More than forty knights riding mules and leading horses traveled through the boundless night like the wind. Although it was night, these cavalrymen, who had horses but not rode, and had to ride mules, could not raise fire to expose their whereabouts.
Because they are the mule soldiers of the Ming Army and have now entered the territory of the Qing Dynasty!
Xia Wanchun from Songjiang Prefecture led the way with a mule, carrying an eight-foot carbine on his shoulder, and led the way in front of the team. He was followed by a short and fat Hequ horse. There was no one on the horse, and the reins were tied to the saddle of the mule under Xia Wanchun's crotch. The horse is running, led by a mule.
Behind Xia Wanchun were forty horsemen, all riding mules and leading horses like him, but they were carrying different weapons. Twenty of the horsemen all carried muskets on their backs, with their muzzles pointing upwards and without bayonets. Ten cavalry carried bows and arrows, and another ten cavalry carried spears like Xia Wanchun.
Obviously, this is also a group of black lancers, but unlike Shuofang's black lancers, they are equipped with flintlock muskets.
A flintlock is much easier to use than a matchlock! First of all, there is no open flame, so you can use a flintlock gun to shoot black guns or carry out night attacks at night. Otherwise, after the match rope is lit, it will be dotted with stars, and the enemy will be able to find it immediately as long as they are not asleep.
Secondly, the reloading speed of the flintlock gun is faster. The faster the reloading speed, the faster the firing rate! And with a fast rate of fire, the firepower is certainly fierce!
The third is that the flintlock gun is not easy to misfire! Because the matchlock has an open flame, if you are not careful, it will ignite the flames in the gunpowder pool, and then it will misfire. If a fire breaks out during an ambush, you will be exposed.
In addition, the sparks splashed out after taking away the fire can easily ignite the powder pools of the surrounding muskets, so if the formation of the matchlock soldiers is too dense, it is easy to "fire accidents". Therefore, the formation of arquebusiers is generally relatively loose, but after upgrading to flintlock rifles, they can line up side by side and shoot...
Xia Wanchun was originally a teacher at the Nanjing Jiangwu Hall (his father was Xia Yunyi, who was a Jinshi in the 18th year of Chongzhen's reign. He was also a scribe, but when the imperial examinations were suspended for a few years, he had no choice but to enter the Jiangwu Hall on the recommendation of his fellow countryman Xu Ermo, and stayed in school after graduation. After coming into contact with the flintlock musket imported from the Netherlands, he immediately discovered its great military value!
So he immediately filed a report and applied for transfer, and became a company commander in the 1st Musketeers Regiment. Since he had never been on the battlefield, his official position was not high and he was only qualified to be a company commander.
However, Xia Wanchun is still confident about his military career!
Therefore, as soon as he received the order from above, he immediately led his company, found a shallow place to cross the canal, and penetrated into the territory of the Qing Dynasty. Then he divided the team into three and began to sweep away the Qing army's sentry troops.
No matter what era the two armies confront each other, it basically starts with reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance!
Because the battlefield is always shrouded in "fog", no matter how good a general is, he must rely on intelligence obtained by scouts or other investigation methods to grasp the enemy's situation, and then formulate targeted combat plans.
If one party's investigation methods are completely restrained by the enemy, then it will become blind or deaf... No matter how high the martial arts skills are, no matter how strong the warrior is, once he is blind or deaf, he will not be able to hit anyone.
On the battlefields of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the main means of investigation was cavalry. Exploration horses, sentinel cavalry, and night cavalry were all basically cavalry.
Therefore, whichever side has stronger cavalry can often master more intelligence and cover the enemy's ears and eyes at the same time.
In the previous Northern Expedition of the Ming Army, the Qing Army relied on its huge cavalry advantage and always took the initiative. Dorgon was able to defeat the stronger Ming army with a weaker force, and he also went to Qufu to defeat Kong Shengren. It was not because of his powerful cavalry, which blocked Zhu Cixi's sight, and at the same time he controlled enough battlefields. information?
But now, the Ming Dynasty already has a way to deal with the Qing cavalry!
"stop!"
Xia Wanchun shouted at this time, and at the same time tightened the reins of a donkey and mule under his crotch (donkeys and mules are easier to obtain than horses and mules, so most of the Ming army's mule soldiers were equipped with donkeys and mules).
