Chapter 77 The bloody battle in Si’an Town

Author: Scholar Wu

Chapter 77 The bloody battle in Si’an Town

Seeing the smoke and dust billowing to the north, Zhang Xiaofan quickly ordered the gunmen to rearrange their formations.

At this time, the speed advantage of the cavalry was revealed. After all, the fire gunners of Jingnan Camp were not as professional as those trained by Shenji Camp.

In panic, some nervous soldiers began to fire in advance. At this time, the enemy was not within the effective range at all and could not cause much damage.

After disrupting the rhythm, the first round of salvo fire suppression was not enough. Although some Mongolian soldiers were shot down, the enemy's overall advance was not disrupted, and the rain of arrows thrown by the Mongolian cavalry also hit the Ming army.

Although the actual casualties caused were not large, it exacerbated the chaos of the Ming army.

At this time, the Mongolian cavalry at the front waved their sabers excitedly. In their opinion, the Ming army's formation was in chaos, and the front was nothing more than a group of lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

In the panic, the reloading rhythm of the Ming gunners was also messed up, and the second round of volleys did not cause much damage.

The Mongols' second and third rounds of arrow rain continued to harvest the Ming army. At this time, in the contest between bows and arrows and firecrackers, it was obviously the Mongolian cavalry's bows and arrows that had the upper hand.

The third round of volleys here at Jingnan Camp has not been released yet, but it has already received the fourth wave of arrows from the Mongols.

After temporarily changing their formation, the Ming army was no longer able to launch the well-arranged "three-stage attack" and was forced to use volleys to deal with the Qing army.

Moreover, the rate of fire of matchlock guns is far inferior to that of Mongolian bows and arrows.

After all, most of the people in the Jingnan camp had never experienced a serious battle, and most of them had only participated in some smooth battles to annihilate the Qing army's local green camp.

At this time, Zhang Xiaofan finally realized that his Jingnan Camp was still far from a truly powerful army.

Fortunately, Qian Mo set different development directions for several first-class battalions when he established each battalion.

The Shenji Battalion is a professional firearms unit, the Chongming Battalion is the main mountain warfare force that is good at cooperating with the Yuanyang formation, and the Jingnan Battalion is a heavy infantry unit that develops the Iron Armored Army.

Although it was very difficult to build the armor, the entire Suhu Governor's Mansion still equipped the Jingnan Camp with 300 pairs of armor.

At this time, among the 500 people led by Zhang Xiaofan, there were fully 150 heavy infantry in iron armor.

Zhang Xiaofan shouted: "The Iron Armored Army will form an array on the spot, and the others will stand back!"

The excited Mongolian cavalry were waving their sabers, ready to charge into the Ming army and harvest their heads.

However, they found that the Ming army in front of them were all heavy infantry wearing iron armor and holding long swords.

These long knives are the horse-killing knives specially made by Qian Mo for the Iron Armored Army, and are based on the previous Mo Dao of the Tang Dynasty.

It can also be called a machete. It is seven feet long, has a blade three feet long, a handle four feet long, and weighs 15 kilograms.

This weight was determined after many tests. It can not only ensure the damage to cavalry and horses, but also allow soldiers holding swords to use it.

After all, ordinary soldiers cannot dance with weapons that weigh more than 50 kilograms.

This was also the first time the Iron Armored Corps had a duel with the cavalry since its establishment.

In the first wave of impact, many Mongolian cavalrymen and horses were cut down to the ground by the heavy infantry of the Jingnan Battalion.

There were also some inexperienced armored soldiers who were directly hit by horses and flew several meters away. They were hit with internal bleeding and died directly.

However, the scene of harvesting heads that the Mongols imagined did not happen. Instead, the first wave of cavalry seemed to hit the copper wall and the iron wall, causing almost all casualties. Those Mongolian soldiers who fell to the ground were quickly killed by the armored troops.

Fortunately, they encountered the Mongolian light cavalry. If they faced the Manchurian heavy cavalry for the first time, the inexperienced armored army might not be able to withstand it.

The Mongolian cavalry that followed saw the cavalry in front hit the iron plate, and promptly turned their horses' heads, switching from cavalry charging to firing bows and arrows.

Fortunately, the soldiers were wearing heavy armor, so except for a few people who were shot in the face, there were basically no casualties.

At this time, the Fire Gun Team, which had readjusted its formation, also began to fight back.

The range advantage of Rumi's muskets began to come into play at this time, and Mongolian cavalry were constantly hit by muskets.

At this time, Aga was furious, but had no choice but to abandon more than 200 corpses and lead the remaining Mongolian cavalry to retreat.

The Jingnan camp also suffered a lot of casualties, with a total of 70 people killed, including 20 armored soldiers.

In addition, more than 30 people were seriously injured and basically lost their combat effectiveness in the subsequent battles.

Zhang Xiaofan ordered the seriously injured to be transferred to Anji Prefecture and sent someone to call the police in Huzhou.

It was almost dusk at this time, and Zhang Xiaofan knew that this Mongolian cavalry was probably just a vanguard battalion, and there might be more Qing troops to follow.

At present, there are only less than 400 people in the Jingnan Battalion who can participate in the battle.

A more solid defense line must be built before dark.

It happened that a lot of "fairy lime" had been delivered from Anji Prefecture in the morning, so the people in the town were immediately mobilized to start construction together and build fortifications overnight.

