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He even started to think about learning this defense system.
Not to mention, because the Chu army focused most of their energy on offense, they usually thought about how to attack. Even if they were engaged in defensive operations, they were more inclined to take the initiative to intercept operations. In essence, they were still engaged in offensive operations.
As for the pure city defense system, to be honest, the Chu army's tactical thinking is actually no different from that of the Ming army before. It is nothing more than relying on city walls and artillery for defensive operations.
But the current defense system inside and outside Jiujiang City has inspired many senior generals of the Chu army, especially the staff department.
Many people have already begun to study, extract the advantages, and then try to combine the Chu army's own advantages and disadvantages to create a defense system of their own, and then use it on the northern line.
After all, the northern front is now in a strategic defensive situation, and it faces many main forces of the Ming army. The pressure has never been small, and most of the time it is mainly engaged in defensive operations.
Although the previous defensive operations were quite good, that was the result of the Ming army not launching a large-scale attack at all. This does not mean that the Chu army's defense system was very complete.
Therefore, many generals in the staff believe that it is still necessary to strengthen the Chu army's defensive combat capabilities, and the fortification system and firepower layout inside and outside Jiujiang City are of great reference value.
Luo Zhixue also supported this and even asked Xu Zhixian to set up a special group to study defensive operations in the staff department.
Although the Chu army is mainly attacking externally and expanding a lot, as the Chu army's control area becomes larger and larger, the military strength will definitely become more and more tense.
When the area that needs to be defended is large, it is inevitable to make a choice to maintain the offensive in some areas and the defensive in some areas. Even in some areas and time, the Chu army is very likely to be besieged.
Therefore, it is very necessary to study defensive operations early.
An army must not only be able to attack, but also be able to defend.
——
Although Jiujiang City's defense system was very complete and even exceeded the Chu army's previous expectations, this did not hinder the Chu army's step-by-step preparations for the siege.
On August 7, after completing many preparations, the Chu army officially launched the siege operation.
But unlike traditional siege operations, the Chu army did not directly attack the city wall... and did not send out infantry like in movies and TV shows, stupidly charging up for a long time and directly climbing the city...
In fact, the Chu army could not directly send infantry to attack the city wall at the beginning of the siege.
The numerous trenches, fortresses, parapets and other defensive fortifications built by the Ming army outside the city wall directly blocked the Chu army's infantry.
If the Chu army wanted to attack and climb the city, they could only first conquer the many fortifications of the Ming army outside the city.
However, some of the artillery of the Chu army will bombard the city head, but the bombardment location is limited to the part where the Ming army has deployed artillery on the city head. The Chu army's artillery unit is trying to bombard the Ming army's artillery positions on the city head. , thereby suppressing the firepower of the heavy artillery at the top of the Ming army's city.
Unfortunately, the effect is not obvious.
The Ming army built a very complete artillery position on the city head. In order to build the artillery position and prevent the debris from splashing after the battlements were hit, the Ming army even demolished the battlements in front of the artillery position themselves. …
Instead, there are extremely thick layers of sandbags.
Numerous actual battles have proven that when defending against solid projectile bombardment, thin masonry fortifications are of no use at all. On the contrary, they will cause greater damage to one's side due to splashing.
On the contrary, fortifications made of sand and soil are more effective in defending against solid projectile bombardment, as they can avoid gravel splashing, avoid bouncing and refraction of solid projectiles, etc.
Of course, the premise is that the sandbags are thick enough, and thin sandbag fortifications are useless...
The Chu army first used sandbags as anti-artillery fortifications. Later, the Ming army also learned from it and carried forward the sandbag fortifications. A large number of sandbags were piled around each artillery piece.
The sandbag fortifications on the Ming Army's artillery position at the top of Jiujiang City are several meters thick. Even if the solid shells of the Chu Army's nine-pound field artillery hit accurately, it would be difficult to directly destroy such fortifications with one shot. .
As for hitting the same place multiple times, it depends too much on the skill of the Chu army's gunners and the hit rate performance of the Chu army's nine-pound field artillery.
