"Fire the bayonet!"
Zhang Cheng, who came from Yin County, Ningbo Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, issued the order in Mandarin with a Beijing accent. The nine-sided young soldiers lined up behind him silently put their bayonets on their guns, and there was a small sound of metal collision.
It was already early in the morning, the darkest time of the day in Liaodong winter, but for the officers and soldiers of the Young Guards Division who were accustomed to night fighting, this was the moment when they could show off their talents.
Behind Zhang Cheng, who was appointed deputy Qianhu and served as the commander of the first battalion of the Second Regiment of the Guards, was a jungle of bayonets!
Zhang Cheng looked back. With the dim moonlight, he saw thousands of helmets rising slightly behind him. Everyone was kneeling in a standard posture to form a dense line of skirmishers, staring at Zhaojiazhuang, which was being bombed opposite. After suppressing the Qing army's artillery, the Ming army brought six 24-pound mortars onto the battlefield and used them together to bombard the Qing army. Although the range of this kind of artillery is short, its power is amazing. The 24-pound wooden shell explodes into a large area. Huge fireballs continue to rise on the frontline of the Qing army, where the main attack force of the Ming Army's Young Guards Commandos is direction.
Sixteen 3-pound bronze cannons were also pushed to the front line, but they did not fire and just squatted quietly in the night. Zhang Cheng knew that eight of the sixteen 3-pound cannons had been loaded with shotgun shells, and the other eight were loaded with solid shells. Once the attacking troops were blocked on the front line, these cannons would be pushed up to provide fire support. !
However, Zhang Cheng doesn't think this will happen, because he has full confidence in his group of nine-sided teenagers!
Thanks to his efforts, his battalion was the vanguard battalion in the upcoming offensive, and he himself knelt at the front of the battalion, with a cold face and silence.
As a rare southern officer in the New Army officer group where northerners make up the absolute majority, Zhang Huangyan's nephew from the same clan (he was recommended by Zhang Huangyan to enter the military academy) has always behaved more harshly and worked harder than the northern officers. Because only in this way can he gain a foothold in the army - because Zhu Cixiang is eliminated among the officers at the bottom, those senior officers hope to have a few strict and hard-working villains under them.
Because he was too strict with his subordinates and did not look good to his colleagues, Zhang Cheng got the nickname Zhang Xiaogui, which means that the king of hell is easy to meet, but the little devil is difficult to deal with.
Of course, senior military officers with heavy "performance pressure" all like such brats. If their subordinates are all bad guys and sycophants, they themselves will have to be eliminated at the bottom...
When Emperor Zhu's treasured Young Guards Division was formed into an army, "various little guys" were recruited from various divisions of the New Army to serve as battalion commanders and company commanders. Zhang Cheng and Zhang Xiaogui were also transferred to the Young Guards Division. .
Because all his colleagues are difficult to deal with (none of them are good people), Zhang Cheng is under greater pressure. Not only must he be a "ghost", but he must also be a "ghost" who is not afraid of death, so that he can have a chance to climb up!
To be honest, Ming Dynasty now has tyrants at the top and ruthless officials at the bottom. There are basically no good people who can stand firm in the officialdom. What's even more speechless is that under Zhu Cixiang's rule, such evil people and cruel officials will basically not be punished.
It's not Zhu Cihong's style to kill the donkey!
They are all serving the country, serving the emperor as cruel staff, and acting as villains... They are extremely loyal and good people, and history books will say good things about them!
"Commander of the division, all attack launching units have all entered the launching position!"
A staff officer strode up to Qin Mingtao, saluted and reported.
Qin Mingtao will be placed in the position of commander-in-chief of the Young Guards Division by Zhu Cixiang. You can only imagine what kind of person he is. He was originally a martial arts scholar in the 16th year of Chongzhen's reign. He served in the battle of Tianjin and guarded the palace gate, and then he came into the eyes of Emperor Zhu. But he was able to rise to his current position all because he was strict in running the army and ruthless in his military use - just look at the series of night attacks since he landed at the mouth of the Liao River and you will know how ruthless he is in his military use!
It is a very cold day now, and it has just snowed heavily. The battlefield on the east bank of the Liao River can be said to be a land of ice and snow, with temperatures at night reaching more than ten degrees below zero. Let a group of 17 or 18-year-old boys climb on ice and sleep in the snow in this kind of weather, and then attack the strongholds held by the Qing army... Moreover, 8,000 men from four regiments were used to attack the opponent's two Tens of thousands of people are so cruel and inhumane!
