Chapter 279: Death Battle on the South Road [Subscribe Please]

[Thanks to book friend ‘ytl12345’ for the 500 reward]

When the two sides met officially, it was already early October. At this time, many places in the north had already seen the first snow of winter, while the south still had the lingering autumn charm. The Fu Han army’s eastern front was stationed in Jiangyan Town, and the main force of the Qing army stayed in Hai’an Town. The war was about to break out, and the heavy and solemn atmosphere was not reduced by even a little bit even in the fighting in the south of the Yangtze River. Too many eyes from all over the country were focused on this battle.

I don’t know who started it first, but now a ‘rumor’ has spread all over the south of the Yangtze River: If the Fu Han army wins this battle, great things can be expected. The significance of the battle in northern Jiangsu has been raised to a higher level.

Although this battle is indeed very important to the Fu Han army, it is much more important than the Battle of Gunhe in Chen Ming’s eyes.

The Qing army stood firm and immediately sent cavalry to infiltrate Jiangyan Town. However, Taizhou is a place where waterways crisscross the south and north, which is not suitable for large cavalry to enter. Only in the east, the large area between Taizhou City and Jiangyan Town, there is not a single river, but there are much fewer rivers than in the north and south.

Chen Ming chose Taizhou as the place for the decisive battle, and it is not without reason. The crisscrossing waterways in the north and south restricted the Qing army cavalry's flanking attack, and also made the Qing army cavalry lose a lot of deterrence.

In a head-on showdown, Chen Ming's requirements for this battle are only two words-decisive victory!

The Fu Han Army must win!

"Boom boom boom..."

Several shotgun shells were fired at the Qing army cavalry strolling outside the position, and the broken shotgun shells were like a big net falling from the sky. The Qing army cavalry never stopped. The cavalry on horseback clamped their horses' bellies after hearing the cannon fire, and let their mounts run faster. But the tail was still caught by the shotgun shells.

The thumb-sized iron balls were like sharp arrows shot from a giant crossbow. Not to mention the small bodies of people, even the large bodies of war horses, once they hit, they would be shot in the eyes, and holes would be shot out, not just shallow blood holes.

Duan Yonggui was shocked by the shattered corpses behind him. In all these years of military service, he had seen many dead people, but he had never seen a group of people die so miserably. More than a dozen riders fell to the ground, and neither the people nor the horses were dead. But the splattering blood, white brains, arms and legs knocked off by the iron balls, and the big snow holes on their bodies meant that the people and horses were dead, which made Duan Yonggui feel cold.

As a hereditary assistant commander of the Han Army's Zhengbai Banner, Duan Yonggui was less than 30 years old this year, and he served as a lieutenant general in Handan. He was skilled in archery and horse riding, and he had worked in Shengjing in his early years. After the Green Camp of Zhili gathered, Wang Jintai transferred him to the cavalry and led two or three hundred cavalrymen as a lieutenant general. It was very unfair, but Duan Yonggui felt that it was much safer to lead the cavalry than to continue to lead the Green Camp. The horses ran fast. But now it seems that the danger of this cavalry is not small.

"Boom boom boom..."

Several three-jin cannons sounded, and Duan Yonggui saw several iron bullets sliding from the sky from a distance, which scared him so much that he kicked the horse's belly. The iron bullets didn't seem to be fast, and they arrived in front of him in a blink of an eye. "Boom boom..." Two more screams came from the back.

Duan Yonggui led the cavalry to float five miles away from the position, and the Fu Han Army was considered stable.

"General. Chen Ni's guards are five miles away. As long as the troops are not five miles away from Chen Ni's camp, they will turn a blind eye. But once they cross that line, the cannons will be like thunder and lightning..." Duan Yonggui also took tutoring twice during the army's march south, and gained a lot of knowledge. He knew what was called a shotgun and what was called a blooming shell. The Fu Han army beat him with shotguns and blooming shells.

...

The Qing army divided the troops into three groups, with the main force located in the central part. Their battlefield was also the most suitable area for the army to fight. There were not many troops on the north and south wings, and they were marching in an area with crisscrossing waterways. According to the investigation of the scouts, the two Qing troops had a total of only 10,000 people.

