At the beginning, Haoge only saw the fortress in southern Shaanxi, or the "second-hand goods" that Wang Yingxiong had gone through, where did he know the subtlety, and it was not easy to learn the gods. r?anw enｗ?ｗ?ｗ?．? ｒ?ａ?ｎ?ｗ?ｅ?ｎ?a`ｃ?ｏｍ?

Zhu Lin asked Zhao Shichao, "How wide and high is the fortress?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, it is about fifteen or sixteen zhang wide and more than four zhang high."

"The thief learns pretty quickly." Zhu Lin frowned and looked to the north, "Let's go, let's take a look." He also instructed Zhang Jiayu, "Let the artillery battalion drag the large-caliber mortar cannon up first." ”

"Yes!"

Early the next morning, Zhu Lin came to the south of Tashan in the imperial camp.

The main force of 15,000 people of the Ming army has formed a formation in the open field under Baitai Mountain, and the two straight infantry lines in front and behind are flying with flags and bayonets, completely blocking the road in and out of Tashan. On either flank, three thousand cavalry were ready to go.

Zhu Lin sat on his horse and looked at Baitai Mountain on the west side of Tashan with a telescope, but he couldn't help but shake his head secretly in his heart.

I saw that on the east side of the hillside, a fortress made of earth and stone stood abruptly, although it was built quite roughly, but the site selection was extremely vicious, the surrounding slopes were steep, and it was very difficult to attack from above, but the cannon on the fortress could increase the firing range by taking advantage of the condescending momentum, at least covering most of the range of Tower Mountain.

And the most troublesome thing is that, due to the range limitations, if you want to attack the fortress with mortars, you have to drag the cannon halfway up the hill very slopingly. Not to mention that carrying the cannon and ammunition must be extremely time-consuming and laborious, even if the cannon is successfully transported, the thief only needs to roll the wood and stone down the hill to injure the artillery.

"It's a bit of a problem...... he muttered to himself.

Zhang Jiayu on the side obviously saw the problem, and arched his hand: "Your Majesty, when the two 'big guys' in the artillery battalion arrive, they can bombard the enemy base at the foot of the mountain." ”

Zhu Lin shook his head, "Those two cannons are too heavy and move slowly, to say the least, it takes more than half a month to be transported, it's too slow." ”

Deng Shan said: "Your Majesty, the car that made the explosives is in the rear army, and all the raw materials are ready." Now the herald is being made, and it will be made tomorrow. Don't you believe that this mere fortress can be stronger than the Nanjing city wall? ”

Nowadays, Daminge Zhixue is developing rapidly, and the manufacture of nitrocellulose has long been a piece of cake. However, in order to facilitate the production and use of the front line at any time, the Ministry of Industry specially concentrated the equipment required for preparation in two carriages and became a mobile laboratory.

In this Northern Expedition, the military department naturally considered that there would be a need to attack fortifications, so they brought this laboratory with the army.

Zhang Jiayu shook his head and said: "Since the last time the city of Nanjing was bombed, the thieves have been extremely wary of our army planting explosives when they approached. In addition, this mountain is steep, and if you force nitrocellulose to attack, you will definitely suffer heavy casualties, so you should wait for the heavy artillery to come......"

"No," Zhu Lin suddenly squinted and smiled, "What General Deng said is not impossible. ”

……

Shengjing, the capital of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.

Although the city is lit up everywhere as in previous years, the people who come and go hang their heads and look preoccupied, and there is no New Year's atmosphere at all.

In the Chongzheng Palace, the Manchu and Han ministers surrounded Haoge, all with solemn expressions.

After a long time, Ji'er Harang spoke: "Actually, during the Taizu Dynasty, Nanming also came to attack repeatedly, didn't we all beat them back?" ”

A few embarrassed responses came from the side, "The regent is right. ”

"Yes, can you still be afraid of these brutes?"

