Chapter 340: The Siege of Jiangning (XIV)
The Qing army was still burning straw outside the city, and thick smoke enveloped the top of Jiangning City. At midnight, several teams of Qing troops had woken up. They had eaten and drunk enough before going to bed, and were now full of energy. Each unit had a war meal with wine and meat.
Jiangning General Fu Cha Fu Qing served wine to the officers who led these troops in the big tent. Fu Qing picked up the wine bowl and said, "Brothers, whether we can capture Jiangning depends on this battle of yours."
The Qing army officers also finished their rest and raised their wine bowls, "Serve the general!"
At this point, there was no more nonsense, as the officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners Army had already understood what they were supposed to do. After drinking all the wine, they went their separate ways.
Fu Qing looked at the suddenly empty tent, and felt an indescribable sense of loss. However, Fu Qing had fought in Kangzang for many years, and knew that even if the army could not do it in one go, it could not drag on until the division was old and the soldiers were tired. Fu Qing made up his mind and called someone over, "Pass the order down, implement the ban in the army, and those who whisper will be killed!"
Watching his men leaving upon receiving orders, Fu Qing couldn't help but bite his lips gently, praying in his heart that the Eternal Heaven would bless this operation with a success.
The Qing army here had already eaten and drunk their fill. All the officers returned to their respective camps and called their own troops. There was no need for any nonsense, just one sentence: "If we win, we will all get promoted and make a fortune!" The elite Qing troops from each camp began to move out.
In the night, the smoke was still thick. The Qing army moved forward, passed the red cannon position, and soon entered a place that looked like a jungle. There were shield carts standing here. They were more than one person tall, and there were objects like bamboo baskets in front of the carts.
Some of the bamboo baskets had been broken, and the stones and soil inside them were scattered all over the ground. Some of the bamboo baskets were intact, pressing the shield carts so that they could not move at all. If you accidentally hit the cart, it was like hitting a stone pillar.
Those officers were silent. They knew they couldn't explain it. During the day, the Qing army used a large number of shield carts, which were vehicles that were more than one person tall and had a lot of gravel and dirt stuffed in front. The shield carts were pushed forward, and the weight of the gravel and dirt was used to stand up with the help of the wheels. The obstacles formed by the vehicles could resist bullets.
When the Qing army took action, they did not rush straight towards the city wall, but used the cover of smoke to move along the barrier formed by shield carts and go around to the attack point under the city.
However, the Qing army that rushed to the top of the city wall was defeated after a fierce battle. Now the night battle had to be repeated.
Taking advantage of the smoke and darkness, and relying on these broken or intact shield carts, the Qing army reached the city. Without further ado, everyone prepared centipede ladders, long ladders and other items. Suddenly, a voice shouted, and the Qing army launched a sudden and fierce attack.
The Chinese army on the top of the city wall quickly responded and began to shoot down from the city wall. The Qing army on this side was not in a hurry either. They carried gunpowder jars on long bamboo poles and poked them at the city wall with the help of the shield carts under the city wall.
With a loud bang, the gunpowder can exploded. The Chinese army's counterattack on the city wall was immediately affected, and the part directly attacked by the gunpowder can even temporarily stopped firing.
The Qing army was looking for this brief interruption. The elite Green Camp launched a swift attack under the command of the Eight Banners Army. The Eight Banners Army of the Qing army in Hankou bent their bows and shot arrows with small bombs tied to them into the city, trying to suppress the Chinese army on the top of the city with continuous explosions.
During the day, the elite Qing troops attacking the city adopted similar methods. At this time, they were suddenly implemented and immediately suppressed the Chinese army on the city wall.
However, a military call was heard from inside the city, and there was movement at the city gate. After a while, the city gate opened, and a group of soldiers came out holding torches.
The Chinese army was led by a tall and thin officer, holding a torch in one hand and a long sword in the other. Under his leadership, the Chinese army attacked the Qing army.
The Qing army found out through spies that the Huaxia army had only 30,000 troops in the city, much fewer than the Qing army besieging it. Before the battle, they discussed all kinds of siege tactics and thought that the Huaxia army would rely on the city walls to fight.
It's not that no one has raised different opinions. The result of the discussion was that if the Chinese army dared to send troops outside the city, the Qing army would gather a large number of troops to annihilate the Chinese army outside the city first. At the same time, they would attack the Chinese army that came to reinforce, and would not let the Chinese army form a pincer attack.
