Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1643

"Fire!" Master Bogdanbo, who personally ran to the artillery company's position, wedged a red-hot iron rod into the gun door, and then ignited the gunpowder, and the 12-pound hollow iron bullet roared and flew into the air. After getting out of the cannon barrel, he flew towards the Qing army brigade that was arrayed in the field with great force.

"Puff! Puff!" Following a series of muffled sounds, the shell penetrated the abdomen of a horse and a small officer of the Qing army, bounced on the ground, and smashed neatly. It landed on the head of a Qing army soldier, and then continued bouncing and bouncing, causing chaos and killing in the Qing army ranks, until it finally exhausted its kinetic energy and fell to the ground.

Immediately behind this shell were fifteen rounds of large and small shells. Except for three rounds that missed, the remaining twelve rounds all smashed into the camp of the Qing army brigade, causing considerable casualties and confusion. .The speed and precision of shooting by the artillery brothers on the east coast can be seen from this!

On the other hand, the Qing army on the opposite side, although there are some large and small, old and new artillery in the formation, but the range, accuracy, and quality of the artillery are far inferior to those on the east bank.For example, after two full rounds of shelling by the people on the east coast, only two cast-iron cannons imported from the UK were prepared by the Qing army, and they fired two projectiles in tandem, but they were both outrageous. It made the artillery positions on the east bank burst into laughter.

After the two cast iron guns fired, the Qing army was immediately baptized by two rounds of shelling by the artillery on the east bank, and the ranks suffered great casualties.Afterwards, the general gunners on their side fired the first shell of the day belatedly, but perhaps it was because they did not estimate the wind speed well, this shell did not hit the infantry of the Second Division of the New Army Instead, it hit the camp of the flanking supply troops, hit a freight wagon, and damaged two bags of rice.

It can be said that the difference between the artillery of the two sides in this battle is so obvious. In fact, it is not only a factor of equipment, but the quality of artillery officers and soldiers is also an extremely important part.You must know that on the east bank, the artillery is an unmistakable technical arm. Its officers are generally served by students who graduated from the Corps Fort. They must systematically master the knowledge of mathematics, mechanics, geometry, etc., and practice hard at ordinary times to continuously improve their operations. level.

The artillery of the Qing army, to be honest, had some problems in terms of tactical thinking.So far, many officers of the Qing army—especially the officers of the Manchurian, Mongolian and Han Eight Banners—still regard artillery as a kind of siege equipment, and their understanding of field artillery is still quite insufficient, and they have not regarded it as an independent combat unit. look at.And I don't know if it's for saving money or for other purposes. The training of the artillery of the Qing army was also seriously insufficient, so that they were in a mess due to lack of experience during the war.

"What kind of bird is this general soldier of Xinsheng? Are the soldiers under his command so rotten?" Bogdan said while still laying the iron rod on the grass beside him, pointing at the Qing army brigade whose formation was slightly shaken by the artillery bombardment from the east bank. : "I think work harder, these Qing troops don't have to go back to the county today, they all stay here."

It is said that since the men and horses of the Second Division of the New Army continued to wreak havoc in the wild, local memorials to impeach Liu Jing, the new Sheng general, flew to Shaoxing and Hangzhou like snowflakes.This guy Liu Jing is not a military officer with any background. He came from a family of Han Eight Banners military households. Apart from his own ability, it was more of a coincidence that he climbed to this position. Therefore, under repeated pressure, he finally couldn't hold on. After staying, he selected thousands of elites and went out of the city to fight with the people on the east coast.

Bogdan couldn't wish for the Qing army to go out to fight in the city!Gein, if they were determined not to shrink back, then it would be very difficult, even impossible, to capture the county seat of Shengxian County with the Second Division of the New Army alone.But it's different now. If we can annihilate the enemy who are the most capable and have the most tenacious fighting will outside the city, then it is not impossible to take advantage of the trend to capture the county seat of Shengxian.Therefore, this time, in order to completely retain the more than [-] Qing troops who went out of the city to fight in the field, Bogdan quickly recalled the Second Cavalry Regiment from outside, and then arranged it on the right wing of the formation, ready to attack the enemy's formation at any time - the premise It is the enemy's position that has loosened.

