Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 190 The Qing Army is in a Desperate Situation
After a fierce battle, by noon, the flag of the central army in front of the palace had slowly risen on the Wangshan Gate Tower. Countless soldiers, holding bloody spears and swords, continued to pour onto the tower to replace the Tianwu Right Camp of the central army in front of the palace, which had received orders to continue marching westward towards the Wenchang Gate Tower.

Among the six gates on the south and west sides of Wuchang City, except for Baoan Gate and Wangshan Gate, the defenders of the other two gates surrendered directly after the Eight Banners soldiers who were supervising the battle fled.

Among them, the envoys sent by the two rebel generals Wang Tizhong and Wang Deren to persuade the enemy to surrender played a very important role. Many of the Green Camp defenders in the city towers were their former subordinates.

During this process, not only the Green Camp Army under their command, but also the troops transferred from Shanxi, Shaanxi and other places, saw that the situation was not good and followed suit, and even took the initiative to pursue the defeated Eight Banners soldiers.

However, the city towers on the north side and the north side of the east and west sides of Wuchang City were still holding on under the supervision of the Eight Banners soldiers. Tunqi sent out cavalry to gather the Eight Banners soldiers in the southern half of the city, but he was still unwilling to give up the northern half.

After all, there is a rather steep hill across the central axis between the north and south halves of Wuchang City. Although Tunqi was confident in defending the city, he strengthened his deployment in these places early on and repaired and reinforced the drum tower in the middle just in case.

Of course, Tunqi was also very clear that under the current situation, the so-called hills and drum towers there could only stop the Ming army for a while. Even whether they could hold out until night, giving him a chance to break out, was a big problem.

At this time, Wang Fuchen had already quickly rebelled at Binyang Gate, and taking advantage of the fact that Tunqi and other Qing troops in the northern half of the city had not reacted, he led his servants and the gathered Green Camp troops and rushed to Zhongxiao Gate.

However, he did not intend to attack Zhongxiao Gate directly, but rather to bypass Wusheng Gate—capturing the thief and the leader, achieving great merit, and thus serving as a token of his rebellion. If Wang Fuchen attacked Zhongxiao Gate, his actions would directly expose a huge loophole in the preparatory defense line that Tunqi had hastily deployed.

After all, once Zhongxiao Gate fell, the Ming army could bypass the hill and drum tower that stretched between the north and south halves of the city and march directly into the northern half of the city.

By then, Tunqi would be defenseless.

Under the command of Chang Denggui, a large group of soldiers from the central army in front of the palace rushed along the city walls and the crisscrossing streets in the city towards the center of Wuchang City - the Drum Tower.

At this time, they had hardly encountered any decent resistance during their pursuit. Only a few defeated soldiers ran around like headless flies. Once they appeared in front of the central army in front of the palace, they had nowhere to escape.

Of course, during this process, many defeated Qing soldiers saw that the situation was not right and did not dare to charge forward. They fled from a distance. Some even gathered together and set fire to the houses and shops along the streets to block the Ming army's pursuit.

The soldiers of the central army in front of the palace quickly gathered on the main road south of the Drum Tower. Teams of armored soldiers, led by various flag commanders, held long spears and passed through the streets and alleys of the southern half of Wuchang City.

Zhu Cilang deployed the main force of the Palace Front Army and thousands of cavalrymen of the Tianqi Army into the city. All of them were the most elite soldiers in the army. They had all undergone long-term training and were very powerful. It was easy for them to chase the Eight Banners Army and the Green Camp Army who had lost their command and organization.

Now, the only difficult thing for Chang Denggui to deal with is the thousands of Qing soldiers who are resisting stubbornly in the Drum Tower in front of him.

Tunqi deployed several red cannons, more than a dozen French cannons and general cannons on the Drum Tower. A lot of gunpowder and defensive equipment were also stored in the tower.

However, Chang Denggui was not unprepared. According to the intelligence revealed by Wang Tizhong and Wang Deren, the Five Army Commandery had already anticipated this. The artillery for the attack was on its way. By then, more than a dozen medium-sized artillery pieces would bombard the south at the same time. The Drum Tower would definitely not be an insurmountable obstacle for the central army in front of the palace.

