The reason why Wu Zheng arrived one day late was because he came with him, and the hired European musketeers. In addition, the artillery transportation was too slow, so he arrived one day and was already running non-stop, and he was rushing day and night.

The arrival of Wei Kuangguo's fleet made Wu Zheng change his idea of ​​fighting a limited battle in Zhenjiang.

At this time, Wu Zheng had decided to fight an annihilation battle.

Just kidding, a hundred cannons attacking a mere Zhenjiang Mansion has the luxury of killing chickens and using a slaughter.

But Wu Zheng didn't care, he wanted to train troops in actual combat.

Although there were foreign aid musketeers, the number of people was too small. Therefore, Wu Zheng temporarily transferred 3,000 clever young men from the 30,000 new recruits in Hangzhou Prefecture to accompany the 500 musketeers, named auxiliary soldiers, but in fact they were "stealing troops".

Along the way, there were often sounds of musket shooting in the marching team.

The musketeers who received generous rewards were originally here to train musketeers for Wu Zheng, but they did not hide their own personal information.

After three days of travel, these teenagers learned to fire.

At this time, the tunnel musket had been improved and had prefabricated ammunition. This was a pre-loaded shooting medicine from paper media. The gunpowder and the bullet were wrapped in paper.

In order to prevent the gunpowder from being wet by the rain or getting damp from water, it is packaged with paper coated with butter or lard.

When loading, the paper coated with animal oil will be tougher and has no edges to tear open. Therefore, it is necessary to bite it with your mouth, which is the fastest way to load.

After biting it open, pour part of it into the firing chamber for igniting gunpowder.

All the rest is poured from the muzzle as the launching medicine.

Finally, put the round lead warhead in and hit it with a strip.

A tray is a long iron bar with a notch at the end.

After hitting with a straight bar, the bullet will undergo a slight deformation and will be closely linked to the barrel and will not roll or fall out in the barrel.

These steps are not complicated, and the recruits learn very quickly, and what they lack is shooting experience and accuracy. But this is hard to come. Everyone knows that they need to keep shooting. There is a saying that sharpshooters are fed by bullets.

During the Battle of Danyang, Wu Zheng did not use the musketeer.

This is a strategic reserve team. Wu Zheng hopes to give it a gorgeous opportunity to appear at the most critical moment, thereby changing the battlefield situation of Zhenjiang Prefecture in one fell swoop.

After all, musketeers are lacking in siege. In Wu Zheng's opinion, it is more suitable for field battles.

In Danyang and Wu Zheng fired three rounds of twelve artillery fires, and then five thousand cavalry rushed into the city gate.

The panicked Qing army entered the street fighting, which could have delayed the cavalry, but Xia Wanchun's troops took advantage of the situation to attack the city. Under the attack on both sides, there was no suspense. The demise of the 5,000 Qing army defenders was a foregone conclusion.

After more than an hour of sweeping, Danyang City was firmly in the hands of the Ming army.

Having not seen her for half a year, Xia Wanchun, who was once a little childish, has matured and has a faint black beard on her mouth.

When he saw Wu Zheng, Xia Wanchun rushed up excitedly and hugged Wu Zheng. This natural closeness made Wu Zheng feel relieved.

After some remarks, Xia Wanchun suggested going north overnight to attack Zhenjiang City.

He brought 10,000 Jianyang Guards. Now that he met with Wu Zheng, his troops were equal to the Qing soldiers of Zhenjiang Prefecture and he could fight.

But Wu Zheng refused and attacked the strong city of Zhenjiang. This idea never appeared in Wu Zheng's mind.

Before Wei Kuangguo came, Wu Zheng just wanted to recapture the counties of Zhenjiang Prefecture, encircle Zhenjiang City again, and return to the pre-war state.

Nowadays, there is naturally no need for a strong attack, because Wu Zheng needs a field battle.

Wu Zheng looked at Xia Wanchun in surprise and said, "Cungu, I have a better way to solve the Zhenjiang Qing army with the minimum casualties, but you only need your cooperation."

Xia Wanchun responded without thinking: "No matter how dangerous it is, I will never refuse. You said that, is it that I will make a strong attack or climb first?"

Wu Zheng smiled and shook his head and said, "There is no need to attack hard, and there is no need to board first. I want to fight the Qing army in a field."

Xia Wanchun looked at Wu Zheng strangely. The Eight Banners Cavalry was brave. Although you have five thousand cavalry, you will be in the field and you will be in great casualties. So why not attack hard?”

Wu Zheng did not explain, smiled but said firmly: "Listen to me. The Qing army in Zhenjiang will soon know that Danyang is lost and will definitely send heavy troops to recover, but they do not know that I have led my troops to Danyang. Therefore, in the eyes of the Qing army, your troops are not enough to threaten the city defense of Zhenjiang. Then the Qing army sent to recover Danyang must be the main force of the Qing army cavalry, because they also want to fight a time difference and recover Danyang before our reinforcements arrive."

Xia Wanchun nodded and said, "But if it is true as you said, the Qing army will send the main force of cavalry to seize Danyang, what do you want to do?"

"You lead three thousand troops from our headquarters to the north to lure the enemy." Wu Zheng looked at Xia Wanchun calmly and said.

Xia Wanchun was shocked when she heard this. Isn’t this a joke?

If you don’t have cavalry, will you go to lure the enemy into the tiger’s mouth?

It would be better to go north to attack Zhenjiang Prefecture. Of course, the Qing army may also send cavalry to block the attack, but as long as there are more scouts, the countryside and mountains are enough to avoid the pursuit of the Qing cavalry.

But it is different to lure the enemy. It is necessary to actively expose it to the eyes of the Qing cavalry. How could two legs run beyond four legs?

Therefore, Xia Wanchun had to doubt Wu Zheng's intention.

However, out of his constant closeness and respect for Wu Zheng, Xia Wanchun did not directly raise objections, but just asked: "I would like to ask the Duke of Zhenguo to talk about his next response."

Wu Zheng said calmly: "After your troops lure the enemy into the eyes of the Qing army, the Qing army will definitely pursue you. You can quickly turn east and get rid of the enemy cavalry's pursuit..."

Xia Wanchun frowned and interrupted, "How to get rid of it? You must know that the Qing army was a cavalry!"

Wu Zheng smiled and said, "The purpose of the enemy cavalry is to recover Danyang. Once your troops have only 3,000 people from the east, the enemy cavalry will at most separate divisions to pursue, and the main force will still go south to attack Danyang. So, no matter whether you ambush the field after turning east or organize a counterattack after being caught up, your troops will deal with a cavalry with ten thousand people, which is definitely possible."

Xia Wanchun still had a grim face and asked, "How do you judge that the Qing army will not exceed a thousand cavalry at most?"

Wu Zheng replied: "I went south to reinforce Fuzhou. I transported war horses from the sea. Do you know how many war horses can a large ship of 800 stones transport?"

Xia Wanchun shook her head in a daze.
Chapter completed!