Chapter 96: Destroyed
Faced with this situation, Song Sheng could only give up the fight for the important areas outside Yulin.
Put the cavalry on the second line to maintain the connection between Yulin and the rear.
This is the line of life and death in Yulin, and it must not be cut off.
Once cut off, Yulin will truly become an isolated city.
However, Qu Neng did not intend to completely surround the enemy. Instead, they attacked Yulin from three directions.
Countless artillery positions began to be deployed under the city.
All the peripheral fronts outside Yulin City began to exchange fire with the Northern Army in an instant.
The city wall serves as the core of the city's offensive and defensive battles. It can no longer be used as the core in the age of firearms. Because the city wall was too easily destroyed. There are already signs of this trend.
Song Sheng didn't know if he felt this. But when he was fighting, he did not completely stick to Yulin City. Instead, he set up many peripheral camps outside Yulin City.
Trench wooden fences, artillery, firecrackers, a series of rockets, and even many self-igniting mines were buried in some places.
The layout of several highlands on the periphery has been strengthened. as an important support. ap.
Qu Neng's way to deal with it was to charge the cavalry after the artillery bombardment, and then the cavalry to charge back and the infantry to advance.
Especially with the help of the railway, several thousand kilograms of heavy artillery were transported to the front line. It’s hard to say which one of these cannons is heavier than the Byzantine cannons that defeated Byzantium in history. Anyway, when this artillery was designed, the load-carrying capacity of the railway was taken into consideration. Even so, when crossing Yanshan Mountain, soldiers once had to get down to push the cart before they could get over.
However, it is definitely the ultimate in power.
That is the ultimate in black powder.
This is how powerful black powder is.
He Xi has used many methods to purify black gunpowder. Under his guidance, the black gunpowder produced in Beijing is far more powerful than Nanjing. But that's all. Black powder has its limitations.
It's not that He Xi didn't come up with better gunpowder.
But He Xi couldn't do it.
On black gunpowder, Ming Dynasty has a foundation. Historically, Qi Jiguang's black powder was quite powerful. He Xi just gave some tips, which was enough to increase the power of black powder by several levels. Moreover, Beijing had a complete advantage in gunpowder.
Cheap raw materials from Ryukyu, Japan, are constantly coming to Beijing, and in terms of cost, they are far better than Nanjing.
This is not a priority.
Most importantly, there is no talent.
The replacement of gunpowder requires the cultivation of sufficient chemical talents. But He Xi had worked hard for so many years before he could build a steam engine. It can be said that other mechanical improvements were all due to the technology spillover from the steam engine project.
He Xi simply does not have enough talents to solve other problems.
So this can only be left alone.
Therefore, due to various chemical restrictions, there is no qualified primer, which limits the development of firearms, such as explosive ammunition. He Xi had always wanted it, but he could only have the kind of explosive bullet with a match rope. Control the explosion time by controlling the length of the fuse.
But He Xi always rejected this plan.
Nothing else, because this plan cannot guarantee whether the shell will explode in the barrel.
He Xi has always learned from history, that is, unqualified firearms cannot be used by soldiers. Otherwise, once the subordinates are disgusted with them and form a mental inertia, even good things will be difficult to implement in the future.
Of course, the most important reason is that the demand for explosive ammunition is not that high. Because, on the battlefield, the Northern Army always has the advantage in firepower.
It's the same today.
Facing the fortified camp built by the Confederate army, countless cannons turned into demolition teams, roaring, so the camp became fragmented. Cannons opened up roads for the army, and then a large number of cavalry rushed in.
Although there are ravines, there are still many obstacles. However, the artillery made gaps one after another, and the Confederate army in the camp could not recover for a while, but the cavalry rushed through quite quickly. Not waiting yet
They organize.
The Union cavalry had already rushed in.
A large number of cavalry rushed in, and the originally fragmented Confederate army became even more unorganized.
Randomly, a large number of Northern infantrymen rushed in with bayonets drawn.
However, Qin soldiers have endured hard battles since ancient times. The Confederate army, which was forced into a desperate situation, gritted its teeth in the position and fought for the whole day before conquering this place.
