warring states careerist

Chapter 789 The Siege of Dangshan ([-])
That night, another counterattack and the destruction of the trenches were organized in the city, but with little effect.

On the second day, the city seemed to accept its fate, and there was no intention of leaving the city anymore.

The excavation outside the city was completed at noon, and some mortars originally used to defend the city had been deployed in the widened trenches, and the engineers had also set up artillery positions about 250 steps away from the city wall.

The remaining soldiers continued to dig forward along the second parallel trench that had been widened. As for whether to dig a third parallel trench to get as close as possible to the city wall, it depended on the effect of the shelling.

The weather on this day is still good, there is no wind and rain, and the sun is in the sky, which is suitable for a decisive battle.

More than a dozen mortars were aimed at the city wall, and more direct-firing copper cannons were being transported along the widened trench. Once the mortars started firing, the remaining copper cannons would take advantage of the chaos and enter the deployed positions to annihilate the defenders of the city wall. Pulled into range.

Looking at the height of the sun, Liuzhi and the others looked at each other and gave the order to start the bombardment.

Gunpowder smoke continued to rise in the trench, and heavy iron bullets continued to fly towards the city wall. The white smoke covered by the firewood piled up in front of the trench provided cover for the artillery behind to deploy the copper cannon.

"Don't be stingy with gunpowder and iron bullets. The more gunpowder is used, the less blood we bleed. Human life is priceless, so it is not counted as human life, but only utility. Gunpowder is always cheap."

As Liuzhi said, this is the strategic guidance for the siege of Sishang, and it has always been like this. Whether it is digging trenches or zigzagging, everything is to reduce the number of deaths as the top priority.

Through the binoculars, the first round of mortar shelling caused the defenders in the city to panic, and a large number of soldiers who should have been deployed in the rear were sent to the front of the city wall, ready to stand.

Through the glass of the lens, Liuzhi saw an iron bullet falling from the sky, smashing a battlement, and the splashed gravel injured several people.

He shook his head, thinking that this was just the beginning, and the real tragedy would not begin until those flat-firing copper cannons were deployed.

I moved the angle of the telescope and looked at the artillery deployed on the artillery position. More than 60 brass or bronze artillery were being pushed by the artillery to adjust their positions and angles. Suppression and counterattacks began, but to no avail.

A few iron bullets flew to the parapet piled up with thick soil in front. The soft soil absorbed the energy in the iron bullets and could not bounce off.

The artillery, which had already practiced many times, spent about half an hour deploying the artillery amidst the rumbling sound of the artillery.

Liuzhi looked at the time. When the sun fell, there were still about two and a half hours before dark.

He turned around and asked the staff next to him: "If we double the number of people in front of us now and stay around the clock, will Zigzag trench be able to get close to the city wall before tomorrow evening?"

The staff officer made some calculations and said, "If the city doesn't fight back, and if our artillery can suppress the city wall, we will definitely be able to get close before tomorrow evening."

Liu Zhi nodded, made some calculations, and ordered: "Let the artillerymen adjust the muzzle, and according to the predetermined plan, let the iron bullets bounce off the city wall as much as possible to kill the enemy."

"Let the two brigades who are preparing to dig also go up with shovels and picks, speed up the digging, force the defenders in the city to go up to the top of the city, threaten them, and let the artillery kill them."

"Consultants make a plan..."

He pointed to the convex corner of the city defense directly opposite and said: "The plan is that if the enemy cannot withstand the artillery bombardment, we will directly attack that convex corner without digging a third parallel trench."

"After the attack, it is necessary to prepare a counterattack response, how to build a simple internal defense, and the defensive range of each unit."

"Break the surface with a point, the sooner the better."

The staff members don't need to ask whether the plan must be implemented, but only need to follow the thinking of Liuzhi to construct a plan that can be implemented.

The hot air balloon has observed the protruding corner directly opposite it more than ten times, and drawings from various angles have been drawn.

There are loopholes in the defense system of Dangshan City, because it was rebuilt from the city, not a special fortress, so there is no double fort inside, only a star-shaped structure on the outside.

As long as one corner is broken and a wave of counterattacks can be defended, the entire defense system of the city will be completely destroyed.

To formulate such a plan, it is necessary to consider the number of first camps that rush up in the first wave, the size of the trenches they need, how to break through the last moat of the city wall, and the bombardment direction of the artillery after the attack, and the simple defense. The amount of earth needed for earth wall construction, the quantity to be transported, and the maximum number of soldiers that can be deployed.

This is not something the coach needs to consider, all he needs is a general idea.

Before evening, the contingency plan made by the staff had already been drawn up, and the excavation speed ahead was about the same as the staff had estimated.

Referring to the map, the senior officers of the legion headed by Six Fingers looked at the plan and nodded.

