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

Chapter 676
"what!"

Seeing that the leader was cut in two by the shell, the veins on his forehead were bulging, He He screamed and crawled on the ground, and the colorful intestines flowed out from the cut, the rest of the Mongols on this side were all shocked. The little rabbits jumped up, all screaming in fear.

Unexpectedly, two miles away from the army formation, they could be hit by the shells of the Jingbian army. Their firecrackers without matchlocks are already very fierce. With this artillery, will they still let people live?
Quickly, the Mongolian riders who were sitting on the ground, or drinking water or eating dry food, all jumped on the horses, and they were about to escape from here, but the rumble of the cannons, the roar of the shells, and many cannons made a sharp whistling sound , has already hit the head and the face.

People's screams, horses' screams, broken limbs covered with blood mist, and fragments of weapons and armor flying, many unlucky, slow-moving Mongolian knights were beaten to pieces by both men and horses.

The rest of the people were still in shock, and all of them fled from the range of the artillery, and some even ran three, four, or even five or six miles away.

Before he stood still, he saw that the bright cavalry in the formation tended to chase them out. After a few strange whistles, the many cavalry who were originally densely packed immediately dispersed, either into the hills, or into the woods and mountains. Gone in the blink of an eye.

They originally had a series of plans, but fearing the artillery of the Jingbian army, they immediately shelved them.

When the Mongolian cavalry was defeated, the Korean and Korean cavalry ordered the cavalry to pursue them, but the tactics of the grassland cavalry, "If you win, you will attack and kill the enemy, and you will not be allowed to escape. If you lose, you will scatter in all directions, and you will not be able to catch up." All of them have many horses and are familiar with the terrain. After chasing for a while, they didn't gain much.

Soon, this area returned to calm. If it weren't for the traces left by the battlefield, it would seem that those harassing Mongolian cavalry had never appeared.

In this battle, more than 200 Mengqi were killed, and more than 160 good horses were captured. The Xuanwu Army suffered more than 50 casualties. Because of the good armor protection, most of them suffered some minor injuries, only a few were seriously injured, and a few were killed in battle.

The short battle also gave the Xuanwu Army a preliminary understanding of the tactics of the grassland cavalry. However, facing the Jingbian Army's formation, they will be more cautious in the future. It may not be easy to win such a victory.

On the same day, the army arrived at the place where the village was scheduled to be established. Because Mengqi blocked it, it was expected to arrive at Shenshi in the afternoon, but it did not arrive at Youshi.

The place selected by the Intelligence Department has a wide river valley and flat terrain, with only occasional hills and ups and downs.On the side of the river, there are mountains not far to the northeast, and there are large forests, densely covered with poplars, coniferous forests, birches, golden and fiery red leaves, gazelle, roe deer, rabbits and other things can be seen from time to time.

Looking at the other side of the river, there is also a large Pingchuan meadow, with a wide view.

Han Chao and others were very satisfied, and while the army set up camp, they walked around with all the generals in the army and the officers of the supply battalion.

"Captain Captain, this place is blessed with a lot of arable land around it, as well as a large area of ​​grassland and woodland. If we can build a castle, the surrounding area can be controlled for hundreds of miles."

Xie Shangbiao shouted, people say that the cold outside the Great Wall is bitter, but now it seems that there are many fat places.

"The construction of the city can only be left in the future, and now we can only build a wooden village."

An officer of the supply battalion accompanying the army shook his head: "It takes too long to build a fort. Ramming walls, quarrying stones, and burning bricks are not a one-day job. Moreover, there is no glutinous rice paste in the army..."

He shook his head, building a city requires professional craftsmen, not only wood, but most importantly, stone.

There are also blue bricks and so on, which will take a lot of work, and there are no such craftsmen in the army.Besides, without glutinous rice paste filled in the gaps between bricks, stones, and other building materials, the city would not be strong.Without steel bars, the hardness of cement in this era is also very average, far inferior to the rammed walls mixed with egg white and glutinous rice paste, and cement has not yet been produced.

He just shook his head: "In the current situation, the only option is to build a fortress and build a castle. It will take a long time and cost a lot. Now is not the time."

Building a city is a major event. Back then, when Lu Xiang repaired the Great Wall of Xuanda, he needed 30 taels of silver per zhang, and 160 million taels of silver was needed to repair the 170-mile Great Wall.In the Wanli year, Qinghe garrison Wang Weiping built Gushan New Fort. On Tuesday, the height of the city and the crenels were three feet and five feet, all of which were built with bricks and stones. There were 770 three rooms for the guarding officer's residence and the sergeant's barracks. They shared 610 taels of silver and [-] shi of grain. , This is the price at that time, and now it costs more.

Han Chao also felt regretful, but building a wooden village was the only thing he could do at the moment.

It was getting late at this time, and there were professionals in the supply camp. They surveyed overnight and worked out a series of plans. On the second day, the whole army worked together, logging, building houses, and digging wells. .

The most important thing to build a military village is granaries, forage yards, arsenals, stables, barracks and other buildings.Water wells are also very important. Although the village is not far from the river, obviously, due to many considerations, several wells are necessary within the city.

Before building the village, torches were lit on the predetermined site to burn away tall grass, shrubs, etc., to prevent diseases and insect pests, etc. In fact, when burning, a lot of messy things emerged from the grass and shrubs.

Because of the professional planning and the large number of people, the construction of the village was very fast, and many soldiers went out into the jungle to cut down trees. After a steady stream of transportation, they were either made into logs or split into planks, and a large group of people followed the plan. On the ground, wooden fences were erected densely.

