Wu Sangui didn't listen to Liu Yan's explanation at all, but united with a group of Liaodong generals and insisted on saving Jinzhou City first. And Hong Chengchou also didn't say a word, making a contemplative state, and the rest such as Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu and others, although they all supported Liu Yan, they didn't insist much, and they were obviously watching Hong Chengchou's attitude.

Seeing this, Liu Yan had no choice but to be patient, and continued: "Governor, ladies and gentlemen, as long as our army captures the Loess Ridge, it can not only threaten Rufeng Mountain and other places from the side, but also as long as our army is stationed on the Loess Ridge, it will be much more convenient to get water from the Xiaoling River in the future, and now my army of more than 200,000 people only relies on some wells to drink water, which is also a big hidden danger, if the Qing army blocks our army's waterways and the weather continues to be hot, our army will inevitably have difficulty in using water, and the danger of this situation is comparable to cutting off the grain road!" ”

Liu Yan mentioned the problem of water sources, Wang Pu, Yang Guozhu and others came to the spirit, after all, it was a major matter related to the safety of the army of various ministries, and everyone supported Liu Yan one after another, and even the Liaodong generals became hesitant.

However, Wu Sangui still insisted on his opinion, thinking that as long as the reinforcements hit the city of Jinzhou and the siege of Jinzhou was relieved, they could also get water from the Jinzhou area, the best of both worlds, why not do it?

As a result, the generals in the hall were divided into two factions, led by Liu Yan and Wu Sangui, respectively, and everyone quarreled with each other into a pot of porridge.

Seeing this, Hong Chengchou still looked kind, but a trace of anger flashed in his eyes. The prison army Zhang Ruoqi and the prison army Ma Shaoyu frowned, but since Hong Chengchou didn't speak, the two endured it and didn't say anything.

Everyone quarreled for a while, and Wu Sangui saw that no one could convince anyone, so he said to Liu Yan: "General Liu thinks that after our army captures the Loess Ridge, it can threaten Rufeng Mountain and other places from the side?" However, according to the intelligence found under the command of this town, there are also heavy guards of slaves and thieves on the side of Xishimen, and attacking from that side, our army also has to face a mountain defense line that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, what is the difference between attacking Rufeng Mountain? ”

Liu Yan said: "Mr. Wu said it well, but relatively speaking. The main force of the slaves and thieves was concentrated in the west of Rufeng Mountain, on the main road into Jinzhou. If we attack Xishimen, our army can go down the mountains and hills to the daughter river, so as to threaten the army of thieves besieging the south of Jinzhou, and the siege of Jinzhou can be relieved. ”

"And the lesser of two evils, strategically speaking, after capturing the Loess Ridge, our army can move more places, to the east can cross the Xiaoling River, to the west can attack Shimen Mountain, the battlefield initiative firmly in the hands of our army!"

After Liu Yan finished speaking, everyone stopped talking, and Wu Sangui was also refuted speechless. At this time, Hong Chengchou nodded approvingly, and Qiu Minyang, the governor of Liaodong, and Zhang Ruoqi and Ma Shaoyu, the superintendents, also had no opinions.

Yang Guozhu, the chief military officer of Xuanfu Town, saw that everyone was speechless, and immediately said: "The last general will attach the meaning of General Liu." ”

Wang Pu, the chief military officer of Datong Town, Li Fuming, the chief military officer of Shanxi Town, and Zuo Guangxian, the chief soldier of the aid suppression, also stood up to support Liu Yan's strategy.

Even Ma Ke, the chief military officer of Shanhaiguan Town, and Tang Tong, the chief military officer of Miyun Town, were a little swaying, and the rest of the others were even more silent, only Wu Sangui was still a little unwilling, but he couldn't find a reason to refute Liu Yan.

At this point, Hong Chengchou saw that everyone's opinions were almost unanimous, so he made a decision, but when it came to discussing how to attack Loess Ridge, everyone quarreled again.

