Font
Large
Medium
Small
Night
Prev Index    Favorite Next

Section 42 Counterattack

Soon three thousand armored soldiers completed the landing in Gaoqi. The Ming army, which should have defended the entire defense line, remained in the camp and did not come out to form a battle formation. As early as after obtaining the Ming army's warships, the Qing army had no doubt about Chen Peng's surrender, and was completely relieved after the landing was completed. After seeing that even the red flags were lowered in the Ming army camp, which had not been moved, the landing Qing army hurriedly lit the beacon and reported the good news of the successful attack to friendly forces at the sea.

In the Ming army camp in Gaoqi, more than a thousand Ming army wearing armor and two thousand auxiliary soldiers were silently watching the green flag gradually rising to the flagpole. Chen Peng, the commander who was granted the full power of offense and defense of the northern line, stood on the general stage, with his confidant soldiers standing behind him.

"The world has been decided, and the pseudo-Ming's general situation is gone. This time, the court sent five naval troops and 200,000 troops. The victory and defeat are clear at a glance. Even if you follow the Zheng family to the end, you will still be dead in the end?" Chen Peng looked around his subordinates proudly and patted his chest and said, "Brothers, I have followed me for so many years. I have already arranged the future for everyone. General Shi and General Shi have already assured me that after today, all officers and soldiers will be promoted to one level."

"OK!"

"OK!"

The personal soldiers behind Chen Peng waved their swords and guns, and cheered as they told in advance.

After the cheers to the personal soldiers stopped, Chen Peng shouted to the officers and soldiers again: "Brothers, go with me to get Xiamen Port and share wealth!"

Among the personal soldiers behind him, another cheer sounded: "Together wealth and honor, together wealth and honor, together wealth and honor..."

However, few of the soldiers below agreed, most of them remained silent. After joining in the fun, a few people shouted twice, they stopped awkwardly when they saw that their companions around them did not speak.

"This wealth and honor are not allowed to share with the general." After a long silence, a lonely voice suddenly sounded in the front row.

The person who made this sound was a subordinate of Chen Pengjun named Chen Mang. After hearing this opposition, Chen Peng's face suddenly darkened.

"Chen Mang!" A personal soldier next to Chen Peng pointed at him and shouted: "Has your conscience been eaten by a dog? Will you be today without a general? Do you remember who promoted you from a soldier?"

Chen Mang could not answer this series of questions. Chen Peng was his benefactor and boss. Everyone present knew that he could have his current official position because of Chen Peng's recommendation to Zheng Chenggong. Chen Peng never lost his past contributions, and he would ask Chen Mang for his contributions to the Prince of Yanping for every time.

The speechless Chen Mang silently pulled out the sword around his waist. After seeing his actions, the personal soldiers around Chen Peng were shocked and angry. While pulling out their weapons to protect the general, many people pointed at Chen Mang and cursed: "You are a wolf-hearted person, do you want to repay your kindness to revenge?"

"Beizhi is not Jin. Xiamen, who left his hometown and secretly crossed half of Fujian to join the prince. Since the day he left home, he has never taken life and death to heart, just to expel the Tartars." Chen Peng lowered his head and stroked the big knife in his hand, but his voice was indeed loud and powerful: "Although Beizhi wants to return to his hometown one day and night, Beizhi would rather be a ghost from a foreign land than shaved his hair and turn into a Tartar soldier back to his hometown."

When he said this, Chen Mang raised his head and looked at Chen Peng fearlessly: "You are absolutely unable to do something about repaying kindness and hatred. You just can't share this wealth with the general. You are vowed to fight the Tartars to the end." After saying that, Chen Mang's blade sagged and bowed to Chen Mang on the stage: "You are resigning."

After the salute, Chen Mang turned around and separated everyone and walked towards the camp gate.

Several people who had a good relationship with Chen Mang also drew out weapons and saluted their general: "I will leave my post, but I will not be able to share wealth with the general."

A large number of Ming soldiers turned around and followed Chen Mang's back without hesitation. Many of them also had the same experience as Chen Mang, and some of them had their hometowns farther away from Guangxi and Hunan. These soldiers traveled thousands of miles to the Fujian army, and they were definitely not selling Zheng Chenggong to the Qing army to the 15th year of Yongli. Like the Zhejiang army, most of the soldiers who stayed behind were unswerving resisters. With Chen Mang's example, they all knew who they should follow.