The fence is erected in a prismatic shape, protruding every [-] steps. A deep trench is dug along the outside of the fence. Generally speaking, the stockade is rectangular, long in the north and south, and short in east and west. There are two gates in the north and south, and there are passageways , with a drawbridge.

A hundred steps in front of the two village gates, there is also a triangular fence. The sharp corners in front and the two sides are also dug with ditches, and the road passes obliquely by the triangular fence.

The west side of the army village is close to the water, and the east side may be the key attack point of the enemy. However, there are some hills here. A long wooden house.

There are windows perforated on the second floor of the wooden house, and together with the fence, they form three layers of firepower. If the enemy attacks, they will have the fear of facing the defense line of Changling Mountain. There are tall watchtowers.

The Mongols who accompanied the army all participated in the construction of the village. They felt that the curved shape of the village gave people an inexplicable taste, as if it was very powerful, but they couldn't tell what it was.

Lemege also frowned, thinking to himself, even if the stronghold was defended by 500 men, and he led an army of 1, or even [-] to attack, he might have to suffer a bloody blow. Thinking of this, he felt chills in his heart. The frontier army is really getting weirder and weirder, and there are endless messy things.

When building the village, the Han Dynasty paid great attention to the planning of the city. If a castle is built in the future, it must be expanded according to this shape. Taking into account the severe winter in the North, the bottom of each barracks is covered with wooden boards, and there is a certain distance from the ground.

In fact, the entire building of the village is made of wood.The walls are made of rough logs, the roof is made of wood, and the floors and floors are also made of wood. Fortunately, with iron nails, the construction of the building is still easy and fast.

There are many people and strength, and the next morning, the military village named "Yuanyang Village" was completed. There are many advantages here, and there are also advantages of the Jingbian Army's obedience to discipline, hard work and hard work.

Looking at this stockade, the sweaty soldiers of the whole army were filled with pride. In just over a day, a stockade was completed.Although the stockade is not big and a bit rough, it is stronger than it is strong and sturdy. The thick logs, which are as tall as a person, are deeply inserted into the soil and connected closely, forming a dense fence.

This kind of continuous, tall, and strong wooden fence, when the bows and arrows of the Tartars shot, they were only superficially inserted into it.On the fence, there are dense openings, the enemy outside can't see the reality, but the defenders inside can shoot outside calmly, and the defense is effective.

Not to mention, on some hills or high ground, there are still places for artillery to shoot, which can be described as impenetrable.

Once this village is completed, food and grass can be continuously transported from the rear and stored here. This is also one of the five planned villages. If all five villages are established, there will be no worries for the army to go out.

Of course, because of the rush, "Yuanyang Village" also has many imperfections. For example, there is no gravel road paved inside, and there is no canteen or bathhouse for the soldiers stationed there. The army can slowly improve by itself.

When building the stronghold, Han and North Korea also noticed that there were some Tartar sentry cavalry spying in the distance of the army. They were expelled by the Yebushoumen, or maybe they had lingering fears from the battle that day, so they didn't dare to spy too much.

In the afternoon, after the whole army had lunch, Han and North Korea left a second-class sergeant of nearly a thousand people for defense, as well as some food and grass supplies, and five red barbarian cannons. The team assembled and prepared to set off.

It was the [-]th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, not far from the Mid-Autumn Festival. The weather in the hinterland of the Central Plains was suitable, but the grassland was quite cool. A gust of wind blew, and the sound of the sun, moon, and wave flags wrapped in black, and the surrounding weeds and woods were also blowing. Followed by swaying.

Looking at the densely packed team, Han Chao looked around with a serious expression, raised his hand, and shouted: "I am the Xuanwu Army."

"mighty!"

The soldiers shouted loudly, echoing over the grassland.

Han Chao waved his hand again: "Let's go!"

"Boom boom boom!"

The earth trembled.

The feathered cavalry in the army, as well as the Mongolian cavalry from the naturalized battalion, came out in front of them, and there was a torrent hitting the prairie wilderness covered with weeds and wild flowers. Horse-drawn carriages, wheelbarrows, carts and so on.

After the battle that day, according to the analysis of the praise paintings in the army, if we encounter the enemy after that, it will probably be a cavalry battle.

The Tartars in Guihua City will definitely not attack the heavily defended and fiercely fired Xuanwu Army formation, but they are entangled like brown sugar, that is for sure.Naturally, the soldiers of the Xuanwu Army who marched west could not be allowed to harass and pester them and slow down their journey. There must be cavalry battles between the two sides.

Having seen the tactics of the prairie cavalry, Han and North Korea are confident that in the cavalry duel, the two sides will not be at a disadvantage, and their attempts to attack the infantry will be completely exempted.

Moreover, before going out of the fortress, the Jingbian Army and the Datong Army had an agreement that the two sides would meet at the edge of Jining Haizi. In this battle, Wang Pu sent 3000 troops, of which more than [-] were cavalry in the main barracks. Then some of them can be transferred to guard the food road.

Walled city strategy, without cavalry as a field mobile force, it is absolutely impossible. The biggest lesson is the Guanning line of defense. No matter how strong the castle is, without field forces, you can only defend the isolated city and watch the Qing cavalry gallop in the wild. No matter how strong the city is , And also become a lonely place to die.

Especially on the prairie, our own side is guest soldiers, the enemy's terrain is familiar, and there are many horses, coming and going without a trace, infantry alone cannot guarantee the smooth flow of food roads.

The sentinel battalion that accompanied the army did not close at night, and had already sent far away, and even got in touch with the Datong army that was out of the fortress. At this time, a new base was built behind the army, and everyone felt much more at ease.

The mighty army is only pushing forward, with the sun, moon, waves and banners waving in the wind.

(End of this chapter)