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Chapter 712 Tartar Thieves Will Dig Trenches?

When Prince Dorgon of He Shuorui of the Qing Dynasty conspired with the kings, Baylor, and generals to lure the king into the urn.

Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao in the Ming Dynasty, has led most of the Chinese army to Songshan.

The three generals including Bai Guangen, Tang Tong, and Wang Tingchen who came to rescue Songshan Castle first, and Songshan's deputy general Xia Chengde, Youying general Liu Zhengjie, general Fan Chenggong, and guard Shangyudi were all in Songshan. Welcome outside the fort.

Songshan Fort is located in a low-lying area surrounded by mountains. Originally, Huangtu Ridge, ten miles to the east, and Songshan Ridge, several miles to the southeast, were ideal places for troops to camp.

However, these places have now been captured by the Qing army's cavalry first, and troops were stationed to prevent the Ming army from rescuing Zu Dashou in Jinzhou.

They built strongholds according to the danger, occupying the best location, and they can support each other. After Bai Guangen and others drove off the Qing army that attacked Songshan, they also tried to attack.

But in the end, there was insufficient troops, and it was difficult to prevent the cavalry from supporting each other. Instead, they lost many of their own soldiers and horses, so they stood still and camped outside Songshan Fort, waiting for the arrival of the army, and then made a long-term plan.

At this time, the Jinwang Division of the Ming Dynasty aided tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and finally the entire division gathered under Songshan City.

According to the strategic layout made by Governor Hong Chengchou when he was in Xingshan, and based on the actual distribution of the Qing army detected by the investigation, the infantry under the generals of the Jinming Army set up seven strong camps between Rufeng Mountain and Songshan City.

In addition, various battalions of fine cavalry were stationed on the east, west, and north sides of Songshan Fort, forming a compact layout around Songshan City. Hundreds of thousands of reinforcements gathered around Songshan City, making the Qing army have no opportunity to attack. Can ride.

The army hastily set up camp, then dispatched scouts and cavalry to go out, and set up guard posts one by one far away. After all, the Tartar thieves were already among the pines and brocades, so we had to prevent them from coming to sneak attack when our army first arrived.

At this time, it was Shen time in the afternoon. Although the officials and generals of the Ming Dynasty came on a long-distance march, they did not care about rest. They braved the scorching sun and followed the governor Hong Chengchou. On the west side of Fengshan, there is a high mountain ridge that is not occupied by the Tartars, spying on the arrangement of the Tartars.

Zhang Cheng stood on a large rock on the left side of Hong Chengchou, holding a binoculars and looking into the distance, the Rufeng Mountain in the mirror is vivid in his eyes. Although it is not as clear as the telescopes of later generations, it is still much better than the naked eye. .

In fact, the telescope made by the Yunzhou Jiangying is not only better in craftsmanship and quality than the copper telescope in his hand, but also better in clarity.

But Zhang Cheng had the most affection for the telescope in his hand, and he was unwilling to replace it with a new one. The old man Shi Tiegen, the head of the craftsman camp, thought that Zhang Cheng liked copper, so he bought some high-quality brass for him, and carefully crafted it for him. He made a telescope, but it was shelved by Zhang Cheng.

After a long time, Zhang Cheng couldn't help admiring secretly in his heart. The Tartars made a living by fishing and hunting. Since the time of the old slaves, they have been fighting east and west for years, and then they gradually joined together. Their marching and fighting methods are many. It is from hunting.

When not fighting, it is still a matter of siege and hunting, thinking of training the army, erecting fences in winter, and digging trenches in summer, so I can say that I have a lot of experience in digging trenches.

In this battle of pine brocade, the Tartars showed their entrenchment skills to the fullest!

According to historical records, when the Qing army attacked Xingshan by detour from the Nürhe River, they dug three trenches from the Nürhe River to the sea in one day. One of the trenches was tens of miles long and cut off The connection between Songshan and Xingshan of the Ming army was revealed.

And why did the Qing army dig so fast?

That's because the trenches dug by the Qing army are very ingenious. The cross-section of the trench is like an upside-down triangle, with the tip facing down and the bottom facing up, so it can be dug very quickly.

Moreover, the top of the trenches of the Qing army was about one foot or two feet wide, but the bottom was only one foot wide. With a good focus, it is also difficult to climb up, and the effect is really no worse than a rectangular trench.

Although there had been reports of the Xuanbei army's night not accepting it, Zhang Cheng was still amazed to see the trench dug by the Qing army today.

He thought to himself: In the future, when dealing with rogues or even Tartars, it seems that this kind of trench can be imitated. Wouldn't it be more time-saving and labor-saving!

What makes the trenches of the Qing army even more powerful is that there are wooden stakes standing on the edge of the trenches, with ropes tied to the stakes, bells tied to the ropes, and a vicious dog beside the bells.

With such an arrangement, even if someone wants to sneak through the trench at night, it is almost impossible. Even if they can avoid the rope and touch the bell, how can they avoid those vigilant and smart dogs.

The lines of defense were so tightly arranged, no wonder Zu Dashou was trapped in Jinzhou, and organized several breakouts in succession, but was unable to break out of the encirclement of the trenches dug by the Qing army.

Even the trench layout of the First World War is only a little better than this!
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All ministries of the Ming army used chariots to block the key points first, and then felled trees and erected fences as camps. Around the camps, deep trenches were also dug, and various anti-theft camps such as horses, antlers, and caltrops were laid out. instrument.

Since it was the first time they arrived in Songshan, each battalion had only confirmed the specific location of their respective camps, and the camps had also begun to take shape. Boiling water, ready to cook.

Between Songshan City and Rufeng Mountain, battle clouds are densely covered. Inside and outside the city, in the south and north of the mountain, up and down the ridge, there are banners everywhere, filled with a strong atmosphere of the battlefield.

On that day, except for some outposts from both sides to spy out, and the occasional contact between chasing each other north and south, there was basically nothing wrong, and they were all making intense preparations for the fierce battle they were about to face.

In the sweltering summer wind, the scorching sun also slowly descended behind the western mountain peaks. In the military camps of both the Ming and Qing Dynasties, flames flickered everywhere. They carried buckets or drove carts to draw water from nearby water sources.

There are no obvious big rivers flowing around Songshan Castle, but fortunately, there are still many streams converging in the low-lying area surrounded by mountains, and the groundwater resources there are also rich. As long as you are willing to dig some deep wells, you can still Access to water sources.

However, it seems that the grain and grass can be solved at present, and it can be continuously transported from Xingshan and Tashan. However, 10,000+ troops are stationed here, and the daily water demand is also huge.

If you only rely on mountain streams with unstable flows and some wells with varying water yields, you can barely do it in the short term.

(End of this chapter)