Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 107 Meteor and Fire Shower
The so-called money and silk move people's hearts.

Yan Yingyuan had been dealing with pirates and bandits for so many years, so he naturally knew how powerful money was.

During his career as a registrar, he used this trick many times to make bandits become his accomplices. He even used the enemy's money to divide the enemy, so many bandits chose to leave Jiangyin after finding no way to break the spell.

In the end, the Zhenjiang surrendered soldiers agreed to open the way for the guard camp with excitement in their eyes, but there seemed to be a hint of worry hidden in the smile on Zhu Cilang's face.

The people whose hearts are moved by money are not just bandits and surrendered soldiers. Wouldn't the guards be tempted by this batch of silver?
If the situation were reversed, you were fighting for your life here, while those surrendered soldiers just provided cover and deceived the defenders to get such a huge fortune, I think anyone would be dissatisfied.

The Suwei Camp is the foundation of Zhu Cilang's control over Yingtian. Even though his power can be considered stable now, a thousand-mile dam can be breached by a single ant hole. How can he allow any hidden danger to be buried by his side?

Of course, this is not without a solution.

If Zhu Cilang could allow the guard camp to be like those surrendered soldiers, there would naturally be no such problem.

But with countless examples of this happening before him, how could he possibly repeat the same mistakes?
"Your Highness?"

Xiang Rensheng, who was happy about solving the problem, came over with some confusion when he saw Zhu Cilang waving at him.

"When you get to Zhenjiang, you can select some people to go with them. The money you earn will be rewarded according to their merits after we return."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Remember, don't miss the important things."

"clear."

Zhu Cilang did not deliberately lower his voice when he spoke, so his words were naturally heard by the people around him.

At this point, the several obstacles to sending troops to Zhenjiang had been resolved, and he began to put on the airs of regent.

After the order was issued, Xiang Rensheng went to gather his troops, and the heavy responsibility of covering the retreat of the militia fell on the 600 Zhutang youths led by Yan Yingyuan.

Looking at the two groups of people acting separately, Zhu Cilang was expectant, but at the same time, he couldn't help feeling nervous.

There is nothing wrong with Xiang Rensheng. After all, everything that needs to be arranged has been arranged. The rest is to do one's best and leave the rest to fate.

But there are still some troubles here in Minzhuang.

If everything goes well, while the young men from Zhutang replace the guard camp, the soldiers and militiamen led by Chang Guanlin will also gradually gather.

After the guard camp leaves, the two groups of people will gradually retreat, eventually ending the night attack and returning to Yingtian.

This set of rules sounds simple, only 20 or 30 words, but who can guarantee that there will be no accidents during implementation?

When Zhu Cilang's military order reached Chang Guanlin, he was about to wipe out the Tartar's front camp.

Although he had been busy with the training of militiamen during this period, Zhu Cilang did not deprive him of his position as commander. So after planning the night attack, he selected some men from his command and formed a team of nearly a thousand people.

Although due to various factors, Chang Guanlin's guard could not be considered a strong army, but this group of people selected from thousands of people could definitely be considered elite.

However, due to their different backgrounds, the tactics they used when suppressing the defeated army were different from those of the young men from the Suwei Camp and Zhutang.

"put!"

At Chang Guanlin's command, the soldiers in the front row lit the fuse with fire and took aim with their muskets.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang."

In just a moment, dozens of muskets were fired one after another, and the Qing soldiers who were trying to make a last-ditch effort fell to the ground one by one.

Afterwards, the musketeers retreated along the edge of the formation to the end of the army to reload their ammunition, while the sword and shield men and spearmen in the second and third rows took a few steps forward and took on the task of destroying the fleeing army.

At this time, Chang Guanlin's small formation was only one or two hundred steps away from the camp wall between the front camp and the rear camp, but in the light of the fire he could clearly see weapons sticking out from behind the wall, and he could also see arrows penetrating into the bodies of the fleeing soldiers.

In this situation, he also received an order to prepare to retreat.

Even if there was no such thing, he did not intend to move forward too much, so as not to force the defeated army too much, forcing them to fight to the death.

"Sir, we're out of gunpowder."

"Where's the arrow?"

"Running out."

After hearing the report from the soldiers, Chang Guanlin didn't care too much. After all, he had sent people to gather strong men. Even if there were not many arrows left, it would not be a difficult task to hold out for a while.

"Let the musketeers retreat first."

Without gunpowder, the musketeers instantly became a burden to the entire team from a highly lethal type of soldier. So when Chang Guanlin's order was issued, not only did the musketeers themselves not think it was wrong, but everyone else also thought it was natural.

