Outnumbered? I'll conquer America with an unlimited number of suicide soldiers.

Chapter 148 Target Shengjing and the Invading Qing Army

"A big heist? How big?"

Tang He was slightly taken aback and asked, "He wouldn't be planning to attack the capital and capture that brat Xianfeng alive, would he?"

"Didn't we talk about this last time? Until these disaster victims are transferred to Lingxi Province, let's maintain this state of alert and standoff for now."

When Li Wenzhong caught up with them to the outskirts of Beijing, they seriously considered whether they should simply surround Beijing and capture the leader first.

They argued about the map for half the night, but finally decided to give up for the time being.

Beijing's walls were high and thick; even if all fifteen cannons were deployed for concentrated bombardment, the walls would not be breached in a short time.

It would be better to retreat to Hexiwu for the time being and create the illusion of a standoff. At the same time, we can secretly send spies to lie in wait, and when the time is right, we can launch a coordinated attack from within and without to take over the capital.

Hongwu laughed and said, "He knows what's important, so that's not what he was talking about."

"What important tasks could he possibly be given?"

"He wants to attack Shengjing."

"What the hell?!"

Tang He's eyes widened, and his voice rose several octaves: "He's going to attack Shengjing?"

Shengjing.

That place is the birthplace of the Manchu Qing dynasty.

Nurhaci started his rebellion there, laying the foundation for the downfall of the Ming Dynasty with thirteen suits of armor. Huang Taiji ascended the throne there, changing the dynasty name to Qing.

As a secondary capital, the Qing government established a complete set of five ministries there, covering personnel, revenue, rites, military, and criminal law. Even the General of Shengjing was a high-ranking official of the first rank.

The importance of Nanjing to the Ming Dynasty was equal to the importance of Shengjing to the Qing Dynasty.

Hitting them there was no different than kicking a Manchu in the groin.

"Why are you so surprised? I don't see anything wrong with it."

Hongwu said with great interest, "Look, according to intelligence, the Shengjing General only has 18,000 troops under his command at full strength. In addition to Shengjing City, he also has to guard Liaoyang, Kaiyuan, Jinzhou, Jinzhou and other places, with only a few thousand people in each city."

"Moreover, in order to deal with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Northern Expeditionary Army, the Qing government has been continuously sending cavalry from outside the Great Wall into the pass in recent years, and the number of troops in Shengjing City is estimated to be less than five thousand."

"Perfect timing, strike while the iron is hot!"

Tang He frowned slightly and said, "The idea is good, but boss, have you forgotten? To get from Tianjin to the area outside the Great Wall, you have to pass through Shanhaiguan. 'The key to the two capitals is unparalleled, the first pass of the Great Wall.' This saying is not just empty words."

"I know, we can just go around it."

Hongwu smiled slightly and said, "The Chengfeng will lead its men across the Bohai Sea, heading straight for Yingkou. Then, it will travel upstream along the Liao River, crossing Haicheng and Anshan, and finally reaching Liaoyang."

"Once Liaoyang, the southern gateway to Shengjing, is captured, Shengjing will be within reach."

"how?"

Tang He sighed and said, "You've already planned out this marching route for that kid Li Wenzhong, so what can I say?"

""

"I'm going to redeploy troops now. That kid's gone, but we still need to send people to guard Hexiwu."

He suddenly stopped talking halfway through his sentence.

Something's happened.

"A Qing army force of over a thousand men has crept in from the northwest of Dagukou."

The new city is located northwest of Dagukou.

This place is only thirty miles from Dagukou. It is an earthen city that was abolished during the Qianlong era and has been abandoned.

Decades later, the rammed earth walls of the new city, lacking maintenance, have long since collapsed under the erosion of wind and rain, the broken walls resembling a row of jagged, rotten teeth stuck in the ground. The houses inside the city have all been completely destroyed, leaving only piles of rubble and overgrown weeds on the ground.

After General Shi Rongchun of Daming Town led his 1,500 men to this place, they quickly set up camp near the city wall on the south side of the city.

Shi Rongchun sat on the stone slab that had been dragged from the collapsed house, his waist knife resting on his knees. While waiting for the camp to be set up, he pondered the next course of action.

Several days earlier, he received Senggelinqin's military order to prepare to lead a large army back to reinforce the capital. However, before they had traveled more than a few miles, the cavalrymen who had gone ahead to provide support hurriedly returned to report:

The Sangha King's army was defeated by the rebels, and the Sangha King himself barely escaped with his life.

When Shi Rongchun received this news, his first reaction was disbelief.

He knew the true strength of Tianjin Town. With only a few thousand soldiers, they weren't exactly formidable fighters. How could they possibly rout the Prince's army so quickly when their forces were roughly equal? ​​How was that possible?

But when his personal guards, who had gone to confirm the situation a second time, reported that the rebels were cleaning up the battlefield, he couldn't help but believe it.