All of these were included in the contingency plan of the Five Military Commandery. The deployment of the central army in front of the palace and the various units outside the city in this battle was also adjusted in real time according to the battle situation.

After several major battles, the officer corps under the Five Military Commandery has basically been put on the right track in terms of organization and functions. Zhu Cilang often only needs to propose strategic goals, and the generals under the Commandery can formulate multiple plans based on the intelligence sent back by the Jinyiwei and Yebushou, as well as the troops that can be mobilized by the army.

The collective efforts of the generals in the army, coupled with further review and deduction by Zhu Cilang and the admirals of each army, and the battalion officers based on their own battlefield experience, put forward suggestions for improvement and made contingency plans on this basis to prevent accidents, enabling the Ming army to respond quickly in this complex battle.

From this perspective, the Ming army already had a huge advantage over the Qing army in terms of strategic and tactical capabilities and the organization of the military decision-making level. This complete command and decision-making system was the important guarantee for the Ming Dynasty to achieve one victory after another.

Now, with victory in Wuchang in sight, Zhu Cilang's heart remained restless for a long time. With the capture of Wuchang, his long-held ties would be freed, and he would begin his nationwide counterattack.

For Zhu Cilang, after taking Wuchang, the entire Xiangyang, southern Henan, Shandong, and even northern Sichuan were exposed to the attack of the Palace Army. The Ming Dynasty would soon be able to guard against the Qing army's invasion from the south while having enough troops to plan a small-scale northern expedition.

Zhu Cilang is now gradually taking back the power in the southern provinces that he had delegated when he first ascended the throne and the situation in various places was unstable. Now the Nanjing court has sufficient land and population, and is also not short of food and soldiers.

However, if he wants to further expand his elite troops such as the Palace Army and the Heavenly Cavalry Army, he must obtain enough war horses. It is far from enough to rely solely on the spoils of war on the battlefield.

Although the Zheng family had purchased thousands of excellent war horses from Liaodong through smuggling over the past year or so, this was not a long-term solution. After all, the cost of smuggling war horses from Liaodong was far too high to support the formation of tens of thousands of cavalry.

If Zhu Cilang wanted to have a decisive battle with the main force of the Qing army in the Central Plains, he would have to train a cavalry of 30,000 cavalrymen and nearly 100,000 war horses. However, it would be impossible to train such a cavalry using pack horses from the south. Tibetan horses were also in short supply and expensive.

Zhu Cilang listened to the sound of cannons coming from the north and paced back and forth on the city wall, looking towards the Drum Tower from time to time. That was the last obstacle for him to recapture the entire Wuchang, and he had to break through it as soon as possible.

He knew that in such a place, Tunqi must have made preparations in advance, but in less than a day, the army had successfully broken into the city. In addition, with the cooperation of the Green Camp Army, the Qing army's preparations must have been imperfect.

Zhu Cilang looked through the telescope for a while, and then sent out Tangma to urge the artillery to act faster. The Drum Tower was reinforced by the Qing army, and without artillery, even if thousands of armored soldiers died, it would not be possible to break through in half a day.

However, just as the two Tangma had set off, one of them immediately turned back and reported that the first artillery team sent out from the camp outside the city - equipped with six four-pound cannons and four medium-sized red cannons weighing more than 800 kilograms - had already arrived outside the city.

When Zhu Cilang turned around and came to the outside of the city wall and looked down, the six four-pound cannons had already crossed the pontoon bridge. The two four-pound cannons in front, pulled by pack horses, had already entered the gate of Baoan Gate.

Behind the four-pounder cannon team was the Red Cannon team. The organization and formation of the two were basically the same. In the front were four guards leading the way with long spears, each riding a pack horse.

Of course, each four-pounder was carried on a cart pulled by two pack horses, while the Red Cannon was pulled by four pack horses. The ammunition carts and gun loading tools were pulled by other pack horses, and the gunners all rode on the pack horses pulling the guns and ammunition, or on the ammunition carts.

"Your Majesty, as soon as our artillery arrives, the Drum Tower will surely be quickly breached by Admiral Chang." Lin Changfu followed behind Zhu Cilang, bowed and clasped his fists, unable to hide the joy on his face.

