To the east of the city, the width between the city wall and the Xiang River is between a hundred steps and three hundred steps.
In the north of the city, the Qingye Bridge has been broken, and the gap between Haoshui and the city wall is more than a mile wide.
The southeast part of the city seemed to be less likely to be hit by the arrows and projectiles of the defenders on the city wall when they landed, but instead there were also the defenders of the south part of the city and the defenders of Leiyang Camp in the southeast.
And if they cross the river from the north of the city to land, there will be an attack from the fort on Shitouzuishang at the intersection of Heshui River and Xiangshui River.
Therefore, Pu Zitong's focus must be on the west of the city. In his opinion, if Gu Shilong wants to successfully conquer Hengyang City, the most rational approach should be to let Tang Peiyu risk his life to consume the Haoyang Camp and then capture the north of Haoshui River, crossing the river from the northwest of the city and Zhu Qi joined forces and mainly attacked the west and north of the city.
After all, there is still room for formation in a relatively open area in that direction.
It would be unwise to cross the river and attack the east of the city.
But the development of the matter was beyond Pu Zitong's imagination. The first one to launch the attack was from the south of the city.
Guarding Huiyanmen, the "escape gate", was Chi Fuyong, Pu Zitong's most trusted capable general and former commander of Changde Guard.
Now he actually left the south gate and ran to Pu Zitong in person, who was patrolling the northwest wall of the city.
"How did you get here!"
Pu Zitong's heart twitched. Is there something wrong with the south gate?
Chi Fuyong, regardless of anything else, pulled him aside and whispered: "I will take custody of the person who sent the message first. Grand Governor, a large number of warships have arrived on the upper reaches of the Xiang River! The enemy troops at Shuikou Castle and the Xiang River are on the way. Waterways go hand in hand.”
"...Warship?"
He didn't understand it, but it was shocking.
Chi Fuyong was extremely anxious: "The ship is not big, but the cannon is big! The village closest to Shuikou Mountain only lasted for less than a quarter of an hour before it was destroyed by warships from the Xiangshui River. Our ships on the southeast dock of the city , I’m afraid I can’t withstand it. Grand Governor, they attacked Changning in order to straighten out the upper reaches of the Xiang River! These warships came from Guangdong via the Ling Canal!"
"How big a warship can come from just Lingqu? Are you already thinking of retreating?"
Pu Zitong had lived in Changde, Huguang for a long time. He knew that the imperial court had a new cannon, and Tang Peiyu hated it. However, no matter how much he paid attention to it, he did not think that the warships built in Guangdong could travel such a long distance and be able to destroy everything when they got here, and He also asked Chi Fuyong to leave the south gate where he was supposed to be guarding and run here.
But what responded to him was the faint sound of loud noises coming from the southeast.
Chi Fuyong's expression suddenly changed: "They have actually captured another fort. Governor, from the sound of the sound, I'm afraid they are almost near the southeast pier of the city. Governor, make a decision quickly, I'm going to the south gate!"
Pu Zitong's mouth opened slightly.
The imperial army, which had always been surrounded on three sides, had left the south side alone. It was originally thought that the selection of the vanguard from the five military camps would be a surprise.
Over the past few days, the Chenzhou Guard and Baoqing Guard that Zhan Huabi was talking about did not exist at all. In fact, there were only a five-army battalion in the south to select forwards, 300 Jinyi Guards led by Luo An, Dan Zhaonian's thousand and five people, and Zhu Qi left two thousand Guangxi soldiers as backup.
Near Hengyang City, there were less than 2,000 troops, so they only stuck to the Shuikou Mountain Fortress.
Only now did I realize that what Zhan Huabi had been guessing about Gu Shilong and others was actually this navy?
The important thing is not how powerful this navy is, but if this navy controls the Xiang River in the east of Hengyang City, then the supplies coming from the direction of Lei River and this retreat will be cut off.
Hengyang City will truly become an isolated city!
Chi Fuyong hoped that Pu Zitong would make a decision as soon as possible. Pu Zitong understood what he meant: either with the south of the city as the main direction, the navy must be disabled first; or he must consider withdrawing to Chenzhou.