He raised his head and glanced at the busy Green Standard Army soldiers around him.

The soldiers used readily available materials, filling bags with rammed earth to seal the breaches and construct temporary fortifications. At the same time, they sent cannons to the remaining city walls, aiming the muzzles at the Dagu Fortress.

In just a short while, someone was so tired that he sat down on the pile of rubble, panting heavily, but was kicked by the captain and stood up again.

He knew exactly what kind of soldiers these were: the Zhili Green Standard Army, 30% of their pay was taken by ghosts, and half of the remaining 70% were peasants who carried spears and only knew how to take sides.

The Prince Monk had several thousand Mongol cavalrymen under his command, and all the elite troops of the Zhili Provincial Army were sent down, but they were all wiped out within half a day.

His idea of ​​relying on these Green Standard Army soldiers for field battles was tantamount to suicide.

However, the terrain of the new city is still usable. Although most of the rammed earth city wall has collapsed, the remaining section of the city platform is at least a high point. If you set up cannons there, you can at least fire a shot from above.

The willow grove west of the city is dense and can easily house several hundred cavalry. If the rebels come, we can engage them head-on, and once they reach the city walls, our ambush troops can strike from the flanks and rear. We might still have a chance of winning.

As he thought about this, the tangled mess in his mind slowly began to unravel.

The monk prince had shown him great favor, recommending him from a junior officer to the commander-in-chief of Daming Town. This favor was not just empty words.

With the prince's defeat this time, the people in the court waiting to be held accountable could line up outside Zhengyang Gate. If Shi Rongchun could recapture Dagu Port and cut off the rebels' sea support, even if he couldn't turn the tide, he could at least buy the prince some time to clean up the mess.

Even if they can't buy time, they can at least get a reason to atone for their crimes.

Inside the Dagu Fort.

Tang He stood in front of the table, with a topographical map of Tianjin spread out in front of him.

"This guy surnamed Shi is quite a man."

Tang He tossed the scout's report onto the table and laughed, "Senggelinqin has already fled back to Beijing, but instead of retreating with him, he's headed straight for Dagu Fort. Such loyalty is a rare find in the Qing court."

"Loyalty is real, but not entirely."

Hongwu leaned back in his chair, legs crossed. "He's one of Senggelinqin's men. Senggelinqin is a Mongol prince, he can't be brought down, but the situation is more complicated with the Han Chinese officers under him. He has no way out but to fight head-on."

"This location you chose is troublesome."

Tang He clicked his tongue as he pointed at the location of the new city on the map: "By placing his people there, he's essentially planted a thorn between Dagukou and Tianjin, making it difficult to transport either grain or disaster victims."

Hongwu said, "Let Zhao Dapeng take a thousand men and remove this thorn in our side as soon as possible."

Soon, Zhao Dapeng, having received the military order, set off from Dagukou with a thousand soldiers.

In the middle of the column were five breech-loading cannons, each towed by four horses. The wheels of the cannons rolled over the dirt road, leaving two deep ruts.

Behind the artillery vehicle were five ammunition carts and five machine guns mounted on two-wheeled gun mounts. The machine gunners sat on the ammunition carts, chewing on dry biscuits.

The journey of thirty li can be described as passing in the blink of an eye.

Zhao Dapeng raised his binoculars and looked northwest. The rammed earth city wall of the new city had already come into view.

"Tell the artillery to halt and form ranks three miles from the new city. I don't need to tell them what to do next."

New city, on the city wall.

Shi Rongchun donned his armor and ascended the city wall. Standing behind the crenellations, he mounted a monocular telescope on the crenellations and gazed at the people approaching from the direction of Dagukou.

He glanced around. The Green Standard Army soldiers were still doing the final reinforcements. Several cast iron cannons on the city wall had been loaded, and the gunners sat beside the gun carriages, with the long poles and iron bullets neatly stacked.

"Prepare to engage the enemy!"

The bugle call trailed off in the air above the ruined city, a long, muffled sound.

The Green Standard Army soldiers rose from behind the breastwork, their spears resting on earthen sacks, and the muzzles of their arquebuses protruding from the gaps in the breastwork. The gunners on the ramparts estimated the distance, their matchlocks ready to ignite the fire gates at any moment.

The car stopped about three miles from the new town.

Through his binoculars, Shi Rongchun saw the mules being untied and led to the rear, their wheels secured with wooden wedges. The gunners quickly adjusted the gun positions. The five cannons were spread out, their muzzles raised in a staggered pattern.

Shi Rongchun frowned and ordered the artillery captain on the city wall, "Fire!"

The captain waved his small flag, and several cast-iron cannons on the city wall simultaneously spewed fire. Thick smoke engulfed the city wall for a moment before being torn into pieces by the wind and scattered.

The bullet flew a few hundred paces before crashing into the wasteland in the center, kicking up a few clumps of yellow dust before coming to a stop.

