Lord of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 624 The opponent has become stronger

Because the enemy is escorted by cavalry, the march is covered by the bows and arrows in the hands of the infantry, and the imitation Jinkai 1 matchlock guns in the hands of the musketeers fires a volley. The cavalry who knows the fire of the matchlock guns dare not venture close to the enemy infantry, even if the enemy is A [-]-strong Green Battalion has at least [-] firecrackers in it. Under the influence of the Huaxia Army, Hong Chengchou, who vigorously studied the Huaxia Army, has used the Green Battalion as a militia brigade of the Huaxia Army.

The bannermen of the Han army were used as the garrison regiment of the Huaxia army, and the garrison battalion was used. Therefore, the cavalry brigade could only choose those troops that were in the gaps of the enemy's march or with loose defenses to attack and cause some damage to the enemy.

Check out these reports:

"On the 3rd, a battalion of the enemy's Xinjun Town, plus a general from the Green Battalion, led 200 people to raid the station of our militia squad. soldiers, three militiamen who had gone out and did not return, and an old woman in the village escaped unharmed and fled to a town more than ten miles away to report. They were killed by the Qing army together with 200 people in the village. Later, I went to investigate the narrative of the No.20 Seventh Field Brigade scout cavalry. All the dead bodies of the village and the regular militia squad were thrown into the wilderness. The village and the barracks were stained with black blood. A few wild dogs, with green eyes, obviously ate the corpses of the dead, aroused their wildness, saw the cavalry coming, took the initiative to attack, and were repelled by the cavalry's bows and arrows."

"On the 6th, a town more than a dozen miles away was attacked by a green battalion with a thousand people from the enemy. A small flag from the No. 20th Field Brigade, a squadron from the militia brigade, and a squadron from the cavalry brigade were wiped out, and 3000 people in the town were destroyed Massacred 300 people, the young and strong were arrested as civilian husbands, and then a battalion of the cavalry brigade pursued them. The enemy left the civilian husbands and fled in a hurry. Come and meet, the cavalry battalion left the enemy prisoners and retreated. The enemy chased for several miles. Our cavalry battalion lost more than 100 troops and finally defeated the enemy cavalry with thousands of soldiers. They were all taken back by the enemy."

"On the 11th, Hong Chengchou's Qing army approached the city of Weifang for 5000 miles. Wherever it passed, except for a small number of people who survived, the young and strong became civilians or soldiers of the Qing army. The militia had more than 1000 troops, and more than 2000 people fled. Many people were killed, and more than 1000 people became prisoners of the Qing army. They were either killed or taken as civilian husbands, village braves, regiment trainers, green battalion soldiers, and militia troops. Except for a small number of garrisoned militiamen in the north of Weifang, those in the south were all defeated or captured by the enemy. Or flee."

"On the 12th, in order to cover the evacuation of tens of thousands of civilians, a cavalry battalion fought against [-] enemy cavalry, fought back bravely, and was finally wiped out by the enemy. Only one wounded cavalry fled back to the cavalry brigade headquarters to report the situation. Except for a few who escaped, more than half were killed, and more than half were captured by the Qing army. The Qing army suffered casualties of [-] cavalry, [-] Han flag soldiers, and dozens of green battalion soldiers.

"On the 16th, Hong Chengchou's Qing army occupied most of the territory of Weifang Prefecture. Only a small amount of Weifang in the north was still in his hands. More than 20 cavalry soldiers killed and wounded more than [-] enemy cavalry scouts. The enemy army approached Weifang Prefecture and set up camp ten miles away, cutting off contact with the No. [-] Seventh Field Brigade. It was also harassed and captured by the cavalry of the Qing army, and the enemy is about to cut off the contact with the Huaxia Army of the Jinan Army Corps."

"On the 17th, the messenger who detoured the No.20 Third Brigade in the north brought news that the No.20 Seventh Field Brigade was besieged by the enemy's 20 green battalion and 2000 new army troops. The Qing army launched a fierce offensive. The supplementary No.[-] Seventh Field Brigade has [-] troops, plus [-] cavalry, [-] militiamen, and [-] young and strong soldiers in the city fought fiercely with the enemy for three days and nights. They repelled countless attacks by the Qing army, but they were also overwhelmed. I hope that the Fifth Field Brigade will send troops to contain the enemy's forces."

