Chapter 737 The More the Better!

Marshal Lin looked at the Taihe River behind Daoshan City again and asked Ma Gui: "Do you think there is water on the mountain?"

Ma Gui pointed to a trench leading to the mountain city and replied: "From the topography, this mountain is not big, and there should be no water source.

That's why the Japanese pirates dug this trench to divert the water of Taihe River into the mountain city, and built stone barriers on the trench for protection."

Marshal Lin said thoughtfully: "The terrain here is also difficult to attack, but you can try to find some dead mules and horses and throw them into the trench!"

This poisonous plan to pollute the water source may not have obvious effects in a short time.

But who knows whether the siege will become a long-term siege? Marshal Lin is also preparing for both situations.

After personally surveying the terrain of Daoshan City, Lin Tailai saw that there was still some time, so he ordered a general cannon to be pulled in to conduct a trial bombardment of Daoshan City at close range.

The result was not very ideal, because Daoshan City was high in terrain, and flat shooting could not hit the city, and hitting the mountain was not very useful. But if the cannon is lifted too high, it will be difficult to aim and shoot into the city.

In fact, the mountain itself is not very high, perhaps only a hundred meters, or even less.

But this situation of attacking from the bottom of the mountain to the top is indeed very unfavorable for the cannon.

So Lin Dashuai sighed to Ma Gui: "It seems that the Japanese pirates have fought so many battles with our army, and they have also gained experience and know how to restrain our advantages as much as possible."

Ma Gui suggested: "The northwest direction is Hecheng Mountain. You can try to pull the heavy artillery to Hecheng Mountain and bombard the Dosan City.

The main camp of the army is at the foot of Hecheng Mountain. You can try it when you go back."

So Lin Dashuai ordered the troops to retreat. The main military operations today ended, the outer strongholds of the Japanese pirates were cleared, and the old city of Ulsan was recovered.

After returning to the main camp, the government army transported another 20 general cannons to Hecheng Mountain.

Then these heavy artillery were aimed at the direction of Dosan City. After adjusting the muzzle angle with the experience of the gunners, they bombarded fiercely for a while.

At this distance, the effect of the artillery bombardment is no longer clear, and can only be judged by the reaction of the Japanese army on Shimayama Castle.

Marshal Lin and General Ma both stood on a high place and carefully observed Shimayama Castle, but saw that the Japanese soldiers defending the city were not affected and continued to do what they should do.

Ma Gui retracted his gaze and said, "It should be that the Shimayama Castle was not hit. We need to continue to adjust the muzzle."

The accuracy of artillery in this era is still quite touching. It is normal to miss the target in a test shot.

So after adjusting the muzzle angle, another round of bombardment was carried out on Shimayama Castle.

This time the effect was very obvious, but the Japanese soldiers in Sannomaru and Ninomaru on Shimayama Castle seemed to be in a state of panic, running around like headless flies.

Ma Gui said with a happy face: "This time it hit! Tomorrow, bring up all the general cannons, and fire at the same angle!"

Under the deliberate mobilization of Marshal Lin, there are about 400 heavy artillery pieces in Ulsan at this time, most of which are general cannons, and a small number are tiger squat cannons, all of which are vehicle-mounted, with more than 200,000 pounds of various ammunition.

However, Marshal Lin did not respond to General Ma's words, and still looked at the Dosan City and pondered in silence.

"Is there anything wrong?" Ma Gui asked.

Marshal Lin pointed to the Dosan City in the distance and said: "Now the Japanese pirates are not the Japanese pirates who just fought with the heavenly soldiers. They should have adapted to the artillery. Why are they so panicked?"

Ma Gui was at a loss. What's the problem? What does the Marshal want to express? "

Lin Tailai frowned and said: "The Japanese have always been cunning, and they are also good at learning and summarizing. We can't always look at it based on old experience.

Is it possible that the heavy artillery actually hit the Dosan City when it was first tested just now? Did the Japanese soldiers just stay still to confuse us?

The second test shot did not hit Daoshan Castle, but the Japanese soldiers pretended to run around in panic to deceive us into thinking they hit it?

If we were fooled, we would have continued to bombard with the angle of the second test shot, which actually had no killing power at all. ”

Ma Gui: “.”

It was just a simple and rough artillery bombardment, but did you have to play tricks to this extent?

Marshal Lin instructed: “When the city is officially attacked, bombard with the angle of the first test shot first to see the actual effect.

I don’t believe that when it comes to actual combat, the Japanese soldiers can still remain calm and not move at all when facing precise artillery bombardment. ”

Ma Gui agreed first, and then said: “In short, the heavy artillery can definitely hit Daoshan Castle from Hecheng Mountain, which is a good thing.

It’s just that Hecheng Mountain is inconvenient to communicate with the siege front, and it’s more difficult to coordinate with the siege troops. I’m afraid that they can’t fight a few rounds a day. "

Marshal Lin did not answer, thinking silently in his heart.

