Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 290: Defeating the Jiangbei Camp (Part )

Outside Yangzhou City, Jiangbei Camp, dawn.

The winter sky is gray and covered with thick clouds, and there is a chilly freshness in the air, which indicates the coming of a light snow.

Snowflakes began to fall from the sky, drifting lightly until the ground was covered with snow. Everything was dyed silver-white, and the ground was covered with snowflakes, as if covered with white fluff.

It is such a poetic scene, the snow-covered mountains and rivers are like a fairyland, but the murderous atmosphere on the earth destroys this beautiful scenery.

Zhao Yongping and Gao Jinku led an army of more than 16,000 people, with more than 10,000 auxiliary soldiers and civilian laborers. The soldiers of the two towns had surrounded the Qing army's Jiangbei camp.

The commander of the Jiangbei camp at this time was Gao Jinku's old acquaintance, Ke Yongsheng. Since Ke Yongsheng escaped from Jiangning City, he joined Baiyintu's army. Although Baiyintu was ashamed of Ke Yongsheng's behavior of escaping from the city, he also knew that the fall of Jiangning City was not his responsibility. Moreover, Ke Yongsheng was an old man from Liaodong, so Baiyintu did not punish him too much.

However, despite this, Bai Yintu was quite disdainful of this man, so when someone was needed to stay behind in the Jiangbei camp, Bai Yintu thought of this man first. Bai Yintu still felt at ease with Ke Yongsheng. After all, he was an old man who had followed the Qing Dynasty into the pass, and was always more reliable than those military leaders in the north.

Ke Yongsheng frowned. Ever since he received the news yesterday that the navy surrendered to the enemy and Guazhou Ferry was lost, he had guessed that the Zhou army was going to cross the river.

Ke Yongsheng sent several batches of fast horses overnight, one way to Baiyintu's army, one way to Beijing, and one way to ask for help from the defenders along the canal.

However, Ke Yongsheng also knew that this was just a move to comfort people. Bai Yintu led his army eastward to Huguang, where the battle that would determine the fate of the world would take place.

As for Beijing, regardless of whether the imperial court would send troops to help, even if it did, it would probably be like distant water that could not quench immediate thirst.

Only in the cities along the canal to the north were there some defenders, but there were not many soldiers in those cities, and many of them were soldiers who had never fought in battles. The defenders probably did not have the courage to really send out troops.

He could only rely on himself for all this. Fortunately, Baiyintu spared no effort in building the camp. The camp he built was like a fortress, and its solidity was astonishing. Although Ke Yongsheng had only 5,000 Green Camp soldiers as the garrison, this solid camp still gave Ke Yongsheng some confidence.

Around the Jiangbei camp, the towering earth walls were dotted with arrow towers and artillery turrets, flashing a cold light like dragon scales. Outside the earth walls, there were deer horns, chevaux de frise, and pits surrounding the camp.

Inside the camp, there were originally rows of neatly arranged tents, with roads crisscrossing each other. However, now that Baiyintu has led his troops away, the camp is empty, but its outer defenses are still very solid.

Zhao Yongping, Wu Zhifan, Gao Jinku and Du Yonghe were in the military tent, with lights flickering. They sat together and discussed the deployment of the army and the strategy to capture the Qing army's Jiangbei camp all night long.

Du Yonghe said that the army was three times larger than the enemy and could besiege the enemy from all sides, attacking the camp day and night, and would not withdraw until the camp was destroyed. This proposal was immediately rejected by Zhao Yongping.

Zhao Yongping said, "The king asked us to cross the river not only to destroy the main camp, but more importantly to occupy Huai'an Prefecture. Although the Qing court has lost Jiangnan, the Huaiyang area can still provide food and money for the Qing court. If we continue to fight like this, by the time we destroy the Qing army's main camp, we will be almost half-dead. How can we attack Huai'an?"

Gao Jinku stroked his prickly beard, thought for a moment and said, "How about surrounding the Qing army camp without attacking it, and cutting off its food and water supply?"

"No, the Qing army must have stored grain. Not to mention more, there are at least enough grain to supply more than 5,000 people, two or three times the amount. As for the water source, in the Huaiyang area, water can be found if you dig five feet into the ground. The Qing army's water source will not be cut off." Wu Zhifan shook his head and said.

At this time, Du Yonghe suddenly had an idea and said, "Why not ask Director Yang to recruit civilians and dig a canal to flood the Qing army camp? I think the camp is only about 20 miles away from the Yangtze River."

"Nonsense! This is worse than a siege. By the time the water is dug, the Qing army would have starved to death for half a year!" Gao Jinku immediately refuted when he heard such unreliable words.

Zhao Yongping didn't care. After thinking for a moment, he slowly said, "The Qing army is holding on and the siege will last too long. We can't wait that long. The king ordered us to seize the Huaiyang area. I think there may be an intention to force Duoduo. In this case, we have no choice but to attack by force."

The few of them didn't have many options, so they could only nod their heads one after another. Of course, a violent attack could not be started by just putting up a few ladders. Zhao Yongping ordered the civilians to build siege equipment, shield carts, digging carts, etc., and at the same time he sent people to dismantle the artillery that was used to build the river defense and transport it to the other side by boat in order to break into the camp.

After three days of preparation, everything is ready. The only bad thing is that the weather is exceptionally cold today. The cold wind is mixed with snowflakes, whistling as if it is going to blow into the bones.

On the eve of the war, the sky was dark and the air was filled with tension. Suddenly, the sound of war drums rang out in the military camp.

The rumbling drumbeats, deep and powerful, echoed in the military camp, awakening every soldier's courage before the battle. It seemed that the drumbeats could drive away the cold, and everyone suddenly felt that the cold was gone, and was replaced by heavy breathing.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of trumpets sounded, and the sounds of war drums and trumpets intertwined together. This was the prelude to war, the call to war, and it also foreshadowed the beginning of the war.

At Zhao Yongping's command, the artillery opened fire first. Nearly forty cannons fired at the same time. The deafening sound of the cannons echoed in the air, shocking people like the collapse of the sky.

Balls of flames spewed out of the muzzle of the artillery, and the shells flew towards the Qing army camp like meteors.

Bullets hit the ground, smoke and dust rose up. Although the Qing army's camp was strong, it was still slightly inferior to the city wall. In the era of the development of firearms, the earthen walls of the camp began to crack after only one round of artillery bombardment.

Zhao Yongping shouted excitedly, he still didn't know much about artillery, the last time he saw it, the artillery was bombarding the city wall, he didn't think it was too powerful, this time when they attacked the main camp, he immediately saw the difference.

After two more rounds of artillery fire, some parts of the Qing army's earthen wall even began to collapse. Gao Jinku shook his head and said to Du Yonghe beside him: "We have discussed this for a long time, and my head is aching. We have also built a large number of equipment, but it is useless. If we fire two or three more rounds of artillery fire, a large area will probably collapse."

Du Yonghe agreed with what he said. He looked up and saw that two more rounds of bombardment had killed the Jiangbei camp, which was originally solid and tidy, and it was now in ruins. There were more than seven or eight collapsed places. Just as the gunners began to clean the barrels and apply water to cool them down, the cannon fire stopped and the battlefield fell into silence. However, less than half a cup of tea later, the sounds of drums and horns began to sound one after another.

The Zhou army rushed straight towards Ke Yongsheng's Jiangbei camp like a raging wave. Siege towers, ladders and other equipment were of no use, but shield carts and other equipment for protecting the soldiers were pushed out one after another.

The army surged towards the Qing army camp like a tide. Their weapons flashed in the sun and the soldiers' footsteps shook the earth like thunder.