Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 160 Siege of Santun Camp

Mangui immediately organized troops and horses to resist the Jiannu attack with all his strength. In a moment, ten red barbarian cannons fired a salvo and tore a group of Jiannu vanguards at the front into pieces. However, this time the entire Jiannu army attacked. The gap torn by the shell was immediately filled by the soldiers who followed.

Huang Taiji stood on horseback on a high slope behind the army, looking at the Santun camp in front of him with a frown, not knowing how much troops this small stronghold would cost him.

Thousands of arrows were fired in Santun camp, and the rain of arrows kept baptizing the siege army of Jiannu, but the damage caused was very limited. It was difficult for bows and arrows to penetrate the leather armor of Jiannu soldiers when shooting from a long distance. Not to mention causing fatal injuries!

As the entire Jiannu army pressed forward, the Ming army in the Santun camp was gradually at a disadvantage. Although the improved version of the Hongyi cannon had a longer range, as a large artillery, the disadvantage of being unable to shoot at close range still existed. When the soldiers who built the slaves rushed under the city wall of the Santun camp, the artillery was unable to exert its due power.

Upon seeing this, Mangui asked the soldiers operating the artillery to throw the fuse that lit the cannonball directly into the city.

Nowadays, these cannons use shrapnel shells. The shells themselves are equipped with time fuses, which can detonate the gunpowder inside the shells to explode the shells, exploding the lead bullets, caltrops and other shrapnel inside to cause large-scale damage, so the fuses are directly lit. It is also possible to use it as a dynamite pack.

However, the time fuses are calculated and equipped in advance based on the firing time of the artillery. Therefore, it is difficult to grasp the time and effect of the shell explosion if it is directly ignited and used as an explosive pack.

But there was no time to think about this at this time. The artillerymen immediately divided their work into two, one was responsible for carrying the shells, and the other was responsible for igniting and pushing them under the city wall.

These shells can indeed explode when the time fuse is burned out when they are thrown under the city, but the damage caused by the explosion on the ground is much smaller, and the interval is very long, and it does not cause too much damage to Jiannu's siege troops. Big damage.

The city wall of the Santun camp was already low. Seeing that many soldiers of the slaves had climbed up the city wall, the artillerymen of the slaves also set up artillery in front of the city gate and began to fire at the gate and wall of the Santun camp. boom.

The Jiannu did have artillery, but they were just small artillery, and most of them were plundered from the Ming army in previous wars. They did not have artillery casting technology themselves, and they had to wait until they really started to develop artillery. Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming went there after surrendering to the enemy.

Although the power of Jiannu's artillery was limited, if fired at close range, it was still very effective against a city wall like Santunying which was not very strong. It didn't take long before several cracks were blasted out of the city gate of Santunying. Come.

Mangui knew that the Santun Camp could not be defended, so he immediately ordered the entire army to evacuate the Santun Camp, break out from the east gate, and evacuate to the east of the Santun Camp.

As soon as the defenders on the city wall and city gate withdrew, Jiannu's soldiers broke into the city in an instant. Then they saw the Ming army quickly evacuating towards the east gate, and burning the treasury and granaries along the way.

Huang Taiji immediately ordered not to pursue the Ming army, but to put out the fire with all his strength and rescue supplies and food.

They were traveling long distances and could not carry too much food, grass, ordnance. Their supplies depended on looting and occupying the Ming army's city strongholds. If they could not keep the supplies and food and grass in the Santun camp, what was the use of seizing such an empty city by themselves?
Mangui led the army all the way eastward and ran for twenty or thirty miles before turning his head and looking in the direction of Santun Camp. In the night, he could only see the flames of Santun Camp soaring into the sky, but there was no shadow of a slave.

Man Gui took off the water bag from his waist and raised his head to take a sip, and then spat: "What the fuck, I'll give you an advantage this time. If the emperor hadn't given the order first, grandpa would have disabled your legs." !”

However, after scolding, he should find a place to stay first. The emperor just asked him to withdraw from Santun Camp and go east, without specifically saying where to go, so he could only plan this matter by himself.

There is Taiping Village to the east of Santun Camp, and Qian'an City to the southeast. For the sake of safety, it is naturally safer to go to Qian'an City, but this place is hundreds of miles away from Qian'an City, and it may be difficult to reach it in a while. , the soldiers under his command have just experienced a fierce battle and may not be able to withstand another long journey.

Taipingzhai is a little closer, but no matter whether you go to Taipingzhai or Qian'an, you have to cross the Luan River, and crossing the river late at night is also a troublesome thing.

