"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, it's not good. The Southern Dynasty really spent money this time and built a city on Juehua Island! They built a big city, right at the waist of Juehua Island, with a circumference of two thousand paces, at least We can station tens of thousands of troops..."
Late at night, in the Palace of Wenhua in the Forbidden City in Beijing, Fan Wencheng, a bachelor of the Internal Secretariat who was a bit disgraced after riding for two days in a row, was reporting to Dorgon in a hoarse voice.
"Two thousand steps? How is it possible?" Dorgon was stunned. "Fan Wencheng, did you hear it from hearsay? How could it be two thousand steps? What do they want to do? Why do they want to build such a big city?"
The ancients' step refers to the distance between two legs taking one step each, which is almost one and a half meters. Two thousand steps is three thousand meters. A castle with a circumference of three thousand meters is not small. The area of the city is more than half a square kilometer. This is not a city, but a military fortress. There are no residential areas or commercial areas inside. It is purely used to garrison troops and store grain... half a square kilometer has 500,000 square meters!
How many soldiers can be stationed in a castle with a construction area of 500,000 square meters? How much food do you have? It has to be tens of thousands anyway, right? Dorgun thought: tens of thousands of troops stationed on Juehua Island must be to attack Liaodong! Is this little Nanman prince planning to enter Shanhaiguan from the Northeast?
"It's unmistakable!" Fan Wencheng said, "The slaves sent their henchmen to pretend to be businessmen and went to the island. They found that the waist of Juehua Island was enclosed by the city wall... The city wall was built from the south bank of the island to the north bank. !”
"Is it really that big?" Dorgon frowned, "How many people will be needed to work on it?"
"Oh, the city wall is not built high, and it does not use bricks or stones. It is not built with rammed earth. Instead, it is made of sacks filled with earth."
This is the most common method used by later armies to build field fortifications, and it is the most effective method that has been tested in two world wars and is still used until the 21st century. The anti-artillery and bulletproof effect is of course very good - people can even carry the artillery of later generations, let alone the Hongyi cannon of this era?
In addition to the ability to withstand the test of defense, there are two advantages to using sandbags to build a fortress. First, it is easy to construct. The amount of work required to pile sandbags is much lower than that of rammed earth, let alone building it with bricks and stones. Therefore, Yu Daren and Zhang Huangyan only need more than a thousand officers and soldiers and two to three thousand civilians, and they can build up a general appearance in a short period of time.
Second, it is easy to maintain. The trapezoidal city wall made of sandbags is very stable in structure, and it is almost impossible to cause large-scale collapse with Hongyi cannon. Even if there is some collapse and damage, just use sandbags to fill it, and it doesn't take much trouble at all.
"Fill the soil with sacks...How many sacks will be used?" This was the first time Dorgon heard that someone built the city wall in this way. "And is it reliable?"
"I don't know," Fan Wencheng shook his head, "It's not as good as masonry and rammed earth, right?"
Thinking about it, it is indeed inferior. How can the loose sandbags be compared with the hard masonry and rammed earth?
Fan Wencheng frowned, "Your Majesty, the city built by the Confederate Army on Juehua Island was not for defense, but to station troops for attack! If they built a small fort with bricks and stones, the slaves would not be worried. But now they are We filled sacks with earth and built a city with a circumference of 3,000 paces. I am afraid, I am afraid... I am afraid that we will attack Liao in a large scale!"
Dorgon nodded lightly and said in a low voice: "It makes sense. Use sacks to build a short city of three thousand steps. It is large and difficult to defend. It can be broken down without using Hongyi cannons... except for the garrison of troops." What’s the use of food?”
As he spoke, his brows furrowed tightly, as if he was weighing things over and over again.
"Your Majesty," Fan Wencheng looked at Dorgon, "I think that Liaodong and Liaoxi are the land of Longxing in our Qing Dynasty. If anything goes wrong, this person's heart..."
"What's wrong with people's hearts?" Dorgon turned around and glared at Fan Wencheng, "Liaodong and western Liaoning are thousands of miles apart, and the southerners have countless large ships, so they can't go anywhere? Do we still have to fortify everything? Can we prevent it?"
Fan Wencheng was stunned by Dorgon and was speechless for a moment.
