The ancient city of Dinghai (now Zhenhai) has long been dilapidated, into the city, all the houses are empty, except for the county government and some of the better houses, most of the buildings are weathered, some buildings simply only leave the ruins and broken walls, it is obvious that it has been in disrepair for a long time.

"This county has not been inhabited for many years! Originally, the people in the city were forcibly relocated by the Tartars! Zheng Cong saw the ruined county town and said angrily.

It can be imagined what a tragic situation was when the Qing court's order to move to the sea was promulgated! The common people are reluctant to leave their hometown where they have lived for many years! There are also some people who live on the sea, and if they leave, how can you let them live! But when the sea relocation order comes, you have to leave if you don't leave! I didn't give you time to prepare, move out in three days! Don't go, chop!

Three days is too hasty. Under the coercion of the butcher's knife of the Qing army, the common people were forced to leave their hometown where they had lived for generations with tears. Some people are reluctant to leave, preferring to stay at home and wait for death, and of course those people were beheaded by the Qing soldiers.

Ordinary people dragged their families and moved all the way over, and people who died along the way can be seen everywhere.

A sea relocation order, I don't know how many people have been killed.

After capturing Dinghai, the Ming army immediately marched along the Yongjiang River by land and water, and launched an attack in the direction of Ningbo.

Dinghai is very close to Ningbo, only forty miles away, and the Ming army can reach the city of Ningbo by land in just one day.

Ningbo is a capital city and the location of the Yamen of Ningshao Daotai. After the Qing court lost Hangzhou, Ningbo simply became the seat of the yamen of the governor of the Zhejiang army. The circumference of this fortified city is eighteen miles, with Dongdu Gate, Dinghai Gate, Heyi Gate, Yongfeng Gate, Wangjing Gate and Yongshui Gate, a total of six city gates, each gate is equipped with an urn city, the original city wall is two feet five feet high. After Fan Chengmo came, the Ningbo city wall was heightened again, increased to three zhang and two feet, the width of the city wall was two zhang, and the width of the upper wall was one zhang and six feet. Outside the city gate in the east is the Yongjiang River, and outside the city gate in the north is the Yuyao River, and these two rivers have become the natural moat of Ningbo. To the south and west, there are hand-dug moats eight feet wide. At the head of the city, the Qing army also repaired forts.

Perhaps inspired by Wang Xinyu, the Qing army actually built a fortress in Ningbo! It's just that they don't have cement, so they can't build Wang Xinyu's kind of fortress with an internal hollow and a shooting hole on the wall, so they can only build a fortress that is a little higher than the city wall and has a platform battlement on it. The Qing army's fortress was filled with rammed earth inside, and built with stone and glutinous rice pulp on the outside, and the fortress was four long and high.

"Drawing a tiger is not an anti-dog, as long as we concentrate our firepower and bombard the fortresses, we can collapse the fortresses one by one." Wang Xinyu pointed to the drawings of the Ningbo city wall sent by the intelligence officers and said.

On the evening of the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, the Ming army arrived outside the Wangjing Gate in the west of Ningbo City.

However, the Ming army did not rush to attack the city, but camped on the spot, built a barracks outside the west of Ningbo City, dug trenches, built earthen cities, erected wooden fences, and sent a large number of auxiliaries to build fortifications in the south of the city under the protection of soldiers and sailors, preparing to block the retreat of the Qing army. As for the north and east of the city, because they were the Yongjiang River and the Yuyao River respectively, the Ming army could block the retreat road of the Qing army without building fortifications.

In fact, Fan Chengmo will not run away at this time, the punishment for the crime of losing the land of the Qing court is very severe, and Fan Chengmo will definitely fight to the death. Only when the city is about to be broken will you think of escaping.

"Two trenches are to be dug, one to block and one to fight; The earthen city should be at least one zhang high, and a wooden fence should be inserted on it. All the Tartars in the city must be locked up, and not a single one of them will be allowed to escape! Wang Xinyu commanded the soldiers to start working.

