Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 105: Attacking North and South
"Dorgon and Bumjitai were poisoned to death. Cough cough cough, cough cough cough."

Mo Ying'an's voice had become hoarse, and he persisted even after nightfall, when everything around him became pitch black and even the shouting and cursing outside the city gradually faded away.

After all, this was the time when his ability could be best demonstrated. It could be said that those dozens of Qing soldiers were scolded away by him.

Moreover, he had heard that His Majesty was watching from the top of the city wall and had personally seen a large group of imperial guards appear on the battlements of the Chaoyang Gate Tower. Naturally, he had to seize the opportunity and show his skills.

It doesn’t matter whether Your Majesty can see his performance with your own eyes, but as long as a little rumor reaches Your Majesty’s ears, even if he becomes speechless, it will be worth it!

As Mo Ying'an also calmed down, the battle lines between the Ming and Qing sides returned to their previous state. From time to time, lit torches were thrown out with a "clang" sound, illuminating the armored soldiers on duty beside the earthen wall.

In the darkness, human figures were swaying, and the scouts of both sides were on guard against each other to prevent night attacks. These vanguards of the Ming and Qing armies had become very familiar with each other after more than a month of fighting.

The hazy moonlight sprinkled on the plains around Fengyang City. Zhao Zhengdong was leading his armored soldiers and quietly climbing up the earthen wall. Each of them was only wearing two light pieces of armor, and their eyes were firm and cold as iron.

Gu Defu sat motionless behind the parapet. He was surrounded by armored soldiers from the same bureau. Also on the wall were other elite soldiers from the Tianwu Left Camp.

Further up the wall, the two thousand headquarters of the Tianwei Central Camp and the Wuyong Camp were also on high alert.

Zhu Cilang asked Chang Denggui and Hu Maozhen to personally preside over the streamlining of the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp. The more than 4,000 soldiers who attacked from three directions of the east city wall in this battle were all selected elites.

This time, it was the Ming army that took the initiative to attack. Unlike the previous defensive battles, although the Palace Army and the various units of the Beijing Camp had experienced the baptism of war, the Qing army had a huge advantage in military strength and could not be careless.

Zhu Cilang launched a night attack with the aim of undermining the morale of the Qing army, breaking the determination of Duoduo and the Qing generals, and forcing the other side to withdraw as soon as possible.

This requires that the soldiers who go into battle must fight quickly and decisively, and withdraw immediately after a successful surprise attack that inflicts huge casualties on the Qing army. If they are entangled by the Qing army and fall into a war of attrition, all their efforts will be in vain.

At the same time, the Ming army in the west and south would launch a large-scale night attack at Hongwu Gate, Tushan Gate and other places after fighting in the east, making it impossible for the Qing army to make an accurate judgment immediately.

The Qing army had fought countless battles in western Liaoning and had rich experience in sieges and attacks on cities. At this time, many earth walls had been built in front of the advancing trenches.

During the siege, although these earthen walls were also attacked fiercely by the Ming army's artillery, the Qing army had sufficient manpower and quickly built new earthen walls every time they were collapsed.

Duoduo put a lot of effort into building these earthen walls, without any slackness. He was always waiting for Zhu Cilang to attack, and defeating the Ming army in a field battle almost became his only way to quickly end the war and achieve victory.

The Ming army could rely on the earth wall to withstand the strong attack of his army, but when the Ming army launched a strong attack, the damage would definitely be greater, especially since Duoduo also learned from Zhu Cilang's deployment and asked Kong Youde to prepare landmines.

This night attack was an absolutely tough battle for the Ming army, and it was also a key battle that determined the final outcome of the Jianghuai Defense War.

Therefore, the soldiers participating in this night attack were all top-notch elite soldiers. They had all adjusted their diets, had good night vision, and had performed well in previous night exercises, especially the last night battle.

