Shang Zhixin took the first step south to Macau and entered Sanxiang Town!
Sanxiang Town was originally a very prosperous town, but it was completely ruined after the Qing government moved the border and banned the sea.
It turned into a veritable ghost town!
Sanxiang Town was the first blocking point set up by the Liberation Army.
Seven thousand Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing Army launched an attack on Sanxiang Town!
The infantry pressed forward, the artillery provided fire cover in the rear, and the cavalry roamed around Sanxiang Town, blocking the battlefield and preparing to stop the enemy's retreat.
At this time, the Qing army and the Eight Banners fought in a very orderly manner!
"Prepare artillery fire!"
The sound of shelling sounded quickly!
Amidst the rumble of cannons, shells pierced the sky one after another and fell towards Sanxiang Town.
The troops deployed by the Ming army in Sanxiang Town were a group of mounted infantry.
Facing the attack of the Qing army, a group of mounted infantrymen of the Liberation Army did not offer any resistance at all.
They fired a volley of muskets and then rode away, quite decisively.
The cavalry of the Qing army failed to catch up!
Shang Zhixin entered Sanxiang Town and showed great excitement, bragging to the Portuguese Ribeiro next to him.
"Haha, these Ming and British coalition forces are really cowards, and they are so afraid of our Qing army!"
"As soon as the heavenly soldiers arrived, they fled in panic!"
Ribeiro said with an apologetic smile on his face.
"If we can drive away the Ming and British coalition forces and take back Macau, the Governor will be very grateful!"
Shang Zhixin nodded and said, but he made a calculation in his heart.
Macau is rich. It would be unreasonable to lead troops to Macau without carrying forward the Qing army's fine tradition of burning, killing, looting and liking to massacre the city.
Instead of waiting for the Portuguese to dig in and thank you profusely, why not do it yourself!
He still wants to make money by standing still!
But towards Ribeiro, he did not show any malice and just nodded.
"It should, it should!"
"Macau has been cooperating with Prince Pingnan for such a long time. Now that there is something going on in Macau, how can I just sit idly by and ignore it?"
The Qing army did not stay in Sanxiang for long and continued to move south!
Shang Zhixin made up his mind to go to Macau to make a fortune, and constantly urged his soldiers to speed up their march.
…
After passing Sanxiang Town, you will find Fenghuang Mountain and Tanzhou Town!
The small plain between Fenghuang Mountain and Tanzhou is the cemetery selected by Zhu Hongyu for the Qing army.
This area is the most suitable place for encirclement and annihilation warfare in the entire Macau area!
There is Fenghuang Mountain in the east, Tanzhou Town in the west, and Qianshan Waterway in the south as a barrier.
In other words, as long as the Ming army can hold Tanzhou Town and the encircling army presses down from the north, the 7000 Pingnan Prince's vassal soldiers led by Shang Kexi will be the turtle in the urn.
Shang Zhixin looked at Tanzhou Town ahead and ordered!
"Capture Tanzhou Town and then go straight to Macau!"
Seven thousand Pingnan Prince's vassal soldiers received Shang Zhixin's order and let out strange screams.
A large, dark mass of Qing troops rushed towards the small town of Tanzhou!
The Ming army built quite complete fortifications, trenches, traps, forts, and various firepower points in Tanzhou Town.
There are still 500 Liberation Army troops stationed!
Although due to time constraints, the Ming army's management of the defense system of Tanzhou Town was very rough.
But it is not that easy for the Qing army to capture Tanzhou Town!
Boom! Boom!
Facing the swarming Qing troops, the artillery of the Liberation Army opened fire.
Cannonballs drew arcs in the air and shot towards the charging Qing army!
Puff! Puff!
The cannonballs easily penetrated the human body and turned every Qing soldier into a pulp.
Often a cannonball could shoot through several Qing soldiers one after another before its kinetic energy was exhausted and it fell to the ground.
In just an instant, dozens of people were killed or injured!
However, the Pingnan Prince's vassal soldiers led by Shang Zhixin were indeed elites who had fought hard for many years. They did not panic when faced with the bombardment of the Liberation Army.
