Zheng Chenggong brought three or four hundred large ships to Shanhaiguan to transport military rations and grain this time. But at this moment, the fleet approaching the beachhead of Beacon Hill is actually less than a hundred.

Because as long as this little ship is enough, it will be enough to carry 5,000 landing soldiers, plus sailors who have been temporarily reinforced.

The three hundred large ships of the rear army, each of which retained ten sailors to ensure the minimum sailing requirements, were almost empty. At this moment, he is still wandering back more than ten miles away from the open sea, hiding for as much as possible for a while, so as not to expose the target group too large and lose the suddenness of the sneak attack in advance.

These 300 ships will wait until the battle to seize the beach and port is over, and then they will dock in batches, pick up the Ming army that is about to be transported away, and then immediately open up.

In the last ten miles, Zheng Chenggong quietly touched for a quarter of an hour, and gradually approached the dock camp on the shore, which had already entered the range of the Hongyi cannon, but the defenders of the pier were still at a loss.

Today's Hongyi cannons have a range of only one or two miles, and the farthest is more than three miles.

In the darkness, there was not even a huge fleet of ships on the surface of the sea two or three miles away. Zheng Chenggong couldn't help but feel that his luck was good, and even a little surprised.

But at this moment, Zheng Chenggong suddenly saw that the fire in the camp on the shore was a little chaotic, and then the light and shadow of a team of torches burst out.

Everyone under Zheng Chenggong was a little nervous, thinking that they had been discovered by the enemy, and even Zhang Mingzhen of the ship was a little nervous, and asked with a slightly anxious expression: "Open the cannon?" ”

Zhang Mingzhen served as Haiphong for eight years before following Shen Shuren, and his combat qualifications and experience certainly far surpassed Zheng Chenggong's. But he was relatively poor in Ningshao Zhoushan for eight years, and at most he had only touched the Franc machine, and he had never used the Hongyi cannon, so in terms of the use of the Hongyi cannon, his experience was not as good as Zheng Chenggong.

It can only be said that the son of a rich family naturally has an advantage in terms of access to high-tech equipment.

Zheng Chenggong's thoughts were also turning fast at this time, and after nervously assessing it, he persuaded him very responsibly: "Don't worry! It doesn't have to be that we were discovered! And the Tartar Hongyi cannon should not be enough to be deployed at any dock.

If they only have a Franc machine, we can approach until the last mile before firing! The range of the Franc is only one mile at most! Even if they find our army, it is impossible to fire at our army in advance! At most, it is just to go to the beachhead to line up to resist the enemy, then we can't wait for this, and when the time comes, before the beach, we will directly use Hongyi cannons to bombard the crowd! ”

Zhang Mingzhen was right to think about it, even if the enemy army discovered them, it was impossible to know that he had brought Hongyi cannons with the ship. In Wu Sangui's army at Shanhaiguan, there was no example of Hongyi cannons being moved to warships.

On the one hand, the cannons of Shanhaiguan are also very precious, and on the other hand, they are too heavy and difficult to transport and change defenses, so they will not move all year round if they are thrown on the fortress of the wall.

Therefore, the longer this firepower is kept secret, the better the effect of sudden killing.

And just a few minutes later, Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong were dumbfounded to discover a new development:

Although the Qing troops in the Beacon Hill camp clamored for torches, they did not come in the direction of the shore, but left the camp and wandered northeast.

Zheng Chenggong breathed a sigh of relief, and became more and more glad in his heart: he actually endured a more favorable situation with this forbearance, and when the enemy was about to be robbed of the beach, he actually divided his troops and left!

