On February 16, Hong Chengchou's 140,000 troops arrived at Dabi Mountain and stationed themselves five miles away from the mountain.
According to reports from Hong Chengchou's informants, the largest Tatar Hongyi cannon can hit three miles. The cannon mounted on the top of a hill increases the range of its downward firing, and it may hit four miles. Therefore, Hong Chengchou's troops camped five miles away, far away from the Hongyi cannon.
range.
The 140,000-strong army spent a day building camps, and only sent out troops to gather at the foot of the mountain on February 17. The army was divided into nine military towns, composed of nine large square formations. Each square formation was composed of the total soldiers of a town.
Command, occupying a battlefield width of several hundred meters. The entire army stretches out for more than ten miles.
The Ming army was still red, and most of the soldiers wore red armor or red mandarin duck jackets. Even Li Zhi's soldiers and horses were wearing new red military uniforms. At a glance, an army of 140,000 people was in full swing.
The Ming army won two battles at Bijiagang and Hejia'ao, and their morale was high. The soldiers stood in the battle formation with their heads held high, and countless flags were flying in the air. It looked like a boiling ocean.
Hong Chengchou stood at the center of the army, holding the telescope given to him by Li Zhi, and carefully observed the defenses on Dabi Mountain.
On Dabi Mountain, ditches were dug everywhere and stone barriers were erected. The entire mountain has turned into a big fortress.
I don’t know how many ditches were dug from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain. Most of those ditches were one foot wide. They seemed to be dug very deep and had steep edges. It would be impossible to climb up if you jumped in. Not only were there ditches on the mountain, there were also ditches behind them.
High platforms of rammed earth were often built according to the mountain topography. These high platforms were often five or six feet higher than the mountain, so the gap between the ditch and the high platform reached more than ten feet.
On the outer edge of the high platform, there is an earth wall several feet thick, which seems to be used to defend against cannonballs. Even Li Zhi's heavy artillery cannot penetrate such a thick earth wall. And such a high earth wall platform, the entire mountain
They are so densely packed that I don’t know how many there are. If I want to clear out these fortifications one by one, I don’t know how much time it will take.
The soldiers of the Qing army were armed with bows and arrows and firecrackers behind the earthen wall, with only the upper part of their shoulders exposed. Even Li Zhi's riflemen found it extremely difficult to target these Qing soldiers with only their heads and shoulders exposed from a long distance.
More than two hundred meters up from the foot of the mountain, a steep place was dug straight and transformed into a huge cliff. The cliff is six or seven meters high, with only a narrow, sky-like slope above and below.
. On such a slope, it can be said that one man is in charge and no one can break it. As long as there are more than a dozen archers or gunmen guarding the cliff, it will be extremely difficult for the people below to rush up.
At the top of the hill, there is a stone watchtower. In the fort of the watchtower are more than a dozen red cannons from the Qing army, overlooking the entire hill. The cannons mounted on the mountain have a longer range, probably as far as four miles away.
, the Qing army can fire artillery and bombard the Ming army at the foot of the mountain.
The Qing army was heavily guarded and had dogs tied up at various points along the defense line to serve as warnings. If the Ming army secretly attacked the mountains at night, these dogs would bark in alarm to wake up other Qing troops.
Li Zhi carefully observed the Qing army's positions and found that many criss-crossed high platforms faced the enemies attacking from down the mountain from multiple angles. This design was extremely insidious. Once the Ming army attacked the mountain, they might be hit by joint firepower from multiple platforms.
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Hong Chengchou, Yang Guozhu, Wang Pu, Wu Sangui and Cao Bianjiao held up the telescope given by Li Zhi and carefully observed the Qing army's defense line. Cao Bianjiao and Li Zhi were old acquaintances, and Li Zhi also gave him a telescope. The other four generals
Bing didn't have binoculars, so he could only look at Hong Chengchou and others with envy.
It took a long time for everyone to put down their telescopes, and everyone looked solemn.
Wang Pu gathered the cloak behind him and said: "The Tatars are so well-defended. If we want to capture this hill, how many officers and soldiers will be killed or injured?"
Wu Sangui nodded and said: "My lord, the Qing army is so well-defended. I wonder which Tatar general is commanding the Qing army on the mountain?"
Hong Chengchou said: "This is Dorgon, the king of Dongnurui County."
Everyone looked at each other and suddenly realized that the secret passage turned out to be Dorgon. Dorgon led the Ming army to break through the border in the 11th year of Chongzhen. He rampaged through the capital and defeated countless Ming armies as if they were in an uninhabited land. He can be said to be the Eastern Slave.
The famous general. The generals looked at each other and felt more and more that this battle was difficult to win.
Yang Guozhu thought for a while, waved his hand and said: "Although this hill is well defended, it is still a hill. If we attack repeatedly over time, we can still capture it. I am afraid that when my army attacks the hill, the Tatars in the north will take the opportunity to attack my army.
If the flanks of our army are defeated while attacking on the mountain, the whole army will be defeated."
When the generals heard Yang Guozhu's analysis, they all thought it made sense. Dongnu not only had troops stationed on Dabi Mountain, but also had tens of thousands of troops stationed on Tianzhu Mountain five miles to the north. The exact number was unknown, but they could send troops south to attack the mountain at any time.
The Ming army. The Qing army currently has one hundred thousand soldiers fighting in western Liaoning, and its strength is not much less than that of the Ming army.
How to hold the flanks in the long mountain attack is also the key to determining the outcome of this battle.
Hong Chengchou looked at the generals and said: "In this battle, we will send one or twenty thousand people to attack the mountain frontally. We will then use thirty thousand people to guard the east wing and thirty thousand people to guard the west wing to ensure that the position at the foot of the mountain is not lost."
"Who is willing to take the lead in frontal attack?"
The generals looked at each other, but no one said anything. The defense on this mountain was so tight, with trenches and high platforms everywhere, and the team attacking the mountain from the front didn't know how many people had to die before they could attack. This kind of attack was really thankless.
If the army breaks up in the middle of the attack, they may be punished.
The generals looked at each other, but no one said anything.
Seeing that no one asked for a fight, Li Zhi raised his hand and said, "Junmen, Li Zhi is willing to take the lead in attacking Dabi Mountain."
Hearing Li Zhi's invitation to fight, Hong Chengchou shook his head, stroked his beard and said: "Uncle Xing Guo is the courage of our army and should not be used lightly. Uncle Xing Guo should be in charge of the central army. Only when there is a situation where we have to fight will we send out Uncle Xing Guo's army to provide relief."
A thunderous strike!”
When Li Zhi heard what Hong Chengchou said, he knew that this was the emperor's secret edict at work. Hong Chengchou would not easily let himself kill the enemy and perform meritorious deeds unless he had to use himself. Only the people attacking the mountain in front were really unable to conquer Dabi Mountain.
Only Hong Chengchou would let himself go into battle.
Li Zhi was silent and said no more.
Hong Chengchou glanced at the generals, and finally looked at Cao Bianjiao, who was famous for his bravery, and said with a smile: "I don't think General Cao can take on this important task of attacking the mountain."
Cao Bianjiao licked his lips when he saw Hong Chengchou directly named him to attack the mountain.
After all, he was a loyal character and would not shirk the blame. He clasped his fists and said on the spot: "The army has orders, how dare you disobey them. I am willing to lead 12,000 men under my command to attack the mountain!"
