The idea of going to the Yuntai Pavilion was still rather elusive, but the officials and generals in Ning and Yu did have some spiritual support.
Humans were afraid of mental collapse.
It was definitely impossible without a spiritual pillar.
In reality, the situation was much better than before. Back then, it was chaotic and everyone was in a panic. Now, food was not a concern for the time being. The connection with the south had been established. The Emperor had also won a series of battles. Even the most terrifying Manzhou cavalry had their heads hanging all over the city walls. The Great Ancestor had even bestowed food and divine medicine from the sky...
Especially the latter.
This had a huge impact on the morale of the army. In the past, even if they suffered minor injuries, a large number of them might have lost their lives. If they were to undergo surgery to amputate a limb, it would basically be a death sentence. It should be known that even during the 19th century, 10,000 of the 13,000 amputated French wounded soldiers died. However, ever since Taizu's divine medicine, the mortality rate of the wounded soldiers plummeted, and the most terrifying blood poisoning was basically eliminated. In the past, it would be good if five out of ten wounded soldiers could survive. At most, two or three out of ten would die.
Don't underestimate this.
This change in ratio reduced the soldiers 'fear of battle to the minimum. For a feudal army, the soldiers' courage to fight was almost equal to victory.
In such an era, one should not think that there were really invincible elites. This was actually an era of competition. If the volunteer army were to be equipped with sabers and spears to crush the eight flags, purely from the perspective of the soldiers themselves, no one would have an overwhelming advantage over the other. In terms of physical fitness, could the gap between the Ming army and the Qing army be as big as the gap between the volunteer army and the US army? The Eight Banners were indeed strong, but they were not strong enough to fight against several Ming soldiers. In fact, it was easy for two Ming soldiers to kill one of the Eight Banners. In the era of cold weapons, it was the courage and will of the soldiers that mattered. It was easier to shake a mountain than to shake the Yue Family Army. The Yue Family Army was not much stronger than the other Song troops. They were all heavy infantry and had the same training. However, the Yue Family Army was strong in their will. In this day and age, nothing was true.
Courage was the most important.
Ning Yuan's 10,000 soldiers did not lack courage and will. Even the officials and gentry knew this.
This meant that Ning Yuan could hold on.
Even before this, the Qing army had never taken Ning Yuan down, let alone now.
As for Shanhai Pass…
He thought of the unlucky Chief Wei.
Even if he couldn't hold on, he had to!
In short, after they were convinced that they could not coax the Emperor away, all the civil and military officials in the line, under the support of their fear of Li Zicheng, their trust in the Emperor, their expectations of the Yuntai Pavilion, their fantasies about the reinforcements from the south, and all kinds of practical and unrealistic support, threw caution to the wind. In any case, it was a gamble. All the civil and military officials made up their minds and prepared for the next battle with all their might.
Of course, they did not have much time left!
April 20th.
The main force of the Qing army arrived at Ningyuan.
"Which batch is this!"
On the gate of Weiyuan, Li Daoxuan crossed his legs and looked at the approaching Qing army.
"Your Majesty, this is already the twelfth batch. Adding this batch, the Tartars have already reached more than thirty thousand.”
Wang Chengen said.
"Humph!"
Li Daoxuan snorted casually, then picked up the knife on the table in front of him and inserted a piece of raw meat into a large copper basin. He put it in his mouth and chewed it bloody.
Now that the war was imminent, he could not lack nutrition. This was a tiger he had hunted nearby yesterday. This poor Amur tiger was considered to be the king of the forest, but in the end, it was punched to death by him, bleeding from its seven orifices. Then, its tiger meat became a good supplement for him. As for the problem of eating it raw, weren't those legendary fierce people all fond of it? The surrounding soldiers looked at the tiger's head on his table and then at the plate of raw tiger meat in front of him. They were like diehard fans looking at their idol.
Speaking of which, this was called imposing manner!
Eating too much these days was called swallowing mountains and rivers!
Unlike in the future, he could only be called a good-for-nothing!
"Then what should we call it?"
Li Daoxuan pointed at a tall wooden shelf in the Qing army.
"Your Majesty, those are scaling ladders, while the ones they are carrying are flying ladders. The former can be folded and erected, and can be directly placed on the city wall for people to climb. People can also stand on the vehicles and shoot at the city wall from behind the protective board. This time, the Tartars are fully prepared and won't come rashly like last time.”
Li Yutian said.
"What about that?"
Li Daoxuan pointed at another one.
"That's used to charge chariots and ram the city gates. If they keep ramming, they can also collapse the city walls. However, with the cannons, these things are rarely used. The Tartars are probably worried that His Majesty's divine cannons will destroy their cannons, so they might as well bring this.”
Li Yutian said.
"Why aren't there any trebuchets?"
Li Daoxuan continued.
"Your Majesty, you must be joking. Who would use the Red Cannon? Besides, that thing can only travel less than one mile and is extremely heavy. When it is pushed to the battlefield, it will be smashed by the Red Cannon several times. Ever since this cannon came into existence, the siege weapons in the ancient books have basically been abandoned. Even things like Lu Gongche can't be pushed to the city wall by the Red Cannon.”
