More and more Qing defenders began to lose morale and turned around to flee!
The Ming army concentrated its elite troops and began to attack the gap in the Qing army's defense line!
Suddenly, the gap was infinitely enlarged!
Under the cover of artillery, the elite of the Ming army easily tore open the Qing army's defense line, then advanced in depth and tried to surround them.
More and more Qing soldiers were beaten until they collapsed.
Choose to drop the weapon in your hand, turn around and run away!
The Ming army's offensive became more and more fierce, and more and more elites entered the city and began to gradually control the situation in Jiaxing City.
Jiaxing guard general Qaida led his soldiers and fought fiercely with the Ming army entering the city, but was killed on the spot by the Ming army's rifle gunners.
As Qaida was killed, more and more Qing troops chose to surrender and give up resistance.
The clear-character flag at the top of Jiaxing City was broken, and the Ming-character flag flew again at the top of Jiaxing City.
The twelve-pointed sun and moon flag is hunting in the wind!
Zhu Hongyu stood on the high platform and witnessed the change of hands in Jiaxing City with his own eyes, the expression on his face was full of emotion.
This was the second day after the Ming army launched its siege, and Jiaxing changed hands.
In addition to the strong combat power of the Ming army, one of the important reasons was the low morale of the Qing army and their lack of fighting spirit.
Most of the green camps in the south of the Yangtze River were adapted from the guardsmen of the Ming Dynasty who surrendered to the Qing court.
Facing the comeback of the Ming Dynasty, how high can the morale of these guardsmen be?
If you can persist in resisting for a while instead of surrendering directly, it will give me a lot of face!
"Now that Jiaxing City has been captured, we, the Ming Dynasty, can take the lead in this decisive battle!"
"As long as we can maintain our advantage, I have no reason to lose!"
Zhu Hongyu said very confidently.
As he spoke, he began to command the Ming army and moved the headquarters to Jiaxing City.
Moreover, soldiers and horses of various units of the Ming army began to camp in place for repairs.
Prepare to wait for the hard work and meet the Qing army heading south!
…
The Qing army is marching with all its strength and heading straight towards Jiaxing City.
But when they were less than a hundred miles away from Jiaxing City, Tuhai received bad news from Jiaxing City.
The Ming army successfully captured Jiaxing, and Jiaxing's defender Qaida died loyal to his country!
Jiaxing fell!
This piece of news was like a bolt from the blue, hitting Tu Hai's head directly.
Although Jiaxing City is not a fortified city, it is not an important place either.
But for this decisive battle, it is of extraordinary significance.
Because the decisive battle between the Ming Army and the Qing Army will probably take place near Taihu Lake and in the Jiaxing area.
Whoever holds Jiaxing will have the upper hand, and this is not just talk.
Although Jiaxing is not a strong city, it can be used as a foothold for the army, which is definitely enough.
The two sides of the Ming army were going to have a decisive battle near Jiaxing. One side occupied Jiaxing City, and the other side could only camp in the wild.
Even if nothing else is said, the morale bonus that the psychological gap alone can bring to the army cannot be ignored.
Originally, Jiaxing was in the hands of the Qing Dynasty, so the Qing Dynasty would gain the upper hand in this battle.
However, now that Jiaxing has been captured by the Ming army, the Qing Dynasty will be in trouble.
As for the Qing army, it is now withdrawing and moving north to set up defenses in Suzhou and Changzhou, in order to offset the strategic advantage gained by the Ming army after they captured Jiaxing.
In fact, it is even more undesirable!
We, the Qing Dynasty, led our troops southward with mighty force, but the Ming rebels went north to attack them, and just after they captured Jiaxing, we, the Qing Dynasty, withdrew.
What do the people below think?
Is the Qing Dynasty afraid of Ming thieves?
The mighty army of more than 200,000 people chose to retreat without even fighting. The decline in military morale will only become more serious.
Use the retreat to occupy the fortified city to offset the strategic advantage gained by the Ming thieves in occupying Jiaxing.
In fact, it will hurt morale even more than just camping in the field!
