After a night of fierce fighting, the low walls of Ningyuan City once again emerged from the thin mist. Within a hundred meters of the city, thousands of corpses of soldiers lay on the ground. The masterless horses wandered around the area of death with their reins hanging low. The ground that had been bombarded by the cannons and mines left many pits and depressions. The blood that had gathered in the pits had already frozen and turned black.
At the first glimmer of dawn, a buzzing biplane flew over from the southern sky and landed in Ningyuan City. The plane unloaded several hundred kilograms of supplies and picked up seven or eight wounded soldiers before quickly flying away. In another hour and a half, it would fly over again.
Nurhachi stood seven or eight hundred meters away from Ningyuan City, holding a pair of binoculars that Taixi had given him. He stared blankly at Ningyuan City's defensive layout for a long time without saying a word. A few guards followed behind him. Seeing that he did not seem to be in a bad mood, they hurriedly reported some important matters.
"Great Khan, the thirty thousand soldiers who set off from Jinzhou the day before yesterday have all arrived at Ningyuan City. They are currently in formation three li away. Another thirty thousand will set off today and will probably all arrive before nightfall tomorrow. The Great Bei Lei is currently urging his servants to transport the cannons over. He said that they will definitely arrive today and will not delay the Great Khan's battle. "
Nurhachi rushed over from Jinzhou. But there were no highways these days and the road capacity was limited. In addition, they had to transport heavy things such as cannons, so the road was extremely congested. The tens of thousands of Kennu soldiers could only arrive in batches. He had gone to Ningyuan City to survey the terrain yesterday and launched a dozen rounds of attacks at night. He had thought that such an attack would be difficult to defend against, but the small Ningyuan City actually withstood it.
"What the hell is flying in the sky?" Nurhachi put down the binoculars and asked.
The guards looked at each other and did not know how to answer.
Nurhachi waited for a long time and did not get an answer. He looked back and asked again, "You don't know?"
"These servants are ignorant and do not dare to speak carelessly." The guards hurriedly lowered their heads and apologized.
Nurhachi snorted and said faintly, "This Khan does not know either. The Han people are always able to come up with strange things. I am afraid the one flying in the sky is similar to our crane-riding emissaries, perhaps even more useful. "
Speaking of crane-riding envoys, a few guards couldn't help but look at a corpse that had fallen from the sky not far away. That was the apprentice controlling the flying crane puppet. After daybreak, he flew to the top of Ning Yuan City to investigate, but he was pecked to death by the Han flying puppets. After losing two cranes in a row, the Female Daoist did not dare to send more people.
With that, the sky became the territory of the Han.
Other than the ones flying in the sky, the Han on the ground are not easy to deal with. Yesterday, when Nurhachi arrived at Ningyuan Army, he felt that this small city was a little strange. After careful investigation, he found that the Han people had built more than a dozen forts outside the city wall. The National Defense Army that arrived at Ningyuan Army did not have time to build big forts, so they could only build forts hastily. These cannons that protruded out of the city formed the main firepower point of the defense.
The artillery of the Revolutionary Army was very accurate. The battalion artillery could attack a target at a certain point within an effective range of 700 meters. Last night, Nurhachi still dared to get within 500 meters of Ningyuan Army to personally command. But at daybreak, he received the bad news that his fourth son, Tanggu, had died in battle.
Tanggu was not as famous as Dai Shan, Mangurtai, or Hwang Tae-gil. But he was also one of Nurhachi's fierce generals. It was not difficult for him to attack a city. But today, he died unjustly.
When it was dark, the National Defense Army in the city could not see far. They could only wait for the enemy to come closer to determine their position. At daybreak, they found that the Kennu were actually right under their noses. When they saw hundreds of Kennu soldiers gathering three to four hundred meters away, ready to launch an attack, the National Defense Army happily fired at them. Tanggu was killed by the artillery just like that.
Before Nurhachi had time to think about the death of another son, he confirmed that the enemy's artillery was really sharp. Not only was it fast, but it was also very accurate. There was a lookout car erected 500 meters away. In the end, when the car was only half erected, the enemy's artillery shot the servant who had set up the lookout car into pieces. Fortunately, Nurhachi had not gone up yet, otherwise, he would have been shot as well.
If they wanted to fight a war, they had to gather troops and be organized. Since the artillery of the Han people was fierce, Nurhachi could only order them to gather further away. But as they retreated all the way to the effective range of the 700-meter cannons, Jin's troops felt that they should be safe after retreating far enough. So they prepared to gather a large group to charge …
But in the end, Ningyuan Army fired rockets to cover the area.
Hundreds of rockets flew a distance of a kilometer in one go, blowing up an area about the size of two football fields. This time, it was Nurhachi's personal guards, a total of two thousand elite soldiers of the Plain Yellow Banner, who were prepared to set an example for the rest of the army. In the end, they were just gathering when they were beaten to a pulp. Four to five hundred people were killed on the spot, and many were injured.
After a large number of people died, Nurhachi learned a lesson — if they gathered within two hundred meters, they would be hit by the cannons. If more than three hundred people gathered within seven hundred to fifteen hundred meters, they would be hit by the rockets. If more than a thousand people gathered within seven hundred to fifteen hundred meters, they would be hit by the rockets. Beyond fifteen hundred meters, the Han people on top of the city walls probably couldn't see clearly, so they didn't care.
But to charge from a distance of fifteen hundred meters, even if the Kennu were made of iron, they would still be exhausted to death.