During the previous night attack by the Qing army, Zhu Cilang ordered Chen Fu to arrange for the troops from each unit to take turns climbing the wall, and asked the teaching team and military law soldiers to supervise the actions of each unit to determine their true combat effectiveness, all for today.

In the dark night, Zhao Zhengdong, who was standing on the north earthen wall on the east side of Fengyang City, looked out from the parapet. Suddenly, several torches somersaulted in the air and flew out from the Qing army's earthen wall outside the city, then fell to the ground about twenty steps away from the earthen wall.

The torches suddenly dimmed, and then lit up again, standing out in the pitch-black darkness.

In order to promptly detect any actions of the Ming army at night, Qing soldiers would throw torches into the trenches from time to time. The time interval between each throwing of the torches was not long and there was no regularity at all, which greatly increased the difficulty of the Ming army's surprise attack.

Of course, the Ming army was the same. Both sides were very vigilant. The scouts sent by the Qing army to spy on military intelligence were often exposed in such circumstances.

Under the cover of night, a cool breeze was blowing. The Qing army set up more than 30 bonfires in front and behind the trenches. The fires grew more and more vigorous. Under the influence of the night wind, they swayed constantly, and the surroundings flickered.

At this time, on the north side of the east side of Fengyang City, Ma Zhenfeng, who had already sneaked out of the city, raised his head in the darkness, observed for a while, then winked at several of his men, and then made a gesture to continue moving forward.

After receiving the signal, his men flashed and immediately merged into the bumpy darkness of the plain, continuing to sneak towards the earth wall built by the Qing army, making almost no sound under their feet.

When Ma Zhenfeng was more than thirty steps away from the Qing army's trench, he lay down again. There were several torches moving in front of him, accompanied by a loud shout from the Eight Banners soldiers.

However, the Eight Banners soldier was shouting in Manchu, and Ma Zhenfeng could not understand what he was saying at all. But he knew that this was a bluffing tactic of the Qing army. They had also used it when they were ambushes in order to intimidate the timid enemy troops.

The seven vanguards and the fifty or so people following behind them did not move. The Eight Banners soldier's shout of "feint shot" did not scare them. They waited until the fire on the ground was about to go out, and then they started to move again.

In fact, the Eight Banners soldiers and Baoyi soldiers in the trenches could not see carefully at all. It was dark at night, the distance was far, and they had not found anything unusual for a long time. It was only a matter of time before they relaxed.

When Ma Zhenfeng was thirty steps into the outer edge of the trench, he no longer trotted with his back bent, but crawled carefully, removing caltrops and other hidden weapons from the ground.

Suddenly, one of the armored soldiers behind him felt a sharp pain in his feet and stopped where he was. Seeing this, several armored soldiers who were following him also stopped.

However, most experienced scouts knew that they had accidentally stepped on caltrops. They ignored the warning and continued forward, following Ma Zhenfeng and carefully removing any other hidden weapons on the ground.

The armored soldier endured the severe pain and bent down to pull out the sharp caltrops under his feet. From the moment he was stabbed, he knew from the intense pain that the caltrops were stained with feces and there was a high possibility that he would not survive.

But he also needs to hide himself so as not to expose the actions of the entire team.

Soon, no one else on the battlefield stopped taking action. Ma Zhenfeng led his men to a place more than 20 steps away from the Qing army's earth wall, hid in a large bomb crater, and killed the two Qing army ambush soldiers lying inside.

Ma Zhenfeng was secretly surprised. These Tartars were indeed experienced warriors. Many of them were probably hunters. Otherwise, the traps and ambushes along the way would not be so difficult to find, and they would not be so cruel.

However, it was impossible to go further. Although the Qing army had just dug through the horse-blocking ditch and built the earth wall, the preparations were not sufficient, but these deployments on the periphery were basically enough to prevent reconnaissance.

In this situation, it was almost impossible for Ma Zhenfeng to kill all the Qing army ambushes he encountered on the road, and then sneak into the trench without being noticed.

