klisemfg Chapter 426: Battle (4)
Chapter 426: Battle (4)
Everyone is at a different level and naturally has a different perspective on things. According to Qian Biao, fighting like this is really a bit depressing. Dorgon is also a human being. The king has many more soldiers and horses than Dorgon. You might as well just deploy them in battle formation and defeat Dorgon in one battle to boost your morale.
But Meng Jun is not just looking at things from the perspective of a general or the commander of a battle. As the leader of a region, in his eyes, war is more than just a face-to-face decisive battle.
In Meng Jun's eyes, the decisive battle had already begun unknowingly since Jiang Xiang started the rebellion. Although Dorgon still had such a large cavalry team, the Qing court had actually lost after losing Shandong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Jiangnan.
Therefore, Meng Jun would rather be a little despicable than give Dorgon a chance to turn things around, even if the chance was small.
If two armies were fighting, and there was not much difference in morale, food, and weapons between the two sides, then neither side would collapse so easily if they fought in formation. Dorgon's Eight Banners soldiers still had high morale and their weapons were quite good, and some of Dorgon's Han Army Banners were already equipped with flintlock rifles.
These flintlock rifles were imitations made by the Qing court after it obtained Meng Jun's flintlock rifles. The self-propelled muskets of the Po Lu Army actually did not have any technical barriers. The technology for the musket to evolve from a matchlock to a flintlock had already existed in the late Ming Dynasty.
The only flaw of the flintlock rifle was its high misfire rate, which was generally about 30%. However, with the help of a large number of craftsmen such as Xia Wanchun and Meng Jun, the power of the gunpowder formula was enhanced, and paper shell quantitative gunpowder was used. The misfire rate of the Po Lu Army has been reduced to 10%.
With the surrender of Leng Sengji, a key figure in the fierce palace coup between Hauge and Dorgon, Zhou Jun was able to gain insight into many core secrets of the Qing army.
Leng Sengji told the Qing army everything he knew, including the approximate number of various types of firearms, the armor rate of the Qing army, the food supply of the Han army, the organizational structure of the Qing army, which generals had conflicts with each other, etc.
More importantly, Leng Sengji also revealed a message to Meng Jun, that is, Dorgon's health has been deteriorating. Haoge dared to enter the palace because he found out that there was indeed a serious problem with Dorgon's health.
Hauge believed that it was impossible for Dorgon to attack him when the situation of the Qing Dynasty was so critical and Dorgon was in poor health. However, Hauge did not expect that he really dared to do so.
Seeing that Meng Jun was unwilling to fight, Dorgon used the navy to transport more and more troops to the north of Cangzhou. At this time, the 45,000 Manchu Eight Banners and Mongolian cavalry under Suksaha had also arrived in Xinhai County east of Cangzhou.
This made Dorgon very uncomfortable, as he had been holding back on a killing move for a long time. If Meng Jun continued to act like this, then this killing move would be useless (Dorgon didn't know that Meng Jun knew that not all of the 50,000 cavalry had left the country).
After being delayed for several days, Dorgon could no longer bear it. He thought Suksaha would be a surprise force that could completely reverse the situation, but he did not expect Meng Jun's tactics to be so shameless.
After thinking about it day and night, Dorgon decided to first capture Meng Jun's three small camps north of Cangzhou, intending to force Meng Jun to respond. As long as Meng Jun moved, Suksaha's surprise troops would have a chance to be used.
Dorgon led the Han army flag and stormed the Zhou army's small camp. Naturally, the three small camps could not hold out for long under the attack of the Qing army's arrows and artillery.
Therefore, after resisting for several hours, the defenders in the three camps retreated one after another to the Zhou navy who were already waiting by the river.
Some Qing army generals were unwilling to let the duck fly away, so they rushed over with a team of cavalry and tried to kill Zhou's army. However, under the cover of the navy's artillery fire, the Qing army suffered dozens of casualties and returned in vain. The Zhou army took advantage of the convenience of the canal and evacuated easily.
The Zhou army lost only more than 400 people out of 3,000 people in three small camps, while Dorgon spent time and effort to get three empty camps, and the Han army flag lost more than 800 people and more than 1,000 people were injured.
But after taking down three small camps, Meng Jun still did not make any big moves. Instead, he continued to transport troops and build camps. This made Dorgon realize that this decisive battle seemed impossible to fight and would only turn into a meaningless war of attrition.
Dorgon was a little dazed. Hebei was a flat land. During the reign of Chongzhen, the Qing Dynasty had invaded and plundered the area several times, coming and going freely. Not to mention the garrison troops who were worse than refugees, even Lu Xiangsheng at that time was not as difficult to deal with as Meng Jun today.
Among all the dynasties, the civil war was the most brutal at the end of the Tang Dynasty, which was the last period of the dynasty. It was after experiencing such a cruel, fierce and desperate war in the Central Plains that the Song Dynasty went to extremes and had a deep fear, vigilance and suppression of military men.
There were elite troops in the official army at the end of the Ming Dynasty, but they were very few. Compared with this huge empire, this was obviously disproportionate. In most cases, the armies at the founding of each dynasty were at the peak of the dynasty's military power. After peace, the army would inevitably decline, but the extent of decline varied.
Those who were frightened and fled as soon as they saw the Qing army were refugees and could not be considered an army. Those who could come into contact with the Qing army and hold out for a few minutes were the garrison troops of the late Ming Dynasty.
Dorgon looked at Meng Jun, who was now facing him. Was he still the man who dared to attack Suzhou City with a thousand men and attack Li Chengdong's camp at night with inferior forces? Where was the man who dared to fight Lekedehun and Duoduo like a gambler?
Dorgon was unwilling to give up. Regardless of the ugly look on the messenger's face, who still had a cloth wrapped around his head, he ordered him to enter the Zhou camp again and deliver a letter to Meng Jun.
Believe it or not: Heroes emerge in great numbers between heaven and earth. In troubled times, there must be extraordinary people who do extraordinary things. In the past, King Zhou was the bravest among the three armies, and he was the only one in the south of the Yangtze River. He defeated the many with the few, and the strong with the weak. His ambition was as high as the clouds.
The behavior of the King of Zhou today seems to be completely different from that of the past. He is now like a coward, defending himself in a corner, refusing to show his prowess. Isn't it known to everyone that the bravery of the King of Zhou is only a flash in the pan?
Now I want to have a battle with King Zhou, to decide who will rule the world with this battle. If King Zhou still has his former courage, you may as well fight. I will dye the land of Cangzhou red with the blood of Manchu warriors. Who will win the battle in this majestic country?
The envoy arrived at the Zhou army camp. This time the envoy saw Meng Jun. Meng Jun chuckled twice, threw Dorgon's heart casually on the table, pointed at Qian Biao, and signaled to take the envoy away without saying a word.
Qian Biao dragged the mournful-looking Qing envoy out. The envoy forced a smile on his ugly face and said to Qian Biao, "Don't bother, General. I can walk on my own."
Qian Biao ignored the man and walked for a while. Qian Biao looked back at Meng Jun's main account and thought that the distance was about right and he would not disturb the king.
Qian Biao threw the Qing envoy to the ground and said with a fierce smile: "You are so bold! You still dare to come here even though your left ear has been cut off!"
"General... General, let's talk!"
Qian Biao cut off his right ear again, looked at the envoy wailing on the ground, and cursed: "Go back and tell Dorgon that if you dare to send someone again, it won't be ear cutting! Get out!"