Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 488: The Enemy Camp is Broken
"Admiral! Aren't you sending our brothers to their deaths?!"

Looking at his soldiers falling one after another on the charge, Bai Yongfu finally couldn't hold back his shock and anger.

A few days ago, they received a military order from the capital, and then quietly transferred all their troops to Huai'an.

He was somewhat puzzled by the court's change of course.

After all, fighting a large army is not simply a game of counting numbers. Whether it is deploying troops or setting up camp, sufficient space is needed. Huai'an is located in a cramped area of ​​only a hundred meters long and wide. If an army of this size is simply piled there, it is afraid that it will not play a positive role.

Because of this matter, he had a special talk with Li Benshen for a whole night.

However, the other party's behavior in that conversation seemed to have something unfinished, so he, a surrendered general who had made no contribution, suppressed the doubts in his heart.

After all, Li Benshen not only participated in the Battle of Jiangnan with Prince Yu, but also led his troops to block the pursuers for the army.

With this experience, no matter where he came from, he could be considered a close friend of the Tatars in the Han army. It was not surprising that he knew things that a marginal figure like him did not know.

After thinking this through, Bai Yongfu felt that there must be some arrangements that were inconvenient to reveal, so he temporarily suppressed his doubts.

But who would have thought
Looking at Li Benshen's expressionless face, Bai Yongfu could no longer suppress his anger, but he felt sorry for his subordinates, so how could Li Benshen be so heartless?

"Stop howling. We are destined to be cannon fodder. Do you still expect us to be the flag bearers?"

A slightly sarcastic remark came out of his mouth, and then Bai Yongfu was stunned where he stood. Afterwards, Li Benshen ignored the idiot, just shook his head and turned his head away.

It's actually due to the overall situation.

When the general first brought the four towns in northern Jiangnan under his command, the Qing army was unstoppable and had the potential to sweep across the country.

Under such circumstances, whether it was Duoduo, Ajige, Hauge or Dorgon, they all planned to completely absorb the surrendered troops in order to strengthen their own military power.

With such a foundation, the deployment of troops by various commanders was different from before entering the Pass. Although the surrendered troops were inevitably sent to take the lead, the consumption of these troops was considered restrained.

But as the battle situation changed, the generals' indifference to Aha's life gradually became apparent.

At first, Duoduo used tens of thousands of troops under Li Benshen to buy time for the escape of the Eight Banners headquarters. Afterwards, the surrendered troops suffered heavy losses intentionally or unintentionally.

By this time, the Tartars had suffered successive defeats, and their previous mentality of unifying the world had long since changed. Although it was against common sense to use so many troops to attack the Ming army, Li Benshen, who had been cannon fodder, was not surprised.

"Admiral, there were some conflicts between our armies earlier, but this musket has no eyes. Will it only shoot at our soldiers?!"

idiot!

As soon as Bai Yongfu's words were heard, Li Benshen cursed in his heart.

He thought that by hinting at the previous sentence, the other party would understand the whole story, but who would have thought that the other party would still blame him, which made Admiral Li feel depressed.

He was not a man who liked to play charades, and if he had not been tortured by reality he would not have learned to behave like a civil servant.

It’s just that people have to bow their heads under the eaves.

Not to mention that the families of the soldiers in the army are all in the areas controlled by the Tartars, even these generals may have spies of the Tartars among their own people.

Not to mention that he told Bai Yongfu what he was thinking, even if there were something inappropriate in his words, it would reach certain people's ears within a moment.

Under such circumstances, even though he felt wronged, he could only stop because of the heavy constraints.

Alas~~~~~, when you live under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.

After letting out a long sigh in his heart, Li Benshen turned his gaze to the battlefield.

At this time, the gunshots coming from the front were so frequent that they seemed to be connected together. Although he could not see clearly where the vast number of soldiers had rushed to, he could still make a rough judgement based on the gunshots.

It has to be said that the Tartars' plan does have a good chance of success.

As long as the Qing army could rush to the Ming army camp with the human wave tactics, the Qing army, which had the advantage in numbers, would surely be able to directly disperse this small camp.

After all, no matter how powerful the Ming army's firearms were, they had to be fired several times to allow the barrel to cool down in order to reduce the possibility of explosion.