Pu Zitong had no intention of giving up Hengyang City so easily. At this time, he had to find out what the strength of the newly emerged navy was.
"Send an order to General Lu to send half of the navy south to meet the enemy!"
Changde is located on the west bank of Dongting Lake, and Changde Guards does not have no navy under its command. After confirming Shouheng Prefecture, Pu Zitong did not ignore water safety.
Not long after his order was given, clearer gunfire was heard coming from the west of the city.
Zhu Qi finally started to move, again at just the right time.
The Battle of Hengyang begins!
…
Standing on the largest ship and commanding this northern expedition navy was An Bin's father, Ma Yong.
His original position was Jizhou Commander-in-Chief and Commander-in-Chief Qian Shi, and he was already in the rank of second-rank military general.
Their daughters were concubines, and Ma Yong and Sun Jiao were actually the two most powerful people in the civil and military fields among the imperial relatives of the new Jiajing Dynasty.
He knew the military, but when he arrived in Guangdong, he was only appointed as the head of the Public Security Department.
Now he knows that Guangdong's transition period has passed. This time, he had to send another navy to the north, which he was not familiar with. The emperor just wanted him to get some credit, and the next step must be to use him accordingly.
On the Xiang River at night, this group of nearly thirty sailors on the northern expedition fought such a battle for the first time.
And Ma Yong also found the feeling of commanding a real army, not a group of soldiers and generals in the Department of Public Security.
"After two rounds of bombardment, continue swimming down the river!"
After Ma Yong finished speaking, he didn't even look at the fort on the left.
After the Battle of Tuen Mun, the new warships that Huang Mingji and Guangdong Haiphong Road continued to purchase and build were no longer comparable to the combat power of the Ming warships three years ago.
At His Majesty's request, the warships have focused more on artillery bombardment, and the hand-to-hand combat method of side-to-side combat has gradually weakened. What's more, what is being bombed now is a fortress that will not move at all.
Ma Yong only needed to let them finish two rounds of bombing, blasting the walls of the fort to the point of collapse and sending the defenders scattering in panic. Then he could leave it to Luo An and Dan Zhaonian.
His mission was to break through the water blockade in the southeast of Hengyang City, reach the east of Hengyang City, meet up with Gu Shilong, and cover Gu Shilong's army crossing the river.
Less than four or five miles further north, we finally saw the rebel navy coming to meet the enemy on the water.
Under the light of the fire on the boat, Ma Yong also took out his telescope and looked at it, with a playful smile on his lips.
It was the familiar appearance of the ship he saw when he was in Jizhou.
Caojun Zheyang was always the only Caojun in the Ming Dynasty that had to go through a sea route to transport grain from Tianjin to Jizhou, Liaodong. The same was true for the ships they accompanied, but they were slightly changed to adapt to the sea.
The styles of ships in the Ming Dynasty are really not much different between the north and the south. There are only three or four types in total.
But the ships built in Guangdong have been changing, and the thing that Wei Bin and Zhang Fujing were most concerned about before was this matter.
When Ma Yong heard about Zhang Fujing's relationship, he said: His Majesty will sooner or later conquer Jiaozhi by land and water, and he also has a grand plan to explore Southeast Asia!
Looking at the incoming ships, Ma Yong just handed the telescope to Zheng Qianhu, who was promoted from Guangdong Coast Guard Road: "Leave it to you."
Ma Yong doesn't need to take care of the specific command of the water battle, he is not good at it.
The Qianhu took the telescope calmly, took a few glances at the number and shape of the ships with flaming lights in the distance, and then calmly ordered: "Light the lantern, send the message to the ship in front, the dragon parade!"
The lanterns on the masts that carried messages at night began to cover the lanterns in a rhythmic manner.
The so-called Longyou Formation is a new strategy developed based on the new warship's increased number of cannons on both sides.
The ships of the Hengyang defenders saw the incoming navy, and saw the opponent swaggering down the river.
Their speed is naturally faster. The Lu Shen in Pu Zitong's mouth said with nervous eyes: "Wait until they are within a hundred steps of approaching, then fire the bowl-mouth blunderbuss on the bow, and be sure to break the ship with one hit!"
