Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 86: A Major Defeat for Geng's Army
Relying on his rich battlefield experience, Ma Zhenfeng broke through the siege and led several of his scouts, galloping all the way back to the deserted village where the army was in the south, and reported the military intelligence he had discovered to Chang Denggui.

After hearing this, Chang Denggui was horrified. He immediately ordered the cavalry that was originally planning to attack Geng's army from the east to be on alert and guard against a surprise attack by Geng Zhongming's army. Then he immediately sent someone to convey the military situation to various units in the army, and he personally went to Zhu Cilang to report.

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang and a group of generals were still a little skeptical.

After all, the news was too sudden. It was obvious that he wanted to ambush Geng Zhongming, so how come it became Geng Zhongming's intention to attack him before dawn?

But soon, the scouts in front hurriedly reported that the cavalry under Geng Zhongming had already set out and were charging from both wings with great force, and it seemed that they were well prepared.

By this time, Zhu Cilang naturally understood that Geng Zhongming's previous actions were a trick to confuse him and then launch a surprise attack.

"Chang Denggui, Hu Maozhen, you lead the cavalry on both wings to fight first. You must stop Geng Zhongming's surprise attack and buy time for the infantry to assemble." Zhu Cilang immediately made arrangements based on the enemy situation.

"Yes!" The two men accepted the order and immediately led their officers into battle.

Afterwards, Zhu Cilang summoned Lin Changfeng and other battalion commanders, as well as infantry officers headed by thousand-man commanders, and personally deployed the six thousand-man commanders under the Tianwei Central Camp, Tianwu Left Camp, and Wuyong Camp to assemble and line up.

Now, the battle plan that Zhu Cilang had formulated earlier had been completely disrupted. Fortunately, the cavalry had assembled in advance. Relying on the advantage in troop strength, he was able to block the Qing army's surprise attack, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.

With the rapid attack of the Ming cavalry, Geng Zhongming's surprise attack plan failed. He had few cavalry under his command and was not at an advantage over the Ming army. Geng Jimao's attack was quickly blocked by the troops led by Chang Denggui and Hu Maozhen.

So, just as had happened countless times on the battlefield before, the plans that Zhu Cilang and Geng Zhongming thought were perfect were disrupted because their opponents did not play by the rules.

However, this seems to be a very normal thing in a battlefield where the situation changes rapidly and a single move can affect the entire body!
Both sides quickly made new deployments based on the unexpected situations on the battlefield so that they could gain an advantage in the next battle.

Although Geng Jimao's surprise attack was unsuccessful, he successfully tied down part of the cavalry led by Chang Denggui and Hu Maozhen, and Geng Zhongming also led the infantry to quickly charge towards the deserted village where the main force of the Ming army was located.

Zhu Cilang quickly assembled a large army at this time. Both the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp had undergone such a long period of training that their reaction speed had become extremely fast. In less than half an hour, they had formed a military formation on the plain north of the deserted village.

On both wings of the army, there were two divisions of cavalry providing cover. They were confronting more than 200 Geng army cavalrymen who had arrived earlier, two or three hundred steps away.

These cavalrymen under Geng Zhongming were very arrogant at the beginning, constantly attacking and provoking. With only two hundred men, it seemed as if they had surrounded a total of six thousand headquarters and more than four thousand infantry from the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp.

However, as the two sides fought many skirmishes in front of the battle line, Geng's army did not gain any advantage. They could not easily defeat the Ming army's scouts. Both sides suffered casualties, and from time to time, black spots would fall off their horses with screams, but neither side could defeat the other and drive it out of the battlefield.

After leaving behind more than a dozen corpses, the two armies retreated at the same time and maintained their respective lines.

Zhu Cilang had already put on his armor. He was standing on a temporary watchtower made of five carts behind the army formation. In front of him were four personal soldiers holding shields, and Lin Changping was standing beside him.

This tall and strong guy was wearing two layers of armor. At this moment, he was as tall as an iron tower. When he just walked onto the temporary observation deck, the cart below creaked with every step he took. Zhu Cilang was even a little worried that the wooden planks above would be collapsed by him.

By this time, the sky was already bright and the mist in the air gradually dissipated. Zhu Cilang withdrew his gaze from the Geng army scouts in the north and began to slowly look at his own army formation.

