In the middle of the Qing army, the Manchu Emperor Huang Taiji stood on his horse, looked at Li Zhi's fortress two miles away, and frowned and said nothing. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The location of Li Zhi's fortress was just in the middle of the Maligou valley, and a single cannon controlled the traffic on both sides, making it impossible for messengers and personnel on both sides of the Qing army to communicate with each other. Moreover, the fortress was arranged in an orderly manner, with several layers of various trenches, and behind the trench there was an earthen wall to protect the firecrackers, and a canopy, under which there was an earthen fort, and there was a lookout in the middle of the fortress, and the facilities that a strong fortress should have were all available.

I heard that this Li Zhi is only twenty-three years old? It's not easy.

This person has now become the confidant and great enemy of the Qing Dynasty. The messenger reported that the Qing Dynasty entered the customs and plundered this time, and tens of thousands of horses were folded in the hands of Li Zhi, and the losses were not unheavy.

The blue flag lord Zierharang looked at Huang Taiji's face and said: "Your Majesty, the defenders of Qingshankou said that Dolgon attacked this Li Zhi's fortress some time ago, and suffered heavy casualties, I am afraid that tens of thousands of people died. ”

Huang Taiji sighed and said slowly: "Dolgon is still too young, I repeatedly told him not to attack the fortified city, he was still too conceited after all, he didn't listen to me..." ”

Zilharang asked, "Your Majesty, will we still be able to enter the customs and loot from now on?" ”

Huang Taiji narrowed his eyes and was silent for a while.

After a while, Huang Taiji said: "We still have to enter the customs!" ”

Zilharang said: "But this Li Zhi is too strong, we can't beat him when we enter the customs!" ”

Huang Taiji said: "Li Zhi only has a lone army, and it is difficult to sing alone. As long as our soldiers and horses entering the customs strengthen the sentry and avoid him, there will be no losses. It is the national policy of the Qing Dynasty to enter the customs and weaken the Ming Kingdom, and it cannot be changed because of a defeat. ”

After a pause, Huang Taiji said: "Cutting down is like cutting down a big tree, you need to cut it from both sides, and the big tree will be its own servant." Although the Ming Kingdom is decaying, as a century-old tree, it has not yet reached the level of self-servant, and it still needs to be strengthened. ”

"If we don't enter the customs, plunder, harass and weaken the Ming Kingdom, the Ming Kingdom will have the possibility of regaining its vitality and becoming strong again. The Ming Kingdom is prosperous, and my Qing Dynasty is in danger! ”

When Zilharang heard Huang Taiji's words, he was very impressed, and he bent down and stood to the side, no longer speaking.

Huang Taiji looked at Li Zhi's fortress and squinted his eyes again: "But this Li Zhi has become a climate, and it is difficult to get rid of it!" ”

After a pause, Huang Taiji said: "Pass on the obedience to Wang Kong Youde." ”

The herald ran in the direction of the Han army banner, and after a while, a sturdy middle-aged general ran briskly towards Huang Taiji's Chinese army.

This general is a Han man, but he has shaved his hair and braided like the Manchus, and he looks very strange and ugly, and it is Kong Youde, the head of the Sanshun king.

Kong Youde was originally a military general in Dongjiang Town, Ming Dynasty, and Ben and Tartar had a grudge against their father. After Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong, Dongjiang Town collapsed, and Kong Youde left Dongjiang Town to join Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai. Sun Yuanhua was trying to imitate the Western military to form a warlike firearms army, and when he saw Kong Youde's bravery, he armed Kong Youde's troops with Western firearms technology to create an unusual Ming army, whose combat effectiveness could not be underestimated.

However, there was constant friction between the local soldiers and horses in Shandong and Kong Youde's Liao army, and Kong Youde rebelled with his strong troops and attacked the prefectures and counties of Shandong. The Ming Dynasty suppressed it with all its might and quelled the rebellion. Kong Youde had no way to escape, so he took more than 10,000 people to Liaodong to surrender to Tartar.

Huang Taiji has always hoped to recruit the generals of the Ming army on a large scale, and he was overjoyed to hear that Kong Youde was coming to surrender and welcomed him out of Shenyang City. Kong Youde was named King Gongshun. The firearms unit under Kong Youde has since been owned by the Manchus.