More and more Ming troops turned around and left. In the originally densely packed military camp, it became empty in a blink of an eye. Chen Peng tried his best to shout behind the back of his subordinates, but it was futile. No one who left looked back at him.

Looking at the empty stage, Chen Peng was in a daze and could not speak. These more than a thousand soldiers in the headquarters were his capital, and he was the result of his request for credit from Dasu.

"grown ups."

Chen Peng, who was stunned, heard a voice from a personal soldier from behind. Like Chen Mang, this personal soldier had received the favor of Chen Peng. His chain of loyalty was firmly tied to Chen Peng. Therefore, since Chen Peng said he would surrender, this personal soldier would not object but would execute the order without thinking. After seeing Chen Mang draw his sword at his benefactor, the personal soldier immediately stepped forward and blamed him indignantly. At that time, the personal soldier thought that Chen Mang was going to commit murder on his benefactor's boss, and his anger was also from the heart. If Chen Mang dared to take a step forward towards Chen Peng, the personal soldier would be the first to pounce on the spot and kill the villain who had been kind and revenge on the spot.

"Sir, I'm sorry to you." This personal soldier was originally from Longyan. Like Chen Mang, he rushed to Xiamen to join the army and was then assigned to Chen Peng's camp: "The villain changed his mind, and the villain could not share wealth with the adults."

After quickly saying these words with shame, the personal soldiers quickly ran off the stage, pulled their feet and rushed to chase most of them. When they heard Chen Peng calling his name, the personal soldiers who betrayed their benefactor were ashamed and could only run harder to escape from the military camp as soon as possible.

The other two personal soldiers in Chen Peng's right hand looked at each other, suddenly knelt down at the same time, kowtowed three times to the Enzhu, then stood up silently, flew down one after another, and after landing, he ran towards the camp gate...

Chen Mang took the lead and came to the shore with a big knife. He saw that the second group of Qing troops had arrived at the shore, and some war horses were being led off the ship. Chen Mang looked back and saw that there were Ming army comrades, war soldiers and auxiliary soldiers following him, but they did not bring flags or golden drums. Chen Mang waved the big knife in his hand and took the lead to run towards the shore again. The Ming army behind him also followed silently - there was no drum sound, and there was no killing cry for the time being.

When Chen Mang and the others ran over, the Eight Banners of the Three Hundred Power Brigade had just landed on the shore with the Green Camp. When they saw a large number of Ming troops running over, the Qing army generals seemed very confused and didn't know what these people were going to do.

It was definitely not an attack on the Qing army. The Qing generals were very sure of this. Chen Peng had shown enough sincerity before. Moreover, the Ming army did not play the red flag, did not beat the war drums, and did not have any formation. They just rushed to the shore in a swarm.

"It's probably here to lead the way," the Qing army fell from above and came up with this idea. In their opinion, this was probably a performance of the newly surrendered Ming army busy making meritorious contributions. There were also many Ming army obviously unarmored auxiliary soldiers, and they were mixed with the soldiers and ran towards the shore. The Qing army was wearing armored soldiers. When they saw many Ming soldiers without armor, they felt a sense of joy: "I'm here to help us carry armor, right?"

"Kill!" He ran closer, and Chen Mang and others suddenly let out a deafening shout.

"Are these scattered soldiers attacking us?" Until the Ming army rushed over, the Qing army officers were still disbelief. The Ming army opposite looked a lot of people, but they looked like hundreds of armored ones. There were 5,000 Qing army landed, including 500 cavalry. The Ming army had no defense line to rely on, no strict formation and unified command, but they recklessly launched an attack on the Qing army.

...

"Save sails and lay the anchor." After seeing that Chen Yaoce's ten warships were all destroyed, Chen Cai, who was behind, ordered calmly that when Chen Yaoce was attacked just now, Chen Cai did not send any reinforcements. Chen Cai personally led the ten ships to form a defense line. After ordering the battleships on the defense line to fall anchor, Chen Cai also ordered the battleships that followed also anchored - most of the battleships that followed were Chen Cai's subordinates, and Chen Cai was afraid that they would not be able to hold back and come up to reinforce him.

