Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 154 I Want to See the Power of the Heavenly Cavalry
"Bang, bang, bang--"

Soon, a series of golden sounds were heard from the central army where Ye Chenren's flag was located. Upon hearing the sounds, the Eight Banners cavalrymen who had been provoking on the edge of the moat south of Jingmenzhou City turned their horses' heads and retreated towards the plains.

“BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!!!”

Just as the Eight Banners armored personnel had left the moat, a thunderous roar erupted from the artillery position in the south. More than 20 thousand-jin cannons retreated almost at the same time, and black iron bullets whizzed out, quickly crossed the sky, and heavily slammed into the city wall on the south side of Jingmenzhou City.

Nearly half of the whistling iron bullets hit the city wall, and rubble flew all over the wall. Two of the battlements were hit directly by the shells and collapsed instantly. The bricks and soil inside exploded, raising a cloud of gray smoke and dust. The wall vibrated violently for a while, and the sound of rubble collapsing could be heard everywhere.

In addition, several iron bullets hit the moat outside the city, with a few "bangs" and water columns splashing up, while several other shells flew over the city wall and hit the open space inside the wall.

Along with the sound of heavy objects colliding, screams of the soldiers of the Loyalty Camp were heard on the city wall. Several soldiers hiding behind the battlements were hit by flying debris.

However, all the broken stones hit the armor and helmets they were wearing and did not cause any actual damage. Zhu Cilang had previously instructed Chen Fu to leave behind dozens of veterans of the Palace Army who had experienced the "Battle of Fengyang" to teach the soldiers of the Loyal Camp a complete set of methods for defending the city and defending against artillery.

The soldiers of the Chuang army were not good at defensive battles and did not have much experience in defending cities. Without proper command and deployment, a large number of soldiers would have died in panic under the artillery bombardment of the Qing army.

This is where soldier training and veterans are important. If the army does not have veterans with rich battlefield experience, it will be difficult to have correct training that meets the requirements of actual combat. Although there are various methodologies in military books, there will inevitably be numerous mistakes and omissions in the process of practice.

Behind the city wall, after the Qing army began to bombard, Liu Rukui took a group of officers to hide in the bunker, and the Qing army's artillery could not hurt him at all.

However, the Qing army's firepower outside the city was so strong that if it continued to bombard the city for more than ten days, the consequences would be disastrous. With this thought in mind, he immediately ordered his trusted guards to break out of the siege at nightfall and rush to Jingzhou to deliver the letter.

Liu Rukui thought about how Tongguan had been breached within a few days. Even if their tens of thousands of troops had gone to great lengths to attack Jingzhou City, it would not have been as effective as a few days of bombardment by heavy artillery. He became even more uneasy.

At this time, the Qing artillerymen on the position were well-trained. They quickly cleaned the gun barrel with a wet stick wrapped in wool, and then quickly poured the propellant bags and primers into the designated position.

Immediately afterwards, the gunner loaded iron bullets into the front chamber of the cannon one by one. The gunner who had just cleaned the barrel used the stick in his hand to quickly compact the iron bullets after they stopped.

After the three artillerymen worked together, the artillery officer next to them immediately used the tools in their hands to readjust the angle of the artillery based on the measurement results.

"Bang, bang, bang--"

A new series of golden sounds soon rang out from the Qing army's artillery positions. Two rows of gunners holding ignition forks bent over again to light the guns. Deafening explosions then erupted from the smoke-filled artillery positions.

“BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!!!”

“BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!!!”

Ye Chen and Bahana stared at the Jingmenzhou city in front of them while stroking the horses under their crotch. Both of them smelled a strong smell of gunpowder.

They were only two hundred steps away from the artillery position. The rumbling sound of the artillery and the pungent smoke made the two men's mounts a little agitated. The bad-tempered warhorse under Ye Chen's crotch was constantly stomping the ground with its front hooves.

However, these were just minor episodes in the war. The bombardment continued, and the rumbling sounds of explosions, heavy objects colliding, rubble collapsing, and water were heard incessantly.

