On April 28, the third year of Dashun Yongchang, at dawn, Li Zicheng, wearing a long, finely crafted iron armor and a blue cloth arrow jacket, stood on horseback in Jinmaoling, thirteen or four miles southeast of Tangjiashan. On the north slope of the mountainside.
Seven or eight miles ahead is a large Taoist temple called Guangde Palace, which is now an important support point for the Dashun Army in the southeast corner of the former Tangjiashan battlefield. Li Zicheng's artillery team used Guangde Palace as its stronghold. Thirty-two general cannons are now placed on the open ground to the north of Guangde Palace (this was originally a place used for temple fairs), which is far away from the Hudu River. Less than a hundred feet.
These general cannons in Li Zicheng's hands were all brought from Jiangling City, and they were all carefully crafted by Zuo Liangyu's orders from the good generals of Wuchang Prefecture during his lifetime. It is not a large or medium-sized artillery that fires seven or three kilograms of shells, but a small cannon that fires one kilogram of shells. The body of the gun is made of cast iron and reinforced with multiple iron hoops. Not counting the artillery carriage, the weight of the artillery is only three to four hundred. catty.
This kind of artillery can be placed on a special three-wheeled gun carriage for use in field battles. However, the three-wheeled artillery cart cannot be used in city defense battles because it is three-wheeled. When firing, the wheels mounted on the back of the gun mount are not removed. Instead, a slope of earth is piled behind the cannon to restore the rear seat. . There was no way to pile dirt on the city wall, so we had to take down the cannon and carry it to the stone base...
It is indeed a very strange design. I don’t know who came up with it? Not only is it inconvenient to use in city defense, but it is also very inconvenient to use in field operations, making it difficult to transfer positions in time.
However, for Li Zicheng during the Battle of Tangjiashan, the inconvenience caused by the strange gun mount was not a problem at all. Because the initiative on the battlefield is in his hands!
Although we are in an era of roaring firearms, the position of cavalry on the battlefield is still very critical - powerful firearms mean powerful lethality, and powerful cavalry means battlefield initiative.
And on the Tangjiashan battlefield at dawn on April 28, the third year of Yongchang, the two favorable factors that can determine the outcome of the battle, lethality and initiative, were in Li Zicheng's hands!
Of course, his enemies are not without a chance of winning.
The Ming army occupied a favorable underground position, relying on the Hudu River, Lianhua Temple and Tangjiashan to set up formations, and also built simple fortifications to strengthen defense.
Plus, their reinforcements are on the way!
According to the intelligence obtained by Li Zicheng, Zhu Cixiang mobilized at least three so-called "Model Divisions of the New Army to Overcome Difficulties" to fight in Huguang.
This "model division" is equipped with powerful muskets and artillery, and is well-trained and disciplined. The soldiers under its command are also treated extremely well, far exceeding those of ordinary Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers, so their combat effectiveness is very strong.
Fortunately, the number of "model teachers" is limited. According to the information provided by Huang Shu, the Ming army only had six model divisions in total - Huang Shu was a blind cat who met a dead mouse, while Zhu Cihong issued a total of six division-level designations, and now they are all model divisions. It’s impossible to send them all to Huguang, right? Always leave two to guard the Huaihe River defense line, and one to look after the house in Nanjing.
Therefore, only three divisions can be used.
Now one division is determined to be in Xiangjing and Nanyang, one division is in Hanyang, and one division is in Huya Mountain. Therefore, there should be no model teachers in the area from Gongan County to Hudukou.
Without a model teacher, Li Zicheng is sure of victory!
The Ming army that faced Li Zicheng in Tangjiashan also acted very cowardly. The tens of thousands of troops did not dare to fight in the field. They only dared to rely on Hudu River, Tangjiashan, and Lianhua Temple to build fortifications, as if they were ready to build fortifications and hold on. .
It's a pity that Li Zicheng's army arrived suddenly and did not give the Ming army much time to build strong enough fortifications.
Li Zicheng led his troops to arrive yesterday afternoon, and first occupied Jinmao Mountain and Niutoushan (the two mountains are very close to each other, on the bank of the Hudu River that turns south) as the base. Then the first group occupied Guangdeguan and began to build artillery positions there. The first part started along the Hudu River to the west of Guangde Temple, and some very simple fortifications were also built.
