A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 108 Small Castle
It wasn't because the slaves were incompetent, but because the Ming army was too cunning that there were no less than three thousand elite soldiers hiding in a small city with a thousand households. They are all young and strong. From the perspective of the slaves, they have outstanding combat skills, and I am afraid they are all members of the Ming Dynasty."

"The slaves used only a few hundred soldiers to besiege the fortified city defended by thousands of Ming family members... This, this is a crime other than war!"

Speaking of this, Niu Luzhangjing burst into tears. After the fiasco, the small castle he had dismissed at first has now become a tall and strong city.

Several officers, big and small, who were also crouched beside him with wounds all over their bodies said one after another: "That's right, the Ming army in the city can't fight against thousands of people, especially their firearms are so sharp that they can't be covered by strong shields and heavy armor. Their firearms, The servants and others have never seen it."

They all showed lingering fear on their faces: "It was too fierce. The warriors were wearing two layers of heavy armor, but they were still broken by their firecrackers, and they died tragically one by one."

Everyone in the tent whispered to each other, Najia Lazhangjing asked suspiciously: "Is their firearms really so powerful? There are thousands of people from the Ming Dynasty in the city?"

That Niu Luzhangjing pointed to the sky, swore that what he said was true, and then looked at the Niu Luzhangjing next to him who was in his forties, with a face full of lean flesh and a pair of mouse whiskers.

Niu Luzhangjing coughed and said, "I think what Master Ningerjia said is true. There must be more than a few hundred people in the fort. The defense of Yiming's fortress is lax. If there are only a few hundred soldiers, they will not be able to fight." The soldiers are halfway there, and there will be no such fierce artillery. More importantly, our warriors have already boarded the top of the city. According to common sense, the Ming army will soon break the city and flee, but they dare not Fighting hand-to-hand with our warriors at the top of the city, if it weren't for the elite servants of the Ming Kingdom, they would definitely not be so brave!"

He pondered again: "When we captured the sentry cavalry of the Ming army that day, we felt that he was different. He was not a servant who had fought for many years, so he would not be so calm and calm. Looking at the city of thousands of households, there is a new building in the west. A fort, at some point the Ming Dynasty moved another general to guard it. The servant estimated that there might not be [-] elite soldiers in the castle, but there are still [-] to [-] servants. It's just that the slave is strange, the place is nothing Why send heavy troops to defend such a dangerous place?"

Hearing what he said, all the generals and officers in the tent were all reasonable, and Na Jiala Zhangjing was also attracted by his words. This Niu Luzhangjing has always been said to be a think tank in Jiala, and he even offered a concubine to him. Jia La, so Na Jia La Zhangjing usually values ​​him very much.

At this moment, he pondered, touching his big pie face, dragging the slender money rattail pigtail, just walking around in the tent.

The Niu Luzhang Jing Ning Erjia who was lying on the ground looked gratefully at the Niu Luzhang Jing Niu Gulu who spoke for him.Niu Gulu gave Ning Erjia a wink, and sighed in his heart, who made himself and Ning Erjia in-laws?If one's own son marries his daughter as his wife, if he does not speak for him, for whom?

In this battle, Ning Erjia brought dozens of elite vests from his Niulu. After the battle, many people died, which made him feel like a knife was piercing his heart. It was just for the sake of his in-laws, but he couldn't say anything.

After walking back and forth dozens of times in the tent, Najialazhangjing roared angrily: "Could it be that we have lost our soldiers and generals, and the warriors have died, so we can't let it go? If we leave like this, what will be the face of our Qing Dynasty? From now on, Benjiala will be under the flag How do you keep your head up?"

Everyone in the tent fell silent, this Shun Township Fort is not easy to fight, the south gate wall is like this, and the walls elsewhere are even more difficult to fight.

They had already sent sentry cavalry around the entire Shun Township Fort, except for the south gate, there was also a west gate.However, the ground over there is full of potholes, and there are countless big pits. Attacking the west gate from that side may be more difficult than attacking the south gate. Just filling the pits in front of the city gate, under the fire from the top of the city, it is unknown how many people will be killed or injured. people.

