Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 635
On June 1630, 6 in the Gregorian calendar, the Fubo Army Field Army entered the camp under Chengmai City.He Ming set up his camp two kilometers northwest of Chengmai County.It is less than 29 meters away from the post road.The official army had to capture this place if they wanted to pass through the post road to Lingao.

The big camp is a large pentagonal camp built according to the bastion-style defense system.The entire camp was defended by an earth embankment as high as a person, with artillery and bunkers erected on the earth embankment, and deep trenches and deer villages under the embankment.A tall watchtower was built on the embankment as usual.With the help of high-powered telescopes, every move within more than ten kilometers around Chengmai County can be seen clearly.

He Ming ordered: Immediately cut off all connections between Chengmai County and the outside world.Ambush posts have been set up outside the three city gates of the county seat, and anyone who attempts to enter or leave the city will be arrested.

Seeing that it was impossible to get in and out of the city gate, the government sent people to enter and leave the city through the city wall.Bei Wei ordered the snipers of the special investigation team to ambush the surroundings with bolt-on rifles with scopes. In the following days, all those who tried to get out of the city were shot dead under the city.Then someone tried to escape the city at night, but there would still be deadly gunshots in the dark, and in the morning, those who tried to leave the city often had their dead bodies lying under the city wall.No night, however dark, could protect them.

Judging from the killed Fucheng personnel, almost without exception, they all carried emergency bulletins.The seized pond newspaper was quickly sent to the headquarters for dismantling. Apart from the clichéd calls for help and false claims of victory, they had already written everything they saw on the top of the city into the pond newspaper.

He Ming ordered: "Immediately seal the city, and prevent the enemy from spying on our army!"

"Bah."

With the crisp sound of the SKS rifle, a Xiangyong who was lying between the battlements and peeping under the city shook and fell down.

"Hit! Shot in the chest!" shouted the soldiers on the watchtower monitoring the movement on the city wall with high-powered binoculars.

"It's 7:2 now, you guys have to work hard." Bei Wei said with a smile.Behind him stood five or six soldiers from the special investigation team.Yang Zeng, commander of the light infantry company of the 1st Infantry Battalion, stood beside him.There are also a few light infantrymen with green sash behind them.

They were standing on a small mound about 200 meters away from the city wall.At this distance, the bows and arrows and firearms on Chengmai city are powerless.

The special reconnaissance team and the light infantry stood here, originally to carry out the task of cleaning up the enemy troops at the top of the city - He Ming ordered that the enemy not be allowed to spy on the movement of the field army below the city, and the light infantry of each battalion used precise shooting to clean up the enemy at the top of the city , while practicing actual combat shooting.It turned out to be a match between the Special Reconnaissance Team and the Light Infantry.The target is all Minzhuang and Xiangyong standing on the Chengmai city wall.

"The special investigation team uses guns better than us," Yang Zeng was a little unconvinced.The special investigation team used the Australian fast gun, which was much higher than the Minie rifle they used in terms of rate of fire, accuracy, and range, and there was no smoke when the gun was fired.Some guns also have mirrors that allow them to hit targets at incredible distances.

"Oh, fine, I'll use the Minie too." Bei Wei said, throwing the SKS rifle in his hand to the soldiers behind him, and replaced it with a Minie rifle.

Judging from the English letters WLB branded on the buttstock of this Mini rifle, this should be the earliest batch of rifles assembled with seamless steel pipes and parts from old time and space.The guns are well maintained.Bei Wei looked at it, and there was a J+ mark on the stock, which is the mark of a high-precision rifle, indicating that this rifle can be used by snipers.

"This gun is good!" He praised, and asked Yang Zeng, "Your?"

Yang Zeng said: "It's mine. Now this kind of gun is only equipped by the sharpshooters in the light infantry company."

Bei Wei made a gesture, took a round of paper-wrapped ammunition, and skillfully loaded the gun with ammunition—the special investigation team also conducted shooting training with Mini rifles, and even used all kinds of seized British, Portuguese, Japanese He has conducted shooting training with the bird blunderbuss and three-eye blunderbuss made by Daming, in order to be able to shoot with various weapons at hand in an emergency.

