After the combat meeting, the officers from various departments immediately returned to the army that had already lurked in the fortresses outside the city and hid through the villages.

Zhang Hong stood on a temporary observation deck in the village. He listened to the report of the soldiers on duty, nodded from time to time, and issued instructions to the deputy general behind him to organize the team and prepare for the battle.

After saying that, he turned his head and looked at the densely packed barracks in the village behind him, nearly 3,000 troops, hundreds of civilians who assisted in the defense, and hundreds of mules and horses transporting supplies, were all ready. In order not to expose the goal of the army hiding here, these civilians and mules and horses remained in the village and did not evacuate.

Zhang Hong looked at it for a while, then turned his head and looked at the Qing army camp across the river. There were already a large area of ​​barracks, and cavalrymen ran out of the camp from time to time.

"Let each department check its equipment and weapons and stay alert. As soon as the signal sounds tonight, start the action immediately."

"Yes!" The deputy general behind Zhang Hong responded immediately, and then immediately retreated to convey the order.

Zhang Hong was actually a little nervous. He could not tolerate any carelessness in the war. He had even quit drinking for a while.

On a plain like Jiangbei, if it weren't for the river blocking these two huge armies, the war might have ended now.

You should know that once the two highly offensive armies enter the field to confront each other, there is no such thing as retreating. In this case, unless it is an extremely favorable opportunity, whoever dares to retreat will be in chaos. As long as the formation is in chaos, the enemy will be given an opportunity to take advantage of it!

In other words, when both the enemy and us are elite troops, this trick of luring the enemy into the deep is not easy to use. Even if any of the links are wrong, once the chaos of the troops in our headquarters is formed, the situation will be out of control.

Soon, night fell, and the plains on the north and south sides of the Huai River were pitch black everywhere. Except for the military camps and cities on both sides of the Huai River, they were brightly lit, lanterns, fire plates, and torches emitted a light yellow light, which was extremely conspicuous in the night.

On the plain, there were also sounds of whistle cavalry from the Ming and Qing armies fighting to the death after encountering each other, but it was just a few stars, and more of them were the sound of wind.

In Zhou Shixian's army's camp, a special force of more than 200 people was gathering urgently. They were all equipped with war horses, and there were nearly 500 most elite cavalry guards in the army.

This secret army of more than 700 people was divided into ten groups, and they began to secretly march along the east and west sides of the Huai River. Then, with the support of the opposite whistle cavalry, they successfully crossed the river and ran towards the direction where the Qing army camp was.

The Qing army's defense at night was still very tight, but these ten secret squads did not approach the enemy camp, but eventually stayed about two miles away from the camp. In the end, nine cavalry successfully arrived at the designated location, and only one was discovered by the Qing army's whistle cavalry and repelled.

This secret force was temporarily ordered by Zhou Shixian, and it was the first time that it appeared on the battlefield. They used the "Shenwei Rocket" that was successfully mass-produced and successfully mass-produced as weapons, responsible for harassing the Qing army at night, attacking the morale of the other party, creating panic in order to allow the army to attack the night attack.

These rockets are actually not mature military products. At first, Zhou Shixian designed it based on the British Congrif Rocket in memory. This rocket was originally an old-fashioned Song and Yuan rocket derivative, but was improved and applied to the battlefield by the West after being transmitted to the West.

In the 178th century, when artillery technology was not yet developed enough, it was an excellent supplement to the military's firepower. This rocket was also used by the British army to various battlefields because of its superior performance.

Although the rocket produced by the "Nanjing Weapons Bureau" is limited in power and its range is not as good as that of later generations, it is enough as a night attack weapon.

Nowadays, the "Shenwei Rocket" in the Ming army has a range of four or five miles, and the expected launch rate can reach more than 90%. However, after ignition and launch, it can be shot out from three miles away, less than 60%, and can truly reach four or five miles, or even further, less than 50%.

But this was enough for Zhou Shixian. After all, nearly a hundred rockets were shot into the Qing army camp, and the burning fire was spectacular. If panic was created, Zhou Shixian's purpose could be achieved.

