Nanming Yiming

Chapter 157
Weng Zhiheng, the admiral of northern Zhejiang who was in Huzhou City, soon received the news from Bai Bing.

In the battle of Si'an Town, the white soldiers fought really well. They eliminated and captured 7000 Qing troops, including [-] Manchurian Eight Banners.

Moreover, the elimination of the Qing army this time was all the main force, and there were no green battalion soldiers serving as cannon fodder, which can be described as a real military exploit.

After Qian Mo took over the Taihu Rebel Army, although he placed Weng Zhiheng in a very high position, he has always held the title of the highest general of the Ming Army.

But Qian Mo often took Huang Yu, Hong Fugui and others to attack, and put Weng Zhiheng in the position of guarding Huzhou, which always made him feel like he was being pushed aside.

To be honest, in the governor's office of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, where military exploits speak, Weng Zhiheng's name is somewhat untrue.

Among the three admirals, he has the least combat exploits, just because he is older.

Therefore, he attaches great importance to this battle of Huzhou, which is a battle to rectify his name as the admiral of northern Zhejiang.

As the first state capital seized by the Jiangsu and Zhejiang governors, Huzhou has a very special significance.Although after the occupation of Hangzhou, many institutions of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Governor's Mansion have moved there from Huzhou, but Tianmu Mountain, the most important production base of the Governor's Mansion, is still in Huzhou.

Almost all the ordnance and daily necessities of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang governors were produced there, and tens of thousands of people were engaged in production activities there.In Qian Mo's heart, the Tianmu Mountain base is far more important than Huzhou City.

This also made it impossible for the Tianmu Battalion to deploy more troops to fight, and they were also responsible for defending the Tianmu Mountain. The 1000 people stationed in Si'an Town were already their limit.

But then Shi Tingzhu led his army to smuggle into Si'an Town to break the defense system established by Huzhou relying on the bastion.

At this time, Weng Zhiheng still had Wu Qi's Taihu camp and Wang Zaixing's Huzhou camp in his hands, which could be used to resist the Qing army.

Wang Zaixing's Taihu Battalion was full of cavalry, and was stationed in Nanxun Town, a short distance from Huzhou; soon the Xingying Camp in Jiaxing sent 500 soldiers to the bastion of Nanxun Town.

And Wang Zaixing led all 4000 cavalry to Huzhou City.

1000 people from the Taihu Battalion were originally stationed in Huzhou Prefecture, and the other 3000 people were stationed in Changxing County and the Changxing Bastion outside the county.

At this time, their position is a bit awkward, because the Qing army has appeared behind them, and they are in danger of being surrounded.

However, Changxing County and the bastion there still had to be defended, otherwise the Qing army would have opened up the supply line, and Shi Tingzhu's army would not have penetrated alone, but could get a steady stream of supplies from the direction of Changxing, and even increase troops.

After receiving the news, Weng Zhiheng handed over the choice to Wu Qi himself, asking him to leave enough troops to defend, and then lead the remaining troops back to Huzhou City.

Wu Qi thought over and over again, the 1000 people in the bastion must not move, as long as the bastion is not lost, the Qing army will not be able to get through this supply line.But Changxing County can be given up. Even if the Qing army takes Changxing County, as long as they can't take down the bastion, they will still be stuck in their throats.

So Wu Qi decided to leave 500 people to guard the county. If a small group of Qing troops harassed them, 500 people would be enough to repel them.If the Qing army came to attack the city, they could retreat to the bastion, or directly board a boat on Taihu Lake and retreat to Huzhou.

After arranging everything, Wu Qi personally led the 1500 people from the Taihu Camp to the south to prepare to withdraw to Huzhou.

Shi Tingzhu and Wu Ertai are also veteran generals who have experienced battles, and they know the truth that the speed of a soldier is precious.Uertai soon dispatched 2000 red flag cavalry to intersperse the north and south sides of Huzhou City, preparing to intercept and support the various Ming armies in Huzhou.

This is also a tactic that is a head start. As the Manchurian cavalry appeared outside Huzhou City again, the atmosphere in Huzhou City became tense.

Ma Li, the magistrate of Huzhou, said: "Admiral Weng, everything in Huzhou City is ready, and the extra horses in the racecourse outside the city have been transferred to Jiaxing Mansion."

"There are currently 1000 Taihu battalion and 4000 Huzhou battalion soldiers in the city. In addition, a few days ago, the governor ordered the prefectures to expand their troops. There are still 3000 young and strong recruits in Huzhou prefecture, who can support the city defense at any time."

Regarding Ma Li, Weng Zhiheng was still very relieved. It was not the first time that the prefect of Ma had faced the siege of the Eight Banners, and he was quite prestigious in Huzhou Prefecture.

