Four hundred and fortieth chapters one hundred thousand
After entering Tashan City, everyone walked into the General's Mansion of the Tashan Branch Guard General. This General's Mansion is the largest building in Tashan City, and is now temporarily used as the headquarters by Hong Chengchou.
After entering the lobby, Hong Chengchou sat in the middle. Li Zhi sat on the left, basically sitting side by side with Hong Chengchou, only slightly below. Supervisor Zhang Ruoqi sat on the lower right hand side. Below Zhang Ruoqi sat Qiu Minyang, governor of Liaodong. Others
The general soldiers sat down one by one.
Among the generals, apart from Li Zhi, Cao Bianjiao had the highest official position. He was the first-grade left governor and the prince Shaobao. He wanted to get close to Li Zhi, so he took the lead and sat next to Li Zhi, sitting next to all the military attachés.
The front.
After the generals took their seats, Hong Chengchou asked someone to fetch the large map and spread it on the floor of the lobby. After looking at the generals on the left and right, Hong Chengchou asked: "Who can tell us about the current situation?"
Wang Tingchen, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Army, stood up with his hands raised and said, "Supervisor, please tell me!"
Hong Chengchou nodded and said, "Okay! Ziguan will tell you!"
Wang Tingchen, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, pointed to the map and said: "Now our army is gathered in Tashan, with 110,000 people. Tashan is one hundred miles away from Xingshan City in the north. Fifty miles north of Xingshan is Songshan City, and fifty miles further north is Jinzhou City.
.Tashan is two hundred miles away from Jinshan City, which is besieged by Tatar soldiers."
"We have 20,000 troops in Xingshan and 10,000 in Songshan."
"The Qing army is currently sending 30,000 soldiers and horses to besiege Xingshan. The attack is very urgent. Xingshan soldiers and horses have repeatedly sent people to ask for help. However, Xingshan City has a year's supply of food and grass, so it seems that there is no need to worry about defending the city in a short period of time. We will wait.
I don’t know if the siege of Xingshan was a trick by the Qing army, as they never sent troops to support it.”
"The Qing soldiers dug trenches, built walls and built fortifications at Dabi Mountain between Songshan and Jinzhou. Dabi Mountain is the only way from Songshan to Jinzhou. If our army wants to lift the siege of Jinzhou, it must pass through Dabi Mountain.
Now the mountain has been built by the Tatars into a large fortress, which is difficult to attack."
Hearing Wang Tingchen's words, everyone frowned. The Tatars surrounded the point to fight for reinforcements, and their arrangements were very organized. Now that the Ming army wants to rescue Jinzhou, they must attack the Dabishan fortifications built by the Tatars. Attacking the fortifications from above is inherently difficult.
What's more, the Tatar soldiers and horses are stronger than the Ming army. It is even more difficult for the Ming army to attack the strong with a weak force.
The cunning Tatars not only made the Ming army travel thousands of miles to western Liaoning for a decisive battle with the Qing army, but also turned against the guests and forced the Ming army to attack the Qing army's fortress.
Wang Tingchen looked at the people with bad expressions and said slowly: "The scouts reported that the Tatars have been increasing their troops in western Liaoning recently. Now there are at least 100,000 Qing troops in western Liaoning."
Upon hearing Wang Tingchen's words, Hong Chengchou and the generals who came from Ningyuan suddenly changed their expressions.
The Qing army increased its troops again.
There is a huge difference between 70,000 people and 100,000 people.
The Ming Dynasty sent only 140,000 soldiers and horses from various towns to reinforce Jinzhou. Including the local Guanning garrison, the number was only 190,000. The Ming army's combat power was not as good as that of the Qing army, and its mobility was not as good as that of the Qing army.
Ninety thousand people had to divide their forces to defend the city, and they also had to attack the Qing army's fortress in Dabi Mountain. The military strength suddenly became tense.
Hong Chengchou took a breath and looked at the map in silence.
Li Zhi was not surprised when he heard what Wang Tingchen said. Although the Qing army was short of manpower, after conquering Mongolia and Korea, it was more than enough to dispatch 100,000 soldiers. He had 130,000 regular soldiers from the Eighth Army.
