After a few days of tentative outpost warfare, Wang Dajie's troops were outnumbered and he retreated to Sanshui City to defend it.
Two days later, Baochang Hou Cao Zhijian led an army of 20,000 to Sanshui.
Wang Dajie hurriedly greeted him.
Upon seeing Wang Dajie, Cao Zhijian asked about the battle situation. Wang Dajie said that the soldiers of the Ming army had fought hundreds of battles. They were well-trained and should not underestimate the enemy.
Unexpectedly, Cao Zhijian laughed loudly: "It doesn't matter! Tomorrow I will ask the Buddha to light the lamp and protect all the sons from invulnerability. Just kill the enemy boldly, Yan Tianfeng will be defeated!"
On the second day of the battle, Cao Zhijian set up an altar and cast spells.
Cao Zhijian promoted in the army that he was the reincarnation of the Lantern Buddha and had magical power to protect him.
Don't tell me, this trick is really effective! There are countless believers.
As soon as they saw Cao Zhijian casting spells at the altar, the morale of Cao's army was immediately boosted, as if they had been given a shot of chicken blood. Everyone thought they had become invulnerable golden bells and iron cloth shirts.
The Battle of Sanshui begins.
The Ming army formed a relatively sparse square formation and launched a charge.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, firearms had begun to become popular. The previous too tight formations no longer met the needs of actual combat, and the square formation began to become the main formation.
The artillery purchased by Cao Jun from the Francois began to bombard, and soldiers fell to the ground from time to time.
The Ming army's Franco machine guns and squatting tiger guns were not to be outdone and fired back.
Experienced veterans all know that you cannot retreat at this time, and you can survive by crossing the artillery range.
Then the archers began to shoot, and the Ming army soldiers wearing eight-petal brass helmets and thick cotton armor, with shields on their heads, began to charge.
"Bang! Bah! Bah!"
The matchlock shooters on both sides lit the match.
Yan Tianfeng's department has not replaced its self-generated fire guns. The production of this new type of fire guns is insufficient. Zhu Hengjia currently only has time to replace them for his more than 20,000 bodyguards.
However, even if all were replaced with self-generating fire guns, the impact on combat effectiveness would not be significant. The power and range of flintlock guns and matchlock guns in the mid-17th century were similar, but they only saved the time of lighting the match, which was only two seconds faster per gun.
The biggest advantage of self-generated fire guns is fighting on rainy days.
Soon, the two sides started a hand-to-hand battle.
The sergeants on both sides were from the Ming army, and their tactics and tactics were almost identical. The difference was that the Ming army had more sophisticated weapons, and they had conquered the east and west some time ago and had many veterans with actual combat experience. However, the Cao army also had its own advantages, that is, they
He has spiritual beliefs and believes that he is protected by the Lantern Buddha invited by Lord Cao and is invulnerable.
Gradually, the soldiers of Cao's army discovered that even if they were struck with a knife, they would die. What was going on? Could it be that they were not sincere enough and the gods would not bless them?
Soldiers fell one after another, and Cao's army collapsed.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Cao Zhijian gathered his defeated troops and withdrew to defend Sanshui City.
Although he suffered a defeat, Sanshui City was strong, and Yan Tianfeng was unable to do anything to Cao Zhijian for the time being.
The two armies were confronting each other, and suddenly it was reported that the Ming army Yang Huai's troops had captured Shunde and killed Cao's general and general Ou Zhengfu.
Yang Huai and Yan Tianfeng discussed and divided their forces to attack Shunde, then set off with an army of 10,000.
The main force of Cao's army is in Sanshui, and only 6,000 soldiers from General Ou Zhengfu's troops are stationed in Shunde. There are only 2,000 veterans from Ou's headquarters, and the rest are newly recruited soldiers.
Yang Huai's troops suddenly arrived and Ou Zhengfu was caught off guard. The Ming army stormed the city and beheaded him.
Cao Zhijian was shocked when he heard that Shunde was lost. He was afraid that the Ming army would attack his hometown of Nanhai and Panyu from Shunde.
He hurriedly withdrew from Sanshui to the South China Sea, but Yan Tianfeng pursued him from behind. Cao's army suffered numerous casualties.