When coming down from Hecheng Mountain, Marshal Lin suddenly said to Ma Gui: "Old Ma! You did a great job! You made up for my negligence!"

Ma Gui was extremely flattered when he heard this!

Marshal Lin, who has always been very picky, actually praised him so directly. How much merit did he have to accumulate to get this?

Commander Ma, who was completely unprepared, responded incoherently: "If I did something wrong, I will continue next time! , No, if I did something well, I will correct it next time!"

Marshal Lin added in detail: "I want to say that you did a great job in taking in the Korean volunteers!"

General Ma was confused from the bottom of his heart. Two days ago, the Marshal complained that he had taken in more than 3,000 useless Korean volunteers. Why did he praise him again today?

Why was the Marshal so fickle in his mood?

However, as an old military leader, General Ma soon guessed that he wanted to use Korean soldiers as cannon fodder to fill the passage of Daoshan City.

However, with the fighting will and level of the Korean soldiers, General Ma did not think they had the ability to attack the city.

Then he heard Marshal Lin say: "Are there any Korean volunteers nearby? Let's take them all together for the time being. We don't need this little bit of military rations at the moment."

In the next two days, the Ming Dynasty's official army had been making special preparations for attacking Daoshan City, actively deploying artillery positions on Hecheng Mountain, and conducting several rounds of test firing from time to time.

At the same time, the official army took in more than 500 Korean volunteers who came to surrender, and the total number of volunteers reached more than 3,700.

It is said that there are still many volunteers who are eager to surrender to the Ming Dynasty's official army, and they are on their way.

Although Lin Tianshuai's image among the upper class of the Kingdom of Korea became increasingly controversial, he still had food in his hands.

In this spring when there was a shortage of food, as long as they were taken in by the Ming army, they would be guaranteed to have food to eat and would not starve to death.

Lin Tianshuai divided 3,700 people into four death squads, each with 800 people.

The remaining hundreds of people formed a supervision team, seemingly to implement the rule of the court, which made many Koreans feel relieved.

Two days later, in the morning, after the army had a full meal, Ma Gui's troops were in the front and Li Rubai's troops were in the west to encircle the Dosan Castle.

At the same time, the standard camp Ye Bangrong's troops were sent to the upper reaches of the Taihe River for alert and surveillance to prevent the Japanese troops in Xishengpu from coming to support by boat.

At the specified time, 300 artillery pieces on Hecheng Mountain fired several rounds at the Dosan Castle.

After the sound of the artillery stopped, the Ming army rushed up from the front and the west to conduct a tentative siege.

It has to be said that this kind of Japanese-style mountain castle is indeed much more difficult to attack than a normal city.

Generally, the walls of a city are built on flat ground, and the attack is also from flat ground. Fortresses like Shimayama Castle can only be attacked along the mountain road, and the difficulty can be imagined.

Moreover, the Japanese army set up a large number of shooting holes on the wall completely according to habit, so that intensive shooting can be carried out with fire guns.

At this time, Marshal Lin did not pay attention to leading the troops, but only supervised the battle back and forth.

Although the Shimayama Castle in front of him is definitely not as strong as the Shimayama Castle in the original history due to the limited construction time.

But the terrain advantage is here, and it is difficult to attack.

From morning to noon, the Ming official army rotated three times, but still failed to capture the Sannomaru at the bottom of Shimayama Castle.

Marshal Lin ordered to suspend the attack and let the soldiers eat first to replenish their physical strength.

Then he called several Korean volunteer soldiers whose names he could not remember, and instructed them: "My Ming soldiers do not support those who eat for free!"

After several volunteer soldiers looked at each other, they all bowed their heads and pretended to be stupid.

Lin Tianshuai continued: "My Ming soldiers took turns to attack the city in the morning. Now they are tired and need to rest. It is your turn to attack the city!"

Several volunteer soldiers sighed. What is coming will always come. The heavenly soldiers feed their volunteer soldiers and will definitely make them work hard.

Look at the correct version one by one!

There is no point in continuing to play dumb. They can't refuse the order from Tianshuai.

Then he heard Lin Tianshuai say: "Now the Japanese pirates are about to be completely wiped out, and there is no government management in Jeolla Province and Gyeongsang Province.

If you can climb the Japanese city and make merit, this general can make the decision and support you to take charge of the military and political affairs of various places."

No matter whether the pie is true or not, Lin Tianshuai has put on the attitude of rewarding meritorious service.

There was nothing more to say, and nearly 4,000 Korean volunteers lined up under the mountain city and were ready to go.

The leaders of the volunteers did not need to communicate too much, and they could understand each other's thoughts with just a glance.

Although they were forced to fight on the front line, they did not have to risk their lives too much. The most important thing was to save their lives.

