A century-old family that runs through the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 359 The war begins

If you look at the map, you can see that the Ming army formed a line of defense around Jiangsu and Zhejiang. In various cities around Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the Ming army gathered heavy troops to prevent the enemy from suddenly attacking.

The main direction of prevention is South Zhili, where the main force of 100,000 troops is also gathered.

Yuan Chonghuan himself was based in Anqing, holding more than 15,000 elite troops as a mobile force, including Liao Cavalry.

Although Jiangnan is not suitable for cavalry attacks, it is still possible to fight in a decisive battle in an open area. It would be a waste to use them to defend the city.

Once the troops of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang military governments set off, no matter which direction they launch an attack, he can respond in time, and then lead these troops to intervene in the battle at the right time, or even attack from both front and rear to inflict heavy losses on the Jiangsu and Zhejiang troops.

However, he knew that the opponent's main attack direction was most likely South Zhili.

After all, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang military governments only had a total of 60,000 people, but 30,000 were hoarded in Nanjing. Their intentions were obvious.

Moreover, if the opponent dares to use the defenders within Zhejiang, then his mobile troops will mercilessly penetrate into the heart of the enemy and disrupt their base camp - the opponent's supreme leader Yan Yinghui cannot be so stupid.

Around Nanjing, he also built a line of defense.

From Huizhou to Songjiang, it tightly wraps up the entire Ningguo Prefecture and Nanjing.

That day, a cannonball almost missed him and hit his soldiers, turning more than a dozen of his elite soldiers into mud along with their armor.

In the past few months, although he had barely overcome it, he still felt a little scared when facing the Seventh Army.

……

He is the guard of Hezhou.

A large number of Ming soldiers quickly climbed to the top of the city and aimed at the enemy with their muskets.

Zuo Liangyu stood at the top of the city and watched everything.

This scene left such a deep shadow on him that when he later fought with Lu Xiangsheng, as soon as he saw that the battle situation was unfavorable, he immediately turned around and fled, which eventually caused a chain reaction until the army was completely defeated.

On the third day, they launched the attack.

So when faced with the sudden appearance, I didn't panic too much.

If you include the existing defensive troops, the number of troops deployed by the Ming army in southern Zhili has exceeded 150,000.

From the top of Hezhou City, shouts were heard, accompanied by the sound of golden drums.

Fortunately, Yuan Chonghuan had already noticed the increasingly anxious atmosphere, and had already ordered the cities to reorganize their defenses. Yingtianfu's city was already in a state of semi-abandonment, and the meaning of their existence was to serve as the last resort. Warning - this is the only method Yuan Chonghuan can use after the sentinels are massacred.

"The rebels are coming, the rebels are coming!"

Not long ago, the Seventh Army sent troops and launched a comprehensive offensive against Yingtian Mansion. All the cities were attacked one after another or even surrendered without a fight. In a very short period of time, Yingtian Mansion was swept across and all were occupied by the Seventh Army. Within a few days, they had already arrived at Hezhou City.

Those who came to Hezhou City were soldiers from the 36th Division of the Seventh Army. Facing the tense atmosphere at the top of the city, they seemed to be at ease, setting up camp and building siege equipment without any rush.

At this moment, facing the waving flag, the cruel battle situation that day could not help but come to mind again, and a kind of fear emerged from his heart.

It's okay, Hezhou City is high and deep, and relying on the city wall, they can't do anything to me.

he consoled himself.

Hezhou was originally an important town to defend Nanjing, but Yuan Chonghuan spent a lot of money to recruit tens of thousands of people to build the city. Now the city walls are thick and hard, and even the city gates have been blocked with bricks and stones. Although the opponent's artillery fire is sharp, it may not be able to destroy the city wall. As long as the city wall is there, he will have protection.

After all, the ancient city wall's defense against artillery was actually very strong. Even heavy artillery like Hongyi could only destroy the defenses of some small towns and forts.

For example, in the original time and space, Kong Youde rebelled and attacked Laizhou, attacking the city with more than 20 red cannons, but "repeatedly attacked and defeated", while Huang Taiji used 23 red cannons to attack Songshan, and finally "the battlements were completely destroyed", but The city wall was not demolished, and in the end we could only chew the ashes bitterly.

Zuo Liangyu's judgment was correct. If we only focused on the eight-type artillery that participated in the battle that day, it might not be possible to win Hezhou City. Although the Type 8 cannon is improved compared to the Hongyi cannon in terms of range, accuracy, rate of fire and weight, its power is actually smaller than that of the Hongyi cannon.

The main reason is that there are not too thick city walls in Nanyang. Eight-type cannons are usually enough to break the city. In the Ming Dynasty, there were many fortified cities.

The opponent's first round of exploratory bombardment also proved this point. Many French artillery shells hit the city wall. Although it stirred up a cloud of dust and even knocked the bricks and stones away, exposing the rammed earth inside, they still could not be shaken. Its solid.

Zuo Liangyu was relieved.

Seeing this situation, the soldiers of the Ming Army relaxed a little. They tightened their guns, adjusted the angle of the artillery, and prepared to wait for the place to approach.

The commander of the Thirty-sixth Division on the other side waved his hand expressionlessly and ordered:

"Bring number two up!"

The No. 2 heavy artillery, as a siege weapon, is extremely heavy and very troublesome to carry, but it has an extraordinary effect on a fortified city.

As the soldiers operated, the No. 2 heavy artillery began to adjust its angle, and then six soldiers carried the shell and installed it.

Zuo Liangyu on the other side was dumbfounded when he saw the rebels pushing up a huge cannon from a distance - he had never seen such a huge cannon. Even the Ming soldiers on one side were dumbfounded and froze in place. The ground was at a loss.

The heavy artillery slowly lowered its barrel and aimed it at the city wall. The black muzzle hid a destructive aura.

"boom!"

The dull loud noise made the surrounding soldiers almost lose their hearing. The huge recoil caused the heavy artillery to retreat uncontrollably even if it was fixed with a large open leg, plowing two deep marks on the ground and filling the air with dust.

The cannonball hit the city wall hard, and the neat bricks and stones instantly turned into countless fragments and collapsed. A huge deep pit appeared in the middle of the entire city wall, with cracks spreading around it.

The people on the city wall felt a huge earthquake.

"Fire and stop them! If this continues, the city wall will collapse!"

An officer crouched and hid behind the parapet, shouting at the artillery soldiers.

However, the artillery soldier replied with a grimace and a trembling voice:

"Sir, the opponent's distance...has exceeded the range!"

The officer leaned against the wall and didn't reply.

Of course he knew the range wasn't enough.

Just under the tension and fear, I subconsciously wanted to seek some inner comfort.

Now, the fear is even greater.

(End of this chapter)