Officers and soldiers were testing artillery outside the city, and Cheng Niandong could see the series of actions of logging and building carts clearly on the city. Tens of thousands of troops were besieging them and there were artillery blessings. Once they attacked, it would be a stormy sea. This made him feel even more stressed, but he also felt an inexplicable sense of confidence. Support yourself, after all, this is your first battle alone after coming out of the mountain, so you must do your best.
In fact, what Cheng Niandong is worried about is not that the officers and soldiers will attack the city. With the thick walls of the city and the presence of all the people, he is sure to be able to withstand the opponent's three or five attacks. What he worries about is the long siege after the officers and soldiers fail to attack the city. It will not take too long and half a month to win the support of the people in the city. The morale of the army will be in chaos, and various unstable factors will appear at that time. If there is enough food and grass in the city, it may be able to be suppressed. If the food and grass are insufficient, a big hole can pop up at any time for the officers and soldiers to take advantage of.
However, as long as the rebels on the East Route can return reinforcements in time or go all the way north to approach Nanjing, the officers and soldiers here will have no chance of siege!
Isn't he thinking too far, and can't place all his hopes on others? Whether the East Route Rebels return in time to help or whether they can go all the way north is invincible, that is a matter of the future. What he has to do now is to focus on city defense. , because he and the officers and soldiers would inevitably have to fight several bloody battles before anything could happen in the future. Cheng Niandong smiled bitterly and shook his head, raised his hand and patted his forehead, and then sent an order to summon the bandit leaders under his command to discuss city defense affairs.
Bai Wang, who Cheng Niandong had pinned his hopes on, was at a loss of whether to laugh or cry at this time. Last night, he sent troops to besiege the city and harassed the city all night. The chaos in Tongling City was chaotic. He vented his anger and finally withdrew his troops back to camp with satisfaction at dawn.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the front foot arrived at the camp, the officers and soldiers from behind came out of the city and pressed over. Unlike yesterday, the cavalry took turns to go into battle. This time, the entire city's troops, horses, infantry and cavalry joined forces to advance directly in front of the rebel army's formation, which made the rebel army take a breath. Air-conditioning, could it be that you did too much last night and made the officers and soldiers anxious to launch a general attack?
The army of officers and soldiers pressed forward with such ferocity that Baiwang and the thieves were alerted, and they ordered the whole army to prepare for war. They knew that it would be difficult to get better today, and there was a high probability that it would be another bloody battle. I felt a little regretful that I had worked too hard last night and angered the officers and soldiers. .
Wu Sangui took command today, with Wang Ti's infantry as the center, Ma Ke and the three Dongchang guards with cavalry on the east and west wings, advancing forward from the river bank to the foot of the mountain, blocking the rebel positions tightly.
However, he did not immediately order the soldiers to attack. It was not until about noon that more than ten trebuchets were suddenly pulled from behind the formation and ordered to start hurling stones at the rebel position. The trebuchets built by the officers and soldiers were larger and the stones used were smaller. With a range of more than 20 kilograms and up to 400 to 500 meters, rocks falling into the rebel positions will naturally cause panic.
That's it?
Bai Wang sneered and ordered a counterattack, and the rebel army's trebuchet also moved. However, the maximum range of the stones used was only two to three hundred meters and could not reach the array of officers and soldiers. This made Bai Wang very angry and cursed his subordinates as pigs. The same head, I don’t know how to change it to some small stones.
While he was scolding, he suddenly heard the sound of explosions. Following the sound, he saw that the mountain road was covered with flowers and the rebels were scattered in all directions. It turned out that what the officers and soldiers threw were not all stones but also stone bullets, which were hollowed out stones filled with gunpowder and stones. , when it exploded, rocks flew into the air and the damage range was very wide. This was made by the firearms craftsman Chang Yu recruited with a heavy reward, and he used it to practice his skills at this time.
Are you really thinking that officers and soldiers are engaging in such a big battle to seek revenge for last night?
Of course not, or not entirely.
But to cover the Shenji Camp crossing the river! Yes, Wu Weiying led his troops in a hurry and arrived on the other side of Tongling much earlier than Chang Yu expected. So Chang Yu took the opportunity to launch a wave of feint attacks to cover his crossing.
