The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 587: Half-crossing and attacking
Commander Pu Gang intended to attack when the enemy was halfway across the river, so he ordered the artillery bombardment not to be too intensive. Pu Gang was worried that Zuo Liangyu's troops on the south bank would suffer heavy casualties, so he did not dare to cross the river easily again.

This worry is obviously unnecessary.

The soldiers who had tasted the sweetness of massacre in Xuzhou heard from the surrendered Qi army that the enemy troops on the other side of the Huangpi River were only a few thousand, and they were a small force among small forces. Looking at the sparse artillery fire around them, their morale was immediately boosted and their morale was high.

The leading Ming army captain brandished his musket and shouted:
"Roll over! Serve the Left Commander-in-Chief! Seize Huguang, fight our way to Xiangyang, and sleep with the little girl!"

There was a crackling sound, and the Ming army on the fishing boat raised their muskets and fired a volley of shots towards the north bank.

The Huangpi River looked like a street during the New Year, with white smoke filling the surface of the river.

Lu Yang led the musketeers to advance against the attack. Occasionally, a cannonball flew over their heads, killing or wounding several Qi musketeers.

The Qi army is now using skirmish line tactics, which is completely different from line-up shooting, so the casualties caused by sporadic artillery fire are generally within an acceptable range.

After a few shells were fired, the opposing artillery stopped firing, and the musketeers continued to move forward in a line, getting closer and closer to the fishing boats on the river, and soon entered the range of 400 steps.

At this time, the Ming army's volleys on the ship turned into free shooting, crackling like frying beans, and most of the lead bullets fell in front of the Qi army.

Lu Yang had fought against the Ming army several times on the Huaiyang front and was very familiar with Zuo Liangyu and his gang.

Generally, when the enemy was still far away, the Ming army's musketeers fought most fiercely, wishing they could shoot their muskets to pieces. However, when the enemy got closer, they ran out of ammunition and their guns misfired.

I heard that Zuo Liangyu spent a lot of money last year to hire several Portuguese instructors to teach musketeers the essentials of volley shooting. Now it seems that the Left General's money was wasted.

Lu Yang loudly ordered the two instructors who were accompanying the team to disperse.

"Go to the roadside and spread out toward the ridges. Don't gather in groups! Watch out for stray bullets!"

The two instructors were both newcomers, student soldiers who had just graduated from the academy and had never seen blood.

Although compulsory school education is promoted every year, only a few people can read and write, especially the instructors who are eloquent.

Therefore, every time there is a war, the drill sergeant is the second most important target of protection in each battalion, and the first is the paramedic.

Suddenly, a sharp bamboo whistle sounded, and all the soldiers advancing stopped and dispersed in a skirmish line, about five feet apart from each other. Another bamboo whistle sounded, and the captains waved their flags, and the soldiers immediately got busy preparing for battle.

The Minié rifle bullet developed by the workshop in the third year of Taichu used paper-wrapped fixed propellant (black powder).

The bullet uses a round-headed cylindrical lead bullet with threads around the body to match the rifling, and animal oil is filled in the middle of the threads.

This Minié bullet is slightly smaller than the rifle caliber and can be easily pushed into the barrel with a ramrod, greatly increasing the rate of fire.

At the same time, it avoids the embarrassing situation that when loading bullets into the old rifle, the bullets are too large to fit into the barrel or block the barrel.

In order to develop this firearm, the workshop withdrew a total of 500,000 taels of silver from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War. Even during the difficult times of the empire, this amount of money did not decrease at all.

It is said that just to solve the problem of slow manufacturing speed of stamping percussion caps, the workshop organized more than 200 craftsmen to build a machine for stamping percussion caps, which was driven by steam and was ten times more efficient than manual labor...

This new type of army rifle was warmly welcomed by the musketeers in various battalions as soon as it was tested. It was not equipped to the Shenyang garrison until the end of last year. It is said that this thing can kill a tiger with one shot.

After all the combat orders were conveyed, the musketeers began to fire freely. Lu Yang put down his bamboo whistle, half-knelt down, and joined in shooting at the Ming army.

He took out a paper bullet from his pocket, tore open the bottom of the shell, poured the propellant in the paper shell into the muzzle, poked the bullet in with a cleaning rod, pressed the hammer, and placed the primer on the vent.