He had been with Zhu Cilang for so long and had heard so many military meetings and combat secrets, so he naturally knew very well what it meant for artillery to enter the city.

Zhu Cilang looked at the artillery entering the city and a smile appeared on his lips. Although the four-pound cannon was not powerful enough for attacking the city, it was enough for the Drum Tower. There were also four red cannons behind it, and the Qing army's Drum Tower would definitely not be able to withstand it.

At this point, the chaos in Wuchang City has basically ended, and the only thing he needs to deal with now is the Drum Tower.

As the army took control of more and more city towers, the main force of the Palace Army advanced with unstoppable force, and Zhu Cilang no longer worried about any more accidents happening in the city.
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In the barricade in front of the Drum Tower, Chang Denggui inspected the deployment of troops from each camp, and then personally went to visit dozens of wounded soldiers who were about to be transferred back to the city tower for recuperation.

He was naturally well aware that the goal of the Wuchang battle was to completely annihilate the defenders in the city, and the central army in front of the palace, as the main force in attacking the city, shouldered the most important responsibility.

A small part of the remaining Qing army forces in the city have now gathered in the Drum Tower. If Chang Denggui wants to make another contribution and expand the results of the battle, then this strategic hub must be captured as soon as possible.

Otherwise, after Tunqi recovered, his troops would most likely suffer heavy casualties. He had always been worried that the Qing army still had the strength to fight again, especially the recent attempt to storm the Drum Tower, which made him hesitate to attack rashly.

"What's the situation in the northern half of the city now? Any news?"

Chang Denggui looked at Ma Zhenfeng, who had just received a report from the Tangma Army in other places, and asked anxiously:
"Tunqi has deployed so many troops in the Drum Tower. Could it be that they are planning to fight to the death?"

Ma Zhenfeng could see Chang Denggui's worry. He had just taken a few elite night soldiers and the vanguard of the central army in front of the palace to conduct reconnaissance around the Drum Tower, and had roughly figured out the strength of the Qing army in the Drum Tower.

"Admiral, don't worry. There are probably less than a thousand Eight Banner soldiers in the Drum Tower who can fight, and the rest are all Green Camp soldiers, and they are all recently defeated soldiers. If the situation is not right, they will be defeated in an instant."

Ma Zhenfeng paused after he finished speaking, then added: "Now, let alone the Green Camp soldiers, even the Eight Banners soldiers who scattered in the streets and set fire to the city are like frightened birds. As long as there is a slight charge, they will all flee and dare not engage in battle at all.

Now that the southern half of Wuchang has been completely recaptured by the Admiral, our army has already entered the city. From now on, the rebellion of the Green Camp soldiers within the city will only intensify. Admiral, there is no need to worry. Once the artillery bombardment is over, we only need to send another troop charge. We will definitely defeat these remaining Tartar soldiers and make them flee in disarray.

After hearing this, Chang Denggui's hesitation seemed to be mostly dispelled, and he immediately strengthened his confidence and said:

"The most important thing now is to prevent Tunqi from escaping with his defeated troops. After the Qing army's crushing defeat at Baoan Gate, everyone is worried and their morale is unstable. As long as I can capture the Drum Tower, they will have nowhere to escape and will no longer have the will to fight."

Upon hearing this, Ma Zhenfeng immediately laughed out loud and flattered him a few times. At this time, the artillery they had been waiting for finally bypassed the city wall and arrived in front of the Drum Tower.

Seeing this, Chang Denggui became more confident and immediately ordered the artillery team to start preparing to bombard the artillery position in the Drum Tower. He had already selected it and sent soldiers to clean up and level it. Everything was ready, only the east wind was missing.

Half an hour later, there was a loud sound of cannons to the south of the Drum Tower in Wuchang City. The central army in front of the palace began to test the cannons at the fastest speed, and the city wall to the south of the Drum Tower was bombarded by the Ming army.

The Qing army's artillery on the Drum Tower had some misfired, especially the red cannons, because they had just blocked the Ming army's attack. Although the rest of the artillery was also fighting back, the firepower density was not high and the shooting was inaccurate.

