Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 28 The Power of the Musket

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Three hundred men set off in neat columns. The journey to Chengmai County would take two days, and this was also a good training exercise.

To conceal their strength, the guards hid their rifles while Master Qian was giving his instructions, and now they carry them on their backs during marches. Currently, over a hundred rifles have been issued to the troops, which will be a powerful weapon against the bandits. The rest are still equipped with spears to protect their rifles, which lack bayonets.

During the march, they encountered several checkpoints. A few soldiers in uniforms with the character "检" (inspection) tried to question them, but upon seeing the three hundred men in neat rows, they were too frightened to question them. These local inspectors could only exploit ordinary people and vendors; when they encountered large groups of people, whether bandits or government troops, they were not to be trifled with.

Compared to the inland areas, the population of Qiongzhou's counties and prefectures is not dense. As the guards traveled between Lingao County and Chengmai County, they rarely encountered anyone except for checkpoints and a few traveling merchants. It wasn't until they approached Chengmai County that more people appeared, and most of them were farmers who had fled in panic. The bandit army was attacking the county and did not have the energy to attend to the people outside the county. However, fearing that they would be affected by the war, these farmers still chose to flee, either to seek refuge with relatives or simply to escape.

When the fleeing farmers encountered this group of three hundred people, they avoided them like the plague, thinking they were reinforcements from the bandits. Xia Tiannan finally managed to stop a family and inquire about the battle situation ahead.

The bandit army has been besieging the county town for more than half a month. There are only a few hundred temporarily organized local militiamen in the town, who, with the assistance of twelve archers from the county patrol office, have temporarily held the city walls. It is said that the county magistrate has requested reinforcements from the prefectural city, but when they will arrive is unknown. The mobilization and deployment of troops in this era is a very complicated matter. It is common for large-scale troops to take a year and a half from receiving orders to arriving at the battlefield.

It's a pity I don't know how many casualties the bandits have suffered, Liu Ye thought regretfully. But since we've chosen to come here, regardless of whether the bandits are at full strength, we have no choice but to fight them head-on. If we can win with spears, there's no reason we can't win with firearms.

Liu Ye ordered the troops to advance in battle formation, with over a hundred men equipped with Patriot rifles in the middle and the rest with spearmen on the flanks. Once the enemy was spotted, the riflemen would engage the enemy from a distance first, followed by the spearmen for defense.

After cautiously advancing for two miles, several men wielding hook knives suddenly appeared ahead. The guards immediately halted and deployed into battle formation. At this time and place, armed men could only be bandit soldiers.

Upon seeing the battle formation, the group immediately recognized it as an elite force. They turned tail and ran; they weren't prepared to fight a losing battle, and running away was the best option.

"Stand by and remain on high alert. These men are probably enemy sentries on patrol. The main force will be here soon," Liu Ye ordered.

If you appear behind the bandit army, they will have no choice but to turn around and attack. Continuing to attack the city when there is a threat from the rear is suicidal.

Before the time it takes to drink a cup of tea was up, a commotion arose on the other side, and a thousand menacing soldiers swarmed over, stopping about two hundred meters away from the guards. Some timid and hesitant civilians followed behind them.

A burly man, a head taller than the soldiers, stood out in the middle; he was their leader. He had clearly abandoned the siege and was now focusing all his efforts on attacking the guards, who, in his eyes, posed a far greater threat than the weak Chengmai County town.

Lin San looked at the other side's still orderly formation and gritted his teeth in hatred. He didn't think they were there for tea and reminiscing. A battle was inevitable.

He turned to a Han Chinese man dressed as a scholar and asked, "Mr. Yan, there are well-equipped soldiers right across from us. What are your thoughts?"

The Han Chinese man, addressed as Mr. Yan, was in his forties, with a three-pronged beard, and appeared refined. He observed the orderly ranks opposite him, noticing the muskets at the front, and after a moment's thought, replied, "General Lin, the Han Chinese opposite are dressed in civilian clothes. They are neither garrison soldiers nor patrolmen; they are likely the private army trained by some powerful figure. Judging from their orderly ranks, the soldiers standing motionless, and the silence, they appear to be a well-trained force."

He had seen this firearm before. He had seen government troops use similar firearms when he accompanied them in a siege. They called them bird guns. They were lit with a matchlock and were slow to fire, but they were very powerful. Anyone hit by one would either die or be injured.

Lin San's expression was uncertain. After thinking it over, he finally made up his mind that he still had to fight. Regardless of whether he could take Chengmai or not, if he ran away as soon as he saw the Han Chinese troops, how would he survive in the future?

The biggest mistake in this attack on Chengmai was being too concerned about casualties and not taking the county town sooner. If we hadn't been so timid and had risked losing more people, taking the town and then facing this army, relying on the city walls for defense would have been better than a head-on confrontation.