Li Yutian said.
"A pile of trash!"
Li Daoxuan said disdainfully.
Of course, that was all he could say. Regardless of whether the Qing army's siege weapons were trash or not, the 30,000 strong army that had already arrived around Ning Yuan was real. Just looking at the seemingly endless banners in the sky gave off a huge sense of oppression. This time, the Qing army had enough troops, so they didn't play any fancy tricks with him. They blocked the north and east sides directly. The 30,000-strong army with a large number of siege weapons, including 40 Red Cannons, was arranged one kilometer away from Ningyuan. As for the south and west, they were blocked by the Ningyuan River. The distance between the river bank and the city wall was too short, so they couldn't arrange in these two directions.
The area directly facing Weiyuan Gate was the main attack area. There was also a small river blocking the direction of Chunhe Gate. Although it did not hinder the attack, it was difficult for large-scale siege weapons to move. Only the direction of Weiyuan Gate was the easiest to attack.
"Is that Dorgon?"
Li Daoxuan said as he looked in the direction of Mount Shou.
On one of the slopes of the first mountain, a striking yellow cranky cover could be seen. It was obvious that this was Dorgon. Although he was not the emperor, it seemed that when he went to war, it was unknown whether it was his son or nephew. Usually, he would be given the honor of the emperor.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me for my poor eyesight!”
Li Yutian said.
Alright, that was three kilometers away. How could he look from here?
"Let's go and greet him!"
Li Daoxuan said excitedly.
Then, he stood up and rode his horse to the north corner of the city as fast as he could.
There was a watchtower that looked like a fortress, and there were four Red Cannons on top of it. They were all from Ning Yuan City, and there were a total of thirty-two cannons taken from Huang Fei's warship. Among them, there were twenty-four Red Cannons, and the remaining eight were relatively small. Other than that, there were thirty Fran Machine Cannons, and there were plenty of shells and gunpowder. This was all thanks to Huang Fei's warships. He had taken down all the cannons, so Ning Yuan was quite strong in terms of cannons.
"Your Majesty, the Red Cannon can't reach there!”
Li Yutian panted as he followed them. Then, he took out a brass telescope that he had borrowed from an unknown person and looked at the yellow cranked lid at least five miles away.
"Yes, we can."
"But His Majesty's divine cannon has to aim at it personally."”
"There's no problem with my divine cannon, but this thing can't withstand the error!”
Li Daoxuan said as he leaned against a cannon.
" At such a distance, the probability of hitting the target is less than one in ten. The gap between the shell and the inner wall of the barrel of this old smooth-bore cannon is too big, and the inner wall is not smooth enough. The casting of the shell itself is not up to standard either. The accuracy can be guaranteed within 500 meters. Any further and it will be beyond aiming. The maximum firing angle can indeed reach 2,600 meters, but only God knows where the shell will land.”
Xiao Qian said in his mind.
"Then focus on the cannons."
Li Daoxuan said.
Other than the four cannons here, there were six more cannons on Weiyuan Gate and four more on Chunhe Gate. These cannons all had mobile carriages. After receiving his order, all ten cannons were moved over. Together with the original fourteen cannons, they were all pointed in the direction of Mount Shou. Then, Li Daoxuan began to lay on the cannon and carefully aim. Under his command, the soldiers quickly adjusted the angle and elevation. At the same time, Li Daoxuan also taught them this modern method of aiming. Of course, it was basically the same as talking about chickens and ducks. These soldiers did not even know how to read, so how could they understand parabola calculations?
Li Yutian, on the other hand, was scratching his back with a small stone like a scientist.
The aiming of the fourteen Red Clothed Cannons was completed very quickly. The center of all the muzzles was accurately aimed at Dorgon's yellow cranked cover. As for whether it was Dorgon there or not…
Li Daoxuan's vision wasn't that strong.
All he could see was that there were many Qing army officers gathered there, and most of them were in white armor. Even if they were not Dorgon himself, it was still the highest command post of the Qing army on the battlefield. Their banners were there, and they were constantly waving their command flags. The 30,000 Qing soldiers on all sides of Ning Yuan were in formation according to the orders transmitted by these command flags. This banner and the yellow cranky cover below were the spiritual pillars of all the Qing soldiers on the battlefield. Even if they could not hit Dorgon, they could destroy it. It was also a serious blow to the morale of the Qing army.
"Get ready!"
Li Daoxuan roared.
All the gunners picked up the ignition rods and aimed the burning matchsticks at the ignition holes.
Li Daoxuan stood behind the 14 cannons, staring at the flag in the distance and the yellow cranks below. Then he waved his hand and shouted,"Fire!"
The burning fire ropes on the fourteen ignition rods were inserted into the fourteen ignition holes almost at the same time. All of a sudden, the fourteen cannons, along with the smoke from the ignition holes, retreated fiercely like fourteen monsters in the earth-shattering loud noise. At the same time, blazing flames shot out from the muzzles, and fourteen cannonballs flew straight at the target with a whistling sound.
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