1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3261
On the south bank of the Yangtze River, rumbling guns continued, and the Haihan Army's offensive in Xiangshan continued.

Yan Chujie raised his wrist to check the time. An hour had passed since he gave the order to attack Xiangshan, but the advancing speed of the battle line was not satisfactory.

The defenders on the mountain had a strong will to fight. Although they were suppressed by Haihan's artillery fire, many soldiers still hid behind the fortifications piled with stones and logs.

The Haihan army had to use more grenades to clean up the defenders hiding in the mountains and forests.Although the results were good, the battle line was still tens of feet away from the fort on the top of the mountain.

The defenders in Zhenjiang City have never left the city to respond to reinforcements. Perhaps they are waiting for nightfall before making plans, but it is obvious that they can't hold on for too long with only Xiangshan's strength.

Seeing that the twilight was approaching, Yan Chujie worried that there might be more casualties on his side after dark, and he didn't want to give the Ming army in Zhenjiang a chance to attack at night, so he ordered to further increase the intensity of the shelling and destroy the The few remaining fortifications.

All difficulties on the battlefield stem from insufficient firepower.As long as the firepower is stronger, it is enough to crush everything, and the little Xiangshan is no exception.

After pouring hundreds of shells on the mountain, the defenders with countless casualties still couldn't bear it anymore, and the Haihan army finally managed to take Xiangshan before dark.

The casualties of the defenders can be described as quite heavy. After the battle was over, the battlefield was cleaned up, and there were only more than 200 people left alive.According to the prisoners of war, there were about 200 defenders deployed here before the war.

Xiangshan's nearly [-] lives were not given away in vain. Not only did they consume a lot of ammunition from the Haihan Army, but they also successfully delayed the Haihan Army's offensive, buying Zhenjiang City a night of buffer time.

Although Xiangshan was finally captured at a relatively low cost of casualties, Yan Chujie's mood did not become easier.

The fighting will shown by the Ming army in the battle seems to be more tenacious than when the two armies fought each other a few years ago.Such a change is definitely not good news for the offensive side.

The only good thing is that judging from the weapons seized on the battlefield, the level of equipment of the Ming army does not seem to have undergone any obvious evolution. In terms of firearms, the old-style flintlock guns and small-caliber muzzle-loading guns are still the main ones. It is still difficult to confront the Haihan army head-on.

Yan Chujie thinks that this should not only be the reason for the stagnation of Daming's military industry. After all, there are signs that Daming has also bought a lot of Haihan equipment through various channels secretly over the years and went back to imitate them.

However, given the financial situation of Ming Dynasty, even if it reaches the level of militarism, it may be difficult to meet the equipment requirements and daily consumption of forming an all-firearms unit. At most, it can barely produce a few limited-scale elite troops.

Ordinary troops can only continue to use old equipment to fight, just like the Ming army that was just wiped out in Xiangshan.

It was getting late, and it was unrealistic to rush to attack Zhenjiang City overnight, so Yan Chujie ordered to camp in Xiangshan and continue marching towards Zhenjiang City tomorrow.

After Yan Chujie had dinner, he went around the troops that participated in the battle today, and visited the wounded by the way.Then they went back to the big tent and called a meeting with the officers to discuss tomorrow's siege strategy.

The value of Zhenjiang City lies in guarding the Yangtze River waterway, but also because of its riverside location, the Haihan Army can launch attacks on the city from the river.This kind of combat plan can only be implemented by the Haihan Army, and others cannot learn it even if they want to.

The next day, when the sky was just getting dark, the Ming army guarding the city of Zhenjiang suddenly discovered that a large number of Haihan warships appeared on the river north of the city.

The distance from Dingbo Gate in the north of the city to the bank of the Yangtze River is only about one mile, which means that the northern line of Zhenjiang City is within the strike range of these Haihan warships on the river.

According to common sense, it is impossible for artillery on warships to pose a threat to Zhenjiang City from the river. The city wall defense line on the north side is enough to deal with landing enemy troops.Haihan's armed fleet has always been active at sea and rarely enters inland rivers. Therefore, before this, no one would consider the bizarre scene of Haihan's fleet bombarding Zhenjiang City on the Yangtze River.

And the Ming army who left Xiangshan quickly rushed to the east of the city.

The attack direction of the Haihan army is very clear, that is, the east and north directions of Zhenjiang City.

At three o'clock in the morning, a burst of fireworks rose from the Haihan army formation in the east of the city, shot straight to a height of several tens of feet, and then exploded in the air, flashing a red flame.

After the signal was sent out, the Haihan Army launched an attack from both land and water directions simultaneously.

The opening of the curtain was naturally still a traditional bombardment tactic. At the beginning, the Ming army defending the city thought that the east must be the main attack direction of the Haihan army, but they did not expect that after the attack, the intensity of the bombardment from the river was even stronger.

The reason is also very simple. The number of naval guns in this row of warships docked on the river is far higher than the number of artillery in the army positions in the east.Although the range of most naval guns is less than two miles, it is enough to hit the city wall near the shore.

The main guns on the front and rear decks of the Zhoushan are even more powerful in range and power, and they aimed directly at the government offices built on high places in the north of the city and bombarded areas where government offices are concentrated.

Although the defenders in the city fought back immediately, the number of artillery on the city wall was really too small. The city wall several miles long on the north side had only a dozen or so cannons, more than half of which had a range not enough to threaten Haihan on the river. fleet.

There were only two cannons with a longer range. After firing seven or eight shots in succession, they were lucky enough to hit the mast of a Haihan battleship, triggering cheers on the city top.

However, the Haihan army's retaliation came in an instant, and they immediately concentrated fire on the two threatening artillery positions, and were destroyed by the incoming artillery shells after a while.

The tower on the Dingbo Gate was also quickly ignited by shelling, and black smoke billowed up, which could be seen in the whole town of Zhenjiang.

Although the frequency of shelling from the eastern front was not that high, the several large-caliber artillery specially used to break the city still caused a lot of trouble for the defenders.

If it weren't for the urn city built outside the city with a side entry and exit, this first wave of shelling would have been enough to send the gate of Zhenjiang City flying into the sky.

Most of the Ming army had never experienced such a one-sided shelling. Seeing that the buildings on the city wall were named by shells one by one, collapsing and burning, they dared not show their heads again.

After the firepower and fortifications at the top of the city were completely destroyed, the infantry officially entered the stage and attacked Zhenjiang City.

The Ming army could only forcibly return to the city wall, preparing to meet the attacking Haihan army.But what they saw was not the long ladder on the top of the city, but several high platforms were erected about a mile outside the city, the height of which had exceeded the city wall by a large margin.There are shadows on the high platform, and it seems that there are still people active on it.

Those were the snipers in the Haihan army. They used the high-precision weapons in their hands to start harvesting the lives of the officers on the city wall.

(End of this chapter)