Chapter 397 Huai’an Battle IV
"Hahaha..."
Xiao Yongguang laughed and said: "Brothers, it's time for our 21st Division to show off its talents. Send the order, the 61st Brigade will launch an attack on the Tatars from the southwest city wall. The engineer company will immediately prepare the explosives transferred from the military headquarters. Hehe, Daishan This old boy needs to be given a taste of something good..."
The actions of the 21st Division were seen by Chen Cao, but what he could see was the chaotic battlefield in the south of the city. Tens of thousands of people from both sides were densely packed on the battlefield less than a hundred steps in front of the city gate. Until the end of the city, The Qing army at the top was unable to use artillery to fire at close range, and could only use sharp archers to conduct fixed-point attacks at the top of the city.
"Is Emperor Ming going to take down my city of Huai'an in one day?"
Daishan sat on the commander's seat, then looked at Li Yongfang on the right: "Your consort, you can't lose it in the outer city."
Li Yongfang said: "Your Majesty, don't worry. Huai'an has been an important town for sergeants since the Song Dynasty. It was also a place for garrisoning troops in the early Ming Dynasty. The city walls are extremely strong, and our army is well prepared and defensive. The intensity of artillery counterattacks is no worse than that of the Ming army. This is only the first time." A one-day attack would affect morale if it were a decadent siege, which is why Chen Cao did it with such fanfare."
Daishan nodded thoughtfully: "Now we are attacking from three sides, but the focus is obviously on the south city. Now the two armies are stuck in front of the city gate, and there is no need for fierce fire oil or earth and thunder jars. Is there any good way?"
"Report... Your Majesty, the Ming army has divided its forces to attack from the southwest city wall."
"Send another five thousand troops to guard the southwest wall."
"twitter..."
Yue Tuo strode into the hall: "Amma, Ming Gou is very hateful. They charge in the front, and they send people from behind to fill in the trenches we dug one by one."
Daishan frowned: "The Ming Dynasty has a large population. It doesn't matter if they use human lives to fill every battle. But our Qing Dynasty..."
"Ama..." Yue Tuo said coldly: "There are still many Han people in Huai'an City. I think we should use the strategy of driving away tigers and devouring wolves and implement the old Liaodong method."
Li Yongfang did not speak, Daishan glanced at him, then fell silent, and then murmured: "The emperor reused Ning Wanwo, Fan Wencheng and other Han officials, and after entering the customs, he even used the civil servants of the original Chongzhen Dynasty. If he continues to do so, If the Han people build a human wall, will the imperial court..."
"Oh Ama, what are you waiting for now?" Yue Tuo said anxiously: "Han people often say that women should not be kind. We are doing this for the future of our Qing Dynasty. Whether Manchuria can win the hearts of the Han people depends on it. In this battle, Emperor Minggou must not be allowed to attack our city of Huai'an."
"What do you think, Prince Consort?"
Li Yongfang handed over his hand: "What Yue Tuobele said makes sense, but it all depends on the prince..."
When Yue Tuo saw that Li Yongfang agreed with his idea, he was immediately overjoyed: "Amma, even the prince consort thinks it's feasible, so we can't wait any longer."
.
"Old Ding..."
Niu Shiquan was shocked when he saw Ding Yishan lying in a pool of blood. He hurried up to check, only to find that Ding Yishan had been shot several times and had five or six broken arrows stuck in his chest. It was obvious that he would not survive.
"Come here, send Captain Ding to the rear quickly..."
As soon as he finished speaking, an explosion rang in Niu Shiquan's ears, and then the WISCO truck moved forward five or six meters in front of him.
"Do you have any grenades? Throw them over to me..."
"Tuanzuo, look quickly..."
Niu Shiquan tried to calm his mind, but he saw the sound of crying starting from the city gate, followed by the people who were driven out of the city by the Qing army, including men, women, old and young. At the front were dozens of old people leading a large group of people. children.
Niu Shiquan clenched his fists, his whole body trembling, and cursed angrily: "What a dog-like slave-building bastard..."
Driving the people into human shields and human walls was a common practice of the Qing army in Liaodong. This trick was tried and true, which is why Jiannu was able to win every battle in Liaodong.
"Fuck you..." Chen Cao threw the telescope on the ground: "Send the order, the frontline troops immediately break away from contact with the Qing army and abandon the frontal battlefield. In addition, they must guard against the trenches that have been filled. If ..."
Before Chen Cao finished speaking, Huang Chunyao immediately answered: "Your Majesty has an order. If the Jiu Tatars drive the people to dig trenches, order the Longwu Army to send people to snatch those people over."
Anyone with a telescope in their hands could clearly see the crowd of civilians coming out of the South Gate at this moment. When Brigadier Liao Zhun saw this, he had to curse several times and then ordered his troops to retreat immediately.
As soon as the two sides broke away from contact, the Qing troops on the top of the city immediately opened fire with artillery and arrows, causing the retreating troops to suffer huge casualties.
The battle lasted from early morning to after two o'clock in the afternoon. If the Qing army had not taken the common people as the vanguard, this battle would still have been fought.
Inside the tent, Chen Cao tried his best to calm down his mood. The prince Chen Boxing on the side asked: "Father, does Jian Nu often do this? If this happens every time in the future, how should we respond?"
