Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 341 Night Attack under the Cover of the Quilt Army

When Dai Senbao saw hundreds of people running up from the back of Bei Haijun, he knew that the remaining 500 people he had left could only be dishes.In desperation, he could only withdraw the horse team to the west side of the first ditch, and at the same time send someone to report the situation to Mingliang, waiting for the next step.

Shuo Yunbao and Wan Ting, the guards of Xiangbai Banner who were sent out to harass, were also beaten and ran away.Although the two teams of troops caused some troubles to the North Navy with the dense forest cover, the dense rain of machine gun bullets did not have to hit people to cause damage; the wood chips and ricochets caused by bullets hitting trees and stones were sometimes more direct than bullets. Hitting the human body is even more terrifying.

In the Ningguta camp, Mingliang received the battle reports from the front one after another: "Commander! The bandit team is only five or six thousand, and the people who rely on it fire their muskets fiercely. "

After discussing with the left and right, Mingliang decided to adjust the deployment and ordered Daisenbao's troops to move to the north bank of the Hualan River in the northwest of Daying for defense, while Shuoyunbao and Wanting's troops retreated to the villages in the south of Daying for defense.

The [-] cavalry who returned to the west side of the first ditch on the north bank of the Hualan River formed a huge camp with a radius of three kilometers. They were waiting for an opportunity. Once there was a disconnect between the marching units of the Northern Navy, it would be the best time for them to attack.

In the second trench on the east side of the Qing army camp, tens of thousands of Qing troops armed with muskets were waiting in full force.Except for the more than 1000 flag camp musketeers from Ili who used flintlocks, most of the rest of the Qing army still used matchlocks.

It is often said in later generations that the emperors of the Qing Dynasty used the world's most advanced muskets for hunting, but they did not equip the Manchu and Han soldiers.

But is this really the case?Many people confuse standard weapons with handicrafts.

The standard shotguns of the early Qing army were indeed passed down from the Ming army, but since Kangxi and Yongzheng conquered Junggar, the Qing army’s standard muskets were mainly imitations of Junggar’s "Zambala muskets", that is, Huihui guns, which vary in size.

The big one is the "Huibu Cannon" mounted on a saddle-shaped base, and the small one is the "Huibu Huaqiang".

The source of the muskets of the Junggar Weitra ministries, after some early views have been repeatedly emphasized, makes people mistakenly think that they are all supported by the Russians.Historically, when Tsarist Russia expanded to the interior of Asia in the 16th and 17th centuries, it was strictly forbidden to export firearms to Kazakhstan, Weitra, and Khalkha Mongol ministries out of self-interest considerations. It even promulgated the prohibition twice in 1620 and 1694. Ban on the export of firearms to Mongolia.

Tsarist Russian flintlock guns were only allowed to be exported as gifts, and the quantity was very small.Of course, sporadic smuggling also exists, but the scale is not large.When fighting Kangxi, the number of Junggar's firearms troops was as high as 8000 to 12000. It is certainly impossible to form such a large firearms army by smuggling alone.

In fact, Junggar's largest source of muskets at that time was the largest country in Central Asia, and the source was the Ottoman Empire.Don't look down on matchlock guns. The Ottomans fought four "Russian-Turkish Wars" with Tsarist Russia with this light and suitable "Zambala Musket" for cavalry tactics.

根据雍正时期岳钟琪的奏折内容得知，清军仿制的“回部套花枪”有效射程270步（83~96米），最大射程500~600步（150~185米）；而同一时期燧发枪的有效射程也不过是100码--91米。（千万别拿射击比赛用的燧发枪射程来抬杠，那和大规模制式装备的根本不一样。）
During the Yongzheng Dynasty, the Manchu Qing General’s Mansion in Xi’an produced a total of 4800 rods. By the 51st year of Qianlong’s reign, the inventory of the “Zambala Firearms” in the Armed Forces Institute was as high as [-] rods.

