A few miles away from the Qujiang River, where the fierce battle was raging, the water camp of Jinhua Town, after passing through the Peifeng Beach, encountered the Quzhou water camp of the Qing army on the way to the south.

Tracing the Qujiang River upstream, covering the boat to enter the Shentangyuan and burning the pontoon bridge of the Qing army at the confluence of the Shentangyuan and Qujiang rivers was an order directly issued by Chen Wen after careful calculation by the General Staff, and it was also the most important task of their water battalion in this battle that had a bearing on the overall situation of Zhejiang's resistance to the Qing Dynasty.

Shentangyuan was inconvenient for large warships to enter, but a small fleet of boats carrying fire oil was enough to burn down all the pontoons. And at that time, the main force of the Tartars east of the source of Shentang was just a turtle in the urn.

It's just that one side is smooth with the water, and the other side is with the wind, but this wind has not yet reached the speed enough to make the boat sail against the current to surpass the ship going downstream, so even if there is the convenience of the wind direction for the time being, the water camp in Jinhua Town is far from being as fast as their opponents. With the sudden appearance of the Quzhou water camp, the water camp warship that managed to cover the boat to enter the source of Shentang was blocked here, and had to fight the Qing army water camp first.

"I should have left earlier."

Yang Kai had complained like this to the captain of the ship just now, but the captain didn't dare to take it. The time of departure of the water camp was set by the General Staff, because they received information that the wind direction was more favorable for the ships going up the river at this time of the year.

However, the lack of understanding and application of physics-related knowledge such as fluid dynamics, and the misestimation of the speed ratio of setting sail in the water with a tailwind and putting the sail away with a tailwind was wrong, which led to the water camp being stuck in such an embarrassing and embarrassing situation by the Qing army. Even if in the entire water camp, from Yang Kai, who commanded to the head of the forward fleet, to the captain, helmsman, and sailors below, no one knew how to calculate, and they could only estimate based on experience, but it did not prevent them from complaining.

"Our water battalion should have its own staff department, and we can't let those nerds and staff officers from the infantry team blindly direct the affairs of the water battalion. Even if it can't, there should be a staff officer from our water camp in the staff department, otherwise it will only ruin the lord's big business. ”

It is less than three miles away from the source of Shentang, and it can be reached quickly if it is downwind, but now there is no other way but to fight a decisive battle with the Quzhou water camp of the Qing army, and then set sail after defeating the Qing army.

"Beat the flag, tell Qian Guerrilla and the brothers behind that the Tartar boats are less than ours, rush up and crush them in one go!"

Yang Kai, who roared angrily, ordered the sailors to take out some firearms used for water warfare from the cabin, picked up a fire bowl from it, looked at the galloping Qing fleet, put it back, and then pulled out the waist knife.

"Tartar doesn't open his sails, get closer, throw the hook, jump gang!"

………………

On the Qujiang River, the artillery of the water battalions of the two armies of the Ming and Qing dynasties rose and fell one after another, and when they got closer, they attacked with firearms, bows and arrows, and then jumped to the gang to fight, and it was difficult to solve for a while.

Two or three miles away, on the battlefield within a radius of several miles, the two armies of the Ming and Qing dynasties, which totaled more than 20,000 soldiers, were engaged in the largest battle since the Battle of Zhoushan last year, and a battle in which the strategic initiative in southwest Zhejiang was decided by field battles. And at this moment, it has reached the most critical moment.

The cavalry under Chen Jin came from the Qing army that participated in the war, and it can almost be said to be the essence of the entire western Zhejiang, southern Zhejiang and northern Fujian. Except for the personal soldiers used to protect the officers, almost all of them were transferred by him, and only Liu Guangbi, the governor of Jiangxi, only sent more than 100 horsemen, but the proportion was much higher.

Liu Guangbi was born in the blue flag of the Han Army, and Chen Jin's blue flag is not the same flag, and he has no friendship on weekdays. Moreover, Liu Guangbi, as the governor of Jiangxi, was directly ordered by Ma Guozhu, the governor of Jiangnan and Jiangxi, and Cai Shiying, the governor of Jiangxi. At present, it is quite rare to fight hard regardless of casualties, and if you want to use the elite in his hands to be cannon fodder for Chen Jin's plan, don't even think about it.

