Chapter 1444 Breaking the situation
Yangguli's understanding of gunpowder was more based on weapons such as artillery and muskets. It was only two years ago when Kong Youde coerced the rebels to cross the sea to defect to Hou Jin that he brought a large number of military craftsmen with him, and only then did Hou Jin start The ability to produce the weapons that they once feared. But for the use of blasting, Yangu Li really has no relevant concepts. This is because Houjin's gunpowder production capacity is extremely limited and cannot be supplied to the army. It can no longer be used to research weapons of mass destruction or other bizarre uses.
As for the advanced forms of nitroglycerin explosives, safety fuses, fulminant detonators and other types used by the Haihan Army, not to mention Yanguli, even the craftsmen who brought gunpowder and gun-making technology to Houjin had no relevant concepts at all. . The Hou Jin Army had never heard of such a special attack method as blasting, and naturally they would not use this tactic as a precaution.
There are two "blasting" incidents recorded in historical records in the Ming Dynasty, the most famous of which are two. The first is the Wanggong Factory explosion in 1626. However, there are always different opinions on the real cause of the explosion, and there is no convincing official explanation. It was the year after the big explosion when the time travelers came to this time and space. Although out of curiosity, they thought of some ways to find out the inside story of the incident, they did not get any actual results and could only guess about this. The explosion may be related to the large amount of gunpowder stored in the Wang Gong Factory at that time.
Another incident had not yet occurred. When Zhang Xianzhong, a peasant army general in the late Ming Dynasty, attacked the two cities of Chongqing and Chengdu, he used gunpowder to blast the city walls, and the effect was remarkable. However, this will only happen several years later. It is difficult to say whether the original historical trajectory will be followed in this time and space with Haihan's intervention.
As for the Hou Jin Army in distant Liaodong, they never thought that a section of the fortress defense line they had worked so hard to manage would suddenly disappear out of thin air, and the Haihan Army broke through effortlessly.
Yangguli could only rely on his own intuition to guess that something had happened in the direction of the loud noise. However, as the Haihan artillery outside was still sporadically bombarding Jijiabao, he did not dare to attack Jijiabao at this time. Li could only send his capable men to that direction to see what happened. Even so, the strong sense of uneasiness in his heart showed no sign of fading away. Instead, it became more intense, and even cold sweat began to break out on his back unconsciously.
Yangu Li didn't know what this warning sign meant, but he still subconsciously ordered his subordinates to get him armor, dress him up in advance, and be ready for battle. Although the Haihan army outside Jijiabao did not launch a real offensive, Yang Guli had a vague hunch that the offensive and defensive posture of the two families would definitely be determined within today.
Yangguli didn't wait too long when the bad news came. The Haihan Army created an explosion not far from Jijiabao, blowing a large gap of six to seven feet wide in the defense wall. Then before the defenders arrived, It has already broken through the defense line. The current status of our casualties is unknown, but it is probably difficult to find survivors within a hundred feet of the explosion site.
After hearing the news, Yang Guli suddenly felt his eyes darken, and his body went limp uncontrollably. If the guard beside him hadn't helped him, he almost fell to the ground. Although he expected that Haihan might have some sudden offensive, he never expected that he would take such an unconventional route and directly open a hole in the defense line instead of attacking the existing channel as usual. He didn't understand how Haihan could make a section of the city wall evaporate in an instant, but he knew that it would be very difficult for him to block the hole again.
Yangu Li calmed down a little, and then asked for details, only to learn that Haihan had about a thousand troops pouring in from the gap and building a defensive offensive there. When Yangguli heard this, he felt even more confused. If Haihan immediately launched an offensive after breaking through the defense line and attacked the fortresses and garrison strongholds on the defense line, then Yanguli could still use the mobility of the cavalry to deal with it. Who knows? In the process, there is still hope of a comeback by seizing the opportunity. But Haihan played so steadily. After breaking through the defense line, instead of advancing rashly, he stopped and built defenses. It seemed that he had already calculated his own possible reaction, and maybe he was waiting for Yanguli to hit the iron plate.
