Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 295 Suilin
Nearly 10,000 Qing troops lined up outside Bozhou City. After all the troops had finished lining up, several Qing cavalrymen also rushed towards Bozhou City with their pigtails dragging.

"The Ming court's Regent Gui is in the city. My Great Qing Prince Su General Haoge has come as invited. You have invited my Great Qing to a hunting party. Now that my Great Qing has arrived, why is Regent Gui hiding in the city and has disappeared?"

In the Qing army formation, Haugenikan and others stood under the general's flag, looking at the city wall in the distance. At this time, the Qing army formation was seven or eight miles away from the city wall, and even the red cannon could not reach this place.

Although Hauge sent people to the city to make a call, he did not expect the Ming army to respond.

The Ming army occupied the city wall at this time, and there were cannons on the top of the city. The Ming army would be crazy to abandon the fortified city and cannons and go out of the city to fight the Qing army in the field.
Hauge was well prepared for this. It was impossible to attack the city, but he had vowed to wipe out the Ming army in Bozhou, so it would be unreasonable for him not to come at this time.

The elite troops under his command must not be wasted here. Although Aobai Mandahai and others followed him, they would definitely not let their elite troops die.
But it doesn't matter. The Manchu soldiers can't attack the city, but we still have the Green Camp Han soldiers and Han people.

Haoge has already made a plan. If the Ming army does not leave the city today, he will send the Green Camp Han soldiers and a group of surrendered Han people to attack the city tomorrow. If a few thousand people die, he can give an explanation to the court.

The Ming imperial guards were defending the city and refused to come out. Haoge had done his best to attack the city walls, and thousands of people were killed and injured. It was not his fault. You couldn't let my Eight Banners warriors attack against the city walls.

When the imperial court's food, salaries and artillery arrived from Hanzhong, he could withdraw his troops in the name of rest and recuperation. Not only the Ming army would fire a shot in battle, but the Qing army would also do so.

Haoge was thinking about the follow-up plan in his mind, but soon after those Qing cavalrymen shouted, the north gate of Bozhou suddenly opened, and then countless soldiers poured out of the city.
The Ming army finished their battle formation against the city wall, and then they slowly marched towards the Qing army to the sound of drums. When the two armies were about three miles apart, the Ming army stopped and began to line up.

The Ming army had 4,000 men in each group and deployed two chariot arrays, with 1,500 cavalry on each side.

The two imperial guards of the Ming army originally had more than 4,000 cavalrymen. Ma Bao took 1,000 cavalrymen to Yunnan to quell the rebellion. At this time, there were only more than 3,000 cavalrymen left in Bozhou, and they had all left the city and formed a battle array.

In fact, Zheng Wenxiong's Gui army also had 2,000 cavalry, but the cavalry under Zheng Wenxiong were all riding Yunnan horses, which were not as good as the two elite imperial troops, so they did not leave the city this time.
The Ming army dispatched 12,000 men, while the Qing army also had nearly 10,000 men, all of whom were Manchu soldiers from the Eight Banners.

Haoge came to the city today to show off his power, and had no intention of attacking the city, so he did not bring the Green Camp Qing Army with him. He did not expect that the Ming army would dare to come out of the city to fight.

But even if the Ming army left the city, Hauge was not afraid at all. With nearly 10,000 Eight Banners soldiers, who in the world could stop them?

The Qing army deployed 4,000 soldiers in the center of the army. The Qing soldiers in front of the formation pushed tall shield carts, and there were 3,000 cavalry soldiers on each side of the infantry formation.

All the Manchu soldiers, whether infantry or cavalry, were wearing iron armor. They were the real elite of the Eight Banners Army.
The two armies lined up and faced each other. This wait lasted for two quarters of an hour. The Qing army stood still, while the Ming army also stood in a strict formation, without any signs of disarray.

Haugenikan and the others looked at the silent Ming army formation opposite them, and their faces began to become solemn. It was no fluke that the Ming imperial army was able to kill Bolo in Fujian and Zhejiang.
Seeing that the Ming army on the other side did not move, Hauge knew that the other side would definitely not attack first. If they were to attack the city at this time and retreat in a stalemate, it would damage their morale.
Hauge glanced at the Ming troops on both sides, thought for a moment, and then began to give orders.

The Qing army received the order and quickly sent out a thousand cavalrymen on both sides to march towards the two wings of the Ming army on the opposite side.

