The guards then shouted several times before they woke Zeng Shanbao up who was sleeping.

"Damn it, what's going on in the middle of the night to find me?" Zeng Shanbao lifted the quilt from the bed and sat up, put on the clothes on the head of the bed. Qingmeng was suddenly disturbed and said to the guards a little impatiently.

"General, a team of people are approaching our army in the south, only ten kilometers away from our vanguard position!" The scout approached Zeng Shanbao's bed and half-kneeled down to salute.

"What, have you seen clearly who it is? Will Yan Lisan dare to launch an active attack on me?" Zeng Shanbao received a report telling him that Li Tiancheng's defense team in Songjiang County should not exceed 3,000 people at most, and before that, they were mainly guarding the house and protecting the factory area. They were not the opponent of the regular army he led. He knew that the other party was commanded by a young boy named Yan Lisan, and he didn't take them seriously, so after hearing the scouts, he couldn't believe his ears.

"How many of them are there?" Zeng Shanbao was born as a soldier after all, and the other party dared to move closer to him. It was probably a bit difficult. He immediately became a little alert again. His eyebrows raised and he woke up a little. He immediately got out of bed and put on his shoes, stood up and walked to the scouts.

"We can't see clearly in the night. There are about a few hundred people. They seem to be carrying some heavy equipment, weapons like cannons, and a team of people are inserting into the hills in the southeast of our army. The number of people is unknown, but they are not flanking our army, and their motives are unknown."

"A group of people came from our front, and another group of people surrounded us. Could it be that they wanted to surround me for 4,000 people? How could Yan Lisan have this strength?" Zeng Shanbao knew that the other party wanted to surround his team from two sides, but he couldn't believe that Yan Lisan would adopt such a reckless tactic. He had two thousand people stationed in Daying Town. If the two thousand people suddenly surrounded him, the troops that Yan Lisan inserted would be attacked by him on both sides, and he ended up being unable to steal the chicken and losing rice. He was immediately puzzled.

"In addition, from the news from the Tongdao Xiao Shan, they also found that a force was approaching their garrison, but when they discovered that the other party was only a dozen kilometers away from their defense zone, and then suddenly stopped moving forward, as if they were starting to arrange troops on the spot. I don't know what the purpose was?" The scout continued to report the dynamics they observed in front.

"In this way, they divided into three groups of people. Could it be that Yan Lisan has more than 3,000 people? Otherwise, how could he use so few people to surround my six thousand people?" Zeng Shanbao was still wondering whether the scouts he sent these days had not seen Yan Lisan's true strength.

The reason why Zeng Shanbao underestimated the total number of soldiers under Yan Lisan was because Yan Lisan ordered more than half of the troops to hide in the rear, and only more than 2,000 scouts were sent to the front position, and the cannons were hidden deep in the warehouse and not displayed, in order to show weakness to the other party and let the other party evaluate their strength lightly.

"Call all the generals and ask them to come to my barracks to discuss matters immediately. In addition, all the soldiers in the barracks gathered urgently." Although he still believed that the troops in his hands could deal with all emergencies, Zeng Shanbao began to feel a little nervous and immediately issued an emergency order.

"Enemy troops are coming, gather urgently!"

Then there were shouts in the Qing army's barracks, and the sleeping soldiers got up from the quilt, put on military uniforms, carried Mauser rifles to the playground to gather together, and began to count the number of people.

The battalion officials and generals at all levels of Zeng Shanbao rushed to his barracks one after another and stood neatly on both sides to listen to the orders. Everyone was a little surprised by the enemy's attack and looked at each other.

"Let the two thousand men in Xiao Shan be strictly guarded and defended. We must not let the enemy break through to the rear of our army easily, and let them divide a team of troops to form a clamping attack on the enemy who was inserted into the middle of our army..." Zeng Shanbao was a little confused at this time. He didn't know what Yan Lisan's intention was. He wanted to insert it behind his butt and cut off his retreat. But since the other party had the courage, he had to pay attention.

"Commander, Yan Lisan's men dared to take the initiative to attack our army. It was too arrogant and he simply ignored us. I asked for the initiative to attack Yan Lisan and let Yan Lisan know how powerful we are!" A battalion manager could no longer sit still, so he immediately took the initiative to ask for his order.

"Okay, order your troops to be the vanguard battalion to block the enemy's advance and fight a beautiful encounter!"

.........

Zeng Shanbao quickly made strategic arrangements. At this time, he did not take Yan Lisan seriously and ordered his troops to fight with the other side head-on and prepare to fight hard, and had no intention of escaping. This was exactly the situation Yan Lisan wanted to see.

