The shell plowed open a large area of soil, bounced twice, and smashed into the trench with the sound of shattered planks.
Tang Tong leaned against the ditch, raised his face and closed his eyes tightly, taking a long breath. He didn't care about the smashed gun carriage, but he just thought for no reason that if he could save his life after this battle, he would definitely seek revenge.
A good aunt gives birth to a lot of babies.
This was the first battle in his life where he experienced heavy artillery bombardment.
Tang Tong's time in the army was very short. It was almost after Liu Chengzong left Yuhebao with his brother that he joined the army.
He is from Jingyang, Xi'an Prefecture. People in this place generally do not join the army because Jingyang, Sanyuan, and Hancheng are important commercial towns and the leading wealthy places in the northwest. Common people can make a better living doing anything than being a soldier. p>
A few years before the severe drought that swept the world just kicked off, northern Shaanxi and Guanzhong played different roles due to different climatic conditions, and the people on the land also had different experiences.
Tang Tong's family owned a farmland tea shop and a caravan that sold tea. He joined the army because Yang Yao and Wang Wenxiu's gang of Guyuan mutinous border troops came to Weibei to plunder, and later Wang Zuogao's peasant army, where
It’s a mess.
When everyone was in danger, Tang Tong, who had studied martial arts and literature since childhood, stepped forward and took his own nursing home to defend the village. Later, he even took the guards to join Zhang Quanchang's army.
Although Tang Tong is now a general in Yansui Town, he had been in the Guanzhong Army before. The most difficult hurdle as a soldier is to go from soldier to commander. As a front-line commander at this stage, the mortality rate is very high.
Many people have died stuck in the position of President Bai.
But because Tang Tong joined the army at a very good time and place, he skipped this hurdle in the first two years of joining the army because of the help of a noble man. His noble man was not a high-ranking official in Guanzhong, but a rebel in northern Shaanxi, named Wang
Left hanging.
If Liu Chengzong raised Yan'an General Yang Yanchang, then Wang Zuogao raised Tang Tong during his adolescence during his military career.
The early rebels in northern Shaanxi had distinct personalities in the eyes of the officers and soldiers. Liu Shizi was good at fighting, Gao Yingxiang was good at hiding, Wang Jiayin was gnawing wildly on the north wall, and Zuo Guazi was trying to sell his head to Hancheng on the south road.
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Tang Tong's most important mission in his first two years in the army was to defend Hancheng.
When Wang Zuoguan attacked Hancheng for the first time, Tang Tong was still an ordinary soldier; by the time Wang Zuoguan attacked Hancheng for the third time, Tang Tong was already in command.
Therefore, although Tang Tong later fought against peasant armies from various tribes in northern Shaanxi, his knowledge as a guerrilla general was not inferior to that of his colleagues in Yulin.
He had never seen a battle in which two armies faced each other and artillery could bombard them all day long.
This battle may be a difficult battle for others, but for Tang Tong, it is a rare learning opportunity.
He watched as the Marshal's Mansion put twelve heavy artillery pieces into concentrated use, and used precise salvos to name their heavy artillery pieces exposed outside the trenches. They used seven kilograms of shells to destroy the artillery carriages and bend the barrels.
I also watched the Tianzi General's artillery deployed in a horizontal formation by the government troops, using Gonglingsun ammunition, firing alternately, suppressing the city's artillerymen until they could not lift their heads.
Relying on Gongling Sunhe's trenches, the officers and soldiers bluntly eliminated the artillery's range disadvantage and pushed the front forward until they could reach Tucheng with Franco machine guns across the Huangshui River.
The terrible artillery battle lasted for two full days. While Tang Tong was hiding in the trench, praying with the life-saving charm his mother had asked for for him, praying that the artillery battle would never end, You Shilu's messengers were shuttled around in the trench,
Convey to him the news that the commander-in-chief summoned the generals to discuss matters.
Although the artillery battle was loud and shocking, the officers and soldiers were protected by trenches, and the Marshal's Mansion also had the height advantage of the city. Both sides fired four to five hundred artillery shells a day, but in fact few people died as a result. But you can't avoid what's coming.
Tang Tong had just withdrawn from the front line and headed to the Chinese army's headquarters in the rear. On the way, he saw soldiers with pockmarked faces pushing carts to the front line. Weak soldiers with acne gathered at the isolation camp. He already knew the time for the general offensive.
Almost there.
In the open space in front of the Chinese military tent, the three town commanders lectured generals at all levels. Several cannonballs of different sizes were placed on the table.
You Shilu said that the artillery of the Marshal's Mansion began to fire salvos less frequently in the afternoon, and the artillery shells picked up from the front line were all one-pound shells shot by Franco machine guns, with only a few three-pound shells.
The three generals agreed that the fighter plane had arrived.
It’s not that the commanders of the three towns believe that Liu Chengzong is out of artillery shells. Liu Chengzong, who occupies most of Hehuang, will not be short of artillery shells. At most, there is a problem with the baggage transportation.
