Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 637 A Win-Win Battle

A white smoke screen sprayed out from the edge of the phalanx, and the cavalry of the Ming army who rushed forward immediately turned their backs under the rain of bullets, like a wave smashing on the rocks, and the remaining cavalry dared not rush forward, and rushed to the ground one after another. The two sides of the phalanx separated, trying to outflank and kill the infantry from the side and rear.Soldiers on both wings of the phalanx seized this opportunity to fire continuously at the cavalry passing by on horseback in front of the formation. The armored cavalry suffered heavy casualties under the rounds of Minie rifle fire.In just a few minutes, the corpses of dozens of people and horses had already been left around the phalanx.

He Zhanran rode his horse back several tens of feet, gathered his men and horses, and prepared to charge again.At this time Yang Zeng shouted: "The ruler is 100 meters, fire!"

The cavalry that had assembled had not launched a charge before it was once again covered by dense bullet rain, and dozens of cavalry fell down in an instant.The others were completely stunned—no one expected that the enemy's firearms could hit so far and so hard, and the iron armor had no effect.One shattered the chief's breastplate, and the other sent the chief's helmet and half of his head flying out.

The cavalry of the Ming army retreated a bit, and then divided into two groups to outflank the two wings. This time, their speed was very fast. They probably knew that the guns of the Kun bandits had a long range, so everyone galloped at full speed, hoping to use their speed to counteract the enemy's attack. aim.

The volley of guns sounded again and more than 20 cavalry fell from their horses.At this time, He Zhanran suddenly turned his horse's head and led all the cavalry straight into the square formation - he thought that the bandit used the "three-stage strike" in the bird gun tactics. Now that the three rows of guns have been fired, the enemy must have a longer one. During reloading time, he planned to use this gap to break through the phalanx.One of his confidants, the little leader, rushed to the front with a few personal soldiers, ready to directly hit the bayonet array regardless of life and death, and kill a bloody path.

But the gangster's blunderbuss fired in unison again.The charge was like a raging wave on a reef. The wave of cavalry was smashed into pieces, and the routed cavalry retreated until they were 200 meters away, and the Minie rifles stopped firing.He Zhanran had already lost almost half of his men, and the rest had no intention of fighting any more, so they rode their horses and fled the battlefield one after another.He Zhanran cursed and beheaded a fleeing cavalryman just as he was trying to regroup a few hundred meters away.There was cannon fire in the air.

One after another, the cannonballs with red light flew over the phalanx of the light infantry, and suddenly exploded in the air, throwing a rain of 88 cannonballs towards the ground. Covered, one by one fell down, the screams of the people and horses, screams and groans mixed together.

A projectile almost brushed He Zhanran and shot it to the ground, and the soil kicked up threw his head and face, and the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke made him unable to open his eyes.He knew that the gun thief's firearm was powerful, but he didn't expect it to be so powerful.Cannonballs can actually explode in the air!Then a rain of bullets was thrown!He didn't dare to fight any more, and there were only forty or fifty riders left. Not only was he at an absolute disadvantage, but the army drums in the local village of the Kun bandits more than two miles away had already dispatched a team of troops.He Zhanran circled the horse's head and shouted for the soldiers to flee.

"Stop shooting!" Zhang Bolin put down the binoculars, and there were only a few cavalry in the distance fleeing towards the county town, he couldn't help letting go of his heart hanging in mid-air, "I didn't expect the phalanx to be really useful! "

When the cavalry attacked the retreating infantry, he thought about letting the gunners fire shrapnel to intercept the cavalry, but the enemy cavalry ran so fast that they soon reached the front of the infantry phalanx, and it was easy to accidentally injure one's own side by firing at this time.

Yang Zeng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the enemy retreat. At this time, he was already covered in sweat. When the cavalry charged for the first time, he even felt that his life would be lost.

"Steady! Keep the formation!" He kept yelling while holding his command knife, holding down the formation.He remembered hearing from the instructor when he was studying that when the enemy cavalry charged into the phalanx, there might be a second or third wave of cavalry waiting, and as long as your formation was slightly disturbed, they would immediately rush to destroy the phalanx. array.The momentum of the cavalry charging at full speed made him extremely terrified.If it weren't for the long-term continuous training that made the soldiers feel numb like a conditioned reflex, the soldiers would have been in a mess long ago.

