You can't only love the Qing Dynasty when you're eating the fruits of others' labor.

Chapter 343 The Art of Confident Conducting

After defeating Wu Jun's musketeer formation, the New Eight Banners Assault Daredevil Battalion continued to charge forward. The knights looked at the twenty-odd cannons that were so close at hand, and their blood ran cold.

Everything seemed to slow down.

The gunner brought the torch close to the fuse, and the muzzle flash instantly ignited. The scorching solid shot whistled out, shattering men and horses along its path, and filling the sky with blood mist.

Wu Jun's artillery barrage felled at least 300 Manchu soldiers.

It was a truly tragic scene.

The essence of cavalry charging is simply the word "charge".

The assault suicide squad, fearless and relentless, continued their charge.

Suhetai leaned forward slightly and, relying entirely on his muscle instincts, fired six armor-piercing arrows to the right front in one breath, hitting the target five times out of six.

"kill!"

The shouts of his comrades around him suddenly brought him to his senses.

He sheathed his bow and smoothly drew his sword from the left side of the saddle. By this time, his warhorse had already charged into the Wu army's artillery position. He placed his sword diagonally and, using the speed of the horse, easily swept it across the neck of an enemy officer.

The head flew off the spot, blood spurting high into the air.

Suhetai was a qualified Manchu veteran in all aspects, except that he was a little lacking in bed skills.

At this moment, he regarded all the enemies in front of him as Jiang Qingyun, and he would cut off heads and arms at the drop of a hat. After a series of charges, both men and horses were bloodied and bruised.

As they charged forward, they encountered a neat array of spears.

Countless spearheads gleamed with a cold light, the warhorses immediately turned, and the flag bearers drew their bows and fired from the side, demonstrating the full practicality of using both hands to shoot.

Watching this scene, Jiang Qingyun sighed, "The soldiers of the Kuangfu Banner endured hardship and were driven away, no different from dogs and chickens."

……

Wu Jun's central army banner.

Wu Yinglin's forehead was covered in sweat. He hadn't expected the Eight Banners soldiers to be so fierce and brave, risking their lives to seize the initiative.

"Lin'er".

"Father?"

“The Qing army’s attack is fierce, and my son and I have nowhere to retreat. Go to the front line to supervise the battle and stabilize the morale of the troops.”

"My child obeys."

Wu Yinglin took a deep breath and led his guards forward.

The morale of the infantrymen at the front line rose slightly upon seeing the Crown Prince arrive in person.

The pike square formation was a powerful weapon against cavalry; warhorses are intelligent creatures and would never charge headlong into a formation. Therefore, the Eight Banners soldiers countered the pike square formation with close-range heavy arrows.

When the casualties among the pikemen reach a certain level, the phalanx will collapse.

Then spur the horse forward to expand the gains.

After several volleys of arrows, the two formations could not withstand the terrifying casualties and collapsed on their own.

Some veteran soldiers with rich battlefield experience immediately turned into vicious wolves, chasing after them and slashing them mercilessly, driving the fleeing Wu soldiers to charge into their own lines.

"Fire arrows!"

In the critical moment, Wang Pingfan mobilized all the archers to fire a barrage of arrows, finally stabilizing the situation.

……

The right-wing cavalry has been deployed.

According to Jiang Qingyun's military orders, they would take a long detour to get behind Wu's army, a process that would take half an hour.

As the right-wing cavalry gradually moved away from their main force, everyone gasped in shock.

General Wu Jun: "Isn't Chiang Kai-shek far too arrogant?"

Qing army generals: "This is a kind of confidence."

Jiang Qingyun sighed inwardly and cursed, "Damn Ninth Banner! It's all because of you that I was forced to use the precious resources of the Eight Banners as suicide soldiers."

General Meng Qiaofang of Xi'an Town whispered, "Prime Minister, Wu's left-wing infantry has been mobilized."

Jiang Qingyun opened the telescope.

In the lens~
The Wu army on the left wing advanced in great numbers, their formations neat and their steps resolute, their spears like a forest. Judging from their banners, their commander was Wang Pingfan, one of Wu Sangui's right-hand men.

"General Meng, do you dare to go into battle?"

"I couldn't be happier!" "Great!"

