The deafening sound of cannons and cannons continued, and it seemed that the entire outer defense line of the Xuanda camp was shrouded in thick smoke.
No matter how biting the cold wind in winter is, it can't get rid of the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke and blood. Around the Jia Zhuangxuan army camp, soldiers from the Ming and Qing Dynasties were risking their lives to tear apart. Killing.
After the strategy of driving away the captive people of the Ming Dynasty to fill the trenches failed, the Eight Banners sergeants of the Qing army had no choice but to push the shield cart and continue to move forward slowly. They stopped in front of the first trench and picked up the earth baskets and baskets on the ground. The earthbags were constantly thrown over the shield cart.
The Ming army's artillery on the village walls and village walls continued to bombard them, but they never fired a very threatening volley. The Qing army also gradually figured out a pattern. When the artillery bombarded them, they freely dodge, and when the artillery was reloaded, they moved forward. Fill trenches.
The passages reserved by the Ming army were empty everywhere. The Qing army completely bypassed these places and did not even advance their shield vehicles to these places.
Although the Ming army's artillery fired volleys at various village and village walls, the artillery fire roared, but the damage caused to the Qing army was greatly reduced compared to yesterday, and the results were greatly reduced.
Under the urging of the passionate drums, the densely packed Qing soldiers wearing various armors gradually advanced to the second trench. They either carried or pushed the shield car through the first trench with difficulty, and then rushed to the second trench. The trench continued to slowly approach.
The artillery on the walls and walls of the village of Xuan Dajun continued to bombard. Although it caused a certain impact on the Qing army's shield vehicles, it was somewhat insignificant. The Qing army's shield vehicles were densely packed and there were too many.
Zhang Cheng stood on the turret of the south gate and looked around. He felt okay. Although there were many slowly approaching Qing army shield vehicles, they were not a big threat. However, he did not know that at this time, artillery fire was approaching from the east of Jiazhuang. The end of the battle.
The Qing army seemed to have concentrated all its artillery here, and the sound of "boom" could not be heard. Lu Xiangsheng's general Chen Anzheng stood on the wall of the village in disgrace.
The two sides engaged in an artillery battle for nearly half an hour. Many of the earthen walls outside Jiazhuang were blown down by slave thieves. Although many large and small artillery pieces in front of the Qing army's formation were blasted away, Lu Xiangsheng's side generally suffered heavy losses.
Two of the Hongyi cannons under his command exploded, and several more were bombarded. Most of the sergeants had withdrawn into Jiazhuang, and were forced to abandon many of the outer defense lines.
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Fortunately, the firearms used by the Ming army were slightly superior to those of the Qing army in terms of quantity, operation, and firepower. Although under the fierce offensive of the Qing army, all armies retreated and gave up some peripheral positions, but the overall defense line Generally speaking, it's pretty safe.
When the battle reached noon, the Qing army retreated again with the sound of gold. Xuanda's sergeants breathed a sigh of relief. Lu Xiangsheng's military order came from Lu Xiangsheng's side. Each battalion stepped up to cook lunch, and another wave of wounded soldiers were transported off the battlefield.
A simple statistics of the whole morning's battle showed that the Qing army suffered more than a thousand casualties, but the Xuan army also suffered nearly a thousand casualties, and the artillery was more damaged.
In Lu Xiangshengzhong's military tent in Jia Zhuang, Yang Guozhu said in a deep voice: "Supervisor, our army's casualties are increasing day by day due to repeated battles with slaves. If the fighting gets more intense in the afternoon, I'm afraid it won't last long!"
Before Lu Xiangsheng could say anything, Hu Dawei answered: "The slave bandits' offensive was more fierce than yesterday. Four of our army's artillery pieces exploded."
Zhang Cheng immediately answered: "Master Governor, none of us are afraid of death, but a man deserves to die. Even if our entire army is in Mo and Jiazhuang today, can we stop the Tartars from continuing to plunder the mainland of our Ming Dynasty?"
