Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 435 Breaking the Stronghold

The twelfth day of July, the fourth year of the Yongli reign.

The three camps defended by Hao Yongzhong were filled with the sound of killing and the rumbling of artillery fire that had been going on for the entire morning.

Under the continuous artillery bombardment, the three small camps were full of gaps destroyed by artillery, but the Zhou army's artillery did not fire back. This was because the artillery used to defend the camps were all small cannons with a short range.

The Qing cavalry did not move, still closely monitoring the movements of Zhou's camp not far away, while those who attacked Hao Yongzhong's troops were all Han troops.

Seeing that there were gaps in many places in the camp, Dorgon waved his hand and signaled the Han army to launch an attack. The Han army was divided into five waves, each with more than 2,000 people, and those who collapsed would be killed.

Meng Jun had a large number of soldiers, but they often dispersed their troops for defense. In the Cangzhou area, the Zhou army had built 21 small camps and five large camps along the way, and this time they built four more camps in Tianjin Port. Given Meng Jun's temperament, he would definitely heavily guard this grain storage area.

After planning day and night, Dorgon concluded that there were at most 70,000 to 80,000 people in Meng Jun's main camp at this time. Therefore, based on Meng Jun's behavior in recent days, Dorgon believed that he could defeat him one by one, destroy the Zhou army's grain storage areas first, and cut off the Zhou army's retreat.

As the Qing army attacked, the infantry approached the range of the defensive artillery fire. Under the command of Zhou army officers, the small cannons also began to show their power. With every roar, several hot iron balls streaked across the sky and hit the enemy's way forward.

Hundreds of Qing soldiers were killed or injured along the way, but under Dorgon's strict order, no one dared to retreat, because retreat would mean death.

At this time, in the camp on the right side, the Qing army had rushed into the gaps in the camp wall and were engaged in fierce fighting with Zhou army soldiers in more than ten gaps.

The fighting lasted from noon to afternoon. On the battlefield, especially in the gaps of the camp, corpses were piled up layer by layer, and the smell of blood was sickening.

At this time, a Qing soldier stabbed a Zhou army soldier in the waist with a spear, but the Zhou army soldier held the spear tightly before he died, preventing it from being pulled out.

The Qing soldier gave up his weapon reluctantly and wanted to pick up the scattered weapons on the ground, but seeing that the Zhou army was so close, the Qing soldier roared in despair, jumped up, and knocked down a Zhou soldier, and the two men actually wrestled with each other.

At this time, the Qing army was pinching the neck of the Zhou army soldier tightly. The Zhou army soldier touched a wooden stick that was broken by the artillery and swung it at his head. The Qing army soldier felt dizzy for a moment and fell to the ground.

The Zhou army pounced hard and knocked the Qing army to the ground. The wooden stick in his hand pierced into the Qing army's eyes without hesitation. The Qing army screamed in pain, blood flowing from their faces, and they stood up miserably.

The Zhou army soldier stood up panting, and before he could recover, a spear pierced his body and even knocked him back several steps. The force was so strong that the spear head actually stuck into the mud.

It turned out that Dorgon saw that the Han army could not break through the camp, so he dispatched five hundred Solon soldiers. These five hundred Solon soldiers were all wearing double armor, carrying two javelins on their backs, holding big swords in their hands, and they rushed up with great momentum like wild beasts.

The commander of the camp on the right was Shi Yan, a subordinate of Hao Yongzhong. He had followed Hao Yongzhong for a long time. Among the three small camps, Hao Yongzhong was stationed in the middle one himself, with the deputy commander Wang Jincai on the left and his confidant Shi Yan on the right.

Shi Yan was a man of strong build. He joined the rebel army in the sixth year of Chongzhen and was a brave general under Hao Yongzhong.

Facing the fierce attack of Sauron's soldiers, he quickly organized a second line of defense and fought step by step. The strength of Sauron's soldiers made Shi Yan feel unprecedented pressure.