As for the siege, they just pretended to fight under the city wall and made a few gestures.

Even the elite Ming army fought for a whole morning and failed to break the city. Do they still expect these volunteers to break the city?

At noon, the artillery on Hecheng Mountain launched a large-scale bombardment on Daoshan City again according to the order.

After the bombardment stopped, the Korean volunteers raised huge shields and long ladders, carried bows and arrows, muskets, and burning tools, and rushed up the mountain road.

Especially at the double-layer city gate that protruded from the side, a fierce offensive and defensive battle was launched.

It was said to be fierce, maybe the shouts of these volunteers were more intense.

Standing at the foot of the mountain and looking far away, everything seemed to be a replica of the morning.

General Ma said helplessly to Marshal Lin who was silently supervising the battle: "These Korean volunteers are really not good at fighting. Sending them to attack the city is a waste of time.

I took them in because I originally expected them to help transport supplies and build camps. I really didn't expect them to fight."

Before he finished speaking, there was a thunderous and dense artillery sound from the direction of Hecheng Mountain.

The three hundred heavy artillery on Hecheng Mountain suddenly began to bombard fiercely again, and the artillery sound was even more intensive than the previous two times.

Ma Gui was shocked and said subconsciously: "Why are they firing again?"

Our officers and soldiers are still attacking the city. At this time, a large-scale artillery attack means that we will attack the enemy city together with our own troops.

Is there a problem with command and coordination, so this huge mistake was made?

Marshal Lin had a blank expression on his face, unmoved, and stared at the direction of Daoshan City.

The volunteers who were attacking the city heard the sound of the cannon and saw the craters not far away.

After being confused, they turned around and ran down the mountain without any orders. Even the supervisors turned around and ran back without caring about military discipline.

But as soon as the volunteers ran to the foot of the mountain, they saw rows of Ming Dynasty soldiers in the distance, holding hundreds of three-eyed guns at them.

Several interpreters rode back and forth on horseback, shouting in Korean: "The commander has ordered! Those who retreat will be killed without mercy! Only by climbing the city can you survive!"

There were still hundreds of volunteers who continued to rush over, and the two teams of Ming Dynasty soldiers holding three-eyed guns fired without hesitation.

The effect of the three-eyed gun is a bit like the shotguns of later generations, which can kill a large area with one shot. After more than a hundred three-eyed guns fired at the same time, hundreds of stubborn volunteers fell to the ground one after another.

Several interpreters shouted together: "Attack the city! Attack the city! Only by climbing the city wall can you survive!

As long as you climb the city wall alive, the officials of the state, county, village and village will be rewarded according to your merits!"

Located in such a narrow geographical environment, the volunteers could not flee in all directions.

Under the death threat of the Ming Dynasty soldiers, the three thousand Korean volunteers were helpless and had no choice.

They could only turn around again, pick up the discarded giant shields and equipment, and attack upward again under the fierce artillery fire of friendly forces.

Most of the Japanese soldiers defending the city wall looked for shelters facing the direction of Hecheng Mountain to avoid the artillery fire.

The Japanese soldiers on guard saw the enemy army rushing up to attack the city again. Even before they rushed to the wall, dozens of enemy soldiers were knocked to the ground by their own artillery shells, and their lives and deaths were unknown. At this time, the mentality of the Japanese soldiers was a little confused.

What kind of Kamikaze Death Squad is this? If the Korean soldiers were so brave, why did they lose eight roads in a row last year?

So a spectacle appeared on the battlefield. The enemy and our side fought fiercely on the wall, braving the bombardment of at least a hundred heavy artillery without distinguishing between enemy and friend.

More than half an hour later, Marshal Lin, who was taking a nap in the tent behind, seemed to hear cheers.

Ma Gui, who was supervising the battle outside, came in and excitedly reported: "The group of volunteers really broke through the first layer of the city wall! The Japanese soldiers retreated to the second layer one after another!"

Marshal Lin stood up, "Quickly send the reserve troops to follow up and attack, expand the results of the battle!"

Ma Gui hurriedly said: "The reserve troops have been sent up!"

Marshal Lin asked again with concern: "How many people are left in the volunteers, and are they still able to continue the siege?"

Ma Gui smiled bitterly and said: "The casualties have not been counted yet, but it is said that less than a thousand people are alive."

General Ma didn't know how to comment on this. He had been a general for decades and had never encountered such a use of troops.

It was extremely cold-blooded and cruel, equivalent to directly exchanging more than 2,000 lives for a city wall, but it really worked.

Marshal Lin sighed and said with regret: "These Korean volunteers are also heroes!

Afterwards, they should be buried properly. I will personally write an eulogy to commemorate them, and then carve a monument here as a memorial.

For such heroes, we should recruit as many as possible, Lao Ma, you have to pay attention.

When I use soldiers, the more the better!"