"put!"

A rain of arrows was fired at his command, and then the defeated army was forced to rush forward and fell down.

Judging from the previous rounds, the defeated army should have fled in all directions at this time, but to Chang Guanlin's surprise, this time the defeated army not only did not flee again, but continued to rush towards them with red eyes.

"preparation!"

Following this shout, the sword and shield soldiers in the front row crouched down, raised their shields, and prepared to block the enemy's attacks, while the spearmen in the back row retracted their arms and were ready to attack.

"prick!"

A sea of ​​gunfire rang out, and none of the disorganized fleeing soldiers could escape the fatal attack.

"prick!"

There was another round of spear attacks, but due to the difference in the speed of the spears' return, this time it was obviously not as orderly as before. The more skilled soldiers in the defeated army took this opportunity to cross the line formed by the spear heads.

"prick!"

After shouting this, Chang Guanlin looked at the messy bayonet and felt helpless.

When they were under the command of the Grand Tutor, the more elite ones could stab more than ten rounds in a row and still maintain a consistent frequency of firing, but the most elite ones under his command only stabbed once before they were able to perform freely like they are now.

But only family members know their own business.

He was well aware that the Yingtian garrison had undergone a complete transformation under the leadership of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

As long as he could maintain the current trend and continue training them for another three to two months using the method he had developed over the past few days, he would be confident that he could train these guys into the elite troops under the Grand Tutor.

At the time when Chang Guanlin deserted, few of the defeated soldiers who had first rushed to the front of the battle formation were still standing, and the rest retreated between the camp wall and the battle formation as they had done in the previous times.

The defeated army failed again in its attempt to charge the enemy line. Chang Guanlin saw through the flames that most of the militiamen had already retreated, so he knew it was time to retreat.

"The front team retreats fifty steps to form a battle array, and the rear team covers the rear."

Retreating from the battlefield is the most difficult thing, and one careless move could lead to a complete breakdown of the situation.

However, although some of the people he brought with him were not very skilled, they were tall ones picked out from among the short ones after all. As they had the upper hand in the situation and did not encounter any pressure at all, no trouble would arise.

just
After all, the battlefield is a place where people fight and compete with each other. The Ming army's offensive has been exhausted, so how can the Qing army just sit there and watch?

Since Huang Taiji came to power, the barbaric faction within the Qing Dynasty gradually lost power. Later, although Dorgon slightly promoted these people in order to consolidate his power, the transition from old to new within the party made it impossible for him to kill all the Han people.

As one of the more outstanding young people in the Aisin-Gioro family, Bolo could naturally see the general trend. Therefore, although he was not close to the Han ministers on weekdays, he was able to clearly distinguish between rewards and punishments.

just
The choices people make at critical moments always reflect their truest thoughts.

After learning about the night attack by the Ming army, Bolo issued a few military orders and came to the junction of the front and rear camps. At that time, the Eight Banners soldiers in the camp were ready, waiting for his order to charge into the front camp and send all the Ming soldiers who disturbed their sleep to hell.

But after waiting for a long time, even though the fire from the front camp had dyed half the sky red and many soldiers had fled out of the camp gate, they still did not receive the order to attack.

By this time, everyone understood Bolo's idea.

It's nothing more than seeking stability.

Everyone can understand this point, but due to different backgrounds, everyone's understanding is somewhat different.

In the eyes of the Yu Jiangjun, self-preservation must always be the top priority. Now that the enemy situation is unclear, the right thing to do is to guard the gate carefully.

In the eyes of the Eight Banners soldiers, it was inevitable to use the lives of the surrendered soldiers to consume the enemy's strength, and then kill them when the enemy's offensive faded. If they acted faster, they might be able to take over Yingtian.

By then, the overall situation in Jiangnan will have been settled. Wouldn't it be possible for me to return north earlier and escape from this unbearable weather?

Regardless of their intentions, in the end, the troops in the rear camp led the troops in the front camp to attack the Ming army again and again, and the disorganized defeated army was forced to lean towards the Ming army again after repeated failures due to the rain of arrows from "their own people".

To be honest, no matter who won or lost that night, there would probably not be many surrendered soldiers left in the front camp.

But it is hard to say who killed more people.

"Report to Lord Beile, that infantry has not been seen anywhere, so it must have withdrawn."

"Did you look carefully?"

"There is no sign of them."

Hearing this, Bolo nodded and began to think about it again.