During the daytime battle, the Qing army had already determined that the Huaxia army would not fight outside the city. Seeing that the Huaxia army had actually sent people out, the Qing army immediately rushed towards this team of Huaxia soldiers.
The most conspicuous people in the team were those holding torches. Especially the Chinese officer who rushed in front, he held a torch in his left hand, and the long sword in his right hand flashed silver in the night. When the two sides met, the Chinese officer seemed to be motionless, but he easily dodged the Qing army's sword and slashed the throat of a Qing soldier with his sword.
Without waiting for the Qing army to fall to the ground, the Chinese officers had already rushed towards the next enemy.
This officer is Yu Qian. Yu Qian has been following his master Huo Chong since he was young, and his physical training is quite persistent. Huo Chong does not agree with the kind of high-intensity and high-volume training, but he cares about persistence, especially letting Yu Qian learn "human kinesiology". In simpler terms, it is to learn how to use muscles.
Later, Yu Qian followed Senior Sister Qian Qing and learned Huo Chong's broadsword technique. Chinese martial arts pay special attention to the stability of the lower body, and the same is true for broadsword technique. The diagonal movement of the feet is the key.
Because the stride was not long, there was no need to lift the legs high, so the feet could react quickly after hitting the ground. Yu Qian relied on the movement that had become a habit to get closer to another Qing soldier who was rushing towards him. Under the light of the fire, the Qing soldier's head was shiny and his face looked very ferocious.
The steel broadsword easily cut a deep wound in the ribs of the Qing soldier. Yu Qian then cut him with the sword, and the infantry behind Yu Qian stabbed the Qing soldier in the chest with a bayonet.
Lei Hu transferred Yu Qian's position, but he did not transfer Yu Qian back to the headquarters to continue to serve as a staff officer. Instead, he handed over a unit to Yu Qian and asked Yu Qian to lead the unit to carry out a "fierce battle."
Yu Qian took a quick look and determined that the troops were not weak in close combat. Although the Chinese military officers had their own opinions on hand-to-hand combat, hand-to-hand combat was an extremely important part of military training, and the level was not weak at all.
At this time, the Qing army attacked at night, and Yu Qian immediately requested to lead his troops out of the city to fight, rather than passively defend on the top of the city.
The division in charge of the defense here happened to be Xu Min's division, and the regiment commander didn't know what to think, but he immediately agreed.
Here, Yu Qian ordered the squad leader and the deputy squad leader to take torches, and the entire battalion was divided into squads to carry out combat.
Yu Qian led a squad to charge forward. With Yu Qian as the spearhead, the troops cooperated and killed in large numbers. Although the Qing army had more people than Yu Qian's battalion, the Qing army had obviously not conducted assassination training in groups of three.
At first, Yu Qian tried his best to kill the enemies, and the infantrymen behind him were not so smooth in cooperating with Yu Qian to finish off the enemies. However, the more they killed, the more skilled they became.
After all, a bayonet fight between three people is not just about individual bravery, but more about teamwork.
Screams were heard one after another, and the Chinese army outside the city had already charged into the Qing army and started a fierce battle.
At this moment, shouts of killing were heard from the city gate. Soon, more Chinese soldiers rushed out of the city gate, holding torches and fighting with Yu Qian. The Qing army fought for a while, but was completely at a disadvantage and fled into the darkness.
Yu Qian did not let his eyes turn red with anger. He shouted loudly: "Withdraw! Withdraw!"
The soldiers around Yu Qian also shouted, and the signalman blew the call to retreat.
Although everyone was still very excited, no one rushed into the darkness to chase and kill. The troops quickly gathered and retreated towards the city gate.
Yu Qian did not withdraw, he led the temporarily gathered troops to walk at the end. In the battle just now, rifles were not allowed to be loaded with bullets, and now Yu Qian ordered the troops around him to load bullets and prepare for the dark.
Sure enough , half of the Chinese army retreated into the city, and suddenly in the darkness outside the city, the Qing army opened fire on the densely packed Chinese army.
Yu Qian immediately ordered a counterattack. The two sides fired at each other, and bullets flew everywhere. Yu Qian only felt something brushing past his ear, and the soldier next to him fell down. It turned out that a bullet almost hit Yu Qian.
Before they had time to get scared, they heard gunshots from the top of the city. The Chinese army on the top of the city had already opened fire fiercely at the flames from the Qing army's muskets below the city.
There were screams from the Qing army on the opposite side. Although some people continued to shoot, it was only a few muskets. The Chinese army quickly carried the dead and the wounded back to the city.
