Prince Chongzhen

Chapter 466: One Charge

Zhenjiang. Pier
"Hurry up! Hurry up! Don't wait until the navy takes over Yangzhou while we're still wandering around on the road!"

Although his soldiers were boarding the boats as quickly as possible, Xu Wenjue was still urging them on.

He was really frustrated.

Needless to say, as the most experienced troops, they could only watch the other armies make repeated military achievements. Anyone would feel aggrieved.

During this Northern Expedition, they finally managed to secure a position for the main attack, but after arriving in Zhenjiang, they just watched the navy firing cannons for a long time and didn't even get a chance to engage in a scout battle.

After enduring for such a long time, the fort at the river mouth finally collapsed. It was understandable that Xu Wenjue was a little anxious.

To be honest, the rewards brought by military achievements did not mean much to him.

Xu Yinjue has no children, and he is only of this age. Unless there are no accidents, the title of Duke of Wei will be his sooner or later.

According to the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty, it was impossible for him to be granted territory and territory. Even if he was like a general in the imperial guards, it was impossible for him to raise his title by even a little bit.

But he is still a man with ambition.

My eldest brother is guarding the river for His Majesty, and my second brother is fighting to the death in Guangzhou. If he really just lives a life of idleness and waits for death because of the title, I'm afraid even my niece will lose face.

Fortunately, although the third master of the Xu family was a little reckless, he had been brought up by his second brother since he was a child and had probably learned 70% of the skills.

When Hu Maozhen defected in the battle and Nikan was beheaded, no one expected that the remaining Eight Banners troops would be so tenacious.

In that extremely difficult encirclement and suppression campaign, Xu Renjue, who had been promoted to the rank of a thousand households, led his soldiers to pin them down at the intersection of rivers, eventually killing more than 2,000 elite soldiers of the Eight Banners.

If it were today, it would not be something to brag about that tens of thousands of troops with absolute superiority could still be put in danger by such a small enemy.

But at that time, the morale and fighting spirit of the Qing army were at their peak, and the tens of thousands of Ming troops who besieged them were just volunteers recruited by the generals.

In such a comparison, even if their battle was not fought beautifully, its significance and difficulty are incomparable to the present.

After fighting such a crucial battle, Xu Renjue thought that he would soon be able to gain a foothold in the army with his military achievements, but the world is unpredictable.

In the subsequent Battle of Ganzhou, the entire front army only got some scraps, and in the next few battles, the front army didn't even get a single bit of benefit.

At this point, the time for hand-to-hand combat to capture the fortress has finally come, and the anger that has been pent up for a long time finally has a place to vent.

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

In just a short while, Xu Renjue's thousand-man team rushed into the Yangtze River on a small boat. As soon as they passed the navy warships, artillery shells fell around them.

Faced with such a situation, Xu Renjue's expression did not change much, and it was obvious that he had already expected it.

After all, he was not the only one in the entire front army who was holding his breath.

During this period, the naval officers had to patrol the river constantly at night, and during the day they had to be pulled to the front line to explain the key points of naval warfare at the request of various connections.

After such a long time, although it was the first time for the soldiers in the front army to experience such a scene, most of them already knew what they would face.

"I'll say it again. If the boat sinks, don't panic! If you can find a plank, find one. If you can't find one, take off your armor!"

After shouting loudly, Xu Renjue turned his gaze to the mudflats around the river mouth without waiting for the soldiers to respond.

This mudflat is located between our warships and the enemy's fort, and is only two or three hundred steps away from the fort.

Normally, these landing troops should have found a place farther away to avoid being hit by artillery fire.

But during these days, the water warships can only bombard this side. If they really come from other directions, the intact dock firepower will inevitably cause great damage to the landing troops.

In comparison, although this mudflat is closer, the fort in front of it has been destroyed, so there are fewer artillery pieces that can hit them.

As the oars swayed, the boat that Xu Renjue was on gradually approached the north bank of the Yangtze River. But when he was full of hope that he could reach the other side safely, he heard a sound of breaking air, and then with a bang, the small boat carrying a dozen people broke into two.

Bad luck!

This was the first thought that came to his mind.

Although there were more than a hundred small boats rushing to the other side at this time, compared with the wide river surface, this scale was far from dense.

Moreover, many of the artillery pieces facing the river had lost their ability to fire as the walls of the dock collapsed, and only a few boats were actually hit by the shells.