Considering that the misfire rate of flintlock guns in the 18th century was obviously higher than that of matchlock guns, if you were the emperor, which one would you choose?
There are three defensive trenches set up by the Qing army in the Ningguta camp. In order to prevent the soldiers from expending a lot of physical strength when transferring, Ming Ming set the distance between each trench to [-] steps. Still think it's too far away.

In the afternoon, after learning that the North Navy was stationed in a village ten miles southwest of Ningguta, Mingliang decided to launch a night attack.

The Eight Banners troops are not the green battalions in Guannei. Relying on good food and a lot of meat, the Eight Banners troops do not have night blindness at all. If it is replaced by the miserable green camp, they will all become blind at night.

For this night attack, the Qing army also took great pains.A certain Zan Yin surnamed drew an idea that caught the generals' eyes, and Liang Liang actually thought it was very creative.

The idea was to form a "quilt army" of 2000 men.
Wet the two quilts with water, then paste a thick layer of black-gray mud, dry them with fire, nail a wooden frame to the back of the quilts, and four soldiers carry them forward.Yin Zanhua believes that this can not only defend against the muskets of the Beihai Navy to a certain extent, but also cover the sneak attacking troops.

With the commander's order, the banks of the Huerha River at dusk quickly became very noisy. A large group of peasants came driving cars and carrying loads, bringing one bed after another of quilts.

In the Yaksa warship on the river, the sailors who were having dinner heard the movement, and they all ran to the deck to watch the Western view.I said in my heart that the enemy is now at hand, why are these guys still in the mood to wash the quilt?Also Intuit heartless!

After looking at it for a while, the sailors realized that with a good quilt, the peasants just threw it into the river to absorb the water, then fished it up and spread it on the bank, and then began to splash river mud on it at night. , Let all the sailors look at each other in blank dismay, even forgot to eat dinner.

The night attack troops were still led by Shuo Yunbao, the leader of the Xiangbaiqi Guard Army, and Wan Ting, the leader of the Guard Army. In addition to the 3000 quilt troops, 5000 people were transferred to them to form a night attack force of [-] people. .

The bright intention is that once the raiding troops start to attack, the [-] cavalry troops on the north bank of the Hualan River will take advantage of the situation and attack in order to cause a major blow to the North Navy.

Make it or break it!If the sneak attack succeeds, everything will be fine tomorrow;Can't fail!

The Qing army was a seasoned veteran of sneak attacks at night. The tactics of attacking Jinchuan, Burma, and Junggar were tried and tested.The time to launch the attack was set at the beginning of the ugly end of the next day, which was the time when the guards were most lax at night.

When they are young, they bury the pot to make food, eat and drink enough, and check the weapons.Bright rewards for the raiding troops were also issued. For each Bei Haijun killed, the reward was 50 taels of silver; for capturing a bursting musket, the reward was 80 taels of silver;

He estimated that the Beihai Navy had killed seven to eight thousand people this time. Even if they were all killed, the head reward would only be 8000 yuan. Counting the weapons seized, the sum would be only three to five million yuan, which is really a bargain.

At the beginning of the week, a night attack force of 5000 troops was dispatched quietly; Daisenbao's cavalry troops also entered the starting position with their horses bound and their mouths in their mouths.

The [-] cotton cloth army walked in front holding [-] muddy cotton cloth camouflages, and behind them were [-] musketeers, [-] archers, artillerymen carrying returning artillery and the second general's artillery.

When entering the battlefield to launch a surprise attack, the archers had to squat forward, while the musketeers stood and followed.

When moving forward, there are gaps between the rows of quilt camouflage, which are used to fire guns and bows and arrows; if viewed from the front, in the dark night, the quilt camouflage at the front of each row tightly blocks the people behind Reality.

During this period, the military discipline of the Eight Banners troops was very good. Apart from the sound of footsteps, no one spoke while the troops were marching.

