Cao Minglei, Cao Zongbing, was very loyal to his duty. He honestly set up camp and did his best to make all preparations. But he did not expect that all his efforts on the ground would be easily defeated by the enemy from the sky. The camp of more than 10,000 people was blown up by a dozen or so bags of explosives falling from the sky. The entire camp screamed and fled.
Although the dream of soaring in the sky had existed since ancient times, the attack from the sky was too advanced. Cao Zongbing himself had no choice but to follow the defeated soldiers and flee back the way they came. But after running for two li, although the group of generals were still in shock, they realized that they could not run back like this. If they ran like this and were chased by the enemy cavalry, the casualties would be heavy.
"Gather the defeated soldiers and gather the troops." Cao Zongbing found that there was an advantage to running away this time. When the aerial bombing happened, most of the generals happened to be by his side. When they ran for their lives, everyone gathered together. This meant that he could at least command a portion of the troops.
A group of generals, guerrillas, and generals ran until they were panting. They could not run on their own two legs, so they could only stop and block the soldiers who were running for their lives. Not many of the soldiers who ran out of the camp died. Most of them were in a panic. The generals stood guard at the intersection and shouted. Immediately, two to three thousand people gathered.
With more people, the imperial army became more courageous. But the soldiers only cared about running for their lives. Almost everyone was empty-handed. They were already hungry after a day of marching and setting up camp. No matter what, they could not fight anymore.
Cao Zongbing did not force the soldiers to turn back. He simply led the people to retreat while continuing to gather the troops. After a whole night, the Ming Army retreated 20 li and gathered another six to seven thousand people. They were temporarily stationed in the town of Xinzhuang, 30 li east of Tianjin.
After a night of fear, Cao Zongbing looked at the miserable state of his troops and wanted to cry again. He knew that he could not escape the blame for this defeat, but he could only brace himself and write a letter to Governor Xue Sancai in Tianjin asking for help. The thousands of troops could be gathered back, but they had lost all their weapons and military supplies. The morale of the army had collapsed and they were unable to fight again. They also could not guard against the 'strange birds' who threw explosives from the sky.
At the end of the letter, Cao Zongbing could only look up to the sky and sigh, thinking that he might as well hang himself. But then he remembered Ma Gong-gong had said that this defeat was not his fault; he hoped that the Shangguan would take pity on him, to understand that even if he did not have any meritorious service, at least he had worked hard. At most he would lose his position, but at least he would still be alive. Just as he was thinking about Ma Gonggong, Ma Keshi walked in with a gloomy expression.
"Ma gonggong, save me!" Cao Zongbing's eyes were filled with tears as he knelt down to the eunuch on the spot. Ma Keshi helped Cao Minglei up, but he did not talk about yesterday's defeat. Instead, he said in a strange tone, "Yesterday we were ambushed and the whole camp was in chaos. But the traitors didn't take the opportunity to attack. One had to know that the traitor's cavalry was extremely sharp and hard to find in this world. If they bide their time and do nothing, we will feel uneasy instead. "
Now, if anyone said that the Revolutionary Army didn't know how to fight and was easy to deal with, Eunuch Ma would be the first to slap that person's face. But yesterday was such a good opportunity, yet the traitor had let it go. It was really strange.
In fact, Cao Zongbing also had doubts. He said, "Last night, when we were fleeing along the Hai River, I heard the sound of water in the river and vaguely saw the light of a fleet of ships going upstream. There was even a strange 'tu tu tu' sound coming from the river. It was extremely horrifying to hear. But at that time I was depressed and very flustered, so I didn't have the heart to pay attention to it. Now that I think about it … "
Speaking up to this point, Cao and Ma looked at each other and turned pale with fright at the same time. They shouted, "Oh no, the traitors didn't attack us. They must have gone to Tianjin City along the river."
This time they were even more screwed!
Tianjin City was really defenseless, they didn't even have a fig leaf to hide their embarrassment.
Cao Zongbing's vision darkened. He stumbled and was about to fall. Ma gonggong quickly pulled him back and sat down. He consoled him, "Lord Cao need not worry too much. Tianjin is a big city, there are many people in the city.
