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

Chapter 26 Array
On the 26th, a fierce battle took place, and the Ming army defeated six camps in a row, capturing countless enemies. Qu Shisi went out of the city to reward the soldiers, sharing food with them, and the soldiers were moved.

It seems that the Qing army is not invincible, and the Three Shun Kings are just a facade.

Kong Youde is brave but not wise. He is good as a vanguard, but he is not worthy of being a commander. Geng Zhongming is Kong Youde's old brother and always follows his lead. Shang Kexi is brave and wise, but he and Kong Youde are not on good terms.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty also promoted people based on seniority. Kong Youde had the largest number of troops and the longest seniority, so he was appointed as the general.

Kong Youde was still not awakened from the defeat yesterday, and repaired the camp overnight and continued to deploy troops outside Wenchang Gate. He also sent Geng Zhongming to lead the army to Lize Gate and camp west of Guilin City.

There is indeed a way to die.

Most of the troops of the three kings were veterans of Dongjiang Town, but their numbers were too small, less than 10,000 in total. Lingnan was humid and rainy, and the Liao people were not used to the local climate, and epidemics were prevalent. When they arrived in Guilin, they were already at the end of their strength. Although there were many other troops, most of them were surrendered Ming troops and could defect at any time.

The Ming army was greatly encouraged in confidence and fought more boldly.

On the morning of the 27th, the Ming army opened the city gates and marched out in full force to continue their attack.

Ma Qijiao, the general who had been stationed in the city, led 1,500 troops out of Fubo Gate, crossed the river to the east bank of the Li River, attacked Zhishun King Shang Kexi, and threatened the Qing army's retreat.

Jiao Lian, Bai Gui and Zhao Xing led the main force out of Wenchang Gate and South Gate to face Gongshun Prince Kong Youde. Zhu Minru led a detachment of 2,000 men out of Lize Gate to face Huaishun Prince Geng Zhongming.

The Portuguese mercenaries also left the city, with 200 gunners and musketeers following the battalion. The rest stayed on the city wall to fire cannons to cheer and cover the Ming army's battle array.

The sky is cloudy and rainless, suitable for fighting.

The Qing army learned from yesterday's lesson and was on high alert today. They quickly marched out of the camp and formed a battle array. There were so many people that it looked like there were six or seven thousand of them.

The Ming army, with the help of red cannons, lined up calmly under the moat. The central army of the governor was in the front, commanded by the deputy general Ma Zhiji, with heavily armored spearmen in the front, followed by archers, gunners, and Portuguese mercenaries. Further back were ordinary spearmen, most of whom wore light armor or no armor.

Jiao Lian was located in the rear row of the governor's central army, and Jiao Ke led the fourth, fifth and sixth teams of standard-bearers to guard him and serve as a reserve force.

When lining up to meet the enemy, the commander-in-chief cannot charge into battle, but must stay in the center and take charge of the overall situation.

The left wing of the central army was the left army, led by Zhao Xing, the deputy general of Guangxi, with 2,000 soldiers under his command. The right army was led by Bai Gui, the deputy general of Guangxi, with 2,000 soldiers under his command.

The two wings are the same as the central army, with heavy armor in front and light armor in the back.

The cavalry was deployed on the flanks.

Cen Danchu led the first, second and third teams of standard bearers, a total of 300 men, and was located on the far right, separated from Bai Gui's cavalry by a distance.

When two armies faced each other, they would usually send cavalry to charge the enemy first, launching a tentative attack to observe the weaknesses of the enemy's formation. Cen Danchu had become a capable general in the standard camp, so he was naturally responsible for this task.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, firearms were widely used on the battlefield. Before two armies engaged in battle, they often bombarded each other with artillery.

The red cannon had the longest range and the greatest power, but was difficult to carry. The red cannons of the Ming army were deployed on the Wenchang Gate, firing continuously to assist the battle.

The Qing army lined up outside the range of the artillery, waiting for the Ming army to approach.

The cool breeze blows, the flags flutter, and the war horses neigh.

Cen Danchu's eyes widened as he greedily observed the battle formations of the two armies. Since crossing over, he had also experienced several battles, most of which were fought with brute force, and the opponents were either vulnerable or unprepared.