, coupled with the 15,000 strong troops of the Huben Division, they should not be at a disadvantage against the 100,000 Qing troops.
Qiu Mingyang, the governor of Liaodong, cupped his hands and said: "Governor, no matter what happens now, my army should march north to lift the siege of the Qing army in Xingshan."
Hong Chengchou nodded and said: "After two days of repairs on Tashan, my army will go north to Xingshan and break the siege of Xingshan."
Cao Bianjiao cupped his hands and said: "My lord, this battle cannot be won overnight. It will definitely take several months. In such a battle, the most important thing is food and grass. Our army should guard the food road tightly to ensure that the retreat is not cut off by the Qing army."
Hong Chengchou was a little unhappy with Cao Bianjiao's words. Cao Bianjiao said this as if Hong Chengchou didn't know the importance of food routes.
After Cao Bianjiao finished speaking, Hong Chengchou was silent for a long time, and then slowly said: "Of course I know the importance of food routes. The food and grass needed by the army this time come from two sources: land and sea. Our army is attacking Dongnu at Dabi Mountain.
When building a fortress, you only need to defend the cities in Xingshan and Tashan to keep the food route open."
"I mobilized 50,000 local Guanning garrison troops, abandoned the large and small forts, and stationed themselves in Ningyuan, Tashan and Xingshan for defense. This way I will be foolproof."
The Guanning garrison mentioned by Hong Chengchou is the battalions stationed in the large and small forts on the Guanning defense line. These battalions belong to the large and small generals of the Guanning army system, guerrillas and garrison, although their combat power is not as good as that of the general soldiers.
Although there were many soldiers in the main barracks, Hong Chengchou was unwilling to use the 140,000 regular soldiers with outstanding combat power to defend the city, so he naturally chose to mobilize these local defenders to defend the cities.
If the Qing army really crossed the main force of the Ming army to attack the city in the rear, with the support of the local defenders for a few days, the frontline army could return for reinforcements.
As for Songshan City, when the Qing army fortress of Dabishan was attacked, Songshan City was more than ten miles away. It was easy to rescue and could be defended by just leaving a few soldiers and horses.
After hearing Hong Chengchou's words, the generals thought for a while and felt that this arrangement was more appropriate.
Cao Bianjiao seemed to have something to say, but looking at Hong Chengchou's unhappy expression, he finally did not dare to speak.
Wang Tingchen stood up and said: "Master Governor, now the army has arrived. The last general is willing to be the vanguard and lead 15,000 men under his command to support Xingshan City and break the siege of the Qing army."
Hong Chengchou laughed when he heard this and said loudly: "Zi Guan is more courageous than others, so he can be the vanguard of my army. After two days of repairing my army, Zi Guan will lead the army and set off."
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On February 6, the local garrison of Guan Ning mobilized by Hong Chengchou entered Tashan City, and the seven-man army with 110,000 soldiers marched north to attack Xingshan City.
Wang Tingchen, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, walked at the forefront with 15,000 troops, marching fifty miles a day, and took two days to reach Xingshan City.
Outside Xingshan City, 30,000 Qing troops were attacking the city with Hongyi cannons. The Qing army had built a lot of artillery in the past two years. When attacking the city, they no longer used ladders and dead soldiers to attack the city. Instead, they used Hongyi cannons to bombard the city walls.
The power of firearms can be used to defeat the city wall before entering the city. However, the cannons of this era need to cool down after a period of firing. It will also take a long time to destroy the city wall.
After Wang Tingchen's troops arrived at Xingshan, the Qing army withdrew the siege of Xingshan and fled to the north.
Wang Tingchen and Bai Guangen, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Association of Ji Zhen who was defending the city in Xingshan City, merged together and sent 35,000 men to pursue the Qing troops who were escaping with their cannons.
After chasing for ten miles, Wang Tingchen caught up with the fleeing Qing army in Yihetun.
Seeing that the Ming army was pursuing them, the Qing army set up a battle array at Yihetun and confronted Wang Tingchen's troops.