Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 77 Victory begins
Xu Dingguo looked at the Ming army in the east, which was still slowly responding to the flag and did not take advantage of the chaos to launch an attack. He just breathed a sigh of relief, but when he looked up, he saw a slowly rising dragon flag, and this time he was directly frightened.

The raising of the dragon flag meant that the courageous Emperor of Fengyang had come in person. This army, which looked very imposing, was definitely the legendary "Palace Front Army".

In fact, as soon as Xu Dingguo saw Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing recognize the flag, he felt that something was wrong. The person who could send these two people out at the same time must be Shi Kefa, the commander of the army heading north.

However, if it really was Shi Kefa, he could still fight, at least there would be a glimmer of hope.

But now, the one leading the troops is the Ming Emperor Zhu Cilang, and the army he brought is so powerful that it seems that even Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing's servants cannot compare with them.

Moreover, this also meant that he had no chance to surrender. If he was defeated, he would surely die. His previous crime was deceiving the emperor.

Xu Dingguo had no time to regret, so he immediately ordered his two sons to take their cavalry to organize a counterattack against the defeated soldiers who had escaped from the city, and personally supervised the battle and prepared to meet the enemy.

As long as the fighting becomes chaotic, he will have a chance to break out.

At this time, he had no choice but to give it a try.

On the other side, Zhu Cilang led Huang Degong and a group of civil officials, and under the protection of Lin Changping, quickly arrived at the side of the Tianwu Left Camp army formation.

At this distance, you can clearly see the specific scene of the battle between the two armies.

Although Xu Dingguo had more than a hundred cavalrymen and thousands of infantrymen, Zhu Cilang was not worried at all.

The combat effectiveness of the household cavalry under his command was actually no more than that of ordinary Ming army household servants, and those infantrymen were just a group of local militia and defeated soldiers. They were probably not even as good as the local standard-bearing battalion. Facing the real elite combat soldiers, they were absolutely vulnerable.

Even if the Tianwu Left Camp cannot defeat them directly with its unstoppable momentum, Zhu Cilang will have to think carefully about how long he can defend Jianghuai, let alone drive out the Tartars and recover the lost territory.
If he can't help the nation's crisis, what's the point of coming into this world? He might as well hang himself from a tree in the southeast to avoid the humiliation later!

Huang Degong was wearing two layers of armor. He asked Zhu Cilang for orders directly and followed the 1,000th headquarters formation of the Tianwu Left Camp.

When he raised his eyes, he saw that Xu Dingguo's army on the opposite side was like a rioter, with disorganized weapons and chaotic formations. He couldn't help but shake his head in his heart.

Huang Degong retracted his gaze, then looked at the neat and solemn headquarters of the 1,000th Tianwu Left Camp, especially the scene of the flag-raising just now. He felt extremely shocked.

This happened on a battlefield full of dangers, not on a training ground. This army marched here at a rapid speed, yet they still had such endurance and reaction!
Comparing the two, it is obvious who is stronger, the Palace Army or Xu Dingguo's rebel army. Even the servants under his command are probably slightly inferior!
"General Huang, just take a good look at how our Tianwu Left Camp fights! If anyone dares to retreat, I will be the first to chop him off." Mao Qing had been promoted to military judge at this time. When he said this, he looked very relaxed and natural, and even smiled.

Huang Degong nodded. He had killed many more people, so he didn't even blink when he heard such words.

It was a full quarter of an hour later that Xu Dingguo finally reorganized the sparse and disorganized troops under his command.

They formed a long and narrow formation on the edge of the moat southwest of Suizhou City, with dozens of musketeers holding various outdated firearms on the sides, and almost the same number of archers sparsely mixed in with the soldiers.

Xu Dingguo and the horse-riding servants brought by his two sons were in the rear, constantly driving the soldiers forward. Anyone who fell behind would be hacked to death.

Zhu Cilang rode on his horse, staring intently at Xu Dingguo on the opposite side as he led his troops into battle.

This reorganized team was still in disarray, the military formation was in disarray, and the armor and weapons were insufficient. It was exactly the typical appearance of the Ming army at that time.

Soon, when the opposing army was less than three hundred steps away from the Tianwu Left Camp line, the Tianqi Camp also began to act. They rode their horses to attack from the flank, shooting arrows continuously with their horse bows.

The cavalry under Xu Dingguo did not dare to charge out and engage in close combat with the Tianqi Battalion. They just shot arrows in retaliation. Some musketeers raised their guns and fired in panic. There was no discipline at all.

But this had no effect. Soon, more than twenty unarmored soldiers on both wings of the chaotic army were shot down by arrows.