He was waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to rush out and clear the caltrops and other hidden weapons on the ground within the last twenty or so steps ahead without being discovered by the Qing army.

This opportunity was already being prepared on the three city walls, especially on the east wall, where the armored soldiers who had quietly climbed up the wall would soon create for him.

Ma Zhenfeng stared at the burning bonfire in front of him and the earthen wall illuminated by the fire, quietly waiting for the opportunity to appear.

“Beep, beep, beep—”

Suddenly, a trumpet sounded on the earthen wall on the south side of the east side of Fengyang City. When Ma Zhenfeng heard it, he knew that the main attack was about to be launched.

"Boom boom boom! Boom boom boom—"

After the horn sounded, the French cannons that had adjusted their angles on the earth wall began to fire obliquely. Hundreds of buckshot of various sizes swept forward like a hurricane, hitting the trenches dug by the Qing army and the earth walls they had built. Some Qing soldiers who heard the noise and came out to observe were directly knocked over by the buckshot and fell into the ditch with screams.

After the artillery salvo, ladders on the earth wall were quickly lowered, and the Ming army soldiers who were hiding behind the earth wall immediately stood up and began to charge.

In the blink of an eye, a tide of Ming soldiers howled and jumped onto the earthen wall, then stepped on the creaking ladders and rushed towards the Qing army's trench outside the city.

At the same time, the Eight Banners Army officers on the earthen wall of the trench saw the Ming army pouring in in the dark night, and immediately shouted and ordered the attack with more than a dozen Qing army French cannons and general cannons that had been loaded with ammunition early in the morning and deployed on the low earthen wall beside the trench.

Soon, the trench walls were filled with Eight Banner soldiers and Baoyi archers. The artillery roared, and the flashes of artillery fire flashed. Hundreds of shells flew out from the smoke that filled the earthen walls. The explosions even completely drowned out the sound of the vibrating bowstrings. Amidst the flashes of artillery fire, the Qing musketeers and archers in the trenches trotted up the low earthen walls and began firing in formation.

Under Tulai's deployment, the Qing army's defense was very tight. Without thousands of soldiers, it would be almost impossible to break through the front even in a night attack. If an attack was launched during the day, it would be a fantasy.

The Qing army in the trenches counterattacked quickly, throwing out countless torches shining with orange-red light, and even several sparks rising into the sky. These were land mines made by Kong Youde's troops.

The lights from the thrown torches and artillery fire revealed the position of the Ming army's night attack troops. On the walls on both sides, fire flickered, muskets fired in unison, and bowstrings rang out. The Qing army fired thousands of lead bullets and arrows at once, and in the blink of an eye, knocked down dozens of Ming soldiers who had just jumped onto the ladders and rushed over with shields in hand.

The burning torches illuminated the battlefield at night, and the picture flickered. The charging Ming army fell one after another under the fierce counterattack of artillery and arrows. Many people fell directly from the ladders into the trenches, and were pierced by the rows of sharp wood inside, wailing continuously.

The Ming army artillery on the earth wall behind also fought back at the same time. The archers were lining up to fire in unison. Some Qing army archers were hit by lead bullets and fell off the earth wall with screams.

The huge sound of the battle between the two armies instantly drew aside the large number of Qing troops deployed in the trenches by Tulai. The criss-crossing trenches were crowded with people. Under Duoduo's order, the Qing troops who had ambushed in the trenches in advance quickly took action.

However, although the Qing army had sufficient manpower, the trenches they dug on the east side of Fengyang City were nearly twenty miles long from north to south, and the trenches were crisscrossed. Whether it was the Ming army's attack or the Qing army's counterattack, they could only choose to break through the key points.

Ma Zhenfeng listened to the rumbling sound of artillery at the foot of the mountain and turned his head to look over. In the dark night sky, bursts of red flames illuminated the dark night sky red. The sky had changed color slightly because of the torches raised by thousands of troops in a feint attack and the flames produced by artillery and musket fire.

