"Master Marquis, seven of our troops were killed in the battle, 25 were seriously injured and could no longer fight, and 56 were slightly injured and could continue to fight." Li Laosi was ordered to go and collect statistics on the battle before returning.
Report to Zhong Jinwei.
Zhong Jinwei felt nervous after hearing this. After all, this kind of frontal blocking battle was not the ambush and sneak attack in the past. The casualties appeared so quickly. He asked: "What is the condition of the seriously injured sergeant?"
"It's probably the arm and shoulder that were injured by Jianlu's heavy arrow. It needs to be recuperated for a while, but his life is fine." Li Laosi immediately replied.
Zhong Jinwei nodded after hearing this. He knew that this situation occurred thanks to the protective effect of the wall.
He thought for a while and then ordered Li Laosi: "Send an order for the soldiers who are seriously injured and can no longer fight to retreat to Haizhou first, and take their sacrificed comrades with them."
"Yes, Lord Marquis." Li Laosi agreed and immediately went to arrange the matter.
Zhong Jinwei waited for Mr. Li to leave, then picked up his binoculars and looked ahead, but found no movement from Jianlu.
So, he began to patrol the position and check the condition of the soldiers.
The New Army's blocking position had built two rows of protective walls using the corpses of Jianlu. The New Army's soldiers could just stick their heads out and mount their flintlock rifles on them for shooting.
Moreover, the parapets are not continuous, but have gaps at regular intervals to facilitate the new army to attack or retreat. Of course, the gaps in the front and rear rows of parapets are staggered to prevent the cavalry from building.
charge.
Most of the protective walls were piled with the corpses of Jianluo wrapped in road mud. This was the fastest way to build a protective wall. Therefore, when the new soldiers lay there and shot, their bodies were mostly stained by the mud.
The weather was very cold last night, and they continued to fight without even bothering to eat. Many soldiers insisted on staying behind the protective wall, stamping their feet and rubbing their hands to keep warm.
When Zhong Jinwei passed by, the new soldiers knew that the Marquis had arrived, and they all stood at attention and saluted.
Zhong Jinwei inspected for a while and found that the new soldiers only ate dry food that was frozen into hard lumps to satisfy their hunger. When they were thirsty, they drank a sip of cold water they carried with them.
This was not possible. Zhong Jinwei immediately turned around and said to his guards: "Immediately light a fire and boil water. Give the soldiers hot water to drink. It would be best if you can also soak the dry food."
When Wang Peng heard this, he quickly advised: "Master Hou, lighting a fire will expose us."
"Stupid, you don't know how to go to the back of the position to burn!" Zhong Jinwei said immediately.
When wars were fought in later generations, cooks would prepare meals in the rear and send them to the front. This kind of plot was often seen in later movies and TV series, so Zhong Jinwei said it without thinking.
In ancient wars, the lives of soldiers were the least valuable. When fighting, they would take care of these details. Eating dry food was not a big deal, and sometimes even having dry food was considered a good thing.
Marquis Zhongxing's order was quickly implemented, and a fire was lit at the rear of the position, and then the lightly wounded soldiers took turns delivering hot water and soaked dry food to the soldiers on the front line.
As a result, the morale of the new army, under such difficult conditions, rose instead of falling. Under the soft encouragement of the Jinyiwei political commissar, they wished that Jianlu would rush over immediately and give them a severe lesson.
Time passed slowly, the nights became darker and darker, and the weather became colder and colder.
I don't know how much time passed, but suddenly there was movement in the Jianlu camp in the distance, with people shouting and horses neighing, as if reinforcements had arrived.
Zhong Jinwei quickly found a high place and observed the Jianlu camp through a telescope.
I saw many torches in the Jianlu camp, and under the light of the flames, there were many cars on the camp.
His heart tightened. Although he had never seen it before, Zhong Jinwei knew what it was by looking at its appearance.
He finally understood why Jianlu had a superior force but did not attack continuously. It turned out that he was waiting for the chariots to restrain the muskets.
Zhong Jinwei was worried, how could the carriage frame be broken? If the carriage camp was there and there was artillery bombardment, even the carriage carriage would not be able to stop it. But now that the carriage camp has not arrived, flintlock guns alone cannot penetrate the carriage frame.
Jianlu hid behind the carriage and could easily approach the new army's position. What followed was a hand-to-hand battle that Zhong Jinwei least wanted to see.
It’s not that the New Army is afraid that it won’t be able to defeat the Jianlu in hand-to-hand combat, but once it enters hand-to-hand combat, the New Army’s casualties will inevitably increase dramatically. No matter how powerful the New Army is, with one against three, the Jianlu will exhaust all their strength.
Zhong Jinwei's anxiety was noticed by the attentive Gu Baichuan beside him.
Zhong Jinwei handed the binoculars to Gu Baichuan and asked him to look at it himself. At the same time, he whispered his worries in a low voice.
At this time, everyone around them became nervous. Gu Baichuan immediately advised Zhong Jinwei: "Master Marquis, we can't defend here anymore, retreat quickly!"
Zhong Jinwei shook his head after hearing this, and asked Gu Baichuan: "If we can't stop Jianlu here, we can't stop Jianlu elsewhere. What will happen to Haizhou City if we withdraw?"
"But..., Mr. Hou, even if you want to block Jianlu, you can't stop him here! The emperor has given instructions that you must ensure the safety of Mr. Hou." Gu Baichuan tried to persuade Zhong Jinwei again.
Zhong Jinwei was really unwilling to give up, because once he gave up here, it would be equivalent to giving up the entire Haizhou. The battle of Haizhou launched this time would end in failure, and I am afraid that not even half of the soldiers who can go back in the end will
.
Moreover, the failure of this battle will boost the morale of the Jianlu, making them believe that the new army cannot fight head-on. The next time they encounter the new army, they will no longer hesitate or be afraid.
Moreover, if the first battle to regain Liaodong failed, it would be a heavy blow to everyone who had great hopes for this war, such as Emperor Chongzhen, the cabinet, the Six Ministries, etc.
The expansion of the New Army and the launch of the next war will also cause many problems, and we will no longer support the New Army unconditionally as before.
After thinking so much, Zhong Jinwei made up his mind. He shook his head resolutely and said, "No, we can't just give up. Depending on Jianlu's arrangement, maybe we still have a chance."
Seeing Zhong Jinwei's insistence, Gu Baichuan thought for a moment and said, "Master Marquis, why don't you withdraw first, and my subordinates will stay here in your place."
After hearing this, Zhong Jinwei looked at Gu Baichuan's face and said word for word: "Since I am leading the army on an expedition, I have to be with the army. How can I abandon my comrades and escape on my own? I can't do such a thing! Neither can you!
There’s no need to persuade me anymore, if you want to do my best, help me think of how to deal with Jianlu’s move!”
Contrary to Zhong Jinwei's worries, Jierhalang at this time was completely free from the haze of the previous two failed attacks. He was happily mobilizing his troops and generals, preparing to rush into the Ming army's position to see what kind of new army this new army could do.
Can you be arrogant?
All twenty carriages were pushed onto the official road. Unfortunately, only one more carriage could be placed on both sides of the official road, and carriages could not be pushed further to the side.
But even so, Jierhalang believed that he could advance into the Ming army's position with the support of five carts pushed side by side.
Jierhalang looked at the attack formation and thought in his heart: The Ming army is waiting to die!