Yang Guozhu, Li Fuming, Zuo Guangxian, Bai Guangen and others scrambled to take the initiative to ask for the battle, wanting to take the lead, while Ma Ke, Tang Tong, and Wang Pu were worried that they would be transferred to the first wave of attacking the mountain, so they kept emphasizing the difficulties of attacking the mountain. Wu Sangui was still silent, and the rest of the people were either ready to compete for merit or wanted to preserve their strength. 33

But everyone was surprisingly unanimous in not mentioning the new army in Qinglai Town, which made Liu Yan a little surprised, originally Liu Yan thought that he must be the first to bear the brunt, and was pushed to the front by Hong Chengchou and everyone to gnaw hard bones.

However, Liu Yan looked at the people who were arguing, and immediately figured out in his heart that he and the new army of Qinglai Town were the trump cards of this army, and no one would throw the trump card out as soon as they came up, otherwise how would they fight below?

At this time, Hong Chengchou said: "According to the reports of the sentinels of various departments, in the land of Songshan Ridge, the main ones are the Dongnu Blue Banner and the Zhenglan Banner, and there are some Mongolian cavalry, with more than 10,000 people, and it is difficult to find out how much. ”

"The land of Loess Ridge is a large number of Eight Banners Han Army, with many Hongyi cannons, bird guns and other firearms, and its strength is very strong. In addition, there are some Tartars with white flags and white flags who fight in danger of the mountains, and the Tartar cavalry can rush down from the mountains at any time to flank our army. In this way, the Loess Ridge is actually very difficult to fight. ”

Everyone frowned and pondered, and Cai Maode had been in Songshan for a long time, and he knew the local terrain, so he offered a plan: "Governor, our army can follow the example of the slaves and thieves and dig a trench in Pingchuan between Loess Ridge and Songshan Ridge, cutting off the communication between the two places. In this way, the Loess Ridge and the Songshan Ridge cannot be connected together, which is equivalent to fighting alone, and our army can attack them separately. ”

Zhang Dou, the soldier, disagreed, and said: "Even if the slave cavalry of Songshan Ridge can't support Loess Ridge, as well as the slave cavalry of Rufeng Mountain and Shimen Mountain, can our army still dig trenches in several places?" ”

Cai Maode disagreed, and said: "Master Zhang is right, but I think it is better to be able to break one place than to connect the three of them in one place." ”

After some quarrels, the military discussion did not come to an end until dawn, and Hong Chengchou also decided on the candidate to attack Loess Ridge and other places.

Yang Guozhu, the chief military officer of Xuanfu Town, and Li Fuming, the chief military officer of Shanxi Town, each led their troops and horses to attack the Loess Ridge head-on. Bai Guangen, the chief soldier of Jizhen, and Wu Sangui, the chief soldier of Ningyuan, led their troops to block the Qing army's attack on Songshan Ridge. Wang Pu, the chief officer of Datong Town, led his troops to deploy defenses in the northeast of Songshan to block the Qing army's attack in the area of Rufeng Mountain.

In addition, Ma Ke, the chief military officer of Shanhaiguan Town, and Tang Tong, the chief military officer of Miyun Town, led their troops to deploy defenses west of Songshan Fort to prevent the Qing army from attacking from the west.

The Zuo Guangxian Division, the commander of the reinforcement and suppression, served as a reserve and temporarily stayed in the Chinese army together with the Supervisory Battalion.

The new army under Liu Yansuo, the chief military officer of Qinglai Town, was deployed five miles south of the Loess Ridge as a mobile force in this battle, and was put into operation according to the situation on the battlefield.

Everything has been deployed, Hong Chengchou and the generals are very confident, if this battle is won, then the siege of Jinzhou may even be resolved without a fight, and the battle situation will be completely inclined to the Ming side.

