The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

"Iron walls?"

Chen Wang was dressed in military uniform, holding a long spear, and leading a fiery red horse under him.

"How ridiculous!"

Behind him, three thousand armored cavalrymen from Hanzhong Town spread out like the wings of wild geese, filling the entire slope.

On both sides of the wings were more than 10,000 fully armed soldiers from Hanzhong Town.

Looking up, all I saw was a sea of ​​red, with soldiers and armor filling the field.

Just in front of the slope were more military formations and more armored soldiers.

More than 12,000 soldiers from Shandong Town and more than 20,000 armored soldiers from Henan Town who originally belonged to the Western Army stood in a row, almost covering the entire front of the eastern suburbs of Yangzhou.

The first division of Shandong Town was in the middle, and the two divisions of Henan Town were on both sides.

Opposite them were several oddly shaped, low-walled fortresses spread across the countryside.

These fortresses were built by the Ten Thousand People's Army over the past six months using a large number of civilians they had recruited.

"The Wanmin Army's navy attacked our positions along the river at all costs. In the morning, Zuo Liangyu had led the entire division to temporarily retreat to the north bank, and the Wanmin Army's navy had entered the east of Yangzhou."

Hu Zhili steered his warhorse forward a little, approached Chen Wang, and reported the recent battle situation to Chen Wang.

"After retaking the eastern suburbs, the five battalions of the Wanmin Army, with a strength of about 50,000 people, stationed there, dug deep trenches along the river, and built fortifications."

On the near side, in addition to Hu Zhili, four generals, Zhao Huailiang, Gao Jie, Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu, also stood in front of Chen Wang.

The Imperial Guards Cavalry had always been led by Zhao Huailiang, while Hu Zhili led the Central Army and assisted in commanding the two battalions of officers and soldiers directly under Chen Wang.

Ai Nengqi lined up his troops outside the western suburbs of Yangzhou, guarding against possible reinforcements from within the city.

Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu were moved to the front by Chen Wang.

Chen Wang glanced to both sides, and wherever he looked, all the officers lowered their heads to show respect.

The chaos in the north and the loss of power of the Ming court finally allowed him to rise to the top.

He was no longer surrounded by only relatives of the Chen and Hu families, but also by many capable generals.

Just before, Feng Shuangli, Bai Wenxuan, Ma Yuanli and Zhang Hualong commanded the two divisions of Henan Town.

Ma Jinzhong and Ma Dai served as spearheads and stood in front of Shandong Town.

Many people may not be familiar with these six people, but in history, they are undoubtedly experienced generals, brave or wise, and capable of standing on their own.

Brave men like Bai Wenxuan and Ma Dai, and strategists like Feng Shuangli and Ma Jinzhong.

The two towns and three divisions had a total of 32,000 soldiers, more than half of whom were cavalry. Their flags were like forests and their pennants like clouds, almost completely covering the western suburbs of Yangzhou.

The original shortcoming of Hanzhong Town, which was the lack of cavalry, has been fully compensated due to the addition of Zuo and Meng Towns and the Western Army.

The main attack direction this time is undoubtedly the western suburbs.

The terrain of Yangzhou is complex, and if there is an advantage in the navy, it will actually be beneficial to the defenders.

There are two main rivers in Yangzhou, one leading south to the Yangtze River, and the other leading east directly to the Grand Canal.

Due to time constraints, the Wanmin Army did not have time to return to defend, so Zuo Liangyu did not encounter much hindrance when leading his troops south.

In the eastern suburbs of Yangzhou, the Wanmin Army did not build many bastions, which is why it was easily conquered by Zuo Liangyu's troops at that time.

"The Wanmin Army will naturally take advantage of the navy. If the East Suburbs are lost, then it's lost."

Chen Wang was not at all surprised at the loss of Dongjiao.

"Send a message to Zuo Liangyu, Cao Bianjiao, and Liu Guangzuo, and have them lead their two divisions to defend along the river to prevent the Wanmin Army from invading from the north."

"As for Liu Guangzuo..."

Chen Wang turned his head slightly, looked towards the east at Yangzhou City surrounded by rivers, and spoke slowly.

"Let him lead his troops to join the attack on Yangzhou. I will give him a day to rest."

"One day later, lead your troops to the northern city of Yangzhou."

"Inform Zuo Guangxian."

Chen Wang pulled the warhorse under him forward a little.