Fan Wencheng interjected at an inopportune time: "The eunuch country, the southerners are coming with a fierce momentum, and my various banners and departments have just begun to transfer troops, which is not optimistic." Besides, according to the minister's estimates, if all the men over the age of sixteen can be gathered, at most 25,600 soldiers and horses can be gathered, which is far from enough......"

Seeing that the morale in the hall was extremely low, Haoge couldn't help but shout: "This Liaodong is the ground of my Qing Dynasty, how can you allow barbarians to be presumptuous here?!"

"I tell you, the Southern Army will definitely lose this battle! In the past six months, I have laid three lines of defense on the front line of Songjin, and I have planted grain and grass in Guangtun, which is enough to hold on for more than half a year.

"Nanming came from afar, the supply of grain, grass and baggage was difficult, and the cost was extremely high, plus they were all southern soldiers, and they were not tolerant of the severe cold of Liaodong, as long as they were blocked in the Songjin area, they would definitely not be able to hold on for a long time.

"Now we only use the word 'drag', relying on the many barriers between the mountains, it doesn't take much troops to drag down Nanming. At most, they will go home!

"At that time, I will lead the army to cover up and kill in the rear, and take advantage of the enemy's rout, and maybe I can attack the pass in one go......"

Dai Shan was still worried: "Prison country, Songjin is only seven or eight thousand people at the moment, or it is imperative to transfer a large army to defend the palace as soon as possible." ”

Haoge said: "When Ningyuan was attacked, I had already issued an edict ordering all flags to rush to Guangning within ten days. I will lead the Beijing camp to Jinzhou tomorrow, and it will only take seven or eight days to arrive. In addition, I also transferred the cavalry of the Horqin Division, and I will be able to rush to Jinzhou in half a month. ”

He said with confidence, and he was very bitter in his heart, and the fierce battle of the troops in this winter is bound to be fought until the beginning of spring. The adult men of all departments are on the front line, how can spring sowing not be affected? It's just that now it's important to save my life, and I can't care so much.

Fan Wencheng said again: "Qi Qi Jian Guo, the minister went to see the fortresses in the Songjin area in the autumn, and the end was extremely strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack. It's just that," he said, "the southern army is fierce, and there are no less than 50,000 people here. If they are determined to exchange human lives, the fortress in Songjin Mountain will not be safe.

"The minister thinks that it is necessary to recruit soldiers and horses, at least the number should not be inferior to that of the southern army. If we don't have a large army in hand, we will retreat from the southerners this time, and this disaster will still be inevitable next year and later. ”

Hauge gave him a blank look, and said in his heart I don't know the importance of holding an army? At the moment, he was unhappy and said: "Lord Fan himself said just now, all the men over the age of sixteen have been exhausted, where can they recruit troops?" ”

Fan Wencheng said: "If you have a law, you can get tens of thousands of troops. ”

Immediately all the people looked at him. Haoge also squinted and said, "Lord Fan, please speak." ”

"The Liaodong Banner has a limited number of people, but the Han and Korean people are extremely numerous, as long as the prison country gathers these people as soldiers, and allows them to make war exploits, they can be exempted from slavery, and the army is at your fingertips."

There was silence in the Chongzheng Palace, and it took a long time before Hao Ge spoke: "If so, how many people can be gathered?" ”

Fan Wencheng said: "More than thirty or forty thousand." ”

……

On the south side of Tashan, on a vacant lot next to the camp of the Ming army.

Suddenly, there was an earth-shattering loud noise, and the ground trembled for a while before it stopped.

The ears of Kayama Hisamori and several Japanese and Korean officers were still buzzing, and one by one they stared at the bombed mound in the distance, and their hearts were full of incredulity.

"This is nitrocellulose." An official from the Ministry of Industry explained to them, "You have all seen the power. But be careful, this thing is very explosive, you don't need to see fire, you can blow it up if you hit it hard. In the summer, it will be fried in the sun, but fortunately it is extremely cold here, so you don't have to worry about this. ”