Chapter 433: The Great Qing's Artillery Corps, Blessed by Confucius

What does a true battle-hardened elite force look like?

At least in this era of transition between cold weapons and firearms, a powerful army capable of dominating on land should possess advantages in the following areas.

First, a strong cavalry! Including heavy cavalry for shock charges and light cavalry for scouting, harassment, and controlling the battlefield.

Because in this era, battles all begin with a prolonged screen of outpost skirmishes. Countless small light-cavalry squads will repeatedly tangle, probe, charge at each other, and fight to the death before their respective main forces appear on the battlefield. And whichever side gains the upper hand in this series of clashes can control the battlefield to the greatest extent, blind the enemy, and cover the deployment of its own main force.

And on the battlefields of this era, heavy cavalry often plays the role of the decisive hammer-blow!

Cannon bombardments, musket volleys, massed arrow fire, and infantry formations locked in combat — all of it is usually groundwork for the heavy cavalry's charge. When one side falls into disorder under the successive blows of enemy cannon fire, musketry, arrows, and infantry slaughter, then it is time for the heavy cavalry, clad in stout armor and gripping long lances, to take the field.

If no heavy cavalry is available and one must rely solely on infantry to make the assault, victory may still be possible, but achieving the greatest possible result is unlikely.

And if the enemy possesses decent cavalry, then the fruits of victory that one's artillery and infantry can win must be discounted yet again.

In both light and heavy cavalry, the Great Qing's advantage is beyond doubt!

Because all the Manchu Eight Banners are four-in-one: light cavalry, heavy cavalry, infantry, and archers! The Mongol Eight Banners are all cavalry as well, and a considerable portion of the Han Eight Banners are also mounted units.

Of the two to three hundred thousand Qing troops in total, those able to fight on horseback number around a hundred thousand at the very least!

And among the Manchu and Han armies of the Plain Blue, Plain Red, Plain Yellow, and Bordered Yellow Banners that followed Hooge south, the men able to fight on horseback number no fewer than twenty thousand!

Second is artillery!

What now props up the greater part of the firearm branches is not the matchlock or the still-immature flintlock, but the cannon!

Dense infantry squares used to resist cavalry charges are at a great disadvantage when facing bombardment by new-style cannon, so the side without cavalry superiority must possess a powerful artillery force. Only thus can it recover some of its disadvantage when fighting in formation.

If one has neither strong cavalry nor superior artillery, then forget about any field battle.

Even if one can array the finest-looking Maurice-style formations, before the Qing army's cannon and cavalry they are nothing but cannon fodder and prey.

In situations where artillery can still hold the line, infantry that has adopted European tactics and is heavily equipped with firearms, so long as it is employed properly, is not to be underestimated.

And the Ming and Qing armies that took part in the Fengyang campaign of the eighteenth year of Chongzhen each had their own strengths in cavalry, artillery, and infantry.

The Qing army naturally held an overwhelming advantage in cavalry, so the Ming army advancing north from the Jiangbei Grand Camp could only barely maintain a cavalry screening line near the main force — and even that was achieved only by relying on home-ground advantage and the many rivers of Huainan.

In artillery, the Qing army possessed large numbers of Hongyi cannon and was by no means weak. But Zhu Cilang's new army had a batch of Western gunners and the new-army gunners they had personally trained. Although at a disadvantage in caliber, their clear technical superiority still allowed them to hold a slight edge.

And in infantry, the new army's northern corps, composed of twelve model regiments plus eight ordinary infantry regiments, naturally held absolute superiority.

The fifty thousand troops of twenty regiments alone could overwhelm Hooge in numbers. Moreover, the twelve model regiments serving as the main force had all completed training in "Maurice's tactics," with firearms and pikes equipped at a one-to-one ratio, and were furnished with nearly twelve thousand matchlock muskets and turtle-dove-foot muskets in total!

Such firepower was simply not something the Qing infantry, composed mainly of Green Standard troops, could withstand — this was also the source of Zhu Cilang's confidence in daring to seek a decisive battle!

Zhu Cilang had confidence, and his opponent Hooge was likewise brimming with confidence!

Hooge's main camp was now set on the east bank of the Hao River, no more than five or six li from the eastern wall of Fengyang city. It was a cavalry camp, with open approaches, an extremely wide area of control, and sentry riders posted far out. Beside the camp ran the Hao River, which not only served as a support but also made it convenient to water and graze the horses. On the camp's eastern side there were no deep trenches or high ramparts, only a shallow ditch dug with the excavated earth piled into a breastwork.

