Why so few? It looked like there were less than 20,000 people.
There are also few artillery pieces, only a few dozen!
There seems to be no cavalry, all are infantry phalanxes...
Is it about to win?
Doesn't this happiness come too quickly?
I saw thirty-two Ming army infantry square formations (all battalion square formations) slowly unfolding in the open space about three miles in front of their own formation, and also listed two large horizontal formations (each horizontal formation consists of 16 square formations) ), the soldiers on the Qing army were all happy.
They originally thought that the Ming army had more people than themselves, but they didn't expect that there were only so many people. This was great, and they finally won a complete victory!
Duduo stood on a temporary observation deck, holding a telescope and looking behind the Ming army's formation. But it can't be seen clearly, because now is the time when the sun is gradually rising, and the Ming army is backlit, while the Qing army is facing the sun. Therefore, it is not clear whether there is smoke and dust caused by the advance of the Ming army from behind.
However, Duduo still didn't believe that the Ming army only had such a small number. He turned around and came down from the high platform. Nikan and Yue Le were waiting under the high platform.
Seeing Duduo coming down, Nikan made a suggestion loudly: "Uncle Huang Tai, the Nanmanzi must have a back-up formation. They should not be all here now. This is our opportunity. Why not attack him first and give the Nanmanzi a disincentive?"
Duduo glanced at Yue Le again, and Yue Le said: "Uncle Emperor, the Southern Army is good at building forts. We can't give the Southern Army time to build forts, otherwise it will be difficult to defeat!"
Duduo frowned: "Yue Le, do you think the Southern Army might use the 32nd Infantry Formation in front of us to cover the rear troops and build fortifications?"
"The possibility is very high!" Yue Le said, "Our army is good for a quick battle, while the Southern Army is good for a long-term battle... If we let them complete the fortification, our army will be caught in a dilemma."
Dodo nodded. Building a stalemate is a very bad thing for him! Because half of his army is infantry and cannot just leave.
Moreover, most of his troops are "squad troops" who are both soldiers and farmers. They have been out in battle for several months now, and this year's spring plowing has probably been delayed. If we delay for a few more months, we won't even have the chance to replant, and the harvest will be greatly reduced in the fall.
What if the two sides compete until the fall and there is still no winner? Put it off until next year?
By then, it won’t be a harvest failure in the rear, but even food for the 70,000 to 80,000 troops at the front will be a problem...
"Yue Le, I leave it to you!" Duduo knew that Yue Le was cautious and steady, and had the style of a general, so he gave him the lead, "72 Niulu's infantry are given to you... fight well ! Let the Southern Barbarians know how powerful our Qing heavenly soldiers are!"
"嗻!"
Yue Le made a salute, received Duduo's general order, and went to the front line. Before he reached the place, there was a rumble of artillery fire from the front.
This is the firing of 32 3-pound cannons from two artillery battalions under the command of Gao Jie, the military commander of the Ming Army Xu Haijun!
Although the number of Ming army artillery pieces was small, they were very concentrated, so they had a firepower advantage in local areas!
In fact, Gao Jie's two-row infantry formation was also arranged relatively closely. About 240 spearmen from each battalion formed four rows. The distance between the two rows was relatively close, less than 20 steps. The approximately 240 musketeers belonging to each battalion lined up in three rows in front of the pike line, with only half a step between each musketeer. Moreover, the musketeers in the first two rows were staggered so that the musketeers in the first two rows could fire at the same time. The musketeers in the third row are substitutes, used to supplement the losses of the front team to maintain the queue... Obviously, Gao Jie's plan is to maximize the firepower and use bullets to inflict maximum damage on the opponent.
In front of the musketeers, there were 32 3-pound cannons lined up in a row and firing rapidly!
The target of their bombardment was the Qing artillery position more than two miles away, and all they fired were expensive lead bullets. There are four types of cannonballs in this era: lead, stone, iron, and shotgun. Among them, lead bullets are relatively soft and can be easily inserted into the bronze cannon bore, so they can be made larger, and the gap between the cannonball and the cannon bore is small. The air tightness is better, so it can hit farther and more accurately.
