This time Zheng Chenggong brought three to four hundred large-scale ships from Shanhaiguan to transport military supplies. However, the number of ships approaching the beach of Bijiashan at this moment was actually less than a hundred.
Because this small ship is enough to carry five thousand landing troops, plus temporarily transferred sailors for reinforcements.
The three hundred large ships of the rear army, each with ten sailors to ensure the minimum navigation requirements, are almost empty ships. At this moment, they are still wandering more than ten miles outside the sea, hiding as much as possible to avoid the target group being too large and exposed in advance.
Lose the surprise of a sneak attack.
These three hundred ships would wait until the battle to seize the beach and seize the port was over, then they would dock in batches, pick up the Ming army's defeated troops and then flee immediately.
During the last ten miles, Zheng Chenggong spent a quarter of an hour quietly, gradually approaching the dock camp on the shore. They were already within the range of the Hongyi cannon, but the defenders at the dock were still unaware.
Today's Hongyi cannon has a short range of only one or two miles, and the farthest one is only more than three miles.
In the darkness, he didn't even notice the huge fleet of ships appearing on the sea two or three miles away. Zheng Chenggong couldn't help feeling that he was lucky, and even a little surprised.
But at this moment, Zheng Chenggong suddenly saw that the firelight in the camp on the shore was a little dazzling, and then the light and shadow of a group of torches came out.
Everyone under Zheng Chenggong was a little nervous, thinking that they had been discovered by the enemy. Even Zhang Mingzhen, who was on board the ship, was a little nervous, and asked with a slightly anxious expression: "Shall we fire?"
Zhang Mingzhen served as a coastal defense officer for eight years before following Chen Shuren. His combat qualifications and experience were certainly far superior to Zheng Chenggong's. However, he was relatively poor during those eight years in Ningshao and Zhoushan. At most, he only touched the Folang machine and never used the Hongyi cannon.
Therefore, in terms of the use of Hongyi cannon, his experience is not as good as that of Zheng Chenggong.
It can only be said that young masters from wealthy families have a natural advantage in accessing high-tech equipment.
Zheng Chenggong's thoughts were spinning very fast at this time. After a nervous evaluation, he advised with great assurance: "Don't be anxious! They may not have discovered us! And there shouldn't be enough Tatar red barbarian cannons to kill anyone."
The extent to which docks are deployed.
If they only have the Folang machine, we can close to the last mile before firing! The Folang machine has a range of only one mile at most! Even if they discover our army, they can't open fire on our army in advance! At most, they can only line up on the beach.
If we resist the enemy, then we are eager to do this. When the time comes to seize the beach, we will directly use the Hongyi cannon to blast into the crowd of people!"
Zhang Mingzhen was right when he thought about it. Even if the enemy discovered them, they would not know that they had brought the Red Yi cannon with them on the ship. Among Wu Sangui's troops in Shanhaiguan, there was no example of the Red Yi cannon being moved to the warship.
On the one hand, the cannons at Shanhaiguan are also very precious, and on the other hand, they are too heavy to transport and change defenses, so if they are left on the Guanqiang fort, they will not move all year round.
Therefore, the longer this firepower is kept secret, the better the sudden killing effect will be.
And just a few minutes later, Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong were stunned to discover a new change:
Although the Qing troops in the Bijia Mountain camp made a noise and lit up torches, they did not come towards the shore. Instead, they left the camp and meandered toward the northeast.
Zheng Chenggong breathed a sigh of relief and felt more and more grateful: his forbearance had actually created a more favorable situation. The enemy actually divided his troops and left when they were about to be robbed!
He and Zhang Mingzhen looked at each other, and both sides quickly reacted. Zhang Mingzhen punched his right palm heavily with his left fist, suddenly realized and shouted:
"It must be Cao Bianjiao. Cao Junmen's troops are already on the way! They were discovered by the enemy first! The Tatars from Bijia Mountain are going to divide their troops to intercept Cao Junmen!"