He didn't dare to change his formation, and ordered to slowly retreat in the direction of the camp in a phalanx formation.

"Steady, steady!" He waved his command knife, and the other two company commanders tried their best to maintain the order of the retreat. At this time, he heard the brisk flute playing of the grenadier march from behind.A group of tall grenadiers came from the rear in an orderly manner, and a neat double line was formed beside them to cover their retreat into the camp.

Withdrew all the way to the gate of the camp, the artillery and infantry on the soil enclosure let out a burst of cheers—except for some officers and soldiers who had participated in the Bopu defense battle and the bandit suppression battle, this new type of army had never In this way, he set up his posture upright and fought the enemy.Now they saw the result of their repeated drills on the training field every day: [-] infantry fought against [-] cavalry.Indigenous soldiers and officers were even more confident in their troops and weapons.

When Yang Zeng returned to the camp, he was immediately called in front of He Ming, and he saluted the supreme officer tremblingly:
"I brought the company back! No casualties!"

"Good job!" He Ming punched him so hard that the little man almost fell to the ground, "Give him credit! First class credit!"

When Tong Yizhen rushed to the battlefield with his servants and infantry, he saw He Zhanran's troops in disintegration. They retreated chaotically. Most of them lost their helmets and weapons. Many of them were running with terrible wounds. It fell right away.

Tong Yizhen was taken aback, it was not surprising that the outpost had lost the battle, but these were [-] fine cavalry, more than enough to defeat infantry three or four times their size, and now they were defeated, and the defeat was so miserable.

He Zhanran was brought in front of him in a state of embarrassment: "The humble general is incompetent—"

"How many cavalry are there in the enemy army?" He didn't care to listen to his excuse, "Where are you now?"

"The thieves have no cavalry, just, just..." He Zhanran reluctantly swallowed a mouthful of saliva that had become bitter due to the galloping and gunpowder smoke, "The firearms are very powerful!"

He explained everything from being shot [-] paces away from the phalanx to being bombarded by shells capable of blasting and throwing cannons in the air:
"The Kun bandits are not only sharp in their firearms, but also have a well-organized army, which is definitely not comparable to ordinary pirates."

"Retire first!" Tong Yizhen didn't really believe his words, the military officers always exaggerated the enemy's strength and skill in battle, but He Zhanran's defeat was so miserable, it didn't seem like a lie.

Frustrated, the forward decided not to lead his troops directly into the battlefield, lest he be hit head-on by the morale of the enemy.He already knew from the mouths of the defeated soldiers that the Kun bandits had abandoned their camp at the South Gate and the Tuwei besieging Chengmai, and the whole army had retreated to a large camp near the coast in the northwest.

He immediately ordered some of the servants and soldiers with horses, under the leadership of a young general named Song Ming under him, to quickly occupy the empty stronghold left by the Kun bandits outside the south gate, and set up his banner.Then he called another soldier:
"Quickly go and report to the Commander! I have captured the Kun Bandit South Gate Great Village! Break the siege of Chengmai!"

Then he urged the infantry to go as soon as possible, and he led the troops to the south gate of Chengmai, and told the defenders on the city to open the gate quickly.The defenders on the city witnessed the disastrous defeat of the cavalry of the officers and soldiers just now. They were already desperate, but suddenly they saw smoke and dust billowing from the direction of the post road, and a large number of officers and troops were pouring in continuously. The resisting county magistrates, county magistrates and others all had tears in their eyes, kowtowed towards the north and towards the capital one after another, shouting long live.

The soldiers and civilians in the county immediately opened the south gate, and Tong Yizhen led his troops into the city immediately.Quickly took over the defense of the four cities, and then the subordinates hurriedly occupied houses everywhere. For a while, the county was in a hurry, and the soldiers and officers were busy occupying houses everywhere and asking for supplies.

