Nanming Engineer

Chapter 337
Li Benzhen's errand went smoothly. Meng Qiaofang did not hesitate at all and generously agreed to lend all the gunners on hand to Wu Sangui. Except for the red cannon, which was too heavy and difficult to move from the top of the city, other large and small artillery can be loaned out. .

Pao and gunner arrived in Wu Sangui's army overnight. At dawn the next day, Wu Sangui gave the sergeants a full meal, and then the whole army set off.

With flags fluttering and iron hooves flying, the 1000-strong army formed several square formations. Under the leadership of their respective leading generals, they marched out. Wu Sangui was very willing to spend money on his subordinates. The infantry of the Liaodong Army were all wearing half-length waist armor. Wearing an iron helmet, a leather waistcoat to protect his shoulders, a heart-protecting bronze mirror to protect his vitals, thousands of miles of boots at his feet, an iron knife at his waist, spears like a forest, and swords like the sea, he is majestic and majestic, just like the Shaanxi soldiers who besieged Xi'an a few days ago. The Northern rebels are in complete disarray.

And galloping on the left wing of the army is the famous Guanning iron cavalry. This 2000-strong force has always been Wu Sangui's fundamental force. The cavalry are all well-trained Liaodong people, plus a few Mongolians. This mighty army.Each person has two horses, one for carrying equipment, and one for combat. The horses wear cowhide armor, the men wear iron leaf battle jackets, the fiery red cherry spears on the helmets move with the wind, and the cavalrymen carry sabers on their waists and hold three eyes When fighting, first fire the gun at a long distance, and then hold the body horizontally after three shots. The thick three-eyed system becomes a mace, which can smash the skull of a cow when swung out with the horse's momentum.

And following the pawns are more than twenty Francophone cannons dragged by oxen and horses, including large and medium ones, and each cannon is pushed by more than ten gunners, and there are carts behind it pulling gunpowder. The shells are heavy and heavy, and it is very difficult to walk in the rough wilderness.

People pulled horses to drag, and finally arrived at the place after an hour.

Of Wang Yongqiang's three wooden cities, the largest in the center and the smaller ones on both sides are guarded by Wang Yongzhen and Gao Youcai respectively, while he himself guards the Dazhai in the middle.

Wu Sangui weighed it up and decided to attack the small village on the left first. This small village is a little far away from the other two villages, and there is an open field of two miles in between, which is just convenient for the cavalry to gallop and cut off the support of the Wang brothers.

The Liaodong army laid out fish-scale arrays, and countless small squares formed a large rectangular square. The open space between the squares was reserved for artillery.

A jet-black cannon slowly emerged from the crowd. The gunners held sledgehammers and nails, and fixed the cannon body with ping-pong-pong. They were busy cleaning the body with long sticks and loading gunpowder. , and then carefully put the iron bullets into the muzzle.

The hill is not high, and the artillery can be aimed at a slight upward movement. The black muzzle is pointing behind the wooden wall. Wang Yongzhen shrinks his neck and breaks out in cold sweat.

He originally thought that his wooden village was in the back, and the Qing soldiers would not pick him to attack first, but he didn't expect Wu Sangui's eyes to be vicious, so he directly picked this wooden village to attack, he regretted it.

"If I had known it earlier, I would have exchanged with Gao You." Wang Yongzhen gritted his teeth. The neatly lined up Qing army at the foot of the hill was full of murderous aura. The commotion had already begun.

"There are so many Qing soldiers, what should we do?" The cronies asked Wang Yongzhen in horror. They had never seen this kind of battle before. Meng Qiaofang in Shaanxi had only 5000 men at most. There were tens of thousands of Qing troops, and they were all elite: "They have cannons, but our wooden walls can't hold them back!"

"It's better to strike first. We can't wait for them to fire. As soon as the cannon fires and the wall falls, the refugees will be in chaos. Kill them before they fire, and nail the holes of the cannon with iron nails." Wang Yongzhen was fierce. The bloody boss made a bold decision: "Use a knife to force 2000 people to go down, and kill them if they don't go down!"