The Ming army was well-organized, but the cavalry on both sides was extremely weak. Hauge obviously intended to harass and defeat the Ming cavalry first, and then use the infantry and cavalry to defeat the Ming chariot formation.
The Ming army on the opposite side saw the Qing cavalry rushing towards them and immediately took action. The Ming army waved its flags and the cavalry on both wings began to ride forward.

The cavalry of the Ming and Qing dynasties on the left slowly approached. When they were close, the cavalry on both sides suddenly accelerated, approaching quickly like two parallel straight lines.

Suddenly, a rain of arrows was fired from both armies. The soldiers on both sides were all wearing cloth-covered iron armor. Although there was a heavy rain of arrows in the field, the casualties were limited. Dozens of people fell on each side, and the cavalry on both sides crossed each other.
The cavalry of the two sides circled and shot back and forth in the field, but the cavalry of the Ming army always kept their flags in order. After several rounds of shooting, the army formation did not break up.

The Qing army also tried to confront them head-on, but the Ming cavalry did not respond at all and just chased the Qing army back and forth.

The two sides exchanged several rounds. Seeing that the Qing army was evenly matched in numbers, they could not gain an advantage for a long time, so they waved their flags again.

At this moment, the two thousand cavalrymen on the left side of the Qing army suddenly rushed out and surrounded the Ming army in the field. When the Ming army saw the Qing army surrounding them, they did not fight with them and ran back to the rear.
More than 3,000 Qing troops gathered and followed the Ming army in pursuit, but what stood in front of them was no longer the Ming cavalry, but a Ming army chariot array formed by a series of shield carts.

The Qing cavalry on the left attacked for a long time without success, and the Qing cavalry on the right also failed to attack

More than a thousand Qing cavalrymen rushed out from the right, while only five hundred cavalrymen rushed out from the right of the Ming army.
These 500 cavalrymen were not fully armored. All of them only wore half-body armor and iron helmets. The skirt armor on the lower body and the iron arm guards on the hands were not worn at all.

The Ming army on the left at least had a superior number of troops to fight, while the Ming army on the right only sent half of its cavalry.

The Qing army was furious when they saw that only 500 Ming cavalry dared to charge at them. More than a thousand Qing troops, led by Gushan Ezhen Du Lei of the Zhenghong Banner, immediately marched towards the Ming army.
The two sides were still one mile apart at this time. The Qing cavalry was still marching in small steps, but the Ming cavalry had already started to drive their horses to charge at full speed.

Du Lei saw the Ming army rushing towards him, and a look of contempt flashed across his face.
The cavalry usually charges at full speed in the last two or three hundred meters.

If you charge too early, your horsepower will begin to decline before you reach the enemy camp, and you will be at a disadvantage in the subsequent pursuit and killing.
At this time, the Ming army started to sprint after being one mile apart. The cavalry generals of the Ming army were either inexperienced or made mistakes in command due to nervousness. Such cavalry were not qualified at all in the Qing army.
The Qing cavalry still maintained a fast pace of small steps, ignoring the Ming army rushing towards them.

The Ming army rushed to within 300 meters, but the Qing army remained unmoved. It was not until the Ming army rushed to 200 meters that the Qing army waved its flag and began to charge at full speed.

The cavalry on both sides approached quickly. Just as the Qing army started, a burst of dense gunfire suddenly rang out from the Ming army. Twenty to thirty Qing soldiers immediately fell off their horses, but the charging Qing army seemed to be unaware of them and just continued to charge forward despite the gunfire.
The Ming army loved to use firearms, and they would fire a shot before entering battle, which was also the tradition of the Ming army cavalry.
The Qing army was already familiar with this kind of situation. As long as they could survive this round, once they got close, the Ming cavalry would immediately tear the Qing army to pieces.
Moreover, after this round of shooting, Du Lei was more and more certain that the cavalry general of the Ming army on the opposite side was a mediocre general.

The muskets could only be fired within 80 steps, and the Ming army on the opposite side was in a panic. At this time, the two sides were still 100 steps, more than 150 meters away, and the Ming army had already opened fire. As expected, the results achieved were pitiful.

After the gunshots, the Qing army held their bows and arrows, but did not shoot, just staring at the Ming army opposite.
However, before they could react, another round of gunfire rang out from the Ming army. After the gunfire, the Qing army lost thirty or forty people.