And facing so many cannon fodders, how could they have a chance to cool down?
Thinking of this, Li Benshen did not feel much joy because of the great chance of victory. When his mind filled with the scene of soldiers having to charge forward desperately due to the constraints of their families and military laws, he immediately took a deep look towards Huai'an City.

Because of the distance, he couldn't see the details on the city wall clearly, but he had a clear understanding of the Tatars, so it was not difficult for him to guess the situation on the city wall.

The armies of Ming and Qing spent such a long time outside the city of Huai'an, and except for a small victory on the first day, they suffered repeated defeats.

How happy would Manchu generals like Lekedehun be to be able to gain such an advantage with these worthless cannon fodders in the eyes of the Manchu nobles?

"General! Charge forward!"

Just as Li Benshen had thought, as the distance between the huge Aha and the Ming army camp continued to narrow, the generals on the city wall kept cheering.

Facing this situation, Lekedehun showed a calm attitude. He looked at Hong Chengchou's face and waved his hand, saying, "Don't be careless. The Ming army is not as strong as before. We can't let our guard down before the dust settles."

Having said this, he paused, then looked at the rear of Aha's formation for a while and suddenly gave a military order: "You guys lead your troops out to supervise the battle, so that Aha will not be destroyed by the Ming army's artillery."

As soon as the military order was issued, the surrounding Manchu generals immediately obeyed the order and left. Afterwards, most of the Eight Banners troops in Huai'an City dispersed to the rear of Aha's formation. Lekedehun then smiled and spoke to Hong Chengchou.

"The Prime Minister is the one who sees things clearly. If you hadn't supported Tong Yangjia, we wouldn't have been able to force the Ming army to this point."

"General, you are too kind. This plan was proposed by General Tong, and you made the final decision. I am just following the situation, but I don't deserve such praise."

In response to Lekedehun's praise, Hong Chengchou, who had a gloomy face a moment ago, immediately put on a smile. After some humble remarks, he turned his attention back to the battle group.

It is a bit of a misnomer to call it a battle group.

In essence, the Ming army relied on the speed and range of their firing to block the enemy step by step. Even though the surrendered soldiers were restrained and charged at full speed, they could not really get in front of them. If it were any other time, this situation would not be good, but now, every time a surrendered soldier fell, more would come to fill the gap. Even though their own casualties numbered several thousand, the distance between them and the Ming army camp was gradually shortening.

Now it depends on whether the Ming army commander is ruthless enough.

Thinking of this, Hong Chengchou's eyes inevitably showed some worry, and this worry was caught by Lekedehun who had been paying attention to his expression, and then a question came to him.

"Prime Minister, is there anything wrong?"

"I'm worried that the Ming army commander will open fire directly."

"Fire?! If you wanted to fire, wouldn't you have done it long ago?"

"uncertain."

"uncertain?"

He repeated it with great surprise, and Lekedehun's expression became serious.

As a commander in chief, he had thought of this a long time ago. However, during the period of pursuit and escape, the distance between the Ming and Qing armies and the camp was already sufficient for artillery range, but there was no sign of the Ming army firing any artillery.

Seeing this situation, they thought that the Ming army was afraid of hurting their own people and was reluctant to open fire, but now seeing Hong Chengchou's performance, he became a little worried.

It is said that a kind person cannot command an army.

The Ming army's artillery was slow to fire, possibly because they were worried about accidental injuries, but if you think more deeply, it may also be because the artillery was not powerful enough.

After all, if they open fire directly when Aha enters the range, not only will it not cause much damage, it may also leave Aha room to retreat.

If you wait until you are about 100 to 200 steps closer, then fire with all your strength.
"You are probably worrying too much, Prime Minister. Artillery is not as powerful as muskets. Even if they wait for Aha to get close and then fire at full force, they can only fire two rounds. By that time, our people will have already rushed to the camp. It doesn't matter whether they run or not."

After thinking for several rounds, Lekedehun finally gave up his previous worries. After explaining in detail to Hong Chengchou, he was ready to say something else, but at this time, bursts of roars came one after another, and his attention was drawn to the battle group.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

With the roar of artillery fire, bullets plowed traces in the Aha formation.