When Yu Qian finally retreated into the city gate, the gate was immediately closed tightly. Then the division commander Xu Min was seen at the city gate. When he saw Yu Qian finally come back, Xu Min just stared at Yu Qian for a while, but said nothing.
Medical soldiers rushed over to treat the wounded, and the troops also strengthened their defenses. However, there was no attack that night, and the Qing army seemed to have completely given up the idea of forcing the enemy to attack.
After dawn, the Qing army's straw might have been burned out and the smoke had dissipated.
Division Commander Xu Min climbed up to the top of the city wall and looked down. He had a clear view. He saw many bodies lying in all directions below the city wall. For a moment, he couldn't tell how many people there were. Based on Xu Min's experience, at least 400 people died in the night battle below the city wall.
All the wounded and sacrificed officers and soldiers of the Huaxia Army were brought back, which means that so many enemies were killed in the fierce battle of more than half an hour last night. More importantly, it not only repelled the Qing army's efforts to launch a night attack, but also made the Qing army dare not fight at night again.
With a sigh, Xu Min had to change his view on the bayonet battle. However, Xu Min was still unwilling to accept it.
For so long, Huo Chong hoped that as many people as possible could survive. The Huaxia Army knew Huo Chong's thoughts. As the division commander, Xu Min felt that this was Huo Chong's benevolence and righteousness, and he agreed with Huo Chong's benevolence and righteousness.
This is why Xu Min advocates using firepower to eliminate the enemy. Although war will kill people, Xu Min hopes that death is due to bad luck and being shot to death.
But now it seems that if you want to win, hand-to-hand combat is very useful. However, the casualty rate of hand-to-hand combat is still not low. In this battle alone, the Chinese army suffered 60 to 70 casualties. In the large-scale field battles that Xu Min participated in, the Chinese army suffered 60 to 70 casualties, while the Qing army must have suffered more than a thousand casualties...
The Qing army's Jiangning general, Fu Cha Fu Qing, obviously did not think he had gained an advantage. At this time, the Qing army officers who had withdrawn had already reported the battle situation and losses.
The Qing army lost about 400 people, but the number of wounded was not that high. What made Fu Qing angry was that the spirit of the Qing army officers who were determined to fight to the death before they set out was greatly reduced.
According to the battle report sent back yesterday, the rebels' firearms were far more powerful than Fu Qing had imagined. According to the intelligence summarized by the Qing army, the Qing army adopted the method of burning straw to create smoke. The effect seemed to be very good. The rebels on the opposite side had greatly reduced their accuracy.
Fu Qing had already used a lot of methods, and the Qing army's performance was as effective as in training. At least they reached the city, climbed up and attacked the city. And they attacked two sections of the city wall in one fell swoop.
However, the bandits' firearms on the top of the city were too powerful. Seeing that the Qing army below the city was difficult to stop, the bandits mobilized their artillery and fired shotgun shells at the city. They were all one or two taels of bullets, and one shot could even break the shield car.
Although they could not see clearly, the enemy troops kept firing at the city walls, disrupting the subsequent siege. As a result, the Qing troops on the city walls could not get any help after a hard battle, and were eventually killed on the city walls.
During the night attack, the Qing army did not even have a chance to attack the city, and they engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand combat with the enemy army outside the city.
The bandit army, who were thought to be only able to fire guns, were surprisingly good at close combat and managed to repel these elite troops.
Although Fu Qing didn't say it, he knew that the other troops were not incapable of fighting, but they were not as brave as the casualties. If they knew the losses they had suffered, their fighting spirit would inevitably be damaged.
But the elite troops were damaged, and we couldn't force them to fight hard. Then we could only let the less elite troops to fight, and what kind of performance could these people have?
Lei Hu quickly called another meeting. In addition to the division commander, the battalion commander Yu Qian and the regiment commander who sent troops out of the city for field and night battles were also present.
After listening to the two men's stories, the division commanders remained silent. Lei Hu, however, did not expect them to say anything, so he made the decision first. "Our army cannot place troops outside the city, after all, we are too few. However, we must be prepared to send troops out of the city to fight at any time. When fighting outside the city, we must consider hand-to-hand combat. Each division must select brave and courageous personnel to form a combat team, ready to fight outside the city when the situation requires."
After saying that, Lei Hu glanced at the division commanders. None of them said anything. Lei Hu continued, "I have sent people to the headquarters, requesting that the headquarters send troops as soon as possible to encircle and annihilate the Qing army. However, everyone knows that our mission is to delay the Qing army for half a month to a month. When the morale of the Qing army is low and the losses are large enough, the troops sent by the headquarters will carry out a large encirclement and strive to annihilate them in one fell swoop. I would like to ask the headquarters to send a division to reinforce first. The headquarters will give a reply soon."