But he had to go, and he had to go immediately, otherwise as the defender of this line of defense, he would have to bear all the consequences of its failure. Yangguli immediately issued an order to assemble the team, leaving a thousand people to continue to defend in Jijiabao, and personally led more than 2,000 people to the scene of the accident to put out the fire.
Using explosives to break through the Jinzhou Fortress defense line is not Haihan's only combat plan, but all departments in the military are still fully prepared for this, especially the various tools and materials needed to build fortifications are all in the first chapter. In a short time, a carriage was sent to the gap. Hundreds of civilians and engineers immediately got busy, trying to transform this place into a position that could defend against Hou Jin's counterattack in the shortest possible time.
When calculating the blasting yield, we had already considered the need to build a position in this gap in the future, not only to allow the Haihan Army to quickly pass through here and enter the north of the defense line, but also to rely on the terrain here to defend this passage.
At this time, the east-west defensive wall became an obstacle that restricted the enemy's performance. The Haihan army only needed to establish an arc-shaped position facing the north and cover the gap. Then the enemy would use a cavalry formation. When launching a counterattack, its attack surface is only less than 180 degrees. What's more, since the position is bordered by the city wall, Haihan can build his best three-dimensional firepower network to deal with the Hou Jin army. If the opponent wants to launch a counterattack on the city wall, it is easy to defend. The city wall passage less than seven feet wide will definitely become a nightmare for the Hou Jin soldiers.
The two main passages to the east and west of the defense line were blocked by the defenders with wood and rocks. For a while, it was impossible to get out and outflank Haihan's retreat. Even if they clear the passage on their own immediately, the artillery outside Jijiabao and Sujiabao will not sit idly by and ignore them. It will not be easy to attack them in the opposite direction.
In this way, the Haihan Army guarding the gap only needs to concentrate on dealing with the enemies north of the defense line. After the opponent regains control of this place, they can only hold on to the defense line. They can only try their best to attack the gap currently controlled by Haihan. This is the real purpose of Haihan's design of such a seemingly complicated combat plan. .
It has never been difficult for Haihan to break through this line of defense. Organizing a large-scale landing behind enemy lines is nothing more than sending more ships to join the battle. In order to achieve the combat goal of severely damaging the enemy's army, the opponent must be allowed to gather forces and initiate an attack. Otherwise, with the limited land mobility of the Haihan Army, there would be no way to retain Hou Jin's cavalry. The purpose of building a position in the gap in the defense line after the blast was exactly the same. After being forced, the Jin army had to take the initiative to fight.
Although the radius of this arc-shaped position is only fifty meters, Haihan has invested 2,000 troops in this place. Almost all the main forces of the special operations battalion are concentrated here, and the special operations battalion was originally the main attack force. The direction of Jijiabao has been handed over to the Pidao Army to blockade it. On the other side of the defense line, Sujiabao was watched over by Harugong, who had just returned to the south yesterday.
"Let's bet here next!" Qian Tiandun stood on the city wall that was originally part of the defense line, looking at the Houjin Cavalry that had appeared on the horizon in the distance, and said proudly. Next to him were Morgan, who led the blasting operation, and Chen Yixin, who was in charge of commanding the special operations battalion. After hearing these words, the two looked at each other and smiled. The battlefield situation in front of them was exactly what they expected to be the most favorable situation for Haihan. All they had to do next was to let go and shoot as many Houjin troops as possible who were trying to counterattack.
Chen Yixin is responsible for commanding the special operations battalion on the front line to face the post-war Jin army. Morgan will lead his sniper team to set up multiple sniper positions on the city wall, taking advantage of the terrain to kill some high-value battlefield targets. Qian Tiandun is responsible for overseeing the overall situation, coordinating and commanding the connection between battles and logistics arrangements between front-line combat forces and reserve forces. The three men each performed their duties and began to command the decisive battle of the spring offensive.
After arriving at the battlefield, Yangguli observed the terrain and secretly complained that the defensive wall that was originally used to resist the Haihan Army's northern invasion has now become the opponent's reliance, limiting his own attack routes. Seeing the position that was still being reinforced and repaired, Yangu Li subconsciously recalled the scene when he attacked the beachhead at the seaside yesterday. It's just that the scale of this position today is larger than that of yesterday, and naturally there are more Haihan troops stationed in it. If we want to capture this place, the number of casualties will probably be huge.
