Beiyan expected that the Huaidong Army would build a trestle in front of the enemy to help the soldiers and horses cross the Feng River. However, the Feng River flows from southwest to east, with more than 70 miles of coastline, and they are all in plain areas. There is no place suitable for setting up a trestle.
There are eighty places out of a hundred
The Zhouqiao Brigade, which marched westward with the troops in the middle route, consisted of more than 4,000 craftsmen and other auxiliary troops. They quickly dispersed with the troops in the front and selected more than 20 bridge-building points along the east bank of the Feng River.
Prepare
On the east bank of Fenghe River, Chen Zhi's headquarters was in the middle. The 1st and 2nd brigades, Li Baidao and Liang Shou, advanced to the area along the river. The 3rd, 4th and 5th brigades were on guard at a later position; at the Denghai town division post
On both sides of the war zone, Han Caizhi and Hu Qiaoguan each have a brigade arriving in the area along the river, ready to participate in the first batch of river crossings at any time.
More than twenty bridge-building points are scattered on the forward positions of the four brigades. Even if the Beiyan soldiers and horses on the west bank see the Huaidong Army's intention to build bridges and rush across, they have no way to carry out targeted prevention.
Thousands of heavy-loaded carriages and nearly 20,000 baggage mules and horses traveled between Jinhai and the east bank of Fenghe River, transporting large amounts of materials to the front line in a steady stream.
As of the 16th, on the forward positions of the four leading brigades, eight artillery positions and a large number of crossbow stations near the river were quickly completed. There were a total of forty heavy artillery pieces of twenty-four kilograms and above.
Be the first to take the position
The sound of the test-fired artillery boomed like spring thunder in the ears. The iron bullets passed through the air, whistling and making a sharp sound. The bullets fell like plows, digging into the soft soil soaked by rain after the summer.
Shocking scratches left on the ground
Although at a range of four miles, forty solid iron bullets are fired from eight artillery positions at a time, the density of the artillery shells formed is very limited. Even if a dense cavalry array charges, forty heavy artillery fires solid iron bullets, and it may not be possible to fire them once.
It can kill twenty or thirty cavalry, but the sound of the heavy artillery firing is so loud that it still makes the hearts of the Yanbei soldiers who have never seen Huaidong artillery sway.
However, this also strengthened the determination of Nahe Wugu and other Northern Yan generals to control the Huaidong Army outside Yanjing City.
The power of heavy artillery to kill soldiers intensively is limited, but when it comes to bombarding buildings such as city walls, it is not as powerful as heavy catapult crossbows.
Traditional heavy-duty stone-throwing crossbows must be pushed within three to four hundred steps away from the city wall before they can throw stone projectiles to directly attack the side of the city wall. Likewise, at such a close distance, it is easy for the soldiers and horses defending the city to attack.
Counterattack, unless the siege troops and horses are able to completely block the defenders in the city, the heavy catapult crossbow cannot be pushed to the front of the formation for use.
Huaidong's heavy artillery can be built four miles away from the city wall or even far away, and can be densely deployed in the protective array of siege troops and horses. This greatly increases the number of defenders and horses who can counterattack and destroy the city.
The difficulty of its artillery positions…
Although Yanjing City is strong, it has no ability to counterattack and is bombarded by Huaidong artillery. Sooner or later, it will collapse. The Huaidong Army's method of blasting the west base of Jinhai is frightening. This is called Zhuyu.
The Beiyan general who defended the city did not have the confidence to defend the city, so he could only give it a try and pin his final chance of victory on the field battle outside the city.
As night fell on the 16th, a large number of light artillery was pushed out from the cover camp behind and entered the artillery position; the scorpion crossbows on the crossbow platform on the river bank threw a large number of fire oil cans and kindling materials to the other side, ignited them, and illuminated the artillery positions.
The night sky on the west bank of the Liangfeng River hid many of the positions on the east bank in the night.
Taking advantage of the raging fire on the west bank, the various units of the Zhouqiao Brigade quickly sent people across the river in the forward position of the four leading brigades. A group of more than ten or twenty troops moved the heavy anchor connected to the iron cable from the river.
