On the one hand, Wang Xinyu recruited troops on the spot, began to train recruits, and did a good job in maintaining local law and order, and on the other hand, he dispatched grain and grass, and the army marched and advanced in the direction of Jinhua.

The Ming army marched steadily and steadily along the Zhejiang-Central Corridor, step by step.

The upcoming Battle of Jinhua will be the first major battle of the Qiongzhou Army going south. The Qing army in Jinhua can be described as a gathering of "famous generals", there are eight banners "famous general" Guerjia Zhuobutai to conquer the southern general, there are Han army banner "famous general" Li Sang Edu Tong, Jiala Zhangjing Liu Zhiyuan Dutong, Liu Zhiyuan's son Liu Guang, Green Camp "famous general" Yu Yongshou Admiral, veteran Wu Ruju, Jinhua general Chen Shikai, plus the Qing army from Huguang from Huguang Green Camp new army generals, famous ministers, Jiang'an Admiral Liu Liangzuo, and not long ago left Yunnan and Guizhou, originally went to Shaanxi to serve as the governor of the famous general Wang [Fu] minister.

Wang [Fu] Chen is a real famous general, known as Xiao Lu Bu, with strong martial arts and invincible bravery.

And Liu Liangzuo, but Wang Xinyu's famous second minister on the must-kill list, this person shot Huang Degong, killed Yan Yingyuan, and assisted Tan Tai in suppressing Jin Shenghuan and Wang Deren anyway, it can be said that he made great contributions to the "unification" of the "Qing Dynasty", which is more hateful than Gao Jinku, who was killed by Wang Xinyu four years ago.

The Qing army gathered in Jinhua had as many as 150,000 troops, including more than 10,000 cavalry soldiers of the Manchurian and Mongolian Eight Banners, more than 20,000 firearms soldiers of the Han Eight Banners, more than 30,000 soldiers of the Zhejiang and Anhui Green Battalions, more than 10,000 new troops of the Huguang Green Battalion, and 80,000 auxiliary soldiers and people.

The Qing army claimed to be 300,000 troops, but in fact there were only 70,000 soldiers, and only 150,000 auxiliary soldiers and civilian soldiers.

Because the national strength of the "Great Qing Dynasty" was only more than 500,000 soldiers, and before that, there were two consecutive defeats in Zhejiang and Badong, losing more than 100,000 troops, and the national army lost a quarter, and there were still retaining troops to deal with the southwest Ming army and the northwest Huihui, as well as the troops stationed in Zhili and the troops outside the Guan, so that once dispersed, the total number of Qing troops that could free up their hands to deal with the Qiongzhou army was actually not too much.

At that time, it was difficult to mobilize men and horses, and the mobilization of 100,000 troops was a huge project.

In addition, the Huguang New Army trained by Zhou Peigong has not yet been fully formed, and only 10,000 trained new troops can be pulled.

Although the Qing army had only 70,000 soldiers, the Ming army had even fewer troops, the Qiongzhou army had only 25,000 soldiers, the Fujian army had 25,000 soldiers, plus 15,000 auxiliary soldiers, 5,000 sailors and 20,000 people, a total of 90,000 horses.

Dealing with more with less, this is not because Wang Xinyu is big, but he is taking the route of elite soldiers, the Ming army is well-equipped and well-trained, and winning more with less is not a problem. What's more, Wang Xinyu also ambushed a secret chess piece behind the Qing army: the Yongxin Battalion of the Ming Army stationed in Jinggangshan, Jiangxi.

After more than a year of development, the Yongxin battalion has more than 10,000 horses, and all of them are mountain soldiers, with strong combat effectiveness, good at mobile combat, can attack the rear of the Qing army, and threaten the safety of the Qing army's grain and grass at any time.

If the Yongxin battalion is also included, the Ming army has 100,000 troops, which is only 50,000 less than the Qing army.

On the road from Xiaoshan to Yiwu, the army advanced in the direction of Yiwu. Along the way, more than 10,000 auxiliary soldiers and civilians drove mules and horses, pulled carts, and converged into a mighty torrent to continuously transport ammunition, food, medicine, clothing, and straw sandals to ensure the supply of the soldiers in front.

With the increase in the proportion of firearms in the Qiongzhou army, the pressure on logistics is also increasing, and the Ming army, which has a large number of artillery pieces and is newly equipped with a large number of fire vans, consumes a large amount of gunpowder in a single battle.

The infantry of the Qiongzhou Army and the Min Army were still semi-firearmed, and the proportion of cold weapons accounted for more than half. However, the artillery of the Qiongzhou Army and the Fujian Army was very strong, and each town was equipped with a town-affiliated artillery battalion; Each infantry battalion was equipped with a flying cavalry artillery battalion; For each infantry commander, there is a light artillery squad.

The so-called flying cavalry artillery is a cannon drawn by a number of war horses, which not only uses a new type of artillery carriage, but also uses a number of war horses to pull the artillery carriage at a gallop, and the speed is very fast, which is completely the speed of the cavalry.

Ordinary artillery is drawn by mules, horses, and even donkeys, and the marching speed is naturally not as fast as that of flying cavalry artillery drawn by war horses. However, the marching speed is not slow, and it can completely keep up with the marching speed of the infantry.

The use of valuable horses to tow the flying cavalry artillery was entirely modeled after Napoleon's French flying cavalry artillery, which was armed with four-pounder guns and three-pounder guns, the three-pounder guns were operated by five men, a gun commander, a torch bearer, a loader and two ammunition men, equipped with two war horses to tow; The four-pounder gun was operated by seven men, with a gun commander, an igniter, two loaders and three ammunition men, towed by four war horses.