Aljin knew the shortcomings of artillery at that time, and Chang Denggui was also well aware of it. The panicked Qing army on the Drum Tower would spare no effort to repel the Ming army at this time, and naturally did not know how to cherish the use of those artillery.

At this time, on both sides of the east-west axis of Wuchang City, on the towers of Zhongxiao Gate and Hanyang Gate, the Qing army's red cannons were also fighting back, but the other artillery were basically the less powerful general cannons and French cannons.

In contrast, there were the naval guns of the Dongting Lake Navy in the west of the city, and more than a dozen thousand-jin red-haired cannons and nearly twenty eight-pound cannons of the army in the east of the city. If the Qing army had not defended the city, it would have been unable to withstand the attack of the Ming army.

"Boom, boom, boom—"

Under the command of Chang Denggui, the artillery of the central army in front of the palace in front of the Drum Tower roared like thunder and began to bombard the Drum Tower. The Drum Tower was continuously hit by artillery shells, and many places collapsed rapidly. The collapsed bricks and tiles fell from the wall, making a sound of falling gravel.

The Eight Banners soldiers who stayed behind in Tunqi were now all hiding behind the parapet of the Drum Tower. Broken bricks, stones and tiles kept falling down, killing and injuring many soldiers. Many people's ears were buzzing from the fierce artillery fire, and they were so nervous that they kept gasping for breath, and their faces were already covered with billowing smoke and dust.

Every time the cannon fire stopped, the soldiers of the Eight Banner Army and the Green Camp Army would all stick their heads out to observe the situation. Although it was bright at this time, the Drum Tower Street was already filled with smoke due to the fierce artillery bombardment, and they could not see the movements of the Ming army at all.

Ma Zhenfeng's guess turned out to be correct. After suffering a heavy blow, the morale of the Qing army began to waver rapidly, and the Drum Tower, which was originally easy to defend and difficult to attack and had its own system, soon began to have deserters.

In Tunqi's imagination, no matter how strong the Ming army was, it was not made of steel. If they wanted to capture the Drum Tower, they would suffer countless casualties. The defenders here could at least delay until night.

But Tunqi never expected that the Ming army's artillery could be transported into the city so quickly. Although the Drum Tower, a defensive fortification, had been reinforced, it was not a city wall several feet wide after all. It could not be defended at all under the bombardment of artillery.

Not only that, when the Ming army's artillery fired three rounds and stopped to cool down, the Qing army who were still holding on in the Drum Tower were horrified to find that the Ming army's artillery was still being transported in continuously, and the newly transported artillery seemed to be even larger than the previous ones.

After the intensive bombardment of the Ming army, many parts of the Drum Tower began to collapse. Under the noses of the Eight Banners Army and the Green Camp Army, several parapets with large cannons and French cannons suddenly collapsed with a few "crashes".

"Ah! ah! ah—"

As the parapets collapsed, several gunners from the Eight Banners Army and the Green Camp Army, who were hiding from the Ming Army's artillery fire by the parapets, screamed and fell down. They turned into twisted corpses on the ground littered with rubble, broken tiles and artillery shells, and pools of blood quickly oozed out.

Seeing the tragic scenes before their eyes, the last line of defense in the hearts of the Eight Banner Army and the Green Camp Army finally collapsed. Many people opened their mouths in shock and moved their bodies reflexively. Then, the armored soldiers began to flee on a large scale.

At this moment, a roar was heard again on the south street opposite the Drum Tower. An orange-red flame flashed by, and the white smoke dragon emitted by the artillery soon filled the entire street again.

Chang Denggui and his generals soon noticed something was wrong. After two rounds of artillery fire, they immediately ordered the charge.
However, Chang Denggui did not directly order the soldiers to charge, but instead ordered the musketeers to fire from both sides while approaching as a cover. At this time, the soldiers launched a frontal charge. As long as they could get close to the Drum Tower, all the Qing army's deployments would be useless.

The Qing army in the Drum Tower had indeed suffered a large-scale defeat. They were very chaotic in this counterattack and were unable to stop the Ming army at all.

Zhao Zhengdong led his soldiers and started the attack again. He seemed to hear shouting and cursing coming from the drum tower, and even some officers were yelling.