The chestnut horse under him shook its head slightly and snorted.

"Ten days."

"I'll give him ten days. Within ten days, take over the entire city of Yangzhou at all costs."

"Liu Guangzuo has 14,000 soldiers under his command, Ai Nengqi has 12,000 soldiers, and he has 19,000 soldiers under his command. He is currently leading 45,000 soldiers."

"I don't want casualty figures, and I don't care about any excuses. I just want Yangzhou."

"If ten days are not enough for him to capture Yangzhou City, there is no need for him to hold the general seal and command so many troops."

Although the Wanmin Army occupied the eastern and southern suburbs of Yangzhou City, they could continuously send reinforcements to Yangzhou City.

However, Yangzhou City is only this big, and Zuo Guangxian has the advantage of artillery and the quality of his soldiers. Even if he attacks with all his strength, he still cannot take Yangzhou City in ten days. It would be better for him to return to Hanzhong Prefecture as soon as possible to retire.

Chen Wang issued the military order without leaving any room for maneuver, and then refocused his attention on the southern suburbs defense line of the Wanmin Army in front of him.

"The whole country is in turmoil, China is in turmoil, Northern Zhili is already engulfed in flames, and the fall of the capital is imminent."

Chen Wang glanced at the officers following on both sides and spoke slowly. Although his voice was not loud, it penetrated the sound of fluttering flags and fell clearly into the ears of the generals.

"I started my army in Hanzhong, and I suppressed the rebels in the west, conquered the rebels in the east, defeated the Jian Nu in the north, and pacified the Ze Kingdom in the south. It has taken seven years to get to where I am today."

"The artifact has dimmed, attracting the attention of many heroes and the spying of the barbarians. Although our army is powerful and our territory is vast, we are still in danger."

“The waves are calm, but there is an undercurrent.”

Chen Wang's expression was solemn. He had never been as serious as he was now.

"Our main force is in the south right now. If we can't win quickly this time, the Jiannu will break through the capital and invade the south. The Yellow River has never been a natural barrier, and the northern troops will have no power to stop them. Henan and Huaibei will surely fall into devastation."

"Li Chuang has led his elite troops to Sichuan and stationed them at Tongguan. Although this is a feint attack, if our army shows weakness and fails on the front line, he will surely advance from Guanzhong to Henan."

“By then our army will be attacked from both north and south, and the divided troops will be exhausted, and the sweeping momentum will be gone.”

Chen Wang is very clear about the current situation, but not everyone knows this. The war is imminent, and he must explain everything to everyone.

"So... this battle..."

"Our army must win, and we have to win!"

"Not only must we win, we must win quickly!"

Chen Wang clenched the lance in his hand and looked into the distance.

"Immediately issue an order to the entire army..."

"In this battle, for soldiers killed in action, 30 taels of silver will be compensated, for captains 40, flag officers 50, 100 officers 60, battalion officers 80, and 150. For officers killed in action, 1,000 taels of silver will be given, their families will be well cared for, and their sons will be promoted to officials."

"If there is no heir, the Military Affairs Department will select a son from the refugee camp to inherit the family name, and the town will provide funds to support him to adulthood. If there is a heir, the town will also provide funds to support the heir to adulthood. If the surviving family has no source of income, they will be given half a salary to live out their lives."

"After the war, a shrine was built in the town. From the eighth year of Chongzhen until then, all those who died in battle, whether officers or soldiers, were buried in the shrine. Incense is burned all year round, and the loyal souls will enjoy blood and food forever!"

As soon as Chen Wang finished speaking, not only Gao Jie, Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu looked back, but Hu Zhili and Zhao Huailiang also turned to look at Chen Wang.

You should know that during this period, the court only gave two or three taels of pension to ordinary soldiers, more than ten taels to officers who died in battle, and dozens or hundreds of taels to officers who died in battle.

And in many cases, pensions cannot be paid.

Even if it is issued, after several deductions, it is better than nothing.

Because the Jingnan Army was rich, they did provide pensions, but before that, ordinary soldiers who died in battle were only given 12 taels of silver, and their families were given half a salary for three years.

But now, Chen Wang directly raised the standard by thirty taels, and also provided support for his children and widow.

How could the generals not be shocked?

The sound of horse hooves could be heard, and the cavalry in the central army had already received the order and were marching.

The promise made by Chen Wang was known to the three armies as the cavalrymen left.