After suffering a defeat, Agari had to return to Guangde and ask for help from Jin Li.

After hearing the news that the Mongolian cavalry was defeated by the Ming army in Si'an Town, Jin Li was also shocked.

He has always scorned the combat power of the Ming army. Not long ago, he cut down a handful of Ming troops in Huizhou like chopping melons and vegetables. At first, he thought it was the Mongols who were sneaking around, refusing to contribute, and deliberately exaggerating the combat power of the Ming army.

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However, after seeing that Agari lost a total of 300 people this time, he believed that the Mengba Banner was not cheating this time, and that the Ming army's firearms were indeed extremely sharp.

However, when he heard that the Ming army only had a few hundred people and Si'an Town had no city walls, he gave up his plan to attack overnight.

After all, he felt that the Ming army was not worth mentioning in front of the real Eight Banners of Manchuria, and there was no city wall in Si'an Town. He wished that the Ming army could directly leave Huzhou to fight him here, saving him the effort to attack the city.

After all, they were all cavalry this time, and they didn't bring any siege equipment. As long as there were no walls in the town, it would be easy.

So we decided to let the team have a good night's rest in Guangde, and wait until the next day to set off to capture Si'an Town.

He also asked the governor of Guangde overnight to prepare a large number of wooden chariots to accompany the army on the expedition.

When the Qing army arrived at Si'an Town, they were dumbfounded.

Jin Li angrily shouted: "Agari, you said there is no city wall here, what is this?"

Agari was also shocked by the sight in front of him. Although this could not be regarded as a city wall, there were actually two more 1-meter-high sheep and horse walls on the front and west side of the Si'an River Stone Bridge.

Si'an Town is located at a strange corner of Si'an River, surrounded by rivers on both sides to the southwest.

There is a big mountain to the north. There is only a trail along the river at the foot of the mountain that leads to Si'an Town. Before, Agari crossed the river from the north and then rushed all the way along this trail. Now this trail has also been blocked.

The Ming army sealed it with a wall of sheep and horses.

In this way, even if they cross the Si'an River from the side, they still cannot bypass this sheep-horse wall if they want to enter Si'an Town.

Fortunately, I knew in advance that the Ming army had sharp weapons.

Jin Li also made corresponding preparations and was not afraid to attack the Si'anxi Stone Bridge from the front.

For a long time, the Qing army had developed its own defense system against the Ming army's firearms.

For example, according to the "Zhanshou Complete Book" written by Fan Jingwen of the Ming Dynasty, the shields on the Eight Banners carriages were made of thick wooden boards covered with cowhide and iron sheets. The shields made in this way "cannot be moved by small bricks and stones.

Big bricks and stones will roll down when hit, and firewood will not burn if thrown." It has strong defensive power.

Although there is no city wall in Si'an Town, and the carriages are used by the Eight Banners when they attack the city, the Lumi gun used to deal with the Ming army can also be used at this time, and Jin Li can be considered flexible.

Although the Ming army was equipped with a large number of firearms during this era, these firearms were mainly aimed at the Mongolian light cavalry with little or no armor, so their power was seriously insufficient when facing the chariots.

The Eight Banners often used carts to approach the Ming army, and then used bows and arrows to kill them.

At the other end of the Si'an River Stone Bridge, a large number of carts were pushed out to form an artificial fence. At this time, it was about 60 steps away from the Ming Army Sheep and Horse Wall on the other side of the river.

At this distance, the Lumi gun could easily kill the Qing army, but it was powerless against the heavy carriages.

The lead bullets of the Ming army only caused a slight dent in the carriage, but the Qing army behind the carriage was unharmed.

Fortunately, the Ming army was also protected by a wall of sheep and horses. The bows and arrows fired by the Qing army behind the carriages could not cause much damage to the Ming army.

After the two armies exchanged fire across the river, neither one could do anything to the other.

So Jin Li decided to take the initiative. The majestic Qing Dynasty Manchurian Zhenghongqi actually only dared to shoot at the Ming army across the river, and did not let other Qing troops get rid of the news.

Although the stone bridge is not wide, it can still accommodate two carriages side by side at the same time.

In this way, the Qing army slowly advanced towards the Ming army under the cover of the carriages.

50 steps, 40 steps, and at 30 steps, the shield cart couldn't be pushed anymore.

It turned out that the cunning Ming army actually built small conical stone pillars on the bridge.

At this time, Zhang Xiaofan gave the order to shoot.

"Bang, bang, bang"

At a distance of 30 steps, only the relatively thin part of the carriage was penetrated. The 7 or 8 unlucky Eight Banners soldiers were fortunate enough to become the first batch of Manchu Eight Banners killed by the Jingnan Battalion.

Seeing that the carriage could not stop them, the remaining Eight Banners soldiers fortunately did not hide and went straight out.

After all, the "brave" Eight Banners warriors could not hold back their composure and launched a charge towards the Ming army's sheep and horse wall.

But at this time, they were surrounded by small cone-shaped stone pillars, and their charging speed could not be increased at all.

At a distance of 30 steps, even plate armor could not block the firepower of Lumi Gun, let alone Eight Banners soldiers wearing cotton armor.

A total of sixty or seventy Eight Banners soldiers were beaten into a sieve by the Jingnan Camp.

However, some Ming troops who were too excited and exposed their heads also became the targets of the Eight Banners archers.
To be continued...