However, Chen Jin had a bad record of shirking the responsibility to non-direct military generals during the Battle of Zhoushan, and these miscellaneous pieces of the Guanning army seem to be accustomed to this strategy. In order to prevent the black pot from being carried inexplicably like Su Song's general soldier Wang Jing afterwards, Liu Guangbi still sent more than 100 horsemen to temporarily return to Chen Jin's direct jurisdiction, so that no one can say a word about him anymore.

At the southernmost end of the battlefield, the Qing army's iron cavalry, dressed in armor and wearing helmets like lightning rods, galloped southward, intending to bypass the two groups of mandarin ducks that were still in the frenzied battle, and directly attacked the general flag that Chen Wen had already moved to the rear of the left wing of the Ming army.

The tassels on the lightning rod have been pulled sideways by the galloping wind, and the purpose of this group of Qing cavalry is only one, that is, to cut Chen Wen before the complete collapse of the Qing army's left flank and the Chinese army, or to cut down the Ming army's general flag, causing the Ming army's morale to collapse.

"Tactical maneuvers far outpace infantry light cavalry, and it's really right to use it."

Noticing Chen Jin's intentions, Chen Wen did not fortify the flag to move closer to the Yiwu camp or the Nantang camp. He also has a battalion directly under the town in his hand, 300 cavalry plus 400 infantry of a bureau plus several Furlong cannons and more than a dozen tiger squat cannons, although it is still not comparable to the nearly 1,000 iron cavalry of the Qing army, but Chen Wen did not make a dream of relying on this original reserve to completely annihilate the cavalry of the Qing army.

"Raise the flag and tell the ministries that there is no need to return help. Attack with all your might, give me the main force to defeat the Tartars. ”

"Obedience!"

The drummer shook the flag a few times in a special way, and after a slight pause, he shook it again twice. A moment later, from north to south, Chen Guobao, the commander of the right wing, Li Ruixin, the commander of the Chinese army, Wu Dengke, the commander of the left wing, and An Youfu, the commander of the reinforcements of the two bureaus, all gave up their plans to return to the reinforcements, and began to rearrange the troops and increase their strength, and it can even be said that they began to attack the Qing army in front of them frantically regardless of casualties.

They knew very well that at this moment, Chen Wen was planning to use his body and banner as bait to prevent the cavalry of the Qing army from turning. However, in order to prevent accidents, they still sent some troops to guard the rear of the battle formation, in case the Qing army used trickery to attack the rear of the various divisions.

At a glance, if you are familiar with these Qing troops who participated in the war, you may be able to see that these Qing cavalry have begun to divide each other according to their subordinate armies. However, Chen Wen, who didn't know much about this, didn't have time to consider the possibility here, but began to arrange troops.

The infantry of a bureau guarded the four sides in sentry units, forming a simple hollow phalanx, with large banners and artillery positions in the array, and space reserved for cavalry to regroup. As for the three hundred cavalry of the battalion directly under the town, they were already standing in the formation, waiting for the order to attack.

"Marshal, let's lead the cavalry to attack."

Hearing Lou Jiye's pleading, Chen Wen shook his head, this chief of staff has never commanded the cavalry since the establishment of the army, although if it comes to martial arts, he is still not as good as Li Ruixin, Wu Dengke, Lou Jiye, who have been practicing martial arts since childhood, and even Yin Yue, who is also a monk halfway, but has been learning martial arts and fighting for eight or nine years, is also very inferior. However, the experience of personally leading the cavalry to charge and kill several times is still there, Chen Wen does not intend to fake his hands to others, he is the master of the whole army, and there is no reason to let the "civilian officers" go out to charge and kill.

"Execute the order!"

The military order was like a mountain, Lou Jiye saw that Chen Wen decided to do this, and the smoke and dust of the Qing army's cavalry were getting closer and closer, so he had to give up the plan to persuade again, and returned to the responsibility of acting commander under the general.

"The soldiers of the battalion directly under the town, the main force of the Tartars is on the verge of collapse, this is their last blow, and holding the banner is victory!"

"Wan Sheng!"

"Wan Sheng!"

"Wan Sheng!"