I remember the last time when Jin Li led the army to besiege Huzhou, it was the magistrate who personally went into battle to make the Qing army who had just surrendered take up weapons and go to the city to kill the Tartars.

Ma Lina is one of the three major fools in the Governor's Mansion alongside Qian Mo and Liu Yichen, and he is a master of demagoguery.

Faced with the appearance of the Qing army, Huzhou City not only did not panic, but the people in the city looked forward to Wang Shi's performance.

Many people have even started to raise donations in advance, and they want to build a new stele next to the stele that wiped out the Eight Banners in Hangzhou last time to commemorate the battle of Huzhou this time.

Weng Zhiheng also felt that the people's support was available. There are currently 5000 regular troops in Huzhou City, and 3000 young men who are preparing to enlist in the army. Although it is still a bit stretched, there is no problem in holding Huzhou for the time being.

At this time Wang Zaixing ran up the city wall, and he said with a look of embarrassment: "Master Admiral, my Taihu Battalion is pure cavalry, and there are only 1000 Lumi blunderbuss in the whole battalion. I am afraid that the defense of the city will now be based on bows and arrows."

Weng Zhiheng was also surprised when he heard that this was a shortcoming of the development of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Governor's Mansion. Due to the rapid expansion, the supply of firearms was seriously insufficient.

Although the Ordnance Department of Tianmu Mountain has increased the production of Lumi blunderbuss and flintlock guns to an astonishing 4000 per month, it still cannot keep up with the pace of military expansion of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang governors.

Not long ago, Qian Mo ordered the battalions to expand their recruitment by 1000 people, and then incorporated and recruited 5 new battalions in eastern Zhejiang. The half-year output of these ordnance divisions alone was gone!
At this time, Ma Li said: "A few days ago, I heard that the Qing army was aggressively attacking Huzhou, so I went to Tianmu Mountain in advance to get back the fire guns of the new army. I wanted to come to the water tower first, but I only got 500 Lumi guns."

Weng Zhiheng said helplessly: "The defenders of the bastion must all be equipped with firecrackers, and in order to prevent the firecrackers from being damaged, they are equipped with 20% more. Therefore, the Taihu Battalion in Huzhou City only has 200 Lumi blunderbusses."

Wang Zaixing said: "Based on this calculation, the 5000 regular troops in the city only have 1700 firecrackers. Do we really have to rely on bows and arrows?"

"Now I can only hope that Zongbing Wu can bring back more firecrackers!"

Looking at Bian Mountain in the northwest of Huzhou, Weng Zhiheng said: "It's hard to say, Shi Tingzhu marched too fast. The Qing army should have occupied Bian Mountain by now, cutting off the connection between Huzhou and Changxing."

A sentry cavalry of the Qing army said: "The large troops of the Ming army have left Changxing County and are heading south towards Huzhou."

Urtai said: "It's still Commander Shi's ingenious plan. We blocked the passage to the south in advance. As long as the Ming army dares to come, let him taste the power of my Eight Banners cavalry."

However, after waiting and waiting, they didn't see the soldiers and horses of the Ming army, but another news came.

A soldier said: "It's not good, the Ming army has already cut off our mountain path."

Shi Tingzhu said: "But the Ming army sent people to intercept and kill our army's scouts on the road?"

The soldier said: "No Ming army was found near the road, but some inexplicable stone walls appeared in several dangerous places, which were very hard and completely blocked the road."

This is not good news, as Shi Tingzhu and the others will be completely alone.

At this time, their attention was attracted by the sound of rumbling guns. It turned out that the Taihu Navy of the Ming Army entered Huzhou City from Daqianhukou in the north of Huzhou. The cannons were driven away.

In this way, Wu Qi successfully led 1500 Taihu Battalion soldiers into Huzhou City.

Wu Qi was also very aggrieved. Like Weng Zhiheng, he was mainly responsible for the defense of Taihu Lake and Changxing in the north of Huzhou, but the Qing army never came to fight in these places.After finally catching up with the Qing army's attack on Huzhou, they still chose Si'an Town, leaving no room for his bastion to be used at all.

Seeing that Wu Qi arrived in Huzhou smoothly, everyone was very happy.

After exchanging pleasantries, he asked the most concerned question about firecrackers. As a result, Wu Qi only brought 300 Lumi blunderbuss.

Weng Zhiheng said: "Although we only have 2000 firecrackers, I don't recommend using bows and arrows. One is that there are not many qualified archers in our army, and the other is that the Qing army is heavily armored, so bows and arrows can't do much damage; using bows and arrows is not only useless. It will help to defend the city, and it will also expose the weakness of our lack of firearms."

Ma Li said: "It is recommended that 300 gunners be placed on each city wall, and another 800 gunners are on standby. Where there is urgent support, there is no place to support; I guess the Qing army would not dare to attack the city from all sides at the same time. We should be able to deal with a single wall."

