While Xu Bing carried out an emergency mobilization, while Nurhachi decided to place an even greater bet, while Mangurtai kept a close eye on the battlefield, and while the entire Central Plains paid close attention to the war in the north, the first brigade of the National Defense Army began to launch a night attack on Heaven's Protection's military camp outside Shanhai Pass.
Before the sky darkened, Gao Hongzhong was already flustered and exasperated. During the battle during the day, the east side of the camp was set ablaze by a rocket fired from the sea. Because there were too many and too many fire sources, and they were also emitting poisonous smoke, the camp on the east side was on the verge of collapse. A large number of barracks and supplies were burned down. Although there were not many casualties, their morale was greatly affected.
Once the morale that was obtained through brainwashing crumbles, it's hard to recover. The catastrophic attack has a huge impact on the minds of the Hans, causing a large number of conscripted Hans to wake up and flee. By nightfall, less than two hundred people had been burned to death, and more than eight hundred had been hacked to death by the supervising troops due to the chaos. More than two thousand people had escaped. It was a huge loss.
"Right now, the battle situation is getting more and more intense. We need our soldiers to give it our all and fight to the death." Gao Hongzhong gathered hundreds of generals and officers under him in the military tent and shouted with a murderous aura, "All of you have a blood feud with the Revolutionary Army. If you don't fight with your lives today, that traitor Zhou will not let you go tomorrow. Go down and fight with all your might. Otherwise, this general will not let you off lightly. "
Of the fifty thousand men, only a little more than forty thousand remained. After nightfall, the ships could not launch rockets, and it was difficult for the artillerymen to observe long-range targets. This was extremely beneficial to the 'Blessed One's Army' that was defending the camp to the death. It was just that the First Brigade had fought too hard during the day. They killed one or two thousand of Tan Feng's men in one go and broke up five thousand-man teams, forcing Gao Hongzhong to send people to Ningyuan Army to ask for reinforcements overnight.
However, even if the reinforcements set off immediately, it would take a day or two for them to arrive. All of Mangurtai's men rode horses, but their long-distance running ability was very poor. Humans were the kings of endurance in the biological world. It was a pipe dream for Mangurtai to lead thirty thousand men and run two hundred li in one go to join the battle.
"Thief Zhou doesn't have many subordinates, but his firearms are stronger. But cannons could not be used at night, so swords and spears were more convenient. Which valiant general would be willing to lead a night raid and kill his way out to teach that traitor Zhou a lesson? As long as the night raid succeeds, I will guarantee his future prospects and reward him with a hundred thousand taels of silver. "
In order to restore some morale, Gao Hongzhong also put in a lot of effort. At the very least, he gave out the rewards first. He knew very well that this camp could not be defended to the death. In a battle, one must come and go. If the Revolutionary Army outside wanted to break in, the God's Blessing Army inside the camp would have to fight their way out. Even if they didn't succeed, even if they suffered heavy casualties, they couldn't just stay in the camp and do nothing.
Under the heavy reward, there really were some stubborn officials and officers who were willing to fight to the death. Immediately, there were a few guerrilla officers who expressed their desire to lead troops into battle. Gao Hongzhong was overjoyed. He immediately divided his troops, leaving 20,000 men in the camp to resist and sending another 20,000 men out from the north and south of the camp to attack the First Brigade of the National Defense Army that had occupied part of the Blessing Army's camp in the west.
When Gao Hongzhong was about to fight to the end, the 1st Brigade had already entered the southwest corner of the Blessed Army's camp. Twelve heavy cannons belonging to the brigade were transported over. Six of them were used to break through the Blessed Army's large number of fortifications in the camp, while the other six were turned outward to prevent the enemy from attacking in the opposite direction. As for the mounted artillery platoon, they were released to hunt freely at night.
In order to defeat the Blessed Army as soon as possible, Zhou Qingfeng personally oversaw the 1st Brigade. He didn't command directly, but after he opened his Third Eye, he could see in the dark as if it was daytime. Soon, he reported the enemy's deployment to Gao Daniu so that the staff could come up with a plan of attack. "Let's do it. Defeat these traitors!"