After six rounds of shooting and hundreds of artillery shells bombarding continuously, the walls of Jingmenzhou were already filled with smoke and dust. Many places had been destroyed by artillery shells. Broken stones and tiles kept falling from the walls and battlements, hitting the Ming army soldiers hiding below, making a clanging sound, and the screams and wails of the Ming army soldiers came one after another.

Under the attack of artillery, the bricks and stones on the outer edge of the city wall suffered considerable damage. The damage caused by the flying debris was far greater than that caused by dozens of shells hitting the city wall.

Ye Chen and Bahana were fully prepared for this battle. If they wanted to capture Jingmenzhou City as quickly as possible, they could actually fight to the limit every day and bombard nearly a hundred rounds continuously.

These are all newly-made cannons in Beijing. The life of each cannon barrel reaches 600 times. The dilapidated city wall south of Jingmen Prefecture, which has just been repaired, cannot withstand 600 consecutive bombardments from more than 20 thousand-jin heavy cannons.

In fact, after being attacked by hundreds of iron bullets weighing five to six pounds to more than ten pounds, many places on the Jingmenzhou city wall were "riddled with holes". If Liu Rukui had previously recruited civilians to repair the weak spots, the southern city wall might have shown signs of collapse and loosening.

In fact, in order to prevent the Qing army from breaking through the city gate, Liu Rukui also ordered his soldiers to pile up bricks and stones to completely block several city gate holes, and opened several small gates for troops to move out.

After all, Jingmen Prefecture is just a small city. No matter how much it is reinforced and repaired, each city gate does not have the thousand-jin gates that are found in big cities, nor does it have the large-scale moon city and urn city to serve as layers of obstacles to block the attacking troops.

As for the city gates, they were like paper in front of the iron bullets weighing more than ten pounds, and a few shots would shatter them. If the angle was right, even a single shot could create a large hole.

However, Ye Chen's goal was not to quickly capture Jingmen Prefecture. The city wall of Jingzhou was not comparable to that of Jingmen Prefecture, and it had undergone the same special transformation as the cities in Jiangbei. Even if dozens of thousand-jin cannons bombarded it in turn, it would be difficult to break through it quickly.

Moreover, the Ming army in Jingzhou City had the strength to counterattack, while the Ming army in Jingmen Prefecture was weak, so the two cannot be generalized.

In other words, for Ye Chen, Li Guo's elite troops in Jingzhou City were his real target. If the latter were completely unlucky, he would have to settle for the next best thing and capture Jingmenzhou City.

He looked at the thick smoke and flashes of orange-red flames filling the artillery position, then looked at the dust flying and the city walls from which screams and wails were heard. He then ordered the shelling to stop and the shield carts to begin preparations.

When Ye Chen besieged Taiyuan City, he also relied on the red cannon and finally won the victory. He skillfully controlled the rhythm of the siege, which not only put enough pressure on the Ming army but also prevented the city walls from being blown down.

"Hehe, damn it, the Nikans in the city must be scared to death. They will definitely send Tangma south again tonight to inform the Ming army in Jingzhou city." Bahana withdrew his gaze from the city wall, licked his cracked lips, and laughed.

The tremendous power of the artillery made Bahana full of confidence in the war situation at this time. He had not participated in the eastern and western southern expedition armies commanded by Ajige and Duoduo before, and had no clear concept of the Ming Dynasty's fortified city built under the guidance of Zhu Cilang.

Of course, he also learned some news from the beile and beizi in the southern expedition army. He was originally quite worried, but now when he saw that the red cannon was so powerful, he was full of confidence again.

"In the past few days, more and more scouts have been sent from the direction of Jingzhou City. Li Guo must be keeping an eye on the entire battle situation. The cavalry under his command probably does not exceed 3,000, so he dare not act rashly."

Ye Chen also sent out a large number of scouts to determine the movements of the Ming army in the direction of Jingzhou. He paused, then said:

"But we have to find a way to get him to go north. Otherwise, even if we capture Jingmen Prefecture, we won't be able to take over all the Ming army's deployments in Jingzhou."

Upon hearing this, Bahana immediately restrained his smug look, thought for a moment and said:
"Prince Ying said that Li Guo's greatest skill is ambushing and covering the rear. If we want to lure him out, I'm afraid we have to show weakness, otherwise he definitely won't have the courage to do so."

