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

Chapter 359 Revenge
After a preliminary count, the Red Army lost nearly 6,000 men and horses, and morale was quite low. The personal soldiers and cavalry soldiers of Huben Town suffered the heaviest losses, with 5,000 dead, missing, and seriously injured, which was a great defeat. The death of the leader of the personal soldiers, Moerzhen, made the whole town grief-stricken.

Cen Danchu rode on horseback to inspect the various units, boosting morale while inspecting the city defenses. When he arrived at the Royal Guards Association, Moerzhen's body was lying on a door panel. Not far away, there was another pile of bodies, all of them were soldiers who died of serious injuries.

The Red Army removed doors and windows to use as firewood in preparation for cremation. On the battlefield, if corpses are not handled in time, it is easy to cause epidemics. The usual practice is to dig a pit and bury them. For senior generals, they must be cremated, at least leaving their bones.

"Lord of the country!"

"Lord of the country!"

……

When the soldiers saw Cen Danchu, they felt like they had seen a savior, their eyes were full of expectation and hope.

"Today's defeat is not your fault." Danchu said calmly, but with determination and resoluteness, "It's my fault for not planning carefully and taking the enemy too lightly. However, I have a plan to defeat the enemy, so you can rest assured."

The strength of the Manchu Firearms Battalion was beyond expectations. Danchu had no plan to defeat the enemy yet, so he said this just to reassure the soldiers.

The soldiers still believed in the king and said:

"Lord, when will we launch a counterattack? We want to avenge Xietai!"

"Yes! If we don't kill Aobai and Chen Jin, we, the personal soldiers, will not be human beings!"

……

"Good!" Danchu laughed and said, "On the battlefield, there is no army that can win every battle. Huben Town suffered a lot of losses today, but everyone's morale is high. I know we will defeat the enemy."

When he arrived in front of Moerzhen's body, Danchu stroked the corpse and cried bitterly, sighing, "I joined the army at the age of seventeen, and was promoted to the general of Yong'an at the age of eighteen. I found a foothold in Yong'an Prefecture. Yong'an Moerzhen did not think I was shallow and supported me with all his strength.

"You were twenty years old at the time, full of vigor and vitality. You prepared your own weapons, gathered a team of men from the family servants, and joined me as the captain of the infantry. Four years later, you were promoted to the assistant commander of the personal guards. You were both civil and military, and you often charged into battle in every battle, with great military exploits.

"In today's battle, you led the whole army, but unfortunately you were hit by a stray arrow. The Central Plains has not been recovered yet, and I have lost my great general. Isn't it sad? I will avenge this hatred! I will eliminate this enemy!"

Danchu announced publicly that he would posthumously confer the title of commander of the Red Army's Huben Town on Morzhen, and would petition the court for a noble title and a beautiful posthumous title, and would provide generous support for his family. This was truly a great honor.

The soldiers cheered and their morale was boosted.

When we arrived at the north gate, Wang Xing was organizing the city defense.

The Qing army retreated to camp five miles away. With the Red Army defending Yudu County, Chen Tai and Aobai would not dare to cross Yudu and go to Ganzhou for rescue.

However, the city of Yudu had been destroyed for a long time, and the city walls were in great disrepair. Not to mention the moat, even the city walls were unreliable. The city walls were very low, less than two meters high, with rammed earth inside and blue bricks outside. In some places, the blue bricks had peeled off, revealing the yellow rammed earth. In two places, the rammed earth had collapsed, and wooden stakes were nailed into wooden fences to barely block the gaps.

"Lord!" Wang Xing was hesitant to speak when he saw Cen Danchu.

Danchu said: "The walls of Yudu are not strong, but they are better than the camps in the wild. Although the Red Army has just been defeated, they can rely on Yudu to stop the Tartars." I was really careless today. I thought that the Red Army had a large number of troops and was enough to stop the Qing Army in the wild. Now it seems that I was too optimistic. There are still Han troops and Green Camps behind. If we want to stop them, we have to use the old method of the Red Army: build a strong camp and fight a stupid battle.

"Yes." Wang Xing said, "I will strengthen the city defense and repair the city walls."

With more than 40,000 Red Army soldiers pouring into Yudu, there should be no problem in defending the city. No matter how powerful the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners are, they will not dare to cross Yudu and attack Ganzhou directly. Otherwise, the Huben Guard will block their tail and the Second Guard will block their head, which is enough to kill them.

There was no need to worry about the Qing army blockading Yudu. Yudu was bordered by the Gongshui River to the west and south, and the Qing army had no naval forces, so they could not blockade Yudu. There were many righteous armies around Yudu, and although they could not fight the Qing army to the death, they could harass the Qing army from behind and help the Red Army transport food and grass.

That night, Danchu summoned all the generals in the county government office to summarize the lessons and discuss strategies to defeat the enemy.

