In Zuo Liangyu's trench position southwest of Huai'an City, Wu Sangui frowned and walked forward with his servants.
Wu Sangui discovered that the movements of the Huben Army were very unusual in the past few days: soldiers from all areas of the Huben Army were dispatched, and they were constantly digging trenches towards the Jiangbei Army, shortening the distance between the trenches of the two armies to less than one mile.
What does Huben Jun want to do?
Wu Sangui couldn't figure out what Huben Jun's intention was.
Previously, the Jiangbei Army also tried to dig trenches into the Huben Army's position, but before the trench could be dug, they were blown back by the Huben Army's grenades.
But what does the Huben Army mean by digging trenches here? After the naval artillery of the Huben Army withdrew, only 70,000 people were left, which was far inferior to the 160,000 Jiangbei Army. Could it be that the Huben Army went crazy and wanted to dig through it?
Hand-to-hand combat in the ditch?
Wu Sangui decided to discuss it with Shi Kefa and Zuo Liangyu.
Beside Wu Sangui, the soldiers of the Jiangbei Army stood curiously in the trench, looking at the Huben Army digging a trench underground a few hundred meters away.
Soldiers of the Jiangbei Army hold Mini rifles called "Jiangbei Guns" by the Jiangbei Army.
In fact, Jiangbei guns have become a common equipment of Jiangbei Army.
Although the Minie rifle was a weapon that appeared in the 19th century, in fact the body of the Minie rifle is no different from the rifled flintlock gun of the 17th century. The only difference lies in the hollow conical bullet at the tail. The conical lead
The production of bullets is also extremely simple.
Therefore, although weapons like the Mini rifle are extremely effective, they are extremely difficult to manufacture. Li Zhi dared to produce this kind of weapon during his seven years in Chongzhen.
As the only hope for the southern gentry to keep their family business, the Jiangbei Army gathered more than 10,000 craftsmen from the southern provinces who could make firearms with the help of the gentry. Under the guidance of the Dutch, these craftsmen quickly mastered the skills of the Minie rifle.
Make law.
Regarding the production of seventeenth-century-level firearms, although the use of machines can improve efficiency, as long as there are enough skilled craftsmen, the advantage in numbers can make up for the lack of industrial level.
Jiangbei Army has a southern population of nearly 100 million, and there are plenty of people.
The quality of these rifles is related to the survival of the Jiangbei Army, so Zuo Liangyu and Wu Sangui attach great importance to it and send out capable cronies to manage the production of Jiangbei Guns. So overall, although the quality of Jiangbei Guns is not as good as Li Zhi's rifles, it is still inferior.
Not much.
As for the sight, it is actually a low-power telescope, which is completely hand-polished. Li Zhi and Jiang Beijun use exactly the same method, and there is no technical lead. Jiang Beijun has found a lot of them in the past six months.
Jade craftsmen grinded the glass brought by the Dutch and made many sights to equip the troops.
Jiangbei Army has now reached the same level as Li Zhi in terms of firearms.
Therefore, even if the Huben Army increased its troops to 70,000 in Huai'an, the Jiangbei Army was not afraid at all. In fact, the Jiangbei Army has been playing an offensive role in the past few months. It is impossible to attack the trenches head-on. The Jiangbei Army has continued to attack Huai'an.
The flanks expanded the front line, trying to bypass the Huben Army's flanks and rear.
Now that the length of the battle line in southern Huai'an has been stretched to 150 miles, the Huben Army is even short of manpower. In some areas, the Huben Army alone has to be responsible for trenches several meters wide.
The Jiangbei Army's strategic intention is to hold back the 70,000 Tiger Ben Army, wait for the hundreds of thousands of Japanese shogunate troops to invade the north, and then attack the severely undernumbered Huben Army from the north and the south. So far, this strategy is going very smoothly.
The only question is, what does the Huben Army want to do by digging trenches towards Jiangbei Army?
Due to the characteristics of trench warfare, Zuo Liangyu's current Chinese army command post was also built in a trench. As soon as Wu Sangui walked into the house, he saw Zuo Liangyu and Shi Kefa drinking tea there.