But now it is a difficult situation. Regardless of whether Yangu Li is willing or not, this battle must be fought, and the sooner the better, otherwise it will take another day or two for Haihan to turn this temporary position into a fortress. , then the Jin Army’s chances of winning will be even smaller. Although he had sent a request for help to Azig, the current situation no longer allowed him to wait any longer.
"Bang the drum! Attack!" Yangu Li gave the order to start the war with a stern expression.
Several big cowhide drums sounded in the Houjin army, and then flags were played in the Yangguli formation, instructing the troops coming from Sujiapu in the west to join the battle. From the east and west directions, a cavalry team of a thousand people slowly broke away from the camp and marched towards the Haihan position. Needless to say, this is of course the cavalry charge that the Jin Army relies on most and is good at. However, due to the terrain constraints today, it was difficult for them to use tactics such as changing directions on the spot, repeatedly attacking, and luring the enemy into firing. They could only fight hard with Haihan.
Not far behind him, there were two thousand cavalry teams on each side slowly following up. It seemed that Yangu Li was determined to make a desperate move and planned to directly invest the main force to attack Haihan's position without leaving Haihan behind. Any respite.
This is something Yangu Li realized in yesterday's battle, which is to make full use of his own strength advantage and the combat experience of his soldiers, and rely on the number of people to fight against the enemy. Even if the Haihan Army has sharp guns, there is always a gap that needs to be reloaded. Even such a short interval is enough for the brave Bagala warriors to rush in when the wind strikes. He even believed that if he had realized this earlier yesterday, maybe that position would have been captured by him.
But the previous defeats are not important. Yangu Li knows that he only needs to win the battle in front of him, so no one will pursue the defeat yesterday. But if we lose the current battle, we will probably have to settle old and new accounts together afterwards.
Even if he has won many battles in the past, even if he has the status of Prince Consort, if the Golden State defense line is thrown away from his hands, it will be difficult to offset his sins. Afterwards, Huang Taiji investigated and found out that he, the commander, would definitely not be able to escape responsibility, and would inevitably issue an order to strip off part of his military power.
Therefore, Yangu Li knew very well what this line of defense meant to him, and he could not afford to lose even if he died in battle here. He has currently ordered more than 6,000 troops to be assembled here, accounting for more than 70% of the troops stationed along the entire defense line. If he cannot win the Haihan position even in this way, he will at least have to fight with the enemy to death. At least Huang Taiji will not embarrass his own people because of this matter.
After the two groups of cavalry, the remaining infantry also began to take action. Except for a few logistics troops, all the troops that Yangguli had mobilized were thrown into the battlefield at once. Such a wave of tactics is extremely risky, and can even be said to be a complete gamble. If Hou Jin loses, it will be tantamount to automatically giving up the entire line of defense, but if he can win this bet, it will be reasonable to severely damage the invading Haihan Army.
"What a great game!" Qian Tiandun quickly confirmed the opponent's offensive strategy through the telescope and couldn't help but muttered to himself.
Similar tactics like this, which directly smash into all the possessions at the first moment, are actually rare in battle. Generally speaking, as long as they are not forced into a desperate situation, generals will leave themselves an escape route from the battlefield when arranging their troops. At the very least, they should leave behind reserve troops to press the formation, instead of rushing out as soon as they come up. It can be seen that Hou Jin's army was indeed anxious. Qian Tiandun believed that this was because the fortress defense line was of great significance to Hou Jin and could not be lost. On the other hand, it was because Hai Han had poked him in the east and west in the past few days. The offensive became fierce, and they seized the opportunity of a decisive battle and launched a decisive attack with the entire army.
Although the position Haihan set up here has a radius of fifty meters, it does not cram all 2,000 people into the position. The number of people actually preparing to fight on the front line is only 700 or 800, and any more would be too big to fit in. , but affects combat effectiveness. In addition, there were no more than a thousand personnel posted on the nearby city wall, and nearly half of the remaining troops were serving as reserves in the south of the position, ready to replace the front-line troops at any time.
(End of chapter)