Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 160 Array
In the early morning in the east of Guangzhou, the sound of horns rang out from both camps. Soldiers from both sides walked out of the camps and lined up on the banks of the Donghao River.

The Qing army decided to attack the camp last night, but before they could leave the camp, the Ming army cavalry scouts in the east of the city had already come to the camp and pressed in front of the camp gate.
Last night, the two sides had been engaged in small-scale cavalry battles, with almost no pause. By this morning, both sides had lost dozens of cavalrymen.
Under the harassment and surveillance of the Ming army, the Qing army's plan to evacuate overnight was naturally impossible to implement. The premise of evacuating overnight was that the enemy was unprepared, and they fled far away while the enemy had no time to react.
But last night the Ming army had almost reached the camp gate. Under such circumstances, the situation in the Qing army camp was almost clear to the Ming army.

If the Qing army had dared to continue to evacuate last night, as long as the Ming army followed and attacked, the more than 10,000 Qing troops would have been defeated immediately.

With the secret withdrawal plan failing, the only way for the Qing army to survive is to fight in formation and defeat the Ming army's reinforcements at the gate of the city.
Even if they could not defeat the enemy, they would at least defeat them severely, making it impossible for the Ming army to pursue them. Only in this way could they safely withdraw from the city.

Outside the East Moat, drums and flags were beating continuously, and soldiers from both sides lined up to wait.
Yesterday afternoon, Li Mingzhong had already led all 12,000 Wuxiang Army infantrymen to the city. Together with the 2,300 cavalrymen who had been sent out first, the Ming army now had 14,000 to 15,000 men, more than the Qing army which had only 11,000 men left.
Nearly a thousand carts were piled up outside the East City Gate. The city had also been busy the previous night. All the carriages in the city were fired and pushed out of the city after dawn.
After receiving the cart frames, the Ming army in Dongcheng pushed all the carts across the river and lined them up in front of the battle line.
At this time, in the Ming army formation, there was a cart parked every few meters, with simple horizontal wooden boards nailed to the front of the carts.
The army array was surrounded by carts, which formed a wooden wall in front of the array.
The Ming army was divided into two front formations of 3,000 men, and two rear formations on the left and right sides of the front formation.
The front and back formations were connected, forming a semicircular arc that bulged forward. In the middle was the 2,000 cavalry led by Li Mingzhong, Deng Yao, and Yang Yandi, who were firmly guarded by four infantry phalanxes.

The Qing army on the opposite side also had 3,000 men in a formation, with three infantry squares. One of these three infantry formations was in the front and the other two were in the back, vaguely surrounding the two Ming army infantry formations in the front.
The two cavalry units of the Qing army were divided into the left and right sides of the infantry formation. On the left were Li Chengdong's 800-plus cavalry, and on the right were Tong Yangjia's 2,000-plus cavalry.
The Ming army used wooden carts to form a chariot array on all four sides of the army formation, and lined up in front of the formation. Although the Qing army did not have so many chariots, they also nailed wooden boards on the grain carts to form a chariot array defense line in front of the formation.

At this time, the two sides were one mile apart, each had finished forming their battle array, and then both stood still.
The stalemate between the two sides lasted for more than half an hour.
The Qing army saw the Ming army forming a chariot formation, but they were unwilling to take the initiative to attack, wanting to wait for the Ming army to attack. Although the chariot formation had strong defense, it would be vulnerable as soon as it moved.

Although the Qing army had a good idea, how could the Ming army take the initiative to attack at this time? The reason why the Ming army lined up today was not to annihilate the enemy, but to delay these Qing troops and prevent them from withdrawing.

The commanders of the Ming army in the battle array had already received military orders. As long as the Qing army did not move, the Ming army would not move either. They could return to the camp at dusk. After nightfall, they would naturally harass the Qing army with cavalry scouts to continue to keep them under the city.
The Ming court officials and Li Mingzhong in the city had already made a plan to drag the Qing army to death under the city.
As long as Liu Qijiao leads the 10,000 imperial guards to arrive, the 30,000 men will be able to surround the 10,000 Qing troops in the northern camp. As long as they can surround them for three to five days, once the Qing troops are cut off from food, they will surely be defeated.

Yes, after Zhu Lang discussed with Jiao Lian and Li Mingzhong, he did not even plan to attack, but just wanted to surround and kill the 10,000 Qing troops in the camp north of the city.

This was the price Li Chengdong and his men paid for their surprise attack on Guangzhou. They were able to quickly conquer Guangdong Province with a single blow, but once they failed and were surrounded, they would immediately become isolated and infiltrated.

Although Huizhou and Chaozhou were occupied by the Qing army, there were no Qing troops between Chaozhou and Huizhou. Apart from the Huizhou Prefecture, there were several thousand troops under Li Shilian who surrendered to the Qing. Apart from them, Guangdong Province did not have any reinforcements.