Wu Sangui bowed to Shi Kefa and sat down.
Shi Kefa looked at Wu Sangui and smiled.
Nowadays, Shi Kefa is the most popular among the southern gentry, and he can be said to be the one who calls the shots. He holds tens of millions of donations from the gentry in the southern prefectures and counties, and controls the Jiangbei Army through Zuo and Wu. He has great power and can be said to be the unrivaled power in the south of the Ming Dynasty.
The Lord of the Crown. Now he has a certain aura in his demeanor, which is very different from the former Minister of War in Nanjing.
Soon, a soldier handed him tea.
"My lord, the recent actions of Li Thief and Tiger Guard are quite unusual."
Shi Kefa stroked his beard and asked: "The abnormality mentioned by Uncle Chang is the digging of trenches by the Tiger Guard Army?"
Wu Sangui cupped his hands and said, "Exactly."
Hearing Wu Sangui's words, Zuo Liangyu seemed to have heard nonsense and picked up his tea cup to drink tea.
Shi Kefa stroked his beard and thought for a while, then smiled and said: "Chang Bo is overly worried. The Tiger Ben army is now surrounded by 20,000 people in Japan, and the navy is not the opponent of Hong Yi. Next, we will only be defeated by our Jiangbei army and the Japanese shogunate."
The military attack has ended."
Communication between the Jiangbei Army and the Dutch relied on sailing ships, and messengers only came and went once a month. At this time, Shi Kefa was completely unaware of the annihilation of the British-Dutch fleet on the Seto Inland Sea.
After a pause, Shi Kefa said: "At this time, the Tiger and Ben army are struggling to the death and may make some bluffing actions. There is no need to worry, Uncle Zhang."
Wu Sangui said: "However, Thief Li's methods are magical and he has many tricks..."
Shi Kefa laughed loudly and said: "Uncle Chang, now we have the same weapons as Thief Li, and our number is twice as many as Thief Li. Even if Thief Li digs out the trench and rushes over, we are sure to win!"
Shi Kefa said: "Chang Bo, think about it, cannons can't hit this trench, and fire cannons can't hit it. Even if Li Thief's rockets come over, there's no angle at which they can hit the trench. The only one who can deal with this trench is
The solution is to dig a trench on the opposite side and hold on. Other means are useless in front of this trench hidden underground!"
"Uncle, there is no need to worry!"
Wu Sangui looked at Shi Kefa, feeling a little uneasy.
Zuo Liangyu sneered and said: "Junmen, why are you so afraid of Li Zhi? Do you think Li Zhi is really a descendant of the stars? He can conjure up a magic weapon with just a blow like Monkey Sun, and destroy this invulnerable trench.
Broken?"
"If Li Zhi could invent trench warfare on his own, and then figure out a way to break it, I would really believe that he is a descendant of the stars!"
When Shi Kefa heard Zuo Liangyu's words, he laughed as if he had heard a very funny joke.
"If Thief Li had such means, we wouldn't need to confront him. We would just hand over the wealth of the eight southern provinces and the world's gentry!"
Hearing what Zuo Liangyu and Shi Kefa said, the two maids of the Zuo family who were guarding behind Zuo Liangyu also covered their mouths and laughed, as if they were laughing at Wu Sangui's unfounded worries.
Zuo Liangyu's soldiers looked at each other a few times, with smiles in their eyes.
Wu Sangui was laughed at by everyone and suddenly felt embarrassed.
He swallowed his saliva, turned around and said with a smile: "Come to think of it, I am indeed a little worried..."
Shi Kefa waved his sleeves and said: "Uncle Chang, you have been a little too anxious recently. Don't worry, when we attack Tianjin together with the shogunate army, I will definitely ask the emperor to make you a marquis! Once the Li thief is eliminated, the world will be peaceful."
We scholars. As long as Li Zhi is not a star in the sky or a god on the earth, we are not afraid..."
However, before Shi Kefa could finish his sentence, he suddenly heard "Boom! Boom!" several loud noises, followed by several shrill screams.
Shi Kefa suddenly panicked, his hands shook, and he dropped the teacup on the ground with a clang.
