Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 461 Flesh Mill ([-])

Maybe it was because the Qing army did not allow their "invincible" reputation to be tarnished, or maybe they really couldn't delay too long under Yantai Fort. In short, after waiting for more than an hour, they dispatched a large number of troops again.This time their number is about the same as before, about 500 people, and some shield cars made of wood are walking in the front. This kind of shield car is not big, but it can provide a certain amount of cover for the soldiers. .In particular, its frontal protection ability is strong, and it can withstand the shooting of bullets. However, this kind of shield vehicle is somewhat tasteless under the bastion system on the east bank, because they obviously cannot protect against blows from the side.

But at this time, I can't ask for too much, and I can provide a little bit.As a result, a large group of Qing troops shrank behind the shield chariot, pushing the shield chariot forward.On both sides of the shield car, there are some Qing soldiers holding large shields, which are to protect against attacks from the side.With the protection of shield vehicles, although the Qing army marched slightly slower, the casualties were indeed reduced.Because some long-distance ricochets can no longer effectively hit them. In the past, this kind of ricochet, which was already at the end of its strength, could still take the lives of a large number of Qing soldiers, but now they are obviously much safer.

After the three shield vehicles were destroyed, the remaining seven or eight shield vehicles rushed to the city one after another.At this time, artillery shells, bows and arrows, and lead bullets flew across the two towers of Yantai Fort A and B, especially the grape bullets fired from both sides and the explosive bullets that exploded in the air, the Qing army could not defend at all.The large shields in their hands can only protect against bows and arrows, and they can't even defend against lead bullets within a range of five to sixty meters, let alone those flying shell fragments and grape bullets.But even so, this group of Qing troops still rushed to the Yantai Fort city tenaciously, and then the auxiliary soldiers carrying the ladder put them on the city wall.

A large group of soldiers of the Qing army came out from behind the shield chariot with short weapons in their hands, only to hear the sound of "Boom! Boom!" Explosions continued, and dense hand-throwing bombs were dropped on the top of the city.These exploding bombs first caused the unarmored auxiliary soldiers to cry, and then some soldiers of the Qing army who were closer to the explosion point were also killed and injured a lot.Some oil cans were also thrown from the top of the city onto the Qing army's shield vehicles, and the rockets that followed quickly ignited them. The Qing army suddenly couldn't hide, and they appeared from behind the shield vehicles.Seeing this, the soldiers on the east bank at the head of the city seized the opportunity, firing blunderbuss, bows and arrows, and the Qing army fell in pieces.

However, the Qing army also seized the opportunity of the soldiers on the east bank leaning out to fight back. Although their bows and arrows caused very little damage to the people on the east bank, the lead bullets fired by some bird gunners at close range still hit some people standing upright. soldiers.Their plate armor was no defense against buckshot at such close range, and some of the less fortunate East Coast Squadrons were shot and killed.The battle continued in a stalemate like this. The Qing army had a large number of people. Although the casualties were not small, they still fought to the death. This may be the most tenacious Qing army that people on the east coast have encountered since the two sides started.

However, no matter how high the morale is and no matter how tenacious the will is, a human being is a body of flesh and blood after all, and cannot persist for a long time under the combined blows of shells, shrapnel, arrows, and lead bullets from all directions.Soon, after the soldiers of the Qing army who climbed the ladder twice were smashed into a hornet's nest by the bullets from the left and right, the Qing army, which was completely dead and wounded, finally couldn't hold on, leaving seven or eight hundred corpses behind. They dispersed in a rush, leaving behind the burning shield car, and Sa Yazi ran back.

Dong Xueli looked at the retreating soldiers in front of him with red eyes and panting heavily.His old brothers suffered heavy casualties in the wave of offensive just now. At least 300 old brothers who followed him from Ningxia to Shaanxi, then to Beijing, and then to Henan died on the spot.Such a veteran has nothing to say about his fighting will and skills, and he is also loyal to him, Old Dong. Although he has nearly 500 people under his command, such old brothers are only a thousand or five after many battles. , is the capital he relies on in troubled times.But now that he has lost so much at once, how can he not be angry!How not to be heartbroken!

Since they played fairly tenaciously, the Eight Banners coat guards who supervised the battle did not embarrass them too much.The old brothers who retreated had red eyes, and they were relatively speechless with Dong Xueli. They fought a terrible battle.More than 500 people who went up killed more than 700 people, nearly half of them. When did they suffer such serious injuries?Even if they were surrounded by the Dashun army in Meng County a while ago, the battle of defending the city for more than half a month and the final breakout only cost them more than a thousand people, but they can work hard in this shitty city. More than 700 people are gone, including more than 300 old brothers.

If they hadn't retired too early and would be beheaded by the supervising team, they would have long since refused to fight such a wasteful battle!Think about the whistling sound of shrapnel, the sound of arrows breaking through the air, the sound of iron bullets hitting the ground, screams, shouts, and cursing around at that time, the sounds are still in my ears, so many brothers are here The environment quietly fell down, and many of them were even old people who followed all the way from Ningxia.