However, Bai Wang had no idea of the intentions behind the supply of the officers and soldiers. Seeing the officers and soldiers bombarding the position with trebuchets and causing casualties among the soldiers, he became furious and ordered an all-out counterattack. The rebels launched all the trebuchets on the mountain ridge at the same time. The archers and trebuchets fired from a high position, eventually suppressing the firepower of the officers and soldiers, and the army even had to retreat, causing the rebels to cheer!
However, the officers and soldiers continued to hit the rebel positions with large and small stone bombs regardless, and even aimed at the rebel headquarters on the mountain, where Bai Wang was located. The stone shells roared and landed, and the sound was extremely terrifying, which made Bai Wang also fearful. , not daring to show his face anymore, he hid under a protruding rock and continued to watch, only to find that the officers and soldiers actually mobilized infantry from the river beach to rush into the position.
"Damn it, I finally couldn't bear it and am about to attack." Upon seeing this, Wang Yi'en, who was guarding the west wing, shouted with all his strength: "Brothers, kill these idiots!"
Unexpectedly, just when Wang Yi'en mobilized his troops to fight, the officers and soldiers withdrew from their positions again, almost dodging him. He could not guess what tricks the officers and soldiers were playing.
Bai Wang on the mountain ridge was also a little confused. The officers and soldiers came in a fierce manner and thought there was going to be a fight. However, they tried repeatedly and refused to rush in. So why did they put up such a big formation? What on earth did they want to do? He raised his eyes in confusion. Looking towards Tongling City, the weather is clear and the view is good. Although it is ten miles away, the outline of Tongling City can be seen. Of course, what is inside is not clear... Huh? Suddenly his eyes glanced to the northwest of the city. Why were there so many boats in the Yangtze River? Because they were too far away and I didn’t look carefully, I couldn’t see clearly. Bai Wang quickly took out his telescope and looked around. He could vaguely see densely packed nearly a hundred fishing boats going back and forth from both sides of the river. ...They are ferrying reinforcements!
Fuck, it turns out that singing like this was just to keep Chen Cang secret. Bai Wang was so angry that he suddenly felt angry. The day before yesterday, the officers and soldiers sent more than a hundred boats up the river. Could it be that it was to receive the support troops? Why do many people have to go to the other side to pick up reinforcements? Is it possible...
He suddenly thought of the intelligence sent from the other side that Cheng Niandong blocked the river embankment and blocked more than ten thousand officers and soldiers, causing heavy losses. If they hadn't bombarded them with artillery, they might not be able to reach the edge of the city now...
gun? Bai Wang suddenly caught something and raised his telescope to look again. However, the distance was so far away that he could only vaguely see people, horses and boats, but he couldn't really see anything else carefully.
Could it be that the imperial court’s Shenji Battalion was also transferred? Having fought with officers and soldiers for so many years, I naturally knew that the imperial court had a firearms unit in the capital camp. It was not good at fighting and could only play with artillery. However, this unit rarely went out of the capital to fight on weekdays to protect the capital.
Bai Wang's face turned solemn instantly. If the Shenji Battalion came with its firearms, he would definitely suffer a big loss. What should he do? Suddenly he was a little panicked and a little annoyed. He captured the fleet of officers and soldiers the day before yesterday. Why didn't we expand the patrol area on the water surface later? I didn't expect that there were so many boats hidden there.
But there is no use worrying about it. How to deal with the urgent matter now? If we don't take advantage of it to cross the river and eliminate this threat, we will suffer heavy losses from it in the future. However, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers stand in front of the formation and there are powerful cavalry. The men and horses couldn't rush through at all. Looking at the array of officers and soldiers outside the position in front of them, and then looking at the river in the distance, they hesitated for a moment.
It seems that the only way is to... dispatch the sailors!
Previously, in order to blockade the Yangtze River, Bai Wang had confiscated more than a hundred boats to form a temporary navy, and then captured officers and soldiers. At this time, the fleet now had two to three hundred boats, which could form a navy team of nearly a thousand people.
These fleets were parked on the bank of the Yangtze River's bend behind the position. On weekdays, a group of dozens patrolled the river. If something happened, the entire army would be dispatched to intercept it. But today, the officers and soldiers suddenly came to the border in large numbers. Bai Wang ordered the entire army not to act rashly in the position. , even the sailors were hiding far behind their positions by the riverside, waiting for orders.
…
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