Jingming

Chapter 267
In the east of the city, the width between the city wall and the Xiangshui River is between [-] and [-] steps.

In the north of the city, the Green Leaf Bridge has been broken, and the distance between the water and the city wall is more than one mile wide.

It seemed that the southeast of the city was not easily hit by the arrows and projectiles of the defenders on the city wall when they landed, but instead there were the defenders in the south of the city and the defenders of the Leiyang Camp in the southeast.

And if you cross the river from the north of the city and land, there will be an attack from Shitozui Shangzhaibao, which penetrates deep into the confluence of the Steam River and the Xiang River.

Therefore, Pu Zitong's center of gravity must be the west of the city. In his opinion, if Gu Shilong wants to successfully conquer Hengyang City, the most sensible approach should be to let Tang Peiyu take the north of the water after he exhausted the camp of Chaoyang, and cross the river from the northwest of the city to the city. Zhu Qi joined forces to attack the west and north of the city.

After all, there is still room for a relatively open ranking arrangement in that direction.

It is unwise to cross the river and attack the east of the city.

But the development of the matter was beyond Pu Zitong's imagination. The first attack was actually from the south of the city.

Guarding Huiyanmen, the "gate of escape", is Chi Fuyong, Pu Zitong's most trusted capable officer and the former commander of Chang Dewei.

Now he actually left the south gate and ran to Pu Zitong, who was patrolling on the northwestern wall of the city.

"How did you come here!"

Pu Zitong's heart twitched, is there something wrong with the south gate?

Regardless of other things, Chi Fuyong pulled him aside and said in a low voice: "I will take care of the messenger first. Governor, a large number of warships are coming from the upper reaches of the Xiangshui! The waterways go hand in hand."

"...a warship?"

He didn't understand, but was shocked.

Chi Fuyong was in a hurry: "The boat is not big, but the cannon is big! The village closest to Shuikou Mountain lasted less than a quarter of an hour before it was destroyed by warships from the Xiangshui River. Our boats on the southeast pier , I’m afraid I can’t stand it. Commander, they attacked Changning in order to straighten out the upper reaches of the Xiang River! These warships came from Guangdong via Lingqu!”

"Lingqu, how big a warship can come? Do you already have the heart to retreat?"

Pu Zitong has lived in Changde, Huguang for a long time. He knows that the imperial court has a new artillery, and Tang Peiyu hates it; It also made Chi Fuyong leave the south gate that he was supposed to guard and run here.

But what responded to him was a faint loud noise from the southeast.

Chi Fuyong's complexion changed suddenly: "They have captured another fortress. Chief Governor, I'm afraid they are almost near the southeast pier of the city from the sound, and the chief inspector should make a quick decision. I'll go to the south gate!"

Pu Zitong opened his mouth slightly.

The imperial army, which had always been encircled on three sides, left the south side alone. Originally, they thought that the front line of the Fifth Army Battalion was a surprise soldier.

These days, the Chenzhou Guards and Bao Qing Guards that Zhan Huabi said did not exist at all. In the south, there is actually only a five-barracks selection front, Luo An's [-] brocade guards, Dan Zhaonian's Qianwu people, and others. Zhu Qi reserved [-] Guangxi soldiers as his backup.

And near Hengyang City, there are less than [-] troops, so they only stick to the Shuikou Shanzhai Fort.

It is only now that Zhan Huabi has been guessing that what Gu Shilong and others are waiting for is actually this navy?
The important thing is not how powerful this navy is, but if this navy controls the Xiangshui in the east of Hengyang City, then the supply from the direction of Leishui and this retreat will be cut off.

Hengyang City will truly become an isolated city!
Chi Fuyong hoped that Pu Zitong would make a decision early, and Pu Zitong understood what he meant: either take the south of the city as the main direction, and must destroy this navy first; or consider withdrawing to Chenzhou.

Pu Zitong didn't even think about giving up Hengyang City so easily. At this time, he had to find out how powerful the new navy was.