Therefore, after Zhou Shixian saw the monthly report presented by the "Nanjing Weapon Bureau", he still asked the craftsmen to speed up the production of a batch. It doesn't matter whether the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were accurate or not. Within a year, such a yield rate was enough to prove that as long as the craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty were excellent on the right stage.

The whistling sound of the rocket launch suddenly sounded, and dozens of bright spots of light dragged long tail flames across the dark sky and flew towards the Qing camp.

On the plain where the Qing camp was located, dozens of fire appeared instantly, and panic and fearful sounds were everywhere. Faced with this sudden attack, the Qing army did not come back to its senses.

After all, they were really not familiar with the Rockets, not to mention that they were shot from three or four miles away, and the Qing army's whistle cavalry did not notice anything strange at all. Even if they launched a night attack, they would not stop four miles away.

Not only the Qing army in the military camp was knocked out by the roaring rockets. In addition, there were also unlucky Qing army whistle cavalry on the plains and were knocked out by the defective rockets that descended from the middle of the road, fell down and broke their necks, and died on the spot.

The Qing soldiers on duty on night looked up at the sky when they heard the sound, and then they all opened their mouths in shock. They watched the rockets dive from a high place, and were completely stunned.

Although the Ming army's rockets were in no way accurate, facing the broad Qing army camp, nearly a hundred rockets finally hit the target, and dozens of tents were lit in an instant, causing a huge commotion in the Qing army camp. Many Qing soldiers were burned to death in their sleep.

More people, they had not had time to wear armor and ran out in a hurry, even lit up their quilts and clothes, ran out of the tent with a ball of fire, and then lit several tents around them.

This was the first time the Qing army had seen such a weapon. The officers of each battalion didn't know what happened for a moment, let alone where the flames came from, so they could not make an effective counterattack.

In particular, before the first wave of rocket attacks was ready, the second wave of rocket attacks in the Ming army came again. The sharp whistling sound caused panic in the Qing army camp again. The Manchu and Han officers from each battalion led their troops to suppress them. The Qing army's whistle cavalry on the periphery were even more urgently on guard, for fear that the Ming army would take the opportunity to steal the camp.

After all, the Qing army camped in the wild, and there was no cover from city walls and mountains around, and there was no support outside the camp. How could it not be nervous?

Moreover, the nervousness will be contagious, and the Eight Banners soldiers are quite calm. After all, the military discipline is strict, and the vassal soldiers are not in chaos under the personal suppression of Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming.

However, the Green Camp soldiers had not yet accepted the suppression of the Qing army's strict military discipline. Although the entire camp was not as broken as before during the Ming army, they were already in chaos.

Until the rocket soldiers of the front army launched three rounds and exhausted all 158 rockets, the Qing army had not yet figured out the situation, but instead became chaotic because of the fires everywhere in the camp. These chaos greatly reduced the Qing army's reaction ability, making it unable to send troops to respond to emergencies quickly.

The elite Ming army cavalry who were guarding the rocket soldiers had several encounters with the Qing army scattered cavalry on the periphery when they returned. With their military advantage, they quickly repelled the opponent.

Moreover, without waiting for Duoduo to clarify the situation, he summoned troops and sent a large group of cavalry to search the camp, and drove out the group of sudden attacks of the Ming army, Xue Laoer and Wu Xingye, who had already taken the lead in crossing the river.

Zhou Shixian stood on the Houtai on the bank of the river and watched this rocket sneak attack throughout the whole process, and felt quite proud. These rockets were designed by him personally, and the sense of accomplishment was naturally obvious.

The already chaotic Qing army camp shows that these rockets, which are not yet excellent for the time being, have basically fulfilled their mission. Facing large areas of Qing army camps, accuracy is indeed not important. The fires ignited were enough to make the Qing army lose the opportunity to rest and also the opportunity to organize troops and deal with the Ming army's night attack.

Moreover, after such trouble, not only the Green Camp Army, but also the so-called Eight Banners strong soldiers, the combat effectiveness must be much worse than before. The morale of the Qing army was even more severely hit.
Chapter completed!