Geng Jimao led 4,500 cavalry, all of whom were Eight Banner soldiers with men and horses, and their combat power was enough to catch up with the ordinary Ming army in a town.Fifteen Niu Lu's Eight Banner Soldiers, three Niu Lu Heavy Armored Infantry Army, three Niu Lu cavalry, and the remaining nine Niu Lu were equipped with firearms and bows and arrows, each of them was equipped with two horses, and their combat power was strong.Previously, the Han army's many achievements in the Yellow Banner did not mention, just last year, in the battle of Hunan, the Yellow Banner defeated the Ming general Yang Guodong in Xiangyin, with 3,000 soldiers and horses, broke through Yang Guodong 20,000 people, and defeated Zhang Xianbi, Huang Chaoxuan and other generals, drove directly to Changsha City, and captured the Ming general Guo Zhaoji.Among the eight banners of the Han army, the Zhenghuang Banner is known for its good fighting.Geng Jimao, as the son of Geng Zhongming, has been in battle for a long time, and naturally he is not bad, after he found out that the scouts of the former army were discovered by the Ming army, he immediately ordered the army, galloped forward, and prepared to seize the pontoon bridge.The Qing cavalry galloped to the west bank and saw that the pontoon bridge was full of corpses, scattered with large bags and small bags discarded by refugees, and many vehicles across the bridge.At this time, the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke after the musket was fired, and the air was mixed with the smell of blood, which made the bloodthirsty Eight Banners soldiers as excited as hungry wolves.This group of soldiers from the Huguang battlefield was not afraid of Donghai Town, but regarded Donghai Town as their prey.For them, after crossing the river, Su Song, everywhere is a land of gold and silver, and the banner has a greedy look in his eyes, which makes people shudder.At this time, the bridge was full of corpses, and there was silence all around, and there was not a single living person, and then a person suddenly appeared on the shore, climbed the mountain bank, and gasped for breath.Geng Jimao reined in the reins of his horse, stood by the river, took out a clairvoyant mirror, and observed the opposite bank, and there was a Qing army cattle record next to him, and he was watching the map drawn by the scout."
There are already heavy garrisons of thieves on the other side, but there is another place to cross the river?"
From the clairvoyant mirror, Geng Jimao saw the flag of the Ming army on the other side fluttering, and there seemed to be a lot of people, so he couldn't help frowning and asked.Niu Lu next to him lowered his head and looked at the drawings, and replied in a deep voice: "Back to the world, Zhao Zamao built the Xicheng defense line for a hundred miles, and set up a battalion of soldiers every fifteen miles, and one of them commanded the land to defend it.From Jiangyin to Wuxi, there are a total of seven battalions along the line.In addition to these seven battalions, Jiangyin, Caijingba, and Wuxi also set up a guerrilla battalion to reinforce the bandit army along the line, and the defense was very tight. ”The distance between the Qing army and the Ming army was too close, and the two sides were under each other's noses, so it was difficult not to be detected by the other side in the distribution of troops and fortifications.Geng Jimao frowned slightly, "This is Qi Jiguang's method when he was guarding Jiliao." ”Niu Lu nodded, "The son of the world is wise, and it is exactly the method used by the border army of the Ming Dynasty to divide and defend guerrillas. ”Geng Jimao said in a deep voice: "In this way, I will have to cross the river from other places, and the difficulty is basically the same, so it is better to attack the ready-made pontoon bridge." ”There are also Ming troops elsewhere to defend, and to cross the river still need to prepare boats, build pontoon bridges, there are these actions, the Ming army must have been on the opposite bank as early as the battle, so it is better to take advantage of its incomplete preparation, directly attack the pontoon bridge, but also save a lot of effort.As he was talking, two yellow-armored soldiers dragged the wet Wang Jiaping over."
Minion, meet the prince!"
Wang Jiaping hurriedly kowtowed.Geng Jimao glanced at him, with some disdain in his heart, he was also a traitor, with different ranks, and the Eight Banners who were naturalized in the flag looked down on the Green Battalion soldiers, but Geng Jimao, as the prince of the king, was also a hairy nobleman, and he was still somewhat cultivated, "General Wang, you disappointed me!"
”Wang Jiaping lowered his head, "Shizi, the thief army on the other side has been prepared, and the minions created an ambush to capture the bridge and lose." ”Geng Jimao waved his hand, "Okay, you don't need to explain, quickly go to the back and mobilize your people to come to the battle, I will let you see how the Eight Banners athletes are fighting." ”Wang Jiaping heard Geng Jimao's contempt, but he was faceless and skinless, and he didn't feel ashamed, but said: "Lord Shizi, the thief army does not destroy the pontoon bridge, it is clear that they want to lead us to attack, they must be prepared, it is better to let the minions lead the troops to attack a few times first, and open the way for the Eight Banners." ”Geng Jimao glanced at Wang Jiaping, then looked at the other side, but shook his head.The Green Battalion is not Zhao Zamao's opponent, and it will take more than an hour for them to come, and the defense on the other side will only become tighter and tighter, and the Green Battalion's attack will be unfavorable at that time, but it will thwart the sharp spirit of the Zhenghuang Banner."
No need!"
