There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 172 Head-on Battle
Bai Nan easily dismissed Liu Xiushi with an appointment document. Liu Xiushi knew he had been stripped of power, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He did indeed send messengers to annex the city, and now that the Han army has come to take over the county, it is only natural. In addition, this is a promotion. The magistrate of Dangyang County is a seventh-rank official, while the postmaster of the postal service is a fifth-rank official. In terms of official rank, this is a promotion of three ranks.

If he accepts now, he can at least save face. If he stubbornly refuses, then the Han army will have to save face for him!

On that day, the Han army entered Dangyang County.

Although Dangyang County had nominally submitted to the Han army long ago, it was actually still a typical peasant army. The wealthy gentry in the county town had been basically purged, and there were no large landowners in the area, only a few small landowners and self-cultivating farmers barely surviving.

Don't assume that the people under the control of the Dangyang rebels will have an easier time now that the landlords and powerful families are gone.

Because the previous landlords and powerful families were gone, the rebel army developed into a new group of landlords and powerful families. The only difference was that the rebel army eliminated the government and powerful families, so the taxes and levies owed by the tenant farmers and the loans owed by the landlords no longer needed to be paid, and the tax burden became slightly lower.

Relatively speaking, the people of Dangyang County were still able to make a living, and their lives were much better than under the Qing government, but it was certainly not comparable to the control of the Han army.

Bai Nan did not immediately lead his army north to rescue the righteous army in Yuan'an County. Instead, he first summoned the original county officials and had them meet with the land distribution officials, town mayors, and the newly appointed county magistrate that he had brought with him.

The new magistrate is named Liu Xiuwen, who was originally a poor scholar from Zhijiang County.

His resume and achievements were not outstanding, just average, but he was bold and daring. When he was the mayor of a town in Shishou County, he captured and killed Qing soldiers.

The Han army rested and stayed in Dangyang County for a total of three days.

Bai Nan said, "Magistrate Liu, Dangyang County is now in your hands."

Liu Xiuwen cupped his hands in response: "General Bai, rest assured, we will take care of things in Dangyang County. You don't need to worry about it."

Bai Nan left 500 troops in Dangyang, and then led his Second Division of Han Army, together with more than 3,000 Dangyang militia, to a total of more than 13,000 troops, to the north to meet the Ming Dynasty army.

……

Dangyang and Yuan'an are very close, with a straight-line distance of less than 80 li.

The Han army could reach the destination in two days under normal march conditions, and in one day if they marched at full speed.

"Sir, our scouts have spotted rebels forty li away!"

"it is good!"

Mingliang had been besieging the city for many days, and finally the rebels' reinforcements arrived.

Scouts kept reporting that the rebel soldiers were all wearing the same red uniforms, and from a distance, the banner was also embroidered with the character "Han".

The one who came was a traitor to the Han!
The Qing army besieging the city numbered 20,000, almost twice the size of the Han army. However, the main force of the Qing army consisted of only 3,000 Xiangxi soldiers under Mingliang's command, while the remaining 17,000 were newly recruited soldiers from Xiangyang, whose combat effectiveness was questionable. Even the 3,000 Xiangxi soldiers had been defeated by the Han army.

After careful consideration, Mingliang decided to hold back and wait for the Han army to attack.

Around noon, Mingliang saw the vanguard infantry formation of the Han army through his telescope.

All dressed in red, they held up a large banner with the iconic Chinese characters.

Dozens of Han cavalrymen led the way, scattering to chase after Qing scouts who outnumbered them several times over.

Mingliang was also helpless. The cavalrymen he brought were basically the defeated soldiers from the battle of Chenzhou. Their fear of the Han traitors was deeply ingrained, and they dared not resist the pursuit of the Han cavalry. They could only flee in a flash.

Of course, there were definitely some brave enough to go back and fight, but without exception, they all either died or were injured.

The Qing cavalry were all local Green Standard Army soldiers, and their horsemanship was comparable to that of the Han cavalry. The only difference between them was individual bravery and the difference in weaponry.

