Facing everyone's doubts, Chen Keqiao explained: "Yes, it's blasting. Thanks to your majesty's advice, we have come up with a brand new plan to destroy the city, which is to dig tunnels to the bottom of the city wall and then detonate a large amount of gunpowder.
, directly blowing up the city wall.”
"Is this feasible? Is the gunpowder powerful enough? Do we have so much gunpowder?" As soon as Chen Keqiao said these words, everyone asked many questions in succession!
The fact that they asked so many questions also proves that they care about whether this tactic is feasible!
If it is the same as Chen Keqiao said, if a section of the wall of Wuzhou City can be blown down directly through what is called, oh, a blasting thing, then it means that a huge hole has been torn open in Wuzhou City, and the subsequent
Attacking will become easier.
If it is really feasible, let alone Wuzhou, they can also do this in siege battles in other places. But if Li Xuan knows that they want to do this in other places, Li Xuan will definitely slap them in the face.
Damn it, damn it, do you know how difficult it is to use black powder to blow up a city wall? Even if you don’t mention the technical difficulties, do you know how much black powder is needed?
That's not just a few kilograms, but a big amount. It's okay to use so much gunpowder for blasting, but if you play it a few times, it will bankrupt the Tang Dynasty!
Li Xuan had long thought of using gunpowder to blow up the city walls to carry out offensive operations, but he had never had the chance to use it before.
Now, facing a tough guy like a hedgehog like Wuzhou, Li Xuan decided to play a civil engineering tactic to let the defenders of Wuzhou know that even if they hide behind the city wall, they will still be finished!
But even a few days ago, Li Xuan still had many concerns. Firstly, it was difficult to accurately measure the blasting point. Secondly, it required too much gunpowder, and gunpowder in the Tang Dynasty had always been a strategic material in short supply.
, but I don’t have the luxury to use it to blow up the city wall.
In the Tang Dynasty, where all kinds of materials were in short supply, including sulfur and saltpeter, every tael of gunpowder was produced at a great cost to purchase raw materials and was worth a lot of money.
It was extremely difficult to meet the supply of guns and artillery to the troops on weekdays. To be honest, Li Xuan was reluctant to use them to blow up the city wall.
The city wall is no ordinary wall. It is usually several meters thick. The base of the taller city wall is even more than ten meters thick.
The amount of gunpowder required to directly blow up the city wall is quite a lot!
However, after the expansion of the Tang Dynasty, the production of gunpowder gradually increased. Although it was still not enough, at most it could be diverted from the daily use of some troops.
It consumes a lot of gunpowder and even has a great possibility of failure, but it is better than tens of thousands of casualties!
So after thinking for many days, Li Xuan decided to dig a tunnel and place explosives for blasting. This was the simplest method that Li Xuan could come up with after thinking hard and the highest success rate. Otherwise, it would really depend on human life.
, when Wuzhou City is captured, the First Army may be completely destroyed.
At this time, Major General Chen Keqiao also successively explained the principles and detailed plans on how to use gunpowder to blow up the city wall. After listening to this, a group of people no longer objected.
If a section of the city wall can be blown down, the city defense of Wuzhou City will be torn into a big hole, and the army troops of the Tang Dynasty King's Division can quickly enter it. As long as they dare to fight and fight in the future, it is still possible to win Wuzhou City.
There is a high probability.
In the past, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty only tried to bombard the city wall with heavy artillery. He also tried to directly dig tunnels and send troops into the city to raid. He even tried digging tunnels and then using the weight of the city wall to collapse. Well, in addition to using heavy artillery to bombard small city walls several times,
Except, other attempts basically ended in failure.
But after fighting with the Ming army for a long time, they had never directly dug tunnels and blasted under the city wall.
However, there is also a problem. This tunnel was dug, and it was dug under the city wall. The Ming army was not stupid, and they would definitely be able to discover it.
Don’t doubt it, the movement of digging tunnels is not small. If you lie down on the ground and listen carefully, you may find it. During the battle of Fucheng in Liuzhou, the Ming army discovered it many times, and then dug tunnels in reverse and sent dead soldiers down to block it again.
typical.
However, Chen Keqiao's solution to this problem is very simple. Excavate at the same time and send multiple groups of people to dig multiple tunnels at the same time. Even if the Ming army discovers and destroys part of the tunnels, as long as one tunnel is successfully excavated, the entire tactic will be destroyed.
Just to be successful.
As for the fact that some people will be killed or injured during the process of digging tunnels, this casualty is not worth mentioning compared with the huge casualties caused by climbing the city wall and storming.
In addition to digging tunnels, trenches should also be dug to a place only tens of meters away from the city wall. At the same time, all troops should be prepared for a strong attack.
At that time, no matter whether the city wall is blasted or not, the troops will need to launch a strong attack from time to time!
Therefore, all kinds of equipment needed to attack the city need to be prepared in advance, and the assault troops must also be prepared!
At this imperial strategy meeting, Li Xuan directly bypassed everyone's discussion and decided on the spot to adopt Chen Keqiao. In fact, this was his own plan for a strong attack, and then ordered all the troops to prepare for it!
Li Xuan did not need to take care of the preparations of the various troops. The generals of the Tang Dynasty King's Division would naturally arrange the preparations for the troops under their command.
For example, Chen Keqiao was personally responsible for the engineering battalion digging tunnels and raising a large amount of explosives. At the same time, a group of staff from the Operations Department were calculating the weight and location required to blast the city wall, and thinking about how to seal it and detonate it successfully.