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After Yan Tianfeng and Yang Huai joined forces, they surrounded the two cities of Nanhai and Panyu.
Guangzhou Prefecture is the largest prefecture in Guangdong, with jurisdiction over fifteen counties and one state. Its governance is also different from other prefectures.
Other prefectures basically have one prefecture and one government, but Guangzhou Prefecture has two prefectures, divided into two counties: Nanhai and Panyu (the geographical location of Panyu in later generations is different from that of Panyu in the Ming Dynasty, and Panyu in later generations moved south).
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Guangzhou is an important place in the province. The two cities of Nanhai and Panyu are not only built high and deep, but also very close to each other, forming horns with each other.
If we attack the South China Sea, we will get reinforcements from Panyu; if we attack Panyu, we will get reinforcements from the South China Sea.
Generals Yan Tianfeng and Yang Huai inspected Panyu along the South China Sea. They repeatedly exclaimed: "It's hard to fight! It's hard to fight!"
Even if it’s not easy to fight, you still have to fight.
The siege of Guangzhou begins.
Yan Tianfeng and Yang Huai used various methods to attack the city, but all failed.
Use a ramming car, and the enemy will blow it up with "Thunder"; use a ladder, and the enemy will burn it with kerosene; use a goose cart, and the enemy will hit it with stones and rolling wood; dig a tunnel, and the enemy will dig back and smoke it??
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Finally, Yan Tianfeng decided to use a new siege method: "Crypt Blasting Method".
This is a method thought up by the craftsmen accompanying the camp. The Ming army dug a zigzag tunnel to the bottom of the Nanhai City Wall, then filled the sealed coffin with gunpowder, sealed the space, and lit the match.
There was a "bang" and smoke filled the air. Nanhai City shook for a moment, then remained motionless.
The "crypt blasting method" is not uncommon. Li Zicheng used it when he attacked Kaifeng. At that time, the intruders dug tunnels to the bottom of Kaifeng City, ignited gunpowder, and with a bang, Kaifeng City only shook. In the end, there was no way, the water
Flooded Kaifeng.
The main reason is that the quality of gunpowder at that time was not good. The "crypt blasting method" was really used on a large scale in siege warfare, starting with the Taiping Rebellion. The quality of gunpowder more than two hundred years later is naturally different from the quality of gunpowder now.<
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Of course, in this era, the "crypt blasting method" was also successful. The Manchus and Qing Dynasties used this method during their siege in Liaodong and successfully breached the city. However, it was a small city, in disrepair, and had been bombarded with artillery for a long time before the blast.
, the city foundation is loose.
Cao Zhijian was shocked when he saw the Ming army using explosives to attack the city. He quickly ordered a wooden fence to be built two feet away from the city wall in Nanhai City to prevent the Ming army from blowing up the wall and breaching the city.
Seeing that other methods were ineffective, Yan Tianfeng gritted his teeth and ordered the ants to attack the city.
The battle was fierce, and the Ming army was about to break through Panyu City. Cao Zhijian's younger brother, Cao Si, fought his way out of Nanhai City and saved Panyu.
Yan Tianfeng saw that it was difficult to leave the two cities for a while, so he ordered the siege. He also divided his troops to attack each county.
The main force of Cao's army is in the second city, and there are very few defenders in the other counties.
The Ming army quickly captured Xinning, Xiangshan, Xinhui, Qingyuan, Conghua, and Zengcheng counties; Dongguan, Longmen, Bao'an, and Lianzhou (with their own jurisdiction and Yangshan and Lianshan counties) surrendered.
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"Brother, the Ming army has conquered all counties in Guangzhou, and our army now only has Nanhai and Panyu. What should we do?" Cao Si was very worried.
Cao Zhijian comforted his younger brother: "Don't worry, little brother, just hold on for a few more days. The Qing army will be defeated soon, and we will be able to escape by then."
Cao Si was anxious: "Brother! Do you want to surrender to the Tatars? Have you forgotten the blood feud between our family and the Tatars?"
Cao Zhijian and Cao Si were originally military households in Cangzhou. When the Qing army conquered Cangzhou, ninety-three of their family members died in the king's affairs. They had a deep hatred for the Tatars.
