Ancestors, please don't crawl out again.

Chapter 40 A very bad feeling, hatred comes from the Qing Dynasty

The Eight Banners warriors' efforts continued until the next day, when they gave up in complete despair.

There was no way they could break through the blockade of the Maxim gun. It was like a fire-breathing monster stuck in front of them, emitting spectacular smoke and spewing horrific killing. All the Qing troops who tried to move forward would be doomed to death as soon as they saw it.

Even though the monster was operated by only two children, two survivors of their previous village massacre.

Even their parents have been eaten by them as military rations.

But now their revengeful killings have forced the Qing army into a truly desperate situation, and the only escape route has been blocked by them.

the next day.

The first batch of infantry arrived after a forced march from Nanjing.

Qiupu Houhe River.

"Kill them, there aren't many of them!"

Man Dahai, the son of Daishan and the future leader of the Zhenghong Banner of the Qing Dynasty, stared with bloodshot eyes at the Ming army's light infantry who were hastily forming up in front of him.

He broke out to the north...

The Qing army has now completely collapsed and has no command system at all.

Originally, the retreat to Shidai was a consensus among the vanguard, and even those behind them had no idea...

But since it's a rout, of course we have to follow the front.

So if they can retreat eastward successfully, the tens of thousands of defeated soldiers behind them will still rush into this only gap.

But unfortunately it failed.

And then what little agreement remained was gone.

The Qing army was now in disarray, each man looking after his own interests. However, thanks to their Niulu system, they were still able to maintain a certain level of organization. This was especially true for Man Dahai, the almost-determined future leader of the Banner and the backbone of the other Zhenghong Banner generals. Therefore, he still had around two to three thousand Eight Banner Manchus. As for the other factions, including their supreme commander Ajige, no one knew where they were. They might still be trying to move eastward or perhaps even attempt to seize Jiande.

Of course, it is more likely that they were caught up and beaten by the Ming army during the collapse.

As for Ajige himself, even his nephew Man Dahai had been missing for almost three days.

It's all chaos.

All of them are escaping on their own.

As for his goal, it was to escape northward.

He fled to Dongliu before the Ming army infantry arrived southward.

The main force of the Ming army came from Chizhou and needed to take the south bank of Shengjin Lake, which was the route they originally wanted to take but were shot back by Yang Feng, and then go south through Zhangxi, which was a three-way intersection.

Therefore, there should be no Ming army in Dongliu for the time being.

As for what happens next, there is no need to think about it at all.

Now we live every day we can.

However, he miscalculated, the Ming army's infantry vanguard had already arrived.

"Four hundred miles in five days, I'm almost catching up with the cavalry."

He looked hatefully at the Ming infantrymen lined up in front of him with their backs to the water.

However, although they were fighting with their backs to the water, the Qiupu Houhe River was not a big river, so it had nothing to do with risking their lives. It was simply that the Ming army heading south had just crossed the river, and there were even more Ming troops rushing behind them, so this was a good opportunity for him. As long as he could break through the hastily formed small formation in front, he could break through the blockade, rush out of the encirclement before the main force of the Ming army arrived, and then head straight to the east.

At this time, he also awakened the bravery that Daishan had in his youth.

Because he had no arrows left, he could only use his spear. On horseback, he held the reins in one hand and the spear under his ribs in the other, slightly bent over, and kept urging the horse to gallop forward.

The horse's hooves crushed the green.

On both sides of him, the brave Zhenghongqi Bayala flags were in the same posture.

They charged at full speed across the flat green valley, launching a thunderous attack on the fragile defense line in front of them.

The latter are still in formation.

Those soldiers were just pure light infantry, holding muskets similar to bird guns in their hands, but with short swords inserted into the muzzles. This was not surprising, as the Ming army had already stuffed things into the bird guns. Then these soldiers were arranged into three rows, which were obviously very fragile. However, when facing cavalry, they were definitely not in a line, but a small square formation. However, they did not have time to set up barricades or use vehicles to protect the front.

They ran 400 miles in five days, so it was impossible for them to carry any heavy equipment.

I guess it's just one person carrying a bird gun and carrying ammunition with him.

This is the one who delivers food to the cavalry.

The charge of Bayalahu of the Zhenghong Banner of the Qing Dynasty was unstoppable. In a blink of an eye, they had reached a hundred steps, but the opposing soldiers held up their muskets and did not fire.

The distance continues to close.

When both sides could see each other's faces clearly, the opposing soldiers fired a volley of muskets.

The cavalrymen who were hit fell off their horses, while those who were not hit were eager to break through, not caring about fighting, and simply bypassed the small square formation that was obviously difficult to charge. After all, the muskets in the latter were equipped with short swords. Because all the soldiers were as close together as possible, the small square formation was like a hedgehog. And just as Man Dahai led the vanguard to charge, the following cavalry continued to charge. The infantrymen reloaded their muskets at a speed significantly faster than the muskets, and then opened fire again at the cavalry charging in front of them.

The cavalry kept falling off their horses.

Those who broke through continued to rush forward.

