Chapter 555 554 Fierce fighting over a stone

Author: Visitor from Parallel Space

Chapter 555 554 Fierce fighting over a stone

Just when the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty were paying attention to the Xuan Mansion, the guard of the Great Wall pass in Funing, Jidong, was panting and running up the city wall.

After climbing the city wall, I didn't have time to rest, so I lay down on the crenel and looked out, and sure enough I saw bursts of smoke rising in the distance.

"General Bai, please set off the beacon as a warning. The Tatars are serious."

The guard on duty at Baihu had long been forced by the momentum of the cavalry outside, and he hurriedly said to his superiors as he watched the troops rushing towards him.

"Is there any reward? How many Tatars are there outside the customs? Which one is it from?"

Bai Wenzhi, the general guarding Yishiguan, stared at him for a while, and after confirming that the enemy invaders were indeed coming for him, he asked hurriedly.

"In front of half a stick of incense, there is a patrol horse returning to the city. It should be the Donglu Tuman Black Carboniferous tribe, with about ten thousand people."

The hundred households said hurriedly.

"Set the beacon fire as a warning and summon the soldiers to the city wall to defend. There must be no mistake."

While observing the enemy situation outside the pass, Bai Wenzhi issued an order: "Send someone to fly to Shanhaiguan City for help, and ask the garrison to send reinforcements quickly."

The closest city to them, which was heavily guarded by the Ming army, was Shanhaiguan. Where could they go if they didn't ask for help?

With more than 2,000 men in his own hands, he could not stop Donglu's attack no matter what. The opponent had tens of thousands of troops.

Outside Guancheng is the end of the eastern section of the Yanshan Mountains. Outside Guancheng are dangerous peaks and deep ravines, and behind Guancheng is a flat plain.

A stone pass has always been an important flank barrier of Shanhaiguan, so a solid city wall was built here in the early Ming Dynasty, and it is known as the "First Pass in Jingdong".

Thick smoke billows from the beacon tower in the distance, warning to the distance, while a large group of soldiers in Guancheng climb onto the city wall under the leadership of the commander, and the soldiers are busy carrying various weapons for city defense from the arsenal to the city wall.

There was suddenly a busy scene below the city.

While they were busy preparing, the Donglu vanguard troops also approached the city wall. A group of Tatar soldiers had dismounted, quickly approached with arrows in hand, and stopped some distance away from the city wall.

Of course, Bai Wenzhi knew that the section of the city wall they chose was probably the area they wanted to attack this time, so he immediately ordered several soldiers from hundreds of households to lead reinforcements.

While the Tatars were busy building siege equipment outside the city wall, a fierce long-range battle broke out between the two sides.

The Tatars fired clusters of arrows at the city wall, and the Ming army on the city also launched a counterattack.

"Don't use firearms until the Tatars attack the city."

Bai Wenzhi had already arrived and gave the order directly.

He understood that although he had many firearms in his hands, the ability of these weapons to continue fighting was only slightly better than that of archers. Once they continued to fire, they would soon have heating problems. At this time, if they continued to load gunpowder, they would easily explode.

Although the current distance of the Tatars is within the range of firearms, it is on the edge of the range of firearms. It is not very powerful and has no accuracy.

However, since the Tatars did not intend to take advantage of it today, he also ordered people to transport the large Folang machine guns equipped on Guancheng to be used when the Tatars attacked the city.

The archers on both sides did not aim directly at the enemy, but shot arrows at a 45-degree angle into the sky. As for whether they could hit people, it depends on God's will, just to create some chaos in the other side's camp.

Of course, the Tatars hoped to use arrow rain to create a vacuum zone on the Ming army's city wall, so that a ladder could be built to attack the city in a short while, while the Ming army would place the target of attack on the opponent's archers.

The Tatars are very good at riding and archery. If they can shoot the enemy's archers at this time, fewer archers will participate in the siege later.

Soon, the Tatar side seemed to be well prepared. More Tatar soldiers with scimitars in their hands carried more than 20 ladders and quickly approached the city wall. Behind them, more Tatar archers joined in the shooting.

, and for a time, they temporarily suppressed the Ming army archers on the city wall.

However, as the Tatars approached, several large Folan cannons began to fire rapidly, and hot projectiles rushed into the Tatar attack queue, passing through bloody alleys. For a while, screams could be heard in the city.

At this moment, the Tatar brigade finally arrived. More archers rushed under the city wall to shoot with the Ming army, and more ladders began to be assembled.

"General, the Tatars seem to be well prepared."

The captain of the soldiers behind Bai Wenzhi shouted loudly in his ear.

At this time, the Fran cannon was firing rapidly, but the sound was too low to reach his ears.

Bai Wenzhi nodded, his face gloomy.

Although it is difficult to accurately calculate the number of Tatars outside the city at this time, there should be about 10,000 people.

After the previous exchange of fire, archers on both sides suffered casualties, but the Ming army was obviously at a disadvantage.

For no other reason than because they have few people.

At this time, the Tatars outside the city were approaching the city wall. Bai Wenzhi waved his hand fiercely, and more than 300 muskets stuck out of the crenellations of the city wall. They fired a volley at the Tatars below. After the firing was completed, the gunmen immediately took back the muskets.

Crouch behind the city wall and use the city wall as cover to start reloading ammunition.

The sub-cartridge of the Franco machine gun has completed one round of firing, and the secondary gunner is still nervously loading the ammunition. As soon as the loading is almost completed, the Ming army gunner will fire out immediately.

However, by this time, the previously massive artillery offensive had stalled and was no longer as ferocious as before.

