At this moment, a soldier came in from outside the cabin and reported to Zhong Jinwei: "Master Marquis, the first fortress has been captured without any accidents."
Although Zhong Jinwei seemed to be smiling, he was still a little worried about what would happen to this special force for the first time. Now that he heard the report, he felt relieved and nodded immediately to express his understanding.
Seeing that Zu Dashou and He Kegang's confusion turned into surprise, he said to them: "Don't worry about this matter. It would be best if they can solve it. Otherwise, we can only fight it step by step. What do you think of this matter?"
What else is wrong with the war?”
After hearing what Marquis Zhongxing said, the two of them turned their thoughts back to the current war. Zu Dashou thought for a while and asked Zhong Jinwei: "Master Marquis, after annihilating the Jianlu reinforcements, what should we do next? It seems that one of them
There are many problems.”
Zhong Jinwei nodded, even if Zu Dashou didn't ask, he was still prepared to say it.
Therefore, Zhong Jinwei also explained the follow-up arrangements to them, and finally said: "The New Army will buy as much time as possible for you, but you must also understand that if the New Army persists for a moment longer, there will likely be more casualties.
.Therefore, you have to move as fast as possible, do you understand?"
Only then did Zu Dashou realize that this was the reason behind Marquis Zhongxing's previous threats. He thought that the new army would have to withstand such great pressure, and he didn't know if it would be possible. After hesitating for a while, he still asked: "Master Marquis,
Wouldn’t it be too risky?”
Zhong Jinwei smiled at him and said, "Why, you don't believe in the new army's field capabilities?"
When Zu Dashou heard this, he was a little embarrassed and kept saying: "Where, where!"
"Actually, I don't want the New Army to take risks, but if I don't do this, it will be impossible to defend Haizhou once the New Army withdraws. So, I have to go in to buy you time," Zhong Jinwei said carefully.
The stick tapped his left palm lightly and said with emotion.
"Please rest assured, Lord Marquis, the general will definitely speed up." Zu Dashou assured.
Of course, He Kegang also expressed his position: "This matter is of great importance, and there will never be any delay in the end."
Seeing that both of them had good attitudes, Zhong Jinwei nodded, then turned to Cao Wenzhao behind him and said, "You have to catch up in time. We cannot do without car camps in the field."
"Don't worry, Lord Marquis!" Cao Wenzhao replied without hesitation.
Zhong Jinwei nodded again, turned around and walked back to his seat to sit down. Then he said to the three people in front of him: "The recovery of Liaodong will begin with this war. Your achievements will definitely be recorded in history, so work hard!"
Zu Dashou and He Kegang clasped their fists, and Cao Wen issued a new military salute and said: "In the end, you must work hard and the Ming Dynasty will be victorious!"
As it approached noon, the "Perak" brigade captured half of the fortresses along the way, and some military information about the Jianlu troops in the Haizhou area was also reported.
After Zu Dashou and He Kegang heard this, they secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The pressure of the first step of the war on them was relieved a lot. They then said goodbye to Marquis Zhongxing and went back to their respective fleets.
About half an hour later, the fleet covering the sea began to sail toward the Liaohe River, just like a flood that had found an outlet.
The infantry of Guan Ning's army came first, followed by the car and camp of the new army, then the new army, and finally the supplies of Guan Ning's army. The vast fleet covered the entire river.
If we hadn't taken care of the fortresses on the shore in advance and rushed over, we would have lost a lot of ships.
The "Thunderbolt" brigade on the shore relayed news back from time to time, allowing major generals such as Zhong Jinwei and Zu Dashou to grasp first-hand military information.
When the sky was dimming, the fleet was not far from Niuzhuangyi. Zhong Jinwei led the new army to disembark and sail away.
There are only about 800 Jianlu in Niuzhuangyi, who guard the ferry and also support the fortresses along the river.
At this time, most of the Jianlu were resting in the town. The weather outside was so cold, and there was nothing going on, so who would go for a walk outside.
The sentry on duty was on the tower, wasting his time in boredom, when he suddenly noticed something moving.
He rubbed his eyes carefully and took a closer look. He was indeed right. There were smoke rising. The fortress by the river was under attack!
So he picked up the horn hanging on one side and was about to blow the trumpet when he saw out of the corner of his eye that many Ming fleets were slowly appearing on the river.
He didn't have time to be surprised and quickly blew the alarm horn.
The sound of "wuwuwu" resounded in the sky above Niuzhuangyi, immediately causing riots in the town.
The stationed Jianlu were also veterans who were accustomed to fighting. They quickly got out of the warm houses and organized their troops.
The leader is the third-class deputy general Shi Tingzhu. He was originally the Qianzong of Guangning. He surrendered to Nurhaci after the defeat. In order to build the army, he killed countless former comrades before he was promoted to the third-class deputy general.
As soon as he arrived at the foot of the tower, the sentry above shouted loudly: "Guan Ning's army came from the river by boat to kill!"
When Shi Tingzhu heard this, he immediately became furious. Guan Ningjun, who was used to being a tortoise, dared to attack on his own initiative. Was he kicked in the head by a donkey?
However, he was not a brainless person. Guan Ning's army took the initiative to attack, so he must have something to rely on. So, without waiting for the sentry to report again, he quickly climbed up to the tower and took a closer look.
At this glance, although he looked down on Guan Ning's army, he was still a little surprised. There were so many boats on the river, and there were probably three or four thousand soldiers and horses.
I only have 800 men, but the Ming army is so large, so I'm afraid the attackers are evil.
Shi Tingzhu pondered for a while, and then decided to send a messenger to Haizhou to report the military situation here and ask Gushan Erzhen Turge who was stationed in Haizhou to send troops to rescue.
He himself abandoned the dock, withdrew all his troops back to the town, and defended against the town's walls, waiting for reinforcements.
After all, there are too many Ming troops. If they block the Ming troops at the dock, the limited number of people may be exhausted, which is not cost-effective.
Not long after, a ship had already docked at the pier. The soldiers on board swarmed off the ship, formed a team on the pier for a while, and then headed for the town.
But Zu Dashou was still on his ship, holding a telescope and observing the road to Haizhou. He had a very good view from here and could see a long stretch of the road to Haizhou.
After a while, Zu Dashou put down the telescope, smiled and ordered to the guards around him: "The whole army comes ashore, first surround the town, and then let the pier out to allow the car camp behind to land."
Zu Dashou was in a good mood. Jianlu did not resist at the dock, so he would have lost many men.
He could guess that Jianlu's wishful thinking was to rely on the city wall to hold on. But Jianlu could not guess that there was also a chariot camp in the fleet, and the chariot camp carried various artillery, including the siege weapon Hongyi
cannon.
Zu Dashou seemed to have seen that when the car camp appeared outside the town and pointed the muzzle of the Hongyi cannon at the wall built by the captives, he was afraid that he would regret not escaping in time!
The battle to conquer Haizhou went smoothly and easily. This was Zu Dashou's first impression.