Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 185: Counterattack on Jeonju
Cen Danchu killed Jueluo Guoke at Tangjia, and the Red Army defeated the Eight Banners of Manchuria. The Qing army did not counterattack, but only strengthened the defense of Quanzhou and Yongzhou.

There are always many puzzling things in the history of the Southern Ming Dynasty. This incident was also unexpected, but also within common sense: the Qing army had too few troops and was too dispersed on the battlefield of Huguang.

Jirgalang led the Qing army across the river and headed south, where the Southern Ming army collapsed. The Qing army was unstoppable until it encountered Ma Jinzhong's isolated army in Xiangtan.

Ma Jinzhong also retreated without a fight. Jirgalang became even more unscrupulous and divided his limited forces into four routes. One route even went deep into Guizhou and went to Liping to pursue Hao Yongzhong.

Jirgalang and Lekedehun led the main forces of the Eight Banners to fight against the Ming army led by Li Chixin and Du Yinxi in Chenzhou and Yongxing.

The Qing troops led by Ahanikan and Liu Zhiyuan defeated the Ming troops led by Wang Jincai and Ma Jinzhong in Baoqing, occupied the provincial capital of Shaoyang, and then moved westward to attack Qianyang. Yuan Zongdi and Liu Tichun were both brave generals of the Dashun Army, who were defending Qianyang and fighting a bloody battle with the Qing troops led by Ahanikan.

The Qing troops led by Tongtulai and Yibai occupied Quanzhou and Yongzhou, and had to send troops to garrison Hengzhou. They were short of manpower and were unable to counterattack Xing'an.

In addition, Jueluo Guoke was a member of the Bordered White Banner, and the bannermen who died in the Tangjiapu battle were all from the Bordered White Banner of Manchuria, and were direct descendants of Dorgon. Jirgalang was the leader of the Bordered Blue Banner of Manchuria, and was a mortal enemy of Dorgon. The Bordered White Banner was defeated, and Jirgalang was too lazy to avenge them.

Looking across the country, the Northwest volunteer army rose up and gradually became a prairie fire. After Wang Yongqiang conquered northern Shaanxi, he crossed the river into Shanxi and fought side by side with Jiang Ge. Most of the mountains and rivers in Shanxi were recovered, and only a few isolated cities such as Taiyuan were still in the hands of the Qing army.

Dorgon personally led an expedition to Shanxi and transferred many famous kings such as Bolo and Mandahai to the front line of Shanxi. Only one king, Duoduo, was left in the capital, and Duoduo was infected with smallpox and was in critical condition.

Dorgon was in such a mess that he had to re-employ the "three kings and one duke": Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi, and Shen Zhixiang.

Last year, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi were transferred from the front line of Huguang back to Liaodong for rest and recuperation. The three Shun kings had been serving the Qing court as vanguards for many years, fighting from Liaodong all the way to Guangxi, and suffered heavy losses. Kong Youde's army had only 3,100 people left, Geng Zhongming's army had only 2,500 people left, and Shang Kexi's army had only 2,300 people left. The three kings had less than 8,000 soldiers in total.

The army in the northwest rose up and the capital was short of troops. If Dorgon wanted to transfer Jirgalang back to the capital, he had to send an important official to replace Jirgalang.

The rebellion of Jin Shenghuan and Li Chengdong greatly stimulated Dorgon. He was determined to completely destroy the Southern Ming Dynasty and ordered the Ministry of War to discuss countermeasures.

The Ministry of War quickly responded: Kong Youde was sent to conquer Fujian, Shang Kexi to conquer Guangxi, and Geng Zhongming to conquer Guangdong. In order to stimulate the enthusiasm of the three kings, they were allowed to set up offices in the three provinces and bring their families to rule the three provinces, just like the Mu family in Yunnan.

The news soon leaked out. Shang Kexi surrendered the latest and was the weakest, but he wanted to take on the toughest challenge, so he was the first to express his disobedience. Kong Youde was on good terms with Geng Zhongming but not with Shang Kexi. He was always arrogant and sneered at Shang Kexi's cowardice, and volunteered to attack Guangxi alone.

After a meeting of the ministers, Dorgon decided to send Kong Youde to attack Guangxi, and renamed him King of Dingnan, with more troops to 20,000; and to send Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi to attack Guangdong together, with more troops each to 10,000. Geng Zhongming was renamed King of Jingnan, and Shang Kexi was renamed King of Pingnan.

The three kings "brought their families to garrison, and ordered the provincial governors, prefecture officials, states, counties and their seals to be taken with them." Even the seals of civil officials were taken with them, which shows that Dorgon was determined to take over the three provinces.

At the same time, Dorgon sent Xushun Gong Shen Zhixiang to Shandong to protect the capital and suppress the rebel army.

Kong Youde and the other three kings actively recruited soldiers while accepting the Green Camp transferred from various provinces to gather 40,000 soldiers. For the time being, they could not cross the Bujiang River and could not replace Jirgalang.

On April 20, Jiao Lian recovered and immediately led his army to counterattack Quanzhou. The Ming army was divided into three routes: Hu Yiqing led the Yunnan Division, Jiao Lian led the Guangxi Division to the west bank of the Xiangjiang River, and Cen Danchu led the Red Army to the east bank of the Xiangjiang River.

Zhao Yinxuan stayed behind to guard Xing'an. A small number of boatmen also transported food and supplies via the Xiangjiang River. The three Ming armies had about 30,000 soldiers and horses, and were determined to capture Quanzhou.