Duke Xue is an upright and upright official, he doesn't fear the rich and powerful, he has a very good reputation among the people. This way, the city's defense will definitely be impregnable. Although the military strength in the city is insufficient, the traitors definitely won't be able to break through. As long as we go back quickly, we will definitely be able to make it in time. "
After Cao Zongbing sat down, his mind was already shaken. He cried and cursed the traitors for being cunning. When Ma Keshi said that Tianjin City was impregnable, he immediately retorted, "Did you forget how we were defeated yesterday? Those traitors are good at using gunpowder, they can easily cause the sky to collapse. No matter how strong Tianjin City's defense is, how many times can it withstand? "
Eh … that's right!
Ma Keshi was immediately put in a difficult position. This Zhou traitors kept coming up with strange tricks, always making people forget that they were best at using explosives to blow people up. Yesterday, the traitors used bombing techniques to defeat Cao Zongbing. More than ten thousand people fled like wolves and rats. They didn't even have weapons, so naturally they couldn't threaten the 'Revolutionary Army' at Da Gukou. Meanwhile, there were no soldiers stationed in Tianjin. Even if there was an empty city defense, it wouldn't be able to withstand the indiscriminate bombing.
These traitors had one trap after another, their calculations were extremely deep.
Ma Keshi and Cao Zongbing were still in a daze when they suddenly heard an urgent report from outside the house. A soldier from Tianjin City stumbled to the front of the two people, kneeled on the ground and cried, "Sirs, quickly send back reinforcements! Last night, the traitors took a boat and forced their way out of Tianjin City. Right now, they are using Sky Piercing Thunder to blow up Tianjin City's defense. Governor-General Xue doesn't have any soldiers under his command, so he can only gather the will of the people in the city to resist. Right now, he's in a precarious situation! "
Guessed right!
It was only 60 kilometers from Da Gukou to Tianjin City along the Hai River. Zhou Qingfeng used the steam engine on the 500-ton tugboat as the driving force to drag several transport ships along the river at night. Driven by the steam engine with 100 horsepower, the entire fleet slowly moved at a turtle's speed of two knots.
The fleet carried 'ballistae' and 500 light infantry and directly entered Tianjin City overnight. In addition, 500 cavalrymen advanced by land, bypassing Cao Minglei's defeated army and rushed outside Tianjin City to meet up with Zhou Qingfeng. In this way, he brought 1,000 men and horses with him.
Although this 1,000 men and horses was not a lot, Zhou Qingfeng took advantage of the fact that there were no more soldiers in Tianjin City and they couldn't go out to fight him. Outside the city, he set up the 'ballistae' to throw explosives and prepared to bombard them.
As for Cao Minglei's troops who were already frightened like birds at the mere twang of a bow, the Beijing-Tianjin Frontline Army simply sent three companies of spear infantry to monitor and persuade them to surrender. It was fine if Cao Minglei was willing to surrender, but if not, he wouldn't be able to jump around for long.
The night raid fleet sailed for a night and arrived near the Lion Forest Bridge east of Tianjin City. After the troops went ashore, they quickly took up positions outside the east gate of Tianjin City. Twelve light ballistae were placed in a line. Their first targets were the two turrets that surrounded the city outside the east of Tianjin City.
The appearance of the Beijing-Tianjin Frontline Army's artillery squad immediately alerted the officials in the city. Xue Sancai had been staying up all night in the yamen, waiting for news from Cao Minglei. He was worried that Cao Minglei would be ambushed halfway and lose his troops, but he also hoped that Cao Minglei would succeed in this battle and become famous all over the world. Who knew that Zhou Qingfeng would bring 1,000 men and directly attack the city.
Xue Sancai cursed Cao Minglei for being an idiot, but his reaction was extremely fast. He grabbed the official seal and mobilized the power of will of the people in the city to defend. In his view, there weren't many enemies. It was a dream for a thousand men to attack the city. Therefore, he didn't have the intention of immediately transferring back to Cao Minglei. Instead, he asked the officials in the city to organize young and strong men to defend the city wall. If necessary, they could also go out of the city to fight and expel the enemy.
The city defense lit up with a yellow light. Zhou Qingfeng took his time to deal with the turrets outside. The Ming Army on the turrets didn't follow Cao Minglei into the battle. Seeing that the rebels were right under their noses, the bronze Frang autocannons on the turrets immediately opened fire.