When Mangui was in a dilemma, Qianhu under him suddenly pointed to the southeast and shouted: "General, someone is coming from the southeast!"

Man Gui heard the words and looked toward the southeast, and sure enough he saw densely packed torches approaching him quickly. However, the sky was completely dark now, and except for the light of the torches, nothing else could be seen clearly. But judging from their movement speed, the opponents should all be cavalry.

Mangui immediately ordered: "The whole army is ready for war!"

Then they sent out scouts to investigate!
In fact, the possibility that the army coming from the southeast is the enemy is very small, because he has been stationed at Santun Camp. Jianu should not let an army go around his rear without him noticing!
However, we do not rule out the possibility that after Jiannu broke through the Xifengkou, he directly sent a team south to attack Qian'an City. It was not all Jiannu's troops that had been assembled in Hanerzhuang before!
So before finding out the identity of the army, Man Gui still ordered the whole army to be ready to fight at any time!
The army coming from the southeast obviously had the same idea. They didn't know whether the other party was an enemy or a friend, so they also sent scouts to investigate. When the two met, they all breathed a sigh of relief. It was one of their own. !
After learning that the Ming army was coming from the other side, Man Gui relaxed his guard and slowly stepped forward with his army to meet him. When the enemy approached, Man Gui was surprised to find that these soldiers and horses came from Liaodong. Guan Ning cavalry!
When the leading general saw Man Gui, he immediately ran towards him and shouted, "Man Gui, don't come here without any problems!"

As soon as Man Gui heard the person's voice, he immediately guessed the person's identity, and immediately smiled with surprise. He knocked his stirrups and ran towards the person, laughing and shouting: "Zu Dashou, it turns out it's you. This old boy!"

Mangui once worked with Zu Dashou in Liaodong. Although their friendship was not too deep, after all, they were in the same army and had been on the battlefield together, so naturally they were a bit closer than ordinary friends.

What's more, the two have not seen each other for many years, and now they are charging again under such circumstances. Both of them are a little surprised and excited.After the two exchanged greetings, Man Gui asked all the questions in his heart: "You are not guarding Liaodong, so why did you lead your troops to the pass? Where are you going in the middle of the night? You can't be going there Are you going to fight Jiannu?"

Zu Dashou was actually a little confused. He hadn't figured out what was going on, so he had to tell everything he knew: "Zhao Shujiao and I were sent back by Superintendent Sun at the beginning of the month. After entering the pass, they said that the Jian Nu would come to sneak attack the capital, and asked us to return to the capital in advance to help the Jian Nu!

At that time, I still felt that this matter was really unreliable, but I didn’t expect that Jiannu would really come. Zhao Ledjiao had already brought half of his troops to the Great Wall of Ji Town to cut off Jiannu’s retreat. Now I am ordered by the emperor Military order, come to meet you! "

"Come to join me on the emperor's order? How did you know I'm here?" Man Gui was confused after hearing this, and felt even more confused!
Zu Dashou also scratched his head and said: "I didn't know you would be here. The emperor's military order just said that I should take people to the east of Santun Camp to come and meet you. I had no hope at all that I could find you. You!"

After hearing this, Man Gui suddenly looked horrified, and after being stunned for a long time, he said as if talking to himself: "The emperor is really a god, and he has arranged every step so perfectly. I am afraid that Zhuge Kongming will be reincarnated. It’s also difficult to strategize like the emperor!”

Zu Dashou was also stunned, but he still looked confused, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Man Gui shook his head slightly and did not explain to Zu Dashou. Instead, he asked with a serious face: "Has the Emperor given any instructions on what we should do after our armies join together?"

Only then did Zu Dashou come back to his senses, and hurriedly replied: "Yes, the emperor asked us to station within [-] miles east of Santunying, ready to encircle and suppress Jiannu!"

"Encirclement and suppression?!" Man Gui couldn't help but be stunned after hearing this, but then he thought about it again. According to the emperor's series of plans, Jiannu was now like a turtle in the urn, and it was indeed time to close the net.

Thinking of this, a sneer appeared on the corner of Man Gui's mouth, and he was gearing up, "Finally, it's time to settle accounts with you girls!"

Just when Mangui and Zu Dashou merged and set up camp on the spot, Zhu Tianqi had already moved from Jizhou City to Yutian and sent people to build a camp fortress fifty miles south of Santun Camp.

