Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 239: Using War as Training to Completely Annihilate the Qing Army

Zhu Cilang did not continue to stay in the central military tent of the southern camp, but followed the counterattack army to the battlefield in the west.

The main force of the Qing army led by Delekhun is here now. As long as they are annihilated, Xiangyang City will be within reach, so he naturally has to keep an eye on it here.

At this time, although Zhu Cilang, as the king of a country, would no longer personally charge into battle and go to the front line, as the soul of the palace army, his presence on the front line could still greatly inspire the morale of the soldiers.

Of course, in the pitch-black night, the telescope had lost its function. He was just watching the battlefield from a distance, judging the specific situation of the encirclement and annihilation battle based on the sounds and lights in front. There was also a combat battalion in front, as well as cavalry cover from the imperial camp.

Under the personal pressure of Delekhun, the Tianqi Army's blocking did not achieve the expected effect. The Qing army's resistance was very tenacious, and the breakout operation was even more powerful.

This did not exceed Zhu Cilang's expectations. After all, it was a life-and-death battle. If the Eight Banners Army, fighting like a trapped beast, could not put in any extraordinary fighting performance, Zhu Cilang would instead think that something was wrong.

To the west of the Palace Army camp, between the camp trenches and the barricades, and above the countless tents that had been pushed over and trampled, a fierce battle was breaking out. Shouts and even the sound of musket fire continued. Thousands of soldiers from both the Ming and Qing dynasties were engaged in a fierce battle.

As the two sides fought fiercely, the sky gradually brightened. The Qing army's attack lacked the necessary direction and target and seemed very chaotic. The Palace Army also had many loopholes because they surrounded the enemy in the dark. Fortunately, the Qing army could not discover them in time, which made it impossible for them to break out successfully at night.

Zhu Cilang quickly received a report from Lin Changfeng. While the encirclement wasn't going as smoothly as expected, it was still largely within plan. The Heavenly Cavalry had already effectively held back the Eight Banners' cavalry, who were attempting to break out from the west, and had them trapped in an ambush.

At the same time, while the Qing army's night attack troops in the west were delayed, the Dongting Lake Navy also took the opportunity to start action, blocking the Qing army's attempt to cross the Han River and break out to the north.

At this time, the originally heavily defended Xiangyang City had already been emptied out due to the breakout operation, but the Palace Army had just undergone a large-scale troop mobilization and had to keep reserve troops in case of any emergency, so there was no time to prepare for the siege.

Now, on the west side of the Palace Army camp south of Xiangyang City, an encirclement and annihilation battle with almost no suspense is slowly unfolding. The only suspense is how much combat power these so-called "Eight Banners vests" have in this decisive battle!
On the west side of the camp, behind the barricades where the Ming and Qing armies were fighting, Gu Defu looked at the situation in front of him and cursed in his heart. The current situation was not as smooth as expected. Although the Qing army was at a disadvantage, it still showed strong combat effectiveness. Various means of blocking the breakout were frequently used, causing the soldiers of the Palace Army to suffer a lot of losses.

Of course, Gudefu did not think that these few thousand Qing troops could break out. He just needed to hold them off for a while longer until the army was fully mobilized, especially after dawn, when the musketeers could play a role and quickly wipe out the Qing army.

According to the deployment, Zhao Zhengdong has led his soldiers to set up barricades and dig trenches at the original camp fence, and deploy blocking phalanxes.

As the sky gradually brightened, the artillery in the rear was taking action. They would use the huge destructive power of the four-pound guns to resist any breakout attempt by the Qing army.

Under Zhao Zhengdong's command, Gu Defu led his entire bureau, and hundreds of soldiers immediately took action. At dawn, when the light was dim, the armor plates on the soldiers of the Palace Army collided with each other as they ran, making a rustling sound that mixed with the sound of footsteps and echoed on the plains outside the camp.

Soon, all the soldiers under Zhao Zhengdong's command entered the newly built fortifications. While blocking the Qing army, the Ming army also pushed in shield carts and chevaux de frise. Relying on the existing trenches, they formed fortifications to defend against the Qing cavalry and achieved a complete encirclement, making it difficult for the Qing army to break through from the side, let alone attack from behind.

The Palace Army and the Heavenly Cavalry Army could certainly fight the Qing army directly, but that would definitely cause huge casualties, which was not what Zhu Cilang wanted to see.

Moreover, for Zhu Cilang, with such a good opportunity, he naturally had to give every soldier, especially those old recruits who had not killed the enemy with their own hands so far, a chance to go into battle.

Otherwise, Delekhhun's small army would have been completely helpless under the siege of the Palace Army and the Heavenly Cavalry Army, which were almost ten times larger in number.

