The plain was deserted, with only weeds in the fields and not a single trace of wheat seedlings.
More than 10,000 large synchronous soldiers were arranged in fourteen columns.
The melee soldiers are outside and the fire gun soldiers are inside. Although the formation is a bit scattered when they trot, it can generally remain neat.
The elites of ancient times were all good runners.
Whether they can run is also the difference between Datong's regular army and the peasant soldiers. Although the peasant soldiers have to train formations and enemy-killing skills, after all, the food is relatively poor, and they rarely train in physical events such as running.
The regular army, on the other hand, ran once in the morning and evening, with sandbags tied to their legs.
At this moment, it was just jogging without wearing armor, which was really easy for the soldiers of Datong.
5,000 dragoons protected the infantry on both sides, and each team of 500 men struggled with Wu Sangui's cavalry. Each time they fired their muskets, only one-fifth of them were fired to ensure that the muskets were always loaded to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the gap in firepower to kill.
The more Wu Sangui fought, the more frightened he became. Today was an eye-opener for him. There were cavalry attacking nearby, but the infantry dared to march in a hurry.
Moreover, those fire cavalry were disgusting, and they repeatedly rotated their volleys, making Wu Sangui dare not charge at all. In other words, the miscellaneous cavalry under his command did not dare to charge, and the cavalry officers who were improvised did not obey Wu Sangui's command in everything.
"Uu! Uu! Uu!"
The bronze whistle kept sounding, and the infantry stopped and lined up to rest, while the gunmen began to change the match ropes. They kept burning the match ropes and jogging. As long as Wu Sangui dared to lead the cavalry to charge, they could quickly form a formation and fire a volley.
Match ropes are really troublesome, it would be nice if they could all be replaced with flintlock guns.
In this era, there was a joke in Europe about the matchlock gun: you could fight with a matchlock one mile long on your back for a whole day.
"The whole army obeys the order and walks slowly..."
The flag order was waved in front, and all the troops also waved the flag order. After changing the match ropes, the soldiers began to move forward.
You can't jog all the time. Running and walking for a while can restore your strength.
Wu Sangui looked at the scene of orders and prohibitions from a distance, and couldn't help but sigh: "If I had such an army, I might be able to go all the way south to Qiongzhou. No wonder Emperor Zhao of Nanjing can control several provinces."
"Deputy Commander, do you still want to harass me?" Jiang Zhu came running over on horseback.
Wu Sangui in this time and space did not contribute to Shanhaiguan, and he had not yet developed so many troops. Therefore, he was not crowned king, but was made deputy commander of the Han Army of Zhenghuang Banner.
Wu Sangui shook his head: "We can't attack for the time being. The enemy's orders are prohibited, but our army doesn't obey orders."
There were more than 4,000 cavalry under his command, but only about 2,000 were truly obedient. Wu Sangui was helpless. The Manchu cavalry and the Mongolian cavalry were all taken away by Dorgon, and the rest were all the servant cavalry of the surrendered generals.
The surrendered generals were willing to lend their cavalry to Wu Sangui for unified command, which was considered a great honor.
When those cavalry officers left, they were told by the surrendered generals: If you can't win, run away. If you can win, but there will be casualties, then don't go all out.
The servant cavalry are treasures and the foundation of the generals. How could they be allowed to be ruined by Wu Sangui?
Therefore, the glorious tradition of the Ming army has been completely continued. Every time Wu Sangui looked for a loophole to charge, he would find that some cavalry were disobedient. Or they were obedient on the surface, but became afraid in the middle of the charge, and very accurately avoided the muzzle of the dragoons.
.
"call"
After advancing slowly for a quarter of an hour, the Datong army began to blow the brass whistle again, and the whole army started jogging.
Wu Sangui said: "While marching in a hurry, there will always be times when you relax. Slowly look for opportunities to break through the enemy's formation. The enemy has no baggage and auxiliary troops and cannot even set up camp at night. Let's try tonight to see if we can organize a night attack."