"Go and bring the people from the Western Wall to three hundred-household teams."

The Tatars had a large number of men and horses, so they naturally would not choose mountainous areas where it was difficult to march. Instead, they placed their attack target here in Guancheng, where the terrain was relatively flat, which gave Bai Wenzhi the opportunity to calmly deploy his troops.

Soon, Ming soldiers from the west wall section began to gather on Guancheng and participate in the defense.

When ladders were put up on the city wall, a fierce offensive and defensive battle finally broke out on the top of a stone pass.

When a fierce battle broke out at a stone pass in Jidong, the beacon fire from the Great Wall finally reached Santun Camp, the General Military Mansion of Ji Town.

The advantages of beacon towers are fully demonstrated at this time. Information hundreds of miles away can be quickly transmitted through beacon towers, regardless of the restrictions of complex terrain.

As for the area where the Great Wall was built, except for Shanhaiguan, which is the beginning of the Liaoxi Corridor and is a wide open area, almost all other places were built on winding mountains.

Looking at the mountains and running to death, one can imagine the difficulty of delivering messages under such terrain conditions.

Although the defenders along the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty were able to relay military information through relays, they were not as fast as beacon fire.

Santun Camp is located in the west of Qianxi County, Ji Town, connecting Zunhua to Beijing in the west, and Qian'anke to Shanhaiguan in the east. It took the Ming Dynasty more than ten years to finally select the headquarters of the General Military Mansion in Ji Town, because it is the right place

Located in the middle section of the Great Wall in Jizhen, there are abundant rivers nearby that can ensure water sources for tens of thousands of troops, and the transportation is extremely convenient.

In the General Military Mansion of Ji Town, Acting General Hu Zhen had received news that a war was taking place in the east. Judging from the beacon smoke, the scale of the Tatar invasion was quite large.

"Besides my personal barracks, what other troops are there in Guancheng?"

The war a month ago caused the Ji Zhen Ming army to mobilize their troops and almost ran back and forth along the Ji Zhen Great Wall.

Although the war was over, after the orders to return to camp were conveyed to the various ministries, the Ming army's ministries would not rush to the Santun camp, but slowly return to the camp. They were really tired.

As the acting commander-in-chief, Hu Zhen was unwilling to exploit the soldiers, fearing that the soldiers would be resentful, so he simply let it go.

However, who would have thought that in just one month, the Tatars would make a comeback, but this time the target would shift from Jixi to Jidong.

At this point, Hu Zhen realized that he did not have many available troops at the moment.

"The infantry camp has Gu Huan, Li Huaide and other troops available for use, and the cavalry and guerrilla Dong Yiyuan's troops are in full swing."

"Quickly send an order to Dong Yiyuan to immediately lead his army eastward for reinforcements. Along the way, he notified the three guards of Xingzhou, Yongsheng and Funing to be ready and go to war at any time.

The infantry camp is also prepared immediately and will set out with me early tomorrow morning. Notify the nearby troops to advance eastward immediately."

Hu Zhen immediately issued an order and asked his soldiers to go down with the order arrows to deliver the order.

Ji Town's tens of thousands of troops have recently mobilized their troops and are running around. They have only fought a few battles, but they are already depleted of men and horses. Hu Town has to consider using the local garrison to assist in the battle.

The Jidong Three Guards are naturally the first choice to participate in the war. After all, their geographical location determines that they can reach the battlefield quickly.

Beacon Tower has obvious advantages in the speed of transmitting messages, but it cannot accurately transmit complex information. However, in this era, it is still the best communication method.

Dong Yiyuan, who was still waiting in the camp, did not dare to delay for a moment after receiving the order arrow. He led the cavalry directly out of the Santun camp and galloped towards Qian'an.

In just over a month, Jizhen encountered two large-scale Tatar attacks. Hu Zhen's military orders naturally caused a flurry of excitement wherever they went.

For the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty in Jizhen, although they received much more military pay than the guards in the mainland, they could not get enough pay. They were also deducted by the superior officials, but the skin was slightly thinner.

However, such rapid advance of troops was also a great test for the morale and physical fitness of the soldiers, and there were a lot of complaints among the armies.

However, to Shangguan, who cares about their voices.

Liu Tao, the governor of Jiliao, immediately rushed to Jidong after hearing the news. Along the way, the Ming army was constantly urged to advance by him.

At this time, the capital city had also seen the beacon fire ignited again on the Great Wall of Ji Town.

For the capital, this was the third major military intelligence report it had received in a short period of time. There were tens of thousands of invaders and cavalry.

Under such pressure, the people in the capital undoubtedly felt that the sky was about to collapse and the earth was about to collapse, and the tense atmosphere suddenly arose again.

At nightfall in Prince Yu's Mansion in Beijing, Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde and others were also urgently recalled by the palace servants to discuss the current situation.

The crisis in Xuanfu has not yet been resolved, who would have thought that Jidong would start fighting again.

"Dark clouds are pressing down on the city, threatening to destroy it."

Zhang Juzheng said such words under repeated military emergencies.

"Shan Loi, do you think the Jidong war was also arranged by Ada Khan? Is there any back-up plan behind it?"

While Zhang Juzheng lamented that the current situation was terrible, he did not forget to ask Wei Guangde.

Perhaps this is because Wei Guangde told him about the power of Anda Khan before. Zhang Juzheng was a little helpless under the repeated Mongolian attacks.

Wei Guangde lowered his head and rolled his eyes, and could only mutter in his heart: I don't know where to go, and it's not the roundworm in An Dahan's stomach.
To be continued...