Chapter 272 The bloody battle with Huating II
"Fix the bayonet..."
After the officers at all levels shouted, the panicked musketeers took out their three-pointed bayonets from their waists and stuck them under the muzzle of the flintlock rifle. The first soldier who was closer to the cavalry took advantage of the cavalry on the war horse. At the moment when he swung the sword, he picked up the gun according to the training instructions, pressed the cheek rest of the flintlock gun with his right hand, and thrust upward at a 45-degree angle, piercing the entire bayonet blade into the horse's chest. within the body.
The war horse suddenly felt pain, screamed and threw the sword-wielding knight off the horse. Blood spurted out from the blood hole caused by the bayonet. The war horse fell to the ground, wheezing with blood bubbles in its mouth.
Seeing the knight falling from his horse, the soldier stepped forward and stabbed him again. Even the knight wearing chain mail was easily penetrated by the bayonet. It was not until he pulled out the bayonet that blood burst out that the knight twitched all over.
This situation happened on the side of the train. Soldiers who had not yet had time to get off the train climbed onto the roof of the train and fired from a high position, knocking the living targets on their horses to the ground.
The station suddenly fell into a stalemate.
"Military seat, the vanguard of the 15th Division fought with the enemy cavalry at the station..."
Hong Chengchou frowned. He didn't expect that his opponent had already sent troops to the station to block the reinforcements. From this point of view, there should be insiders from the court. If Hong Chengchou knew that You Shiwei was also messing up, he wouldn't be so anxious.
The rescue force was blocked at the station. At this moment, the fighting in the city became increasingly tense. The fire had spread to the streets under his command. If the fire was put out, the enemy would take advantage of the chaos to break through. Obviously, although the new army under his command He has trained his assassination skills for a long time, but when he actually encounters the enemy, he often has to trade with his opponent one for one, or even two for one. The ready-made troops he has at the moment are already stretched thin, and one of them will die.
In addition, if the fire is ignored, the thick smoke and fire will be enough to threaten those of them who are guarding the streets. From this point of view, both sides are dead in comparison.
"Instruct all ministries to use the remaining artillery to blow down all the surrounding residential buildings, and try to build a fire isolation zone. We must withstand the enemy's offensive until reinforcements arrive."
If the entire Shence Army is in Huating, attacking with the strength of Zuo Liangyu and You Shiwei is tantamount to hitting an egg with an egg against a stone. In addition to Chen Cao's own carelessness about the lair behind him, the biggest reason is also because their opponent is You Shiwei came all the way from Yulin.
This man is neither a coward nor a trash man. He is extremely brave in fighting and has made many meritorious deeds in Yulin.
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"Send the order and Ma Jizhong's troops will change direction and attack the east city."
Zuo Liangyu saw the fire that had spread, and the heat soaring into the sky made him and his subordinates dare not attack rashly. However, there was no news about Jin Shenghuan's attack on Dongcheng. In order to complete his victory in one battle, Zuo Liangyu decided to let Ma Jizhong also lead the troops. Go to support and complete the mission as quickly as possible.
Huang Shijing followed Hong Chengchou closely, because he was still the prefect of Songjiang and had to listen to Hong Chengchou's coordination during the war. Hong Chengchou had given him strict orders at the beginning, but now he was also taking Minzhuang from the prefect's Yamen to listen to Hong Chengchou. dispatch.
When Nancheng was captured, Liu Wenzheng, the magistrate of Huating who came with him, was now separated from him. It was not that Liu Wenzheng escaped, but was taken away by the Zuo Army. He was accompanied by more than two hundred Huating government officials. With the third team of policemen and others, it is still feasible to fight a dozen local gangsters and Qingpi, and let them fight the soldiers, unless the opponent is a guard soldier who has been neglected for a long time.
"County Lord..." Liu Changqing, the chief of the third squad, is Liu Wenzheng's nephew: "The officers and soldiers... the enemy troops bypassed us and got to the front."
Although Liu Wenzheng was a civil servant, at this moment he had the courageous thoughts of a skilled man: "They bypassed Nancheng, and now the whole area here has been robbed by them. After the fire spreads, there will not be a few people left here. "
The third squad of policemen under Liu Changqing used to have two tools to suppress those green-skinned gangsters. However, Liu Wenzheng did not put all his hopes on these people. After getting separated from Huang Shijing and other large troops, he took more than two hundred people with him. It was hidden in a ruined temple in Nancheng. Because it was a ruined temple, the soldiers looting from the left army knew that there was nothing inside, so they all went around it.
A clever detective quickly ran into the ruined temple with a knife on his back and said, "Your Majesty, we found a baggage convoy that was not the enemy's outside the city."
Liu Wenzheng's eyes were burning, and he was a little energetic. Huating was destroyed, and there were no casualties. He, the county magistrate, bore the brunt of the damage. Now is the time to make up for it: "This county has decided to burn the enemy's baggage convoy outside the city. Fortunately, The Duke of Guo will give Huating an explanation after he returns his aid."
There were not many regular soldiers left in the baggage convoy, most of them were servants or auxiliary soldiers. They were mixed and mixed, just like the origins of Liu Wenzheng's three squads of police officers. Everyone had a sword in front of them, and no one was afraid of anyone.