Wu Sangui sent several cavalrymen to chase Zu Dashou and report the military situation.
…
The Datong army marched in a hurry, but Zu Dashou's side felt like an outing.
Most of the garrison troops from nearby states and counties were gathered in Xihua County, totaling 70,000 to 80,000 people.
Some surrendered generals even forcibly recruited hungry people to join the army, so that they could ask for more military rations in Xihua County. Of the 70,000 to 80,000 people, probably more than 30,000 were temporarily recruited by the surrendered generals.
Routine operation, no need to be surprised.
Who told the Manchus not to pay military salaries? Even if they did, they would only get some money.
The surrendered generals could not afford to support the army, so they could only cut down the army in large numbers and concentrate money and food to support their own servants. When there was a war, they could just recruit more troops and ask the Manchus for more departure fees.
During the Thirty Years' War in Europe, countries did this when fighting wars.
They recruit troops during the war and then disarm them after the war, often not even giving severance pay. Of course the people are not willing, so they will even coax and deceive. For example, let an aunt lure a man who has not enough to eat into a cellar with food as a temptation and lock him up.
He got up so hungry that the man had no choice but to agree to join the army.
Zu Dashou was riding on horseback, turned to look at the lagging army, and said helplessly: "Send orders to all the troops to move faster, and we will rest slowly when we reach Taikang County!"
However, military orders have no effect.
The ministries indeed accelerated their march, but they slowed down again after not going very far. And the elite troops moved very far forward, while the troops composed of hungry people fell far behind, dragging them into a long snake that stretched for several miles.
Zu Dashou also ordered all the generals to throw away these useless soldiers.
But the generals were unwilling. This was their army. The Manchus and the Qing Dynasty didn't give them enough departure fees. Didn't they let them get more military rations during the war?
No matter what kind of garbage soldiers they are, if there are soldiers, they must be paid.
If they are given one tael of silver or one stone of rice, the generals can eat up 70% to 80% of it. Anyway, they are just temporarily recruited hungry people.
The marching team grew longer and longer, and Zu Dashou was left without temper.
If he dares to strictly govern the army, the surrendered generals will dare to find an opportunity to defect. If he dares to abandon all his ministries and take only the elite to Taikang County, the surrendered generals will dare to turn around and join the Datong Army.
Zhao Han has a bunch of burdensome people who only know how to eat, and Zu Dashou has a bunch of scum here who only know how to get paid.
Seeing that the various ministries were completely out of touch, Zu Dashou had no choice but to order: "The whole army should get closer and rest for a while."
For half an hour, the army of 70,000 to 80,000 people finally came together with great difficulty, no longer dragging for nearly ten miles as before.
"Da da da da!"
The cavalry sent back by Wu Sangui came and reported the military situation: "Commander, the enemy is marching in a hurry and is chasing our main force."
"So fast?" Zu Dashou said in surprise.
The cavalryman said: "The enemy troops all took off their armor and marched with only their weapons. They were also protected by thousands of cavalry with muskets, so General Wu could not stop them."
Zu Dashou said with joy on his face: "The enemy has really taken off all their armor?"
"Take it off, no one is wearing armor," the knight said.
Zu Dashou confirmed again: "We were traveling in a hurry, but we didn't bring any artillery?"
"There are no cannons," said the cavalryman.
Zu Dashou was immediately overjoyed: "The enemy general is taking risks and advancing rapidly. This is a great opportunity to defeat him in one fell swoop!"
When Zu Dashou came to think of it, the Datong army had no artillery and even took off their armor, which was meat on the chopping block. He didn't have to leave anymore. He just stayed here to wait for work, and could easily defeat a group of unarmored enemies.
…
"Bang bang bang!"
"Boohoo!"
In the wilderness, Datong Army's cavalry were fighting in a small scale with Wu Sangui's cavalry.
As the pursuit deepened, the Fire Gun Soldiers detached 500 cavalry and rushed to the front to find out the news. Wu Sangui divided his troops to stop them, so the Dragoons sent out more troops.
