I want to be emperor

Chapter 327 Fierce Line Battle ([-] words combined)

Outside the west gate of Jiujiang City, a thousand-strong new standard army wearing Ming army uniforms marched slowly in the standard line formation of the Chu army.

And in front of them were the main line infantry of the No. 20 Third Infantry Regiment of the Chu Army wearing gray uniforms.

The officer who led the force to more than 500 people and formed three battalion-level phalanxes was a young man wearing the rank of lieutenant colonel.

This person is none other than Wang Yongnian, the No. 1 graduate of the first formal class of the Army Officer Academy of the Great Chu Empire, who once served as the first combat staff officer of the First Division.

When the Sixth Division was first established last year, this person was transferred to the No. 20 Fourth Infantry Regiment as the commander of the first battalion in order to accumulate practical experience in leading troops.

During his tenure as the battalion commander of the first battalion, Wang Yongnian participated in the preparation and training of the battalion from the beginning to the end, and then led the battalion and other troops of the 24th regiment to participate in a series of low-level activities such as the suppression of bandits, routs, and armed landlords. Intensity fighting.

In this process, it not only trained the ordinary soldiers of the first battalion, but also trained Wang Yongnian's own ability to lead troops.

At the beginning of this year, he was transferred to the No.20 Third Regiment, which also belongs to the Sixth Division. He still served as the deputy head of the regiment with the rank of major. Two months later, he was successfully promoted to lieutenant colonel.

In June, the former head of the No.20 Third Regiment was promoted, and the position of No.20 Third Regiment head was vacated, which naturally fell on top of Wang Yongnian.

That month, he was promoted to the head of the No.20 Third Infantry Regiment with the rank of lieutenant colonel, but although he became the head of the regiment, his rank has not yet been promoted.

After all, he was only promoted to lieutenant colonel in April, and at the same time, he had never led troops to fight any big, tough battles before.

Although the superiors value his talent, it is not easy to promote him hastily.

During the Eastward Campaign, the Sixth Division was incorporated into the First Army. As the first-line force to attack Jiujiang, he naturally arrived at the front line of Jiujiang with the army.

After the Battle of Jiujiang began, the Sixth Division was in charge of the western front, that is, the area along the west city wall of Jiujiang City. His No.20 Third Infantry Regiment was deployed to the front of the No. , as the main force to attack Fort No. 12.

In yesterday's battle, Wang Yongnian commanded the assault post, knife shield post and ordinary troops under his command, and successively conquered several small fortresses.

This year, when attacking the No. [-] large fortress, because of the large number of troops participating in the battle, Wang Yongnian naturally needed to go to the front to command the troops in person.

Now he was riding on a horse, looking at the new standard army of the Ming army who was slowly approaching, and after observing for a while, he immediately ordered: "The two-and-a-half-jin field cannon can be fired!"

At this time, the distance between the two sides has been relatively close, and they have also crossed some places with more complicated terrain. They are in a flat and open area, which is suitable for firing small field artillery with a straight trajectory like a two-and-a-half catty field artillery.

As for the eighteen-pound mortar and the five-pound field artillery that provided support in the rear, they had already fired.

Not only the artillery of the Chu army was firing, but the artillery of the Ming army was also firing.

Therefore, from time to time, shells can be seen flying into the formations of the Chu army or the Ming army, causing casualties to the soldiers.

At the same time as the shelling, the movement of the infantry did not stop.

Wang Yongnian continued to lead the infantry to march forward!
After approaching a distance of about [-] meters, Wang Yongnian's face showed joy.

Because he saw the Ming army's new standard musketeer on the opposite side open fire!

"Didn't it mean that the new standard army will learn from us in everything? I don't remember that we would open fire hundreds of meters away!"

Wang Yongnian was in a good mood immediately. Fortunately, he still attached great importance to the opponent's new standard army at the beginning, and he lined up to deal with the opponent as the main force of the friendly army.