At the head of the city, Fan Chengmo, the governor of Zhejiang, Yierde, the general of Ninghai, Taitian Xiong of Ningshao Dao, Zhang Jie, the general of Ningshao, and other Manchu military generals and officials stood at the head of the city, looking at the Ming army who built fortifications under the city, set up barracks, and built the earth city with hatred.

"Minggou is going to trap us all inside!" Tian Xiong said.

Ilde said: "The barbarians are coming from afar, and the long journey must be a great physical exertion, we should take the initiative to go out of the city to meet the battle, and take advantage of their fortifications to defeat the barbarians with the Eight Banners Cavalry!" ”

"Yes!" Zhang Jie said, "Our Green Battalion infantry went out first and attacked Minggou head-on. You cavalry outflanked from both flanks! will be able to defeat the Ming Dog in one fell swoop. After that, your cavalry will cover all the way, and our army will be victorious! ”

When Fan Chengmo heard them say that he was going to take the initiative to go out of the city to attack, his face turned white with fright: "Absolutely not!" Since the thieves dare to attack the city, they must have been prepared! If you rush out of the city, you will lose a lot! Don't fall for thieves! ”

Ilde sneered: "Do you just wait for them to set up a defensive position, and then pull the cannon up and slowly bombard us?" Even if they don't have to shell, the siege can trap us to death! ”

"Lord Ilder! The thieves are cunning, they attack Ningbo Jiancheng, and they will inevitably suffer heavy losses! If we stick to the fortified city, wait for help, wait for reinforcements to arrive, and then join forces with the outside world, we will be able to break the enemy! Fan Chengmo arched his hand.

"How long will it take for reinforcements to arrive? The main force of officers and soldiers in Zhejiang is in Ningbo! Although there are 10,000 horses in Wenzhou, the sea route is blocked by thieves, and the official army can only take the land route! The mountain road of Zhejun is difficult and dangerous, how long will it take to get here? Officers and troops from other places are going to be transferred from Fujian and Jiangxi! Ilde pointed to Yuyao Jiang and said, "Even if they arrive, and the thieves take advantage of the sailors to block Yuyao River, how long will it take for our army to break through the defense line?" By the time they came in, we would have starved to death! ”

"My lord, there is enough food in the city for a year! If the thieves want to besiege them, we will consume them with them. No matter how slow our reinforcements are, it won't take a year, right? What's more, the red-haired man has already promised to send troops! After a year, the red-haired man's fleet has also arrived! The siege of our waterways can also be lifted! Fan Chengmo said.

Tian Xiong said: "The thieves build fortifications just to bombard the city with cannons!" The artillery fire is fierce, and even a fortified city like Hangzhou has been broken by thieves, let alone Ningbo? As long as the day their fortifications are repaired, it will be the day when the city of Ningbo is broken! Instead of sitting back and waiting, it's better to take the initiative! ”

"Yes!" Ilde pointed to the Ming military fortifications outside the city and said, "My Eight Banners are longer than cavalry, and cavalry is useless in defending the city!" Instead of being trapped in the city, it's better to take the initiative! Sons, who wants to go out of the city to destroy the enemy? ”

Bu Shunda, the leader of the Eight Banners of the Qing Army, stood up: "The last general is willing to personally lead three hundred sons out of the city!" ”

Another Eight Banners leader, Ah Jingga, also stood up and asked for his life: "The last general is willing to personally lead the three hundred sons under his command to fight!" ”

A guerrilla general under Zhang Jie also stood up: "The last general is willing to personally lead 3,000 warriors out of the city to meet the enemy!" ”

One of Tian Xiong's generals also stood up: "The last general is willing to lead three thousand warriors to fight!" ”

"Good!" Ilde nodded in satisfaction, "Prepare to open the Wangjing Gate and the Yongfeng Gate!" The 6,600 warriors and soldiers went out of the city through two gates, and the infantry of the green battalion concentrated head-on after leaving the city, attacking the camp of the thieves in the west of the city! The wings of the Eight Banners Cavalry feint, waiting for the opportunity to storm and break the formation! After breaking the formation, cover the back with cavalry! ”

