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

Chapter 373 Nine Layers and Eighteen Floors

On the 27th, Cen Danchu could no longer hold back and led the Cavalry Brigade, the Artillery Brigade, and the First Brigade of the Imperial Guards to attack Tunyuan. The attack was organized hastily, but there was no other way. The attack could not be delayed, otherwise the Red Army's food and grass would become even more scarce, and the Qing Army's Green Camp infantry would also rush to reinforce.

Standing in formation with one's back to the water has always been a taboo for military strategists. To boost morale, Cen Danchu moved the main camp of the central army to the west bank of the Leishui River, with auxiliary troops to help guard the Leishui floating bridge and ensure the Red Army's retreat. Other volunteer divisions also helped defend the east bank of the Leishui River to protect the Red Army's flanks.

The Eight Banners were good at field battles but not at building fortifications. When Tunqi received the news, he also led his troops out of Tunyuan to fight against the Red Army's Huben Town.

At noon, the two armies met at a place called Liaotian. The terrain here is flat and there are many mulberry and rice crops. As the early rice is about to mature, the water in the rice fields has been drained, making it suitable for fighting.

The scouts were already engaged, and the sound of carbine firing could be heard from time to time in the distance. Scouts and scouts were coming and going at a rapid pace, and the situation on the battlefield gradually became clear.

The Red Army had stopped and began to line up. The artillery brigade was in the front, the first brigade of the imperial guards was in the back, and the cavalry brigade was on both wings. At most, the Red Army could only use these three brigade troops for the decisive battle, with a total strength of about 26,000. The second and tenth infantry brigades were still in Yongzhou and Chenzhou, separated by the Qing army, and could not arrive for a while.

The situation of the Qing army was similar. There were only the Eight Banners of Manchu, Mongolian and Han on the Liaotian front, with slightly more troops than the Red Army, just over 30,000. The Green Camp soldiers were scattered in Yongzhou and Chenzhou, mostly infantry, and could not arrive in a short time. There were also some elite Eight Banners of Han Army and Green Camp soldiers in Hengzhou and Changsha, some of whom were still on their way or had to stay in Hengzhou.

Tunqi also wanted to have a decisive battle as soon as possible. Although the Green Camp had a large number of soldiers, their combat effectiveness was quite average, and they might not be able to stop the Second and Tenth Red Army Corps.

During the Battle of Qingyuan, Sun Kewang led 60,000 vanguard troops against nearly 100,000 Qing troops and won the first battle. If the vanguard troops had not seized the spoils and Sun Kewang had not fled, the Qing army might not have won the Battle of Qingyuan.

Since entering the Pass, the Qing army has been fighting deep into the Han territory. Whenever there is a tough battle, the Eight Banners always charge in the front, resulting in heavy casualties. On the one hand, the famous Manchu generals are constantly dying out, and on the other hand, the combat effectiveness of the Banner soldiers is plummeting.

Tunqi had long heard that the Red Army was good at uniting the Green Camp, so he did not dare to prolong the war. Otherwise, who knows what tricks the Green Camp soldiers would come up with.

The two armies were two miles apart, and the Qing army also stopped and formed a battle formation, which was highly similar to that of the Red Army. The Han army's eight banners had more firearms and were placed in the front. The Manchurian eight banners were more like heavily armored infantry on horseback, and were placed in the rear. The Mongolian eight banners were true cavalry and were placed on the two wings.

It was not easy to arrange a battle formation of 20,000 to 30,000 people. Fortunately, the soldiers of both armies were well-trained and experienced in battles, so they were familiar with arranging large formations.

Except for the cavalry on both wings, the front artillery and rear infantry of the Red Army had all dismounted and were eating dry food and replenishing their energy during breaks in the battle.

The Eight Banners were accustomed to dismounting and fighting on foot when they were close to the enemy, but at this moment they were all riding on their war horses.

"Boom!" A cannon shot from the center of the Red Army was the signal to start the attack.

Immediately afterwards, the artillery troops fired nine guns and ten cannons in succession, throwing deadly solid shells at the enemy.

At a distance of two miles, only the 100% cannon, the red cannon, and the sky rocket can cause effective damage to the enemy.

Although the Red Army had few artillery pieces, they were able to gain the upper hand. The Qing army had no heavy artillery, so Tunqi had no choice but to urge his troops forward to engage the enemy.

In the past two years, every time the Red Army engaged the Qing army, it was able to take advantage of its ease and force the Qing army to advance. A big reason for this was that the 100-ton gun was easy to carry and had a long range, so it could fire before the enemy.

In the first round of bombardment, five shells missed the target, and four shells landed in the enemy's formation, killing dozens of bannermen. These four shells did not cause much damage, but caused panic among the Qing army. I have long heard that the Red Army's artillery is powerful, and there is a kind of red cannon that is easy to carry. In today's battle, it really lived up to its reputation.

The two armies approached within a mile, and the Qing army had already lost hundreds of people. At this distance, the Qing army's rockets finally came in handy. Rockets were also very heavy and needed four-wheeled gun carriages to carry them. But rockets were lighter than red cannons after all. The Han army's eight banners carried more than a dozen rockets to increase firepower.

