The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 769
At the beginning, Hauge had only seen the bastions in southern Shaanxi, or they were "second-hand goods" that Wang Yingxiong had gone through once. How could he know the subtleties in them, and it was not easy to learn the similarities.

Zhu Linmei asked Zhao Shichao, "How wide and how high is the bastion?"

"Return to Your Majesty, the width is about fifteen or sixty feet, and the height is more than four feet."

"The thieves are quick to learn." Zhu Linmei frowned and looked to the north, "Come on, let's go and have a look." Then she ordered Zhang Jiayu, "Let the artillery battalion drag the large-caliber mortars up first."

"Yes!"

Early the next morning, Zhu Linmi came down to the south of Tashan surrounded by the imperial camp.

The main forward force of the Ming army, 5000 people, had already formed an formation in the open field at the foot of Baitai Mountain. The two straight infantry lines at the front and rear were flying with banners and forests of bayonets, completely blocking the way in and out of Tashan.On their flanks, three thousand cavalry were waiting.

Zhu Linmi sat on the horse and looked at Baitai Mountain on the west side of Tashan Mountain with a telescope, but she couldn't help shaking her head secretly.

On the east side of the hillside, a bastion made of earth and rocks stood upright. Although the construction was rather rough, the site selection was extremely sinister-the surrounding hillsides were steep and it was very difficult to attack from above, but the cannons on the bastion could Taking advantage of the condescending situation to increase the range, it can cover at least half of Tashan.

The most troublesome thing is that due to the limited range, if you want to attack the bastion with a mortar, you have to drag the cannon to the very sloped halfway up the mountain.Not to mention that moving the cannon and ammunition must be extremely time-consuming and labor-intensive. Even if the cannon is successfully transported up, the captives only need to throw rolling logs and rocks down the mountain to injure the artillery.

"It's a bit troublesome..." He couldn't help but muttered to himself.

Zhang Jiayu obviously also saw the problem, and cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, when the two 'big guys' from the artillery battalion arrive, they can bombard the enemy base at the foot of the mountain."

Zhu Linmi shook her head, "Those two cannons are too heavy and move slowly, at least half a month before they can be shipped, it's too slow."

Deng Shan said: "Your Majesty, the vehicle for making explosives is in the rear army, and all the raw materials are ready. Now order to start manufacturing, and it will be ready tomorrow. Do you believe that this mere fortress can be stronger than the Nanjing City Wall?"

Now that Daming Gezhixue is developing rapidly, making nitrocellulose has long been a piece of cake.But this thing is unstable in nature, and it is very easy to explode during long-distance transportation. In order to facilitate the production and use of the front line at any time, the Ministry of Industry specially concentrated the equipment required for preparation in two carriages and became a mobile laboratory.

During the Northern Expedition, the Ministry of War naturally considered that there would be a need to conquer key points, so it brought this laboratory along with the army.

Zhang Jiayu shook his head and said, "Since the last time the city of Nanjing was blown up, the captives have been extremely wary of our army approaching and planting explosives. In addition, the mountain is steep, and the attack with nitrocellulose will inevitably cause heavy casualties. We should wait for the heavy artillery to arrive. ..."

"No," Zhu Linmi suddenly narrowed her eyes and smiled, "What General Deng said is not impossible."

……

Shengjing, the capital of the Qing Dynasty.

Although the city was decorated with lanterns and festoons as in previous years, the people coming and going all lowered their heads, looking preoccupied, and there was no New Year's atmosphere at all.

In the Chongzheng Palace, Hauge was surrounded by Manchu and Han important officials, all of them looked dignified.

After a long time, Jierhalang said: "Actually, during the reign of Taizu, Nanming also came to commit crimes many times. Didn't we beat them all back?"

A few embarrassing responses came from the side, "The regent is right."

"Yes, are you still afraid of these savages?"