The strength of the Red Army should not be underestimated. Cen Danchu has begun to take charge on his own, on par with Jiao Lian and Hu Yiqing.

Gushan Ezhen Tongtulai of the Zhenglan Banner of the Manchu Han Army was stationed in Quanzhou. On the one hand, he dispatched troops to fight against the Ming army, and on the other hand, he urgently asked Jirgalang for help.

On the 22nd, the Ming army arrived at Fenghuangping. Fenghuangping is located four miles west of Quanzhou City and is the western gate of Quanzhou. Quanzhou is a battleground for military strategists, and Fenghuangping also saw frequent battles.

The Qing army used Fenghuangping as its defensive focus and sent more than a thousand bannermen to set up defenses there, while only a small number of Green Camp soldiers were sent to the east bank of the Xiangjiang River.

A scout rode a pair of horses and came to Danchu to report: "Report to the commander, there are green camp soldiers in front, about a thousand men and horses, belonging to the pseudo-general Xu Yong, without heavy artillery, about four miles away."

"Xu Yong? But the guy defending Changsha?"

"It's that guy." Half a year ago, the Ming army counterattacked Hunan. Xu Yong held Changsha and refused to surrender, blocking the tens of thousands of troops led by Li Chixin and Ma Jinzhong, and became famous overnight.

He was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. With just his few soldiers and horses, he dared to show off his skills in front of the Red Army? Danchu ordered: "The musket battalion and the cavalry battalion will go out to fight."

The military flags were waved and the military orders were passed down. Soon, the cavalry battalion and the musket battalion came out one after another, and Danchu followed the personal soldiers battalion to the rear.

All three battalions were on horseback and quickly approached the enemy.

As expected, this group of Green Camp soldiers had no heavy artillery, only a small number of tiger squat cannons. The scouts went into the mountains to scout, but found no ambush.

The Manchus were few in number, so the Qing court had to recruit a large number of Ming troops, but they were also very suspicious and cautious. Firearms were powerful weapons on the battlefield, and the Qing court clearly stipulated that the Green Camp soldiers were not allowed to be equipped with heavy artillery such as rockets and red cannons.

Xu Yong was leading the main force to follow Jirgalang to attack the Loyal Camp, and those sent to Quanzhou were only the old and weak, so they were used as cannon fodder by Tong Guolai.

Danchu pondered for a moment, then said to his men, "The Manchus are all on the west bank of the Xiang River, and they are arrayed at Fenghuangping to block Marshal Jue. Our army does not need to wait for the artillery camp, we can charge directly. Once the Green Camp is defeated, the Manchus will have to retreat, and Marshal Jue can attack Quanzhou directly. Pass the order, the musket camp will line up in a horizontal formation and concentrate fire. The cavalry camps will line up on both wings, ready to raid the enemy's flanks and rear."

Soon, the musketeers dismounted and formed a battle array. Each sentry had 31 men in a row, and each squad had three rows. The three musketeers lined up in a row, with only about 300 men, seemingly inconspicuous.

When the drums sounded, the musketeers marched to the beat of the drums, stopping to reorganize their formation every fifteen steps.

The Qing army was quite surprised. They had never seen such a formation before, and had never seen an army marching to the sound of drums and music. Thinking of Cen Dan's killing of Jueluo Guoke in the first battle, the Qing army was even more afraid. They were timid before they even started fighting.

When they were within a hundred steps, the Qing army opened fire. Light artillery could only fire shotgun shells, with lead bullets used by the sophisticated ones and stones used by the unsophisticated ones, and their power was limited. At this distance, the Qing army's artillery had little killing power on the Red Army except for giving courage to the soldiers.

Fortunately, the Red Army musketeers were wearing armor, so they were not afraid of the Qing army's lead bullets. When they marched to 70 steps in front of the Qing army, the Qing army began to throw arrows, and a small number of bird gunners opened fire.

The Red Army remained unmoved and only stopped when they were about sixty steps away, calmly reloading their ammunition.

"First row, shoot!" The musket battalion commander Qiao Song gave the order in a deep voice, and the trumpeter and drummer issued a shrill whistle, which was enough to attract the attention of every shooter.

"Bang, bang, bang!" Nearly a hundred shooters in the first row fired one bullet each. With a 50% firing rate, at least 50 deadly bullets could be fired. The sound of gunfire was like firecrackers, and a thick cloud of gunpowder rose in front of the battle. Afterwards, they immediately squatted and reloaded bullets on the spot.

The Qing troops in the front row fell down immediately.

"Second row, shoot!"

The second row of shooters passed through the gaps in the first row, took over firing, and advanced alternately.

After eight rounds of volleys, the Qing army's formation was shaken, spearmen kept falling, and the front of the formation was filled with white spears.

A smile appeared on Danchu's face. Just now, the musket battalion had some line tactics. However, there were still many areas that could be improved.

First, flintlock rifles must be mass-produced as soon as possible to further increase the firing rate of muskets. By then, musketeers can form a denser formation, with only two rows in front and back, with the front row half-crouching and the back row standing, firing alternately.

Secondly, musketeers could be equipped with brighter uniforms, such as scarlet uniforms, which would be more eye-catching on the battlefield and thus undermine enemy morale.

"The cavalry battalion attacks!"

The Red Army's horses galloped and the Green Army's soldiers quickly collapsed.

(End of this chapter)