Bei Wei put the gun against his cheek several times, tried to aim again, and then shouted: "Indicate the target!"

"Two o'clock ahead!" The soldiers on the sentry tower shouted.

The barrel of the Mini rifle quickly pointed in this direction, and then Bei Wei saw a figure flickering behind the battlements. He didn't shoot, and focused on the nearby battlements.

Sure enough, he saw figures beside the three or four battlements, almost entirely out of his subconscious reaction, he adjusted his posture in an instant and pulled the trigger.

The bullet grazed Xiangyong, who was spying, and shattered a brick on the battlement, and Xiangyong fell to the ground in fright.

There was a burst of laughter on the mound.Bei Wei smiled and shook his head: "Almost!"

The accuracy of the Mini rifle cannot be compared with that of a rifle like SKS. If he uses SKS, or even a bolt-action rifle, he can quickly make up a shot if he misses a shot.This is not possible with the Mini rifle.

"I'm coming!" Yang Zeng was eager to try.He retrieved his J+ Mini, reloaded, "Point target!"

The observation post reported: "Enemy, 11 o'clock ahead."

Yang Zeng held his breath.

"Boom—"

"Hit! Shot in the shoulder!"

"This boy! I guess he hid quickly!" Yang Zeng said, "Hiding behind the crenel!"

"The enemy is moving a cannon!" The observation post on the tower suddenly shouted. "Nine o'clock direction!"

"Free fire!" Bei Wei ordered.

The gunshots rang out chaotically, and because they were firing freely, there was a lot of controversy in judging who fired the shot.From time to time there was an argument on the mound about who shot a certain target.

The folk who were moving the artillery were shot and fell down one after another, and the rest of them lay under the battlements and did not dare to move.

"Hurry up, push the cannon!" A guard officer at the back brandished a knife and threatened to behead him, forcing the villagers to continue moving the cannon.

The folks barely moved their cannons to the firing position facing the mound almost lying on their bodies on the ground.

Beiwei does not issue orders to enter the hidden trenches. The largest artillery in Chengmai City is only a few bowl-mouthed cannons. These are cannons from the middle of the Ming Dynasty. Can't hit the mound.

Sure enough, the hastily fired cannon had no effect except for a puff of smoke rising from the city wall, slightly obscuring the sight of the sniper.

After the smoke cleared, a new round of fire knocked down several more gunners.The general hid behind the battlements unwillingly, brandishing a knife and forcing other minzhuang to come up and continue firing.

Bei Wei could see through the binoculars that the general's knife had been waving between the battlements, but his man never showed a little bit, and he seemed to be quite a cunning guy.

He felt a little pity for those emaciated Minzhuang and Xiangyong, who were forced to die in vain—even if they were only wounded, the possibility of death was very high under the medical conditions of the Ming Dynasty.

"Take my 308 rifle!" Bei Wei ordered.

A Saiga-308 semi-automatic rifle was in his hands. This gun uses NATO's 7.62mm bullets, and its firing kinetic energy and penetration are far greater than those of Mini and M43 bullets.

He raised his rifle, and the knife was still waving between the battlements, as if he was still intimidating the peasants to continue loading the guns.He estimated the distance, the wind force and the size of the human body, adjusted the muzzle slightly and pulled the trigger.

Yang Zeng and others only saw dust and fragments of masonry splashed on the battlements with the sound of gunfire, and blood rained out from behind the battlements in an instant.

The blood sprayed all the way to the brick wall of the south gate tower.Everyone was taken aback, and then everyone cheered together.There was a dead silence on the walls.

This horrific contest wiped out all defenders from the walls.Minzhuang and Xiangyong could only lie behind the battlements and secretly peek at the situation of the thieves through the perforations. smashed his head.

Beginning on July 7, the morale in Chengmai City began to collapse. Minzhuang and Xiangyong clamored one after another, unwilling to defend the city. The magistrate of Chengmai attempted suicide in the chaos. Later, his master advised him not to rush to die in the city—— Judging by the appearance of the Kun thief, it doesn't look like he is going to capture the city, so it's better to wait and see.

