Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 310 Battle of Tianping Mountain (9)

The Han army flag engaged in battle with the Ningwu town army while their front line was in disarray. Under the continuous bombardment of shrapnel shells, not only the front line was in disarray, but the deterrence brought by the powerful lethality of the shrapnel shells caused panic to spread among the Han army flag.

Even though the morale of the Han Army Flag was much stronger than that of the Green Camp soldiers, they could not withstand such indiscriminate bombardment. Unfortunately, the shrapnel shells delivered to the army were basically used up after only two rounds of artillery fire. The artillery commander Tang Erhe left two shrapnel shells, then replaced them with solid bullets and continued to bombard the direction of the Han Army Flag.

At this time, the Mongolian supervising team didn't care whether it was the Han army flag or the Green Camp soldiers who retreated. As long as someone did not patrol forward, they would be shot on the spot.

Ha Zhe'a, a subordinate of Duoduo, watched the Han army flag stagnate on the front line, the formation was in disarray, and it was likely to collapse in an instant. He could not help but cursed: "What kind of rotten mud is this? Such a waste, how can it be qualified to raise the flag."

Hazhe'a vented his anger with such a loud voice that Shen Yongzhong, who was not far away, was a little angry. The Han army flag had been bombarded by the Zhou army's artillery for so long, it was very good that it could hold on until now.

But Shen Yongzhong still said to the soldiers around him: "Go tell Deputy General Cao that if he disrupts the enemy's formation, he will be rewarded handsomely. I will protect him in front of Prince Yu and make him rich and powerful."

…………

Meng Jun sat on a stool in the temporary command post behind the formation, silently watching the battlefield in front of him shrouded in the sound of fighting. He could no longer see the battlefield clearly as it was crowded with people. Control of the battlefield could only rely on the military generals from each town. At this time, only Yu An, Gu Yanwu, Gao Yi, and a few military clerks were left by Meng Jun's side, and the rest of the generals had already arrived at the front line to command.

Meng Jun could only rely on the messenger scouts from the towns on the front line to know the battle situation ahead, but the opportunity for battle was fleeting and ever-changing. Meng Jun could only remind himself to stay calm, as the outcome of such a huge battlefield could not be decided in a day or two.

The messenger scouts hurriedly reported the information from all over the battlefield to Meng Jun, and at the same time conveyed Meng Jun's orders to the commanders of various towns.

In such a chaotic battlefield, it mainly depends on the adaptability of the commanders of each town.

Meng Jun stood for a long time. Not long after he sat down, a messenger came running over and said in a hurry, "Your Majesty, Wu Tongzhen of Wuping Town reported that his troops were attacked by the captives' slaves. His troops were very brave. Wu Tongzhen requested to dispatch the heavy armored troops for support."

Upon hearing this, Meng Jun immediately stood up, raised his telescope and looked in the direction of Wu Tiao. Wuping Town was newly built, and indeed its combat power was not strong. With only 10,000 town troops, the front line was extremely thick, and it was definitely not something that the Qing army could easily break through. However, to prevent any eventuality, Meng Jun still ordered Gao Yi to send 2,000 heavily armored troops to support Wu Tiao.

As the messenger in front left, another messenger came running behind him and shouted, "Your Majesty, the officer of the artillery position, Tang Ying, requested to stop firing for a quarter of an hour. Officer Jiu of Tang Ying said that the barrel has turned red due to continuous firing. If we continue firing, there is a danger of the barrel exploding."

Meng Jun immediately replied: "The matter of artillery is under the control of the Tang camp officers. If it is necessary to stop, then stop it."

After hearing this, the messenger ran off in a hurry to deliver the order to the artillery position. After the messenger left, Meng Jun slapped his forehead and said to Yu An, "Send someone to tell Tang Erhe to let the artillery fire in turns, and not at the same time."

Gu Yanwu stared at the battlefield for a long time, almost without blinking. Suddenly, he turned around and said to Meng Jun excitedly, "My lord, the enemy army has been unable to take the city for a long time, and our army's formation remains unmoved. Should we send our elite troops to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop?"

Meng Jun's mouth twitched slightly when he heard this, and his tense nerves relaxed a little. He said, "Duoduo's troops are all Han troops, and his main force, the Eight Banners, has not moved. How can it be that easy to defeat the enemy?"

The battlefield was already littered with corpses. The sounds of shouting, fighting, and screaming were heard everywhere. After hearing these screams for so long, Meng Jun had become numb to them.

Arrows flew across the sky like a rainstorm, forming a dense black net. Archers on both sides shot at each other at an angle, their movements like machines.

The arrows drew arcs in the air. They rotated and flew in the air, then fell like raindrops, shooting into the soldiers' bodies and bringing up blood mist.

The whistling sound of arrows was a series of "buzz...buzz" sounds that echoed over the battlefield. Every time an arrow fell, it was accompanied by the sound of the soldiers' miserable groans.

Yu Youtian has been in the army for many years and has fought in many battles. After so many battles, he has never suffered any serious injuries, let alone major skin wounds.

Even though Yu Youtian had been promoted to battalion officer and did not fight the enemy on the front line, arrows still fell from the sky from time to time. Yu Youtian's personal soldiers looked at the arrows nervously. After a while, several arrows were stuck on the shield protecting Yu Youtian.

Yu Youtian kept shouting and ordered his archers to shoot at the opposite side. On such a densely populated battlefield, with people everywhere, accuracy was no longer required for archers. All they had to do was pull the strong bow and shoot the arrows at the heads of the Qing army on the opposite side.

There was no requirement for aiming. As the archers shot further, they were already running out of energy. After shooting for so long, the arms of almost all the archers in each town’s army were sore and they were unable to shoot arrows continuously. They could only stop for a while and shoot another arrow.

Although the Eight Banners Cavalry of the Qing Dynasty were known to be unparalleled in riding and archery, the real masters of riding and archery were the Mongols. The Mongols were nomads on the grasslands and grew up on horseback. The horse was the most important companion of the Mongols. The Qing Dynasty was a hunting tribe. Although they also raised horses, they were more adapted to wearing heavy armor, dismounting and charging through the enemy's formation. The cavalry would follow from behind and take advantage of the enemy's disarray to deliver the final blow.

At this point in the battle, Duoduo's infantry attacked the Zhou army, but their number was less than half of the Zhou army's formation. However, the Qing army relied on its large number of cavalry and could advance or retreat. Although the Qing army's infantry's attack formation was unstable, the cavalry behind them were still looking for opportunities to move.

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Ezhou City.

According to the plan, after Meng Jun led the main force to fight Duoduo, Zheng Chenggong took the opportunity to use the navy to go around Duoduo's back and raid Ezhou City, forming a pincer attack with Meng Jun to attack Duoduo together.

Zheng Chenggong landed 30 miles west of Ezhou City, and 40,000 infantrymen began to land on the river bank like a dark cloud.

On the river, the warships were densely packed, blocking out the sky and the sun. Following the orders of the officers, the warships slowly approached the shore, and teams of Zheng troops poured out like a tide, first forming a dense military formation on the shore. Some scouts mounted their horses and went forward to the landing place to warn the army.

Zheng Chenggong, standing on the flagship, pointed with his big hand and designated a slightly higher slope as the place for the army to camp. This place was very close to the river and could also be supported by the navy's artillery.

The landing process of Zheng's army was extremely long. The landing process was so long and the scale was so large that the defenders of Ezhou City were naturally not blind.

As soon as they received the news that Zheng Chenggong's navy had landed, the Ezhou garrison sent a fast horse to report to Yu Duoduo.