Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 233 Fake Night Attack, Really

"Swoosh, whoosh, whoosh whoosh"

"Boom, boom, boom boom boom—"

Amid the deafening roar of cannons and the sound of arrows, dozens of huge artillery shells flew out from the earthen walls outside Xiangyang City, whizzing across the low trajectory, and then slammed heavily into the Ming army's shield cart line, many of which even hit the shield carts.

Tens of thousands of dense arrows followed closely behind, piercing the Ming army's shield carts and the shields held high on the side. However, the arrow attacks were just a tickle to the shield carts, causing almost no damage.

However, those heavy shells bounced up with clouds of smoke and wood chips, causing a second, more sudden and more serious indiscriminate killing of the Ming army auxiliary soldiers pushing the shield carts.

In an instant, countless broken wooden fragments flew out from the ground and scattered around like snowflakes, immediately causing bursts of shrill wails and screams.

For the auxiliary soldiers pushing the shield carts, this was a more lethal attack than artillery shells. Although the Palace Army was well-equipped and even the auxiliary soldiers were wearing armor, most of this damage would not be directly fatal, but many auxiliary soldiers were still pierced by the flying debris and wood chips, and they bled profusely.

Many of them would die from wound infection, and the Palace Army's treatment would not be able to save everyone in this situation.

As the Qing army's final attack on the earth wall ended, the Ming army's shield carts suffered heavy losses in the first round of attack. Although most of the armored soldiers behind the shield carts were not injured, their offensive was directly curbed and they quickly withdrew from the battlefield.

Zhu Cilang had anticipated this a long time ago, but he was not alarmed by it. He even found it a little funny when he saw that the Qing army on the earth wall had been suppressed for a long time, and finally burst into thunderous cheers because of this victory.

You must know that with the defeat of the Eight Banners army led by Dorgon, the situation in Huguang was completely under the control of Zhu Cilang. Not to mention that the strength of the Palace Army was not damaged too much and would be fully recovered soon. The Qing army in the city had no strength to fight back.

After the defeat of Dorgon and Ajige, the strategy of the "Second Northern Expedition" became increasingly clear. Zhu Cilang even assigned the generals the task of sending scouts to the north to scout the latest deployment of the Qing army at a military meeting. At the same time, he ordered Zhou Shixian to send the Jinyiwei to contact the gentry in various parts of the Northern Expedition who were aroused by the great victory and had anti-Qing enthusiasm.

The generals of the Palace Army, the Left Town Army and the Right Town Army then talked about the war situation in the north, especially the food and fodder equipment in Jiangbei, as well as the successive victories of the Yangtze River Navy and the Zhejiang Navy in Shandong, Liaohai and other places, which annihilated thousands of Green Camp troops and made the Qing army in Tianjin, Denglai and other places panic.

Zhang Mingzhen and Huang Fei are not fighting blindly. Zhu Cilang has transferred the main force of the navy to them, but he does not want them to fire randomly. The most important thing is to cooperate with the war in Huguang, and even the Northern Expedition next year.

When it came to the key point, Chang Denggui immediately clasped his hands and said:
"Zhang Mingzhen and Huang Fei have already recaptured some small towns along the coast of Yongping, securing a forward position for the attack on Tianjin. However, their forces are insufficient, and the Qing army has already built numerous fortifications on the island. Given their strength, they will likely struggle to capture it."

"There's no need to worry. They're just bluffing. As long as our strategic goal is achieved, it's fine. Gao Jie and Huang Degong are already making preparations, and they'll launch a new offensive soon."

Zhu Cilang smiled, looked around, and then said in a deep voice:

"The most important thing now is to capture Xiangyang and annihilate the defending army led by Shang Kexi and Delekhhun. As long as Xiangyang is recaptured, Huguang will be completely safe. If we can completely annihilate them, the Qing army will be severely damaged, and the situation in the entire Central Plains will be completely changed."

Zhu Cilang knew that if he won this battle, the final collapse of the Qing Dynasty would not be far away.

Most people have noticed this. They ignored the Qing Dynasty's war potential when they should not have underestimated it, and overestimated its strength when they should have re-evaluated it.

However, this is what most people do. Their judgments are too rigid and too dependent on existing facts, while ignoring the overall situation and fundamental cause and effect.

"During the days of the siege, Shang Kexi and Delekhun have organized three reconnaissance missions, but there has been no other action, and the reconnaissance has only reached the outskirts of our camp. We want to destroy the outer fortifications and lure the Qing troops defending the city out of the city for repairs, or even launch a surprise attack, but I'm afraid it's not that easy." Chang Denggui continued to report.