The town's artillery battalion is equipped with ordinary foot artillery, in addition to the high-ranking officers on horseback, the gunners are on foot, the artillery is towed by mules and horses, and has twelve-pounder, six-pounder, four-pounder and mortar guns, as well as advanced firebox cars.

Artillery is the core essence of the Ming army, all three-pounder guns are long-barreled cannons, four-pounder and six-pounder guns have both howitzers and cannons, and twelve-pounder guns and mortars are siege artillery.

Each flying cavalry artillery hundred-man squad had two four-pounder howitzers and six three-pounder cannons; An artillery squad under each infantry hundred-man squad had two three-pounder guns. Each town's artillery battalion has a 100-man fire box, a 100-man siege cannon team, a 100-man cannon team, and a howitzer 100-man team, and has four swarm of bee fire vans, two Thunderbolt fire vans, two twelve-pounder guns, two 32-pounder mortars, four six-pounder cannons, six four-pounder cannons, four six-pounder howitzers, and six four-pounder howitzers.

The Qiongzhou Army also has an artillery town directly under its jurisdiction, under the jurisdiction of a fire box car battalion, a flying cavalry artillery battalion and a foot artillery battalion, and this directly subordinate artillery town also has its own night team and musket team.

In addition to having a powerful artillery, the dragoon battalion was also an elite of the Qiongzhou army, and the dragoon battalion was all equipped with Mongolian horses captured from the Qing army, or Zheng attacked the Mongolian horses that were transported back from the north. The flintlock muskets used by the dragoons had a particularly long barrel, long range, high accuracy, and ran after the fight, without entanglement with their opponents. Moreover, each dragoon was also equipped with two double-barreled handcuffs and a saber. Once pursued by the opposing cavalry, the dragoons can also fight with handcuffs and sabers on horseback.

In order to lighten the load, the dragoons were uniformly cotton armor in winter and paper armor in summer.

The Iron Cavalry Battalion is also the elite unit of the Qiongzhou Army, the Iron Cavalry Battalion was formed not long ago, a group of experienced cavalry of the original Ming Army, the Mongolian cavalry and the Manchurian cavalry that have been transformed serve as the soldiers of the Iron Cavalry Battalion, and the war horses used are all Don hippos purchased by Zheng Xi from Russia.

The Don hippopotamus produced by the Mongolian horse and the European horse is full of endurance and low food requirements, and has the advantages of Mongolian horses to bear hardships and stand hard work, and also has the advantages of European horses with heavy burden and strong impact, which is an excellent war horse.

Naturally, the weight-bearing capacity of the Don hippopotamus was not as good as that of a real European horse, so the overweight Cossack cavalry could not be equipped with too heavy armor when riding the Don hippopotamus. But the weight of the Asians was light, and Wang Xinyu equipped his cavalry with thick heavy armor, and the Don hippo could still charge at high speed with the cavalry.

The Cossacks weighed between 180 and 200 catties, while the Asians weighed between 120 and 140 catties, and even if they were covered with 50 pounds of heavy armor, it was about the same weight for the Donhippopotamus as the Cossack cavalry carrying no armor.

However, Wang Xinyu did not equip the iron cavalry battalion with fifty catties of heavy armor, but equipped it with thirty catties of armor, mainly cuirass, as well as iron helmets with iron masks, and leather armor on the arms and legs.

The head of the war horse wears an iron helmet specially used for war horses, and a curtain against arrows is hung in front of the war horse. If it is attacked by the opponent's cavalry, the iron helmet of the war horse can block the feathered arrows. The anti-arrow curtain is made of canvas, because the position of the curtain is still some distance away from the horse's body, and after the feather arrow penetrates the canvas, it cannot shoot and hurt the horse.

This combination of Chinese and Western iron cavalry battalion is heavy cavalry equipment and light cavalry speed.

In addition to the dragoons and iron cavalry, Wang Xinyu's personal guards are also a cavalry, with only 500 personal guards, and a few officers are riding good horses captured such as Dawan horses and dark clouds and snow, and all the ordinary soldiers are replaced with Don hippos purchased by Zheng Xi from the north.

The pro-guard is a sharpshooter and sharpshooter when fighting at a distance, and a very good heavy cavalry at close range, and it is a combination of light cavalry and heavy cavalry.

The so-called light cavalry and heavy cavalry are actually not divided by the weight of armor, but by weapons. Mounted archery is light cavalry, and sword wielding is heavy cavalry. The Pro-Guards, on the other hand, can shoot from a distance and charge in close combat, and have very strong combat effectiveness.

With a new army combined with mounted artillery and well-trained infantry, it is not a problem to win more with less.

The team is on the march, and there is a night ahead that does not receive a return: "Report to the commander!" A detachment of Tartar cavalry appeared on the official road in front of us, about five hundred people! ”

"The Tartars are looking for an opportunity to attack our baggage convoy!" Zheng Cong asked.

Wang Yuyou shook his feather fan, shook his head and said, "This is the usual trick of the Tartars!" In the past, when our Ming army was in the north, the Tartars used this trick against us. They harassed our infantry and baggage convoys with cavalry, and took a bite when they had the chance. As soon as our infantry formed a formation, they ran away, and our infantry could not catch up with them, and the cavalry could not beat them, so they could only watch them harass, very passive. Over time, there will be confusion in the formation, and then the Tartars will come to break the formation. Our Ming army suffered a lot in this regard. ”

"The Zhezhong Plain and the Ganzhong Plain are rare plains in the south that are suitable for cavalry operations, and the Tartars take a fancy to this and want to use cavalry to deal with us." Zheng Cong nodded.

"Since the Tartars have come to the door, eat them!" Wang Xinyu sneered. (To be continued.) )