However, when the main force of the Chu army is engaged in line combat, unless there are special circumstances, they seldom fire at a distance of 70 meters. Fired at a distance of 50 meters.

Because if the distance is too far, the hit rate is very impressive. It is impossible to hit a few people, and it is troublesome to reload the matchlock gun. The one that caused the Musketeer to crash.

Wang Yongnian immediately waved his hand and said, "Go ahead!"

Although a few unlucky ones inevitably fell in the queue, this did not affect the No. 20 Third Infantry Regiment. After the Ming army musketeers took the lead in firing at a distance of hundreds of meters, they took the tactical advantage.

While the Ming army continued to load, the Chu army continued to advance!

The arquebus gunners in the front row did not shoot until they were about 70 meters away, and then the second row, third row, fourth row, fifth row, and sixth row took turns to fire.

The entire team adopted progressive fire.

The musketeers of the Ming army on the opposite side also counterattacked, but because their original strength was only about two-thirds of the 23rd regiment, and they were the first to fire at a long distance, they lost their opportunity.

When they started the second round of shooting, a lot of musketeers had already fallen, which made the firepower even thinner.

At this time, the distance between the two sides was 60 meters, and the distance was still approaching. The hit rate of the bullets fired by the musketeers on both sides was also rising rapidly, and the casualties began to increase. It was inevitable that many soldiers on both sides fell down.

However, the queue of the Chu army is still tight and complete. After the soldiers in the front row fall down, the soldiers in the back row will consciously step forward to replenish them, and always maintain the dense force in the front row.

On the other hand, the Ming army had fewer troops in the first place, and because they lost the opportunity to shoot at each other before, they lost even more. The casualties have already greatly exceeded that of the Chu army on the opposite side.

The casualties were not small, and facing the continuous oppression of the Chu army, although many officers of the Ming army tried to maintain their formation and stabilize the morale of the army, many soldiers, especially those musketeers who did not even have armor on their bodies, panicked. .

Loading mistakes are trivial matters, and many of them are reluctant to go to the front row to fill their seats.

When the distance was shortened to about 30 meters, Wang Yongnian raised the command saber in his hand: "The musketeers fire in salvo, and the spearmen prepare to attack!"

Following his order, the musketeers of the 23rd Regiment no longer fired one by one, but two rows together, and within a short period of time, all the bullets of the six rows of soldiers were fired.

In a short period of time, six rows of soldiers fired one after another, and the Ming army column on the opposite side inevitably fell a large number of people. Many soldiers who survived had already retreated involuntarily.

Seeing that the opponent's formation was already in disarray, Wang Yongnian did not hesitate at all, and directly ordered: "The whole army assault!"

In the next second, the spearmen, who had been silently enduring one-sided killings, finally strode forward, like a city wall with bayonets on it, and pressed on the Ming army array 30 meters away.

But at this time, the Ming army's new standard army, who had been bombarded all the way and even shot at the Chu army, finally couldn't bear the huge pressure, and finally the formation was completely disorganized.

A large number of soldiers began to turn around and run backwards. In order to escape quickly, they directly dropped their spears and muskets that affected their escape.

Especially the four-meter-five-meter-long spear, this thing will seriously affect the speed of escape when fleeing for life. Those spearmen threw this thing at the first time in order to escape faster.

Wang Yongnian rode on the horse, looked at the Ming army's new standard army who had completely collapsed, and muttered in his mouth: "This new standard army is nothing more than that!"

When the No.20 Third Infantry Regiment defeated the Ming army's new standard army and thwarted the Ming army's plan to counterattack, Luo Zhixue and a group of senior generals were also watching the battle on the hillside behind.

Xu Zhixian said: "It seems that we overestimated them before. I didn't expect that these new standard soldiers in Jiujiang didn't even have the courage to fight in close combat. They are not as good as the hypocritical sentry soldiers."

