Chapter 285 Prologue of the War

"Master, Lord Xuexue is asking for a meeting outside the account." Totout was about to go to bed when he heard the voice of the guards outside.

Did Xue Xue come in person? He sat back in the chair and said, "Please come in." Since Xue Xue came in person, she was a little relieved. I don't know if Xue Xue brought back the elite soldiers he took away?

"Your Excellency, I deserve to die, I deserve to die!" As soon as she entered the door, Xue Xue knelt on the ground and cried to her.

Now, he was shocked and looked at the snow on the ground. It seemed that he had come back alone with tens of thousands of troops?

Although Xue Xue pretended to be so pitiful, she was unmoved. If Xue Xue really did something wrong and buried tens of thousands of troops, then he had to bear the pain and hold Xue Xue accountable.

As the saying goes, kindness is not in charge of the army. If you want to lead the army well, you must have a strict military law. If you make a mistake, even relatives and friends will never be tolerated. Otherwise, the army is a squire and cannot have combat effectiveness.

"Is the loss of the troops great?" He asked. He said.

"Report to the master, we encountered an ambush outside the Gaoyou Mansion, and there were heavy casualties!" After Xue Xue said that, she wanted to cry.

"How many people have been lost?" Totout said, "I don't have time to talk nonsense with you. If you do this again, it can only be..."

Hearing the murderous spirit of the Taishi, Xuexue quickly said, "Now there are still 20,000 people left in the army, but some of them are separated and can be recruited back. This time, the total loss is only more than 10,000 points. It's all because the other party is too cunning."

I heard that I had only lost more than 10,000 people, and I was relieved. If Xue Xue really lost all the people, I would definitely have to give an explanation to those who died.

And now, less than half of the soldiers and horses have been lost, and he has been deprived of the right to lead the army.

"Are you close to each other's walls? Is the other party's firearm powerful? He asked. He said.

Hearing that the words eased slightly, Xue Xue said boldly, "Report to the master that although we suffered losses this time, we also asked the subordinate to find out the arrangement of the other party. The other party did not guard directly on the head of the city, but blocked us on the field outside the city."

On the field outside the city? Totao asked, "When can Zhang Shicheng's army fight in the field?" If it's really okay, why didn't he stop us during our march? Just sent a few teams to disturb?

"Master, he did not fight with us face to face, but dug a trench in front of the city wall." Xue Xue did not see the trench with her own eyes, but just heard what the retreated soldiers said. He didn't know that the other party actually arranged three trenches and thought it was just one.

"The trench? Is it to stop our cavalry? He asked. He said. When the city is officially attacked, the troops attacking the city are infantry. At that time, as long as each person resists a bundle of firewood, the trench can be filled. How much role can the trench play? How can Zhang Shicheng be so whimsical?

"Yes, but not all of them. Their people hide in the trench and shoot at us." Xue Xue said, "Our cavalry can't see the people hiding in the trench in the distance. They are very cunning. When we get close, they will shoot at us with fire, and our fire is not as far as their range. Even if they can shoot through, they hide in the trench, and most of the weapons can't hurt them."

Is there a person in the trench? Shoot yourself with fire? After a little thought in my mind, I understood that it was like this. Zhang Shicheng still has such a plan!

Whether it is a bow or arrow or a fire gun, for people hiding in the trench, the effect is limited. However, in addition to these weapons, there are other weapons, such as return cannon, a stone bullet hit down, and the trench has to be buried alive.

"Your Excellency, this failure is not a human fault, but the other party is too cunning!" Xue Xue said angrily. In fact, everything just now was pretended. After losing the battle, he naturally wanted to avoid responsibility. His performances just now did not get the sympathy of the master, so he immediately changed his way and put all the responsibilities on Zhang Shicheng.

