A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 545: Artillery Battle Across the River (4)

After Lausa left, Kong Youde saw dissatisfaction and fear from the generals around him, and one of the generals even shouted: "Master, is the artillery battalion really going to be pulled to the river to confront the Ming army's artillery?"

Kong Youde shouted angrily: "Shut up, we are slaves, what does the emperor say, we do what we do, why are you making noise?"

He looked at Eduardo expectantly: "Short Dejia, can the artillery of my artillery battalion suppress the artillery fire of the Jingbian army on the other side from three miles away?"

Eduardo hesitated for a while, and then said: "My lord, if the artillery battalion wants to suppress the artillery fire of the Ming army, it is best to pull it to an open area by the river, two miles away from the opposite bank, or within two miles."

He thought to himself, even in Erli, it would be difficult to suppress the artillery fire of the Ming army.

Unlike Huangtu Ridge, where there are positioning marks in advance, the artillery bombards according to the marks. The distance of more than 1000 yards is measured temporarily. Very difficult.

Only two miles away from the opposite bank can we have some certainty.

Moreover, this Erli still refers to the Erli of the artillery formation of the Ming army, not the Erli to the river. In this way, it will be drawn closer to the river bank.

Even at this distance, due to the undulating ground, there are some shallow mountains and hills from time to time, which also affect the sight of the artillery. It is best to pull it to the edge of the river to increase the chance of winning.

"Two miles!"

Kong Youde bit his lower lip, according to the information he got, the Jingbian army had at least dozens of artillery pieces, which could reach his artillery camp.

Eduardo understood Kong Youde's hesitation. The Jingbian Army's artillery battalion was indeed the most elite artillery group he had ever seen in his life.According to his observation, even the gunners he saw in Europe before were not as elite as the gunners of the Jingbian Army.

After all, it is impossible for their superiors to train their subordinates at any cost like Wang Dou. The gunners of the Jingbian Army have grown up in the artillery fire all year round, and they have rich experience in both theory and actual combat.

Perhaps only the former Gustav II had such elite gunners in his army.

Fighting against such an opponent is full of dangers. Wu Zhenha's super artillery battalion is the foundation for Kong Youde to survive and survive. He doesn't want to see a lot of damage in the battalion.It is Eduardo's heart, which is also full of uneasy emotions.

He suggested to Kong Youde that the artillery could be divided into two divisions, one at three li, and the rest at the rear, and then pull the artillery up depending on the situation of the battle.

Of course, at this distance, the Jingbian army's artillery battalion couldn't reach them, but the artillery of the Shenji battalion of the Ming Dynasty could still hit the artillery formation.

Eduardo also knew that this army is equivalent to the European Guards. It used to have brilliant achievements, but it has been abandoned, and it is not as good as those local artillery battalions.This empire has already sunk to the west, but it is a pity that the power of the white people is too weak in the east, otherwise they can also get a share.

The Tatars were full of contempt for the Shenji Battalion, which somewhat affected Eduardo, so his main target was still the Jingbian Army Artillery Battalion.

Eduardo's suggestion made Kong Youde ponder for a while, and finally decided to accept it. Hongyi gunners still hold a lot of weight in his heart. When he was in Shandong, Governor Sun used these Hongyi gunners to train the gunners.

Huang Taiji's will was very urgent, Kong Youde didn't dare to delay, so he immediately exchanged opinions with Eduardo.

But even though Kong Youde wanted to hurry up, his artillery battalion, from cattle and horses to soldiers, was very tired and couldn't get up.

Although the weather is dry and the ground is dry and hard, relatively speaking, the ground on the north bank is slightly softer than that on the south bank.Each of the Shenwei Great General's heavy cannons in the battalion weighed three to four thousand catties, four to five thousand catties, and it was quite difficult to move forward every step of the way.

The four-wheeled iron shafts ran over deep marks on the ground. When passing through some potholes, the gunners whipped the cattle and horses in front of the cannons. Beside each door, a large number of coats gathered, shouting Push hard.