In the western suburbs of Yangzhou, the Jingnan Army's originally strict and solemn formation was no longer silent because of the transmission of military orders.

The three armies looked back, thousands of horses turned aside, the soldiers were in an uproar, and all their eyes were focused on the towering fiery red banner on the high slope.

The noisy voices rushed in from all directions and from various military formations, drowning out the entire battlefield in an instant.

At this moment, all military laws were invalid, because not only ordinary soldiers turned back, but all generals and officers turned back as well, even the military judges who had always strictly enforced the law and were impartial law enforcement officers.

Everyone, without exception, was shocked by this military order.

The reason why Chen Wang waited until before the war and issued this military order was precisely for such a reaction.

As time went by, the voices in the various military formations not only did not stop but became more and more intense. After a long period of chaos, countless voices gradually converged, and the originally noisy voices became unified, and finally turned into an overwhelming shout:
"Long live!"

"Long live!!"

"Long live!!!"

The deafening shouts echoed over the western suburbs of Yangzhou, like a tsunami, one wave after another surging forward.

Countless soldiers raised their weapons high and paid the highest respect to their general.

Thousands of soldiers raised their arms and shouted at the same time.

It seemed that apart from the repeated cries of "Long live the Lord", there was no room for any other words between heaven and earth.

Compared to those illusory ideals, those flashy reputations, and those unattainable dreams, these most real things can undoubtedly touch people's hearts more.

Facing the gazes of the soldiers, Chen Wang slowly raised the lance in his hand.

The dazzling sunlight shines on the snow-white blade.

The cold light flows, like frost and snow.

The central army's banner was shaking.

On the high platforms on both sides, facing the biting cold wind, a group of strong men took off their clothes, bare their upper bodies, and swung drumsticks violently.

The deep sound of drums suddenly rang out between heaven and earth. The deafening cheers of "Long live the emperor" also came to a pause at this moment, and everything returned to silence in an instant.

The armies in various locations waved their flags in response to the command from the central army.

All the soldiers calmed down their excitement at this moment.

The hot blood flowed through their bodies and the fighting spirit resonated in their hearts.

The flags are fluttering and the red tide is rolling.

With Chen Wang's horse lance pressed down, tens of thousands of Jingnan troops, under the deafening shout of "Long live the emperor", flooded across the western suburbs of Yangzhou like water pouring into the Yinchuan River.

The cavalry from Henan and Shandong towns swept across the wilderness like a gust of wind, passing through the bastions of the People's Army one after another at the forefront.

Their mission was to intercept any troops of the People's Army that dared to come to the rescue, and at the same time prevent the People's Army cavalry from threatening the flanks of their own infantry.

"Boom! Boom! Boom, boom!"

The sound of drums rang out one after another in the military formations of the Jingnan Army. The infantrymen of the two towns formed tight ranks and advanced steadily in time with the drum beats. The orderly footsteps shook the earth.

One after another, the shield carts slowly pressed forward, surrounded by armored soldiers behind them.

The outside of the thick wooden board is covered with a thick quilt.

The structures of these shield vehicles have been improved by the Ordnance Bureau. They can still withstand fire from muskets even at close range, and smaller artillery can hardly penetrate them.

Its protective power is even better than that of the shield carts commonly used by the Qing army.

These shield carts were undoubtedly just moving targets on the European battlefields in the early eighteenth century.

But it was only the middle of the seventeenth century.

Most of the firearms in the Wanmin Army were just bird guns with weak armor-piercing capabilities, and small-caliber artillery.

The bastion defense line of the Ten Thousand People's Army is only form but not spirit.

This was proven when Zuo Liangyu conquered the bastion in the eastern suburbs.

The soldiers of the Ten Thousand Nations Army had no idea how to use the advantages of the bastion to defend themselves.

The firing rate of their firearms and the power of their artillery could not bring much effect to the bastion.

Moreover, most of the bastions imitated and built by the People's Army were the simplest four-cornered bastions.

The iron-clad wooden wheels rolled over the cold ground, making a teeth-grinding squeak.

Behind each shield cart were twelve heavily armored sword and shield soldiers, whose shields swayed gently with their steps.

A group of musketeers holding sea oath guns carried their muskets on their shoulders and moved forward along the shield carts.

Among their ranks there were many civilian laborers who were conscripted from the territory of Southern Zhili.

These laborers carried the long ladders used for siege on their shoulders.

