Lu Xuan, who was commanding the central army, frowned slightly. He heard the sound of horses rapidly approaching in the distance.
"Report..." The person who came was Zhao Jingzhong. In the past few months, Zhao Jingzhong had gone deep behind enemy lines to assist Lu Xuan in completing the map of the area surrounding Qing China. It was also he who was the first to report the movements of the Qing army.
"Jingzhong, you've worked hard." Lu Xuan stood up to greet him.
“It is my duty, sir. The Qing army is currently about 30 li to the northwest of our position. I have already led my troops to engage their scouts several times and killed more than 30 of them. They should have noticed our movements by now.”
"Who is this person?"
"It should be the Qing emperor, Daishan, personally leading the troops. Although he had spread the word beforehand that he was in Tielingwei, according to my investigation, he should be secretly leading this elite force to bypass the Ming army's blockade and attack Shenyang directly. The number of troops is probably around 20,000."
"Hehe. Interesting. It seems I'm really incompatible with the Qing Dynasty. Pass on my order: the entire firearms battalion, speed up immediately, seize those two hills five miles away within two quarters of an hour, and set up positions."
Lu Xuan commanded 12,000 men. Among them were 500 new flintlock musketeers and 2,000 older musketeers, totaling 2,500 musketeers. He was the type to prioritize quality over quantity, rejecting any substandard firearms and ensuring that all his soldiers carried only the finest equipment.
The artillery battalion had a total of 120 cannons. Among them, 80 were tiger-squatting cannons. The remaining 40 were breech-loading cannons and red-barreled cannons. It was equipped with 1,000 artillerymen.
Before the advent of machine guns, firearms, limited by their rate of fire, could only achieve suppressive fire when concentrated in large numbers. Therefore, Lu Xuan ordered his artillery battalion to construct positions first. In fact, historically, when Liu Ting fought the Qing army last year, he lost the initiative. His scouts were ineffective, and by the time they encountered the enemy, the two sides were already too close.
Liu Ting was acutely aware of the characteristics of firearms and ordered his firearms battalion to seize a hillside and construct a defensive position. However, the Mongol cavalry on their flank seized the initiative, causing them to lose the initial advantage and ultimately leading to a crushing defeat. Lu Xuan, since the formation of his army, had placed great emphasis on training scouts. This was to give the firearms battalion sufficient time to deploy. After all, at this stage, if the firearms battalion were to be approached by enemy cavalry, they would essentially be slaughtered.
At a single command, the 3,500-strong artillery battalion immediately sped up. Various packhorses, laden with cannons, shells, and gunpowder, raced forward with their lives on the line. Military orders were absolute; they had to arrive within a quarter of an hour. Fortunately, after a year of eating meat, these soldiers were in much better physical condition. If it were the previous Ming army, with their bean sprout-like physiques, this five-mile mad dash with their heavy loads would have left many of them fainting.
Three thousand five hundred men rushed to construct fortifications, while the remaining eight thousand five hundred included three thousand cavalry. This force was directly under Lu Xuan's command and personally led by him. The other five thousand five hundred were infantry, led by Shen Lian and Lu Wenzhao. In addition, there was Zhao Jingzhong's scout team, Miyamoto Musashi's men, and a team composed of martial arts masters. These two teams were temporarily merged to form a special operations force for decapitation strikes.
"Zhao Jingzhong, you've had a tough time these past few days. But you can't rest now. These two hundred men are the most elite in the entire force. I don't need you to go to the front lines. You lead the team, stay away from the battlefield, and keep a close watch on the battlefield. When the Qing army is defeated, you need to keep an eye on those fleeing officers and lead the pursuit."
"Your subordinate obeys." Zhao Jingzhong was overjoyed. After months of risking his life, he was finally getting his reward. He wouldn't have to go to the front lines, yet he had plenty of opportunities to earn merit. Now he finally believed that Lu Xuan was truly grooming him. As for whether the Qing army would be defeated, he hadn't even considered it. Unconsciously, he had been influenced by Lu Xuan and had come to regard the Qing army's inevitable defeat as a matter of course.
Daishan, having heard the scout's report, knew there was a Ming army ahead of him. However, he wasn't concerned. His army consisted entirely of the Qing Dynasty's most elite warriors, including five thousand heavily armored cavalry alone. This was the Qing Dynasty's trump card. Daishan was confident that five thousand Tartar heavy cavalry could sweep aside ten times the size of the Ming army in a head-on confrontation.
In addition, there were 5,000 Mongol cavalry. That is to say, Daišan had 10,000 cavalrymen alone. The rest were all elite infantry, including 8,000 Qing soldiers and 2,000 Korean musketeers.
"Let Choibalsan (a fictional Mongol general) attack from the left flank. Dorgon, you lead ten Niru to attack from the right flank. The rest of you will meet the enemy head-on."
There were no complicated tactics involved; Daishan had enough confidence in his soldiers. As long as they protected the flanks, the Ming army would be no match for them in a frontal attack.
There aren't actually any very high mountains in this area. They're mostly small hills, a few dozen meters high. However, the continuous undulations make the terrain look quite complex.
Dorgon, who later became the regent of the Qing Dynasty, was now the fourth prince of the Qing Dynasty. Because Daishan became emperor, the three princes behind him moved up one rank in order, and Dorgon took over the position ahead of time.
About 45 minutes later, the two sides could vaguely see each other. Lu Xuan could even hear the charging of thousands of cavalry on both sides. After the last Battle of Sarhu, Daishan had clearly seen the truth of the Ming army's weakness. He had not taken Lu Xuan's ten thousand men seriously at all. He planned a direct frontal assault, intending to wipe out Lu Xuan's army in one fell swoop.
