Zhang Tianbao is now the acting battalion officer of the right battalion of the Grenadier Regiment. In order to get rid of the word "acting" as soon as possible, he really worked hard.

Among the regiments and camps of Yang Zhen's advance army for the Eastern Expedition, whether it was the musketeer regiment commanded by Zhang Chen or the grenadier regiment commanded by Li Lu, the promotion of a general to officer-rank officer also depends on seniority, but more emphasis is placed on military merit.

People like Zhang Tianbao were recruited from Hejian Prefecture to join the army. When they first joined Yang Zhen's command, they were able to become the commander-in-chief because of Yan Shengsan's credit.

However, since then, Zhang Tianbao's step-by-step promotion from general to Qianzong, from Qianzong to garrison, and then to acting battalion officer of the right battalion of the Grenadier Regiment was all due to his own hard work.

As for the general officers who were recruited into the army and joined Yang Zhen in the same batch as him, such as Wang Jun, Wang Yuyou, Yu Keji and others, most of them are now in the position of General Qian, continuing to polish their qualifications and waiting for opportunities.

The reason why Zhang Tianbao was able to surpass others and go ahead of them, apart from Shangguan Li Lu's recommendation, mainly relied on his quick mind and courage, and he fought hard and was not afraid of death.

The selection and employment standards of Yang Zhen and his major generals naturally also affected the middle and lower-level officers and soldiers of various regiments and battalions of the entire advance army for the Eastern Expedition.

Therefore, every time when a war was about to come, the advance army for the Eastern Expedition did not need Yang Zhen or Zhang Chen at all. Li Lu and others could gather their troops to preach and encourage them, so that they could maintain high morale.

Because Zhang Tianbao stood out and settled in Hejian Mansion, and others like Zhang Tianbao were quickly promoted due to their military exploits, this inspired all the middle and lower-level soldiers in the regiments and battalions of the Eastern Expedition Army.

Therefore, although the night of October 26, the 13th year of Chongzhen was cold and long, the morale of the defenders in the east and west walls of Zhenjiang Fort remained high.

For them, the upcoming war is not only a test of life and death, but also an opportunity to make achievements and achieve success.

Amidst the rumbling of cannons from the east and west cities, and in an atmosphere of tension, anxiety, and excitement, the morning light suddenly appeared on the top of Zhenjiang Fort, and the golden sunrise on October 27, the 13th year of Chongzhen finally appeared in the east on the horizon.

Yang Zhen arrived at the city gate of Tangshan Gate early, holding up a telescope and looking westward.

Because long before the morning sun rose on the eastern horizon, on the snowy fields to the west of Zhenjiang Fort City, and inside and outside the deep trench and long fort about three miles away from the city, there were already large armies of Qing captives.

"The governor's plan has worked, the Qing army is about to attack!"

Standing next to Yang Zhen, the commander-in-chief of the West City Defense Zhang Chen put down his telescope, looked at Yang Zhen who was watching the formation silently, and said with complicated emotions.

The reason why Zhang Chen was in a complicated mood was because the scene in front of him was completely brought about by his own governor. However, facing the well-organized and formidable Qing army, even though Zhang Chen was full of confidence in defending the city, he could not bear it. I can't help but worry about what might happen.

Once there is any unforeseen failure, it will really be like shooting oneself in the foot!

When Yang Zhen heard what Zhang Chen said, he put down his telescope and turned to look at him. Seeing that his face was tired and his expression was solemn, he immediately understood the meaning of his words.

However, just as Zhang Chen complained vaguely in his words, the scene in front of him can be regarded as being caused by Yang Zhen.

A situation like this, to put it nicely, is asking for benevolence and you will get benevolence, but to put it badly, it is asking for a hammer and you will get a hammer.

"It's a blessing, not a curse. There's no way to avoid disaster. What's supposed to come will always come."

Anyone else could complain about the scene in front of him, but Yang Zhen couldn't complain at all, because he had done all this himself.

Therefore, after saying this, Yang Zhen quickly changed the subject, looked at Zhang Chen, and asked: "Based on your observation, how many people can the Qing Dynasty siege army have this time?

"

"Looking at the strength of this formation, I'm afraid there are no less than 30,000 horse infantry. After excluding those who raided the rear of the Qing Dynasty and supervised the battle, as well as those who commanded the artillery from the Qing Dynasty artillery battalion, the number of troops directly charging into the city should be no less than 20,000!"

Facing Yang Zhen's inquiry, Zhang Chen immediately told the results of his observations and calculations.

After hearing Zhang Chen's answer, Yang Zhen did not comment, but looked back at Li Lu and Yang Shen who were following behind, and asked them:

"What do you think?"

Li Lu and Yang Shen looked at each other, bowed and clasped their fists together and said, "I agree with Vice General Zhang's judgment and have no objection!"

"Well. In that case, let's talk about it, how should we deal with it?"

Although Yang Zhen, a time-traveler, doesn't know how to observe the formation, and he doesn't have the ability to observe the enemy's formation, Zhang Chen, the old man, does.

At the same time, people like Li Lu and Yang Shen were not bad either. Their fathers were in the frontier army, and they themselves had been in the army since they were young. They had learned a lot from what they heard and saw.

Since the three of them had reached an agreement, it was not far from the truth, so Yang Zhen had nothing to say and directly asked them about their countermeasures.

