12dz Chapter 508 Ping Liao (2)
Chapter 508 Ping Liao (2)
Yu Youtian sighed and said to Ma Sanxi beside him: "I've been telling you to be steady, but you won't listen. Damn it, this is probably over!"
Ma Sanxi looked uneasy and replied: "General, the logistical supplies are all in the camp. If the Tartars raid the camp, we will be out of food."
Yu Youtian shook his head and said, "The camp is not empty. The Tartars are short of troops now. They are probably concentrating all their strength to fight us. They probably won't split up their troops. But what we should consider most now is how to withdraw to the camp!"
Afterwards, Yu Youtian asked Ma Sanxi to command his subordinates, while he went to find Zheng Chenggong to discuss how to save the current situation.
If Yu Youtian had not had the foresight to send scouts to investigate in the direction of Ningjin, and if the Qian army scouts had not seen the Qing army's sentries from afar and hurriedly reported back the news that the Qing army had appeared in the southwest, if the Qing army appeared from behind when the army was attacking the city, the consequences would have been disastrous.
At this time, Zheng Chenggong had withdrawn the troops preparing to attack the city and evacuated them from the attacking distance of the city wall. Zheng Chenggong ordered the entire army to regroup and form a dense formation to guard against possible attacks by the Qing cavalry.
Yu Youtian walked quickly to Zheng Chenggong, bowed and said, "General Zheng, the Qing army has not arrived yet. The army should slowly withdraw to the camp and should not stay in Liaoyang for long!"
Zheng Chenggong nodded and said in a deep voice: "The enemy's two-sided attack is very disadvantageous to our army. We should temporarily suspend the siege and return to the camp to observe the situation."
Then, at Zheng Chenggong's order, the army began to retreat slowly towards the camp. After marching for only two miles, the sound of horse hooves appeared in the southwest direction. The faint sound of horse hooves came from far away and then got closer.
Everyone in the army heard this voice, including Zheng Chenggong, and a hint of uneasiness finally appeared on his resolute expression.
"Da... Dada!" The Qian army scouts rushed to Zheng Chenggong and said in a hurry: "Three miles away, the Qing army cavalry appeared, the number is incalculable!"
"Stop marching and form a battle formation!"
"Ready to load the gunpowder!"
"Spearmen, move forward and set up your spear formation!"
For a while, the commands of officers at all levels came one after another. Yu Youtian felt extremely uneasy. Although he was only four or five miles away from the camp, he obviously could not move anymore. It would take time to form a battle formation, and once the cavalry launched a surprise attack, there would not even be enough time to form a battle formation.
After the Qian army formed its array and waited for a while, they heard the rumbling sound of horse hooves. Zheng Chenggong knew that a large group of Qing cavalry had arrived.
I saw a shadow beginning to emerge at the end of the horizon. The Qing cavalry were approaching the Qian army like waves. The sound of horse hooves was as loud as thunder, and even the earth seemed to be shaking.
This cavalry was so large that it seemed to have no boundaries. Flags fluttered, armor shone, and swords and spears reflected the sunlight, forming a spectacular and terrifying picture. Yu Youtian stood at the front line, feeling uneasy. The scene before him made him realize that the upcoming battle would probably be very tragic.
When the Qian army's army formation saw such a large cavalry lineup, it began to waver. Although the dense formation they had arranged before was solid, facing such a large number of cavalry, the soldiers showed obvious fear on their faces.
Yu Youtian's firearms troops were one of the seven newly built towns in Huaibei. Although they had experienced the baptism of war, it could almost be said that they had a favorable battle that time. There was no way they could fight against cavalry alone.
After Zheng Chenggong returned from Huguang, he wanted to reorganize his infantry because of its disadvantage. However, the Western Dutch coalition forces repeatedly harassed Zheng's merchant caravans at sea, forcing Zheng Chenggong to devote all his energy to the navy. This also resulted in the fact that Zheng's infantry is no different from when he was in Huguang.
In particular, most of Zheng Chenggong's subordinates were from Fujian. It's not that the Fujian people had never seen horses, but Fujian Province is mountainous, so how could they have had the opportunity to see such a large-scale cavalry? Such a scene is unimaginable for those who have never seen a cavalry brigade.
Bai Yintu personally led 20,000 cavalrymen from Jinzhou City to Liaoyang. Along the way, he galloped all the way and did not dare to slow down. Fortunately, Liaoyang was not broken and the Qian army was unable to withdraw. He finally caught the Qian army in the wild.
Bai Yintu asked everyone to dismount and restore their horses, while he observed the situation on the opposite side. The more he looked, the happier he became. The Qian army on the opposite side was composed of half cold weapons and half firearms, and they had no defensive equipment such as chariots that could stop the cavalry. More importantly, Bai Yintu saw the Qian army's flag, and on the high-flying flag, the words "Nan'an County King Zheng" were clearly written.