As the two armies continued their fruitless battle, the sky quickly brightened. Teams of musketeers quickly lined up behind the defensive fortifications formed by shield carts and chevaux de frise, and then began to load gunpowder and bullets, and light the fuse, while the combat soldiers lined up behind them.

At the same time, dozens of four-pound cannons were set up in several important positions to ensure an all-round attack on the Qing army in the encirclement. In front of them, there was also a layer of shield to defend against the Qing army's arrows.

The artillerymen of the Palace Army were very fast. They had all undergone rigorous training. Dozens of four-pound cannons, which were originally designed for field battles, were quickly pushed to the corresponding positions. Each four-pound cannon was operated by four artillerymen. They took out the shells and gunpowder bags very skillfully and began to load solid iron bullets.

While the artillery and musketeers were preparing, Zhao Zhengdong also immediately gave orders, and Gu Defu, under the order of the captain, personally inspected the formation of the front army.

"All musketeers, listen to me, the muskets must keep firing in unison and obey the orders. If the Tartars charge, you don't have to pay attention to them, I will deal with them. Those Tartar skirmishers who rush to the front of the formation can't hit you, because the archers and shock troops in the formation will deal with them."

Goodford roared loudly, paused, and then continued:

"After the two volleys are finished, the Qing army probably won't have much strength left. But if they make a desperate struggle and rush forward, the musket formation will immediately retreat, and the soldiers behind the formation don't have to worry. These Tartars are like grasshoppers after autumn. Even their cavalry will definitely not be able to jump over our chevaux de frise. Anyone who disrupts the formation will be punished after we defeat the Tartars."

There are still many soldiers in the Palace Army who have only been on the battlefield, but are essentially new recruits. Apart from participating in the pursuit battle at Lumen Mountain, they have been playing a supporting role in the sieges of Xiangyang City and Nanyang City. They have only had a few experiences of direct confrontation with the elite Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty on the plains.

Gu Defu was not worried about this at all. After all, their current military strength was dozens of times that of the Eight Banners Army. The upcoming battle might just be a meritorious service for them, but for the Tartars, it would be extremely tragic.

"Brothers, we have trapped all these Tartars here. They have nowhere to escape!"

"Kill the Tartars! Kill the Tartars! Kill the Tartars!" The soldiers of the Palace Army, whether they were old recruits or real veterans, responded enthusiastically.

Most of them joined the army only a year and a half ago, and since joining, they have witnessed the victories of the Palace Army. Although the Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty also showed ferocity, in their eyes, it has now become synonymous with military exploits.

This confidence in victory was forged by tens of thousands of soldiers who died on the battlefield over the past four years, through one victory after another, and is now indestructible.

This is military spirit and morale, which is also often said in the military - only victory can bring greater victory!

Like the captains in other phalanxes, Gu Defu shouted to the new recruits and then entered the formation.

At this time, Zhao Zhengdong called Tang Ma, the messenger, and began to report the military situation on the front line to the battalion commander.

After hearing what he said, the horse repeated it again. After Zhao Zhengdong confirmed that it was correct, he quickly jumped on the horse and whipped it away.

After completing these tasks, Zhao Zhengdong quickly dispatched flag corps to intercept the Qing army's harassing stragglers. He then reconfirmed with his captains their respective combat zones and the mutual support they would provide after the battle began. The Tangma, carrying the orders, were galloping back and forth along the flanks of the various formations. The Qing troops, regrouping within the encirclement in front of the Ming lines, also began probing and counterattacking. The flag corps sent to intercept the Qing army quickly retreated.

Behind them, there would often be a dozen Qing cavalry chasing them. These Qing cavalry seemed to be prepared for a final fight. Even if the Tangma discovered the fortifications of the Palace Army ahead, they had no intention of retreating.

It was still dark, and the battlefield was thick with smoke. Zhao Zhengdong could hardly see the colors of their armor and uniforms, but by listening to the sound of horse hooves, he made a preliminary assessment of their strength. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Cavalry deployed on the flanks of the various phalanxes also began to take action, attacking simultaneously.

Soon, the soldier who was observing the enemy in the battle array came to Zhao Zhengdong and reported:
"Captain Qian, this should be the main direction of the Qing army's breakout. There are estimated to be about a thousand remnants of the Qing army, and almost everyone has a horse. They are definitely elite."

Zhao Zhengdong nodded, then looked towards the front of the formation. At this time, the sky brightened quickly, and the vision became better. The Qing army was actually worried about this, so they hurriedly launched another breakout.

Soon, the sound of horse hooves like thunder came from far away, and countless black cavalry rushed out from the encirclement and continued to spread towards Zhao Zhengdong's army formation. Individual figures gradually took shape in the dim light.