The Second Artillery Battalion and Fourth Infantry Battalion on Yan Lisan's side have gradually approached Zeng Shanbao's garrison. About fifteen miles away, they stopped advancing and began to deploy troops.

"Report to the Chief of Staff, there are about 500 enemy vanguard battalions, rushing towards us!" The messenger continued to report on the enemy's battlefield dynamics.

"Okay, pass on my order to strike the front of the enemy's vanguard battalion with a small amount of artillery fire to curb the momentum of the enemy's advance. As long as the enemy stops advancing, the artillery fire will be reduced immediately until it stops!" Yan Lisan ordered the Second Artillery Battalion not to attack with all its might, but to stop the momentum of the opponent's advance. He did not want to use nearly 122 mm howitzers, cannons and medium-range mortars to scare the opponent and leave, so that his plan to eat all the opponent would be ruined.

"Order the Fifth Battalion to start attacking Xiao Shan's two thousand garrison troops with the maximum firepower, and first destroy the opponent's artillery position. Be sure to be fast and fast, and not give the opponent a chance to counterattack, nor can the opponent have a large group of troops moving closer to Zeng Shanbao's troops. Be sure to use the artillery back to cut off their connection with the southeast!"

When artillery attacks from a long distance, it has an absolute advantage over infantry, but once it is approached by the opponent to within a few hundred meters, it will almost become a slaughtered lamb. Although the artillery is equipped with some firearms, in terms of gun battles, it is far less powerful than the infantry's combat power.

One artillery battalion of Yan Lisan was equipped with thirty-eight howitzers, eight cannons, and forty light and medium-sized mortars, including 60 mm and 105 mm caliber mortars, which could strike targets within 30 kilometers of the enemy's targets from 100 meters away. If the enemy rushed to his camp, the cannon would completely lose its function.

Therefore, artillery soldiers generally do not fight alone and need to cooperate with infantry to carry out operations. Artillery soldiers are also equipped with a certain amount of rifles. When locals charge to the artillery position, in addition to using small-range mortars to suppress the opponent, they can also use rifles and machine guns to prevent the enemy from advancing.

"Boom! Boom! Boom...!"

With the release of Yan Lisan's order, fierce artillery fire suddenly sounded in the wild direction of Daying Town. Dozens of howitzers and cannons fired almost at the same time. This kind of howitzer that can fire more than six shells per minute cannons form a killing radius of about 30 meters after the shells landed on the ground, so it is very effective in attacking camps where the opponent's personnel are concentrated. The new army in Songjiang County only had cannons with a range of less than ten kilometers, and the total number was within 100. Xiao Shan's 2,000 people had thirty cannons, all of which were fifty-mm caliber steel cannons. Compared with the 122 mm howitzer, it was obviously a witch and beyond reach.

The continuous and dense sound of artillery fire suddenly sounded outside the wilderness of Han Daying Town, and the piercing flames spewed on the muzzles of dozens of cannons that were fired, majestic and spectacular.

After a while, the villagers nearby heard the sound of artillery fire and stood up outside the door to watch. Mars flew past the sky, and the roar was constantly deafening. Some of them knew about the confrontation between the court and Li Tiancheng, and immediately speculated that the two sides had exchanged fire, but the positions of both sides were in the wild at this time and generally did not hurt the local villages.

"Reported to Xiao Tong-led, our barracks were attacked by fierce artillery fire, and soldiers suffered heavy casualties. The artillery positions were first hit by artillery fire, and nearly half of the thirty cannons have been lost."

The commander Xiao Shan had just held an emergency meeting and the deployment was completed. He was about to send a team of people to block Yan Lisan's first and third infantry battalions in accordance with Zeng Shanbao's order. However, before the operation was launched, the sound of artillery fire sounded from the connection area of ​​his team to the southeast. The entire area was completely covered by the opponent's artillery fire, and the opponent's artillery fire continued to hit the back of his own barracks, and the entire barracks were immersed in the roar of artillery fire.

In terms of the Fifth Artillery Battalion, the artillery on the position was calculating the data sent back by the reconnaissance squad, correcting the shooting elements, and adjusting the sights to make the landing point of the shells more accurate. Then, one shell after another rages wildly in the enemy camp with more accurate landing points, and screams came from the opponent's position.

"What should I do, Xiao Tonglai?" The guard shouted anxiously from the side. The shells fell on the area around them, and the deafening sound of cannons hit their hearts like a heavy hammer.
Chapter completed!