Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 409

At the same time when the artillery of the Ming army disrupted the deployment of the Qing army, the [-] sword-shield fighters standing by on the left flank had been ordered to quickly move to the phalanx of firecrackers, preparing to use shields as cover to prevent the heavy arrows of the Qing army from hitting the gunners. killing.

Seeing that the shape of the Qing army has changed from dense to scattered, the killing effect of the projectiles will be greatly reduced. The Ming army artillery battalion reacted very quickly, and immediately ordered the adjustment of the height of the muzzle, and the Qing army shield vehicle was used as the next main target.

Due to the light weight of the shotgun and the range of only about a hundred paces, the frontal ten-door French machine could not use shotguns to attack the Qing army nearly two hundred paces away.

This is not because Zhou Yuji made a major omission in the deployment of troops, but mainly because the Ming army's [-] musketeers also needed to be in a relatively large range to form a formation.

Because at this time, the length, weight, loading and many other procedures of the firecrackers are quite cumbersome. There must be a certain distance between the gunners in each row, and the distance between the front and rear rows is even greater. Reserve a place for retreat and buffer, so the combination of infantry and artillery can only be based on solid projectiles.

Unless the gunslinger phalanx was broken and the Qing army rushed within a hundred paces, that would be the time when the shotguns would set off a bloodbath.

But if it really got to that point, the Frang machine could only block the Qing army's follow-up pursuit and cover the retreat of the musketeers. After all, the cannon was too heavy to carry out continuous fire output with freedom of movement.

Taking advantage of the lack of fire from the Ming army's cannons, the Qing army with rich combat experience formed a team of dozens or hundreds of people, got up and started shooting at the Ming army gunners who were [-] or [-] steps away.

Since the saber and shield fighters hadn't rushed to the front of the gunners to cover them with shields, and because the shield carts were blocked by thick cards, the gunfire could not pose a threat to the Qing army at all, so the commander in charge of the front row, Mr. Qian, did not issue a command. For the command to shoot, gunners could only lower their heads and necks as they usually do during training, and use wide hat-shaped iron helmets to block the vital points of their faces, resisting the heavy arrows of the Qing army.

In the cognition of most people in later generations, they think that the Manchu Qing at this time used riding and shooting as the main means of attack.

In fact, this is a huge cognitive misunderstanding.

The Jianzhou Jurchens are a fishing and hunting people, not a nomadic people. It is true that the Jurchens are good at archery, but they are not good at fighting immediately.

The one who is good at riding and shooting is the Mongolian Eight Banners who surrendered to the Jurchens.

The most important method of attack for the Eight Banners soldiers to fight against the Ming army was to use strong bows and heavy arrows to shoot at the formation of the Ming army, and then the selected armored soldiers rushed into the formation, using maces, flails, tiger-toothed guns, and pick knives. Heavy weapons such as sledgehammers and giant axes directly rushed into the fight, and soon defeated the Ming army.

The lethality of the heavy arrows of the Qing army is astonishing. The sharp spikes have barbs on the arrows. The blood continued to bleed until everyone died. This is one of the reasons why the Ming army in Guanwai was extremely afraid of the Eight Banners soldiers.

Before the Ming army's sword and shield hand arrived, nearly a thousand Qing army archers almost each shot two heavy arrows, and more than 1000 thrown heavy arrows caused nearly 300 Ming army casualties.

This is because the Qing army took into account the threat of the Ming army's artillery and did not form an arrow formation.

If these nearly a thousand archers form two square formations to focus fire and shoot, the number of casualties of the Ming army will increase exponentially.

Just when the third wave of heavy arrows from the Qing army fell and killed nearly [-] Ming troops again, [-] sword and shield fighters rushed to the front of the gunners in time.

As the huge shields were raised one after another, the Qing army's fourth wave of arrow rain caused the Ming army's casualties to be greatly reduced. Only a dozen people were shot by bows and arrows, and the arrows were not hit.