The main force in the field cannot directly charge like yesterday. The book says that the battle formation must be formed first, and then the artillery must be fired in accordance with the rules, and then the cavalry will test, the archers and gunners will shoot, and finally the spearmen will engage in the bloody battle.

In today's battle, the opponent is a famous king of the Qing Dynasty, and Jiao Lian is a fierce general of the Ming Dynasty. It is really an eye-opener to see how regular troops fight. If you want to command thousands of troops in the future, you must be able to deploy troops! Judging from the distance, the two armies are less than two miles apart. At this distance, only the red cannon can reach.

We must move forward. At the beginning of the morning, the central army fired a cannon and raised a huge red flag.

It was time to move forward. Five thousand men and horses, covering a width of nearly a mile. The speed of advancement was very slow, and they could only move forward ten steps at the sound of a cannon. After ten steps, they had to stop and reorganize the formation.

Another cannon shot was fired, and they moved forward ten steps, and this cycle continued over and over again.

If you stand on the city wall and look down, you will feel that the Ming army is extremely slow, just like countless ants crawling.

However, it is not easy to arrange 5,000 troops in an orderly manner and advance at a unified pace. If the training is stricter and takes longer, can the 10 steps be changed to 15 steps, or even 20 steps?

The Qing army remained motionless in order to minimize casualties and avoid the red cannons.

Kong Youde was good at using artillery and once served under Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai in the Ming Dynasty.

Sun Yuanhua was well-versed in both Chinese and Western cultures and had Xu Guangqi as his teacher. He was a famous mathematician and artillery expert in the late Ming Dynasty. He once recruited Portuguese artillery casters and mercenaries in Shandong and vigorously introduced Western artillery technology.

As a general under Sun Yuanhua, Kong Youde's artillery team was not only equipped with Western-style artillery produced in Macau, but also employed Portuguese gunners and cannon casting technicians who could use gun gauges to measure distances and angles.

Later, Kong Youde rebelled and brought this artillery team to the Qing Dynasty. The red artillery team that Sun Yuanhua had worked so hard to build up became a wedding dress for the Qing Dynasty!
The firearms technology of the Qing Dynasty gradually surpassed that of the Ming Dynasty. Kong Youde was notorious for his crimes and was regarded as the number one traitor by his contemporaries!
The Eight Banners of Manchuria were good at riding and shooting. With the support of firearms, they were even more powerful and could be called the strongest cavalry in Asia.

How should I defeat the Manchurian Eight Banners in the future? After much thought, there seems to be no good plan.

The formation was moving slowly, and Cen Danchu was filled with thoughts.

The team stopped, interrupting Cen Danchu's thoughts. At this time, the two armies were less than a mile apart, so they could use the sky rockets.

No matter what, let's deal with the Eight Banners of the Han Army in front of us first. He sat on his horse and looked far away. He looked up and saw that the central army artillery team flashed out from behind the heavy armored infantry, launching small artillery such as sky cannons and tiger squat cannons.

The barrel of the sky rocket is short and thick, and it can fire shrapnel shells. The tiger squat cannon fires lead bullets, similar to shotgun shells.

The Qing army had been waiting for a long time and fired first.

First there was a burst of white smoke, followed by a dull burst of artillery fire "boom boom boom..."

The shells are coming.

Cen Danchu's heart beat faster, his breathing became faster, and he felt a sense of fear in his heart, as if he heard the sound of his heartbeat "boom, boom, boom."

Cannonballs are ruthless and are no joke. Arrows have limited power, but cannonballs are different. If a cannonball explodes next to you, even if you have armor to protect you, your life will be over.

Soon, the shells landed, most of them in the center and front, only two fell into the Ming army camp. Soldiers were shot and killed, and the soldiers behind immediately filled the gap. The lead bullets were not powerful enough, hitting the heavy armor in the front row, just like scratching an itch.

It can be seen that the Qing army had traveled a long distance and did not carry many artillery pieces.

The Ming army fired back with better accuracy, especially the Portuguese mercenaries, who were able to use the gun guides skillfully and fired several shrapnel shells into the Qing army's formation.

The team leader Chen Wu reminded Cen Danchu: "Captain, it's our turn to go on stage."

Danchu looked up and saw the central army raising the signal for the cavalry to attack. He took a deep breath and said to the flag bearer beside him: "Raise the red flag and attack!"

(End of this chapter)