The mule soldiers following him saw him stop and reined in their reins. Among them, the mule soldiers equipped with muskets handed over the mules and horses they were holding to their companions, while they dismounted and held their guns, forming a warning formation.
Three squad leaders and a platoon leader all arrived in front of Xia Wanchun, waiting for his orders.
Xia Wanchun raised his riding whip, pointed to a village with firelight in front of him, and said to his four men: "That village looks a bit interesting...the houses are very dense, and there seems to be watchtowers. It's a little more crowded at night." There are so many torches and lanterns, there are probably cavalry units from the Qing army inside! Let’s take a look!”
"Company commander," the squad leader of the fusilier squad immediately called for battle, "leave it to your subordinates! I have 20 flintlock muskets. There are only a hundred Qing troops in the village, and they can be driven out in one wave."
He is not bragging. The Qing army here in Shandong is not the kind of Eight Banners Old Manchu that is particularly capable of fighting. How can they be afraid that they cannot defeat hundreds of Green Banner soldiers in a sneak attack with 20 flintlock rifles?
Xia Wanchun nodded and said to the squad leader of the cavalry archers: "The cavalry archers are responsible for covering. If the fusiliers withdraw, you will shoot arrows."
"Here!"
Xia Wanchun then said to the platoon leader of the mule platoon he had brought with him: "You command the fusiliers and cavalry as one unit, and I will lead the cavalry around to the other side to lay an ambush."
"Here!" The platoon leader of the mule platoon held his hand and took the order.
Xia Wanchun's deployment cannot be said to be very clever, but this kind of night attack by a small group of troops behind enemy lines is an extremely test of the morale of the troops.
The old-school Ming army, not to mention the ordinary soldiers who don't have enough to eat, even the servants may not be willing to perform such a life-threatening task with their heads hanging on their belts.
But the current "mule cavalry" of the Ming Army dare to do this!
Because this force not only receives generous treatment, but also undergoes long-term rigorous training. The most important thing is that it is equipped with a large number of officers who graduated from martial arts halls.
The combat effectiveness and morale are very high among the Ming army today, and cannot be compared to the more than 100 food-searching cavalry led by Sun Yanji who are resting in Xiaozhang Tun tonight.
Sun Yanji is also the son of Sun Long and the brother of Sun Yanling. Because he was born to a girl, his status in the Sun family is not high, so he only does odd jobs and runs errands.
For Sun Long, who is currently stationed at Anping Fortress, the most important thing is to get enough money and food. Only when you have money and food can you have soldiers!
Only with soldiers can we defend the Anping Fortress!
Only by holding on can you have the capital to bargain with Daming... It's not enough to be empty-handed. You have to leave him and his brothers a hundred thousand acres of land to live on.
Our brothers have been beaten to death and injured for so many years, but we can't let them beg for food in the south of the Yangtze River!
And Sun Yanji was quite happy to carry out this kind of task of robbing food and money. Firstly, he could get some to put in his pocket; secondly, he could have a little beauty sleeping with him... He was happier and more comfortable than in Anping Castle.
Tonight, Mr. Sun served as the groom's official again. While he was working hard, he suddenly heard a crackling sound coming from outside. It seemed like firecrackers were being set off somewhere?
What's a good thing? Could it be that my cheap father-in-law is setting off firecrackers? No, this is a firecracker, right?
Just as Sun Yanji thought that something was wrong, the door of the room was knocked open with a bang, startling both him and the little girl. Amidst the little girl's screams, Mr. Sun looked back and saw a The uncle with disheveled clothes and a panic-stricken face looked at him with wide eyes...
"Leopard Head Li, what's wrong?" Sun Yanji already knew something was wrong.
"Young Master, the Ming Army is coming, the Ming Army is coming!"
As if to prove his words, another crisp sound of gunfire came.
Bang bang bang...
"Young Master," the leopard-headed Li said with a trembling voice, "there are at least 30 fire cannons firing in a volley, and there has been a salvo just now... there are at least 60 fire cannons taking turns! Including spear soldiers and sword soldiers, there are at least 200 people! Twice as many as us!"
"Quick, gather the brothers!" Sun Yanji was already panicking, "Let's fight them!"
