Chapter 97 Encounter

Boluo's army rested for two days in Nanjing, and then set off for Danyang.

The two armies were still a hundred miles apart, and the sentry cavalry on both sides had already met frequently, and even small-scale fights had occurred between them, but the losses were not large.

After all, for these sentry cavalry, inquiring about intelligence and finding out the enemy's situation is the main task.

Killing a few enemy troops can't affect the overall situation, but a piece of useful information may affect the situation on the battlefield.

The movements of the 120,000 people were unusually loud, and their whereabouts could not be concealed at all.

Wu Changqing soon learned that the direction of action of the Qing army was Danyang, and then he was relieved to set up a line of defense. The 60,000-strong army is not meant to be piled up in a square array, it is too large, and it is impossible to change the formation.

Sixty thousand people were divided into three armies by Wu Changqing, left, middle and right, and the distribution of the three armies was also very particular.

On the left is the cold weapon troops of Dong Tianbao's department. In front of them is a paddy field, and on the left is a small hill. This terrain is not convenient for cavalry to charge. Putting them here is to protect them from cavalry blows and projectiles.

The central army is placed on the road, where the terrain is flat and suitable for cavalry charges.

Deliberately placing the Chinese army here is to lure the Qing cavalry to attack their hollow phalanx.

On the right flank are Liu Han's three divisions. They occupy a high ground with artillery positions. Their task is to defend the right flank of the army and protect the artillery.

The cavalry roamed around the periphery, waiting for an opportunity.

At the same time, there is a reserve team in the rear of the three armies to do various temporary tasks such as reinforcements and cover.

The Chinese army had the largest number of troops, 6,000 flintlock troops, 9,000 arquebusier troops, 3,000 archers, 3,000 grenadiers, and 3,000 sword and shield fighters.

The so-called grenadiers are professional grenade throwers. They are characterized by strong arms and throw things far. They were each equipped with ten grenades, and no other weapons, not even large knives.

After all, each soldier has a limited load, and they need to carry as many grenades as possible.

Moreover, they don't usually train the skills of cold weapon fighting, and it is useless to bring a knife, it is better to withdraw after throwing the grenade.

And the three thousand swords and shields were specially used to cover the retreat of the grenadiers and crossbowmen, and they did not participate in the main battle mission.

These are general plans, and there are many detailed settings. In actual combat, the situation will become very complicated, and each soldier needs to perform his own duties and act as a part of the war machine.

There are 20,000 troops on the left flank, of which there are 2,000 grenadiers, and the rest are cold weapon troops.

However, even if it is a cold weapon unit, each of them will almost carry two grenades. Throwing two grenades before going head-to-head is absolutely sour.

The main task of the left-wing troops is to protect the Chinese army and prevent it from being attacked from multiple directions at the same time.

Of course, they are actually the main force in the decisive battle, and they need to undertake a very important task of containment.

The right wing has only 10,000 people. In addition to the diversion task, the main thing is to protect their artillery positions. Each of these cannons is extremely expensive.

If it is destroyed by the enemy's cavalry, it will be a big trouble.

Therefore, the terrain here is the most difficult height for cavalry to deploy.

At night, Wu Changqing and other generals continued to deduce the war, looking for omissions.

After some deductions, Wu Changqing opened his mouth and said: "Probably the natural enemy army will arrive in the future, everyone, success or failure is here, defeat the main force of the enemy army, they will not be able to relax within half a year, and we can take all the surrounding areas of Nanjing. .The day after tomorrow, I hope you will do your best."

"Swear to the death."

The crowd shouted a slogan.

"Five thousand firearms, these Manchu Qing Tatars definitely don't know what this means, and they will definitely suffer a big loss."

Li Shaobin laughed and said that although their troops were half less than the enemy's, many of them were actually not very afraid.

After all, they have always fought with less to win more, and they have never fought a war in which the force is dominant. Therefore, they are used to the loss of troops.

Moreover, being in the Wu army, they are more aware of the terribleness of this army. Not only the advanced weapons, but also the morale of these soldiers is several times stronger than other armies.

This is probably because of the admiration of Wu Changqing, the reason why he is grateful to Wu Changqing for letting them learn to read, the reason why Wu Changqing promised to divide the fields in the future, and the reason why they practice day and night.

Under many reasons, the fighting spirit of this unit is very strong.

"The Manchu Tatars also have fire guns, and the number is as high as 10,000. However, I think their fire guns probably haven't learned the essence of our army."

Liu Hansan said that the fighting styles of flintlock guns and arquebuses are very different. Because the flintlock spear was too good, the Qing army only knew the flintlock spear of the Wu army.

But I don't know, in fact, the arquebus troop in the Wu army is also a very sharp troop. The way they fight, the Qing army will definitely not.

The atmosphere in the entire camp was very optimistic. I don't know if they thought they had an advantage in military strength and wanted to take the Qing army to the bottom.

Xue Guiren who watched this scene secretly sighed in his heart that he really was not wronged when he lost.

This army is far more terrifying than it looks on the surface.

After the discussion is over, the ministries will disband and return to their respective battalions to arrange tasks.

Wu Changqing came outside the tent and looked up at the stars.

He was very excited and a little nervous about the upcoming battle.

Deductions are just deductions after all, and the battlefield is full of accidents, and no one dares to say that they will win until the last moment.

If the showdown is lost, he'll have to start from scratch. If this decisive battle is lost, the secrets of the flintlock gun and the textile machine may not be able to be kept, and the difficulty will increase by another urgent part if you turn against the clear in the future.

Therefore, he cannot lose this decisive battle.

It took more than two days for the Manchu army to reach the battlefield on a one-hundred-mile journey.

Early in the morning the next day, the two sides had already started their formation at a distance of about 2,000 meters.

The generals on Wu Jun's side all stood at a high place, took the binoculars and began to observe the enemy's situation, and then made some adjustments.

On the side of the Qing army, Boluo also took out a telescope, which was the only telescope that Hong Chengchou got from Suzhou after abolishing his efforts.

"This is really a good thing. You can see the enemy's situation clearly."

Boluo couldn't help but sighed.

"It is said that this thing was also invented by Wu Changqing. This man is extremely smart, and he thinks wildly. He has come up with a lot of weird and wonderful things. It's a pity that this guy is too ambitious and can't be recruited."

Hong Chengchou said with emotion that aside from his position, he quite admired Wu Changqing. It's a pity that each has its own master, and the two are destined to fight against each other.