He and Zhang Mingzhen glanced at each other, and both sides quickly reacted, Zhang Mingzhen slapped his right palm with his left fist, and suddenly shouted:

"It must be Cao Bianjiao's Cao Junmen's troops, and they are already halfway there! Discovered by the enemy first! The Tartars of Beacon Mountain, this is to divide part of the troops to block Cao Junmen! ”

Zheng Chenggong also thought of it, and responded quickly: "It must be so!" Cao Junmen is more than forty miles away from here, and he will definitely set off before midnight, and it is estimated that he has already walked more than a dozen times on the road at this moment! There must have been a fight with the Tartar scouts, and they were discovered by the Tartars, so even the defenders of the mountain were transferred. ”

Both of them were excited, and hurriedly told the news to the soldiers on the same ship as much as possible, and everyone became more and more morale-it's a pity that in the dark, they couldn't use the flag language to signal other friendly and neighboring warships, and the wind and waves at sea were loud, and it was useless to shout, so that such a morale-boosting news could not be known to the soldiers of more ships for the time being.

I can only hope that the officers on the other ships, seeing the enemy troops going away with torches, can figure this out for themselves and boost their morale by breaking it into pieces.

After the excitement, Zhang Mingzhen had seven or eight more years of military experience than Zheng Chenggong, and he quickly discovered a problem: "No! If the Tartars of Beacon Hill were temporarily transferred to intercept Cao Junmen, it means that they only found out that Cao Junmen was trying to break through! But it was not judged that Cao Junmen wanted to break through to this mountain!

Otherwise, if they knew that Beacon Hill was the ultimate destination of Cao Junmen's attack, wouldn't it be more certain to stay here and defend the camp and rely on the favorable location to wait for work, than to go out of the camp and attack in the dark?

In other words, the Tartar officers of Beacon Hill mistakenly thought that Cao Junmen was going to break through in other directions? He only judged the right act of breaking out, but misjudged the direction of the breakout? ”

Although Zheng Chenggong didn't expect this just now, he was reminded by Zhang Mingzhen, and he immediately realized it, and after thinking about it for a while, he couldn't help but say in admiration:

"General Zhang really knows how to go to the army, and the little brother didn't think of this! In this way, could it be that they met the enemy in a hurry, 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?

Therefore, the Tartar guards of this mountain did not beware of Cao Junmen going straight to Bijia Mountain, but went out of the camp to intercept and intercept the road of Cao Junmen's retreat to the confluence of Tashan? We also saw the map at Li Junmen yesterday, they can't plan to reinforce Beitun between Tashan and Xingshan, right? ”

"Quite possibly! God help me! Attack at once! ”

By the time Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong had analyzed these situations clearly, the fleet had already approached less than a mile from the shore, and the Ming army had finally launched a general attack.

It was precisely because of the noise on the shore just now, the Tartar reinforcements were dispatched, and the noise was very loud, and the situation on the sea surface became more and more neglected, and the Ming army was forced to within a mile, and they did not see so many ships on the sea.

In fact, this can't be blamed on the Qing army, because it is difficult to see clearly when there is a fire in the dark to look into the darkness. If you look at the place where there is a fire in the dark, it will be very clear.

"Boom! Rumble! With a loud bang, dozens of Hongyi cannons of the Ming army finally opened fire at the same time. All of a sudden, the barracks on the shore were blown to pieces, and seven or eight tents and barracks collapsed.

The soldiers sleeping in the tent let out a series of screams and wails, panicked and ran wildly, and frantically tore off the tent cloth buried in them.

And those soldiers who slept in the barracks were not so lucky. The roof of a wooden house is much heavier than a cloth tent, but when a house is blown down, the wooden beams are no less powerful than the rolling wood and stones dropped at the head of the city during the siege.

The soldiers who were smashed and sturdy didn't even have a chance to scream, so they were directly smashed to vomit blood and died.

The first batch of Ming warships, taking advantage of the chaos of the shelling, charged against the pier trestle, and there was no beaching, and they rushed directly from the trestle to the shore in groups.

When landing in a place where there are port facilities, the efficiency of unloading troops is much higher than that on the beach, and as soon as they get close, 100 warriors can directly go ashore and gain a firm foothold in more than ten seconds.

……

At the same time, in the camp of the Qing army on Beacon Mountain.