The familiar bugle sounded quickly, and three large formations composed of nearly [-] officers and soldiers from the first, second, and third infantry regiments slowly moved forward.Their walking speed is not very fast, this is not only because the officers and non-commissioned officers are constantly shouting hoarsely to maintain alignment and march forward with drums, but also because the armor and spears on their bodies are too heavy-combat has always been a physical activity. , not to mention that people's physical strength is still being consumed at an accelerated rate along with emotional tension.

The musketeers holding 32-C flintlock rifles are distributed on the four corners of the spear phalanx. Their footsteps are slightly faster, and the freedom of forward and backward is relatively high.Their main task is to rely on the cover of the infantry spear formation to shoot and kill enemy infantry or cavalry who may approach with muskets, as the first and most important cover of the formation.

As for the work of killing and wounding the enemy, it is not actually done by these musketeers. It is the task of the artillery company's 16 large and small cannons.With the excellent performance of the artillery on the east bank and the high training level of the artillery brothers, the efficiency of harvesting the enemy's head is still quite high, not to mention that they don't need to kill many enemies at all, because whether it is the Qing army or the army of the east bankers themselves, In fact, it is impossible to withstand too high a casualty rate without collapsing.As long as they fire a dozen or twenty rounds of shelling normally, the 6000-odd Qing troops on the opposite side may be a little bit overwhelmed. At this time, if the cavalry troops rush up to intimidate them, they may be able to find a breakthrough point and cut in. That way the enemy The collapse of the entire army is irreversible.

It can be seen from the above that the tactics of the Second Division of the New Army are the standard Spanish phalanx tactics.The only difference is probably that the striking power of the artillery has been greatly enhanced. At the same time, the proportion of musketeers is higher and that of spearmen is lower. There is actually no difference in essence. It is the mainstream method of warfare on the European battlefield today.

The Qing army has also systematically learned advanced tactics and military technology over the years. This can be seen from the fact that they have introduced a large number of Western muskets and cannons, as well as a large number of Western European military personnel. Their desire to learn advanced warfare technology Still very urgent.But the Qing Dynasty was a big empire after all, and any institutional or technological changes could not be completed in a short period of time, such as the reform of the military system.

In the early years, the nobles of the Eight Banners were very opposed to this kind of reform, because as long as people's eyes were not blind, if this kind of military reform was allowed to continue, the children of the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia, who had always used riding and shooting as the main assessment standard, would be dumbfounded. The power of the green camp of the Han army will rise rapidly, which they do not want to see.It’s just that the situation in reality is compelling. No matter how unwilling the Manchu court was after being beaten up by the people on the east coast, they could only start a certain degree of military reform. It is a modern army with a tentative size of 1 people. The soldiers are selected from the children of the Bannermen of the Manchurian and Han Eight Banners, and officers from the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom serve as instructors.

It can be seen from this that the reform of the military system in the Manchu Qing Dynasty was still incomplete, and many remnants of the old army remained.Take the more than 20 Qing troops stationed on the front line in Hubei as an example. The focus of their reforms was nothing more than a lot of cannons and muskets in the army. Behind Shunjun.This is the case at Xiangyang Daying. Liu Jing, the new general soldier located in the south of Shaoxing Prefecture in Hangzhou Daying, is naturally not much advanced. Therefore, his troops are basically still using traditional tactics. Although their artillery The strength has been strengthened.

Therefore, after the two sides lined up in the field for about half an hour, the position of the Qing army, which suffered a lot of damage, was actually a little shaken.Especially after the three infantry phalanxes of the people from the east coast all pushed up and came into contact with the Qing army, the signs of their instability became more and more obvious, because some people who were obviously frightened by the previous artillery had already begun to retreat ,escaped.

"Kill! Kill!" The artillerymen were still pouring cannonballs on the opponent's head non-stop, but the main infantry forces of both sides had already engaged in a direct battle in the middle, and the battle had fallen into a fierce battle from the very beginning.The soldiers in the first row on both sides stabbed back and forth with their spears, while the musketeers and archers behind them shuttled back and forth through the gaps, shooting at each other from time to time under the orders of the officers. The battle scene was cruel and bloody.

However, the Second Division of the New Army is a unit that has spent its capital. The musketeers in the three infantry regiments, under the command of some officers with strong battlefield reading skills, continue to shoot with fast-paced volleys of guns, opening up the battle in the Qing infantry formation. It made a big gap, and quickly attracted the attention of the cavalry troops resting aside.

