Chapter 685 – 682【Siege Battle】
Chapter 685 682 [Siege War]
The infantry of the Eight Banners Army originally had a high rate of riding horses, and they could ride on the road no matter how poor they were.
Now it doesn’t work.
People don’t have enough food to eat, and livestock like mules and horses naturally can’t afford so many. After all, mules and horses can only eat grass, but it is not acceptable to only eat grass and let them be ridden by people.
What’s more, the Eight Banners Army lost countless horses and livestock on the battlefield after being defeated many times before.
Therefore, although Mandahai’s troops are the only remaining elite of the Eight Banners Army, there are only a thousand real cavalry. The infantry who can ride horses (including mules) to travel will only cost two thousand to death. This is the result of his continuous collection of horses, and the rest of the troops are pure infantry.
Leng Saiyi took these infantry and hurried back to the mouth of Meihei River, laying out defenses non-stop.
But this city is too crude. Although Len Saiyi has more than 6,000 infantry, he has no confidence in defense at all. Its predecessor, Zhaosan City, was abandoned as early as the Yuan Dynasty. Although the Haixi Jurchen Huifa Department built a city on the site, it was destroyed by Nurhachi.
Faced with ruins and ruins, Manda Kelvin has only been leading the army for a year. What can they do under the condition of insufficient manpower?
Not to mention heavy artillery, facing ordinary artillery, they are all blown away.
“Go check again, see how far are those barbarians?” Leng Saiyi ordered.
Forty miles to the northwest, Dongfeng County will be a few hundred years later.
Wang Tingchen’s cavalry division has 13,500 men, all of whom have one man and two horses, one of which is used to carry luggage.
After the reform of the military system of the Datong Army, a full division has 11,000 people, but only the cavalry division is an exception. Because the cavalry division has added tiger squatting guns, a lot of new gunners have been established. In addition to civilian positions such as military doctors, veterinarians were also included in the regular army, and there were other auxiliary personnel.
By the way, regardless of whether it is a military doctor or a veterinarian, they usually need to carry out horse riding training, and they can ride horses to fight at critical times.
“General, a Tartar leader has been caught!” Nan Chu rode back excitedly.
This guy who married Huang Taiji’s ex-wife has completely broken with the Qing Dynasty, and the Tartars are more fluent than anyone else.
Wang Tingchen said: “Bring it here!”
A Tartar was dragged here by the Five Flowers, knowing that he would die, but he was very tough, and it took him a long time to ask for the news.
In fact, there is no useful news, this person is from the Huifa Department. The rest of the tribe rebelled, but he was still loyal to the Manchus. After the Manchus suppressed the Huifa tribe, he was sent to manage the nearby villages.
The man clutched his right palm with the finger cut off, and wanted to roll all over the floor in pain, but was held down and couldn’t move. When he was about to continue to cut his left finger, he said with pain: “The lord is out with cavalry, Bei Zi came a few days ago to recruit infantry, and also took away the food from the village.”
Chief Propaganda Officer Wang Yaochen said with a smile: “It seems that Man Dahai is leading troops to rescue Sarhu. If we come a few days late, we can take Man Dahai’s lair without any effort.”
“Da da da da!”
More than two thousand cavalry rushed back, Wang Fuchen got off his horse and came to Wang Tingchen’s side: “Master, there are not many people living around here, and the Tartars have suffered a lot. We went to the village, and the locals started fighting themselves. The Huifa tribe Some of the clansmen are lackeys of the Tartars, and they are usually domineering here. As soon as our army arrived, the people of the Huifa tribe spontaneously rose up and led us to kill the lackeys of the Tartars.”
“Understood, you lead the troops to rest for a while.” Wang Tingchen said.
