After thinking deeply, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, was very appreciative of Zhang Cheng's arrangement. He even asked: "General Zhongchen's arrangement method is to imitate Mr. Xuanhu's attack on the city by Xu Wendinggong?"
Zhang Cheng replied: "When I was serving under Lu Duchen, Julu fought fiercely with the Tatars, so he used this method to arrange the trenches and low walls, which made it difficult for the Tatars to use their cavalry advantage, and it was quite beneficial to stick to it.
But I don’t know that Mr. Xuanhu, Mr. Xu Wending, also used this method! "
In fact, the gun city mentioned by Hong Chengchou was a triangular three-story hollow enemy tower proposed by Xu Guangqi and his companion Matteo Ricci during the Wanli period.
However, the gun city proposed by Xu Guangqi is indeed extremely difficult to build. It needs to be built with large stones as the foundation, and the city walls must be built extremely strong and thick. It is divided into three floors. The lower floor houses huge gun cannons, and the middle and upper floors are successively built. It is getting smaller and smaller, and can also be regarded as one of the bastions.
Although Zhang Cheng's design also used geometric defense methods, it was quite crude. It basically used local materials. The earth taken out from digging trenches was used to build a low wall, and it was nothing more than adding some large wood for reinforcement. yes.
Outsiders didn't know the inside story. They mostly thought that Zhang Cheng's troops relied on these criss-crossing trenches and low walls to have the confidence to withstand the Tatar attack for three to five days.
But Zhang Cheng knew that his greatest reliance was actually the brave and brave soldiers under his command, as well as the self-made exquisite Yunzhou Type 2 flintlock muskets, and finally these seemingly intricate trench and low wall defense systems.
Without the bravery and bravery of the soldiers under his command, no matter how powerful the defensive methods he designs, no matter how effective the protection is, no matter how many and sharp the guns and cannons are, and the army has no fighting spirit, it will all be in vain.
Moreover, although the geometric defense system he proposed seems very simple, it is just digging trenches and building walls, and it is even a bit inconspicuous.
However, it involves complex civil engineering, and the distances between trenches and low walls must be calculated in advance to maximize the benefits for oneself and only inconvenience for the Tatar thieves.
In particular, the spaces and passages that intersect between the low walls of the trenches must not only be accurately measured, but also must be familiar to the soldiers of each team in advance after repair, so that they can quickly attack and withdraw quickly in war, and come and go like the wind. Only in this way can we be surprised and reduce our own casualties.
Zhang Ruoqi and other civil servants strongly agreed with Zhang Cheng's design after careful consideration. Everyone agreed that Zhang Cheng's design would cost less and be more effective. It would not require major civil engineering work and build a solid wall.
All you need to do is let the soldiers do the excavation, and you can even let the civilian men who follow the army do it. After all, every town recruits civilian men to accompany the army. They do some hard work on weekdays and make fires for cooking. This is the matter of digging soil and building walls. , exactly what they do.
Moreover, they have done it here, and if the effect is really good, it will be easy to promote it among the generals in every town.
Zuo Guangxian, the chief soldier of the Chinese Association's branch training, was also extremely excited and looked eager to try.
He was ordered to take charge of the defense of Xingshan and lead his troops to garrison Wudaoling. At this time, he was thinking that he could also arrange it like this on Wudaoling. With trenches and low walls, they decided to wait for Changling. After the mountain fortification is completed, go back and draw the gourd in the same way.
However, the Xuanbei Army's defense line in Changling Mountain now requires a lot of artillery to cooperate with the defense. Zhang Cheng left the left part of the camp's carriage to Chen Zheng's use. Each of the one hundred large carriages here is equipped with a The No. 5 small Folan cannon and ten muskets.
Moreover, Chen Zheng's tank fleet in Dushi Camp also has twenty No. 4 Fran machine cannons, ten sets of rocket boxes, dozens of other squatting cannons and mortar cannons, and twenty flying cannons. gun.
However, Zhang Cheng heard that during the encounter between Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, and the Tatars in Xingshan, his army's muskets showed great skill and killed many enemies.
However, his army was not equipped with such a killing weapon. He thought to himself: It seems that there is still a lot worth exploring in Ming Dynasty's technology. Many weapons are not equipped in his own army.
Therefore, Zhang Cheng specifically requested Hong Duchen's support to provide him with some muskets and rocket boxes, as well as gunpowder and cannons, to be deployed on the Changling Mountain defense line. Hong Chengchou readily agreed.
At this time, there were not many Hongyi artillery among the armies of the Ming Dynasty, but there were still many small artillery pieces such as tiger crouching artillery, mortar artillery, and Baizi blunderbuss in important areas in border towns.
In fact, this is also true. According to the relevant records after the Battle of Songshan in history, among the ten questions asked by Zhang Jinyan about the siege of Songjin, the military department mentioned the tanks used by the Ming army during the Battle of Songshan. There are more than 2,000 vehicles and more than 2,000 artillery pieces, and there are all kinds of light and heavy vehicles, as well as large and small cannons.
Moreover, in history, until Songshan City was attacked, the Qing army captured more than 150 general cannons from the city, more than 4,000 cannons used by the general cannons, and as much gunpowder as More than ten rooms.
When the Qing army broke through the Xingshan and Tashan forts, they also captured more than 400 large and small general cannons, as well as tens of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder and cannon balls.
It can be seen that the Ming army in Liaodong actually had no shortage of various types of small artillery. Hong Chengchou agreed on the spot to support Zhang Cheng's command with fifty muskets, one hundred rocket boxes, and many gunpowder and cannons.
Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, also promised that depending on the future war situation in the direction of Xingshan, he might be provided with additional cannons, gunpowder and other assistance.
After all, the Changling Mountain Defense Line guards the Songxing Road. In the future, the army will be stationed in Songshan, and most of the required food and grass will be transported through here. Now Hong Chengchou and other officers and generals have also attached great importance to it!
Qiu Minyang, the governor of Liaodong, was responsible for transporting grain and fodder for the army. Therefore, many young men and women who accompanied the army, as well as local civilians in Liaodong, were also under his unified management.
After Zhang Cheng coordinated and discussed with Qiu Minyang, he agreed to dispatch some civilian laborers to assist Chen Zheng in building trenches and low walls on the Changling Mountain defense line. However, the transshipment of grain and fodder was also an urgent matter, so he could not dispatch too many civilian laborers. However, Seven or eight thousand people can still be guaranteed.
In order to fully mobilize the enthusiasm and enthusiasm of these civilians, Zhang Cheng immediately arranged for people to say that for all the civilians who came to help dig trenches and build walls, the Xuanbei Army would not only provide them with food every day, but also provide them with food. Each person was given two cents of silver.
As soon as the news spread, people from all over the country flocked to the place, and their number greatly exceeded the seven or eight thousand people promised by Governor Qiu Minyang.
But the civilians, greedy for food and money, came to help the army one after another, and he couldn't stop him. He had to ask the officials and generals below to take good care of them. After the trenches and low walls were completed, he immediately organized the civilians to go back to transport food and fodder.
As dusk approached, Chen Zheng had already recruited more than ten thousand civilians here. They eliminated some old and weak people, leaving only the young and strong, and many more people were rushing towards the recruitment site.
Most of these civilians were locals from Liaodong, and some were military men who came with the army from Jibei. Most of them were from the same town and village. They had complicated accents, and none of them were literate.
This was also the national situation of the Ming Dynasty at that time. Chen Zheng was accustomed to it and didn't care at all. Depending on the number of people in his hometown and village, he organized a team of fifty or a hundred people into a team, forming a total of more than a hundred teams. The people and the army are strong.
