At this moment, the Xixia rebels were in chaos and unable to fight back.
The soldiers were demoralized and panicked because they were hit by horrific weapons that they had never seen before.
A large number of soldiers howled and tried to escape. They saw the horrific scene of their comrades being smashed to pieces by firearms, thinking that they were attacked by the magic of gods or the magic of demons and monsters.
In this case, they were unable to resist the Ming army's active attack. The rebel crossbowmen collapsed without even firing a few arrows.
The result was a large-scale retreat and flight, with only a few fighting back, but to no avail.
After a brief resistance, the rebel cavalry was completely annihilated by the Ming army cavalry. The infantry was cut off by the Ming army cavalry and attacked from both sides. It also suffered a frontal close-range attack from the Ming army musketeers.
They received lead bullets in their faces, and the entire army was beaten to a bloody pulp by Ming army musketeers, making them miserable. .
A total of 20,000 rebels were defeated and wiped out on the Ningxia Plain by 5,000 Shenji Battalion and 5,000 Hexi Corps troops. In this battle, the Ming army killed more than 3,000 Xixia rebels and captured more than 16,000 people, but the Ming army itself only killed thirty-six people and injured more than a hundred people.
The main casualties were caused by the nervousness of the new recruits of the Hexi Corps who had never actually been on the battlefield and were sneak attacked by the Xixia veteran Youzi who was eager to escape and survive.
One cavalryman and one musketeer in the Shenji Battalion were killed in the battle, and the remaining dozen musketeers and musketeers were bruised or had their feet sprained.
In comparison, the Xixia rebels suffered heavy casualties, not to mention those who were beaten to bloody wounds. Some of the corpses found on the battlefield even had their arms or legs broken by lead bullets, but the people also died of bleeding from all the orifices. .
There were also many rebel prisoners who were injured by musket fire and died of their injuries within a few days after being captured.
The Shenji Battalion used brand-new weapons and tactics to show its might on the Ningxia Plain. Jiang Liangping and the generals and soldiers of the Northwest Corps also saw the huge power of firearms and the huge potential of the firearm phalanx. Jiang Liangping suddenly became interested in artillery and muskets. Greatly yearned for.
This battle took place at the end of October, and throughout November and early December, the Shenji Battalion followed Jiang Liangping and fought in four places. There were six battles, six battles and six victories, and more than 3,000 rebels were killed. The battle results are remarkable and the reputation is great.
On December 11, Xuanhua Mansion, the last rebel stronghold, was captured by the Shenji Battalion with artillery. The last rebel army was overtaken by Ming cavalry on its way to Shazhou and Guazhou and was killed.
Subsequently, 5,000 soldiers of the Hexi Corps and 5,000 Shenji Battalion followed Jiang Liangping on the road to Guazhou and Shazhou, and prepared to capture Shazhou, the westernmost part of the Xixia territory, as the westernmost part of the Ming Dynasty's current territory. part.
Within Shazhou, there is also a majestic ancient pass that has disappeared from history books for a long time, namely Yumen Pass. As one of the important passes for the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty, Yumen Pass had lost its importance as early as the late Tang Dynasty. The Xixia invaded the Hexi Corridor. After that, Yumen Pass completely disappeared from the history books.
Su Yonglin asked Jiang Liangping to lead people to search for the old site of Yumen Pass. If it could be found, a monument would be erected to express the Ming Emperor's endless lament for the vicissitudes of life.
At this point, the rebel force ceases to exist.
There will basically be no resistance in Shazhou and Guazhou. Jiang Liangping led the army to conquer Shazhou mainly to occupy Shazhou, stabilize the western frontier of the Ming Dynasty, establish a smooth and stable transportation line, and start operating Shazhou.
Further west from Shazhou is the Western Liao Empire, the homeland of the Khitan people who had never had any exchanges with the Ming Dynasty.