The formation of this chaotic army was barely maintained because of the soldiers' panic. The team was chaotic and crowded, and there was no shield to protect them. Among more than a thousand people, only less than three hundred had armor, and the others only had one weapon in their hands, which was a horse bow, but it posed a huge threat to them.

The chaotic soldiers under attack on both wings soon became agitated again, their momentum weakened a lot, and even their pace of advance slowed down. The entire formation began to bulge in the middle.

But because behind them were Xu Dingguo's soldiers wielding swords and guns and riding horses to supervise the battle, no one dared to retreat at this time and could only bite the bullet and continue to move forward.

Soon, these chaotic soldiers came to a place about a hundred steps away from the Tianwu Left Camp, but the dozens of Tianqi Camp cavalrymen did not continue the attack. They were very worried that if they charged, they would scatter the more than a thousand people, which would ruin His Majesty's plan.

So, these dozens of cavalrymen immediately dispersed and went around the two wings and rear sides of the chaotic soldiers. With a force of dozens of men, they surrounded the more than 1,000 chaotic soldiers, preparing to attack from behind when the front troops launched a heavy blow, forming a two-sided pincer attack.

Huang Degong looked at the approaching chaotic soldiers. Although the enemy's formation was more chaotic, the Palace Army had only sent out a thousand-man headquarters. Xu Dingguo had an advantage of nearly twice the number of troops, so it seemed that they could still fight.

However, that was all. What he was wondering in his heart now was how long it would take the Tianwu Left Camp to repel this group of rebel soldiers, a quarter of an hour, or two quarters of an hour?

If it takes half an hour, or even longer, then the Palace Army is no better than that!

Of course, Huang Degong had fought for so many years and defeated Zhang Xianzhong several times. He was experienced in dealing with bandits and had a good eye. He could see that there was a big gap in strength between the two armies, so he didn't think it would be the latter.

On the other side, after the harassment on both wings was eliminated, the chaotic troops gathered by Xu Dingguo finally restored some order under the strenuous organization of his servants.

They had already advanced ninety steps at this time, and their formation had recovered somewhat. They were no longer disorganized and their lines were no longer uneven.

However, when Xu Dingguo's two sons looked at the fully-equipped and well-organized enemies in front of them, they both had a bad premonition in their hearts, and their eyes were filled with fear.

They didn't pay attention at first, and were only concerned with reorganizing their troops in the chaos. Now that the two armies were approaching, they looked at the neat and majestic formations on the opposite side, with the bright helmets and tassels connected in lines, and were frightened for a moment.

But now that things have come to this, they have no choice but to fight to the death. If they stop or retreat at this time, they will really be seeking death.

"Brothers, kill all these sons of bitches and rush back to the city. Everyone can sleep with me tonight and get your reward!" Xu Dingguo shouted to the soldiers in front of him while riding on his horse.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!!!" Xu Dingguo's two sons also shouted.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!!!"

The morale of thousands of rebel soldiers was immediately boosted. For them, nothing was a better motivation than money and women. They had no other purpose in joining the army except to have enough food to eat. If they could rob things and make a small fortune, that would be even better.

It can only be said that such an army became the main force of the Southern Ming Dynasty. Facing the Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty, it would be a miracle if they were not defeated, and being defeated was simply normal.

The ministers looked through the dense crowds of Ming helmets in the front formation and saw that the chaotic army on the opposite side suddenly accelerated and rushed over after a burst of howling, and soon they were within seventy steps. Some archers stopped to draw their bows and arrows, and musketeers prepared to shoot. They were all very nervous.

Many people didn't dare to look directly and began to look left and right. Some simply squinted their eyes secretly, pretending to be staring at the battlefield. Some even kept swallowing their saliva and their hands and feet were shaking.

Most of them were on the battlefield for the first time and had no experience at all.

However, just as the other side accelerated, they immediately heard another military bugle call. Then the shields on both wings of the Tianwu Left Camp 1,000th Headquarters were lowered, revealing nearly 300 muskets behind them. They had already made preparations and were waiting for this group of chaotic soldiers to rush forward 50 steps.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!!!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!!!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!!!"

Huang Degong also turned his head to look over at this time. A series of explosions sounded one after another, and then thick white smoke rose up and quickly spread over the battle line, which was not wide to begin with.

At the same time, the opposing soldiers let out a series of screams. In the blink of an eye, seventy or eighty men fell. Some soldiers, unprotected by armor, were severely wounded at a distance of fifty or sixty paces. They fell to the ground, struggling continuously, spitting out mouthfuls of blood. Some were even more unfortunate, with lead bullets fired from muskets at such close range, piercing their stomachs directly. Their intestines and colorful feces spilled all over the ground. Their screams were shrill, their faces horrified, and the morale of the entire team was severely damaged.