Just before the fifth round of the Qing army's heavy arrows was shot, the Ming army's ten-door Frang machine fired one after another, and ten projectiles fell from the air one after another, and all of them hit the densely arranged shield vehicles.

After the projectile smashed the board and frame of the shield car, the fragments of sawdust flew around. Due to the extremely fast initial velocity of these sharp sawdust, the killing effect brought by it was not inferior to that of sharp arrows.

All of a sudden, there were screams one after another.

Except for the Qing army who was killed by the bullets, the flying pieces of wood easily broke the padded armor of the Qing army archers, and then penetrated deeply into the body. The pain caused by this sharp object made people feel brave. The famous Eight Banners soldiers are also unbearable.

The Fran machine gun continued to roar, and the one-jin-heavy projectiles fell continuously, smashing the shield chariots of the Qing army in the front row, and the Qing army archers in the front row were dodging and hiding. Neng retreated after leaving a lot of casualties.

After several rounds of firing, the barrel of the Franc machine was already hot, and under the situation that firing again was likely to cause an explosion, the commander of the artillery battalion gave an order to cease fire.

Fifty paces away from the front of the Ming army, the place was in a mess. Except for nearly [-] killed and wounded Qing soldiers lying in a pool of blood, only [-] of the more than [-] shield chariots were intact, and the rest were all destroyed by shells.

Abate, who was in the rear, gave an order, and amidst the shouts and cursing of the Qing army supervising the battle, several hundred soldiers stepped forward tremblingly, or carried away the casualties of the Qing army, or cleaned up the wreckage of the shield chariot. Soon, the messy battlefield was roughly cleaned up.

On the other hand, the Ming army also assigned some swordsmen and shields to carry the seriously injured or killed soldiers to the rear. The slightly injured soldiers gritted their teeth and left on their own. The 400 people in the back row filled the vacancy, and the disrupted formation was restored. As it is.

Of course Abate knew that the cannons would take a long time to cool down, and at this time they had to take the opportunity to launch a fierce attack, otherwise the Qing army would have to pay more sacrifices after the cannons had cooled down.

"Gerileng! Send a team of one thousand cavalry to charge!"

Looking at the large expanse of land exposed in front, Abate quickly issued an order.

The trumpeter next to Geri Leng blew the horn, and a thousand Mongolian Eight Banners cavalry slowly drove their horses from two miles away, and began to trot forward in a cone-shaped formation. When they reached about one mile away from the Ming army, the horses began to speed up. .

All of a sudden, the sound of hoofs was like thunder, and the ground trembled slightly. The galloping horses of the brigade were like huge waves rolled up by the high tide of the sea, and rushed towards the Ming army's musketeers with a shocking gesture.

"Duang"

The sound of thunder from the city of Ningyuan resounded through the sky.

The four Hongyi cannons roared in salvo.

The sword and shield hands of the Ming army had shifted to both sides when the Qing army's horses were activated. The first firecracker square of the Ming army assumed a three-stage strike posture, waiting for the arrival of the Qing army's cavalry, while the spears on both sides The phalanx moved closer to the gunners, ready to provide cover and support at any time.

Four projectiles weighing five catties wrecked four bloody paths in the rushing Qing army cavalry. Dozens of horses fell to the ground screaming, and the knights on the horses were trampled into flesh by the horses behind who had no time to dodge.

　Thanks to old book friends Hui Junan and Lin Lingsu for their rewards in 2018.The next problem is how to fight. Now the Internet requires not to destroy national unity, not to engage in massacres, so destroying Jianzhou will violate the regulations. Can you provide some references and suggestions?The relocation of the Jurchens is a problem. How to deal with such things as Huang Taiji and Dorgon is a bit tricky.The reason why I wrote so much about the battle outside the pass is because I didn’t think about how to end this war. I could only write tentatively, which could have speeded up the pace.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)