Take the arsenal to Da Ming

Chapter 220 Artillery Guidance
There were several roads back to Yangzhou City. Taking advantage of the Qing army's lack of pursuit, Huang Hairu deliberately chose a remote road that was not suitable for war horses.

However, the Qing army was also very smart. They knew that night was not conducive to their tracking of the new army's trail, so they took the main road directly.

Because the new army wanted to return to the city, they had to go back to the main road to enter the city.

Moreover, if you take the road, the speed can be faster.

If the new army takes a detour along a remote path, it may be blocked.

While the Qing army was galloping on the main road, they sent a large number of scouts to track down the trail of the new army.

The same is true for the new army. The two sides are approaching the direction of Yangzhou City while chasing each other.

Huang Hairu prevented the Qing army from chasing him one step earlier, so the scouts of the new army also located the traces of the Qing army earlier and confirmed the direction they were chasing.

After Huang Hairu got the news, he thought about it and came up with a plan.

The scouts were divided into five groups. Except for the one that rushed back to the city as fast as possible, the other groups were at intervals to closely monitor the movement of the Qing army.

At three o'clock in the morning, the Qing army arrived near an intersection first, and then stopped.

Because, as long as the new army has not returned to the city, it must appear from nearby.

The reason why they didn't block them directly near the gate of Yangzhou City was because they also knew that there were many artillery pieces in the Xinjun City, and if they were too close together, they would only steal chickens and lose money.

As a result, the Qing army continued to send scouts to track the trail of the new army while ambushing around to rest.

Finally, after halfway through Xu time, they found the new army brigade about seven or eight miles northwest, heading towards Yangzhou City by taking a remote path.

The scouts of the Qing army reported the news immediately, and the deputy commander asked, "My lord, do you want to chase after him?"

The leader frowned and said, "No, the terrain there is too complicated. To enter it, we have to abandon our horses. It is really unwise to give up our own advantages."

"Since the new army will inevitably return here, let's invite you into the urn."

The Qing army appeared one step ahead of time on the road that he must pass, which was not unexpected to Huang Hairu. What he was most worried about was that the Qing army would immediately drive forward.

But judging from the news that came back continuously, the Qing army didn't seem to have this intention, which made Huang Hairu breathe a sigh of relief.

Because he knew that although his side still had a considerable advantage in terms of military strength, the main force was Xu Yong's troops, whose combat quality was far from that of the Qing army.

As for the new army, which had less than a thousand people left, its ammunition was almost exhausted, and its soldiers were exhausted.

Under such circumstances, even if the Qing army fought on foot, its own side would probably be invincible.

Around [-]:[-] pm, several new army scouts easily bypassed the Qing army's surveillance and headed towards Yangzhou City.

The target of the Qing army's attention was Huang Hairu's large army, so it was naturally difficult to prevent the sneaking new army scouts at night.

Several scouts from the new army marched all the way to the city of Yangzhou. After receiving the signal, the soldiers on the city lowered the suspension bridge and opened the city gate.

After the few people entered the city, they were almost exhausted, but they didn't dare to delay at all. They immediately found the new army staying in the city and reported the situation to Lieutenant General Li who was staying behind.

Lieutenant General Li was shocked, and quickly started to act according to the instructions.

Time passed bit by bit, and the Qing army was waiting for Huang Hairu's team to take the initiative to approach, and then launched a surprise attack.

"Report, the enemy army is less than four miles away from me." The news brought by the scouts made the leader of the Qing army very excited.

"Continue to monitor." He hastily ordered.

"Yes." The scout took the lead, and just after walking not far away, he suddenly raised his head and watched in amazement a beautiful firework rose from the sky not far away.

"It's so late, who is still setting off fireworks? Why are the fireworks so bright?" The scout was a little confused.

Many people who saw the rising fireworks did not know what was going on.

At this moment, someone pointed to a farther place and said in surprise: "Over there, there is also a ball of fireworks rising."

"Something's wrong." The leader seemed to feel something, and felt nervous for no reason.

"Go, go and see who is setting off the fireworks, catch me..." As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a long cry of "咻...".

"not good……"

A loud bang of "Boom..." came from more than a mile behind.

Although the shells did not fall directly into the Qing camp, they also caused panic.

"The artillery of the new army opened fire, and the new army in the city knows our position..."

"The artillery of the new army in the city can hit here, what should I do?"

In the noisy room, a few more balls of fireworks went up in the sky not far away, and some clever Qing soldiers seemed to understand something.

"It's sending a message, sending a message..."

"It's the scouts of the new army. They should be sending the firing position information to the artillery in the city..."

"Quick, send someone to catch them. Quick, get out of here..."

"My lord, should we retreat or..." the deputy chief asked anxiously.

Shen Ling's eyes were gloomy and cold, and he shouted: "How can I explain to His Royal Highness the prince who fled without fighting?"

"Hurry up, get out of here first, and go after Huang Hairu. As long as we get close to the new army, we will see how they bomb, and we will die together."

Just as soon as the words fell, there was another long whistle.

There was a loud "boom", and the shells seemed to explode in the ears of many people. More than a dozen horses were overturned directly, and more horses and cavalry fled around in panic.

"Quickly withdraw..."

"Rumble..." The Qing army no longer dared to stay in this area, and immediately rode away.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..."

"Boom boom boom..."

The shells of the new army rained down, there were 105mm howitzers, and there were 150mm howitzers.

Especially the 150mm howitzer, once fired, the earth would be shaken and the mountains would be shaken, especially terrifying, even a huge war horse would be torn to pieces.

For a time, it seemed that the end was coming.

"Swish, swish..." In the distant sky, several balls of fireworks rose in succession.

"Kill them quickly..." The leader ordered angrily, and a group of more than ten Qing troops had already changed direction and rushed towards the direction where the fireworks were rising.

The artillery fire stopped suddenly, but everyone's hearts were still beating wildly, completely uncontrollable.

No matter how courageous a person is, as long as he is a normal person, it is difficult to control his nervousness under such unprecedented artillery fire.

This short pause did not let the Qing army join the leadership to breathe a sigh of relief, but instead had a worse premonition.

Sure enough, with a long whistle, his heart trembled.

There was a loud "boom", and a shell exploded in front.

Although the shells did not directly fall into the front line, countless flying shrapnel flew dozens of hundreds of feet away, and the three front cavalrymen turned over and fell off their horses with a scream.

(End of this chapter)