Drag it to the other side
The heaviest heavy anchors cast by Huaidong can reach four to five thousand kilograms, and the smaller ones weigh one or two thousand kilograms. Usually a two-thousand-ton main battleship needs twenty or thirty such huge heavy anchors to
Fixing the hull to the stormy sea
When the west bank of the Feng River lacks sufficient anchorage for the pontoon bridge, dragging the heavy anchor to the west bank and digging the iron claws deeply into the soil is the best substitute.
The iron claws of the heavy anchor were dug deeply into the soil, and pilings were driven for reinforcement. The iron cables connecting the heavy anchors were straightened with a winch on the east bank. Specially-made square-headed and square-cornered pontoons were quickly lowered into the water and connected to the iron cables.
Get up and lay the trestle. A simple pontoon bridge 50 to 60 meters wide can be erected in almost two hours.
In order to increase the carrying capacity of the pontoon, a varying number of skinned pontoons are fixed on both sides of the pontoon.
In the depths where the campfire could not reach the shore, Tong Huacheng and a dozen scouts hid in the grass about three to four hundred paces away from the river embankment, watching the Huaidong Army quickly build a pontoon bridge under the night.
As the leader of the West Temple Prison, Tong Huacheng was the best scout in Beiyan. He had a disagreement with Nahe Wugu, and he did not need to lead troops. It was useless to stay in the camp, so he took the initiative to invite soldiers to the front for close reconnaissance.
Movements of the Huaidong Army
Even though he had expected this before, Tong Huacheng was still deeply shocked by the high efficiency of the Huaidong Army in setting up the pontoon bridge.
Looking at the Huaidong Army's crossbow platform and the dark shadow of the artillery emplacement on the other side under the weak starlight, Tong Huacheng knew that this was not a good opportunity to rush forward and destroy the Huaidong Floating Bridge.
At this time, approaching the west end of the pontoon bridge and entering within a range of two to three hundred steps together will only cause a crazy bombardment from the Huaidong Heavy Crossbow and the Fuhuo Crossbow.
The Huaidong Army organized five pontoon bridges into a group. At the east end of each group of pontoon bridges, two to three hundred heavy crossbows and dozens of powerful fire-fighting crossbows were deployed.
Although Tong Huacheng knew that most of his left-wing troops, including young generals, were brave soldiers who were not afraid of sacrifice, he did not think that any of his troops could directly attack him at a close range of two to three hundred paces.
Facing such a dense attack from the Huaidong Crossbow Formation without being destroyed
Only after the Huaidong Army crossed the river in a small scale, the elite cavalry deployed behind them rushed up and mixed with the Huaidong Army, could the Huaidong Heavy Crossbows be restricted;
In this situation, the appropriate tactics are to use heavy axes or arson to destroy the Huaidong Floating Bridge.
Soon, intelligence along the Feng River came together: in the middle section of the Feng River, the Huaidong Army rushed to build 26 pontoon bridges at the same time after nightfall. The density, number, and speed of the pontoon bridges all made Tong Huacheng's heart...
Surprised
The Huaidong Army obviously understood the plan here, and pontoon bridges were built one after another under the cover of night. But Tong Huacheng only saw that the Huaidong Army's troops crossing the river gathered on the east bank after nightfall and were on standby.
The shield carts and bed crossbows were all pushed to the east end of the pontoon bridge, but until midnight, no Huaidong Army was seen formally crossing the river and entering the west bank. They seemed to be testing the patience here.
"General Tong..." Several people crouched and hid in the grass and came over. Tong Huacheng turned around and lay half-lying against the pit. Through the darkness, it seemed that the person was a scout from Hancundu who was scouting the enemy at close range. He asked in a low voice,
"What's going on at Hancundu?"
"The three trestles built by the Huaidong Army at Hancundu are very different from the pontoon bridges built in other places," the visitor reported.
"What's the difference?" Tong Huacheng asked with a frown. He was worried that some unexpected situation would happen at this time. The war was about to break out and it was impossible to change the plan.
Not daring to light a fire to alert the Huaidong Army, the visitor dug into a piece of sand and used tree branches to simply draw a trestle bridge set up by the Huaidong Army in the direction of Hancundu: "At Hancundu, the Huaidong Army did not use pontoons or iron cables.
