A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 540 River Water and Blood Water
The artillery roared one after another, and Zhao Xuan's artillery was already covered with white smoke, and the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke filled his nostrils.

After the gun was fired, the cleaner nervously cleaned the barrel, and heard the continuous sound of water vapor from each gun.

But now the artillery battalion uses silk powder packs, each of the Hongyi cannons in the artillery battalion has fired at least ten cannons, and the barrels are still not overheated.There is also the goose feather drug tube, which is also very easy to use, better than the gunpowder rope, which makes Zhao Xuan very satisfied.

During the shelling, the observers of the basic salvo units used the gun scopes to continuously report the data loudly amidst the deafening gunfire, and the deputy holding the telescope quickly checked it.After checking the target, the aimers of each group shook the iron handle on the tail of the gun vigorously, adjusted the elevation angle of the muzzle, and prepared to fire again!

The artillery apprentices of Ren Yibing's Artillery Army Battalion nervously moved the cannons and ammunition packs out of the ammunition cart, and seized this rare opportunity for actual combat to carefully figure out the difference between actual combat and previous theoretical studies.

The Zhaoxuan artillery barracks belonged to the middle battalion. On the hill of the artillery formation, the sun, moon, and wave flags edged with golden silk were looming in the smoke.

Also looming, there are the sergeants of the artillery battalion who are constantly fighting. Their actions are tense and orderly, and their every move is well-trained, showing to the outside world the demeanor of the most elite artillery force in the East.

Satisfied, Zhao Xuan turned his eyes away from his own position, and then looked at the artillery position of the Jingbian Army a few miles to the left.

In that direction, the sound of gunfire was also endless, and the smoke was dense. Their artillery also continued to bombard the pontoon bridge on the left, as well as the Qing cavalry reinforcements on both sides of the river.They also supported the cavalry and infantry positions of the Jingbian army on the other side of the river on the left front.

When the cavalry of the Jingbian army attacked, Zhong Xiancai's right guard, the Baihu Battalion, and the Han Dynasty's rear guard, the Xuanwu Battalion, and the thousands of first-class troops in the second battalion also attacked.

They are mounted infantry, have horses, and are very mobile.Their task, in addition to forming an array to cover the artillery barracks, is also to seize some important areas on the opposite bank, so as to provide the Ming army with an early opportunity for this strategy.

At this time, the position on the opposite bank was a riverside mountain ridge occupied by the general of the rear battalion, Han Chao, who personally led the first-class troops in the battalion.

The south bank of the mountain here is close to the river. Not far to the right is a small pontoon bridge, and two miles to the right is one of the two large pontoon bridges on the Nuerhe River.

Occupying this mountain can accelerate the tension and anxiety of the Qing army on the north bank. It is believed that the direction of most of the Ming army may be moving towards Baimiaobao.

In Zhao Xuan's binoculars, the battlefield was full of smoke and dust, and the billowing cavalry were constantly charging towards the mountains. The sound of crackling birds and guns was faintly heard here, and there were bursts of shouts of killing endlessly.

The artillery formation of the Jingbian Army on the south bank, many artillery shells continued to bombard that side, breaking up waves of Qing cavalry attacking the mountains.

However, it can be seen that batches of reinforcements from the Qing army continue to arrive, and the cold light of dense guns and knives seems to be seen here.

"There are too many Tartar soldiers and horses, I hope the infantry will arrive soon!"

Zhao Xuan thought with some worry.

……

Although the reinforcements of the Qing army rushed in, under the fierce attack of Zhao Xuan's artillery, the Qing cavalry who crossed the river suffered heavy losses. The blood of the horses and Qing soldiers crossing the river seemed to have dyed the river red.

Although the beach on the river bank is relatively soft, many iron bullets fell down, but some black and yellow soil was thrown up.

