This time Zheng Hui, escorted by Yuan Guowei and Zheng Xuanxing, led only more than 20 people into Xuzhou.
Even though these people are the best of the best, and even Han Qian sincerely handed over the command of the third battalion of soldiers, it would be difficult for Zheng Hui to completely control the entire army with just this few manpower, and it would inevitably happen in the end.
Relying on Han Qian became the link between him and the generals.
Zheng Hui initially only thought that he could achieve this step. After all, he could not expect the Han family and his son to be completely selfish. He did not expect that Han Qian would take the initiative to promote the establishment of a new guard camp.
Seeing everyone's secretly shocked expressions, Han Qian was almost moved by his selflessness, but in his heart he could only swallow the broken teeth in his stomach.
If it hadn't been for his silly father who kept him chatting until midnight and gave him endless instructions sincerely in Qianyang City, why would he have handed over power so thoroughly?
Of course, after he agreed, he looked back and thought that some things were indeed necessary.
There is no action on the Ezhou side, and even the imperial court has not officially cut off the vassalage of Tanzhou. The Xuzhou side sends troops first and will be under great pressure. If Tian Cheng and others slack off even a little bit, they will be in a bleak ending.
Of course, as the most outstanding disciple of Zheng's generation, Zheng Hui's ability to command and manage troops has been fully demonstrated in the Xichuan Defense War.
Previously, with Zheng Hui's help, the Zheng family had obviously mastered part of the technology of distilling liquor, but they were still willing to sell the spirits produced by Yandangji Mansion at a high price. However, Yandangji Mansion was competing for profits, which also reflected
It shows the magnanimity and magnanimity of Zheng Hui.
Under such circumstances, Han Qian is also willing to cooperate with Zheng Hui, let each other put down unnecessary vigilance, and maximize the role of Xuzhou's soldiers and horses in containing Tanzhou, instead of playing tricks on the issue of command authority to suppress Zheng Hui.
Hui.
This time Han Qian summoned the remaining generals of Zuo Si and the children of Zuo Si who were over 16 years old into the army, and gave them to Zheng Hui along with the roster of these people and more than 3,600 other generals.
master.
At the same time, Han Qian also told Zheng Hui in detail about the problems that existed among the Zuo Si generals and the other three battalion Jia soldiers, as well as the directions for continuous improvement and improvement in the future, so that Zheng Hui could help Zheng Hui as quickly as possible.
Comprehensively understand the situation of the entire army.
In this way, in addition to the semi-armed transport battalion composed of more than 1,500 craftsmen, craftsmen and laborers, the three battalions of elites plus the guard battalion selected by Zheng Hui after arriving at Longya City, a total of 3,800 elites
, then it is completely left to Zheng Hui's control.
…………
…………
On the first day of November, the new moon is blowing in the north, and the mountains and fields are white with frost.
The Wuling Defense Envoy's Office was newly established, and the Xuzhou camp was officially renamed Wuling Army. On this day, the ten soldiers of the third battalion, led by the battalion commander Lin Haizheng, walked out of Longya City and along the narrow and steep post road,
Push forward to the old dragon head six or seven miles to the north.
Laolongtou is the state boundary between Chen and Xuzhou in the hinterland of Longya Mountain. It is a forty- to fifty-meter-high cliff deep in Longya Mountain.
The post road built in the early years of the previous dynasty passed through the mouth of the gorge between the cliffs; this section of the post road, which passed through the cliff and was only three to four hundred steps deep, was also called Laolong Gorge.
The mouth of Laolong Gorge is only three to four feet wide. Since Han Qian led his troops into Longya City at the end of last year, the soldiers from Jiming Village in the north have piled a large number of trees and rocks into the gorge to prevent Xuzhou soldiers and horses from suddenly
They passed through Laolong Gorge and attacked Jiming Village.
However, the terrain of Laolongtou cannot be said to be very steep. There are gentle slopes on both sides of the post road, and you can climb up to a cliff of forty or fifty meters.
In the early years, the Chenzhou Xi family that occupied Jiming Village built two villages on the north and south slopes of Laolongtou, occupying thousands of acres of nearby valleys.
These two small villages were very simple and crude. In the early years, there were only a dozen households of local residents living there and reproducing.
However, after the fall of Yingyu Village, the Chenzhou surname forces became more nervous about the Han family and his son. They became vigilant, and three to four hundred troops were separated from Jiming Village in the north and stationed in the stone village on the south slope of Laolongtou.
In the past two months, efforts have been made to strengthen the defense of this stockade.