What followed was that the chaotic army that was originally charging stopped its entire offensive, and some people even began to retreat.

Huang Degong had seen muskets before, but this sudden and orderly attack still surprised him, especially the reaction of the chaotic soldiers fifty steps away, and the fact that his own musketeers did not get into chaos after the shooting was completed.

However, such an attack was not enough to directly defeat this chaotic army. Although they were defeated, they had servants on horseback supervising the battle who were equally fierce. How could they be defeated so easily?

But the situation was not much better even though they did not retreat. Those soldiers who tried to retreat were organized and coerced by the officers, so they could neither advance nor retreat, and almost stopped where they were.

Soon, the second round of military bugles sounded, and on the front line of Tianwu Left Camp, a series of orange-red flames erupted again from the black muzzles of the guns. More than fifty soldiers fell again, and the screams and wails became even louder.

After this attack, even the officers supervising the battle lost their courage. As soon as they relaxed their guard, the soldiers began to flee and the situation began to get out of control.

Huang Degong thought that the Tianwu Left Camp could defeat this chaotic army in a quarter of an hour or two, but he never expected that it would be so fast that only two rounds of musket fire would be needed.

His seemingly calm and composed expression concealed a heart that was terrified to death. This was the first time he had seen such a fierce musketeer.

But what surprised him even more was yet to come!

Soon, the sound of war drums rang out again on the Tianwu Left Camp front. The musketeers quickly retreated, and the spearmen and sword and shield soldiers rushed out of the army formation and launched a final attack on this group of chaotic soldiers.

At the same time, the Tianqi Battalion, located behind Xu Dingguo's rebel army, also resumed its actions. They rode out quickly, and the weapons in their hands quickly harvested the lives of deserters one after another.

Amid the rhythmic sound of war drums, the soldiers of the Tianwu Left Camp, wearing armor of various colors and holding swords, spears and shields, pressed directly towards the chaotic army.

They were full of momentum and unstoppable. They rushed forward in time with the beat of the drums, and soon after they stepped out of the line, they accelerated.

The defeated soldiers of Xu Ni on the opposite side had begun to lose control at this time. Only a part of the servants on horseback drove several hundred people to rush up, while the others fled in all directions and could not stop the Tianwu Left Camp who were attacking with shields.

The two armies soon collided with each other. Behind the shields in front of the Tianwu Left Camp, long spears were extended and stabbed continuously, bringing up a rain of blood. The unarmored soldiers fell in front of the shields with screams, and were then trampled by the advancing soldiers of the Tianwu Left Camp.

The hundreds of chaotic soldiers who rushed up were basically unarmored and lacked combat skills. The spears in their hands were all junk and could not break the shields of Tianwu Zuoying at all. They were slaughtered unilaterally throughout the whole process.

Zhu Cilang and a group of ministers were watching the battle between the two armies not far away. The ministers were all stunned and looked like wooden chickens.

Many of them were on the battlefield for the first time and witnessed a real battle for the first time. As a result, they were shown such a battle situation right at the beginning. They were so shocked that they forgot to flatter.

Although Ma Shiying had led troops to fight against bandits, the combat effectiveness of the troops in Nanzhili was not strong. Except for suppressing local uprisings, he had never seen such a tactic of defeating the enemy with one blow and sweeping the entire battlefield. He was also shocked at this time.

These rebel soldiers had suffered hundreds of casualties under the attack of muskets, and dozens of them had been killed by arrows before. The casualty ratio was already over 10%. The so-called formation and morale had begun to collapse. Now facing the attack of the fully armed soldiers of the Tianwu Left Camp, they had no power to fight back at all.

Moreover, they had never imagined that the Ming army on the opposite side would be so strong. The belief in defeating the enemy and getting rewards in their hearts had long since disappeared with the smoke and orange-red flames of the muskets, the falling companions, the sound of war drums and bugles coming from the opposite side, and the shouts of killing.

Now, the combat soldiers and cavalry of the Tianwu Left Camp launched an attack at the same time. These chaotic soldiers had nowhere to escape and were crowded together. Some of them fell to the ground and were trampled to death. Dozens of chaotic soldiers who had fled first were also killed by the cavalry on the surrounding flat ground.

Many of the servants who were riding horses and waving swords and guns were scattered by the panicked soldiers who turned around and fled desperately.

Many of them were blocked by the mob and could not escape at all. Before they could escape from their own army, they were shot by arrows by the Ming cavalry who were riding on their horses. Some were even killed by swords and guns by the fleeing mob and then dragged off their horses.