"Also, Nanyang City is as quiet as ever. After Dorgon led the main force to retreat to Southeast Asia, he did not withdraw his troops immediately. However, the main force of the Qing army suffered heavy losses in terms of baggage. We have deployed troops in Shuanggoukou and other places, so the Qing cavalry should not move south again."

"In Xiangyang, in addition to continuing to attack the city, we must also dig deep trenches on the periphery and use the excavated soil to build earth walls, pretending to be a long-term siege and not give up until we achieve our goal. In this way, the Qing army will think that the food in the city may be exhausted, and then they will naturally take the initiative to attack." Zhang Huangyan also said immediately.

This is war. Success is only temporary. Even if Zhu Cilang knew that there were still many innocent civilians in the city, if there was a shortage of food in the city, they would be the first to starve to death. He had to adopt a long-term siege.

"Xiangyang City is still easy to defend but difficult to attack. Now we can only let the artillery continue the bombardment and the Tianqi Army increase the intensity of the harassment to force the Qing army to withdraw their troops and horses for defense, while at the same time stimulating them to break out of the city."

Zhu Cilang nodded. He wasn't the least bit surprised by Shang Kexi's ability to defend the city. Historically, he had defended Guangzhou with such tenacity that he had thwarted Li Dingguo's two eastern expeditions. But now, he didn't think Shang Kexi would be foolish enough to defend the city to the death for the Qing. But he still needed to push him a little.

"If Shang Kexi dares to break through, we have to thank him, but we are afraid that he will be cowardly and dare not fight at all, nor does he have the intention to fight. He wants to preserve the strength of the army." Chang Denggui said worriedly.

"Admiral Chang is probably worrying too much. The one who calls the shots in the city is not Shang Kexi. Even if Shang Kexi didn't intend to fight from the beginning, Delekhhun will not let him feel comfortable." Zhang Huangyan said after listening to Chang Denggui's analysis.

"Admiral Chang is right to be worried. Shang Kexi is indeed a man of great strategic foresight. While Delekhhun may not be a veteran of countless battles, he may not be a match for him. Our opponent should not be underestimated. If he is truly determined to serve the Qing, it will probably take some time to capture Xiangyang."

Zhu Cilang, after listening to the generals' comments in the tent, immediately offered his analysis. "Furthermore, Shang Kexi is a Han Chinese, after all. He needs to conserve his strength. How can he do that if he fights me head-on? If he wants to maintain his position, I'm afraid his only option is to fight back. But I'm also prepared. If he refuses to repent, I'll just have to fight for a few more days."

"Your Majesty is absolutely right." Chang Denggui immediately said with a smile:

"Shang Kexi is a Han Chinese after all. No matter how loyal he is, he can never become a Manchu. He is well aware of this. With his intelligence and ability, and in a strong city like Xiangyang, he will definitely find ways to preserve his strength."

"Perhaps we can find a way to alienate the relationship between Shang Kexi and the Tartars. After all, we have tens of thousands of troops outside the city, waiting for them and taking advantage of their rest. Although the Qing army has a lot of defenders in the city, there should be less than 10,000 who can be sent out to fight." Zhang Huangyan proposed after hearing this.

The Five Military Commandery had already followed Zhu Cilang's orders and, in addition to the basic defense in northern Huguang, had mobilized almost all the combat-capable troops concentrated there, in order to absolutely suppress the Qing army in momentum and form a troop advantage of more than five times.

"However, there should be less than 4,000 elite armored soldiers under Shang Kexi's command. Our military strength is ten times that of his. It will not be easy for him to launch a successful sneak attack." Lin Changfeng did not think that the latter would go out of the city for a sneak attack. This was too stupid.

"We don't need to guess what Shang Kexi will choose. We'll know in a few days. He's not someone who will sit still and wait for death. I simply want to force him to make a choice."

As the Ming army continued its intensive bombardment on the second day and the shield carts advanced, the Qing army on the earthen wall of Xiangyang launched a counterattack. The rumbling sound of artillery rang out one after another, and hundreds of deadly stone bullets flew out one after another, shooting into the Ming army line that rushed to the third horse-blocking ditch, easily penetrating the shields held by the Ming army armored soldiers, and then brought up a cloud of blood mist.