While howling at the soldiers in the formation to keep up, he gave orders. His hoarse voice was often unclear amid the dense gunfire and the constant shouting and screaming. He could only blow the bamboo whistle continuously to communicate with his officers.

Under the cover of the musketeers, the Ming army soldiers quickly approached the barricade in front of the Drum Tower. The Qing army did not retreat completely. Seven or eight soldiers who were charging in the front were knocked down by the Qing army's muskets, but the others still rushed forward and soon climbed up the barricade with great effort. Amid the shouts of their officers, they rushed into the enemy camp.

Suddenly, inside and outside the Drum Tower, the sound of swords and spears clashing filled the air. Zhao Zhengdong rushed into the barricade and found that although there were many Qing soldiers inside, the defense line was full of loopholes due to the large number of deserters. After such an attack, they all scattered, and many Qing soldiers simply dropped their weapons and ran away.

In the chaos, some Green Camp soldiers even turned against their own side and killed the Eight Banner soldiers who were supervising the battle. Under the pursuit of the Ming army, the entire Drum Tower was soon filled with entities inside and outside, and the short and fierce battle soon subsided.
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"It seems that the Drum Tower is gone..." Tunqi stood on the Wushengmen city wall and watched the Qing army flag that was originally erected high on the Drum Tower in the south being chopped down by the Ming army, gritting his teeth.

With still some time until nightfall, Tunqi watched the Drum Tower being breached by the Ming army, knowing full well that he only had one last line of defense left. He hadn't expected the Ming army's offensive to be so ferocious, capturing half of Wuchang in less than a day and a night. If it weren't for the fact that they still controlled several towers in the north city, he would have wondered if these men were celestial soldiers.

"Master, these Nikan soldiers are too strong. Even with so many cannons in the Drum Tower, they captured it in just a few hours." The Bayala leader under Tunqi said in disbelief.

"What's so great about those Nikans?" Tunqi's face changed instantly. He was so angry that he slapped the Bayala leader in front of him with the back of his knife while cursing and venting his anger:
"The Drum Tower is impregnable. Those Green Camp soldiers must have fled again. Otherwise, those Nikan soldiers would never be able to defeat our Qing warriors. It's absolutely impossible!"

"Those useless Green Camp soldiers scattered as soon as they charged. I was forced to lead the troops to retreat because of them earlier..." The Bayala leader knew that he had said the wrong thing. While protecting his head, he hurriedly explained.

However, Tunqi was a veteran who had fought for many years. After venting his anger, he finally regained his sanity. He still had to find a way to break out. Being angry was useless.

When the Bayala leader saw that his master had finally stopped, he quickly approached and asked in a low voice:

"Master, the Ming army is coming soon. Let's set fire quickly and break out. If we don't leave now, I'm afraid we won't be able to escape. Those Nikan soldiers will rush over in a blink of an eye."

"Yeah." Tunqi nodded, then sighed and said helplessly: "Now the only way to stop Emperor Ming's army is to set fire."

The Tangma he sent out from Zhongxiao Gate had already attracted the attention of the Ming army outside the city, and he also sent orders to Binyang Gate. As long as Wang Fuchen took action and attracted the attention of the Ming cavalry outside the city, everything would be possible.

However, when he thought of Wang Fuchen, Tunqi felt uneasy. That guy was too cunning. He was worried that he would do something bad at this time, or even start a rebellion directly at Binyang Gate, which would make the situation even worse.

"Don't worry about those Green Camp soldiers in the city. The Drum Tower is now controlled by the Ming army. You should immediately take people to light a fire on the street, and then gather the troops. We will withdraw directly from Wusheng Gate." Tun Qi gave another order.

"Zhe, I will do it right away." Upon hearing this, the Bayala leader immediately became very alert.

Just as he turned around and was about to leave the tower, an Eight Banners soldier suddenly ran up from the city and reported to Tunqi:
"General, Wang Fuchen has arrived with his troops. He said that the Binyang Gate had been breached by the Ming army, and he withdrew with his remaining troops at the risk of his life."

"Wang Fuchen?" Tunqi raised his eyebrows, and a bad feeling suddenly surged in his heart. This guy really didn't obey orders.

(End of this chapter)