In Daishan's mind, the last time, if it weren't for that madman who suddenly appeared and killed the Khan, the Qing Dynasty would have occupied Liaodong long ago, and even marched into the Central Plains.
"See that? Brothers, the Tartars look down on you."
The artillery battalion, occupying the two hilltop highlands, was also filled with rage. Over a hundred cannons and three thousand musketeers were positioned here; did they really dare to charge? What they didn't know was that, according to the previous standards of the Ming army's artillery battalions, Daishan would indeed have dared. Because the soldiers of the Ming army's artillery battalions would typically discard or even damage their muskets and then engage in hand-to-hand combat. After all, hand-to-hand combat offered a sliver of hope; using firearms, they might end up with their faces covered in bullets in the next second.
"Everyone, prepare!" shouted a commander holding a makeshift megaphone. Two cavalry units on either flank were rapidly approaching.
"ignition......"
Eighty tiger-squatting cannons, plus forty breech-loading cannons and red-barbarian cannons, were fired simultaneously.
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Chapter 146 Blood and flesh fly everywhere, men and horses fall over
All the artillery pieces had undergone rigorous testing. Not a single cannon exploded, and not a single soldier retreated. They had practiced countless times.
What would it look like if eighty tiger-squatting cannons fired shot simultaneously from a distance of four hundred meters?
The knights at the very front suddenly exploded. Expectedly. Because of the wedge formation. At the very front of the cavalry regiment were only a handful of knights. The left and right flanks, each bearing the brunt of forty cannon shots. Forty cannon shots...
The scene perfectly illustrated the phrase "man and horse annihilated." Blood flew everywhere, even smearing the faces of the knights behind. They hadn't yet realized what was happening, relying only on momentum to continue their charge. Three hundred meters, two hundred meters. The second volley of cannon fire rang out. This time, flesh and blood exploded on even more knights.
Two volleys of fire claimed the lives of at least five hundred men from the two flank cavalry units. Hundreds more were wounded. By this time, they had reached the bottom of the hill. They were met with a three-tiered line of firing squads.
The effect of a musket is not as bloody and violent as that of an artillery piece. But it possesses a different kind of orderly beauty—the beauty of orderly slaughter.
Accompanied by the continuous sound of gunfire, the soldiers at the front fell from their horses in unison, like wheat being harvested. Only the bewildered warhorses remained, running around in panic.
Thousands of cavalrymen, like waves crashing onto the beach, surged forward wave after wave, only to fall dead on the sand. The large-scale use of gunpowder weapons finally revealed their true power to these savages for the first time. This was a killing efficiency never before seen in human history. By the time Daišan at the rear reacted, the left flank of the Mongol cavalry had already lost nearly two thousand men. The remaining ones were clearly beginning to slack off.
Meanwhile, Dorgon's three thousand elite cavalry on the right wing suffered more than half their losses. This was all of the Qing Dynasty's strongest forces. This expedition had only just begun, yet it had already been severely weakened.
Just then, a rapid drumbeat suddenly sounded from the opposite camp. A perfectly aligned shield wall was advancing towards them. Only the shield wall was visible; no soldiers were actually in sight. This was a tactic devised by Lu Xuan against the Tartars' heavy infantry.
Unfortunately, the current number of soldiers was simply no match for the elite troops clad in boar hides. Therefore, Lu Xuan ordered them to emulate the Macedonian phalanx of Europe. With shield walls and a forest of spears, they relied on this tightly packed formation to confront the Qing army's heavy infantry head-on.
"Your Majesty, sound the retreat! We cannot let our warriors sacrifice themselves in vain!" a general beside Daishan urged him to withdraw. The Ming army had seized the two high grounds and set up the two firearm positions. The firepower against the Qing soldiers was immense. Those Han Chinese must have improved their firearms.
He observed for a long time, and not a single cannon or musket exploded. Moreover, their firing efficiency was faster than that of the Ming army in the past. The two small hills, each about fifty meters high, had become two formidable barriers. Thousands of Qing elite troops perished here without even making a single contact with the enemy.
The officer's intentions were good, of course. The elite cavalry had suffered a crushing defeat, and the opportunity for victory had been lost. This battle should not continue. The Ming army before them, in terms of both the sharpness of their firearms and the discipline of their formation, was unlike anything they had ever seen before. They were nothing like the incompetent Ming army that had crumbled at the first touch. Continuing the battle would be unwise.
As the column advanced, Lu Xuan noticed the hesitation on the other side. This infantry formation had a major weakness: while very strong in direct combat, it had virtually no pursuit capability. Expecting a group of heavily armored infantry to chase someone down?
"Our Qing emperor hesitated, hehe... Quick, raise my flag a little higher. By the way, what about the things I prepared earlier?"
A guard nearby quickly retrieved a helmet. It was the helmet of Nurhaci, the previous Khan of the Tartars. His head had been sent to the capital, but the helmet... hadn't fallen into Lu Xuan's hands either. This was a replica he had made.
But it doesn't matter, because everyone in the world knows that Lu Xuan beheaded Nurhaci. So if he hangs up a 'Nurhaci helmet,' it's obviously real.
For anyone else, this would have been pure provocation. But to ensure the enemy could see it clearly, he had a flag made with Manchu writing on it made, which he hung below his helmet and then held high on a long pole. It read: "Head of the Jurchen bandits, Nurhaci's head."
The Qing camp erupted in chaos. A twisted expression crossed Daishan's face. The public execution of the Khan had always been an indelible shame for the Qing Dynasty. One of the promises he made upon ascending the throne was to bring Lu Xuan's head back to the imperial mausoleum to be offered as a sacrifice to Nurhaci. And now, Lu Xuan was reopening the wounds of the entire Qing Dynasty.