"Order General Lu to send half of the navy to the south to meet the enemy!"

Changde was originally on the west bank of Dongting Lake, and there were not no navy troops under Changdewei.After confirming the Shouheng Prefecture, Pu Zitong did not ignore the safety of the water.

Not long after his order was given, he heard clearer cannon fire from the west of the city.

Zhu Qi finally started to move, and it was just the right time to cooperate.

The battle of Hengyang begins now!

……

Standing on the largest ship and commanding the Northern Expedition Navy was Anpin's father, Ma Yong.

His original position was Jizhou General Soldier and Chief Superintendent, and he has already entered the rank of the second rank of generals.

The daughter was registered as a concubine, and Ma Yong and Sun Jiao were actually the two strongest in the fields of Chinese and martial arts among the royal relatives of the new Jiajing Dynasty.

He knew about soldiers, but when he arrived in Guangdong, he was only the head of the security department.

Now he knows that the transition period in Guangdong has passed.This time, he had to send another navy that he was not familiar with to go north. The emperor just wanted to let him take credit for it, and the next step would be to use it again.

On the Xiangshui River at night, this team of nearly [-] sailors engaged in the Northern Expedition fought such a battle for the first time.

And Ma Yong also found the feeling of commanding a real army, not the group of shrimp soldiers and crab generals of the Secretary of Public Security.

"After two rounds of bombardment, continue to go down the river!"

After Ma Yong finished speaking, he did not look at the fort on the left.

After the Battle of Tuen Mun, the new warships purchased and built by Huang Ming Ji and Guangdong Haiphong Road are no longer comparable to the warships of the Ming Dynasty three years ago.

At His Majesty's request, the battleship has placed more emphasis on artillery bombardment, and the hand-to-hand combat method is gradually weakening.What's more, what is going to be bombed now is a fort that doesn't move at all.

Ma Yong only needs to let them finish two rounds of bombardment, knock down the walls of the fortress, and scatter the defenders in panic, and the rest can be handed over to Luo An and Dan Zhaonian.

His task is to break through the water blockade in the southeast of Hengyang City all the way to the east of Hengyang City to join Gu Shilong, and cover Gu Shilong's army from crossing the river.

Less than four or five miles further north, I finally saw the rebel navy on the water surface who came to meet the enemy.

Under the light of the fire on the boat, Ma Yong also took out the binoculars and looked at it, with a playful smile on the corner of his mouth.

It was the familiar ship he saw when he was in Jizhou.

The Cao Army Zheyang was always the only Cao army in the Ming Dynasty that had to go through a section of the sea route to transport grain from Tianjin to Jizhou in Liaodong.

The styles of Ming's ships are really not much different between the north and the south, only three or four in total.

But the ships built in Guangdong are constantly changing. Wei Bin and Zhang Fujing were most concerned about this matter before.

Ma Yong heard from Zhang Fujing when he was in a relationship: Your Majesty, sooner or later, he will advance both land and water to overcome Jiaozhi, and he has a grand plan to manage Nanyang!

Looking at the incoming ships, Ma Yong just handed the binoculars to Zheng Qianhu who was promoted from Guangdong Haiphong Road: "I'll leave it to you."

Ma Yong doesn't care about the specific command of the water battle, and he is not good at it.

And that Qianhu took over the binoculars steadily, took a few glances at the number and shape of the burning ships in the distance, and then calmly ordered: "Light up the lantern, send a message to the front ship, Longyou Formation!"

The lanterns on the masts that carried messages at night began to shade the lanterns rhythmically.

The so-called Longyou Formation is a new method of warfare researched after the new warship increased the number of artillery on both sides.

The ships of the Hengyang garrison saw the attacking navy, and saw the opponent swaggering down the water.

Naturally, their speed was faster, and the Lu Shen general Pu Zitong was talking about ordered with nervous eyes: "Wait for them to come within a hundred steps, and then release the bow and mouth gun, and be sure to hit the ship!"

