"Assessed soldiers are equivalent to the military troop team in our army. They do not have formal uniforms, no military pay, no weapons, no honors, and they live like walking corpses." Gao Shan let out a smoke ring and continued to explain to his comrades: "Most of the people nearby have been moved to Zhifu Island and Kongtong Island by us. It is difficult for the Qing army to collect manpower nearby. The status of the follower is not as good as the Qing army's coat. After the construction is completed, they may be forced to fill trenches or consume our ammunition. Don't look at me with this kind of look. This situation often occurs on the battlefield of the Ming Dynasty. Didn't Wallenstein and Gustav do such things in Germany? Even the coated soldiers have horses or mules. The power of these Qing troops is very strong."

Several people stopped talking, they all put their heads to the observation hole and looked out. In the distance, more and more people appeared on the horizon. Most of them rode war horses, some of the remaining few were pulling carriages, while others led mules and horses, and gradually poured into the sight of the people on the east coast from the west and south directions.

Many of the ragged coats were driven by Qing soldiers, and the followers began to build camps, dig trenches, and build artillery positions under the command of Qing soldiers. Since the walls of Ninghai Prefecture, Fushan County, Wendeng County and even some garrisons had been demolished by the people on the east coast, the useful building materials had become houses of the people on the east coast, and the unusable ones were thrown into the port to reclaim the sea to build a pier bridge, so it was difficult for the Qing army to find a place to station troops nearby, so they could only camp in the wild.

No trees were found within a hundred miles of Yantai Fort. In the past year, people from the East Coast had already organized people to cut them all. Some were used to distillate charcoal as fuel, and some became large wooden houses for resettlement on Zhifu Island and Kongtong Island. It became a problem for the Qing army to build a camp. Because no one would carry a large amount of wood from the departure point, it would be too stupid. Then, if the Qing army wanted to obtain enough wood to build a camp for tens of thousands of people, they could only go to a place a hundred miles away to find it, which would consume a lot of their manpower and material resources.

...

On March 9, 1645, it was sunny. The northwest wind was level 5.

"Boom! Boom!" Two 12-pound long-barrel cannons located in the center of the southern city wall opened fire in succession. Their targets were a red-clothed cannon position in the Qing army that had just set up. The artillery soldiers from the east coast saw the Qing army's gunners on the top of the city and had been busy for a long time to set up the cannon position. This efficiency made everyone watching the city anxious for them. After finally waiting for the Qing army gunners to make the cannon, they had already aimed and aimed. The artillery soldiers of the Yantai Fortress Garrison immediately fired the first two shells of today under the order of Li Wenchang.

Even though the Qing army's guns were fired in advance and measured them on the spot, the detailed data in the firing table were found, the shooting accuracy of the artillery in this era was still not comparable to that of later generations. Both shells were missing. The first one was fired too far and fell directly into the crowd behind the Qing army's artillery, and they made a bloody road all the way. All the people who bumped into each other were in trouble. The other shell was slightly closer to the Qing army's artillery position, but it was more than ten meters away, scaring the several followers who were picking up the soil.

He was greatly affected by the wind. Li Wenchang gave a conclusion in his heart. But he remained silent and waited for the gunners to adjust themselves, adjust the charge amount, and adjust the elevation angle of the barrel. The Qing army had already set up six cannons on the front line, four of which seemed to be imitation red cannons, and the weight was probably one or two thousand pounds. The other two seemed to be smaller-caliber cannons, but the tube was quite long. It seemed that the range would not be too poor.

The Qing army's artillery team arrived yesterday, only a little more than three days later than the vanguard troops. A large number of infantry, cavalry, auxiliary soldiers, and the Ming men recruited them were also coming. It was obvious that the number of people was no less than 30,000. These people, plus the thousands of horses that came on the first day, the elite main forces of the Qing army had almost arrived. After all, even if they had an army of 60,000 or 70,000, it was impossible for them to be transferred here all the way. It was impossible for the important cities of Laizhou and Dengzhou to stop without sending troops to stay. It was impossible for the logistics transportation line not to send troops to escort, which would inevitably greatly diminish the strength of the Qing army on the front line.

When he learned earlier this month that the Qing army had entered Laizhou Prefecture, Mo Ming immediately installed Qin Shangxing and his core officers on two armed transport ships, and then carried them to the sea outside the Dengzhou Port. At this time, some of the Qing cavalry had arrived outside the city of Dengzhou, and the people in the city were in agitation. Yang Wei was a little unable to control the situation because he was unwilling to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. After sending people to the ashore for communication, only more than 2,000 Ming troops in Dengzhou City were willing to follow Qin Shangxing and others to Yantai. The rest decided to surrender to the Qing Dynasty under the agitation of the gentry in the city. Seeing that the situation was over, Yang Wei, who was unwilling to surrender to the East Coast, decided to cut his hair into the mountain. Some of his iron subordinates also led their troops out of the city to scatter. The remaining more than 3,000 people in the city (almost all unbearable to the battle) opened the city gate and knelt down to welcome the Qing army into the city.

