Most of these fortresses outside Shanhaiguan are arranged in a group of three, with one large and two small ones arranged in a zigzag pattern. Yongan Fort is the larger one in this group of fortresses.
It has to be said that the army did spend a lot of effort to strengthen the border defense. The resources invested in building these fortresses are probably no less than building a large city.
The enemy these fortresses were originally supposed to deal with was the Qing army, which was dominated by cavalry and was not good at attacking fortresses. If the cavalry rushes in regardless, this position will turn into a millstone of flesh and blood, which can effectively delay the Qing army's offensive at Shanhaiguan in the rear.
At that time, the Qing army did not have a good way to deal with this kind of fortress group, so they adopted a detour to avoid this hard nut.
However, compared with the Qing army back then, the Haihan army had much more offensive methods. And from the beginning of formulating the battle plan, Sun Zhen had no intention of bypassing this place.
The Ming army wanted to use this line of defense to resist the Haihan army from going south, and Sun Zhen planned to use this battlefield to contain the elite border troops of the Ming Dynasty.
Although he was confident of victory, Sun Zhen did not lead his troops to advance rashly. Instead, he followed standard combat procedures and stopped his troops nearly two miles away from Yong'an Fort.
At this distance, the range of Yong'an Fort's small artillery should not be able to reach the position of the Haihan Army. If the defenders opened the door and rushed out, they would be sent to the muzzle of the gun. Sun Zhen could more calmly arrange the next tactics.
Sun Zhen would not expect the other party to surrender voluntarily. He still had to go through the process first and then review it.
Several baggage carriages stopped in front of the formation. The engineers unloaded a pile of scaffolding from the carriages and immediately began to assemble them.
Not long after, two simple observation towers more than three feet high appeared in front of the Haihan army formation. There are also several steel cables at the top that are pulled to the ground and fixed to ensure that it does not shake.
This kind of observation tower is very simple to set up and dismantle. It is most suitable for use in marching operations, and its height can be adjusted as needed. If necessary, you can even build a super-tall form with a height exceeding eight feet, but the construction time will be longer.
A combat staff member climbed up nimbly, and then used a telescope to observe the defensive deployment on the wall of Yong'an Fort.
The information he observed was quickly passed to the artillery troops who were entering the firing position. The artillery began to calculate the firing elements and calibrate the artillery position.
At this time, two people also went up to another observation deck, but their tasks were somewhat different from those of the combat staff. They not only had to observe the defense situation of Yong'an Fort, but also directly participate in the combat.
They took off their backpacks and carefully took out their weapons - special rifles with barrel sights on the barrel.
Yes, that's right, these two people are one of the most mysterious arms in the Haihan Army, snipers.
From the very beginning of the selection of personnel for this branch of the army, the standards are extremely strict. Soldiers must be selected from soldiers who have been in the army for more than one year, are strong, have outstanding military qualities, and have a clean financial background. Often, out of hundreds of people in a battalion, only five or six people can be selected in the primary election.
After these soldiers enter the training stage, they will go through multiple screenings and eliminations. Those who can finally get the status of snipers are often rare and can definitely be regarded as the elite among the elite.
But for a sniper's career, the end of training is just the beginning. In order to maintain a good shooting feel and combat status, snipers practice almost all year round.
These snipers shoot down thousands of rounds of ammunition every year in daily training alone. The live ammunition fired by most soldiers during their service is only one-tenth of this number or even lower. In addition, in order to adapt to various geographical environments, the training locations of snipers are often changed, and they are even specially sent to unfamiliar environments outside the northern region for training. This is also a considerable expense.
Therefore, not only is it extremely difficult to train snipers, each of them is an elite selected from a thousand, but the funds required to maintain this unit are also far higher than those of ordinary troops.
The Sixth Lu Division under Sun Zhen only had two squads of less than twenty snipers, half of whom had been taken away by Chen Pingliao. There are only a few people who can devote themselves to the battlefield in front of them.
Sun Zhen deployed snipers on a high platform in order to make full use of their advantages and choose the opportunity to snipe the Ming army commander in Yong'an Fort.
However, this tactic is no longer unfamiliar to the Ming army. Haihan snipers have long been famous for their decapitation tactics on the battlefield. Once senior officers are noticed by Haihan snipers on the battlefield, they often die violently.
Relying on traditional defense methods such as shields and armor cannot effectively deal with powerful snipers. In the past, there were many unlucky people who had their shields and armor penetrated on the battlefield.
The most effective way to deal with it is to never appear in the sniper's field of vision, but this will make the commander who needs to understand the battlefield situation blind.
However, some people soon thought of a countermeasure, which was to hide their identity through disguise. Since snipers only target high-value targets, the risk of being selected as a target by a sniper will be greatly reduced by simply taking off the armor that shows off your identity and replacing it with the equipment of an ordinary soldier.
Such a conspicuous high platform has been erected in front of the Haihan Army's position. If nothing else, the Ming Army commander in Yong'an Fort should have been wary of it.
Whether they can find the opponent's important figures depends on the on-the-spot performance of the two snipers on the high platform.
After everything was ready, Sun Zhen issued the order to start the war.
The Haihan Army's offensive battles have always been spearheaded by artillery, and today is no exception. Several artillery fires were fired in front of the formation, and then the walls and gates of Yong'an Fort were blasted into a cloud of smoke.
Although the defenders in Yong'an Fort also fought back tenaciously with artillery, at this fighting distance, their firing was obviously in vain, and the shells hit the ground seventy or eighty feet away from Haihan's position.
The firepower points thus exposed immediately attracted more intensive attacks, and several small cannons and their gunners were soon sent into the sky.
The next round of shelling blew the gate of Yong'an Fort to pieces, and a section of the fort wall collapsed in the smoke.
The snipers on the high platform have not yet found a chance. Their sight is mostly blocked by smoke and dust, and they have not yet found the expected target.
The Haihan Army's firepower advantage was fully exposed in this situation, and it soon turned into a unilateral artillery strike. The walls of Yong'an Fort had now turned into ruins, and it was unknown how many Ming troops were buried under the ruins during the continuous bombardment.
However, when the infantry began to slowly advance towards Yong'an Fort, another hail of arrows flew from the ruins of Yong'an Fort. Apparently, the defenders inside had not given up resistance yet.
"Stop the infantry advance and let the artillery battalion fire another round!" Sun Zhen gave the order expressionlessly.