"Donkey, this time the 'Nanjing Ordnance Bureau' has made a great contribution, I don't know how many casualties these rockets can reduce!" Zhang Huangyan folded his sleeves and said with a happy face.

Zhou Shixian laughed, and then said proudly: "Xuanzhu, do you know that since ancient times, this war has been fought about logistics supply, that is, the weapons and equipment of the army.

Even if you can fight, I'm afraid you won't be able to fight for so long, let alone fight so smoothly, so you now understand why this horse put so much effort into the Weapons Bureau, it's for this. The victory of the army also depends on this. ”

Zhou Shixian said as he raised his hand and pointed to the Qing army camp in the north.

"What the horse said is extremely true, my army can have such a might, it is all the work of the horse's strategy!" Although Zhang Huangyan's words are very flattering, they are also from the heart, and he really admires Zhou Shixian in his heart.

You must know that during this period of time, Zhou Shixian not only showed all the talents required by a high-ranking person, but also the military, weapons, and even ideological brilliance, which deeply shocked Zhang Huangyan and made him feel that this was simply a genius.

Otherwise, how can it be explained that a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy can have such profound knowledge and talent?

Not only Zhang Huangyan has admired Zhou Shixian so much, but also Wu Xingye, the veteran head of the Beijing camp, is also the same.

Zhou Shixian had already begun to prepare for the formation training of the cavalry, and Wu Xingye conducted a small-scale experiment before the battle, and found that the formation battle could indeed improve the impact of the cavalry. I couldn't help but pat my head in surprise, why didn't I think of such a simple truth?

It can only be said that Wu Xingye is not a person, in the original history, the formation of soldiers was much earlier than the cavalry, but for a long time, perhaps the cavalry was difficult to control, or the army at that time could not meet the training requirements of the cavalry formation, or the battlefield did not have this need, and the cavalry formation was not used on a large scale for a long time.

The cavalry battle can not only make the combat effectiveness of the cavalry group combat rapidly improved, but also the difficulty of cavalry training has also decreased a lot, and the most critical thing in cavalry training is no longer personal skills, but the training of formations and the selection of weapons.

After all, in the battle of the military formation, the martial arts of the individual can be almost negligible. No matter how bells and whistles your martial arts are, it is impossible to resist the continuous attacks of the enemy's several long and short weapons. Unless, this is a thousand-armed Guanyin.

Back in front of him, Wu Xingye had already led his troops and horses to successfully cross the river, and the Qing army had not yet had time to organize effective soldiers and horses to stop them.

This is what Zhou Shixian said: "Take the initiative to attack and be invincible." ”

Duoduo has not yet negotiated peace with the Ming army mission, but it is still the last point, where can he think that the Ming army dares to attack at this time?

After all, in his plan, it was to wait until he pulled out of the camp, and then the Ming army would take advantage of the situation, and Zhou Shixian's operation was not according to the script at all.

Sometimes, it is the prey of the Dordor who thinks of himself as a hunter, sets a trap, and waits for others to jump, is the easiest to be fooled. Because his mind is all in the trap he has set.

The Ming army was divided into three divisions, Xue Laoer and Wu Xingye led more than 7,000 elite soldiers and horses, and under the cover of rockets, after quietly crossing the Huai River by boat, they quickly completed the assembly on the shore, and the action was very fast.

At the same time, Zhang Hong, Li Daxi and others had also completed the assembly of their troops and horses on the south bank, and as soon as the Zheng family's fleet returned, they could immediately cross the shore.

Although the Ming army won the battle earlier, the Qing army on the north bank was not afraid, and still camped about three miles from the shore, which can be described as extremely arrogant.

After more than a month of mutual reconnaissance and harassment, the deployment of the Qing army has been largely figured out by the Ming army, so Xue Laoer and Wu Xingye directly led their elite soldiers and horses to rush forward.

However, the Qing army was not vegetarian, and the soldiers and horses under the command of Xue Lao Er and Wu Xingye were intercepted by the ambush soldiers sent by Duoduo before they approached the camp of the Qing army.

Duoduo was naturally prepared, not that he guessed Zhou Shixian's plan, but in order to avoid being attacked at night, every night, there would be ambushes waiting outside the Qing army camp.

The two armies immediately engaged in a fierce confrontation about a mile away from the Qing army's camp, and the Qing army's central army camp soon sent more than 100 cavalry to help in the battle, and the rest of the soldiers and horses were still gathered.

"The Qing army is really prepared." Wu Xingye turned his head to look at Xue Lao Er and frowned slightly.

"This ambush should be solved soon, General Wu, you immediately lead the troops and horses of the headquarters to break through from the side, forming a pincer attack, and I will lead the soldiers and horses of the headquarters to attack from the front to attract the soldiers and horses of the Qing army." Xue Lao Er immediately ordered.

Such a situation was expected by the top brass of the Ming army early on, and although the night attack was a night attack, it was impossible to have a smooth ride.

Under the repeated supervision of Duoduo and several Manchurian generals, the Qing army has always maintained a state of intense preparation, and the Manchu Eight Banners Army, which had just entered the customs, was still strong and patient, and could maintain a fighting state for a long time.

If it weren't for the sudden attack of the rocket, which disrupted the defense of the Qing army, Zhou Shixian would never have organized this night attack, otherwise he would have lost both.

You must know that in this era, those who can launch night attacks are elites, which is why Zhou Shixian almost only uses his own soldiers and horses. And attacking a strong army at night is extremely risky, and it is very likely that stealing chickens will not lead to rice.

When Duoduo heard the first round of rocket launches, he quickly got up and put on his armor. Before he finished putting on his armor, Tang Ma came to report the sudden military situation.

