Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 167 The final blow

The explosions from the musket fire were deafening, and amidst the wailing and screaming in the air, the Green Camp army, which had just been advancing, was now thrown into great chaos. Even most of the armored soldiers who had not been hit by the musket fire were so frightened that they stopped in their tracks, completely at a loss as to what to do.

Not only that, this time, the soldiers of the left army in front of the palace did not wait for the Eight Banners horsemen who were supervising the battle to rush to the front row and force the Green Camp soldiers in the formation to fight. Instead, they rushed forward one after another at the sound of the bugle call, and countless armor leaves made a rustling sound as they ran.

“Hoo~Hoo~Hoo~~~”

The soldiers of the left army in front of the palace pulled out the short axes that were originally attached to their waist belts and threw them at the Green Camp soldiers who were only a dozen steps away. The short axes either hit the chest or the head. The huge impact force knocked the Green Camp soldiers who had not yet reacted to the ground, and some of them even knocked down several soldiers behind them.

"Kill, kill, kill—"

The shouts on the battle front were deafening. The spearmen of the left army in front of the palace looked at the enemy who had suffered heavy casualties and was in chaos. Their morale was greatly boosted and they were extremely excited.

Many of them are new recruits. Although they have experienced battlefields before, they are not veterans who have gone through countless battles and are accustomed to life and death. During the charge, they naturally feel nervous and fearful.

However, such tension and fear were soon replaced by a blank in the minds of the soldiers on the battlefield filled with smoke and the strong smell of blood. The muscle memory formed by day after day of hard training began to dominate the soldiers' actions.

The left army in front of the palace quickly rushed into the chaotic Green Camp army formation and launched a fierce hand-to-hand combat. As the long spears and short blades were extended and retracted, countless Green Camp soldiers fell down screaming. The Qing army quickly retreated and had no ability to fight back at all.

At this time, the Eight Banners cavalry, who had been supervising the battle from the rear, also rushed forward, but their forces were too few to reverse the situation. Short axes flew across the formation, hitting armor and shields with a thud, and the deafening shouts and screams of pain continued...

In front of the two armies, the pervasive smoke, the pungent smell of gunpowder, and the soldiers who had suffered huge casualties and were retreating step by step made Wang Guangtai stunned and completely stunned.

You know, he has fought in wars for decades, but this is the first time he has seen such a tragic battlefield.

On the battlefield in front of him, soldiers fell down one after another with screams, and the ground was flowing with blood. Many seriously wounded soldiers fell on the ground that had already been stained blood red, twitching and wailing constantly.

But the Ming army's attack continued. Although Bahana quickly sent out the Eight Banners Cavalry to block the attack, the Green Camp Army was already on the verge of collapse, and the Ming army's offensive was extremely swift. Although the Eight Banners Cavalry's blocking had some effect, it could not reverse the situation.

On the front line, row after row of soldiers were still fighting. As Bahana sent teams of Eight Banners cavalrymen to join the battlefield, the Ming army also suffered a lot of casualties, but those Eight Banners cavalrymen were also restrained by the Ming cavalry and attacked from the side by artillery.

In the Green Camp army formation, which was originally retreating step by step, due to the huge casualties, larger and larger gaps began to appear in the front line. The defeat was like a landslide and could no longer be reversed.

Such casualties far exceeded Wang Guangtai's expectations, making him extremely anxious and breathing heavily. These were all his soldiers and horses, and the casualties in this battle were probably close to two thousand.

After Wang Guangtai accepted the Ming court's recruitment, he had been operating in Yunyang Prefecture for so many years that he had quite a few elite troops under his command, and he had gathered seven or eight thousand soldiers. After receiving additional armaments from the Qing court, most of them were already wearing armor, and they were no longer the Ming army garrison soldiers during the previous farming period.

But now, after the battle, more than 30% of the troops he brought to Jingzhou to fight have been lost, and the battalion he dispatched has been completely destroyed.