He kept complaining in his mind, but his hands did not delay much. By the time Xu Renjue felt the temperature of the river water, he had already grabbed a large piece of the boat plank and swam towards the river bank with all his strength.

This was probably the reason why Zhu Cilang chose the front army to lead the attack.

Yingtian is surrounded by dense water networks, and both ordinary people and dignitaries can be said to be somewhat proficient in water. The vanguard troops are all selected from the Yingtian militia, so they can also splash around in the water.

If not for this, even with the help of wooden boards and surrounding small boats, it would be difficult for these armored soldiers who fell into the water to survive.

Soon, Xu Renjue, holding a wooden board with one hand, reached the other side under the towing of the surrounding small boats. At the same time, a military formation slowly emerged from behind the fort, and it was only about three or four hundred steps away from the landing of the Ming army.

Seeing this situation, Xu Renjue did not bother to rest for a moment, even though large streams of river water were still flowing out of his body, but he kept issuing orders one after another.

"Make me the center! Form a formation!"

As his words spread, the soldiers who had identified themselves as the thousand households were the first to gather around him, and then the surrounding soldiers continued to join in, and a formation facing the fortress immediately took shape.

Honestly speaking, this formation was quite disorganized, and even Xu Renjue himself couldn't see any order to it.

But being able to make such a response after forcing a crossing of the Yangtze River surpassed most of the armies of the time. Not only was Xu Renjue himself quite satisfied, but even Zhumala on the observation tower of the fort was extremely shocked.

"I'm afraid the Emperor Ming has taken out all his family assets."

Looking at the Ming army formation not far away, Zhumala couldn't help but sigh. He was not a person who had never seen the world, and he had even attacked the enemy formation directly after crossing the water vein.

But he was also very clear that his attack was based only on bravery and was slightly inferior to the performance of the Ming army.

Zhang Shiyi, who was also on the lookout tower, did not respond directly to his words. After looking at the distance between the Ming army on the shore and his own troops under the fort, he immediately passed the military order down.

"Pass the order, attack, and make sure to drive the Ming army back before they gain a firm foothold!"

It was obvious that he was somewhat indifferent to Zhumala's feelings.

This is no wonder. Not only did this surrendered general fail to enter the core of the Qing court, but he was also in a marginal position in the Huai River area.

Although people like him knew that the Qing army had suffered a series of defeats, their understanding of the entire war was limited to the official version.

From this, he knew that the defeat in Jiangnan was due to Duoduo's underestimation of the enemy, the defeat in Ganzhou was due to Jin Shenghuan and others turning against their own side in the battle, and as for the defeat in Hanzhong, it was just that the sneaky Emperor Ming took advantage of it. However, he never thought that the Ming army's land camp would be so powerful.

After all, these people knew the Ming Dynasty too well. Even though some Manchu generals felt that the successive defeats were not that simple, in the eyes of the vast majority of surrendered generals, the real situation was probably as the official said.

Just like at this time, Zhumala, who knew some inside information, was deeply impressed by the performance of the Ming army. Zhang Shiyi, who knew the strengths and weaknesses of the Ming army, thought that these "elite" were just "house servants" put together.

"Don't panic, these servants are elite, but their number is certainly small. As long as we put our entire army on them, we will be able to completely defeat them in just a few cups of tea. By then, we can naturally retreat to Yangzhou calmly."

Zhang Shiyi spoke with great confidence, but Zhumala was stunned for a moment.

The reason why he was stunned was not because he wanted to "retreat to Yangzhou", but because he had never thought that the other party could treat this Ming army as "house servants".

Having fought with the Ming army for so many years, Zhumala naturally knew about the existence of servants. But before Duoduo returned to the north, he had talked with the generals about the battle in the south of the Yangtze River. He also knew that the generals of the Southern Dynasty did not have the habit of keeping servants.

Thinking of this, Zhumala said nothing more.

Just at this moment, Zhang Shiyi's military order had reached the army formation under the fort, and his attention was immediately attracted there.

At this time, the army formation under the fort was less than 200 steps away from the Ming army, and the archers behind the formation had already put arrows on their bows.

When he swept his eyes across the entire army formation, he saw that the ranks were neat and uniform, and were actually somewhat evenly matched with the Ming army.

At this point, he seemed to understand where Zhang Shiyi's confidence came from, but he couldn't help feeling a little confused.

The two of them had been together for such a long time, and he had some understanding of Zhang Shiyi's men.

