There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

In early May, Lu Xiangsheng led the First Cavalry Division to Datong, Shanxi Province according to Lin Feng's order.

Since Lu Xiangsheng led troops to fight in the Ming Dynasty, he has never led troops so easily. Units above the combat brigade of the Zhenming Army are equipped with military support officers, and the combat division also has a support department, which is responsible for military merit accounting, logistical support and the payment of military pay.

As the coach, Lu Xiangsheng only needs to consider war matters, and for the first time he does not have to worry about money and food issues. Moreover, the Zhenming Army carried a complete set of support supplies, and a series of camping facilities opened his eyes. If he could not win the battle with such an army, then he was too incompetent.

Around May 10th, Lu Xiangsheng led his troops through Baodezhou, joined Peng Xing's Shanxi Combat Brigade 2, and began to advance towards Datong, Shanxi. The defense of Baodezhou was taken over by Chanzhuo's Fugu garrison.

On May 15, Lu Xiangsheng led his troops to Limin Fort on the border of Datong. After organizing a salvo from the division's artillery battalion, the defenders surrendered in panic, opened a gap, and successfully entered Datong.

After entering Datong, Lu Xiangsheng ordered his troops to be divided into two groups. The Second Shanxi Combat Brigade led by Peng Xing was the left-wing army and took the left route to attack Datong's left guard. He himself led the First Cavalry Division along the right route, approaching Datong along the Shuozhou and Huairen lines.

The last time the Tatars invaded, Wang Pu, the general of Datong, led 3,000 Datong soldiers to fight with Lu Xiangsheng. However, at the critical moment, he returned to his base without authorization on the grounds that Datong was hostile.

Now the entire town of Datong only has five to six thousand capable soldiers, and there are many cities and fortresses guarding them. Each city has very limited soldiers.

Moreover, most of the generals of the Datong Army had fought with Lu Xiangsheng before and knew that he dared to fight and was good at fighting. This time, with the support of a powerful army like the Zhenming Army, the Datong Army was indifferent all the way.

However, Lu Xiangsheng still insisted on a steady approach. He did not blindly invade Datong. Instead, he attacked a county and sorted out the civil affairs according to Lin Feng's policy of governing the people. He was also a civil servant and was very good at managing politics. This time I had the opportunity to practice, so I naturally didn’t want to let it go.

Before leading troops to attack Datong, Lin Feng had a long talk with Lu Xiangsheng, specifically explaining the policy philosophy of the Zhenming Army, which mainly focused on cleaning up backlogs, suppressing large households, and developing the economy. Lu Xiangsheng also agreed with it. So every time he occupied a city, Lu Xiangsheng personally organized and implemented policies according to policies to win the support of the people.

However, this was also time-consuming. It was not until mid-June that we arrived at Xiami Village near Datong Town and set up camp in preparation for the attack on Datong.

Fortunately, at this time, there were not many Ming troops in the entire Datong Prefecture, and there were no troops around to support them, so they were not afraid of Datong City running away.

Lu Xiangsheng organized a military meeting in his commander's tent, which was attended by deputy commander Zhou Rui, brigade generals Urentuya, Zhou Cong, Zhang Yan and Yang Lukai.

"Everyone, with the great trust of the Governor, I am leading a cavalry division to capture Datong Town. Xiang Sheng did not dare to slack off in any way. Today, the army finally approaches Datong City. If you have any opinions on the attack, please tell us. Come on." Lu Xiangsheng said first after sitting down.

"Commander, our attack on Datong Mansion went smoothly. Except for a few castles that resisted, the other cities surrendered after hearing the news. Not only did the lost soldiers of our first division have been replaced, but the total strength has also increased to one With thousands of people, it shouldn't be a problem to attack Datong City." Deputy Brigade General Zhang Yan replied.

"Don't underestimate the enemy. Datong City is a military town built to defend against the invasion of grassland soldiers and horses. The city walls are tall and strong, so they are not easy to fight." Lu Xiangsheng corrected him soberly.