For a while, the whole city was filled with the sound of cursing, begging, screaming and crying.Some families were driven out by the soldiers, some people took the opportunity to rob the people in the city, some entered the house and raped women, the county was in chaos for a while, the crying of the people mixed with the scolding and shouting of the officers and soldiers .

Liu Jingxuan, magistrate of Chengmai County, had pale lips, and led the book office and yamen servants tremblingly at the gate of the county yamen to support the officers and soldiers who kept coming to him for demands.He had been slapped a few times, his lips were broken, and several secretaries and miscellaneous officials shrank behind him.

The gentry were all terrified. When they were defending the county town with people and money, they were looking forward to the rescue day and night, but they didn't expect that the savior was like a bandit. Seeing the county magistrate, they ate a few big heads The soldiers slapped everyone in the face, and everyone was worried about their own fortunes.

"General, the next official, Chengmai County Main Hall Liu Jingxuan—" He was interrupted by Tong Yizhen just as he started:
"Okay, okay, Lord Zhentai will arrive soon, quickly clean out your yamen, and welcome Lord Zhentai!"

"Yes, yes, this is the job of a subordinate official." Liu Jingxuan knew that the imperial court had sent a large army to attack the Kun bandits, and always thought it was just a matter of supplying food and grass. He didn't expect that the Kun bandits would actually want to fight the official army under the city, so he could not help but secretly groaned. ——He has been a county magistrate for several times, and he knows that the most difficult thing for a magistrate is to support passing high-ranking officials and the army, both of which are similar to bandits.The magistrate died of illness because of being coerced, and even committed suicide.Now that the officers and soldiers were actually going to be stationed in the city, their faces turned ashen for a while, and the officials and gentry behind them also seemed very disturbed.

"It's just, just, the military discipline of your brothers should be maintained by the general." He said tremblingly.

General Tong looked at the chaotic scene in the city, and not far away there were several corpses with their heads cut off. Judging from their clothes, these people were not gangsters.

"Military discipline will naturally be maintained, but the supply of food and grass must also be dedicated."

"Yes, yes, sir—" Before he finished speaking, suddenly several women with disheveled hair cried and rushed towards him, shouting grievances.

"What kind of world is this!" the woman wailed and howled, "The man died as a strong man defending the city, and his head was beheaded before he was buried..."

Tong Yizhen knew that his subordinates were beheading him as a military exploit.This sort of thing is commonplace in the military.He just coughed and told the soldiers to drive the woman away.

At this time, a yamen servant hurried over: "Master, sir!" He ran so red that he even took off his hat, "Deputy man..." He saw that there were many soldiers and several generals around the county magistrate, so he quickly changed his words Said: "Beicheng, Beicheng, it's on fire!"

Liu Jingxuan was taken aback, seeing that several places in the city had already caught fire.He hurriedly said, "Hurry up, hurry up, beat the gong and call the Shuishe out of the dragon!" He looked back at the stunned yamen servants, waved his sleeves and stomped his feet, and said, "Hurry up, too!"

"These rotten cubs are making such a scene!" General Tong Shen was afraid of being accused and impeached by the officials when he saw the soldiers behaving so recklessly. Go too far and get into trouble.Immediately, he ordered a general to lead dozens of soldiers to patrol the city according to his command arrows, and killed a few robbers and murderers in the street to maintain order.

Half an hour later, the part of Li Guang's standard-making battalion also arrived at Chengmai County, but his attempt to enter the city was stopped by the Tongbu—the Chaozhou soldiers under General Tong Shen seemed to think that the city was their trophy , Do not allow others to get involved.The two sides met head-to-head, and the swords were on the verge of breaking out. If the generals of both sides hadn't come out to stop them quickly, Chaozhou soldiers and Zhaoqing soldiers would almost have clashed at the gate of the city.

He Ming stood on the tower, using a high-power telescope to watch the incoming Ming army.There are so many of them, like mercury leaking out of the ground, filling up the entire open space around Chengmai County,

Countless teams, countless flags, the clanging of armor, the footsteps of soldiers, and the hunting sound of the wind blowing the flags, it was as if a tide was rushing here.

