Dominate the Country

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Desheng Lake, more than ten miles southeast of Xinghua City.

It is the season of clear and crisp autumn. Looking from afar, you can see sparkling water marks everywhere, and the breeze blows the waves, rippling slightly.

The remaining mist in the early morning quickly dissipated in the sun, and the surface of Desheng Lake, which is dozens of miles wide, seemed to have been clarified, so pure green, like a clean and flawless emerald.

Today's weather is very good. There is not a trace of clouds in the blue sky, and there seems to be no flying birds on the lake. In the distance, where the water and the sky meet, the lake and the blue sky are connected as one, just like a huge blue crystal, a flawless gem.

…

"Wearing armor and carrying a long sword, I will fight with you. The road is long…"

"We are united in the same enemy, and we will live and die together. I will fight with you, and my heart will not be lazy…"

"Stepping on Yanran, chasing the Hu people. I will fight with you, and my song will be fearless…"

Suddenly, a passionate singing voice came from afar, accompanied by the rhythmic sound of drums. A narrow black line appeared on the western horizon, and then, and then, it approached Desheng Lake little by little. As it got closer, the singing became clearer and clearer.

"Don't you see Han Zhongjun, a young man tied to the captive and asked for a long rope…"

"Don't you see Ban Dingyuan, riding a light horse in a remote area to urge the battle…"

"A man should be in danger, how can he let the scholar waste his life…"

"What's more, the country is in danger, and the feathered dispatches are racing without stopping…"

When the army coming from the west approached Desheng Lake, the song they sang had changed to another one.

The horn sounded low, and the army's pace slowly slowed down. The cavalry on both sides turned over and sat on the horseback. This was a team with fewer people than the Qing soldiers who were camped by the lake. Now they were marching to a place about eight miles in front of the Qing army camp, which was absolutely safe. Then, with the low sound of the horn, the troops stopped abruptly. Only the cavalry of the large group turned over and began to expand their cruising range.

"Bang bang..." Two cannon shots were heard from the sky above the Qing army camp opposite. Two small black balls were ejected from the barrel and fell when they were about two miles away from the front of the Fu Han army. Then the cannon balls rolled a hundred meters away on the flat land by the lake.

"Grand Commander, look at the range of the Qing army's cannons..." Huang Jie looked at the Qing army camp by the lake and spit fire. In the battle of Taizhou, although the Third Brigade finally persisted until the main force marched north, the Qing army did retreat, but it also paid a heavy price.

The reason why the Third Brigade paid a heavy price was not the Qing soldiers, but the cannons that fired the shells now. Their range was not limited to three miles, but three miles was the effective range where they could maintain accuracy. And the shooting frequency was also much higher, much stronger than the cannons used by the Qing army in the past.

A few days ago, Chen Ming divided the main force into two groups and crossed the Yangtze River to the north. He personally led the cavalry battalion, tank battalion, right battalion of the personal guard, musket battalion, artillery battalion, etc. to sweep along the line from Yangzhou to Gaoyouzhou. As a result, the cavalry of the Eight Banners immediately retreated to Xinghua, and then the Qing army in Taizhou also retreated to Xinghua. Together with the Qing army reinforcements that turned from Dongtai to Xinghua, the three sides merged into one and stationed on the shore of Desheng Lake in the east of Xinghua City, and directly abandoned the city of Xinghua.

The three Qing armies joined together, with a total force of more than 10,000 people, and they were all the most courageous troops in the Qing army in northern Jiangsu. And what about the Fu Han army led by Chen Ming himself? The Cavalry Battalion and the Right Guard Battalion are both overstaffed large camps. There are nearly 2,000 troops in these two divisions alone, more than 600 people in the Tank Battalion, two musket battalions, two armored battalions, and one artillery, with a total strength of more than 5,000.

"High-pitched and powerful military songs are conducive to the army's morale." Chen Ming 'saw' that the morale of the troops has increased. Although the increase is not much, it is already very good that the current team can keep its morale from falling when facing a battle. Half of them fought one more battle of Changzhou than the others in the main force. And you have to know that the performance of the Qing army on the opposite side is not bad. The battle of Taizhou made the entire Third Brigade look humiliated, although the troops used by the Third Brigade in Taizhou were only a small part.

The morale of the Qing army on the opposite side is not weak either. As far as Chen Ming 'sees', the morale of the Qing army on the opposite side is not lower than that of the current Fu Han Army. This is an elite duel. The battle of Taizhou boosted the morale of the Qing army on the opposite side, and the morale soared a lot.

"The morale of the Qing army is good. Have you found out how many cannons they have?" These high-performance cannons must have given the Qing army great encouragement and confidence, otherwise the Qing army would not dare to confront the elite Fu Han army led by Chen Ming with twice the number of soldiers.