Of course there are casualties. But Qu Neng had experienced hundreds of battles and knew that this was not the time to feel sorry for the soldiers. Meetings were held overnight, experiences were summed up, and arrangements were made. Just one day later, they launched another attack on another camp.
Qu Neng found that if he was caught in a melee fight, the bayonet would still be a bit thin.
So he transferred a batch of armor from the warehouse. He also selected people who were good at fighting from the entire army and formed a Tiaodang group.
Dancing soldiers is actually a tradition of the Chinese Army. This organization existed in the Tang, Song and even Ming dynasties. However, He Xi was deleted in the military reform. Jumping soldiers are the elite who charge into battle.
This dancing group. There are not many people. But they are all sturdy men, wearing heavy armor, and can still walk like flying. After the cavalry rushed in, the provocateurs entered, and in hand-to-hand combat, they were almost invincible. Of course, if you let a fire gun hit your chest, it would be fatal.
Therefore, the Tiaodang regiment must also cooperate with ordinary soldiers to attack.
In short, it was just one battle after another.
There are almost no bells and whistles, just artillery against artillery, blood against blood.
And in such a collision. The Confederate army failed every time. Under Song Sheng's organization, the most brutal offensive and defensive battle took place on an unknown highland outside the north gate of Yulin City. Almost a little bumpkin. The city gate of Yulin is no more than a mile away.
It was here that the two sides fought for it several times.
Gein placed heavy artillery here so that it could be aimed directly at the north gate of Yulin City. The Yulin City Wall was determined not to withstand such a bombardment.
However, the situation is stronger than the person.
After folding in a commander.
Song Sheng could only give up the fight for this place.
After this stronghold was abandoned, other strongholds outside the city also fell one after another or withdrew into the city. The Northern Army marched close to the outside of Yulin City on three sides. It was like a big hand holding Yulin City tightly.
It left Yulin City breathless.
Song Sheng was also out of breath. He ordered and asked: "What's going on over there in Shanxi? Aren't the reinforcements coming yet?"
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The nearest reinforcements to Yulin are not in Guanzhong, but in Shanxi.
At this moment, Shanxi's leader is Zhao Yong.
Zhao Yong understood very well that if there were no problems in northern Shaanxi and Shanxi relied on northern Shaanxi, even if it faced enemies on three sides, there would not be too many problems. However, if Yulin is broken. If northern Shaanxi is in danger, then Shanxi will be in danger.
How could Zhao Yong be unwilling to rescue Yulin?
He was more than willing to rescue.
At this moment, he brought tens of thousands of troops to Pianguan.
Although tens of thousands of troops are not many. But it is already the mobile force that the entire Shanxi can squeeze out.
The battle at Sanggan River almost broke the backbone of the Shanxi Army. It can be said that the elite of the Taiyuan Army were thrown outside Yanmen Pass. After a year, under Zhao Yong, the Shanxi Army also recovered a lot. But the problem is that the situation in Shanxi has deteriorated too quickly.
Shanxi needs to deploy a lot of troops and horses to the southern Shanxi area to prevent the Northern Army that entered Huaiqing Mansion from attacking the Shangdang area from the north, thus besieging Shanxi from several sides.
That would be too dangerous for Zhao Yong.
And it's not just dangerous stuff.
Under this situation, Nanjing's support for Shanxi was intermittent, and there was also interception from Henan and Shaanxi. The distance from Nanjing to Shanxi is too long. Shanxi has become a de facto stepmother. Especially firearms. At this time when firearms are being updated very quickly. Shanxi firearms have retained the style of Hongwu years.
The Shanxi region also thought about establishing its own ironworks.
But Nanjing does not allow it. This makes the Shanxi Army's combat effectiveness almost stand still.
In fact, this is the normal state. But the problem is that now that the combat effectiveness of both the Southern and Northern armies is improving, the Shanxi Army is standing still and seems to be lagging behind.
No matter what the situation of the Shanxi Army was, Zhao Yong could not let the Northern Army break Yulin. It was just because of the army's combat effectiveness. Don't even think about plans such as attacking Datong or even attacking Beijing. It is simply impossible.
All he could do was to cross the Yellow River to rescue Yulin, but now, Zhao Yong suddenly found that crossing the Yellow River was a difficult task.
Because the Northern Army actually had the Yellow River Navy.