After this round of gunfire, another round of gunfire rang out, and another fifty or sixty people fell from the Qing army.
Before the two sides engaged in battle, the Qing army had already lost nearly a hundred people, but the Qing army was only slightly scattered. Under such a shocking attack, no one in the Qing army still shot a bow and arrow.

After three rounds of shooting, there were only about 80 steps left on either side. As long as they approached 60 steps, they would be within the range of the Qing army's cavalry bows. By then, the Ming army would know what it meant to be rained down with arrows.
This is also the terrifying part of the Qing cavalry. They were able to fight back with arrows even though they suffered casualties when they reached the nearest point. This was something that only elite troops could do. The Qing army charged forward with their heads down. The two armies were eighty steps apart. It seemed that the Ming army was about to enter the Qing army's shooting range.

But at this moment, the Ming army suddenly shook, and then the 500 cavalrymen of the Ming army seemed to collapse and suddenly fell apart.

The five hundred Ming troops split into five teams and suddenly fled to the two sides. Du Lei was stunned for a moment when he saw the sudden collapse of the Ming army, and then a trace of contempt flashed across his face. He immediately ordered people to chase after them.
The 1,000 Qing troops were divided into three groups, each led by Niulu Ezhen, and each group chased the fleeing Ming troops.
But as they chased, the Qing army found something wrong. The Ming cavalry was clearly the first to charge. Logically, their horsepower should have been exhausted by then, but the Qing army could not catch up with the Ming cavalry.

The war horses ridden by the Ming imperial guards were almost all captured Qing Liao horses from Fujian and Zhejiang. The horses on both sides had the same horsepower. The Ming army only wore half armor, while the Qing army was fully armed. Generals like Du Lei wore three armors each.

If the two armies were to engage in battle, the Qing army would naturally have the upper hand. But now, once the chase began, the Qing army's full body armor immediately became a burden.
Even though the Ming army charged first, the Qing army could not catch up with the Ming army's horses at this time.
The five Ming troops fled in all directions. The Qing army desperately pursued them, but the more they pursued, the farther the distance between the two sides became.

Du Lei was furious when he saw this, and immediately waved his flag. Two thousand cavalrymen on the right wing rushed out at the same time, ready to surround the Ming army on the field.
But it was too late. Before the Qing army could reach the rear, the Ming army had already rushed back to the chariot formation.

Du Lei led a large number of cavalry and was about to pursue, but at this moment, thunderous cannon fire suddenly rang out from the Ming army's chariot formation.

In the Ming army's chariot formation, dozens of artillery pieces roared in unison, and shells whizzed past and hit the front. Although these shells all fell into the air, the Qing cavalry did not dare to pursue them.
Du Lei led the cavalry to stop in front of the Ming army, but his face was gloomy. In this round of fighting, the Ming army did not lose a single person, while the Qing army suffered nearly a hundred casualties.

This made Du Lei furious, and he wanted to rush over and kill all the lightly-armored Ming soldiers.

On the top of Bozhou City, Zhu Lang looked at the Ming army that had successfully withdrawn from the city, and his face was slightly relieved.

These 500 men were a new type of cavalry trained by Zhu Lang with reference to the later dragoons.
These five hundred men only wore half armor, and each was equipped with three flintlock rifles. The flintlock rifles that nearly a thousand craftsmen of the Ming court had made over the past six months were now all issued to this cavalry.
As a muzzle-loading musket, the firing speed of the flintlock is not much faster than that of the matchlock musket, which is also muzzle-loading.

The flintlock is also a muzzle-loading gun, and the gunpowder bullet also needs to be inserted into the barrel from the muzzle, but there is one thing that the flintlock is far from comparable to the matchlock, that is, the flintlock does not need to use a matchlock.
The new cavalry of the Ming court had already loaded gunpowder balls before the battle, and the ignition gunpowder in the firing port was also loaded in advance and sealed with a cover. When the battle started, they only needed to take out the flintlock and they could shoot immediately.

This is something that a matchlock gun cannot do. Of course, a matchlock gun can be loaded in advance, but the matchlock of a matchlock gun cannot be ignited in advance. This means that even if the cavalry is equipped with multiple matchlock guns in advance, they can only ignite the matchlocks one by one and then fire.

When the cavalry charged, there was no time for anyone to light the matchlock. By the time the soldiers lit the matchlock, the enemy cavalry would have already rushed in front of them and fired several rounds of arrows.

Zhu Lang ordered the flintlock cavalry that Jiao Lian was testing to start firing at about 100 steps, fire three flintlock rifles at 20 steps, and then withdraw immediately when the two armies were 80 steps apart.