However, Fan Wencheng interjected inappropriately: "Reporting to Jianguo, the southerners are coming in a menacing manner, and our banners and ministries have just begun to deploy troops, so it is not optimistic. Besides, according to my estimate, all males over 16 years old will be drawn from each cow. At most, we can gather [-] or [-] soldiers and horses, I'm afraid it's far from enough..."

Seeing the extremely low morale in the hall, Hauge couldn't help shouting: "This Liaodong is the land of my Qing Dynasty, how can the barbarians be allowed to be presumptuous here?!
"Let me tell you, the southern army will definitely lose in this battle! In the past six months, I have deployed three lines of defense on the Songjin line, and widely stockpiled food and grass, which is enough to last for more than half a year.

"Nan Ming came from a long distance, and it was difficult to supply food, grass, and supplies, and it was extremely expensive. In addition, they were all southern soldiers and could not tolerate the severe cold in Liaodong. As long as they were blocked in the Songjin area, they would not be able to last long.

"Now we only use the word 'drag', relying on the numerous barriers between the mountains, we can drag Nanming down without much force. At most half a year, they will go back home!

"At that time, I will lead the army to hide and kill from behind, and take advantage of the enemy's collapse, and maybe I can break into the pass in one go..."

Dai Shan still worried: "Jianguo, Songjin has only 8000 to [-] troops at the moment, and it is urgent to mobilize the army to defend as soon as possible."

Hauge said: "When Ningyuan was attacked, I issued an order to order all the banners to rush to Guangning within ten days. I will lead the Beijing camp to Jinzhou tomorrow, and it will only take seven or eight days. In addition, I also transferred the Horqin Department The cavalry will be able to rush to the aid of Jinzhou in half a month."

He said it with confidence, but actually felt very bitter. The deployment of troops in this winter is bound to last until the beginning of spring.Adult men from all ministries are on the front line, how can Chun Bo not be affected?It's just that saving his life is the most important thing now, so he doesn't care so much.

Fan Wencheng said again: "I would like to report to the supervisor, I visited the fortifications around Songjin in the autumn, and they are extremely strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack. But," he changed the subject, "the southern army is fierce, and it is no less than five years old. There are tens of thousands of people. If they are determined to exchange their lives, the fortifications in the Songjin Mountains will not be safe.

"I think that we still need to recruit more troops, at least the number should not be inferior to that of the southern army. If we don't have a large army in our hands, even if we withdraw the southerners this time, we will inevitably suffer the same disaster next year and later."

Hauge gave him a blank look, and said in his heart that I don't know the importance of holding a large army?Immediately he said in displeasure: "Lord Fan himself said just now that all the males above the age of 16 have been sent out from all banners, so where can we recruit soldiers?"

Fan Wencheng said: "I have a method, and I can get tens of thousands of troops."

Everyone immediately looked at him together.Hauge also narrowed his eyes and said, "Master Fan, please tell me."

"The Liaodong Banner has a limited number of people, but there are a huge number of Han and Korean coated ahas. As long as the supervisor gathers these people as soldiers and allows them to make military exploits, they can be exempted from slavery, and a large army can be obtained at your fingertips."

There was silence in Chongzheng Hall, and after a long time, Hauge said, "If so, how many people can we gather?"

Fan Wencheng said: "It's more than thirty or forty thousand."

……

On the south side of Tashan, in an open space next to the Ming army camp.

Suddenly there was an earth-shattering loud noise, and the ground trembled for a long time before it stopped.

Huashan Jiushu and several Japanese and North Korean military officers were still buzzing in their ears, and they all stared at the cracked mounds in the distance with wide-eyed eyes, full of disbelief in their hearts.

"This is nitrocellulose." An official from the Ministry of Industry explained to them, "You have all seen the power. But be careful, this thing is extremely easy to explode. It doesn't need to be exposed to fire. It will explode when it is dropped hard. It will explode, but fortunately it is extremely cold here, so there is no need to worry about it."

(End of this chapter)