Thinking of this, Wang Guangtai couldn't help but doubt whether his previous choice was wise enough. He even worried that Junta and Bahana would be defeated in this battle and their entire army would be wiped out, and he would be buried with them.

Just as Wang Guangtai was lost in thought, on the smoke-filled front line, after a loud explosion, a sharp whistling sound was heard. The eleven French machine guns on both wings of the Ming army's position that were still in normal use fired again, and thousands of lead bullets flew towards the Eight Banners vests rushing towards the front line.

Dozens of Eight Banners cavalrymen who wanted to make a detour from the flank were hit by densely packed lead bullets along with their horses. Suddenly, blood rained down and broken armor flew around in an instant, making a crisp sound of tinkling.

Zhunta was already standing on the lookout car, with a clear view of the entire battlefield. He looked at the battle in front of the battle with a very grim expression, and was furious at the performance of Wang Guangtai's troops.

Bahana personally commanded several attacks by the Eight Banners, but they all ended in failure. This inevitably affected the morale of the Eight Banners Army, and the Green Camp Army was directly defeated.

Now, the only thing that Zhunta was thankful for was that the main force of the Ming army was infantry, which naturally lacked offensive power. After chasing for hundreds of steps, with the participation of the cavalry, the Green Camp army, which was retreating step by step, finally got rid of the pursuit.

But the entire battle situation now is quite unfavorable for him. The powerful firepower and fierce combat power of the Ming army made his attempt end in failure and even shook the morale of the army.

"The Ming army is powerful, especially those artillery pieces, which are extremely powerful. The Ming emperor's deployment far exceeded our previous expectations!" Bahana hurried back from the front line. After seeing his army suffer setbacks on the battlefield, he was very worried about the future war situation.

"The combat effectiveness of this Ming army is indeed beyond our expectations. Otherwise, they would never have been able to withstand the offensive of our Eight Banners, let alone have such high morale."

After Junta finished speaking, he took a deep breath. The morale of the Ming army that had just counterattacked was indeed ridiculously high. Not only did they dare to actively attack the Eight Banners Majia, they even continued to attack when the Majia retreated.

"If the 30,000 Ming troops on the other side were all elite soldiers like this, I'm afraid our battle would be difficult to win!"

Bahana narrowed his eyes, paused and said:

"The Ming Emperor is full of tricks and is skilled in the use of artillery. Furthermore, those Nikan soldiers are extremely agile and mobile. After the clash, they can even split into small formations of a dozen men each, and their offensive is extremely fierce."

The small mandarin duck formation of the left army in front of the palace gave a great shock to Bahana, who had been commanding and observing the battle situation at the front line. He never thought that the Han people would have such combat power and courage, and dared to actively attack the Eight Banners vests during the battle.

"I just saw this, but we must fight this battle and achieve a breakthrough quickly. It's too late to withdraw now."

Zhunta withdrew his gaze from the front line, calmed his breath a little, and then said:
"I've been observing the situation in the south. We must launch an offensive immediately and send in a heavy attack. The Ming Emperor's formation has no offensive capabilities. As long as we can contain his cavalry, we will have the advantage. Once the morale of these Ming troops is worn down, we will have no problem breaking through the Ming Emperor's formation."

"That's right. In the last round of our assault, Wang Guangtai lost over a thousand soldiers. If we withdraw our troops hastily like this, it will be an unprecedented blow to the morale of our army."

Bahana nodded in agreement and said, "Given the current situation, even if we want to retreat, we must first find a way to achieve one or two small victories to boost the morale of the army."

"Yes!" Upon hearing this, Zhunta held his head high and chest out, looking not at all hesitant, and said confidently:

"Bahana, lead your troops to attack again and see what other tricks the Ming Emperor has in store. This time, we must defeat the Ming army. This general will tell the Ming Emperor that our Eight Banners Army is ready to attack at any time."

"General, if we want to fight, we must give our all, otherwise it will be difficult to defeat the Ming army under the command of Emperor Ming!" Bahana suddenly said.

