That night, it seemed that the Qing army was also making preparations for the war. Throughout the night, the Qing army was mobilizing troops and horses from the east, north and west of Jinan Fucheng, and gradually gathered to the south of Jinan Fucheng.
Lu Xiangsheng and Yan Jizu stood on the top of the city and looked south. They saw two oceans of starlight in front of them. The one in the sky was naturally the ocean of stars, while the one on the ground was the Qing army all over the mountains and plains. Thousands of Tatar soldiers were raised. They lit torches and camped overnight more than ten miles south of the city. They didn't care about the movements of the Ming army and were very arrogant.
At the same time, Liu Yan's troops were not idle. The soldiers of each battalion also set up camp in the south of Jinan Fucheng. The camp of the new Lingshan Guard Army was in front of the moat in the south of the city.
Between the moat and the south city wall, thousands of civilians recruited overnight by Governor Yan Jizu were busy. There were torches all over the city, and there were dozens of bonfires under the city, lighting up the construction site for building the defense line.
"There are still not enough civilians. Yan Futai will work harder and recruit more civilians. The defense line in the south of the city will have to work in three shifts, and we will repair the defense line non-stop. What we need most now is time!"
Yan Jizu clasped his fists and said, "Don't worry, Governor, I'll go right away."
Before leaving, Yan Jizu took a look at the Lingshan Guard New Army Camp outside the city and said, "I hope Commander Liu can turn the tide!"
A smile appeared on Lu Xiangsheng's face and he said: "Commander Liu has sent people here to transport more than 2,300 heads captured in two great victories on the road to the city. This shows that the new Lingshan Guard Army is fighting With its strong strength, our army still has a high chance of winning this battle."
Yan Jizu also smiled, but this smile was very forced.
In the camp of the New Army of Lingshan Guards, the officers and soldiers of each battalion were on alert. The officers and soldiers on night patrol everywhere were in high spirits, and the camp was defended like an iron barrel.
"At dusk today, Yan Futai sent someone to tell us that it will take at least two days to complete the southern defense line. During this period, the Qing army will definitely send troops to harass us. The slave chief Dorgon will never let our army make full preparations. Attack. Therefore, starting from tomorrow, the soldiers of each battalion must be on heightened alert and be ready to face the army of slave thieves at any time!"
"Got the order!"
After Chen Xun, Wang Yue and other General Qian returned, Liu Yan looked at the map alone and said to himself: "Although there is no defense line to rely on now, at least we can back up the fortified city. The rear of the army does not have to worry about the Qing army's surprise attack. As long as we defend Just two good wings!"
Early the next morning, Liu Yan dressed neatly and came to the camp early. He climbed up to the observation deck and looked south. He saw that to the south of the Lingshan Guard New Army Camp, a huge military camp had been formed. Countless Qing troops and cavalrymen of various banners People were coming in and out, it was a busy scene.
The new military camp of the Qing army was very large, and Liu Yan estimated that it could accommodate at least tens of thousands of troops. Moreover, this military camp is also very close to Liu Yan's main camp, only a few miles apart.
Suddenly, the horns of the Qing army's camp rang one after another, and then the cavalry of the brigade rushed out from the camp gate, and the Qing army infantry and a large number of shield carts were also pushed out.
The wave of countless Qing troops advanced northward, and then gradually reorganized their formation three or four miles south of the Lingshanwei camp.
"coming!"
Liu Yan frowned slightly, Dorgon finally couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to start a war!
"Instruct all battalions: form a defensive formation to the south of the camp and prepare to face the army of slave thieves!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Soon, the sound of war drums sounded in the Lingshan Guard camp. The powerful drums soared into the sky, which not only drowned out the noise of the gathering Qing troops, but also inspired the Ming soldiers in the city.
At this time, Lu Xiangsheng and Yan Jizu, who received the news, also came to the top of the city to observe the formation under the protection of their general Lu Huaiying and other personal guards.
In the wilderness outside the city, tens of thousands of soldiers of the Lingshan Guards formed an array. The front camp, left camp, and right camp were the main frontal forces, the rear camp was on the left, the middle camp was on the right, the guard camp was the middle army, and the cavalry battalion was temporarily stationed at In the camp, they are ready to attack at any time.