However, Chen Cai did not issue an order to abandon the oars, because Chen Yaoce had resisted until the moment of the past, and the ocean currents had become calm and the tide was about to begin to fade. Zheng Chenggong's counterattack might happen at any time. Chen Cai estimated that he would not need to resist for a long time. After the ocean currents began to accelerate, the main force of the Ming army would start to counterattack. Chen Cai estimated that the attack time left for the enemy would not exceed half an hour, and it would not seem difficult to persist for such a period of time.

In fact, it was even simpler than Chen Cai imagined. Since last night, the Qing army set off from Quanzhou one after another. Today and after tomorrow, the Qing army naval divisions have been engaged in various combat tasks. For the Qing army sailors, this tension has been maintained for at least six hours. Therefore, after defeating Chen Yaoce, the Qing army has been slow to launch an attack on Chen Cai's defense line. Seeing that the opponent was slow and he realized that the counterattack was about to be counterattacked, Chen Cai ordered the Qing army to fire all its might. After the Ming army launched a fierce shelling, the Qing army's fatigue became more obvious. The Qing army's warships in the front row that tested Chen Cai's defense line retreated and avoided, and they seemed to be ineffective from gunners to sailors.

At this time, Zheng Chenggong, who was in charge of Xiamen Port, ordered the entire army to board the ship. He had heard the sound of cannons coming from Chen Cai's fleet, which was already very close to Xiamen Port.

"Are there no remaining troops here?" Despite receiving Zheng Chenggong's clear order, the officers around him could not help but confirm.

The beacon fire in the direction of Gaoqi also paid attention to Xiamen Port, which caused many people to feel uneasy. Immediately, many officers suggested sending people to observe the movements in the direction of Gaoqi as soon as possible, and at the same time sending a preventive reinforcements as soon as possible. However, Zheng Chenggong refused this proposal and ordered all the troops around Xiamen Port to board the warships and prepare to participate in the naval battle.

"Yes." Zheng Chenggong nodded slightly. He knew that many subordinates were worried about the north. Because he believed that the Qing army did not have the ability to force the crusade, Gaoqi did not release too many troops, only Chen Peng's 1,000 troops. If the Qing army really forced the crusade to force the crusade to Gaoqi with thousands or even tens of thousands of troops, they would likely defeat Chen Peng, then enter the hinterland of Xiamen Island, and even threaten Xiamen Port. After Zheng Chenggong ordered the entire army to attack, he explained to his subordinates: "If there is any loss here, we will destroy the navy of Lu Chou and come back."

Almost when they learned that Chen Yaoce was killed, the Ming army began to prepare for the final decisive battle. When the fierce sound of artillery sounded from Chen Cai, the Ming army was ready, just waiting for Zheng Chenggong to give orders.

"The Tartars have arrived at the door," Zheng Chenggong asked the officers around him loudly: "Has the tide started to fade?"

"That's right!" the officers around replied in unison.

"Has the Tartars arrived at the door?"

"Not bad!" Everyone replied loudly again.

Zheng Chenggong nodded, and he first said to himself in a voice that only he could hear: "I will not forget you." Then he shouted in a voice that the officers and soldiers who were looking forward to him could hear: "Let's attack, let's kill all the Tartars."

"Abide by the order!"

All the Ming army fleets emerged from Xiamen Port. After seeing Zheng Chenggong bringing the main force to aid, Chen Cai also ordered all the warships to raise their sails and cooperate with the main force to rush towards the Qing army fleet. Taking advantage of the north wind and the ebb, the Zheng army's warships were fast, and in a blink of an eye it met the oncoming Qing army fleet.

When the two sides were still at a distance, they were firing with artillery. A large number of archers gathered on the deck. When hostile warships intersected, the archers rushed forward and sprinkled the rockets onto the enemy ships.

...

At this time, Shi Lang was still with Dasu, commanding the Qing army's landing operation. Just now, the Qing army could hear the sound of cannons coming from the west, which made Shi Lang feel quite at ease. He knew that Huang Wu had been fighting with the Zheng army navy. When he saw the beacon fire rising in Gaoqi, Shi Lang thought victory was in sight. At the same time, the landing on the whole line seemed to have exposed the weakness of the Ming army's insufficient military strength on the land, and some areas seemed to have been abandoned by the Ming army.