Another one uses earth bags to block the river at the foot of Jinmao Mountain and Niutou Mountain. This is to divert the Hudu River water flowing from the upper reaches into the contiguous rice fields on the east bank, thereby reducing the water depth of the Hudu River in the Tangjiashan area downstream.
The Hudu River is not a big river in the first place, and the water level in the Tangjiashan area is not very deep. If there is less water coming from the upstream, Dashun's army can cross the river to attack.
While the large forces on both sides were preparing for the decisive battle, small-scale contacts began last night.
First, there was a contest between the scout cavalry of both sides. After the Dashun army won by relying on their superior numbers and horses, Li Zicheng ordered his "cannon-carrying soldiers" to go to the Hudu River to fire cannons at the Ming army under the cover of darkness. The position was fired at indiscriminately, and the Ming army also counterattacked with unknown firecrackers.
The continuous but not intense exchange of fire between the two sides lasted all night, and by daybreak, there was still no intention of ending.
Military advisor Gu Junen, who was standing next to Li Zicheng, put a goose feather fan on his eyebrows and observed carefully for a while, then whispered to Li Zicheng: "Your Majesty, our cannons have been placed and can be fired."
Liu Zongmin next to him also said: "This time we have too many cannons, use big cannons to blast him!"
Li Zicheng looked at the Chu King's flag flying on Tangjia Mountain and said to the two of them: "Then let's give it a try... Pass the order and ask the brothers to beat him for two hours first.
In addition, after letting the big gun cool down, he also went to assist the artillery. Concentrate your strength and defeat the red thieves first! "
...
Zhang Yong, Qiu Lei, and Jin Shenghuan were boarding Tangjiashan together with the little Chu King who was pale and tearful, muttering only: "Sister Wife, Sister Wife..." , watching the enemy formation from a distance.
Looking southeast from Tangjia Mountain, the scene is spectacular!
Li Zicheng's army, which numbered tens of thousands, had already left the temporary campsite and set up on the battlefield.
What they set up was an arc formation, with Guangdeok Palace almost as the center point, and troops deployed on both sides. Among them, the Dashun Army west of Guangde Palace launched along the Hudu River. To the east of Guangde Palace, the Dashun Army forded from a ford and launched east of Tangjiashan-Lianhua Temple.
There is also a group of about two to three thousand cavalry deployed in the northeast direction of Tangjiashan, always threatening the communication channel between Tangjiashan and Gongan County.
At this moment, bursts of white smoke suddenly rose in front of Guangde Palace, and there was a roar like thunder. It was the one-pound general cannon of the Dashun Army that began to roar.
The power of the one-pound cannon was not great, but the thousands of infantry under Jin Shenghuan who were placed by the Hudu River near the Lotus Temple still suffered a disaster.
Although they worked all night, they did not build any strong fortifications - they did not have shovels or shovels, and they had no construction training. Still using the original idea, horse carriages, side cards, and horse-repelling guns were put together to build horse-proof fortifications along the Hudu River. But he didn't expect to be bombarded by Li Zicheng!
These miscellaneous things cannot protect against artillery fire at all, and they will fly around after being shattered by projectiles weighing one kilogram. Anyone who is bumped by these fragments will inevitably suffer a bloody head, broken bones and tendons!
At this moment, two thousand Da Shun musketry soldiers came up in groups of two, carrying their large iron muskets, and deployed on the left wing of the artillery position in front of Guangde Palace. Then they started firing with a crackling sound. It wasn't a volley, and it wasn't very accurate. It just knocked out the lead pieces and knocked them down.
The ones who were beaten were Jin Shenghuan's troops. They were a bit of a riot, made up of a small number of Shaanxi people and local warriors from Huaiyang. They had not been in the army for a long time, their training level was poor, and they had not fought any tough battles. .
It was precisely because of their unreliable combat effectiveness that Zhang Yong ordered 30,000 Jin family troops to deploy along the Hudu River, forming the west and south sides of the Tangjiashan Ming Army's defensive positions.
Unexpectedly, Li Zicheng actually left the Ming army without river cover to the east and north without fighting, and singled out the southern line guarded by the Jin family army as the main attack direction of the Dashun army.
And Li Zicheng also has cannons!