"The commander-in-chief is very worried. The defense facilities in Datong City are very complete. A strong attack will inevitably cause heavy losses, which will not be conducive to our later occupation. I suggest that we should attack the heart first and capture Shuozhou, Huairen and other cities in the front. Many officials have warned us. If the army surrenders, they can be sent into the city to persuade them to surrender." Zhou Cong suggested.

"When attacking with troops, attacking the heart is the most important thing. It's just that Wang Pu followed me to defeat the Qing army and escaped before the battle last time. This time he is afraid that I will settle the score with him, so he probably won't surrender easily." Lu Xiangsheng analyzed.

Deputy Commander Zhou Rui thought for a while and said: "If you want to surrender Datong City, according to Governor Lin's usual practice, you must insist on attacking the heart as well as the city. First, let the defenders see the powerful power of our Zhenming Army and weaken their confidence in defending the city. Then they would go into the city to persuade them to surrender or drop leaflets to shake the morale of the Datong Army. Even if Wang Pu didn't want to surrender, it would be fine as long as his generals wanted to surrender."

"What Deputy Commander Zhou said makes sense, we will follow this strategy." Lu Xiangsheng agreed, and then asked: "Where is Peng Xing's Second Shanxi Combat Brigade now?"

"The Second Shanxi Combat Brigade is near Datong Left Guard, less than 80 miles away from here." Zhou Rui replied. "Are there any new trends in the Datong Army?" Lu Xiangsheng asked next.

"Coming back to the commander, Datong City sent several waves of sentry cavalry to conduct reconnaissance, and also sent several groups of messengers to go out to ask for help. They were all intercepted by our cavalry, resulting in heavy casualties. They are now huddled in the city and never dare to move again." Urentuya, who was responsible for organizing the Sentinel Riding operation, replied.

"Very good! Then we will launch a siege battle tomorrow that will shock the morale of the Datong army. Our First Cavalry Division will organize all the artillery carried by it to carry out concentrated bombardment of the city. Then the Shanxi Combat Brigade will be ordered to quickly advance into Datong City from the west, creating a situation where the army is pressing down on the city. We will try to persuade them to surrender later." Lu Xiangsheng arranged.

"I obey the commander's orders!" everyone replied in unison.

Early the next morning, Lu Xiangsheng personally organized 50 artillery pieces from the divisional artillery battalion, 20 artillery pieces from each of the three brigades, a total of 110 steel artillery pieces, and lined them up along the south gate of Datong City.

Under the illumination of the morning sun, the bright gun barrel emits the unique and frightening light of metal. The black muzzle was like a man-eating abyss, waiting quietly, putting huge pressure on the defenders at the top of the city.

Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Datong, came to the city tower with a few of his cronies. When he saw the Zhenming Army outside the city adjusting their positions, he asked nervously: "Why don't we fire first and just watch them prepare to attack the city?"

As an old military town, Datong City still has a lot of artillery at the top of the city, but they are all small cannons with very limited range, and most of them lack maintenance, and some of them are rusty.

"Master General, the artillery positions they installed are all three or four miles away. Our artillery can't hit two miles at most." Deputy General Yang Zhenwei replied.

"So their cannons can't hit us?" Wang Pu immediately felt relieved.

"It stands to reason that it should be, but I don't know if their artillery can hit farther." Yang Zhenwei felt a little uncertain.

"fire!"

Lu Xiangsheng gave an order, and the signal soldier directing the artillery attack waved the red flag.

"Boom boom boom!"

More than a hundred fine steel cannons suddenly roared in unison, and the flames shining from the muzzles accurately fired projectiles towards the city head.

This batch of artillery is a new type of steel cannon produced by the Zhenmin Ordnance Factory. It has a range of up to five miles. An aiming device based on ballistic calculation has been added, and the shooting accuracy has been greatly improved.

Suddenly, raindrops of projectiles fell on the south gate of Datong, causing the gate tower to collapse and rocks flying. A large number of the defenders on the gate were killed and injured, and there were wailings and calls for help.

Wang Pu was also almost hit by a projectile and was so frightened that he immediately ran away from the tower.

The Zhenming Army's shelling continued for seven or eight rounds. The barrels were all red, and then they paused. By this time, the south wall of Datong was already in a mess.

(End of this chapter)