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

Chapter 261 Filling the Trench
The deafening sound of gunfire continued, and it seemed that the entire Xuanda camp's earthen walls were shrouded in thick smoke.

Although the cold wind was biting and fierce, it couldn't dissipate the pungent smoke and bloody smell.Right on the bank of the Haoshui River, soldiers from both sides of the Ming and Qing Dynasties were sacrificing their lives.The strategy of using Ming people to fill trenches failed, and the soldiers of the Eight Banners had to use shield carts and crude wooden shields, as well as their own flesh and blood, to contend with the Daming fire gunmen behind the earthen wall.

In advance, the Qing soldiers had made a plan to avoid the artillery passages of the Ming army and focus on attacking the low walls and ditches on all sides. First of all, they had to fill in several ditches in front of the earthen walls.

After the morning's attack, they had already gained experience. In front of the five passages where the artillery was placed on each side of the camp, all their wooden shields for chariots were kept far away, at least two hundred paces away.Although the Ming army's Hongyi six-pound guns and Dafo wolf machine guns fired live ammunition from time to time, smashing these shield vehicles, but compared with the terrible shotgun, the number of casualties of the Qing soldiers was greatly reduced.

And to be honest, many of Xuan Dajun's cannons were also loaded with shotguns to prevent the Qing soldiers from rushing in from the passage.Only the five Hongyi six-pound guns in the Shunxiang army's position fired a few shots from time to time.

Amidst the sound of drums, densely packed Qing soldiers dressed in various armors gathered in front of the low wall trenches. They were protected by chariots covered in layers of leather, and the auxiliary soldiers of each banner kept flashing out from behind the chariots. , Throwing the mud bag in the hand continuously into the ditch of the first low wall.

The gunmen of the Shun Township Army behind the earth wall kept aiming at these people and firing their guns, knocking down the people who flashed out from behind the chariot one by one.The archers of the Qing army behind the chariot were desperately covering and shooting.But the first low wall is seventy steps away from the earthen wall.At this distance, the Qing army's arrows were not very powerful, and they couldn't pierce the iron armor on their chests, and it didn't matter if they were hit by a few arrows.Even if the arrows were shot at everyone's arms, they still couldn't break through the chain mail inside.

The arrows that were shot at the arms of the firecrackers were few, and most of them were shot at the chests and faces of each person. At first, some firecrackers, seeing the arrows of the Qing army shooting at their own faces, subconsciously dodged.But after the arrows were shot in everyone's faces, the arrows fell powerlessly, and couldn't break their iron masks at all.

Sometimes there was a thunder-like sound, and some Qing army archers sounded the big rockets they had taken from various places in Ming Dynasty.With the experience of the morning, all the troops knew that the Tartars had rockets in their hands, and when they heard the sound, they quickly shrunk down the wall to avoid the dozens of flying rockets.

After all, the Qing soldiers looked down on Daming's rockets, so they didn't use many rockets in their army, and the firing frequency was not high.

The firecrackers slowly relaxed, except for the rockets, they ignored the incoming arrows, they just aimed specifically at a Tazi soldier, and pulled the trigger.They fired guns row after row, and the archers and auxiliary soldiers who only wore cotton armor were knocked to the ground.

These people were carried down by the auxiliary soldiers who crept up behind them, their blood was sprinkled on the ground, and their cries and howls were extremely painful.

The dense chariots in front of the low wall were also slapped, and leather and sawdust were flying.These chariots in the front row are all sophisticated shield vehicles, with wheels to drive them, a baffle in front, wrapped in thick cowhide and iron, and even splashed with water to increase their protection.However, those baffles covered with thick iron sheets and leather still left big holes one after another under the blow of the Shunxiang army's firearms.

……

The trench behind the first low wall was still easy to fill. After paying a certain amount of casualties, the Eight Banners Manchurian Zhenghong Banner Yuetuo Department who attacked the Wangdou line of defense still filled the trench full of blood and internal organs with earth bags.

Immediately behind the well-made shield carts, those rough large shields tied together with rough wood or nailed together with several thick door panels, were pushed by the auxiliary soldiers with the white flag with the support poles, and passed the first stage. A low wall, densely packed before the second low wall trench.

Looking from the side of the earthen wall, in front of the entire defense line, there were dozens of wooden shields pushed by the Qing soldiers one after another, and an unknown number of people followed behind the wooden shields.

After the Qing soldiers pushed dozens of rough wooden shields over, the front of the low walls and trenches with different passages immediately formed a fox shape every few pieces to prevent fire from both sides.Then, under the protection of these wooden shields, the densely packed auxiliary soldiers and servants carried soil loads, filled the original trench with soil and stepped on it.In order to prevent the Ming army from digging the trench again, they also picked up water and poured it into the trench to freeze it as hard as iron.

Not only that, in order to prevent the Ming army from digging trenches on the flat ground between the two low walls, Zhenghong flags a Jialazhangjing, and directs the auxiliary soldiers who carry water to pour water on the ground, which is really painstaking.Fortunately, the Haoshui River was nearby, so they had so much water to pour, and they didn't know how many people would need to arrange to carry it.

Jia Lazhangjing also tried to direct people to dig down the first low wall.Unexpectedly, after the earth wall was built, it was poured with water all around, and it was frozen so hard that it was like a thick concrete wall. It was really difficult to dig it open.

Someone suggested pouring hot water to make it soft, which was rejected by Jia Lazhangjing.No matter how many people are needed to heat the hot water, in the cold winter weather, after the hot water is poured, it will only cool down and freeze quickly, making the low wall more solid and hard.

