Chapter 451 The troops are approaching the city
On the fourth day of May in the second year of Shengwu, Chen Cao led hundreds of thousands of troops to Tianjin Guard. Looking at it, as Li Yan had expected, the entire Tianjin Guard City had been burned by fire, leaving only ruins.
On the ninth day of May, various ministries arrived in Tongzhou one after another. What Chen Cao did not expect was that Huang Taiji did not set any obstacles for Chen Cao in Tongzhou. Tongzhou is only fifty-six miles away from the capital and can be reached in a day's walk. This is also the capital. the last barrier.
Now, Tongzhou is undefended.
Generals at all levels are gearing up. Beijing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty since Emperor Chengzu, was invaded by the Tatars in the fifth year of Chongzhen. All parts of Northern Zhili were encircled by the Eight Banners and became the leader. Minions.
The status is not as good as that of a maid in a landlord's house in the Ming Dynasty, but now...
"People in Tongzhou, the Ming Dynasty is not dead, your emperor is back..."
"Long live your Majesty, long live your Majesty..."
"The Ming Dynasty will be victorious..."
A series of shouts were staged in the small county of Tongzhou. The population of Tongzhou was only more than 30,000, but the floating population was very large. At this moment, it seemed particularly deserted because of the upcoming war. When the Tatars evacuated Tongzhou, they did not Burn down Tongzhou City. After all, the Tongzhou warehouse here is the grain base that supports the operation of the entire capital. If this battle is won, rebuilding Tongzhou warehouse will definitely not be possible in three to five years.
"As they get to the hinterland of Gyeonggi Province, the Tatars cherish the local area..."
Chen Cao sneered, then climbed down the city wall amidst bursts of cheers from the people, came to the county government office and sat down. After all the generals entered, Chen Cao first asked Song Che: "Are the various departments of the Dingwu Army ready? ?”
Song Che nodded and clasped his fists: "Your Majesty, don't worry. Except for the 5th Division, the remaining Dingwu Army units have been assembled and are just waiting for your Majesty's orders."
Chen Cao nodded, then looked at Wang Xiaojie and said, "Your mission is the key point. How are the preparations of the Tianxiong Army?"
Wang Xiaojie stood still and saluted: "Your Majesty, don't worry, our Tianxiong Army will definitely complete its combat mission."
Li Yan interjected and added: "Commander Wang must leave Dongzhimen and Chaoyangmen alone. Even if the Tatars finally break through these two gates, don't stop them."
Wang Xiaojie nodded: "Your Majesty, don't worry, I will not be confused."
Chen Cao said again: "Jinyi guards from all over the capital and spies from the east and west factories have arrived in Tongzhou to report to me. The Tatars are indeed well prepared in the capital. They want to fight us to the death. Their number is no less than 350,000, and it is reported , the Eight Banners and Mongolian soldiers combined alone numbered no less than 200,000 people, and there were 50,000 Han army flags. Huang Taiji did not want to repeat the mistake of the Green Camp soldiers' rebellion, and had already placed the Green Camp soldiers in batches with the Han Army Banners. stationed outside the city;
Not only that, let me tell you another news. The Tatars have ambushed a lot of heavy troops in the market town outside Guang'an Gate. Among them are Yang Lianmaha and his compatriots as well as the Han army flags. They are all troops brought by Hauge from Xuzhou. There are many of them. One hundred thousand, so our army has to face at least 450,000 Tatar troops. "
"Your Majesty, why don't we attack the ambush first?"
"The advantage of the Tatars is to fight outside the city and engage in large-scale maneuvers. They can defend the city with enough people to hand over the Han flag. All we have to do is contain them and wait for reinforcements."
As soon as Chen Cao finished speaking, Zhao Xin ran into the county office in a dusty state. Judging from his appearance, he had just been on a long journey.
"Your Majesty, I'm back..."
Zhao Xin was sent by Chen Cao to personally contact the Shence Army before setting off from Dezhou. Now that he has joined Tongzhou, he must have brought a lot of news.
"How's it going?"
After Zhao Xin stood still, looking at the commanders of each division, he loudly said: "I went to Mongolia according to the emperor's order. After going north, I rushed to the mountain acropolis without stopping, and entered Mongolia from there. Two days later, I I met the scouts under You Shiwei. It turned out that ten days ago, Hong Chengchou led three divisions and combined with Chahar's 100,000 cavalry to defeat the Horqin Mongols at Xinghe Fort, and besieged the Bahrain tribe who had been lured here. In the sand castle north of Xinghe Fort, after the battle, both Mongolian armies were defeated and our army won a great victory. Now Hong Chengchou ordered You Shiwei's troops to raid the two Mongolian nests of Bahrain and Horqin. He asked his ministers to come back first and said he would Before May 25th, he led the army through Zhangjiakou Fort and entered Wanquan and rushed to the capital;
In addition, when I returned, Li Shaokuan had already led his army to break through Zijingguan. Counting the days, his seven divisions should soon reach Fangshan. "
Chen Cao breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Hong Chengchou defeated the two Mongols, Huang Taiji would definitely be defeated. Compared to now, it was only a matter of time.
"Okay...Xin Zhao, your contribution is not small, you go to rest first..."
Chen Cao said and looked at Li Yan: "The forwards of the Longwu Army have arrived in Gu'an and are encircled from the west, south and north. Under heavy encirclement and suppression, the success of the Northern Expedition is just around the corner."
After some arrangements, Chen Cao took his two female relatives to the Houya to rest. Two days later, the army set off for the capital not far away.