In the back row, four-meter-long spears were erected high, and the cold tips of the spears glowed in the sun, like Lin Xujin.

The red tassels were connected into one piece under the spear tip, rolling like blood waves in the north wind.

The line formed by the armored soldiers of the Jingnan Army pressed forward like a solid wall.

The battle lines are getting closer and closer.

Five hundred meters, three hundred meters.

After reaching the 300-meter front line, the spearmen in the back row stopped advancing, and the musketeers in the front row formed three long rows and continued to move forward following the shield carts.

Until it reaches within a hundred meters.

White mist rose from the bastion of the People's Army, and the defenders in the bastion fired the artillery in the fortress.

Artillery projectiles flew out, but very few of them were able to hit the target. Apart from a few that just happened to pass through the shield of the shield carts and caused casualties to the attacking Jingnan Army soldiers, most of them fell on the open space behind them.

The bullets that hit the Jingnan Army's formation did not cause much casualties.

Artillery of this era generally relied on the kinetic energy of projectiles and ricochets to cause damage. The three rows of horizontal formations arranged by the Jingnan Army's musketeers minimized the damage caused by the artillery.

Within a range of fifty meters, sporadic sounds of musketry began to be heard from the bastion of the Wanmin Army, accompanied by a large number of arrows.

But the damage that these muskets and arrows could cause was very limited.

The heavily armored soldiers of the Jingnan Army who were hiding behind the shield carts and not pushing the carts took off the bows and arrows hanging from their waists and began to fight back.

These soldiers wearing heavy armor were, without exception, elite cavalry from the Western Army and the 72nd Battalion.

They are experienced in combat, and are elite soldiers who have emerged from the flames of war. Their archery skills are naturally superb.

Whenever the sound of strings rang out between the gaps of the shield carts, there would almost always be a soldier of the Ten Thousand People's Army crying out in pain due to being wounded.

When the swan sound rang out, the soldiers of the Jingnan Army behind the shield carts stopped in unison and raised their sea oath guns in unison.

The second swan sound soon sounded, and hundreds of sea oath guns were fired at the same time along the entire battle line.

The deafening sound of volleys of gunfire drowned out the sporadic gunfire in the bastion of the People's Army, and in an instant the entire front line was shrouded in white fog.

The wooden walls of the Ten Thousand People's Army's bastion were covered with flying wood chips, and the screams suddenly became one.

The sound of volleys of gunfire came one after another, making it almost impossible for the soldiers of the Wanmin Army defending the bastion to raise their heads.

Only a small number of the soldiers of the International Army were able to fight back using the blind spots of the bastion.

However, these sporadic attacks could not cause much damage.

Under the temptation of huge sums of money, and under the cover of guns and cannons, the civilian laborers accompanying the army had already set up ladders on the sloping walls of the bastion.

The iron barbs were deeply embedded in the wooden wall.

The sound of swords being unsheathed rang out the next moment, and a group of heavily armored sword and shield soldiers behind the shield cart, who had already shot two rounds of arrows, jumped out of the shield cart at this moment, revealing their fangs.

Such scenes were constantly being played out outside the seven small bastions on the southern outskirts of the People's Army.

Through the telescope, Chen Wang saw it all.

"Clumsy."

Chen Wang put down the telescope in his hand and made a comment.

The essence of a bastion is to transform the fortress from a convex polygon into a concave polygon.

Such improvements meant that no matter where in the castle the attacker attacked, they would be exposed to more than two or three bastions.

The defender can take advantage of this feature and use cross fire to launch multiple attacks on the attacking troops.

The essence of the bastion lies not in the appearance of the star-shaped wall, but in the multi-level cross-fire network built based on geometric principles.

However, the muskets used by the Wanmin Army are still the lowest quality matchlock guns. It takes almost a minute from loading to shooting. It is impossible to form a wall of firepower and is completely insufficient to suppress the attacking troops.

In the bastion's defense system, artillery is the absolute main core of firepower output, while muskets only play an auxiliary role.

What the Wanmin Army lacked most was artillery. Most of the artillery in the army was small Portuguese cannon, which could not even penetrate the shield carts.

Many times, learning must be combined with practice, and it is difficult to truly solve the problem by blindly copying.

Unfortunately, Li Yan did not realize this and just copied it mechanically, which naturally would not work.

The most appropriate way to describe Li Yan's behavior is to say "Dong Shi Xiou Pin". (End of this chapter)