, and pushed the trench bridge cars directly into the river to connect them. I looked strange, but I was afraid of disturbing the situation, so I didn’t send anyone to conduct close inspection. It’s just that this matter is strange, so I came here to report it to General Tong..."
Trench bridge carts are commonly used in sieges, but only a small width of the trench is needed. Push the trench bridge cart down the city moat so that both ends are stuck on the bank to form a trench bridge that can be crossed by men and horses. However, the Fenghe River in the direction of Hancun Bridge is wide.
Fifteen or sixty feet, it is not impossible for the Huaidong Army to build such a large trench bridge vehicle, but it may not be easier to use than a pontoon bridge.
Moreover, it is not impossible for a giant trench bridge vehicle that is fifteen to sixty feet long to be formed once on the shore and then launched into the water. There is absolutely no need to make it in several pieces and then connect them after being pushed into the water.
Tong Huacheng was also very suspicious of the trestle bridge built by the Huaidong Army in the direction of Hancundu, but before he could wait for him to rush to Hancundu to take a closer look, the Huaidong Army on the east bank began to move, and the campfires on the east bank were also disturbed.
When it was lit, the two sides of the Feng River were illuminated as brightly as day. Seeing that the Huaidong Army was about to cross the river, Tong Huacheng could only quickly lead his scouts back to avoid the battlefield where the two sides would fight to the bitter end...
Tong Huacheng retreated to a low mountain on the west bank. At this time, there were blazing campfires everywhere on both sides of the Fenghe River, almost burning the night sky, and also illuminating the battlefield on both sides of the Fenghe River. The generals of the Huaidong Army were looming in the light of the fire.
Under the illumination, there are numerous figures, chariots and horses neighing, and all kinds of situations on the battlefield can be seen at a glance
"It's not good." Tong Huacheng's heart suddenly jumped. He suddenly discovered that the Huaidong Army was perfunctory at other crossing points. Only the crossing in the direction of Hancundu was the most determined. The men and horses crossing the river were fighting in the night and light.
Between the light and dark, it's like a black iron stream entering the west bank
The scouts just reported that the trestle built by the Huaidong Army at Hancun Crossing was different from other places. Combined with the situation in front of him, Hua Tongcheng could certainly understand that the Huaidong Army must be in a different direction at Hancun Crossing, which made them unable to guess.
Transparent deployment
Not caring about hiding his traces, Tong Huacheng immediately sent his subordinates to take out the war horses hidden behind the short mountain, and galloped towards the camp, hoping to remind Nahe Wugu in time to notice the change in the direction of Hancundu.
Lead dozens of riders to the direction of Hancundu
However, in response to the Huaidong Army's sudden river-crossing operation, the Beiyan troops also quickly launched a counterattack on the west bank defense line.
The Beiyan left wing camp also noticed that the Huaidong Army was the most resolute in crossing the river at Hancun Crossing, with the largest concentration of troops and horses. At this time, they had no time to think too much. They wanted to take advantage of the Huaidong Army's unsteady foothold on the west bank to resolutely attack
In a counterattack, it is actually impossible to leave much time for them to hesitate or think. Under the cover of night, the five thousand cavalry who gathered on the Luohedian side resolutely attacked in the direction of Hancundu.
Tong Huacheng met up with the cavalry on the way. Apart from telling General Tanmoluo to be wary of the Huaidong Army's movements in the direction of Hancundu, there was no way to stop the attack.
The five thousand cavalrymen had already entered the firing range of the Huaidong Army's fire crossbows and divided into three groups to rush south.
The artillery was fired in the night, and the fire from the muzzle was like strange fireworks, and the roaring shells were blasted in.
At this time, a slight hesitation and a pause meant that the Huaidong Army could be asked to fire one more round of artillery. Then they realized that at least twenty or thirty elite cavalry would be killed under the artillery fire. The retreat would require both sides to launch simultaneous attacks.
Charging friendly forces are trapped in a dilemma where their flanks are threatened.
We can only attack forward. Only by getting close to the Huaidong Army can we defeat the Huaidong Army's fire-fired crossbows and heavy crossbows on the east bank. We can only tear the Huaidong Army's battle formation into pieces on the west bank and destroy the Huaidong Army.
Only when the floating trestle bridge over the Feng River is destroyed can we have the opportunity to retire...