If you don't summarize the lesson by yourself, but push it to the other party, you will naturally know what Xue Xue was thinking. You have a whim and take the cavalry to attack other people's strong city. Isn't it obvious that you are looking for abuse? Zhang Shicheng can give up Baoying and Xinghua, but he will never give up Gaoyoufu. If you want to make contributions, you can also go to Xinghua! I thought to himself, what a fool, I can't even see this.

"Where is the troops now?"

"Thirty miles north of Gaoyou Mansion."

"Although you failed this time, you have found out the other party's tactics of defending the city. Your merits and demerits are contradictory, and you won't investigate this time." Take it off and say it.

"Thank you, Taishi!" Xue Xue is simply grateful.

"You immediately return to Baoying, be responsible for guarding the weight of the army, let Yuekuo take 10,000 cavalry, and take over the remaining 20,000 cavalry." Take it off and say it.

Still can't get the achievements of the battle, and she was sent back to guard the logistics. Xue Xue had no choice. Who let her lose the battle?

"Yes, Master, I'll go right away." Xue Xue replied.

If nothing unexpected happens, the army will arrive at Gaoyou Mansion at dusk tomorrow. A big battle is about to begin.

Tuo Tuo is not that he can't attack Gaoyou Mansion, but to reduce his own casualties as much as possible. Xue Xuexue suffered a defeat as soon as he came up and consumed more than 10,000 people. Although he was very angry, after all, Xue Xuexue was pulled up by himself. He really engaged in military law. He was really a little unbearable. .

The trench? Interesting, I didn't expect that Zhang Shicheng could come up with such a method. From this perspective, Zhang Shicheng is much more difficult to deal with this time than Sesame Li.

"Brother, today's battle is really good!" Shi Yi said.

After cleaning up the scene, it was already late at night, but this did not prevent the garrison's Yaxing from winning for the first time and annihering more than 10,000 enemies, which was already a great achievement.

Other generals also echoed: "That is, this time we destroyed the Tatar cavalry and greatly raised our morale."

Only Tang He was unconvinced, and just muttered in a low voice, "If the tars fall into my hands, I can't run away, and I have to put them all down."

When Zhang Yang heard it, he just smiled. He knew that Tang He was just eager to fight, and his words were not malicious.

"Brothers." Zhang Yang said, "Today we won for the first time. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, there will be a bad battle."

Everyone calmed down and knew that there was something in the eldest brother's words.

"We have got the news that the army of the Tatars has passed Baoying, and the striker has even arrived at Fan Shuizhai. It is estimated that the army will arrive tomorrow night. That's a million troops. Are you afraid?"

"Who is afraid? I'm afraid that he is a son of a bitch." Tang He first shouted, "The more the tars come, the happier we kill. If we kill all the tars, the world will be at peace."

"Yes, that's right, kill them all!"

"The positions have been arranged. This battle has been fought. I will celebrate for everyone. If anyone doesn't work hard, give me diarrhea, don't blame me for being rude!" Zhang Yang said.

"Don't worry, brother, there are no bastards in our camp."

"Yes, that's right, big brother."

The cold moonlight shines on the Gaoyou Mansion, on the excited soldiers, and the war is about to begin.

At dusk on October 18 of the thirteenth year, after a long journey, the detachment army finally arrived at Gaoyou Mansion.

Zhang Yang stood on the tower of Beicheng, looking at the army in the distance. The banners were flying, and the scene was magnificent.

Although it is less than one million, the march of hundreds of thousands of troops is very strong. They walked neatly towards Gaoyou Mansion, and the ground was also trembling slightly.

Since the uprising, Zhang Yang's army has been fighting with local guard forces, with tens of thousands of people at most. The last Yuque army was about 100,000, and this is hundreds of thousands.

At a glance, the striker on this side has begun to turn and move to the east, and the back is still catching up, with a flag fluttering in the wind.

In particular, Zhang Yang found that in their team, there were also some people from the Western Regions, with thick curly hair, holding strange weapons and riding tall horses.

"Mao, have you seen so many people?" A soldier quietly asked the soldier next to him.