Geng Quanli stood up, patted the letter and said, "They are close to Jinan Mansion, why don't they ask for help from Jinan Mansion, but ask us for help?"

Gao Yigong rubbed his head like a sparrow's nest. He now looks like a scumbag beard and swollen eyes. He touched his dry and emaciated cheek with his hands that were not washed clean and some purple brown blood stains: "Jinan Prefecture only has one The pro-guard regiment, the militia, and half a regiment of the 24th Field Brigade can only defend the city in front of hundreds of thousands of enemy troops, and the militia and cavalry can only fight guerrillas like us. No other troops will be dispatched to supplement the defense, so there must be no troops to rescue the No.20 Seventh Field Brigade, and the [-]st Guards Brigade will also have to deal with the Qing army in Jining Prefecture on the opposite side. They must first defeat their opponents before they can attack other places. And the militia brigade is now only two militia brigades, and we use more than half of them here, and we need one and a half to defend the enemy in the north, and now the strength is stretched."

Qin Mo asked, "Then what shall we do?"

"What else can we do? Let's fight. The enemy has already begun to besiege the city. Relying on the three thousand mixed recruits and one thousand militiamen in the city, how can we withstand the siege of the enemy's hundreds of thousands of troops? We have just destroyed the city of Weifang. Thoroughly, four walls of the city were knocked down with cannons in one day, and there are still [-] enemy prisoners inside, just taking care of these prisoners will make people collapse, let alone meet the enemy."

Geng Quanli also rubbed her swollen face that had not closed her eyes for several days, and said helplessly.

At the moment, his Fifth Field Brigade is stationed in the county seat facing the sea in the east of Weifang Prefecture, while most of the No. 20 Fourth Field Brigade is stationed in the village in the north of Weifang Prefecture, relying on the No. 20 Third Field Brigade and the militia. Stationed in a village in the mountains close to Fucheng, only [-] miles away from the enemy, defending Weifang Fucheng on three sides.

Gao Yigong said: "If you want to fight, you must face the enemy head-on. My cavalry brigade has only [-] troops left, and the replenishment has not yet arrived. The replenishment of cavalry is not as fast as your infantry and musketeers. They'll have to be brought in from elsewhere. That man isn't going to be a cavalryman just by giving him a horse."

Qin Mo said: "This time the enemy is not easy to fight. The old thief Hong Chengchou personally led the army, and the strength is more than twice that of our army. Maybe we will have to pay huge casualties. My brigade has also suffered some damage. Now there are only seven Thousand and five hundred troops. It will almost become the former B-level field brigade."

Gao Yigong said, "If you supply me with the cavalry in your brigade in this way, I will have [-] troops, and the organizational system will be restored. The cavalry of the Fifth Field Brigade also lost a lot in the past few days, so I will not transfer them. Support you and Fucheng from the side."

Qin Mo glanced at Geng Quanli, and Geng Quanli said, "Okay, General Qin, you can act as a supplementary infantry, and my fifth field brigade will act as the main attack. You will attract the enemy on one side and disperse the enemy's forces."

The next day, the Qing army completely surrounded Weifang Fucheng, leaving no way for the Huaxia Army to escape from Fucheng.

Chapter 625 The First Guards Brigade Joins the Battle

In Jining Prefecture, there are two new army towns of the Qing army transferred by Hong Chengchou from the Qing army, 20 green battalion soldiers, [-] Han army flags, and [-] Mongolian cavalry. If Hong Chengchou knew that he was facing the First Guards Brigade, maybe he would not It will be arranged like this, but he certainly doesn't know that the first guard brigade has only been transferred in the past few days. The original No. [-] seventh field brigade belongs to the third-level field brigade of the Huaxia Army.

Of course, this is the reason why Hong Chengchou’s intelligence is behind. In fact, he participated in Li Dingguo’s suppression of the traitors in Yunnan Prefecture in the No.20 Seventh Field Brigade, and participated in the battle of Baodao together. After that, he was transferred to Annan to destroy the aborigines, and then transferred back to Hubei Prefecture to garrison , has been reorganized into a second-level field brigade.

