The "effortless" thing Liu Xin said did not appear in the end, because a message quietly came out from Musali the next day, explaining his current situation.
On the whole, Musali did receive a hero's welcome, and Gita I did seem to have extra respect and trust in him. However, this trust was not complete enough, because although Gita I handed over the heavy responsibility of Phnom Penh's city defense on the spot. He was killed, but he did not hand over the command of the Royal Forest Army in the inner city.
The Cambodian army has eight thousand soldiers and is well-equipped. Of course, this is a relative concept. In short, in Musali's view, if he offers the city at this time, although it is not impossible, it cannot be said to have "fulfilled his full merits." .
He also said that although the Great Tomorrow Soldiers were invincible and could easily conquer the inner city of Phnom Penh, these eight thousand Royal Guards would somewhat cost the Great Tomorrow Soldiers some effort, and he was deeply uneasy about this.
In addition, he also said that there were a lot of treasures in the inner city of Phnom Penh. If the outer city was lost, Gita I, in despair, imitated King Zhou and went to Lutai and burned himself and the treasures with a fire. , that would be a fly in the ointment.
Finally, he finally expressed his thoughts: he hoped that Liu Xin could launch a massive offensive, which would preferably shock King Gita I in Phnom Penh City, because in this way, he would be more likely to gain the power of the entire city. With the mobilization authority, Phnom Penh City can be handed over completely.
It should be said that Musali's proposal is still very attractive, because Liu Xin also knows that Jinghua has a very heavy task now. If Phnom Penh City is destroyed, it will probably be time-consuming, laborious and expensive to rebuild in the future, which is definitely not as good as Directly capture a complete Phnom Penh City, the less damage caused to the city, the better.
However, this idea actually conflicts with Musali's plan itself - you want me to fight with great force and give a huge shock to Gita I, but you also hope that I will not destroy Phnom Penh City, so what on earth do you want me to do? beat?
However, Liu Xin is Liu Xin after all. She was a very smart person in the past who once made even Gao Pragmatic feel terrible. How could she be so incompetent?
She did not convene the generals to discuss it first, but quietly settled the strategy by herself.
That afternoon, Musali received Liu Xin's reply from Xizuo. After carefully writing down every word, he went to deal with the corresponding matters according to Liu Xin's reply.
Early the next morning, the "Ming Army", which had been preparing for a day and a half since arriving at Phnom Penh City, was finally ready to take action. Although the Ming Army only had 20,000 people, which was not as strong as the defenders in the city, this attack alone was The preparations for the attack made King Gita I, his relatives, and the civil and military officials in the city tremble with fear.
If not for anything else, it was for the hundreds of artillery pieces in front of the Ming army's formation, and the dense forest of knives surrounding the artillery pieces with bayonets loaded!
Musali, who was on the observation deck in the city, had a solemn look on his face. He turned his head slightly and said to Gita I: "Your Majesty, can you see how the Ming army's battle formation is different from our army?"
King Gita I didn't understand military affairs. Hearing this, he just shook his head nervously and said in a hoarse voice: "I can only see that their team is really... particularly neat."
Of course, Gao Pangshi, a dabbler, was very particular about the formation, making Beijing's garrison as strict as if they were going to the National Day military parade of the Red Dynasty. The formation of the bayonet formation, let alone looking horizontally and vertically, even if you look at it diagonally, the diagonal lines are straight. Even the Liu family's surrender to the Japanese could not do this. A layman like Jita I saw it. Definitely going to be shocked.
Of course, an expert like Musali was also shocked, because the more expert he is, the clearer he is that it is not easy to practice a formation, and it is even more difficult to practice it to this level. Anyway, he has only seen the description in books. It was the first time in my life that I saw it in person.
However, Musali did not want to emphasize this point, so he said solemnly: "The Ming army's military appearance is indeed so neat and orderly that I have never seen before. This also shows that the strength of the Ming army is indeed not a matter of luck, but I would like to remind you Your Majesty’s are the artillery pieces in front of their formation.”
Musali pointed out more than twenty No. 2 cannons in front of the military formation and said, "Has your Majesty ever seen such giant cannons before?"
Well...the No. 2 gun is not the largest artillery in Gao Pragmatic's hands, but it is a common artillery in the current fleet and will not be used by the garrison under normal circumstances. The more than twenty No. 2 cannons in front of her were brought here for Liu Xin by Gao Jing's squadron that went to Puliango to build a temporary dock. The purpose happened to be to conquer Phnom Penh, but Liu Xin originally thought that they would not be needed. Unexpectedly, I had to push them out in the end to show their faces.