In front of him, from left to right, four thousand headquarters were deployed in units of bureaus. Sixteen bureaus, with a total of more than 600 musketeers wearing red mandarin duck battle robes, were arranged in three rows, forming a quite wide front.

These musketeers were divided into three parts according to their organization and weapons.

In the middle were three rows of more than four hundred musketeers armed with various types of bird guns. The difference between the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp was mainly in the equipment, and the military organization was not much different. At this time, it was not difficult for the two groups of people to cooperate in combat.

On the left and right wings, there was a small square formation of about a hundred men armed with dove-foot muskets. They would fire obliquely at the invading enemy, especially suppressing the enemy's movements on the two wings. The dove-foot muskets were extremely powerful, with a strong striking force at a distance of about ninety steps.

In front of the musketeers were soldiers holding shields and swords. Due to time constraints, the Ming army had almost no defensive fortifications in front of them except for these soldiers holding shields.

Behind the musketeers are the spearmen standing tall. They are arranged in horizontal rows. In close combat, they will rush out of the phalanx and fight the enemy together with the sword and shield men.

On both wings of the army were the four remaining cavalry divisions. Two of them were fighting with Geng's vanguard scouts, while the other two divisions were guarding the edge of the square formation to prevent a surprise attack by Geng's army.

Behind the army, there were two thousand-man headquarters. These were the reserve forces left by Zhu Cilang. He knew that Geng Zhongming had only four thousand soldiers and horses, of which only three thousand were infantry. Four thousand-man headquarters were enough to deal with them.

At this time, the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp had completed a series of actions of assembly and formation, forming a dense and thick formation with strong defensive capabilities.

Zhu Cilang looked at everything in front of the battle with a very calm expression. As the actual commander of the army, he naturally had to go to the battlefield in person and take command at this critical moment of the decisive battle with the Qing army.

You know, the Ming army had suffered many crushing defeats at the hands of the Qing army, and many people were unsure about the decisive battle with the Qing army. Although they were not facing the Eight Banners Army this time, the enemy's combat effectiveness was also not to be underestimated.

Zhang Huangyan and a group of instructors have now joined the team to supervise the battle. They observe the soldiers' emotions and boost their morale.

At this time, Zhu Cilang's role in leading the army in person was fully demonstrated by virtue of his prestige and appeal in the army.

Your Majesty is not afraid at all, so how can we, the soldiers who eat the emperor's food, be afraid?

Zhu Cilang watched as the morale of the army improved significantly with each inspiring slogan, and nodded with satisfaction.

Soon, the shaking of the ground began to become noticeable, and even the carts that served as temporary lookouts began to shake.

After Zhu Cilang felt the increasingly obvious tremors under his feet, he pushed away the shields in front of him, took a step forward, and looked coldly at the Qing army surging like a black tide on the horizon.

"Finally here!" Zhu Cilang seemed to be relieved, and then immediately said in a deep voice to the officer beside him:

"Pass on my military orders, start responding to the flags!"

"Here"

"woooooo"

The low sound of the horn echoed in the plain. In the Ming army formation, the officers standing on the outside of the column all had solemn expressions.

On the edge of the watchtower, the red flag of the Tianwei Central Camp was raised first. The 1000th Headquarters of the Wangzhong Camp pointed it out. The 1000th Headquarters and personal soldiers of the Tianwei Central Camp in the distance immediately stood up and raised the red flag in response. Then came the 2000th Headquarters of the Tianwei Central Camp, the 1000th Headquarters of the Tianwu Left Camp, and the 1000th Headquarters of the Wuyong Camp.
After the six thousand commanders finished waving their flags, the six thousand commanders immediately began to respond to the twelve battalion commanders under their command, and then the thirty-six hundred commanders at the next level, and the one hundred and eight flag captains at the next level, all took off their back flags and waved them in response.

In an instant, 108 triangular flags of different colors fluttered in the wind in the neatly arranged military formation. Against the backdrop of the red, black, yellow and blue military uniforms and armor, they looked like a sea of ​​blooming flowers. The scene was spectacular.

As the six thousand-man commanders finished their response, a low long trumpet sounded, and more than 4,000 armored soldiers stood up at the same time with a "boom", and the sound of armor rubbing and colliding rang out.

"Tiger--"

More than 4,000 soldiers in the army shouted in unison at the same time, and the sound shook the sky. Even the horses on both wings of the army were frightened. They raised their hooves and jumped, neighing violently. The Qing army scouts more than 200 steps away were even more terrified.