"The Qing army is very well prepared. The scouts have hit a wall several times." Huang Jie's voice was three points lower. The Qing army beat them so badly in Taizhou, and they couldn't find out how many high-quality cannons the opponent had. This made the entire Third Brigade feel ashamed. However, the captured Qing soldiers sold the origin of this batch of cannons thoroughly. This batch of cannons was sold to the Qing Dynasty by the Portuguese in Macau. The Portuguese also organized a group of gunners to serve as instructors to train artillery for the Qing army. However, the low-level soldiers who charged into battle did not know how many cannons there were.

Chen Ming frowned so hard that he could kill a mosquito. It seems that the Fu Han army has to settle accounts with the Portuguese. But the most urgent task now is that the Fu Han Army must first devour the Qing Army in front of them. Chen Ming wants to make one thing clear to the entire Qing Dynasty: Don't think that you can compete with the Fu Han Army just because you have the Portuguese cannons. It would be too naive to think that.

The five-jin cannon may not be as powerful as the Portuguese twelve-jin cannon in terms of pure power, and the Portuguese also have shrapnel shells, but in terms of the number of cannons, even if the Portuguese use all their strength, they cannot compare with the Fu Han Army.

The artillery battalion that Chen Ming brought to Desheng Lake had a total of forty five-jin cannons and twenty three-jin cannons. Chen Ming did not believe that the Portuguese on the opposite side could bring sixty cannons to the Qing Dynasty at once. Think about it, a twelve-jin cannonball, a jin in Qing Dynasty weighs nearly 600 grams, while a pound in Europe weighs just over 450 grams, which is 16 pounds. Is this a naval gun, an army gun, or a coastal defense gun? Regardless of whether it is a naval gun, an army gun, or a coastal defense gun, Chen Ming felt that Portugal could not provide the Qing Dynasty with as many as fifty or sixty guns at a time. Perhaps only a dozen or so.

"Go, we must go after their elites!"

At this moment, the commander-in-chief of the Qing army is still Cai Yi, the deputy commander of the Firearm Battalion. There are also a full thousand firearm battalion flag soldiers in the Qing army camp by the lake. They are no longer holding old matchlock muskets, but flintlock muskets that the Qing Dynasty has made at the fastest speed.

However, the Eight Banners musket soldiers trained in the old military system, whether in terms of combat effectiveness or fighting will, cannot be compared with the Fu Han Army Firearm Battalion, which is being tested. Just looking at the military postures and formations on both sides, the Fu Han Army is one level higher than the Qing Army, even though both sides are still wearing old-style military uniforms.

"God, is this the main force of the Chinese rebels? Very neat military formation, their soldiers look very energetic." Captain Blanco was very surprised. He held up the monocular telescope in his hand and looked at the Fu Han army formation on the opposite side again and again. With a serious face, he said to Fernandez beside him: "Second Lieutenant, we are in trouble today. As long as the rebels on the opposite side can show the combat effectiveness that matches their military posture and appearance, we will be in big trouble today." "Should we pray for God's blessing?" Fernandez was not as nervous as Blanco. He was very curious about the Fu Han army, but he did not think that the combat effectiveness of the Fu Han army was that much stronger than that of the Qing army. "Captain, there are 10,000 Qing soldiers. They have also built camps and artillery positions. Their number is twice that of the rebels on the opposite side. Although the rebels on the opposite side are very spirited, they have too few musketeers..."

Blanco's solemn expression did not change at all, and he said in a dry and cold voice: "Let's pray for God's blessing. I don't want to fall into the hands of the opposite army at all. They may torture us to death, right? Torture! Because we caused them a lot of casualties in Taizhou."

Chen Ming did not see Blanco and Fernandez, two Western faces that were very different from Eastern faces. He raised the telescope and only saw four cannons with thick muzzles from the two front-line camps of the Qing army.

"Let the artillery build artillery positions in front of and to the south of the Qing army's camp. The musket battalion and the cavalry battalion are on guard. If the Qing army's Eight Banners cavalry dare to rush out..., try to keep all of them." Chen Ming simply issued military orders, and the soldiers were already sitting cross-legged on the ground, drinking water, eating dry food, and singing military songs again. Huang Jie always followed him, and Chen Ming also hoped that his application of artillery could have a deeper impact on him and leave him more impressions. As a person whose soul came from the 21st century, the biggest difference between Chen Ming and the soldiers of the East and the West in this era when fighting was his absolute emphasis on artillery. In the artillery textbooks within the Fu Han Army, Chen Ming once wrote about the application of artillery on the battlefield: build all war plans on artillery shells. Concentrate artillery firepower on a certain point-this is the secret of his victory. In fact, the dwarf Napoleon, who will be born in Ajaccio, Corsica next year, did this. He regarded the strategy of the enemy general as a fortress and hit it head-on. He used shrapnel to attack the enemy's weaknesses, challenges, and relief, all relying on artillery firepower. He was good at using artillery firepower. Capturing square formations, smashing regiments, breaking through lines, destroying and dispersing dense teams, all of which were the use of cannons. He fought, fought, and fought non-stop around cannons, and as long as conditions allowed, he would give the most difficult work on the battlefield to cannons. Napoleon's use of cannons and his military genius made this not-so-tall grassroots youth the leading military commander in modern Western history. Under his baton, the French galloped across the country for a decade or two, invincible, and created the last glory in the history books of the Gallic rooster nation.

