The dense roar of firecrackers drew Dorgon's attention from the large Ming army advancing towards Niujiazhuang to the battlefield directly ahead. He turned his head and saw two infantry phalanxes firing at each other on the left front of his own artillery position!
As the gunfire sounded, both infantry phalanxes emitted white smoke. Dorgon quickly raised his telescope and took a closer look. Many soldiers in the two phalanxes fell down, obviously they had been shot.
Suddenly, bursts of thunderous sounds sounded from the right wing of the Ming army's vehicle formation, and white smoke also appeared. This is the Ming army's artillery firing! The black projectiles rushed into the Qing infantry square at a speed visible to the naked eye, and suddenly several rows of living people fell down one after another!
Dorgon felt a throbbing pain in his heart. Many of the people killed were from the Old Eight Banners, and they were also from the Zhengbai Banner... Dorgon was certainly sure of victory in the battle at Guishan. But he also knew that if this battle resulted in a victory of killing 10,000 enemies and damaging 3,000, then if there were a few more such "sure victories", the Qing Dynasty would also be victorious and destroyed.
That is to say, we are invincible, but in the end we are subjugated for some reason. Just thinking about it makes me cry!
Therefore, Dorgon's wishful thinking was to fight a battle that would make Zhu Cixiang heartbroken, and then he could happily make peace.
If this battle can't hurt Zhu Cixiang to death, this guy will keep fighting. Even if he loses repeatedly, he can still "defeat" the Qing Dynasty...
But knowing that the situation was not good, Dorgon couldn't stop it midway! He had to bite the bullet and send reinforcements to Azignikan. At the same time, he ordered his left wing, which was placed at Xiaowangzhuang, with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, mainly with blue flags, to outflank the Ming army's right wing.
"Blessed by Saint Kong... you are invulnerable!"
Dorgon had just given the order when there was another explosion ahead. The group of Ming soldiers who rushed out of the car formation to fight back shouted slogans and launched a spear attack!
It turned out that when the firecrackers of both sides were firing at each other, they were pushing forward - the firecrackers of the Qufu Army would also fire in turns. Although it was a bit chaotic, they were still able to aim and fire at the correct distance.
The fire gun soldiers of the Qing army also knew this skill, which was called the Nine Advances and Ten Chains. That is to say, divide the fire rifle soldiers into ten rows. After the front row is defeated, the rear row will be moved up. After all ten rows are defeated, they will advance nine times.
Now that both sides have finished their rounds of volleys of guns, it's time for the spearmen and sword players to fight!
The battlefield was filled with shouts of killing, while the sound of cannons became increasingly sparse. Although the 3-pound guns on both sides are made of bronze, theoretically no special cooling time is needed. Cleaning the barrel with a wet mop, dry mop, etc., plus the reset and aiming time, is basically enough to cool down the barrel. However, after firing continuously for an hour, the artillerymen on both sides, suffering from the "phobia of exploding barrels", became extremely cautious, and the rate of fire dropped to about one shot every five minutes.
At the same time, the foot formations of both sides started a bloody battle!
The number of people participating in the war was about the same. The Qing army's personal combat power was stronger, but the impact of the Ming army's gun array should not be underestimated. Therefore, after the collision between the two sides began, the Ming army once had the upper hand, forcing the soldiers of the Lao Eight Banners to retreat step by step. However, after the charge of the gun formation, the brave and capable Eight Banners soldiers quickly regained control of the situation and quickly disrupted the Qufu military formation, which was not very strict. The two armies fell into a melee.
And melee battles pay special attention to personal bravery, and the Qufu army was soon at a disadvantage. However, it is not easy for the Eight Banners soldiers to eat more than two thousand people, because their protection is very good, a small number of them are equipped with long-body iron armor, and most of them have cloth-covered iron armor. Ordinary swords are not easy to hurt them, and they have to be hit with blunt objects. The efficiency of blunt weapon strikes is not high, so the battle between the two sides can easily become anxious.
In addition, there were some archers on both sides still shooting at each other. They all shoot at close range, aiming at the unarmored parts of the opponent's body and shooting arrows. The Eight Banners soldiers' archery skills are much better than those of the Qufu Army's archers! Therefore, most of those who were shot over by arrows were warriors from the Qufu Army.
