The high platform where Chen Zheng is located is located due north of the Changling Mountain defense line of the Xuanfu Army. It is located on a flat piece of land on the mountainside. This wooden platform was built later to facilitate observation of the situation in the north.
Chen Zheng held up his telescope and looked to the north. In the far northeast, there seemed to be some shadows of flags dangling. However, they were too far away to see clearly.
However, combined with the beacon cannon just fired, the flag looming in the distance must be that of the Tatars!
From the telescope, he also saw a group of red-armored elite cavalry, numbering twenty or thirty, running rapidly towards the mountain. It was Zhao Ruliang and other Chinese cavalry that had just been dispatched.
Suddenly, Chen Zheng saw two knights on war horses, who seemed to be lying on their backs instead of riding on them. His heart skipped a beat. He was afraid that his cavalry might have suffered another casualty.
At this time, Tian Mingyu, the general manager of the left department, and Du Chungang, the general manager of the left department of the carriage, came to the high platform together. Tian Mingyu reported before leaving: "General, we have arranged everything properly, and are on strict guard everywhere. The wooden planks on the ditch are They were all withdrawn, and all the artillery, large and small, were loaded.
Everything is ready, all it takes is this dog Tatar to hit his head with blood! "
Chen Zheng nodded and asked Du Chungang: "Is the carriage camp ready?"
"Don't worry, General Chen. This side will bear the brunt. I just inspected it and everything is in place. Just as Mr. Tian Qian said, we are just waiting for the Tatars to come." Du Chungang also answered with confidence.
Tian Mingyu's left section is responsible for guarding the northeastern slope, Zhou Ping's right section is responsible for guarding the southeastern slope, and Song Shanquan, the central Qianzong commander, leads troops to station behind them, not only guarding the second line of defense, but also guarding the southeastern slope. You can attack at any time to support these two places.
Du Chungang's chariots were deployed at various defense lines. Most of them were lined up at the gaps in the trench walls. They could fire artillery on the chariots and seal the gaps in the trench walls in an emergency.
Just now, Du Chungang and Tian Mingyu inspected the position in the northeast corner and came to the high platform to look for Zhang Cheng. At this time, he clasped his fists and saluted: "General Chen, there is nothing going on here. The Tatars will still have some time to fight." Come, I'll go on a patrol somewhere else so that the boys can be more energetic."
Not long after Du Chung left, Zhao Ruliang, the cavalry commander of Chen Zheng's Dushi Infantry Battalion, came galloping towards him. He had just arrived at the high platform, and before he could even get off his horse, he shouted: "General, it is indeed the Tatars who are coming. We were almost captured by an ambushed Tatar sentry before we even saw the main group."
At this time, he turned over and dismounted, and walked up to the high platform with strode "thump thump thump". As soon as he reached the top, he announced again: "General, we also captured a Tatar alive. Unfortunately, we also lost a brother. , and three more were injured.”
Zhao Ruliang's expression turned out to be somewhat silent after he spoke, but more importantly, he was unwilling to be stubborn.
Chen Zheng took a few steps forward, patted him on the shoulder as a gesture of comfort, and then asked: "Have you checked the student? Which Tartars are here, and how many troops are there?"
"Go back to the general, we are reviewing them below. However, looking at the Tatars' armor, they should be horsemen with white flags. However, we don't know the specific number of men and horses yet." Zhao Ruliang replied one by one.
Chen Zheng waved his hand and ordered him to go down and wait for orders. He walked to the edge of the high platform, looked at the direction where the captives were coming, and thought to himself: "We are finally here, let's have a good fight!"
…………
In the wilderness, countless armored cavalry were galloping towards them in a dark mass, the sound of their hooves rolling like thunder.
As far as the eye could see, the Tatar bandits and soldiers rushed from far away in the vast land to the Xingshan Fort several miles away. They actually turned a blind eye to the Changling Mountain that lay beside the Songxing Avenue.
This scene made Chen Zheng and others who were watching from the high platform on the mountainside feel confused. They had made a hundred assumptions about how to deal with the Tatars.
However, he did not consider what would happen if the Tatars turned a blind eye to him!
Tian Ming was unable to keep his temper when he encountered the first one. He asked in a naive voice: "General, why don't we lead some people to rush here so that we can lure the Tatars over?"
Fortunately, after Chen Zheng has grown up in the past few years, he has become much more stable than when he first joined the Wei Qinwang. He calmly stopped him and said: "There is no rush, let's wait and see. Anyway, our army is stationed in Changling Mountain, and the Tatars are not here either." If you dare to attack Xingshan freely, it will still be safe."
Although Tian Mingyu was still a little anxious, the general's words were military orders, and he had to obey them.