The Fu Han Army had far more cannons than the Qing Army - Chen Ming was firm on this point. Then set up more artillery positions that could cross each other, which would help the Fu Han Army artillery win the battle.

The battle by the Desheng Lake was a head-on confrontation on a plain terrain. Since more than 10,000 Qing troops dared to set up camp by the lake, waiting for Chen Ming to kill them, they were not afraid of the Fu Han Army led by Chen Ming, and Cai Yi, Wang Pu and others would not watch the Fu Han Army comfortably set up their artillery positions outside the camp.

"Kill--" The majestic drums and the low horns.

When the Qing troops poured out from various camps, and when the Eight Banners cavalry gathered on the battlefield, the war broke out completely.

The cannons on both sides made a deafening rumble. In this rumbling sound, Chen Ming was somewhat surprised to see that the faces of the soldiers were full of joy. The roar of the cannons and the dazzling sunlight merged together, and it seemed to produce a kind of joy that inspired the soldiers.

The battle lines on both sides were very long. The Qing army did so because they had sufficient manpower, while Chen Ming was worried that his elite troops would be severely cut by the cannons on the opposite side, so he would rather make the battle lines thinner and longer.

The Portuguese 16-pound cannon had a long range, and the farthest shells hit the front of the right camp of the guards. The length was estimated to be more than five miles. Moreover, the shells fired by the Portuguese also had shrapnel shells. In Taizhou City, they used shrapnel shells to severely bully the defenders of the Third Brigade. The ruins of Taizhou City after the war were also related to the fact that the hot shells and shrapnel shells fired by the Portuguese into the city had repeatedly ignited the houses.

In the smoke, rows of neatly lined up Fu Han Army musketeers marched forward with guns, and in front of them were skirmishers and snipers. The smoke blowing from the battlefield made their faces black. On the opposite side of the Qing army array, teams of flintlock or matchlock musketeers were also ready.

The gun smoke seemed to be attracted by the gem-like Desheng Lake, and the smoke from the gunfire on both sides was blown to the surface of Desheng Lake by the wind.

The thick smoke from the artillery rolled up, was blown away by the wind, and then merged into one.

The soldiers on both sides were getting closer and closer, and the bayonets and waist knives could be seen shining in the gun smoke, and groups of infantry and artillery with ammunition carts were turning in with them.

Cai Yi climbed up the high platform erected in the Qing army camp to carefully observe the situation on the battlefield, but no matter how hard he concentrated, he could not understand or analyze the situation on the battlefield at all. I don’t know who is moving forward in the smoke-filled place, and I don’t know which troops are constantly surging "back and forth". Who are they? Cai Yi simply couldn’t figure out whether they followed the order he issued. However, the loud shouts of killing on the battlefield not only did not bring him any discouragement or timidity, but on the contrary added to his perseverance and energy.

On the battlefield, the dense smoke provided the most favorable cover for the cavalry on both sides. The Qing army cavalry could not resist the temptation, and they attacked with all their forces, sweeping across the battlefield regardless of anything.

The cavalry battalion of the Fu Han army certainly would not be afraid of fighting. The cavalry on both sides were all kicking the horses' bellies fiercely, and the war horses were neighing. They shook their tails and stretched their necks, and the pain made them run faster.

Cai Yi could not see how this mixed team of the Xiaoqi Battalion and the Guanwai cavalry fought bravely, because he could not see anything clearly, and everything was shrouded in smoke. He could only vaguely see the Eight Banners cavalrymen wearing cotton armor and the Fu Han cavalry wearing iron armor tightly strangled together.

"Order the No. 3 artillery position to bombard the Qing army from the southwest."

"Chen Dawei."

"I am here."

"Lead the right battalion of the imperial guards, and take advantage of the bombardment to attack the Qing army camp from the southwest!"

Chen Ming gave the order decisively. His safety was naturally protected by the guards of the attendant room. At worst, he could hide in the artillery position. "Don't worry about my safety. As long as you can penetrate the Qing army camp, I will be impregnable here!"

"Why is the No. 3 artillery position so slow? Turn the muzzle and bombard the southwest. It's southwest, southwest, southwest!" Like a gambler who has gambled everything on the gambling table, Chen Ming roared in anger with uncontrollable temper. He didn't know why the Qing army in the southwest suddenly lost morale, but this was the best opportunity since the war began.