Jialazhangjing is still satisfied with such a result now, as long as he proceeds step by step, step by step, he will eventually advance to the edge of the earthen wall dozens of steps away.

……

The Qing soldiers quickly filled the first trench, which surprised Wen Fangliang who was defending. He was wearing a refined iron armor, a red cloak, and a tall stature. A taste of cynicism.Many concubines in his family were attracted by him in this way.

But at this moment, his face was full of worry, and he was only surrounded by guards, watching the movement of the Qing soldiers from outside the earthen wall.

The firecrackers beside him, under the command of the generals of each headquarters and team, shot at the Qing soldiers outside the earthen wall.

Now most of them are shooting freely, and from time to time, Qing soldiers and archers who flashed out from both sides of the wooden shield to fill the trench were hit by them.At this distance, even the Qing soldiers in heavy armor could not resist the shots of the gunmen of the Shunxiang Army.Not to mention the auxiliary soldiers and archers, most of them were wearing cotton armor without iron leaves inlaid, as long as they were shot, a thick blood mist would be spurted out of their bodies, and they would roll on the ground in pain.

The guns of the Shun Township Army were so powerful that they knocked the wooden shields flying, and sometimes broke through the thin gaps between the thick wood of the wooden shields and knocked the Qing soldiers behind the wooden shields to the ground, causing them many inconveniences. sense of security.

However, despite the deafening sound of gunfire from the Shunxiang Army and the constant casualties of the Qing soldiers, their advance was still firm.At this distance of [-] steps, the threat of the Qing army's archers increased slightly. When they got closer to [-] steps, or even [-] steps, or [-] steps, the threat from their archers became even greater.

"The Tartars have become cunning and patient, and they came up with this stupid method. Although the advance is slow, it is very effective. How can we stop their advance?"

Wen Fangliang thought silently.

At some point, Wang Dou also came to his side, also thinking about this question.

……

The frontal defense line of the Shunxiang Army is like this, and the two wings of Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei's defense in the Xuanda Camp are even more serious.

There are thousands of firearms and cold weaponry in each of the two battalions, of which the three-eyed blunderbuss accounted for more than half.Those three-eyed guns had an effective range of no more than thirty steps. Now the Qing soldiers did not rush forward like they did in the morning, but filled the trenches under the heavy protection of the wooden shields of the chariots.

There are seven ditches on the low wall, and each of the three-eyed guns can shoot at least after the Qing soldiers fill in three or four ditches.It is still aimed at auxiliary soldiers and follow-up soldiers of the Qing army.Even at [-] paces, the three-eyed blunderbuss was not very threatening to the Qing army's archers in cotton armor.

But after thirty steps, the Qing army's archers were even more threatening to them.

The Qing soldiers who attacked in the afternoon were also much smarter than in the morning, and did not attack those flat passages protected by artillery at all.It also does not attack the small gaps defended by the Buddha wolf machine guns and tiger squat guns in the formation with only trenches and no low walls.

In the blink of an eye, the Qing soldiers filled two trenches with layers of wooden shields, and marched towards the third trench with low walls.The three-eyed musketeers in the two-person battalion were staring wide-eyed, all anxious like ants on a hot pot, but they didn't know what to do.

Yang Guozhu and Hu Dawei were also worried, and they just ordered the gunners in the army to shoot.

However, the blunderbuss used in the two-person camp, the cold wind blows in bursts, and the primers in the fire doors of many blunderbuss players are always blown away by the wind. They couldn't let it go, they were so anxious that they broke out in a cold sweat, so they had to quickly take out the primer from the gunpowder pot on their bodies and refill it.

If this happens, it is better to fight in the trenches. If it is in the wild, it will be over.The anxious shouting and urging of the officers beside them kept ringing out, making them even more flustered.

Hu Dawei, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Township, guarded the right wing of the Xuanda camp. A blunderbussman took out lead from the lead bag and stuffed it into the barrel of the blunderbuss countless times. It hits a few times.

The priming powder of his bird gun was blown away by the wind many times, but this time it finally ignited.The matchlock ignited the priming powder in the fire door, a flame burst out, and then there was a loud noise, and the bird's musketeer covered his head and face with blood on his face and screamed mournfully. The gunpowder he loaded into the gun barrel was too much There were many, and I don't know how many lead were stuffed inside, and the bird gun exploded on the spot.

The eyeballs of the poor blunderbuss were all blown out. Looking at his miserable appearance, some blunderbussers around looked ashen-colored. They looked and looked at the blunderbusses in their opponents, and even hesitated to shoot.Those three-eyed gunners were even more fortunate that they didn't use bird guns.

Hu Dawei, who had been silently watching the enemy's situation outside the earthen wall, was disturbed. He asked several servants beside him, and a doctor in the camp, to carry the gunner down for treatment.When the bird musketeer was carried down, he kept crying to Hu Dawei: "Junmen, I'm sorry for you."

His relative, Hu Zichen, was a nephew of his own family. He was a guerrilla, with a stocky body and a pair of iron armor.He rushed up anxiously, and shouted to Hu Dawei: "Junmen, the Tartars are filling the third trench, it won't work like this."

He gritted his teeth, and said bitterly: "Why don't you let the last general lead some troops and go out to fight for a while."

Hu Dawei yelled: "No, Yihao guards tightly, brothers' lives, don't lose their lives indiscriminately."

He pondered for a while, and said to Hu Zichen: "Go and ask the governor for help, and ask him to send some firecrackers, the superintendent battalion has hundreds of Lumi blunderbuss and self-generating blunderbuss, they should be able to fight in the cold wind. "

(End of this chapter)