Chapter 263 An unexpected battle
Song Che also really didn't expect that his opponent would take advantage of the darkness to ambush in the Kaosan area beside him. Although he had already prepared a response, Song Che clearly felt that this momentum was not like the Nanjing's Beijing troops.
But now the opponent has already rushed over, and any delay will probably be a disaster.
"Turn the gun head, move forward to meet the enemy, and prepare the tiger crouching gun."
The unique independent structure of Jiangnan makes it impossible for war horses to play their role. Even the war horses of the Dingwu Army are only used to replace marching steps. However, the woodland south of Gaoqiao is rarely flat land. It is rushing down from Gaoban. In the rice fields, it was just after spring plowing. There was not much water in the fields. The horses were galloping down like a flood, giving the opponent a huge opportunity.
Song Che was immediately horrified. He didn't know if he could withstand the first wave of impact.
"Raise the gun..."
"put..."
"ignition..."
"Tiger Crouching Cannon Ignition..."
At that time, gunshots were fired one after another, and the cavalry at the front were hit by a series of bullets and shotguns from the Crouching Tiger Cannon. They fell off their horses and died suddenly.
However, although the firepower of the Dingwu Army was powerful, countless arrows flew from behind the cavalry. After the reorganization of the new army, the Dingwu Army, wearing new military uniforms, had taken off their heavy chest armor and faced the migratory locusts. The arrow rain can only be resisted by the human body.
At that time, hundreds of people were hit by arrows, and Song Che's eyes were dripping with blood.
The soldiers of the 1st Division were the foundation of the old Dingwu Army. There was no new army, and they were also the most capable troops. Chen Cao transferred the 1st Division to Song Che and asked him to return reinforcements because he took a fancy to the experience of the 1st Division.
"Grenade, throw it out."
The explosion sounded, and the cavalry who had rushed to the front of the Dingwu Army were knocked off their feet by the explosion. However, they were closely followed by countless infantry, shouting and killing towards Song Che.
It was getting darker and darker, and the flames of the flintlock muskets clearly showed where the opponent was.
Suddenly, arrows and spears struck again, only in greater numbers.
"General Song, we suffered a loss due to the ambush. The last general suggested that we withdraw first..."
It's not that Han Xianchu is afraid of death, but that they are now in a disadvantageous position. The place is too empty, and the opponent does not know how many cavalry are ambushing them. Moreover, they are fighting the enemy at close range without the cover of trenches and sandbags. This kind of battle was only possible in Xipingbao back then. We fought once, and even that time with Jiannu, his opponent retreated in a hurry, leaving many people behind.
The elimination of breastplate armor has indeed increased the combat effectiveness of soldiers, but with it comes the inability to defend against the opponent's arrows. Once encountering a large-scale cavalry, there is no way to avoid it, and all you will face is death.
Song Che also knew very well that in the Japanese country, it was because the opponent lacked cavalry and did not know how powerful the flintlock gun was. Even under heavy rain, it could shoot freely. The shooting distance of 150 steps made the Japanese soldiers unable to do anything. Close to the position.
However, the situation at hand is not optimistic at all. If you think about it carefully, it seems that the Dingwu Army has no experience in taking the initiative to attack, and they all focus on defense.
Thinking of this, Song Che nodded hurriedly: "Deputy Commander Han's words are reasonable. He ordered that each department take turns to cover and retreat ten miles."
It's not that You Shiwei doesn't want to pursue. Although he has heard a lot about the power of firearms of the Dingwu Army, he still thinks that the combat effectiveness of the Weisuo Army is low. However, now he is also a little heartbroken. The three thousand cavalry brought from Yulin lost nearly a thousand in one battle. , the infantry also suffered casualties of more than 3,000. Although the Dingwu Army was defeated, the opponents actually withdrew in an orderly manner under the alternate cover of firearms.
After receiving the battle report, You Shiwei was also shocked. He used his cavalry to sneak attack at close range from a high position. The corpses left by his opponent were only 800 people, but not even a living prisoner was seen. He was shocked and angry. .
Fortunately, Chen Degong, who used him as a bait to lure the enemy in Gaoqiao Town, gained a lot. Not only did he defeat the rebels encircling the north, he also captured a lot of flintlocks and grenades, and captured a battalion commander. The results of the battle were also rich, with more than a thousand enemies killed.
However, it seems that the firearms sent by Wei Guogong were of great help. The two sides fought bloody battles inside Gaoqiao, and the ambushed Ambush Lei and Fei Lei Shen inflicted heavy losses on the Dingwu army.
"I wonder what's going on with Shi Lu?"
You Shiwei is not worried about You Shilu, he is mainly worried about Zuo Liangyu, but the big problem in front of him now is the Dingwu Army who has retreated ten miles: "The rebels have retreated about ten miles. It is reported that there are many canals and paddy fields over there. The road is narrow, which is not conducive to cavalry attacks. All opponents have firearms, so now is not a good time to attack."
It was already dark. You Shiwei took a flintlock rifle from his subordinates and looked at it carefully for a while, then sighed: "How can you say that the rebels can capture Suzhou in one day? Such firearms are not available even in the frontier army." , Chen Cao is a capable person."
'boom...'
You Shiwei pulled the trigger. He had long heard about the new flintlock gun of the Dingwu Army. He had also seen this thing from Xu Hongji. In addition, matchlock guns were often used in Yulin, so this type of firearm could still fire freely. of.
"How many of these guns were seized?"