Baiyintu laughed loudly when he saw this, and said to his general Soto beside him: "It is indeed the army of pirates. It will be easy to defeat them!"
At this time, Zheng Chenggong stood in the back, his eyes were sharp, he held the sword at his waist, but he was thinking quickly in his mind. He knew that this battle was not only about victory, but also about his own honor. If he was defeated, he would undoubtedly be in disgrace.
The Qing dynasty was on the verge of collapse, but even Zheng Chenggong could lose. Wouldn't he be laughed at by the whole world for being ignorant of military books?
Seeing the Qing army stop to rest, Zheng Chenggong gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: "The enemy's horses are galloping here, and their horses must be running out of horsepower. Pass on my order, beat the drums, march forward, and strike first!"
At this time, Yu Youtian was inspecting the army and boosting morale when he suddenly heard the sound of drums. Two cavalrymen came galloping over and bowed to Yu Youtian, saying, "General Yu, the prince has ordered that the enemy's horses are exhausted. We should take the initiative and attack instead of defend!"
Yu Youtian was stunned, thinking that this decision was too risky. But now the commander had given the order and even the drum had been sounded, leaving Yu Youtian no chance to object. Military orders were like mountains, and he had to obey them even if they were wrong.
Bai Yintu was stunned. It was the first time in so many years that he saw infantry charging back at cavalry. Under normal circumstances, the infantry would form a formation like a hedgehog, using cannons to attack from a distance and muskets and bows and arrows to attack from close. In short, they would be on the defensive.
Baiyintu shook his head and said, "It would be great if Meng Jun and Zhao Yongping could use troops like Zheng Zhilong's son!"
As the saying goes, there is no constant state of war, and there is no constant shape of water. The same tactics, when used by different people or at different times, will produce very different results.
It cannot be said that Zheng Chenggong's tactics were wrong, but he thought too much and only saw the shortcomings of the Qing army, but failed to see his own disadvantages.
Because neither Yu Youtian nor his own subordinates had experience fighting against cavalry, and the morale of the army was already somewhat uneasy. Maintaining a defensive posture could still delay the enemy, but attacking the cavalry with an uneasy army might not be a good strategy.
Since the Qian army had come to his doorstep, Baiyintu was not polite and immediately ordered the entire army to mount their horses. He then divided the cavalry into several groups and ordered another group of cavalry to go around the rear and try to break through. On the wide plain, the Qing cavalry galloped on their horses, raising clouds of dust.
Because the Qing army had gradually appeared on both wings of the Qian army, this also led to the Qian army's formation gradually changing from a square formation to a circular formation.
The Qian army had just walked a short distance when their formation was already loose. Although the Qing cavalry had not yet reached the range of the army's artillery, Yu Youtian still gave the order to raise the muzzles and fire.
The rumbling sound of artillery fire lifted the spirits of the Qian army's soldiers, and their sense of panic seemed to be reduced a little.
Yu Youtian, who was in the army formation, could not help but silently chant in his heart: "Taishang Laojun bless you! Taishang Laojun bless you!"
Ma Sanxi was sweating profusely. He came over to Yu Youtian and said, "General, this won't work. We are chasing four legs with two legs. Look, the Tartars are starting to split up. We have to stop and reorganize immediately! Otherwise, something big will go wrong!"
Yu Youtian wiped the sweat from his forehead and said anxiously: "I'll go find Zheng Shuai now!"
After a while, the Qian army stopped marching and began to reorganize, but at this moment, Baiyintu took action.
Twenty-eight banners of cavalry were marching in the wilderness, outside the range of the Qian army's firearms. Just when Baiyintu decided to take action, a strong wind blew, whistling and making the flags of the two armies flutter.
At the command of Baiyintu, the trumpet sounded suddenly, and while the Qian army was still lining up, the cavalry began to charge!
"Hurry up!"
"Fire the guns more densely, and fire the cannons faster!"
Yu Youtian looked at the Qing army's massive attack, his hands and feet were a little cold, but he never stopped giving orders, and shouted urgently: "The Tartars are not within range, so don't fire your muskets!"
The Qing army had already increased the speed of their horses and soon came within the range of the Qian army's firearms.
"Bang..." A series of artillery fire rang out, and dozens of shells hit the cavalry ranks. A rough look showed that at least hundreds of cavalrymen were killed in just one round of artillery fire.
After entering the range of the muskets, the muskets began firing amid the sharp shouts of the officers in the front row. The spearmen in the back row had already squatted down, sticking their muskets diagonally into the ground. Everyone lowered their heads, fearing that they would be hit on the head by the muskets and cannons behind them.