This counter-insurgency war was fought quite smoothly, and it felt a bit hearty, so after Jiang Liangping wrote the war report to the Privy Council as usual, he also wrote to Su Yonglin, expressing the same thoughts as Su Haisheng.
Boss, I also want a Shenji battalion. If I don’t have five thousand people, four thousand, three thousand, or even two thousand, I can train them myself. What do you think?
After Su Yonglin received the news at the end of December, he only felt it was very funny, and then replied to Jiang Liangping with a letter.
Send the Shenji Battalion back honestly, don't make any assumptions, this is my model army, a model for the future reform of the entire army. If you dare to touch it, I won't slap you!
It's a good thing that the generals are all interested in the Shenji Battalion. Su Yonglin is also constantly trying to find ways to improve the efficiency of firearms production.
He continuously invested money to establish coking workshops, iron-making workshops, musket workshops, and artillery workshops on the outskirts of Zhongdu. He built various military factories, and many craftsmen were recruited and sent to work in the factories, constantly expanding the scale of production.
However, even if the production of firearms in a manual state is large-scale, the production efficiency is just that, and it is difficult to improve.
After all, human beings have their limits. If you really want to improve production efficiency to the point where you can install firearms in the army, it is indeed a little bit difficult.
Although Su Yonglin has introduced the concept of grinding tools to manufacturers and the concept of mechanical production, all of this requires the birth of a new power source.
The research on steam engines is still at the laboratory stage and cannot be advanced.
So for now, the reserves of qualified matchlocks and artillery are only enough to form an army of 10,000 people, and the material reserves are probably enough to support a three-month war, which is probably the reserve for a local war.
This reserve is clearly insufficient.
And with the great display of firearms troops, not only the infantry took a fancy to the importance of firearms, but the naval forces also began to seek to equip themselves with firearms.
After the first Ming-Song War, the navy made great contributions, basically fulfilling the task of escorting the infantry, and further defeated the Southern Song Dynasty navy, which greatly threatened the strategic security of the Southern Song Dynasty and forced Zhao Lin'an for the first time.
As a result, the navy officially had a place in the Ming army and became a strategic arm that cannot be ignored.
After the war, Su Yonglin reorganized the Ming Army's navy and reorganized the original Jiaolong Army into two armies, which was equivalent to giving the navy two military-level establishments, which are the current two naval divisions of the Ming Army.
The first one was stationed in Ninghai Prefecture in Shandong Province. The military trumpet was powerful and the navy was commanded by the general Zhou Mancheng. It commanded more than 400 large and small warships and had a total strength of 10,000 sailors.
The second detachment was stationed in Fuzhou, Liaoyang Province. Its military number was Ping Haijun, and its military commander was Kong Zhende. It commanded more than 500 large and small warships and had a full complement of 10,000 sailors.
The two naval divisions are also equipped with tens of thousands of auxiliary sailors and handymen responsible for some non-combat tasks, and they are in good order.
Both of these two men led the navy to achieve great military exploits in the first Ming-Song war, and displayed the majesty and military spirit of the Ming navy, so Su Yonglin made them the commanders of the offensive navy.
There is no doubt that after these two people saw the power of artillery, they immediately determined that artillery would become the main battle weapon of the Navy, and would end the dominance of gang-hopping operations to a considerable extent.
In the era of big rockets, firearms could not prevent the Song Navy from approaching the Ming Navy to engage in gang-hopping operations and collisions between ships. However, after being equipped with artillery, they found that the power of the artillery and the firing speed of the cavalry general's cannon were quite excellent.
As long as there are enough numbers, they will have enough confidence to eliminate the enemy navy before jumping into gangs to fight.
And judging from the current intelligence, although the Southern Song Dynasty's navy has been rebuilt on a certain scale, the number of its main battleships is less than 300, which is completely unable to compete with the Ming army's thousand-ship navy. Comparable.
The Ming Army's thousand-ship combat navy already has a dominant level of power that can dominate the waters of East Asia. Once this power is added with the help of artillery, it will be even more indestructible.