Zhang Malin laughed and said, "Whether it's the sentry soldiers of the inland battalion or the frontier soldiers, they are all elite. Although the tactics and equipment are old-fashioned, most of them have undergone years of training. Basic melee combat is still possible.”

"As for the new standard soldiers on the opposite side, I guess they haven't practiced for a few months, and it should be their first time on the battlefield!"

Xu Zhixian said: "Besides, look at their tactical movements and look at their body shape. They are obviously not as good as the Huguang New Standard Army we met in Chunan before."

"I guess he can't even eat enough, Shi Kefa can't practice even if he wants to!"

"This is the same for the Anlu new standard army, and we can let go of our hands and feet when we fight next."

A group of high-ranking generals, just through a battle between infantry, they got a lot of information about the situation of Anlu's new standard army on the opposite side.

I was worried that the Anlu Xinbiao Army was a hard-headed army before, but it was actually like that in a real fight, and even the overall performance was not as good as the Huguang Xinbiao Army Zuo Army in the Chunan Battle.

At any rate, the Huguang Zuo Army dared to resist in close combat.

The reason why they were still wiped out was purely because they were surrounded, and the disparity in military strength was huge, and the disparity in artillery was even greater.

In the previous small-scale battle, although the Chu army had about 500 troops, the Ming army also had more than 1000 troops. The difference in strength was not too great.

But An Lu's new standard army did not have the slightest resistance.

Now that Anlu's new standard army has pulled over, the group of senior generals of the Chu army naturally don't intend to dawdle.

Immediately, he suggested to Luo Zhixue to speed up the offensive and take down the No. [-] large fortress while it was still early today.

Now that the No. [-] large-scale fortress is about to be completely taken down, if the nearby No. [-] large-scale fortress can also be taken down, it means that about two-thirds of the defense line deployed by the Ming army on the western city wall has been destroyed.

And there is enough space for the Chu army to directly attack the west city wall and even the west city gate.

Although it is impossible to win the subsequent direct attack on the city wall in a short period of time, when the Chu army has the strategic advantage, it uses artillery bombardment to suppress it. It will be a matter of time before the city wall enters the city.

Luo Zhixue had also been watching the battle, so he could see it. The Ming army's new standard army on the opposite side looked quite bluffing, but in fact they fought very ordinary and did not cause too much trouble for the Chu army.

At the same time, many of the Ming troops who came out to counterattack this time came from the No. [-] large fortress. Now that there are a lot of casualties, the garrison troops in the No. [-] large fortress are not enough.

It will be easier to fight.

If the time dragged on, the Ming army would probably deploy troops from other directions to replenish the No. [-] large fortress, and it would be even more difficult to fight at that time.

Immediately approved the suggestion of Xu Zhixian and others, and ordered the remaining two regiments of the Sixth Division to launch a fierce attack on the No. [-] large fortress!
After this attack, there was naturally no big surprise. Most of the Ming troops stationed here had suffered heavy casualties when they counterattacked, their morale was even lower, and most of them lost their equipment.

Facing the onslaught of the No.11 brigade, such a Ming army could only rely on the more than 1000 battalions of sentinels in it to resist.

But this kind of recalcitrance is not very meaningful. Without the cooperation of guns and artillery, it is difficult for the battalion sentinels to resist the onslaught of the Chu army.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon, the Chu army completely captured the No. [-] large fortress.

At this time, Jiujiang City is like a young woman who has taken off most of her clothes and only has two underwear left. If the Chu army works harder, it will be able to tear off the last layer of protection of the Ming army and go straight into the city!

At this time, not counting the few days of preparation time in the early stage, since the official attack started yesterday, it has only been two days since the Chu army officially attacked the city.

To be precise, there are only more than 30 hours!
Just when the Chu army captured the No. [-] large fortress, they stopped their strong attack and began to build fortifications to prepare for tomorrow's attack on the city wall.

Shi Kefa in the city just looked gloomy!

The complete fall of the two large fortresses at the West City Gate, and within just two days, was completely beyond Shi Kefa's expectations.

