Number of People

  Chapter 1706 The battle of Renzi scroll will start

  Following Zhang Dingyuan's suggestion, several other people also put forward their own opinions one after another.

  He Huchen is also very proud. Being able to successfully mobilize everyone's passion and courage is not easy, and it is also a skill.

The soldiers under him also come from multiple sources. Liaodong soldiers, Yongmin Zhuang, and veterans of the Beijing camp are kneading together. It is not easy, especially when they have to abandon everything before and start from scratch. It turns out that the new army of the old Beijing camp, which mainly uses firearms, is also a huge challenge for him.

   It can be said that from the very beginning, he was also trembling, fearing that he would disappoint Feng Ziying's high hopes for him.

Fortunately, Feng Ziying has maintained absolute support for him from the beginning to the end, and has given him strong support from all aspects, especially the all-round guidance for the construction of such an army that no one has been in contact with before, which made him stumble with this army. An army figured it out.

  Today's battle was regarded as the first battle of his He Huchen's department, and it was the first battle he did not command on the spot. It was so beautifully fought, which greatly encouraged the confidence of everyone including him.

  Although I was very optimistic about this kind of firecracker, which is far more powerful than the previous firearms such as the three-eyed blunderbuss and the target gun, but after all, I have never really experienced real combat, and I still feel a little uneasy.

But after this battle, He Huchen can already firmly believe that in every battle in the future, the army in his hands will perform better and will not lose to any army, even if they are the elite of the Nine Frontiers It will get better and stronger.

After carefully listening to the suggestions of everyone under his command, He Huchen nodded slightly: "Very well, I understand everyone's opinions. We really need to make full use of this highland west of the south of the bridge. Ding Yuan's suggestion is very good. Tiger squatting cannon The power of the bridge is just enough to cover this area. If they want to gather and advance at the north end of the bridge, then we can use this height to give them a head-on blow. As for the bridge, Mingzhang’s opinion is also very good, the bridge deck is only so wide If you push a camping cart to cover the bridge, the middle will be quite narrow, and you won’t be able to hide many soldiers at all. A hundred or ten people at a time is considered too much. Can we let the bridge head out and shoot them when it unfolds? It’s a consideration. In addition, if we set up high platforms on both sides of the bridge head and use firecrackers to shoot from the heights, will it be able to kill it?…”

  Working together, once a suggestion is accepted and supported by the superior, the proposer will have a sense of honor and trust, and will be more willing to make a suggestion.

He Huchen also wants to cultivate everyone's sense of participation, instead of relying entirely on his own opinions, because to be honest, he will only fight with an army that has always been dominated by firearms. This is also the first time for him, how to maximize the power of firearms To the extreme, he is also a process of learning and practicing.

   "It takes time and effort to set up a high platform. I'm afraid it will be too late, but a small amount may be enough. If the eagle-beaked guns are condescending, they may be able to play a huge role..."

"Also along the south bank of the river, we need to guard against the sneak attack of the enemy's boat ferry. Once the attack on the stone bridge is blocked, the Xuanfu army will definitely increase the boat ferry cavalry, and use the cavalry's maneuverability to attack our rear. This requires our cavalry to expand the search area. , once the enemy troops are found to cross the river, they will attack and harass them in advance,..."

  With the enthusiasm of everyone, every suggestion was recorded, and then discussed and studied to see if it was feasible, and finally He Huchen made the decision.

Although the time is not long, such a pre-war meeting is extremely necessary. Many previously unthinkable deficiencies or unexpected possibilities have been made up, and a more comprehensive and detailed combat plan has also been proposed. It also made He Huchen breathe a sigh of relief.

   Just as the soldiers on the south bank of the river were preparing their horses and horses, the north bank of the river was also full of murderous intent, ready to strike with all its might.

   Niu Jizong was not too surprised when he learned that the forward was frustrated.

Longhutai fell in one blow, and Changping Prefecture was easily won. Baiyangkou was bloodless, that is to say, the border city of the town took a little bit of hands and feet, but it was also easily taken. It can be said that the entire western pass of Ji Town is downwind. It went down smoothly, so smoothly that even he was a little unsteady.

  Going all the way to Hongqiao, he never met decent resistance. It was not until the Yuhe Stone Bridge encountered such a small setback that Niu Jizong felt more at ease.

  If it was all smooth sailing like this, the world would be too easy to fight that day, so easy it was unbelievable.

The casualties of a few hundred people are nothing compared to the 40,000 army. Niu Jizong doesn't care. As long as he breaks through the Yuhe Stone Bridge, Gonghua City is nothing more than a fortress. Niu Jizong is confident that he can take it in two hours. It's smooth sailing.

  Seeing that the commander-in-chief didn't care much, Li Daming was a little anxious.

  Although he only lost a mere 600 people, it only caused him such a big loss in less than half an hour, and more importantly, the opponent caused it in an unprecedented way.

  The all-round, full-coverage firecrackers shoot without dead ends. The power of the firecrackers is far beyond expectations, making his soldiers almost useless with shields. .