The two sides charged straight into each other, but before they were a hundred and fifty steps away, the bow cannon of the ship in front of the other side fired a round first.
General Lu took one look at the damage here, and after being overjoyed, he ordered: "Paddle more quickly, move closer and fire, and prepare to pick up the ship!"
Then I saw the ships in the front row on the opposite side adjusting their bows one after another. For a while, they were roughly lying across the water and heading diagonally to the right bank. Their sides were also spitting out fire, which was far denser than before.
Lu Shen was stunned for a moment, and saw their boat changing direction again on the relatively wide water surface of the Xiangshui River. It was relatively flexible with the current.
After a round of bombardment from the bow cannon, the ship headed to the left bank, as if walking in a zigzag pattern, and then a salvo of artillery fire from the other side of the ship.
At this time, the Hengyang garrison warships finally fired one round, and then entered a relatively long reloading time of gunpowder projectiles.
Drawing on the experience of the centipede ship, the navy brought by Mayon was far more agile than their ship.
General Lu Shen watched helplessly as his car failed to intercept the ship on the opposite side and achieve the purpose of docking. He only saw a row of dark muzzles.
"boom--"
After this round of shelling, he felt like he was floating up, his ears were ringing and his eyes were dizzy.
He could vaguely see that there were one or two ships blocking the warships on the opposite side, but then it was as if someone had punched the belly of the ship many times, and his own soldiers lost their balance and fell into the water.
With the sound of cannons, gunfire and shouts of killing everywhere, Ma Yong's car passed through this small battlefield and continued to attack the east and west coast docks guarded by the rebels in the southeast of Hengyang City.
At this time, Pu Zitong, who came to the southeast corner of the city wall, had already seen Mayong's fleet from a distance.
His face looked extremely ugly.
His own navy, not to mention crippled the Guangdong navy that came from afar, could not even stop the opponent for half an hour?
"Grand Governor, the enemy troops in the west of the city can only bombard them, and the camps outside the city can only be beaten. General He Shen will invite you into the city!"
The messenger rushed over to report, and Pu Zitong looked at Chi Fuyong beside him.
He gritted his teeth and said: "Command General He, the governor must guard it! How many people can be injured by a projectile three hundred steps away? If we continue to fight cowardly and disrupt the morale of our army, the governor will deal with it according to his own military law!"
Chi Fuyong felt a little sympathetic to Zhan Huabi's subordinates there.
But is it really okay to do this?
If we defend within the city, casualties will be somewhat less.
Outside the city, our own cannons couldn't hit that far, but on the opposite side, the mountains were filled with new cannons, and they didn't advance at all. The camps outside the city could only be beaten passively.
Is it possible to attack the mountain despite the artillery fire and the musketeers and archers protecting the cannon?
It would be troublesome if Zhan Huabi's men also surrendered in despair.
Pu Zitong seemed to have seen through what he was thinking, and just said sternly: "If we don't attack the city with troops, Hengyang City can't be broken! The rebel army would rather waste gunpowder pellets than troops. I want to see how many gunpowder pellets they have prepared. How long can I scratch my itch?"
Chi Fuyong sighed slightly in his heart.
Is it still necessary to continue to consume it until the imperial army cannot attack it for a long time?
But now that the Xiang River and the south are also blocked, Hengyang City can really only rely on the food and military reserves in the city and the imperial army.
As a result, all the defenders outside the city became abandoned.
By not letting them in, I'm afraid it's also to allow the defenders in the city to hold on longer. Otherwise, the number of defenders would more than double, and the theoretical time for Hengyang City to be defended would be shortened by more than double.
At this time, we finally heard the sound of our own guns on the west side of the city.
"Grand Governor, Zhu Qi's army must have moved!"
Pu Zitong perked up when he heard what Chi Fuyong said: "You and Yan Daniu will guard the south and east of the city, and I will go to the west of the city to supervise the battle!"
When he arrived at the west side of the city, he heard the loud bang of a bowl-mouth gun on the wall on the east side of the city.