However, as long as it is a little far away from the river bank, it is the land that has been hardened by the sun under the drought for many years. The elasticity of the shells after lasing is excellent. Open alleys of flesh and blood.

If the shells hit the pontoon bridge, and there happened to be another big wave of Qingqi passing by, the effect would be even more obvious.

After the artillery strikes, the Qingqi were already scattered, and after they crossed the various pontoon bridges, it was time for the formation to loosen again, which is the best time to attack halfway.

Waiting for them are the cavalry of Jingbian Army, cavalry of Xuanfu Town, and cavalry of Datong Town.

Every time their reinforcement cavalry had just crossed the river one by one, before forming an array, the tide-like bright cavalry on the opposite side would rush forward, chaotically disperse them, or even squeeze them directly into the river.

This kind of situation is not a disaster. Under the repeated impact of the cavalry of the Ming army, the cavalry of the Manchu and Mongolian banners drowned a lot of people and horses in the chaos.

Moreover, the other side was chaotic, and the follow-up reinforcements could not rush through, or it was meaningless to rush up. The Ming army's westward strategy achieved great results in a short period of time.

However, there are more and more reinforcements from the Qing army. They have many horses and are flexible. If the infantry of the Ming army cannot catch up quickly, the cavalrymen from various towns fighting on the banks of the river and in the wilderness will be in more and more dangerous situations. !

……

On the Shuangzi Mountain, the Manchuria Zhenglan Banner third-class Melezhang Jingweng Adai looked terrified in his heart, and the Zhenglan Banner soldiers beside him also had earthy faces.

It was too tragic, the casualties of the warriors were too great!
Weng Adai sighed: "I knew that if the army wanted to cross the river to help, many people would die!"

As he looked around, the surrounding area of ​​Shuangzi Mountain was already full of killing sounds. Li Fuming, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi, personally led the cavalry in the town, and the Qing soldiers who rushed down from Rufeng Mountain were fighting like a raging fire. It seemed that the defenders on the mountain had already Has reacted.

Moreover, Huang Taiji's dragon flag was rapidly moving from the east side of Rufeng Mountain to the west side, accompanied by his banner, full of soldiers and horses of Kabushi Xianchao Ha camp.

Also, because the Nuerhe section on the west side of Rufeng Mountain is difficult to cross, many Qingqi are crossing the river from the Nuuhe section on the north side of Rufeng Mountain, and then rushed down from the west side of the mountain to join the reinforcements on the south bank.

On that side, Weng Adai could see an artillery array of the Jingbian Army, more than a hundred huge artillery groups, facing the north of Shuangzi Mountain, and the Qing soldiers from the west were constantly shelling.

Their firepower was extremely fierce, and they fired quickly. Many Qing cavalry who passed not far along the mountain and river bank kept falling under their artillery fire.

Moreover, around their artillery array, there are also some musketeers and gunner armored soldiers. When the artillery array was first deployed, these armored soldiers dug trenches around the artillery array at the same time, forming a horse trap. Valid.

Not far behind these trenches, there are many small and medium-sized Frang machine guns in the artillery array, which shoot live ammunition at long distances and shot shells at close range. Coupled with excellent bird gun soldiers, the firepower is very fierce.

Those charging cavalry, without shield vehicles, without cover, died meaninglessly one by one under the rapid strikes of their guns.

Weng Adai sighed for a long time, hating the cannon formation to the bone, but there was nothing he could do.He once tried to send some soldiers down the mountain to attack the artillery formation, but before they got close to the artillery formation, they were hit by a wave of cannonballs, which damaged many of his soldiers and horses, so he had to retreat.

Not only that, but in the wilderness to the west of Mount Shuangzi, between the artillery formation, there were many cavalry from the Jingbian army. When our soldiers and horses came down the mountain and came back, they were attacked by their cavalry from the side, and many people were lost.

After this setback, Weng Adai no longer talked about going down the mountain, but only hoped to hold the mountain. However, looking to the south, the Ming army's infantry was already in sight, and it seemed that there was little hope.

