Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 255 Grenadiers Charge

When Jiuzhi came back, the soldiers from Tongan and the troops under Yang Lu and Yang Ce had all landed, and the boats were hoisting the baggage ashore.

After listening to Nine Fingers' report on the enemy, Lin Hai smiled and said to Wu Guoyi beside him, "Zheng Zhilong is planning to be a coward again."

Wu Guoyi replied: "That guy wants to wear down our army's morale. Sooner or later he will have to leave the city for a decisive battle. After all, he has nowhere to escape this time."

"How can we let him do that? This battle cannot be dragged on for too long, it'd be best if it's over within half a month." Lin Hai said, "Since the thief Zheng has built another layer of turtle shell, let's set up camp outside the city and dismantle this layer of turtle shell first..."

This meant that they would not adopt the siege tactic. Upon hearing this, Wu Guoyi said, "General, I will go check the terrain and find a place to camp."

"No, you command the troops here, and I will go to see the terrain myself." Lin Hai decided to go out himself. This time, he planned to use some tactics that the Ming army had never seen before in this siege. Wu Guoyi was definitely not as good as him in this aspect.

Lin Hai brought a team of personal soldiers, in addition to He Ying who was not in charge of any position for the time being, Jiuzhi and Captain Chen's cavalry team led the way.

The group rode their horses to the outside of Xiamen and circled the moat from a distance. They saw that the moat was about sixty or seventy steps away from the city wall, surrounding the entire city, with a total length of about three miles.

The trench wall was built temporarily. It was actually made of soil dug out during the trench digging and placed in bamboo baskets outside the trench. There were several layers of bamboo baskets at the four corners of the trench wall, which was obviously the focus of defense.

Once the four corners are breached, long-range firepower can form a vertical line to the entire trench, so that the soldiers on the defending side will not be able to gain a foothold in the trench.

"This fortification is well built. Zheng may have received instructions." Lin Hai remembered what Liu Xiang told him about Wang Mengxiong, and then asked Jiuzhi, "How deep and wide is the trench? Have you gone to see it?"

"I went to see it myself," Nine Fingers said, "The trench was about five or six feet deep and seven or eight feet wide. There should be steps behind the trench wall. When I approached the scouts, a dozen bandits popped up and shot at me."

"It's a little narrow, but it's barely enough." Lin Hai nodded with a smile. Everyone was puzzled. Who would complain that the ditch dug by the opponent was too narrow?

"Yao Shi, where do you think our army should set up camp?" Lin Hai then asked He Ying. Yao Shi was his courtesy name.

"General, we should choose to set up camp in the east of the city, because only in the east is there a dense forest, which is convenient for firewood collection." He Ying said, "I suggest that we choose the southeast direction. The terrain in the east is more undulating, and there are more obstacles in the south. It seems that these two places can be chosen as the main attack direction."

There used to be a prosperous Qipan Street in the south of Xiamen City. Last time, Lin Hai only demolished the high-rise buildings near the city wall, but this time, Zheng Zhilong simply burned them all down. In this respect, pirates still have an advantage over officers and soldiers.

However, Zheng Zhilong did not have much time after all, and the ruins after the fire had not been cleaned up in time, which was extremely advantageous for skirmishers. The trench walls made of earth baskets were difficult to deal with with artillery, and the dense formation would obviously result in heavy casualties, so in the end, skirmishers had to go up.

"You make sense." Lin Hai encouraged He Ying with a smile, and then said, "Another advantage of being closer to the south is that it is closer to the navy, which is convenient for logistical supplies."

Apart from Wu Guoyi, He Ying was probably the only one among Lin Hai's subordinates who had graduated from a professional school and had a keen nose for the battlefield. He had a rough idea of ​​how to arrange for this kid in the future.

Lin Hai then discussed the marching route with He Ying, and then rode back. After arriving at the landing point, all the baggage of the entire army had been landed, and Lin Hai then ordered all the heavy guns on the Duan Huizong to be hoisted up. This is the only 500-ton old lock ship left on Jiahe Island, and the 7-jin cannon on the ship is the largest caliber cannon currently available.

These seven-jin cannons were made of wrought iron and weighed only 1,300 jin in total, so it was not too difficult to transport them on land. But if it were the heavy cannons on the gun decks of the Dingyuan and Bowang, it would be a lot of trouble.

Nevertheless, when the twenty guns arrived at the camp, the camping work was almost finished. The wooden city was still built this time, and the closest point to Xiamen City was more than two miles away. The guns on the top of the city could not reach this distance.

Lin Hai ordered the construction of artillery forts overnight so that they could start bombarding the trench wall tomorrow. The location of the artillery forts was only about a hundred steps away from the trench wall. At this distance, the lethality of light firearms behind the trench wall was relatively limited, but the artillery on the city wall could not be ignored, so they had to build it at night.

All 20 artillery forts were located in the east of Xiamen. Lin Hai did not plan to launch a feint attack from the south. He was too lazy to play tricks with Zheng Zhilong. The trench was only three miles long, and Zheng Zhilong had more than 10,000 people. There was no point in launching a feint attack. It would only disperse his own firepower.

That night, all twenty artillery batteries were repaired in the dark. Artillery fire from the top of Xiamen City was heard from time to time, but the casualties caused were very limited.

Before daybreak, all the artillery, ammunition and personnel were moved into place. Behind each artillery position was a five-man artillery crew, plus a vanguard sentry squad.

The next morning, as the sun rose behind them, the gunners on the Duan Huizong began to fire slowly. Conquering land fortifications is not like naval warfare, and it is meaningless to pursue firing rate. The guns need to dissipate heat, which is the only factor that limits the firing rate during long-term continuous bombardment.

Earthen baskets are very effective against defensive artillery fire, and the Huiyou Company selected six target breakthrough points and fired three to four artillery pieces at one point, attempting to create a trench that would break down the trench wall at the target breakthrough point.

But the trench wall made of earth baskets is easy to repair. The enemy only needs to replace it with the prepared earth baskets. However, that thing is quite heavy and requires several people to carry it when replacing it.

At this time, the vanguard squad would take the opportunity to move forward, each looking for available cover or advantageous terrain, and shoot at the gap with heavy muskets to prevent the opponent from repairing the trench wall, while also waiting for an opportunity to get closer.

Zheng's army would naturally not sit idly by and watch the enemy approach. They had the protection of the trench walls and did not need to move forward, so they would definitely choose to head out and fight back.

On that day, the attacks of the Vanguard Bureau's sentries were basically superficial. Most of the time they just hid behind the artillery batteries and popped their heads out to shoot. In the end, they only suffered less than ten casualties. The opponent's hit rate during the skirmish attack was very low.

After nightfall, the artillery groups and the sentries of the scout bureau retreated to the camp to rest under the cover of darkness, and the cavalry sent out ten squads to guard the camp, with one squad behind each artillery fort. Before dawn, the two sides took turns again.

On the second day, the Vanguard Bureau began to charge forward more frequently. By the afternoon, more than 20 corpses had been left on the battlefield. More than ten people of the Zheng army on the opposite side also died. The morale began to gradually decline, and the action of repairing the trench wall became slow.

At dusk, two gaps appeared on the eastern trench wall at the same time, and two teams had advanced to within fifty steps of the enemy.

At this time, a big drum sounded in front of the camp, and all the infantrymen in the vanguard bureau who were still able to fight threw down their turtledove guns and charged forward. Each of them carried several grenades.

(End of this chapter)