The Red Army Artillery Brigade was also equipped with eighteen rockets. Thanks to the excellent steelmaking technology, the Red Army's rockets were lighter and much more powerful.

If it comes to a battle of firepower, the Manchurian Firearms Battalion is no match for the Huben Town, let alone this mixed Eight Banners unit.

"Cavalry attack!" Tunqi resolutely ordered, the flags of the central army changed color, and the drummers blew the horns. Soon, the Mongolian cavalry rushed out from both wings.

The Red Army responded immediately by sending cavalry to attack from both wings.

The cavalry were the elite of both armies. The Mongolian cavalry could skillfully shoot on horseback, while the Red Army cavalry could skillfully load bullets on horseback and fire continuously.

What’s even more bizarre is that among the Qing cavalry there was a small group of Solon soldiers who used muskets and could skillfully load bullets on horseback. They turned out to be matchlock muskets!

Dinglu-style lances have a slow firing rate but great power, while bows and arrows have a fast firing rate but low power. Soon, the cavalry engaged in close combat and the two armies changed their weapons. Soldiers mostly used spears, sabers, and meteor hammers, while officers mostly used horse lances, broadswords, and spears.

There was a great general in the Red Army who used a whip spear and was invincible among the cavalry. He was the famous commander of the Huben Town, Ma Bao.

Taking advantage of the gap in the cavalry battle, the Qing army accelerated their march. They were still on their horses, so their speed was quite fast.

The Red Army continued to use its firepower advantage. When the Qing army came within a hundred steps, fifty-four mountain-splitting cannons opened fire one after another. The cannons roared, the smoke filled the air, and dense lead bullets were thrown at the Qing army.

If we assume that each mountain-splitting cannon fires 100 lead bullets each time it is fired, then a single salvo of mountain-splitting cannon can fire 5,400 bullets. You can imagine how powerful it is.

The Qing army subconsciously raised their shields and lowered their bodies, but many people were still killed or injured by lead bullets.

The Han army hastily deployed light artillery, using hundred-shot cannons, mother-and-child cannons, tiger squat cannons, etc. to fight back. The Manchu soldiers dismounted one after another and threw arrows. At the command of the central army, countless arrows pierced the sky, drew an arc in the air, and then fell into the Red Army's formation.

"Ah! Ah!" Lead bullets and arrows caused heavy casualties, and the battlefield was filled with the soldiers' painful groans.

The advantage of today's battle is a quick decision. The Red Army's mountain-splitting artillery fired only one round of shells, and the soldiers and soldiers passed the artillery and advanced towards the Qing army's position. Only the sky rocket could fire shells in a curved direction, and it was still bombarding the enemy tirelessly.

After walking sixty steps, the Red Army stopped and shrank their formation, compressing front and back and stretching left and right. The entire formation became flat, with only nine layers in front and back, and each layer had only two rows of musketeers, crowded on the left and right, and separated by ten steps in front and back.

As the Red Army's firearms evolved, its tactics also kept changing. In order to adapt to large-scale combat, they developed a firepower formation of nine layers and eighteen layers to block the enemy layer by layer. One layer was a battalion. The Royal Guards Association had three battalions and nine battalions, and each battalion formed exactly one layer.

It is not difficult to imagine that the first battalion would be the first to face the enemy's attack, and casualties would be heavy. Therefore, every time the Imperial Guards Association faced a major battle, they would draw lots to arrange the formation, and whichever battalion was drawn would serve as the first battalion.

For example, if the first battalion and the second battalion are caught today, the first three battalions will be in the order of the first battalion and the second battalion, the third battalion, and the first battalion. The second battalion will be in the order of the second battalion and the third battalion, and the first battalion. And so on.

With a long whistle, the first volley of musketeers began firing. At the beginning of a battle, it was usually concentrated fire. Today, it was the turn of the third battalion to be the first volley. The battalion's more than 600 riflemen were arranged in two rows, with a width of 200 steps.

"There should be no problem in winning the battle with the Tartars today. But, I wonder how far the Tartars can advance?" Danchu asked casually with a heavy expression.

The Red Army's personal soldiers were highly equipped with firearms, and their muskets fired quickly, so they were arranged in a formation with two shooters in front and behind each layer. This made each layer too short and easy for the enemy to break through. Therefore, nine layers of riflemen were set up in front and behind, and finally the central army and auxiliary soldiers guarded the formation.

War is cruel. The Dashun Army had a three-wall tactic, which was actually the Ming Dynasty's border army's three-layer formation. If the first layer was defeated and tried to escape, it would be killed by the second layer, and the same was true for the second layer. Therefore, the Dashun Army's elite troops were mostly placed in the three-layer formation.

The Red Army would not slaughter their comrades, but if the front tier was broken through by the enemy, the soldiers would not be able to escape and would be easily injured by the rear tier. This could objectively motivate the soldiers to fight to the death.

The Director of the Operations Bureau, Ho Siu-chi, was confident and said, "The last time we fought with the Manchurian Firearms Battalion, the Tartars only managed to break five of our folds. Today, the Tartars have fewer firearms, so it would be good if they could break three of our folds."

(End of this chapter)