At this time, Chen Zheng said to him again: "Roughly estimated, the number of Tatars must have exceeded 20,000. This is the first time for the officers and soldiers in our camp to encounter so many Tatars. When you go to patrol the camp again, you must be good at boosting morale. Don’t let the sons and daughters panic.”
Looking at the long dragon-like Tatar cavalry in the wilderness, it seems that they can never see the end. They have no idea how many people there are. Even Tian Mingyu, who has also experienced the battle of Julu, is a little uneasy.
"The slave thieves are powerful!"
Chen Zheng also had this thought in his heart, but as the commander-in-chief of an army, he had to calm down and deal with it calmly.
When he thought about it, there were more than 10,000 Tatar soldiers and horses, and there might even be 20,000 people, and there were even rare unarmored knights among the Tatar cavalry.
Obviously, almost all of them were armored soldiers, and at worst, they were just remnants of other flags. Apart from the groups of knights with white flags, some knights with messy armor could also be seen occasionally.
However, there are no unarmored slaves like those seen in the Battle of Julu in the eleventh year of Chongzhen, or those coated servants?
If so many Tatar cavalry were to attack Changling Mountain that he was guarding, Chen Zheng actually had no idea whether he could hold it!
But one thing he firmly believed was that no matter how many troops the Tatars had, they would still be bruised and bloody in this place in Changling Mountain.
The difference is that if there are enough Tatars, they may be able to capture the Changling Mountain defense line after making great sacrifices, but then they will no longer be able to attack other fortresses around Xingshan.
But if the Tatars don't have enough troops, or they can't bear the huge sacrifice, I'm afraid they won't even be able to break through the defense line in Changling Mountain.
After all, although the mountains are not small, the only two slopes suitable for attacking the mountains are the northeast and southeast slopes of Chen Zheng's defense line.
Even if there are hundreds of thousands of Tatar thieves, they cannot all be thrown into the battle to attack the mountain at once. They must use the tactic of adding fuel, adding troops bit by bit, and advancing bit by bit.
…………
Seeing that it was already dark, smoke was rising everywhere on Changling Mountain, and the soldiers of the Xuanfu Army's Dushi Infantry Battalion hurriedly had breakfast in a tense atmosphere.
On the high platform, Chen Zheng simply ate a steamed bun with broth.
At this moment, the Tatar army also began to form formation at the foot of the mountain. After a cursory look, there were over ten thousand Tatars at the foot of the mountain, and this was only a part of them.
These more than 10,000 Tatars have almost surrounded Changling Mountain on three sides, with only the west and south location. Due to the many steep cliffs, not only the Tatars cannot attack from here, but even Chen Zheng and others cannot go down the mountain from here. .
There are nearly 10,000 Tatar soldiers who are currently outside Xingshan Castle, forming a formation around the city, as if they are going to attack the city.
Chen Zheng looked intently at the Changling Mountain defense line he was guarding. Behind the three waves of trench walls in front, gun soldiers were waiting in full formation. On the other side of the gun soldiers, there were sword and shield soldiers and spearmen with their backs against the stone wall. Recharge your batteries and wait for the order to attack in a bloody battle.
Among the Xuanfu battalions under Zhang Cheng, the proportion of gunners accounted for almost 50%, almost equal to the number of infantry soldiers.
In addition, in each infantry camp, there is a cavalry unit with 150 knights, and a chariot unit to support firepower and carry certain supplies.
It can be said that among all the armies of the Ming Dynasty, the battalions of the Xuanfu Army were not only well-equipped, but also reasonably equipped, well-drilled and many other reasons, which contributed to the reputation of the Ming Dynasty's strongest army!
Just like Chen Zheng's arrangement, three thousand headquarters formed the first and second wave of defense lines. They could rescue each other, cover each other, and retreat in sequence.
The cavalry commander and chariot commander of the Chinese army combined to form the third wave of defense, which was the core defense circle of the Monolith Infantry Battalion.
At this moment, the core main camp on Changling Mountain has been completed.
They are all built with large solid rocks. The walls are concave and convex, and at intervals, a tower or crenel is built, and various large and small artillery are installed.
In this way, a multiple strike force of crossfire was formed against the mountain-attacking slave thieves!
In the two turrets in the southeast and northeast of the core defense wall on the top of the mountain, four red barbarian cannons lent to Zhang Cheng by Chen Jiugao, the former battalion commander of the Shenji Battalion, were deployed, so that they could bombard the Tatars attacking the mountain from a distance. son.
In addition, Zhang Cheng asked Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, to support Wang Dou Baizi's fifty guns, one hundred rocket boxes, as well as numerous cannons, gunpowder and other supplies.
After Zhang Cheng and others followed Hong Chengchou to the Songshan front line, they asked Hong Chengchou for 50 Baizi guns again. However, Liaodong's inventory of fine firearms such as rocket boxes was not large, so there was no increase.
