Ming Dynasty Road

Chapter 19 Matsuyama Offense and Defense
After a battle at night, the Qing army under the command of Hong Chengchou did not dare to advance aggressively. Several self-assertive Zhengbai Banner deputy commanders were beheaded, and Zhao Yi did not dare to take the risk of attacking the Qing army camp. Both sides remained silent.

The next day, just after dawn, the Qing army called for battle below the city, and the gate of Songshan City was closed tightly. Zhao Yi and a group of lieutenants also gathered on the wall of the outer city to observe the movement of the Qing army. In the past, the flags of the Qing army's camp were fluttering, the war drums were ringing, and the cavalry troops of the Qing army were neatly lined up under Songshan City.

In the neat team, there was a small group of soldiers, as many as a hundred people, one by one urging their horses to run back and forth outside Songshan City, raising waves of dust. While running, this group of cavalry shouted and cursed at the city Ming army.

Zhao Yi looked through the binoculars in his hand, and there was a squad leader of the Qing army wearing a plain white flag battle robe. He was burly and hideous. The person in charge came out to speak, otherwise, when our Great Commander Hong Chengchou leads our Qing army into the city, the city will be massacred for ten days."

"I'm in charge. If you want to talk, call Marshal Hong to come out and talk. You're not qualified." Zhao Yi shouted contemptuously at the cavalry under the city.

"We Marshal Hong, you can see us as soon as you say you will, open the city gate quickly and accept the surrender." The team leader shouted from the bottom of the city.

"Well, as long as you don't attack now, I am willing to discuss surrender with my subordinates." Zhao Yi suddenly thought of molesting the feelings of the Qing army.

After listening to Zhao Yi's words, the cavalry captain's face burst into joy, and he quickly sent his own cavalry back to the camp to report. some.

Zhao Yi observed the situation on the city wall, quickly called the artillerymen on the city wall, pulled four Frankie cannons in the inner city, took aim, and loaded the shells. After making all preparations, Zhao Yi said to the soldiers beside him: "Call out, tell these Tartars to withdraw from the territory of Songshan City."

The soldiers around shouted Zhao Yi's words at the top of their voices, cursing the Qing army angrily. The Han people are really cunning enough to send their words.

"Shout back, if you don't open the city and surrender, my army will attack the city immediately, and then people will die." Hong Chengchou didn't want to see the people of Songshan City suffer from the massacre, so he sent a cavalry team to shout, but he didn't expect to defend the city. The kid in the city is too ignorant.

The soldiers shouting from both sides came and went, one side shouted to quickly open the city and surrender, the other side shouted to be withdrawn from the territory of Songshan City.

"Han people, you will nest in the turtle shell and come out to fight your grandpa Manqing." The Qing army roared and challenged the city.

"You tartar, if you have the guts, come in, I'm waiting for you." The defenders on the city responded not to be outdone.

Gradually, there were more and more obscenities on both sides, and they no longer communicated with each other, but turned into pure swearing. More and more soldiers joined the swearing battle, collectively shouting slogans to greet the women of the other party's family, and competed one by one. The voice is loud, whoever scolds surprisingly, it's like a shrew scolding.

When the two sides were scolding fiercely, the Qing army's central army waved a few flags, and the Qing army's direction suddenly fell silent. Zhao Yi didn't know what the Qing army was up to, so he waved his hand, and the Ming army also stopped. Scold.

In the camp of the Qing army, a military general dressed as the deputy commander of the white flag was sitting on a horse holding a spear. When he urged his horse to rush to the city, he saw a bloody head on his spear.

"That's Yu Gui, the scout captain we released." This Yu Gui was a small captain under Zhang Fengnian's banner. Seeing that his subordinates were insulted like this, Zhang Fengnian said fiercely with a dark face.

Just as Zhang Fengnian finished speaking, he saw the general of the Qing army throwing his head to the ground with a big wave of his hand, urging his horse to trample Yu Gui's head to pieces. He didn't care, and made a provocative gesture towards the city.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Fengnian couldn't control his emotions any longer, and said angrily: "Master Zhao, this Yugui is under my banner, Yugui is a good person on weekdays, and he is absolutely unambiguous when killing Tartars, please My lord opens the city, and the humble official is willing to go out of the city to fight."

"How many soldiers and horses do you need to fight for you?"

Zhang Fengnian said: "It's unnecessary, one person with a humble job is enough."

"Okay, be careful. If something goes wrong, retreat to the city, and I will cover you in the city." Zhao Yi could understand Zhang Fengnian's mood at the moment, and agreed to Zhang Fengnian's request.

Zhang Fengnian picked up the long knife behind him and turned to go down to the city to fight. The city gate opened a small gap. Zhang Fengnian quickly urged his horse to rush out of the city. Under Zhao Yi's instruction, the battle drum was sounded at the top of Songshan City. The sound of war drums is really exciting.

Seeing someone in the city leave the city, there was bursts of ridicule from the Qing army. The deputy commander had a big shoulder and a round waist, and his knives were even more powerful. It is recognized that Batulu was a man of the Qing Dynasty, but the Ming army was only a tall and thin man. The thin man looked in stark contrast to Jifang. The soldiers of the Qing army whispered to each other, and they all believed that this thin and tall general of the Ming army would not survive today.