In the plan, four battalion grenadier companies are required to launch an impact. Under the impact, a spacious trench that can accommodate about 1000 people must be dug, and an exit that can enter and exit a hundred people at a time is made.

The defenders were lured to deploy a large number of troops on the salient, and the artillery bombardment stopped for two moments after one hour, and the defenders were tempted to mistakenly think that they were going to attack the city, and then entered the salient again after enduring the artillery bombardment for an hour.

This was repeated three times, and at about noon, the first to board the camp and start attacking the city, the artillery immediately changed the direction of attack.

Also during the previous bombardment, sappers dug mortar deployment trenches and transported the mortars closer to the walls, and once the attack began, the mortars went over the lobes to bombard the rear of the lobes.

After boarding the camp and the city, one brigade from the first division boarded the city, each carrying a bag of sand, and quickly deployed simple fortifications according to the company as a unit.

The remaining four brigades of the [-]st Division then carried earth and rock, transported upwards, to reinforce the salient fortifications.

Assemble twenty small-caliber, quick-moving, small copper cannons that fire a pound of iron bullets and some portable Huzun cannons and hemp rope cannons, and follow the first brigade of the first division to the city.

The cavalry is preparing in the reverse direction to prevent the enemy from abandoning the city and fleeing, and the second division is responsible for blocking in the reverse direction.

If the enemy is stubbornly resisting, hold on to the convex angle, and the engineers quickly pile up the sheep's soil mountain under the convex angle, and strive to complete the construction before noon on the second day, and deploy the artillery on the sheep's soil mountain next to the convex angle, forming a barrier between the two sides. Suppression, the infantry will gradually expand the results of the battle.

After reading it, Liuzhi clicked on a time point and said: "The siege can be delayed for another day. First bombard it for one day, and then choose to bombard it a little bit more on the second day. There is still enough time, so don't worry."

"What's your opinion?"

The Mohist representative of the Peiyi Legion said: "I'm still repeating the same old tune. Once the plan is made, there can be no mistakes with the current method of sending orders relying on flags, drums, and messengers. Senior officers of each department must come to the front line in person. Under the premise, once something unexpected happens, make a decision immediately."

"In general, follow the plan; in terms of details, adapt to the situation. It cannot be said that the engineers have foolishly dug the sheep and repaired the earth mountain before the convex fort is captured here."

"It's still the same. Mohist representatives from various ministries come to the front line in person, and the military chief is in charge of the overall command."

This has always been the rule of the Sishang Volunteer Division, especially under the premise that the means of communication basically rely on shouting, there must be a high-level army in front to deal with various emergencies.

When Liuzhi was the Mohist representative of the brigade, he also needed to take the lead in the charge. This was the case more than ten years ago, and it is still the case today.

It's just that he is the coach now, not the Mohist representative, and needs to stay behind to take care of the overall situation. The Mohist representatives of the legion need to come to the front line in person, and each has a division of labor.

Fortunately, this plan itself is linear, not a nonlinear one like splitting things up. Step by step is sequenced, and the possibility of accidents is much smaller.

If the salient was not captured first, the infantry of the First Division would not need to continue to the next step. If the salient was not controlled, the engineers would not have to pile up sheep under the salient.

Liuzhi added: "The only thing to pay attention to is the timing of the mortar's movement, and the possibility of the enemy's desperate counterattack. Since the artillery is in charge, the infantry must cover them well."

"If there are no questions and nothing to add, let's vote."

Everyone thought about it again and there was no other opinion. After the vote was passed, the recorder recorded it as a file, and then called the brigade-level cadres in the direction of the attack to clarify their intentions.

After they understand the intention, they tell the purpose to the company, and the company conveys it to each soldier, so that they know what they should do, and agree on what to do if there is an accident in the mission of each company.

Of course, there is no need to tell every soldier and company-level cadre about some detailed things, such as things like the interval between the artillery bombardment to induce the defenders to gather on the city.

…………

On the morning of the second day, the artillery continued the bombardment to maintain the frequency of automatic cooling of the barrel heat instead of forced cooling by rapid firing with oil or water. This bombardment had lasted for half a day.

In the eyes of the envoys of the vassal states, Dangshan is already like a place full of fire and demons in those strange stories.

The hard stones of Dangshan are not as good as the softer soil at this time.

After hundreds of experiments, we have obtained the angle that allows more iron bullets to fly randomly instead of hitting the masonry directly, so that the iron bullets fired by dozens of bronze cannons outside the city hit the city wall of Dangshan City irregularly. Fly around.

This kind of erratic flying is the most terrifying, and it is also the easiest to destroy the will of the defenders.

The soldiers guarding the city never knew where the iron bullets would fly, and they never knew when they would face the fate of being crushed by the hot flying iron bullets weighing several kilograms.

(End of this chapter)