The southern camp of the Palace Army stretched for several miles from north to south and from east to west, and the encirclement had a circumference of several miles, but this was still not enough to speed up the Qing cavalry.

This was also why Zhao Zhengdong was willing to do this without any fear. He immediately ordered all the captains to prepare for war, especially to check the firearms and ammunition, swords, spears, and axes of each unit to deter the Qing army that wanted to attack.

Soon, with the end of the first round of exploratory attacks by dozens of Qing cavalrymen, military bugles suddenly sounded in the Qing army crowd, and Gu Defu immediately saw countless Qing cavalrymen dismounting and forming a battle line.

Unless they can ensure a decisive blow and almost no casualties on their side, cavalry without accumulating power to increase speed will simply not be able to launch an attack in such a narrow terrain, especially to break through the enemy's strong positions.

This is the main reason why the Qing army dismounted and fought on foot.

However, infantry combat is also one of the combat forms that the Qing army's heavily armored infantry is best at, and they are not afraid.

Since the Palace Army outside the city always had an advantage in manpower, and even its cavalry far exceeded that of the Eight Banners, the Qing army's ability to counterattack was greatly limited.

But at this point, these Eight Banners soldiers had no choice but to continue attacking the encirclement of the Palace Army in the hope of breaking out.

After the Qing army had roughly figured out the defense of the Palace Army through a tentative attack, they immediately launched an operation to break through the Ming army positions in front of them.

The rumbling sound of war drums rang out in the Qing army formation, and the dark mass of Qing troops advanced rapidly forward. Many Bayala led elite armored soldiers to the two sides, attempting to break through from the flank of the Ming army formation.

On the Palace Front Army's position, tens of thousands of armored soldiers were ready for battle. Thousands of matches were burning slowly, with a few sparks popping out from time to time. They were ready.

Gu Defu looked at the approaching Qing army and calculated the distance to the enemy in his mind.

"Boom!"

As the war drums sounded, deafening roars followed one after another across the plain. Behind the shield in front of Gu Defu, two four-pound cannons spit out orange-red flames, and hundreds of shotgun shells whizzed into the Qing army's charging formation.

Thick white smoke instantly rose up from the Ming army's front line. The shotgun shells were extremely powerful. Dozens of Qing soldiers two hundred steps away fell down in an instant, like grass blown by the wind.

Accompanied by huge casualties and screams and wails, there was a brief pause in the Qing army's formation, but they had nowhere to retreat and soon launched another attack under the organization of their officers.

Dozens of people were soon added to the front row of the Qing army. They continued to charge amid the shouts of the officers, but even though they were wearing two layers of armor, they could not stop the lead bullets fired from the four-pound cannon at this distance.

Amidst the violent explosion, the tragic scene just now was repeated, and dozens of Qing soldiers fell down wailing.

The narrow space within the encirclement allowed the power of shotgun shells to be better utilized, greatly increasing the lethality of artillery. The Qing army also found it difficult to deploy its forces, and could only maintain the attack by constantly replacing soldiers who were killed or wounded.

But in this situation, the last bit of the Qing army's offensive momentum had faded due to huge casualties, and the vanguard began to appear chaotic.

The morale of the troops in front of the palace was high. They were not afraid at all in the face of the once invincible Eight Banners Army. The belief that they would win this battle had long been deeply rooted in their hearts.

Looking at the Qing army coming in, Gu Defu immediately ordered the musketeers behind the barricades to check the ammunition and fuse and prepare for the first round of volleys.

"preparation!"

"aim!"

At his side, more than a hundred matchlock rifles were placed horizontally at the same time, with their black muzzles pointed at the Eight Banners soldiers who were rushing towards him, shouting and holding shields.

The Qing army's vanguard quickly reached a distance of seventy steps. In order to maintain the speed of the marching formation, they had no way of letting archers provide cover on the side.

Gu Defu stared closely at the Qing army that was coming at him like a tide without any cover, and immediately shouted:
"shooting!"

A burst of fire suddenly lit up on the position of the Palace Front Army, and hundreds of lead bullets hit the Qing army formation like heavy hammers. The Qing soldiers in the front row fell down again in large numbers, and the deafening screams echoed across the plains. The fallen corpses and wounded soldiers seriously hindered the subsequent offensive of the Qing army.

After several rounds of artillery and musket fire, the Qing army was still unable to get close to the Palace Army, but they had already suffered hundreds of casualties.

As the musketeers and artillerymen in the Palace Army's phalanx retreated under the cover of their shields, the Palace Army's battle phalanx also launched an attack, and the shouts shook the plains:
"Kill the Tartars! Kill the Tartars!"

(End of this chapter)