"Give it your all?" Junta was a little surprised. His intention just now was still to test again, at most to blunt the edge of the Ming army, and then look for an opportunity to fight.

Bahana knew that Junta was too far away from the battlefield. Due to his past inertia in thinking about the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, he had not yet truly realized the powerful combat effectiveness of the Ming army in front of him. Just testing it would definitely be a stupid move that would only waste his own troops in vain.

"The combat power of this Ming army is absolutely different from any previous one. If we divide our forces and attack in shifts, we will be courting death."

Upon hearing this, Zhunta frowned. He could tell from Bahana's words that the situation was serious. After hesitating for a moment, he immediately decided:
"Alright, this time I will personally lead the charge. Bahana, mobilize another 2,000 cavalrymen and 1,000 Green Camp musketeers from the Central Army. This time, we must defeat the Ming army and secure a decisive victory."

After receiving the order, Bahana got off the watchtower and rode his horse towards the formation. Junta looked at his back as he left, took a deep breath, and the confidence on his face was gone.
.
The rumbling sound of cannons rang out again. On the battlefield south of the Ming army line, thousands of attacking Qing soldiers advanced forward in an orderly manner to the beat of drums. Rows of spears were held obliquely above the army formation. The sharp spear tips kept shaking as they moved, shining with spots of light reflected from the sun.

The failure of the recent attack resulted in over 2,000 Qing casualties, including over 400 Eight Banners soldiers. This was the first time Bahana had fought such a frustrating battle, which made him extremely unwilling to accept it and was one of the reasons why he urged Zhunta to launch an all-out attack.

Of course, Bahana's suggestion was based on a fluke mentality, hoping to launch an all-out attack and directly break through the Ming army's defenses. But as he looked at the advancing phalanx, his initial excitement and anticipation faded, and he was instead filled with worry. He had never imagined that the Ming army would be so formidable in a field battle!
“BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!!!”

As the Qing army continued to advance, a burst of muffled thunder-like cannon fire rumbled in front of the Ming army. Seven four-pound cannons and twelve tiger squat cannons roared forward, spewing out streams of red flames. Seven three-pound iron bullets and thousands of lead bullets rushed out from the originally black muzzles and fiercely crashed into the Qing army formation.

The Qing army formations that were hit by the three-jin shells from the four-pound cannon were instantly riddled with blood. Often, several or even a dozen soldiers were lifted up by a shell, and their weapons and broken armor were also lifted into the air.

The Tiger Crouching Cannon's lead bullets swept through the Qing army formation, and at the same time, dozens of Green Camp soldiers who were also used as cannon fodder fell. However, after learning the lesson just now, their reaction was much more stable.

After Zhunta sent reinforcements, the Qing army's wide formation was naturally not affected too much by the artillery fire. Those formations that were hit were quickly replaced by soldiers from the rear, and the entire army continued to advance.

This time, the Eight Banners were not only there to hold the line and supervise the battle, but they were also the main force in the attack. However, they were not in the front of the formation, but behind it. With the power of guns and artillery at that time, they could not be hurt at all.

In front of the Qing army, behind the Green Camp army holding shields for protection were the Green Camp army and Han Eight Banners musketeers dispatched by Junta. As long as they passed through this artillery attack area and entered seventy steps, they could fire at the Ming army on the opposite side. The cavalry deployed by Junta on both wings at this time would also take advantage of the situation to harass the Ming army line.

Now, the Ming cavalry on the north and south wings of the battlefield have been completely held back by the cavalry sent by Bahana. On such a vast battlefield, the Tianqi Army has limited manpower and cannot take into account both cover and attack. This allows the current main attacking Qing army to concentrate its firepower on the attack.

Bahana was full of confidence in the musketeers of the Eight Banners of Han, but he was a little worried about the musketeers of the Green Camp Army. Their equipment was quite backward, and many of them were still using three-barreled guns.

But for him, muskets were not the key to victory. As long as he could use muskets to kill the opposing Ming army musketeers and make the Ming army's line chaotic, the Eight Banners soldiers behind the formation could use a tight formation to directly break through the Ming army's line, and then win the battle in one go.

