"The scholar who supervised the construction of Shanyang City Defense was your classmate?" Duduo felt a little surprised.
"Exactly." Hou Fangyu said, "This man's surname is Mao, and his last name is Xiang. It is said that his ancestors were Mongolians. He and I were both tribute students in the Imperial College, so we have a very good relationship."
"Oh?" Duduo was even more surprised, "The friendship is still very good?"
"Yes." Hou Fangyu smiled and said, "We and the other two friends are collectively called the Four Young Masters of Jinling because the four of us have similar family backgrounds, roughly the same talents and learning, and even have similar hobbies..."
"Stop." Duduo interrupted again, "I ask you, this person joined the scholar camp?"
"Yes." Hou Fangyu was a little embarrassed, "Maoxiang was so excited after being slapped by Emperor Chongzhen with a few words. He really believed Chongzhen's nonsense about taking the world as his own responsibility."
Duduo asked again: "Then this Maoxiang was sent to Shanyang by Chongzhen to train troops and defend the city?"
"Yes." Hou Fangyu nodded and added, "But besides this classmate of mine, there is another scholar. This man once served as the canon of Jiangyin and is said to have fought against pirates."
"Hai pirates?" Duduo, He Luohui and others looked at each other and laughed.
What kind of war is a war with pirates? It's just kids playing house.
After a long while, Duduo continued: "God is really helping me this time. Chongzhen actually sent two scholars who know nothing but study to Shanyang to train troops and defend the city, hahaha!"
The Eight Banners nobles respected prestigious and capable celebrities, such as Hong Chengchou.
But let's forget about two unknown scholars. What use can two mere scholars do?
Duduo and these Eight Banners nobles did not know that the previous Suining County, Taoyuan County and Qinghe County were also defended by scholars from the scholar camp. If they knew this, they probably would not think so.
It is a pity that Duduo and the Eight Banners nobles did not know this at this time.
"Master." He Luohui licked his lips and said with a ferocious smile, "What if we break the city this time?"
"You don't need to be reminded of this by a dog slave like you." Duduo chuckled and said, "After the city is destroyed, the sword will not be sealed within three days! During this period, all the property, people and livestock obtained will belong to the bannermen!"
"Master Shengming!" He Luohui was overjoyed.
"Your Majesty, Shengming!" The other nobles were also overjoyed.
At this moment, Fan Chengmo, who was following Duduo, suddenly let out a light sigh.
"Eh, what?" Duduo turned around and glared at Fan Chengmo, "You little bitch, I haven't beaten you for almost half a month, and you're already itchy, right?"
"Uh, no." Fan Chengmo said hurriedly, "Master, didn't you notice?"
"What did you find?" Duduo raised his whip fiercely, pretending to slap Fan Chengmo in the face again.
Fan Chengmo did not dare to hide, but closed his eyes and said: "Master, there is no one at the gun platform outside the city."
"Huh? No one is at the musketry?" Duduo looked at the Ming army's musketry in front of him in astonishment.
Almost at the same time, Jingni Yaha, who had temporarily photographed Baya Lahuzhang with a white flag, also galloped back on his horse.
Arriving in front of Dodo's horse, Niyaha's vision suddenly went dark and he almost fell off the horse.
But thanks to his quick reaction, Niyaha quickly reached out and grabbed the saddle bridge, which saved him from falling off the horse.
"Niyaha, are you okay?" Dodo frowned and asked, "You look very bad. Do you want to take a break?"
"Go back to my master, I'm fine." Niyaha, however, didn't want to miss the good opportunity to make great achievements, so she shook her head and said, "I have already found out the situation outside Shanyang City."
…
At the same time, Yan Yingyuan and Maoxiang had already boarded the northeast corner tower of Xicheng.
Standing on the northeastern corner of the West City, you can look down from a high position to see the Jiannu army moving along the canal in the north. You can see the black mass of the Jiannu army covering the ground, extending from close to the end of the field of vision.
"Brother Jianheng, can you tell how many people there are in Jiannu?" Maoxiang asked.
"The specific number is uncertain, but we can still estimate the approximate number." After a pause, Yan Yingyuan continued, "If nothing else happens, the number of slave soldiers should be between 70,000 and 80,000."
"Seven to eighty thousand? They are all cavalry!" Maoxiang looked heavy.
Yan Yingyuan said: "The Holy One said that Jian slaves would take their coats with them when they go to war, so half of the 78,000 people should be coated slaves. The real Jian slaves are more than 30,000 people."
Maoxiang said: "It's already too big to have more than 30,000 slaves."
After saying this, Maoxiang asked again: "Brother Jianheng, do you really want to give up all the guns outside the city?"
"I really give up." Yan Yingyuan said with great certainty, "As Sun Tzu said in the art of war, soldiers are unpredictable, and water is unpredictable. Although the sage's blunderbuss tactics are sharp, they are harmful to our Shanyang city defense."
The defensive strategy adopted by Yan Yingyuan in Shanyang City was very different from the defensive strategy adopted by Huaxia in Suining County and Lu Xiangtong in Taoyuan County. Although there were also gun platforms outside Shanyang City, and the number was greater, Yan Yingyuan did not
Instead of dividing the troops to guard these guns, we decided to concentrate our troops on the east and west cities.
The reason is also very simple, because Shanyang does not have a sufficient number of squatting tiger cannons.