Geng Jimao waved his hand, then pulled the reins of his horse, stepped forward to a high ground next to the bridge, and ordered with a whip: "Sun Linglong, you lead a heavy-armored Niu Lu and a firearm Niu Lu to capture the pontoon bridge for this general." ”At the sound of an order, more than 600 soldiers of the Eight Banners immediately turned over and dismounted to make preparations before the battle.At this time, nearly ten bronze cannons were dragged forward by the war horse, and the Qing artillery team immediately built an artillery array at the bridgehead, preparing to cover the infantry to seize the bridge.After the Manchus colluded with the Dutch, the Dutch opened a cannon foundry in Dayuan and sold artillery to the Qing army at a high price, and the Manchus themselves copied them.Bronze fast artillery, the process is not complicated, after Hong Chengchou cast a large number of them, part of them was used to train the new army, and part of it was equipped with the Han Banner Army on the front line.On the east bank, Zhao Ming saw from the clairvoyant mirror that on the west bank, the artillery of the Qing army was lined up, and his expression couldn't help but become a little serious, and he suddenly waved his hand, and the soldiers of the Jiazi battalion quickly entered the battle position.On both sides of the pontoon bridge, the Ming army built two bridgeheads with earthen bags, on which artillery was placed, and the soldiers were lying on the earthen bags with muskets, and the two bridgeheads crossed fire to block the pontoon bridge.On the front of the bridge, it is blocked by the horse pile, the Ming soldiers holding shields, lined up into a wall, behind them are the spears of Rulin, and finally the Ming soldiers holding bows and arrows, ready to hang and shoot.At this time, the Qing soldiers had already boarded the pontoon bridge, and a Niu Lu's Eight Banners soldier transformed the vehicles scattered everywhere into shield vehicles, and then gathered the shields of the whole army, like an iron beetle, pressed along the pontoon bridge."
Boom, boom!"
The artillery of the Qing army on the other side roared, and the bronze cannons retreated, the muzzles of the guns spewed flames, and the black shells whistled and smashed towards the east bank."
Shelling, concealment!"
Yu Guowang shouted, his body fell behind the dirt bag, and the Ming soldiers also lowered their bodies, and the cannonballs smashed on the east bank, and the soil splashed, and hit the soldiers like hailstones.Yu Guowang raised his head and watched the Eight Banners pushing the shield cart getting closer and closer, and the elite soldiers of the Yellow Banner who had been in the war for a long time seemed to have sensed the smell of danger."
Dashuai, let's fight!"
On the bridgehead, Yu Guowang said in a deep voice.Zhao Ming shook his head, stretched out his hand to take a flintlock pistol, and waited until the Qing army entered a distance of seventy paces before raising his hand and shooting a spear, right in the middle of a sword-wielding command.The sound of the gun is the signal, the artillery of the Ming army immediately bombarded, the musket bows and arrows were fired in a volley, and the flames on the fortresses on both sides flickered like a galaxy, and the shells sprayed out were happily harvesting the lives of the Qing army.The Eight Banners were still pushing the shield cart, holding the shield, and slowly moving forward.The cannon fired, smashing the shield car and the shield hand directly to death, and the Qing soldiers behind immediately filled the vacancy.The guns shot by the Ming army shot at the Qing army on the bridge from the side, hitting the shield of the Qing army, and the sparks of "bang bang bang" splashed everywhere, and the soldiers were constantly hit and fell to the ground, but the Qing army still maintained the formation and moved forward.In the rear of the heavy infantry, the Qing army was armed with guns, and the cats raised their heads from time to time, firing back, and the Ming soldiers who were hit screamed and fell from the bridgeheads on both sides.On the west bank, Geng Jimao saw from the clairvoyant mirror that the Qing army was constantly being shot, and immediately ordered the artillery to aim at the bridgehead and continue to bombard fiercely.The resistance of the Ming army on the opposite side was indeed fierce, but judging from Geng Jimao's many years of experience in the campaign, the resistance of the Ming army often could not last too long, as long as the Qing soldiers showed a firmer will than them, and the momentum of not fearing death, they could crush the morale of the Ming army, and they would collapse immediately.At this time, the Qing army had already rushed within thirty paces, and the firearms of the two sides were firing at each other, and the battle was extremely fierce, while the Qing army still maintained the turtle shell formation and advanced forward.Yu Guowang was furious, picked up a grenade and threw it, and the explosion splashed a column of water on the edge of the pontoon, and the Ming soldiers immediately threw grenades.At this moment, the Qing army could not maintain the formation, and Sun Linglong, who commanded Niu Lu, suddenly waved his sword and roared, "Brothers, rush!"
”Wearing heavy armor, the yellow flag armor soldiers, braving the rain of bullets, rushed through the gunsmoke, launched a decisive charge, flintlock guns and shotguns are not enough to stop them, but the pontoon bridge is too narrow, the Qing army can not be deployed, the Qing army rushed to the bridgehead, immediately hit the shield wall of the Ming army, and the spear of Rulin, was blocked by the Ming army at the bridgehead.At this time, the Ming troops on both sides of the bridgehead hurriedly shot and threw grenades, and in the white light, the Qing army suffered extremely heavy casualties.Seeing the loss of troops in front of him, Geng Jimao was not an elm braincase, and realized that it was difficult to break through the defense of the Ming army, so he could only order the troops to be withdrawn.
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