The first attacks of the merchant army were Pipa Mountain and Zhenwu Mountain. The merchant army had a lot of experience in siegeing the city, but there was not much experience in attacking the mountain. Although they had once attacked Xianxia Ridge in Fujian, the scale of that attack was not large, and there were not many Qing army defenders. ///// When fighting Nanjing, Hao Jiaozhong, who was guarding Qi Baoshan, handed over the position, so he did not engage in the mountain attack. He attacked Qingliang Mountain and Xiaowutai Mountain in Nanjing. However, those were small hills in the city, which were actually just a small slope. This was actually the first time for a large-scale mountain attack.

At the same time, the Qing army would send some soldiers to guard each mountain, ranging from a thousand to two or three hundred. Although this would cause the Qing army to disperse its forces, because there were too many hills, more than twenty large and small, the merchant army could not attack one by one. If only one hill was attacked, the Qing soldiers on other hills would launch attacks on the merchant army from all sides for a long time. Because they were not familiar with the terrain, the merchant army could not ambush the Qing army, so they could only disperse their troops into units of battalions and launch an attack on four or five hills at the same time.

Although they were mentally prepared for the mountain where the fortifications were repaired, after the battle was really started, the soldiers of the merchant army discovered that the difficulties were far greater than they imagined. Although the mountain was not as vertical as the city wall and could climb upwards, it was much higher than the city wall. The mountain road was very steep and the heavy medium-sized artillery could not be transported upwards. The use of thunder rockets also caused great damage to the evacuation process because of the attack below. Therefore, the firepower support was small, and the soldiers could only launch an attack on the upwards.

The Qing army guarding the mountain prepared a large number of stones and rolling woods. When the soldiers of the merchant army attacked, they threw them down like raindrops. The soldiers of the merchant army were also smashed to death and their tendons were broken and bones were broken. Therefore, almost every mountain attacked, they would encounter demolition. Even if they rushed to the Qing army's position, because the Qing army had the advantage of being conquered, they could also use the force of the mountain to repel the attack of the merchant army. As a result, after a day of attack, they did not even capture a mountain. They lost nearly two thousand troops, and more than a thousand people were injured.

The next day, the merchant army of various branches also changed their attack methods, not just attacking fiercely. Some brought small artillery and shoulder-mounted rocket launchers. After rushing to the position of the Qing army, they braved the stones and rolled the woods and launched an attack on the position of the Qing army; some pretended to attack, which was actually to lead the Qing army to throw stones and roll the woods downwards, and then launched a real attack when the Qing army was almost thrown away; or they took advantage of the Qing army's unpreparedness and suddenly launched a fierce attack, forcing the Qing army to break out of the position and engage in hand-to-hand combat, and the subsequent troops followed up quickly and encircled and annihilated the Qing army with the advantage of the number of people.

After improving the tactics, the attack of the family army indeed achieved some results and finally attacked several hills. However, despite this, the battle was still very difficult. Almost every hill had to be attacked twice or three times before it could be captured. Moreover, the Qing army even launched several counterattacks on local battlefields. One hill changed hands three or four times before it was finally occupied by the merchant army.

In Li Dingguo's camp, on the sand table where the trial battle was performed, some mountain models had repeatedly changed the flag mark on the surface, and the result was dense, with small eyes, shaped like honeycombs.

The battle lasted until the third day, when the Shang army captured the positions of Pipa Mountain and Zhenwu Mountain. At this time, several mountain tops including Fenghuang Mountain, Yanghu Mountain, Hutou Mountain, Tiemao Mountain, Wenbi Peak were under the control of the Qing army. However, the Shang army was injured and killed, and the combat reduction was more than 5,000. At the same time, Luke Dehun, who was stationed in Xiangyang, also sent three thousand reinforcements to the Nanshan battlefield to further enhance the defense of the remaining mountain tops.

At this time, in the camp of the merchant army, several main generals were also discussing urgently whether to reconsider the combat plan to attack Xiangyang.

He Chong, the commander of the Seventh Army, believed that the Qing army was too strict in the mountains outside the city, and the Shang family army also lacked the experience of attacking the mountains. In this way, fighting with the Qing army one by one for the surrounding mountains consumed both time and damage ammunition and military strength. However, if the mountains in the south of the city were not captured, it would be difficult to get close to the city gate in Xiangyang. However, after capturing the mountain, if the ammunition and military strength were consumed too much, the attack would not be enough. Therefore, it is recommended that Zhongzhen Camp attack the mountains, while consuming the Qing army's troops, while resting the attacking troops. After Zhongzhen Camp surrendered to the Shang family army, it should also behave.

However, Li Mou did not object to let Zhongzhen Camp go to war, but he opposed to using Zhongzhen Camp as a consumable, because Zhongzhen Camp's combat effectiveness and experience were not as good as that of the merchant army. If they attacked the mountain, they could only increase casualties, and it was not conducive to the work done in the early stage to surrender Zhongzhen Camp. However, Li Mou proposed another plan and dispatched Zhongzhen Camp, but launched a detailed attack on Zhushan in the south of the city, and changed the main attack direction to Fancheng on the north bank of the Han River. After capturing Fancheng, he would cross the Han River to the north to attack Xiangyang, so that he could bypass Zhushan in the south of the city.

Li Dingguo was a little moved by the suggestion put forward by Li Mou. In the current situation, this is also a workaround.

But Huang Qingwen, the commander of the Eighth Army, admitted that no matter how difficult the battle is, is it comparable to Huangzhou, Hubei? He has persisted in such a difficult situation. Do you still care about what is in front of you? Besides, there are difficulties for both sides. At this time, it depends on the fighting will of both sides. You should continue to attack without worrying about casualties in order to achieve complete victory.

Just when several people were still chaotic, the guards from Mén came in to report that it was Li Guo from Zhongzhen Camp who was seeking a visit to Gao Yigong.

Everyone was also a little surprised and didn't understand what happened to Li Guo and Gao Yigong at this time. But Li Dingguo still ordered them to come in.

After Li Guo and Gao Yigong made a visit and greeted everyone, Li Guocai said: "Commander Li, Chief of Staff, I think the battle between our merchant army in attacking Xiangyang is very difficult now."

Li Dingguo nodded, but did not hide it. After all, the battle was obvious, so he briefly explained the difficulties he was facing now, and also explained Li Mou's suggestions.

After hearing this, Li Guo and Gao Yigong took a step forward and said, "Commander, Chief of Staff, all the commanders, I know there is a small path that can bypass the current Fenghuang Mountain, Yanghu Mountain, Hutou Mountain and other mountains, and lead directly to the west mén of Xiangyang. I wonder if this will be useful to you."

It turned out that when Li Zicheng was appointed to serve in Xiangyang in the 16th year of Chongzhen (1643), Gao Yigong was appointed to station in Xiangyang. He stationed here for nearly a year and was very familiar with the terrain of this area, so he knew that there was such a small path.
Chapter completed!