"This city can't be defeated!" Someone quietly asserted that Bao Yi, who had avoided the battle of the Eight Banners, aroused the echo of many people.They had just retreated from the front, and they knew best what was going on on the battlefield.From their point of view, the frontal battlefield of Poyantai Fort is narrow, and it is impossible to deploy troops at all. No matter how many people there are, they can only attack in waves, and others can only stare blankly behind.And the yellow-clothed bandits from the east bank in front of them had sharp guns and mighty firepower, and they were completely beyond the reach of flesh and blood.

Dong Xueli first glanced carefully at the Zhenglan Banner-coated servants who were still far away from them, and then gave these old subordinates a hard look, but didn't say much.He knew exactly what this battle would be like. Today Hauge dispatched seven teams to take turns to attack the city, but they all retreated.To be honest, everyone has tried their best, Dong Xueli dared to pat his chest and said that he didn't hide any thoughts in the battle just now, and he didn't let his old brothers fight hard, but he really couldn't fight!

The left side of Yantai Fort is the swamp, and the right side is the control area of ​​those giant deck ships, which is the narrow area on the front for the attacker to attack.I don't know what the yellow-clothed thief who built this fortress thought at the time, but chose such a great place to build his nest. With this broken terrain, even a 20-2000 army would be useless. He couldn't deploy his troops at all !You can only send [-] people to attack it forever. The bandits in yellow have such ferocious artillery, plus some soldiers who dare to fight, it is very easy to defend the city, and they will not be able to defeat it until next year.

Today is already the fourth day, fifty or sixty thousand troops are staring at such a small city. Although there are only more than 3000 casualties, it doesn't seem to be very big, but the problem is how many injuries your opponent Huangyi thief has? Do you make it personally?They only killed or injured a dozen or twenty people, did you make it?

Dong Xueli turned his head to look at the huge and luxurious tent in the rear camp, the commander in chief this time, Prince Su of the Qing Dynasty, Hauge, was inside.What is he thinking?Dong Xueli secretly slandered in his heart, this man of the Qing dynasty probably never expected that building a small Yantai Fort would be so laborious at first.Those yellow-clothed thieves could not count more than [-] people. As a prince, he personally commanded the army to attack, so how can there be any reason not to go down at once?But now things are obviously stuck here, the artillery battle can't beat them, and the red-clothed cannons transferred from Jinzhou have finally lost a full six; How should this end now?

Dong Xueli didn't know what Hauge was thinking, but soon the coat of command brought it to the end of today's battle, and all ministries strictly followed the orders of the camp, which made Dong Xueli slightly relieved.It has been fighting for so long today, and the morale of the army is so low that it is really not appropriate to continue fighting.

In the early morning of March 3, a large number of peasants were driven out of the camp by the packers, and then they carried large bundles of firewood, planks, earth bags and the like, and headed for the swamp area on the left side of Yantai Fort.The cavalry of the Manchu Eight Banners still formed a loose formation outside the camp, not only to prevent the people from the east bank from going out of the city to hide and kill them, but also to supervise the hard work of these peasants.

This is to forcefully fill in a path in this endless swamp area!Dong Xueli sighed secretly. It seems that Prince Su of the Qing Dynasty is not reconciled after all. He seems to want to try to attack the castle of the yellow-clothed thief from the west.

However, Dong Xueli is not optimistic about this idea.Not to mention that the thieves in yellow are not blind. They can see the movement of the Qing army from the top of the city, and they will naturally make corresponding targeted deployments; just looking at the structure of Yantai Fort, Dong Xueli found that attacking the west wall will also be affected. Flanking fire from three directions is basically the same thing as frontal fire.What's more, the terrain in the west is even worse. There is a large lake (artificial reservoir), and the distance between the lake and the city wall is only a short hundred steps.It is impossible to deploy troops at this distance, and sending people there is purely death.Instead of this, why not send 2000 people to try it from the east, where the base of the city wall is a full three hundred steps from the sea, but the gunboats of the yellow-clothed pirates parked on the sea are a threat, and it is still not appropriate after all.

After such an analysis, Dong Xueli could only find out in despair that he once again proved that there was really nothing they could do about this small fortress, even if they were willing to pay the price of heavy casualties for a storm.I believe that Dong Xueli is not the only one who has seen this fact clearly. Even if many other people didn't understand it at first, after observing the battle process in the past few days, they have long since lost any illusions in their minds. Know that the city cannot be captured.

But if you know it, you know it, but no one wants to be the first to say it.Especially generals like He Tuo, Li Sutai, Emengge, Tulai, Ke Yongsheng, they knew in their hearts that the dead were all cannon fodder anyway, and there was no reason to anger Prince Su because of their lives and deaths, right?

(End of this chapter)