I

The body of Mr. Qian was quickly carried back by the soldiers.

Zhao Han glanced at him and said to Zhang Tieniu: "When you go back, you will be rewarded based on your merits. The armor on this man will be rewarded to you."

"That's good." Zhang Tieniu's eyes gleamed when he saw it, and he wanted to take off his armor immediately.

Zhao Han was still too poor. Until now, he didn't even have a pair of iron armor, and all his generals could only wear leather armor.

In the Ming Dynasty, weapons were not strictly controlled, and civilians were allowed to possess strong bows and crossbows as long as they were not firearms. However, whoever dares to make and collect armor privately is tantamount to rebellion!

The deceased in front of me should have been a hereditary military general, and the armor was also an ancestral antique, maybe a hundred or two hundred years old.

With the iron factories in Xinyu and Fenyi counties, the weapons institute will soon be operational.

The first thing to be built was not firearms, but thousands of waist knives. At least all the daggers on the archers must be replaced with swords. They are not daggers at all, but iron spearheads with short handles.

The soldiers were cleaning the battlefield. Zhao Han walked over to express condolences to the wounded. When he saw Wu Yong wrapping his wounds, he couldn't help but smile and asked, "Didn't you catch the high official this time?"

Wu Yong said in frustration: "This time, the real high-ranking officials are all riding horses. It's really impossible to catch up. There are so many horses for the officers and soldiers. I must... probably have twenty of them."

Wu Yong belonged to the Nu'er Army. He had followed Zhang Tieniu in the charge and suffered a large gash on his shoulder.

This kind of battle is the most intense.

Instead, it was a defensive battle directed by Zhao Han himself. Even if thousands of people from both armies fought against each other, in fact, the casualties caused by fighting for half a day would not be very large. Even if the opponent is not a mob, but if they are replaced by real elite soldiers of the imperial court, the process of fighting will be the same.

The two armies fought against each other, resulting in more than half of them being killed or injured. This was definitely at the legendary level.

Let the Yue Family Army fight with the Sichuan White Pole Soldiers, and it may be possible to reach such an intensity. As for other armies, it is normal for the casualty rate to collapse when the casualty rate reaches 5%, and it is considered an elite army to collapse when the casualty rate reaches 10%.

For an army that could withstand 20% casualties, only 5,000 soldiers were enough for Zhao Han, and he could sweep through several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River.

Even at this time, if the Houjin army suffered 20% casualties, it would definitely retreat. The Tatars are more precious than you think.

Houjin's ability to continue to grow does not rely on bravery and fear of death, but on rapidly improving strategies and tactics.

At the beginning of Nurhaci's army, the war was fought without any structure. It was only after the establishment of the Eight Banners system that the army truly became an army.

Even in the Battle of Sarhu, the Tatars were not as powerful as the Ming Dynasty's frontier troops. Each time, they exploited the loopholes in the inability of the various military units to coordinate, suddenly attacked one of the Ming troops, and won with a two to three times advantage in strength, and then caused the other Ming troops to flee.

What is really terrifying is the speed of the Tatars' tactical progress!

Because he suffered a hidden loss in the Battle of Sarhu, Nurhachi immediately adopted a shield vehicle. Heavy infantry is used to push the shield vehicle. The two shield vehicles together can cover the advance of twenty or thirty infantry, completely blinding the Ming Dynasty frontier army's vehicle camp firearms.

On the other hand, the Ming army's tactics remained unchanged, and they still used the vehicle-camp firearms tactics to deal with the Mongolian cavalry.

So this kind of war scene appeared——

The Ming army fortified its chariots, with soldiers hiding behind the chariots, archers shooting arrows, cannons firing guns, melee infantry providing protection, and cavalry hiding in the formation as a reserve, or cavalry cruising to the flanks waiting for opportunities to fight. This method of warfare suppressed the Mongolian cavalry for hundreds of years.

