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

Chapter 361: Triple Triple Victory
"What's your name, warrior?"

The young auxiliary soldier, holding a huge axe, turned the tide of the battle, leaving a deep impression on everyone. When Dan first saw him, he was handsome and determined, and he admired him very much, so he asked about his situation.

The assistant soldier walked up to the king, a little nervous, and said, "To answer your question, my surname is Zhang, and I was born early. My parents died early, leaving me with a nickname, Gou'er."

He must have come from a poor family and didn't even have a decent name.

"When did you join the Red Army?"

"I am from Zhaoqing, and I used to live with my grandmother. Last year, the Tartar invaded Zhaoqing, burning, killing, and looting. My grandmother passed away, and I was captured by the Tartars and made a soldier. When the Heavenly Army liberated Zhaoqing, they let go of the past grudges and released me. But they felt sorry for me because I was alone and helpless, so they selected me to join the Auxiliary Soldiers Association and serve as a stoker."

"Yes," Danchu nodded repeatedly. Seeing Zhang Gou'er's proper response, he felt very favorable towards him. He asked again, "Just now, the Tartars rushed to the top of the city wall, and they were ferocious and difficult to control. You were an auxiliary soldier, and you didn't need to fight on the city wall. Why were you the first one to come up to support?"

"The king has raised us generously, so we must repay him. Moreover, once the city is conquered by the Tartars, everything will be destroyed, and the auxiliary soldiers will have no chance of survival. Rather than letting the Tartars slaughter us, it is better to fight back. Even if we die, we can take someone with us, so that our service will not be in vain."

This was said in a very elegant way, as if it were said by someone who was well-educated.

"Have you read the book?"

"My grandfather was a private school teacher. I learned calligraphy from him when I was a child."

"Why are you holding an axe?"

"I have seen clearly from inside the city, and I know that swords and knives are useless. I just happen to have an axe for chopping wood. I remember the storyteller said that Yue Wumu used a large axe to chop the horse's feet and destroyed the Jin Tartar's iron pagoda. He then called on the auxiliary soldiers to climb the city wall with axes to fight."

"Very good, both brave and resourceful." Danchu praised: "The auxiliary soldiers who climbed the city wall today will each be rewarded with ten taels of silver, and Zhang Gou'er will be rewarded with one hundred taels."

The auxiliary soldiers were overjoyed and cheered.

Danchu said to Zhang Gou'er, "I think you are a talented person and will become a great man in the future. Today, I will promote you to captain. How about you serve in the Royal Guards?"

Zhang Gou'er was overjoyed, knelt down and saluted, saying, "Thank you, my Lord, for your gift. I couldn't ask for more."

Danchu helped him up and said, "Now that you are the captain, you can no longer be called Gou'er. The one who kills the enemy with determination, is strong and decisive, brave and kind, wise and persistent is called Yi. This vassal will change your name to Zhang Yi, how about it?"

"Thank you, Lord!" Zhang Yi cried with joy, and sighed to the sky: "Father and mother, Gouzi has a name, and he is also an officer of the Heavenly Army!"

The Qing army retreated, and the Red Army began to clean up the battlefield. The Qing soldiers' bodies were stripped of their armor and thrown into the Gongshui River downstream from the west of the city to avoid polluting the water source and causing epidemics. The armor, weapons, money and other belongings were all left behind and distributed to the elite soldiers. The damaged wooden fences and city walls had to be repaired as soon as possible to prevent them from being taken advantage of by the Qing army.

Blunt weapons such as axes, machetes, hammers, and sledgehammers, including flails, are just the right tools to deal with the heavily armored Qing army, and they must be collected in large numbers to prevent the Qing army from attacking the city.

The next day, the Qing army did not attack the city, but stayed outside the city to rest.

Many generals volunteered to lead their troops out of the city to challenge the Qing army. Ma Bao said: "The Tatars, Han troops and Green Camp still have more than 10,000 troops and will arrive in Yudu soon. Why not take advantage of today's victory to defeat the Manchu and Mongolian Tatars first?"

Danchu said: "In terms of field battle, our army is no match for the Manchu Tartars. It is better to let the Han army and the Green Camp come first and let them attack the city. We will defend the city and kill the Tartars more surely. When the Tartars are exhausted, we can launch a counterattack and win more surely."

The next day, the Han army and the Green Camp of the Qing army arrived with more than 10,000 men and horses, and immediately launched a strong attack. The Qing army changed its tactics and attacked from the east gate as the main direction, forming a three-layer formation, with the Green Camp in front, the Han army in the middle, and the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners in the back.

The Han army and the Green Camp had more infantry, and the Han army carried artillery, which strengthened the firepower of the Qing army. However, the Han army came thousands of miles to help, and also did not carry the Red Cannon, so they were no match for the Red Army's artillery.

The Qing army had no other choice but to force the Green Camp and the Han army to fight to the death. The Green Camp rushed to the front and suffered the most casualties. If they dared to retreat, the Han army, who were supervising the battle from behind, could kill them first and report later. Similarly, the Han army continued to fight. If they dared to retreat from the Permian Basin, the Manchu and Mongolian supervisors could kill them first and report later. The battle seemed to be a replay of the day before, except that today's fighting was more intense and the scene was more bloody. The walls that had just been cleaned up soon piled up with layers of corpses.

