On the eighth day of the eighth month, Wu Sangui led his troops to a place ten miles south of Songshan City.
Wang Yongji's central army followed closely behind.
At this time, the Ming army's outpost had already met the Jiannu's outpost.
Both sides were cavalry and their equipment was almost the same.
After several rounds of fighting.
The Eight Banners soldiers learned that the Ming army's attack direction was south of Songshan City.
The Ming army also knew that the Eight Banners Army had deployed heavy troops in the hilly area south of Songshan City.
That night, the Ming army set up camp on the spot.
In the following three days, dozens of battles of varying sizes took place between the two sides.
Although the Ming army lost some soldiers, they pushed the front line to five miles south of Songshan City.
After setting up camp again, the Ming army stopped for a day.
They are waiting for baggage and red cannons!
The Eight Banners soldiers did not go into battle either, they were waiting for the Korean soldiers.
The 20,000 Korean soldiers led by Li Shifang did not disappoint Jirgalang's expectations and arrived at the designated location at the designated time.
It has become cold in Liaodong in August.
In some places with slightly higher terrain, ice even formed at night.
(Mid-August in the lunar calendar is usually around October in the Gregorian calendar. The historical average temperature in Jinzhou in October is around 6 to 19°C, with the lowest temperature being -1°C and the highest temperature being 26°C. Considering that the late Ming Dynasty was a small ice age, it is possible that ice will form.)
On August 13, Wang Yongji distributed warm clothing to the entire army.
"Everyone should have a thin cotton coat, a pair of thin cotton pants, and a quilt! They are all made of new cotton and new cloth, so wear them sparingly!" The quartermaster kept giving instructions while distributing cotton coats.
"Don't worry, sir. We are all very careful!"
"The court spent a lot of money to buy these supplies. When the war breaks out, we have to pay it back to the court and His Majesty!"
“It’s a must.”
After the soldiers of the Ping Liao army put on new clothes, their morale was immediately boosted.
Taking advantage of this morale, Wang Yongji led Wu Sangui, Huang Degong, Gao Yigong and their 60,000 troops to attack Songshan.
After many days of probing, the Ming army had already discovered that the Jiannu had deployed a large number of troops around Songshan City.
Especially Nanshan, north of Songshan City, which is the only way to attack Jinzhou and an important defense line of the Eight Banners Army.
(Nanshan was called Rufeng Mountain in the Ming Dynasty. Due to the sensitivity of the text, it cannot be displayed, so it can only be called Nanshan.)
The Eight Banners soldiers had already discovered the direction of the main force of the Ming army. Jirgalang personally led 60,000 Eight Banners soldiers to assemble in Songshan City and Nanshan, preparing for a tough battle!
The autumn wind blew across the battlefield, breaking the wild grass and causing it to fall onto the dry land.
In the slightly bleak morning mist, the Ming army completed its battle array.
The chariot camp was in the front, and the infantry camp and firearms camp were in the back.
The cavalry was divided into two parts.
A part of them protected the left and right wings of the Ming army's infantry formation to prevent a breakthrough by the Eight Banners cavalry.
The other part hides in the back and responds to circumstances as they arise.
The 60,000 Ming troops formed a long horizontal formation and slowly approached Songshan Castle.
Strictly speaking, Songshan Castle is not a city, but a fort.
It's just larger than an ordinary fort and has higher walls.
Since Songshan Fort had no moat, the Eight Banners soldiers dug several trenches around it.
In addition, Jirgalang's formation was also different from the past.
He only deployed a small number of garrisons in the city, and the rest of the main force was deployed to the north of Songshan City.
He would launch an attack when the Ming army was besieging the city. As long as the Ming army's formation was disrupted, his chance would come.
The Ming army soon arrived at the first trench.
The other side of the trench was empty and there were no defenders.
"Build a trench bridge and prepare to cross the trench!" Wu Sangui ordered.
Thousands of Guanning troops built a trench bridge prepared in advance above the trench, and the soldiers in the chariot camp pushed the chariots through first.
After they reached the other side of the trench, they established a bridgehead using tanks as a barrier.
The remaining soldiers followed through, expanding the scope of the bridgehead.
While the pioneers crossed the trench, others filled it with various tools.
With the advantage in numbers, the Ming army quickly filled the first trench and passed through smoothly.
The second and third trenches followed.
The two trenches were only about one mile away from Songshan Castle, within the range of the artillery on the city walls.
To this end, Wu Sangui directly placed the red cannon next to the trench.
While filling the ditch, he bombarded the city wall with red cannon.
Amid the roar, the Guanning Army crossed the second and third trenches.
During this period, the Eight Banners soldiers on the city wall used artillery to fire shells into the Ming army's formation.
Although some casualties were caused, it failed to stop the Ming army's offensive.
After paying some price, Wu Sangui's Guanning Army finally arrived at the city of Songshan.
The generals in the army observed the command flags of the central army while commanding and scolding the soldiers to form lines.
This is mainly done to boost morale.
The morale that had been accumulated before had been partially consumed when crossing the trench. Now that they were about to attack the city, they needed to accumulate morale again to increase the team's combat effectiveness.
Woo!
The mournful horn sounded again, and the Ming army launched an attack to the sound of the horn.
The Ming army prepared a large number of siege weapons.
Dozens of shield carts and ladders were pushed out to the soldiers' orderly shouts.
The small number of defenders on the city wall initially fired artillery fire, but as the siege equipment entered a negative angle, their artillery became ineffective.
At this time, the Ming army soldiers pushing the ladders had arrived under the city wall. They unfolded the ladders and placed them on the battlements of the city wall.
"Whoever reaches the city first will be promoted three levels and rewarded with two thousand taels of silver!" Amid the generals' roars, the Ming army began to attack the city.
The Ming army attacking the city was divided into groups of five. The one in front was wearing heavy armor, holding the ladder with his left hand and climbing up with a sword in his right hand!
The Ming soldiers behind him held shields in their left hands and swords in their right hands, and crawled along.
The soldiers of the chariot camp placed the chariots near the ladders, and the soldiers of the firearms camp aimed their muskets at the top of the city walls.
As the heavily armored soldiers climbed the ladders, the Ming army formation behind them erupted in a thunderous roar: "The Ming army is mighty!"
"The Ming army is mighty!"
"Kill!" The Eight Banners soldiers on the city wall held a wooden basin and poured a basin of kerosene on the ladder.
Before he could retreat, the Ming army's bird-gun soldiers under the city wall pulled the trigger.
With a bang.
The bullet hit the Eight Banners soldier's forehead, leaving a bloody hole on it.
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