The "Centaur Cavalry Regiment" quickly dispatched more than [-] cavalry under Bogdan's order, cutting obliquely from the right side of the battlefield like a ghost, and rushed towards the left wing of the Qing infantry.Of course, the commander of the Qing army also saw this situation, and immediately sent a cavalry team to intercept, in an attempt to keep the officers and soldiers of the Second Cavalry Regiment out.

It's a pity that the cavalry of the Qing army only has more than [-] cavalry, and most of them are defeated by the Second Cavalry Regiment. No matter how poor the discipline of the Gaoqiao people is, facing the situation in front of them, they no longer pay attention to tactics and formation. The scene was not frightening, so the Qing army cavalry was cut into two sections with just one face-to-face, and then continued to rush towards the Qing army infantry camp that was panicking and adjusting their formation.

"Boom! Boom!" Two shells that seemed to have the help of God happened to hit over. After accidentally injuring two cavalrymen on the east coast, they also wrecked a bloody path in the Qing army brigade and killed one who was commanding the army just right. A general of the army.All of a sudden, there was a huge chain reaction: the Qing army brigade, which was already retreating steadily in the battle with the infantry regiment of the second division of the new army, was attacked by the cavalry on the east coast again, so many people couldn't restrain it. Fear began to flee, the entire formation of the Qing army began to disintegrate irresistibly, and the situation on the battlefield had already shifted seriously to the east bank.

The regiments of the Second Division, which were slowly squeezing the formation of the Qing army, naturally felt the change in the situation. Therefore, the three regiment leaders unanimously called up the musketeers placed at the two rear corners, and gave They have the power to shoot freely to hasten the collapse of the Qing army brigade.At the same time, the main force of the Second Cavalry Regiment had also slammed into the gap on the left wing of the Qing army. The Qing infantry archers and musketeers who were trying to seal the gap were directly smashed into flesh. This gap rapidly expanded and deepened, and directly led to the collapse of the Qing army brigade.

Standing on a high platform and commanding, Liu Jing, the commander-in-chief of Qingxin Sheng, almost vomited blood when he saw this, and subconsciously wanted to send someone forward to reverse the situation, but finally realized that it was futile.After a long sigh, he called his own soldiers to gather, and then fled back in a hurry, without even thinking of sending someone to stop him.

The departure of the new Sheng general basically sealed the fate of the [-] Qing troops who went out of the city to fight in the field—by [-]:[-] p.m. that day, most of the [-] Qing troops were wiped out, and only a few hundred people managed to escape. The combined casualties of the Anren themselves did not exceed a thousand, and many injuries could be recovered and returned to the team after treatment, so this can be described as a complete victory!

After witnessing the disastrous defeat of the [-] elites in the field battle at the head of the city, Sheng County trembled and fell silent, not knowing what to do.At five o'clock in the afternoon, the people from the east coast who took a rest for a while set up the artillery outside the gate of Shengxian County, and then frequently mobilized people and horses, posing a posture of storming the county seat.In particular, they drove nearly [-] captured Qing soldiers to the front to serve as cannon fodder for the first wave of siege, which directly shook the defenders of the Qing army—the [-] elite soldiers had already left the city. A group of high-ranking military officers disappeared, and there were only more than [-] old, weak, sick and disabled left in the city—the will to fight caused Shengxian County to leave the city and surrender in the evening. Soldiers from the Second Division of the Zhejiang New Army captured this key city City.

Since Sheng County is conquered, in theory, the army on the east bank can go down the Cao'e River and go straight to the capital city of Shaoxing Prefecture.Basically, you only need to go north along the river bank and valley. The road is not difficult, and the supplies can also be transported by water. It is really a smooth road, so there is no need for the city of Shaoxing to not panic, although the second division of the new army has not yet gone north. battle plan.

At this time, the Qing army was about to face a dilemma.One is to remain unmoved and continue to storm the western half of Jinhua Mansion, especially Pujiang County, which was defended by the veteran Wang Dynasty under King Lu, and take it as soon as possible; Come sideways to intercept the possible attempts of the people on the east coast to go north, and relieve the threat facing Fucheng.

To be honest, this choice is not so easy to make, but no matter what, the people from the east coast opened up a second battlefield in the east of Shaoxing Prefecture, and indirectly supported the purpose of Jinhua Prefecture Luwang's war situation, but it has already passed the battle outside Shengxian County. It has been achieved, and now they have grasped part of the initiative, and the situation is many times better than the Liaodong battlefield, which is full of smoldering smoke.

(End of this chapter)