At the very beginning, Shi Kefa felt that the fortifications in Jiujiang City, plus 500 new standard troops, and finally more than 2 battalion sentries, and more than 20 large and small Hongyi artillery would help out.

I dare not say that it is sure, but it should not be a big problem to hold Jiujiang for half a year. Even if the Chu army is really fierce and the defenders are unsustainable, no matter what, it should be no problem to hold for a month or two.

Based on this conception, many of his preparations in Jiujiang City revolve around long-term persistence, such as hoarding enough food for the soldiers and civilians in the city for the first half of the year.

If he didn't have enough confidence, he wouldn't have hoarded so much food in the city.

He even considered the depletion of weapons and ammunition under long-term combat, so he hoarded a batch of iron materials and craftsmen to continue to build and repair weapons.

Shi Kefa, who had great confidence, never imagined that the Chu army had already captured the crucial two fortresses outside the west city within only six or seven days after their arrival at the city, and within two days of the actual official start of the battle.

You must know that because the west city wall is directly facing the direction of the Chu army, when Shi Kefa strengthened the fortifications before, he focused on strengthening the front line of the west city wall.

Especially the fortifications outside the city are extremely thick, because hundreds of civilians recruited to build these fortifications died.

At the same time, in addition to a large number of battalion sentries, the troops stationed on the front line of the west gate also have a large number of soldiers from the Anlu New Standard Army.

Of the 500 Anlu new standard troops, 4000 were deployed in this direction, while in the other directions, there were only a few hundred people here and there, and a thousand people were left to be used by him as a reserve team.

However, with such thick fortifications and the west city wall defended by a large number of elite soldiers, within two days of the official start of the war, two crucial fortresses outside the city were lost.

As a result, the defenders on the western city wall must not rely on the city wall itself as the last line of defense.

Why is this happening?

Shi Kefa couldn't understand!
"Is it because we don't have enough guns, not good enough?

Without waiting for a group of civil and military officials below to answer, Shi Kefa said to himself: "Our new standard army is equipped with more than half of the muskets, and the proportion of equipment is not smaller than that of the Chu bandits on the opposite side. Although the artillery is less, there are more than 30 Hongyi cannons. There are also hundreds of short cannons of various types to assist in the battle!"

"But why is it still like this?"

A group of lowly subordinates, but no one dared to speak.

There are a few people who can only mutter in their hearts: why else, not enough training, not enough guns!

Why not enough?Your Shi Kefa's ability is limited, and the money and food you get are not enough.

Even the generals of the Ming army like them know that although the new standard army seems to be the same as the main force of the Chu army, in fact they are quite different.

How do the soldiers of the Chu thief eat every day?Be full, I heard that occasionally you can eat meat, eggs and duck eggs.

As for the soldiers in your new standard army, they have three meals a day, but there are only two meals of dry rice, and one meal of porridge, and they absolutely don’t care about their fullness. The meals that everyone can eat every day are limited...

Be full and think beautifully.

And this is still on the bright side. In fact, in many cases, even two dry meals cannot be guaranteed, and it becomes one thing and two meals.

Don't count on the meat, let alone eat it, you won't even smell it!
To be honest, in fact, the ordinary soldiers of the Anlu New Standard Army did not eat as well as the elite soldiers in the battalion outpost.

Although most of the soldiers in the battalion outpost were treated very poorly, the treatment of the elite soldiers was often not bad.

It was common practice in the Ming army to eat empty pay and exploit ordinary guards to raise a small number of elite soldiers.

The soldiers of the Chu thief are full and train every day. The soldiers of your new standard army can only eat seventy percent full, and they can only make some appearances during training. Some training items that consume physical energy are basic. Don't count on it.

The gap is so big during training, and the big gap in combat power is reasonable.

Today, it would be a miracle if the soldiers of Anlu's new standard army directly overthrew the Chu thief on the opposite side...