Liu Wenzheng then issued a reward: "Listen up, everyone, this county will personally burn the enemy's convoy. Once this operation is successful, each person will be rewarded with ten new silver coins. If he cuts off an enemy's head, this county will personally reward him." When the Duke asks for a reward, the reward will be distributed according to the military reward system;
In addition, if someone unfortunately dies, in addition to the county pension, the county will pay ten new silver dollars to the family out of its own pocket. "
Under such a heavy reward, the three squads of detectives were gearing up one by one. The convoy not far outside the city was like a prey that was left motionless.
Here Liu Wenzheng had his own plans, and over there Hong Chengchou finally got the support of a new force from Yuan Shizhong. A brigade led by Yuan Shizhong left a regiment to guard behind the west city wall, and led the remaining two regiments to provide emergency support to Hong Chengchou. .
With the addition of Yuan Shizhong, Li Guoying's offensive troops were defeated forcefully. In addition, due to the fire, Li Guoying's troops did not dare to act rashly. Zuo Liangyu saw this, but felt a little uneasy in his heart. A good premonition, but the person who went to contact You Shiwei came back at this time.
"A fight broke out outside Dongcheng?"
Zuo Liangyu was very surprised after receiving the report. It turned out that You Shiwei did not abandon them and ran away, but ran to Dongcheng to block the rebel reinforcements: "If we continue to fight like this, Huating will not be able to break through."
"Report, General, Master Jin and Master Ma encountered strong resistance from the rebels. They looted the streets of Dongchengkouzi and then retreated."
It was already daybreak. The more than 10,000 people You Shiwei originally brought with him now only had cavalry to face the enemy in the east city. Now, although he had entered Huating, he had not captured the whole city after all. The two sides had been locked in a stalemate in the center of the city because of the fire. The position cannot be moved forward.
"Report...general, our convoy is on fire outside the city."
In the end, Zuo Liangyu thought for a long time and felt that although he lost a lot of troops in this offensive operation, he also gained a lot. Now the baggage convoy outside the city was on fire and was blocked. If he did not retreat, once the rebels were When reinforcements arrive, your side will suffer even more problems.
"Instruct all ministries to retreat in an orderly manner, pour the remaining kerosene on the surrounding streets, and use fire to block the rebels' pursuit."
Zuo Liangyu finally gave the order to retreat. He was too cunning to keep all his belongings here. Giving up when things were good was Zuo Liangyu's usual tactic at this stage.
The fire suddenly intensified and smoke billowed, but the retreating movement of the left army still did not escape Hong Chengchou's eyes: "Are they going to run away?"
"Report to the military...The enemy has set fire again. They seem to be trying to escape."
Hong Chengchou was in high spirits. Zuo Liangyu wanted to run, which proved that reinforcements had arrived. At this moment, he looked at his soldiers and said: "Assemble two regiments of troops to Yuan Shizhong and let him lead the pursuit. You must not let him run away." These people, even jackals, will have two of their teeth broken.”
"yes..."
The casualties under You Shiwei's command suddenly increased. The introduction of the bayonet caught him by surprise. Moreover, the cavalry suddenly slowed down their horses when charging into the battle, then stopped where they were and were used as live targets by the nearly two-meter-long flintlock gun.
However, what made You Shiwei even more unexpected was that there were actually a lot of Crouching Tiger Cannons in the middle of the strange black monster box. After a burst of indiscriminate bombing, the casualties of his cavalry had reached more than a thousand.
Even a cold-blooded general like You Shiwei had to consider the casualties of his troops. Thinking of this, a messenger hurriedly rode up behind him. When he got the news that Zuo Liangyu burned down Huating, he withdrew, and now he continues to fight with the rebels. It is no longer wise for the army to get entangled here, not to mention that his subordinates have suffered such heavy casualties.
The dull horn sounded, but it was different from the horn sound during the charge. The cavalry who heard the horn turned their horses and retreated frantically. Hong Qing was not a fool. When he saw the cavalry turning and retreating, he didn't know what the gang in front of him was. When the man wanted to escape, he quickly ordered the troops to pursue him in company and platoon units.
You Shiwei's heart was dripping with blood. He had suffered more than a thousand casualties before, but now at least three to four hundred people were killed during the retreat. The five thousand cavalrymen suffered casualties of about fifteen hundred. This was the showdown between the Qiang and Tibetans in Yulin. There were no such heavy casualties.
However, they could only choose to hold their noses and swallow the retreat that was considered a 'defeat'. Compared with the fire in Huating City, You Shiwei still felt that this time they had a 50-50 draw with Chen Cao's remaining troops.
It is even possible that the plundering of Suzhou and Song Dynasty this time, even if Shanghai cannot be captured, can at least make Chen Cao lose most of the people, materials and financial resources in this battle. It will take time to recover. precipitation.
The imperial court could use this free time to mobilize troops and horses from various places to once again carry out the final encirclement and suppression of Chen Cao's troops.
Thinking of this, You Shiwei, who was riding a bumpy horse, no longer felt the disappointment of "defeat" before. Instead, he felt that using his war horse to mobilize Chen Cao's troops to run around and run around exhausted made him feel very comfortable.
"Commander, where should we retreat?"
The cavalry behind them rushed after them in a swarm. The range of the flintlock guns was limited. After withdrawing more than 200 steps, only a few people were shot. It was obvious that they were safe.
"Go south, meet up with Chen Degong and make plans."