"Yeah." Ye Chen nodded and agreed, "That's exactly what I was thinking."

"Southwest of Jingmen Prefecture, near Jianyang Town, there are stretches of low hillsides and many ponds, which are suitable for ambushes. If we can lure Li Guo north, he will most likely choose to act there."

Bahana immediately expressed his thoughts, but he paused and frowned again.

"However, the difficulty lies in how to lure him north. Li Guonanikan is a bandit by birth, and I'm afraid he would have been frightened by our Qing cavalry long ago."

"As long as we maintain this level of siege intensity and send out infantry to attack, Li Guo will definitely not be able to bear it and will lead his troops north to test us. He is good at covering the rear and should not be afraid of us." Ye Chen shook his head.

He didn't think Li Guo was discouraged, but rather that he was very bold, otherwise the scouts wouldn't be so powerful. The vanguard had been Bahana's army, but now it was Ye Chen's men who were sent to Jingzhou Prefecture to spy on military intelligence.

"Then let's just wait like this?" Bahana suddenly came to his senses.

"Wait a few more days, until Jingmenzhou City is almost conquered by us, Li Guo should lead the army north to support us." Ye Chen nodded.

He actually had another worry - Aljin sent news from Wuchang that the Ming Emperor might have led his troops to Jiujiang, but he was not sure whether the main force of the Ming army was in Jiujiang or had moved to Changsha.

Bahana looked at him and asked in confusion:

"Why, you're not sure? Oh, they're just a bunch of remnants of bandits. What's there to worry about? If Nikan doesn't dare to come, we can just march to Jingzhou and destroy them anyway."

Ye Chen listened to Bahana's words, shook his head, and said slowly, "Li Guo is indeed nothing to be afraid of. If we can lure him here, we can destroy him in one fell swoop. But Emperor Ming is difficult to deal with. I'm worried that he has already led a large army into Changsha. If Emperor Ming leads the main force north, the situation may be unpredictable."

"Emperor Ming?" Bahana frowned and looked puzzled when he heard this - could it be that Emperor Ming would lead his troops north?
On the banks of the Xiangjiang River, the tall and towering walls of Changsha City are bathed in the warm winter sun, with drums thundering and flags flying all around.

Zhu Cilang was wearing a gorgeous set of gilded armor and standing on the city wall of Changsha's west gate. His eyes were as sharp as torches as he looked out at the river flowing north below the city, as well as the rolling mountains and endless plains in the distance.

At this time, under the city wall, tens of thousands of Ming army soldiers were lined up in battle array, with flags fluttering in the formation, tall figures and resolute faces appeared in the formation, and tens of thousands of war horses were snorting, exhaling a layer of mist in the formation.

Zhu Cilang looked at the soldiers below the city, his heart filled with confidence for the upcoming battle. These soldiers were the elite of the Ming Dynasty, and they had no fear of the Qing Dynasty. They were eager to fight the Manchus, eager to win on the battlefield, and even more eager to achieve success and gain promotion.

After personally deploying the defense of northern Jiangxi, and especially instructing He Tengjiao to do the follow-up work for the army's westward advance, he immediately took Du Yinxi, Wu Jinxi, Hao Yongzhong and other civil and military ministers, and rushed to Changsha under the protection of the imperial camp soldiers.

In front of him, part of the Tianqi Army and the vanguard of the Palace Army had already arrived in Changsha, and under the advance arrangement of Du Yinxi, they entered the Yuezhou Prefecture City and joined the militia camp commanded by Liu Tichun.

Now, lined up outside the city were the remaining troops of the Palace Front Army and the Heavenly Cavalry Camp. Zhu Cilang led the Imperial Camp and galloped lightly, much faster than them, and soon caught up with the two troops that had moved in advance.

As soon as he arrived in Changsha, Li Guo sent someone to report the military situation in Jingmen Prefecture. After Zhu Cilang knew for sure that the main force of the Qing army led by Dorgon had not yet entered Huguang, he immediately decided to lead the Tianqi Army north.

At the same time, the Central Army of the Palace will immediately head north, while the Left Army of the Palace and the Right Army of the Palace, which are marching from Nanchang to Changsha, will stay in Changsha and send part of their troops south to garrison in Xiangtan and Hengyang.