As the battle continued, the situation became more and more unfavorable for Qufu's military training. In the end, Shi Kefa had to pay money to withdraw his troops and let them return to the vehicle formation to rest. The car battalion had more than 3,000 people when it attacked. When it finally retreated, there were less than 2,300 people left. Almost 800 people lost their lives in less than an hour of fighting...
However, their sacrifice was not without value. They bought time for the car formation to reorganize!
Just as the two armies were fighting fiercely, Shi Kefa mobilized some large shields and chariot soldiers from the other three directions to fill in the front of him. He also had people use human and animal corpses to repair the walls of the chariot that had been damaged by Qing artillery.
In addition, the Qing army was not intact in this exchange of gunfire and hand-to-hand combat.
They lost nearly 400 people, including more than 200 regular soldiers of Zhengbai Banner!
Dorgon had no time to feel sorry for his losses on the front. The offensive and defensive battle at Niujiazhuang on the right wing began with the roar of artillery.
What was firing was the Ming army's 3-pounder cannon and the Qing army's one-pound cannon.
Because there were not enough 3-pound regimental cannons, both the Ming and Qing Dynasties cast many one-pound general cannons. However, the one-pound cannon is not powerful enough, and because it is a cast iron cannon, it is easy to explode.
Therefore, the main role of the one-pound cannon on the battlefield is to provide fire support for the troops holding their positions. Now the Qing army in Niujiazhuang is supported by six one-pound cannons. Du Lei placed these artillery pieces at the northern entrance of Niujiazhuang to block the road into the village.
However, the attacking Ming army had eight 3-pound cannons, which clearly had an advantage in firepower - this was not 8 to 6. The 3-pound cannons were not only larger in caliber, but also had a much higher rate of fire. Because the Ming army has at least several times the artillery firepower advantage.
With the support of these eight cannons, Huang Degong's infantry quickly invaded Niujiazhuang.
However, Du Lei's red flag soldiers and Shang's lovely green flag soldiers also defended extremely resolutely, and the two sides launched a bloody battle inside and outside Niujiazhuang!
After completing the deployment, more than 9,000 Ming troops attacked from three directions. They were all "Morris Battalion" and were equipped with a large number of firecrackers. Although they are only bird cannons and Japanese cannons, they can't hold up in large quantities, and they also have artillery support. So as soon as they came up, they suppressed the more than 4,000 lovely people of Monk Du Lei.
However, the Qing army had the building barriers of Niujiazhuang to rely on. Although their firepower was much weaker, they could barely maintain their undefeated status.
The sound of drums, cannons, muskets and shouts of killing on the battlefield in Niujiazhuang were like waves, waves reaching Dorgon's ears. Hearing this, Dorgon's heart felt like a knife!
The fierce fighting meant that casualties among the powerful Eight Banners forces were inevitable!
Once upon a time, the Ming army, which could defeat four to five thousand eight-banner soldiers several times, had no power to fight back. But now, Dorgon has to use three times the number of Nine Flags soldiers to severely damage the once vulnerable Ming army...
"Huang Ama, is it almost done?"
Shang Kexi, who was standing with Dorgon, felt very distressed. All the green flag soldiers in Niujiazhuang were his men!
After a battle, I don’t know how many people will die...
Dorgon gritted his molars and said, "Wait... wait another half an hour!"
He was waiting for the Ming army to be exhausted and waiting for the Ming army to invade Niujiazhuang. Only then will the two sides completely fight together, and the Ming army will neither be able to retreat nor form a formation.
It's just that the more than 4,000 Nine Flags heroes guarding Niujiazhuang will suffer heavy losses!
Monk Du Lei didn't know Dorgon's plan. They didn't even know that Dorgon had ambushed 20,000 people in and behind the large woods less than five miles away from Niujiazhuang. They knew there was an ambush. But I didn’t know there were that many.
So both of them were extremely anxious and mentally prepared to die in battle!
The six general cannons they placed at the northern entrance of Niujiazhuang (which is the main road) have become mute. One of them has exploded, one was damaged by the Ming army's 3-pound cannon, and the other four were damaged because the barrels were too hot. , dare not use it.
The Ming army also seized this opportunity and pushed six 3-pound cannons to the gate of Niujiazhuang, loaded them with shotgun shells and fired them inside, killing the Qing troops who had blocked the entrance one by one... .
