Chapter 271 The bloody battle with Huating
"Military seat, we must shrink our defense line..."
Wang Hu, the chief of staff of the Shence Army, was holding a sword. He was the chief of staff who was transferred from the Dingwu Army to control the army. He was not just a civilian official: "Now the enemy and we are fighting in the south city, and the enemy troops are dividing their forces towards the east city. Go over there, there’s our workshop over there.”
One sentence reminded Hong Chengchou that all the open space near the east gate near the city wall had been requisitioned for arsenals and various factories. Although many of his men had burned out their ammunition, due to the stalemate in the war, the reserve ammunition in the armory in the east city was still there. Before arriving, a large amount of gunpowder was stored there. Once Zuo Liangyu got his hands on it, the consequences would be disastrous.
"Instruct all the ministries, with regiments as units, to withdraw according to the previously established defense areas, block the enemy forces in streets and alleys, and instruct the commanders of each regiment to defend their own defense areas and streets even if they fight to the last man. Our divine strategy The army must not have a single deserter, as long as those who die in battle will not retreat..."
"yes..."
Hong Chengchou had already made up his mind to live and die with Huating, not to mention that reinforcements from Shanghai could arrive before noon at most. As long as Huating held on until noon, the hope of a comeback was still high.
After several rounds of shelling, Zuo Liangyu's attack was temporarily blocked, allowing each unit of the 13th Division to easily withdraw to their respective defense areas.
Yuan Shizhong's arrangement greatly exceeded You Shiwei's expectations. He was surprised that he was so familiar with this group of people and had a way to deal with the cavalry. But then he got the news that Zuo Liangyu's entire army had invaded Nancheng, and he If there are five thousand people here, they will probably lose more than they gain if they continue to struggle with the people in front of them.
What surprised Yuan Shizhong was that within a matter of seconds, the defense areas in each street conveyed a message that all the enemy cavalry that broke into the West City retreated.
"what is going on?"
Yuan Shizhong, who was confused, simply stopped thinking about it and quickly gathered a regiment of troops to defend the west city wall again. Then he quickly led his people towards Nancheng to support Hong Chengchou.
"General, the ministries have infiltrated and lit the fire according to the plan. At this moment, the rebels have deployed anti-horse and other objects in various streets, and there are black guns everywhere."
Zuo Liangyu was very satisfied after receiving the report. As long as all the army entered Huating City, and followed their usual tactics of setting fire to disturb the public and plundering the morale of the soldiers, it would only be a matter of time before the enemy was defeated.
Then Jin Shenghuan, who was the main attacker, came over on horseback: "Sir, the rebel forces are scattered. They are all blocking our army in the main streets of other cities. And according to my humble opinion, the rebel army does not have many troops in Huating." .”
Although all his opponents had firearms, they even engaged in hand-to-hand combat at the beginning. It was precisely because of this that Ma Jizhong later dared to rush through the hail of bullets, and actually broke through the rebel defense line armed with firearms in one fell swoop. Enter the city.
"You mean to concentrate superior forces, break through the rebels' defense line in one fell swoop, and then introduce the fire into the East City or North City?"
Jin Shenghuan also had two brushes, and he could see the clues in Hong Chengchou's troop deployment: "I observed carefully and saw that most of the main force of the rebels was located in the middle of the street connecting Nancheng and Dongcheng, and the cannons were also there. Therefore, I felt that there must be a camp of rebels in Dongcheng. They were all equipped with firearms, and there must be a storage place for their gunpowder in Dongcheng. Even if they could not be captured, detonating their gunpowder and causing an explosion would still kill and injure them. To demoralize the rebels.”
Zuo Liangyu raised his eyebrows and was immediately overjoyed. He immediately said, "Do you know where Mr. You is?"
The junior colonel next to him immediately said: "Half an hour ago, Commander-in-Chief You led the cavalry into Xicheng."
Zuo Liangyu was confident that at least You Shiwei did not use him as a trap. As long as he led his troops into the city, it was understandable that Huating was in such chaos now that the news was lagging behind.
At this moment, a messenger arrived: "General, General You has withdrawn from Xicheng."
Zuo Liangyu was shocked. You Shiwei withdrew without notifying him. What should he do?
But then he also thought that at this moment, tens of thousands of his troops had invaded the city. So what if You Shiwei withdrew? Huating was already in his hands, and it was only a matter of time before he took it completely: "Jin Shenghuan, you personally lead the troops, look. Use some method to break into the East City and ignite their fire and medicine depot. After the war, I will be rewarded heavily."
Jin Shenghuan immediately rode away. Winning this battle was his chance to get promoted and make a fortune. As for the small profit in front of him, it was really not worth the trouble.
Therefore, the troops under Jin Shenghuan and Ma Jizhong are relatively restrained in looting property. Compared with other guerrilla subordinates, there are very few who have become organized at this time. Most of them are robbing private houses, restaurants, pawnshops, banks and other places.
"This is not the way to go."
Hong Chengchou shook his head, then looked at the guard beside him: "Are the reinforcements from Shanghai coming?"