Changsha already had Hao Yongzhong's infantry within its walls, and with the addition of some troops from the Right and Left Palace Front Armies, they were more than capable of holding the city. The responsibility of harassing and containing the enemy from the periphery naturally fell to the defenders of Yuezhou, Jingzhou, Hengyang, and Xiangtan.

In fact, the Jinyiwei also delivered a military report about the approximate location of the Qing army the day before. Zhu Cilang roughly estimated in his mind that at the current speed, it would take at least half a month for Dorgon's army to reach Xiangyang.

Due to the sudden heavy snowfall in various parts of Henan a few days ago, the rivers in Nanyang, Kaifeng and other prefectures were either frozen or in the dry season. The large amount of baggage carried by the hundreds of thousands of Qing troops heading south could only be transported by manpower.

Although the Qing army recruited a large number of civilians, its marching speed was still slow, especially after encountering heavy snow, the various armies even came to a temporary halt.

This also gave Zhu Cilang confidence. It actually started snowing in Jingzhou, but not as heavily as in Henan. This was extremely beneficial to him and could even cover the army's movements.

In Changsha City, Du Yinxi built a new military camp inside the west gate to accommodate the army. All the soldiers who were going to the expedition stood in silence. The whole ground was silent. In the Tianqi Camp, the central army in front of the palace had more than 10,000 of the most powerful cavalry in the Ming Dynasty. The soldiers all held their heads high and were in high spirits.

After the "Jianghuai Defense War", especially after the end of the "Battle of Jingzhou", Zhu Cilang almost drew half of the elite troops from the original Palace Army and Nanjing Jingying to support the training and construction of the newly established camps, making the Palace Army, which was expanded into the Palace Central Army, and the Tianqi Battalion of the Tianqi Army, almost only a barely maintained framework.

You must know that there were countless battles of varying sizes in the "Jianghuai Defense War", and the Palace Army and the Nanjing Beijing Camp suffered heavy losses. In the final "Battle of Tushan", thousands of soldiers were drawn from the Fengyang Standard Camp and the garrison army, and they were trained for less than two months, so that their final combat effectiveness was less than expected, and they won by relying on their troop strength advantage.

After the "Battle of Jingzhou", Zhu Cilang transferred nearly a hundred elite soldiers from the Tianqi Camp to expand the army's scout cavalry to ensure that the army would not become blind or deaf on the battlefield.

Fortunately, after six months of training, under the leadership of veterans, those soldiers who already had certain combat experience and were selected from garrisons, standard camps, and guard posts in various places quickly showed the appearance of a strong army.

Today, the Palace Front Army and the Heavenly Cavalry Army have undergone a series of training and replenishment, and with the priority replenishment of nearly 10,000 war horses, tens of thousands of new armors and countless weapons, these two armies are still the well-deserved powerful armies under Zhu Cilang's command.

As soon as the auspicious time for the army to march arrived, Chang Denggui's general flag and the flags of the central army in front of the palace and the various battalions of the Tianqi Army were raised from the parade ground. The officers of each battalion, the captain and above, followed suit and stood in front of the stage in order. The flag bearers of each captain's headquarters had already lined up below the stage.

“Woo, woo, woo~~~”

The bugle call sounded, and each camp responded with flags. Flags fluttered on the parade ground, and shouts shook the sky.

"Rumble--"

After three drum beats, the two armies set out immediately. The 5,000 fully armed cavalrymen of the Tianqi Army were the first to set out, followed closely by the central army in front of the palace. Behind them, there was a large group of mule and horse carts transporting armor and supplies.

There are direct water routes from Changsha to Yuezhou and Jingzhou. The army's food, artillery, ammunition and other supplies are transported by the navy. The Qing army did not have an organized navy in Wuchang. The entire Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River waterway were controlled by the Ming army.

By this time, the river outside Changsha City was already densely packed with boats, their masts like clouds, an endless line. On the shore, countless civilians, moving like ants from a distance, were carrying military supplies.

Changsha City has entered a wartime state at this time, and the city is basically under military control inside and outside, so as to maximize the limited civilian manpower and ensure that there are no problems in the transportation of military supplies, which is more important than anything else.

