1627 Rise of the South China Sea

It was twilight, and Qian Wenxian finally closed his eyes and fell asleep for a while, but was woken up again from his daze by the yamen servant.

This time, it's not that another military general from another place came to the door to demand money and food, but that the Lord has already arrived in Yixing County.

"My lord, the Haihan people... the Haihan people have fought outside the county!"

Qian Wenxian's heart skipped a beat, and he woke up from his drowsiness: "Is there a fight outside the city?"

The yamen servant shook his head and said, "Not yet, but it looks like it should be coming soon! My lord, do you want to go to the top of the city to supervise the battle?"

Qian Wenxian said in his heart that I supervise you, a big-headed ghost, should I, a little seventh-rank county magistrate, go to such a dangerous place?
But after thinking about it, if I don't show up, God knows what those out-of-town generals will do, so I still have to keep an eye on it.

After a stick of incense, Qian Wenxian rushed to the south gate of the county seat.Seeing that the generals from all walks of life were there, and it seemed that no one was sneaking away, Qian Wenxian calmed down a little, and went forward to greet everyone.

"My lords, why are you standing here instead of going up to the tower to supervise the battle?" Qian Wenxian asked puzzled.

Someone responded: "Master Qian, we are discussing the strategy for the battle, there is no rush."

Qian Wenxian didn't take it seriously when he heard this. These military officers have been in the county for two or three days, and they haven't made up their minds when the matter comes to an end. It seems that they are really unreliable.

But at the moment, he had to rely on these people to defend the county and repel the invading Haihan army, so he wisely didn't say any bad words out of his mouth.

General Qin, who came to the county government to ask for money and food last night, said: "Master Qian, if you want to see the Haihan Army, you can quietly go up to the city wall and look out from the crenel, but be careful not to show your body."

Qian Wenxian asked, "Is there any danger?"

General Qin Shen said: "The battle has not started yet, and Mr. Qian has never worn an official uniform. There should be no problem. Don't stay too long, come down quickly after seeing it."

Hearing what he said seriously, Qian Wenxian put away his contempt, crept up to the city wall, crouched down to the crenel, and carefully looked out of the city with his head.

About two or three miles away from the city, some banners could be seen vaguely, and Haihan soldiers and horses were setting up formations in the fields. Qian Wenxian estimated that there were at least a thousand people.

"Is this the Haihan army that claims to be invincible?"

At this time, the morning fog had not cleared and the distance was far away. Qian Wenxian didn't see it very clearly, but he didn't feel that the Haihan army outside the city was a big threat.

But there must be a reason why the generals in the city were so cautious. Qian Wenxian rubbed left and right on the crenel, but in the end he didn't dare to stand up and watch.

Qian Wenxian returned to the city wall, listened to the generals' discussion for a while, and found that the disputes among these people mainly focused on the choice of two tactics, "defend the city" and "go out of the city to fight".

Using city fortifications to defend against foreign enemies is a very traditional defensive tactic, but some military officers believe that the county city wall, which is only one foot four or five feet high, is difficult to withstand the offensive of the Haihan army, and it is difficult for thousands of people to be blocked in the city. Combat power, on the contrary, may be caught by the opponent.

If you choose to go out of the city to fight, the scope of the battlefield will not be limited to the county seat, and the cavalry can even go around the enemy's rear and try to attack its logistics supplies.If the situation is not good, there is also a greater depth to retreat, and will not be blocked in the city.

However, although there is a lot of room for playing out of the city to fight, the disadvantages are also obvious.The Ming army lacked long-range lethal weapons. Judging from past combat experience, fighting the Haihan army on an open battlefield with flat terrain is likely to cost a lot of casualties.

Moreover, the Ming armies currently assembled in the county come from different regions, and there is little chance to meet each other, and it is difficult to guarantee the ability to cooperate with each other. Guarding is more dangerous.

Related debates actually started a few days ago, but no convincing conclusion has been reached.

As a local official, Qian Wenxian was supposed to organize the defensive battle in Yixing County, but his rank is too low and he is a civil servant, so he is not qualified to command such a large-scale operation.

So far, the imperial court seems to have no plans to send high-ranking officials to Yixing County to take command, so these generals have their own opinions, and they don't want to serve as a stepping stone for other people's battle plans.

The final result of the debate was that each family went their own way according to their own opinions. Those who thought they should go out of the city to fight, led their troops out of the city on their own, and those who thought they should defend the city safely stepped up the deployment of rolling stones, trees and other city defense facilities on the city walls.

Seeing such chaos, Qian Wenxian had nothing to do. He could only secretly pray for God's blessing that Yixing County could get through this hurdle by luck.

After dawn, the two Ming armies that left the city launched an offensive from the left and right flanks to the Haihan position.

But the attack did not go smoothly from the very beginning. Before they could get close, the Haihan army fired shells at the formation of the Ming army. One of the shells directly hit the banner of the Ming army on the left wing. The main general was killed or injured, but the team soon appeared Collapse.

All the generals who quietly watched the battle on the crenels sighed at the same time. If such a situation happened on the battlefield, even if the main general did not die, it would be difficult to organize troops to launch a second round of offensive.

Sure enough, not long after, the Ming army on the left lost the will to continue fighting and began to withdraw from the battlefield.

The Haihan army didn't chase after him fiercely, and stopped firing after he left the battle on his own initiative.

The Ming army on the right attacked more fiercely, but suffered more casualties.Attacking against the firepower of the Haihan army on the open battlefield is by no means an easy task.

The armor on the soldiers was not enough to withstand the Haihan army's guns. A hundred feet away from the Haihan army's position, the charging Ming army began to fall in pieces.

After losing about one-third of his troops, the general realized that they would not be able to charge into Haihan's position even if they fought their lives, so he ordered Ming Jin to withdraw his troops, and this army also left sadly.

From the beginning of the battle to the end, it only took a moment, but the backs of all the people hiding in the county seat to watch the battle were soaked.

In all fairness, if they lead the team out of the city to meet the Haihan army, their performance may not be much better.

In the past, it was only heard that the Haihan army had fierce firepower, and there was almost no chance of melee combat. Everyone can only imagine how fierce it is.Seeing it with my own eyes today, I know that the rumors are true.

Not to mention the two thousand-man teams going out of the city to fight, even if they pulled out all the defenders in the county, they might not be able to withstand such a fierce firepower output.When the cannon hit the formation, even if dozens of hundreds of people were killed or injured, the armor was as useless as paper. Who can withstand it?

Everyone secretly rejoiced that they chose to stand firm in the city. At least with the protection of the city wall, they should not end up in the same fate as their colleagues outside the city.