Dorgon stood up and walked around the Wenhua Palace. After walking about ten steps, he suddenly stopped and said to Fan Wencheng: "Fan Wencheng, I will give you another decree... ..Relocate all the people within thirty miles of the seaside in western Liaoning, burn all villages, and drive cattle and sheep to eat the green crops in the fields!"
"Your Majesty, what are you..." Fan Wencheng looked at Dorgon in surprise.
Dorgon said coldly: "The coasts of western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning are our seven inches... It is impossible to divide our troops to guard them. Our Manchurian heavenly troops must be concentrated in one place to attack the southern invaders. If we divide our troops to guard them, we will let them They were defeated one by one, so the only way to clear the wilderness along the western and eastern Liaoning coasts is to build a strong wall. Fortunately, we don’t have many people in Liaodong and western Liaoning. Let alone thirty miles, it’s okay to build a strong wall and clear the wilderness for a hundred miles!
With these 30 to 100 miles of wilderness, we only need to deploy thousands of Eight Banner troops in Liaodong and West Liaoning, and we will be foolproof. "
Although Dorgon's method of coping is ugly, it is indeed effective! A buffer zone can be created by clearing the wilderness with strong walls along the coast. Even a small landing force cannot cross the 100 miles ashore - there are no residents in these 100 miles of wilderness, but scout cavalry can be deployed. If Zhu Cixiang's new army were to fight in formation, they might be able to compete with the powerful Eight Banners force, but if they had to wait until night to scout, they would be no match for them!
Moreover, Liaodong and Liaoxi are still the home games of the Eight Banners. After the small landing troops landed, they would be surrounded by the Eight Banners' scout cavalry. Even if their eyes were darkened, how could they dare to advance a hundred miles? The most you can do is wander around the shore.
However, large groups of Ming troops were relatively slow to land and move ashore. It would take at least several days to complete the landing and break through the buffer zone. At that time, Dorgon's elite troops deployed in Liaodong and Western Liaoning were already ready!
Relying on thousands of real Manchus may not be enough to repel tens of thousands or even more Ming troops, but it can also delay time and wait for the army to arrive from Beijing. It can also attack the Ming army's logistics line and force them to retreat to the shore.
"Your Majesty is wise!" Fan Wencheng complimented Dorgon, which was a sign of admiration for his master from the bottom of his heart - thinking about the situation in Liaodong and western Liaoning gave him a headache, but unexpectedly, Dorgon gently resolved it.
At this moment, the sound of rapid footsteps came from outside Wenhua Hall. The man had already started shouting before he came in: "Brother Fourteen, what happened? You called me here in the middle of the night... ..."
The visitor turned out to be Duduo, who was called back to Beijing by Dorgon for an interview. He had been on the front line for such a long time, and the wives and concubines at home had already been screaming, so he was very tired these two days, and he didn't go to bed until midnight, but as soon as he closed his eyes, someone came to the palace.
When Fan Wencheng saw Duduo coming, he quickly knelt down and saluted, "Slave Fan Wencheng greets the master."
"Oh, Xian Dou, why are you here?" Duduo waved his hand and asked Fan Wencheng to stand up, while he himself sat down on the embroidered pier moved by the chamberlain.
Dorgon said: "The southern soldiers captured Juehua Island from the sea and built a big city with a distance of 2,000 steps. It seems that they will station heavy troops on Juehua Island, and they will invade on a large scale next!"
"What? A large-scale invasion of Western Liaoning... Brother Fourteen, do you want me to go to Shengjing to be the general manager?"
"No," Dorgon shook his head, "We can't let the Southern Dynasty lead the way... They invade western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning, and if we follow them, we will be fooled. We have to take the initiative!"
"Yes!" Duduo nodded, "Where?"
"Qufu!"
"Qufu?" Duduo blurted out, "Are you really going to dig the grave of Saint Kong?"
Dorgon glared at his younger brother: "What nonsense are you talking about? That boy Zhu Cixiang slandered us! Why did you follow suit?"
"If you don't dig graves...then why go to Qufu?"
"Surround it!" Dorgon said with a smile, "Surround Qufu, and then attract Southern soldiers from all over Shandong to come to rescue, just like when we attacked Jinzhou... The Southern Dynasty deployed heavy troops in Shandong, including many The young master is still guarding the dangerous position, we can't attack one city at a time!"