As the sun set, the sun shone on the rolling army coming from the east, the armor and spear points glistened, and the sound of snare drums, horns, and horns rang out, accompanied by the twilight.An indescribable sense of coercion weighed heavily on his heart.

If it is said that He Ming has been on the battlefield, fought the Vietnamese devils, and smelled gunpowder.So many veteran officers in the field army have never fought even if they were from the army.Everyone knows from a rational point of view that it is impossible for a medieval army like the Ming army to beat a modern army, but seeing this army keep coming.Everyone's face is very dignified.Some people even felt dizzy and simply put down the binoculars and stopped looking.

A general mounts a gigantic boulder, with helmeted heads swirling forward around him.He was like standing on a rock in the midst of a stormy sea.The general looked forward, and the command flag in his hand pointed forward fiercely.

More than 2 horses arrived at the county seat one after another, occupying the open space and hills around the county seat.The infantry was setting up barracks and placing gun mounts. The whole army had set up three barracks in total, and dug long trenches outside.Confront the Fubo Army.

He Rubin arrived in Chengmai County before dark, he did not settle in the county, but set up his camp outside the west gate of the county.Together with Zhao Ruyi, he inspected the captured head first.

Not only are there few heads, which is far from the [-]-odd people reported by General Tong Shen, but most of the heads of these so-called "kun thieves" have their hair cut to pieces.Some of the hair still had blood stains on it, and some had blackened heads, which looked like they had been cut off a day or two after death.

He Rubin has been in the military for a long time, and he knows the tricks at a glance. As for Zhao Ruyi, he is also very shrewd and capable.But the war is imminent, and the soldiers need to use their lives, so both of them are silent.After the inspection, he ordered the military and political department to record the meritorious service for the contributors.

After inspecting the heads, they led their staff and generals to Chengmai's North City.Looking at the barracks of the bandits camped by the sea.

Tang Yun's literature included the Dutch telescope he bought from Macau.He Rubin opened the mirror tube and looked towards the Kun bandit camp:
About four miles away, the Kun bandit camp was surrounded by a man-high earth embankment. The shape of the camp was not round or square, but had several large sharp corners protruding from it.He didn't understand the purpose of such protruding sharp corners surrounding the entire camp, but he knew that the Dutch built their forts in the same way.

There are many round baskets made of wicker on the earth embankment, and bundles of bamboo are connected together to form fortresses. There are also many tall towers built with frames, the tallest of which is higher than the county seat.There was a shadow moving above.There are trenches dug outside the entire camp, and the defense is very tight.

There are lights on the sea in the distance, and there seem to be many ships moored.Tang Yunwen told him that these were the naval gunboats of the Kun bandits.

Judging by the size of the camp, the Kun bandits had at least ten thousand troops.He Rubin did not expect that the enemy would come out in full force to fight him to the death in Chengmai County.And the fighting power of the Kun thief seems not to be underestimated.Tong Shen's troops were able to drive the Kun bandit infantry out of the camp after a hard fight, and the cavalry also lost more than 200 people.

He saw a place similar to a village on the coastline about four or five miles east of the Kun bandit camp: "Where is this?"

"Reporting to Master Zhentai," the county magistrate Liu Jingxuan who was called to accompany him hurriedly said, "This is Xiaoyingchang. There used to be a village that was completely destroyed by the earthquake in the Wanli period. Now no one lives in it."

"General Sha! You send 1000 people to Xiaoyingchang. Stop the bandits from fleeing along the coast and invading Qiongshan Road!" He ordered.

Guerrilla Sha Jianbi, commander of the Fubiao Battalion of the Guangzhou Guard, quickly responded, and immediately went down to the city to make arrangements.

After observing carefully for a while, He Rubin couldn't see where the weakness of the Kun bandit camp was.Knowing that tomorrow's battle against the enemy's camp will be a very difficult bone, loss of troops will be inevitable.

But as long as the main force of the Kun thief is defeated here, Lingao will be defeated in one go.This part of the force is probably the land division owned by the Kun bandits.The opponent's tactics were nothing more than the pattern of defending with firearms according to Jianzhai, which did not surprise him.

(End of this chapter)