If they didn't even allow people to gather, how could they fight this war?
Only now did Nurhachi understand why Mangurtai was stopped in front of Shanhai Pass, why Amin suffered such a huge defeat on the Mongolian plains, and why his subordinates advised him to retreat and sue for peace. It was because the way of fighting on the battlefield had changed. Right now, he could only sneak a few hundred meters away from Ningyuan City with a few guards to spy on the situation.
He had to be especially careful. Once his identity was exposed, the Han cannons on top of the city walls would think that he was a big fish, and they would not hesitate to fire their cannons. With regards to the power of the rockets, even though Nurhachi's cultivation had already reached an astonishing level, he had no intention of taking it head-on.
His guards were trembling in fear, and they hid themselves, afraid that they would attract the attention of the Han army. From time to time, they would beg Nurhachi not to stay at the frontlines and retreat to the rear. After all, the Jurchens' tens of thousands of soldiers were three li away, not willing to approach. This was something that had never happened before.
"I can either send twenty to thirty thousand soldiers to keep an eye on the Han army in Ningyuan City, or I can only wait until nightfall to attack." Nurhachi contemplated in his heart, but he felt that neither option was a good solution. In the end, he ordered: "Mobilize all the slaves in the army and send them to the frontlines to fill in the Han army's trenches."
Fill in the trenches?
This was obviously sending people to their deaths.
But at this critical juncture, the slave masters were already fighting on the frontlines, so why would they show any mercy to their slaves?
While the Kennu were pondering on how to crack open the tough walnut known as Ningyuan City, Ningyuan City was also preparing for war. Sang Quanlai's platoon had been fighting for the entire night, and the dozens of soldiers were tired and sleepy. They were replaced by the reserve troops in the city. After a big meal, the soldiers found a place to sleep.
Sang Quanlai was also exhausted, but he forced himself to report the statistics. Last night, the Kennu army had launched wave after wave of attacks, using the limited space on the battlefield to launch a strong attack. In a single night, at least three to four thousand people died outside the city. Four of his men were killed, and six were injured. Their numbers were reduced by more than ten percent.
They handed over the injured and resupplied the army. When Sang Quanlai arrived, he saw that the Revolutionary Army's treasure, the biplanes, was actually used to deliver supplies and the injured. He was curious about this. Ningyuan City was by the sea, so wouldn't it be better to use ships? The direction of the sea was controlled by the Han, and the frozen sea could be blasted open with explosives, allowing ships of a few hundred tons to approach easily.
Although the biplanes were fast, they could only transport a few hundred kilograms at a time, which was too little for the intense battlefield. A single volley of rockets could produce one to two tons of ammunition. Wouldn't it be a waste to rely on the biplanes?
Unless it couldn't be transported by sea.
Sang Quanlai broke out in cold sweat at this guess of his. The Han army was relying on their firepower to control the battlefield. In broad daylight, they were using rockets to keep the Kennu army at bay. But although the rockets were good, they consumed too much ammunition. If the logistics department couldn't keep up, the ten thousand people in Ningyuan City would be in trouble.
Sang Quanlai had witnessed the devastation of the Kennu army, as well as the Kennu army's desperate struggle. If they didn't have enough firepower, and the fearless barbarians charged in, he would definitely be dead.
Sang Quanlai didn't dare to ask questions, but when he went to the logistics department to lead the army, he couldn't help but ask, "Can you give us more explosives?"
"Why do we need so many explosives? Only the engineers use explosives. "The logistics officer rejected him without hesitation.
Sang Quanlai froze. His elder brother, Sang Wenlai, was an engineer, and he had secretly learned some explosive techniques. Usually, he would ask for explosives from the logistics department to strengthen the defense, so he could at least get some. But not today.
A puppet bird flew out from the logistics department and heard the conversation between Sang Quanlai and the logistics officer. It took the initiative to shout, "Don't worry, it'll be fine in two days. Two days, I'll give you a big surprise in two days. We have something new, I guarantee the wild boar skins outside the city will have a good time! "
The puppet bird flapped its wings and flew away, but Sang Quanlai's heart was tightly gripped. He knew that the next two days were going to be difficult, but these two days were when the Kennu army risked their lives to break through — in the heat of battle, every minute and second was torture, not to mention two days.
Returning to the tents in the city, the others seized the time to rest. The current situation was not bad, and the exchange ratio last night was very good. Everyone was very confident that they would be able to defend Ningyuan City.
But Sang Quanlai tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He remembered the night when he had mobilized the troops in Tianjin, everyone singing and holding back tears as they rushed to the battlefield. He remembered the old mother he didn't know, remembered her crying and holding on to his hand, asking him to return home safely.
"Sleep, sleep! How can we fight without energy? " The company commander came to patrol and saw Sang Quanlai in a daze. "More Tartars came today. We blocked their three beilei and wanted to wipe them out. Those f * ckers came to fight with their lives. "
At this moment, Sang Quanlai was extremely afraid. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to return home, worried that he wouldn't be able to see his parents again. He suddenly stood up and tugged at the company commander's clothes, lowering his voice and asking uneasily, "Company commander, are we isolated and without help?"
"What are you thinking about, kid?" The company commander scolded angrily, lowering his voice. "If you talk nonsense, you will be punished by military law. Soldiers have to face life and death on the battlefield, don't find trouble for yourself. Go to sleep! "
Once the company commander left, Sang Quanlai almost cried. He increasingly felt that his guess was correct. Ningyuan City was a dangerous place, and he was going to die here.
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