To be able to hit one shot hundreds of meters away is already a stroke of luck, and to hit the same part accurately multiple times. With this ability, the Chu army would have been in the sky a long time ago. Why would they fight with the Ming army...
Field artillery cannot achieve success in a short period of time, and the shelling effect of mortar artillery is not great.
The hit rate of mortars these days is still too poor, even though the Chu army had ventured through the trench to deploy a batch of 18-pound mortars close by, and even went to great lengths to get eight 48-pound mortars.
But when shelling at a distance of three to four hundred meters, the hit rate is still very impressive.
With a limited hit rate, it is difficult for the mortar's shells to directly hit the gun emplacement.
At the same time, the anti-artillery fortifications in the Ming army's artillery positions were too thick. They were all ring-shaped sandbag fortifications. This ring-shaped fortifications could effectively protect against the impact fragments and fragments produced by mortar shells falling around them.
What's even more disgusting is that there are thick roof fortifications on top of these heavy artillery fortifications.
This kind of roof fortification can effectively defend against the fragments of volley explosions.
During the bombardment that morning, the Chu army launched a fierce bombardment on the Ming army's heavy artillery position on the top of the city, but the effect was not great. Until the afternoon, the dozen or so heavy artillery on the top of the Ming army's city were still firing slowly and calmly. continued firing to counterattack.
Of course, the Ming army's heavy artillery counterattack did not achieve much results.
The infantry of the Chu army did not form a dense formation to charge at all. Instead, they deployed scattered and attacked the Ming army's trench fortress outside the city with the cooperation of artillery units. Most of the time, they attacked and fought in the trenches.
The Chu army would not foolishly come out and serve as a target for the Ming army.
The Chu army used some mortars and field artillery to bombard the Ming army's heavy artillery at the top of the city, but it had no effect. The more than ten Ming army heavy artillery at the top of the city also had no effect.
In addition to wasting ammunition, both sides were fighting alone.
However, this was only limited to the shelling operations surrounding the Ming army's heavy artillery units at the top of the city.
But the battles in other directions, especially in trenches and fortresses outside the city, were extremely cruel and bloody!
In the morning of August 7, although the Chu army mobilized some artillery to bombard the Ming army's heavy artillery troops at the top of the city, more artillery and a large number of infantry still launched a fierce attack on the Ming army's defensive positions outside the city.
Outside the west gate of Jiujiang City, the Ming army built complex defenses with four large fortresses as the core, more than a dozen small fortresses and numerous trenches.
All of these fortresses, without exception, are built with extremely thick sand and soil, which can protect them from shelling by solid bullets and even mortars to a certain extent.
There are also special anti-gun holes in many trenches.
What's more important is that artillery is basically deployed in these fortresses!
There are two and a half kilogram field guns deployed in four large fortresses, and the terrain is condescending. With the cooperation of the four large fortresses, the firepower of the two and a half kilogram field guns deployed on them can almost cover the entire battlefield outside the West City.
If the Chu army wants to launch an attack from the West City Gate area, they must first pull out these four large fortresses no matter what.
As for attacking by detours from other city gates, they are actually similar. The Ming army built dense fortresses and trenches in almost all four city gates.
Otherwise, Luo Zhixue would not think that there is a hedgehog in Jiujiang City, which makes it difficult for people to deal with it.
Facing the hedgehog-like Jiujiang city defense, what did the Chu army do?
What else can be done...
Use more artillery to bombard!
No matter how thick these fortifications are, they cannot withstand the continuous bombardment of nine-pound, five-pound field guns, and forty-eight-pound mortars.
As long as there are enough artillery pieces and enough artillery shells fired, these fortresses can always be blown to pieces.
As for sneak attacks, night attacks, and letting elite infantry perform various exquisite assaults... I'm sorry, this has never been what the Chu army is good at. If you do this, you might be found by the Ming army on the opposite side. Opportunity to fight back.
The Chu army clearly has hundreds of artillery and cannonballs piled up like mountains. Even a little bit of grinding can wear away these fortresses. Why should the soldiers take risks with unpredictable consequences?
It's okay to win, but if the sneak attack fails, Luo Zhixue will be very sad to lose a large number of elite infantrymen.