On May 20th, the second year of Shengwu, outside Beijing
Chen Cao didn't know how many years he hadn't been to the capital, but this time he came for the sake of the world. In the telescope, he looked around the outer city of Yongding Gate, and saw flags fluttering, swords and guns standing in great numbers, and not only the guards guarding the city. There were Eight Banners soldiers and quite a few Han military flags.
"After the order was passed, the artillery units were immediately in position. Each unit entered its respective positions to set up positions according to the pre-war plan, and dug deep trenches to prevent the Tatar cavalry from attacking."
The city of Beijing was repaired and rebuilt again and again. The outer city is not big, but it also has the structure of a barbican city. Only by conquering the outer city can the real Yongding Gate be conquered. However, the city of Beijing with its high walls and thick walls cannot be captured at all if it relies solely on artillery. Even with the engineering blasting technology, it is not possible to succeed in one go. Therefore, if you want to attack the city of Beijing, you can only use Shenwu artillery to fire shells at close range and directly bombard the city gate. This is also the most effective method.
Without waiting for Chen Cao's order, he came on a fast horse and saluted after arriving: "Your Majesty, the vanguard of the Longwu Army was ambushed by the Tatar army in Huangcun. The follow-up troops arrived and started fighting in Huangcun."
Another fast horse arrived: "Your Majesty, the vanguard of the Shence Army is fighting the Tatars at Marco Polo Bridge."
The distance was too far and the situation on the battlefield was unclear. Chen Cao ordered Zhao Xin to disperse all the Jinyi guards around him and the Dongchang spies brought by Gao Chong. The main purpose was to monitor the battles in Huangcun and Marco Polo Bridge, and to send people to Badaling to wait for Hong Chengchou. news.
An hour later, all the artillery positions were in place. Before Chen Cao could give the order to fire, he heard the sound of artillery coming from far and near.
The forward artillery positions were attacked by artillery shells. Although most of them were solid bullets, they were still very powerful and caused considerable damage to the artillery positions.
"Can the Tatar artillery hit this far?"
Chen Cao raised his hand and looked over with a telescope: "It seems that they got help from the Portuguese. These people have not long remembered after suffering losses in Haojing. When the world is settled, I will be the first to deal with it." It’s them.”
Having said that, Chen Cao couldn't help but worry at this moment. The Tatar's city-defending artillery could hit such a far distance, and the weight of the cannons was at least five thousand kilograms or more. Although his own field artillery could hit far, their number was small. There are not as many Shenwu cannons, so Shenwu cannons can also be placed in the forward artillery position and field artillery in the second position.
This is a battle that will overwhelm the country. Chen Cao has mobilized all the artillery of each unit for use in one place. What each unit can use now is a small number of mortars and tiger squat guns.
"Order the forward artillery positions to fire back..."
"All ministries and Yuan units quickly reloaded. Your Majesty has ordered to beat him like a dog..."
"Your Majesty has an order to beat him like a dog..."
'Dong-dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong-dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong-dong-dong-dong...dong-dong-dong-dong-dong' Boom-boom-boom-boom...boom-boom-boom-boom-boom...boom-boom-boom-boom-boom...boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom...boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom Boom boom... boom boom boom boom boom... boom boom boom boom boom... boom boom boom boom boom... boom boom boom boom boom... boom boom boom boom boom... boom boom boom boom boom. ...Dong-dong-dong-dong-dong...Dong-dong-dong-dong-dong-dong...Dong-dong-dong-dong-dong-dong...'
Fierce artillery fire began on the respective positions of both sides. The smoke of explosions and artillery fire filled the entire Yongding Gate. From the beginning of the battle in the morning to noon, the artillery of both sides never stopped, even if the artillery power was reduced due to cooling the barrels. The density was high, but the sporadic gunfire still proved that both sides had no intention of letting their opponents stop.
The artillery battle continued until dark in the evening. Both sides stopped their troops. Chen Cao received the statistics in the military tent.
"On the first day, seventy Shenwu artillery pieces were damaged," Chen Cao said, feeling a little heartbroken: "Although this batch of artillery pieces is about to be eliminated, after all, they were shot with money. In this way, the Tatars I don’t know how many artillery pieces I bought from the Portuguese or Spanish to store.”
Song Che said: "They are stuck using it, and one day it will be used up."
Li Yan clasped his fists: "Your Majesty, starting from tomorrow, even if the Tatars don't take action, we will take the initiative to attack the city. Regardless of Yongding Gate, we will try to capture it tomorrow."
Chen Cao nodded: "What you said makes sense, but it's not very realistic to capture me tomorrow. Instead, we can take this opportunity to force the Tatars to use their full strength, so that our army can deal with it calmly."
"Your Majesty..." Zhao Xin walked into the county government lobby: "Two sources of information, Long Wu's army has definitely encountered a large number of Tatar soldiers and horses in Huang Village. They laid a lot of earth mines on the official road of Huang Village. Long Wu The vanguard of the army was unprepared and suffered heavy casualties. Now they are circling Huangcun and the Tatars, waiting for the large forces of the Longwu Army to arrive;
In addition, the Tatars destroyed the Marco Polo Bridge, and the Shence Army's large force was blocked to the west of the Marco Polo Bridge. They are currently fighting. I estimate that the results will be available tomorrow afternoon. "
“I originally thought that the war would be completely ended by the end of the year, but from this point of view, I will strive to completely end the Jianzhou Rebellion in early August;
Generals, go back and take a good rest. Tomorrow will be a bloody battle. "