In the end, it was Niu Luzhang Jingniu Gulu who said: "Lord Yan Zha, the sentry has reported back. There are still several small forts near the city of thousands of households. We can pretend to attack those small forts and force the Ming in this fort The army goes out of the city to fight in the field, if they can't escape, we will take down those small forts one by one, and kill all their soldiers and civilians, to avenge our hatred."

"If they go out of the city to fight with us, I, the warriors of the Qing Dynasty, will definitely kill every single one of them."

After hearing Niu Gulu's words, all the Qing soldiers and officers in the tent praised him as Kong Ming alive. Hearing that Niu Gulu was very proud, he just stroked his whiskers and smiled.

Najia Lazhangjing also applauded loudly, saying: "Let's do it this way. Set up camp tonight and rest, and tomorrow we will capture those small forts and kill them all!"

……

In Shun Township Castle, Wang Dou came out of the place where the wounded soldiers were treated. He had ordered Wang Tianxue to do his best to rescue the wounded, and the remains of the soldiers who died in battle should be collected properly. After the war, they were buried together, and their tablets will be collected later Enter the Baozhong Shrine in the fort and enjoy the sacrifice of incense.

The widows and children of these soldiers who died in battle will be able to receive monthly pensions and rice from Shun Township Castle based on the roster. No matter how hard it is for Wang Dou, he will support their families for a lifetime.

In the evening, Wang Dou came to the top of the city again. At this time, the sergeant of the left post guarding the top of the city was switching defenses with the sergeant of the right post.The right sentry sergeant of Han and North Korea switched to guard the south gate and the left city wall, and Wen Fangliang's outpost sergeant defended the right city wall of the south gate of Shunxiang Fort.

In this battle, there were 74 casualties among the sergeants at the left post and the back post. Except for those wounded, the sergeants who died at the two posts were supplemented by some outstanding young and strong soldiers from the auxiliary soldiers of each team. .These new sergeants, they have no chance to train now, so let them grow up quickly with cruel warfare.

Wang Dou patrolled the top of the city. He said to Lin Daofu, Han Chao and Wen Fangliang who were coming up, "How is the defense change? Are there enough defensive equipment?"

Wen Fangliang said with a smile: "Don't worry, my lord. The morale of the soldiers is high. There are brothers from the left post and the rear post who set an example. After the brothers are replaced, they all want to fight the Tartars again?"

Wang Dou said: "Very good, but don't relax, be careful!"

Everyone respectfully agreed.Wang Dou saw that under the busyness of the auxiliary soldiers in the fort, the city head was quickly cleaned up in a short period of time, and the straw factories of each outpost and team were erected again, and the soldiers of the eighth regiment of the right outpost were all in the grass. During the break in the factory, they talked and laughed loudly, just talking about the battle during the day.

Seeing Wang Dou approaching, they stood up one after another. Wang Dou asked them to rest and prepare for the battle. Surrounded by all the generals, they just checked back and forth between the two city walls.

A large number of rolling wood and stones at the top of the city were moved, cleared out, or newly made horses were placed around the city wall. Looking outside the city, besides the trenches, there are also a large number of horses and caltrops. In front of the crenels and walls at the head of the city, many wooden cities were also placed.Each door of the wooden city is five feet wide and five feet high, with many large wooden nails and iron spikes floating on it, which is ideal for preventing night raids.

Not only that, lanterns were hung high on the poles of every grass factory at the top of the city, illuminating the top of the city brightly, and each team was also equipped with wooden clappers, drums and gongs, so that an alarm could be sent out at any time.The sergeants in each grass factory sleep with their clothes on, and at night, each grass factory also sends out sergeants to watch the night.

With such a tight defense, the Qing soldiers wanted to steal the city at night, fearing that if they wanted to steal chickens, they would lose money instead.

The sky became darker, and the Qing army camps several miles outside the city were dotted with lights. Wang Dou pondered, "Can you send some people out of the city at night to steal the camp?"

Han Chao whispered beside him: "My lord, the slaves are no better than those local bandits. Their camps are heavily guarded, and I'm afraid there is no chance to take advantage of them. The general thinks that we should stick to the city and be careful."

Everyone around agreed, Wang Dou also nodded, and he said to everyone: "After dinner, you gather the generals above the squadron officer and meet at the tower. We have a lot to summarize in this battle during the day. .”