The special investigation team then set up a shelter with a radius of 10 kilometers around Chengmai County.

He Ming's train of thought is very clear: the enemy is outnumbered.With the field army's combat effectiveness and weapon superiority, it is not difficult to defeat He Rubin's troops in a battle outside Chengmai city.The tricky part is making sure you get most of the prisoners.This forced him to ambush part of his troops in other directions, so that the enemy could not retreat to Qiongshan, let alone flee in all directions.

The general situation around Chengmai County is that Chengmai County is located on the south bank of a small river, about three kilometers away from the coastline. This river is not only the moat of the county, but also forms a river triangular land in the south of the city.However, this river is very shallow, and the water depth is at most 1 meter before the rainy season, which cannot form an effective obstacle.To the northwest of the county seat is a peninsula called Xiaoyingchang. There is a deserted village on the peninsula. There is a well in the village, but according to pre-war reconnaissance, the well has been polluted by brine and is not suitable for drinking.The post road from Qiongshan passes outside the south gate of the county seat, and then turns to the northwest.

After repeated weighing, he decided to use only 2 battalions with the support of artillery to hold on to the camp to prevent the Ming army from passing through the post road.The 3rd Battalion was on standby in the mountains east of the county seat, waiting for an opportunity to cut off the retreat of the officers and troops, and at the same time forced them to continue to move closer to the brigade. The 5th Battalion lay in ambush in the south of the city and waited for an opportunity to launch an attack.Roughly formed a siege of the Ming army.

Of course, such an encirclement is not tight in terms of the strength of the field army. Only by relying on the better mobility and powerful firepower of the soldiers of the Fubo Army can they intercept the enemy with less force.If the opponent has one or two generals with outstanding organizational skills and good judgment, they can organize their troops to break out of the siege in time.So he has to keep the last [-]th Infantry Battalion in his hands as a reserve.

The battle idea is simple: intercept the Ming army, defeat the Ming army, and then push the remnants to the coastline.

Intercepting nearly 1800 enemy troops with 20000 battalions of [-] infantry is already an astonishing thing in terms of numerical comparison. He Ming thinks that the problem will not be too big. With enough artillery and fortifications, although it may not be easy to win, But enough to fend off enemies.

"No matter how many He Rubin's men are, it's impossible to send all of them up to charge at once -- besides, there is no way to set up a formation here. He must only attack with a small number of elite troops." He Ming explained his determination to fight to the officers, "It is very difficult for the enemy to outflank and launch a flank attack: to the north of the camp, we have artillery support from the navy. If he wants to send troops to attack to the north of the camp, he will fall under the double artillery fire from the navy and our camp, and he will be hit by the enemy."

After the plan was confirmed, the 1st Battalion and 4th Battalion, which were responsible for holding the position, reinforced the position of the big battalion. In addition to the artillery of the artillery battalion, the spare artillery brought by the artillery students was also arranged on the camp to intercept the enemy.A handful of 12-pounder mountain howitzers were reinforced by the 3rd and 5th Infantry Battalions.Used as mobile firepower.

Then he called Bei Wei: "Can you guarantee a 10-kilometer radius of interception?"

"Yes." Bei Wei said without hesitation, "I have deployed multiple lurking posts and patrols to ensure that no one can detect our movements within a radius of 20 kilometers."

"Are there enough troops?"

"Barely enough, I have ordered all the special investigation teams except the training team and the Sanya team to go to Chengmai immediately to wait for the call - they will arrive at night. Once these teams come, the interception will be more reliable."

"This matter is very important." He Ming emphasized repeatedly.All his plans are based on the mobility of the troops.No matter how mobile the Fubo army is, it still relies on two legs, so the ambush troops cannot leave the battle area too far, otherwise it will be difficult to arrive in time to participate in the battle.Since we are ambushing nearby, we must completely block all the enemy's investigations so that they cannot grasp the movement.

According to the materials provided by the historical data group, the Ming army placed 24 ponds during normal marches, about 20 miles away, and 30 miles before and after the horses.Moreover, the Ming army's probing horses are all cavalry, and their mobility is still considerable.In addition, the Ming army may have dispatched secret agents to visit in advance.Therefore, blocking the enemy's eyes and ears has become an urgent matter.

