Chapter 289: Artillery fire from the former garrison

Ying Yi was wearing armor, and his saddlebags were hanging on the side of the saddle. The clanking sound merged with the thump of the horse's hooves hitting the ground, and was finally submerged in the sound of neat footsteps like muffled thunder.

When Donglu comes to attack, Ying Yi will not sit quietly and wait for the outcome of the battle. This should be the largest war before Daxia was officially established. As a monarch, he had to personally participate.

After entrusting the affairs to the Pastoral Council and the Royal Court, Ying Yi personally led the army and went straight to Shanhaiguan.

This time, there were only 2,500 imperial guardsmen accompanying Ying Yi on the expedition. Of the 3,000 imperial guards, 500 were left to guard the Forbidden City. The entire capital had less than 10,000 soldiers. Most of Qian Yue's troops have been transferred to the Miyun line in the north of the capital.

With less than ten thousand soldiers and horses guarding the capital, one can imagine Ying Yi's confidence.

The golden-armored guards were majestic and orderly, and they walked in unison. Every time they stepped, they were like thunder. And it traveled very fast. It started from the capital in the morning and arrived in Funing, Yongping in the afternoon. There was only about a hundred miles away from Shanhaiguan.

A mere one-day march would not impose much physical burden on the Guards. On the contrary, the war horses ridden by the generals were rotated several times in one day.

Especially the two horses carrying Ying Yi's heavy sword were exhausted even if they were rotated back and forth.

"Funing is ahead, right?"

Ying Yi asked.

On the side, Wang Yisheng, who was completely covered in armor, heard this and said in a muffled voice: "Back to the king, Funing County is more than ten miles ahead. After passing Funing and walking another seventy or eighty miles, Shanhaiguan is in sight."

Ying Yi nodded slightly: "The Tatar vanguard should have arrived at the front line. I wonder if the war has started now."

Wang Yisheng remained silent.

Ying Yi suddenly said again: "This gravel road is not good, and we are covered in smoke and dust along the way. If we could..."

As he spoke, he shook his head: "There's still some time left."

I could already see the bustling people on both sides of the road ahead.

Along the way, I have seen a lot. In this harvest season, people are in full swing to bring food home. The sea-like waves of wheat on both sides of the official road, the strong fragrance of wheat, and the bustling of pickets and oxcarts along the road create a vivid and vibrant painting.

The resettlement villages placed on both sides of the newly renovated official roads are all brand new. Under the cover of the tree shades, you can even see the golden grains spread on the drying grounds.

Traffic on the street, chickens and dogs hearing each other, Ying Yi felt moved, but it was not enough. There is transportation on the streets, but the mutual communication between chickens and dogs is still a bit lacking.

Nowadays, the government is focusing on the main business of farming, and livestock breeding has not yet had time to take care of it.

Moreover, Ying Yi was not satisfied with the official way of earth, rock and mud. The dusty pavement when walking is very unpleasant. It's just that for the time being, there is no time to take care of all these. We can only wait until the war stops and the world is stable, and then we can take our time.

It doesn't happen overnight.

Passing by, a single-eyed young man stood upright, beating his chest and saluting, paying close attention. Ying Yi nodded slightly to him, knowing that this was once his soldier and now his officer.

The imperial guards walked like flying and soon disappeared in the distance of the official road. The common people who stopped along the way started talking intensely and were very excited.

The village chief knew that there must be a war on the front line.

He yearned for it, but finally sighed.

When Ying Yi's army arrived at Shanhaiguan, the former garrison was already in flames.

Although Hauge felt that the former guard was bluffing, he was still cautious. The new enemy is not Ming Ting, but an enemy who has already destroyed Ming Ting and wiped out Abate's entire army.

Although he is rough and arrogant, he doesn't think he is much better than Abate.

Hauge's vanguard of 16,000 Zhenglan Banner elite cavalry was stationed in Jinzhou and Ningyuan. During the period of time when they were stationed in Jinzhou and Ningyuan, 40,000 soldiers arrived one after another, and Dorgon's main army was about to arrive here.

