I want to be emperor

Chapter 324 Jiujiang Like a Hedgehog
Outside Jiujiang City, the Chu army did not give up preparing for a direct attack because of the pressure of the civil officials represented by the Minister of Taxation, but a steady and steady attitude.

During the first three days after arriving in Jiujiang City, the Chu army was basically spent in preparations such as building front-line trenches, testing firepower, and building long ladders and shield vehicles for siege.

They didn't even rush to attack the Ming army's trenches, fortresses and other defensive nodes outside Jiujiang City.

On the night of the third day, Luo Zhixue supported the convening of the imperial military meeting.

At the meeting, Xu Zhixian introduced in detail the deployment of the Ming army so far: "According to the information we have obtained before, plus the information we have learned from the observation and firepower investigation in the past three days, we can confirm that Shi Kefa's subordinates The Anlu New Standard Army is in Jiujiang City, and all the main forces are in the city."

"The new standard army of the Ming army we detected in Hukou before can basically be confirmed to be the new standard army under the command of Governor Yingtian, not part of the new standard army of Anlu that we thought before."

"That is to say, the entire strength of Anlu's new standard army is currently deployed in Jiujiang City, and it is estimated to be between 8000 and [-] people."

"In addition, there are about 5000 Sentinels of the Ming military camp in Jiujiang City, and the last few thousand are young and strong civilian husbands!"

"The total strength of the puppet Ming army in the city is about 5000."

"The puppet Ming army in the city has deployed about fifteen heavy-duty Hongyi cannons on the top of the city. It is reported that this batch of Hongyi artillery was urgently dispatched by the puppet Ming from some forts and naval forces along the coast of the south of the Yangtze River. The smallest Some of them weigh five catties, and quite a few are nine catties, ten catties of heavy artillery."

"They also deployed a batch of larger-caliber general guns and Franco cannons on the top of the city. The overall firepower on the top of the city is not weak."

"What's more noteworthy is that the puppet Ming army also deployed more than a dozen two-and-a-half-pound field cannons on the prominent fortress outside the city wall. These two-and-a-half-pound field cannons were, as expected, the new standard of Anlu. Army field artillery."

"These two-and-a-half-pound field artillery combined with a large number of small and medium-sized Franglers, attacking army artillery, and tiger squatting artillery in the puppet Ming army will pose a great threat to our army when clearing out the forts and trenches in the city's salient parts. !"

"In addition, in the previous several firepower probing attacks, we have successively discovered that the puppet Ming army has deployed at least two new standard troops equivalent to our regiment level in the fortifications such as trenches outside the city."

"Judging from the artillery deployment of the puppet Ming army and the deployment of the new standard army, we can basically conclude that they want to use various trenches, forts and other fortifications outside the city, and cooperate with the heavy artillery firepower on the top of the city to intercept us. .”

When Xu Zhixian said this, Li Chengtong on the side answered: "These puppet Ming troops are quite self-aware. They know that it is impossible to stop our fierce attack by hiding in the city wall!"

"Huh, if they don't have the fortifications on the protrusions outside the city, when our 48-jin mortars can move forward and approach the shelling smoothly, the mere city walls will not be able to stop us."

Luo Zhixue said: "In reason, never underestimate the enemy. We are making progress, and they will also learn and make progress."

During the battle between the Ming army and the Chu army, there were several very obvious stages.

In the early days, that is, before the Battle of Zhongxiang.

The Ming army basically regarded the Chu army as rogues, well, at most, they regarded them as rogues with slightly stronger strength, so the tactics were basically based on field battles and active attacks.

Chen Yongfu led his troops to attack, and suffered a disastrous defeat in the battle of Zhaozhuang, and Chen Yongfu surrendered.

Lu Xiangsheng wanted to attack Xinye, but was intercepted by the Chu army. In the end, he was defeated in the Battle of Sanyuanzhuang, and Lu Xiangsheng died in battle.

After Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong failed to besiege Yuzhou, they finally fought a face-to-face battle with the Chu army in the eastern suburbs of Yuzhou. The result was a disastrous defeat. He Renlong surrendered on the spot, and Zuo Liangyu retreated to Ye County.

After these three large-scale field battles, the Ming army basically saw the powerful field combat capabilities of the Chu army, so they began to change their strategies, focusing on defending the city.

However, the Ming army's defense of the city during this period was still dominated by traditional city defense operations, that is, it mainly relied on the city walls for defensive operations.