When they were two miles away from the North Navy station, they stopped to rest and waited for the report from the vanguard battalion in charge of reconnaissance. They learned that the sentries except the village were still swimming, and the North Navy in the village had fallen asleep.

Shuo Yunbao, the leader of the guard army, was overjoyed when he heard this. He asked the soldiers to rest in place for a while, and then ordered the teams to move on.

At this time, no one in the Qing army noticed that in the dark night sky, several drones the size of a palm were floating over their heads towards the village.
At the starting position of the Qing cavalry on the north bank of the Hualan River, many war horses stood up their ears and shook their heads a little uneasily.

Dai Senbao, who was in the tent, heard the movement outside, and his opponent Geshha asked: "What's going on? Go and have a look."

Nagoshha went out for a while, and came back to report: "My lord, there seems to be a swarm of wasps in the sky outside, buzzing non-stop."

"Hornet?" Dai Senbao and several generals walked out of the tent and looked up at the sky.

On a dark night, nothing but stars could be seen in the sky. Suddenly, a general pointed to a place in the sky and said, "My lord, look!"

Everyone stared at the general's finger, and finally saw a very faint red dot, which seemed to be ten feet above his head, flickering.

what is this? !Dai Senbao and the generals were shocked.After a stick of incense, the red dot seemed to have risen a lot, becoming more obscure and difficult to distinguish, and then drifted away to the southeast.

"Sorcerer? Monster?" When everyone returned to the tent, the expressions on their faces were full of surprise and astonishment.
At the second quarter of Yinchu, the "quilt army" of the Qing soldiers finally arrived one mile away from the Beihai Navy's garrison, while the village in the distance was still silent.At this time, the quilt columns from all walks of life had spread out in a fan shape, and began to surround the village.

Just when the Qing army was 300 meters away from the village, suddenly, there was a muffled sound of "嗵" from the village.A moment later, the sky was full of light, and the entire wilderness was illuminated like daytime, and the five thousand night raiders of the Qing army had nowhere to hide.

"Thieves have magic tricks!"

"It's over!"

Daisenbao froze on the spot as if he had been frozen.

At this time, a series of shrill whistles began to sound, and the Bei Haijun, who had been waiting for a long time, finally showed its fangs.

"Fire!"

In an instant, gunshots broke out, and the originally quiet village instantly turned into a volcano; dense rain of bullets erupted from the north, west, and south of the entire village, and the first to be knocked down were the so-called "quilt troops".

"You must lean in! Otherwise, everyone will become a target! Brothers, kill!"

The first thing that came to his senses was that the guards participated in the leadership of Wanting. He raised his knife and shouted. Some musketeers who came back to the memory pulled the trigger on the Beihai Navy 21 meters away.Those Qing soldiers with bows and arrows took advantage of the smoke, bent their waists and ran forward desperately.

Come closer!Get any closer and shoot them dead!
"Boom! Boom!."

Groups of flames erupted in the ranks of the Qing army, and the mortars of the Beihai Navy opened fire.

"Boom! Boom!" Another two flares rose into the sky, and thousands of Qing soldiers ran across the wilderness like headless chickens. Wherever the crowd was densest, the most people fell.

In the hail of bullets, the muskets of the Qing army still kept firing. After shooting, they bent forward, and after a dozen steps, they stood up and began to charge the matchlock guns.While people kept falling, others kept advancing, shooting, and advancing.

The shotgun soldiers of the Qing army were almost like walking gunpowder barrels. When many people were hit by random guns or shells, a large ball of flames suddenly rose up and turned into a human-shaped torch.

Gradually, the surviving Qing army was suppressed by the rain of bullets and lay down on the ground, not daring to move. Those who dared to stand up and shoot were all beaten into a sieve.

Shuo Yunbao lay on the ground and cursed: "Why isn't that bastard Dai Senbao here yet!"

Wan Ting, who was crawling forward, hid in a bomb crater dragging his painfully injured leg. While tearing off his clothes to bandage, he shouted to the surroundings: "Keep running, don't stop!"

