In the center of the Qing army, the Manchu Emperor Huang Taiji stood on his horse, looking at Li Zhi's stronghold two miles away, frowning and saying nothing.
The location of Li Zhi's fort was right in the middle of the Maligou Valley. A single cannon controlled the traffic on both sides, making it impossible for messengers and personnel from both sides of the Qing army to communicate. Moreover, the fort was well-organized, with several trenches of various kinds.
There is an earthen wall behind the trench to protect the gunners, an awning, and an earthen fort under the awning. There is a lookout in the middle of the fortress, and all the facilities that a strong fortress should have.
I heard that this Li Zhi is only twenty-three years old? It is indeed not simple.
This man has now become the close enemy of the Qing Dynasty. The messenger reported that the Qing Dynasty entered the customs and looted this time, and lost tens of thousands of horses in Li Zhi's hands. The losses were heavy.
Jierhalang, the leader of the Xianglan Banner, looked at Huang Taiji's face and said: "Your Majesty, the defenders at Qingshan Pass said that Dorgon attacked Li Zhi's stronghold some time ago and suffered heavy casualties. I'm afraid he died.
Thousands of people.”
Huang Taiji sighed and said slowly: "Dorgon is still too young. I repeatedly asked him not to attack the strong city. After all, he was too conceited and did not listen to me." After a pause, Huang Taiji said again: "This time
, Yue Tuo also died in the battle, and our Qing Dynasty lost its troops and generals."
Jirharang asked: "Your Majesty, will we be able to enter the pass and plunder from now on?"
Huang Taiji narrowed his eyes and was silent for a while.
After a long while, Huang Taiji said: "We still have to enter the customs!"
Jierhalang said: "But this Li Zhi is too strong, we can't defeat him when we enter the pass!"
Huang Taiji said: "Li Zhi only has a lone army, and it is difficult to fight alone. As long as our soldiers and horses entering the pass strengthen sentries and avoid him, there will be no losses. Entering the pass to weaken the Ming Dynasty is our national policy, and we cannot do it just because of one
If you lose every time, change your course.”
After a pause, Huang Taiji continued: "Cutting down the Ming Dynasty is like cutting down a big tree. If you need to cut it from both sides, the big tree will become a self-servant. Although the Ming Dynasty has been decayed, as a century-old tree, it has not yet reached the level of a self-servant."
, still needs to be strengthened.”
"If we don't enter the country, plunder, harass and weaken the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty will have the possibility of regaining its vitality and becoming strong again. Once the Ming Dynasty prospers, we, the Qing Dynasty, will be in danger!"
When Jierhalang heard Huang Taiji's words, he was very impressed. He bent down and stood aside and stopped talking.
Huang Taiji looked at Li Zhi's stronghold and narrowed his eyes again: "But this Li Zhi has become a climate that is difficult to get rid of!"
After a pause, Huang Taiji said: "It is said that the obedient King Kong Youde has come."
The messenger ran towards the direction of the Han army flag. After a while, a sturdy middle-aged general ran quickly towards Huang Taiji's central army.
This general was a Han, but his hair was shaved and braided like the Manchus. He looked very strange and ugly. He was none other than Kong Youde, one of the Three Shun Kings.
Kong Youde was a military general in Dongjiang Town of the Ming Dynasty. He had a grudge against the Tatars for killing their father. After Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong, Dongjiang Town collapsed. Kong Youde left Dongjiang Town and joined Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai. At that time, Sun Yuanhua wanted to imitate the Western military to form a good fighting force.
The firearms army of the Ming Dynasty saw that Kong Youde fought bravely, so they armed Kong Youde's troops with Western firearms technology and created an unusual Ming army whose combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.
However, there was constant friction between the local troops in Shandong and Kong Youde's Liao army. Kong Youde relied on the strength of his troops to rebel and attacked various prefectures and counties in Shandong. The Ming Dynasty suppressed it with all its strength and quelled the rebellion. Kong Youde had no way to escape, so he fled with more than 10,000 people.
He came to Liaodong to join the Tartars.
Huang Taiji had always hoped to recruit Ming generals to surrender on a large scale. He was overjoyed when he heard that Kong Youde had come to surrender, and he welcomed him out of Shenyang City. Kong Youde was named the King of Obedience. The firearms troops under Kong Youde were owned by the Manchus from then on.