Xu Min only spoke up when he heard this: "Commander Lei, close combat always results in many losses. If we continue to fight the Qing army like this, will we be the first to collapse?"
Lei Hu had already made up his mind at this time, and immediately replied: "The only reason we can't hold on is because the Qing army attacks the city. If the Qing army can't climb the city, even if there are fewer people on the top of the city, we will not be unable to hold on."
Xu Min was not completely convinced. He immediately replied, "Commander Lei, we have fought so many battles, but we have never suffered so many casualties!"
"Yes. We have never lost so many people before. I feel very uncomfortable too. But I have been thinking about it, and the result is different from what you think. The reason why the Qing army died so many deaths in the past is that in addition to the cavalry charge, their infantry was thinking of defeating us with muskets. Our governor has known this for a long time, so he tried every means to make such a good musket. The Qing army was like an egg hitting a stone. Of course it was smashed to pieces. Don't you think so?"
Xu Min remained silent. What Lei Hu said was the result of Xu Min's careful consideration.
Lei Hu was also under a lot of pressure, so he softened his tone, "The Qing army is not stupid. Since they know that the previous method doesn't work, and they don't want to die, they have to find a more effective method. Now it seems that they have found a way, which is to get close to us and fight us to the death."
Seeing that everyone was silent, Lei Hu also got angry, "Brothers, brothers! In the early years, we followed the governor to fight. We ambushed . We relied on the fact that the government troops were afraid of death and only wanted to use guns to fight from a distance. We just moved closer and defeated the Qing army in close combat when the government army's muskets were useless. How come now, the Qing army is not afraid of death, but we are afraid of death? The Qing army was afraid of death, so they died. We are afraid of death, and we will die too! Have you become cowards in just these few years!"
These words were very serious. Xu Min felt as if he was struck by lightning, and a tremor went straight from the base of his tail to the top of his head. He immediately jumped up and shouted: "Commander, I have never been afraid of death when I followed the governor to fight! You don't need to say anything more. If the Qing army comes again next time, I... our division will never be a coward!"
With Xu Min taking the lead, other division leaders were not willing to be outdone and stood up to express that they would never be cowards.
Lei Hu wanted this result, and he gave the order again. Each division should prepare troops to fight outside the city. Once the Qing army attacked the city again, they would send troops to fight outside the city and cooperate with the troops on the city to defeat it.
After the teachers and commanders returned, Lei Hu asked Yu Qian, who stayed behind, "Junior brother, what do you think?"
Yu Qian answered decisively: "Brother, we can win. The Qing army is not good at hand-to-hand combat."
Lei Hu wanted to praise him, but he also didn't want Yu Qian to be killed in Jiangning because of underestimating the enemy, so he changed his words, "Oh! Junior brother, do you think you look down on the Qing army by saying this?"
Yu Qian immediately told Lei Hu his opinion. In Yu Qian's opinion, the hand-to-hand combat of the Qing army was not good. The Chinese army had already mastered the rifle stabbing technique, while the hand-to-hand combat technique of the Qing army was still swords and guns.
As he spoke, Yu Qian had two captured Qing army muskets brought in. Lei Hu had seen old Qing army muskets, which were basically long wooden bars with gun bodies installed, which was meant to save money. As long as that thing couldn't fire bullets, it was really not as convenient to use as a fire stick.
Judging from the captured muskets, a considerable number of Qing army's matchlock guns have been modified. Matchlock guns are still matchlock guns, but the stocks have finally imitated those of the Chinese army, and with a large number of imitation sleeve bayonets, they can be used to stab and kill.
But Yu Qian still felt that the Qing army's assassination technique was just a copy of the spear assassination technique. It was totally irrelevant.
"Brother, I'm not saying that the Qing army is incompetent. It's just that the Qing army's way of using guns is incompetent." Yu Qian summarized.
Lei Hu was silent for a while before he said, "Junior brother, if you keep fighting in the front, I can't guarantee your safety."
Without waiting for Lei Hu to say more, Yu Qian stood up and replied: "If I sacrifice myself, it will be for Master and for China. Brother, with so many people watching, I can't embarrass Master, nor can I embarrass you."
Lei Hu was really moved. He stepped forward, grabbed Yu Qian's shoulders, and just said "Junior Brother", his eyes already red.