Chen Cao showed a smile and touched Chen Boxing's head: "Everyone in China is a Chinese citizen. We, the Chen family, have become emperors and kings. Our first priority is to benefit the people. Now we are expelling the Tartars." , it is also to restore the Zhengshuo of China, to build slaves and use the people as human shields. If we ignore the life and death of the people for the sake of victory, do you think we will become like the tyrants of the Meng Yuan Dynasty?"
Chen Boxing nodded thoughtfully: "My son understands, but father, how should we deal with them?"
"When dealing with such cruel people, don't talk about benevolence and righteousness with them. You must expose the treachery of human nature to them and let them be fooled enough. In this way, they will restrain themselves."
Huang Chunyao cupped his hands and smiled and said: "Your Majesty, Prince, I think that if Jiannu sees us taking the initiative to avoid it, he will definitely treat the people as a card in his hand, so that our army will be restrained;
If we exchange with them, they will definitely not, and will even make our army retreat as a condition. Our large army is on the march and is expected to arrive in the next two days. It is only a matter of time before we surround Huai'an, but the key to this problem is that, Will the Daishan Association rely on the people to get out of the encirclement?
However, once this happens, His Majesty's plan to surround and annihilate Daishan in Huai'an will come to nothing. "
Chen Cao took a deep breath. This situation is really difficult to deal with. This is the simplest gangster trick, but he didn't know that Jian Nu was so good at it.
"First, make a plan first. The Longwu Army will be on alert at all times. Once it is discovered that the slaves are driving the people to dig trenches, they will quickly rob people; second, starting from the evening, bombard the top of Huai'an City and wait for the arrival of the large forces."
"As commanded..."
...
"How's the situation ahead?"
Li Yan grabbed the scout who had just returned and asked.
"Reporting to Mr. Li, our company discovered Tatar cavalry on the north bank of the Shu River. There were only ten of them. They should be their sentry cavalry on guard along the way. In addition, I also found a dozen of them riding fast horses heading north. Judging from their appearance, they should be a team going to report a message. If my men are not too scattered, they should be able to intercept this group of people."
After listening to the scout's report, Li Yan frowned, then opened the map and looked at it carefully. Liu Shun, the commander of the 66th Brigade who came up to him, looked at it and said: "The only way to go north is to Shandong. Our army has been away from the main force for too long. The news about the overall situation is definitely lagging behind, I just don’t know what Tatar reinforcements are there in Shandong."
"They must be asking for help, but they definitely won't be Daishan people. They must be Tan Tai. The prisoners captured earlier provided information about Abatai in Xuzhou. If my prediction is correct, Tan Tai must have gone to ask for help from Abatai. , then he must have seen through our intentions in doing so;"
Li Yanwu said to himself: "Mr. Chen's pressure in Liujiazhuang will definitely increase. I just don't know if they can reach Liujiazhuang before Tan Tai's defense, or reach the gate of Shuyang City."
Liu Shun said again: "Master Li, although Xuzhou is only three hundred miles away from Shuyang, there are many crisscrossing rivers along the way. If they go south along the canal, they will give up on Shuyang. In this way, wouldn't they give up on Tan?" Thai?"
Deputy division commander Wu Quan also nodded: "Tan Tai has 30,000 cavalry who can come and go freely. He will definitely not defend Shuyang. Besides, that is not the marching style of Jiannu. They will definitely choose to confront our army in the wild."
Li Yan frowned, stared at the map, and pointed with his hand: "There are two roads from Shuyang to Xuzhou, and Tan Tai is a cavalryman, so he will never choose the road along the canal. He can only take the official road in the northwest. This way, we must pass through Siwu Mountain, so we will go there to ambush and try to annihilate Tan Tai's troops in one fell swoop."
Li Yan set off first. Liu Shun looked at his superior Wu Quan and said, "Deputy Commander, what do you think?"
Wu Quan chuckled and said, "You boy, the master's order is for us to obey his orders. My task is to supervise. If things are not harmonious, you will obey my instructions. Now let's listen to Staff Officer Li first."
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"Shu Heha, how is the situation ahead?"
"Back to my master, the Ming army broke through the trench formation. Their firearms are extremely fierce. They can still hit our soldiers even a hundred steps away from the city. Even many sharpshooters can't hit them."
Tan Tai looked at He Luohui: "It's not even a hundred steps away. Where is Ashan?"
Ashan strode into the hall and threw away the riding whip in his hand: "It's that group of people. The firearms in their hands are different from those of the ordinary Ming army. They can shoot far and accurately. The sharpshooters can only hit targets one hundred and twenty paces away." Target, but those Ming soldiers actually stood a hundred and fifty steps away, shooting like they were hunting. As soon as our warriors show their heads, they will be shot to death immediately."
He Luohui looked at Tan Tai, who was sitting on a chair, rubbing his hands on the armrests repeatedly: "We are all cavalry, and it is feasible to defend the city. If they do this, the morale of the army will be unstable, and He Luohui... ."
Tan Tai looked at He Luohui who was standing aside: "It is a foolish move to stick to Shuyang. Now we have to leave without waiting for news from Prince Li."
He Luohui said: "If this is the case, we will ruin King Li's plan. Tan Tai, if there is a loss in Huai'an, neither you nor I can afford it."
Tan Tai took a deep breath and said: "If the thirty thousand elites are defeated in Shuyang, you and I will be equally guilty. Instead of doing this, we should use what we are best at."