From time to time, coats collapsed from exhaustion, and cows and horses spit out white sputum and lost their front hooves. The huge artillery battalion marched sparsely, dragging far back and forth, and some cattle and horses were exhausted. The heavy artillery that was not replenished in time was far away. lag behind.

Some Hongyi small cannons ran far ahead, not to mention the weight of the cannons, and the four-wheeled gun carriage was not as convenient as the two-wheeled gun carriage.

Shi Tingzhu and others who arrived earlier sent their personal guards to urge them from time to time. They had led the infantry to arrive for a long time, and they also shouldered the important task of attacking Yang Xingling and crossing the river to help them. offensive.

The Manchu Banner leader sent envoys to yell at Kong Youde, scolding him for the slow arrival of the artillery battalion, which caused a lot of losses to the warriors of the banners.

To the complaints of Shi Tingzhu and others, Kong Youde was noncommittal, but Manmeng Banner Master and Gu Shan'e's true emissary had to explain, which made his mouth dry and his voice even hoarse.

With great difficulty, Kong Youde led a part of the artillery battalion to the Han Eight Banners position, where red, blue, yellow, white and other colors of armor were densely covered. , not the kind of armor embedded with iron leaves, just ordinary cotton armor.

Except for Liu Zhiyuan of Gushan Ezhen of the Han Army Xianghong Banner, Gushan Ezhen of each banner had already led his troops to arrive for a long time. Beside the army formation of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, there was also a large formation of the Korean Army. Seeing Kong Youde arrive, they all hurried Come here.

Of course Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi understood Kong Youde’s difficulty, and North Korea’s You Yizheng Jin did not dare to speak ill of Kong Youde at all. Shi Tingzhu didn’t have such a good temper, and yelled at Kong Youde: “King Shun, why did you come so slowly?” ? Playing with women halfway?"

Kong Youde was sullen, the artillery was running so hard, and Qiu Ba was still talking sarcasticly, it really made him angry from the bottom of his heart, and the evil came to his guts.

His face darkened, and he ignored Shi Tingzhu's clamor, and only discussed with Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi and others.

According to Huang Taiji's arrangement, the Han army Shi Tingzhu's Zhengbai Banner, Zu Zerun's Zhenglan Banner, Wu Shoujin's Xiangbai Banner, and a part of the Korean army attacked Yang Xingling.

Kong Youde's Zhenghong Banner, Shang Kexi's Xianglan Banner, Geng Zhongming's Zhenghuang Banner, Ma Guangyuan's Xianghuang Banner, a part of the Korean Army, a small number of Manchurian Banner Ding and Outer Domain Mongolian Armored soldiers participated in crossing the river for support.

However, after hearing the artillery arrangement of the Wuzhenha Super Artillery Battalion, Shi Tingzhu yelled again: "Why are we left with scrap metal and heavy artillery, not a single one?"

Dozens of large and small red barbarian cannons bombarded Yang Xingling. In fact, the number was quite a lot. However, in the eyes of Shi Tingzhu and others, the bigger the cannon, the better. Pulling away naturally made Shi Tingzhu dissatisfied.

Kong Youde was too lazy to look at Shi Tingzhu's ugly face, he just said coldly: "This is the emperor's arrangement, if you have any opinions, you can talk to the emperor."

When Shi Tingzhu heard that it was Huang Taiji's arrangement, he was immediately speechless, and left cursing for a while.

Zu Zerun and Wu Shoujin looked at each other, and followed with their personal guards, gloomy on horseback.

Under Huang Taiji's strict order, they didn't dare to delay. Soon, the horn sounded, the Han army was waiting with white flags, and forced them towards Yang Xingling. .

Before the artillery battalion arrived, Eduardo sent observers early to conduct detailed observations on the south bank.According to reports from the observers, the artillery battalions of the Ming army on the other side of the river were mainly set up on the undulating high ground in the few miles between the small pontoon bridge in Yangxingling and the large pontoon bridge in Shilitai.

In front of each cannon in their artillery formation, there were many piles of sacks and soil baskets, and there were many earthen trucks piled up in the artillery formation.

