Number of People

Chapter 2599: The fat ones drag you thin, and the thin

  Chapter 2599 The fat one drags you thin, and the thin one drags you to death

  On May 17th, the offensive and defensive battles of Dadianbao and Xindianbao started almost simultaneously.

   Mao Wenlong's Dongjiang Town used the large long-barreled siege cannon produced by the Gyeonggi Military-Industrial Complex to launch a fierce attack on Dadian Fort.

  With the help of more than 9,000 soldiers, the new siege artillery smashed down the fully reinforced city wall of Dadianbao in less than two hours.

  Soldiers from Dongjiang Town swarmed in, and the two sides fought fiercely in Dadian Fort. After a day and a night of hard work, Dongjiang Town annihilated more than 2,000 enemies, including more than 800 elite Jurchen Eight Banners, and completely captured Dadian Fort.

At the same time, the offensive and defensive battle of Xindianbao was initiated by the He Renlong Department of Denglai Town. The defense system of Xindianbao is more complete than that of Dadianbao, but compared with Dongjiang Town, which was established not long ago, Denglai Town is obviously The strength is stronger, and the weapons and tactical equipment are more complete.

He Renlong adopted the strategy of attacking the west from the east. First, he bombarded the west wall of the fort with siege cannons, posing as if he wanted to attack and break through the city, forcing the Jianzhou army to concentrate on the defense in the west, and then used surprise troops to cross the city wall from the east. Entering the city, under the inner wall of the east city, started a fierce battle with the Jianzhou soldiers who had just woken up as reinforcements.

  He Renlong blocked the charge of the Jianzhou armored soldiers with a heavy-duty blunderbuss battalion. The continuous shooting caused blood and flesh to fly within 300 steps, and corpses littered the field. No one could pass through this area.

  In this battle, the new heavy-duty hawk-beaked blunderbuss made great achievements. It shot and killed more than 400 elite Jianzhou armored soldiers, blocked the opponent's three-round charge, and made great contributions to the victory of Xindianbao.

  Victorious in both battles, Dongjiang Town and Denglai Town joined forces at Kuandian Fort.

  Perhaps because the main elite was consumed in the first two battles, the Jianzhou Army did not entangle in Fort Kuandian, and directly withdrew from Fort Kuandian.

  On May 29th, Fort Kuandian was recovered, and the battle to recover the six forts of Kuandian came to an end. At this time, the Jianzhou Army that was going south had just arrived in Hetuala.

  Nurhachi originally thought that the Six Fortress of Kuandian had been repaired and strengthened in the early stage, and there were nearly 12,000 troops stationed there. No matter what, he could hold on until mid-June. The arrival of his own 10,000 reinforcements was enough to save the situation.

   But I didn't expect that after only three days of persistence, Dadian Fort and Xindian Fort fell, and the defenders of Kuandian Fort even lost the courage to hold on, and retreated directly.

   Nurhachi could hardly believe his ears when he received the news.

He knew that the Great Zhou Army was undergoing intensive reorganization and refitting. Whether it was the original Liaodong Town or Dongjiang Town, almost all of the infantry, mainly sword and shield soldiers and spear soldiers, were restructured into firearms soldiers, and only a small amount remained. Elite sword and shield soldiers and spearmen used to rush into battle when fighting in short combat.

  Although the cavalry retains more, what makes them even more troublesome is that the Da Zhou cavalry is also beginning to be equipped with a new type of saber made of high-quality forged steel.

This kind of Zhanma Dao is not like the heavy Mo Dao and Huan Dao. It is much lighter in weight, but its sharpness, hardness and toughness are far better than ordinary swords. It is especially suitable for slashing when charging, even if you are wearing heavy armor. It can't stand the opponent's slashing with a saber, and what's even more desperate is that this kind of blade can still maintain a relatively complete cutting edge after multiple slashes. This is the most difficult thing.

But no matter how Dazhou reformed the military system, Nurhachi did not believe that the opponent's combat effectiveness could undergo a radical improvement within a year or two. The one-sided advantage lies with one's own side, but now the situation seems to have undergone a fundamental change.

   This change was felt from the last round of war, but it was far less direct and intense than this time.

  The defeat was so thorough that Nurhachi also felt that the crisis was approaching.

Once the six fortresses of Kuandian were lost, the entire side wall was covered with wild land, and there were no defensive fortresses. It would be fine if it was changed in the past. Originally, one's own side took the offensive and Da Zhou took the defensive, but the situation was reversed, and Da Zhou's army is now on the offensive If you are aggressive, but your own side wants to defend, then you can only retreat to Hetuala, otherwise you will have to fight in the wild.

For the first time, Nurhachi felt that he lost confidence in field battles. The opponent's two towns had more than 100,000 troops on the frontier, while his own had only 20,000 troops. Facing an overwhelmingly superior force, Nurhachi didn't think that he could gain an advantage in field battles. There may be the possibility of being surrounded and wiped out.

   There are still some Jianzhou Army inside the side wall, but the number is limited, and they are all stationed in important fortresses such as Gushan Fort and Alkali Field Fort. If they are to go out of the city to fight, firstly, the number is insufficient, and secondly, the gain may outweigh the loss.

Once these fortresses are attacked, given the current situation, it will be difficult to regain them, but the loss of these fortresses will have a profound impact on the battle situation in the entire north-central region, directly impacting Shenyang-Tieling, which was annexed with great difficulty. The territory and population of the Wei-Yuhuguan line.