This also meant that there was no public farewell for the army when it set out. Of course, this was also Zhu Cilang's intention. He did not want to make too much noise. Organizing a public farewell would definitely require more effort.

When the vanguard army passed through the city gate and began to march out of the city, under the leadership of the instructor, passionate singing suddenly sounded from under the city.

"The wind and clouds rise, the mountains and rivers shake, the Nandu army rises with might, defending the country with all its loyalty.

With swords and spears, we fought on the battlefields hundreds of times and were the vanguard in driving out the Tartars.

Sweeping across the land, reviving China, being invincible, achieving great success."

Amid the loud and passionate singing, Zhu Cilang watched the flag of the Tianqi Army moving north from the city gate, getting farther and farther away and smaller.

Du Yinxi and Wu Jinxi were also watching the army setting out. After the central army in front of the palace walked out of the city gate, they both withdrew their gazes at the same time and looked at each other at the same time.

They all knew what the other party was worried about, but Zhu Cilang had already issued the order, and now that the army had set out, there was nothing more to say.

Du Yinxi originally thought that he was bold enough, even aggressive enough in advocating for war, but two days ago, after hearing Zhu Cilang's battle plan to reinforce Jingmen Prefecture, or more accurately, to surprise attack Ye Chen's Qing army at the military meeting, he could not calm down for a long time.

Compared to Your Majesty, he is still too conservative!

"Your Majesty, there are many cavalrymen in the central army, the standard camp, and the militia camp in front of the palace. It is too risky to attack Ye Chen's Qing army this time. One more cavalryman means one more chance of winning!" Du Yinxi finally couldn't help but said carefully.

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang smiled and then shook his head.
"Five thousand cavalrymen of the Heavenly Cavalry Army are already enough. Even if we count the cavalrymen from other units, there are only one or two thousand more, which is not enough to change the situation.

Moreover, if all these cavalry were mobilized, Aljin would certainly notice it in advance, and Ye Chen might react in advance. The true strength of Changsha and Yuezhou would also be exposed in his unscrupulous spying."

Li Guo reported the situation in Jingmen Prefecture to Zhu Cilang. After Zhu Cilang learned about the final layout and strength of the Qing troops of Ye Chen and Bahana in Jingmen Prefecture, he decided to "learn the advanced technology of the foreigners to defeat them" and launched a surprise attack on the Qing army.

This was a tactic that the Eight Banners had used against the Shun army many times, and it had always been effective. However, Li Guo, Du Yinxi, Hao Yongzhong and others only thought of luring the enemy into dividing their forces, and then ambushing and annihilating them.

However, there were not many places suitable for ambushes on the hundreds of miles of plains from Jingmenzhou to Jingzhou, and it would be difficult for the Qing army to be fooled, unless Ye Chen and Bahana had underestimated the enemy to the point of not sending forward reconnaissance.

Zhu Cilang naturally knew that Li Guo wanted to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses because of his ability to intercept from behind, but on the plains of Huguang, the Qing army's vests would probably not be without advantages.

The Qing army never dreamed that the Ming army, which had never dared to fight them in the field, would actually follow their example and launch a hundred-mile raid.

Of course, the Qing army often took two days and two nights, or even three days and three nights, to rush and pursue for hundreds of miles. Although Zhu Cilang had confidence in the Tianqi Army, he only planned to catch the Qing army off guard for one day and one night.

Not only that, Li Guo would still lead his cavalry north to look for opportunities to fight and attract the attention of the Qing army, preferably to lead away some of their cavalry.

Although the Tianqi Army was the strongest elite under Zhu Cilang's command, it only had 5,000 men. The Qing army outside Jingmenzhou City had nearly 10,000 men, and the Eight Banners Cavalry had more than 4,000 men.

He looked at Du Yinxi, Wu Jinxi and other ministers who were still worried, and then said:

"I came here to test the strength of the Heavenly Cavalry. The Qing army is not stupid, and it is difficult to ambush them successfully. Instead of luring the enemy, it is better to launch a surprise attack directly. Those Tartars will never think that I have the courage, let alone the strength!"

(End of this chapter)