This was the first time they had seen the Ming army in such a formation!

At the same time, the shaking of the ground became louder and louder, and the dense sounds of horse hooves and footsteps in the distance mixed together, coming from far away and approaching, along with the slowly approaching black wave.

Zhu Cilang deployed a cavalry defense line in front of the battle formation. At this time, they were preventing Geng's scouts from approaching for reconnaissance, while also investigating Geng's troop deployment. They did not begin to retreat until the black wave stopped about two hundred steps away from the Ming army's square formation and they reorganized their troops.

At this time, the Ming army's deployment had been completed. If they continued to fight with Geng's scouts, it would be of no use except to increase casualties. Cavalry was also very valuable in both the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp. Zhu Cilang was reluctant to let it be wasted in a skirmish.

Under the cover of the combat soldiers, nearly two hundred cavalrymen in the two attacking groups quickly retreated from all directions to the two wings of the army formation and regrouped into teams.

Of course, the two bureaus that were originally left behind on the two wings immediately sent out dozens of scouts to patrol around the military formation to block Geng’s scattered reconnaissance and ensure that the soldiers in the military formation were not harassed.

However, the remaining one hundred or so Geng army scouts did not continue to harass the Ming army formation, but just kept wandering around, looking from afar at the neat and strict Ming army formation whose equipment had been checked.

At this time, Geng Zhongming was also looking coldly at the neat and tight Ming army formation in front of him, which almost covered the plain. His brows were furrowed, and the sounds of war drums and military bugles continued to reach his ears, both from his own army and from the Ming army in the south, which made him feel a little irritated.

When he learned that his own scouts had suffered heavy losses and were unable to break through the Ming army's scout line, he felt something was wrong after he approached for reconnaissance. He then heard the earth-shaking "tiger" roar, which made him even more uneasy.

Geng Zhongming really didn't expect that the Ming army's cavalry would be so powerful. Not only did they entangle nearly a thousand cavalry led by Geng Jimao on both wings, but they also blocked more than two hundred scouts he sent out.

You have to know that before in Huaibei, even the elite servants under Gao Jie and Huang Degong were no more capable than this. The defenders and cavalry in Suzhou, Bozhou, Suining and other places were no match for them.

He originally wanted Geng Jimao to lead the cavalry to raid the Ming army, especially after clearing out the cavalry on guard outside the Ming army, and then cooperate with the infantry on the front to encircle and annihilate the Ming army heading north in one fell swoop.

But now, since the main force of the cavalry led by Geng Jimao was entangled by the Ming army, Geng Zhongming could only lead the remaining servants and infantry around him to press forward.

At this moment, the tightness of the Ming army's formation and the sheer force of its momentum far exceeded his expectations. Whether it was the forest of spears erected, the shields at the front, or the light reflected from the spears and armor, it all gave him an irresistible feeling of awe and oppression. He had almost never felt this way before when facing the Ming army.

"I'm afraid this Ming army will be difficult to deal with!"

After reading it, Geng Zhongming couldn't help but take a breath, and at the same time he was glad that he had bitten the bullet and pulled the surrendered soldiers under Liu Zhong's command from Duoduo.

"Just judging from their marching formation, this Ming army is probably a strong force and is indeed not easy to deal with." The leader of Geng Zhongming's personal soldiers retracted his gaze and took a breath.

"Your Majesty, if we attack directly, I'm afraid we won't gain any benefits."

Geng Zhongming nodded. The enemy had more soldiers and horses than him, and the military formation was so strict. Although there were no cannons in front of the formation, there were many muskets. If they were well-trained, it would be really difficult to fight.

Of course, if they were not well-trained, these musketeers would just be putting on a show. After firing a round of shots from a distance, their formation would probably be in chaos.

The musketeers under Geng Zhongming's command were very powerful. Even if the two armies were shooting at each other, he was not afraid. He was even 100% sure that he could win.

After all, Geng Zhongming knew exactly what kind of character the Ming court's musketeers possessed and the quality of their firearms. His only concern now was that the enemy was strong in close combat and that his own troops would suffer heavy losses.

These were his assets. If the war was over, no matter how great his achievements were, they would be useless. Without his troops, he would be nothing more than a Han Chinese whose words carried no weight in the eyes of the Qing court.