These things, in fact, many people present are well aware of it, but no one dares to say it.

Because, although the money and food that Shi Kefa got was not a lot, it was no problem for the Anlu Xinbiao Army under his command to eat and train.

As for why I still can't get enough!

That's because the money and food distributed by Shi Kefa will not all become the rations of the soldiers. Shi Kefa's lowly civil and military officials, even those large and small officers in the new standard army, have to support their families. ...

Every time Shi Kefa distributes the money and food, basically [-]% of the money and food are drifted away according to the rules!

Coupled with the embezzlement of officers at all levels of the New Standard Army itself, in the end, in fact, the treatment of ordinary soldiers in the New Standard Army in Anlu is better than that of the hard-working battalion guards, but it is not strong enough.

And these, in fact, Shi Kefa knows a little bit, but it is difficult for him to reverse the overall situation.

All of these can be said to be extortionate, and it has also formed a consensus from top to bottom. It is absolutely impossible for Shi Kefa to accept the well-known traditional Ming court officials.

After all, what Shi Kefa directly took was the one with the most shares...

In fact, Shi Kefa is not short of that little money, but this is a 200-year-old tradition of the imperial court. If Shi Kefa does not take it, the people below will have opinions and even complain.

Once people's hearts are not in harmony, Shi Kefa can't do things.

In such an official environment, wanting to be alone is no different from committing suicide.

-

The combat power displayed by the Anlu New Standard Army was far from what was expected. It did not meet Shi Kefa's expectations, nor did it meet Chu Junxian's predictions.

Shi Kefa estimated that Anlu's new standard army had a strong fighting capacity, at least able to lead the defenders in the city to defend Jiujiang for more than three months or even half a year.

The Chu Army is referring to the Huguang New Standard Army, and the combat effectiveness of the Huguang New Standard Army is much stronger than the Anlu New Standard Army.

But in fact, the Chu army's estimate was not accurate!
This caused a headache for the senior generals of the Chu army, because it was becoming more and more difficult for them to distinguish the real combat effectiveness of these new standard troops.

The strongest was Zuo Liangyu's new standard army. With the cooperation of the cavalry, Nima was very vigorous. In battle with the same strength, his performance was not much worse than that of the Chu Army's Second Division.

I heard that Sun Chuanting's Xinbiao army is also very powerful. They beat the thieves and couldn't take care of themselves. Even Gao Yingxiang was captured.

Weak ones include Guangxi Xinbiao Army, Guizhou Xinbiao Army, Jiangxi Xinbiao Army, etc. These Ming Army Xinbiao Army Chu Army with the name of Xinbiao Army have also been in contact on a small scale before, and their combat effectiveness is stronger than that of battalion sentries. Scum...

This is also a new standard army, but the combat effectiveness of different new standard troops is very different, which made the generals of the Chu army confused!

And this has a great relationship with the unique situation of the Ming court's training of the new standard army.

The new standard troops in the Ming court are basically the governors, governors or generals with real power recruiting and training themselves, and the strength of the new standard troops trained by these people varies greatly.

On the one hand, the programming time is different.

The new standard troops trained by the governors have been trained for more than half a year, such as the Huguang new standard army compiled by Yang Sichang, and the Anlu new standard army compiled by Shi Kefa. The new standard army may be less than one or two months, such as the new standard army in southern Jiangxi, the new standard army in Shandong, and the new standard army in the Beijing camp.

The training time is different, and the training time is different, which will naturally affect the combat effectiveness.

At the same time, limited by the ability and willingness of the governors of various places, the size of these new standard troops varies greatly, ranging from tens of thousands of people to just a few hundred people.

The equipment is also messy, some of them will be imitated to make the Thief Slayer, but more of them are actually using the bird gun, and the bird gun can't be equipped with a sleeve gun.

There will even be some governors who will randomly change the military system of the new standard army, resulting in a messy establishment of the new standard army in various places.

(End of this chapter)