After all, those who can be sent out to carry out such assault missions are all elite infantry in the Chu army, and it is not easy to train these elite infantry. They are all accumulated experience in battles and trained through continuous training every day. They are better than new recruits. They are much more valuable. There is no need to use these elite infantry as cannon fodder unless absolutely necessary.
Therefore, the Chu army's attack on the first day, just judging from the sound, was definitely huge!
Hundreds of artillery pieces continued to fire, and coupled with the Ming army's artillery counterattack, the rumbling sound of artillery continued from the morning until the afternoon.
But if you look at the scene, you can basically not see the dense crowd except for the thick smoke and explosion fire.
Because soldiers on both sides spent most of their time hiding in the trenches and would not show their faces at all!
Only when the infantry of the Chu army launches a final attack on a certain section of the Ming army's trenches or fortresses will soldiers from both sides appear on the ground and engage in melee.
However, the scale of this kind of battle is generally very small, basically concentrated in the scale of about a hundred people, and there has never even been a battalion-level battle of five or six hundred people.
However!
This seemingly small-scale battle is actually very bloody and frequent!
Outside the west gate of Jiujiang, in a Chu army position closest to the Yangtze River in the north!
Hundreds of Chu soldiers wearing gray full-body cloth armor and holding knives, spears, or muskets were standing quietly in the trench!
A young officer who also wore armor but had captain's epaulettes on his shoulders was looking at several flags on the left rear.
That's the flag of their 24th Infantry Regiment!
After the flag signal fell, a sergeant next to the young captain said: "Report to the captain, the regiment headquarters informed that in five minutes our artillery unit will conduct intensive shelling on the enemy's No. 1 fortress in front of our unit. The regiment commander has ordered, After the rapid-fire artillery bombardment, our assault post immediately launched an attack to seize the small fortress No. 1 and open a gap to cooperate with the main force of the regiment and the division's assault battalion to capture the large fortress No. 3."
The captain immediately nodded slightly: "Reply to the letter, our sentry will launch an attack after the bombardment is over!"
Then he took two steps and walked up to a young lieutenant who was also wearing armor: "Lieutenant Li, immediately check the preparations of the brothers."
Lieutenant Li immediately asked: "Song Shao, is this about to attack?"
Captain Song nodded slightly: "Yes, the regiment commander has ordered us to launch a charge after the bombardment is over and seize the small fortress No. 1 on the opposite side to open a gap for the subsequent main force to attack the large fortress No. 3."
After Lieutenant Li heard this, the young face under the helmet showed a hint of caution and said at the same time: "I'll go right away!"
Captain Song said 'hmm', and then went to the 18-pound mortar emplacement nearby, and said to one of the sergeants: "Zhao Laoer, there will be an artillery attack on the area in front of you later, please pay attention to it." See if there are any fish that have slipped through the net, especially the artillery that poses a greater threat. If there is, don’t ask for instructions and just fire.”
As he spoke, Captain Song paused for a moment: "More than a hundred of our brothers will rush forward later. If you kill a few more people, we can save a few lives. Be more accurate."
Zhao Laoer, who is about thirty years old, short, stocky, and dark-faced, is not wearing full armor like other soldiers. At this time, he is wearing a gray cloth military uniform, only a helmet, and a gun in his mouth. A grass root.
After hearing Captain Song's words, Zhao Laoer grinned and showed a pair of yellow teeth full of gaps: "Master Song, don't worry, I, Zhao Laoer, have been playing with cannons for several years, and I have been playing with this 18-pound mortar for more than half a year. , I dare not say it is too far away, but now it is only more than ten feet away, so it must be somewhere to hit!"
"Don't worry, my 18-pound cannon will definitely kill those fish that slip through the net!"
Captain Song reached out and patted his shoulder, nodded and said no more.
Time passed little by little, and soon, as reported by the regiment headquarters, a burst of intensive artillery sound suddenly came from the rear, and then many black spots could be seen flying over the position.
Just hearing the sound of the cannon, Captain Song couldn't help but show a hint of joy.