In order to create a powerful impact force, Bahana also deployed all the most powerful guards in the army in the middle of the army. He planned to command them personally, quickly break through the center of the Ming army, and then defeat the Ming army in front of him with lightning speed.

Bahana relied on these armored soldiers who could dismount and fight on foot, especially the most elite guards. Once upon a time, as long as he had a few hundred guards, he would dare to charge into thousands of Ming troops and even defeat them.

As the Qing army continued to advance, violent explosions soon rang out again from the Ming army's artillery positions. Such a dense and wide formation made the Ming army's originally inaccurate shooting cause huge casualties.

If this was just a pure Green Camp army, after experiencing the previous defeat, they would probably have panicked and their formation would have been in chaos. However, this army was obviously the elite of the Qing army, and the Eight Banners soldiers in the rear showed no fear at all.

In the eyes of these Eight Banners soldiers, as long as they engaged in close combat and sword-to-blade warfare, the Ming army's muskets and artillery would be useless, and they would no longer be able to use the legendary terrifying cavalry formation, and victory would surely belong to them.

After a while, after suffering hundreds of casualties in the artillery bombardment and leaving a field of broken limbs, the Qing army's front-row musketeers finally held on to their broken line and advanced to a position seventy steps away from the Ming army's front line. Fierce musketry exchanges immediately broke out between the two sides.

On the two east-west facing fronts, explosions like muffled thunder erupted one after another, and long white dragons rose up and quickly spread out, forming a thick wall of smoke. The soldiers on both sides soon could not see the enemy on the opposite side. They only saw orange-red flames on the opposite front flashing in the thick smoke and the sound of gunfire bursting into one.

"Bang! Bang! Bang -"

"Bang! Bang! Bang -"

Thousands of lead bullets whizzed past like a violent storm, sweeping across the two armies. In the face of the cheap but powerful lead bullets, whether it was cotton armor, chain mail, or even scale armor, they were all vulnerable.

Suddenly, columns of blood flew in front of the two armies. Soldiers in armor and weapons fell to the ground in rows, and blood spurted out from their corpses. Heart-wrenching wails and screams were heard incessantly.

In this earth-shaking exchange of fire, more than two hundred soldiers from both the Ming and Qing sides fell, but under the attack of the Ming army's more sophisticated muskets, the Qing army suffered even heavier losses, more than three hundred people.

You should know that the musketeers of the central army and the left army in front of the palace were not only equipped with bird guns, but also the crossbow guns purchased from Annan and the medium-sized turtledove-foot guns from Fujian. Even half of the musketeers in the first row of the Qing army were knocked down by the deadly lead bullets. There was even a case where two Qing soldiers were killed by a single bullet from the turtledove-foot gun.

After the first round of volleys from the Ming and Qing armies ended, officers at all levels on both sides immediately stepped forward, maintaining their formation while ordering the remaining musketeers to start the second round of volleys.

This is when the strength of the musketeers can be truly demonstrated. Only truly well-trained musketeers can quickly launch a second round of volleys, and a third or even fourth round of volleys, thereby causing greater damage to the enemy and gaining the advantage on the battlefield.

In the second round of volleys, the decline of the Qing army's musketeers was fully revealed, and the casualty ratio between the two sides widened rapidly. This time, the Ming army suffered only dozens of casualties, but the Qing army still suffered nearly two hundred casualties.

However, after three rounds of shooting, both the Ming and Qing armies had their formations disrupted by huge casualties. The brutal musket fire had even caused the few Green Camp soldiers in the front line of the Qing army to collapse in the second round, so that the Eight Banners Supervisory Team in the rear line went straight forward and killed them on the spot.

These Green Camp troops were indeed cannon fodder, but the Eight Banners Army was a real elite. In such a strong confrontation, they naturally would not be easily intimidated. Both the Ming and Qing dynasties firmly believed that they could defeat their opponents.

