Chinese martial arts! Grandmaster

Chapter 340 Artillery is King! Just How Strong is Ximen Tang?

Xianning Prefecture.

As Chen Jie emerged from the secluded chamber.

The 20,000-strong army of Ximentang, which set out from Qingzhou, Shandong, has arrived in Xianning Prefecture.

This time, the commander leading the troops is Aman.

Originally, Aman led his army to be stationed in Songjiang Prefecture, but after Xiong Chao's army was stationed in Songjiang Prefecture.

Chen Jie transferred Aman back to the headquarters in Qingzhou, Shandong.

After receiving Chen Jie's order, Aman led an army of 20,000 men, escorting grain and supplies, and arrived in Xianning Prefecture in a grand procession.

The supplies being transported this time, aside from the food, were primarily artillery shells and bullets.

Five thousand boxes of heavy machine gun ammunition were brought over at once.

in addition,

More than 200,000 hand grenades were also delivered.

The number of heavy machine guns and mortars doubled, and a new batch of incendiary bombs and illumination flares was delivered.

The artillery battalion and heavy machine gun battalion increased firepower.

With the arrival of Aman, the total strength of Ximen Hall in the entire Xianning Prefecture reached 30,000 elite troops.

There were more than 5,000 mortars and more than 200 heavy machine guns.

Every soldier was equipped with a musket, and the elite special forces were all equipped with replica AK47 assault rifles.

The Hanzhong region was a grain-producing area during the Daqian Dynasty.

Therefore,
The supply train only delivered a portion of the grain and meat; the rest of the grain could be sourced from Ezhou and other places.

After several fierce battles, Ximentang's ammunition was greatly depleted.

To achieve overwhelming firepower coverage, ample ammunition is essential.

Chen Jie didn't care about anything else; the most important thing was the artillery shells.

He always advocated overwhelming firepower, and stockpiling artillery shells was Ximentang's top priority.

With the current ammunition, we have enough to fight a decisive battle with Li Ben, the Prince of Han.

Chen Jie even went so far as to increase the amount of ammunition to prevent the appearance of the Kwantung Army.

According to intelligence provided by Ximen Tang's "undercover unit," tens of thousands of Kwantung Army soldiers infiltrated Hanzhong.

However, Chen Jie had not received any further news from the Kwantung Army during this period.

It is clear,
The Kwantung Army broke up into smaller units, with one part joining the army of Prince Li Ben of Han, while the other part dispersed throughout various parts of Hanzhong.

They are likely to suddenly appear and deliver a fatal blow to Ximentang when it is engaged in a decisive battle with the main force of Prince Li Ben of Han.

Therefore,
Chen Jie had to be on guard and prepared for a major battle with the Kwantung Army at any time.

in addition,

After this period of fierce fighting, many mortars, heavy machine guns, muskets, and other weapons were damaged.

therefore,

The Qingzhou Arsenal sent a group of craftsmen to repair various weapons and prevent them from exploding.

Aman's arrival greatly enhanced the military strength of Ximentang stationed in Xianning Prefecture.

The presence of 30,000 troops here gives Chen Jie more room to maneuver when deploying his forces and allows him to consider more areas.

He no longer needs to worry about defense or being ambushed by the Kwantung Army.

If it were only the previous 10,000 men, once they were surrounded by the Kwantung Army from behind, even if they could repel the enemy, they would suffer heavy losses.

All is ready except for the opportunity!
The army of Ximen Tang is all ready.

at this time,

According to a military report from the reconnaissance company of the Ximentang Special Operations Regiment, Prince Li Ben of Han led an army of 200,000 to Tongshan County.

-

Tongshan County.

Dong Chuan knelt before Li Ben, the Prince of Han.

He lowered his head and lay prostrate on the ground, not daring to look into the eyes of Prince Li Ben of Han.

In this attack on Xianning Prefecture, Dong Chuan's rebel army suffered a crushing defeat!

After being routed by Ximentang in Xianning Prefecture, Dong Chuan led his troops to retreat all the way to Yunxi City.

After taking stock of the losses, he wept bitterly.

Not only were his elite troops wiped out, but even his heavy cavalry was completely wiped out.

He now has less than 20,000 men left, some of whom are newly recruited soldiers.

Although firearms began to emerge, the way of fighting began to change.

but,

For this era, heavily armored cavalry has always been the elite force.

therefore,

Whether it was Li Ben, the Prince of Han, or Li Mu, the Prince of Ning, cavalry was of paramount importance.

This is completely different from Ximentang.

Although Ximentang also began to form cavalry, it was not for charging, but for pursuing the enemy.

The artillery was the most elite force in Ximentang.

The army under Li Ben, the King of Han, was mainly composed of infantry, specifically musketeers.

Although he acquired weapons from the Japanese and began to form artillery battalions and heavy machine gun battalions.

However, heavy cavalry has always been his favorite type of army to build.

Sun Zhong's five thousand cavalrymen were wiped out.

Then,

Dong Chuan's heavy cavalry was once again wiped out.

With an army of over 100,000 men defeated and routed, how could Prince Li Ben of Han possibly tolerate it?

He had never suffered such a great defeat since he raised the banner of rebellion.

Sun Zhong's defeat could be attributed to a lack of understanding of Ximentang's fighting capabilities.

but,

Dong Chuan made the same mistake again and was beaten so badly by Ximentang, it's simply unforgivable.

and,

Before Dong Chuan sent troops to Tongshan County, Prince Li Ben of Han repeatedly instructed Dong Chuan not to underestimate Ximentang's fighting strength.

Prince Li Ben of Han even brought Sun Zhong's remaining troops under Dong Chuan's command. The purpose was to warn Dong Chuan not to let his guard down.

