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

Chapter 190: Repulse the Qing Army
Two teams of musketeers from the Imperial Guards Camp joined the battle, slowing down the Qing army's advance. But the situation was getting out of control, and the Qing army was blocked at the camp gate, so they immediately dispatched troops to attack the Red Army's wooden wall from both wings. The Qing army on the left wing was particularly numerous, and the offensive increased, gradually approaching the wooden wall.

The Red Army's musketeers were no longer able to stop the Qing army, so archers came forward to reinforce them. The Red Army's lacquer bows were much inferior to those of the Qing army and could not penetrate armor. Therefore, archers were often used in close combat, specifically shooting at the Qing army's faces, necks and other places with weak protection.

A burly Qing soldier was the first to arrive at the wooden wall, trying to take the credit for being the first to reach it.

This man was an excellent archer, and he shot down two Red Army soldiers with his bow. There seemed to be no obstacles ahead. He put away his bow and arrow, drew his sword, held it in his mouth, and turned over to jump over the wooden wall.

Wang Daquan, a sergeant of the Red Army, was loading ammunition when he saw the Qing troops entering the camp. He was shocked and raised his musket to fight with the Qing troops.

The musket was more than three feet long, and with the bayonet, the entire length was nearly five feet. The Red Army musketeers had all been trained in assassination, and only practiced a few movements such as picking, stabbing, blocking, and retracting. It was simple and practical, and they were not at all inferior to the Qing army.

The Qing soldier was wearing iron armor and holding a knife in one hand, waving it left and right. It was obvious that he had been in many battles and his hands were stained with the blood of the Han people.

The two fought hand-to-hand for several rounds, but no one was victorious. However, Wang Daquan had little experience in hand-to-hand combat and was not as agile as the Qing army, so he was obviously no match for the Qing army.

Wang Daquan's musketeers also came to help, but the Qing army was increasing in number. He shouted, "The deputy squad leader will take the men to guard the wooden wall, and I will follow you to kill this Tartar."

Xiao Wang joined the army in Nanning and had less experience than Wang Daquan. Even though the two of them were fighting against one Qing soldier, they still did not have the upper hand.

Fortunately, a lance cavalryman came to help, and the Qing army was finally defeated by three people fighting one. Wang Daquan took advantage of his unpreparedness and stabbed him in the neck with a bayonet.

Blood spurted out, splashing all over Wang Daquan's face. This was his first time killing someone in close combat, and the person he killed was a burly Manchurian Eight Banners soldier.

Wang Daquan suddenly gained a lot of courage and thanked the lance cavalryman: "Thank you, brother! I will come to see you another day..."

The cavalry often charged into battle and were used to killing the enemy in close combat. As the situation became urgent, the cavalry also mounted their horses to help in the battle, filling in the gaps at any time and supporting the musketeers in various places.

The cavalryman said with great pride, "I am Cen Yong, the captain of the second cavalry team. Come to me when you have time. There is a powerful enemy at hand, no need to say more, just kill them quickly!"

It turned out to be the Marshal's cousin, the first-class meritorious official Cen Yong! Wang Daquan was greatly encouraged and replied, "Yes."

He loaded the bullets and pointed his gun forward, just in time to see an Eight Banners soldier, his face covered in sweat, drawing his bow and drawing an arrow.

With a "bang", Wang Daquan fired first. The Eight Banners soldier was startled, and the strength in his hand was greatly reduced, and the bow and arrow flew out in advance.

"Ah!" The Eight Banners soldier was shot and fell down, blood gushing out of his abdomen and seeping out of his armor.

"Bang!" The heavy arrow hit Cen Yong's helmet, making a crisp sound. The helmet flipped back suddenly, cutting Cen Yong's cheek, causing a burning pain. Fortunately, it was only a superficial wound.

Then the Eight Banners soldier was hit in the vital part of his abdomen by a musket, and he was doomed to die. He twisted his body in pain, and his face quickly turned pale, obviously because of excessive blood loss.

Why is the matchlock so powerful? It is because of its large caliber, high charge and heavy bullet.

The matchlock gun was invented in Europe. From 1618 to 1648, when the Ming and Qing dynasties were competing fiercely, the Thirty Years' War broke out in Europe. During this period, the matchlock gun was also innovated and fully developed. The light matchlock gun was eliminated, and the heavy matchlock gun was favored by European countries as a standard firearm for the army.

After the Thirty Years' War, the barrels of Europe's heavy matchlock guns could be made thinner, but they were still generally around 20mm.

At that time, mechanical processing was not sophisticated enough, and accurate measurement was not easy. The power of a matchlock gun in Europe was often measured by the weight of the bullet. For example, a matchlock gun with 10 bullets per pound had a caliber of 19.7 mm; a heavy matchlock gun with 21.6 bullets per pound and a caliber of mm was called a full musket at the time.