Judging by the flags and banners, the artillery battalion of the Jingbian army is deployed near the small pontoon bridge, and the artillery battalion of the Shenji battalion is closer to the big pontoon bridge.

It seems that the Ming army on the other side has already noticed the arrival of the Wuzhenha super artillery battalion, and both the Jingbian army artillery formation and the Shenji battalion artillery formation have made some moves. On the way, the Wuzhenha super artillery battalion may be encountered by them. shelling.

The observers of the artillery battalion found a slightly raised slope about two miles away from the shore in front of them as a place to set up the artillery array.

Another wave of envoys urged by Huang Taiji arrived, and Kong Youde took a deep breath: "I have no choice but to drive the ducks into the sedan chair!"

At this time, there are only about 30 generals in the Wuzhenhachao Pao Battalion with them, and the rest are still far behind, and it will be difficult to arrive in a while.Under his order, the tired gunners drove the equally tired cattle and horses to the other side of the hillside, and the artillery behind them also urged to follow.

Inspired by the use of earthen trucks by the Ming army to defend against artillery, it is now clear that many earthen trucks were used in the Qing army.However, the Eight Banners soldiers were dispatched urgently, and a lot of luggage had not yet arrived. The handymen and coats accompanying the battalion only pushed a small number of earthen carts and some shield carts.

More luggage was urgently mobilized from the south, east, north, and west of Jinzhou City.

Under the force of the armored soldiers, those handymen Baoyi pushed the earth carts and shield carts to the front, or walked in the artillery barracks, defending the gunners from the artillery that the Ming army might shoot.

At the same time, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming and others' armored soldiers of the Han army also followed the artillery battalion and continued to move towards the river bank.

……

Wang Dou looked away from Shuangzi Mountain, the battle there was still fierce, Huang Taiji's determination to protect Shuangzi Mountain surprised him, and the battle in the mountains fell into a stalemate.Hong Chengchou sent reinforcements to that side several times, and even sent some standard battalions.

Looking back, he was now on a wide hill at the northernmost tip of Xingshan Mountain.

The hills are not very far from the Nuerhe River, but more than three miles away. Behind the hills, the terrain slowly rises from north to south, and one after another undulating hills and mountains continue to the rear. That is more than twenty miles long from north to south, and east to west. The Xingshan mountain range is more than ten miles wide.

His Central Army headquarters is located here. As far as the eye can see, the hills are full of guard battalion soldiers in bright armor. The medical and nursing center set up by Gou Hong Chengchou is relatively simple.

He looked down the mountain, and there was a small pontoon bridge in front of him on the right. Zhong Xiancai's White Tiger Battalion was gathered behind the pontoon bridge, less than one mile away from the bridge, providing assistance to the Korean and Korean troops on the front line at any time.Behind the White Tiger Battalion, there was Li Guangheng's cavalry battalion. At this time, all the cavalry and infantry were sitting on the ground to rest, and it was dark.

After the infantry led by Wang Dou arrived, the first-class army of Zhong Xiancai withdrew and replaced it with the second-rank army of Han Dynasty.

Because of the Shuangzi Mountain battle, Shenji Battalion's Shenhuo flying crows and mortars were very effective. Seeing that he was happy with the hunting, Wang Dou asked Fu Yingchong for some flying crows and mortars to use in Yang Xingling's defense.

Fu Yingchong was very happy that Wang Dou asked him for help, and because the battle of Shuangzi Mountain fell into a stalemate, many mortars were idle, so he generously supported Wang Dou's Shenhuo Feiya with about a hundred shots, and thirty small mortars.

At this time, these sharp weapons are continuously passing towards the opposite side of the pontoon bridge, and there are also a large number of earth trucks walking on the pontoon bridge.

Yang Xingling's defense line, it is impossible to dig deep trenches in a hurry, and the earth truck has obvious advantages, strong mobility and good protection, just like a series of movable earth walls.

For this great battle, Hong Chengchou had already prepared thousands of earthen trucks, which were continuously provided to the various armies. As long as there were any damages, they could be replenished immediately.Moreover, these earthen vehicles have been carefully modified to be anti-gun, and even anti-gun.

(End of this chapter)