The next day, when the early morning smoke rose, a drizzle suddenly began to fall in the sky, which was gray and soaked the hot land.
"Oops!"
Hong Chengchou climbed onto the tower and looked at the two military camps in the confrontation, feeling suddenly surprised.
His gray beard was trembling, and he pushed away the umbrella held by the soldier, feeling increasingly depressed.
Wearing a military robe, he looked quite majestic, and he had experienced battles for a long time, so he obviously had some guesses about the battle under Nanjing City.
The city of Nanjing cannot be defended, and it is impossible to defend it.
One million people, one day of food, firewood, etc. is a very huge number.
The defenders were local people. If Nanjing's huge daily needs could not be met, rebellion became inevitable.
Therefore, since ancient times, it has been difficult to defend large cities, and they have mostly relied on passes.
He had not slept all night, his eyes were bloodshot, his eyes had deep bags, and his complexion was weak, but Hong Chengchou stared at the city, not daring to relax at all.
"It's moving, it's moving——"
On the female wall several miles away, several middle-aged people in Chinese clothes swaggered up the city wall, looking at the two armies gradually moving, feeling excited.
Hu Ju, who was famous in Nanjing City, now retreated to the second row, and his position at the front was given to the powerful salt merchants.
Hui merchants are not the same as salt merchants.
The profits from selling salt are too great, and what is more needed is centralized management. Therefore, there are not many Anhui merchants operating the salt industry, and only a handful of 10 or 20 people distribute Huai salt.
Hui merchants, who can also be called Xin'an merchants, mainly engage in five major businesses: timber, pens, inks, paper and inkstones, grain, cotton, and salt.
The salt merchants were strong and therefore became the representatives of Huizhou merchants.
Among the three major merchant gangs in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Shanxi merchants were engaged in border trade, oriented to the Mongols, tea, horses, furs, and ginseng trade; Shaanxi merchants were oriented to the plateau and minority people, operating Sichuan salt and the Ancient Tea Horse Road. The two were similar in scope, and gradually became
blend.
Huizhou merchants, on the other hand, cover the south of the Yangtze River, have a wider influence, a large business scope, and operate in everything. At the same time, because they are in the south, they value reading and regard themselves as Confucian merchants.
"The two armies are developing, and the situation seems to be more favorable to the Qing army."
Someone was surprised and said: "I heard that King Yu relied on firearms to show off his power in battles. Now that it's raining, I'm afraid the advantage will be lost."
A group of merchants, who were not familiar with fighting, came to the city wall just to watch the excitement. After hearing these words, their expressions changed drastically.
When Liu Zhi, the leader of the salt merchants, heard this, he couldn't help but frown, unsure in his heart.
On the side, Hu Ju had already taken refuge with the King of Yu. How could he destroy his family's prestige? He hurriedly said: "Having said that, the rainy season is not good for the cavalry."
"The muddy land is the nemesis of the cavalry."
"That's right."
Liu Zhi glanced at him, his mind was spinning, and he immediately guessed that this Huizhou businessman in Nanjing had already chosen Prince Yu.
"Whether it's the King of Yu or the Qing army, although our Huizhou merchants have passed down poems and calligraphy to our families and are known as Confucian merchants, we are not just academics. For the sake of our family, we can only uphold moderation."
"Moderate, it depends on who is right."
Hu Ju is not afraid of him. The Huizhou merchants are united and Liu Zhi cannot bully him.
"How can we let another Mongolian Yuan like the Qing Dynasty leave it alone?"
"Those eight imperial merchants from Shanxi have earned a lot of face. If we don't choose Gao Ming, we may be in a difficult situation in the future!"
Liu Zhi sighed, shook his head, and said no more.
The merchants at the end of the Four Nations are destined to be remembered, no matter how cautious they are, they cannot be too cautious.
As for the identities of the eight imperial merchants, how many of them envied them to death.