At this time, the artillery commander of the new Lingshan Guard Army had entered Jinan Fucheng. Except for the Hu Zun artillery post, which was accompanying the army to fight outside the city and was deployed in front of the front camp, all the other artillery pieces of the artillery commander were deployed on the south city wall, providing condescending cover. Main battle.
Lu Xiangsheng looked at the Qing army again. Although he couldn't see clearly from several miles away, he could roughly understand the general deployment of the Qing army based on the colors of their armor and flags.
The Qing army formed a large formation, with the Manchurian Zhengbai Banner and the Mongolian Xiangbai Banner as the center, the Manchurian Xianghong Banner and the Mongolian Xianghong Banner as the left wing, and the Manchuria Zhenghong Banner and the Mongolian Zhenghong Banner as the right wing.
In front of the Qing army's formation, there was a black flag, which was the Han army and horses led by Shang Kexi. They were actually used as a forward in this battle.
Between the formations of the Han army and the Qing army led by Shang Kexi were more than 3,000 cavalry from the Zhengbai Banner of Mongolia.
"This battle is not easy to fight!"
Lu Xiangsheng was so emotional, not because the Qing army was so powerful, but because he saw that Shang Kexi's army had vaguely launched dozens of artillery pieces!
"Master Governor! Did you see it?"
Lu Xiangsheng nodded, and then said to his general Lu Huaiying: "All the Qing troops have gathered here. Immediately gather all the artillery on the city head to the south wall and hand them over to the command of the new army artillery chief of Lingshan Guard!"
"yes!"
Yan Jizu said: "The slave chief Dorgon has a good plan. He concentrated all his troops to defeat Liu Yan's troops. The morale of the defenders in the city will also collapse. By then, Jinan City will fall without a fight!"
Lu Xiangsheng nodded, his eyes fixed on the new Lingshan Guard formation, not knowing what he was thinking.
At this time, Qian Qian was commanding his men to adjust the shooting angle. All rocket launchers and Franco cannons had been loaded, and the muzzles were adjusted to aim at the south at maximum range.
"Mr. Qian!"
Lu Huaiying came with groups of Ming army soldiers and was moving over Fran cannons and some small-caliber Hongyi cannons.
"The last general has met General Lu."
"Haha, Mr. Qian Bai, these are the artillery on the east, north and west sides of the city. The governor ordered me to transport all the Folan cannons and Hongyi cannons and put them under the command of Mr. Qian Bai."
Qian Cong was overjoyed when he heard this. After thanking him, Lu Huaiying left and hurried back to protect Lu Xiangsheng. Qian Qian hurriedly checked the delivered artillery. There were about forty guns. However, after inspection, Qian Qian's heart was much less happy.
The quality of these more than 40 artillery pieces varies, and there is no danger of explosion at all. There are only about 20 of them, and they are all Franco machine guns, and they are not of too large a caliber.
"It's better than nothing."
To be on the safe side, Qian Qian only accepted these twenty high-quality artillery pieces, and they were all grouped together with the eighteen Franco cannons.
Just after the formation was completed, there was a loud noise outside the city, and then the horns of the new Lingshan Guard Army came. Qian Qian looked over hurriedly, with a look of excitement on his face: "Get ready for bombardment! Two sentry Buddhas!" Set all the cannons at their maximum elevation angle, aim at the slave and bandit formation, follow my orders!"
"Raise the muzzle!"
"The base gun gunner has adjusted!"
"Everyone calibrate to the reference cannon!"
"Ready!"
"Stand by!"
At the same time, Liu Yan stood on the observation deck and kept giving orders.
"Each battalion holds its position and is not allowed to advance rashly!"
"The artillery commander is ready to fire. After most of the Qing army enters the shooting range, he will follow the drill and bombard the Qing army in turn with French machine guns and rocket launchers to kill and injure the Qing army!"
"Prepare the tiger cannon in front of the formation and listen to my orders!"
After the deployment was completed, the commander's flag beside Liu Yan began to wave violently, and the flags of the other battalions also began to wave in response to the flag. After everything was ready, Liu Yan felt calm and waited for Dorgon to make his move.
Dorgon did not let Liu Yan wait too long. Soon the star Shang Kexi went into battle. More than 3,000 cavalry from the Zhengbai Banner of Mongolia also began to take action. Under the leadership of the flag owner Yibai, they followed Shang Kexi's troops. They are not only supervising the battle team, but also the follow-up soldiers who can always take advantage of them.