He took advantage of the fierce fighting at the foot of the mountain, crouched down and jogged for a while, but soon bent down and lay on the ground. The six armored soldiers following him did the same, lying quietly on the ground and not daring to make any noise.

The target was close at hand, and he was also worried that the Qing army on the earth wall would notice the position of him and his men by the light produced by the firing of guns and cannons.

You know, at such a close distance, if they were discovered in advance and became the target of the Qing army's attack, it would be basically impossible for them to escape and they would only die in vain.

“Huh, huh~~”

Several torches were thrown out from the Qing army trench in front of them, and wherever the flames passed, the surrounding area was illuminated. After the battle on the south side started, the vigilance of the Qing army here was greatly increased.

Ma Zhenfeng leaned his face against the ground, using the brief illumination from the torch to determine the locations of several caltrops ahead. He then signaled to someone behind him, and when the flames on the ground grew very weak and the Qing troops relaxed their vigilance, he waved his hand again, signaling for action.

Although these six armored soldiers were carrying clay pot mines on their backs, they moved as swiftly and silently as ghosts, and immediately hunched their bodies and started to trot.

He suddenly jumped into the Qing army's trench with his six vanguard armored soldiers, and took advantage of the Eight Banners soldiers' unpreparedness to kill the Qing soldiers on duty inside one by one.

Their movements were swift and smooth. Under the cover of gunfire, they took lives without alerting other enemies inside the trenches.

But at this moment, several Eight Banners soldiers suddenly ran towards them from the trench, and the two groups collided head-on. The Eight Banners soldiers were obviously frightened by the sudden appearance of the Ming army, but they reacted quickly, drew their swords to block, and launched a fierce counterattack.

The armored soldiers led by Ma Zhenfeng, armed with short axes and thick-backed swords, attacked these suddenly appearing enemies. The blades cut through the flashing light, and each move was fatal. The weapons shone in the darkness. They were as fast as lightning and quickly killed several Eight Banners soldiers who were blocking the way in Lanmagou.

However, the fierce fighting also attracted the attention of other Qing troops in the trenches. Along with the shouts of the Qing soldiers, the other Eight Banners defenders in the trenches quickly mobilized and attacked them.

Ma Zhenfeng didn't care about anything else and directly ordered his men to throw out the clay pot mines. The armored soldiers following behind him also rushed over, stood on the earthen wall of the trench, and threw these extremely lethal weapons at other Qing troops in the trench.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

One mine after another exploded in the air or in the trenches. The fragments and impact force of the explosion directly knocked down the Qing soldiers who were rushing in from the surroundings, and bursts of ghostly howls were heard.

Dozens of vanguard armored soldiers behind Ma Zhenfen also attacked immediately. During the charge, several people were accidentally stabbed by hidden arrows and caltrops that had not been cleared on the ground. Some Qing soldiers even fell directly on the caltrops after being hit. The severe pain made them scream.

Fortunately, at this time, the Qing army in the trench on the north side had been stunned by the explosion and had not yet reacted. This scout team did not encounter stronger resistance and successfully passed the last twenty steps and entered the trench.

At the same time, the Ming army armored soldiers who launched the main attack in this direction also rushed up the earth wall like a storm to the sound of trumpets, and began to set up ladders and rush forward.

Teams of fully armed Ming soldiers rushed towards the earthen wall beside the Qing army's trench. The firelight illuminated their figures. The remaining Qing soldiers on the earthen wall were either shooting arrows, throwing torches out, or quickly throwing out the copycat landmines made by Kong Youde's troops.

But after these mines were thrown out using musket-ignited fuses, the consequences were predictable.

The landmines they threw made no sound when they fell to the ground. The Ming soldiers who were originally hiding saw this and hesitated for a while. Then some officers stepped on the extremely slow-burning fuses and even threw them back. The fragments of the explosion killed and injured many Qing soldiers.