On the surface, Huang Taiji was very kind to Kong Youde. When Kong Youde led troops to invade and occupy private houses, and Baylor impeached him, Huang Taiji didn't bother. But in fact, Huang Taiji was always wary of Kong Youde. Kong Youde's soldiers and horses were in various battles. Huang Taiji never replenishes losses.
However, Kong Youde had no choice but to redouble his loyalty to the Manchus and work hard to gain a foothold.
Kong Youde's troops not only had many muskets, but also red-coated cannons. His army had generals such as Deputy General of Firearms, General of Firearms Battalion, General of Guan Hongyi Cannon, and General of Gunpowder Bureau. When Kong Youde joined the Later Jin Dynasty, He carried twenty-two red cannons. In addition to leaving four cannons to defend Shengjing, Kong Youde also carried eighteen red cannons with the camp.
Huang Taiji summoned Kong Youde at this time, just to test Li Zhi with Kong Youde's cannon.
Kong Youde walked quickly to the front of Huang Taiji's army, knelt on the ground with a bang, and said loudly: "My minister Kong Youde has seen the emperor!"
Huang Taiji looked at Kong Youde, stepped forward to help him up affectionately, and said, "King Gongshun, what do you think of Li Zhi's stronghold?"
Kong Youde turned around and looked at Li Zhi's stronghold, lowered his head and said: "Your Majesty, the stronghold that Li Zhi has laid out is quite organized. Four deep trenches were dug outside to block the enemy, and earth walls and canopies were built inside to protect the gunmen. .There are a hundred earthen forts erected in the north, and I think there are quite a few cannons.”
Huang Taiji touched the beard on his lips and said, "If I let your Hongyi cannon shoot against Li Zhi's cannon, are you sure of winning?"
Kong Youde was stunned, and secretly wondered how these eighteen cannons could defeat a hundred cannons. Huang Taiji used his own artillery as cannon fodder. But Kong Youde knew that Huang Taiji wanted to test Li Zhi with himself, so he did not dare He showed an expression of dissatisfaction and said loudly: "Ruochen's artillery and Li Zhi's artillery are shooting at each other. The victory or defeat is between 50 and 50."
Huang Taiji was very happy after hearing this and said: "Okay, you can lead the artillery up and shoot Li Zhi's artillery."
Kong Youde felt bitter in his heart, but on the surface he looked sincere and accepted the order loudly.
After a while, Kong Youde brought out the Hongyi cannons under his command with a dark face. Those cannons weighed between two and three thousand kilograms, and each one required seven or eight oxen to pull. But the workmanship of the cannons was only It can be considered average. Many barrels have air holes. They are obviously cast using the clay mold method and are easy to blast and boring.
Li Zhi saw Kong Youde's movements through the telescope and secretly thought that the Qing army also had cannons and wanted to shoot at him?
Li Zhi shouted: "Send sixty cannons to the north wall!"
The artillerymen of the Selective Front Regiment immediately unloaded the sixty artillery carriages from the earthen forts on the south wall and moved them to the north of the city.
Kong Youde didn't know that Li Zhi had already made arrangements and was still busy with his eighteen cannons. The cannons were pulled to a place one mile away from Li Zhi's stronghold, and Kong Youde's artillery began to load.
Kong Youde's artillery was trained by Sun Yuanhua using Western methods. It also had a complete set of measuring tools such as gun gauges, gun rulers and moment gauges. After taking aim at Li Zhi's position for a while, Kong Youde's artillery staff general Li Jiucheng shouted loudly: "Fire!" "
Only the roar of cannons was heard. Eighteen cannons fired at the same time, spitting out tongues of flame, and fired eighteen projectiles towards the north of Li Zhi's stronghold. The projectiles roared across the sky, and eleven of them hit
Li Zhi's earthen wall easily broke through the half-meter-thick earthen wall, splashing out a large area of earth. The shell's momentum did not diminish after it defeated the earthen wall, and continued to move forward, killing two people on guard at the north wall.
Soldiers of the Huben Division.
Seeing that Kong Youde's cannon had injured his own soldiers, Li Zhi shouted loudly: "Fire the artillery on the north wall and smash the Tatar cannon!" 8