Zhang Fengnian didn't care about the other party's ridicule, and urged the horse to charge forward. The long knife weighing several tens of kilograms followed the force of the fast horse's forward charge, bringing a gust of cold wind, and the knife fell in his hand. The Qing army general did not expect this thin man The Han people were so tough that they couldn't dodge in a panic. They hurriedly grabbed the spear with both hands to barely hold the sharp knife, and the blade was slanted.

The general of the Qing army couldn't express his suffering, Zhang Fengnian followed the momentum of the galloping horse and slashed down with his sword, with a force of a thousand catties, the general of the Qing army hastily parried, even though he had a lot of strength, his hands were numb from the shock.

The general of the Qing army made a decisive decision, and immediately stabbed the spear at Zhang Fengnian with his backhand. Zhang Fengnian caught a glimpse of the spear's approach, turned slightly to one side, raised the knife, and knocked the spear out again.

Immediately after a flick of the wrist, he clasped his feet tightly in the stirrups and half stood up. The long sword was like a torrential rain and he fought the Qing general for more than ten rounds. They were so shocked that blood flowed out, and gradually lost the power to fight back. Seeing that General Qing had no room to fight back, taking advantage of the moment when General Qing was powerless, he slashed down with a knife, and a cavity of blood spattered. General Qing's head Rolling to the ground, the knife slashed from the left neck and cut across half of the body. The headless body shook twice in the splash of blood and fell off the horse with a plop.

The originally noisy battlefield fell silent, everyone stared blankly at the scene in the formation, Zhang Fengnian calmly urged the horses, and trampled the head of the Qing army general into a pulp.

There was thunderous cheers at the top of Songshan City, and the sound of war drums was louder than louder, suppressing the initial momentum of the Qing army. Zhao Yi even beat the drums to cheer.

Amid the cheers and the stunned expression of the Qing army, Zhang Fengnian returned to the city calmly. Zhang Fengnian pulled back a round, but the threat from the Qing army was far from over. Sure enough, the Qing army arranged their formation and began to attack. The returning cannons charged at the top of the city and began to bombard it, and the city of Songshan also began to fight back with Franco artillery, but it was not enough, and the Qing army's troops were scattered too widely.

I saw a series of ladders and carts coming over, and the infantry soldiers followed closely behind. The huge stone bullets from the return artillery hit the city wall of Songshan City one by one, and the smashed bricks and rubble flew randomly, and a burst of stone bullets After the bombardment, thousands of Qing soldiers swarmed in with shields and ladders.

Using bows and arrows is definitely a technical job. Only soldiers who have undergone several months of training can barely hit targets within dozens of steps. Give them firecrackers, and the folks learn and use them. They went into battle before they were familiar with the firecrackers. Fortunately, they only needed to hide behind the battlements and fire. The rest of the folks were arranged to throw stones and The rolling logs suddenly rained arrows on the Songshan city wall, and the firecrackers fired continuously. The rolling logs and rocks were thrown down like money. On the city wall, hundreds of people were killed and injured, and several ladders were lost.

Hong Chengchou saw that such fierce resistance in Songshan City would cost his life in vain if he continued to fight, so he ordered his soldiers to ring the gong, and the participating Qing army retreated like a tide, leaving behind the bodies of their companions.

The pale-faced Hong Chengchou said to the soldiers next to him: "Send the order, the return gun will move forward, and it will also smash Songshan City." Hong Chengchou raised his voice and gave the order.

Niu Lu of the return artillery got the order and waved the small flag in his hand. The tall return artillery was pushed forward and moved closer to the city wall. Following Hong Chengchou's order, the artilleryman Niu Lu also waved the flag in his hand. The flags and return guns were fired continuously, and the chariots and ladders were once again advancing like Matsuyama Castle surrounded by infantry.

This was a battle with no technique at all. The Qing army used ladders to build up the city wall under the cover of the return artillery, and the archers shot arrows on the city under the cover of the rushing chariot. , Hundreds of arrows flew up, and Min Zhuang, who was throwing stones down, was inexperienced, and all of them were shot down in an instant.

At this time, the Ming army was propelled by a force for survival. No one was scared to retreat, and the person behind fell down to take over the position of the person in front again, like throwing stones or logs under the city. The frightening sound of metal rubbing is intertwined with the thrilling scene of the blade piercing the flesh.

At dusk, the battle finally came to an end. The Qing army launched more than a dozen charges, all of which were beaten down by the Ming army. The Qing army left corpses all over the ground and returned to the camp. The city's utensils were almost used up, Zhang Fengnian said to Zhao Yi with a worried face: "Lord Zhao, this is not the way to continue the fight. If the imperial reinforcements are not available, we will have to wait for death."

Zhao Yi gritted his teeth and said, "I have already reported to the imperial court, but I don't know why the reinforcements have not arrived. I am afraid it is the ghost of that old dog Zeng Zhicheng."

At night, the cold wind blew past the top of Songshan City. Zhao Yi looked at the mourning crowd outside the city. I don’t know how many wounded and surviving soldiers of the Qing army were mourning in the wilderness. The party already suffered heavy losses. Even the law enforcement team in the city also sent to the city wall On duty, most of the soldiers were resting in the caves of soldiers. Looking at these, Zhao Yi didn't know how long he could keep guard.

(End of this chapter)