But then Man Dahai was shocked to find that there were many such square formations in front of him. These small square formations almost blocked the river valley, and only the gaps in front of the square formations could pass through. Moreover, further behind these square formations, there were more newly arrived Ming troops hastily deploying similar small square formations.

He didn't have time to think too much. As long as he could escape, he could just find a gap to pass through.

Then he continued to gallop forward, and the cavalry behind him also galloped forward, but no one noticed that the small phalanx that had just rushed past was continuing to shoot.

Even formed cross fire with another small phalanx.

Most of the elite Zhenghongqi Bayalahu of the Qing Dynasty did indeed charge through, but a large number of cavalry also fell in front of them.

but……

Run for your life!
Why do you care so much?

Man Dahai continued to run forward.

Then rush through another small square formation behind.

Bullets whizzed past him and his bodyguards fell off their horses.

He didn't care about regrets and continued to run forward.

The cavalry behind him also rushed forward wildly, even trampling over his personal soldiers.

But the bullets from the crossfire on both sides continued to whiz past, hitting the cavalrymen one after another, and the torrent of cavalrymen running wildly was constantly decreasing.

Then they continued forward.

But the front is still.

"Master Beizi, this isn't right. If we keep running, we'll be worn out. This is a trap. We have to charge the formation, break them down, and force them to charge behind us!"

An old Niulu next to him shouted.

The next moment, a bullet from the flank hit him in the head, and he fell down without a pause because his feet were caught in the stirrups and were even dragged.

Man Dahai looked at the smoke that was like fog on the flank.

Bullets kept firing in the fog, and there were also short swords reflecting cold light in the fog.

But he continued to move forward.

The cavalry behind him also continued to move forward.

Everyone is running for their lives, and it doesn't matter whether they are right or wrong. If they don't go through the gaps, are they going to charge into these formations?
Wouldn't that mean we'd just run into these daggers?

Besides, their war horses were not so stupid that they would charge forward even though they knew there was flame and smoke ahead, and there were terrible spikes. What Lao Niulu said should make sense, after all, he was experienced. But for a group of cavalrymen who just wanted to escape, it was impossible not to run when there was a gap ahead.

run!
Keep running.

Then the bullets fired from the two staggered small square formations in front and behind continued to cross each other.

The cavalrymen kept falling while running wildly.

And in front of them, there were still small square formations, seemingly endless...

"Old Han's training is indeed professional."

Yang Feng in the sky looked like he was unstoppable, but in fact the number of Qing troops was decreasing.

Han Xin was training his troops during this period. He was indeed a military genius and a top battle commander, but he was also a top battle commander nearly two thousand years ago. He needed to train an army according to the tactics of this era, and the cheats Yang Feng gave him were flintlock rifles and line shootings. Because flintlock rifles were too slow to make, he even applied for an extra 10,000 brown basses for him. Then he easily realized the hollow square formation and firepower configuration, and he even began to study column attack tactics.

This is the advantage of professional talents.

He doesn't even need to study too much military strategy, he just needs to bring in new weapons based on the real battlefield.

What is being fought on the battlefield?
It's projection.

Arrows were used on the battlefields of the late Qin Dynasty, while bullets and artillery shells were used on the battlefields of the firearms era.

What is the optimal formation for infantry versus cavalry?
It's a square formation.

Make your defense without blind spots.

Then, when put together, it is of course a hollow phalanx. The ancient phalanx was also hollow, and it was also projected from the outside. The hollow inside protected the command system and supplies. In ancient times, arrows were projected, but now bullets are projected. In ancient times, shield walls were needed for protection, but in this era, shields cannot block bullets, so of course they are abandoned. In this era, the soldiers' flintlock rifles can be used as spears with bayonets. Although they are shorter, they can be used. Bullets can break heavy armor, so why do we need spears? The defense of the spear can be left to the bayonet, and the attack of the spear can be left to the bullet.

When he brought the weapons of this era into the familiar battlefield of the late Qin Dynasty, Han Xin immediately regained his feeling as a top general.

Discard things that are no longer useful at the current technological level, and simplify the formations that originally needed to match these things.

Then he went to the hollow square formation.

Along the nearly twenty-mile-long valley stretching from Qiupu River to Zhangxi, the first three guards, numbering nearly seventeen thousand pure flintlock infantry, learned that the Qing army was charging toward them and, on the march, deployed twelve hollow square formations staggered along the valley and between the riverbanks. Each hollow square provided three attack planes against the Qing army, and these attack planes could form crossfire with the attack planes of the adjacent squares on either side, thus trapping the Qing army in this lengthy fire trap.

Man Dahai only rushed to the seventh phalanx when his horse was already exhausted. He looked blankly at the phalanx in front that was still waiting for him.

As confused as the monk king at Baliqiao.

He just stood there, looking at the row of infantry in front of him, who had already pulled the trigger. The smoke formed a white smoke screen in front of the formation, and the next moment a bullet hit his chest.

His armor was pierced.

Then he fell off his horse in confusion...

(End of this chapter)