"Melezhangjing," E Shan was already nervous, "Since the enemy is here...should we retreat and leave?"
Tu Hai frowned and glanced at the old Manchu who seemed to be frightened by the elite of the Ming army. He shook his head and said: "Now is not the time... It is late at night. What kind of soldiers do we have? It's late at night. Why don't we have to be chased and scattered when we are running away? We don't even need to fight. If we chase them, our soldiers will be chased away!"
Eshan was speechless because he knew that Tuhai was right. Their more than 10,000 soldiers are easy to control during the day, but at night they work in the dark, and if they are not locked up in the camp and guarded, they will definitely desert. If there are more elite soldiers of the Ming army chasing after them, there is no need to fight. If they catch up for one night, the number of custodians will be reduced by more than half.
Tuhai added: "Our camp occupies a village, and after being reinforced, it is no worse than an ordinary castle... There are not many people, so they can't surround us. Don’t be afraid of being surrounded, the prince’s army is more than sixty miles away.”
"This..." Eshan nodded, "Mele Zhangjing is still thoughtful, and I admire him."
Tuhai smiled and said: "E Niulu, you and your people should not participate in the deployment tonight... take a good rest, and let's retreat north together after dawn tomorrow."
"Okay!" Eshan breathed out. Finally, his people no longer had to fight against the brutal and deadly Ming army... Thinking of this, he felt uncomfortable again, and the world was changing too fast. Got it! When he was a teenager more than ten years ago, what he heard every day was how useless the Ming army was, how brave the Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers were, and how one could defeat ten was just drizzle. Why is it the other way around now?
Will the three rises of the Qing Dynasty come to an end?
Ancestor! Eshan prayed in his heart that he must protect the Qing Dynasty!
Less than three miles away, south of the Kongjiapu where more than 10,000 Qing troops were stationed under Tuhai, a team marching in the dark had stopped advancing amidst the continuous sound of whistles. Then the large area was ripe, but no one was harvesting it. The unfolding was completed among the wheat fields.
Then, the officer leading the team began to issue orders one by one.
"Wear light and take off your backpack!"
"Check the ammunition, check the bayonets, check the breastplates and helmets... In addition to ammunition, bayonets, breastplates, helmets, all equipment, all the baggage team is gathered!"
"The company commanders of each company come out and prepare to receive orders!"
Under the dim moonlight, under the orders given one after another, the soldiers completed all the actions neatly and quickly, and then waited there quietly. During this period, no unnecessary noise was made, and no soldier did anything wrong. Being scolded by the superior.
In fact, these "young soldiers" of the Young Guards Division have done this kind of march in the dark, starting in the dark, and moving toward the designated goal in the dark, countless times in the past four or five years.
For them, this kind of thing is as natural as eating and sleeping, without any mistakes.
In this silence, suddenly the sound of horse hooves, the sound of labor trumpets and the shouts of unknown people came together.
"Stop, stop, stop...this is it!"
"Guards on alert!"
"All artillery squadrons spread out their positions!"
The person who was shouting was Sun Shining, the artillery staff officer of the Young Guards Division. As the division artillery staff officer, he was also the chief of staff of the artillery regiment. Tonight, his task was to command four 12-pound cast-iron short cannons to support the infantry in attacking the Qing army defending Kongjiabao.
According to the information obtained by the Ming army, the Kongjia Fort, located twelve or three miles north of Liangfangkou Pass, was built by Kong Youde. It was once the headquarters of Kong Youde's troops and was once very strong. Although it is now in disrepair, it is still not easy to fight.
Fortunately, the Young Guards Division landed this time with four 12-pound cast iron short-barreled cannons and a large number of explosive shells, so whether they can break through Kongjia Fort tonight depends on whether these four 12-pound cannons can fire accurately. !
As soon as the four artillery squads were deployed about two and a half miles south of Kongjiabao, Qin Mingtao came up with several staff officers from the division.