Eighty steps was the effective range limit of the Qing army's cavalry bows. Beyond this distance, the arrows shot by the cavalry bows were neither accurate nor effective.
In fact, in a serious cavalry shooting match, the bows would usually be fired at a distance of 50 to 60 steps, or even 30 to 40 steps. This is also the distance at which the cavalry bows can exert their maximum lethality.
Zhu Lang looked at Jiao Lian beside him and said

"What do you think of this Fusilier?"

Jiao Lian thought for a moment and said respectfully

"Your Highness is a man of genius. These flint-fired cavalry can indeed be used. From now on, our Ming Dynasty will have another way to contain the Eastern Tartar Cavalry."

"Although these flint-fired cavalry are powerful, they still need the support of regular infantry cavalry. It is probably difficult to defeat the Eastern Tartar cavalry on their own, and the cost of these flint-fired cavalry is not low."

Since the craftsmen of the Military Equipment Bureau had just started to make flintlock rifles, and the key processes such as reed making had not yet been thoroughly mastered, the cost of the flintlock rifles produced by the Military Equipment Bureau was also high. On average, the cost of a flintlock rifle was as high as three or four taels of silver.

Take this cavalry of 500 people as an example. Each cavalryman has three flintlock rifles. For 500 people, that means 1,500 flintlock rifles.

The cost of the flintlock alone was as high as 4,500 taels. Moreover, due to poor workmanship, these flintlocks were easily damaged, and the cost of repairing and scrapping them was also staggering.
But Zhu Lang did not feel disappointed at all when he heard what Jiao Lian said. What if the cost is high? It is just a trial production now. Once it is mass-produced in the future, the process will definitely be improved. It is not impossible that the cost will eventually drop to the same level as that of an ordinary matchlock gun.
And now it is not a matter of money at all, but the Ming army now has a way to quickly form an army and contain the Qing cavalry.

In the past, if you wanted to contain the Qing cavalry, you could only select elite soldiers and teach them skills such as horse riding and archery, and horse-riding and killing. Even with such careful training, once they fought on horseback, they would probably still be suppressed by the Qing cavalry.
In comparison, training flintlock cavalry is infinitely simpler. As long as you know how to ride a horse and use a flintlock rifle, you can immediately go into battle and contain the Qing cavalry.

This is why Zhu Lang was so happy. As long as he spent some money, he could contain the sharpest cavalry of the Qing army. In comparison, spending a little more money was nothing.

"Immediately send a message to the Arms Bureau in the rear, asking them to recruit another 500 craftsmen to join the Firearms Department and work hard to manufacture flintlock rifles."

Zhu Lang looked at the Qing cavalry gathered in the distance, his face excited, and said to Li Guoyong beside him:

The cavalry of the Ming and Qing armies were still confronting each other under the city. At this time, the 6,000 cavalry of the Qing army on both wings had already been dispatched.
Du Lei was unwilling to lose and kept trying to lure out the lightly armored musket-wielding Ming army. However, at this time, the Ming cavalry was guarding behind the infantry formation and did not go out to fight.
The Ming army did not come out, and the Qing army did not dare to attack either. The Ming army's chariot formations were very well guarded, and the Qing army only made a few attempts and found that there were no less than one or two hundred artillery pieces in the two Ming army chariot formations.

When the Qing army was testing, hundreds of artillery pieces in the Ming army suddenly roared, and the entire battlefield was shaken.

Haugnikan and others were also shocked when they saw this. This was not a chariot array at all, it was not an exaggeration to say that it was an artillery array.

Under such circumstances, unless the Qing army was completely confused, no one would risk their lives to charge into the battle line.

Under such firepower, the Qing army would never be able to break through such a formation unless they used up all the shells in the formation with a steady stream of cannon fodder.

At this time, the Ming army was defending the city, while the Qing army came from afar to attack the city. Even if we were to talk about cannon fodder, it was unclear which side had more.

The two sides were deadlocked for another half an hour, during which the Qing cavalry kept galloping and threatening on the field, but they could not do anything about the two chariot arrays on the opposite side that were like city walls.
Half an hour later, Hauge had no choice but to sound the horn to withdraw his troops. After the Qing army withdrew, the Ming army took turns to cover their retreat. When they were within three miles of the city wall, the Ming army dispersed their chariots and retreated safely back into the city.
(End of this chapter)