The 8000 troops of the C-level field brigade are actually composed of militia and garrison battalions, plus the combat effectiveness of the backbone of other field brigades. The elite soldiers have made up the current B-level field brigade with a strength of more than 20 troops. Therefore, in terms of combat effectiveness, the No. [-] Seventh Field Brigade is already quite powerful.

The intelligence of Hong Chengchou's Qing army is quite backward compared to that of the Huaxia army.

In his thinking, a mere No.20 Seventh Field Brigade with 3 troops may be able to defeat the untrained Green Battalion, Township Bravery, Regiment Training and other cold weapon troops, but it will definitely not be able to defeat a new army. It may be possible for the Army Town troops to defeat the Qing Army Xinjun Town with [-] troops with [-] troops, but two Xinjun Towns will definitely not work, and more than [-] cold weapon troops are still basically It is even worse for the Green Battalion troops equipped with firecrackers, shotguns, and matchlock guns. This is his real intention to lead the army along the seaside to attack the Weifang Mansion of the Huaxia Army.

This is the reason for the asymmetry of information, but because the Huaxia Army is now fighting on several fronts, and they want to attack the Dajin Kingdom, and they also want to suppress the people who have been disrupted in Baodao, as well as the rebellion of the indigenous people in the deep mountains. During the conquest of the army, a large number of troops were involved. The Huaxia Army transferred almost all the militia troops and half of the garrison battalions there. For Zhang Qiang's strategy of the Huaxia Army, unifying China is no longer a problem. Conquering small countries in Southeast Asia is the problem, so the force tilt is quite high.

Even the troops on the Yangtze River defense line were transferred to subdue Southeast Asia, but the battle against the Dajin Kingdom was lukewarm. Up to now, Xiao Fei's army was only fighting with the remnants of the Ming Dynasty in Sishan Prefecture. Wu Sangui's troops in the Kingdom of Jin only fought once every three days and ceased fighting every five days, and they couldn't fight several battles a month, showing a gradual encroachment.

Xuanyuan Longfei's army needs to guard against the Great Jin Kingdom and the Great Qing Dynasty. At the same time, it also needs to fight against the Great Qing Dynasty, defend against Hong Chengchou's Qing army, and form an encirclement against Hong Chengchou's Qing army and Jinqi's army on the Yangtze River defense line.

Feng Wuyu's army needs to attack Wu Sangui, guard against Sishan Prefecture, and suppress the disintegration and disintegration of Yungui Prefecture, and the immigrant rebellion mixed together. Although there are not many troops, the task is also very heavy. important reason for joining the war.

Except for the troops guarding the Jinhua Center, the troops in other areas are almost exhausted.

Then put a guard brigade in a large area for defense, and a garrison battalion in a mansion to defend the mansion. The militia in the core area is only a prototype, or an empty shell, because there are only the armed forces in the county. There are a few retired garrison battalion soldiers who stayed behind as guards, a retired garrison officer served as an officer of the armed forces, and the others were civilian officials sent by some counties. It’s okay if there are punishment camps in some areas. There are almost no troops stationed in the punishment camp, and only some government servants quickly maintain law and order.

Wars are fought in countless directions, and military expenditures are flowing away like an open faucet. The military strength seems to be unable to meet this state, but Zhang Qiang still feels that there are too many troops, which need to be reorganized and abolished. In fact, the entire Huaxia Army is normal. There are many important soldiers in the ruling area, but these soldiers have already turned into ordinary people. If an order is needed, hundreds of thousands of militia teams and even some elite garrison battalions can be mobilized in an instant. However, the cabinet does not want to burden these people anymore Therefore, Zhang Qiang can't form a new field brigade, so he can only combine the old field brigades to form a more elite first-class field brigade.

Compared with the combat troops on the front line, more places need garrison troops and militia troops. After many places are occupied, the people are disorderly resettled. It was dismantled, even the second-level field brigade was dismantled and turned into a garrison force, the military expenditure of the Ministry of National Defense was liberated, and these expenditures were transferred to the localities or even the Ministry of War directly under the garrison force, and the cabinet supported them.