"Commander, the four 12-pound cannons are in place... However, the earthen walls of Kongjia Fort are relatively low and are difficult to be hit by direct fire. My subordinates suggested using explosive shells to bombard the enemies in the fort. Army. But it was too dark to see clearly where the earthen wall was."
Qin Mingtao nodded and said to a regimental commander beside him: "Send a battalion to go up and use skirmishing tactics to lure the enemies on the wall to fire."
Queuing to kill has always been just one of the various infantry tactics in the flintlock era. In the flintlock era, there were also skirmishers (light infantry, hunters) who could shoot accurately, and there were also snipers who specialized in killing enemies. Even Ordinary line infantry will also build and rely on fortifications for defense...
The Jiubian young soldiers are all professional soldiers who have undergone strict training since childhood, so they can master a variety of tactics, including skirmishing tactics - this kind of skirmishing tactics is very effective against opponents with low training levels of soldiers and even lower levels of officers. is very effective.
The former "Manchurian Heavenly Soldiers" are now weaklings with poor soldiers and even worse officers in Qin Mingtao's eyes!
"Ancestors bless, ancestors bless, ancestors bless..." Tuhai, who was praying for the blessings of his ancestors, was chanting in his right mind. Of course, he was also a low-level officer.
Although in history, he was an elite officer among the three generations of Manchu nobles and a hero of Emperor Kangxi's efforts to pacify the three vassals. But the military knowledge he mastered was completely outdated, and he had no idea how to deal with a modern professional army.
Bang bang bang...
The sudden burst of gunfire interrupted Tu Hai's thoughts. He quickly walked out of his central army - a long-abandoned Confucius Temple. Several officers guarding outside the Confucius Temple saw him coming out and immediately surrounded him. .
"Melezhangjing is south of Zhuangzi, and shooting is south of Zhuangzi!"
"The barbarians of the Ming army are about to attack!"
"Melezhangyin, what should we do?"
These officers are all Manchu nobles in their twenties. Historically, they were supposed to be senior officials in Beijing. Now, even the wealthy locals outside the Guan Dynasty can hardly survive, and they are all extremely nervous.
Tu Hai seemed calm and composed, "Why are you panicking? The Kong family fort is strong and we are not afraid of their... Let's go and take a look."
After he said this, he strode towards the place where the gunshots were heard. He was halfway there when he heard the gunfire in front of him became more intensive, but it was not the type emitted by the Ming army's flintlock guns. What sounded particularly clear was the dull sound of his own matchlock gun.
This time it seemed like the matchlocks overpowered the flintlocks!
Tuhai laughed and said to his left and right: "Did you hear that? It's all our matchlocks that are doing the shooting... When we line up to fight in the wilderness, our guns are not good enough and we always suffer a loss. Now we are fighting against the wall. The situation is It’s different again!”
As soon as he finished speaking, a thunderous roar came from the front. Tu Hai's heart that had just been relieved suddenly rose again. He quickly turned his head to look at the place where the explosion sounded more than a hundred steps ahead. Orange fireball!
Flower bomb!
And he even broke into Zhuangzi!
It turned out that the explosive bomb that exploded did not hit the wall, but crossed the wall of Zhuangzi and landed inside the village. It hit the hard ground first, then was bounced up and flew into a crowded building. He entered the yard where the mules, horses and livestock were built, and finally exploded in mid-air!
There were no casualties, but the injured and frightened mules and horses seemed to have exploded. They all lost control and broke free from the ropes. Some of them broke open the wooden door of the yard and rushed out. There were also a few healthy horses. He even jumped over the low courtyard wall and rushed to the narrow street outside. He rushed along the street. Fortunately, an officer next to Tuhai reacted quickly and pulled him to the corner of the street. This way he was not frightened. The mules and horses were knocked over. But among the officers and soldiers who were with him, there were two unlucky ones. They were knocked to the ground by unknown mules or horses, and they were trampled several times. One was killed on the spot, and the other vomited blood and was about to whimper. !
Tu Hai took a breath, but before he could react from the shock, there were several more roars, and this time two fireballs suddenly rose from the small Kong Family Fort!