Wang Yaochen muttered: “After the Tartars are destroyed, the Jurchens in Haixi have to be scattered and migrated. The Huifa tribe is so withered, because they refused to accept the oppression of the Tartars, and many of them fled to the Yehe tribe. Today’s four tribes in Haixi, Yehebu’s family is the only one, if they are not scattered and relocated, they will become the second Jianzhou Jurchen in a hundred years!”
“This is a matter for the court, just report it truthfully, you and I don’t need to interfere.” Wang Tingchen said.
Two days later, the cavalry division came to the other side of the Meihei River.
The separatist base of Mandahai is at the confluence of Meihei River and Huifa River. After Wanyan Agu raised his army back then, he fought a battle with the Liao Kingdom here, completely confirming the myth that “Jurchens are less than ten thousand and invincible”.
Wang Tingchen used binoculars to observe the enemy city, and the dilapidated city was visible to the naked eye.
Wang Tingchen ordered: “Let the Yehe Department and the Huifa Department organize manpower to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river upstream.”
When the Datong army moved, Leng Saiyi was terrified. He quietly clenched his fist and said, “Gaoli, take another thousand people and go to the ferry to stop the southern barbarians!”
“Obey!”
Goryeo came from the Aixinjueluo family and was the son of Nurhachi’s cousin. Historically, he led troops to fight against Zheng Chenggong.
This guy led a thousand infantry to leave the city, and went to reinforce his clan brother Doerji who was guarding the ferry.
Whether it is Goryeo or Doerji, they are all trash fish of the Aixinjueluo family. The seniority is quite high, the brothers of Huang Taiji and Dorgon, but they have never made great achievements. Now that the Eight Banners Army is in decline, too many generals have died, and these miscellaneous fish have begun to lead the army.
“Are the enemy troops going to cross the river?” Gao Li asked.
Dorji shook his head: “We stay here, and the southern barbarians may go further upstream.”
Goryeo checked carefully, and sure enough, he saw that the Datong Army divided its troops, and half of them went to the upper reaches of the Meihei River.
But there is no negligence here. Once they withdraw, the Datong Army will definitely cross the river immediately.
Gao Li said: “If you can’t hold the river bank, it is better to retreat to the city.”
The Meihei River is neither wide nor fast. There are too many places to come, and it is purely useless to defend the river bank foolishly.
“Boom boom boom!”
The cavalry division on the opposite bank suddenly fired at this place.
Gao Li was startled, and quickly ducked down to avoid it.
Dorji said: “It’s a tiger squatting cannon. I saw it when I was fighting with the Ming army. It’s not very powerful at such a distance.”
It is really not powerful. More than a dozen tiger squatting cannons fired shells across the river, only killing a few unlucky guys of the Eight Banners Army.
Dolji said: “Go back and tell Beizi that if you can’t hold the river bank, let him think of another way. You can either defend the city, or send troops to a decisive battle, or the whole army will withdraw to the southwest and throw the city to the Nanmanzi. “
Korea left the soldiers behind and rode back to the city by herself.
After some talking, Len Saiyi hesitated.
The whole army has withdrawn, and the best time has been lost. It should have been withdrawn yesterday. They had too much luggage, and the Datong army had already killed them, so it was impossible to drop the luggage and escape.
Out of the city for a decisive battle?
Then there is even more confidence. Did a group of infantry come to the outskirts to fight the cavalry?
It is also not good to defend the city. When Man Dahai left Hetuala, he left in a hurry without any artillery. There are no city defense guns here, so they can only shoot with bows and arrows, but the Datong Army has tiger squatting guns.
Under normal circumstances, the tiger squatting cannon has little siege ability, but in front of it is a broken city!
Very tangled anyway, Len Saiyi said: “Let Dorji retreat to the city.”
As soon as the Tartars on the bank withdrew, Yehe and Huifa, who were the servants of Datong, immediately organized manpower to cut down trees and build a pontoon bridge.
The wheat outside the city has just been harvested, and it is estimated that it is piled up in the city. A quick break through the city can obtain military supplies.