Faced with a famous city like Dengzhou, it was naturally impossible for the Qing army to send troops to stay. They dispersed the 3,000 Ming troops who surrendered, and then stayed in the city with two thousand infantrymen who arrived later. Later, when they arrived in Fushan County, although the foundations of the city walls had been destroyed by the people on the east coast, the Qing army still left 2,000 people to guard them because they were located at the food transport node. Later, some people were sent out to chop wood, and then those who were escorting food and grass on the way, those who stayed in Laizhou, Qingzhou, after several divisions, there were actually only about 50,000 people who could be used to attack Yantai, of which about 20,000 soldiers (including 7,000 Manchu soldiers). More than half of the more than 30,000 people (including 10,000 Manchu soldiers) have arrived at present are war soldiers, and basically the main force is over. The subsequent more than 40,000 people (including 10,000 Manchu soldiers) are expected to gather in the next two days.

After the Qing army arrived, they organized the tunics that night. The Master dug up the cannons in the south of Yantai Fort overnight and set up the cannons, which showed their urgent mood. Thinking about it, it was the season when the Qinghuang was not in contact. The 50,000 or 60,000 Qing troops were fighting under Yantai City, which was not an ordinary amount of money. Not to mention that there were a large number of Confucius who worked, these people also had to eat food. It is conceivable that Fang Dayou from Jinan, in order to support the food of nearly 80,000 people (more than 60,000 Qing troops + 20,000 Masters) on the front line, and how much energy it took to carry the beasts to beg for alms. It was certain that the landlords in Jinan, Dongchang and Yanzhou were begging for alms. Qingzhou and Laizhou also had to scrape three feet of the ground, and Dengzhou was even more utterly said. All the food could be eaten would probably be snatched away by the Qing army. In this way, Fang Dayou from Jinan was not sure how long it could be supported. Therefore, the Qing army was quick to make a quick decision, which was not conducive to a long battle.

The people of the East Coast saw the Qing army's actions of raising fire to build artillery positions last night. Li Renjun, the company commander of the 105th Army on duty that night, carefully estimated it and found that the Qing army's artillery positions were about 500 meters outside the south wall of Yantai Fort. This distance should be the best range of the Qing army's red-clothed cannons. At this distance, their artillery can send shells to the Yantai city wall without a large elevation angle, and it also has certain kinetic energy and destructive power.

In this way, their cannons should be much stronger than the ones that Sun Yuanhua initially cast. According to the shooting table given to him by the Westerners, the range of Sun Yuanhua's cannon at an elevation angle of 45 degrees was the largest, about 600 meters. In the 18th century more than a hundred years later, an 18-pound long-tube siege cannon of the British bombarded the Spanish city wall at a distance of 1,000 yards (more than 900 meters). The shells destroyed the city wall more than an inch, and were considered to be ineffective. As for many books in the late Ming Dynasty, the range of red-clothed cannons was simply exaggerated and nonsense among civil servants who did not do military affairs.

You should know that the Ming people were just imitating 12-pound naval guns, and the materials used were not as good as the original British artillery, and the range would be close or far. The best 12-pound naval guns of the East Coast people had the limit range of 1,600 meters, but there were very few such guns. The low diameter of a large number of equipment would not exceed 1,200 meters than the 12-pound naval guns, and the effective range was only about 800 meters. Therefore, the effective range of these red-clothed cannons (12 pounds) of the Qing army was as high as 500 meters, which surprised Li Renjun. They must have greatly increased the thickness and length of the cannon in order to increase the range of the artillery. I don’t know how heavy their cannons are, and it is estimated that it would be difficult to stop by one thousand pounds.

Last night, the Qing army had six places to raise fires to build artillery positions at the same time, all located outside the south city wall. As for the west city wall, they were going to cross the large swamp area of ​​the Dagujiahe floodplain. At this time, some areas had already begun to thaw. Every day, the sun was full of mud, and even people were difficult to leave, let alone cannons. As for the east city wall, the Qing army was not stupid enough to reach that point, and there were two naval armed transport ships parked in the harbor. Although they were not professional warships, there were more than ten artillery on one side of the two ships, and they were all heavy artillery with a long range. The Qing army did not dare to come here to find it uncomfortable. Therefore, the South City Wall became the place for the decisive battle between the two sides.

Li Wenchang learned the news when he replaced Li Renjun early this morning, and immediately went to the top of the city to urge the gunners to knock down the Qing army's artillery. The two shells are the prelude to the artillery fire of the East Coast artillery. After the two cannons were fired, several members of the artillery team immediately started to work, clear the chamber, reset, load the medicine bag, load the bullet, adjust the elevation angle of the gun barrel, and were extremely skillful. While they were busy, the cannons on the protruding parts on both sides of the city wall also began to fire.
Chapter completed!