Chen Degong personally took charge of the seizure of flintlock guns and placed the guns and finished ammunition in Gaoqiao Town: "Nearly two thousand of them, I have to admire the rebels for actually packaging lead bullets and gunpowder in paper cases. Inside, you only need to bite it open and then it can be fired. It can still be used even in heavy rain;
If a large number of officers and soldiers were equipped with this gun, why worry about the civil unrest in Shaanxi? "
After all, You Shiwei is a veteran on the battlefield. After carefully observing the retreat route of the Dingwu Army, he came to the conclusion that they were afraid of cavalry, and Gaoqiao was a rare flat land in the south of the Yangtze River. There were few canals around it, and After Gaoqiao to Wuxi County, there are canals and rivers crisscrossing the area.
Under such speculation, You Shiwei decided to use Gaoqiao as a stronghold to block the Dingwu Army on this plain, and dug many horse traps and remaining fire mines, allowing Chen Degong to hold Gaoqiao while he took the The captured flintlocks and ammunition were rushed towards Wuxi.
It was just dawn, and You Shigong had already ordered the fifth attack on Wuxi County. Seeing that this wave of attacks failed again, You Shigong was furious and had already stretched his arms and prepared to lead his people to charge into the city in person.
The reputation of the three brothers of the You family is not small in Yulin. They are all brave and good at fighting. Especially the second brother You Shiwei is the most intelligent and brave. This is why Chongzhen traveled thousands of miles to transfer You Shiwei to Nanzhili to wipe out Chen Cao. reason.
"General, the commander-in-chief has arrived..."
You Shiwei's army came slowly. They didn't sleep at all last night, but these Yulin border troops were all in high spirits. Although they lost a lot of people, they did win a great victory.
"Brother, gather the firearms battalion under your command. Last night I defeated the rebel attack and won a complete victory. I also obtained nearly two thousand rebels' new firearms to fight with them."
Except for the cavalry, every infantryman in the Yulin frontier army has practiced firearms. The simplest one is the matchlock. However, You Shiwei also has a firearms battalion under the command of You Shigong. The firearms used are not matchlocks. The three-eyed musket is the Flemish dove-footed musket issued by Xu Hongji. Its shooting distance is the same as that of a flintlock gun, and its power is even greater than that of a flintlock gun.
It's just that You Shiwei kept these five hundred people as a killing move. Now he has two thousand flintlock guns, so he plans to distribute all these flintlock guns to You Shigong's subordinates, so that his subordinates can The taxi soldiers changed their guns.
You Shiwei looked at Wuxi City not far away, and then asked: "But it was defeated?"
You Shigong looked solemn: "The rebels' firearms are definitely good at defending the city. Our archers were killed before our bows and arrows reached the distance. No, according to rough statistics, at least more than 700 people remained. Under the city."
You Shigong meant that they were all dead, but for them who commanded tens of thousands of people, these more than 700 people were just a small number, and they were far from touching the base of Yulin's old army.
You Shiwei exhaled and said: "The rebels were blocked at Gaoqiao. Wuxi must break through the city. Otherwise, once the rebels break through Gaoqiao, our situation will be worrying. After all, we are deep behind enemy lines. I heard that everything above Longjiang is already there." It was the rebel navy, and the Longjiang navy was completely wiped out in one battle."
This was the secret information received in the morning. You Shigong and the others had been on three sides for a long time and had no idea about the navy. However, he was not worried about the waterway problem at all. He looked at the Wuxi city wall and said: "This city wall is only about two feet long. You can climb up to the city by climbing on the war horse, but you were exposed to the rebels' firearms, and many soldiers died this way."
He had clearly seen the previous battle. The soldiers rushed over with ladders and were hit by lead bullets fired from the watch towers around the horse's mouth. Under the alternating firepower, their bows and arrows were not advantageous at all.
"I wonder when General Qin's white-armed soldiers will arrive?"
After hearing this, You Shigong said: "The white pole soldiers should have arrived long ago from the capital. However, according to Wei Guogong's plan, the wolf soldiers from Guangxi Chieftain and the reinforcements from Mu Mansion should be the ones cooperating with us. If we can't hold on here... .
Second brother, are you going to retreat to Huguang? "
You Shiwei became serious when he mentioned this, and then slowly shook his head: "If Takahashi is lost, we must go to Suzhou..."
"Suzhou?"
You Shiwei clearly learned about Xu Hongji's plan from the conversation with Xu Hongji before leaving, but it was not entirely Xu Hongji's plan. It was mainly to cooperate with the imperial court's instructions. This time the emperor planned to take advantage of the peace talks with Jiannu. The opportunity was accomplished in one battle, and Chen Cao's home base of Songjiang was completely eliminated. Suzhou was close to Songjiang. As long as Song Che's first division was repelled here and Chen Cao's troops were cut off from Wujin, everything would be easy to negotiate.
If that doesn't work, retreat to Suzhou, capture Suzhou with a backhand, then go south, and cooperate with the arriving Guangxi wolf soldiers and reinforcements from the Mu Mansion to attack Songjiang, but it will be twice the result with half the effort.
Moreover, the veteran You Shiwei has already thought of an escape route. Even if the whole plan fails, he can still retreat calmly from Songjiang to Zhejiang and slowly deal with Chen Cao's rebels. The means of harassment is their Yulin border troops. His specialty is that the Southern Guards Troops are four to five million strong. Isn’t it easy to siege Su Song?
However, this idea can only be known to himself, but he cannot say it out loud.
"Get ready to attack the city..."