In the direction of the Hualan River, the [-] cavalry of the Qing army knew that there was an exchange of fire when they saw the flickering lights and the roaring guns in the distant sky.

Dai Senbao was hesitating whether to send out, when Geshha sent by Mingliang arrived with a token and ordered him to send out support quickly.

"Everyone! Get on your horse!"

The sound of rumbling horseshoes began to sound, and tens of thousands of horseshoes galloped across the field, rolling across the ground like thunder.

The Beihai Navy, who was guarding behind the bunker, knew that the biggest test was coming.If the cavalry cannot be repulsed, they will fall into close combat.

The tactics of the Qing cavalry were still "slanting and crossing", but the bows and arrows were replaced by muskets.When they arrived from the northwest of the village, the Northern Navy's shelling target had already become them.

"Woo~~"

The dull conch sounded, and the cavalry of the Qing army divided into ten waves with 500 people as a wave, intending to use this layered wave-like attack method to break through the defense line of the Northern Navy.

The striker pushed forward while raising the matchlock gun on the horse and firing. Those who fired the gun sat on the galloping horseback and reloaded the musket. These are skills they have practiced long ago.

"Get ready~listen to my password~"

"beat!"

When the Second Regiment guarding the north side of the village raised their muskets one after another before the cavalry of the Qing army passed by the village, ten light machine guns fired one after another.The rain of bullets mixed with tracer bullets was like red whips, pulling the Qing soldiers who were galloping from the front of the formation off their horses.

At the same time, the artillery units of the Qing army who were desperately catching up from the rear rushed to a position 200 meters away from the village against the artillery fire and bullet rain. set fire.

"Boom! Boom!."

"Be careful! Get down!" Hundreds of broad bean-sized shotguns passed over several positions of the Beihai Navy like a gust of wind, and then there were several screams.

The artillerymen of the Qing army tried to reload and shoot again, but as the flares came on, a dense rain of bullets hit them, killing and wounding them immediately, and they could no longer organize the shelling.

The machine guns on the North Navy position continued to fire, from the initial easy bursts to non-stop, and the barrels of the first few machine guns that fired had begun to glow red.

Although the Northern Navy's shooting caused huge damage, it failed to stop the advance of the Qing cavalry; they seemed to stand out from the ashes, and the dense rain of bullets was not enough to knock them down, and even approached so close to the bunker. There are 30 meters.

The frantic shooting of machine guns forced the Qing cavalry to continue to march southward at a fast speed. They kept screaming on horseback and continued to fire in vain until they advanced to bypass the left flank of the Northern Navy.At this time, the machine guns in the southwest also changed their shooting targets to these cavalry, and the yelling of the survivors gradually fell silent under the continuous shooting.

Finally, the Qing cavalry could no longer bear the huge casualties and began to turn around and retreat.And as the cavalry retreated, those Qing troops who were lying on the field and unable to move an inch also began to collapse. They turned around cleverly and ran with the cavalry, while others lay on the ground crying for their father and mother; Covered with mud quilts, trying to get away with it.

A few flares rose again in the sky, the whistle in the North Navy position was shrill, and the sound of killing sounded. The troops of the two regiments rushed out of the bunker and began to pursue the fleeing Qing army.

The gunpowder smoke filled the air, and amidst the changing light and shadow, Wan Ting, the guard commander whose leg was injured by the shrapnel, saw several Beihai Navy rushing towards him, and shouted, "Your Majesty, I have given you my allegiance!" After saying that, he raised his knife suicide.

Hundreds of meters away, Daisenbao, who had a bullet hole in his cheek and was unconscious, was carried by several rout soldiers and was fleeing westward.

As the light of the flares on the battlefield gradually dimmed, the fish-belly white in the eastern sky became more and more clear.

Day, it is about to dawn.

　There is really a history of the quilt army. It happened during the Battle of the Two Crows. I was also drunk when I read the materials.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)