"Back to the military seat, there is no chance yet, but it has been more than two hours. It is estimated that the first wave of reinforcements will arrive."
Although Qingpu is close to Huating, it is still forty miles away. The army needs to be mobilized this evening. But Shanghai, which is more than thirty miles away, is different. It is transported by steam trains, and two regiments of reinforcements arrived first. is more than enough.
"Immediately send someone to wait at the train station. If the first wave of reinforcements comes, ask them to come here directly."
"yes..."
.
After You Shiwei evacuated from the west city, he rode his horse around Huating. At this moment, he discovered that although the east city was tightly defended and had high walls and thick walls, there was actually a large factory-like house outside the city, with a large corridor and two corridors. Strange objects made of iron were laid across numerous rubbles and wood.
Even so, You Shiwei didn't know what it was. His goal was to check Huating's specific defenses and prepare to rush in again from Zuo Liangyu's headquarters in Nancheng. After joining Zuo Liangyu, he would destroy Huating's defenses in one fell swoop. All power was defeated.
Although he briefly heard Xu Hongji talk about Chen Cao when he was in Nanjing, he was still confused when he saw the thing in front of him: "What is this thing?"
The soldiers under his command had never seen these things before, and every one of them shook their heads like a rattle.
'Woo...'
There was a muffled sound that frightened You Shiwei's body, and then there was a vibrating resonance from the railway track, and the hoofs of the war horse scratched the ground, looking extremely uneasy.
"Commander, look, what is that?"
Following the soldier's finger, a huge black moving object appeared at the end of the railway track, with white smoke rising from it, and accompanied by a huge roar.
"What is this?"
The war horse that You Shiwei stepped on turned uneasily. Animals are more sensitive to danger than ordinary people. Seeing the war horse acting like this, You Shiwei immediately called on his men to get off the railway track quickly, avoiding at least thirty steps.
"What on earth is this black monster?"
The behemoth suddenly stopped in the middle, with a harsh brake sound. When it came to a complete stop, a gunshot shook the surrounding birds and immediately changed their directions.
You Shiwei was shocked. This voice was all too familiar to him. At this moment, the long iron box at the back suddenly opened, and a man wearing a strange military uniform of the rebels jumped out. If this was not a rebel under Chen Cao, who else could it be?
"Blow the trumpet, it's the rebels, preparing to meet the enemy..."
The two reinforcement regiments from the 15th Division of the Shence Army had just arrived. Hong Qing, the deputy commander of the 15th Division who arrived in advance, saw countless cavalry at the station at the front of the car. Under the telescope, they were near the imperial court. The military uniforms of the army are not the Dingwu army with war horses.
So Hong Qing stopped the train and immediately ordered both regiments to get off the train and prepare to fight.
And You Shiwei was not a small character. He immediately realized that this was the reinforcements of the rebels, and those people jumping off the train and holding muskets in front of them were the rebels they wanted to deal with.
As the saying goes, before crossing the river and hitting the middle of the river, You Shiwei immediately drew his sword and shouted: "The whole army obeys the order and charges..."
The whine of the horn sounded, and thousands of cavalry formed a sharp formation and rushed toward the officers and soldiers of the 15th Division who had jumped off the train.
Upon seeing this, Hong Qing immediately asked the trumpeter to blow the whistle. The sharp whistle represented preparations to defend against the enemy.
The soldiers of the 15th Division who had jumped off the train immediately began to line up in several rows according to the usual training formation with their muskets in hand. Without waiting for Hong Qing's order, various horizontal commanders issued orders to fire.
"Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang..."
"Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang..."
"Bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang...bang bang bang..."
Accompanied by the sound of intensive gunfire, the cavalry charging ahead fell off their horses and fell to the ground. You Shiwei was protected by his own soldiers in the center of the cavalry group, which also avoided the possibility of him being shot.
However, the cavalry on the periphery of him had no way to escape and could only charge forward with their flintlock guns. At this moment, if he ordered the entire army to retreat, it would only increase casualties.
If you want to defeat the firearms soldiers in front of you, you can only rely on your horse power and sacrifice your casualties to break through their formation. As long as you can penetrate the opponent's musket formation, their cavalry will dominate the world.
"Kill..."
After all, there were only more than thirty steps. After hundreds of people fell, You Shiwei finally led the cavalry to break through Hong Qing's musket position. The number of soldiers of the 15th Division who were trampled by horses and harvested by sabers suddenly increased to more than 200. people.
But You Shiwei did not continue to accelerate, but instead reined in his horse and stopped, then waved his saber and charged towards the already chaotic musket formation again.
In his opinion, even though their firearms fired quickly, they were already fighting at close range. The firearm in their hands was just an extended version of an iron fire stick, which could not threaten them at all.
"Fix the bayonet..."
Hong Qing shouted with red eyes. This was the first humiliation he had suffered since he became the deputy division commander of the 15th Division of the Shence Army from a full-time job in the Dingwu Army. After his opponent broke through his musket formation, he was not afraid. Instead, he prepared to fight The cavalrymen who had stopped engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