“……”

The cheers are endless, since the division of land, the morale of the Ming army has been very strong, especially the establishment and implementation of the system of awarding military merits, the morale of the Jinhua Ming army has almost reached the point of joy when it hears the war. Because only war can have military merits, and obtaining military merits can get hereditary land.

There is no need to study the Bagu Wen, there is no need to drill the single-plank bridge called the imperial examination that thousands of people fought over, you only need to be brave, you only need to obey orders to obtain hereditary land, become a rich peasant, or even a landlord. Moreover, those military meritorious fields still do not need to pay any taxes and conscription for 20 years, and these are all what the vast majority of the soldiers of the Jinhua Ming Army who were born in the peasants have been longing for day and night since childhood.

The Qing army had already rushed within two hundred meters, and the Franc machine guns in the formation had begun to fire in the general direction, and the Tiger Squat guns had also been loaded in the gap between some infantry units.

The Qing army's iron cavalry rushed within 100 meters at the cost of several cavalry under the bombardment of several Franc machine guns, and with the order of the Chinese army, the firearms teams retreated into the formation after completing a shot, revealing the one-foot-and-five-foot spears of the not yet dense spear formation.

Horses are very intelligent and timid animals, and it is best to blindfold them when kicking spears, otherwise they tend to turn on their own. Moreover, the cavalry was so expensive in the south that their owners were not stupid enough to trade their lives for expensive horses and spears. Moreover, without the horses, the cavalry became inferior to the infantry, and they were either trampled to death by the horses, or they would die from the enemy's thrust, and they would not even have a chance to escape.

The cavalry of the brigade soon rushed to within fifty meters, and some of the Qing cavalry began to shoot with three-eyed guns and cavalry bows, while the Ming army on the opposite side, like frightened hedgehogs, also began to fire back with tiger squat cannons.

At the moment when the scattered shells of the cavalry and tiger squat cannons filled the space of fifty meters, the Qing army of the brigade began to divide into two parts, one part of which circled from the south side of the hollow phalanx to the west side near the Yiwu camp formation, and the other part circled the east side. During this period, the cavalry of the Qing army never stopped, the light cavalry used fire to destroy the formation of the heavy infantry, and then charging the formation was the most basic tactic, the Qing cavalry without unified command did not have the possibility of more complex tactics, and could only rely on the advantage of strength to kill the infantry only half of their lone army.

As long as you can destroy the formation and rush into the battle formation, you don't even need to kill Chen Wen, as long as you cut down the flag, the nearly 10,000 Ming troops on the battlefield will be self-defeating.

"Kill the Tartars!"

The cavalry of the brigade, under the leadership of Chen Wen, rushed out of the gap reserved on the north side and rushed towards the Qing cavalry that had already circled to the west side.

The cavalry under Chen Wen's command was organized according to Qi Jiguang's horse battalion, but the changes were great, mainly because Chen Wen was more superstitious about hand-to-hand combat, and the establishment of the cavalry was infinitely compressed, so that although the cavalry was still a team of twelve people, composed of captains, firefighters and ten soldiers, the bird gunners who could only be used once in the opening battle in the cavalry battle had been canceled, and after being replaced by the saber cavalry, they carried the three-eyed gun as a long-range killing weapon like other cavalry.

The cavalry of the brigade rushed out, scattered in the team, and rushed towards the Qing army unharmed, only to wait for a moment, with the thud of the three-eyed gun, the Qing cavalry on the west side of the Qing army, which was shooting at the Ming infantry, was caught off guard by the Ming army's three-eyed gun. Immediately afterwards, when the Ming army of the brigade shouted and rushed over on horseback, they had to change to their own handy melee blades to charge and kill the Ming army.

The collision, with the swords of the Qing cavalry generals led by Chen Wen and a leader, completely began to slash each other.

The cavalry of the Qing army separated a certain distance in order to facilitate the use of blades and not be hindered by their comrades. And each team of the Ming army, under the leadership of their respective captains, lined up in the order of sabers, sabers, boring palladium, guns and sticks, and only the firefighters followed last.

The war horses staggered, and the Qing cavalry general who had just been shocked by Chen Wen's brute force immediately ushered in a new round of attacks, first dodging the stabbing flag spear, and then using the residual strength of his body to regain his balance to cut off the right hand of a Ming cavalryman, and then dodged the attack of the next saber with a perfect iron plate bridge.

