After the first round of shelling, Hou Shilu was very satisfied.
The ice city opposite was shattered by cannonballs, and there were three deep pits as big as wellheads, with cracks all around.
Three fold lines extended upward, forming three deep ditches. The sacks at the top of the crenels burst one after another, and a large amount of sand and gravel flowed out.
Tian Peng was thankful that he had allowed the rifle squadron to withdraw. Otherwise, if you are bombarded by such heavy artillery, you will definitely suffer a lot of casualties at this time.
Outside the fortress, the commander-in-chief Hou Shilu said to Tian Guang: "To deal with tough enemies, you have to use this big guy. It's really useful."
Tian Guang said: "It's a pity that there are only five in Xuanfu Town, which is too few. In the beginning, when Duke Wei was in power, he allocated money to cast them. Now that Duke Wei has fallen, the imperial court has not cast even a single heavy cannon. pass."
Hou Shilu also said with emotion: "People like Dong Lin, what they say is better than what they sing, but when it comes to actually doing things, nothing is accomplished. Alas, let's just live with it. The military pay has been in arrears for almost a year, and the soldiers can hardly survive. . If I hadn't raised funds in various ways, I would have mutinied long ago."
At this time, three heavy guns were bombarding the fortress at a rate of one every three minutes.
Every time a shell hit the fort, a chunk of the ice wall cracked. The entire fortress shook. Within a few rounds, the entire frontal ice wall collapsed.
Li Jike asked: "You are the commander, what should you do in this situation now? I estimate that it won't be long before the sandbags in the entire fortress will burst under the bombardment, the sand and gravel will flow out, and the fortress will become a sand dam."
Tian Peng thought for a while and said: "We can't defend here anymore. Let's retreat thirty meters. Use sandbags to build a new breast wall somewhere. Put the rifle squadron there."
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Li Jike agreed: "What a good idea. Let's continue to defend here. The top of the fortification will be a live target for the heavy artillery. We retreat to the back and build a parapet as a bunker. This way, with the sand bar in front blocking it, the heavy artillery can't hit it. But if the enemy climbs over the sand bar, we can shoot them. Then their heavy artillery will be useless."
Tian Peng said: "We have ten camel cannons and six Gatling guns on the mountains on both sides. They can attack the outside of the valley or strafe the inside of the valley. Putting them in will be more effective. We can repair more Several parapets. Under unfavorable circumstances, we can gradually retreat and gradually block."
Li Jike said: "It is very simple and fast to use sacks of sand to build a parapet. I will arrange it right now."
With the rumble of artillery, there was shelling from the front. Thirty meters behind the fortification, more than a hundred people were busy filling sacks with sand and then placing it into a chest-high low wall.
It didn't take long for the parapets to be laid out, and then three more parapets were built every thirty meters at the back. Then quietly wait for the enemy to stop shelling and then attack across the sand dam.
Half an hour later, not only the ice wall completely collapsed. The sandbags behind were also broken by the shelling, and a large amount of sand and gravel flowed out. The bottom of the landing was already covered with a mixture of sand and broken ice.
Tian Guang said to Hou Shilu: "Sir, please see if the cannon has almost fired. Can it be stopped? After firing for half an hour, the cannon has become a little overheated. The climate is cold now. Don't cool down too fast, otherwise it will be bad if cracks appear. ”
Hou Shilu stroked his beard with his hand and said: "Then stop the bombardment. This town is a cherished weapon. These heavy cannons are the magic weapons of our Xuanfu. They must not be damaged. Hurry up and cover the cannons with quilts. Let it cool down slowly. This time, let the pacesetters (spearmen) from the guard station take the lead."
Tian Guang immediately picked up the order flag and said loudly: "General Dewey of Shimaying will listen to the order, and the 1,500 pacesetters under General Er will attack immediately."
Dewey cupped his hands and said, "The general will get the order."
Dewey is the brother of Tian Guang's concubine. The fortress blocking the entrance of the valley has been bombarded by the Luzon bronze cannon. Presumably those Tatars were also killed and injured. This is a great time to pick peaches. This kind of opportunity should naturally be left to your own people.
Commander-in-Chief Hou Shilu squinted his eyes and seemed to be falling asleep. In fact, he knew all these things very well. He had suffered more than a hundred losses by using his battalions just now, and he was no longer willing to use his battalions at this time. The battalion soldiers are directly controlled by the commander-in-chief.
Dewey naturally understood these twists and turns, so he directly arranged for his own people to take advantage of it.
Shima Camp sent out 1,500 troops this time, all of them spearmen. The reason why the spear is equipped is because the cost is the lowest. A spear only needs one spear head, and a Yanling knife can hit four or five spear heads.
The treatment of these guardsmen is extremely poor. They are generally dishonest and their clothes are shabby. Many of them don't even have mandarin duck jackets, let alone any iron armor.
These guys haven't trained in a long time. The queues were not evenly aligned, and it was a noisy and obscene group. After hearing the Shangguan's order, they walked forward in a noisy manner.
During this expedition, the young man in the guardhouse was very happy that he did not escape. Their life is too hard. All the good land was taken away by the officers. It has long been an unspoken rule that officers of different ranks occupy different amounts of land. These military households at the bottom of the guardhouse can only survive on Susukada.
There is endless work to be done at Shangguan's house and in the fields every day. When it gets dark, you can go out in the dark to take care of your own skin. Training is even more impossible. The grain they harvested from farming also had to be rented to the guards, which was commonly known as grain farming.
The only chance to make a fortune is to go to war.
For these extremely poor people. An expedition is an opportunity for an honest robbery. The countryside along the way was the target of their plunder. Of course, big places wouldn’t dare. Will be impeached by civilian officials.
Some of the seizures on the battlefield will also be distributed.
At this time, they had already seen that the fortification wall had been smashed to pieces by cannons. They were also anxious to pass through the valley and go to Zhangjiakou early to make a fortune.
Because they are all locals, they naturally know that Zhangjiakou is rich and prosperous.
At this time, the Ming army was already rotten to the core. These people were incompetent in fighting, and they had many tricks to blackmail the people, and everyone was talented.
A group of people carried the wooden ladders they had made last night and began to climb up the sand dam in a chaotic manner.
This kind of sand wall is impossible without a ladder. The sand will slide down, making it difficult to climb up.
At this time, the concealed artillery positions and machine guns on the mountain did not see the signal to fire, so they continued to hide.
Tian Peng squinted his eyes, looked at them for a while and said: "The guard soldiers who came up this time are from the Shima Camp. The shooting will be sparse after a while. Let them come, and we will retreat after resisting every parapet." When we retreated to the last parapet, their large group of troops had already come in, and then blocked the front, with artillery and machine guns on the two mountains attacking from both sides."
Li Jike took a breath of air. No wonder Tian Peng was sent here. This one is quite a powerful character.
Let it in first, then close the door and beat the dog.
These guardsmen were all a mob, and they could withstand the attacks of the rifle squadron's volleys and the camel cannons and Gatling guns on the two mountains.
And once these people are defeated, they will turn around and run away. It directly disrupted the team behind.
In military terms, this kind of violent surprise attack can directly defeat the enemy's forward line by hitting elite troops in narrow terrain. There is a proper term for the strategy of chasing down the defeated troops, causing the enemy's front and rear troops to be dispersed by the routed troops, causing the entire army to collapse and flee.
This style of play is called reverse roll bead curtain!