The cronies nodded, turned around and left.

After a while, the gate of Muzhai opened, and a group of people rushed out. These people were dressed in tatters, old and young. At first glance, they were not serious soldiers.

Xia Guoxiang stood in front of the formation, protecting the gunners as they reloaded ammunition, just in time to face the refugees rushing down from the hill.

When he first saw it, Xia Guoxiang was taken aback. He didn't expect that the rebels had been huddled in the wooden village for two days. Why did they suddenly become violent now?When he saw again that the people rushing out were holding sticks and hoes, he smiled.

"Thieves are nothing more than that." Xia Guoxiang smiled contemptuously and raised his hand: "Send the flag, don't move in the front line, shoot them back with arrows!"

The soldiers standing next to him immediately gave the order, and the three thousand archers in the front rowed their bows and set arrows. The arrows shot out like locusts like raindrops. The accuracy was not high, but it was better than the crowds on the mountain. Basically, the arrows were all missed. , one shot is accurate.

Amidst the screams, the refugees retreated quickly, and Wang Yongzhen's first effort failed.

Wu Sangui and the others reined in the army and watched the front army defeat the enemy with great interest, all amused by the incompetence of Wang Yongzhen's army.

"Hahaha, these are still bows and arrows. If they were replaced by the bird-tong firearms that our soldiers are familiar with, these birdmen would have died more cleanly." Wang Pingfan laughed loudly, and the laughter spread far and wide: "But the king thief is also You're not a softie, but you know how to fight."

"No matter what you do, you're still hitting a rock with an egg." Li Benshen stroked his beard and said with a smile: "An army composed of refugees, still refugees, can't compare to the tiger and wolf divisions, and I don't know how incompetent the Shaanxi army is, so that these thieves are allowed to grow up. "

Everyone laughed again, Wu Sangui stroked his beard in silence, but there was something else in his heart.

In this battle, Dorgon had no choice but to recruit the three kings of the Han army. He was extremely reluctant from the bottom of his heart. If there was no one to use and no troops to send, the Manchu and Qing court would never let the Han people surrender to take the lead. Wu Sangui was very aware of this. It is clear that even the weapons for the expedition were not issued to the Guan Ning cavalry until Wu Sangui persuaded the Qing government to equip them with three eyes. The rest of the firearms were resolutely not distributed, so the order given by Prime Minister Xia just now was to "shoot arrows" instead of "Fire the gun."

From the beginning of his surrender to the Qing court, Wu Sangui discovered that there was always a looming gap between him and the Qing court, which made him incompatible with other Jurchen officials of the Qing court even though he was in the Tai Chi Hall of the Forbidden City. Always amiable, high-ranking and rich, but the feeling of incompatibility between different races, always nourishing and sprouting in my heart, like a seed, slowly watered and grown by various inexplicable feelings, what will it grow into in the future, Wu Sangui didn't know either.

While he was thinking wildly, the guards on the left and right suddenly moved out of the way. Gao Dejie, the commander of the rear army, lined up the generals and walked over in a hurry, holding a letter in his hand. Judging from his expression, he was extremely anxious.

Gao Dejie's mind was calm, he was so anxious, there must be something important, the generals consciously shut their mouths and stood still.

Gao Dejie rushed to Wu Sangui, whispered a few words in his ear, and presented the letter with both hands. After hearing this, Wu Sangui's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly took the letter and read it, looking at ten lines. The more he looked at it, the uglier his face became. Finally, he rubbed his hands angrily. , Crushed the letter into a ball and threw it to Li Benshen.

Everyone was in panic, not knowing why the prince was so angry. Li Benshen hastily unfolded the crumpled paper, Wu Sangui didn't wait for him to take a closer look, and angrily said: "Don't look at it, Meng Qiaofang and Haha Mu are mistaken." As soon as we left the vicinity of the Qinling Mountains, the Hanzhong Ming army broke Fengxiang out of Chencang Road and entered Shaanxi without knowing it!"

(End of this chapter)