  Six Hundred, his most elite soldiers, turned into the opponent's target and was shot, and even failed to cause a single loss to the opponent. This kind of contrast was simply unacceptable to him.

  If the enemy troops on the other side of the river are all such powerful firearms, Li Daming feels that even if they use camp vehicles to set up sandbags to advance, it is inevitable that the opponent will have other means to deal with it.

  That's why he needs to report the situation to the commander in chief.

"Daming, I know, the firearms battalion..." Niu Jizong nodded lightly: "I know that in the past two years, everyone has been very interested in the firearms battalion. A gunpowder factory was expanded, and merchants from Shanxi Province bought the Zunhua Iron Factory, which could not be managed by the Ministry of War. Then, they saw an iron workshop and an arsenal workshop next to the iron factory. The three-eyed blunderbuss produced by the Ministry of War are much better, and they are all used in Liaodong, Jizhen, and Jingying, so you probably encountered either one in Jizhen or one in Jingying.”

   "Commander, I feel that the firearms of this army are very powerful. The stone bridge deck is too narrow, and the shields can't resist it..." Li Daming explained subconsciously.

"Da Ming, I don't mean to blame you. We did not expect to encounter the firearm camp before." Niu Jizong waved his hand, "You said that the shield soldiers were attacked by firearms in the middle of the stone bridge. The stone bridge plus the approach bridge The base is no more than forty steps away. If they are attacked in the middle, it means that their firecrackers can shoot twenty or even twenty-five paces away and can penetrate shields. Its power is indeed much stronger than that of the three-eyed blunderbuss. ..."

Niu Jizong is not a layman who doesn't understand military affairs. He also knows about firearms. He knows the power of Dazhou's three-eyed guns, target guns, tiger squatting guns, and Xiyi cannons. There are seven or eight thousand fire guns in the Xuanfu army , but he doesn't even like it, more than 30 steps, the armor and the cotton armor wrapped with iron leaves are difficult to penetrate and cause fatal damage, which is far worse than bows and arrows.

Moreover, the reloading of firearms is slow, requires many steps, takes a long time, is easy to explode, and is far less powerful than bows and arrows. Therefore, not only Xuanfu, but the entire Nine Sides have a bad impression of this old-fashioned firearm. It began to appear two or three years ago. When it came to the new firecrackers, everyone started to pay a little attention, but they were still skeptical.

Niu Jizong also heard that Liaodong and Jizhen began to equip new firecrackers. He also realized that the increasing maturity of firearms may bring about subversive changes in the combat methods of the entire army, but he did not think that this would be effective in a short period of time. .

  Firearms have many disadvantages, such as poor quality, complicated shooting procedures, many steps, and long time-consuming, which cannot be solved.

The time it takes for a gunner to shoot a shot, an archer can shoot three arrows, and an excellent one can even shoot four arrows, and the range is not inferior to that of a gunner. Of course, the advantage of a gunner is that a gunner can only shoot It takes three months to train and take shape, but three years of training for an archer can only be said to be an entry.

   "However, Daming, do you think there is anything wrong with our camp attacking? Or do you think the firecrackers can penetrate the camp?"

Niu Jizong’s question drew the laughter of the generals around him. This is obviously a joke. The camper’s frame is made of wood, so of course it can’t withstand the fire, but it needs to be filled with sandbags. Unless it is a Xiyi cannon, nothing can penetrate it. .

Li Daming was also a little embarrassed, he shook his head: "Marshal, I don't mean that the firecrackers can penetrate the camping car, but that the opponent is equipped with firecrackers and adopts a burst of shooting. The number of shooting rounds has greatly increased. It is no worse than the archers, and its range is more powerful, so it needs to be paid attention to,..."

Niu Jizong didn't hurt Li Daming's self-esteem, and nodded: "I know, but we won't give them another chance. We have to finish all the preparations tonight. I will cross the river tomorrow morning. Before noon tomorrow, I will take down Gonghua City! "

  All the generals around stood upright, waiting for the order to be issued.

   "Zitong, you and your team will complete the construction of the pontoon bridge on the west side of the bridge before tomorrow morning, and the crossing of the river will start tomorrow morning..."

   "Continuation, you lead your department to complete the construction of the east pontoon bridge before tomorrow morning, and tomorrow morning Chenzheng will start crossing the river,..."

   "Kuching, you used boats to cross the river, and Chou Shi completed part of the river crossing, and was responsible for the harassment,..."

"Da Ming, I will give you 60 battalion vehicles. You prepare them yourself. Starting from Chou, you will continue to launch attacks in order to break through. Yungui, you are the reserve team,... Shaochun, your archers are in charge of suppressing the bridge. The enemy gunners south of the bridge,..."

  Following a member of the generals clasped their fists to listen to the order, the entire army of the Xuan Mansion was like a beehive that had been stabbed, and suddenly became agitated.

Niu Jizong never thought that a mere stretch of the Yu River could stop the attack of the Xuanfu army. No matter how powerful the enemy army in front of him was, it only had a few thousand people, and it was the Beijing camp. He was confident that he would be defeated with one blow. It's just an underestimation of the enemy who doesn't understand the opponent.

  (end of this chapter)