Order the Datong deputy general Ma Dengyun, who is stationed in Zunhua, the Xuanfu general general Hou Shilu, who is stationed in Yutian, and the Changping general soldier You Shiwei, who is stationed in Fengrun, to assemble their troops on standby. The whole army will march at midnight tomorrow to lay siege to Santun camp.

At this time, the slaves in the Santun Camp were already very tired. They had hardly stopped for a moment since breaking through the Great Wall and entering the Pass. First, they encountered sneak attacks and harassment by the Mangui cavalry, and then they went to Zunhua City and suffered a meal. The shelling lasted until nightfall before they desperately took down this small Santun Camp.

Not to mention the deaths and injuries of nearly ten thousand soldiers, after entering the city, they tried their best to fight the fire everywhere, and only managed to save a few thousand shi of grain. This amount of grain would not last a few days for an army of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses!

Therefore, even though the Jiannu army drove away the Ming army and occupied the three camps in just one hour, everyone couldn't see the slightest joy on their faces, only tired and disappointed!
Although Huang Taiji was extremely tired, he could neither eat nor sleep. This was probably the first time in his life that he felt so depressed after winning a battle.

Santun camp has experienced the baptism of war, and before the Ming army evacuated, there were fire prevention everywhere. Now there are only ruins left. Huang Taiji really can't see what value this "city in ruins" has to him. The only What can be called a harvest may only be the thousands of stones of food saved from the fire!
Mang Gurtai, Dai Shan and other big Baylors also looked depressed, feeling that they were holding back a breath of anger that was hard to vent. They couldn't help but come to Huang Taiji and ask Huang Taiji for orders to lead troops to attack Zunhua. , Yixue’s shame today!
Huang Taiji didn't want to attack Zunhua, but today he lost nearly [-] troops in attacking a mere three-tun camp. If he wanted to capture Zunhua, he didn't know what price he would have to pay.

Of course, if you can capture Zunhua, you can regain your health instantly. Not only can you get sufficient supplies of materials and food, but the soldiers and civilians in Zunhua City can also be used to supplement your troops. By letting these people serve as "vanguards", you can significantly reduce the number of troops. Eight Banners soldiers' casualties.

But Huang Taiji believes that if you want to take Zunhua City, you still need to pay attention to strategy and tactics, and you can't blindly fight recklessly. Now that your side is already depleted of men and horses, you should still make some repairs for a day or two before attacking Zunhua!
Mang Gurtai and Dai Shan did not dare to disobey Huang Taiji, so they had to retreat to rest. However, Huang Taiji stayed up all night. He was reflecting on the mistakes in today's battle and considering the strategy for attacking Zunhua City.

Just when the Jiannu soldiers were sleeping most soundly, a deafening sound of artillery suddenly came from the south of Santun Camp. Many Jiannu soldiers were still asleep when they were bombed by lead bullets, iron caltrops and other artillery shells from the sky. The shrapnel killed and injured people, and the sound of wailing and screaming could be heard all of a sudden!
Immediately afterwards, there was a second wave of shelling. At this time, almost all the Janus soldiers had been awakened. They hid in the houses that had not collapsed, or looked for bunkers to hide. Several Baile were killed. After waking up, they all rushed into Huang Taiji's room to protect him.

The second wave of shelling was obviously not as effective as the first wave. Most of the Jiannu soldiers took cover, and only a few unlucky ones were blown away.

Then came the third wave. This time, the artillery shells fired by the Ming army exploded in the sky. Instead of exploding lead bullets and caltrops, they exploded five or six small artillery shells with fuses. These small artillery shells were blown up. It flew around and exploded the moment it landed.

After this violent bombardment, the only intact buildings in the Santun Camp were turned into ruins. Although the power of the small artillery shells was limited, few Jiannu soldiers were directly killed or injured, but this wave of shelling down , There are not many bunkers that can escape the bombing in the Santun camp.

Mang Gurtai immediately became anxious, "Khan, I see that the Ming army's shelling will not stop for a while. We can't stay here anymore. Let's retreat quickly!"

Although Huang Taiji has always been the calmest, he was shocked when faced with such a scene. He even wondered whether he was having a nightmare, and whether the cannons in Zunhua City had left too great a shadow on him. As for why he would have such an "hallucination"!
Although Zunhua City is not big, it is a city after all. It is understandable that the Ming army strengthened its defense and equipped it with more than a dozen powerful artillery pieces, but now this situation is no longer a dozen or dozens The attack effect that artillery can achieve is that the Ming army's artillery shells almost completely covered the entire Santun camp. I'm afraid there must be hundreds of artillery firing at the same time, right?

(End of this chapter)