But Liu Yan stared at the location of the Loess Ridge on the map, his brows tightened, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

As soon as Hong Chengchou laughed and talked with everyone for a few words, he noticed Liu Yan's side, and then asked, "What did Mr. Liu think of, can you tell everyone?" ”

Liu Yan pointed to the location of the Loess Ridge on the map, and said: "The army of slaves and thieves has deployed a large number of artillery, guns, etc. on the mountains of Loess Ridge and other places, and the soldiers and horses of the slaves and thieves are stationed on the mountains, and their firearms are condescending to shoot, which can be said to have taken advantage of the advantage, and it is bound to cause greater casualties to our army's military formation. ”

"In addition, although the various units of our army are also equipped with a large number of artillery, but this battle is a battle of attacking the mountains, and our artillery bombards the mountains from the bottom up, which has suffered a big loss, and the artillery is limited by the elevation angle, and it is simply unable to bombard the middle and upper parts of the mountain. In addition, the thieves built a large number of fortifications on the Loess Ridge, and the power of our firearms was further reduced. ”

Then Liu Yan looked at everyone and said: "Therefore, you must be mentally prepared for this battle, our army will definitely suffer certain casualties when attacking the mountain." ”

Everyone's faces changed color instantly, and Hong Chengchou didn't notice this, his brows tightened, and he asked, "Is there any good way for Mr. Liu?" ”

Liu Yan thought for a moment and said, "There is still a way. ”

"Mr. Liu, let's talk about it quickly."

"First of all, all departments should prepare more bamboo baskets and sacks, and load them with soil to block the front of the army, which can effectively block the bombardment of slave and thief artillery."

"Secondly, there are many kinds of rockets, tiger guns and other firearms in all armies, although the power of these firearms is not as powerful as the artillery deployed by the slaves, but the victory is enough in number, and it is also convenient to bombard from the bottom up."

"Especially the Tiger Zun cannon, it can even be carried forward by the soldiers, bombarded all the way, specially shot scattered bullets, or ash bottles, so that it can cause a lot of damage to the slaves, thieves, soldiers and horses."

Liu Yan is recognized as the best general in the army to use firearms, and Liu Yan's words at this time immediately made everyone see the sun.

Yang Guozhu said with a smile: "So I can rest assured, how can there be immortals in the war, as long as the slaves and thieves die more than us." Anyway, there are a lot of big rockets in our army, and when it comes to attacking, they will shoot out all of them, and it is best to burn the Loess Ridge and burn those dog Tartars to death! ”

Li Fuming also said with a smile: "That's right, in this battle, I want to concentrate all the tiger guns in the army and use them, specifically to shoot scattered bullets, and when I encounter the low wall of the slaves and thieves and a large number of soldiers and horses, I will bombard them all at once, and see who has the strongest firepower!" ”

Hong Chengchou was also happy when he saw that everyone was so morale, and said: "However, the generals should also prepare more sacks and bamboo baskets, and the governor will also send the men and horses of the Governor's battalion to assist the various departments in preparation." ”

"Xie Duchen!"

In addition, Hong Chengchou also decided to take out a large number of rockets and tiger guns carried by the Governor Battalion to support Yang Guozhu and Li Fuming in attacking the mountain, so that the two of them would be grateful again.

However, although in the battle of attacking the mountain, the Ming artillery suffered more losses, but it was also necessary to mobilize more in order to increase the firepower of the Ming army.

So Hong Chengchou transferred all the artillery on the Dubiao battalion and Songshan Fort to Yang Guozhu and Li Fuming, making the number of large and small artillery pieces in the two armies reach an astonishing more than 300!

With such a number, even Liu Yan was amazed, knowing that his artillery battalion was only equipped with more than 200 artillery pieces of various types. It can be seen that the Ming army was equipped with a large number of firearms, and even during the Opium War in later generations, the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not have such luxurious heavy firepower.

Then, Liu Yan cheered everyone up and said: "You don't have to be too afraid of the slave thief's Hongyi cannon, as long as you fight with casualties to resist their range, they fight from the mountain to the mountain, but it is useless, at the foot of the mountain is the blind spot of the red-clothed cannon." According to my estimates, within a hundred paces of the foot of the mountain, the red-coated cannons of the slaves could not hit them, and that is where our army's firepower is dominant! ”

Liu Yan briefly explained the problem of blind spots, although the mountain was far away, but because of the field of vision, as long as it rushed past their range, the artillery could not hit the target.

At this time, Yang Guozhu and Li Fuming and others were more relieved, and Hong Chengchou also made an impassioned speech, and then ordered everyone to return to the camp and prepare to attack the Loess Ridge.

Some people died, but not completely......