While the infantry occupied some fronts that the Ming army voluntarily abandoned, the Qing army's cavalry troops also marched into Xiamen. Now the Qing army is really busy sending all the war horses ashore. Although this takes some time, Dasu and Shi Lang are both convinced that when a large number of cavalry appear in front of the Zheng army, they will definitely give them a great sense of intimidation.

At this moment, the sound of cannons in the west suddenly became much denser. Shi Lang had just thought that this was because of the distance, so only a few cannons could be transmitted here. Indeed, most of the cannons might not be heard due to the problem of hesitation. However, it was obvious that the density of the cannons was many times higher.

"Ouch." Shi Lang was stunned at first, then screamed. He suddenly noticed that the tide had begun to fade away, and the ocean currents had begun to flow from north to south without realizing it. At this time, the war in the west suddenly became violent, and it didn't look like a good omen.

...

When the Ming navy led by Zheng Chenggong crashed into Huang Wu's large number of warships, the situation on Gaoqi's side changed unexpectedly. When Chen Mang left the barracks and rushed to the Qing army's position, he was determined to fight to the end and would rather die than surrender. Therefore, before launching the charge, he did not carefully consider the issue of unified command and formation. Those who rushed over with Chen Mang, whether it was the warriors or the auxiliary soldiers, had similar thoughts to him, and did not consider his own safety too much. After Chen Peng announced his surrender, most of the Ming soldiers did think that they had lost. Now they were just thinking about being attacked by a Qing army as soon as possible and taking a cushion for themselves.

The formation of the Ming army was indeed too loose and did not form a combat formation at all. When Chen Mang and others cut the big sword on the head of the Qing army, some Ming army had just left the barracks and ran towards the beach.

However, the Qing army was not ready for the battle. Many Qing army waited until the Ming army approached and believed that these chaotic Ming army were here to meet them. After being attacked by Chen Mang and others, the Qing army generals finally concluded that this was a counterattack launched by the Ming army and tried to command the Qing army to fight with them. However, the Qing army was slow to move on the coast and could not form a formation like the Ming army. As for the hundreds of cavalry, they could not play any role. When they were attacked by the Ming army, most of the cavalry were still busy letting their mounts jump into the sea water to land; the horses that had completed the landing were also walking in the sea water or on the soft beach.

Under the fierce attack of the Ming army, the landing Qing army retreated step by step. The retreating Qing army blocked the road from the beach behind them when their companions walked out of the beach, and then continued to retreat. As the front line continued to move towards the coastline, the beachhead positions of thousands of Qing army became more and more crowded, and the space for maneuvering became smaller and smaller.

Most of these Qing troops who landed in Gaoqi had no experience in fighting with the Zheng army before, and had never seen the Ming army that could tie the Qing army with a comparable number, let alone dare to attack the Qing army several times more than them and be able to gain the upper hand.

After only landing for a quarter of an hour, the Qing army in Takasaki only glanced at the inland and was driven back to the place where they got off the boat. The Qing army behind stood in the sea water that was not far behind, feeling that their pants and boots were getting heavier and heavier by the sea water, while the companions in front were still squeezing backwards, wanting to push them down deeper sea water.

Opposite the Qing army, the Ming army was still attacking. They drove the Qing army off the beach, and then seized most of the beach from the enemy. Now Chen Mang and others in the front were about to step into the water. Every Qing army trying to gain a foothold on the way was cut to the ground by the Ming army. Now the enemy on the opposite side was about to lose the courage to resist. While holding the blade of the Ming army, they retreated step by step, trying their best to squeeze into the gaps of other Qing soldiers behind them.

In Gaoqi's Ming army camp, Chen Peng silently looked at the battlefield not far away. The strong enemy was compressed into a group by the Ming army, which was only one-fifth of their armored soldiers. The defeat was revealed. Some Qing soldiers at the farthest had already begun to board the boat, as if they wanted to escape from this battlefield.
Chapter completed!
Prev Index    Favorite Next