Facing the Ming army's Linhai Bo Chen Wen, who was famous for his cunning and martial arts, the rapid secretion of hormones made him react far better than usual, and he actually made a series of difficult tactical moves that he couldn't even imagine in ordinary days. But then, the waist, arms, and even wrists and necks were all at the moment when the old force had gone and the new force had not been born, and the boring palladium hand behind the second saber cavalry had already stabbed the weapon straight at him.

With a bang, the boring palladium inserted in his frightened eyes shoveled off the helmet on his head like a lightning rod, and removed a piece of his scalp by the way.

"Ahh

There was a burning pain in the top of his head, but fortunately his life was saved. But in the next second, a stick stabbed straight at him, and with the help of galloping horsepower, it pierced his armor with just one shot, and the big stick hand behind the stick man struck him directly on the head with a stick, and in an instant the white and red ones were splashed.

At the same time, Chen Wen slashed his sword on the sword of the Qing army cavalry general, and then the two staggered. Due to the gap between the Qing cavalry, Chen Wen adjusted his body and met the Qing cavalry with a spear not far behind.

"Kill!"

The Qing cavalry stabbed into the air in a desperate block with the small shield on Chen Wen's left arm. However, Chen Wen also lost the opportunity to slash and kill, so he had to continue to rush towards the next Qing army that was galloping, a Qing army warrior with a mace and a beard......

The staggered cavalry of the brigade within a range of several hundred meters was fleeting, and the cavalry dispersed by the Qing army in order to show the cavalry's individual martial arts made Chen Wen not encounter too many opponents, and sideways dodged the attack of the bearded man, and then he was hit by two knives, one was from the Qing army rushing from the left, he slashed at the small shield on Chen Wen's left arm, and the other knife was to wipe the armor on Chen Wen's shoulder, and even Chen Wen could clearly see the splashing sparks.

And with the end of the staggering, Chen Wen personally hacked to death the Qing army who slashed at the small shield on his left arm, and punched a Qing cavalryman in the face, knocking him off the horse, but I don't know whether this Qing army was cut down by the Ming army behind or trampled to death in the staggered war horse.

In the moment after the handover was missed, although the Qing army suffered a lot of damage, and also lost the cavalry general at the head, but saw Chen Wen wearing Shanwen armor, they rushed through the range of the Ming army's cavalry and quickly turned around on the spot, trying to chase the tail of the Ming army's cavalry. But at this moment, the musketeers on the west side of the Ming army finished loading, and with an order, all the muzzles and the other half of the archers who re-mounted the arrows and drew the bows were all aimed at the Qing army's iron cavalry, and they could only watch all this happen.

At the end of the staggered first round, Chen Wen knew that he couldn't catch up with the tail of the Qing army at his speed, but fortunately, this tactic was also trained on weekdays, although it was still a little rusty, but it was not completely unlikely.

After discovering that the cavalry of the Ming army had rushed over, there was a battle line behind them, and two Qing cavalry were chasing after each other. Lou Jiye signaled that the flag was shaken, and the battle formation on the south side opened a mouth to put the cavalry of the Ming army in. The gap was then opened from the north side, and the original prey became a trailing hunter.

In the following time, the cavalry of the Ming army was chasing back and forth with the Qing army, relying on the hollow phalanx to adjust its position several times, and reorganize the formation. Behind the spear forest, the Ming army's firearms and bows and arrows have always consumed the living strength of the Qing army.

However, as time passed, the Qing army's central army and right flank on the main battlefield could no longer maintain their own front, and in the process of being torn to pieces by the Ming army, more and more deserters were dominated by fear, until even the Governor was powerless, and the entire battle array began to completely collapse.

"Win!"

As soon as he had re-retreated into the formation, the cheers of the victors from the position of the Chinese army reached Chen Wen's ears, and the Qing cavalry, who were still chasing him, stopped for a moment in the distance and then gave up their attempts to continue the attack, and instead fled away from the south of the Ming army with their respective subordinates.

"Now, it's our turn to hunt down these two Tartars!" (To be continued.) )