Lieutenant Li, the deputy sentry commander on the side, said directly: "In addition to the five-pound cannon and the eighteen-pound mortar, there are also nine-pound field cannon and forty-eight-pound mortar. The regiment headquarters has persuaded the division artillery regiment. ah!"
Turn your eyes to the Ming army's position opposite!
Multiple solid shells from five-pound or nine-pound field guns fell directly on the No. 1 small fortress. The huge kinetic energy of the shells directly smashed this inconspicuous little fortress to pieces.
At the same time, multiple 18-pound or 48-pound mortar shells also landed and exploded one after another, and a howl suddenly came from the Ming army position opposite.
Even though he was thirty or forty meters away, Captain Song was shocked by the destructive effect of this violent shelling!
This thing is simply not something that human beings can resist.
And the shelling has not stopped yet!
Not long after, another round of field artillery and mortar shells flew to the Ming Army's No. 1 Fortress.
For such a small fort with only a few hundred men expected to be garrisoned by the Ming army and only two short cannons deployed, the Chu army used four nine-pound field cannons, eight five-jin field cannons, six eighteen-jin mortar cannons, and four Forty-eight pounds of mortar!
After a fierce rapid-fire bombardment, these artillery began to slow down the density of bombardment, and began to extend the bombardment to both sides and rear of the battle line.
At this time, Captain Song also raised his command knife and pointed forward, calmly and resolutely issued the combat order: "All sentry assault!"
The next moment, copper whistles sounded one after another in this small position. The soldiers of the assault post of the 24th Infantry Regiment, wearing heavy armor, began to climb out of the trench, and then carried various weapons towards the front. The Ming Army's No. 1 small fortress in ruins rushed over!
At the same time, Zhao Laoer also stuck his head out and squinted at the No. 1 small fortress opposite, which was still filled with gunpowder smoke and dust. Soon he saw several figures shaking about ten meters away from the side of the fortress. They were pushing a short cannon and wanted to point the muzzle forward.
Seeing this, Zhao Laoer immediately slightly adjusted the already loaded 18-pound mortar. Just two seconds later, Zhao Laoer opened fire himself.
At the same time that a cloud of gunpowder smoke rose from the trench mortar position, an 18-pound mortar also flew over a short distance of about forty meters, and then landed near a short cannon of the Ming army. Although it was not directly It hit, but the impact and shell fragments produced after the explosion still swept across this small Ming army short artillery battery.
Captain Song watched as the soldiers of his assault post climbed out of the trench one after another. He immediately climbed out of the trench with a steel waist knife, and then strode forward with his head and his soldiers.
The soldiers of these assault posts did not form scattered formations. On the contrary, their formations were relatively dense, and they formed combat groups of more than ten people.
There are spearmen, sword and shield men, and musketeers in the combat team.
This kind of combat team with more than ten people and various arms is a formation that the Chu army's assault troops and reconnaissance troops like to use very much. It was derived from the Yuanyang formation of the Qi family army and is very suitable for small-scale melees in complex terrain. .
They trotted forward and soon crossed half of the distance. At this time, some Ming troops also reacted and began to fire sporadic musket fire at them, and even fired short cannons at them.
This commando inevitably suffered some casualties, but they still continued to stride forward.
And some musketeers took out grenades and threw them towards the ruined trenches ahead.
These musketeers are not pure musketeers, but a new type of arms in the Chu army: grenadiers!
These grenadiers are often incorporated into assault troops and fight in conjunction with other arms.
After the explosion of a grenade, fifty or sixty people suddenly appeared in the Ming army trenches that seemed to have been reduced to ruins with few people visible.
However, these Ming troops did not launch a counterattack against the charging Chu army. Instead, they scrambled to escape towards the rear one by one.
Their No. 1 small fortress only had only seventy or eighty soldiers stationed at the beginning, and they were all battalion sentries. After a violent targeted shelling just now, twenty or thirty people were killed and wounded on the spot, and the rest People were basically stunned.
Now seeing hundreds of heavily armored and closely coordinated Chu army commandos approaching, these Ming army camp sentries simply didn't have any courage to resist, so they turned around and ran away.