Stationed here was another Jialazhangjing named Yonggui under the command of Azig, the lord of the Manchurian Blue Banner. At that time, he was in strict armor, patrolling and urging several of the soldiers of the battalion to get on their horses and hurry, and sent three Niu Lu to reinforce the direction of Beitun.

Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong's speculation is really inseparable.

Just ten minutes ago, Yonggui had just received a report from several Qing scout cavalry who had fled from the direction of Beitun.

It is said that between Beitun and Xingshan, they encountered the Ming army breakthrough troops led by Cao Bianjiao.

In fact, the Ming army did not take the main road all the way, because when the Qing army scouts encountered, they were located in the south of the main road between Beitun and Xingshan-

It is a pity that this important "southern" information was not interpreted by the Qing army as "the Ming army withdrew in the southerly direction because it wanted to come to Beacon Mountain".

Jialazhangjing Erqiu, who was stationed in Beitun, interpreted it as "the Ming army just wanted to bypass Beitun, which was camped on the road, and sneaked over to Tashan in a roundabout way to join forces with the remnants of Li Fuming."

Beitun originally also had a Jiala army, although it may not be able to defeat Cao Bianjiao, after all, no matter how fierce the Qing army is, it is difficult for more than 1,000 elite cavalry to fight the Ming army of tens of thousands.

However, it was more than enough to drag tens of thousands of people with more than 1,000 men, to monitor slowly, and to wait for the cavalry of friendly brigades to arrive.

But it's a pity that at this moment, Erqiu doesn't even have more than a thousand fine horsemen. Just the night before, he sent two Niu Lu to the south of Tashan to see if Li Fuming wanted to abandon the army and break through.

Later, after learning that his subordinates had killed "Li Fuming", who only led more than 100 cavalry, he became more and more determined in his heart, and firmly believed that fleeing south by land to Gaoqiao was the real choice for the Ming army after running out of food, so he also sent a Niu Lu to bypass Tashan and set up an ambush and intercept in the south to delay.

So, tonight, when I found out that Cao Bianjiao was dispatched, Erqiu only had two dissatisfied Niu Lu in Beitun. All of them are counted, that is, the Manchurian cavalry of less than 500 people, as well as a number of Mongolian army banners and Han army banner miscellaneous soldiers who are guarding the camp and miscellaneous soldiers, and the number does not exceed four or five hundred.

It was impossible for Erqi to rely on 500 Manchurian cavalry to resist Cao Bianjiao, so he immediately sent an emergency messenger to Yonggui in Bijia Mountain, 30 miles to the south, and Azig in Machang Town, 40 miles to the north.

It was under this circumstance that Yonggui sent troops to reinforce friendly forces.

The main Azig force in the north is estimated to set off in another quarter of an hour.

However, not long after Yonggui organized reinforcements to leave the camp, the heavy artillery of the Ming army on the sea rang out repeatedly, which directly scared Yonggui a lot.

Such a fierce and numerous salvo of Hongyi cannons, he had really never seen it before.

Even when Layue followed his master to Songshan City to tentatively attack the city last year, there were not so many cannons bombarded at the same time under the command of Hong Chengchou, the governor of the Southern Dynasty in the city.

"How can there be so many heavy artillery at sea?!" Yonggui was stunned for a moment, and then noticed that the tallest and sturdy barracks in the camp, which was made of giant wood, had been completely bombarded and collapsed.

It is estimated that the target was too conspicuous and was stared at and bombarded by at least a dozen heavy artillery pieces of the Ming army. Yonggui couldn't help but feel a shudder:

If he hadn't gone out of the camp to urge the various departments to assemble and reinforce Erqiu, but were still sleeping in that barracks at the moment, maybe even if he hadn't been killed in this round of shelling, he would have been buried alive!

And his guards who stayed behind in the barracks of the Chinese army may have been killed and buried alive at this moment!