"No, where did the tars get so many people?" The soldier known as A Mao replied, "That's great. There are so many people. Even if my hands tremble, I can definitely be sure."

"Maybe I will wear two at once."

In the face of so many armies, tens of thousands of people of volunteers have no fear. After the baptism of war, they have long adapted to winning more with less. Almost every time they defeat several times their enemies unscathed. The more the more the Tatars come, the more rewards they can get.

Zhang Yang was very confident when he occupied the fortifications. At this time, if he went out to find trouble with the Tartars, he would be looking for death. Therefore, Zhang Yang did not order an attack, so that the Tartars formed the encirclement formation in an orderly manner.

Do you want to completely surround Gaoyou Mansion? It is purely impossible. The tars can make the north and southeast bread so tight that even a mouse can't get through it. However, for the west, the tars have no choice.

To the west is Gaoyou Lake, where Bian Yuanheng's navy is located. If the war is unfavorable, you can escape by boat.

This is also the embarrassing situation faced by Tuo Tuo. His only hope is that Zhang Shicheng can defend Gaoyou Mansion, because Gaoyou Mansion is the largest city occupied by Zhang Shicheng. If he loses this place, the other cities will not be able to defend, and Zhang Shicheng will completely become a bandit.

Of course, Zhang Yang will not leave. His purpose is to maim the tars here and make the court completely lose its repressive power to the rebels.

Because the defenders did not take the initiative to attack, the officers and soldiers completed the encirclement of the camp.

At a distance of eight miles from the head of the city, the tars set up a large camp, one by one, forming a perfect circle of encirclement, and the thickness was actually two miles away! It shows the large number of people in this army.

They were very careful not to enter the range of the artillery at the top of the city. The farthest artillery could only hit three miles away, and the camp was eight miles away from the top of the city, in order to be able to set up a position in front of the city and attack the city.

It's just that what they didn't expect was that the garrison at the head of the city also had another kind of artillery they didn't encounter: the God of War cannon, this kind of artillery, which is easy to hit targets ten miles away. The only drawback is that the warhead is too expensive and full of iron pimples!

This is also a last resort before a suitable fuse is found.

For the shell, the best thing is to trigger the fuse. When it hits the ground, it can explode, ignite the gunpowder inside, and blow up the shell. However, it is still difficult to create materials such as thunder and mercury in this era. Zhang Yang has asked Jiao Yu to find other alternatives. So far, there is no result.

And the last heavy team left most of the grain and fodder in Baoying and could be transported at any time. They brought the important weapons for the siege of the city: the return gun and the bed crossbow. Due to the carefulness all the way, this batch of equipment was not lost.

For this batch of treasures, it is natural to take special care of them and put them behind the Chinese army, in the North Road camp.

Hundreds of thousands of troops are in place, and the troops transferred from the northern provinces are stationed in the north, led by Shipu. The army transferred from the southern province is stationed in the south, led by Gou'er, a political minister in Pingzhang Province, Huguang Province. The troops transferred from the various Khanates are stationed in the east, led by Tai Fuhua. The bodyguards guarded the Chinese battalion in the north, and was commanded by Yue Kuochaer.

At the same time, Totout also ordered all provinces in the south to organize water armies and quickly come to join themselves, but this order was issued later, and I don't know when it will come.

Therefore, for the time being, he sent all kinds of scouts to closely monitor the movement on the water. Once the other ship comes to attack, he will call the police as soon as possible.

Gaoyou Mansion is already like something in a bag. Now, it depends on how to extract it.

"Brother, now we are surrounded by the tartars." Tang He said, "Let my old soup go out and kill for a while, disturb the other party's feet, and kill them unexpectedly when the other party first arrives tonight."

"No," Zhang Yang said, "Who dares to attack without authorization will not be spared!"

Tang He listened to Zhang Yang's tone and did not dare to shout anymore.