Fan Chengmo finally got angry: "Lord Ilde! Look outside the city! The thieves are densely packed with cannons! There are also some strange vehicles, I don't know what kind of new weapons they are! If you rush out of the city, I am afraid that the lives of the warriors will be lost in vain! I only have a total of 15,000 soldiers in Ningbo City, if I lose 6,600, how can I defend this city? This official is not only the local governor, but also the emperor's imperial guard! Hanlin Academy, Bachelor of Secretarial Academy! This official has the right to stop you from acting rashly like this! ”

Although Ilde was angry, because Fan Chengmo's father was Fan Wencheng, he didn't dare to attack, so he had to hold back his anger and said: "Master Fan, if the fortifications are repaired, it will be useless for us to go out of the city!" My Manchurian boy is good at field warfare, and he is not good at attacking and defending cities! If we want to give up the strength of our army and attack the long with a short one, isn't it passive? ”

"That's right! Out of the city! Tian Xiong and Zhang Jie both said in unison.

And those leaders of the Eight Banners are gearing up, hoping to get out of the city and use cavalry to break the enemy.

Fan Chengmo was so entangled by them that he had no choice but to agree to let 3,000 infantry and 300 cavalry go out of the city to launch a tentative attack. In fact, he didn't know the power of the Ming army's firearms, and thought: It would be good if they went out and tried it! If the thieves had fierce firepower and the army out of the city had been defeated, Ild would not have insisted on going out of the city any longer! If the thief's firepower is not so ferocious, wouldn't it be a great achievement to put the follow-up forces into it and directly destroy the enemy?

Bu Shunda and Zhang Jie's guerrilla generals took on the task of attacking out of the city, and the two of them led 3,000 infantry and 300 cavalry to the north of the city from Wangjing Gate and Yongfeng Gate respectively.

But Ilder asked for an additional Eight Banners under the command of the Eight Banners, so Ajinga also led his three hundred cavalry to prepare to leave the city. Ilder adopted a plan: let the Green Battalion infantry go out of the city through the Wangjing Gate and launch an attack. After attracting the firepower of the Ming army, let Bushunda and A Jingga take the opportunity to lead 600 cavalry to go out of the city from Wangjing Gate and Yongfeng Gate respectively, and surprise attack the two wings of the Ming army.

Fan Chengmo saw that Ilde insisted on sending an additional 300 cavalry, but there was no way to stop it. What's more, most of the cavalry who went out of the city to fight were Mongols, and there were not many real Manchu Eight Banners, and the Mongols could be said to be useless in the defense of the city, so they agreed to come down.

"Most of these Mongols went out of the city, and most of them were sent to death! It's a pity that the Mongols died, but it's a pity that fifty warriors with eight banners among the banner people! Fan Chengmo said secretly in his heart.

He had long regarded himself as a Manchu, and he felt that his status was higher than that of the Mongols.

In the camp of the Ming army, a personal soldier came to report: "Marshal! There is movement at the Wangjing Gate of Tartar! It seems that the Tartars want to get out of town! ”

Wang Xinyu's face was overjoyed: "The Tartars saw that our military fortifications had not been completed, and they wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to get cheap!" Good! Since they are out of the city to fight, let them have no return! ”

The number of Ming troops besieging the city was not very large, in fact, there were only more than 10,000 soldiers, 5,000 auxiliary soldiers, and 8,000 sailors. But although the number of the Ming army is small, the firepower is very fierce, the Ming army has 2,000 artillerymen, 1,000 bipod guns, that is, the original guns, now by Wang Xinyu changed to a bipod guns, as long as one person can fire.

The 2,000 artillery units had 80 three-pounder guns, 30 4-pounder guns, 12 six-pounder guns, 12 swarm fire vans, and 10 thunderbolt fire vans, all of which were field artillery.