According to the summary statistics of various intelligence, the Qing army's cannons were about 130. Among them, about 30 were the second batch of cannons sold by the Portuguese to the Qing Dynasty, mainly 12-pound cannons, equipped with six-pound and eight-pound cannons. Obviously, the Portuguese in Macau were simply unable to raise too many cannons for the Qing Dynasty in a short period of time. The rest are the old ones of Beijing Jingqi and the recent production of three artillery factories in Beijing.

The Fu Han Army has 250 cannons, mainly five-jin cannons, with a small number of three-jin cannons and eight-jin cannons. Various ammunitions are piled up in mountains. They will be Chen Ming's biggest capital to win this duel.

Chen Ming hopes that the Qing army can take the initiative to attack Jiangyan Town and Taizhou. The Fu Han Army stayed in Taizhou for many days and made a lot of arrangements. If the Fu Han Army switched from defense to offense, it would waste too much effort.

"Jiangyan Town seems to be just a town, but it must not be underestimated. The frontal attack on Jiangyan at Yinshi tomorrow is just a cover. Our army's elite troops are placed in the south, and we will launch an attack from the south, break the obstruction of the rebels, and quickly go around to the rear of Jiangyan Town to cut off its connection with Taizhou City."

"Whether it is a strong attack or a siege at that time, it depends on the situation and then make a decision."

Feng Sheng'e played his first card, and the plan seemed to be pretty good. When the army in the middle launched a feint attack and the main force in the south rushed forward, he also asked the troops in the north to get as close to Taizhou as possible, which was quite concealed.

The military order was passed down, and the meal was to be prepared at 4 o'clock tomorrow morning. The army attacked while people were most sleepy in the second half of the night. Feng Sheng'e simply explained his plan and asked the generals of each camp to prepare. There was nothing to hide about this matter. After all, the entire battle plan was not finalized by him alone. The generals and deputy generals would not know, but Hailancha, Wang Jintai and the generals of various routes knew it well.

And now the sun is setting. It is time to notify the whole army to prepare for the battle tomorrow.

The secret camp easily got the news. In the second half of the night, the news was passed to Chen Ming. Chen Ming, who was awakened from his sleep, saw the news and suddenly lost all his sleepiness. "Great, the Qing army took the initiative to attack."

"Send a message to Miao Fuwei, let him calm down and defend Jiangyan Town." Miao Fuwei was the first non-three-surname son to be a commander in the expeditionary army. But he was from Ruzhou.

"Yes." The messenger turned and left.

"Tell Gao Qiao that the northern route is blocked. If the Qing army easily reaches the north of Taizhou, I will take his head off."

"Yes."

"Send a message to Huang Jie to lead the main force back to..., Taidong Town overnight. Be ready to attack at any time and listen to my orders."

"Yes."

"Tell the southern route that the Qing army will attack tomorrow morning, and they... must fight firmly. At least hold out until dawn."

Chen Ming knew who he had placed in the southern route, and it was unrealistic to expect them to resist the fierce attack of the elite Qing army. It can be predicted that the Qing army will definitely bring a lot of cannons when attacking the southern route. But if you try hard, it will be pretty good until dawn.

At dawn, the sky gradually brightened. The Qing army encircled Jiangyan Town from the side and rear, and the Yunyan River in the middle was a river no matter how narrow it was. It was not easy for the elite Qing army to cross the river. At least it would waste some time for them. By then, the sky would be bright and the morning fog would dissipate. The army would attack fiercely. Whether it was to eat up the elite Qing army or to defeat the elite Qing army, it would be a good thing.

After the big strategy was arranged, the next thing was to use clever tricks. For example, sending scouts to mix in with the Qing army, looking for opportunities to assassinate the generals and officers of the Qing army, and to accurately investigate the artillery of the Qing army.

This method is quite dirty, but it is also really effective. In the past, the scouts of the Fu Han army pretended to be the scouts and messengers of the Qing army and directly beheaded the enemy generals. Later, the Qing army learned to be obedient and guarded strictly. At least the scouts and messengers checked very strictly, and this kind of good thing never happened again.

However, it is very useful to assassinate the middle-level military officers of the Qing army in the chaotic soldiers, investigate the location and number of the Qing army artillery positions, and even explore the subsequent reserve forces of the Qing army.