On the Jingai Mountain in the southwest of Huzhou City, Wuertai was furious.Shouted: "Hurry up and smash this damn stone tablet!"

What stood in front of them was a stele erected by Qian Moren after the Eight Banners in Hangzhou were wiped out.

It was here that Pingnan General Jin Li was wiped out.Now revisiting the old place, how can Wu Ertai and others not get mad?
Shi Tingzhu felt that this place was relatively unlucky. After all, the last time Jin Li set up camp in Anting was wiped out, and now he is camping here, there is always an ominous premonition.

Seeing that Urtai was so irritable, he could only say: "Urtai, please be calm and don't be impatient. I heard that Jin Li was betrayed by Wang Zaixing, a traitor, which caused the entire army to be annihilated. Now this Wang Zaixing is In the city of Huzhou, tomorrow we will destroy Huzhou, and we will kill this guy alive to pay homage to the soldiers of our army who were killed by him."

Hearing what Shi Tingzhu said, Wuertai Shi Tingzhu felt much better, especially because of Shi Tingzhu's contribution to breaking through Si'an Town this time, and he is willing to obey the command at this moment.

Said: "I don't know how we will attack the city tomorrow, I will definitely cooperate with all my strength."

Shi Tingzhu said: "Now we are going deep alone, and we should fight quickly; only by conquering Huzhou can we get a lot of supplies. Tomorrow we will besiege the city on all sides, and the Han army flag will be responsible for filling the moat, and then the warriors who are fighting the red flag will attack the city. At that time, we will make a final decision."

In the early morning of the next day, just after dawn, the alarm bells in Huzhou City were sounded.

Weng Zhiheng and others hurried to the top of the city to face the Qing army, only to see that the Qing army had been neatly lined up under the city of Huzhou.

Rows of chariots lined up at the front, followed by a large number of soldiers with the Han army banner.Flags fluttered under the city, and there were many swords and guns, especially those Manchurian Eight Banners in red armor, which looked extraordinarily dazzling.

This ten thousand army formation still looks quite spectacular.

Weng Zhiheng shouted: "Fire, disrupt their formation!"

While the Ming army roared with artillery fire, 5000 Han army banner soldiers also rushed towards the moat pushing carts one by one.

Soon a round of artillery shells landed in the middle of the marching Qing army, and with a "boom", several Qing troops in the surrounding area were blown away; even a round of chariots was directly hit by the Ming army's Franco artillery. The air wave threw the wreckage of the car into the air, and after it fell, the surroundings were whimpering.

The advance speed of the Qing army was very fast, and soon passed through the minimum range of the Frang machine artillery. At this time, the tiger squatting artillery on the city opened fire again, and the firepower attack still caused some obstacles to the siege troops.However, these casualties could not stop the progress of the Qing army at all, and in the end they managed to reach the moat.

Shi Tingzhu was also very helpless. They didn't have the blessing of red cannons in this kind of siege battle, so they could only let the artillery of the Ming army attack.Fortunately, this kind of artillery attack is also a one-time attack. Although a certain price has been paid, as long as they rush to a place closer to the city, the artillery fire of the Ming army will be helpless.

After the Qing army advanced to the outside of the moat, the Lumi guns of the Ming army began to shoot.

"Bang, bang, bang"

But the result was unexpected. Although the Lumi blunderbuss kept hitting the Qing army's chariots, there were bursts of smoke.However, the Qing army behind the chariot was still safe and sound, but a few Han army banner soldiers who escaped from the protection of the chariot were unfortunately hit and fell to the ground.

Seeing the scene in front of him, Shi Tingzhu smiled.

When he arrived at Si'an Town that day, he inspected the chariots penetrated by the Ming army, and found that the bullet holes penetrated by the Ming army were all concentrated on the upper baffle of the chariot.

So they seized and modified the car, adding a thick board to the upper part, and filling stones between the two boards.Although this increases the weight and makes the vehicle more cumbersome to use, it can block the Ming army's shooting and provide protection for the Qing army behind it.

Seeing that the Ming army could not shoot through the chariots, these Qing troops worked even harder, filling them with sand and throwing them into the moat.

Although from time to time, the Qing army was hit by the firecrackers of the Ming army during the loading process, the overall casualties were much smaller.

The Qing army behind the chariot even began to use bows and arrows to fight back against the Ming army on the city. Although the bows and arrows of the Han army flag did not do much damage, they still disrupted the shooting rhythm of the Ming army and caused damage to the Ming army on the city. casualties.

At this time, Urtai also began to gear up and prepare to attack the city.He laughed loudly and said: "These southern barbarians rely entirely on the sharpness of their firearms and their skill in intrigue. Now that their firearms can't penetrate the chariot, they haven't retreated!"

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