Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1125 The Battle of Zhenjiang

According to King Lu's words, he completely regarded Wang Yan as Cao Mengde, who was called Han Xiang and was actually a Han thief. In short, if Wang Yan continued to be in power, the Wang family would usurp his Zhu family's country sooner or later.

When Wang Shixiu heard what King Lu said, the other party completely regarded himself as Liu Xuande of Ming Dynasty, and his blood was much purer than Uncle Liu Huang who sold straw sandals. Also has more weight.

Wang Shixiu is Wang Yan's confidant, but he was born as a literati. Although he supports Wang Yan, he doesn't want internal friction, and he doesn't want Daming's vitality to be lost in internal political struggles.

Tens of thousands of Zhejiang soldiers, as well as the Wuwei army, are all Ming's troops. Among them, Jin Shenghuan, Wang Yi, and Ruan Jun are all capable of fighting, and they can play a great role in dealing with the Manchu and Jin countries.

Now there is internal friction, and with the current state of mind of King Chu, most of them will be killed. Wang Shixiu didn't want to see it, so he came out and persuaded King Lu, but he didn't expect King Lu to say that "the Han and the thief are not at odds". Wang Shixiu had no choice but to talk about the ambivalent posture.

The so-called "Han thieves are not at odds" expresses the attitude of fighting for orthodoxy and never compromises. In Lu Wang's view, he represents the Han, the traditional loyal power, and the imperial family, while Wang Yan is a thief. The thief of the Han Dynasty, if the king of Lu is soft, it means that he has accepted Wang Yan's legal status and recognized him as the Prime Minister of Han, then the Ming Dynasty will really be completely in Wang Yan's hands.

It is impossible for Liu Xuande to recognize Cao Mengde, and it is impossible for King Lu to recognize Wang Yan now.

"Your Highness has any dissatisfaction with His Royal Highness King Chu, you can resolve it in the court and impeach the King of Chu! Although Shixiu is a military officer, he also knows that the court can't help but speak out, and it's not that different political opinions can't be tolerated! How can His Highness raise troops and rebel against the court like this?" It’s not about letting relatives hurt enemies!” There was no room for discussion in King Lu’s words, but Wang Shixiu still persuaded, “Now that the situation has become clear, Your Highness, for the sake of tens of thousands of soldiers and millions of people in the south of the Yangtze River, surrender! "

"Solve it at the court?" King Lu held the reins, and the horse was restless. He heaved his body and snorted coldly: "The court has long been controlled by traitors, how can we solve it at the court!"

The development of history always has a general direction and general trend. If it can be resolved in the court, King Lu will not take the risk of raising troops. He just seems to feel that this general trend is not on his side, and the wheels of change are rolling. It couldn't be stopped in court, so he took the route of solving it by force.

Wang Shixiu frowned, "Your Highness, if you don't accept the king of Chu, you will start a rebellion. If others don't accept your highness, can you also raise an army? That's all Shixiu said! I will give your highness half a stick of incense, if your highness is still unwilling to stop , I can only lock up His Highness and hand it over to the imperial court!"

Wang Shixiu doesn't want to see internal friction, he has already approached the responsibility of an upright minister, and he has no regrets.

He saw the right and wrong of this matter very clearly. Although the king of Chu deliberately lured them this time, it was wrong to raise troops.

It is also because of this that Wang Yan trusted him and asked him to lead the army to pursue him. He knew that Wang Shixiu was different from Gao Yigong and Liu Shun. He had political ideals and had the world and the nation in his heart.

What can be said, Wang Shixiu had already finished speaking, he pulled out the reins of his horse and led the cavalry back to the formation.

King Lu looked at his back, snorted coldly, and returned to the battle.

The [-] rebels set up a simple formation in the wilderness, dug trenches, and set up refusal horses. It was too late to do these methods, but the carts were pushed to the front of the formation.

King Lu rode back to the formation, and Xiao Qihui waited for others to greet him immediately. King Lu froze and waved his whip, "Set up the formation and prepare for the battle! Hold on until dark, and we will retreat eastward while it is dark!"

Everyone's actions remained the same at night, and so did the cavalry. It was much easier to retreat than it is now.

In the formation of the Chinese army, a large dragon flag was suddenly erected. It was the king's flag of King Lu, and it was also a battle flag.

Wang Shixiu ran back to the main formation, saw the rebel formation, waving flags, horns stretching, heavy armored spearmen in front, musketeers behind, cavalry covering the wings, obviously ready to resist, he sighed inwardly.

Both the Zhejiang Army and the Wuwei Army were troops that had just faced the Qing Army. In the Ming Army sequence, they can both be called elite soldiers.

Although their morale was slackened, the long-term training had been engraved in their bones. As long as the military order was issued, the army of more than 6 people would gradually form a dense formation in the wilderness in accordance with the order issued by the Chinese army.