The two sides rushed straight to meet each other, but they were still a hundred and fifty paces away when the giant cannon on the bow of the ship in front of them fired a round first.

General Lu took a look at the losses here, and after overjoyed, he ordered: "Quickly row the oars, lean over and fire, and get ready to take over!"

Then I saw the boats in the front row adjusted their bows one after another, and for a while they were roughly horizontal on the water surface and slanted towards the right bank, and their sides also spewed out flames, which were far denser than before.

General Lu Shen was stunned for a moment, and then saw that their boats were on the fairly wide surface of the Xiangshui River, and they changed direction again when they were relatively flexible along the water.

After a round of bombardment by the bow cannons, they headed to the left bank, as if walking in a zigzag, and then the artillery on the other side of the ship bombarded together.

At this time, the Hengyang garrison warship finally made a round, and then entered a relatively long time for gunpowder projectile loading.

Drawing on the experience of centipede ships, the navy brought by Mayon is far more flexible than their ships.

General Lu Shen watched helplessly that his car did not intercept the opposite ship to reach the goal of docking. He only saw a row of dark muzzles.

"boom--"

After this round of shelling, he felt himself floating up, his ears were ringing, and his eyes were dizzy.

He vaguely saw that there were one or two boats blocking the opposite warship, but then it was as if the belly of the boat was punched many times, and his own soldiers lost their balance and fell into the water.

The sound of cannons, firecrackers and shouts of killing rang out, and Ma Yong's car passed through this narrow battlefield, and continued to go straight to the east and west docks guarded by the rebels in the southeast of Hengyang City.

At this time, Pu Zitong who came to the southeast corner of the city wall had already seen Mayong's fleet from a distance.

His face was extremely ugly.

His own navy, not to mention maiming the Guangdong navy that came from afar, failed to stop the opponent for half an hour?
"Governor, the enemy army in the west of the city can only bombard them, and the camps outside the city can only be beaten. General He Can please enter the city!"

The messenger rushed over to report, and Pu Zitong looked at Chi Fuyong at the side.

After gritting his teeth, he said, "I have ordered He Canjun to be guarded by the Commander! How many people can be injured by a projectile from [-] paces away? No matter how cowardly the war disturbs the morale of our army, the Commander will have his own military law to deal with it!"

Chi Fuyong felt a little sympathetic to Zhan Huabi's subordinates who were there.

But is it really okay to do so?

Guarding in the city, the casualties will be somewhat less.

Outside the city, the artillery of our own people couldn't hit that far, but the opposite side was only full of the new kind of artillery on the dirt hill, and they didn't advance at all. The camp outside the city could only be beaten passively.

Could it be possible to brave the gunfire and protect the cannons with musketeers and archers to attack that hill?
If Zhan Huabi's subordinates surrendered in despair, it would be troublesome.

Pu Zitong seemed to see through what he was thinking, but he said sharply: "Hengyang City will not be broken unless soldiers approach the city and attack the city! The rebellious army would rather consume gunpowder and bullets than troops. The governor wants to see how many gunpowder and bullets they have prepared. How long can I scratch my head!"

Chi Fuyong sighed slightly in his heart.

Is it still going to be exhausted until the imperial army can't attack for a long time?
But now that the Xiangshui River and the south are also being blocked, Hengyang City really can only rely on the food and military reserves in the city to consume with the imperial army.

And in this way, all the defenders outside the city will become abandoned.

Not letting them in is probably also to make the defenders in the city last longer.Otherwise, the number of defenders more than doubled, and the theoretical time for Hengyang City to be able to defend would be more than doubled.

At this time, I finally heard my own big guns on the west side of the city also start to ring.

"Great Governor, Zhu Qi's army must have moved!"

Hearing Chi Fuyong's words, Pu Zitong lifted his spirits: "You and Yan Daniu guard the south and east of the city, and the governor will go to the west of the city to supervise the battle!"

When he got to the west of the city, he heard the loud bangs of bowls and guns on the wall on the east side of the city.