After rushing to such a distance, most of the soldiers who were involved in various tasks rushed directly to the Ming army camp as if they were risking their lives. However, the scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere was extremely shocking. From the city wall, it was easy to find that small groups of figures had a tendency to retreat.

It is not difficult to imagine that if these people were allowed to escape to the back, the current momentum, like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey, would be directly dispersed in a moment.

But after seeing this scene, both Lekedehun and Hong Chengchou had no expression on their faces, and it was obvious that they were not worried about how much effect these small groups of defeated soldiers could have.

First use Aha to wear down the enemy soldiers, then use the armored men to charge directly into the enemy formation. After doing this several times, the real elite Eight Banners will enter the battlefield to reap the rewards, and the battle will come to an end.

After all, the most basic tactic of the Qing army to sweep across the world was to rely on controlling Aha. People like Hong Chengchou, a former frontier official of the Ming Dynasty, had suffered great losses in this kind of war of attrition, and Lekedehun was an expert in using this kind of tactics.

Under such circumstances, how could they not have a way to deal with it?

Sure enough, as soon as those small groups of defeated troops retreated, groups of Eight Banners soldiers who were supervising the battle came to meet them. After only ten breaths, those small groups of defeated troops disappeared like snow meeting the scorching sun, while the momentum of the surrounding surrendered troops became more intense.

"Prime Minister, we have nothing to do anyway, why don't we make a bet?"

"Oh? What does the general want to bet on?"

Seeing that the commander of the Ming army did not recklessly act as Hong Chengchou had worried, Lekedehun, who knew that there would be no more difficulties in breaking through the Ming army camp this time, also planned to make a joke. When the other party asked him with a smile, he estimated it in his mind and then said it carelessly.

"I bet one thousand taels that the Ming army camp can only hold out for three incense sticks at most."

"Well, the general is indeed an old warrior. These three incense sticks really make it difficult for me." Hong Chengchou sighed and looked in the direction of the Ming army camp. Then he thought about it in his mind. When he remembered that Tong Yangjia had taken all his gunners out, he blurted out: "I bet that in two incense sticks, our army can attack the Ming army camp!"

As soon as the words came out, the two hands clapped together.

Afterwards, the two of them simultaneously turned their gazes to the distance, waiting for the battle to end and settle the matter.

For the Qing army, this sudden action did force the Ming army into the wall. However, compared with the performance of Hong Chengchou and Lekedehun, Tong Yangjia, who was hiding behind the formation, was not so calm.

"Form a battle array! Form a battle array! All troops can only advance after they have formed a battle array! Anyone who disobeys military orders will be executed!"

Listening to the constant shouting of the general beside him, the expression on his face had become very gloomy.

In the original plan, his gun formation would come into play after the Aha's broke through the Ming army camp. However, who would have thought that when his own men were shooting at the Ming army's gun formation, they retreated slower due to the cover of gunpowder smoke.

Afterwards, the group of Aha, who were desperately moving forward under the supervision of the supervising team, rushed over like a flood, and his huge gun formation was actually turned into tofu pudding.

Seeing this situation, he not only beat and scolded the Eight Banners soldiers who came to supervise the battle, but also resented Lekedehun and Hong Chengchou to the extreme in his heart.

In the final analysis, the two men were only concerned with finding a way to turn Aha into a herd of wild horses that only knew how to move forward, but they did not take into account that a herd of wild horses would not avoid anything.

By this time, although the herd of wild horses had rushed ahead of him under the drive of the supervising team, it was difficult for the scattered musketeers to re-form an army in a short time.

Fortunately.
After stretching his neck and looking hard at the battle group ahead for a while, Tong Yangjia finally felt a little relieved.

Although the Ahhas were only 10 to 20 steps away from the Ming army camp at this time, it would still take some time for them to actually rush onto the camp. If the time to break through the camp wall was added, he should have enough time to set up his formation again.

Time passed minute by minute, and Tong Yangjia's gun formation was reorganized at an extremely fast speed. At this moment, the guard beside him shouted to him. When he looked in the direction, he saw several colorful flags waving on the city of Huai'an.

"Huh? The camp wall was breached so quickly?"

(End of this chapter)