The Tatars put their heavy infantry in front and pushed their shield vehicles to cover the advance of the large army. Most of the bows, arrows and bullets of the Ming army were blocked by the shield chariots. The Tatar archers hiding behind the shield chariot closed the distance and fired at the Ming army. When the infantry pushed aside the obstacles along the way, the Tatar cavalry suddenly rushed out and carried out mobile mounted fire at the Ming army. After the defeat, they immediately pursued and killed them.

This was the case in the Battle of Daling River. The Tatar cavalry fired two rounds in a row, and with the volley of archers, the Ming army collapsed. I retreated after I couldn’t bear the second round).

During that period, the main force of the Tatars was equipped with: 20% heavy armored infantry with shields, 30% mail archers, 40% light armored cavalry, and 10% iron armored cavalry.

And now, the Tatars have deployed firearms troops, which are more difficult to deal with than during the Battle of Daling River!

It was a complete tactical crushing. The Tatars continued to improve their tactics, but the Ming army remained unchanged. How could the Ming frontier army defeat them?

By the way, heavy artillery can break through the Tatar shield formation, but ordinary Fran cannons and Tiger cannons cannot.

With Zhao Han's current scumbag army, even if the soldiers can withstand 50% casualties, most of the soldiers will fight to the death, and they will still be defeated miserably when encountering the main Tatar force.

The same goes for white-pole soldiers, because the Tatars of today are no longer the Tatars of those days.

These guys learn so fast, and the technology tree is all about the military!

…

Zhao Han waited on the battlefield for a long time, and Gu Jianshan finally returned with his navy.

The casualties of the sailors were actually higher than those of the army, and more than thirty people were missing. Because after the rain and the water rose, the water flow was too strong. The sailors fell into the river and were quickly swept away by the river. It is not known how many people were able to get ashore safely.

However, there are more battleships!

Gu Jian Shan happily came over to salute the military and reported: "Headquarters, our army has achieved a great victory in Bailuozhou. We burned six enemy large ships, captured two large enemy ships, seven small ships, and two other large enemy ships." , one small ship surrendered. There are also three large enemy ships that have run aground and need to be organized to dredge them up and drag them out."

"Good job," Zhao Han said happily, "Did the enemy escape by ship?"

Gu Jianshan replied: "Wang Siren ran away in a boat. If he can't catch up, please punish him."

Zhao Han laughed loudly: "We won a battle, what should I punish you for?"

More than a hundred surrendered officers, soldiers, and sailors were brought to see them by Gu Jianshan. They were all Poyang Lake water bandits in the past.

Gu Jianshan introduced: "This is Fan Chao, the bandit's name is Fan Er, my former good brother in Poyang Lake."

"Greetings, Commander-in-Chief!" Fan Chao kowtowed quickly.

"Please get up quickly," Zhao Han helped the man up, looked at him for a while and said, "He is indeed a good man, and he will stay as an officer in my navy."

Of course, for low-level officers, missionaries will do ideological work. If they can't do it, they can only be dismissed. It is impossible to be promoted as soon as they come here.

Fei Yinggon, on the other hand, performed very well this time, allowing him to command five hundred people.

The next day, Zhao Han led his troops across the river and surrounded Linjiang Fucheng.

This is the city with the strongest defense that Zhao Han has encountered so far, and there is no way to attack it by force.

However, the city gate is open.

The prefect of Linjiang led many officials out of the city and knelt to greet him: "He Tianqu, the sinner, pays homage to King Zhao Tian!"

Zhao Han glanced at them: "Are these just a few officials?"

He Tianqu replied: "Officials such as Tongzhi, Tuiguan, and County Magistrate fled yesterday afternoon."

"Why don't you run?" Zhao Han asked.

He Tianqu bit the bullet and said: "I admire the reputation of King Zhao Tian and am willing to offer the city to atone for my sins."

This is of course nonsense. The reason why He Tianqu surrendered was because he was the chief official of the city. Even if he escapes, no matter what, if the court investigates him, he will shed his skin even if he doesn't die.

Moreover, Zhang Xianzhong was wreaking havoc on Luzhou Prefecture, and most of He Tianqu's clan members were gone. This guy was not afraid of involving his family.

