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

Chapter 258 The camp collapsed
Qing army camp.

Pieces of fire continued to burn around the perimeter.

"The water is gone! The water is gone!"

"Put out the fire, put out the fire!"

"Help! Kill the rebel cavalry..."

Although those Mingqi soldiers were all novices, no matter how new they were, facing the Qing infantry scurrying about in the dark, not to mention fighting, at least they could come and go like the wind without any problem.

Mingqi quickly took advantage of the chaos caused by arson to rush into the core area of ​​the Qing army's camp, and then saw many Qing soldiers holding torches and gathering in a hurry.

They were all infantry and horseless cavalry. The cavalry horses were not in front of them. It was so chaotic at night that many cavalrymen had difficulty finding their horses.

The Qing troops who gathered their troops in a hurry immediately discovered the Ming cavalry rushing into the camp. The leading Qing army general was stunned: "Why are the cavalry here?"

He did not recognize that these cavalrymen were not his own. Although they all held torches, the visibility was not high. The difference in clothing and armor could only be noticed if you looked closely.

Moreover, who would have thought that enemy cavalry would appear in his own camp and steal his own horses.

"The grenadier battalion obeys orders!"

"Light it up, throw it!"

When the Qing general saw the "own" cavalry stopped sixty steps (30 meters) away, he instantly realized something was wrong.

However, he did not wait for him to arrive and sent someone to question him (send him to his death).

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Continuous explosions were accompanied by fire and the screams of the Qing soldiers. These Qing troops who had gathered in a hurry directly became a living target.

Originally, if they were running around, or were a small group of troops, they would not attract the attention of these Mingqi.

This gathering of troops not only attracts attention, but is also crowded with people. Just throwing in a few rounds from the grenade hammer can kill and injure dozens of people at least.

These Mingqi threw at least eleven or twelve grenade hammers in one round.

When this explosion occurred, the Qing army, which had just barely gathered its troops, was instantly blown to pieces.

It was even more impossible to regroup and organize a counterattack, because the Qing general was standing slightly forward and was hit in the head by the shrapnel exploded by the grenade hammer.

I don’t know if he is dead or not, but he has already fallen to the ground.

After destroying the Qing army, these Ming cavalrymen, led by General Qian, continued to gallop around the camp, causing chaos.

As soon as they saw the Qing army gathering troops, they would blast them with grenades. If they didn't see them, they would just set fire to the camp.

After several rounds of back and forth, all the grenade hammers on the grenadier's waist were used up.

The entire Qing army camp, from the periphery to the middle area, was filled with flames.The Qing troops in the camp were either putting out fires or fighting each other.

Well, it was more like blowing up the camp than fighting each other.

The ancient army was a high-risk occupation. In the cold weapon era, the death and casualty rates of soldiers were extremely high. Even with the advent of firearms in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, this was still the case.

Moreover, in addition to death in battle, there are also meals, pay, training intensity, scolding by generals, strict (severe, not harsh, different meanings) military discipline in the army, etc.

Soldiers who have been in such an environment for a long time will inevitably accumulate huge psychological pressure.

There were no psychiatrists in ancient times, which is why ancient generals allowed army sergeants to gather in groups to gamble. In addition to taking away the soldiers' money and allowing them to fight better, it also allowed the soldiers to relieve stress.

Although these Qing troops under Zhang Wenhuan were elite soldiers transferred from the northwest battlefield, they had been licking blood on the edge of the desert for a long time, and their skills were gained from the dead, which also meant that their pressure was much greater than that of the green camp in the south.Moreover, they were raided at night and caught off guard. The Ming army also stole their horses, set fire to them and threw sugar bombs everywhere.

All the Qing soldiers outside the camp have gone crazy!
From the very beginning, some Qing soldiers were in the dark, frantically slashing and killing the "rebels" within earshot, and then the entire outer camp became a melee.

When Ding Gang led the main force of the town, as well as the troops from other towns that landed, and gathered a small force of [-] to attack the Qing army camp, he discovered that the outside of the camp had long lost the ability to resist.

Ding Gang did not stop the Qing troops who were killing each other. He decisively led his troops on a rampage, killing all the rebels who blocked the road, and did not even ask for surrender.

It's late at night, and you're still recruiting prisoners. You really don't know how to write the word "death," right?

Ding Gang led his army on a rampage and did not encounter his own cavalry. Instead, he collided with Zhang Wenhuan's tangled infantry and cavalry mixed corps.

Zhang Wenhuan was aware of the chaos in the camp, and even realized that someone was deliberately creating chaos, but it was too late for him to stop it.

He simply smashed the jars and smashed them, and with the tens of thousands of soldiers and armors he had finally assembled, he headed towards Huangdu Ferry.

As long as the ferry is recaptured, the false rebels left on the river bank are like water without roots and trees without roots, so they should not be ignored at all.

Zhang Wenhuan has already decided that he must recapture the ferry and then quickly return to Guzhen with his entire army.

No, it’s not possible to stay in Guzhen. It’s still too dangerous and we should return to Suzhou County.

Zhang Wenhuan finally made up his mind. Although he still had [-] Sauron soldiers in hand, plus the remaining tens of thousands of remaining soldiers, he was already sure that the Huai River could not be retained.

It is necessary to keep some of the elite soldiers of the imperial court, and they cannot all be lost here in Huai River.Otherwise, it doesn't matter if he himself dies, it would be a huge sin to implicate the Qing Dynasty.

At least we should hold on to Xuzhou and wait for the imperial army, which might be able to fight.

However, this is useless even if it has the power to fight.

The pseudo-Ming rebels are sitting on the Huai River defense line, and there is a wealthy town in the south of the Yangtze River.

To put it bluntly, Pseudo-Ming could be defeated once, twice, or three times, but if the Qing Dynasty was defeated once, it would make the situation worse.

The only hope is that everything goes well in Huguang, just tug-of-war!
Longkodo has the Huguang granary and the advantage of the Yangtze River waterway, so he shouldn't be so useless, right?
“Mr. Ding Town, it’s an army of purging dogs!”

Ding Gang was startled, then smiled ferociously: "It seems that we are very lucky to have achieved military success again so soon!"

Opposite Zhang Wenhuan was equally surprised: "You are pretending to be a traitor!"

Although he hadn't gotten close yet, based on his experience, he immediately recognized that this was the Ming army.

At this time, there are so many people gathered in the camp, it is absolutely impossible for them to be friendly forces.

Zhang Wenhuan was originally going to Huangdu to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army. Now that he encountered them, it was naturally impossible to turn around and escape, and he could not escape.

The Qing army's camp was built on a large site, and the place where the two armies met happened to be the school ground used for martial arts exercises in the camp.At least it would be okay to start a war involving tens of thousands of people.

Both sides had the same idea and had a tacit understanding to slow down their advance and at the same time began to quickly form formations.

Judging from the strength of the troops, the Ming army had more than [-] people. Except for the headquarters town of Ding Gang, the rest were temporarily mixed landing troops from the two towns.

Zhang Wenhuan's troops were more mixed. Although they were all Eight Banners soldiers, they had infantry, cavalry, and horseless cavalry.

There were also musketeers and crossbowmen, but they were extremely disorganized. Even some of the heavy infantry had no time to wear armor.

If calculated purely based on regular army establishment, the strength of both sides is basically similar.

(End of this chapter)