"Quickly call back all the soldiers and horses who have reinforced Beitun! The main attack of the barbarians is our Beacon Hill! The barbarians have so many warships, they must be responding to Cao Bianjiao and Li Fuming's 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 Azig and judged the true direction of the barbarian's main attack.

The dozens of cavalry messengers under his command immediately divided into several teams and went out of the camp to chase wildly, and the cavalry troops that had just left had only walked out of less than three or five miles, and could be chased back in half an hour at most.

After sending the messenger, Yonggui turned over his horse and drew his sword, which was to organize the only 500 cavalry and hundreds of Han and Mongolian miscellaneous soldiers in the battalion to attack together, taking advantage of the fact that the number of Ming troops ashore was not large, and the enemy was annihilated on the beachhead halfway through.

An officer of the Han army under his command, Niu Lu, timidly suggested: "My lord, the Ming army is under fierce artillery fire, and it seems that there are definitely a lot of troops!" Let's just hold on to the barracks, wait for the three Niu Lu to turn around, and then gather troops to kill! ”

Yonggui was furious, and directly cut down the cowardly traitor with a knife: "The dog slave dares to disturb my army's heart!" Wait more than half an hour, how many more barbarians will have to go ashore! When they have a firm foothold, how can they fight! Pass my military order, the whole army will get on the horse, and follow me to the conflict dock! Fear the enemy and slash immediately! ”

Yonggui's decision was not wrong, when he organized his team to launch a counterattack, Zheng Chenggong's side did only have about ten ships of soldiers ashore, because there were only a few trestle berths on the pier, and it was impossible for all ships to dock at the same time.

Only when a group of ships has unloaded the soldiers to give way to the berth, can the follow-up come up and unload.

If the landing is not fast enough, the only way to do this is to let those lightly armed and unarmored soldiers jump into the water and swim a few tens of meters to climb ashore -- but this method of unloading is ineffective for soldiers who use heavy equipment, and the hoplites drown when they enter the water and cannot float at all.

However, the fact that there are not many soldiers ashore does not mean that there is not enough long-range support firepower that comes into range. Beacon Hill is a deep-water harbor, where there is no berth, and ships can sail to a close distance of only a few dozen steps from the shore, and with the range of the latest firearms units of the Ming army, it can completely cover the beachhead.

Yonggui organized hundreds of people to counter-charge, and the momentum was really amazing at the beginning, and hundreds of Manchurian cavalry slaughtered and pounced, and the soldiers under Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Mingzhen were so frightened that they fell into the water and fled-

These soldiers, a total of 5,000 people, were all selected from the "elite soldiers" of the Shen family and Shen Shuren who had been trained in Huangzhou for two years. It's a pity that these so-called "elite soldiers" are only elite soldiers who can win a big battle with the Fifth Battalion of the Revolutionary Left, and they have a tie with Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, and they have never fought against a large-scale cavalry charge.

For the first time, he was charged and bitten by the Tartar cavalry who had been powering the world for many years, and panic was still inevitable.

"Don't quit! All the soldiers according to the drill code, the bayonets are stacked outward! The Retreater, Slash! Slash the one who squeezes his companion into the water! The ship's firecrackers will reinforce us too! The tartars don't last long! ”

Zhang Mingzhen, who had already landed on the shore, also tried his best to organize a defense on the beachhead with a hoarse roar.

A considerable part of these 5,000 "Shen Family Members" were taken by him to fight with Erhe last year, and they can be regarded as generals and soldiers, and they have a considerable foundation of trust.

Seeing that Vice General Zhang also recklessly went ashore to supervise the battle, the Shen family finally stabilized the bayonet formation after a short period of panic and being killed and damaged. Rows of firearms roared, and they also began to reap the lives of the Qing soldiers on the opposite side.

"These dog barbarians still dare to line up against the water?" After Yongguibu was swept by the fire for a while, he slightly damaged some people and horses, and his momentum was slightly suffocated.

The absolute casualties of the Qing cavalry were actually not many, because the Qing army in Chongzhen's fifteenth year was actually very well equipped.