But regardless of the dynasty, the army and the government are opposites. The army needs to expand, advanced weapons, and elite soldiers are needed. The local government does not want to bear the military expenses of the army, and they don’t want so many soldiers. They need to use the saved funds to improve the people standard of living.

As the Huaxia Army changed from an insurrectionary army, which was similar to a loose rebel team, to a regular army at the national level that could compete with the Qing Army, the Huaxia Army has gone through such a long time and established its own kingdom. Everything that a country should have, the Huaxia Army has officially become the Huaxia Kingdom, and the contradictions that all dynasties have to experience have emerged, the government and the army, which one is the main one.

As the Nanming officials and the officials trained by the Huaxia Army matured and gradually moved to high positions, their appeals increased, the government successfully operated, and they had their own words and lives, so Zhang Qiang was no longer the same as before. To control them with personal prestige and orders like that, he has to learn to listen to the needs of the officials below like an emperor or a king, and use balance to meet their demands, but Zhang Qiang is somewhat powerless in this regard, so in most cases, Zhang Qiang will let the government run it on its own, and just force them to do it in some places.

This is why the Guards Brigade needs to go into battle, and it's not because Zhang Qiang wants to come to the front line to play on a whim, to experience the cruelty and intensity of war again.

But now that he has come to the battlefield, Zhang Qiang certainly hopes that he can participate in the battle in person, so he brought the personal guards to the front line, and at the same time transferred a battalion of the Guards Brigade back to Jinan Prefecture to participate in the defense and strengthen the defense there, but he still would not Participated in the command of the [-]st Guards Brigade.

All the command was handed over to the admiral of the first guard brigade, and he acted as a soldier. Of course, as the first guard brigade, the general of his confidant combat troops would definitely not put him on the front line, but put him on the front line. The general guarded the rear and acted as his supervisor to watch him fight.

Chapter 626 Composition of the Qing Army in Jining Prefecture

In terms of escape ability, Ma Bao is the most successful, definitely number one in the Qing army. In terms of flattering his superiors and saving his life, Ma Bao is also the number one. Otherwise, he would have been defeated by the Huaxia army in several battles. Why can he escape safely every time, continue to survive after returning home, and successfully keep his official position. After killing the main general Man Dahai, the deputy general and others, he is still living at ease.

In this aspect, there are two people who are similar to him in this way, Kong Youxing, the younger brother of Kong Youde, who was supposed to die after Kong Youde's defeat, but eventually escaped with Oboi, Ma Degong and his younger brother Ma Deli are equally powerful , also escaped his life, this time Ma Bao was the main general, Kong Youxing was the deputy general, Ma Degong’s younger brother Ma Deli was the general, and Ma Degong followed Hong Chengchou’s Qing army. As a general, with the ability to lead the army independently, he led Hong Chengchou's Qing army to attack Tai'an Mansion occupied by the First Brigade of the Guards.

These few people know the Huaxia Army better than Hong Chengchou, Feng Quan, Duolong, Suoertu, and Obai, because they were all fought by the Huaxia Army from south to north. They have been defeated in battles with tens of thousands of people. They know how powerful the Huaxia Army is, and they know that they cannot resist the attack of the Huaxia Army. Therefore, after arriving at Jining Mansion, they assembled the army to prepare for war, but ignored several urgings from Hong Chengchou and Feng Quan. .

Even if Hong Chengchou sent Ma Degong, an old general, to oversee the army, they ignored them. Following the Qing army's escape all the way, after fleeing to Hubei Province, Ma Degong led his troops to escape into Sishan Prefecture. I couldn't help being lonely and took refuge in Wu Sangui. After Wu Sangui withdrew from Shaanxi and Gansu, he fought against the Kuidong Shisan Family and made many military exploits. He was promoted by Wu Sangui, and later he took refuge in Hauge. Beware of Wu Sangui, the angry Wu Sangui almost vomited blood.

After Oboi defeated the Dajin Kingdom, he defected on the battlefield and surrendered to Oboi. Later, he was sent by the Qing government to monitor Hong Chengchou, and he led [-] soldiers of the Han army banner to station in Linyi Mansion alone. When the Manchu officials rebelled against Hong Chengchou , He also wanted to get involved, but Hong Chengchou was older than him and controlled the middle and lower generals in advance. Those middle and lower generals were all Han Chinese, of course they turned to Hong Chengchou, the former Ming official.