Zheng Chenggong also thought about it and responded quickly: "That must be the case! Cao Junmen is more than forty miles away from here. He must have set off before midnight. He must have been on the road more than once at this moment! He must be with the Tatars
The scouts had a fight and were discovered by the Tatars, so even the defenders of this mountain were transferred."
Both of them were very excited and hurriedly told the news to the soldiers on the same ship as much as possible, and everyone's morale became even higher. Unfortunately, they couldn't use semaphores to signal other friendly warships in the dark, and the waves on the sea were loud, so it was difficult to shout.
It was of no use, so that such morale-boosting news could not be known to more soldiers on the ship for the time being.
I can only hope that the officers on other ships, when they see the enemy troops flying away with torches, can figure this out for themselves and break it into pieces to boost their morale.
After the excitement, Zhang Mingzhen, after all, had seven or eight more years of military experience than Zheng Chenggong, and he quickly discovered a problem: "No! If the Tatars in Bijia Mountain were temporarily deployed to intercept Cao Junmen, it means that they just discovered that Cao Junmen was trying to
We broke through the encirclement! But we didn’t know that Cao Junmen wanted to break out of the encirclement and come to this mountain!
Otherwise, if they know that Bijia Mountain is the final destination of Cao Junmen's attack, and stay here to defend the camp, relying on the favorable location to wait for work, wouldn't they be more confident than leaving the camp to intercept in the field in the dark?
In other words, did the Tatar officer in Bijia Mountain mistakenly believe that Cao Junmen was going to break out in another direction? He only judged the breakout correctly, but misjudged the direction of the breakout?"
Although Zheng Chenggong had not thought of this just now, he immediately realized it when Zhang Mingzhen reminded him of it. After thinking about it for a moment, he couldn't help but say in admiration:
"General Zhang is indeed well versed in the military. My younger brother did not think of this! In this case, it is possible that they encountered the enemy in a hurry and misjudged that Cao Junmen was only running out of food in Xingshan City and wanted to retreat and join forces with Li Junmen in Tashan.
one place?
Therefore, the Tatar garrison on Bijia Mountain did not watch out for Cao Junmen's attack on Bijia Mountain. Instead, he went out to intercept Cao Junmen's retreat to Tashan. We also saw the map at Li Junmen yesterday.
Are they planning to reinforce Beitun between Tashan and Xingshan?"
"It's very possible! God is really helping me! Attack with the whole army immediately!"
When Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong analyzed these situations clearly, the fleet had already approached less than one mile from the shore, and the Ming army finally launched a general attack.
It was precisely because of the noise on the shore that the Tatar reinforcements were dispatched. The noise was very loud, and they became increasingly neglectful of the situation on the sea. The Ming army approached them within a mile, but they did not see so many ships on the sea.
In fact, this cannot be blamed on the Qing army, because it is difficult to see clearly in the dark if you look into the darkness where there is fire. Only in the dark can you see very clearly when you look into the place where there is fire.
"Boom! Boom!" Following bursts of loud noises, dozens of Ming army's Hongyi cannons finally opened fire at the same time. Suddenly, the camp on the shore was bombarded with pieces of wood flying, and seven or eight tents and barracks collapsed.
.
The soldiers sleeping in the tent let out bursts of screams and wails. They got up in a panic and ran around wildly, frantically tearing off the tent cloth buried in their bodies.
The soldiers sleeping in the barracks were not so lucky. The roof of the wooden house was much heavier than the cloth tent. When the house was blown down, the force of the wooden beams falling down was no more powerful than the rolling logs dropped from the city during the siege.
Shi Xiao.
The soldiers who were smashed hard did not even have a chance to scream, and they were directly beaten to death by vomiting blood.
The first batch of Ming warships also took advantage of the chaos of the shelling to charge onto the dock pier. There was no beaching, and they rushed directly from the pier to the shore in groups.
When landing at a place with port facilities, the unloading efficiency of troops is much higher than on the beach. With just one landing, a hundred or ten warriors can land directly and gain a foothold within ten seconds.