So in a series of battles such as the Battle of Zhongxiang, the Battle of Hanyang, and the Battle of Wuchang, the Ming army discovered that their traditional defense tactics were not reliable at all.

There are many reasons for this, the most critical of which is the large-scale use of mortars by the Chu thieves and the tactics of blasting and aggravating the armored commandos.

In the face of explosive mortars, the traditional walls of the Ming army did not provide much protection.

In the face of the siege mode of blasting and aggravating armor commandos, it is difficult for the Ming army to organize an effective counterattack when they are completely suppressed by artillery.

After this series of failures, Yang Sichang proposed to form a new standard army. At the same time, he aimed at the huge threat of the large number of field artillery and mortars of the Chu army in the siege operation, and improved the defensive tactics in a targeted manner, and began to build a large number of troops around the city wall. They even took the initiative to leave the city wall, dig trenches outside the city wall, and build tactical nodes such as forts to resist the artillery advantage of the Chu army.

This tactic was used on a large scale for the first time in the Battle of Linxiang, and it was continued in the Battle of Changsha.

Although the Ming army still failed in these two battles, it is undeniable that this defensive tactic did bring more trouble to the Chu army.

And until the Ming army has no better way, it can only continue to do so.

You can't fight the Chu army in the wild, or stay on the city wall foolishly to be bombed, or simply hide behind the city wall and wait for the enemy to rush to the top of the city, right?

The armored rate of the Ming army in the Central Plains is far inferior to that of the Chu army. In real melee combat, the Chu army's heavy-armored commandos can beat them to shit.

In close-range melee these days, armor is king, personal martial arts, courage and morale are all scum in front of armor...

However, in the defensive operations of Jiujiang City, the Ming army still carried out relatively large innovations in tactics.

The biggest change is the large-scale use of Hongyi artillery.

The fifteen large Hongyi heavy artillery deployed on the top of the city is proof.

However, in the face of the Ming army's shrinking and continuous strengthening of artillery, the Chu army did not use old-fashioned tactics rigidly, and also continued to improve its offensive tactics in the war.

For example, in terms of the use of mortars, in the past, the Chu army would directly pull up to the front line to fire, but now they no longer do so. Go to the front line, and finally use its high-angle ballistics to fire directly in the trenches.

This [-]-jin mortar gun maneuvered in the trench and fired, even the Ming army artillery deployed condescendingly from the top of the city could not threaten them.

This tactical mode is actually a bit similar to the mortar tactics during World War II, but the actual difference is still very big.

The power of mortars is far from being comparable to the mortars of later generations.

At the same time, the Chu army also began to use grenades.

At the beginning, the Chu army fought in the battle of Linxiang, and the soldiers made simple hand-thrown bombs and threw them into the enemy's trenches.

By the time of the Battle of Changsha, Luo Zhixue had initially organized a group of grenadiers for siege operations.

It is worth noting that the grenadiers in the Chu army are not used for field battles. They line up and throw bombs at the enemy army 30 meters away...

Well, it's not that they didn't want to, but that the Ming army didn't give them this chance... It's been a long time since the Ming army had fought a serious field battle with the Chu army.

Therefore, the grenadiers in the Chu army are currently specially trained for the battle of fortified positions.

In short, it is to drop bombs in the trench where the enemy is hiding on the opposite side!
As for why it is necessary to train a group of grenadiers instead of directly distributing grenades to the infantry.

On the one hand, the power of grenades these days is limited. They are too light when they are light, but too heavy when they are more powerful. Ordinary soldiers still don't go too far.

On the other hand, and a more important aspect, gunpowder is very expensive these days, and grenades are also very expensive.

It is impossible for the Chu army to distribute grenades to too many soldiers. If the whole army is really required to distribute grenades, the Chu army's military expenses will not be able to sustain it at all.

Due to two reasons, the Chu army could only select a group of elite infantry to be specially trained as grenadiers.

In addition to the training of musketeers, these grenadiers will also receive additional training in throwing grenades. Basically, they can be regarded as more elite musketeers with more diversified combat methods.

The front-mounted mortars and the appearance of grenadiers are all measures taken by the Chu army to dig trenches more and more in response to the Ming army's defensive operations.

But what is more important is that the Chu army is more frantically equipped with artillery, and tends to use large-caliber artillery.

In the past, the Chu army thought that a two-and-a-half catty field gun was very useful.

