xu Shiji was besieged by Li Jiaji was brought to Danyang City by the dead soldiers.

"They want to surround the point and send reinforcements."

This is what Xu Chengqing said after studying it for a long time.

According to his research on the army under Chen Cao, the pure firearms unit can definitely crush the opponent in the face of the same strength on both sides, and although Xu Shiji's command has supplemented many firearms, the overall strength is never the opponent of the rebels.

Li Shouye raised his head: "My lord, according to the same plan, the last general will lead the cavalry to disturb them, and the reinforcements will go north to rescue." ”