Destroy the city wall.
Otherwise what you will see is not a crumbling city wall, but an oversized firework!
As for Li Xuan, he naturally has his own things to be busy with. This matter is not a trivial matter. On the contrary, it is a big matter, which is to regularize the Liuzhou Independent Regiment, a chieftain warrior unit, and even formally incorporate it into the Tang Army.
within the system.
The predecessor of the Liuzhou Independent Regiment was the chieftain warrior army formed by dozens of chieftains from each family in Liuzhou.
During the Battle of Liuzhou City, Li Xuan gave this unit the designation Liuzhou Independent Regiment, consisting of three battalions.
After marching eastward to Xunzhou Prefecture and Wuzhou Prefecture, they accepted some of the warrior soldiers from many chieftains along the way, and therefore established an additional warrior infantry battalion.
Today, the Liuzhou Independent Regiment has four battalions, with a total strength of about 1,600 people.
After witnessing the bravery of these chieftain warriors, Li Xuan had long wanted to take this unit into his own hands and reorganize it into an attack force.
In the early stage, when the army was successively dispatched as liaison officers and the fourth battalion was added, officers were dispatched to serve as deputy officers of some units, and regimental staff officers were dispatched. In addition, there were slight logistical lags, and slowly,
It is to completely control this force.
In the past few days, Li Xuan has been planning how to reorganize this army of soldiers!
First of all, this unit must be used as a fist unit to attack tough targets, otherwise their characteristic of being fearless and fearless of death will be wasted.
Secondly, they must be given good defensive equipment, that is, armor!
These chieftain warriors are not ordinary warrior soldiers directly recruited by the 4th Infantry Brigade. Although those ordinary warrior soldiers have more courage because of their tougher folk customs, they still cannot compare with these chieftain warrior soldiers.
These chieftain warriors are actually, to put it bluntly, the family soldiers that the chieftains of each family have trained for many years. For example, after the Huaiyuan Cen family became the Wuxuan chieftain again with the army, they generously included more than 80 warriors that their family had trained for many years.
He was sent to the Liuzhou Independent Regiment.
If it weren't for the purpose of expressing their loyalty to Li Xuan, they wouldn't have sent out these elite soldiers. If it weren't for the fact that these soldiers were elite, they wouldn't have been able to send out so many chieftains in Guangxi.
That’s 1,600 people.
The soldiers recruited by the Ming army were not as strong as the soldiers in the Liuzhou Independent Regiment!
These people have outstanding martial arts skills, extraordinary courage, and are not afraid of death. They cannot be used as ordinary troops, let alone be sacrificed at will. There is too much death to add!
Didn’t you see that hundreds of people were killed and injured in the battle of Liuzhou City before, and they still can’t be replaced until now?
And the tactics will not be copied from the regular army, because the discipline of these soldiers is that there is no discipline, and forcibly restraining them will cause them to have a rebellious mentality.
Therefore, Li Xuan is planning to handle special matters in the Liuzhou Independent Regiment. The daily military discipline is not so strict, as long as it can be tolerated. Of course, battlefield military discipline is still extremely strict.
At the same time, they are equipped with all types of soldiers, including heavy armored sword and shield soldiers, heavy armored spearmen, light armored sword and shield soldiers, light armored spearmen, and archers, and they are given the best cold weapons and equipment. As for firearms
, as an offensive force positioned mainly for hand-to-hand combat, they mainly cooperate with the main force in combat during the war. They do not need these things themselves, so it is impossible to equip them with firearms.
After thinking about it for two days, Li Xuan directly issued an imperial edict to formally incorporate the Liuzhou Independent Regiment into the Tang Army's establishment. All the soldiers in the regiment were converted into active soldiers of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, Cai Erhu was dispatched to serve as the regiment's commander.
long!
As for the original chieftain leaders and the chieftain officers at all levels, those who are willing to be transferred will be transferred, and those who are not willing to go back home, it's up to you!
The affairs of officers are easy to arrange, but the arrangement of weapons and equipment is a bit difficult. They already have swords and spears and there is no shortage of them, but the armor is not easy to deal with.
Equipment such as armor is needed by all the troops of the Tang Dynasty King Division, so the supply has always been in short supply. Each army has too few of them, and there is simply no excess armor to support the Liuzhou Independent Regiment.
In this regard, Li Xuan personally ordered some armor to be drawn from various troops, from the Third Guard Brigade and the Fourth Guard Brigade. At the same time, he also drew some armor from the Sixth Infantry Regiment, which only had a group of new soldiers, and did not have muskets and combat effectiveness.
Some of the armor was withdrawn from the worried main force.
Then they squeezed in from the Ordnance Department and other troops, and finally asked Li Xuan to squeeze out 300 pieces of armor to equip the Liuzhou Independent Regiment.
The number of armors is not small. After all, the Liuzhou Independent Regiment only has a total of 1,600 people. In addition to archers and light-armored swordsmen and spearmen, basically heavy-armored swordsmen and shieldmen.
and heavily armored spearmen can all obtain the armor they need.
Li Xuan spent a lot of effort to arm the Liuzhou Independent Regiment, naturally hoping that it could play a major role in the upcoming battle against Wuzhou. In this battle, the Liuzhou Independent Regiment will be composed of two troops drawn from other units of the Tang Army.
The two assault battalions will be the vanguard together and will be the first to launch the siege!