Chen Ming was not sleepy at all. He looked at his pocket watch. It was only half an hour before Yinshi, which was three o'clock in the morning. He sat here waiting for the battle to start.

"This tea tastes too light. Make me a pot of strong tea."

There was a large sand table on the table. Chen Ming held red and black flags in his hands and kept inserting them on the sand table.

Time passed quickly. Half an hour, a few cups of tea. The sound of the Qing army's artillery reached Chen Ming's ears from Jiangyan Town.

"Report to the Grand Commander, the Qing army is going out in large numbers and attacking Jiangyan Town fiercely." Liu Wu quickly delivered the news sent earlier.

Chen Ming could not deny it. He was not worried about Jiangyan Town. "Focus on the south." Liu Wu went down quietly. Of course, he was also focusing on the south road, but the news of the south road had not been delivered yet.

The commander in charge of the guard work of the south road was the same as Gao Qiao. He was still a member of the Gao family, and he was an absolute close branch of the Gao family-Gao Pengyue, who was the cousin of Chen Ming's uncle.

He was forty years old this year. His position in the Gao family was like Chen Erbao's in the Chen family. After joining the army, he was able to rise to the position of commander not because of his ability to fight, but because he was serious and obedient.

He had a total of six battalions, none of which was the main battalion. There were only sixteen cannons, half of which were three-jin cannons and half were five-jin cannons. Although many positions and fortifications were built, they were all made of earth, wood, brick and stone. Facing the cannons of the Qing army, they were almost as good as paper.

"Tell Tang Wencan. If he dares to take a step back now, this commander will cut him down immediately--"

At the same time as the cannons of the Qing army in the middle, the Qing army in the south not only fired cannons, but also rushed up with horses. They knew that the Fu Han army on the opposite side had fewer muskets, and it was dark now, so the horses rushed up in the dark.

Tang Wencan was held at the back by Gao Pengyue's knife, and no matter what, he had to fight a bloody battle. The Qing soldiers who rushed up at this moment were also held at knifepoint on their backs. They were the Death Battalion.

A thousand people were deployed in the first attack. The entire Death Battalion was divided into two in this attack, a small part of which accompanied Lian Yong in the middle battlefield, and the rest were placed in the southern battlefield. The use of these people is obvious, that is, "there is death but no life".

The grenades and tiger squat cannons equipped by Tang Wencan's battalion fired one after another. The second group of the Death Battalion had already rushed up before one group of people died. It was still in the dark, and the tiger squat cannons soon lost their use.

As for the cannons equipped in the south, under the fierce artillery fire of the Qing army, the firepower of the counterattack had become dying. The camp on the left side of Tang Wencan was blasted into pieces by shells, and no one could stand at all. The Fu Han army in that battalion was hit by dense artillery and could only shrink their heads and hide in the trenches.

The advantage of the Qing army is that they have a large number of people. They can spare no manpower - the Death Battalion and Shandong Warriors, forcing them to launch charge after charge, supplemented by elite troops such as the Tiger Clothes and Rattan Shield Soldiers. Just like the raging waves of the vast sea that hit the seawall, they will never stop until the seawall is smashed to pieces.

In just two attacks, the Fu Han Army's defense line was already in a mess with corpses and wounded within dozens of steps. The blood solidified into reddish brown in the cold wind, but the groups of forced Death Battalions and a few Warriors still rushed forward desperately, making Gao Pengyue shake his head speechlessly.

Due to the suppression of artillery, the counterattack of the Fu Han Army was not very effective. The battlefield was filled with smoke and dust, people surged, and shouts shook the sky. What caught the eye was the swarm of Qing elites. After the Death Battalion soldiers and Shandong Warriors in short coats and tight pants consumed two waves of the Fu Han Army, the third wave, Hailancha, who was supervising the battle, finally sent the elite of the Qing Army.

The Qing army's fierce attack was one wave after another.

The weak artillery fire of the Southern Fu Han Army could not stop them at all, especially after the Qing soldiers saw the dawn of victory, these people were really brave. Anyone who could break through the Fu Han Army's defense line would be rewarded with 20 taels of silver. This is 20 taels.