The Qing army's land mines were also placed in clay pots. The fragments produced by the explosion were quite powerful and could also injure people around them.

Kong Youde did not dare to set the fuse too short, for fear that the mine would explode directly when the soldiers lit it. By then, in front of everyone, the evidence would be irrefutable, and it would be his fault.

As a result, the current situation was created. The Ming army could even think for a while and throw the Qing army's mines back, but they did not explode at all.

Moreover, Kong Youde was very considerate and found the dud mines thrown by the Ming army and asked his soldiers to make almost identical ones in appearance, so that after the melee, no one could tell whose mine it was.

I have to say, this guy is quite smart and does things very carefully!
Ma Zhenfeng commanded his armored soldiers to take the earthenware jar mines from their backs and continue throwing them into the trench. They had been specially trained and had amazing arm strength, so they could throw them far away even in the trench.

If these Qing troops were not killed or disrupted, who knows how many would die when the main army attacked.

The earthen wall beside the trench was not high, and they hid inside, and those Qing troops who climbed up the wall to counterattack could basically not attack them. If they wanted to attack them, the Qing army would have to pass through the trench and charge forward, or directly jump over the earthen wall, completely exposed to the attack of the Ming army.

This is not only extremely dangerous, but also greatly reduces the speed and accuracy of shooting. The main force has been attracted to the other side, and the Qing army, which has been harassed by landmines, dare not do so at all.

In the darkness, there were dozens of loud "boom" sounds. The earthenware jar mines thrown by Ma Zhenfeng and dozens of his armored soldiers continued to explode in the trench, and the original sparks instantly turned into dozens of balls of fire.

The Qing army soldiers in the trenches were knocked down by these sudden explosions. Countless mud and corpses flew everywhere, making crackling sounds. Even the mud inside the trenches collapsed under the impact of the explosions.

On the earthen wall in the direction of Fengyang City, bursts of military bugle calls sounded, and teams of Ming army soldiers began to charge. In the trenches, the Qing army's military bugle calls also continued to sound, and both sides were calling for reinforcements.

Most of the caltrops and hidden weapons laid by the Qing army along the way were cleared away by the scout team that Ma Zhenfeng was in. They rushed towards the Qing army positions along the predetermined route because the casualties caused by those traps were very small.

At a distance of more than fifty steps, the charging Ming army quickly reached the edge of the trench, howling and climbing over the low earth walls. The remaining Qing troops above and below the trench were affected by the fire and dust produced by the explosion, and it took them a long time to organize a counterattack.

A series of roars soon erupted on the earthen wall inside the trench. The shining red fireworks illuminated the darkness, reflecting the figures of the Qing army who were still blocking the attack. The blurry faces flickered, and gunpowder smoke filled the air.

Then, the voices of Eight Banners officers shouting loudly in the barbarian language were heard from the trenches. The scattered French cannons and general cannons mounted on the low earth walls continued to emit flames and make rumbling sounds, and their power was still very strong.

The Ming army soldiers who had just rushed to the edge of the trench were hit by hundreds of stone bullets that were like mercury. They fell down in unison, and many of them fell into the trench with screams.

At a distance of forty or fifty steps, even those reinforced shields could hardly stop the powerful cannonballs. Those cannonballs weighing nearly a pound easily broke through the shields in the front, and then penetrated the two layers of armor worn by the Ming soldiers.

But once the battle started, they had no choice but to charge according to orders. No matter how fierce the Qing army's firepower was, they could only continue to rush forward until they broke through the Qing army's defense, otherwise the soldiers behind them would also kill them.

In the dark night, a fierce battle broke out on the north side of the east side of Fengyang City. Inside and outside the trench, bursts of blood rain flew out one after another. The Ming army paid the price of hundreds of people. A large group of armored soldiers finally rushed into the trench, while the soldiers who were continuing to charge behind were still under attack from the Qing army.

(End of this chapter)