Otherwise, if you lead the army in another direction, you can turn the crisis into safety, and you can also restrain the slaves and thieves so that they don't dare to act recklessly! "
When Lu Xiangsheng heard this, his eyes flashed, but then dimmed. After a long time, he said in a deep voice: "We have received the emperor's favor and we should serve you. Now we are surrounded by slaves and thieves. We should rise up and fight." ,
How can we abandon the camp and run away? In the future, all the princes in the court will be panicking, how will we face the emperor's grace, how will we face our second ancestors? "
Zhang Cheng and others knew that Lu Xiangsheng had made up his mind, so they had no choice but to follow him and fight to the end.
But at this time, there were some subtle changes in my personal thoughts. However, these were no longer relevant to the overall situation. The top priority was how to deal with the battle in the afternoon. The generals had another discussion with Lu Xiangsheng.
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Many soldiers of the Ming army thought that the Qing army would fight like yesterday and then suspend the attack until noon to allow the soldiers on both sides to take a rest, but that was not the case today.
Less than half an hour later, the densely packed shield vehicles of the Qing army began to slowly approach the Jiazhuangxuan army camp. In the turret, it could be faintly seen that the Qing army's shield vehicles were still two levels apart, with a distance of about About a hundred paces.
They advanced slowly and still stopped steadily at a distance of 200 steps.
Suddenly, the first row of shield cars in the north of Jiazhuang quickly staggered to both sides. In those gaps, red barbarian cannons appeared. At a rough look, there were dozens of them, not to mention other Franconian cannons. Machine cannons, mortar cannons, tiger crouching cannons, etc. are even more numerous.
Hu Dawei was secretly frightened. He stood on the wall of Beimen Village and shouted loudly to the people below: "Little Huzi, go and report to the governor. The slaves are attacking the northern front and our army may not be able to hold on."
Hu Zichen, the general who was organizing the sergeants to defend under the wall of the village, heard the sound and hurriedly took the order, then rode his horse towards Lu Xiangsheng's main tent of the Chinese army.
At the same time, the Qing troops outside the south gate also advanced to a distance of 200 steps. They did not have as many artillery pieces as there were in the two places. Instead, the shield vehicles continued to advance slowly, and they crossed the first trench again before they looked at it.
Three steps away from the second trench, the shield car stopped. As the shield car staggered forward and backward, the coated Aha, auxiliary soldiers and followers in each banner, as well as some relatives selected by the Qing army, The people of the Ming Dynasty kept ducking out from behind the chariots.
Two or three of them carried a large long plank, Ku Bu rushed up, and laid the long planks on the trench.
Although the gunmen in Xuan's army opened fire one after another, with explosions and bullets flying, these people were of extremely low status in the Qing army and did not dare to resist even if they were used as cannon fodder.
The archers of the Qing army gathered behind the shield chariot fired shots one after another. Although they did little harm to the Xuan army, they still had to be distracted to avoid them. For a time, the situation was extremely critical.
"Uncle, the Tatar army is several times stronger than mine. If this continues, it will be difficult to defend Jiazhuang."
Zhang Cheng was on the turret, reminding Zhang Yan.
Zhang Yan's face was as cold as iron and he said in a deep voice: "I, Zhang Yan, have received the emperor's favor. At this time of national crisis, I should sacrifice my life to serve the country."
After saying that, he turned around and shouted to his general Lin Zhiyi: "Gather the cavalry and prepare for close combat."
After Lin Zhiyi and Liang Song got off the turret, Zhang Yan turned around and faced Zhang Cheng, with a faint look of sadness in his eyes, and said softly: "Cheng'er, uncle, I have fought all my life, and I have never cared about life and death. It's just that you are the sole child of the Zhang family. , should not die here,
In today's war, we must try our best. If it is really impossible, you must lead your troops to break through the siege and leave. You must not be trapped and die. My Zhang family will be extinct! "
Zhang Cheng hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed Zhang Yan's arm, and said in a deep voice: "Uncle, since we can't do anything, why don't we go together."
Zhang Yan looked at the battlefield outside the village and the Qing army slowly approaching, and said in a deep voice: "Silly boy, my Zhang family has been serving in the army for generations. In this battle with slaves, there must be someone who will be loyal to the country!"