So Ma Degong was put under house arrest, and his military power was taken away. Later, Ma Degong followed Feng Quan's line, was hired by Hong Chengchou, and he was given a job as a guerrilla general. the rabble.

This time Ma Bao and others did not listen to Hong Chengchou's order and launched an attack on the Huaxia Army earlier. Hong Chengchou lifted him up and named him General Wuwei, which is a low-ranking title. For Ma Bao and others without a title, they are a high-ranking master, and they have to make offerings.

Apparently, Ma Degong didn't need their offerings, but took the initiative to get close to them, because they were all familiar with each other, and they all used to serve as generals under Kong Youde's account in Guangxi Prefecture. He's showing off, but he's familiar with them all, especially Ma Deli is Ma Degong's younger brother. This is to give credit to Ma Degong. Ma Degong is happy to come here, which is why Hong Chengchou sent him here, because he The seniors and veterans of these people can suppress them.

Ma Degong sat in the lobby of the Fucheng government office in Jining Prefecture, drinking tea slowly while sitting below Ma Bao, Kong Youxing, Ma Deli, and Mang Ergule, the commander of the Mongolian cavalry.

Ma Bao said: "My lord, the reason why we did not fight against the Huaxia army this time is why. You have fought against the Huaxia army and know how powerful they are. Although this time the opponent is only a brigade, if we want to attack, It must not be taken down, the Huaxia Army is too powerful, the reason why we sit here is to wait for the Huaxia Army to attack.

After all, even if the opponent is powerful, they have few troops. Once the opponent leaves the lair, we can divide the troops into two parts, one part to defend the Huaxia Army, and the other to attack the Huaxia Army’s lair, cutting off their back road. Behind them is the Yellow River Ferry. We need to send some cavalry to block the ferry, so that they cannot escape north of the Yellow River, and we can slowly grind them to death bit by bit on our familiar territory.This battle can only be fought like this, there is no other way. "

Ma Degong will not just listen to the opinions of his old friends, his subordinates, and his younger brother. He also wants to make contributions and climb up the ladder. Although he has a title that is not very useful, this title is not conferred by the emperor. , was granted by Hong Chengchou, he didn't care about the title at all, what he cared about was having the military power in his hands, these days, whoever has the military power in his hands is the boss, my lord, and everyone else has to curry favor with him.

As for the [-] mobs who stayed in Yangzhou, he didn't like it. What he liked was the [-] Green Battalion soldiers and the [-] Han Banner Soldiers here. , but he knew that Ma Bao would not give up his military power. He appointed Kong Youxing as his lieutenant general just to check and balance his younger brother and to control these two troops.

Two Xinjun troops, each with 2000 troops, originally had [-] troops. Hong Chengchou learned from the Huaxia Army, but later Hong Chengchou knew that his troops were not as powerful as the enemy's troops. In terms of combat power, it was not enough to withstand an enemy brigade, so he increased his strength by another two thousand troops. Originally, they were those brave and skilled Manchu soldiers, but later he rebelled against the Manchus of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. More than [-] troops were replaced by those with relatively high combat effectiveness and more loyal to him. He had already mastered the Han Army Banner Unit, while the remaining Manchu Qing soldiers who swore allegiance to him were only a few hundred, serving as the two thousand Han Army Banner Units The supply of soldiers.

In fact, this army has [-] troops, [-] Han army banner troops, [-] green battalion Han troops, and [-] Manchu Qing cavalry troops.

Among them, the Han army flag unit is a musket unit, the one thousand green battalion unit is an artillery unit, and the eight hundred Manchu Qing soldiers are a cavalry unit, which can be regarded as a field regiment with strong combat effectiveness.

The total strength of the two armies has reached 9000 troops, plus the general's guard cavalry, there are more than [-] troops, nearly [-] troops, which can be said to be the elite of Hong Chengchou's troops. up.

Now Hong Chengchou's Qing army's primary and secondary has been reversed. Because Hong Chengchou regarded himself as a Han Chinese and rebelled against the Qing army, the Han people were the first. The Han Army Banner Unit, but the Han Army Banner Unit is not a big threat because of its small number of troops.