The reason why Yang Zhen asked this was not because Yang Zhen himself had no countermeasures, but because the superiors used a technique used by their subordinates.

It is far better for superiors to directly issue orders and ask subordinates to implement them than to let subordinates put forward suggestions for implementation and then have superiors approve their implementation.

Because even if the orders issued by superiors are completely consistent with the suggestions put forward by subordinates, the results of top-down and bottom-up execution are often very different.

It is not difficult to understand this truth as long as you stay up all night and learn about the sophistication of people in the workplace.

After all, there is a difference between my superiors ordering me to do this and my own request to do so, at least in terms of the conscious initiative of execution.

Of course, at this moment, with a powerful enemy in front of him, Yang Zhen is not playing tricks on his trusted generals, but he has already formed such a habit and will do it consciously or unconsciously.

And these few of his confidants were obviously used to Yang Zhen's routine, so as soon as Yang Zhen opened his mouth, someone immediately put forward his own suggestions.

"Captain, isn't our original purpose to rely on city defenses and the close combat weapons in our hands to eliminate a large number of Qinglu Banner Camp's effective forces?"

The first person to stand up and put forward his own suggestions for the response was Li Lu, the deputy general of the Central Army of the Advance Army for the East Expedition and the leader of the Grenadier Regiment Battalion.

"So, of course, this battle involves bringing the enemy closer. Even if the enemy completely destroys Wengcheng, it won't matter. Our troops have been resting for a long time, have sufficient ammunition, and are condescending. There is no reason why we can't defend it!"

"That's right, Governor, what Lieutenant General Li said is true. If the Qing captives destroy Waiweng City and dare to attack in a large scale, then all the Qing captives within the range of my defenders will be killed!"

As soon as Li Lu finished speaking, Yang Shen also stood up. He first agreed with Li Lu's fighting style, and then talked about the use of the artillery regiment and battalion he led.

"As for the artillery regiment battalion under my command, I thought that the heavy artillery battalion and the sky artillery battalion could be used in turn. As long as the Qing captives approached the city wall, they could use the sky artillery deployed under the city wall in large quantities. Their explosive shells would definitely destroy the enemy.

Massive killing!

"If the Qing Dynasty's siege troops and horses attack the city and it is difficult to control it, we can use the thirty Hongyi heavy artillery that we have deployed in the West City at any time to cut off the siege enemy from its rear!"

"Very good, that's exactly what you should do!"

Faced with Li Lu and Yang Shen's suggestions, Yang Zhen immediately agreed. At the same time, the little worry in his heart immediately disappeared.

Of course, Yang Zhen didn't forget to ask Zhang Chen's opinion.

"Zhang Chen, you are the commander-in-chief of the West City Defense. What do you think? Can it be done like this?"

Zhang Chen was speechless for Yang Zhen's knowingly asking questions, but when Yang Zhen asked him for his opinion in public, he had to answer, so he smiled and said:

"I totally agree! The muskets of our army's musketry regiment, the flying generals of the grenadiers' regiment and the enemy's tens of thousands of enemies, and the cannons and shells of our artillery regiment are all close combat weapons. Aren't they designed for close combat?"

Zhang Chen first expressed his agreement with the playing methods Li Lu and Yang Shen said, and then thought about it and felt that since Yang Zhen had opened his mouth to ask, it would be better to put forward some suggestions of his own, so he paused briefly and added

:

"However, I have a little bit of perspective on the use of sky cannons. Currently, there are three outposts and ninety cannons, which are concentrated within the city wall. Originally, it was to avoid being damaged when the Qing Dynasty's heavy artillery shelled the city.

It can be said.

"However, the Qing Dynasty's attack on the city is imminent. When the Qing Dynasty's cavalry and infantry charge into the city, their heavy artillery will not easily hit the city wall. Regardless of the damage caused by our sky-high artillery, can one of the posts be posted on the city?"

Yang Shen is the commander-in-chief of the artillery regiment. It stands to reason that Yang Shen should make recommendations on the use of the heavy artillery battalion dedicated to long-range bombardment and the sky-high artillery battalion dedicated to close-combat bombing.

However, after all, Zhang Chen is the commander-in-chief of Xicheng Defense appointed by Yang Zhen and has an overview of Xicheng's defense, so it is not beyond his authority to make some suggestions on the use of the Sky Cannon Battalion.

"Yeah. Not bad. Yang Shen, what do you think?"

It was Yang Zhen's previous order to arrange the three outpost gunners of the Soaring Cannon Battalion to defend the west city and line them up under the city wall.

This was done on the one hand to hide the strength of the city's defense, and on the other hand, it was also done to avoid being destroyed by the Qing's heavy artillery.

Now Yang Zhen himself has no objections, and Yang Shen certainly won't have any objections either.

"I agree. But if you want to move a guard post to the city, you have to implement it now. Judging from my humble position, I am afraid that the Qing prisoners will start to attack the city soon!"

As if to match what Yang Shen said, as soon as Yang Shen finished speaking, there was a loud roar in the snowy fields in the west of the city.

Yang Zhen quickly turned around, raised his telescope to look, and saw bursts of gunpowder smoke rising again from the Qinglu artillery array, which had suspended shelling at dawn.

"Okay! That's it. Yang Shen, is Sun Dengxuan the commander-in-chief of your regiment?"

"Exactly! I just have a soaring gunner at the moment!"
Chapter completed!