Tu Hai is not stupid, he knows that he must not do this.
After all, as the saying goes, when fighting a war, isn't it about morale?
Hong Chengchou looked at the battle report with the same ugly face, and suddenly felt a little out of breath in his chest.
After coughing violently several times and spitting out a mouthful of blood-tinged phlegm, his breathing became smoother.
"This Ming thief's artillery is really sharp!"
Hong Chengchou said in a rather emotional tone.
Tuhai nodded slightly, with a worried look on his face.
"Although we, the Qing Dynasty, have brought a total of three hundred artillery pieces during this southern expedition, we still don't know if we can suppress the Ming thieves' bombardment."
This time the Qing army moved south and mobilized a total of 300 artillery pieces!
Originally, Tu Hai and Hong Chengchou were full of confidence in the artillery power of the Qing Dynasty.
I believe that as long as the Qing Dynasty can bring these 300 artillery pieces to the front line, they will be able to suppress the Ming thieves' artillery!
It wasn't until they saw the news that the Ming army used heavy artillery to capture Jiaxing City within two days that Tu Hai and Hong Chengchou began to feel uneasy.
It’s not because of anything else, it’s mainly because the Ming army’s record is too exaggerated!
From the launch of the siege to the complete seizure of control of Jiaxing City by the Ming army, it took less than two days.
At the very least, the Qing army felt that they couldn't do it!
Hong Chengchou said.
"In this battle, I am afraid that the Qing Dynasty will suffer some losses in terms of firearms!"
"But it doesn't matter. We, the Qing Dynasty, built our country on cavalry and archery. In this battle, we should try our best to maximize our strengths and avoid our weaknesses."
"We will try our best to give full play to our Qing Dynasty's advantage in cavalry, and try to avoid direct confrontation with the Ming army's artillery and artillery."
"Don't give the Ming army a chance to take advantage of their firepower!"
Hong Chengchou's idea is very simple, that is, to disturb!
Taking advantage of the Qing army's superiority in cavalry, they conducted raids and disruptive operations.
Try not to engage in confrontation with the main force of the Ming army, so as not to allow its firepower advantage to be used.
Hong Chengchou's idea was correct. This was the only way for an army with poor firepower to defeat an army with strong firepower.
Two hundred years later, at the Battle of Baliqiao, if Seng Gelinqin had not been stubborn, he would have forced the British and French forces to confront him.
Instead, they used rangers to harass the logistics of their food team, and used various means such as night attacks, ambushes, and sneak attacks to wear down the enemy...
Although there is a high probability that Seng Gelinqin will still lose in that battle, he will not lose so miserably!
At least the casualty ratio won’t be so ugly!
In the Battle of Baliqiao, Seng Gelinqin's use of cavalry was wrong from the beginning.
How could he remain undefeated if he had to use light cavalry to confront the British and French forces with powerful muskets?
Light cavalry doesn't do that!
In fact, this matter is also due to the blind direction of the Qing court's senior officials.
Otherwise, Seng Gelinqin, as a veteran general who had fought in both the south and the north, would not have been able to make such an idiotic command.
However, as soon as he finished speaking, Hong Chengchou remembered.
The cavalry of the Qing Dynasty seemed to be at a disadvantage against the cavalry of the Ming Army...
He's so damn cool!
In this case, the Qing army's biggest and only advantage in this battle is that there are more people...
More than 200,000 troops, as well as a similar number of accompanying soldiers and civilians!
Hong Chengchou felt very keenly that perhaps having more people would be the key to the Qing's victory in this battle.
…
It was the night of the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month in the 19th year of Yongli in the Ming Dynasty!
Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, but there is no festive atmosphere at all in Jiaxing City.
On the contrary, the atmosphere of war is everywhere!
Because, just today during the day, the main force of the Qing army on the southern expedition had arrived outside Jiaxing City.
And set up camp outside Jiaxing City!
More than 200,000 troops and corresponding teams of soldiers and civilians marched through the wilderness. The scene was simply terrifying.
Zhu Hongyu felt that he might never forget the majestic feeling that covered the sky and the sun.