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

Chapter 283: Personal Soldiers Crossing the River
At dawn on the 19th, the first, second and third battalions of the Red Army's personal guards began to cross the river. Each person had two horses, one horse carried people and ammunition, and the other horse carried dry food and beans.

The cavalry was in a long-distance raid, and the horses were very important. Their hooves had just been trimmed, and some of them had new horseshoes on, making a rattling sound as they stepped on the floating bridge.

Outside Liuzhou, the battle situation has been deadlocked for a long time. Xian Guoan led the main force of Dingnan Clan to besiege Liuzhou. They had already broken through the northern city, but failed. The Red Army's personal soldiers stationed troops on both sides of the Liujiang River outside the city, and the morale of the Fourth Infantry Brigade in the city was greatly boosted.

The Qing army was no longer able to capture Liuzhou, but General Xian Guoan did not dare to withdraw his troops easily. This was because Liuzhou was the barrier of Guilin. Once the Qing army expanded the siege, the Red Army could counterattack Guilin. He had no choice but to ask for reinforcements from Guilin. General Quan Jie also came from Qingyuan and lined up on the south bank of Liujiang River to threaten the Red Army's flank.

The two armies were engaged in a fierce battle. The Red Army built a pontoon bridge on the surface of the Luozizhou River. The cavalry and artillery battalions were stationed on both sides of the bridge, and they were in a stalemate for a long time.

As the imperial guards crossed the river, the long-silent battlefield in Liuzhou became noisy again.

At 9:00 pm, Xian Guoan personally led the army to the north bank of Luozizhou to attack the Red Army. The cavalry battalion covered the crossing of the river by the personal soldiers while forming a battle array to meet the enemy.

Danchu crossed the river with his personal guards and rode to the front line. The deputy commander of the cavalry, Moerzhen, came to greet him and said, "General, the Tartars' artillery fire is very fierce, and the cavalry is having a hard time fighting them."

"How many cavalry are there on the front line? How many Tatars are there?" Danchu asked without making a comment.

"One thousand cavalrymen will deal with the Tartar reinforcements, one thousand cavalrymen will deal with the Tartar old soldiers, to cover the personal guards' crossing of the river, and another five hundred cavalrymen will guard the camp and serve as a reserve force. There are about three thousand Tartar reinforcements, with a lot of guns and cannons." Moerzhen responded without thinking.

The Red Army was very proud of the Dinglu-style cavalry rifle and called it a "gun". They looked down on the Qing army's matchlock rifles such as the "bird gun" and the "Rumi gun" and still called them "guns" according to the Ming army's custom.

With 1,000 cavalrymen against 3,000 Qing troops, the cavalry banner was still able to hold its own. Danchu was quite satisfied and said to himself: "3,000 Tartars are probably the only mobile forces in the hands of Xian Guoan."

"General, you are wise. The Tartars and I are at loggerheads, and our forces are scattered in the north of the city, Luozizhou and other places. The old thief Xian Guoan has few soldiers left, no more than 4,000 at most."

"The Tartars are out in full force." Danchu made his judgment and ordered in a deep voice, "Pass the order, the personal guards don't need to set up camp, leave 500 men to guard the redundant horses, and the remaining 1,000 men go out to fight against the reinforcements from the Xian Guoan. The Fourth Infantry Brigade should hurry out of the city and join forces with the personal guards to attack the Tartars."

After saying that, Dan Chu waved his whip and approached the front line under the escort of a team of personal soldiers.

The cavalry was outnumbered and already showing signs of weakness. The general personally went to the battlefield, and the cavalry's morale was revived, and they fought hard against the Tartars.

Through the telescope, Danchu clearly saw that most of the Red Army cavalry dismounted and fought on foot, forming two horizontal rows, with the front row half-crouching and the back row standing, continuously delivering fire. There were also two hundred heavy cavalry, wearing armor, waiting behind the formation, ready to charge and kill the enemy at any time.

The Red Army cavalry, like the Eight Banners cavalry, was more like mounted infantry than cavalry. The cavalry regiment consisted of 2,500 men, 5,600 war horses, 2,000 musketeers equipped with Dinglu-style carbines, and another 500 armored cavalry equipped with traditional bows and arrows, spears, lances, and sabers.

The Dinglu carbine has a short barrel, making it suitable for cavalry to carry, but it has a short range and low power.

The Qing army of Dingnan was good at using firearms. It can be said that Kong Youde was the first military commander in the late Ming army to master the gun shooting technique. In the early years of Chongzhen, Sun Yuanhua was the governor of Denglai and actively introduced Western artillery technology, making Dengzhou a base for casting and spreading artillery techniques in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, it was Kong Youde who was in charge of the artillery team for Sun Yuanhua.