The head servant looked at Geng Zhongming and knew that he was hesitant. He didn't think that the other party was very capable of fighting, but this matter was not something he could decide, so he started to say a few words of encouragement.

"However, Your Majesty, the Ming army deployed all of its main forces in front of the battle line. While each unit can provide mutual cover, which is beneficial for defense, it is not flexible. Once a long battle is fought, it will be difficult to sustain. If one part collapses, all will collapse.

The Ming army deployed in that formation, probably because they were wary of the prince's powerful army. We only need to feint an attack to disrupt their formation, and then wait for the prince to gather his cavalry and then charge the flanks, and we will surely find their weakness."

After hearing this, Geng Zhongming raised his brows slightly. He thought almost the same thing in his heart. The Ming army could not help but be wary of him. As long as he seized the opportunity, he should be able to defeat the enemy easily.

With this thought, Geng Zhongming raised his head again and looked at the opposite side. In a trance, he actually saw the center position of the Ming army opposite, and a dragon flag was slowly rising.

Not only that, as the dragon flag rose, a huge roar of praise rang out from the Ming army on the opposite side—"Ten thousand victory, ten thousand victory!!!"

In an instant, Geng Zhongming's eyes lit up. He swallowed nervously and rubbed his eyes hard, thinking he had seen it wrong.

He never expected that Emperor Ming would be in the formation. He was extremely surprised and excited!
Not only him, but also the head of his servants were stunned. The surrounding Qing troops were even more agitated. Whether it was the Dongjiang veterans under Geng Jimao or Liu Zhong's troops, they all seemed unable to hold back.

This is Emperor Ming. If he can be captured in this battle, the Dingwu court in the south will immediately collapse. Such a great achievement and rapid rise to power are just around the corner, right?

"Hahaha, the Emperor Ming is here, and those civil servants who are in the way must be here too. I will definitely win this battle!"

Geng Zhongming laughed excitedly. With Emperor Ming and those civil officials hindering the army and giving random orders, what else did he have to worry about?

In his mind, it was impossible for Emperor Ming to break free from the control of the civil servants.

Then, Geng Zhongming loudly ordered his generals:
"Pass on my military orders. Cavalry, attack from both wings. Musketeers, check your equipment. Infantry, prepare for battle. Capture the Ming Emperor alive!"

“Woo, woo, woo~~~”

"Rumble"

As a low sound of war drums and bugles flew over Geng's army's front line, the ground began to shake slightly. Geng's cavalry, like a black tide, rolled in from both wings, and thousands of horse hooves trampled on the ground, making a deafening sound.

Geng Zhongming acted very cautiously, sending only a force of less than two hundred cavalrymen to harass the enemy on each wing.

These cavalrymen did not charge the battle formation, but instead galloped in groups of three or five about sixty steps away from the Ming army. Some of the bolder and more ferocious ones even came within thirty steps and continuously shot arrows into the Ming army's formation as a provocation and test.

The Ming army's archers were no slouch either. Following the sound of the bugle call, they decisively launched a counterattack. Arrows flew across the battlefield from both wings, tracing parabolic arcs through the air. The arrowheads, tipped with armor-piercing spikes, clanged against armor, making a clanging sound.

Amidst the exchange of thousands of arrows, some of the Geng cavalrymen who had approached to within about thirty steps began to be shot and fall. At the same time, war horses were continuously hit by stray arrows, fell to the ground, neighing and struggling in pain.

However, Geng's cavalry were wearing heavy armor, and even the armor-piercing arrows of the infantry bows could not cause much damage to them at a distance of more than sixty steps. However, the cavalry bows were even less powerful and could not hit the Ming army's phalanx either.

At the same time, Zhu Cilang also decisively dispatched small teams of cavalry on both wings to quickly repel the approaching Geng army cavalry, greatly boosting morale.

Geng Zhongming sent out cavalry to harass the Ming army just to test its strength and had no intention of attacking by force. Seeing this situation, he immediately sounded the horn and withdrew the cavalry on both wings.

Geng's army had rich combat experience. During the retreat, the cavalry teams, which had originally been in groups of three or five and looked disorganized, supported and covered each other. They were even able to launch small-scale counterattacks under the organization of officers and repel the pursuit of the Ming cavalry.

Geng Zhongming gritted his teeth and looked grimly at the several war horses lying on the ground in front of the Ming army formation opposite, flapping their limbs and struggling to death.