However, corresponding cannons, gunpowder and other items have increased.
In addition, the granary located on the mountainside and the granary in the core camp on the top of the mountain have been completed long ago, and are now fully loaded, enough to feed Chen Zheng's more than 4,000 people for several months.
The reason why so much grain is stored in Changling Mountain is mainly because Hong Chengchou inspected the Changling Mountain defense line and was shocked by the layout here. He also saw the morale of the Xuanfu Army officers and soldiers.
It is precisely because the defense of Changling Mountain seems to be impregnable. Even if the Tatars really attack, they may not be able to capture it easily, and because the Changling Mountain defense line is located on the edge of Songxing Avenue, which must be used to transport grain.
Therefore, Changling Mountain has become a transfer station for the Ming Dynasty to transport grain to the front line of Songshan. It is like a huge granary. In the core camp here, there are several more granaries that were built later.
At this time, the Ming Dynasty had opened two food routes, sea and land, to meet the needs of the Liaodong war.
The grain baggage brought by sea was first transported to Bijia Mountain between Xingshan and Tashan for storage, and then transferred by the Liaodong Navy to the grain station at the mouth of the Xiaoling River for distribution to the frontline armies.
However, the Liaodong Navy's transportation capacity was limited and could not meet the needs of the front line. Therefore, the grain stored on Bijia Mountain was also transported by land along with the military rations transported by land, and then transferred all the way to the Songshan front line via Songxing Avenue.
However, due to the long distance and the harassment and destruction by Tatar sentries along the way, the Ming Dynasty set up multiple grain transfer stations in the Liaodong area.
That is to say, the grains are first transported to a certain castle in a centralized manner, and then they wait for an opportunity to concentrate their efforts and transfer them to the next place. After several transfers, they can be delivered to the frontline soldiers.
At this moment, the Xuanfu Army garrison in Changling Mountain has undoubtedly become a suitable military food transfer station. A lot of food and grass are continuously transported to Changling Mountain, waiting for transfer again.
In this way, a large number of people transporting food come and go here every day, and because the war is about to begin, there are also many people who helped build the fort defense line and have never left. Now they are also helping with transportation, repairs and other logistical tasks within the defense line. .
Chen Zheng's Dushi Infantry Battalion had a total of two generals and three troops, totaling 3,103 soldiers. The left section of Du Chungang's carriage assigned to Chen Zheng's control had another 1,100 soldiers.
At present, there are more than 4,200 officers and soldiers of the Xuanfu Army stationed in Changling Mountain. Together with some civilians and soldiers, the population here is about 56,700.
…………
Chen Zheng looked away from his own defense line and soldiers.
At this moment, although the Qing soldiers and cavalry were outnumbered, Chen Zheng was still confident of victory. He firmly believed that with the arrangement here, he would be able to defeat the Tartar thieves.
He looked at the smoke and dust billowing in the wilderness at the foot of Changling Mountain, and the thunderous sound of war horse hooves. Finally, a piece of white armor with red armor flags gradually spread to the foot of the mountain.
Surrounding these neat Tatar army horses with white flags, there are some soldiers in different costumes. Most of them wear leather robes and leather hats. There are also some armored knights wearing willow leaf iron armor, bow armor, red tassel hats or flap helmets. .
These are the Mongolian cavalry from foreign vassals who accompanied the Tatar soldiers into battle.
Seeing the darkness at the foot of the mountain and the invisible Tatar armored knights, Chen Zheng didn't know how many troops they had come, but it was definitely more than 10,000 Qing soldiers.
According to the beacon smoke cannon sent from Mao Shi, we can know that the invading Tatars must have more than 10,000 troops. Just now, Chen Zheng saw it with his own eyes. There was also a group of Tatars and cavalry who did not stop here, but continued to attack. Go south.
It was probably heading to Xingshan Castle, so Chen Zheng was not too worried about this.
Because Xingshan Fort is garrisoned by Meng Dao, the commander-in-chief of the Liaodong Association, and the castle there is stronger and there are many artillery and muskets. Although they dare not attack, they are still willing to work hard to defend the city!
Through the identification of flag colors, the Tatars at the foot of Changling Mountain are still mainly Manchurian white flags, supplemented by some remnants of other flags, and thousands of knights from Mongolia.
And a particularly huge banner with a gold-woven dragon banner stands tall in front of the Tatar army formation, which is particularly eye-catching when viewed from a distance.
"With a white flag, could it be that the Tartar Prince Dodo of Yu is here in person?"
Chen Zheng looked down the mountain with his telescope and murmured in his mind, guessing that this towering gold-woven dragon banner should belong to the owner of the white flag, Prince Yu Duduo.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a hint of inexplicable excitement!