Moreover, after years of rigorous training, the artillerymen of the Ming Army have also improved their skills. They can fire guns very quickly and aim accurately. There is no longer a need for salvos and unified sighting (which will affect the rate of fire), and lead bullets can be hit in piles on the Qing artillery positions.
The Qing army's artillery array suddenly became a chaos of smoke and dust, and people fired up their cannons.
When Yue Le took the risk of walking to the front, the Qing artillery also began to counterattack. Because the Ming army's artillery shells kept falling, the Qing army's artillery position was in chaos. Cannons were knocked over constantly, people were killed and wounded, and screams and exclamations kept coming.
In this case, the Qing artillerymen whose training level was not very high (training artillery was too expensive for Duduo) fired very randomly, neither fast nor accurately. Although the number of cannons was three times that of the opponent, they did not exert their due power. After firing for a long time, it seemed that they did not mute a few Ming army cannons. On the contrary, five or six cannons on their own side had been knocked over. .
However, these Qing army cannons were not completely useless, but they did create a lot of smoke. Because there was no wind on the battlefield today, the smoke could not disperse at once, so the center of the battlefield was soon filled with smoke, and visibility dropped sharply.
"Blow the trumpet and beat the drum!" Yue Le was waiting for this moment, so he gave the order without hesitation.
On February 13, just after noon, 40 Niu Lu's Qing infantry began to advance in formation amidst the sound of war drums.
Due to the insufficient number of muskets, Dodo's infantry was unable to adopt European-style phalanx tactics. Instead, they adopted a mixture of muskets, spears, knives and archers. Among them, the proportion of musketeers in each Niulu is about one-eighth, that is, there are more than thirty and less than forty. At the beginning of the battle, they all lined up in front of the formation, usually in two or one row, and they were done firing five or six rounds of gunfire - it was impossible to fire more, because the barrels of their matchlocks needed time to cool down. .
Behind the muskets are archers, whose number is about the same as that of musketeers. After the musketeers finish firing, they will retreat, and then the archers will come up to shoot arrows. There is no condition to shoot too much, so I usually shoot ten or twenty arrows and then rest.
After the musketeers and archers are done, it’s time for the pikemen and swordsmen...
When the Qing infantry attacked, their artillery stopped firing - because the artillery was preceded by their own infantry!
Although the Ming artillerymen on the opposite side could not clearly see the situation ahead, they heard that the Qing army's artillery had all stopped firing, and they knew that the Qing army's infantry was coming up.
So they stopped shooting and started loading shotguns and moving ammunition trucks.
Only two or three shots of shotgun are enough, and the shotshells of the 3-pound cannon are not very powerful, and they are not enough to stop a full 40-strong Qing army. So after firing the shotgun, the gunner had to rush the draft horse and pull the cannon to move.
Seeing that the artillery ammunition trucks had been withdrawn first, the Ming Army musketeers behind them became nervous. The company-level officers blew the whistles of "prepare for battle" one after another, and the squad leaders and platoon leaders at the grassroots level began to issue orders.
"Light the match! Load the ammunition..."
After a period of chaos, the front line of the Ming army's position suddenly became extremely quiet, with no shouts of people and no rumbling of artillery. There was only the sound of countless rumbling footsteps...
Everyone held their breath and stared straight ahead. The smoke has dispersed a lot, and the "White Qing Army" of the brigade has appeared in everyone's sight.
"Boom boom boom..."
The 3-pound regimental cannon placed in front of the infantry fired again! What was sprayed out this time were shotgun shells. Twenty or thirty musket lead balls were wrapped in deerskin and forced into the barrel of the gun. Now they were pushed out by the deflagrating gunpowder. They suddenly spread out at the muzzle and flew forward, sweeping the gun. On the bodies of the Qing army musketeers more than a hundred steps away, the white cotton armor was suddenly beaten into blood red. The soldiers who were shot did not even have time to scream, and fell to the ground on their backs, without moving.
But the Qing soldiers who were not shot were still moving forward with their heads covered!