Relying on the Ming army to be the "captain of the transport brigade" for more than ten years, and the equipment captured by the Qing army, the equipment rate of iron and cotton armor in the Qing army is extremely high. In particular, the cavalry full of eight banners, almost all of them were equipped with iron cotton armor.

Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong also knew this information when they came this time, so they didn't dare to equip the firecracker team with a fixed-loading shotgun that killed all sides when fighting thieves, at most they only used two single-headed bullets (two single-headed projectiles at a time) pressed before and after.

Only this kind of large projectile can penetrate the Qing army's iron cotton armor. And after the projectile becomes larger, the decrease in the density of firepower is also very obvious, originally seven or eight or even more small lead shots, but now there are only two, and the hit rate has dropped sharply.

The fire of the platoon guns was not enough to directly repel the enemy, and the Qing cavalry charged much faster than the enemies encountered before. The landing Ming army soon had to be plunged into constant hand-to-hand combat.

The bayonet formation tactics, which had been practiced for more than a year, also withstood a thorough high-stress test for the first time.

One by one, the Shen family members were slashed and poked by the saber and cavalry spear, and fell down screaming, and soon follow-up friendly troops filled up.

The front was loosened several times, but fortunately, it was blocked by Zhang Mingzhen personally organized and led by the new force.

"Our army is at least ten times larger than the enemy! The advantage is mine! The tartar will not be able to hold on! Zhang Mingzhen shouted hoarsely, and finally maintained order.

Gradually, as more and more Shen family members came ashore, and the musket team on the ship was still indiscriminately firing into the distance, and the Hongyi cannon was also firing at the rear of the enemy, trying to isolate the follow-up enemy input, the situation on the battlefield finally gradually reversed.

A few minutes later, there were at least two or three thousand people in the Ming army that landed on the shore, but the first echelon under Yonggui suffered heavy casualties, and the three Niu Lu sent out by Yonggui before had also been chased back.

Yong Gui saw that the hand-to-hand combat had not been able to completely defeat this group of barbarians, so he had to retreat slightly first, and joined up with the three Niu Lu forces in the rear, and then reorganized the attack.

However, because the artillery of the Ming army was twisted together, for fear of accidentally injuring friendly troops, the artillery of the Ming army did not dare to fire at the enemy on the front line under their noses, and only dared to put a long range and block the enemy rear army.

At this moment, seeing that Yonggui retreated slightly, Zheng Chenggong, who was still on the boat, was overjoyed, and immediately ordered four or five boats on the left and right to concentrate firepower towards the position where Yonggui regrouped his forces.

Maybe it was Yonggui's hit - in history, he should have been killed by the defenders of Qiantun in the Ming Dynasty with Hongyi cannons when the Qing army broke through Qiantun next year.

Now, Zheng Chenggong gathered more than 20 guns at one time to serve them intensively, and the artillery had been calibrated by many rounds of firing before, and after another fierce round of firing, the Qing army was in chaos.

Yonggui is in the formation to reinvent the Mercedes Benz training, deploying how to charge for a while. A bunch of shells flew at him, but they didn't hit him directly, but one of them bounced off the ground and ricocheted, smashing directly into his waist from the bottom to the top.

Yonggui screamed without pain, he went directly into his left waist and out of his right liver, and his torso was smashed into a large transparent hole, and the whole person was then torn apart by the huge force into two halves.

"The master was shot dead by the barbarians! Avenge your master! Otherwise, the banner lord will not let us go! ”

The Qing cavalry was terrified, but there was no way to retreat, and after a short period of fear, they could only rush up more fiercely.

Zhang Mingzhen and Zheng Chenggong didn't know that they had killed the Qing army, so they could only continue to push back steadily, they promised Li Junmen and Cao Junmen, and said that if they wanted to take the Beacon Hill Wharf, they would definitely do it, otherwise how would they mix in the rivers and lakes in the future!

The Ming court can have no credit, but those who mix with Shen Futai must have credit!