Now the only advantage of our side may be the mobility advantage of the armored cavalry, but this advantage cannot be reflected in the northern line stationed in Shenyang, because the two sides are still in a silent period, but the southern line can play a role, just need to mobilize a large number of armored cavalry Once the elite go south, once they lose, it will be difficult to make up for it in a short time.

   It's just that there is no choice at this time. You can't let the Zhou army go all the way north, even Hetuala.

  Beginning in June, as a large number of Jianzhou armored soldiers went south, the troops of Dongjiang Town and Denglai Town started a long tug-of-war with the Jianzhou Army inside and outside the side walls along the line from Yaful Pass to Gushan Fort.

  Jianzhou Army took advantage of its maneuverability and familiarity with the geographical environment, adopted a combination of entanglement and guerrilla warfare, and used a wide field to fight, sometimes harassing, and sometimes small-scale battles. The combat effectiveness of the Jianzhou Army has also begun to show.

The Denglai Army and the Dongjiang Army took advantage of their own strength to fight in groups, defending and waiting to attack, and advancing steadily. The entanglement between the two sides lasted from June to November, spanning the entire summer and autumn. It can be said that both sides were defeated. Procrastination is exhausting.

As the Jianzhou Army dispatched a large number of elites to go south, the pressure on the Liaodong Army on the front line of Liaoyang suddenly decreased. Liu Dongyang began to lead Shanxi Town to take the initiative to attack at the Wujing Camp and the Tiger Piyi Line, and fought fiercely with Mang Gurtai and other troops. It also reversed the situation on the line from Liaoyang to Shenyang.

Many Han Chinese who were originally controlled or plundered by the Jianzhou Army began to cross the actual control line and ran westward to the Dazhou-controlled area. This also made Nurhachi very restless, but there was nothing he could do. Such a large piece of land, especially when the fierce battle on the southern front is in full swing, and the Zhou army on the northern front is frequently attacking.

  The fighting between the two sides lasted until November, when heavy snow covered the entire Liaodong, and then gradually calmed down.

  During this year, more than 80,000 rebels transported directly from the north landed in Niuzhuang and Jiulian City, and nearly 50,000 remained in the Tianjin Wei area, waiting for transshipment.

  The construction of the road from Niuzhuang to Liaoyang will start in March and will be divided into multiple sections. According to Feng Ziying's prediction, the road will be basically completed in September next year, and ordinary horse-drawn carts can run smoothly on it.

At the same time, the Anshanyi coal and iron complex has also entered the formal construction stage. Among the tens of thousands of rioters, more than 4,000 strong people have entered the complex to start building sidewalks and mining mines. At the same time, the first blast furnace was completed as early as September. The construction of the second and third blast furnaces was also completed in October.

  A cement factory has also started construction, and it is expected to be completed and put into operation by the end of the year. It also attracted more than a thousand people.

At the same time, three lumber mills and a wood processing factory were built one after another, employing more than 2,000 laborers. As the road construction progressed, many businessmen from Shanxi and Shaanxi began to build houses and shops along the road. Anshan Station already has the appearance of a big town.

   "Master, a letter from Beijing." Baoxiang quietly walked behind him and handed over the letter.

  Feng Ziying withdrew her gaze, let out a mouthful of white mist, floated in front of her, and slowly dispersed.

   After receiving the letter, I glanced at ten lines, and read an overview.

   It was Wang Wenyan who came. Almost every other month, Wang Wenyan would send a letter introducing the situation in Beijing, and sometimes the interval was even shorter.

The court situation has not changed much, mainly because Miao Changqi misbehaved during his tenure as Minister of Rites and was constantly criticized by others. Even Tang Binyin was very dissatisfied with him, thinking that he destroyed the image of scholars in the south of the Yangtze River, and Gu Bingqian hated him even more. Since they are all scholars from the south of the Yangtze River, they didn't make it clear.

  Master Qi probably wants to replace Miao Changqi, but he is probably still in the deliberation stage.

   None of this matters.

  Wang Wenyan highlighted that the second batch of frontier troops expected to enter the Liao round battle in the next year will arrive, and they will be the troops from Datong Town and Ganning Town.

According to the original agreement, there will be a rotation every year. In the first year, it will be Shanxi Town and Denglai Town. Because it is the beginning, Feng Ziying needs a more capable and handy old department, so he chose Denglai and Shanxi. This year, the frontier troops from Datong and Ganning towns will also enter Liaoning.

The combat effectiveness of these two parts is definitely not as good as Denglai and Shanxi, but Feng Ziying did not expect to completely defeat the Jianzhou Jurchens in a year or two. Judging from the war on the southern front, Jianzhou The Jurchen elite are still very capable of fighting, and even Cao Wenzhao said that their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated, and they often have to fight until the end to see the difference.

Denglai Town lost more than 10,000 to nearly 20,000 people this year from its 70,000 people when it entered Liaoning. There are a lot of additions, but the combat effectiveness of the added new troops has dropped significantly.

   This is what Feng Ziying wants.

  Continuously provoking wars, creating wounds for the opponent, so that the blood loss can be continuously replenished. Can the combat effectiveness of the new army be as resistant as the old soldiers?

   And next year, I will have a large number of veteran frontier troops coming in for rounds of battle. This is my confidence.

  (end of this chapter)