Each battalion of the Qing army set up a solid camp, and built arrow towers and Houtai around the camp in order to prevent the Ming army from attacking. Originally, none of these were there, after all, these generals of the Qing army didn't think that the southern soldiers had the courage to attack.

However, after the defeat of Nikan, Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, Duoduo captured a group of Han people in order to prevent accidents, and the construction was completed in a few days.

Not long after the sound of the rocket died down, Dodor faintly heard the sound of countless horses' hooves stomping on the ground, followed by the whirring of countless arrows.

The use of arrows as a signal was a tradition of the Qing army fighting at night, and when Duoduo heard the whistling sound of the arrows being fired, he could not understand what was happening.

"Quick, pass on Nikan and Tunqi, don't take care of the camp, gather troops and horses to meet the enemy first."

Duoduo made a decision immediately, the expression on his face was very complicated, he didn't expect Zhou Shixian to launch a surprise attack at such a time, but he was a little inexplicably excited in his heart.

Whether it is the warriors of the Qing Dynasty who are powerful, or these Nikans in the south who are good at fighting, will be revealed after tonight.

Dordor clearly favored the latter.

He trusted his army very much, and believed that relying on the advantages of cavalry was enough to complete the counterattack on these night attacking Ming troops.

However, at this time, Xue Lao Er and Wu Xingye had already led the army under their command to defeat the ambushed Qing cavalry as planned, and rushed to the Qing army's camp.

Although the Qing army in the large camp was exhausted by the rocket attack, the camp that was set up at the beginning was strong enough, and the defensive measures were even stronger.

This caused a great obstacle to the surprise attack of the Ming army, whether it was Xue Laoer's department that broke through from the front, or Wu Xingye's department that attacked from the side, the operation was blocked, and it also paid a lot of casualties. The strength of the Qing army should not be underestimated.

In the end, Xue Lao Er still took advantage of the fact that the Qing army in the camp was trapped by the fire, and did not react for a while, relying on the impact of the cavalry of the two thousand headquarters under his command to break through the gate of the Chinese army camp of the Qing army.

It can only be said that the Qing army in this period is still full of elite, and its combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

After breaking through the Qing army's arrow tower and the camp gate to reject the horse, the Ming army was finally able to perform, and the vanguard cavalry rode against each other in the large camp, taking advantage of the chaos to perform the technique of cutting melons and vegetables, killing and wounding a large number of Qing soldiers and horses.

When the good times did not last long, they were soon blocked by the Qing army's musketeers, and even the raging fire in those tents hindered the further breakthrough of the Ming army.

The cavalry of the Tianwei Battalion, which broke into the Qing army's camp, were soon attacked by arrows and lead bullets from the Han Eight Banners and the feudal soldiers, they were wearing double armor, ordinary arrows were ineffective against them, but the Qing army's armor-piercing arrows and firearms were just as powerful.

At this time, the Qing army had also come to their senses, and organized layers of blockades, muskets, bows and crossbows continued to shoot at the Ming army. The front of the cavalry of the Tianwei battalion constantly resounded with the sound of musket explosions, clusters of orange-red flames lit up in the darkness, and the cavalry and war horses who had fallen from the bullets kept wailing.

The night attack did not go as smoothly as expected, and it was even said that it encountered a lot of obstacles. The Tianwei battalion's original sharp offensive was stopped by the Qing army that reacted, and the two sides fell into a stalemate and war of attrition.

On both sides of the camp, the cavalry under the command of Wu Xingye was not able to break through quickly, and the soldiers of the "Wufen Battalion" and the hundreds of Qing musketeers and archers who rushed out in a hurry under the cover of the fence outside the camp launched a fierce battle, and the two sides continued to exchange death around the fence on the periphery of the camp.

The Qing troops in the camp of the Duoduo army were all elite and well-prepared, and at this time they had a local advantage in strength, and the resistance was very stubborn. Although the Ming army was a surprise attack, after all, the soldiers and horses did not have an advantage, and the attack was not very smooth.

Moreover, these are all new recruits who have not been in battle for a long time, and it is inevitably difficult to master the rhythm when attacking, but they will never grow without bloody battles.

However, the Qing army was the elite, and Zhou Shixian's new army was even more elite, and under their desperate charge and desperate fighting, several fences were soon broken through. Gaps also began to appear on the east and west sides of the Qing army's central army camp.

The cavalry of these Wufen battalions stepped over the fence that had just been overturned and rushed straight away, and the Qing troops who fled with their backs to them were quickly slashed and knocked over. But the Qing army's resistance did not end, and the soldiers of the Wufen battalion were met with countless spears that burst from the side, and many soldiers were stabbed to death on the fence that had just been knocked down......

On the other side, under the siege of the cavalry of the Qiantianwei battalion under Xue Laoer, the more than 400 Qing troops who were sent to the front of the camp to block were quickly defeated, and in the end, less than 200 defeated troops were left to retreat in the direction of the depths of the camp.

And this is not because Xue Lao Er is unable to completely annihilate this Qing cavalry, but he did it on purpose, Xue Lao Er wants to use this retreating Qing army to break through the Qing army's blocking deployment, disrupt the Qing army's defensive formation, and even break through the Qing army's camp.

Zhou Shixian specially explained to the generals of all departments before the war that they must maintain their soldiers and horses as much as possible, preserve their strength, and do not rush to kill regardless of casualties.

Moreover, relying only on these 4,000 soldiers and horses, even if they break through the camp of the Qing army for a while, as long as the other side reacts, it will be difficult to win in the end under the attack from all sides.

Since the real goal is to flank the attack on three sides, the frontal attack should be mainly contained, attracting the counterattack forces of the Qing army to cover Wu Xingye's surprise attack on the east and west.