In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 241: Thousands of troops are easy to get, but strong generals are hard to find

The general military officers who can be the Ming Dynasty have good knowledge and ability, and they also have a high military level.

It can be said that compared with the generals of other countries and nationalities at the same time, the level of Ming generals was definitely a higher level.

It's just that the system and environment have pushed these generals to the limit.

For example, Zuo Liangyu, who had millions of mercenaries in the late Ming Dynasty, was very dedicated in chasing down the rebels at the beginning, and was also loyal to Chongzhen. However, he was accidentally defeated and lost all his troops. Not only was he dismissed from office by Chongzhen , and almost killed him directly.

The reason is that because there are no soldiers and horses on hand, they are of no value to the civilian officials responsible for suppressing thieves, so naturally all the blame for the defeat will be placed on them.

On the other hand, those general military officers who did not work hard, conserved their strength, and falsely reported their military exploits, because they did not lose much troops and horses, neither civil officials nor Chongzhen dared to punish them and wanted to win over them.

It's so unfair, anyone who isn't a fool knows how to do it.

Later, after Zuo Liangyu resurrected under Hou Xun's recommendation, he no longer wanted to kill the enemy with all his strength. He only wanted to kill Liang Liang and take credit, expand his troops, and preserve his strength, so that he finally had a million soldiers in Huguang.

Because of this, in the later period of Chongzhen, almost all the general officers who dared to fight and kill, and worked hard to suppress thieves and kill the enemy were tricked to death. Most of the remaining general officers were those who blindly conserved their strength and knew how to judge the situation.

The civilian governors and governors who were also fair and capable in dealing with matters were also tricked to death by this environment and system.

Typical bad money drives out good money.

Although Chongzhen had an unshirkable responsibility, in the environment where the nobles were noble and the military was low, and culture was used to suppress the military, Chongzhen could not change anything even if he had the intention.

So when Yang Guozhu said that he could not give the Chinese army recruits a chance to grow and would defeat them in one fell swoop in the field, the other general soldiers agreed very much.

Even Hong Chengchou also agreed with this view. However, the situation was such that whether to fight or not to fight, whether to attack or not to attack, was no longer up to the Ming army.

The Chinese army robbed a large amount of food supplies in Datong last year, and now they can hold on. However, the Ming army cannot rob the military attachés in the Xuanfu territory to replenish the army's food supplies.

Because once this happens, I am afraid that the entire Xuanfu Datong military attache will immediately turn to the Chinese army and betray the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the Ming army simply could not afford to delay it, and in the end Hong Chengchou had no choice but to concentrate his forces and attack the Chinese army's northern camp.

Although none of the eight general soldiers wanted to fight such a tough battle, except for Wu Sangui, all of whom were cavalry, the other seven general soldiers had to grit their teeth and take turns to attack.

The Ming army concentrated almost all its artillery and muskets to bombard the Chinese army's Beida camp, and the Chinese army also deployed 30 red cannons and more than [-] furlong machine guns in the Beida camp to counterattack.

The general who defended the Lin family army was Wang Gouwa, who was older than Huang Ben and Zhou Meng. It was just that he stayed in Liaohetao to look after the family and did not follow Lin Rui and Namuzhong south, which led to his lower status in the army. There is no Zhou Meng and Huang Bengao.

However, Lin Rui trusted him far more than Zhou Meng and Huang Ben, so after they met, he began to promote him, and now he has been promoted to a general.

Since the Beida camp was facing the Ming army directly, Namuzhong deployed a total of 5 troops, including [-] infantry and [-] garrison troops.

Although 5% of these [-] people are new recruits, their combat effectiveness is not bad at all, especially the [-] infantrymen. The commanders and commanders are all veterans who have experienced hundreds of battles, and the sentry captains have certain insights and cultural knowledge. .

The ordinary soldiers are all teenagers aged [-] or [-]. After a winter of training and training, they are all transformed and full of energy.

"Don't be afraid, don't panic. When the enemy attacks, follow my orders. No one is allowed to act without authorization!"

"As long as the Ming army is defeated, Datong will belong to our country from now on. Your family will no longer have to starve, freeze, or be oppressed by the landlords and military attachés."

"You are better than me. Back then, I was about the same age as you. I followed the king on the grasslands and fought in the north and south. It was miserable for one of us and miserable for the other..."

After the artillery fire stopped, they saw that the new recruits were very nervous and cramped. The veterans comforted them and began to explain their glorious history.

Although they have heard it a hundred times, the recruits' ears are almost ringing with noises, but the living examples are there. As long as you kill the enemy, you can be promoted, you can be divided into women, you can be an officer, and you can be a master, so the recruits Even though they were a little afraid of the coming battle, that fear was far from suppressing the passion and expectation in their hearts.

Everyone held their weapons tightly, gritted their teeth, and their eyes were ignited with blazing flames.

It was the flame of hope for the future.

After a winter of ideological education and the words and deeds of veterans, these young men aged [-] or [-] have understood what they need to do to change the destiny of themselves and their families.

"The Superintendent has an order. If you kill one enemy, you will be rewarded with one tael of silver. If you kill five enemies, you will be promoted to one rank. If you defeat the enemy's camp, everyone will be rewarded!"

"attack!"

"Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed without mercy!"

