Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1116: Digging for the City
Shengjing was broken!

Wang Jinwu led his troops to attack Shengjing. Shengjing was no ordinary city. It was not only the Shenyang city before the Ming Dynasty, but also the capital of the Jiannu today.

Since Nurhaci captured Shenyang, he made this place the capital of the Later Jin Dynasty. After Huang Taiji succeeded as the Khan and became emperor, he specially changed the name of Shenyang to Shengjing and carried out large-scale expansion and construction of Shengjing.

Over the past few decades, the scale and solidity of Shengjing City were no less than those big cities within the Great Wall. Moreover, the city not only had the main forces of the Eight Banners, but also stored a lot of supplies. Even if Wang Jinwu brought the most capable troops of the Ming Dynasty and included powerful firearms, it would not be easy to break through the city in a short time.

Dorgon's judgment was not wrong. As long as he persisted, it would be difficult for the Ming army to capture Shengjing before the supplies in the city were consumed. The siege in recent days also proved this point. The Ming army suffered a lot of casualties, but Shengjing was still under the control of Dorgon. It was too difficult to break Shengjing.

For this reason, Wang Jinwu had no choice but to take other measures. Since the traditional siege tactics were not effective, he had to take other measures. This method was none other than the underground siege method. The underground siege method has existed since ancient times. When it is impossible to break through the city head-on, dig tunnels and send special forces to sneak into the city through the tunnels. Then, when the siege is most intense, suddenly launch an attack and take down the city gate with the help of internal and external forces.

However, Wang Jinwu's siege tactics were fundamentally different from traditional siege tactics. Instead of digging tunnels directly into the city and sending special forces to seize the city gate, his siege tactics involved digging tunnels from outside the city to the bottom of the city wall, and then burying gunpowder barrels under the city wall to blow down the wall.

When talking about this method, we have to mention Zhang Xianzhong. The person who first proposed this method was this once famous "Eight Kings".

When Huang Taiji led his troops to besiege Jinzhou, the General Senate (Ministry) held a war game simulation of the Liaodong war under the chairmanship of Wu Xiang. After Zhang Xianzhong surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, the emperor did not give him a real position, but considering his situation, he gave him the title of councilor in the General Senate. So Zhang Xianzhong also participated in the war game simulation at that time and expressed his opinions at the request of Wu Xiang.

Compared with others, Zhang Xianzhong put himself in the role of Huang Taiji and put forward a series of opinions on how to attack Jinzhou. Most of these opinions were recognized by everyone, but some of them were not accepted by people. This included Zhang Xianzhong's first proposal that facing a strong city like Jinzhou, the tactic of digging the ground to attack the city and breaking the city wall with gunpowder explosions could be adopted.

This tactic sounds really incredible, and considering that Huang Taiji was simply unable to do so at the time, after all, Huang Taiji's firearms troops were limited and the gunpowder reserves were not much. If such a tactic was needed, a huge amount of gunpowder must be used, which was simply impossible for the Jiannu to do.

But afterwards, Wang Jinwu, the head of the General Senate, carefully read the records of the discussion at that time and was deeply impressed by Zhang Xianzhong's suggestion. Wang Jinwu also discussed this issue with Zhu Shenzhui. I remember that Zhu Shenzhui expressed his appreciation for Zhang Xianzhong's tactic of digging underground to attack the city, and suggested that it could be tried in future wars if such a situation occurred.

Wang Jinwu remembered this incident clearly, but he had no chance to try this tactic in the following years. Until this time, Wang Jinwu was appointed as the supreme commander of the Liaodong battlefield and led his troops to attack the Jiannu. After nearly three months of fighting, the Ming army finally arrived at the gates of Shengjing. Looking at the tall and solid city walls in front of him, Wang Jinwu suddenly recalled this method in his mind.

Although the Ming army was now in an advantageous position, it was not so easy to capture Shengjing using traditional siege tactics, and such tactics would cause great casualties to the siege party. In addition, although the Ming army had prepared for this war for several years, and the court had already mobilized a huge amount of supplies as a back-up, as the battle line lengthened, the logistical pressure on the Ming army was also great. After all, whether it was transported by manpower and livestock, or by sea, the supplies were transported from Shandong to the hinterland of Liaodong and then to the front line. The journey was not short and the cost was also great.

Although the main force of the Ming army in this war was only 150,000, this number only includes the number of combat soldiers. If the civilians and other manpower responsible for logistics are all counted, the number will be much higher than this? In addition, the Ming army had to send troops to protect the grain route to avoid being attacked and intercepted by the Eight Banners soldiers. In addition, the people who came from afar had to eat and feed the horses, so the loss was quite large.

This is not the 21st century. There are no trains, no cars, and no airdrops. The large amount of supplies consumed on the front line every day must be transported from the rear. As the battle line gets longer and the war lasts longer, the consumption of supplies is an astronomical figure. Even in the 21st century, the war is completely based on money.

From this point of view, not only Dorgon was under great pressure, but Wang Jinwu was also under such pressure. Moreover, the longer the war dragged on, the greater the pressure on logistics. Once there was a problem with logistics, it was possible that the situation would turn from good to bad.