Every soldier in the formation knew where his position was. He ran forward, and after standing still, he began to check his weapons.

Wang Shixiu felt a little pity when he saw it, but he still waved his hand, "Artillery team, get ready!"

The knight behind him immediately took out his horn, raised his head and blew it, and saw a group of artillery troops dragged by horses rushing forward at the rear of the horse army.

These cannons are pulled by two horses, and the long gun body is fixed on the two-wheeled cannon carriage. The horses pull up and run fast.

From the long barrel, it can be predicted that the shooting range is naturally far beyond the Franc machine.Because it is made of bronze, it is much lighter than iron cannons, so although the cannon body is large, it is easy to maneuver.

Although brass or bronze is expensive, it is tough and not easy to burst. This kind of bronze rapid-fire gun can fire nearly six catties of shells and has an effective range of two miles. It is said to be the weapon with the longest range in field battles.

Nearly a hundred rapid-fire guns, dragged by the horses, quickly rushed to a distant slope. The gunners who manipulated the artillery were also riding on horses or sitting in carriages. The speed of the entire artillery team could not be slower than that of cavalry. How many.

The wheels rolled and rolled up a cloud of dust. When King Lu saw this army in the formation, his face immediately sank.

Jin Shenghuan and many generals in Zhejiang may not know it yet, because they have no chance to participate in the court's autumn exercises, but King Lu watched last year's autumn exercises in Nanjing and saw this kind of artillery team.

"Your Highness, what's the matter?" Jin Shenghuan couldn't help asking when he saw King Lu's face darken.

King Lu pointed his horsewhip at a soil slope about two miles away from the infantry formation. The people worked together to straighten the cannons, and in a short while, hundreds of cannons pointed their muzzles at them.

Seeing this, Jin Shenghuan's expression changed, and he asked in surprise, "Did they fight so far?"

The Ming army had a lot of artillery in field battles, but most of them were placed on the artillery carts and equipped with Flang machines. The range was only three or four hundred steps. It can only be used for siege, not for field battles. This is the first time Jin Shenghuan has seen this kind of two-wheeled cannon being pulled by horses.

King Lu looked serious, "We must find a way to get rid of their artillery!"

At this time, before the horse army rampaged, the incense stick in the hand of a knight had already been half burned. Wang Shixiu's face darkened, and he said no nonsense, "The artillery team bombarded, and the rebels were thrown into chaos, and they were immediately overwhelmed!"

If the cavalry wants to deal with the infantry in formation, unless there is a heavy cavalry attack, it is very difficult to defeat the infantry in a short period of time by simply harassing them. They can only surround them, grind slowly, and wait for the opportunity.

After all, it is impossible for the infantry to remain in formation all the time. As long as they relax, the opportunity for the cavalry will come.

Wang Shixiu's order was simple and rude, that is, to bombard the formation of the infantry with artillery, and then attack directly.

This kind of tactic has never appeared before. This is because the infantry used to have more advantages in weapon range than the cavalry. With the cavalry's bow, the cavalry can only besiege, slowly attack and disrupt the formation, wait for the infantry to show a flaw, and then suddenly attack to win the war.

But at this time, the rampaging horse army had an accompanying artillery team with a range far beyond any weapons of the rebel army. These artillery bombarded the rebel army where the rebel weapons could not reach, and the horse army only had to wait for the rebel army to become chaotic.

The emergence of the artillery team undoubtedly accelerated the speed at which the cavalry disrupted the infantry and shortened the course of the war.

Although the Ministry of Industry has been improving the flowering ammunition, the technology is still very immature, so the main shells of rapid-fire guns are still solid ammunition.

On the soil slope, the gunner pushed the projectile into the barrel with a wooden pole, and then compacted it. The gunner standing aside had already lit the torch, waiting for the general to give an order.

Just as King Lu was talking to Jin Shenghuan, the Portuguese teacher on the slope suddenly waved the red flag and shouted in broken Chinese, "Fire!"

On the entire artillery line, the artillery erupted one by one, and each artillery spit out a cloud of white smoke, and the entire slope was immediately filled with gunpowder smoke amidst the rumbling sound of the artillery.

The bronze cannons retreated sharply one after another, but the soldiers dug a shallow pit on the ground, and the rear of the cannon was placed in the hole. The recoil when firing did not shake the cannon far away.

As soon as the shot was fired, the two gunners turned the wheels to reset the cannon, and the other took a wooden pole wrapped in cotton cloth and soaked in water and pierced it into the barrel, and began to clean the barrel, preparing for the next round of loading.

The Ming army's artillery technique and its rules are very mature. After cleaning the barrel and then wiping it with dry steps, the gunner will push a certain amount of pockets into the barrel, and then use a sharp thorn to pierce the charge from the priming port and insert it into the barrel. Lead wire, and then push the shell into the barrel, and the next round of shooting can be carried out.