As a heavy artillery rarely used by the garrison, the No. 2 gun exists for the purpose of conquering fortified cities. It is currently the third-generation product of the Jinghua Artillery Factory. Compared with the second-generation product used in the Battle of Lang Son, it is The technical standards have been improved a bit, and the craftsmanship has become much more exquisite.
If this kind of artillery were expressed in European terms, it would be close to a 12-pounder. Even if it were pushed back a hundred years, it would still be an absolutely heavy artillery. Moreover, due to the objective reason of the lack of copper in the Ming Dynasty, the Jinghua Artillery Factory adopted iron artillery (fleet or bronze cannon). Due to the material level, iron artillery must achieve the same performance. Currently, the only way to make the barrel of the artillery is to make it larger. Thick, making these artillery pieces look particularly huge and solid. The dark, round muzzle alone looks shocking enough.
Of course, this shock was only for those who knew something about artillery. Unfortunately, Gita I did not understand artillery at all, so he had no special reaction and actually needed Musali to remind him.
However, even if he was reminded, Jita I still didn't pay special attention to it. After all, he didn't have personal experience, and he didn't know how earth-shattering the "speech" of these dark giant beasts below would be.
However, before Musali could explain the seriousness of the problem to him, the garrison artillery team, whose artillery skills were completely above the standard, was about to start test firing.
Musali didn't actually know the professional procedures and terminology of "test firing", but he could tell that the busy gunners on the artillery positions were not dancing, and he could also see that the gunners were loading gunpowder into the muzzles. and cannonballs.
The savior of the Cambodian army was so shocked that he took a closer look at the lookout where he was standing. He found that there was a flag with the emblem of his Mu family planted on the edge of the lookout, and he felt relieved.
Before he could speak, there was a flash of fire on the guard artillery position in front of the city tower, and a loud "bang" suddenly sounded.
The people on the lookout felt their hearts jolt, and they even felt like the lookout beneath their feet was shaking. Then, before they understood what was happening, they heard a ghostly howl on the wall not far away.
After all, Musali was the talisman of the Cambodian army. He was the first to calm down and loudly ordered the city wall over there to report the situation.
Within a short period of time after the situation report came, the Ming Army's artillery position fired two more cannons, which also made people's hearts tremble.
Now even Gita I, a person who didn't understand firearms, knew how powerful it was. Although he hadn't seen the consequences of that thing yet, the sound alone scared him.
If he hadn't resisted the temptation to embarrass himself in front of so many subjects, his legs and feet would have become weak, and he would have liked to collapse on the ground. But now he could only hold on to the fence in front of him with both hands, and he could barely stand.
The Ming army fired three artillery pieces in total and began to adjust Jinghua's unique shooting parameters. The losses caused by these three artillery pieces were immediately reported to the observation tower in the city. fly across
Three artillery shells caused serious damage to three city walls. Two of them made big craters with finger-sized cracks around them. The other one was even more serious. The projectiles of the artillery shells did not even bounce and fall under the city wall, but directly smashed into it. Inside the city wall, it even caused a small collapse on the top of the city wall. If the city wall of Phnom Penh City were not quite thick, this shot might have destroyed the city directly.
After hearing this, Gita I turned pale in an instant, and was about to collapse as soon as her knees softened.
Musali quickly held him up and said with an extremely serious face: "Your Majesty, the state is in danger. Your Majesty alone is responsible for the world. Please go back to the palace and sit down. There are ministers here who will fight to the death - if the Ming army falls into the city, Then I am no longer here."
Of course King Gita I would not find any loopholes in Musali's words at this time. He just said in a panic: "Mu, General Mu, the power of this artillery is so amazing, can Phnom Penh City... still hold on?"
Musali looked serious: "It doesn't matter whether we can or not, Your Majesty, we have no retreat."
Jita I swallowed hard, struggled for a moment, and asked unwillingly and timidly: "This...Ming army...did...did they kill prisoners in the past?"
Musali's eyes suddenly became sharp, and he asked attentively: "Your Majesty, do you want to surrender?"
"Ah, this...I don't mean that." Jita I said hurriedly: "What I mean is in case...if they attack in..."
Musali said coldly: "If Your Majesty wants to be the Anlehou of the Ming Dynasty, I'm afraid my ancestors will not agree."
Jita I felt a chill in his heart. He looked at the surrounding subjects and soldiers. They all looked like their dead parents. He couldn't help but feel sad. All his strength disappeared and he said feebly: "In that case, I leave everything to General Mu. .”
"Yes, but I need to have full authority to mobilize all the manpower available in Phnom Penh City, otherwise..."