"Can't hit it!"

The sergeant, crouching behind the battlements, shouted, "Sir, the rebels are too far away; our cannons can't reach them!"

Before he could finish speaking, the other side had already begun to retaliate.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The muzzles of the five breech-loading cannons spewed fire almost simultaneously, and the cannonballs flew three miles away, whistling sharply, and struck the city wall with precision.

The first shell hit the west side of the crenellation, shattering rammed earth and rubble, overturning a cast-iron cannon along with its carriage. The gunner was thrown into the air by the blast wave and then crashed onto the pile of rubble below the city wall, without even having time to scream.

The second shot hit the front of the city wall, blasting a hole the size of a water vat in the rammed earth wall. The rammed earth at the edge of the hole fell down, revealing the rotten wooden beams inside.

The third shot flew over the city wall and crashed into the Green Standard Army's position inside the city. A huge crater immediately appeared where it hit the ground, and shrapnel swept across, instantly killing two soldiers who were carrying sandbags in the distance.

After a round of artillery fire, the city wall was completely destroyed. Of the five cannons mounted on it, only two were still able to fire, and more than half of the gunners were killed or wounded.

Shi Rongchun crouched behind the battlements, his face covered in dust kicked up by artillery shells. His dark blue python-patterned visor was splattered with the gunner's blood, and his ears were ringing with the echoes of the shells that had just landed.

He finally understood why the prince had been defeated so quickly.

The rebels' artillery has such a long range and such great power that there is really no good way to deal with it.

"Order the cavalry to attack, bypass the front, and head straight for the rebels' artillery positions! We can't fight at all without taking out their artillery!"

Upon receiving the order, the guards flipped over and slid down the slope on the side of the city wall, rushing towards the west of the city.

Before long, five hundred cavalrymen emerged from the woods a few miles west of the city. Shouting and yelling, they lay prone on their horses, whipping their whips, and charged straight toward the artillery positions.

The distance is 1,000 steps, 800 steps, and 600 steps.

Shi Rongchun's heart pounded faster with the sound of horses' hooves.

Then he heard a gunshot he had never heard before.

Unlike the sound of fire, it was a dense, continuous sound, like countless hammers striking an anvil simultaneously.

From the artillery position opposite, five guns that Shi Rongchun had never seen before opened fire.

Gunfire erupted continuously, and the leading ranks of cavalrymen fell from their horses almost simultaneously, their bodies piling up into a low wall on the plain. Horses behind them stumbled over the corpses, their riders thrown off and trampled by the hooves of horses further back.

Shi Rongchun watched helplessly as his five hundred cavalrymen fell one by one, and even the cavalrymen who charged the furthest were all knocked off their horses when they reached within two hundred paces of the opposing position.

His ambush troops were reduced to a pile of corpses in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Meanwhile, the five cannons on the opposite side continued to fire.

Shell after shell rained down, crashing into the crowd like meteorites. A gaping hole was torn in the breastwork, and sandbags exploded into clouds of yellow dust.

The Green Standard Army soldiers began to scatter, and eventually even the supervising officer was swept away by the fleeing soldiers and ran backward.

Zhao Dapeng lowered his binoculars and signaled to the infantry to begin the attack.

The infantrymen began their charge towards the city wall. When they were a hundred paces from the breach, the front-line soldiers simultaneously threw out grenades. Dozens of dark, metallic lumps arced through the air, landing behind the breastwork, followed by a series of rapid explosions.

The infantry charged into the city, firing from a distance and engaging in hand-to-hand combat where the distance was close. With a flick of the bayonet on their rifles, a Green Standard Army soldier attempting close combat was killed.

The pursuit lasted for half an hour, during which most of the Qing army was killed or wounded, and the rest knelt down and surrendered.

When Zhao Dapeng entered the south gate of the city, the soldiers were already counting the prisoners.

A company commander ran over and reported: "A Qing army officer wearing a dark blue cloth armor with a python pattern was hit in the thigh by shrapnel and is lying in a pile of rubble below the city wall. He looks like a high-ranking officer."

"A dark blue cloth armor with a python pattern?"

Zhao Dapeng raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "We've caught a big fish! This guy's at least a second-rank official."

He walked over and soon saw the man being held up by two assassins.

His left trouser leg was soaked in blood, his face was covered with a layer of dust and bloodstains, and his lips were dry, cracked, and white.

"State your name and official title."

"General Shi Rongchun of Daming Town, who are you?"

Shi Rongchun spoke in a hoarse voice: "You are not soldiers from the left and right battalions of the Tianjin Garrison. They do not have such powerful artillery, and they certainly wouldn't have such bald heads that resemble those of monks."

"I have a buzz cut, I still have hair!"

Zhao Dapeng said irritably, waving his hand at the two assassins who were holding Shi Rongchun.

"Bandage his wounds and then escort him back to Dagukou."

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