In less than an hour, the first layer of Qing troops suffered heavy losses, with nearly a thousand casualties. The fighting on the left wing of the East Gate was the most intense, with the bodies of the Qing troops piled up into a slope, only two or three feet high from the city wall.

This part of the Qing army was mainly composed of northern green camp soldiers. As soon as they arrived at the battlefield, they were used as cannon fodder by Chen Tai. The Qing army had a strict hierarchy, and the green camp soldiers were mostly composed of surrendered Ming soldiers. They were treated the worst and were the most discriminated against.

Their monthly salary was less than half of that of the Eight Banners, but they were pushed to the front by the Eight Banners to die. They were all soldiers who were fed, so why should they be treated differently? The rear team of the Green Camp saw that the situation was not good and refused to move forward. They would rather be killed by the supervision team than take a step forward.

Chen Tai saw this and knew that the Green Camp soldiers were on the verge of collapse and would mutiny if he continued to push them. He sighed helplessly and ordered the front wing to withdraw, and the second wing of the Han army took over the battle.

This Han army had many artillerymen, and was called "Tainikan", who surrendered to the Qing army earlier. Tainikan had a higher status in the Eight Banners of the Han army, much higher than the Green Camp soldiers.

For example, the Tainikando artillery was qualified to be equipped with red cannons and sky rockets. The Green Camp soldiers were often fickle and not trusted by the Qing court, so they were strictly prohibited from being equipped with red cannons and sky rockets. But if it came to hand-to-hand combat, the Tainikando was not much better than the Green Camp soldiers.

"Lord, the second group of Tartars are coming up. Judging from the color of their flags, they are Han troops, and judging from their attire, they seem to be Manchu Tartars."

Danchu saw that the situation at the East Gate was urgent, so he moved to the East Gate to supervise the battle. He looked through a telescope and said, "The Han army has more artillery and fewer infantry and cavalry. Chen Tai must have mixed the second-tier troops with the baoyi slaves to strengthen the Han army. Inform Ferreira that the Tatar third-tier troops are not close to the city wall and must not light the fuse."

Although the foster soldiers and bondservants were not considered regular soldiers of the Eight Banners, they fought enthusiastically and were often as good as regular soldiers of the Eight Banners. On the battlefield, if the foster soldiers and bondservants could make military achievements, they would not only have the hope of being promoted to regular soldiers, but also to officers. If they died in battle, their wives and families would also receive pensions, which was enough to relieve their worries.

At 3 p.m., the Permian Qing army climbed up the city wall, stepping on the corpses. This time, the Red Army had experience, and they attacked the Qing army with axes, hammers, and pickaxes. These blunt weapons were originally not suitable for use, but in certain situations and against certain enemies, they became excellent weapons.

"Ah! Ah!" The Qing army screamed in agony. Although they were heavily armored, they were not able to move easily and were often injured by the blunt weapons of the Red Army. Axes and hammers were the most effective in breaking armor, often penetrating the armor with one strike, causing fatal injuries to the Qing army.

The Permian offensive failed again. Seeing this, Oboi was furious and, despite his leg injury, led the Eight Banners of the Triple Formation to attack the city.

There were piles of corpses under the city wall, and the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia had difficulty moving forward on the corpses of their comrades. Oboi played a trick and ordered Sandie to go under the city wall, using the corpses of his comrades as cover, and took out the long-skewed bow, trying to show his unique skill of shooting at the face.

Upon seeing this, the Red Army immediately changed its tactics, sending riflemen to hide at the battlements and use rifles to snipe at the Qing troops.

The Qing army used long bows to shoot at the front, which was laborious. The Red Army also used rifles to shoot at the front, which was laborious and had more advantages.

Oboi was unable to do anything, so he had to urge the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners to climb the city walls. After two defeats, the morale of the Qing army had declined, but the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners had strict military discipline, and the soldiers obeyed Oboi's orders and swarmed onto the city walls.

The Red Army immediately replaced the swordsmen with axemen and used blunt weapons to fight the Tartars. This Manchurian Firearms Battalion was indeed the elite of the Eight Banners, with a tenacious style and excellent martial arts, much stronger than the previous two groups.

But the Red Army was not a pushover, and the soldiers had regained their confidence. They had mobilized weapons from the entire army or seized them from the battlefield. The soldiers who climbed the city walls were all wearing heavy armor, and with the help of strong walls and blunt weapons, they were not at a disadvantage in fighting against the Manchurian soldiers.

On the contrary, the Manchurian soldiers were at a disadvantage in attacking the city from above, and their weapons were mainly bayonets and sabers, which made them ineffective against the heavily armored Red Army. Fortunately, the Manchurian soldiers were tenacious and would never retreat without orders.

When the battle was tense, there was a loud bang, and smoke rose from the city. Countless Qing soldiers were burned to death by gunpowder, and countless bodies were thrown into the air. In an instant, a bloody rain came, and broken arms, legs, intestines, and eyeballs fell on the top of the city like rain.

Cen Dan knew that the Qing army would attack the city, so he buried gunpowder in the places where the enemy would pass. The Red Army attached great importance to firearms, and used gunpowder and bullets regardless of cost, which was enough for them to squander.

The Qing army's rear team had a change, and suffered heavy casualties. The front team was greatly shocked, and without waiting for Oboi's order, they all fled. Seeing this, Oboi had no choice but to retreat.

The Red Army opened the east gate, and Ma Bao personally led the cavalry in pursuit, chasing them for two miles.

(End of this chapter)