These soldiers who came from a cold and icy land with extremely harsh living conditions, after being equipped with double armor and sharp swords, were almost unstoppable. The psychological shock caused to the Zhou army by only 500 people was greater than that of more than 10,000 Han army flags.

Under the protection of his personal guards, Shi Yan killed a Sauron soldier with great effort, and kicked a Sauron soldier who jumped down from the pile of corpses to the ground. Just when Shi Yan was about to kill him with a knife, the guards beside him grabbed him and said urgently: "General, we can't hold on! Retreat!"

Shi Yan was blood-thirsty, he broke free from the guards, and slashed at the shoulder of the Sauron soldier who had fallen to the ground and was about to get up. The Sauron soldier was indeed fierce, and in pain, he did not retreat but advanced, swinging his sword at Shi Yan, but Shi Yan, with the cooperation of the guards, slashed at the Sauron soldier's neck with his sword, and with a pull, blood spurted out, and he died on the spot.

The battle was extremely fierce and the Zhou army had suffered heavy losses. At this time, Shi Yan saw a Qing general, who was wearing heavy armor and had already rushed into the camp. Wherever he passed, he was like an empty space. He killed four Zhou soldiers in a row. Shi Yan gritted his teeth and was about to go forward to fight, but was stopped by the guards again.

"General, the commander has sent someone here! He ordered us to retreat!"

When Shi Yan heard this, his mind suddenly cleared up, and he shouted, "Brothers, retreat to the central camp!"

"Retreat! Retreat to the central camp!" Zhou army officer shouted urgently.

As for the Zhou army soldiers who were fighting in the camp, some immediately retreated, some forced their way away from the Qing army with a single blow and then ran back, but some of the Zhou army were either held back or surrounded and killed.

In the battle of Youying, Shi Yan successfully retreated to Hao Yongzhong's camp with only more than 900 people. Once the right camp was broken, if Dorgon wanted to, he could go straight to the grain storage camp where Bai Yongfu was stationed.

After the war, the Qing army cleaned up the battlefield and all the injured but not dead soldiers of the Zhou army were ordered to be killed by Dorgon, leaving more than 2,000 corpses on the battlefield.

The Qing army was not having an easy time either. More than 10,000 Han soldiers took turns to charge the camp, suffered heavy artillery damage from the Zhou army, and attacked when the Zhou army was on the alert. Those who retreated were killed by the Qing army's supervisory team. Of the 10,000 Han soldiers, more than 3,000 were killed and more than 1,800 were injured. The organization of the first three teams of Han troops was almost completely wiped out, and 61 of the 500 Solon soldiers were injured and 52 were killed.

In Hao Yongzhong's main camp, he stared in amazement at the remaining 900 soldiers. The morale of these soldiers was low. Many people talked about the heavily armored wild soldiers, and everyone said that they were extremely ferocious.

Hao Yongzhong was somewhat skeptical about this. The Qing soldiers had boasted highly at the beginning. If the Sauron soldiers were really that strong, why didn't they use them earlier? However, Hao Yongzhong still believed in Shi Yan's character.

Therefore, Hao Yongzhong could only report Shi Yan's original words to Meng Jun: "They wore double-layer iron armor, were extremely brave, and carried javelins, which they threw accurately and with amazing power. Our soldiers suffered heavy casualties in the confrontation."

After receiving the military report, Meng Jun immediately consulted Leng Sengji without hesitation, and Leng Sengji gave a more detailed description.

"...Dorgon ordered the various Solon tribes to move to the Nenjiang River Basin for easier management. He also appointed local Darukhan, Zamusu and others as leaders of the Solon tribes and granted them the title of deputy governor. These Solon soldiers are northern barbarians who live in a harsh environment. Therefore, they are fearless and brave. When they charge, they are like wolves and tigers. In addition, they throw spears like rain, which makes them a formidable enemy!"