…
At the same time, inside the Qing army camp in Beacon Mountain.
Stationed here was another Jia La Zhangjing named Yong Gui under the command of Azige, the leader of the Manchurian Blue Banner. He was repairing his armor at the time, inspecting and urging several battalions of soldiers to mount their horses and rush on their way, and sent three Niu Lu.
Reinforcements in the direction of Beitun.
The guesses of Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong are really close to each other.
Just ten minutes ago, Yonggui had just received a notification from several Qing army scout cavalry who had escaped from the direction of Beitun.
It is said that between Beitun and Xingshan, they encountered a Ming army breakout force suspected to be led by Cao Bianjiao.
In fact, the Ming army did not take the main road all the way. When the Qing army scouts encountered them, they were located south of the main road between Beitun and Xingshan——
Unfortunately, this important "southern" message was not interpreted by the Qing army as "the Ming army retreated in a southerly direction because they wanted to come to Beacon Mountain."
Jiala Zhangjing Erbi, who was stationed in Beitun, interpreted this as "the Ming army just wanted to bypass Beitun where they were encamped on the road, sneak across to Tashan, and join forces with the remnants of Li Fuming."
Beitun originally had a Jia La troop, although it might not be able to defeat Cao Bianjiao. After all, no matter how fierce the Qing army was, it would be difficult for more than a thousand elite cavalry to fight against tens of thousands of Ming troops.
However, with more than a thousand people holding back tens of thousands of people and slow surveillance, it was more than enough to wait until the friendly cavalry brigade arrived.
But it is a pity that at this moment, Erbo does not even have more than a thousand fine cavalry. Just the night before, he sent two Niulu to go back to the south of Tashan to see if Li Fuming wanted to give up.
The army breaks through.
Later, when he learned that his subordinates had killed "Li Fuming" who only led more than a hundred cavalry, he became more determined and firmly believed that escaping Gaoqiao by land was the only option after the Ming army ran out of food, so he also sent an additional oxen
Lu bypassed Tashan and set up an ambush in the south to intercept and delay.
So, tonight when Cao Bianjiao was found to be dispatched, Erbi only had two dissatisfied Niu Lu in Beitun. All in all, there were less than 500 Manchu cavalry, and a number of Mongolian and Han military flags guarding the camp and doing miscellaneous tasks.
The number of miscellaneous soldiers did not exceed four or five hundred.
It was impossible for Erbo to rely on five hundred Manchurian cavalry to resist Cao Bianjiao, so he immediately sent emergency messengers to Yonggui in Bijia Mountain, 30 miles away in the south, and Azige in Machang Town, 40 miles away in the north.
.
It was under this situation that Yonggui sent troops to reinforce the friendly forces.
The main force of Azigh in the north is expected to set off in a quarter of an hour.
However, shortly after Yonggui organized the reinforcements and left the camp, the Ming army's heavy artillery fired repeatedly on the sea, which shocked Yonggui.
He had never seen such a violent salvo of numerous Hongyi cannons before.
Even in the twelfth month of last year, when I followed my master to Songshan City to test the city, the Southern Dynasty Governor Hong Chengchou's command in the city did not have so many artillery bombardments at the same time.
"How come there are so many heavy artillery pieces on the sea?!" Yong Gui was confused for a while, and then he noticed that the tallest and strongest barracks made of giant wood in the camp had been completely bombarded and collapsed.
It is estimated that the target was too conspicuous and was stared at and blasted by at least a dozen heavy artillery pieces of the Ming army. Yong Gui couldn't help but feel a shudder:
If he had not left the camp to urge the troops to assemble and reinforce Erpi, but was still sleeping in that barracks at this moment, maybe the round of shelling just now would have buried him alive even if he had not been killed!
And many of his personal guards who were left behind to guard the Chinese army barracks might have been bombed to death and buried alive at this moment!
"Hurry up and call back all the soldiers and horses who are reinforcing Beitun! The barbarians are mainly attacking our Bijia Mountain! The barbarians have so many warships, they must be cooperating with Cao Bianjiao and Li Fuming to retreat from the sea!"
