I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 253
The width of the Huai River is only two or three miles at its widest, and only about one mile at its narrowest.

Cao Di and his troops braved the Ming army's artillery fire. In fact, there were no casualties at all. They successfully crossed the river and landed on a tidal flat west of Fengyang.

This place is very close to Changhuai Guard, one of the eight guards in Zhongdu.It was built as early as the Tang and Song Dynasties, and together with Tianjin Wei and Weihai Wei, it was known as the Three Davids.

Further west from Changhuaiwei is Bengbu Ji (Bengbu).In the early Ming Dynasty, an official warehouse was set up here to be responsible for the transportation of grain to Fengyang, the central capital.

Cao Di led his army to land at Changhuaiwei Ferry, and the entire ferry beach was ablaze.Judging from the number of torches on both sides, the strength of the two armies is already equal, and the Qing army's torches are even denser.

The Ming army general responsible for the garrison of the ferry was named Xu Qing'an. He was the commander of the Fourth Town of the First Army and was also a newly added unit to the First Army.

Seeing a large number of torches landing on the ferry beach, Xu Qingan rode his horse with no fear on his face.

Surrounded by the New Army soldiers of the Fourth Town, they were quickly forming formations under the torch-lit night according to the muscle memory gained from daily drills.

Similarly, the Qing troops who landed on the tidal flat also quickly formed their formations amidst the shouts and curses of officers at all levels.

From here we can see the difference between the northern and southern green camps. Although the Qing army was also full of shouts and riots, the formation speed alone was much faster than that of the southern green camps.

Moreover, the equipment of these tidal Qing troops is also not weak. Not only do they have standard firecrackers battalions, but they also have a very high proportion of equipment, as well as heavy infantry and crossbowmen.

There were originally cavalry, and they were real cavalry. However, due to the darkness of night, it was more dangerous for cavalry and horses to cross the river than for ordinary infantry.

Fortunately, the Ming army basically had no cavalry, and the only cavalry they had could only be regarded as mounted infantry.

Moreover, the war horses are also the kind of southwest ponies, which are usually only used for scouting and reconnaissance, as well as local military information transmission, etc.

But it doesn’t matter. Last year, the Ming Dynasty sent a horse-buying fleet to Goa through the Portuguese in Macau. Calculating the time and mileage, it’s time to come back now.

With the Indian specialty Marwar war horse (Bixin horse), the Ming army could also start to form its own cavalry battalion.

I just don’t know if the Manchu Qing Dynasty can survive until the day when the Ming Army’s cavalry battalion comes into being.

On the Qing army's side, the heavy infantry, crossbowmen, and musket battalions lined up one after another and advanced.

"Boom boom boom!"

While the two sides were marching, the Ming army's artillery battalion suddenly opened fire.

The Ming army's artillery fire frightened Cao for the first time, and also caused a small-scale commotion in the Qing army's formation.

However, Cao Di, who has been on the battlefield for a long time, quickly made a judgment based on experience, drew his sword and shouted: "Hold still, don't mess up, the whole army advances! The rebel artillery can't hit the next shot."

It's true that I can't shoot the next shot.

It was dark at night, and the distance between the two armies was too close, only more than 400 meters. The artillery could only fire one or two shots at most.

Xu Qingan raised his hand: "Stop the whole army!"

Behind them, officers quickly issued orders one by one: "Stop!"

The five thousand Ming army quickly stopped.

The officers of the Fire Gun Battalion gave orders one after another: "Get ready, raise the gun!"

The Ming army's firearms have been gradually replaced this year, and the entire army has replaced the original matchlocks with new flintlock muskets.

The flintlock gun is not much more powerful than the matchlock gun, but it is not as susceptible to weather restrictions as the matchlock gun, and it also eliminates the need for steps such as igniting the matchlock, which greatly increases the rate of fire of the firelock.

"aim!"

"shooting!"

"Bang bang bang!"

A volley, all blind.

Still suffering from the dark sky, they relied on the light of a torch to determine where the Qing army was.

One round of shooting is over, and the second round follows.

"Bang bang bang!"

"Bang bang bang!"

"Shhhhhh!"

With the second salvo of the Ming army, the Qing army also reacted. The musketry battalion and the crossbowmen lit up their front and rear legs to shoot and release arrows.

But due to the haste of shooting, he basically didn't aim very much. He just pointed where the light was and hit it.

The crossbowmen are even worse. It is now the first year of Yongzheng's reign, and the Qing army's cavalry and crossbow shooting has long been no longer what it was in the early Qing Dynasty.

The Manchu and Qing crossbows in the early Qing Dynasty all used heavy arrows. Just training with the crossbow required fifteen strength.Nowadays, fire guns are very popular, and the Manchu and Qing crossbows have become lonely. Even the northwest frontier army uses only eight-power bows at most.

Bali's crossbows were still shooting black and white. Even if they were hit by arrows, they would hardly be fatal. They might not even be able to cause the Ming army to lose its combat effectiveness.

After a round of shooting, only a few unlucky guys in the front row of the two armies were hit by bullets and arrows, and most of them were only wounded and not fatal.

"Ah, my legs!"

"My hand hurts!"

"..."

This is the soldier who was hit by an arrow and was wailing in pain. There were Ming and Qing soldiers, but no one paid attention to them.

"Bang bang bang!"

The three-stage shot of the Ming army's gunfire was fired, but it was still a blind attack. Xu Qing'an did not give the Qing army a chance to react, and then he drew his sword and shouted: "The whole army charges! The Ming Dynasty will be victorious!"

"Beep beep beep..."

"Da Ming Wansheng!"

The charge horn sounded, the Ming army shouted in unison, and then the front line charged towards the Qing army formation opposite.