Like Geng Jimao, Kong Youde organized a firearms battalion in the Dingnan vassal army to deal with the Red Army musketeers. However, the vassal army's firearms battalion was still backward, mainly equipped with three-cent bird guns and light artillery, and still used the traditional three-stage attack tactics of the Ming army.

The Red Army cavalry was small in number, but their carbines had a fast firing rate and the cavalry were well-trained, so they could still hold their own against a superior enemy.

The Qing army's Red Army cannons were all in the north of Liuzhou City, used to bombard the city walls and block the north gate, and it was difficult to transfer them back in a hurry. Although Xian Guoan had superior forces, he was unable to break the Red Army's defense line, let alone prevent the Red Army from crossing the river.

At noon, one thousand musketeers from the first and second battalions of the royal guard arrived at the battlefield on horseback.

Xian Guoan quickly divided his troops to block the attack and sent out a thousand cavalrymen to fight. The horses of both armies galloped, and the sound shook the sky. On the flat Tianchuan outside Liuzhou City, a bloody cavalry fight was about to take place.

Unexpectedly, the Red Army dismounted and formed a battle line in advance, equipped with bayonets and Dinglu rifles, forming two horizontal rows.

The Dingnan vassal army had heard a lot about the legends of the Red Army's musket formation, but today was the first time they had seen it, and they were a little stunned. The soldiers were a little frightened, and the speed of their horses' charge unconsciously slowed down.

"Don't stop! Charge! If we fight the Red Bandits in close combat, we will surely win!" A Qing army general hid behind the formation and urged the soldiers to charge.

This is to mistake the Red Army for the Ming Army. The Ming Army in the south was weak and unused to battle formations. Whenever there was a field battle, the Qing Army was accustomed to using cavalry to attack the Ming Army, often winning in one blow.

After a brief hesitation, the Qing cavalry once again mustered up their courage and launched an attack on the Red Army.

When they were about a hundred steps away, the commander of the imperial guards, Yuan Ping, calmly gave the order: "Concentrate your fire!"

A whistle sounded, gunshots rang out one after another, white smoke rose up, and four or five hundred deadly lead bullets flew towards the Qing army.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!" The Qing troops in the front row fell down, and in an instant, people and horses were thrown to the ground.

According to experience, when the cavalry charges at maximum speed, from one hundred steps in front of the enemy formation to close combat, the enemy musketeers will have only two chances to shoot at most.

The Qing army had long heard that the Red Army's firearms had a faster firing rate, but they still held on to the hope, with the rear troops driving the front troops to charge.

Dinglu-style horse rifles had a firing rate two to three times that of traditional matchlock rifles. The densely packed Qing army made them doubt their lives. Before the two armies came into contact, a large number of Qing soldiers fell. However, there were a few dozen lucky ones who escaped the Red Army's bullets and approached the Red Army's front.

The Qing army had already been terrified by the hail of bullets, and when they arrived at the battlefront, the cavalry and horses saw the gleaming bayonets and were afraid before the battle, and did not dare to charge the Red Army.

They all avoided the front and tried to go around the Red Army's flanks, but were killed by dense bullets from time to time.

Given the cowardly behavior of the Qing army, the Red Army did not even need to change its hollow square formation. After only one round of fighting, the Qing army's position had been shaken, and no one dared to risk their lives to attack the Red Army's battle formation.

However, this group of Qing troops had been through many battles and had not been defeated. At least half of the cavalry stopped where they were, not daring to move forward or retreat, but standing still, as if frightened by the firepower of the Red Army.

On the battlefield, incredible things often happen. The Qing army was already timid, and the officers and soldiers had lost their minds, like lambs to be slaughtered, quietly waiting for the enemy's butcher knife.

"Forward twenty steps!" Yuan Ping gave the order calmly. The Red Army raised their rifles, pointed their bayonets forward, stopped shooting, and advanced twenty steps to the accompaniment of whistles.

"Front row, get down! Get ready! Fire!" The Red Army showed its might again. The remaining Qing troops reacted and realized they were no match for the Red Army, so they fled in panic.

Danchu watched the battle from behind the battlefield and was quite satisfied. The Royal Guards were the elite of the elite Red Army. Judging from today's battle, the Royal Guards might not be as good as the Manchu Guards, Vanguards, and Royal Guards, but they were enough to compete with the ordinary Manchu Eight Banners.

Xian Guoan was also watching the battle from behind the battlefield. He realized that the Red Army was worthy of its reputation, so he quickly called back the troops and retreated to various camps. The Qing army had set up camps in the north of Liuzhou City and on both sides of the Liujiang River, and deployed red-haired cannons in the north of Liuzhou City. As long as the defense was proper, the Qing army would be able to compete with the Red Army. When Kong Youde personally led his troops to help, they would fight a decisive battle with the Red Army with superior forces and might win.

The pressure on Liuzhou's defense was further reduced, and it goes without saying that Li Laiheng sent troops to descend from the city wall and attack the Qing army's camp.

(End of this chapter)