Pu Zitong felt a pain in his body: Yan Daniu, you damn... are used to being bandits, right? Can this draw water? The Guangdong Navy that fought in the Xiang River?
It's just that Yan Daniu is guarding the city after all. Maybe he is very good at archery and can command the soldiers to use bowl-mouth blunderbuss to hit an enemy ship traveling two hundred steps away?
Pu Zitong only watched Zhu Qi's army approaching step by step, descending from the earth mountain and both sides and approaching the west of the city.
After pulling down the outer barracks beside the city wall, the siege can begin on the west side of the city.
At this time, people from the east side of the city ran to the west side of the city to report: "Grand Governor, there is movement from the enemy troops in the east of the city. The navy was bombarding the defenders on the shore on the Xiang River and Hao River. Gu Shilong's side had already begun to board the troops. The boat is ready to cross the river.”
Pu Zitong nodded: "Just let Governor Yan guard it. The east side of the city is the easiest to guard!"
He stayed at the northwest corner of the city wall. The north and west were the places where the enemy troops had to land. Otherwise, how could they attack the city?
The fierce battle lasted until dawn, but Zhu Qi's army in the west of the city still seemed unwilling to do too much damage. It only approached a hundred steps away and shelled the defenders outside the city from two hundred steps away. The frequency of artillery attacks by the imperial army has also been significantly reduced.
Although the fortress in the south of the city was demolished, they stopped returning to the south of Yanfeng and did not approach any further.
At this time, the main battlefield seemed to have moved to the east and north of the city.
Pu Zitong, who had not slept all night, came to the east side of the city wall, his eyes solemn and revealing his confusion.
The navy also anchored on the east bank of the Xiang River, seeming to be resting and replenishing supplies.
And from a distance, it can be seen that the soldiers led by Gu Shilong are still boarding various warships and civilian ships that have been recruited.
Is he really planning to cross the river to attack? Just rely on that new warship with more cannons for cover?
"Grand Governor, don't worry. They are attacking the city like this. It will be a shame if I, Yan Daniu, can't defend it! The Grand Governor hasn't slept a wink all night, so I'd better rest for a while. The rebels are attacking from the southeast, northwest and northwest in turn, just to tire you out." .The whole night has passed, isn’t it? The thunder is loud and the raindrops are light!"
Pu Zitong remained silent.
The raindrops are not small, and Hengyang has become an isolated city.
Now either hold on or concentrate your forces and break out from the south gate. In that direction, there were only less than two thousand people from Luo An and Dan Zhaonian.
But Hengyang City must be defended after all, and the longer it can be defended, the better.
Otherwise, wouldn't Pu Zitong collapse at the first touch?
"What you say makes sense, Gu Shilong's skills are limited to this." Pu Zitong pretended to be confident, "Crossing the river to attack the east of the city, it's a shame he can think of it!"
But he still ordered his generals in the north of the city: "Add a thousand soldiers and five more bowl-mouth muskets to the outside of the north city wall and Shitouzui to guard against the rebel army's movement to the north."
In any case, the east side of the city is not a reasonable main attack direction.
Regardless of the fact that Gu Shilong is now gathering a large army to board a ship in the east of the city, it is unlikely that he will go around Shitouzui to attack the north of the city, but doesn't he have that naval force now?
Pu Zitong always believed that the west and north of the city would be the main directions for the final attack.
In these two directions, there are the most troops outside the city, and the people on the city walls are also the most trustworthy.
East of the city...
Pu Zitong took a deep look at Yan Chunsheng, and then said: "Captain Yan, as long as Gu Shilong's army really moves, you should immediately order the defenders in the east of the city to engage the enemy. I have already sent a message to the Leishui Camp. As long as Gu Shilong's army moves, they will We will go north and cut off the retreat of Gu Shilong's camp. The king's army will definitely win this battle! After the event is completed, Governor Yan will be crowned a duke!"
"Master Wang will definitely win!"
In Pu Zitong's eyes, the firm belief in victory on Yan Chunsheng's face was no less than his.
So he walked down the city wall with confidence and prepared to take a nap.
(End of chapter)