The siege artillery on hand has not yet arrived, and those siege artillery with 64-pounder mortars and 12-pounder siege cannons will not be transported by water until the infantry has repaired the fortifications and set up artillery to attack the city.

The reason why the field artillery arrived first was to prevent the Qing army from going out of the city to counterattack.

Wang Xinyu stood on the high sentry tower, picked up the telescope to look at the Wangjing Gate, only to see that the drawbridge had been lowered, the city gate was wide open, and inside the city gate, a group of green battalion Qing troops rushed out of the gate, quickly entered the open field outside the city, and was assembling.

"Let the auxiliaries pause their work and hide behind a section of fortifications that has already been repaired! Soldiers form up to meet the enemy! Wang Xinyu turned to his soldiers and ordered.

10,000 Ming troops formed a formation, and the Ming army was divided into four formations, the middle formation was a hollow formation, the outside was a flintlock gunner, and the inside was a bipod firecracker; On the left and right sides are artillery arrays, all the cannons are on the left and right wings, in front of the artillery array are infantry armed with cold weapons to be responsible for protection, and there are thunderbolt fire vans on the side of the cannons; Behind the middle musketeer array, there was Wang Xinyu's personal army array, with five hundred cavalry, one hundred Russian musketeers and twelve swarming wagons.

The reason for arranging such a formation is that the cannons and Thunderbolt fire vans are arranged on both wings, which can form crossfire and achieve the maximum lethal effect on the target. The flintlock pistol hollow array on the front is to meet the enemy on the front. The pro-soldier formation in the back is not only responsible for protecting the coach, but also for protecting a swarm of bee cars.

To deal with the frontal attack of the Qing army, artillery and thunderbolt fire vans can exert maximum firepower on both flanks; On the contrary, a swarm of bee fire vans is just the opposite, arranged on the front, which not only has a strong lethality against the enemy in the front, but can also support the two wings at any time, make up for the lack of artillery firepower on both wings, and can also form crossfire with the artillery of either wing.

Even if the Qing army directly used cavalry to attack the two wings, Wang Xinyu was not worried. Even if the artillery could not resist, those highly mobile cannons could be hung on mules and horses at any time and dragged away, and the swarm of bee wagons in the rear could meet the Qing cavalry.

"The Tartars have assembled and are ready to attack!" Someone shouted.

In the artillery array of the Ming army, one cannon after another has been loaded, and the muzzle of the black hole is aimed at the Qing army who are out of the city.

The Qing army was getting closer and closer, and when the Qing infantry of the Green Battalion entered within a mile, the artillery officers on the four-pounder and six-pounder gun positions shouted: "Release!" ”

"Boom, boom, boom" cannons spit out fire and white smoke.

Thirty four-pounder guns and twelve six-pounder guns arranged on the two wings fired in turn, one after another shells continued to rush into the Qing infantry formation, and the shells fired from the two wings to the middle formed a cross fire, and after the forty-two shells took turns to drill into the crowd of Qing troops, they churned up bursts of dazzling blood, like a lawnmower, opening up a crooked flesh and blood channel in the square formation of the Qing army.

On the city tower, Fan Chengmo looked at the powerful artillery fire of the Ming army, and only felt a pain in his heart: these soldiers who went out of the city were simply sent to death in vain!

"Organize the people in the city now! Tell the people in the city that if the barbarians break the city, none of them will want to live! Fan Chengmo turned around and ordered.

But Ilde was very calm, although a round of artillery shelling by the Ming army just now killed and wounded more than 300 Qing soldiers, but for more than 3,000 green battalion infantry, this loss was only a drop in the middle, and the Ming army's artillery needed to reload. As long as you use this time to let the Green Battalion soldiers go up, the Eight Banners Cavalry will be able to attack. As soon as the Eight Banners cavalry arrived, the barbarians on the opposite side were not fish under the knife! (To be continued.) )