After the first round of volleys from the flintlock rifles, they reloaded on the spot, and the second row stepped forward and fired again, followed by the third row, the fourth row, and the fifth row, in a continuous barrage of bullets.
In the musket formation, the small cannons have switched to using shotgun shells. Although the thick smoke from black powder has obscured all vision, the cannons and muskets are still firing forward.
Baiyintu looked at the Eight Banners men falling one after another in the barrage, his heart bleeding, but he knew that this was the price he had to pay.
Baiyintu said bitterly: "Firearms, how abominable!"
Just as the second round of flintlock fire was fired, a cavalryman suddenly rushed out from the thick smoke, followed by the second and third, and the galloping horses slammed into the Qian army's formation.
The thin spear formation in the front row was simply unable to stop the cavalry charging at full speed. In an instant, the spears broke and the men died. Even if the cavalry or horses in front were pierced by the spears, the cavalry behind did not hesitate and continued to advance.
For a moment, people were crowded together, and the sounds of fighting and screaming were like hell. The Qing army broke into the military formation, and the sounds of artillery and musket firing became intermittent. Many musketeers had given up their firearms and instead drew their swords to fight with the Qing army.
But before long, some soldiers of the Qian army could no longer bear the horrific scene and the panic caused by the breakthrough in their formation, so they fled in all directions.
Zheng Chenggong was anxious and angry when he saw the army in chaos. He still had a killing weapon in his hand, which was the 800 Iron Man Army he brought from Fujian. Then Zheng Chenggong ordered Liu Guoxuan to take 400 Iron Man Army to stabilize the front line.
The Iron Man Army was like an iron can. The Qing army's swords and guns could not hurt them at all. However, if they were hit by speeding horses, they would still cause serious damage to the soldiers inside.
Baiyintu saw that the Qian army was about to be defeated. How could he tolerate the Iron Man Army showing off its power? He immediately issued a strict order: "Even if we have to crash into them, we must crash into this armored army."
Although the Iron Man Army was powerful, their numbers were too small. On a battlefield with tens of thousands of people, they could only form a small advantage. Under Baiyintu's charge without regard for casualties, Liu Guoxuan, a general under Zheng Chenggong, was knocked down by the Qing cavalry and then disappeared in the crowd.
The setting sun was as red as blood. The Qian army was irreversibly defeated. The defeat was like a landslide. The battlefield was littered with corpses and broken flags. Even Zheng Chenggong's exquisite flag embroidered with the words "Nan'an Prince Zheng" was lying on the ground, being trampled by countless defeated soldiers.
"Go, go quickly!" Ma Sanxi pushed Yu Youtian onto the horse, then drew his sword, and led his personal guards to stand in front of Yu Youtian at all costs.
Yu Youtian looked at Ma Sanxi with tears in his eyes. The army was in a state of collapse. This battle was the most devastating one since the Qian army established the firearms town. More than 70% of the 10,000 firearms soldiers were either killed or surrendered. The senior general Ma Sanxi was killed, more than half of the generals at all levels were killed or wounded, and all kinds of large and small artillery were lost. The town had been crippled.
The same was true for Zheng Chenggong. General Liu Guoxuan was killed in the desperate fight of the remaining Iron Man Army, and a retreat route was torn open for the defeated army. Yu Youtian and Zheng Chenggong, under the protection of their personal guards, fled to Haizhou City with the defeated soldiers.
………………
Just when Zheng Chenggong was about to be defeated, Zhao Yongping finally captured Ningyuan City. Of the 4,000 defenders, more than 3,000 were killed in the battle and more than 600 were captured.
Zhao Yongping showed a look of relief, and all the generals had flushed faces and were excited. Some clerks who followed the army even shed tears.
From the end of the Ming Dynasty to the new Qian Dynasty, some people have experienced decades of turmoil in the world. They all know how much suffering and humiliation the rise of the Qing Dynasty brought them.
Since the Liao incident, the Ming army was defeated in nine out of ten battles and invaded five times. Each time, they were able to plunder millions of taels of money, hundreds of thousands of civilians and livestock. Every failure brought great pain to those who cared about their country and the world. Such humiliation made them unable to raise their heads, and their spirit and confidence suffered a great blow.
Now that Ningyuan City has been breached, the captured surrendered soldiers have told their commander Baiyintu that he has transferred half of his troops to support the rear.
This showed that Your Majesty's strategy of transporting troops by sea was very effective. Once Ningyuan City was captured, Marshal Zhao's main force could drive directly to Jinzhou City. As long as the Ningjin defense line was broken, the demise of the Qing Dynasty was imminent. This made countless people excited about the imminent avengement of their previous humiliation.
(I haven’t written a long chapter for a long time, so I’ll write a long chapter (＞_＜))