As soon as the three rounds of volleys ended, the military bugle sounded in the Qing army's square formation. The Eight Banners infantrymen behind the square formation rushed out directly from the messy array of musketeers and quickly passed through the battlefield filled with white smoke.

These Eight Banners soldiers, wearing double armor, rushed to the front of the Ming army despite suffering casualties after the fourth round of volleys from the Ming army's musketeers, which had greatly reduced its power. The soldiers behind the Ming army's formation also rushed out quickly.

On the Ming army's front, people were surging. The musketeers in the front row, who had suffered heavy losses, quickly retreated after the last round of volleys. They had all undergone long and rigorous training and did not completely lose order in such a critical moment. This ensured that the infantry and armored soldiers in the rear could be quickly dispatched.

When the two armies approached, hundreds of short axes and iron-bone swords flew out from the Qing army's formation and smashed towards the Ming army's line. Many soldiers of the central army and the left army in front of the palace were hit and fell backwards to the ground.

However, the Ming army also gave a powerful counterattack to the Qing army, and soon there were screams from the latter's formation. The armor and helmets could hardly withstand the impact of heavy axes and iron bone balls. Although most of the armored soldiers who were hit would not die directly, they would basically temporarily lose their combat effectiveness.

Soon, the two armies were approaching. The armored soldiers of the central army and the left army in front of the palace raised their spears and rushed out, stabbing at the offensive formation of the Qing army. The two groups of people quickly collided with each other. The sound of spears breaking and armor breaking could be heard in the formation, and the shouts of killing were deafening.

The battle lines where the two armies intersected soon became jagged. Soldiers in front of the lines kept falling down, corpses kept piling up, and bursts of screams and wails were heard.

In such a melee, the musketeers in the back row of the Ming army quickly began to scatter, and many of them even picked up the spare spears behind the formation and wanted to join the battlefield.

Amidst the deafening shouts and cries of killing, the military formations of both sides gradually began to deform. They constantly broke through each other and were constantly repelled. Most of the officers on both sides were unable to effectively command the soldiers as they had done at the beginning. Both sides were fighting only with blood and courage.

One is a strong army that has been tempered through decades of bloody battles on the battlefield, and the other is a new army that uses more advanced training methods and has selected the best soldiers. The former has richer battlefield experience, and the latter has more than twice the troop strength advantage.

However, when the actual battle started, the two sides were actually evenly matched. Both sides could only exchange deaths and consume each other, but neither could defeat the other.

The front line was crowded with armored soldiers, layer upon layer. When one fell in the front, another would immediately take his place. Amid the roars of the supervisors on both sides, the soldiers could only rush forward. Although the ground was covered with a whole layer of corpses at this time, no retreat bugle call was sounded from the rear of both sides.

After the artillery and musket fire stopped for a while, the smoke on the battlefield was gradually blown away by the cold winter wind, and Zhu Cilang and Zhunta finally saw the actual situation on the battlefield.

Zhu Cilang held a telescope in his hand, and saw countless swords, spears, knives and axes waving on the front line. Soldiers from both armies used various weapons in their hands skillfully, hacking and stabbing each other, and both suffered heavy losses. However, both sides had concentrated thousands of soldiers and horses in this battle, and it was not so easy to consume them all.

After all, no matter how strict the military discipline is, no matter how fierce the soldiers charging on the battlefield are, even the Bayala in the Eight Banners Army and the battle-hardened veterans in the Central Army in front of the Palace will dodge when they see the long spears constantly stabbing at them. Fighting a war does not mean rushing forward without caring about anything. Not only will you not win, but you will die miserably.

After watching the battle situation on the front line, Zhu Cilang raised his telescope and looked at Junta's central army. He was waiting for the opponent's action, waiting for Junta to mobilize the Eight Banners vests left in the middle.

He knew that the other side had a trick up its sleeve, which was a common tactic used by the Qing army. At the same time, he was waiting for the other side to make a move before he could send the reserve troops in the rear into the battlefield and make a final effort to defeat the Qing army completely.

(End of this chapter)