On the surface, Huang Taiji is very kind to Kong Youde. Kong Youde led the troops to invade the people's houses, and Baylor impeached him, but Huang Taiji didn't even ask. But in fact, Huang Taiji was wary of Kong Youde everywhere. Kong Youde's soldiers and horses were damaged in previous battles, and Huang Taiji never replenished them.

However, Kong Youde was desperate at this time, so he could only redouble his loyalty to the Manchus and work hard in order to gain a foothold.

Kong Youde's soldiers and horses not only have many firearms, but also have red-coated cannons. In his army, there are general titles such as deputy general of firearms, general of firearms battalion, general of Guan Hongyi cannon, and general of gunpowder bureau. When he took refuge in Jin, Kong Youde carried 22 red-coated cannons, and in addition to leaving four to defend Shengjing, Kong Youde's army carried 18 red-coated cannons with the battalion.

Huang Taiji summoned Kong Youde at this time, that is, he wanted to use Kong Youde's cannon to try Li Zhi.

Kong Youde walked quickly to the front of the Huang Taiji Central Army, knelt on the ground with a puff, and said loudly: "Minister Kong Youde has seen the emperor!" ”

Huang Taiji looked at Kong Youde, stepped forward to help him up affectionately, and said, "Gongshun Wang, what do you think of this Li Zhi's fortress?" ”

Kong Youde turned to look at Li Zhi's fortress, bowed his head and bent down and said: "Your Majesty, this fortress arranged by Li Zhi is quite methodical, digging four deep ditches outside to block the enemy, and setting up earthen walls and canopies inside to protect the firecrackers. There are 100 earthen forts on the north side, and I think there are quite a few cannons. ”

Huang Taiji touched the beard on his lips and said, "If I let your Hongyi cannon shoot at Li Zhi's cannon, are you sure you can win?" ”

Kong Youde was stunned, and secretly said how could these eighteen cannons beat more than a hundred cannons, and Huang Taiji used his own artillery as cannon fodder. But Kong Youde knew that Huang Taiji wanted to use himself to try Li Zhi, so he didn't dare to show a dissatisfied expression, and said loudly: "Ruochen's artillery and Li Zhi's artillery shoot each other, and the victory or defeat is between five and five. ”

Huang Taiji was very happy when he heard this, and said, "Okay, you will lead the artillery up and shoot Li Zhi's artillery." ”

Kong Youde was bitter in his heart, but on the surface, he looked sincere, and led the order loudly.

After a while, Kong Youde moved out the Hongyi cannon under his command with a black face. The cannons weighed two or three thousand pounds at every turn, and each one required seven or eight oxen to pull. However, the workmanship of the cannon can only be regarded as average, and many of the barrels have air holes, which are obviously cast by the clay method, which is easy to blow up and bor.

Li Zhi saw Kong Youde's movements in the binoculars, and secretly said that this Qing army actually has cannons, and he wants to shoot at himself?

Li Zhi shouted: "Bring sixty cannons to the north wall!" ”

The artillery of the Election Regiment immediately unloaded sixty gun wagons from the earthen batteries on the south wall and moved them to the north of the city.

Kong Youde didn't know that Li Zhi had already made arrangements there, and he was still busy with his eighteen cannons. The cannon was pulled to a mile away from Li Zhizhai's fortress, and Kong Youde's artillery began to reload.

Kong Youde's artillery was trained by Sun Yuanhua using Western methods, and there was also a complete set of measuring tools such as gun gauges, gun rulers and moment meters. After aiming at Li Zhi's position for a while, Kong Youde's pipe artillery staff officer Li Jiucheng shouted loudly: "Open the cannon!" ”

Only a rumbling cannon sound was heard, and eighteen cannons fired at the same time, spitting out tongues of fire, and firing eighteen projectiles towards the north of Li Zhi's fortress. The projectile pierced the sky and roared, and six of them hit Li Zhi's earthen wall, easily breaking the half-meter-thick earthen wall, splashing a large area of dirt. After the shell broke through the earthen wall, it continued to move forward, killing two Tiger Division soldiers who were on guard on the north wall.

Seeing that Kong Youde's cannon had injured his own soldiers, Li Zhi shouted loudly: "The artillery of the north wall fired, and the cannon of the Tartar is broken!" (To be continued.) )