Speaking of our own land camp alone, not only is the number small, but the military appearance and morale are definitely not up to this level. On the contrary, this group of people seems to have some elite shadows, but no one knows where they came from.

Thinking of this, Zhumala couldn't help but ask a question, and Zhang Shiyi, who had kept this matter secret for a long time, actually answered it directly.

"These troops were selected from all over Huaibei and Huainan. Prime Minister Hong trained them for a long time to form this army of 3,000," Zhang Shiyi said, and then he glanced at Zhumala's face. Seeing that she was still paying full attention to this team, he couldn't help but feel proud. Then he continued, "The Prime Minister once said that if the Ming army didn't come, we would have to reveal our tracks, so I didn't say anything to Ezhen."

After she finished speaking, Zhumala just nodded and said nothing more. In Zhang Shiyi's eyes, it seemed that she was a little dissatisfied. However, only he himself knew that this was not dissatisfaction at all, but she was clearly being controlled by her thoughts.

Earlier, Lekedehun had made some arrangements for Zhumala, which made him think that the higher-ups were determined to give up Lianghuai, but now Hong Chengchou actually sent his newly formed elite troops here, which seemed to indicate that he was determined to defend the area to the death.

On the surface, this was most likely a disagreement between Hong Chengchou and Lekedehun. However, Zhumala, the Angbang Ezhen, knew that all decisions in Lianghuai came from Beijing, and the local authorities were merely following orders.

Faced with this terrifying situation, he no longer had the mind to focus on the battle in front of him. However, he had not yet found any clue here, and several screams brought him back to reality.

Following the sound, Zhumala saw that several shells had landed in the army formation. At this time, the army formation quickened its pace under the command of the general on the battlefield, and in just ten breaths it had passed through the coverage of the Ming army's artillery fire.

They are truly elite troops and are definitely not trying to fool Zhang Shiyi.

Seeing this situation, Zhumala became even more certain that Hong Chengchou was determined to defend to the death.

After all, although not many Ming army shells fell into this army formation, the scene of blood and flesh flying everywhere was enough to make people terrified. However, this group of people was able to basically maintain the integrity of their formation after passing through the Ming army's barrage of bullets, which was obviously not achieved by training alone.

But did Hong Chengchou really think that these three thousand elite soldiers could stop the Ming army?
Zhang Shiyi knew nothing, but as an important official of the court, he should not have such thoughts.

As the thought resurfaced, Zhumala's mind was completely occupied by doubts, but at this moment Zhang Shiyi beside her hummed excitedly, and then he turned his attention back to the military formation.

After a while, the distance between the two sides was only ten steps away from the range of bows and arrows.

At this point, the archers in the back row had pulled their bows to full draw, while the melee soldiers in the front row had already begun their charge.

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

"Whoosh!"

Although the artillery on both sides were still firing, the sound of arrows breaking through the air was still clearly heard by Zhumala.

Looking from the observation deck, the density of the Qing army's arrows was much higher than that of the Ming army. However, when the rain of arrows fell into the Ming army's formation, Zhang Shiyi, who was full of confidence the moment before, could not help but frown.

这 是
The distance of more than 200 steps was not enough for him to see the reaction of the Ming army after being shot by arrows, but he had been leading soldiers for half his life after all, and he could tell from the reaction of the edge of the Ming army's formation that his own rain of arrows had not missed the target.

Normally speaking, if hit by such a heavy rain of arrows, many Ming soldiers would fall to the ground even if they were wearing armor. However, according to his judgment, the number of Ming soldiers who fell to the ground due to being hit by arrows was no more than forty or fifty. Even though the rain of arrows was so dense, the rest of the Ming soldiers just had arrows hanging on their bodies and did not seem to have suffered much damage.

I'm afraid I'll have to use armor-piercing arrows.

Seeing this situation, Zhang Shiyi naturally thought of the armor-piercing heavy arrows used by the Eight Banners soldiers. However, the Manchus did not pass on the method of using such crossbows, and the bows and arrows he was equipped with were just those commonly used by the Ming army. Although the damage caused was very low, it was not too surprising.

"It seems that the Emperor Ming has put a lot of effort into the armor."

"Ah."

"But this is nothing. He only needs one or two charges to defeat these men."

Listening to Zhang Shiyi's pretended lighthearted words, Zhumala was still thinking about Lekedehun's arrangements in her heart. But before she could figure it out, a large number of small boats appeared in the river, and Zhang Shiyi's words stopped abruptly.

(End of this chapter)