Unexpectedly, in the end, it was still a crushing defeat.

When they learned that Li Ben, the King of Han, had led a large army to Tongshan County.

Having no other choice, Dong Chuan could only follow Sun Zhong's example, kneeling before Prince Li Ben of Han and pleading guilty with a bundle of thorns on his back.

but,

Dong Chuan had only just knelt down and had not yet had a chance to plead his case before Prince Li Ben of Han.

Unexpectedly, this situation is completely different from the last time Sun Zhong.

Dong Chuan was, after all, a trusted general under Prince Li Ben of Han. Even if Li Ben was furious, he would not actually kill Dong Chuan.

Prince Li Ben of Han stepped forward, helped Dong Chuan up, and said:

"Rise up! This defeat has taught us a profound lesson."

"Although we lost, the responsibility isn't entirely yours; I also bear some responsibility!"

"Although we all knew that Simon's fighting strength was very strong, we eventually realized that we had underestimated their fighting strength."

"This is an army we have never seen before."

After helping Dong Chuan up.

Prince Li Ben of Han took a deep breath and came to Sun Zhong's side.

He nodded and said:

"Sun Zhong, you should get up too. It seems I misunderstood you last time."

“Nishidon is indeed very strong; they defeated the Sakata Army of the Kwantung Army.”

"So, you lost to Simon Tang, that's true!"

"From now on, you will lead another 50,000 troops from the newly recruited government troops to form the Mighty Army!"

After listening to what the King of Han said, Sun Zhong and Dong Chuan...

They all kowtowed to Li Ben, expressing their gratitude: "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Both of them originally thought that Prince Li Ben of Han would blame them, but to their surprise, Li Ben not only did not blame them, but also exempted them from the blame.

in fact,

When Li Ben, the Prince of Han, heard that Dong Chuan had been reduced to only 20,000 men by Xi Mentang, he was deeply moved.

He was so angry he almost wanted to kill someone.

However, this is the most crucial moment, and we absolutely cannot afford to lose morale.

Li Ben, the King of Han, was indeed a ruthless and ambitious ruler; he quickly suppressed his anger.

and,

After some thought, he realized that it was indeed his mistake to underestimate Ximentang's fighting strength.

He knew better than anyone the fighting strength of Sun Zhong and Dong Chuan's troops.

but,

Two such powerful armies were easily defeated by Ximen Tang.

This also fully demonstrates that Dong Chuan and Sun Zhong's failure was not caused by command errors.

The only explanation is that Ximen Tang's fighting strength was too strong, even far exceeding that of Prince Ning Li Mu's rebel army and the Daqian army.

and,

Deep down, he even had a premonition that Ximen Tang would become the biggest obstacle to his sweeping conquest of the Great Qian Dynasty.

Therefore,
In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Prince Li Ben of Han followed the advice of his chief strategist, Sima Ming.

With a formidable enemy at hand, we absolutely cannot hold Sun Zhong and Dong Chuan responsible for the defeat.

otherwise,

The army's morale was thrown into chaos, which was extremely detrimental to the situation ahead.

To defeat Ximen Tang, all forces must be united and work together to have any chance of victory.

After dealing with Dong Chuan's defeat, Prince Li Ben of Han looked up at all the generals around him and said in a deep voice:
"Generals, we will set off together at the crack of tomorrow morning to attack Xianning City!"

"This time, I want to see for myself just how strong the Ximen Hall, which is famous throughout the Great Qian Dynasty, really is!"

"The Japanese have just sent over fifty of their most advanced heavy cannons; it's a good time to test their power!"

-

"No way? Two hundred thousand troops? How can there still be so many people under the command of Prince Li Ben of Han?"

According to previous reports, although Li Ben, the Prince of Han, claimed to have an army of 500,000, he only had 200,000 elite troops under his command.

During this period, Ximentang not only defeated the rebel army under Sun Zhong, but also completely crushed the army under Dong Chuan.

As a result,
The army under the command of the King of Han should have at most 100,000 elite troops.

However, the actual situation is somewhat different from the intelligence; it is clear that Prince Li Ben of Han still has 200,000 elite troops under his command.

This attack on Xianning Prefecture,

Li Ben, the Prince of Han, no longer dared to underestimate the power of Ximentang's cannons.

He learned from Sun Zhong and Dong Chuan that the Ximentang's artillery was more powerful than that of the Japanese field guns.

Therefore,
Prince Li Ben of Han led his army to camp eight kilometers away from Xianning Prefecture.

This distance is just outside the maximum range of the Ximentang 120mm caliber field gun.

Unless extended-range artillery is used, it is impossible to hit his base.

and,

The 200,000 troops were very dispersed, and it was simply unrealistic for artillery to cover such a long distance.

Standing atop the city wall, Chen Jie could see the densely packed rebel army under the command of Prince Li Ben of Han through his binoculars.

Even though there were more than 10,000 heavily armored cavalrymen, as well as various artillery pieces, they were distributed around the encampment.

at this time,

Through his telescope, he could vaguely see that the camp was shaped like the Chinese character "回" (hui), forming a fortress.

Although Chen Jie had anticipated that the army of Prince Li Ben of Han would march on Xianning City.

Simultaneously,

He also transferred 20,000 troops from Shandong to provide support and was well prepared.

But when he saw the 200,000 elite troops of King Li Ben of Han, he was still deeply shocked.

Prince Li Ben of Han raised the banner of rebellion and attacked Wuchang Prefecture, indiscriminately killing innocent people, causing the Han River to flow with blood.

but,

Undeniably, this Prince Li Ben of Han was definitely a remarkable figure!
He may not be considered a hero, but he is definitely a ruthless and cunning man!
(End of this chapter)