The musket matchlock gun commonly used in Spain has a caliber of 23mm and a total bullet weight of 50g. It needs a fork-shaped bracket to support the barrel. It is not difficult to imagine the power of a 50g lead bullet. The Spanish conquered the huge and backward Inca Empire with this weapon.

Portuguese mercenaries such as Ferreira used this kind of matchlock gun as a weapon.

In contrast, the most common matchlock gun in the Ming army was the bird gun, which was also called the three-coin gun because its bullet weighed three coins. Three coins weighed about 11.25 grams, less than a quarter of the musket, so you can imagine how powerful the bird gun was. The Red Army improved the iron smelting process, and the caliber of the matchlock gun was reduced to about 18mm, but the bullet was still powerful. The entire musket was also much lighter, and it no longer had to be equipped with a bracket like the musket.

"Brother, we are even now!" Cen Yong shouted, "Be careful, the Tartars are coming again!"

Wang Daquan wanted to reload, but saw more and more Tartars approaching the wooden wall. Another Tartar climbed up the wooden wall and turned over.

There was no time to reload, so he could only fight with the bayonet. He simply gave up reloading and used the bayonet to stab the Tartar.

The Qing army was increasing in number, climbing over three wooden walls and engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the Red Army. On the left wing, the Qing army chopped down the wooden wall with axes and opened a gap in it.

Looking further into the distance, a large group of Qing cavalry crossed the trench bridge and began to advance towards the Red Army camp.

Danchu could no longer sit still, and said to Yang Yuqi beside him: "Send a message to the second infantry battalion, order them to move out in full force and come to reinforce as soon as possible."

The flags were waved, and the second battalion of infantry responded quickly. The gates of the two camps were opened, and the infantry, who had been waiting for a long time, lined up outside the camps. The three camps were only one mile apart, and it only took a quarter of an hour to walk.

Danchu also put on his helmet, picked up his pistol, bow and arrow, and lance, jumped on his warhorse, and said to the three directors, "Let's go down and supervise the battle."

The Red Army fought very tenaciously and had a fresh force only one mile away from Leigong Ridge.

Aren't you Lekedehun a famous general of the Qing Dynasty? Let's see what decision you make. Will you go all out and attack Leigong Ridge with all your strength? Or will you divide your troops to block the second infantry battalion? Or will you lead your troops to retreat and abandon all your previous efforts?
More and more Eight Banners soldiers broke through the wooden wall, while the Red Army fought desperately to stop them, and even the auxiliary soldiers took up arms to resist.

Dan Chu only had two teams of personal guards left, which were the only remaining reserve troops in the Leigongling camp. At this moment, they all rode on their war horses and galloped down the mountain with the commander.

The enemy had the most troops on the left wing, and had already pushed down the wooden wall, tearing a large hole in the defense line. The cavalry had already advanced to the wooden wall, but there was a congestion in front of them, so they could not move forward for a while.

This is it. Danchu led two teams of personal soldiers to the left wing, took out bows and arrows and shouted loudly: "Shoot in the face!"

Although the Ming army's bows and arrows were not as good as the Manchurian large-tipped bows, they were still not to be underestimated when it came to shooting at close range.

In contrast, the Qing army could only carry 20 to 30 arrows per battle due to the weight of arrows, and the arrows of the soldiers on the front line were almost used up.

The commander arrived and the morale of the Red Army was restored.

The Qing army also noticed this new force and came to besiege Danchu.

"Hit!" Danchu used a broadsword and shot an arrow at the face of a Manchu soldier.

But then he heard a cry of "Ah!" and his horse, the chestnut horse, was shot by an arrow and let out a mournful cry. It was shot by an arrow for its master, but it still struggled and refused to fall down.

Danchu looked in the direction of the arrow and saw a Manchu soldier in front of him on the right. He had run out of arrows and was searching for them on the ground.

Fuck your mother! Danchu was furious. He held the arrow with his right hand and pulled the string with his left hand. With a whoosh, he shot the Manchu soldier dead with one arrow.

This is left-hand shooting, which can kill enemies on the right. Generally, archers can only shoot from the right, and shooting from both sides is a must-have skill for archers. Perhaps because of his own advantage of traveling through time, Danchu is very good at learning skills, and he can easily master even the difficult points of shooting such as turning over and shooting from the back, shooting from both sides, etc.

"The second battalion is coming! The second battalion is coming!" The red flag of the second infantry battalion was in sight, and the soldiers of the royal guard battalion rushed to spread the news, their morale was greatly boosted, and they fought more enthusiastically.

Soon, several dull horn sounds were heard in the distance. Upon hearing the order, the Qing army began to retreat.

(End of this chapter)