He has enough troops in his hands.

What's more, there are Wu Sangui's 7,000 people?

However, it was not Wu Sangui who was the first to attack the front guard. Although Hauge thought so in his heart, he still held back in the end.

He looked down upon the Han people and thought they were inferior people. But Wu Sangui's actions these days were, after all, seen by him.

There were more than 20,000 people, and only 7,000 were left, which was enough to show Wu Sangui's loyalty.

If Wu Sangui is still sent to be cannon fodder at this time, regardless of what Wu Sangui thinks, Hauge must also take into account the thoughts of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, whose power is becoming more and more important, and the thoughts of those Han officials who have been valued when Huang Taiji was in power. view.

He has lost his throne. If he acts recklessly again, Dorgon will not miss the opportunity to kill him!

He was well aware of his situation.

The scale of Qiantunweijun Town is slightly smaller than that of Ningyuan. It is a stone city built on the hillside. It's no bigger than a mile.

To break through the former garrison, it is necessary to sacrifice human lives.

If it was during the Ming Dynasty, those timid Ming Dynasty generals might have taken the city with just one surrender, but that was definitely not possible now.

Just looking at the silent armored soldiers on the top of the city silently loading cannonballs, you know that this battle is not going to be easy.

The Tatars are not good at attacking cities. In the original history, the main force that captured the Central Plains was not the Tatar troops, but the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty. To attack the Han with the Han, we have to mention the cunning of the Tatars.

It's a pity that as a vanguard, Hauge now has no other Han troops except Wu Sangui.

Fortunately, there are enough siege weapons-cannons!

The emergence of artillery greatly reduced the difficulty of siege. Unless it is an important city like Kaifeng or the capital, an ordinary city is basically unstoppable.

Once the city wall collapsed, the advantage of the defenders was gone.

The front guard is backed by a mountain, and both sides are extremely steep. Only the front direction can be attacked. And the attack surface is not large, only less than five feet wide.

The cannon fodder sent up at one time will not exceed 500 people. Any more than this number is a waste.

Haug's army was arrayed two miles away, and a cannon array was set up in front of the army. Five hundred soldiers were already ready. As soon as the artillery fire started, they took advantage of the artillery fire cover to charge and attack the city.

However, the first artillery fire from the city head almost caused Haug to fall off his horse!

Just when the Hauglie artillery array was about to bombard the former garrison wall, silver-white gun barrels protruded from the gaps between the parapets on the top of the city. Fireworks filled the air, and the whole city trembled slightly. Two hundred Multiple fist-sized cannons pulled long flaming tails, spanning a distance of two miles in an instant, and bombarded Haug's artillery array. Suddenly, it was a ruin!

Before Haug could react, the second round of shelling arrived!

The dense cannons smashed Haug's artillery array, jumped up on the hard ground, and crashed into the Tatar army formation, bringing with them blood and flesh along the way, and screams broke out as people turned on their backs!

"impossible!"

Hauge awkwardly avoided a cannonball and roared: "How can a Crouching Tiger Cannon shoot so far!"

Turg grabbed Haug's reins and shouted: "Back off!"

The front part of the Tatar army's formation was just within the range of the artillery attack. Some generals were watching the battle in front of the formation, and there were huge casualties in an instant!

Only Wu Sangui saw the opportunity early and retreated as soon as he saw the bombardment. After retreating to the central army, he wiped cold sweat and heard Hauge's roar.

However, the third round of bombardment has arrived!

"With such an intensive bombardment, could it be that there are thousands of cannons in the front guard?" Wu Sangui's eyes flickered, and he was secretly shocked.

"Furthermore, based on our previous observation, the ten or so cannons bustling at the top of the city all looked like Crouching Tiger Cannons. Although they were brand new, how could the Crouching Tiger Cannons shoot so far?"

He couldn't help but be shocked by the arrival of King Xia's troops.