After three days of fierce fighting, the remaining few hundred defenders in Cangzhou City were already at the end of their game. If they could hold on for another hour or three, the city defenses would be broken by the Ming army, and they would not even have the chance to safely evacuate from here.
But in despair, the long-awaited reinforcements suddenly rushed out from outside the city, forcing the Ming army to give up the close victory and retreat first to protect the rear army formation to avoid being attacked by the Haihan army from both front and rear.
Shen Zhixiang has been away from the battlefield for a long time and is not young anymore. He has been in a state of high tension these days and relies on his breath to hold on. At this time, reinforcements arrived to relieve the danger of breaking the city. His strength relaxed and he immediately collapsed to the ground, unable to even stand up.
However, he was still worried about the situation of the battle and asked someone to help him to the crenellations of the city wall to observe the progress of the battle outside the city.
The reinforcements outside the city did not fight with the Ming army. Seeing the Ming army retreating, the Haihan cavalry also broke away from the battle and did not use this opportunity to expand the victory.
Shen Zhixiang can understand the caution shown by the reinforcements.
Most of this support force is the force that Chen Yixin mentioned in the telegram that came across the sea from Shandong recently. After they landed on the nearby coast, they had to march hundreds of miles to Cangzhou. They must have been exhausted, so it was quite good to be able to launch a wave of charges. They could not be expected to still have the strength to wipe out the Ming army at this time.
After the Ming army attacking the city withdrew, the Haihan cavalry outside the city covered the infantry and moved closer to the city.
Since the city gates in the south and east of the city had been severely damaged, the reinforcements did not rush into the city. Instead, they chose to camp under the roots of the city wall in the south.
In this way, if the Ming army still wants to attack the south of the city, it must first deal with the new force that has just arrived on the battlefield. Moreover, after the defenders formed a three-dimensional defense above and below the city, the firepower output intensity would no longer be at the previous level.
When the Ming army evacuated in panic, they left a lot of siege ladders near the city wall. Now it was convenient for the defenders to temporarily use these ladders to enter and exit the city.
Later, the leading officer of the supporting army went to the top of the city and met with Shen Zhixiang.
Shen Zhixiang also knew the visitor, and after meeting him, he sighed: "You people from Majiazhuang are still reliable! If you are half a day late, you will have no choice but to go to the Martyrs' Shrine to burn paper for me!"
The visitor smiled and said: "Mr. Shen is blessed with great fortune. It is a great achievement to defend Cangzhou City this time!"
Shen Zhixiang waved his hand and said: "Whether we have merit or not, we will talk about it later. First tell us how many troops you brought here and whether you can defend the city."
The commander who led troops to support Cangzhou was Ma Hao, who was from Majiazhuang, Fushan County, Dengzhou. In terms of kinship, he was Chen Yixin's nephew and descendant.
Before Haihan completely occupied Dengzhou, Ma Hao was sent to the Army Academy in Sanya by Chen Yixin for training. Later, because of his outstanding performance in the competition between military academy cadets, he once attracted the attention of Tao Donglai and other senior officials.
However, Ma Hao did not stay in the south after graduation. Instead, he returned to Shandong to develop according to Chen Yixin's arrangement, and was specifically responsible for the formation and training of local militia armed groups.
As the border of the empire, the Northern Region is always in a state of war preparation, so it has always maintained a large militia force as a supplement to the regular army. The reinforcements Ma Hao brought were militia groups drawn from various places in Denglai, but their strength was much larger than the first batch of troops sent to Cangzhou, with more than 2,000 people. In addition to the three hundred cavalry, there are also about ten cannons, which can just make up for the shortcomings of the defenders' heavy weapons.
Including Ma Hao's troops, the current strength of the Cangzhou garrison exceeds 3,000. Although it is not a regular Haihan army, with its city defenses and advanced weapons, it should be enough to resist the Ming army that is at least five or six times larger.
Ma Hao introduced the situation of his troops. Seeing that Shen Zhixiang had no reaction, he thought he was dissatisfied with the lack of regular troops to support him, so he advised him: "Master Shen, all the combat troops have been concentrated in Shuntian Mansion and Shanhaiguan. In a short time, It is unlikely that we will return to Cangzhou to help, so the fire-fighting work can only be done by the militia.”
"Don't underestimate the troops I brought with me. The training level of Dengzhou's militia is one of the best in the entire northern region. It will definitely be easy to deal with the Ming army... By the way, isn't the Fushan Militia on your side? Then But the troops I brought out with my own hands should not have disappointed you, right?”
When talking about the Fushan Militia, Shen Zhixiang's face also became gloomy: "Master Ma, if Cangzhou City can be defended for three days, the Fushan Militia should be credited with the first contribution! It's just that the fighting has been fierce in the past few days. The brothers fought hard with the Ming army at the top of the city. A lot of people were lost!”
After hearing Shen Zhixiang's words, the smile on Ma Hao's face disappeared.
Ma Hao was deeply involved in the formation and training of the Fushan militia, and many people in the militia were his disciples. Moreover, there are quite a few children of the Ma family in the militia, and most of them are key members. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a Ma family militia.
Letting the Fushan Militia Regiment take over from the Fifth Lu Division to garrison Cangzhou was originally Ma Hao's suggestion to Chen Yixin. He wanted to take this opportunity to ask the vigilante group to go on a mission, brush up on his qualifications, and gain experience by the way.
At that time, he also gave Chen Yixin a guarantee that as long as the Fushan Militia was there, Cangzhou City would be safe. But unexpectedly, the fighting in Cangzhou did not subside. The Ming army launched a fierce counterattack in an attempt to retake Cangzhou from Haihan.
"How many people were lost?" Ma Hao asked through gritted teeth.
Shen Zhixiang responded: "The Fushan Militia is responsible for guarding the south of the city, where the fighting has been the fiercest these days. As of yesterday, eighty-two brothers died in battle. Including the wounded, almost half of them were lost."
Among the several teams sent to Cangzhou to take over the defense, the Fushan Militia Group had the strongest combat effectiveness. However, because of this, they were assigned the most difficult-to-defend area by Shen Zhixiang, so they lost a lot of manpower in the battles in the past few days.
Ma Hao remained silent, but his fists were clenched tightly. It was obviously difficult for him to accept such a result calmly.
Shen Zhixiang said in a deep voice: "They have successfully completed their mission. After that, you and I will have to discuss and make arrangements for the return of the coffin, application for military honors, and payment of pensions."
Ma Hao nodded and said: "To die in battle and to be shrouded in horse leather is our mission. They should receive no less treatment! But the war is not over yet, so we should complete the mission first before talking about anything else!"
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Shen Zhixiang immediately showed Ma Hao the city defense map of Cangzhou, which marked the deployment of the defenders and the direction of the Ming army's attack.
Although the Ming army retreated today, the main camp remained unmoved in the south of the city. Apparently they were unwilling to fail in the three days of fierce attack, and they might still be planning the next round of offensive.