Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 126 Night Attack
"Wutunso, whose full name is Wutun Tuntian Qianhuso, belonged to Guilin Youwei and was established in the second year of Chenghua. The circumference of the city is 310 zhang and the height is 2 zhang. It is built with bricks and earth. There are 677 military households, but more than 100 households are left. There are about 2,000 civilian households inside and outside the city."

The person who was speaking was named Tan Shitai, the son of a captain of Wutunso. There was a popular uprising in Wutunso, the captain was killed, and Tan Shitai escaped. As soon as Danchu's troops arrived, Tan Shitai came to ask for an audience.

Wutun had more than 2,000 households, which was beyond Danchu's expectation. Considering that local populations were often concealed during the Ming Dynasty, the actual population of Wutun should be more than 20,000. This place is located at the confluence of Mengjiang River and Xunjiang River, with many fertile fields, and it is worthy of being the left arm of Tengxia.

Thinking back to the time, the imperial court set up five garrisons to control Datongxia, which was indeed a good choice.

Danchu thought for a moment and said, "Last year, I led troops to Liuzhou to protect the emperor and met a local chieftain named Tan Mingke. Brother, we are both from the Tan family, do you know him?"

Li Shitai said without hesitation: "Replying to the commander, he and I are from the same clan. Our ancestral home is Qinyang, Henan. Our ancestors were transferred to Guangxi Qingyuan Prefecture during the Southern Song Dynasty. Tan Mingke was a chieftain, and I was a captain of a garrison. Our situations are different."

The Qianhu of the Weisuo was also hereditary, and its actual power was not as great as that of the Tusi. The Qianhu was hereditary, and the military households under it were also hereditary, which was a bit like the relationship between slave owners and slaves. Many Qianhu and Baihu seized the military farms and sold them to landlords or rented them to military households, which accelerated the collapse of the Weisuo system.

"I heard that Duke Qing attacked Wutunso twice but failed both times. Why?"

"Wutunso is a small city, which is easy to defend. Nguyen Phu Cuong looted the rich families in the city and got a lot of money, which he used to reward his soldiers. He stipulated that the reward for beheading one head was 20 taels of silver. The soldiers were greedy for money and were willing to fight for their lives."

Tan Fuqiang added: "In addition, the troops of Duke Qing were weak and their military discipline was poor, so they were unable to fight. Ruan Fuqiang raided the camp twice at night, and the troops of Duke Qing were frightened and fled, leading to their defeat."

How dare they raid the camp at night? The lighting conditions are poor at night, and the flags are unclear. Unless you are well-trained, who dares to fight at night?

Danchu became more and more interested and was determined to seize the five garrisons. Back then, the rise of the two military leaders, Liu Chengyin and Cao Zhijian, was exactly the same. They both suppressed the civil uprising, took the opportunity to seize money, and then recruited soldiers.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there were endless rebellions. Nguyen Phu Cuong occupied five villages and amassed a lot of money, which could be taken away for military use. He also harmed the people and disobeyed the government, so he could be suppressed to win the hearts of the people.

"In your opinion, how should our army break into the city?"

Qin Shitai thought for a moment and said, "Nguyen Phu Cuong will surely use his old tricks again and attack the camp at night. As long as the commander can withstand the rebels' night attack, we can attack the city during the day."

Danchu nodded and asked, "How many men do you have, bro?"

Qin Shitai blushed and said, "Less than a hundred."

"Oh," Danchu was a little disappointed, thinking that Qin Shitai could not help, and asked, "Is there any chieftain nearby?"

"One hundred miles to the north, there is a chieftain of Pingfu, who is a military officer and holds the rank of a hundred households. Eighty miles to the northwest, there is a chieftain of Dongrong, who is also a military officer and holds the rank of a thousand households."

"Very good, Feng Lin."

"exist."

"Send an envoy to persuade the chieftains of Pingfu and Dongrong to relocate them."

"This?" Feng Lin hesitated to speak in front of Qin Shitai.

According to the rules, the General of Conquering the Barbarians had the power to call upon the chieftains. However, the imperial court had no prestige at all, and the seal of the General of Conquering the Barbarians was not in his own hands.

"It's okay. Use my general seal and give me the title of General of the Barbarian Expedition. Be polite and don't be too stingy." Danchu was very casual. He turned to Tan Shitai and said, "Tan Shitai, come with me to survey the terrain. Assign a few capable men and lead my soldiers to find a bamboo forest and cut bamboo to make ladders."