At the same time, the Qing army's Manchu and Mongolian red-flag army on the left and the Manchu-Mongolian red-banner army on the right also began to take action. The two-banner army on the left was led by Anping Beile Dudu, and the two-banner army on the right was led by Wang Yuetuo of Keqin County.
As soon as Dorgon came up, he suppressed most of the troops. The five Manchu and Mongolian banners, plus Shang Kexi's troops, totaled more than 50,000 troops.
Liu Yan looked at the various units of the Qing army that had begun to attack, and couldn't help frowning. In front of Shang Kexi's unit, there were at least 20,000 people, all of whom were ordinary people captured by the Qing army from various places. Dorgon once again used his old tricks. Zhong Shi used this inhumane method to shake the morale of the Ming army.
Moreover, the various ministries of the Gen army that were constantly withdrawing did not collect the information collected at night. Behind the crowd of more than 20,000 civilians, there were still two to three thousand captured Ming army soldiers. Liu Yan estimated that those captured soldiers should be the subordinates of Shandong Commander-in-Chief Liu Zeqing.
At this time, Miao Shao ran over and asked nervously: "Sir, what should we do with those people?"
Liu Yan said expressionlessly: "Remember: on the battlefield, anyone who rushes towards you with a weapon, whether it is a child, a woman or an old man, is an enemy!"
"Sir! Those classes are all ordinary people, and all they have in their hands are wooden sticks and farm tools!"
"Excuting an order!"
"grown ups!"
Liu Yan glared at Miao Shao and scolded loudly: "Mr. Miao Qian, your fighting position is in the guard camp. If you don't obey orders, I will enforce military law!"
Miao Shao was immediately frightened and hurriedly confessed, turned around and ran back to wait.
Liu Yan looked at the wave of people in the distance. At this time, more than 20,000 people had arrived within two miles. Liu Yan thought for a moment and said to the messenger: "Order the front camp, left camp, and right camp to prepare for battle. When the enemy arrives, When the army reaches eighty steps, all gunners will immediately open fire, and those who disobey the order will be killed!"
"Got the order!"
"Command to the artillery commander, when the captive soldiers behind and the Zhengbai Banner Mongolian Tatars come within two miles, all the Folan cannons with sufficient range will fire immediately and concentrate their firepower to bombard these two enemy forces!"
"Got the order!"
It didn't take long for a wave of more than 20,000 civilians to rush forward. The area within a hundred steps of the new Lingshan Guards' formation was already filled with people.
Chen Xun, Zhang Yi, and Wang Bo all gritted their teeth and ordered to fire at the top of their lungs.
The three battalions of gunners with 1,700 and 800 lives began to fire volleys. In just three rounds of volleys, they blocked the area a hundred steps in front of the formation. Thousands of people fell into a pool of blood. The crowd behind them suddenly stopped. , and then suddenly burst out with exclamations, and they all began to run away.
On the top of the city, Lu Xiangsheng and Yan Jizu's eyes were red. They both understood that Liu Yan's order was correct, but they were still heartbroken and their hatred for the Qing army could hardly be suppressed.
However, a huge team of more than 20,000 people has inertia. The people at the back are still moving forward, while the people in front are trying to run back like crazy. The two groups of people collide fiercely, and they are suddenly crowded in the formation of the two armies. forward.
Almost at the same time, Yibai led more than 3,000 Mongolian Zhengbai Banner cavalry to suddenly accelerate and began to carry more than 2,000 prisoners forward, preparing to drive the people in front to continue to attack the new Lingshan Guard formation.
Liu Yan saw the right opportunity, slammed his fist on the railing of the observation deck, and shouted loudly: "Order the gunnery commander to fire!"
The command flag of the Chinese army was shaking violently. Qian Qian, who was paying close attention to the order on the top of the city, roared angrily and waved his hands fiercely: "Folang machine gun, fire!"
The angle of the Folang machine gun post had been adjusted long ago, and the thirty-eight temporarily reorganized Folang machine cannons. A total of fifty-eight guns fired at the same time. The hot cannons streaked across the sky and smashed into the Mongolian Zhengbai Banner army. In the formation.
Some people died, but not completely...