Even though Han Qian had not interfered with the actions of Chenzhou's powerful forces in Laolongtou in the past two months, three thousand elites from Xuzhou were stationed in Longya City, less than six miles away from Nanpo Shizhai.
Under the leadership of Zhao Wuji and Xi Faer, they were able to touch the old dragon's head several times in one night. How much changes would Chenzhou's powerful forces dare to make to Nanpo Shizhai?
The so-called strengthening of defense is just to build a two-arm-wide earth wall on the inside of the thin stone wall, so that the soldiers can stand directly on the walled city to defend it, making the wall look stronger and not collapse with one blow.
.
All the grass and trees in front of the stone village were cleared away by the soldiers guarding the village, and dozens of pieces of wood were cut into pieces that were more than ten feet long. One person hugged each other, and the wooden log, which weighed more than 200 kilograms, was thrown from the wall of the village and rolled directly to the entrance of the post road four to five hundred paces away.
.
Han Qian and Zhang Ping followed Zheng Hui to the front line to supervise the battle. They saw dozens of logs mixed with boulders weighing hundreds of kilograms or even thousands of stones rolling down the slope. The momentum was extremely frightening. He stood three or four hundred paces,
You can feel the ground beneath your feet shaking slightly.
Han Qian worked hard to practice Shi Gongquan, swords and bows. He even killed Xia Zhen, the Yingzhou horseman, outside Xichuan City. He was also on the front line when he lured the elite Liang army into Xichuan City to encircle and annihilate them. But those were all
Carefully calculated.
He has never had the experience of personally leading an army to charge into battle, nor can he feel how dangerous it is to attack the Nanpo Shizhai with rolling stones and logs.
Many generals had no time to avoid it, and their bones and limbs were broken immediately, and their brains were splattered.
In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, Lin Haizheng still had to avoid the smooth slope of Xu, and directed his soldiers to advance forward from the more steeper sides on both sides, where rolling stones and trees could not hit, and approached the stone village on the south slope.
In the six or seven miles between Longya City and Laolongtou, the terrain is not particularly undulating, but it is still uneven. Three hundred steps south of Nanpo Shizhai, there are two terrain bulges.
Han Qian saw more than a hundred armored soldiers climbing up, carrying the heavy bed crossbow up with all hands and feet, and pointed it at the stone village on the south slope and set it up.
The bed crossbows fired frequently and slowly, and the terrain of these two places was ridged, which was lower than the stone village on the south slope. However, with fourteen or five bed crossbows lined up, the momentum was still quite terrifying.
The bed crossbows are three hundred steps apart and are extremely powerful.
Although all the soldiers defending the village were hiding behind the walls, the crossbows could not break the walls at once and collapse them. However, the bricks and stones were scattered everywhere. If the soldiers were to hit a piece of gravel, their heads would be broken.
The pain was so painful that it made me cry like a ghost.
At this time, Lin Haizheng ordered the lumber to be dragged up to the high ground one by one to build an archery tower, so as to gain the advantage of being at a high place, so that the bed crossbow could shoot at the top of the wall from a high position, suppressing the soldiers guarding the village so that they did not dare to take the lead.
The number of rolling stones and logs thrown down the slope from the village wall was greatly reduced. Han Qian saw Lin Haizheng commanding two hundred-man soldiers, holding high shields and spears. Under the cover of a dozen light shield vehicles, they came from
Head towards Nanpo Shizhai.
The wall was too short, only one foot high, so there was no need to push a specially made and heavy siege vehicle up the slope. With only a simple ladder, it was easy to attach the city to the wall.
The Chenzhou Fan soldiers were also very daring to fight. They also knew that the Wuling Army's armored soldiers were close to the wall and it was not conducive for them to defend the city. At that moment, a group of Fan soldiers came out of the stockade and charged into the Wuling Army's array condescendingly.
Flesh-and-blood combat.
"We still need to mount the cyclone cannon!" Zheng Hui was also always paying attention to the changes on the battlefield. At this time, he couldn't help but pointed to the raised high ground four hundred steps away from Nanpo Shizhai. He was talking to Zhang Ping and Han
Qian and the other two said, "Perhaps it would be better to lure the soldiers to attack the high ground, but also to suppress the attack on the stone stronghold!"
Zheng Hui had heard about the bravery and war-like behavior of the Fan soldiers, but this was the first time he had seen it.
The morale of Wuling's armored soldiers is not weak. The soldiers selected by Lin Haizheng to ascend first were all very sophisticated. I don't know where Han Qian got so many fine steel armors and scale armors from, but they were suppressed in the south.