And this scene made a battalion officer from the Anlu New Biao Army of the Ming Army wearing a civilian blue robe in the No. 3 large fortress not far away couldn't help but curse: "I knew they were unreliable..."
"The Chu thief turned around and ran away as soon as he came up. How brave he is!"
"Behead them all to enforce military law!"
When the battalion officer, who was wearing the uniform of a seventh-grade civil servant, was yelling and scolding, Captain Song looked happy!
The enemy simply ran away, so there was no need for a brutal close combat.
Although he was very confident in his assault sentry. These soldiers were all elites drawn from the entire 24th Infantry Regiment, but there would inevitably be casualties in the melee.
This death or injury will make him heartbroken!
Now that the enemy troops are escaping on their own initiative, it saves trouble.
The Chu army's starting position and the Ming army's No. 1 small fortress were only thirty or forty meters apart. Under the rapid charge of the assault sentry of the 24th Infantry Regiment, which launched the charge, it didn't take long to cross this distance.
At this time, in this small No. 1 fortress, the smoke and gunpowder smoke caused by the previous explosion of mortar shells had not yet dissipated.
Captain Song was not polite about this and directly led his men to seize Small Fortress No. 1 and a nearby trench.
But before Captain Song and the others could take a breath, a group of Ming soldiers appeared in the ditch on the left or south and came over to kill them.
These Ming soldiers wanted to recapture the small fortress No. 1 to prevent the Chu army from opening a gap here, and then threaten the large fortress No. 3 from the side.
Captain Song took a closer look and knew that the person coming was evil.
The Ming army that rushed to counterattack consisted of two to three hundred people, and they were all new standard troops.
The new standard troops in the Ming army are easy to identify, because their weapons and equipment are very different from the traditional battalion sentries, which can be seen from a distance.
After briefly judging the strength and direction of the enemy's troops, Captain Song quickly directed his troops to conduct interception operations.
The two sides fought repeatedly and fought around the No. 1 small fortress and the surrounding trenches.
In the end, it was the assault post of the 24th Infantry Regiment. With its more elite soldiers, better equipment, and especially the advantage of all heavy armor, it directly repelled the Ming army's counterattack and left a trail behind. More than a hundred casualties.
However, the losses of the assault post itself were not small. More than 20 people were killed or injured in this melee. In addition, several people who were killed and injured by the Ming army's firepower interception during the full process. In one assault battle, the 24th Infantry Regiment The assault sentry suffered more than thirty casualties.
But the Ming army was even worse, with more than 200 casualties, most of which were the New Standard Army who were regarded by Shi Kefa as the absolute main force.
It was just a small-scale battle involving no more than a few hundred troops from both sides, but it resulted in more than two hundred casualties. The brutality of the close-range melee was evident.
More importantly, such small-scale battles have broken out many times on multiple fronts today.
Each one seemed to be a small-scale battle, but when aggregated, the casualties were very high, especially for the Ming army.
That night, when Shi Kefa received the casualty reports compiled by various ministries, he almost couldn't believe his eyes.
Just one day!
Just one day!
The Ming army's casualties in the fortifications outside the city exceeded 2,000, and more than 1,000 of them were Anlu's new standard troops who were regarded by Shi Kefa as the cornerstone of the city's defense!
Although the various ministries reported that they had killed at least 5,000 Chu thieves, Shi Kefa didn’t know. The Chu thieves sent out one after another today to launch an assault. The total number of infantrymen was less than 5,000...
It would be good if the Chu thieves had a thousand casualties.
The actual casualties of the Chu army were even smaller than Shi Kefa expected. In fact, on the first day of the war, the Chu army suffered only more than 400 casualties, and many of the wounded were treated. The final number of casualties was estimated to be less than 200.
This casualty comparison is almost completely unacceptable to Shi Kefa and other Ming army generals.
If the fight continues like this, within a few days, all the Anlu New Biao Army under his command will be wiped out. Without the New Biao Army as the core backbone, Jiujiang City will still have nothing to defend by then!
When Shi Kefa was frightened by the huge casualties that night, in the Chu army camp outside the city, the executive deputy director of the logistics department who accompanied the army on the expedition also had a sad face.
he found