"Give it all to you, give it all to you." Jita I waved his hands with haggard energy, exhaled a long breath, shook his head and said: "I'll leave it all to you, I...I will be waiting for your news in the Grand Palace. ." As he said that, he took out half of the tiger talisman from his arms and stuffed it into Musali's arms without looking at it.
Needless to say, this half tiger talisman is a token of mobilization of the imperial guards.
Musali's heart was hot, but his face was solemn. He raised his hands and said in a very clear manner: "I...obey the order." According to the customs in Cambodia at this time, Musali, a minister with "Chinese" descent, can At certain times, you can salute with raised hands instead of kneeling like the Khmer people.
King Gita I didn't bother to pay attention to this at all. When he stuffed the tiger talisman into Musali's arms, he turned around and staggered away with the support of two eunuchs.
All the civil servants followed him in despair. Occasionally, two or three generals looked at the half of the tiger talisman and seemed to have something to say, but when they saw Musali with extremely cold eyes, they finally shut up with trembling hearts.
Soldiers are the bravest of generals. Now all the armies in Phnom Penh must obey Musali's command. Who dares to disobey him at this time? These generals, who no longer have military power, dare not go against Musali at this time no matter what.
Now that we are in this situation, if you are accused of disrupting the morale of the army, we will kill you. Even not only you, but your whole family, no one can escape.
Everyone is a soldier, who doesn't know the secrets here?
The Ming army has completed correcting the firing parameters and is now about to begin the first round of formal shelling.
Musali looked at the garrison artillery position with a serious face, and conveyed a series of orders in a professional manner, all of which were to mobilize troops to strengthen the city defense. By the way, he also gave instructions to temporarily repair the damage to the three city walls just now.
But all this is just an illusion, or it is the last performance he showed to the civil and military officials in Phnom Penh. After giving these instructions, he went to his White Tiger Festival Hall for "intensive arrangements".
Tight scheduling is real, it's just a matter of scheduling how to present the city. He completely removed the 8,000 Royal Guards from the defense of the inner city and replaced them with 500 of his own soldiers. Faced with the questions raised by the generals of the Royal Guards, he just said expressionlessly: "The battle situation is so obvious. Don't you guys still see it?" Are you coming out? If the outer city is lost now, the inner city cannot be saved no matter what. In this case, the Royal Forest Army will naturally come out to guard. As for the palace in the inner city... the five hundred personal soldiers of this general are enough, and there is no need for more. It makes sense.”
Originally, several of the generals of the Royal Guards wanted to ask him, "Why not leave five hundred Royal Guards to guard the Grand Palace?" But after thinking about it, they decided to forget it - Musali was right, the situation was already like this, so what's the point of arguing about it? use?
In the eyes of these generals of the Royal Forest Army, it was impossible for Musali, the general of Phnom Penh, to surrender to the enemy. If he wanted to surrender to the enemy, he could do so in Kampong Chhnang. Why did he throw himself into a trap and come to Phnom Penh? Could it be that Phnom Penh is a geomantic treasure land and it would be more comfortable to die in Phnom Penh than in Kampong Chhnang?
What's more, he has more than 40,000 troops in Kampong Chhnang. Even if he surrenders to the enemy, it will be more meaningful if he surrenders like this, right? When we arrived in Phnom Penh, the most important person became His Majesty the King. No matter what, Musali could not be more important than His Majesty the King in the eyes of the Ming army.
So although everyone was still a little confused, they still obeyed the order. The Imperial Guards quickly withdrew from the inner city amidst the rumble of cannons from the outer city and came to the outer city to help defend the city.
Outside the city, Liu Xin looked at the artillery team taking turns shelling with a normal expression, but she also had some doubts in her heart: Could it be that something unexpected happened? It stands to reason that such a huge cannon should be able to scare the powerful people in Phnom Penh just by placing it in front of the formation. Why did Musali still not respond after three rounds of volleys were fired intermittently after the test firing?
Is Gita I going to cling to the military power of the Imperial Guard until the end of his life, or is Musali just pretending to surrender before, and everything is nonsense?
But at this moment, the Japanese soldiers who had been preparing to go out suddenly got on their horses. Liu Xin turned around and saw that a general of the Liu Family Army ordered the surrender of the Japanese soldiers and asked them to prepare to seize the city gate. He trotted towards Liu Xin in a hurry and shouted: "Miss, city gate." Open it, the crest hanging on the tower is the family emblem of the Musali family!"
Liu Xin breathed a sigh of relief, waved her jade hand, and shouted: "Jiang Wa Yiding quickly occupied the city gate, and the third regiment of Jinggang Guards followed with bayonet! The artillery team adjusted its direction, but it was not allowed to fire at will!"
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PS: This chapter is a normal update. Tomorrow will be the same as today, and there will be an additional chapter for the leader.