The Ming army also began to make promises before the war. However, most of the Ming army were old oilmen. They would not believe such empty talk because such promises were never fulfilled.Regardless of whether the Ming army believed it or not, as the war drums beat, tens of thousands of Ming soldiers shouted and rushed towards the Chinese army's camp.

The ones responsible for the main attack were Hu Dawei and Tang Tong. The two tactics they adopted were to let ordinary soldiers rush in front, while they and their own bodyguards stayed behind to supervise the battle.

Whether in field battles, offense or defense, this tactic has almost become the only tactic used by most generals in the Ming Dynasty.

"Kill it!"

"Archer ready!"

With the sound of the horn, all the longbowmen in the six infantry battalions drew out their arrows and placed them on their strings.

"put!"

When the Ming army rushed within a hundred steps, the long archers of each battalion began to fire waves of volleys.

For a moment, the arrows were like locusts, and the huge iron arrows with a sharp whistling sound shocked the charging Ming army. They looked up subconsciously, and their faces turned pale with fear. Those who had shields immediately raised their shields. Shield, blocking the head.

Three waves of rapid projectiles caused the charging Ming army to fall in pieces, and the battlefield was filled with painful screams and wails.

The Ming soldiers who were not hit by the arrows all yelled and turned around quickly to escape.

"Don't run away. Keep attacking me. Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed without mercy!"

Fortunately, Hu Dawei was not surprised by the sharp arrows of the Chinese army, so he was well prepared. Seeing that the charging crowd was shot to pieces and collapsed, he immediately rushed up with his servants on horseback, slashing and cursing, and beat the crowd to death. He was forced to turn around and rush forward.

Only then did Tang Tong come back to his senses from the shock, and quickly led his servants up to supervise the battle. After all, Hong Chengchou and Gao Qiqian were watching from behind. If they didn't reach the side of the camp, they would just go directly I retreated, unable to explain anything.

Although the two men drove back the charging men in time, Hong Chengchou, who was watching the battle from behind, still looked extremely ugly and his heart was filled with tears.

This first wave of attacks didn't even reach the edge of the opponent's camp before they began to retreat. With such a stretch, how could we fight this battle?
With the supervision of the servants, the Ming army finally rushed to the front of the camp despite the rain of arrows. Due to sufficient preparation, the trenches and earth walls were easily crossed, and the two sides finally began to fight hand-to-hand across the horse-rejecting piles.

In front of the camp, which was four to five miles wide, there were 2 people on both sides armed with spears. The spears were stabbing each other desperately. The sword and shield players did not dare to step forward at all, while the archers were firing arrows from behind like they were desperate.

Countless people fell every second, and screams and shouts of death filled the entire battlefield. However, this fierce fighting only lasted for a cup of tea. The Ming army could not hold it anymore and collapsed towards the enemy. Then fled.

In this situation, Hu Dawei and Tang Tong did not dare to take their servants to continue to block them, and drove them back to fight again. Of course, they did not want to block them, so they followed the trend and retreated.

Although the casualties of the Ming army were heavier, they were limited, but they were still unable to withstand the defeat. It can be seen that the casualty rate that Hu Dawei and Tang Tong's men could withstand was even lower than that of the Chinese army's new recruits.

"Superintendent, I am incompetent and unable to break through the bandit camp. Please punish me, Superintendent!"

"Superintendent, it's not that the general and General Tiger didn't work hard, it's that the Chinese army is too powerful. In the previous battle, General Tiger and I killed at least five thousand people. Now the morale of our two armies is low. , I’m afraid I won’t be able to fight anymore, but I hope the Governor will learn from it!”

Hu Dawei and Tang Tong immediately came to Hong Chengchou and pretended to apologize. At the same time, they also expressed that they could not fight anymore and they should replace them with others.

Although Hong Chengchou was very dissatisfied with the performance of the two men, he couldn't fake the casualties, so he had to pretend to appease them and let them go down to rest. Then he selected two more generals to attack again. Don't give the other party a chance to breathe.

As a result, the two selected generals were also unwilling to let their personal guards charge into the battle. They still drove the ordinary soldiers to charge. When they could no longer bear it and were defeated, they came to Hong Chengchou to hand over their duties.

After two days, the seven generals took turns to attack. Not only did they lose a total of 3 to [-] people, but they also failed to break through the opponent's horse-repelling stakes. Hong Chengchou couldn't help but burst out.

"Everyone, such a painless attack will only waste troops in vain, and it will not be able to break through the enemy's camp. Tomorrow, each general must let his servants take the lead in the attack. Only in this way can the enemy's camp be broken!"

When Hong Chengchou said it at the end, he slapped the case hard.

When the seven general soldiers heard this, they immediately refused to agree, and each of them immediately cried out in distress. Anyway, what he said was that there was no problem in continuing the attack, but they wanted their personal guards to attack in person. Absolutely impossible.

After all, the personal guards are their foundation and the foundation of their existence. Once they suffer heavy losses, it will be over.

If it were a field battle, they might let their personal guards take the lead in the charge, but this kind of offensive battle was absolutely impossible.

Seeing the seven commander-in-chiefs exchanging blames with each other, Hong Chengchou lamented in his heart and began to miss Cao Bianjiao.

If Cao Bianjiao were here, he would definitely not back down, and with him taking the lead in the attack with his servants, he would definitely be able to tear a gap in the opponent's camp, allowing other general soldiers to follow and cover up the attack, breaking through the opponent's camp in one fell swoop.

(End of this chapter)