There were veterans in the formation who kept shouting!
"Steady, steady, the Ming thief's cannons have been fired, and it will take a while to reload. Everyone rush, don't panic!"
"Kill the thief!"
"..."
The Qing army's charge still did not stop.
At the same time, the Qing army's artillery fire began to roar.
The artillery carried by Shang Zhixin's army was aimed at Tanzhou Town. Smoke filled the air and shells flew everywhere.
Cannonballs were fired one after another, destroying everything in their path.
Fortunately, most of the soldiers of the Liberation Army hid in the artillery defense fortifications prepared in advance, so there were not many casualties.
There was a fierce artillery battle between the two sides, and the roar of artillery sounded continuously.
A shell hit the Liberation Army's fort, but was knocked away by the mound of soil in front of the fort.
The solid cannonball was spinning slowly in place, and most of its kinetic energy was removed.
The artillery fire of the Liberation Army was very accurate, and shells were continuously fired into the Qing army's formation, taking away lives one after another.
Each of the experienced battlefield veterans turned into broken corpses in front of the shells!
However, the Qing army's artillery fire was equally accurate!
The gunners of the Qing army aimed at the artillery positions of the Liberation Army and opened fire one after another.
The cannons were rumbling, and from time to time, shells would hit the fort.
Fortunately, the Liberation Army had piled mounds of earth and sandbags in front of the artillery positions to resist the shells. Otherwise, the Liberation Army would have suffered heavy losses.
Bang! Bang!
Gunshots sounded one after another!
As puffs of gunpowder smoke filled the town, the musketeers of the Liberation Army hid in the parapet fortifications and fired a round of volleys.
The Qing army rushing at the front fell down a large area at once!
Screams and wails sounded one after another!
The cavalry of the Qing army came on stage. The cavalry wore Eight Banners cotton armor and held hard bows and heavy arrows in their hands.
The cavalry gallops on the battlefield!
The cavalry on horseback bent their bows and nocked arrows, aiming in the direction of Tanzhou Town.
Collapse! Collapse!
The sound of the bow string exploding is very crisp.
Bolstered by the speed of the war horses, one arrow after another was shot towards the Liberation Army soldiers in the bunker.
The Qing army's cavalry archery was very good, and its arrows were very accurate. From time to time, soldiers of the Liberation Army would miss the arrow and let out screams.
The plate armor worn by the soldiers of the Liberation Army had very average protection against the armor-piercing heavy arrows of the Qing army!
The limbs and throat without armor protection are even more fatal.
From time to time, the wounded were dragged down screaming!
However, the Liberation Army's counterattack here was equally sharp, with heavy artillery roaring and muskets exploding.
Attacking the Qing army without any cover, resulting in heavy casualties!
Corpses continued to fall to the ground, and blood flowed on the battlefield.
Finally, the Qing army rushed to the edge of Tanzhou Town, and the handover of cold weapons between the two sides was right in front of them.
In just a moment, the continuous volleys of musket fire from the Liberation Army stopped.
One by one, the soldiers of the Liberation Army jumped out of the parapet with their muskets in hand, fixed their bayonets on their muskets, and formed a formation to face the Qing army.
The infantry from both sides keep getting closer!
When the soldiers on both sides were less than five meters apart, and even the rust on the foam nails of the Qing soldiers' cotton armor was clearly visible, they were about to touch each other's faces.
The soldiers of the Liberation Army pulled the trigger in unison.
In an instant, the sounds of hundreds of muskets were fired simultaneously.
The lead bullets flew around and were shot at the opponent!
The cotton armor of the Qing soldiers was penetrated instantly, and even at close range, the lead bullets penetrated the human body after penetrating the cotton armor.
Blood spurted out from the big hole in the back!
A large number of the Qing soldiers who rushed forward were killed and injured in an instant.
The Qing troops, who were close to the battlefield and were proficient in hand-to-hand combat, were stunned by this round of gunfire before they had time to take advantage of their own advantages.