More than 10,000 cavalry, long-distance raids, people eat horse chews, unable to fight a protracted war.
Leng Saiyi only needs to hold for more than half a month, and Wang Tingchen’s cavalry division will have to withdraw. If it continues to drag on, the army rations will definitely be exhausted.
Watching the Datong army crossing the river, watching the Datong army set up camp, Leng Saiyi didn’t even dare to go out of the city to attack. He felt that he should do something, and ordered the left and right: “Order the whole army, not only will they be paid for the marching fee, but the army’s salary will be doubled during the defense of the city. The new rations that have just entered the warehouse, let them eat to their full, and those who kill the enemy and make meritorious deeds will be rewarded. !”
The military order was passed down, and the Tartar soldiers finally boosted their morale.
The Datong Army is still cutting down trees to make ladders. No matter how simple the city wall is, it is difficult to bombard it with a tiger crouching cannon. This time the siege must be a desperate attack.
A few days later, Mandahai’s cavalry hadn’t returned yet, and the simple siege equipment of the Datong Army had already been prepared.
“I’m afraid many people will die this time.” Wang Tingchen said.
Wang Yaochen said: “There are not a few hard bones left in the Tartars, and one is missing. The enemy army in the city in front of us is one of the few elite Tartars. As long as we can gnaw it down, the puppet Qing Dynasty will not be far from being destroyed. …Moreover, the city is dilapidated and low, so it is better to attack here than to retreat to the big city.”
“Teacher, I’ll go first!” Wang Fuchen said.
Wang Tingchen nodded: “Go and prepare.”
The city does not have a moat, but it is surrounded by natural rivers on both sides, so it can only be attacked from the northwest and due west.
“Boom boom boom!”
The tiger crouching cannons were all dragged up and aimed at the city wall to shoot. Although it can’t blow down the city wall, it can use shotguns to hit the enemy on the city wall outside the range of the bow and arrow.
Leng Saiyi withdrew the large army to the city, leaving only a few on the city wall, and pushed the chariot up to defend.
The bombardment lasted for a long time, but the effect was weak, and a few Tartars were not killed.
“Let’s go.” Wang Tingchen said.
Since it is a servant army, it must have the consciousness of a servant army. The Yehe tribe and the Huifa tribe are both cannon fodder for the first round of siege.
Nan Chu drew his sword and shouted: “Warriors of the Yehe tribe, don’t forget the last words of their ancestors. Even if there is only one woman left in the Yehe tribe, they will destroy the Jianzhou Jurchen. Warriors, follow me to attack the city!”
Thousands of Haixi Jurchen soldiers, carrying simple weapons and simple siege ladders, roared and rushed towards the city wall.
Leng Saiyi roared: “Defend quickly!”
A large number of Tartar defenders who avoided shells rushed back to the city wall with weapons, and some carried boiling hot oil and golden juice.
“Zizizi…”
Hot oil poured on the person’s body, making the sound of frying squid on the iron plate.
The first batch of siege soldiers from the Yehe tribe and the Huifa tribe collapsed and fled back in an instant, leaving only nearly a hundred corpses outside the city.
“And then on!”
Nan Chu began to organize the second wave of attack. For the continuation of Ye He’s tribe, he could only let these warriors die. The greater the contribution you make today, the more you will be appreciated by the Datong court in the future, so that you can survive the most difficult years.
If it weren’t for the Datong Army’s support of food and cotton cloth, how many people in the Yehe tribe would starve to death and freeze to death in the past two years.
After all, they had just left the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and they were extremely scarce in all supplies. They would have to continue to rely on the support of the Datong court for the next few years.
The whole day was spent in the siege of cannon fodder, and more than 900 people were killed or injured by the Yehe tribe and the Huifa tribe. Among them, more than 40% of the dead were killed, and many of the remaining 60% of the wounded were burned.
Their only achievement was to consume a lot of hot oil and gold juice from the defenders.
(end of this chapter)