It was also at this moment that Yonggui, who was briefly stunned, finally made the most correct decision. He finally helped Master Azige determine the true direction of the barbarian's main attack.
His dozens of cavalry messengers immediately divided into several teams and left the camp to pursue them. The cavalry troops that had just left had only traveled less than three to five miles, and they could be chased back in less than half a quarter of an hour at most.
After sending the messenger, Yonggui got on his horse and drew his sword. He then organized the only 500 cavalry in the camp and hundreds of Han and Mongolian soldiers to attack together. While there were not many Ming troops ashore, they attacked halfway across the river.
Annihilate the enemy on the beach.
An officer under his command, Niulu, of the Han Army, timidly suggested: "Sir, the Ming army's artillery fire is fierce, and it looks like there are definitely a lot of troops! We only have a few people, so we should stick to the barracks and wait for the three Niulu to turn around before gathering our troops.
Fight your way out!"
Yong Gui was furious and killed the cowardly traitor with a knife: "How dare you mess with the morale of our army! If you wait half an hour more, how many more barbarians will come ashore! How can we fight when they have a firm foothold! Pass on my military order."
, the whole army is on horseback, follow me to the dock! If you are afraid of the enemy, you will be killed immediately!"
Yong Gui's decision was not wrong. When he organized his team to launch a counterattack, Zheng Chenggong had only landed about ten ships of soldiers. Because there were only a few trestle berths on the pier, it was impossible for all the ships to dock at the same time.
shore.
Only when a group of ships has finished unloading the soldiers and gives up their berths can subsequent ships come up and unload.
If you still feel that the landing is not fast enough, the only option is to let the soldiers with light armor and unarmored capsize directly into the water, swim a few tens of meters and climb ashore - but this unloading method is ineffective for soldiers using heavy equipment. Reloading
The soldier drowned when he entered the water and could not float at all.
However, just because there are not many soldiers ashore, it does not mean that there are not enough long-range support firepower within range. Beacon Hill is a deep-water port, and there is no berth. Ships can sail to only a few dozen steps offshore. With the latest firearms of the Ming army,
The troops' firing range can completely cover the beachhead.
Yong Gui organized hundreds of people to counterattack. The initial momentum was really shocking. Hundreds of Manchu cavalry rushed towards them, frightening the soldiers under Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Minzhen to the point of falling into the water and running away——
These soldiers, a total of 5,000, were selected from the "elite soldiers" who had been trained by Shen family members and Shen Shuren in Huangzhou for two years. Unfortunately, these so-called "elite soldiers" were only elite soldiers who could win a great victory with the Gezuo Fifth Battalion.
, it was a tie with Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, and had never fought against a large-scale cavalry charge before.
It was the first time that the Tatar cavalry, which had been powerful in the world for many years, charged in a group. They were shot and bitten by the cavalry. Panic was still inevitable.
"No retreat is allowed! All soldiers follow the drill and set their bayonets outwards in formation! Those who retreat will be beheaded! Those who push their companions into the water will be beheaded! The fire musketry team on the ship will also reinforce us! The Tatars cannot hold out for long!"
Zhang Mingzhen, who had already landed, also tried his best to organize a defense on the beach with a hoarse roar.
A considerable part of these five thousand "Shen family servants" were brought by him to fight the bloody battle with Erhe last year. They can be regarded as knowing the generals and soldiers, and the soldiers know the generals, and they have a considerable foundation of trust.
Seeing that Vice Admiral Zhang had also risked his life and stepped ashore to supervise the battle, the Shen family members were briefly panicked and after being killed and wounded, they finally fixed the bayonet array. Rows of firearms roared and began to kill the Qing soldiers on the opposite side.
.
"How dare these savages dare to form a formation with their backs against the water?" Yonggui's men were shot at by fire cannons for a while, slightly injuring some of the men and horses and suffocating their momentum.
The absolute casualties of the Qing cavalry were actually not many, because the Qing army in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen was actually very well-equipped.