"In the past, the Red Army had fought against the Manchu Tartars many times, including Jueluo Guoke, Lekedehun, Jierhalang, Bashan, etc., and won more than they lost. This was because the Red Army was not well-known at that time, and the Manchu Tartars who fought against us were not numerous. The Red Army always attacked the Tartars with an absolute advantage in force in every battle, so they often won. It is not like today, where there are both Manchurian firearms battalions and Mongolian Tartars, and they are all organized, with more than 10,000 combat troops."

"The weather had a big impact. The wind was unfavorable and the smoke blew towards us. The soldiers had difficulty breathing and kept coughing. Their vision was also restricted, which had a great impact on their shooting."

"What is particularly important is that our army has a low armor rate. In the past, the Tartars' firepower was not strong and their bullets were not dense. Our army, with heavily armored soldiers in the front, was still able to block the Tartars' firepower. In today's battle, the Tartars' bullets were particularly dense and their power was higher than before. Soldiers without armor protection, once hit by bullets, are often injured if not killed." After Moerzhen's death, Yang Fang, the deputy commander of the Personal Guards, succeeded him as commander, and was extremely saddened by the battle in broad daylight.

"Yes," Danchu also realized this problem and said, "In the past, our army did not attach importance to armor because it was expensive and the Red Army could not afford it. The enemy's firepower was too weak, and the riflemen approached and fired, forming a dense formation, shooting at the enemy first, and defeating the enemy with dense bullets first to prevent the Tatars from shooting at the front.

"Now, the Tartars have also formed a firearms battalion. Although their muskets are not as good as our Dinglu-style muskets, everyone is wearing armor, which provides strong protection. They can use muskets against our army and use armor to reduce casualties.

"From now on, our army must pay attention to armor. With the Red Army's current financial resources, it will take a while to equip all the armor, and we can't equip every soldier with armor. If we don't have Ming helmets and armor, the enemy will make them for us. Next, we will try our best to seize armor from the enemy and try to equip Huben Town with armor first."

Although the musket was powerful, it was still essentially a smoothbore gun, using lead bullets, which were soft and had a short range. Unless the rifled gun and the Minié bullet were invented, armor would be eliminated. With the existing technical reserves of the South Vietnam, it would not be difficult to invent the rifled gun with the efforts of the whole country. However, inventions are inventions, and it is still a long way to go to produce and equip rifled guns and Minié bullets in a short period of time.

Armor was really too expensive. The most protective Ming helmets and armors cost more than ten taels of silver. The most popular cloth armors in the late Ming Dynasty, blue armor and purple armor, cost between six and eight taels. These armors were made of fine iron and were easily rusted by moisture in the south. Cotton armor was slightly cheaper, but had weaker protection and was also not suitable for use in the south.

Compared with armor, a Dinglu rifle with a bayonet cost only a little over two taels of silver.

"The Tartars have traveled a long distance to rescue Ganzhou and are eager for a fight. After the Han army and the Green Camp arrive, they will surely attack Yudu fiercely. Although our army suffered a defeat today, its strength has not been greatly damaged and the soldiers are determined to take revenge. As long as we defend Yudu, the Tartars will not be able to rescue Ganzhou. The two armies are at a stalemate and the Tartars are running out of food and grass. Over time, they will surely change. By then, our army will go out of the city to attack them again and we can win the battle." said the think tank Qian Bingdeng.

"Yes," Danchu readily agreed, saying, "Firearms consume ammunition and are a heavy burden on logistics. The Tartars have come from afar and may not be able to prepare ammunition and food. Our army has the help of the righteous army, and logistics supply is more convenient. Send orders to the righteous army to harass the enemy behind the lines. The Tartars cannot conquer Yudu in battle, and cannot rescue Ganzhou in retreat. They are at a loss as to where to advance or retreat, and our army can take advantage of them.

"Gentlemen, those who do not become arrogant after victory can maintain their achievements; those who do not become discouraged after defeat can plan for prosperity. Xiang Yu won the Battle of Julu, but he was arrogant and conceited, and eventually he was besieged at Gaixia. Gou Jian suffered the humiliation of Kuaiji, but his heart was not pacified and his will was not extinguished, and he was eventually able to destroy Wu and dominate the princes.

"The mandate of heaven is in my hands, so I can sweep across Guangdong and Guangdong and march north to Jiangxi. In the battle tomorrow, who can avenge me? Who can avenge Mo Qing? Who can whip the Tartars?"

"I am willing to lead the troops out of the city to avenge the king!" Ma Bao took the lead and was the first to step forward.

"I am willing to lead the troops to raid the camp and kill the Tartars by surprise." Wang Xing was also eager for revenge.

"Very good." Danchu was very pleased and said, "The Tartars are violent and cruel, and they have poisoned the people and filled the mountains and rivers with blood. The Red Army enforces justice on behalf of heaven, punishes the violent, and practices benevolence and justice, and is invincible. You all obey my orders and watch how I defeat the enemy."

(End of this chapter)