On the opposite side, Cao Di also gave up waiting for the fire gun battalion to fire slowly. He also raised his sword and shouted: "My sons, follow me to suppress the rebels!"

"Kill! Kill the rebels!"

The Qing troops shouted in unison.Under the cover of night, all bows, crossbows and fire guns lost their effect, and the battle returned to the purest hand-to-hand combat.

As soon as the front lines of the two armies engaged in battle, the heavy infantrymen of the Qing army's front line noticed something was wrong.

Why are the infantry of these pseudo-Ming rebels different from theirs? The texture of the sword cutting down seems to have hit a whole piece of iron plate.

The Nanjing Ordnance Bureau has already set up a plate armor assembly line, and all the produced full-body armor, half-body armor, and breastplates were immediately dispatched to the Huaibei and Jiangxi front lines.

Among them, the Huaibei front line had the most plate armor, and it was impossible to have a single set of them. However, half of the first campers were equipped with plate armor.

The number of plate infantry in the Ming Army was basically the same as that of heavy infantry in the Qing Army. The only difference between the two was the degree of training.

The Ming Army's plate armor infantry had not been trained specifically, and the Qing Army's heavy infantry had previously fought against the Mongolian cavalry of the Junggar.

At this time, Junggar's strength was not weak at all, especially after Galdan died and his nephew Cewang Alabutan took power.Junggar has already begun training and building fire cavalry on a large scale, and in the next few years will wipe out the decline of being suppressed by the Qing Dynasty.

This is why during the Yongzheng Dynasty, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties tended to shrink their defense lines against Junggar in the northwest.

Speaking of which, if we change to the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the early Qing Dynasty, that was when it was the most powerful. If you can't beat it, join it. If you are blown up by the Ming army's artillery, then follow the mass production of artillery and learn the corresponding tactics.

If you can't beat the firecrackers, then learn how to fight with marquees and chariots, and use marquees to fight against the Ming army's cannons. In fact, there was a time when the Qing army rushed into the formation without waiting for the marquees, resulting in heavy casualties. After Nurhachi learned about it, he immediately ordered that no chariots be allowed to fight without marauders. Charge into battle.

The Qing Dynasty's success was not just a matter of luck.

However, these fine traditions were maintained until the early Qing Dynasty.

Because later the Manchu and Qing Dynasties discovered that they could win the battle simply by relying on their superior strength, so it was a waste of time to learn tactics.

The hand-to-hand combat had just begun, and the Qing army became increasingly frightened as they fought.

Previously, I was just wondering about the unusual infantry of the Ming army. Now, why are these rebels so difficult to deal with.

Yes, they are just difficult to deal with. Even the plate armored infantry of the Ming Army are just that in the eyes of these Qing heavy infantry.

But the problem is, they have been fighting like this until now. Not only can they not break through the Ming army's front line, they are even vaguely divided and surrounded.

The rebels are trying to counterattack!
how can that be! ?
The Qing army had almost crushed the bandits who had attacked the four provinces of Shanhe before, even the great rebel Liu Ruhan. They had never fought such a tough battle as now.

Not to mention winning, he couldn't even gain an advantage.

At this time, Xu Qingan suddenly issued an order again: "Grenadiers advance!"

The darkness of the night limited the use of guns and crossbows, but the grenadiers were not affected at all, especially now that the two armies were mixed together like minced meat.

The Ming army is planning to stop practicing martial ethics.

"preparation!"

"Light it up, throw the bomb!"

Hundreds of dark iron grenade hammers with wooden handles perfectly blended into the night and fell into the Qing army's formation.

"Bang bang bang!"

Violent explosions with flames exploded everywhere in the Qing army's formation, blooming everywhere, and the Qing soldiers who were bombed on the spot fell on their backs.

No matter what type of soldier you are, no matter how thick your armor is, it will be useless against sugar-coated grenades and hammers.

Cao Di, who was guarded by his own soldiers, was stunned.

What's so special about this?
Didn't wait for him to react.

Xu Qingan shouted the order again: "Get ready!"

"Light it up, throw the bomb!"

"Bang bang bang!"

Another hundred grenade hammers, just like the previous time, completely blindly thrown.

No matter where the explosion was, it was definitely not friendly forces.Moreover, the explosion radius of the grenade hammer can always kill several people as long as it is not far from the Qing army's formation.

This was a dark night, completely black. The only faint light from the fuse was the grenade hammer, which could not attract anyone's attention. There was no way to avoid it.

The Qing army still doesn't know where the attack came from.

Is this an artillery piece?impossible!
When the artillery fires, there must be a huge sound. It is obviously their own military formation that is exploding.

Cao Di was stunned for a moment, then suddenly came back to his senses, remembering that before the war, Commander Zhang Wenhuan seemed to have specially preached that the puppet rebels seemed to have a magical firearm that could explode and be astonishingly powerful.

At first, Cao Di's generals didn't pay much attention, and even the coach Zhang Wenhuan only mentioned it out of veteran caution.

This is so powerful!

Cao Di immediately yelled: "Hold on, this is just a rebel weapon, you are not allowed to retreat!"

But it was already too late. The Qing army had long been stunned by two rounds of grenade hammer bombing.

Although they didn't shout any magic, they started to retreat spontaneously. Many Qing soldiers simply threw away their torches.

Xu Qingan was not a fool, so how could he not notice the Qing army's changes.

Even if the Qing army did not collapse, he would still have to charge.

Xu Qingan raised his sword and shouted: "Charge the whole army!"

The front line of the Ming army took the lead in charging towards the disintegrated Qing army.

In the rear, the gun battalion and the grenadiers also put their guns back, then drew their sabers and charged with the army.

Finished!

This was Cao Di's last thought.

　A brief update

　　
　
(End of this chapter)