When he first saw the guard camp, he realized that this was the Ming army's heavy armored infantry that Ustu had mentioned.

At that moment, Bolo changed his mind and decided to wait until they had exhausted some of their strength before leading his troops to kill them all.

But the Ming army generals were also very cunning. After they completely defeated the soldiers in the front camp, they withdrew them, which made Bolo feel very regretful in his heart.

"Charge! Charge! The Ming army has run out of gunpowder. If we charge again, they will be defeated. Then we can have all the money and women we want!"

"Sir! Please give me a chance to live. I have already charged into the enemy lines!"

The conversation not far away attracted Bolo's attention. When he saw the surrendered soldiers kneeling outside the camp wall, he couldn't help feeling disgusted.

During this period of time, Bolo had seen clearly that although the Ming army had a large number of troops, the only ones who could fight were the ones in front of them, except for the withdrawn heavy armored infantry.

These useless people in the front camp actually charged several times but were repelled by the enemy. How could he not be disgusted by such fighting power?

"Bring me the bow!"

As soon as Bolo finished speaking, a heavy bow was handed into his hands.

Then, without even trying to aim, the bowstring loosened, and the surrendered soldier who was still crying fell to the ground at an angle.

"Didn't you hear the military order? Go and get your five lashes after this."

"Whoo!"

Having been punished with five lashes for no reason, the general naturally took out his resentment on the surrendered soldiers in the front camp.

"Fire arrows!"

At the command, countless arrows flew towards the camp wall, and the surrendered soldiers in the front camp rushed out again to avoid the arrows.

"Get ready."

Just when the people in the rear camp were still judging whether the surrendered troops in the front camp could break through the enemy's formation, the military order they had been waiting for half the night finally arrived.

Under the gaze of everyone, the surrendered troops in the front camp retreated again as expected, and the Ming army took this opportunity to withdraw half of their troops to the rear, leaving only the other half where they were, obviously planning to retreat.

"Lord Beile! They are trying to run away!"

"Don't worry, wait a moment."

After all, Goshaha had followed Bolo for many years. Just from this one sentence, he understood that even though he could see through the enemy's strengths and weaknesses, his Lord still adhered to the principle of paying the lowest price as always.

After all, the Beile family doesn't have much capital.

With a sigh in his heart, Goshaha also turned his attention to the Ming army opposite.

At this time, the retreating part was forming a battle array, while those who remained had already begun to retreat.

He knew that this was the opportunity that the prince had been waiting for, just like the older generation had found a flaw in their prey.

"March!"

At Bolo's command, the soldiers who had been waiting by the camp wall opened the gate as quickly as possible.

Immediately afterwards, a team of armored men pounced on the Ming army like tigers out of a cage.

Chang Guanlin had considered that the Qing army would take advantage of this opportunity to attack him, but there were so many people between the two. Even if he did not take their lives seriously, he had to consider whether so many obstacles would have a negative impact on his own formation.

But in the end, he overestimated the value of the surrendered soldiers in Bolo's eyes.

Since those who retreated towards the camp were deliberately killed, why not those who were close to the army formation?

"Whoever stands in the way will die!"

Every time the army moved forward, the armored men would let out a loud shout, and every time the armored men shouted, several surrendered soldiers would be chopped to the ground.

This went on repeatedly, and after a few rounds there was no longer any barrier between the two armies.

"Hold on!"

Seeing this, Chang Guanlin guessed the opponent's plan. He shouted to the rear team that had retreated dozens of steps away, and used his position to slow down the retreat of the front team.

"Keep your formation! The Tartars are still far away, don't panic!"

It is not known whether the previous "battle" gave his soldiers confidence, or whether Chang Guanlin's actions worked.

These soldiers actually retreated slowly in a complete formation in front of the powerful enemy.

"Fire arrows!"

Although the armored men had already entered the range of the bows and arrows, Chang Guanlin still waited until the two armies were thirty or forty steps apart before giving the order to shoot. After all, they only had a few arrows left.

A rain of arrows fell, but under the protection of the heavy cloth armor, the armored man's pace was not affected at all.

"Form a battle array! Defeat this group of Tartars!"

With the integration of the front team, the military formation, which originally seemed a bit thin, gradually became solid.

The sword and shield soldiers and spearmen were in their positions. Apart from the lack of some long-range means, this formation was considered perfect.

But we have been fighting for a while, and we don’t know if we can hold out until the entire army withdraws.

At this moment, a burst of sound broke through the air from behind them, and then Chang Guanlin saw rockets falling into the Tatar army like meteors.

(End of this chapter)