Xue Sancai saw everything clearly from the city tower at the east gate. The two turrets outside kept emitting smoke and the sound of cannons firing was continuous. He slapped the city wall and said happily, "Good, I, Daming, still have soldiers who dare to fight. After the battle, I will definitely reward them. "
The Frang autocannons fired very quickly. It was vigorous and lively. But after firing for a while, the barrels couldn't stand the heat and could only stop. After firing for a long time, Zhou Qingfeng stood motionless outside the firing range. However, the ballista he brought had been installed.
"Grand Marshal, the artillery is ready. Requesting to fire."
In order to use the cannons, Zhou Qingfeng had long established an artillery unit. Although the ballista wasn't a cannon, it was given to the artillery unit to use. After the leading officer finished setting up the position, he reported to Zhou Qingfeng.
In order to pursue stability, the light ballista was nailed to the ground with wooden stakes after it was transported. The torsion spring made of cow tendons was pulled by a ratchet lever. The fired ammunition wasn't ordinary explosives. It was conical shaped with wooden shells and even had fins to stabilize the trajectory. Because there wasn't a good detonation and timing fuse, a fuse was drawn from the tail of the shell to detonate.
After Zhou Qingfeng nodded, the artillery officer immediately ordered to light the fuse. One squad had one ballista and one company had 12 light ballistas. The gunner stepped on the firing pedal and fired the wooden shells. The shells were like black dots in the air, flying over a distance of about 400 meters before landing on the other side of the turret.
Because the battery was big enough, eight out of twelve shells hit the target.
Zhou Qingfeng waited for more than ten seconds but the shells didn't explode. He looked at the artillery officer beside him. The officer was also very nervous. He was sweating profusely and said, "Maybe the fuse was left for too long. Or maybe the wooden shells broke after they hit the ground, causing them to be duds. Or maybe the impact caused the fuse to go out … "
Boom … An explosion rang out from the other side of the turrets, followed by a series of explosions. The entire battery was immediately shrouded in smoke. The Ming Army on the battery ran in panic. Some of them even jumped down from the turrets in a hurry in order to escape.
Eight out of twelve wooden shells hit the target. Only half of the shells that hit the target exploded. This efficiency was a bit low. Zhou Qingfeng scratched his head and said faintly, "Continue to fire."
The artillery fired three rounds and turned the opposite battery upside down. Since the start of the bombardment, the opposite side didn't fight back. After the three rounds, when the smoke dissipated, Zhou Qingfeng ordered his soldiers to check. He learned that only seven or eight people were killed on the battery. The rest of the Ming Army had all escaped.
"Destroy the cannons on the battery. Turn the artillery …" Zhou Qingfeng looked at another battery on the east side of Tianjin City. He saw a large number of Ming Army stationed there had escaped without fighting. Each of them ran faster than a rabbit. He also sent people to check the damage and locked the target on the east gate of the city.
Xue Sancai was stunned on the city gate tower. He was just praising the bravery of the Ming Army on the battery. In the end, they were defeated after one round of firing. The people and horses of the other battery were so scared that they ran away without looking back. He slapped the city wall and could only curse to behead the deserters. He looked at the rebel artillery outside the city and hated them to the bone.
"Horse team, is the horse team ready?" Xue Sancai turned around and shouted to his followers in the city. "Where are the young men of the rich families in the city? Ask them to send people out. The rebels are the most cruel to the officials. Since they are at the city gate, what luck is there to speak of? Those who should send people, those who should send money, those who should send money. If the city is really breached, it will be a mutual destruction. "
Xue Sancai was the Governor of Ji Liao. He had a team of more than a hundred servants. In addition, there were many officials in Tianjin. Every family could send a few dozen people and easily gather thousands of soldiers. In this way, Tianjin City wasn't completely defenseless.
Due to Zhou Qingfeng's sudden arrival, the city gate wasn't blocked. Xue Sancai waited until his men and horses were ready, and his heart was somewhat at ease. Looking again at the rebel thieves outside the city, he hatefully gnashed his teeth and said, "Our Tianjin city's defense is firm, it is not something a mere fort can compare to. If the rebels want to blow up, then blow it up. I want to see how capable they are. If the city is breached, I will fight it out with them. "
Governor Ji Liao was forced into a corner.
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