He looked down the mountain numbly. At this time, on the north side of the mountain, between the Nuerhe River, another wave of reinforcements was scattered by the Jingbian army's artillery.

Then nearly a thousand Jingbian army cavalry who were waiting in full formation rushed into them, and in a blink of an eye, these scattered Qing cavalry were defeated by the Jingbian army cavalry.

Some people were in a panic and were even driven into the river. It is conceivable that they are waiting for the fate of these landlubbers.

Looking around, many Qingqi who crossed the pontoon bridge were like this. The north bank of Daughter River seemed to be a slaughterhouse for Mingqi to slaughter Qingqi, with corpses and wounded everywhere.Weng Adai was speechless, but the brave and invincible cavalry of the Qing Dynasty ended up like this, it was really helpless.

And after so long, many reinforcements have not occupied a single stronghold on the north bank.

Although more reinforcements are still rolling in, they are still in a hurry, compared with the cavalry of the Ming army, they still have no advantage.Waiting for their arrival, especially when the artillery of the Shenji Battalion of the Ming Dynasty comes, after they use the horrible poisonous and ash bombs, it is just a dream to defend their own Twin Mountains.

After asking the sky speechlessly, Weng Adai looked at the artillery formation of the Jingbian army in the wilderness at the foot of the mountain. After a long time, he could only choke out a sentence: "How come their artillery keeps ringing for so long? Wouldn't it explode? It's really strange!"

……

At the hour of the hour (eight o'clock in the morning), Zhao Xuan looked through the binoculars and finally saw in the wilderness to the south, the huge flag of the general, which was two feet high, appeared in front of his eyes. Following the flag, another The flag of the sun, the moon, and the waves flutters with passion.

One by one, the neat military formations marched resolutely towards this direction. From a distance, it seemed that their heavy footsteps could be heard.

Zhao Xuan relaxed. Although his artillery formation effectively prevented Qingqi from crossing the river, the pressure was still enormous. The cavalry of the towns on the south bank of the river also fell into a bitter battle with Qingqi.

After the infantry of the Jingbian army arrived, the infantry of the Xuanzhen army and the Datong army would also arrive one after another.

Of course, he didn't dare to expect the rest of the army to arrive together with the infantry of the Jingbian army. They didn't have the ability to march, and neither could Yang Guozhu's new army.

At the same time, he was proud that he traveled more than 20 miles from the west of Huangtuling to the Naughty River. His own army set off at the beginning of the morning, and when they were wearing armor and marching hurriedly, they completed these distances in half an hour. The name of a strong army is worthy of the name.

He turned to look at the other bank of the river, spreading to the end of the sky, waves of black tide still coming from the wilderness on the other side of the river.The pontoon bridge on the right front was crowded with Qing soldiers who came to help. All their armors and flags were white with red borders, which seemed to be soldiers and horses of Tartars with white flags.

Either the Manchu Eight Banners or the Mongolian Eight Banners, definitely not the Han Eight Banners, they don't have so many cavalry.

Zhao Xuan put down the binoculars and shouted loudly: "Boys, give the Tartars on the bridge a hard time!"

Although the gunners of the Jingbian Army in the artillery formation were exhausted, they still heard strange noises and their morale was high.

Zhao Xuan was satisfied, and then he shouted: "A gun crew, get ready for salvo!"

Immediately, Mr. Qian, who was in charge of the other side, shouted, "Get ready for salvo!"

Immediately, the gunners under his command turned their cannons swiftly, twenty Hongyi six-pound guns, with black muzzles, all pointed towards the pontoon bridge.

Salvo, not only the simultaneous firing of the artillery, but also the landing point of the shells, falling in the same range, the error should not be too large.

It is difficult for idle gunners to meet the requirements, but it is common for Jingbian Army artillerymen trained with huge guns.

(End of this chapter)