There is a barrier more than a hundred steps southwest of Poshi Village, but I can't get through it.
The equipment of the soldiers was much simpler, and quite a few even had simple rattan armor and rattan shields made of rattan, but they were extremely fierce. Their faces were painted with patterns of various beasts, and they raised ferocious iron-clad maces with spikes.
They slashed and smashed with axes and hammers, forcing more than two hundred Wuling soldiers under the ridge, unable to attack.
No one would think that Lao Longtou would not be defeated in this battle, but today is only the first day of sending troops to attack Chenzhou. In order to defeat Lao Longtou, we have to pay the casualties of three to four hundred generals. Then the rest of the war will still be over.
How to fight?
What's more, Lin Haizheng has not yet selected soldiers to join the first group to attack Nanpo Shizhai, otherwise, the problem may be more serious.
Zheng Hui's tactics were very simple, which was to mount two or three cyclone cannons on the high ground they controlled, and smash the gate of the Nanpo Shizhai, destroying that section of the gate, and suppressing the defenders.
In a narrow stockade, the advantages of the Wuling army's sophisticated armor and powerful weapons can be more fully utilized in the subsequent battle for the stockade wall.
And if the Fan soldiers want to leave the stronghold and destroy the cyclone cannon, they must attack the high ground currently occupied by the Wuling Army. In this way, the Wuling Army's armored soldiers will gain a condescending advantage.
On the battlefield where swords and shields are fighting, the morale of both sides is equal. If one side occupies the high ground, the advantage it can exert is too great.
Zheng Hui took command of the battlefield from Lin Haizheng at this time. Although Zheng Hui meant to consult Han Qian and Zhang Ping, as a mature general at the unified army level, Zheng Hui did not need Han in a battle of this scale.
Qian, what is Zhang Ping talking about?
Han Qian just arranged for people to prepare and transport the parts of the three cyclone cannons to the front line, waiting for Zheng Hui's order.
"Xingxuan, you personally lead your troops to defend the high ground!" Zheng Hui knew that in order for him to truly win the respect of the generals of the Wuling Army, the children of the Zheng family had to take the lead in fighting tough battles.
Yuan Guowei and Zheng Xingxuan initially only led more than 20 people to escort Zheng Hui into Xuzhou. Later, more than 30 children of the Zheng family gradually entered Xuzhou over the mountains and ridges, met with Zheng Hui, and were all incorporated into the personal guard camp.
Zheng Xingxuan was the eldest son of Zheng Yu, the governor of Huangzhou, and the commander of the personal guard camp. At that time, he selected a team with Zheng's children, Buqu, as the main military attache, and climbed up to the wall where twelve or thirteen crossbows were set up to suppress the village wall.
At this time, the Fan soldiers used thick wooden boards as large shields to carry up the wall of the stronghold. The effect of the Fangzi crossbow was already quite limited, but due to the angle and distance limits, it could not reach the entrance where the Fan soldiers left the stronghold to prevent the Wuling army from directly attacking the stone village on the south slope.
The components of the three medium-sized cyclone cannons were transported to the high ground and quickly assembled. Stone bullets weighing more than a hundred kilograms were tied to the vehicle with ropes and pulled to the high ground.
Stone bullets weighing hundreds of kilograms were hit from three hundred steps away. How could the thin village wall or doorway be able to withstand it?
Thirty or forty stone bombs hit it, and the brick-clad village gate soon collapsed together with the adjacent wall.
Nanpo Village is really too weak.
The generals guarding the stronghold also knew very well that once the defenders were completely blocked in the Nanpo Stronghold, the Nanpo Stronghold, which was more than a hundred steps square, was too narrow. At that time, the Wuling Army would set up more trebuchets in front of the stronghold.
Wouldn't it be true that every time a stone bullet hit them, someone would be killed or injured?
Taking advantage of the fact that the village gate in the southwest corner was not completely smashed down and blocked, the general led his troops to rush out of the village and head towards the trebuchet heights where the cyclone cannon was set up.
Coming out of Nanpo Shizhai, the open terrain for deploying troops was too limited. Han Qian saw more than two hundred soldiers coming out of the stronghold, densely packed but impacting like a black tide. His heart was numb, and there was no need at this time.
What did he remind? Zheng Hui ordered Lin Haizheng to send three more hundred-man troops to attack from down the slope. He took the stick from the drummer's hand and beat the inspiring drum "bang bang bang" to decide in one fell swoop to march northward.