"It's okay, just come back. The purpose of letting you go is not to successfully attack the camp. As long as we don't let the tiger thieves rest peacefully, we will be successful." Cao Wenzhao comforted.
When Cao Bianjiao came back and did not see a fire in the Tiger Character Banner camp, he knew that the attack on the camp had probably failed, but fortunately his purpose was not just to attack the camp.
"It's a pity for those good men who went out of the city with their nephews." Cao Bianjiao said with a look of shame.
Cao Wenzhao patted him on the shoulder and comforted him: "They probably ran away after dark. They will come back one after another when it gets light. Don't think too much about it. Go back and rest first. There will be a big battle to be fought during the day." .”
With his rich experience, he could guess that many Ming troops who had left the city were still outside the city.
Just based on the few shelling sounds coming from the Tiger Flag camp, he believed that not too many people would be killed or injured.
Cao Bianjiao led the horse back to the camp.
Cao Wenzhao counted the people brought back by Cao Bianjiao and found out that the city gate was closed. As for whether anyone would come over, he was not ready to let anyone into the city.
No one could guarantee whether the people of the Tiger Character Banner would follow the defeated troops and rush into Jinan City, so he had to guard against this step.
If you want to enter the city, you have to wait until dawn.
In the camp of Tiger Flag.
More soldiers were still resting and seemed not to be affected by the battle at the camp gate.
Some soldiers must have been disturbed and wanted to get up and go outside, but they were stopped by the old soldiers and officers in the same tent, forcing them to continue to rest.
Even if you can't sleep, you have to lie down and don't leave.
"Reporting to the commander, there is a Ming army coming to attack our camp."
After the battle at the camp gate ended, an officer came to Qin Rong's big tent to report.
At this time, candles had already been lit in Qin Rong's tent.
"Have you been beaten back?" Qin Rong asked.
The person who sent the message said: "All the enemy troops have been repulsed and have begun to clean up the battlefield."
"Okay, I get it, step back!" Qin Rong waved his hand to signal the other party to step back.
There was no special ambush set up at the Tiger Character Banner camp, and they didn't know that the Ming army in Jinan City would attack the camp on the first night.
The layout of the camp is also some of the layout that the army will have outside, just to prevent the enemy from sending people to attack the camp.
After all, if you attack the camp at night, once there is panic, it is likely to cause a panic situation. Camp roars are very common.
But as long as precautions are taken, it is almost impossible for the enemy to attack the camp.
The night passed.
As soon as the sky breaks, each battalion of the Tiger Flag begins to prepare for breakfast.
They have to fight during the day, and breakfast consists of meat buns, and each person also prepares a duck egg.
In order to ensure the nutrition of the military officers and soldiers, Tiger Banner raised a large number of ducks and geese, which not only ensured eggs but also ensured that there was no shortage of meat.
Big meat steamed buns, about the size of a palm, are full of meat, and oil bursts out when you bite them. Even in the Tiger-Character Banner Army, they don't often eat meat steamed buns. They are more often stewed with meat and vegetables, which is considered a meat dish. .
Fighting consumes a lot of physical strength, so eating meat and eggs can better ensure the physical strength of the soldiers.
Qin Rong sat in the big tent and ate two meat buns and a duck egg, drank a glass of cool boiled water, and finally wiped his mouth.
The soldiers of each battalion quickly finished their breakfast, and after a quarter of an hour's delay, they began to assemble.
The artillery team had already pushed the cannons out of the camp one by one, and used mules and horses to pull the artillery carts and rushed to the predetermined battlefield.
The combat barracks walked out of the camp one by one and appeared on the battlefield that had been scheduled for a long time.
Regarding Jinan City, Qin Rong adopted the strategy of surrounding three and missing one. There were no troops deployed outside the gate to the north of Jinan City.
However, although there were no soldiers and horses deployed outside the northern city gate, a group of soldiers and horses was ambushed a little further away to ambush the Ming army who might have escaped from Jinan City.
"Fire!" Without any nonsense, Qin Rong directly ordered the artillery team to fire.
Cannons had already been placed at predetermined positions. After receiving the order to fire, they began to bombard the walls of Jinan City.
The best gunners in the Ming army only relied on their eyes and experience to estimate the target distance and hit the target as much as possible, while the gunners of the Tiger Flag had already learned how to calculate the impact point of the artillery.
Gunners are a technical branch in Tiger Banner. They don't just need to be able to fire cannons. They are even more valuable than cavalry.
boom! boom! boom!
The first round of shelling was more for calibration. Even so, the hit rate was still much higher than that of the Ming army.
After one round of bombardment, a slight adjustment was made, and the second round of bombardment soon began.
The accuracy of the second round of bombardment was better.
Almost the vast majority of the artillery shells landed on the city walls, and the difference from the planned landing point was not large, which was within the acceptable range.
After all, you can't expect a smoothbore cannon to be accurate to within a few meters.
Even if there is some error, the number of cannons also makes up for this shortcoming.
The Tiger Flag only used two rounds of shelling. Except for corpses, there were no intact people on the wall of Jinan City. All the defenders who could run ran down the wall and hid.
The stumps and broken arms left on the city wall had already destroyed the courage of the defenders in the city.
Cao Wenzhao's face was very ugly.
This was the first time he fought against the people of Tiger Character Banner in a siege battle, but he never expected that the gunners of Tiger Character Banner were so accurate, and they also had too many cannons.
If it weren't for the fact that his soldiers saw that the situation was not going well and forcibly took him off the city wall, I'm afraid there would be his body on the wall right now.
"General, go find Governor Fu!" the soldiers on the side said to Cao Wenzhao.
They are all old soldiers. How could they not be afraid of the situation in front of them? They also have rich fighting experience. Seeing the situation in front of them, they knew that it would not be easy to defend Jinan City.
As long as the artillery with the tiger-shaped flag continued to bombard the city, no one in the city's defenders could safely stay at the city.
"What? You're scared!" Cao Wenzhao glanced at the soldier who was speaking.
He also understood what the other party meant. He was looking for Fu Zonglong just to protect Fu Zonglong from escaping from Jinan City.
The soldier was speechless.
Naturally, the relationship between these personal soldiers and the general is both prosperous and destructive. If the general does not leave, they can only stay and work hard.
"Where is Cao Bianjiao?" Cao Wenzhao asked.
A soldier nearby said: "General Xiao Cao stayed in the camp with most of the cavalry in the city."
The cavalry was the elite of the Ming army, even among the slaves and thieves. Of course, the Mongolian cavalry was not included among them.
After all, the Mongols were cavalry if they could ride horses, but that didn't mean they were powerful.
The Eight Banners cavalry in the slave army or the cavalry in the Ming army are the most elite in the army.
"Go to the camp and tell him to prepare three days of dry food and stay in the camp to wait for news about me." Cao Wenzhao was not afraid of death, but he did not want to risk his nephew's life.
In case the war went against him, he was ready to let Cao Bianjiao escape from Jinan City with the only cavalry in the city.
(End of chapter)