Even compared to the fact that Liu Chengzong was out of artillery shells, the commanders of the three towns were more willing to believe that they themselves were out of artillery shells.
Because the official army does not have many artillery shells, the Gonglingsun artillery shells that were shipped with the eight Tianzi general cannons only had ninety-six rounds, and they were all fired yesterday.
In fact, Liu Chengzong's frequency of firing artillery dropped. Tang Tong felt that it was probably because he felt that he was losing money. In this artillery battle, both sides would feel that they were losing money.
At first, the general's artillery shot was Gong Ling Sun, and the marshal's heavy artillery shot seven-jin shells. Yesterday, the shooting lasted all day, and today, the general's artillery shot was the seven-jin shells he picked up, and the marshal's heavy artillery shot was the three-jin shells he picked up.
A pound of bullets and a pound of sun bullets, spraying out groups of bullets at every turn.
A complete role reversal.
For the officers and soldiers, this was not so much a sign that Liu Chengzong was out of artillery shells, but more like Lintao Marshal Wang Chengen's invasion of Hehuang and cutting off Liu Chengzong's logistics route.
In order to deal with Marshal Wang in Lintao, Liu Chengzong divided his troops. Just yesterday, thousands of Tatar soldiers roared and ran westward, which is strong evidence of this matter.
Isn't this a fighter plane?
The commanders of the three towns were gearing up and issued an order to attack Hexi from Hedong.
Tang Tong, as one of the retreating generals who faced Yang Yao's cavalry last time, followed Zhang Hongye as the attacking force in the north.
Upon hearing this mission, his heart felt colder than the weather in the twelfth lunar month.
The Huangshui River turns several bends at the mouth of the river, and almost the entire east side of the river is on the south bank of the river.
No matter whether you cross the southern stone bridge on the other side of the earthen fort or cross the river from the east, you will be blocked by the Marshal's Mansion. However, the advantage is that the battle lines are wide enough, only the north is different.
From the north, they could cross the river calmly from behind, but after crossing the river, it would be more difficult to attack the Marshal's Mansion than defeating Yang Yao's cavalry head-on on the plain.
Because there are steep mountains that cannot be climbed to the north, and the Huangshui River is a hundred steps wide to the south, with only a country dirt road and a river beach less than a hundred steps wide in the middle.
The two Franchises fired off alternately to block the entire route. Tang Tong was anxious when he heard this, but Zhang Hongye, the guilty general, didn't even dare to fart and just accepted the order dejectedly.<
/p>
However, guerrilla Li Fuming was a veteran guerrilla general in Yansui Town after all. He explained the situation to You Shilu. The North Road was obviously an easy-to-defend but difficult-to-attack terrain. The cavalry could not run fast and the infantry was easily beaten. It would be easy for them to hold on. If they wanted to
It is even more difficult to capture, so I ask the commander to reconsider.
You Shilu understood it very well, but refused to change the order... Isn't it difficult for the Henan army to capture the stone bridge despite the obstruction of the army? Or is it easier for the Hedong army to rely on cowhide rafts and war horses to cross the Huangshui River?
?
This is the situation they are facing. If they cannot respond to the Lintao Army at this time, the fighter opportunity is fleeting. If the Lintao Army is defeated, who can bear such responsibility?
What's more, the soldiers have already got acne, and they have to fight no matter what. Otherwise, if they only have acne, Liu Chengzong's army will not be able to survive.
When the Hedong army mobilized heavily at dusk, Liu Chengzong was counting the artillery shells picked up by the soldiers in the earthen fort.
Just as You Shilu expected, Liu Shizi's artillery shells were indeed not sufficient. He fired ninety-four rounds of salvos in two days, destroying half of his artillery shell reserves.
But after picking up the artillery shells, Liu Shizi was excited to find that his artillery shell reserves had not decreased compared with before the war, but had actually increased.
The public bullets, bullets, bullets, sun bullets and even group bullets fired by the army are not only usable because they are lead bullets, but can even be quickly melted into the caliber they need.
Whether it's a bird gun, a heavy gun, a gun or an artillery piece, all of them can be used.
Liu Shizixin said, if he had known that the army and the army would use this thing to fight, he would not let people carry lead weights. It's strange.
Hearing the horn sound from the city, Liu Chengzong hurriedly ran to the city and saw the large-scale mobilization of officers and soldiers throughout the valley, which made him smile.
In Liu Shizi's view, this must be because he withdrew the Mongolian regiments, which caused misunderstandings between the officers and soldiers about the battle situation.
However, he did not think that this was because Xie Erhu went west, but that it was the result of him transferring all the Mongolian soldiers to the west.
In fact, the officers and soldiers did not find out that Liu Chengzong transferred Mongolian soldiers to the west to assist in the battle. It is funny to say that although Liu Chengzong was blatant in sending Xie Erhu to the west to assist in the battle, because it was daytime, the officers and soldiers were buried in digging trenches and missed this information. p>
On the contrary, after the vaccinated soldiers in the shooting camp developed acne, Liu Chengzong took advantage of dusk to complete secret mobilization in the position. However, because he could not see the target clearly at dusk, the accuracy of the artillery dropped and he failed to bombard. He was discovered by the brave army scouts.