In the end, the cavalry from both sides fought between their respective main forces.
The fight lasted for half an hour, with only single digit casualties on both sides.
Not only those generals cherished their servants and cavalry, Wu Sangui also did the same. He was reluctant to let his servants get close to get shot. One or two, all to preserve their strength. The main reason was that the Manchu rule was not stable, and the generals could only rely on the army to maintain it.
Self-interest.
Historically, even if the Qing army reached the south of the Yangtze River, the various tribes and generals were still annexing each other.
But the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty was even more rubbish and had all kinds of internal strife.
At that time, the surrendered general Jin Shenghuan was ordered to enter the capital. Fearing that his army would be taken away, he took the initiative to lead troops to attack Jiangxi. This guy only had a few thousand soldiers and claimed to be a vanguard. The Qing Dynasty was about to have an army of 200,000 go south. Nanming in Jiangxi
The minister of civil and military affairs was so frightened that Jiangxi surrendered...
Because when Jin Shenghuan occupied Nanchang, he obtained a large amount of gold and silver treasures. The Jiangxi civil servants appointed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty were jealous and forced them to extort and extort money. The Manchu Qing Dynasty did not have a large bounty for Shenghuan, so Jin Shenghuan simply took the entire Jiangxi Province to defect to Nanming.
I heard that Jiangxi rebelled, and Guangdong followed suit because Governor Tong Yangjia suppressed surrendered generals who were not from Liaodong.
The civil servants blackmailed and suppressed the generals, causing the Qing Dynasty to lose Jiangxi and Guangdong one after another... This script is bad enough.
But the Manchu Qing Dynasty and the Southern Ming Dynasty were competing against each other, and the Southern Ming Dynasty ended up being superior.
The Manchu and Qing dynasties really couldn't compare, and they conquered the world in a daze.
At this moment, several cavalrymen rushed back and reported: "The enemy is camped halfway, waiting for our army to kill them."
After Jiang Dashan discussed with Huang Shun, he ordered the entire army to stop and rest and take out the dry food they carried with them to eat.
The distance between the two sides was about twenty miles. Zu Dashou quickly received the information and ordered the entire army to slowly move closer to the Datong Army. He had to take advantage of the fact that the Datong Army had no armor or artillery, seize the opportunity to take the initiative to attack, and complete his victory in one battle!
Zu Dashou's march was extremely slow and was dragged down by a group of garbage soldiers.
When they were only a few miles away from each other, the sun had already set in the west. Zu Dashou was afraid that the enemy would be attacked at night due to too much encumbrance, so he continued to lead the front army and planned to fight a decisive battle before dark.
Cao Bianjiao, who was fighting with the enemy's cavalry, gradually distanced himself. He raised his telescope and observed for a while, then immediately rode towards Wei Guoxiang: "General Wei, the enemy's army is in chaos in some places. Let's lead the cavalry to kill them!"
Wei Guoxiang was a son of a noble family in Zhejiang. He had been studying since he was a child, but he liked to dance with swords and sticks, so he joined the Datong Army as a scholar.
First, he served as a military missionary. Because he was proficient in bows and horses, he became a cavalry general when training cavalry. Now, like Cao Bianjiao, he commands 2,500 dragoons.
Wei Guoxiang also took out his telescope to observe carefully, and then smiled and said: "I will attack the left wing, and General Cao will attack the right wing."
Having said that, the two of them each took their cavalry and pulled further to restore the strength of their horses. At the same time, they changed the match ropes and lit it again, waiting for a more suitable time.
Wu Sangui also led the cavalry back, but retreated to the rear of his own infantry. He had the upper hand and wanted to wait for the infantry to take action first before looking for an opportunity to kill the main force of the Datong Army... He still wanted to preserve his strength and did not want too many cavalrymen to die.
.
The setting sun casts its afterglow across the land, coating the grass in the wilderness with a layer of gold.