……

At night, the lights on the south gate tower of Shunxiang Fort were brightly lit. All the generals and officers above the captain of the four outposts in the fort gathered here. record.

Wang Dou has organized many such talks, and each time it gives people a novel feeling. Here, everyone has no distinction between high and low positions, and everyone can boldly express their opinions, so everyone scrambles to be the first. Struggle to express your views.The Ming army in other places are all strictly hierarchical, how can any subordinate dare to speak casually?
Everyone started talking about the shield chariot against the Qing soldiers. Everyone present hated this shield chariot. A large group of Qing soldiers rushed straight to the city under their cover.But apart from artillery, there seems to be no other good way.It's just that the artillery is also difficult to hit, and it doesn't seem to have much effect.

A team officer at Sun Sanjie's rear post said: "The humble officer has an idea. We can prepare a large number of pottery pots with kerosene in them, use them to hit the shield car, and then throw the torches to burn them. We will definitely burn those slaves into roast pigs." .”

Everyone laughed, but many people didn't take it seriously. In fact, many people had thought of this method a long time ago. Immediately, one person said: "The shield chariots of the slaves are all parked at [-] or [-] steps away from the city wall, so far away. The distance, can the fire can be hit? Besides, there are so many shield vehicles of the slaves, how much kerosene and fire will be needed to burn them all, I am afraid that all the oil pots in our fort will not be able to make it How much fire can be poured. Besides, even if the fire can hit the slave shield chariot, can the torch be hit if it is dozens of steps away?"

The team officer blushed and shouted: "If you don't try it, how do you know it's useless?"

Everyone laughed again, Wang Dou also nodded with a smile, and asked the commander Feng Dachang to write down this suggestion. If the effect is obvious in actual combat, the team officer will be rewarded for it.

Seeing Wang Dou's encouraging expression, everyone was even more excited, and then they talked about the shooting timing of the firecrackers. This lesson was very painful, causing a large number of casualties in the first wave of sergeants.Everyone agreed that before the shield chariots of the Qing soldiers were destroyed, blindly shooting outside had no effect.

If the Qing soldiers were not filling in the trenches or climbing the city, and then shooting from all over the city, the effect would be more obvious, and the casualties of their own soldiers could be greatly reduced.Some people suggested that although the effect of covering bows and arrows is obvious after hanging the hanging door on the crenel, it is inconvenient to shoot from outside. Perhaps some auxiliary soldiers can hold some shields and stand on the crenel, so that it will be much more convenient for the firecrackers to shoot outside.

This suggestion was also written down, and Wang Dou sighed inwardly. Unfortunately, Shunxiang Fort is only a small place, and there is no tiger crouching cannon. It's a dozen pieces.The tiger crouching cannons are only owned in Zhoucheng and Weicheng, but not in Shunxiang Fort.

Next, how to deal with the ladders of the Qing soldiers, everyone also has countless strange ways. Some people suggested to overthrow the ladders with poles and forks, and throw the slaves on the ladders to death. Then some people refuted that the tops of the ladders of slaves were all There is an iron hook, as soon as it is leaned over, it will be hung on the top of the wall laboriously, how can it be overthrown?A few ladders during the day, that's it.

Besides, if you encounter the ladder car of the thief slave, it is equipped with anti-shield, winch, grapple hook, and can also be lifted up and down, and it is even more impossible to use a bumping pole.However, this possibility was immediately refuted by others. The thieves would definitely not use such a huge and bulky ladder, which could be aimed at every shot with a cannon.

However, the ramming pole and the fork are still effective. When the ladder is just approaching, let some people in the city hold the ramming pole and hit it hard, or the ladder can be dumped and crushed to death. This suggestion is also remembered. down.

There was a team officer who used to be a monk. He was a little embarrassed and said: "I used to make a living in the temple. I just hit the bell every day. Maybe some wooden rams can be made at the top of the city, just like the temple. Then, as soon as they leaned out at the top of the city, they were knocked down with a ram."

Everyone laughed, and even said that his idea was innovative, and his suggestion was also recorded. However, his method is only suitable for a small number of ladders to climb the city. If the Qing soldiers under the city erect dozens of ladders at once, I am afraid that the wooden frame will not be able to move.

(End of this chapter)