This was completely the tone of a superior speaking to a subordinate. Qin Shitai was also intimidated by his power and said respectfully, "Yes."

"Wei Guosong, send someone to shoot a letter of surrender into the city, allowing Nguyen Phu Quang to surrender and paralyze the rebels."

"promise."

That night, the sky was as dark as ink. The Zhaoyong army was on alert. The rebels refused to surrender and were likely to raid the camp at night. The soldiers had never participated in a night battle before, and they were excited and nervous. Danchu was also a little excited at first, but after all, he had experienced a lot and had been learning to cultivate his energy, so his mood finally calmed down. At midnight, he felt sleepy and fell asleep in his chain mail.

"General, the rebels have raided our camp!" Danchu was sleeping soundly when he was woken up by his personal guard. He jumped out of bed and asked, "What time is it?" while putting on his armor.

"It's about the beginning of the morning."

Damn it, these rebels are really patient. In another hour, it will be dawn.

Danchu took the bow and arrows, held the lance in his hand, and quickly left the central army tent. Feng Lin had already come over and said, "The enemy has not yet attacked the camp, they are just throwing rockets from a distance."

"Well, how far is it from the camp?"

"Based on the rocket's landing, it should be more than 200 steps away."

"Can you tell what kind of rocket it is?"

"Like a thunder cannon."

"Did the sentry send out any signal?"

"Not yet."

"very good."

The standard camp set up secret sentries sixty steps outside the camp. The sentries dug holes in the ground and hid. If they found rebels, they would blow the horn as a signal.

Only when the golden gong sounds can the musketeers and artillery teams at the edge of the camp open fire.

In night battles, the most feared thing is that the soldiers panic. If the army is not well disciplined, it will be difficult to even form a battle array during the day. At night, when the enemy suddenly raids the camp, the soldiers will often panic and even be defeated.

Even if an army took the initiative to launch a night attack, it could not concentrate all its main forces at night, but only a small number of the most elite troops. The purpose of a night attack was not to annihilate the enemy, but to scare the enemy and even cause the enemy to flee.

Danchu estimated that the rebels' night attack force was only a small number of death warriors who dared only launch rocket attacks from a distance and did not dare to attack the camp. Therefore, he ordered the army to be on alert and not to go out of the camp to fight. Except for the musketeers, cannonmen, and archers, all others were to stay in the camp to perform tasks such as extinguishing fires and cheering, and were not allowed to engage in combat with the enemy.

Looking in the direction from which the rockets came, there were about a dozen torches in the distance. But the distance was still far away, and it was difficult to tell the exact distance at night. The soldiers in the standard camp had already prepared their weapons, and according to regulations, only a small number of torches were lit to paralyze the enemy.

Looking in the direction of the First Infantry Battalion, I saw that the camp was completely dark, with only a few lights. Wei Guosong was strict in his military discipline, and the First Infantry Battalion had good military discipline, so there shouldn't be any mistakes. Or maybe the rebels didn't attack the south of the city at night.

The Zhaoyong Army set up two camps, the standard camp was located to the east of Wutunso City, and the infantry battalion was located to the south of Wutunso City, about two hundred steps apart from each other.

Soon, the rebels used the "swarm", a type of cluster rocket mounted on a wheelbarrow or two-wheeled cart, which could be used in field battles. Once ignited, dozens of rockets would fly out one after another, often used to block enemy cavalry and infantry.

Nguyen Phu Quang was able to command his assassination squad to launch a night attack and equip a "swarm of bees", which shows that he does have some skills.

However, it was difficult to tell the distance at night, and the rebels had few soldiers and were timid before the battle, so they often shot arrows in advance. Most of the rockets landed outside the camp, and only a few landed inside the camp.

The Zhaoyong Army took precautions in advance. Many tents were not set up, and the soldiers slept on the ground to avoid fire. There was no signal from the sentry, and the soldiers remained calm and did not order to open fire.

Suddenly, a golden gong sounded, extremely loud in the night sky. Then, several more gongs sounded, one after another. Throughout history, armies have beaten drums to attack and sounded gongs to retreat.

The Zhaoyong Army did the opposite, using the golden gong as a signal for the sentry, meaning that the enemy was approaching the sentry and was within sixty steps of the camp. When the golden gong sounded, the standard camp fired, and the musketeers, artillerymen, and archers who had been waiting for a long time inside the camp started firing.

(End of this chapter)