After meeting Bei Wei, Chen Haiyang also went ashore to discuss with him about the coordination. The two parties agreed on the signal and method of communication. Chen Haiyang also ordered the ten typewriters on the battleship to be dismantled, and they went ashore together with the shooters and ammunition to assist in the defense.

By this time, all units of the field army had been fully prepared for battle. Not only did each unit know their own battle plan, but they also conducted a field survey of the battlefield where the battle was about to start, so as to avoid any omissions.

On the morning of July 7, the scouts of the special investigation team in Qiongshan sent a report: "The entire enemy army is dispatched".The second anti-encirclement campaign officially kicked off.

He Rubin's army started from Qiongshan Mountain and marched forward along the post road.In war, his attitude is still based on prudence. For this reason, as soon as he left Qiongshan, he sent a large number of scouts and agents to inquire about the situation.

Chaozhou general Tong Yizhen led more than a dozen partial generals, and more than 2000 soldiers walked in front.At the front are three hundred cavalry led by his subordinate Qian Zhan He Zhanran, who are ready to attack quickly if they encounter the enemy on the road, and cover the large infantry and firearms behind them.

Cavalry is a very useful unit, but there are not many cavalry available in Guangdong, so the whole army only brought [-] cavalry.He Rubin believed that the cavalry was of little use in Hainan, and this time most of them were besieged and siege battles, and it would be useless to bring more cavalry.Moreover, news everywhere said that the Kun bandits lacked mules and horses, so they did not pose a threat.

Huizhou general Yan Zungao led two thousand soldiers to cut off the rear.They used to be the firearms battalion led by Li Baidao, the general township firearms battalion. Most of the heavy artillery was drawn by oxen, and there were many vehicles, so the speed was very slow, and they were second to last.Before the Firearms Battalion was the Yunti Battalion.This is a professional army specially used to attack cities and villages, with [-] ladder soldiers carrying dismantled ladders and many equipment.In case it is necessary to directly attack the stronghold, the Yunti soldiers will act as the assault vanguard.

Sun Changzuo was guarded by the central army of Zhenbiao Battalion. Ye Zhengfang led more than a dozen personal generals, [-] soldiers from the standard camp and [-] He Rubin's servants guarded the old camp.Zhao Ruyi and his staff moved with the old battalion, because he was going to fight a war, he said he would march on horseback, but He Rubin still told him to prepare a sedan chair and three groups of bearers for him to use at any time.

He Rubin led his personal soldiers and some main generals before the old battalion.People on the post road screamed and smoke billowed.Although it rained continuously in the past few days, the weather has been slightly better these days, and the sun is very hot. In addition, the road is very dusty. Many soldiers drank all the water in their crock pots and leather bags without walking a long way.

Almost every time they came to a river with clear water, soldiers and horses would squeeze to the river to drink water.People crowded and horses neighed, making a mess.

"Tell all the generals, go quickly!" He Rubin urged the generals under him not to let the soldiers stay by the river for too long, lest they disturb the ranks and be attacked by the enemy.

But the enemy obviously had no plans to make a surprise attack. Even in such a high-risk state where the whole army was wading across the river, no trace of enemy activities was found nearby.

The 24 Tangtang horses that were released continued to send back reports of safety on all sides.He Rubin was a little relieved.

"Command the troops without delay!" he ordered.

The mileage between Qiongshan and Chengmai is only half a day for normal travel. If the average speed of the officers and soldiers is [-] to [-] miles per day, this distance can be walked for three or four days.But Hainan is different from other places. There are few states and counties along the way, and the countryside is also very barren, except for states and counties like Qiongshan and Danzhou that have official warehouses with a large amount of grain.Otherwise, there is no way to supply a large army. If you march slowly according to the old rules, the food carried by the army will be exhausted in advance.He Rubin ordered the generals to urge the ministries to move forward as soon as possible.

　Most of the names of Ming army generals listed in the book are contemporaneous historical figures, provided by book friends.Biography unknown

　　
　
(End of this chapter)