This round of harassment was not successful, and the Ming army's cavalry performed well. It seemed that this was the confidence that the Ming emperor dared to lead the army in person.

However, if his guess was correct, among the thousands of Ming troops on the opposite side, only these hundreds of family cavalry were capable of fighting. Geng Jimao had now trapped most of the cavalry sent by the Ming Emperor to the two wings.

In other words, there were not many fighting soldiers around Emperor Ming at this time, and the remaining infantry would probably collapse at the first touch.

Soon, a burst of rapid drumbeats was heard in the center of Geng's army. More than a thousand soldiers from Liu Zhong's former army who had followed the army marched forward. On the battle line, accompanied by the clinking sound of armor plates colliding and rubbing against each other, densely packed helmets kept shaking and triangular flags flew in the wind.

Geng Zhongming sent the head of his household servants, who led hundreds of cavalry and infantry, to the rear, ready to launch a strong attack as soon as these cannon fodders had consumed the Ming army's firepower.

At the same time, the cavalry covering the two wings that had just turned back had already set off, with the sound of horse hooves rumbling.

Among Liu Zhong's old subordinates who were slowly advancing, more than a hundred musketeers, holding muskets of different models, took the lead in rushing towards the Ming army formation. When they were more than sixty steps away, they began to shoot in a hurry, and then hurriedly turned back, with no will to fight at all.

These Shun troops who had just surrendered were not well equipped with firearms, and most of the firearms they had were junk originally from the Shaanxi and Central Plains border troops. They were not very powerful and could only be used for harassment.

In the face of Geng's army's harassment, the Ming army's main formation remained motionless and did not react at all, making the Qing army's musketeers, who were returning in a panic, look like jumping clowns, extremely ridiculous.

Soon, the Qing army line advanced to about a hundred steps. The arrangement of shields in front of the line was already somewhat chaotic, and the more than a thousand soldiers behind the shields were constantly forced forward by the armored soldiers of the Geng army who were supervising the battle behind them.

On the battlefield, as long as the bugle call did not sound, they had to keep advancing. Once they stopped, they would be immediately killed on the spot by the supervising soldiers.

After the Qing soldiers in the front row advanced seventy steps, the cavalry deployed by Geng Zhongming on both wings had once again engaged in a fight with the Ming cavalry, and the Qing soldiers in the front row finally heard the bugle call they had been waiting for for a long time.

"Woo, woo, woo~~~~"

The more than a thousand Qing troops in the front row stopped more than fifty steps away from the Ming army's square formation. At this time, the skirmishers who had just been sent out to harass also returned to the army formation from both sides. The more than three hundred archers in the formation slightly adjusted their formation and then began to draw their bows and shoot arrows.

At the same time, as a loud military bugle sounded in the originally silent Ming army line, hundreds of muskets were instantly placed on the shields that originally covered the entire front, and the black muzzles were intimidating.

“Woo, woo, woo~~~”

Shrill military bugles sounded on both sides one after another, and the sounds of countless bowstrings vibrating in the Qing army's formation merged into one. More than three hundred arrows pierced the air and flew towards the Ming army's square formation with a whistling sound.

At the same time, accompanied by the rumbling sound of war drums, more than 400 muskets in three rows on the shields in the center of the Ming army formation fired one after another.

"Bang, bang, bang--"

On the Ming army's front, the orange-red flames instantly connected into one piece, followed by white smoke dragons rising up. The huge driving force generated by the gunpowder explosion made it easy for small and cheap lead bullets to break through the shields in front of the Qing army, and then "bang, bang, bang" penetrated the shields and the expensive armor on the soldiers.

At a distance of fifty paces, these well-made muskets were incredibly powerful and indestructible, instantly shattering dozens of Qing army shields. Amidst shrill howls, streams of blood splattered, and over a hundred Qing soldiers fell to the ground, screaming in agony.

Most of the Qing soldiers who were shot did not die immediately. They twitched on the ground and screamed in pain. Pools of blood flowed from under their bodies, dyeing the ground below red.

The arrows they shot had almost no damage when facing the Ming army's solid shields and armor. Only a few unlucky soldiers were hit, but none of them were fatally injured, and they quickly retreated behind the formation.

Soon, before the Qing army could even recover, the well-trained musketeers of the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp began a new round of volleys.

(End of this chapter)