Relying on the fact that the Ming army served as the "captain of the transportation brigade" for more than ten years and was annihilated by the Qing army and captured the equipment, the Qing army has a very high equipment rate of Tiezha cotton armor. Especially the cavalry of the Eight Banners, almost everyone is equipped with Tiezha cotton armor.
First.
Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong also knew this information when they came this time, so they did not dare to equip the fire gun team with fixed shotguns that can kill all directions when fighting bandits. At most, they only used two single-headed bullets loaded front and back (two at a time).
single projectile).
Only this kind of large projectile can penetrate the Qing army's iron-clad cotton armor. As the projectiles become larger, the firepower density drops significantly. Originally, one shot contained seven or eight or even more small lead pellets, but now only two can hit the target.
rate dropped sharply.
The volley firepower was not enough to directly repel the enemy, and the charging speed of the Qing cavalry was much faster than the enemies encountered before. The landing Ming army soon had to fall into continuous hand-to-hand combat.
The bayonet array tactics that have been practiced hard for more than a year have undergone a thorough high-pressure test for the first time.
One after another, the servants of the Shen family were stabbed and stabbed by sabers and lances, and fell down screaming, and were soon filled up by friendly troops who followed.
The front line loosened several times, but fortunately, Zhang Mingzhen personally organized and led fresh troops to block the entrances.
"Our army is at least ten times the enemy's! The advantage lies with me! The Tatars can't hold on any longer!" Zhang Minzhen shouted until he became hoarse, but he finally maintained order.
Gradually, as more and more Shen family members came ashore, and the musketeers on the ship were still firing randomly in the distance, the Hongyi artillery was also firing at the enemy's rear, trying to isolate subsequent enemy troops from entering the battlefield.
The situation finally gradually reversed.
A few minutes later, at least two to three thousand Ming troops landed, but the first echelon under Yong Gui suffered heavy casualties, and the three Niu Lu sent by Yong Gui before had also been chased back.
Seeing that the melee combat failed to completely overwhelm the group of barbarians, Yong Gui had no choice but to retreat slightly and meet up with the three new Niulu troops behind him before reorganizing the attack.
However, the Ming army's cannons were previously entangled with each other and were afraid of accidentally injuring friendly forces. They did not dare to fire at the front line of enemy troops under their noses. They only dared to extend their firing range to block the enemy's rear.
At this moment, Zheng Chenggong, who saw Yong Gui retreating slightly and still staying on the ship, was overjoyed. He immediately ordered four or five ships on the left and right to concentrate their firepower towards the position where Yong Gui had regrouped his troops.
Perhaps Yonggui was destined to recruit artillery - historically, he was supposed to be killed by the Ming Dynasty Qiantun garrison with a red cannon when the Qing army captured Qiantun next year.
Now, Zheng Chenggong had assembled more than twenty cannons at one time to intensively serve them, and the artillery had been calibrated for many rounds of fire. After another fierce round of fire, the Qing army suddenly became chaotic.
Yong Gui was heading back to the formation to give instructions on how to charge. A bunch of artillery shells flew towards him, but they did not hit him directly, but one of them bounced back after landing, forming a ricochet and hitting him directly from bottom to top.
On the waist.
Yong Gui screamed without any pain, then went in with his left waist and out with his right liver. A large transparent hole was smashed into his torso, and then his whole body was torn into two halves by a huge force.
"The master was shot to death by a barbarian! Take revenge on the master! Otherwise, the flag owner, the prince, will not let us go!"
The Qing cavalry was frightened, but had no way to retreat. After a brief period of fear, they could only charge upwards more ferociously.
Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong did not know that they had killed the Qing army Jia La, so they could only continue to push back slowly. They had promised Li Junmen and Cao Junmen that they would capture the Bijiashan Pier, and they would definitely do it, otherwise they would have to do it again in the future.
How to hang out in the arena!
The Ming court may not have credibility, but those who hang out with Shen Futai must have credibility!