Although Cangzhou was a must-attack place for the Haihan Army, Sun Bing was not eager to capture Cangzhou. When the troops arrived at Jiuzhou Town, forty miles southeast of Cangzhou, Sun Bing ordered to stop and rest.
This Jiuzhou town is named because it is the location of the old city of Cangzhou. After it was destroyed in the Ming Dynasty's civil war more than two hundred years ago, this city was gradually abandoned. Now there are no soldiers and horses stationed here. The few people who settled here also fled their homes early because of fear of the Haihan army.
The reason why Sun Bing slowed down his advance was that he needed time to figure out the defense situation of the Cangzhou defenders to avoid being flanked by multiple Ming troops during the siege.
Secondly, the location of the Haihan Army is more than a hundred miles away from the coastline, but a considerable part of the logistical supply of combat materials still needs to be transported by sea. Before attacking Cangzhou City, a safe and stable supply line must be established between here and the coast. route.
The third reason is related to the war currently going on in Tianjin.
Two hundred miles north of Cangzhou is the location of the Tianjin Acropolis. Sun Bing's Fifth Lu Division put pressure on Cangzhou, which could coincide with Chen Yixin's offensive in Tianjin.
As a result, the Ming army in Hejian Prefecture could not rush to rescue Tianjin, and the Ming army in Shuntian Prefecture could not rush to rescue Cangzhou.
The section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal in Cangzhou can be said to have nine twists and turns, and this complicated flow direction also caused a lot of trouble for the Haihan Army's reconnaissance. It took Sun Bing's troops nearly two days to roughly complete the reconnaissance operation around Cangzhou City.
The results of the reconnaissance showed that the Ming army deployed more mobile troops near Cangzhou than expected. At least 15,000 to 20,000 Ming troops were stationed outside Cangzhou City. The closest ones were just under the city, while the far ones were more than ten miles away. Most of them were concentrated along the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.
The combat purpose of these Ming army troops is obviously not just to defend Cangzhou City. Once the Haihan army begins to attack the city, they are likely to appear in all directions to launch harassment operations.
Sun Bing had to find a way to defeat several of the Ming armies and clear out a safe area before he could concentrate all his forces on the siege. But the Ming army was obviously aware of the strength gap between the two armies, so even if the Haihan army entered the Cangzhou area with great fanfare, they did not take the initiative to attack, but were waiting for a more suitable fighter to appear.
The war around Cangzhou City started on April 20th, and it was the Haihan Army that took the lead.
Sun Bing very boldly chose the south side of Cangzhou City as the main attack direction, and the left wing of the Haihan position was less than two miles away from the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. The Ming army stationed along the canal outside the city seemed likely to head toward the sea along the river bank at any time. The Han army launched an offensive.
Naturally, the Ming army would not let go of such an opportunity. After the Haihan army began to bombard Cangzhou City, the Ming army along the canal quickly took action and came by boat from the north and south, preparing to attack the left wing of the Haihan army. Log in to carry out the attack.
But Sun Bing was well prepared for this. During the siege, he deliberately hid several artillery pieces in the formation, with the muzzles of the guns always pointed in the direction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal. As soon as the Ming army's fleet arrived at the river bank and began to land, the Haihan army immediately showed its killing move, lifted the camouflage on the cannon, and aimed at the fleet with a fierce bombardment.
The Ming army, which was almost unprepared for this, lost hundreds of people at the beginning of the bombardment. The commanders on each ship had different ideas on whether they should forcefully land under the gunfire or avoid the front and evacuate immediately.
As a result, the Ming army's action quickly became chaotic. Some warships gave up docking and began to sail away from the fighting area. The troops that barely landed ashore, due to the lack of backup, would naturally be unable to sustain for too long under Haihan's gunfire.
In just one stick of incense, the first raid launched by the Ming army outside Cangzhou City failed.
Although only two warships were sunk, the actual losses of the Ming army greatly exceeded the crew of the two ships.
There were about a thousand Ming troops who landed on the banks of the canal, but they did not have time to launch an attack on the Haihan military formation. At least half of them died in the shelling. Some Ming soldiers who had nowhere to escape turned back and jumped into the canal. However, most of these soldiers were from the north and their water quality was not good. Jumping into the river was almost equivalent to suicide. Moreover, after many people jumped into the river, they discovered that they had forgotten to take off their heavy armor in advance, and they still couldn't float despite trying their best.
There are only a handful of good swimmers who can force themselves to the other side of the canal, or the lucky ones who are rescued by their own warships.
In the end, the Ming army had nowhere to escape and was captured by the Haihan army, with only more than a hundred people left.
This cruel result made the defenders realize that the gap in strength between the two sides might be much greater than expected before the war.
Fighting the Haihan Army in such an open battle frontal battlefield is basically a dead end with no chance of victory.
Before the war, they planned to use the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal as a natural moat and a channel for launching raids. Such tactical ideas seemed to suddenly become a joke in the face of the powerful firepower of the Haihan Army.
With such ferocious weapons, the river beach on the Haihan Army's left wing became a dead end. It was almost impossible for the Ming Army, which lacked heavy fire cover, to make a breakthrough.
Realizing this, the defenders quickly adjusted their tactics and increased their investment in city defense forces in order to defend Cangzhou City from being breached.
The artillery attack on Cangzhou City continued into the afternoon that day, and the two gates on the south side of the city, one large and one small, were seriously damaged.
The Haihan Army also launched several symbolic feint attacks to test the defense strength of the defenders in the city. However, the defenders obviously did not intend to give up just yet. Each time, they organized a large number of personnel to go to the top of the city and attack Haihan outside the city with bows, arrows and firearms. The army launched a counterattack.
However, I would never dare to try such a thing as going out of the city to fight.
It was not until dusk was approaching that Sun Bing ordered the troops to retreat.
The Haihan Army's own losses were not large, but the ammunition consumption in this day was really large. Hundreds of artillery shells were used up. Taking into account the subsequent combat needs, Sun Bing did not intend to use the limited ammunition for open use, but made flexible adjustments according to the progress of the battle situation.
The Ming army was not as calm as Sun Bing. If the intensity of the fighting continued like today, it would only be a matter of time before Cangzhou City was breached. Therefore, the Ming army took the initiative that night and launched a night attack on the Haihan position.
However, these actions were all under the precaution of the Haihan Army. When they set up camp, they deployed many defensive fortifications to counter night attacks on the outside of the camp, and there were also roaming elite reconnaissance cavalry on the outside.
The Ming army was discovered by the reconnaissance cavalry more than a mile away from the Haihan camp, and they immediately released fireworks into the sky and sent a warning signal to the camp.
Waiting for the Ming army to charge into the camp were continuous barbed wire fences and bullets whizzing in the dark. Many people did not even touch the edge of Haihan Camp and fell in confusion during the charge.