"The strategy determined by the Lord is the most correct. If we attack, even if we can achieve a certain result, we will hurt the enemy by one thousand and lose eight hundred of ourselves. It is of no benefit to ourselves. We can't stand the consumption." Shi Nai'an said.

"Mr. Shi is right. I know that Lao Tang is angry when he sees the Tatar and wants to kill his mother."

Seeing that all the commanders have arrived, Zhang Yang said, "Next, please ask Mr. Shi to repeat our tactics for everyone. How many tars you can kill depends on your luck. However, if someone has defeated all the troops in his hand, don't blame me for being rude."

Zhang Yang said so, naturally to remind some generals not to just kill the tars, but to save yourself, which is more important. This time, the tartars are strong. If they break into the encirclement of the tartars, no matter how powerful they are, they will die.

"Guys, now, our trench fortifications have been dug, and everyone has buried gunpowder 500 steps away from the front trenches in advance. Tomorrow, the Tatars will definitely attack with all their strength. Everyone needs to pay attention to the fact that after the Tatars enter the range, they will fire immediately. There are many Tatars. Don't wait to get close before shooting. They are surging and difficult to resist. After the tartars approached, they ignited the buried gunpowder and retreated into the second trench.

At this point, everyone has smiled. Those big killers buried in the ground will definitely make the tars suffer enough tomorrow.

"Don't fall in love with the war, and don't be afraid to retreat. Resist again in the second trench and kill the living force of the Tatars. If the Tatars continue to attack, then retreat into the third trench."

The third trench is already within the protection of the firepower at the head of the city, especially the scattered cannons on the head of the city, which is condescending enough to kill all the tartars who stepped into the first and second trenches.

"If the Tatars still attack desperately, then retreat into the city and leave the position outside to the Tatars. Anyway, it's useless for the Tatars to have trenches."

Tomorrow's defensive tactics are very characteristic, that is, retreat, retreat, and then retreat. However, this retreat is premised on effectively killing the tars. Although they are retreating, the tars will pay a huge price for every step of attack. Tomorrow's city will be full of corpses.

"Tomorrow, in addition to using bows and arrows and fire guns, the Tatar may also have other weapons, such as the return gun and the bed crossbow. Although these weapons have a long range, they are still covered by our scattered fireworks. If the Tatar dares to use these weapons, then the primary combat target of the scattered fireworks and the God of War cannon are these weapons. "!" Zhang Yang added.

In later generations, artillery bombardment has always been an escalation of war. After one party fires shells, the artillery position will immediately attract the other side's counterattack, so that there will be self-propelled artillery and run away.

Weapons such as the tar's return gun and bed crossbow are more complicated to use and slow to move. The cannons at the head of the city are prepared for them.

"Brother, what do our navy do?" Bian Yuanheng asked.

"The navy is on standby on Gaoyou Lake and ready to support the North Gate and the South Gate at any time." Zhang Yang said. The thousands of people in the base camp are stationed at the head of the city and ready to fight at any time.

"Tomorrow, our main target is the North Gate." In the big tent, there were also crowds of people. They were hanging all over their bodies, and they were listening to the combat tasks assigned by the imperial division.

Although there are many people, Tuo Tuo does not intend to blossom everywhere. There are main attacks and pse. This is a tried-and- tried tactic, and pse up can be turned into a main attack at any time.

"Our return gun and bed crossbow will be arranged outside the North Gate tomorrow. The first thing we need to solve is the enemy in the trench outside." Take it off and say it.

The war has always been cruel. The tragic death of more than 10,000 soldiers made Tuo know that the other party still arranged this kind of trench. If you want to attack Gaoyou Mansion, you have to solve the enemy in the trench first.

Use the return gun to kill the enemy in the trench first, then open the wall and quickly rush into Gaoyou Mansion.

"The other two gates spretend to attack. If the other party's counterattack is not strong, then turn to the main attack. If the other party's defense is tight, then besiege without attacking and look for opportunities."

Looking at the generals below, I am full of confidence in tomorrow's battle.

(to be continued)