An enemy general in chain mail appeared in the field of vision. He stood on the swaying bow of the ship, swaying with it.

He waved a saber in an exaggerated manner and kept shouting at the warship behind him.

There was a horse tied to his side, and it seemed that he was preparing to chase the Qi army after landing.

"He seems to be a captain. We're so far away, I wonder if we can kill him."

Lu Yang hesitated for a moment and then pulled the trigger.

Three hundred steps away, the Ming army commander suddenly trembled, looked at the broken pieces of armor in disbelief, then tilted his body and fell into the river.

The rest of the Ming troops on the ship were still in a frenzy and were indifferent to the captain's martyrdom.

Lead bullets poured down on the boat like raindrops, hitting the side of the boat, causing the hull to shake slightly. For a moment, wood chips flew across the surface of the river.

The Ming soldiers standing in a conspicuous position at the bow of the ship were hit by the first wave before they could figure out what was happening, and fell into the river like fallen leaves.

A clever Ming army musketeer quickly hugged his musket and got behind the ship's side. Ming soldiers fell around him, and blood quickly dyed the deck red. Just as he was secretly rejoicing, a Minié bullet easily penetrated the three-inch thick cypress plank and pierced his throat...

The surface of the Huangpi River suddenly fell into chaos, and the Ming army, which was at the forefront, was subjected to the most intensive attacks. At this time, the rockets that had been idle for a long time on the north bank also joined the battle. Under the joint attack of Minié bombs and the Divine Fire Flying Crows, the front row of warships quickly disintegrated. After being hit by the rockets, a raging fire broke out. The Ming army that sailed to the center of the river was either drowned or burned to death.

The artillery, which had been silent for a long time, also joined the massacre. The artillery battalion concentrated dozens of infantry guns, field guns, and siege guns on the river in front of them, which was two miles wide and three or four miles deep. The surface of the Huangpi River suddenly became turbulent like boiling waves...

Looking at the situation, the Ming army was indeed pitiful. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were like driving lambs to the slaughterhouse.

~~~
On that day, the vanguard of Zuo Liangyu's army was defeated, and the Ming army lost more than a thousand soldiers and countless warships. Although they had the advantage in terms of manpower, they had no intention of fighting again.

Pu Gang decided to pursue the victory and ordered his army to take a pontoon bridge, cross the river, sweep across the south bank, and directly approach the city of Jiangxia.

Zuo Liangyu avoided fighting and held on to Jiangxia, using Wuchang as a support base. He secretly contacted a part of Zheng Sen and attempted to annihilate the Sixth Corps at the gates of Wuchang.

After discussion in the central army tent, they all agreed that it was not advisable to keep the troops stationed near a fortified city for too long and that they should launch an immediate assault.

The battle plan was: the Sixth Corps would have 5,000 combat soldiers and 10,000 refugees, and concentrate their forces to besiege Jiangxia, encircling three sides and leaving one side open, forcing Zuo Liangyu's troops to flee to Jiangxi.

That night, Pu Gang ordered the refugees to form a death squad and climb the city wall under the cover of night.

The civil affairs department and auxiliary troops sent many people to the surrounding areas to collect ladders and hemp ropes.

According to custom, when the Qi army fought in various places, they would temporarily purchase supplies and pay the people with conscription coupons. The conscripted people could go to the Civil Affairs Bureau to collect the money with the coupons.

Instructor Xing Zhongyi stopped the people from the Civil Affairs Chamber of Commerce and suggested that they buy them directly with money or exchange them for food with the people.

The people of Huangpi had just suffered terribly from Zuo Liangyu's ravages, and they were already suffering. Da Qi was their savior, and they couldn't let the people suffer.

As soon as the conscription team was sent out, a lot of ladders were soon collected. Some were brand new, while some were over a hundred years old, as if they were made during the Hongwu period.

Most old ladders are probably very short, probably because they were broken or sawed short after being used for a long time.

The location for climbing the city wall was chosen to be on a small hill at the northeast corner of Binyang Gate in Jiangxia. The city wall there was relatively low, only about 15 or 16 feet high.

(End of this chapter)