After Zhao Yucheng led his army to the Lang Son area, he realized that the terrain here was very conducive to defense and not conducive to offense. According to reconnaissance, the large and small hills and other higher locations could effectively resist the Ming army's attack from a high position.
If the Ming army did not remove all their strongholds, it would be difficult to break through the Lang Son area and continue to advance.
It can be said that there are obstacles everywhere, and there are murderous opportunities and traps everywhere.
Faced with such a situation, Zhao Yucheng was greatly moved.
"If we put this in the past dynasties, we would have had a headache for a while after seeing this situation, and then spent human lives to pile up the pile. As long as the pile was piled up here, South Vietnam would actually be finished. That is to say, we should be grateful if we don't have such worries. It doesn’t rain much now, otherwise it wouldn’t be easy to do this.”
Zhao Yucheng lamented the rapid development of Ming Dynasty's science and technology, and lamented that the gods were kind and there was no heavy rain.
So the Ming army pushed the artillery and began to bombard one stronghold one by one, and demolish one stronghold one by one.
Instead of heaping lives, use artillery bombardment. If you feel that the efficiency is not too fast, then use it together with the Thor Cannon. Anyway, it is to open the way with firepower and strike from a long distance. Before the stronghold of the South Vietnamese army is defeated, the army will not be able to fight back. Step forward rashly.
Anyway, Zhao Yucheng said a word.
"Boom me!!!"
On the first day of the war, the Ming army killed eight South Vietnamese Army strongholds. On the second day of the war, they killed six more. On the third day of the war, they killed seven.
The artillery opened the way, and the thunder cannon increased its attack intensity. When there was no movement inside, the infantry pressed up, and the musketeers pressed down the formation. The spearmen and sword and shield men were mainly responsible for harvesting. Although it was an attack from the back, according to this attack mode, the Ming army took The next South Vietnamese army stronghold will actually not be damaged.
The South Vietnamese army instantly became the bastard in the pot, unable to escape or fight.
For three whole days, the South Vietnamese army became the passive side to be beaten, while the Ming army continued to advance with extremely small casualties, and gradually occupied some important strongholds in the Lang Son area.
On the fourth day, when the Ming army pushed the artillery and prepared the thunder cannon to cover the fire, the South Vietnamese army in a stronghold finally couldn't bear it. They rushed down the mountain in groups, trying to attack the Ming army at the foot of the mountain with overwhelming momentum. The army launched a strong attack.
The melee troops charged, and the crossbowmen fired arrows while charging, trying to suppress the Ming army's firepower with bows and arrows, catching the Ming army by surprise.
The Ming army responded immediately. The swordsmen and shieldmen held up a line of defensive arrows, and the musketeers followed closely, raising their muskets and lighting them. They waited silently for them to rush forward, then closed their eyes and pulled the trigger.
There was a loud bang, and white smoke rose into the sky, forming a white smoke belt in front of the Ming army's formation. The South Vietnamese soldiers who rushed forward were beaten with lead and their flesh and blood flew everywhere.
After three rounds of musket fire, the swordsmen, shieldmen and spearmen went up and started to harvest the South Vietnamese soldiers who were still standing and injured and lying on the ground but not dead.
The last step is to conquer that stronghold.
Only thirteen soldiers in this stronghold were captured intact. One Ming soldier was shot in the arm by an arrow, and four soldiers sprained their feet. No one died in the battle.
This is the fate of a stronghold that takes the initiative.
The Ming army fought for another whole day, encountering three strongholds that took the initiative to attack, but the results were the same. Flesh and blood were flying everywhere from the muskets, and they were completely unable to break through the defense line of the Ming army's sword and shield hands and cause damage to the Ming army soldiers behind them.
In the end, his entire army was wiped out, his stronghold was lost, and few of his men were captured alive by the Ming army.
There were still some who clung to their strongholds and refused to leave. After being covered by fire for a round, the remaining South Vietnamese soldiers were unable to withstand the Ming army infantry who launched the attack. They were all annihilated or collapsed and surrendered.
On the fifth day, when Zhao Yucheng was preparing to pursue the victory, it started to rain.
Although the rain was not heavy, for the sake of safety, Zhao Yucheng still did not order the dispatch of troops, and asked the army to focus on moisture-proofing the gunpowder and match rope to prevent the gunpowder and match rope from getting damp.
Thanks to the rain, Su Xiancheng was able to take a breather and finally stopped his strategic retreat and stopped at an important stronghold at the southern end of the military defense point in Lang Son Mountain.
This was his third emergency retreat in five days. The previous stations had been captured by the Ming army. If he had stayed there, he would have either been shot to death or blown up by explosives. His luck would have been even worse. It will probably be turned into a puddle of flesh.
Facing the Ming army's new firearms, he fully felt what it meant to be powerless.
All the tactical actions he envisioned turned into nothing in the face of the Ming army's new firearms. Those military strongholds occupying superior terrain should have become a meat grinder for the Ming army. They should have suffered heavy losses and were captured one by one in fierce battles. .
Even if they win in the end, the Ming army will be exhausted and suffer heavy losses, and will be forced to retreat and give up fighting south.
This was the best ending he imagined and the most appropriate thing to happen.
But the fact is that the Ming army used new firearms to smash the military facilities he had worked so hard to set up from a long distance away.
According to the descriptions of some lucky survivors, the long-range strike weapons he placed in the military strongholds could not reach the Ming army at all. It was meaningless to roll wood and rocks against the Ming army who did not go up the mountain to launch a strong attack.
However, the Ming army's firearms were able to destroy their strongholds from a long distance and in an extremely violent manner.
The barracks in the stronghold collapsed, the towers collapsed, and nothing could stop the ammunition fired by the terrible firearms. Any defensive facilities would be completely destroyed in one blow.
Su Xiancheng collapsed and found that he had made a second serious misjudgment. This is almost impossible to happen in military operations and cannot be forgiven.
It could be said to be negligence if it happened once, but what else could it be said if it happened the second time?
The first time, 10,000 elite soldiers were killed. The second time, the entire Lang Son defense area and even the entire Langzhou were destroyed.
As a veteran of two dynasties with outstanding merits, this will be the most unacceptable defeat for Su Xiancheng since he became an official, and it will almost destroy all the credit he has accumulated for his previous achievements.
Because once Lang Son is broken through and Langzhou falls, the Ming army can march straight into Thang Long City and occupy the core of South Vietnam's rule. It can easily shake the foundation of the rule of the Li Dynasty in South Vietnam and destroy everything.
The hard work of several generations of kings in the Li dynasty is likely to be directly ruined because of this.
It was at this moment that Su Xiancheng suddenly discovered the huge advantage that big countries have over small countries.
It’s not just about military strength and national power.
It's about the cost of trial and error.
A big country has a vast territory and different cores. If a piece of territory is lost, there will be more territories that can be mobilized to counterattack. It is almost impossible to be defeated by a war. They have enough time to adjust their strategies and complete a new layout to reverse the defeat.
But small countries cannot.
Take South Vietnam for example. Once it loses the Langzhou Mountains, the capital will be directly exposed to the Ming Dynasty's military front. The situation is comparable to the Northern Song Dynasty that lost the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures and the Southern Song Dynasty that lost Xiangfan. The ending is basically one word - send!
If it really comes to that point...
As the person directly responsible for this defeat, Su Xiancheng needs to bear unshirkable responsibility for this.