Jiang Qingyun beckoned, and Meng Qiaomei, not knowing what he meant, spurred her horse to move closer.

"The Shaanxi-Gansu pool is too small to accommodate you and your brother, two great figures. If you win this battle, I will appoint you as the Hunan Green Standard Army Commander, and allow you to form your own 2000-strong battalion. In addition to the commander's battalion, I will also allow you to appoint 50 officers of the rank of centurion or above."

Meng Qiaomei was overwhelmed with emotion.

"This humble general is willing to die for the Grand Secretary."

"Go! I've heard of the Qin soldiers' bravery, but I've never seen them with my own eyes. Don't disappoint me today."

Meng Qiaomei spurred her horse into battle.

Before long, more than 10,000 Shaanxi and Gansu Green Standard Army troops left the main formation and marched forward. Just half a quarter of an hour later, they were engaged in a fierce battle with Wang Pingfan's troops.

In the lens.

The Shaanxi-Gansu Green Standard Army was known for its fierce fighting style, and through their spear-wielding combat, they managed to force Wang Pingfan's troops to slowly retreat.

Jiang Qingyun once again sighed with satisfaction: "Moreover, the Qin soldiers are hard-working and resilient, and when driven, they are no different from dogs and chickens."

……

8 versus 18.

Wu's army had an overwhelming numerical advantage, but their troop composition had a major flaw: it consisted mostly of infantry and lacked qualified cavalry.

Guo Zhuangtu led 7,000 elite cavalrymen to their deaths in the Chishui River.

At this time, Wu Sangui only had 3000 short-legged cavalrymen under his command. The Yunnan horses they were equipped with were excellent pack horses, but not qualified warhorses.

Faced with the fierce Eight Banners soldiers, the short-legged cavalry had no chance of fighting head-on.

Wu Sangui's face was sallow and his expression was listless. He kept chewing on a century-old ginseng in an attempt to replenish his energy.

Li Benshen stood on the stirrups, gazing at the battle situation for a long time.

"Your Highness, the battle is at a stalemate. Give me 2000 archers, 2000 swordsmen and shieldmen, and 3000 spearmen. I will go and attack the enemy's central army."

"Brother, please be careful."

"Don't worry, if we can't be born on the same day, month, and year, then we can die on the same day, month, and year."

Wu Sangui watched the departing figure and roared, "Brother, I'm entrusting you with this!"

Li Benshen led nearly 10,000 infantrymen out from the right flank, marching at a jog, with their target being the central army banner.

There's a reason he's so proactive. Anyone who surrenders might be forgiven by Jiang Qingyun, but not him. He's too deeply tied to the Wu family.

Wu Jun had a large army, and his strategy of constantly sending troops to contain Jiang Qingyun from various angles, gradually turning him into a commander without troops, was an extremely correct war strategy.

……

Wang Fuchen, riding on horseback, was filled with excitement but forced himself to remain calm.

He was a man of both roughness and shrewdness. He figured that he didn't have any direct troops under his command right now, and if he were to send his troops there empty-handed, he was afraid he wouldn't be given important responsibilities.

To be given important responsibilities, you need to have leverage.

He glanced at Wu Sangui out of the corner of his eye, his lance poised to strike.

Suddenly, the sound of cannons rang out on the battlefield.

Under Ferdinand Verbiest's guidance, the 20 cannons of the same type produced by the Macau Gun Factory achieved an astonishing hit rate, with solid shot raining down on Li Benshen's troops one after another.

After bouncing once on the solid ground, the solid shot crashed into the dense array of spears, tearing a terrifying corridor of flesh and blood.

Cannons rumbled.

Ferdinand Verbiest stood in a prominent place, holding the Bible.

The gunners held the old man nailed to the cross in awe, feeling that he possessed some kind of supernatural power.

In any era, few armies can withstand the devastating casualties of artillery bombardment without collapsing, and the Wu army was no exception. After two rounds of artillery fire, several pike phalanxes broke apart, prompting even more phalanxes to flee in disarray.

Li Benshen shouted hoarsely, "Come back, all of you come back!"

No one paid any attention.

……

Judging that it was time to send his former master to paradise, the fierce general Wang Fuchen took a deep breath, weighed the lance in his hand, and spurred his warhorse to move closer to his own banner.

(End of this chapter)