Similar situations have occurred on battlefields throughout history, and Wang Jinwu attaches great importance to this.

In order to take Shengjing as soon as possible and solve the Liaodong problem in one battle, Wang Jinwu decided to try this tactic in Shengjing after remembering Zhang Xianzhong's tactic of digging and siege. From the first day of attacking Shengjing, Wang Jinwu arranged a troop to start digging in Shengjing, and found an unnoticed place. He quietly extended to the wall of Shengjing by digging tunnels, and dug under the wall, and then dug from the left and right under the wall to dig out a chamber large enough to hold a large amount of gunpowder, and then ignited and detonated it, thus completing the final blow to Shengjing. It sounds simple, but it is not easy to do. To do these things under the eyes of Jiannu, you must be careful, and don't let the other party notice. So in order to cover this action, Wang Jinwu continuously mobilized troops to use traditional siege tactics to attract the defenders in the city, and his digging troops worked in three shifts day and night. After nearly a month, they finally dug under the city wall and dug out a huge powder room under the city wall. Then they transported barrels filled with gunpowder through tunnels to the powder room, stacked them, and finally detonated them.

Just over half an hour ago, everything was ready. The gunpowder room under the city wall was piled with more than 20,000 kilograms of gunpowder, which accounted for almost two-thirds of Wang Jinwu's army's reserves. Wang Jinwu took a risk by taking out so much gunpowder at once. If he failed to succeed at once, the Ming army's gunpowder reserves would be insufficient in the next war, and the Ming army's firearms attack intensity would be greatly weakened.

"Marshal, we're ready!"

As the night deepens, the battlefield that was raging during the day is now peaceful. Torches are lit everywhere on the city walls of Shengjing, and the Ming army camp outside the city is also brightly lit. The current calm is only temporary. Both sides know that the war is not over, and everything will be completely broken when the fighting starts again.

On one side of the Ming army camp, in the darkness outside the firelight, the Ming army commander Wang Jinwu led his men here. At this time, the Ming army general who was in charge of digging the ground and attacking the city hurried forward to greet him and said with a fist.

"Have you checked everything? Is there any problem with ignition?" Wang Jinwu asked solemnly.

"Replying to the Marshal, there will be absolutely no problem! I specially ignited three gunpowder fuses, and they will be ignited at the same time to ensure that there will be no mistakes."

"Okay!" Wang Jinwu smiled. He looked up at Shengjing not far away. The light on the city wall was so eye-catching in the dark night. Since everything had been arranged, Wang Jinwu did not hesitate and immediately gave the order to light the fire.

After ignition, the fuse began to burn and spread forward along the tunnel. At this moment, Wang Jinwu calculated the time in his mind and waited patiently. In the Ming army camp, all units also began to prepare for the siege. Once the wall was successfully blasted, the Ming army would rush up immediately to break through Shengjing and enter the city.

Time passed minute by minute, and after three incense sticks, Wang Jinwu still didn't hear any movement. Logically speaking, the fuse should have burned out, so why hasn't he heard any explosion?
After waiting for more than ten breaths, Wang Jinwu couldn't help but frown. Could something have happened?

This shouldn't be the case! Three fuses were lit at the same time, so it couldn't be that all three fuses had accidents? If so, it would be too outrageous. Just when Wang Jinwu was about to call the general in charge to ask what was going on, the ground under his feet suddenly shook slightly. Wang Jinwu's body shook involuntarily, and then he heard the sound of thunder coming from underground, and the ground shook even more.

"It exploded!" Wang Jinwu was delighted and looked forward quickly. However, when he saw that the city wall in the distance was still standing, his heart sank.

Could it be that this siege by digging underground didn't work? Why was the enemy's wall intact? But at this moment, the ground shook violently again, and the sound of thunder suddenly turned into thunder. At the location of the wall where the gunpowder was buried, it seemed as if a pair of giant hands suddenly lifted it up from the ground, and then flames emerged. The force was extremely fierce, accompanied by an even louder sound. The wall was instantly shaky, and then a large area of ​​​​collapse began.

"Oh my God!" When this scene appeared in front of everyone, even though this action was done by the Ming army, everyone in the Ming army was dumbfounded when they saw it.

A section of the city wall that was more than 20 meters long collapsed like a tornado of building blocks. With a huge explosion, the defenders on that section of the wall didn't even have time to shout before they were rolled over and buried underground along with the collapsed wall. A huge amount of dust rose up.

At the same time, the shock wave of the underground explosion threw countless soil and bricks into the air, and even a cannon weighing more than 3,000 kilograms on the top of the city was blown away like a piece of paper, and no one knew where it landed. When the sound of the explosion gradually faded away, bricks began to rain down from the sky again, crackling and falling continuously. At this time, the defenders on the left and right walls that had not been blown down did not make any movement. They were staggering with blood in their mouths and noses, unable to stand steadily, and many of them even fell headfirst from the city wall.

(End of this chapter)