Liu Chengzong had been counting the time when the soldiers of the shooting camp would develop acne. In his mind, this was the reference point for the officers and soldiers to develop acne. He had always estimated that the officers and soldiers would attack before the acne appeared, but he did not attack until the acne appeared, which made him regret a little.
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Originally, Yang Yao was asked to attack because he wanted to kill the officers and soldiers, but he didn't expect that Yang Yao's combat ability was too fierce and directly frightened the officers and soldiers.
Now that he saw the government troops taking action, Liu Chengzong was overjoyed and ordered the hunting battalions to garrison various important places. He treated Yang Yao's horse battalion as a reserve army, ready to join the battle line at any time.
Immediately afterwards, he fell into doubts and summoned Yang Yao, Huang Shengxiao, Basang and other generals to discuss... The movement of the officers and soldiers was to launch an all-out attack along the river, but the situation at this time was not suitable for a decisive battle.
It was now dusk, and the Marshal's Mansion's army was in a favorable location. Just crossing the Huangshui River would mean that the officers and soldiers would have to pay a huge price. Even if they changed places, Liu Chengzong could not guarantee that they would not be repulsed before nightfall.<
/p>
The general offensive should at least start in the morning.
Several generals had the same doubts, and people concluded that the army was not planning to launch a general offensive.
But if it is not a general offensive, then what purpose does the army's attack want to achieve? I don't know.
A few people thought about it for a moment, and almost all of them showed fierce looks on their faces: These bastards are planning to poison!
To be honest, Liu Chengzong considered that the spread of smallpox would be inevitable during the war, but he never thought that smallpox would be intentionally used as a weapon.
After realizing it later, Yang Yao shook his head and said: "The commander is still kind-hearted, they are too despicable."
"My heart is kind? You are mistaken. It's not that I am kind."
Liu Chengzong chuckled lightly, but the expression on his face gradually became cold: "For us, smallpox is just human pox, a pox that can be solved by humans; for the officers and soldiers, it is an unavoidable pox caused by the movement of heaven, so we can only control the destiny of heaven."
And when they use it, they are kind-hearted."
Yang Yao shook his head and wanted to say something else, but he didn't expect Fan Sanlang behind Liu Chengzong to say with a serious face: "General Yang, the commander-in-chief taught me that the greatest kindness in war is to use the best tactics to win regardless of the cost and end the war as soon as possible.
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Liu Chengzong glanced at Sanlang approvingly and nodded slowly: "That's what I mean. We are fighting, life and death. No matter what tactics the enemy uses, save the words that accuse them of being despicable until after the victory. No matter what you say, a dead person cannot talk back."
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For Liu Chengzong, although he never thought of using smallpox to infect his enemies, that was because the smallpox did not break out on his side. His variola was all smallpox and had no ability to infect. Even if the enemy was infected, he would still be infected.
It’s also a smallpox.
But he couldn't use this tactic. His strategy in this war also took the possibility of smallpox infection among the army as one of the considerations to weaken the enemy's army.
It is even said that the army was unable to cure smallpox, and a large part of the reason was because of him.
Without his army, which could cross the Huangshui River to attack at any time, the officers and soldiers could easily be vaccinated against smallpox, and wait until the soldiers were immune to smallpox before they could fight the battle fairly.
But where is fairness on the battlefield?
"The enemy's choice of this tactic is good for us. Xiao Huang, move the heavy artillery away from the city, keep the packhorses away from the artillery, stay away from them, and hand over the Fran cannon to the hunting battalion... They are destined to be unable to achieve their tactical objectives." While everyone was talking, the sound of heavy artillery sounded again, horns sounded one after another, and soldiers waved flags of various colors in the dusk, conveying to the army information about enemy troops emerging from trenches everywhere.
The officers and soldiers attacked across the board. Even in the east of the river, there were officers and soldiers throwing cowhide rafts into the Huangshui River in preparation for crossing the river. There were also horse soldiers moving north, seemingly planning to attack from the path at the foot of the mountain.
This strengthened Liu Chengzong's suspicion that the army wanted to poison. Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult for the army to break through his defense line only at Shiqiao.
Only by attacking across the entire front can the government and army achieve a strength advantage on the battlefield and engage his army in close combat.
After all, when the Mongolian army retreated to the west, the Marshal's Army did have a disadvantage in terms of battlefield strength. He only had 10,000 people, but he had to deal with an army of 20,000.
However, this was not a big problem for Liu Chengzong. He asked Huang Shengxiao's people to bring heavy artillery, and he was already prepared to retreat westward when the situation was bad.
Qingbu Mongolian soldiers also entered the battlefield.
"They want to infect me with smallpox, so it's doomed to be a fantasy."
As Liu Chengzong spoke, he finally couldn't help but smile, opened his hands and said: "All my troops on the front line have contracted smallpox!"