However, Qin Mingtao's ruthlessness was extremely necessary in this decisive battle.
Zhu Cixiang spent a lot of money and a lot of time, which is more precious than money (how precious is the emperor's time! Even debauchery and immorality are not enough!) to build the young guards. Although they are brave and good at fighting, if they really want to use them to fight in a dignified battle, He couldn't help but consume tens of thousands of Qing troops in turn - at this time Qin Mingtao also knew that he had bumped into the main force of the Qing army!
It would be foolish to fight with others at this time!
It is safe to retreat back to Liangfangkou Pass and defend, but in this way, the main force of Donglu can return to Shenyang safely. In this way, Huang Degong, who has a lone army on the North Road to penetrate deep into the main force, will be in danger - now there is heavy snowfall in Liaodong, and the maneuverability of the black gun and mule soldiers Once the accuracy is greatly reduced, one can only shrink back and stick to it. When the time comes, Donglu will definitely find out what is true and what is true, and maybe Huang Degong will be defeated without a beating. In terms of the overall situation in Pingliao, it would be a big disadvantage if Huang Degong failed.
Therefore, Qin Mingtao adopted the tactic of attacking at night and guarding during the day, giving full play to the strengths of the young guards division in being good at night fighting (all due to the inhumane Emperor Zhu who forced him to work overtime), specifically attacking at night and resting during the day. , either hold fast or march. In short, I just don’t want to fight with Donglu in the daytime!
However, using more than 10,000 men (including artillery and a regiment's reserve team) to attack more than 20,000 people in Nikan at night is really a heavy use of troops. If the attack fails and the enemy's reinforcements arrive, the losses will be huge. Disastrous.
Of course Qin Mingtao also understood this truth. He was standing on a cart transporting mortars and looked north. Under the light of the stars and the moon, he saw rows of cold light flashing like waves. They were eight thousand young men. The bayonets of the muskets and the spear points of the spears in the soldiers' hands were just waiting for him to give the order, and the group of howling little wolves were about to pounce on Donglu and beat him violently.
Master Qin's face had turned cold, and he didn't say much. He waved his hand gently: "Start the attack!"
The staff officers and messengers around him immediately conveyed the short order. In front of where Master Qin was, a row of suona players blew the marching order together.
The kid Zhang Cheng had been waiting for this moment for a long time. He jumped up immediately, drew out his sword, and pointed forward: "Master Wei, protect Daming, Guards, move forward!"
"Master Wei, protect Daming... kill the enemy!"
The young soldiers of the Guards suddenly shouted wildly! Then there were waves of cold light. All eight thousand officers and soldiers stood up. Then, with Zhang Cheng's infantry battalion as the leader, they advanced step by step, pointing towards Zhaojiazhuang!
At this time, Nikan was also neatly dressed, leading the Manchurian soldiers, and went to the front line despite the threat of explosive bombs that would explode on his head.
It’s obvious where the Ming army will attack! This is the place where they are bombarding madly now, and what Nikan can do now is to concentrate his troops as much as possible to endure the bombardment... The bombing will not kill many people, and the sky is three to five hundred. However, the blow to the morale of the troops was huge - no one could bear to be bombed without fighting back!
However, Nikan is also a ruthless person and gave a death order: No attack! 2. Don’t retreat! Third, you are not allowed to lie down to avoid the gunfire - because if you lie down to pretend to be dead, you will not get up!
They all have to stand up straight and take the bombardment!
"My lord, the barbarians of the Ming army are coming!"
A "black man" Jia Lazhangjing, who was probably affected by the explosive bomb and whose face was blackened by gunpowder, rushed to Nikan and reported with a trembling voice.
"Why are you panicking?" Nikan shouted, "Have you never killed a Nanman before?"
The "black man" shook his head, "My lord, these southern barbarians are different! They are amazingly powerful and ferocious..."
"So what?" Nikan glared at him, "The Regent's reinforcements are already on the way. As long as we hold on until dawn, we can win!"
As soon as he finished speaking, crackling gunshots were heard from the front, and the Qing army's matchlock guns began to fire!