The gongs and drums sounded, welcoming the drizzle, and the two armies moved into action.
Wu Sangui personally took charge of the central army, and the cavalry flew out from both wings to serve as the front army. Instead, the Eight Banners were filled with ten thousand people.
Wearing heavy armor, they lined up in an orderly manner, holding their concentration and holding their breath, walking heavily, moving forward step by step without fear of wind and rain, with a chilling murderous aura.
The Manchu Qing Dynasty was able to defeat the Ming army several times because it relied not only on cavalry but also on the Eight Banners infantry in heavy armor.
As vassals of the Ming Dynasty, the Jurchens often served as mercenaries and followed the Ming army to attack the Mongols, so many of their tactics were very similar to the Ming army.
Tactically, they did not charge loosely like the Mongolian cavalry, but used heavy infantry as the vanguard, forming a camp step by step and fighting steadily.
The sophistication of their heavy infantry armor surpassed that of the Ming army, and the Ming army's crossbows and firearms were almost invulnerable to them.
Later, Zheng Chenggong saw this and formed the "Iron Man Army". This army defeated the elite Eight Banners in Zhenjiang, Nanjing and other places, and became famous for a while.
Therefore, the Manchu Qing Dynasty was only as powerful as learning and imitating the Ming army.
"As long as our soldiers are well-armed and our armor is strong, we don't have to worry about creating slaves."
Zhu Yixi looked intently and when she saw the heavy armored infantry on the opposite side, her pupils could not help but shrink and she said softly.
Yan Guochao, who was nearly two meters tall, couldn't help but feel excited at this time, but also fearful: "Your Highness, I'm afraid Chongbu Camp has encountered a tough situation."
"We are very thorough in studying slave creation."
Zhu Yixi nodded and said: "Don't think of them as Tatars, don't think of them as bandits, just treat them as if we are fighting against our own people!"
"Yes!" Yan Guochao said in a loud voice.
Immediately, he led the heavy step battalion and walked forward slowly.
The two groups of heavy infantry ushered in a real showdown.
At the same time, the Chinese army formed a firearms camp and a guard camp to prepare for replenishment when the heavy infantry was defeated.
"It's not advisable to go head-to-head!"
Zhu Yixi murmured: "It took a year to make just these heavy armors. It is difficult to recruit tall soldiers, so we can't waste them casually."
The Qing Dynasty was short of barbarians, so they went to capture the wild Jurchens. It was not easy for him to recruit people.
"Let the French artillery and red artillery be adjusted to cover the heavy infantry battalion."
This time, Zhu Yixi used a cone array.
It is a battle formation with a cone-shaped forward line, with the heavy infantry battalion in the forward line, the guards on both wings, and the second firearms battalion.
The Chongbu battalion broke through and the two wings expanded the results.
Wu Sangui also plays this way.
However, in addition to facing the front army, he also believed in his cavalry, so he wanted them to find opportunities to break through from both wings of the Ming army and break the formation in one fell swoop.
"The two armies of Zheng and Yao were placed in the rear, with their wings wide open."
Zhu Yixi looked at it and was shocked.
As a result, excluding the 30,000 cavalry, the Qing army's military formation was much weaker than the Ming army.
After all, the Ming army had 70,000 troops, but they only had 30,000.
"With such a weak military formation, isn't Wu Sangui afraid of being broken through? So he believes in the Eight Banners?"
Zhu Yixi thought about it, and her mind was spinning. This was a huge disadvantage. How could she not see it?
"Your Highness, Wu Sangui may have done it on purpose."
Wang Yingxiong's eyes were bright and he guessed: "His intention is probably to consume the Eight Banners and create opportunities for Guan Ning's army."
"Jiannu also wanted to make a first move, so he agreed."
"Probably."
King Yu nodded slowly. Until now, this was the only explanation.
There is a gap between the Qing troops, which is good news.
As for the Ming army, I am personally in charge, who dares to be half-hearted?