Pu Zitong was in pain: Yan Daniu, you fucking... are you used to being a bandit?Can this hit water?Fighting the Guangdong navy in Xiangshui?
It's just that Yan Daniu is defending the city after all, maybe he is very good at archery, and he can also command soldiers to bombard an enemy ship that is moving two hundred paces away with a bowl-mouthed blunderbuss?
Pu Zitong only watched Zhu Qi's army approaching step by step, approaching the west of the city from the top of the earth hill and from both sides.

After pulling out the camp outside the city wall, the west of the city can begin to attack the city.

At this time, the east side of the city ran to the west of the city to report: "Governor, the enemy army in the east of the city has moved. The navy team bombarded the defenders on the Xiangshui and Zhanshui, and Gu Shilong's side has already started to board. The boat is ready to cross the river."

Pu Zitong nodded: "Let Dudu Yan guard it well, the east of the city is the easiest to guard!"

He stayed at the northwest corner of the city wall. The north and west were the places where the enemy had to conquer the land. Otherwise, how would they attack the city?

When the fierce battle reached the dawn, the army of Zhu Qi in the west of the city still seemed unwilling to suffer too much damage, they just approached a hundred steps away, and shelled the defenders outside the city two hundred steps away.The frequency of bombardment by the imperial army has also been significantly reduced.

Although the walled fort in the south of the city was removed, they stopped and went back to the south of Yanfeng Peak, and did not approach any further.

At this time, the main battlefield seems to have shifted to the east and north of the city.

Pu Zitong, who hadn't slept all night, came to the east side of the city wall, with puzzled eyes in his solemn eyes.

The navy also moored to the east bank of the Xiangshui River, as if it was resting and replenishing.

And it can be seen from a distance that the soldiers led by Gu Shilong are really still boarding all kinds of warships and civilian ships that have been conscripted.

Is he really going to cross the river to attack?Just relying on the cover of a new warship with more guns?
"Great governor, don't worry, if I, Yan Daniu, can't defend the city like this, it will be shameful! The governor didn't close his eyes all night, so let's rest for a while. The rebellious army takes turns attacking from south, east and northwest, just to exhaust you .It's been a whole night, isn't it? Loud thunder, little rain!"

Pu Zitong remained silent.

The rain is not small, and Hengyang has become an isolated city.

Now either defend or concentrate our forces to break out from the south gate.Only in that direction, there are only less than 2000 people from Luo An and Dan Zhaonian.

But Hengyang City must be defended after all, the longer the better.

Otherwise, wouldn't Pu Zitong also collapse at the first touch?
"You're right, but Gu Shilong's skills are beyond his ears." Pu Zitong pretended to be confident, "Crossing the river and attacking the east of the city, thanks to him he figured it out!"

But he still ordered his generals in the north of the city: "Add one thousand soldiers and five bowl-mouth guns to the outside of the north city wall and Shitouzui, and beware of rebellious troops attacking the north."

In any case, the east of the city is not a reasonable main direction of attack.

Regardless of the fact that Gu Shilong is now gathering a large army to board the ship in the east of the city, it is unlikely that he will go around Shitouzui to attack the north of the city, but isn't there that navy now?

Pu Zitong always firmly believed that the west and north of the city would be the main direction of the final siege.

In these two directions, there are the most troops outside the city, and the most trusted people on the city walls.

East of the city...

Pu Zitong took a deep look at Yan Chunsheng, and then said: "Captain Yan, as soon as Gu Shilong's army really moves, you immediately order the defenders in the east of the city to meet the enemy. I have already sent a letter to the Leishui Camp, and as soon as Gu Shilong's army moves, they will immediately attack the enemy." Will go north and cut off the back of Gu Shilong's camp. In this battle, the master of the king will win! After the matter is completed, the strict governor will be named a prince!"

"Master Wang will win!"

In Pu Zitong's eyes, Yan Chunsheng's firm belief in victory was no less than his.

So he went down the city wall with confidence, ready to take a nap.

(End of this chapter)