The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 463 War Sudden Project
"You don't feel pain in your back when you stand and talk," Huang Ding waited for Yang Chengzu to approach him, gave him an annoyed look, and spread his hands. Pinghu, I rushed more than 400 miles to attack the city.

"In the end, few of the city bricks were knocked down, and I was asked to go to Jiading to block the retreat of the southern army. I didn't say anything, and the camp was not cleared, so I led the army northward that day.

"I just arrived at Songjiang, and I was urgently transferred back to Nanjing. For nearly a month, my army has been marching in a hurry almost every day. After walking nearly a thousand miles, my legs are running thin.

"You just came from Huzhou in such a leisurely manner, so you are naturally faster than me."

"Look at what you said, didn't I also be transferred from Fuyang to Changzhou, and I was ordered to turn to Jiangning when I arrived in Huzhou? There are more than 500 miles along the way." Yang Chengzu smiled bitterly, "But the worst thing to say is Zhang Tianlu's department. He set off from Hangzhou, traveled more than 40 miles a day, and finally arrived in Wuxi. He was looking forward to gaining some military exploits, but he didn't even see a trace of the southerners. Wouldn't he have to rush to Jiangning without stopping? It can be calculated that he has traveled more than 200 miles."

In order to show the difference from Ming Dynasty, the Qing government changed the name of Nanjing to Jiangning last year, but even the officers of the southern army often forgot and still called it Nanjing.

"This Southern army is really evil." Huang Ding frowned and shook his head. "There are nearly forty cannons in Pinghu City, and there must be more than ten thousand soldiers and horses. In this inattentive effort, another 4 to [-] people appeared in the Southern... ...Near Jiangning. Didn’t it mean that Nanming’s main force is only [-], where did these people get?”

He leaned closer to Yang Chengzu, lowered his voice and said, "I said, Mr. Dutang is not the one who fell into Zhu Linming's trick, right?"

"It's absolutely impossible," the latter said with a sideways glance at him, "Haven't you heard? The Ming army built more than a dozen watchtowers on the Shogun Mountain just over six feet high! Yanziji, Yuhuatai and other places are the same. Urgently built forts, watchtowers and the like.

"In addition, outside the several city gates on the northeast side of Jiangning, earthen walls higher than the city walls were built, surrounded by archery towers. Behind them are camps that stretch for several miles.

"At present, the Ming army is bombarding the city with heavy artillery every day. There are hundreds of cannons erected on the earth barriers outside the city gate. They should be waiting for the opportunity to bombard Jiangning. The southerners have made up their minds to attack Jiangning city. Fight to the death!"

Huang Ding was shocked when he heard the words, "Could it be true that the tens of thousands of Ming troops attacked Jiangning? They also overhauled the earth fortifications and watchtowers, and transported hundreds of cannons?!" He immediately remembered something, and said anxiously, "The former Lu Shiyang brought The Jiangning garrison went to Jiangyin to stop the enemy, and there are less than [-] garrison left in the city, no wonder Lord Dutang hastily dispatched troops to the north for reinforcements, the situation in Jiangning is already in dire straits..."

"That's not necessarily the case." Yang Chengzu shook his head and said, "Although the southerners came to sneak attack when Jiangning was empty, the city wall of Jiangning is as solid as gold, and although there are not many defenders in the city, it is absolutely difficult to break through overnight.

"I think Lord Dutang's intention is to use the strategy if he wants to. When the Ming army is eager to attack the city, let the army suddenly return to Jiangning, and attack it back and forth, and the southern army will be defeated!"

Huang Ding thought about it and nodded, "So, we have to march faster. Otherwise, Zhang Tianlu's gang of vicious dogs will return to Jiangning first, and we may not even be able to eat the scum."

"exactly."

……

The sky was getting dark, but there was still a busy scene on the Mufu Mountain outside Nanjing.

Under the command of the engineer battalion of the Longwei Army, more than a thousand captives of the Qing army moved long strips of sintered dry mud onto a "watchtower", and engineers carefully poured the "mud bricks" on the top.

"It's ok, there's no need for this side, just get some reed poles to block it." Zhu Linmi went to the "construction site" to guide the work in person.

If Hong Chengchou came here to take a look at this time, he would be so angry that the majestic "watchtower" with a height of six feet is actually only made of soil blocks on the side facing Nanjing City, but the back is completely hollow!

However, in order to deceive Jianlu's probing horses, a hard board made of reed poles was still hung on the second half of the "Diaolou" to cover it, and mud was painted on it, which looked the same as the real Diaolou from a distance.

The reed boards are woven from the aquatic plants that are abundant in the vicinity, and no one in the nearby villagers knows how to do it. You can buy more than ten boards that are one person tall for a penny.

In addition to this "building material" on the watchtower, the bottom is even only covered with a curtain.Even the mud-brick part of the front is to save materials to the greatest extent, and it can only barely prevent it from collapsing.

However, it definitely has everything that should be there in appearance, the gun windows and arrow ports are neat, and there is even a black gun barrel sticking out of it.Of course, the so-called gun barrel is just a bamboo tube painted with black paint.But it takes a lot of time for a carpenter to make a decent "gun mount".

Such a watchtower can be built in less than a day with [-] to [-] people.At this time, there were already nine such watchtowers standing on the Shogunate Hill.

The same is true for the six-foot-high earth barrier outside the city, and the fort on Yanziji—a flower from a distance, and bean curd dregs from a close look.

Just in order not to let the city builders see the flaws in the construction process, the engineering battalion can only pretend during the day, and start the official construction at dusk.

But in Hong Chengchou's eyes, it became a siege tool for the southerners to rush to build the city day and night, and he became more and more sure that the Ming army would storm Jiangning soon.

These things were all inflated tanks, paper fighter jets and other false targets that Zhu Linmei suddenly recalled that day, which later generations used to lure enemy bombers and missiles. This was the inspiration for people to make these "false targets" around Nanjing. Warfare Project".

In fact, this is still an important discipline of the army in later generations - camouflage.The Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition to Nanjing was the first application of camouflage in the seventeenth century.

"That's it, that's it. Some more mud after dark..."

Zhu Linmei was instructing Chen Yi to deal with the last "watchtower" on the shogunate mountain, when Ma De, the commander of the infantry battalion, came quickly, saluted and said: "My lord, there is a woman who said she has something important, and she must see you before she can discuss it in detail. "

"Nonsense." Shi Lin frowned and said, "This kind of thing is at most sent to the Chief of Staff, how can it be disturbed casually..."

"General Shi doesn't know, this woman is not an ordinary person." Ma De hurriedly said, "Her name is Bian Sai."

Bian Sai?Both Shi Lin and Chen Yi were taken aback.Seeing the expressions of the two, Zhu Linmei couldn't help asking curiously: "Who is she? Does she have a background?"

"Your Excellency, don't you know?" Shi Lin said with a little embarrassment, "Bian Sai, Bian Yunzhuang." Seeing that Zhu Linmi was still shaking his head, he could only lean closer and whisper, "She is one of the famous eight beauties of Jinling, Qin Huai. courtesan."

(End of this chapter)