There are more than two hundred guns outside Shanyang City. According to the standards of Xuzhou, Xiazhen and Pizhou, they must be equipped with at least four hundred tiger squatting cannons, but in fact there are only fifty.
On average, there is less than one squatting tiger cannon for four gun platforms.
However, a gun platform without the Crouching Tiger Cannon is soulless.
Without the existence of the Crouching Tiger Cannon, adjacent gun towers would not be able to provide mutual support. Jiannu could move freely in the trenches between the gun towers without having to worry about being attacked by the gun towers.
"The Evil God"
The Jian slaves did not even have to walk through the trenches between the gun towers, they could go directly through the canal.
Because the ice thickness of the canal is more than one foot, it is enough for the army to pass.
In view of this, Yan Yingyuan simply abandoned the cannon tower outside the city and concentrated his forces to defend the east and west cities. As long as Jiannu did not transfer Hongyi artillery from Xuzhou, he was still very confident in guarding Shanyang City.
After all, Shanyang's city defense facilities are much stronger than those in small counties like Suining.
"Okay, I will listen to you in terms of military matters." Maoxiang nodded and asked, "Brother Jianheng, I always feel uneasy. Why don't we let all the village warriors ascend the city now?"
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! On the first day after Jiannu arrived in Xuzhou, he launched a sudden attack in an attempt to catch the Ming army off guard.
Chongzhen has specially sent messengers to inform Xiang Yong of Xia Town, Pizhou and Huai'an Prefecture about this matter, in order to make Xia Town, Pizhou and Huai'an Prefecture be more vigilant and not make the same mistake as Xuzhou again.
Chongzhen had Shiziying as his backup in Xuzhou, but there were no Shiziying in Xiazhen, Pizhou and Huai'an Prefecture.
"No need." Yan Yingyuan said calmly, "Brother Pijiang, don't worry, Jiannu won't rush to attack. What's more, even if Jiannu does launch a rush attack, it won't hurt."
Shanyang City is still different from Yunlong Mountain.
After a pause, Yan Yingyuan said again: "Let's first see how the Jiannu Association will set up camp."
Maoxiang said: "Is this still necessary? Jiannu will definitely live in the gun tower we built outside the city. It's so warm inside the gun tower in this cold weather, and Jiannu will not have to build a tent."
"I think so too." Yan Yingyuan smiled slightly.
Maoxiang's expression moved slightly and asked: "Brother Jianheng, do you have any ideas?"
"It's a bit of an idea of Mohu." Yan Yingyuan nodded, then shook his head and said, "But I haven't completely thought about it yet. I will have to think about it again and think about it again."
Maoxiang suddenly sighed and said: "If we had known that we would have to abandon the gun tower outside the city, and Jiannu would station at the gun tower, we should really make a fuss about these gun towers, such as burying brimstone, fire and saltpeter under the gun platform in advance.
It would be better to wait for something to ignite the fire, and then wait for the Jiannu to settle in, then light the cannon and burn these barbarians to death."
"This is definitely not possible." Yan Yingyuan shook his head.
"Building slaves is not stupid, let alone blind."
…
On the other side, Duduo asked Niyaha: "Is there anyone at the gun stand?"
"Yes." Niyaha nodded and said, "We checked more than twenty gun stations and found that they were all empty. Not only were these gun stations empty, but the villages outside the city were also empty!"
Duduo said: "So everyone is hiding in the city."
He Luohui said: "People can enter the city, but where are the cattle, sheep and property?"
"I didn't find it either." Niyaha said, "I guess he was also taken into the city."
He Luohui laughed and said to Duduo: "Master, this is actually a good thing."
"Yeah." Duduo also laughed ferociously, and then said, "The surrounding people have hid in Shanyang City, which saves us from dividing our troops to plunder. We only need to capture Shanyang to get all the cattle and sheep.
.”
He Luohui asked Duoduo again: "Master, why don't we camp at the gun platform built by the Ming army tonight?"
"Okay." Duduo nodded and added, "However, you still need to check the gun stand carefully to see if the dog has left any hidden passages in the gun stand, or hidden fire-starters such as brimstone, fire, and saltpeter."
"Don't worry, Master." He Luohui said with a sinister smile, "The agency secretly said that you can't escape my eyes. Even if it is just a mouse hole, it will be dug out by my slave. At least it will be fire, brimstone, and saltpeter, and it will never escape my nose.
"
Although He Luohui said so, he didn't think that the Ming army had such a brain.
Didn't you hear what Hou Fangyu said? There are two soldiers responsible for guarding Shanyang.
He is just a scholar, not Zhuge Liang, how can he have such a magical plan?
However, Gui thought in his heart that He Luohui personally took a team of flag men and carefully inspected ten of the muskets and found that there were no problems among them, and then reported it to Duduo.
After receiving the report, Duduo immediately ordered the army to enter the guntai camp.
…
The sky quickly darkened, and Yan Yingyuan smiled as he saw groups of Jiannu entering the gun platform.
"Brother Bijiang, go back and have a good sleep." Yan Yingyuan said, "In the next period of time, maybe ten days, maybe half a month, maybe even longer, I'm afraid it's rare for you to get a sound sleep."
"It makes sense." Maoxiang agreed, and the two of them bowed and said goodbye.
Yan Yingyuan is in charge of military affairs and will have to live on the tower from tonight onwards.