Heavy cannons and explosives were the best weapons against the enemy's fortified camp. The engineers and cavalrymen with large-caliber shotguns were only responsible for guarding and clearing the battlefield. Before dark, the 1st Brigade replenished a large batch of weapons and ammunition from Shanhai Pass, including hundreds of five-kilogram explosives and a large number of shells.
After training a small number of officers with junior high school education, the military strength of the Revolutionary Army finally took a small step in the direction of standardized construction. At the very least, there were more and more technical officers who could play with artillery and explosives. After the order to advance was given, more than a dozen artillery and engineer squads started to attack the enemy's defense line in the dark.
Nurhachi could brainwash the Blessed Army, but he couldn't make any qualified officers. This traitor army was filled with a large number of former Ming Army officers who didn't know how to fight at all. The only thing these people were good at was defending to the death because they couldn't organize other tactics. The brainwashed cannon fodder wouldn't immediately master any super combat skills. They were still the original Ming Army.
In the night, Ximen 'ai opened his eyes wide and poked his head out from behind a parapet.
There was a bonfire outside the parapet, illuminating the surrounding dozens of meters. In the distance of the fire was a mess. Traces of artillery bombardment could be seen everywhere. Pieces of corpses turned black in the cold wind. The scattered wreckage made the battlefield look like a nightmare hell.
The wind was cold at night. Ximen 'ai felt that his hands and feet were about to be frozen. The rockets of the Revolutionary Army caused chaos in the camp. Although there weren't many casualties, the resulting chaos made it impossible for the camp to operate normally. Some soldiers in the camp were hungry from noon to night. They hadn't eaten anything. In this cold winter weather, their stomachs were growling with hunger. It was useless to brainwash them.
Ximen 'ai held a hard mixed grain cake in his hand. This was his special treatment as a secretary. But such a cake was hard to swallow. There wasn't even a mouthful of hot water. It was really choking.
After taking a small bite of the cake, Ximen 'ai slowly melted it with his saliva before he could swallow it. As he chewed, he heard some movements in the night wind. He suddenly screamed, "Left, left, hit the left."
Following the order, a group of gunners emerged from behind the parapet. They held heavy matchlocks and randomly fired at an empty space on the left. The sound of gunfire was chaotic, but there was no accuracy to speak of. Many people didn't even have the strength to hold their guns. They were completely firing randomly.
Shanhai Pass was by the sea and the wind was strong at night. This kind of environment was very bad for matchlocks. Many gunners' weapons didn't even make a sound. Some of them burned out the matchlocks because they lit them for a long time. Some people's gunpowder in the medicine pool was blown away by the wind, so they couldn't hit it. Some people even couldn't stand up after squatting behind the parapet for a long time because the weather was too cold.
Ximen 'ai also braced himself to come to the front line, but when it came to commanding a battle, he was completely a layman. Dozens of musketeers were thrown into chaos after firing a single shot. Some casually fired and then retreated. Some stood behind the parapet to reload. Some stood in place in a daze. They wanted to see what they had hit.
After a dense burst of gunfire, the 'Revolutionary Army' on the opposite side only responded with a few crisp and short gunshots. Almost every gunshot, the gunners who didn't hide well would be unlucky.
Ximen 'ai only dared to poke out half of his head to look out. There was a stupid gunner beside him who was standing straight and drawing a poker. But with a gunshot from the opposite side, this guy's head was smashed. The splashing blood made Ximen 'ai cover his head and hide. He looked at the fallen body in disbelief.
After a few rounds of fighting, Ximen 'ai already understood that some gunners in the' Revolutionary Army 'were very accurate. They could easily hit a person's head within 100 meters. This was a precision that matchlock guns didn't have. It was achieved by selecting the best parts from the mass-produced flintlock guns and minigun bullets and distributing them to excellent shooters.