Cao Zhijian sighed: "Kong Youde is very gratifying. Geng Zhongming, which one of them has no hatred against the Tatars? Didn't they all surrender to the Tatars in the end? The situation is compelling!"
Cao Si was furious: "If I go to you, I would rather die in battle than surrender to the Tatars."
Cao Zhijian hurriedly comforted: "Don't worry, little brother. When the Qing army comes, the two of us will take advantage of the war between the Ming and Qing Dynasties to escape to Zhenxia Pass. The terrain in that area is steep, and Yaotong is backing us. When the time comes, my two brothers will occupy the mountain.
Be the king and be free!"
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When Yan Tianfeng and Yang Huaizheng were unable to do anything about the Nanhai and Panyu cities, they suddenly reported that the navy had captured the Jiaomen and Humen forts and had reached Guangzhou along the Yue River.
Yan Tianfeng was overjoyed. He knew that Sun Gui's fleet had a treasure: a three thousand kilogram Hongyi cannon.
Zhu Hengjia added six new thousand-pound plywood ships to Sun Gui's navy. Each ship had sixteen thousand-jin Fran cannons and four three-thousand-jin Hongyi cannons. A total of twenty cannons.<
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This kind of giant cannon is used to siege cities and is good at naval battles, but it is huge and inconvenient to transport. If it is transported by land, it will take at least several months. It is very convenient to come from the waterway.
Yan Tianfeng hurriedly ordered Sun Gui to unload the cannon from the battleship, prepared a large number of pack horses, and finally transported the cannon to Panyu City.
Yan Tianfeng ordered a concentrated bombardment of Panyu. Two days later, a corner of the city wall collapsed, the city was broken, and General Wang Dajie of Cao's army was killed.
The final bloody battle broke out in Nanhai City.
The sound of cannons roared, and Nanhai City was defeated three days later. Cao Zhijian and Cao Si were both killed in the battle.
Soon after Yan Tianfeng captured Guangzhou, news came: the Qing army Jin Shengheng's troops captured Ganzhou; the Qing army Li Chengdong's troops captured Chaozhou and Huizhou, approaching Guangzhou; Nanxiong Mansion surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.
Yan Tianfeng urgently ordered Yang Huai's troops to station in Yingde County, Shaozhou Prefecture, and set up defenses along the Huangshui River between Lianzhou, Yangshan, and Yingde (now Lianjiang, Guangdong); he personally led the army in Fogang, Longmen Qixinggang, Luofu, Guangzhou
The front line of the mountain was defended according to the danger; the Dongguan, Xin'an, and Nanhaiwei areas were handed over to Lin Cha and Sun Gui's navy for defense.
Stand ready and wait for Li Chengdong.
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Zhu Hengjia was very happy when he learned that Yan Tianfeng had captured parts of Guangzhou and Shaozhou.
He ordered Yan Tianfeng to be granted the title of Pingdong Marquis, Yang Huai to be the Zhongyong Marquis, Lin Cha to be the Assistant Ming Marquis, Sun Gui to be the Dinghai Marquis, and all the other generals would be rewarded.
He also ordered Sien to guerrilla Yuan Laichao and lead four thousand troops to reinforce Yan Tianfeng.
In order to raise funds for the war, Zhu Hengjia ordered the addition of Haikang Customs in Leizhou Prefecture and Yangjiang Customs in Zhaoqing Prefecture; he also ordered the Customs Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs to take over the Macau Customs of Guangzhou Prefecture.
Since the 32nd year of Jiajing, when the Franco people entered and settled in Macau, the Ming Dynasty has always had Macau Customs to collect customs duties. However, the previous customs was jointly operated by the Guangdong Municipal Shipping Department and Xiangshan County under the Guangdong Chief Envoy.
Management. Zhu Hengjia felt that customs was very important, so he abolished the municipal shipping departments in various places. The Ministry of Household Affairs directly set up customs departments, and each customs set up customs branches for vertical management.
In order to allow Guangxi to have an outlet to the sea, Zhu Hengjia ordered Lianzhou Prefecture to be included in Guangxi, and Sun Gui was changed to the commander-in-chief of the Guangxi Navy, and Lin Cha was changed to the commander-in-chief of the Guangdong Navy.
This chapter has been completed!