But now, the nine-pound field artillery and the five-pound field artillery have replaced the two-and-a-half-pound field artillery and have become the main field artillery of the Chu army's artillery, especially the nine-pound field artillery is equipped with more and more equipment.

Whether this kind of artillery is in a field battle or a siege, its power is not small.

Up to now, in the main forces, even the two-and-a-half catty field artillery has been gradually transferred to the infantry regiments.

Especially among the four main divisions currently attacking Jiujiang City, they basically achieved the level below the two-and-a-half catty field artillery.

In addition to expanding the caliber of field artillery, another major measure of the Chu army is to expand the number of equipment equipped with 48-jin mortars.

In the past, the mortar equipment in the Chu army was a mixture of 48-jin mortars and [-]-jin mortars, all of which were deployed in independent mortar regiments.

But later, the 48-jin mortars were directly incorporated into the artillery regiments of each division, and each independent mortar regiment began to be equipped with all [-]-jin mortars.

Up to now, the [-]-jin mortars have been distributed to regiment-level troops.

Because the generals of the Chu army found that in most battles, the 300-jin mortar gun weighed only more than [-] catties, and it was more convenient to maneuver on the battlefield than the two-and-a-half catty field gun and the two hundred catty short robe.Most of the time, they directly cooperate with infantry on the front line, and the level of cooperation is directly at the battalion level.

This thing is more like an infantry support artillery than a two-and-a-half-pound field artillery. If it weren't for the special nature of the artillery unit, the generals of the Chu army would like to distribute the eighteen-pound mortar directly to the infantry battalions.

So up to now, the Chu army has begun to directly distribute light mortars such as [-]-jin mortars to the infantry regiments in several main divisions advancing eastward, such as the Guards Division and the First Division. The establishment of a whistle.

At the same time, the mortar battalion of the artillery regiment of the division also began to add 48-jin mortars.

On the whole, the artillery units of the Chu Army are moving towards a larger number and a larger caliber.

This also led to the fact that even though the Ming army had tried their best to deploy artillery in Jiujiang City that even exceeded the number of fortresses in Liaodong, it was still far inferior to that of the Chu army.

However, they were conducting defensive operations after all, and Shi Kefa and others also knew early on that the Chu army would inevitably advance eastward, so they also started preparations early on.

A large amount of food, ammunition, and even spare weapons have been hoarded in Jiujiang City.

And the various fortifications inside and outside the city wall were deployed to the point where even the Chu army sighed.

They built numerous sandbag fortifications on the city wall, and even added thick wood and sand-covered roofs to the sandbag fortifications on several artillery positions.

From this look, we can see that the top cover is specially used to prevent the direct hit or volley explosion of the Chu army's mortar shells.

Just the various anti-artillery fortifications on the top of the city wall are more than a bit stronger than the anti-artillery fortifications built by the Ming army during the Battle of Linxiang and the Battle of Changsha.

The same is true for the fortifications outside the city. The Ming army built many trenches under the city wall and used the moat.

In the open space ahead, there are still large obstacles blocking the advance of the Chu army's infantry.

It was the first time Luo Zhixue went to see these fortifications in Jiujiang. If he hadn't known that he was in the [-]th century, he would almost have thought that he had come to the Western Front of World War I... Nima's trench, I'm afraid it was just like that in the early days of World War I Bar!
With this fortification, the Ming army doesn't even have to worry about hiding in the trench, and then being attacked by the Chu army with infantry!
Because of the existence of a large number of obstacles, traps and moats, there is no way for the Chu army to line up effectively to charge.

This Jiujiang is like a hedgehog, making Luo Zhixue feel like he has no way to talk!

Even Luo Zhixue on the opposite side was shocked by the Ming army's trench defenses, and Shi Kefa himself was even more confident.

Such a powerful fortification has a total force of 500, including [-] new standard troops.

There are more than 30 Hongyi artillery pieces in total!
The food and grass in the city were piled up like a mountain, enough for the defenders and the residents in the city to eat for the first half of the year, and it would not even be a problem to save some food for the next year.

There are also a lot of ammunition in the warehouses in the city, and there are even many workshops in the city, which store a lot of raw materials.

These workshops can repair and make swords and spears on the spot, to artillery, a series of weapons and even ammunition.

How could Jiujiang City, which was so well prepared, be captured!
impossible!

(End of this chapter)