The bullets shot in the dark made Ximen 'ai not dare to raise his head. When he retreated behind the parapet, he heard the heavy crackling sound of wheels rolling on the ground in the wind again. His heart immediately quivered. He quickly turned around and ran deep into the camp. That was the sound of the 'Revolutionary Army's' two big wheels rolling, which meant that a heavy cannon had been transferred over.
Who said that cannons couldn't be fired at night? Didn't the Revolutionary Army carry the cannons?
"It was the bonfire that attracted the Zhou Thief's cannon." Ximen 'ai quickly realized. But there was nothing he could do. He had to light a bonfire. Otherwise, not to mention the soldiers would be blind, even he himself would feel afraid. He didn't understand why the Zhou Thief's troops could take the initiative to attack at night. Anyway, the troops of the 'Blessed Army' wouldn't be able to learn to fight at night even if they were to be brainwashed ten times.
Ximen 'ai had not run far when the parapet wall he was guarding just now suddenly exploded. The frozen hard soil was as hard as steel, but it still couldn't withstand the direct shot of the heavy cannon at close range. With one shot, almost half of the soldiers of the 'Blessed Army' guarding the parapet wall were killed or injured.
The flying stones even caught up with the fleeing Ximen 'ai, hitting him so hard that he couldn't bear the pain on his back. He had to fall to the ground to dodge. The bonfire behind him was also extinguished by the cannon. The surviving cannon fodder ran around in the dark. An elite troop of the 'Blessed Army' equipped with matchlocks was finished just like that.
"How can we fight like this?" Ximen 'ai turned around in horror and watched the scene of destruction.
There weren't many qualified officers in the 'Blessed Army'. There was finally a self-motivated Tan Feng, but he was already dead. There were only a few people who could play with matchlocks and command such a large formation. The cannon fodder who could be equipped with matchlocks were all strong soldiers trained by the Tessie Dutchmen. But after a few rounds, these strong soldiers were quickly wiped out by the enemy's cannon fire …
Ximen 'ai scrambled to escape behind the next parapet wall. He thought that he would be scolded again. But a guerrilla casually gave him more than a hundred people to command, telling him to defend to the death and not to retreat.
These more than a hundred people were all holding long spears and staring at Ximen 'ai in a daze. Ximen 'ai immediately complained incessantly. The dark night was difficult for both the attacker and the defender, but it was even more difficult for the side that lacked food and clothing and sufficient training. A group of gunners couldn't even defend, let alone a group of spearmen.
On the battlefield, people roared and horses neighed. Ximen 'ai staggered and felt his heart tighten. This time, he didn't dare to light a bonfire in front of the parapet wall he was defending, but he didn't know what he should do. He ran to another nearby position to ask for help. Kneeling in front of a general, he said with tears streaming down his face, "How should we fight this battle? Please help me for the sake of our church members. "
"Get lost!" The general who was asked for help was also bad-tempered. He was like a clay Bodhisattva crossing the river, he couldn't even protect himself. He had no patience for Ximen 'ai who came to ask for help, so he directly kicked him away. "Traitor Zhou's men and horses are too fierce. Even the wheels on the heavy artillery rack can run all over the ground. No one in this camp can withstand it, so we can only use people's lives to make up for it. You better pray for your own good. "
Ximen 'ai was kicked and rolled over. His forehead was bleeding. The blood and tears were frozen into ice as soon as they came out. They were slippery to the touch and painful after being peeled off. He was so anxious that his heart was in a mess. His chest was stuffy and he was short of breath. He looked around in the dark night, trying to figure out where to go for help.
As soon as Ximen 'ai left, the general who had just kicked him was blown up into the sky. Under the threat of the cannons, the entire camp of the Blessed Heaven's Army didn't dare to light up casually. Without light, the engineers of the Revolutionary Army dared to sneak over and set up explosives on the defensive line. The explosion caused fire to soar into the sky, and the loud noise was so loud that it made people's ears ring.
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