However, He Tianqu took it for granted, thinking that the dedication of the city could be reused. But during this period, the officers and soldiers were looting and requisitioning food everywhere, and other high-ranking officials had fled. It was just in time to take He Tianqu to a public trial to let the people who suffered the disaster vent their anger.

"Catch him!" Zhao Han sneered.

He Tianqu was a little confused, the script was wrong. He exclaimed: "King Zhao Tian, ​​I have contributed to the city, why do you treat me like this?"

"The officers and soldiers have been defeated. I need you to come and present the city? Lock him up and set a day for public trial!" After Zhao Han said this, he led his troops into the city.

Linjiang Fucheng cannot be abandoned, this place is too important.

Although Zhangshu Town is close to Linjiang Fucheng, Zhangshu Town has no city wall to defend. Only by occupying this city can the Ganjiang waterway be blocked.

Alas, it is still expanding too fast. Zhao Han’s current territory is as follows:

Ji'an Prefecture: Luling County, Jishui County, Anfu County. (This prefecture is currently vacant: Taihe County (rebels), Yongfeng County, Longquan County (rebels), Wan'an County, Yongxin County (sweeping king), Yongning County (rebels).

Linjiang Prefecture: Qingjiang County, Xingan County, Xiajiang County, Xinyu County.

There is also Fenyi County, which is under the jurisdiction of Yuanzhou Prefecture. (Except for Fenyi County, the rest of Yuanzhou Prefecture is occupied by the Sweeping King.)

In other words, Zhao Han suddenly expanded from three counties to eight counties.

The mission team and grassroots officials are busy!

Xiao Huan will definitely have to work hard. His territory suddenly doubled, and the clean government work will probably be quite difficult.

However, the finances suddenly became abundant. Li Maofang collected so much money and food, all of which were used to make Zhao Han's wedding dress, and he also seized several artillery pieces.

But he said that Nanchang Mansion was already in a panic.

Even the officials of the three divisions of Jiangxi went out collectively and spent money to recruit new soldiers to defend the city.

Because Nanchang, the provincial capital of Jiangxi, is less than 200 miles away in a straight line from Zhao Han's Linjiang Prefecture, with only Fengcheng County in between.

Don't hit me, don't hit me, don't hit me... This is the idea of ​​the officials of the Third Division of Jiangxi Province. They are afraid that Zhao Han will take advantage of the victory to attack and surround Nanchang Mansion.

Zhao Hancai was too lazy to go there. He had indigestion in eight counties.

Even Fengcheng County, which Huang Yao captured, Zhao Han took the initiative to give up as a buffer zone between him and the government.

Li Maofang, Li Ruolian and Wang Siren looked at each other in Nanchang.

"What should I do?" Li Ruolian asked.

Wang Siren sighed: "I still have half of my naval force, and we will be able to regain our strength within a year."

Li Maofang was speechless. This battle was so complete.

Perhaps, Wang Siren still has the opportunity to make meritorious deeds, because he is just a soldier in Jiangzhou.

Perhaps, Li Ruolian could be demoted and returned to Beijing, because he was a military attaché from Jinyiwei.

But as the governor of Jiangxi, Li Maofang was dismissed from his post and lost his official position. It was very likely that he would be imprisoned and investigated!

Civil servants indeed have a high status, but once they lose a city or land, the main responsibility will also fall on the civil servants. The Chongzhen Dynasty has already killed several governors.

In the next two months, Li Ruolian and Wang Siren actively recruited troops to defend Nanchang City.

Li Maofang had no interest in military affairs. He also had money in Nanchang. He sent his confidants to take a boat straight to the capital, and spent money to bribe important officials in the court, but at least he had to save his life.

By the way, you can pass the blame to Wang Siren.

During the decisive battle, Wang Siren's navy was defeated, which caused the main force of officers and soldiers to collapse!

Yes, yes, Wang Siren has to take the blame.

(Thanks to the leader of vNima`bi and Shangxian Qitian for the reward. There will be a map at the end of this chapter. If not, you can refresh it.)