But soon, the earthen wall was filled with smoke, and the Qing army flags were flying in the thick white smoke. The artillery fire was greatly affected and its power gradually weakened, but the Ming army's shield car phalanx was also exhausted at this time.

Faced with the continuous attacks of the Ming army, the defending Qing army used some traditional firearms improved in the city’s workshops in addition to artillery, but the lethality was not great and could not be used against the Ming army that already had shield carts for protection.

Shang Kexi was looking at the situation on the battlefield from the top of the city wall at this time. Through the thick smoke in front of him, he could still see the dense Ming army formation covering the ground in the distance, as well as a large group of cavalry deployed outside the range of the artillery.

Although the Ming army's offensive was temporarily blocked, it was only the third day of the general offensive. He had no doubt that the Ming army could rely on its superior strength to quickly pass through the shield car phalanx and fill the overturned holes and horse-blocking ditches.

Although there were still many potholes behind those horse-blocking ditches, the Ming army's shield car formation was very large and full of fighting spirit. As long as the call to retreat was not sounded, there was basically no retreat or cowardice.

He could even imagine that once the Ming army's shield cart phalanx attacked to more than thirty steps away from the trench, the Ming army armored soldiers who were originally hiding behind the shield carts would rush up directly with their shields raised, and the attack would be extremely swift.

Of course, Shang Kexi also has confidence in his troops in the city, at least for now.

Within a distance of dozens of steps, if the Ming army did not have the cover of shield carts, such an attack would not work at all. The Ming army attacked in this way just to test the firepower of Xiangyang City and find out whether there were other traps and deployments around the trenches and earth walls.

However, seeing the huge siege force of the Ming army, which didn't even use civilian laborers, he thought of the previous attack to the south, when those ant-like civilian laborers pushed dozens of shield carts "squeaking" forward, and were eventually smashed to pieces by artillery shells, with corpses scattered everywhere. This is the difference in strength!
Looking at the deep trenches that the Ming army was digging outside the city, the earthen walls they were building, and the high earthen ramparts they were building to observe the deployment inside Xiangyang City, Shang Kexi was actually under a lot of pressure. He was very clear that the current strength of the Ming court far exceeded that of the Qing Dynasty.

Xu Erxian quickly arrived at the top of the city wall. He clasped his fists towards Shang Kexi and said:

"Your Highness, this round of attack by the Ming army will soon be repelled by us. Should we seize the opportunity to launch a surprise attack and catch them off guard? The ditch blocking the way will prevent the Ming army's cavalry from reinforcing, and the soldiers are not retreating quickly."

But after hearing this, Shang Kexi simply shook his head and said:
"Right now, all the troops are defending the earth walls and the outer city. The troops in each place are just enough, and we can't mobilize them all at once. We only have more than 2,000 armored soldiers and more than 500 cavalry here. We can't launch a surprise attack."

Although the Qing army could rely on the fortifications within Xiangyang City to quickly maneuver between the two earth walls, and even use the gentle angle on the inside to quickly climb to the top of the wall from most places without causing any congestion, it was still limited by insufficient manpower.

"But the Ming army, relying on their superior numbers, deployed their forces to the west and south every time they attacked. We had no idea where they were going to attack, so we had no choice but to divide our forces and defend them."

"It's not that we don't want to fight, but now is not the time." Shang Kexi paused, then continued:
"Look at where the Ming Emperor has deployed his cavalry, and the trenches he's filled in to block the horses. If we launch an attack, those cavalry will quickly join the battle. The morale of the Ming army is high, and even those retreating soldiers without horses will turn their guns around."

"." After being reminded by Shang Kexi, Xu Erxian immediately understood the current situation. For the Ming army, which had several times the advantage in military strength, they did not need any temporary deployment to grasp the overall situation. Even the attack of the city defenders was what they wanted most.

"Of course, we won't just passively take the beating like this. Delekhun has urged me to launch a night attack. He wants to take advantage of the fact that the trenches and walls of the Ming army are not yet built to attack them." Shang Kexi changed the subject and then turned to look at Xu Erxian.

Xu Erxian was slightly startled, then asked doubtfully: "But Your Majesty, did we just take advantage of their unpreparedness? Don't let us fall into the trap of the Ming army."

Shang Kexi couldn't help but sneer when he heard this, then turned his head to look at the location of Zhu Cilang's banner and said quietly:

"A night raid will cause chaos, and chaos brings opportunity. We can't stay here and wait to die!"

(End of this chapter)