In terms of individual bravery, the Han cavalry practiced daily and were provided with ample meat and rations. Their weapons were modern industrial steel blades, a stark contrast to the Qing Dynasty's rudimentary steelmaking methods. The two sides were simply not in the same league.

After a few rounds, the Qing cavalry had no choice but to flee in disarray.

"Drum roll!"

"Boom boom boom boom!" The war drums of the Qing army's position resounded. The Qing soldiers in the vanguard battalion were all new recruits. At this moment, when they heard the drums beating, their blood surged.

"Vanguard Battalion, kill the rebels!"

Mingliang issued a military order. He had already suffered from the Han army's firearms in Chenzhou and knew how sharp they were. The original tactics of combining firearms with infantry formations were no longer effective, and the only option was to use surprise attacks.

The Qing army's vanguard moved; more than a thousand Xiangyang soldiers charged recklessly toward the Han army's square formation opposite them.

In ancient times, news traveled slowly and was often distorted once it left the residence. In addition, Xiangyang had been besieged by the White Lotus Sect for a long time and had only been relieved a few months earlier. The Xiangyang soldiers had already witnessed how brutal the White Lotus Sect was; they would slaughter entire families, destroy farmland, and coerce civilians and farmers into their ranks. They were truly as numerous as the stars in the sky.

In their minds, the Han army must be in a similar situation. Although some merchants said that the Han army distributed land to the poor and did not make things difficult for self-cultivating farmers and small landowners, they did not believe it.

"Kill the traitors!"

"Defend our homeland, build our industry and establish our careers!"

More than a thousand soldiers from Xiangyang, their morale was high, and they were truly there to defend their homeland.

Because Mingliang told them that the rebels were preparing to march north to attack Xiangyang. Having finally settled down, these Xiangyang soldiers did not want their hometown to be ravaged by the rebels again.

"Ready! Fire!"

The Han infantry formations were still advancing, but the artillery positions had stopped.

At the command of the artillery battalion commander, the first to fire were not the heavy artillery, but rather more than 100 mortars.

Since the mortars achieved great success in the Battle of Chenzhou, the artillery battalions of the Han army have fallen in love with this type of artillery.

"Boom boom boom!"

More than a hundred mortars were aimed directly at the Qing army and opened fire.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The violent explosions occurred one after another, with more than a hundred mortar shells fired, all of which were explosive shells.

Explosive shells are normally unsuitable for artillery because the high chamber pressure of artillery can easily cause premature detonation and barrel explosion. However, mortars, with their small caliber and low chamber pressure, perfectly meet the requirements.

To improve safety, the artillery craftsmen in the gunpowder workshop changed the gunpowder from sugar powder to black powder, and added steel needles and iron pellets to ensure lethality.

The Qing army's vanguard battalion consisted entirely of new recruits, and their charging formations were extremely dense.

The explosion covered exactly half the field.

In an instant, the vanguard battalion was wiped out, with more than two hundred soldiers falling, and those Qing soldiers hit by the blast were covered in blood and gore.

Even if the edges are just scratches, they are covered in blood, their bodies splattered with steel needles and iron pellets, leaving them with numerous wounds.

This terrified the Qing soldiers. They were new recruits who had only acted on fervor, and now, seeing the tragic state of their comrades, they were so frightened that they scattered and fled on the spot.

Of the vanguard battalion of over a thousand men, more than two hundred fell to the ground, and the remaining eight hundred fled directly to the rear.

"Come forward, supervising team!"

Mingliang was prepared and immediately ordered his supervisory team to kill the fleeing soldiers while reorganizing the army to prepare for a second offensive.

The Han army's infantry formations had by then entered engagement range.

From an aerial view of the battlefield, the furthest distance between the Qing and Han armies was still over a thousand meters. But at the closest, they were only a few hundred meters apart, not counting the Qing vanguard battalion that had been routed by Han artillery fire halfway through their advance.

Strictly speaking, the direct confrontation between the two armies had already broken out at this point.

(End of this chapter)