Li Shilian was a new surrenderer. He surrendered at the sight of the Qing army. He would never have the courage to come all the way to rescue the Qing army under Guangzhou. If he was really so loyal and brave, why would he surrender to the Qing army?
Apart from Li Shilian's troops, the Qing troops closest to Tong Yangjia and others were either in Fujian Province or Jiangxi Province. No matter which place they were, they were thousands of miles away from Guangzhou City. By the time the Qing troops in these two provinces received the letter and rushed over, Tong Yangjia and others would probably have starved to death.

Therefore, after sorting out the situation of the Qing army under the city, Zhu Lang resolutely chose the safest method, which was to trap them to death and not give them a chance to turn the tables.

Jiao Lian, Li Mingzhong and others had no objection, because even if they chose this most reliable method, it would only take five or six days at most, and the Qing army under the city would definitely run out of food.
It can be said that Zhu Lang's desperate defense during these days finally gave the Ming army a chance to win a big victory. In this case, the Qing army could not even think of expecting the Ming army to attack.
The two sides lined up by the river, and an hour passed quickly, with no movement from either side.

The Ming army was determined to defend to the death, and the Qing army seemed unwilling to attack the hedgehog-like Ming army. During this period, the Qing army sent people to the front of the battle line several times to clamor for a fight, but the Ming army turned a deaf ear to them.

Seeing that the Ming army was indifferent, the Qing army sent a small group of cavalry to rush to the front of the battle and shoot arrows in an attempt to disrupt the Ming army's position.
More than a hundred Qing cavalrymen rushed to the front of the battle formation, but Yang Yandi also led more than two hundred armored guards to intercept them.

The Qing army, seeing that the Ming army had more soldiers, did not retreat at all, but charged at the Ming cavalry, and the cavalry of both sides immediately engaged in battle in front of the formation.

On the open ground outside the battle formation, the sound of horse hooves could be heard. The Qing army sent out elite Jurchen red-armored soldiers at this time. The two sides were dozens of meters apart. The Ming army began to shoot arrows, but the Jurchen soldiers kept their heads down and did not move. They actually rushed to thirty steps away under the rain of arrows, and then took out their strong bows and shot.

Nearly a hundred wolf-tooth heavy arrows whizzed past, and dozens of Ming soldiers fell down immediately. At this time, the Ming army stopped shooting arrows. Yang Yandi raised his saber, and the cavalry behind him also drew their waist knives and charged straight at the Qing army opposite.

The cavalry on both sides fought each other, and people and horses were thrown to the ground. Although there were only two or three hundred people fighting, the whole riverside was filled with fierce shouts of killing.

As the cavalry of both sides passed by each other, dozens of bodies fell to the ground, some from the Ming army and some from the Qing army.

The cavalrymen on both sides separated briefly, but then without stopping, they gathered together again and rushed towards each other. Blood was everywhere, and the horses collided with each other. The cavalrymen fell off their horses, but continued to draw their knives and continue to fight.
The shouts of killing echoed throughout the field, and all the soldiers became restless.

The two sides charged at each other twice, but in the end the Ming army had more cavalry. After the Qing army lost more than 30 cavalry, they finally rode their horses to the rear.
Yang Yandi led the cavalry to chase and kill, but suddenly a trumpet sounded from the rear. Yang Yandi listened to the trumpet sound from the rear, and then he pulled the reins of his horse unwillingly to stop the soldiers behind him.

"Cut off the head and return to the battle formation"

A dozen cavalrymen dismounted and cut down the Tartars on the ground. The dozens of Qing soldiers who had fled fled for a while, but when they saw that the Ming army had not caught up with them, they stopped and looked at Yang Yandi and others.
The Ming army here also stood in formation, waiting for the Ming army who dismounted and cut off their heads to return.

A group of Ming cavalrymen carried the severed heads of the Tatars and galloped around in front of the battle array to display them, before returning to the rear.
"Victory, victory!"

Seeing their own cavalry winning, the Ming army's morale suddenly soared, and they all shouted loudly. For a moment, the whole field was filled with the loud shouts of the Ming army.
Under the Qing army's flag, Tong Yangjia listened to the loud shouts of the Ming army opposite him, with a gloomy look on his face.

"Governor, the Ming army on the other side won't move. What should we do now?"

Li Yangchen spoke in a deep voice, and the generals under his command, such as Ye Chengen and Xu Guodong, also looked unhappy. The Ming army was clearly unwilling to move, but they could not afford to delay.

Tong Yangjia was silent for a long time, and finally spoke in a deep voice
"If they don't move, then we'll attack."

"The Ming army has always been weak, and our Qing soldiers are brave. As long as we fight on the battlefield, the Ming army will surely collapse at the first sight of weapons."

"Pass on my order. The first person to enter the enemy camp will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver and promoted three levels!"

Tong Yangjia spoke in a deep voice, but Li Yangchen and other generals below all looked at each other in silence.
But Tong Yangjia ignored everyone and issued military orders to each formation.
Soon, the sound of horns rang out, and the three phalanxes of the Qing army finally moved slowly and pressed towards the Ming army formation opposite.
(End of this chapter)