The ditch and breastwork began outside Linhuai County town, which lay right next to Fengyang city, and ended at the East Hao River, a tributary of the Hao, stretching more than ten li in all. This line of ditch and breastwork was meant to cut off communication between Linhuai County town and Fengyang. Linhuai County town, as its name implies, lay right beside the Huai River; north of the town was Linhuai Wharf. The town had been rebuilt with bastions, and it was also the station of the Governor-General of Jiangbei and Governor of Fengyang, Hou Xun. Eastward from Linhuai, along the Huai River, were three more bastion towns: Wuhe, Sizhou, and Xuyi. Huang Degong's main army was now deployed at Sizhou and Xuyi.

So in the view of Hooge, Oboi, and the others, Ming reinforcements would most likely come along the water route from the direction of Linhuai. Therefore, after crossing the Huai, they had immediately circled to the east of Fengyang city, seized control of the Hao River, set up their camp, dug the ditch, raised the breastwork, and even prepared to build a gun emplacement at the confluence of the Hao and Huai rivers — this emplacement was not far from the northeast corner of Fengyang city, only about three or four li.

Thus the Hongyi cannon mounted there could not only blockade the Huai River but also bombard Fengyang city!

But in the direction southeast of Fengyang, Hooge and Oboi had built no fortifications at all, relying entirely on cavalry for warning and blockade. Given the ability of the Eight Banners cavalry, enemies could be spotted from a great distance. If the approaching force was also cavalry, the Eight Banners iron cavalry would deal with it. If a large body of infantry approached by land from the southeast — heh heh, that would be seeking death!

Besides this main camp, Hooge had also set up a forward camp at Minghuangling south of Fengyang city, and a rear camp south of the Changhuai Guard city west of Fengyang. Kong Youde and Shang Kexi were respectively in charge of holding them.

In addition, southeast of the Changhuai Guard city and northwest of Fengyang city, another gun emplacement had been built, likewise capable of blockading the Huai River and bombarding the walls of Fengyang.

Three great camps, plus the two gun emplacements built southeast of Changhuai and at the mouth of the Hao River, completely surrounded Fengyang city.

Because Fengyang city had not been rebuilt with bastions, its walls were long in disrepair, and it had been damaged once by Gao Yingxiang's troops in the eighth year of Chongzhen, it simply could not withstand bombardment by thirty or forty Hongyi cannon!

So at this moment Hooge and Oboi both felt they were already in an invincible position. Even if they could not lure Zhu Cilang's great army out of Nanjing and give it a savage beating, simply pushing down Fengyang city with Hongyi cannon would be a tremendous victory!

At this moment the camp was full of shouting men and neighing horses. Several squads of sentry riders sent out on watch had, for some reason, all come galloping back together. The booi led the winded warhorses to the bank of the Hao River to walk and cool down, then removed the saddles and brushed the horses carefully. Some of the Eight Banners lords had taken off their cotton armor and found shade to drink water and wipe off sweat. The three niru janggin leading the squads, however, did not bother to remove their armor before dashing toward Hooge's main command tent. They showed their command banners to the white-armored guards at the tent, and were then admitted.

Hooge and Oboi were both inside the great tent. Oboi was studying the Analects — now that Confucius could protect one from blade and bullet, Oboi naturally had to read the Analects — while Hooge, who feared the heat, sat in a single layer of light clothing, reading the field reports that Mandahai had sent over. The contents of these reports were not only related to the fighting north of the Huai; some also reported on the war situation in the directions of Shandong and Xuzhou. Dodo had finally surrounded Qufu city this time — not a complete encirclement, but with a camp built on each of the four sides of Qufu city.

But at the same time, Dodo had run into trouble at Caozhou! The Ming Regional Commander Li Huajing and Vice Regional Commander Gong Wencai in the Caozhou area were both stubborn as could be. Surrounded on all sides, they still refused to submit, and instead kept raiding territory under Qing control, greatly angering Dodo. So he dispatched the gūsa ejen Bolo to lead troops on a punitive expedition to the Caozhou, Juye, and Jiaxiang area.

Just as Hooge was taking a certain schadenfreude in Dodo's troubles, the three niru janggin of his own Plain Blue Banner strode in, dropped to one knee in salute, and then one of them loudly reported: "Reporting to Your Highness, we slaves encountered a large force of Nikan cavalry in the area of Daqiang Ridge, Huangfu Mountain, and Shigu Mountain!"