He told Mr. Yan, "In any case, I will have to fight the other side eventually, so it's better to settle it now."

Mr. Yan agreed. He had devised a plan for Lin San to attack Chengmai, and his ambitions were quite grand. It was impossible for him to flee at the mere sight of a random private army.

He cautioned, “General Lin is absolutely right. However, we must be careful because the enemy’s firearms are similar in design to the soldiers’ muskets, with a range of no more than a hundred paces. After firing once, it takes a long time to reload. General Lin could give orders to shout and feign an attack from a hundred paces away. After they fire their ammunition, we can take advantage of their reloading time and rush forward in one go, catching them off guard!”

Upon hearing this, Lin San praised, "Mr. Yan's plan is brilliant. First, lure them into firing, then attack. We will surely defeat these Han people."

For some reason, he felt that if the enemy was all spearmen, it would be more difficult to fight them. On the contrary, in his mind, soldiers who relied on firearms were certainly not as brave as spearmen. He had seen examples of Han people's lack of fighting spirit due to their over-reliance on firearms with government soldiers. Arquebusiers would definitely collapse when they encountered melee combat.

Seeing that Lin San and a Han man were whispering to each other for a long time without making a move, Liu Ye didn't bother with him. No matter how they attacked, his side was armed with rifles and spears, and he would remain unchanged and wait quietly for the enemy to attack.

More than a hundred soldiers armed with rifles were divided into two rows of thirty men each. The first row was kneeling, and the second row was standing. This was the battle formation arranged by Liang Xiaoming.

According to him, this is the most commonly used line formation tactic in the British Army. Compared to the three or even five ranks of arquebus fire in rotation, these seemingly thin two ranks can ensure the maximum delivery of firepower in a short time.

After waiting patiently for a while, estimated to be about ten minutes, Liu Ye saw the enemy begin to move. More than a hundred soldiers first advanced to a position about 120 meters away, then slowed down, brandished their hook knives and shouted in this direction, while the main force followed behind, maintaining a certain distance from the front.

Liu Ye asked Liang Xiaoming, "What are you doing? Why are you slowing down instead of rushing over all at once?"

Although Liang Xiaoming had never experienced actual combat with firearms, as a seasoned military enthusiast, he was very knowledgeable about tactics on paper. He concluded: "They probably thought we were Ming army arquebusiers, the kind who would be slaughtered after firing a single shot. They were waiting for us to fire and reload, hoping to take advantage of that time difference!"

I see. Although the Patriot rifle is also lethal at this distance—its maximum range has been tested to be around 270 meters—its accuracy is very low. Given that the enemy is a purely melee-weapon force with few archers and insufficient long-range attack power, Liu Ye decided to position the enemy at a distance of around 70 meters. This distance would ensure a higher accuracy, and ordinary archers would find it difficult to inflict significant damage at this distance.

Seeing that the tactic of luring the enemy into firing had failed, Lin San and Mr. Yan looked at each other in bewilderment. This was not scientific! Generally, when they saw the enemy approaching, musketeers without close combat skills would fire, regardless of whether they hit the target or not, at least to bolster their courage.

Mr. Yan said to Lin San in a deep voice, "General Lin, this is a troublesome enemy. We are now in a dilemma and have no choice but to attack head-on. Casualties are inevitable after the enemy opens fire. However, it takes time for the firearms to be reloaded. As long as we can take the opportunity to rush in and attack the musketeers with all our might, causing the musketeers to charge into our spear formation and create chaos, we will have a chance to win. After all, we have the advantage in numbers."

General Lin felt that Mr. Yan's words made sense, and since the other party was not fooled, he had no choice but to take a gamble.

He roared, "Everyone, charge with all your might and take down the Han people on the other side! Whoever cuts off the head of a Han person first will be rewarded with one hundred taels of silver."

The bounty was very tempting to the soldiers, so they mustered their courage and charged forward with all their might.

The distance of several dozen meters was covered in just a few seconds. Liu Ye estimated the distance between them and the enemy, visually placing them within seventy meters, and ordered, "Fire!"

More than a hundred soldiers had already loaded their rifles and aimed them forward. Upon hearing the order, they pulled the triggers simultaneously. The deafening sound drowned out all the shouts of battle, and smoke began to fill the air, making it impossible for either side to see what was in front of them.

Through the smoke, the soldiers in the back could only see those in front falling in rows like leeks being cut down, as if an invisible scythe was neatly slicing down the soldiers charging at the forefront. Accompanied by screams and cries of agony, all those in front fell. The smoke obscured their vision, and the soldiers who hadn't fallen became frightened and stopped their charge.

Lin San, who was at the rear, was anxious. Although he couldn't see how many soldiers had been killed or wounded in the smoke, he knew that if they didn't continue the charge, these casualties would be meaningless. He shouted, "Keep pushing forward! They can only fire one shot with their muskets!"