This kind of artillery is already close to Napoleon's six-pound bronze gun, and its performance is very advanced.

Hundreds of cannons opened fire one by one, and shells weighing nearly six catties flew rapidly. The soldiers holding long guns in front of the rebel army were still running and standing, and the shells had already pierced through the air.

The rebel soldiers put their carts in front of the formation to guard against the charge of the cavalry. The soldiers holding spears and sword shields were waiting for the formation. Suddenly, there was a burst of gunfire, and black iron balls rushed out of the white smoke. Slam to the front.

Before the soldiers in front had time to react, they heard a "bang", and the vehicle in front of the formation suddenly exploded. The spearman behind the vehicle was hit, and with a muffled sound, the soldier was instantly torn into pieces by the iron bullet, his stumps scattered around, and a burst of blood sprayed on the surrounding soldiers, while the iron bullet remained undiminished. , and smashed several soldiers in the line behind to a bloody mess, making a straight line of death.

Before the battle, there was a sudden burst of screams, and many soldiers were wounded by the broken wood blasted by the cart, and they all rolled to the ground, crying. One of the spearmen was sprayed with blood mist, and was immediately killed by more than ten pieces of broken wood. When the wood hit, the blood flowed profusely immediately, and the whole person seemed to be swimming in a pool of blood.

Hundreds of cannons fired a salvo, smashing the fortifications in front of the rebel army, creating nearly a hundred gaps at once. The rebel army, whose morale was low, immediately broke out in riots.

Many rebel generals were stunned when they saw this scene. If they were bombarded by the government artillery for a few rounds, the infantry would not be able to form a formation at all.

In order to escape, most of the heavy artillery of the rebels were thrown under the city of Nanjing, but even if they were not lost, those cumbersome guys were no match for these maneuverable bronze cannons. Directions are difficult.

At this time, everyone was aware of the threat, but the key point was that they had no means of restraining the artillery of the officers and soldiers. They sent infantry to attack the artillery array, and the horses pulled and ran away. Besides, there were cavalry watching. As long as the infantry left the formation, Wang Shixiu would inevitably Separate the cavalry to raid.

If you don't react, and you are bombarded by artillery for a few more rounds, the entire infantry will also fall into chaos, and the cavalry will still collapse when they charge.

Everyone originally thought that they could form an formation and persist until night, or wait for Wang Shixiu to charge the formation, and then rely on a tight formation to defeat the rampaging horse army, but they found that they were all wrong.

The infantry formed a tight formation, and the cavalry attack will definitely not be good. Now if they don't charge, they just bombard you like this. No matter how tight your formation is, there is no artillery to counterattack, and you can't hurt them. You will always be passive and beaten. Method.

With the improvement of weapons, the tactics of the horse army have undergone tremendous changes. In fact, not only the horse army, but also the infantry army's tactics have also changed.

King Lu frowned. At this moment, he could only say to Jin Shenghuan: "Let the cavalry of the Wuwei Army attack immediately and take out the enemy's artillery!"

To deal with this kind of flexible and mobile artillery, we can only rely on the rapid raid of cavalry.

Although the cavalry of the Wuwei Army charged for a while earlier, causing heavy casualties, but Jin Shenghuan said nothing, this battle was related to his fate, he immediately issued an order to let the more than 700 cavalry who were covering the flanks of the infantry formation surprise the artillery formation.

As soon as the cavalry of the Wuwei army moved, Wang Shixiu waved his hand immediately, and the two thousand-man cavalry behind him immediately intercepted and killed them.

The two teams of cavalry, one to attack and the other to drive, took turns to intercept and kill and guard the artillery.

For Wang Shixiu, this battle was actually not much of a challenge, and the rebels were bound to fail.

The Wuwei cavalry who rushed out quickly collided with the first thousand-man team. When they broke through the formation, they immediately met the second thousand-man team, unable to approach the artillery formation at all.

At this time, the artillery team on the slope started the second round of firing. Hundreds of shells blasted into the rebel formation, and there was already a huge commotion in the army. At this moment, the right wing of the rebel formation suddenly erupted. A greater commotion than before.

"Return to justice! King Lu and Jin Shenghuan treasoned the country, sons and daughters, return to justice!"

A part of the Wuwei Army suddenly launched a rebellion under the leadership of Li Yuanyin, and chaos broke out in the entire formation immediately.

King Lu, Jin Shenghuan and others watched in astonishment as the right wing collapsed. Like a stone falling into a pond, the chaos spread instantly.

In the distance, Wang Shixiu suddenly raised the knife, then pointed forward, and let out a roar from his mouth, "Kill!"

Nearly [-] iron cavalry immediately slowly increased their speed, the horseshoes rolled, and the cavalry clinged together, with their lances straightened, advancing like a wall.

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(End of this chapter)