Huang Degong did not join the battlefield. He watched the process of the battle from the position before the charge of the Tianwu Left Camp. From the confrontation between the two armies to the harassment of the cavalry on both wings of the Tianqi Camp, the shooting of muskets, the attack of soldiers, and now the pursuit, it was a completely one-sided massacre.

"How could the Palace Army be so strong after only six months of training? How could the difference be so huge?"

Listening to the howling coming from the battlefield, Huang Degong murmured that he had originally thought that the volley of musket fire was strong enough, but he did not expect that the soldiers of the Palace Army were even stronger.

"Is it because of the lack of equipment and food, or do the Palace Guards really only train for five or six hours a day? If I were to face them in this battle, I'm afraid I wouldn't be much better than Xu Dingguo!"

Looking at the battle situation in front of them, Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing, who were leading their servants on the periphery, were also horrified.

They never thought that the Palace Army would send more than 3,000 troops, but in the end they only sent a mere 1,000-man headquarters. Both of them thought that their chance to show off had come.

But the result was completely beyond the two's expectations. The soldiers from the thousand headquarters only fired two rounds of volleys and then swept through the entire chaotic army.

They only saw the advancing shields and the soldiers falling down while wailing and screaming against the shields. How could this be possible?

Seeing this, Gao Jie and Liu Zeqing didn't care about anything else and rushed over with their servants, and attacked together with the Tianqi Battalion which was also on the periphery. If they were any later, they wouldn't even be able to drink the soup.

Because things happened too quickly, Xu Dingguo and his two sons originally wanted to take advantage of the chaos to break out, but in the panic, they were directly dispersed by the three groups of cavalry.

At this time, there were only dozens of riders left around the father and his two sons. Xu Erji was unable to dodge and was directly killed by the cavalry under Gao Jie. Xu Er'an was captured by Liu Zeqing's troops.

Xu Dingguo originally wanted to fight like a trapped beast, but the only twenty or so servants left by his side were attacked by hundreds of fleeing soldiers. Under such a joint encirclement, they had no ability to fight back at all and were soon surrounded.

The final battle ended before it even broke out. Xu Dingguo was directly attacked by his own desperate servants, knocked off his horse, and his weapons were stripped. He did not have the courage to commit suicide, so he could only surrender.

Chang Denggui personally sent troops to detain the rebel general, preparing to send him to Zhu Cilang for execution by His Majesty himself.

As for the other more than 1,000 rebel soldiers, most of them were killed on the battlefield by the angry soldiers of the 1,000th Headquarters of the Tianwu Left Camp. There were also more than 300 people who ran far enough and reacted quickly enough, and were lucky enough to save their lives when the military order not to kill prisoners came.

However, Zhu Cilang did not intend to let them go. All the officers who surrendered were killed according to the provisions of military law, and the ordinary soldiers were all forced to do hard labor according to their crimes and were prepared to be taken to Fengyang.

He needed to use the heads of these rebel soldiers to tell all the troops under his command that anyone who disobeyed orders, violated military laws, and robbed the people would suffer the same fate.

As soon as the war was over, the civil officials who had accompanied the emperor on the expedition immediately regained their spirits and came forward to flatter Zhu Cilang. The Jinyiwei, who had been a disaster to the country and the people, had now transformed into a weapon for the country. The Palace Army was even more brave and powerful, and was the strongest army in the world.
Of course, these are still secondary. If it weren't for Zhu Cilang's wisdom and bravery, how could he have won the battle thousands of miles away? This is all because of your majesty's brilliant strategy!

Indeed, under Ma Shiying's emotional performance, which was so moving that he could not hold back his tears, the civil officials who accompanied the expedition were transformed into wise men after the event. In fact, they all set out from Fengyang, and even predicted this great victory when they first discussed the matter.

After all, this is His Majesty leading the army in person, how can he not win?

If they had not been worried that the army's strength would be exposed too early, violating the court's consistent strategy of keeping a low profile and affecting the subsequent war situation, they would have given their full support long ago.

Not only that, there were even ministers who wrote letters on the spot, encouraging Zhu Cilang to pursue the victory, march north to attack the Qing Dynasty, and eliminate Hauge to the north of the Yellow River as well!

Zhu Cilang naturally did not respond to this. He was so complacent that he was not a minister who could be entrusted with important matters. If a person overestimates himself, it would also be a disaster.

At this time, he admired Gao Hongtu who remained silent. Although this man was a bit pedantic and radical and often confused, he was still very principled and still insisted on his own opinion at this time.

However, after this battle, the confidence of these ministers in the Ming army should have been temporarily restored. And when they passed the news back to Nanzhili, the morale of the entire Nanzhili army would surely be greatly improved.

　Thanks to the book friend "Yuekenlu Dazhuang" for the reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)