weaving

Chapter 703

After thinking about it, Hong Chengchou, Governor of Jiliao, highly appreciated Zhang Cheng's arrangement. He even asked: "The method of General Zhongchen's arrangement is to follow the example of Mr. Xuanhu Xu Wending's move in the gun city?"

But Zhang Cheng replied: "When I was under Duchen Lu's command, Julu fought fiercely with the Tartars, so I used this method to arrange the trenches and low walls, which made it difficult for the Tartars to take advantage of their cavalry, and it was quite beneficial to stick to it.

But I don't know in my job, Mr. Xuanhu Xu Wending also used this method! "

In fact, the gun city Hong Chengchou mentioned was a triangular three-story hollow enemy tower proposed by Xu Guangqi and his entourage Matteo Ricci during the Wanli period.

However, the gun city proposed by Xu Guangqi is indeed extremely difficult to build. It needs to be built with large stones as the foundation, and the city wall must be extremely strong and thick. It is divided into three layers. Getting smaller can also be regarded as one of the bastions.

As for Zhang Cheng's design, although geometric defensive methods were also used, it was quite crude. It basically used local materials, and the earthwork taken out from trenches was just used to build low walls. yes.

Outsiders don't know the inside story, and they mostly think that Zhang Cheng's troops rely on these canine-toothed trenches and low walls to have the confidence to resist the attacks of the Tartars in three to five days.

But Zhang Cheng knew that his biggest reliance was actually the brave and brave soldiers under his command, as well as the excellent self-made Yunzhou Type II flintlock guns, and finally these seemingly intricate defense systems of trenches and low walls.

Without the bravery and bravery of the soldiers under his command, no matter how powerful the defensive method he designed, no matter how effective the defense, no matter how many guns and guns are sharp, and the army has no fighting spirit, it is all useless.

Moreover, although the geometric defense system he proposed seems very simple, it is just digging trenches and building walls, and it is even a bit inconspicuous.

However, it involves complex civil engineering, and the distance between the ditches and low walls must be calculated in advance, so as to benefit the family as much as possible, but the Tathians only have inconvenience.

Especially those spaces and passages interspersed between the low walls of the trenches must not only be accurately measured, but after repairing, the soldiers of each team must be familiar with them in advance, so that they can attack quickly in wartime, and then retreat quickly, coming and going like the wind, Only in this way can surprises be achieved and the casualties of one's own side can be reduced.

Zhang Ruoqi and other civil officials strongly agreed with Zhang Cheng's design after thinking about it. Everyone agreed that according to Zhang Cheng's design, the cost was low, the effect was great, and there was no need for major repairs.

All you need to do is to let all the soldiers do the digging, and you can even let the civilians who accompany the army do it. After all, every town has recruited civilians to accompany the army. , which is their job.

Moreover, they have done it here, and if the effect is really good, it will be easy to spread among the generals in various towns.

Zuo Guangxian, the sub-training chief of the Chinese Association, was also extremely excited, looking eager to try.

He was ordered to take charge of the defense of Xingshan, and led his troops to garrison Wudaoling. At this time, he was thinking that he could also arrange it on Wudaoling in the same way. They decided to wait for Changling with ditches and low walls. After the mountain fortification is completed, go back and paint gourds in the same way.

However, the defense line of the Xuanbei Army in Changling Mountain now needs a lot of artillery to cooperate with the defense. Zhang Cheng left the left part of the carriage camp for Chen Zheng to use. No. [-] small Frang machine gun, and ten sub-guns.

Moreover, the chariots in Chen Zheng's Dushi Battalion also have twenty No. [-] Francois machine guns, ten sets of rocket magazines, dozens of other tiger squatting guns and mortars, and twenty flying guns. gun.

However, Zhang Cheng heard that Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, had shown his skills and killed a lot of enemies during the encounter between Liu Zhaoji and the Tartars in Xingshan.

However, his army was not equipped with this kind of killer weapon. He thought to himself: It seems that Daming's technology still has a lot to explore. Many weapons are not equipped in his own army.

Therefore, Zhang Cheng specifically asked Hong Duchen to support him with some Baizi guns and rocket boxes, as well as gunpowder and cannons, to be placed on the Changling Mountain defense line, and Hong Chengchou readily agreed.

At this time, there were not many Hongyi cannons in the armies of the Ming Dynasty, but there were still many small cannons like tiger crouching cannons, mortars, and Baizi guns in the border towns.

In fact, this is also the case. According to the relevant records after the Songshan Battle in history, among the ten questions raised by Zhang Jinyan about the siege of Songjin in the Bing Kedu, it was mentioned that during the Songshan Battle, the Ming army used chariots successively. There are more than 2000 vehicles, and there are more than 2000 artillery pieces, and there are all kinds of light and heavy vehicles, including cannons and cannons.

Moreover, until Songshan City was attacked and destroyed in history, the Qing army captured more than 150 general cannons from the city, more than [-] cannons used by the general cannon, and more than ten rooms of gunpowder. .

When the Qing army broke through the forts of Xingshan and Tashan, they captured more than [-] cannons of generals and juniors, and tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder and cannons.

It can be seen that the Ming army in Liaodong did not lack all kinds of small artillery. Hong Chengchou agreed on the spot to support Zhang Cheng's [-] guns, [-] rocket boxes, and a lot of gunpowder and artillery.

Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, also promised that depending on the future situation of the war in Xingshan, he might add various small artillery, gunpowder and other assistance to him.

After all, the defense line of Changling Mountain guards the main road of pine and apricot. In the future, when the army is stationed in Songshan, most of the food and grass needed will be transported through here. Now Hong Chengchou and other officials and generals have already attached great importance to it!
Qiu Minyang, governor of Liaodong, was in charge of transporting food and fodder for the army, so many young and strong soldiers accompanying the army, as well as local civilians in Liaodong, were also under his unified management.

After negotiating with Qiu Minyang, Zhang Cheng agreed to send some civilians to help Chen Zheng build the trenches and low walls on the Changling Mountain defense line. However, the transportation of grain and fodder is also an urgent task, so it is not possible to dispatch too many civilians. Seventy-eight thousand people can still be guaranteed.

In order to fully mobilize the enthusiasm and enthusiasm of these peasants, Zhang Cheng immediately arranged for people to speak out, but for all the peasants who came to help dig trenches and build walls, the Xuanbei Army will not only provide them with food every day, but also give them food. Two cents of silver will be given to each person.

As soon as the news spread, people from all over the country flocked here, and the number of them greatly exceeded the 8000 to [-] people promised by Governor Qiu Minyang.

But the peasants came to help the army one after another because they were greedy for food and money. He couldn't stop him, so he had to order the officials and generals below to take good care of them.

As dusk approached, Chen Zheng had already recruited over [-] civilian husbands here. They eliminated some old and weak people, leaving only the young and strong, and many people were rushing to the recruitment site afterward.

Most of these peasants are natives of Liaodong, and some are strong soldiers who came with the army from Jibei. Most of them gather together from the same village, with complicated accents, and none of them can read.

This was also the national conditions of Ming Dynasty at that time, and Chen Zheng was used to seeing it, so he didn't care about it at all. Depending on the number of people in the same village, he formed a team of 50 or 100 people, and formed a total of more than 100 teams of civilian husbands and soldiers. .

(End of this chapter)