In addition to the Yongqu Township water bandits, the larger bandit gangs within a hundred miles around the Perak Army also had bandits occupying Dayi City. When Zhao Shicai attacked Wanjiabao, he took away all the new vassal troops in Dayi. These people were either dead or captured and only a few of them escaped. After Zhao Shicai was defeated and died, the Mongols recruited a group of bandits from Heming Mountain in Dayi County to guard the empty Dayi city. The remnants of Xiong Ben's bandits who fled into the ravine behind Yongkang City have actually gained a firm foothold, and there is a vague trend of seizing up. In line with the principle of eradicating all evil, they will also be wiped out this time.
At that moment, everyone agreed to divide the bandits into three groups. The first group, Huang Dagen, led the teaching company and the newly established naval camp, which was responsible for annihilating the water bandits in Yongqu Township. The naval camp consists of three companies, mainly composed of sailors from Xinjin City who defected, and some soldiers from the newly attached army of Chongqing Prefecture who surrendered were selected. The battalion commander was concurrently appointed by Huang Dagen, and Le Quan'an, Liao Niluo, and Yu Laogou were appointed as company commanders respectively. In addition, some veterans of the field battalion were transferred to serve as squad and platoon leaders. The second route, Cao Ergou, led the second to fifth companies of the field battalion, responsible for attacking the bandits in Dayi City. The third route is led by Dong Hu, who leads the Anti-Corruption Company of the Internal Guard Battalion and the Sixth Company of the Field Battalion, and is responsible for wiping out the remaining Xiong Ben bandits. Among the four companies of the internal guard battalion, the guard company is responsible for guarding important personnel and places, and cannot spare manpower at all; the counter-espionage company has to screen a large number of civilians and surrendered soldiers during this period, and the task is extremely heavy; the reconnaissance company personnel They dispatched all of them, in addition to reconnaissance of the battle in Chengdu City, they also had to pay close attention to the situation of the Mongolian army garrison points. The manpower was already stretched thin; only the anti-traitor company was currently less busy, and it was Ouyang Xuan's idea to train troops through actual combat against bandits.
For this bandit suppression, after Ouyang Xuan set the goals and principles of action through the military and political conference, he gave Cao Ergou, Huang Dagen, and Dong Hu full responsibility. On the one hand, they fully believe in the abilities of the three people and believe that the soldiers of the Perak Army will learn war in the war and grow rapidly. On the other hand, no matter how good the plans made by the staff are, they cannot keep up with the ever-changing battlefield conditions. Only by letting the various departments adapt to changes can the campaign objectives be achieved. An important reason for the low combat effectiveness of the army in the Song Dynasty was that in order to prevent the generals from taking over their power, the generals who led the troops in combat were too restrictive. The battles had to be carried out according to the plans of the Privy Council officials behind closed doors, and even the combat time, military formations and formations were not allowed to be modified without authorization. Change. "General military orders will not be given to foreign troops." The Perak Army must not have this rigid combat mode. Of course, the reason why Ouyang Xuan did not follow the army was because he had a more important matter - building Hengyuan Fort.
In the chilly spring, three anti-bandit forces in Perak set off one after another. It was the turn of winter and spring, but the weather was unusually cold and dry. Although the weather was freezing for hands and feet, it also made the road hard and conducive to marching. Because Dong Hu's troops wanted to enter the more rugged and difficult back mountains of Yongkang to suppress bandits, they only carried four light Tiger Crouching Cannons into the mountains on foot; Cao Ergou's troops and the teaching company led by Huang Dagen used wheelbarrows to transport the cannons. , marched towards their respective destinations along the official road; the three companies of the Marine Battalion took warships down the river and headed straight for Yongqu Township. Who would have thought that these three troops with completely different marching methods and combat styles would be the predecessors of the field army, navy army and special operations force that would become famous in the future.
The first to act and the first to end was Cao Ergou's department. They set out from Wanjiaping and rested for one night in Hengyuan Village. They hurriedly drove fifty miles early the next morning and finally arrived at the east gate of Dayi City before evening. Before the war, the Perak Army detected that there were 50 Mongolian cavalry and more than 200 newly recruited bandits in Dayi City, plus 200 newly captured strong men, a total of about 500 people. Although the number of people guarding the city was greater than that of the four companies led by Cao Ergou, except for the fifty Mongolian cavalry who deserved attention, the remaining bandits and civilians were of worrisome fighting strength. Cao Ergou was confident of defeating them in one fell swoop.
When the Perak Army was about to set up camp two miles away from the city, the gate of Dayi City suddenly opened, and the Mongolian cavalry in the city suddenly rushed straight towards the Perak Army. These cavalrymen came very fast, and with one person and three horses, the sound of hundreds of horse hooves on the ground was like thunder, and the sound of billowing dust behind them was quite alarming. Fortunately, Cao Ergou experienced the battle outside Yongkang City, and Huang Dagen also taught his experience in encounters with cavalry outside Chongqing Mansion City, so the soldiers of the Perak Army were surprised but not panicked. Under the command of the officers, the soldiers of each company erected huge shields and set up spears, and prepared to throw grenades and fire muskets. They also threw dozens of caltrops in front of the formation. This caltrop is slightly larger than a fist and has four iron thorns several inches long. Whenever it touches the ground, one of the thorns points upward. It is a sharp weapon against cavalry charging into battle.
These Mongolian cavalry did not use the usual way of shooting bows and arrows. Instead, they rushed over with lances held flat. It seemed that they wanted to take advantage of the Perak Army's unsteady footing and break down the formation. Upon seeing this, Cao Ergou quickly ordered his musket to be fired. The Perak Army currently equips the breech-loading rifled muskets, although they have a slow rate of fire and poor accuracy, but are superior to bows and arrows in terms of range and power. However, mass production has not yet been implemented due to manufacturing process reasons, and the entire army is equipped with less than 100 guns. They are allocated to Cao Ergou. There are only about twenty branches in the department. Therefore, this round of musket fire only knocked down a few horses and slightly dampened the momentum of the Mongols' charge, but did not cause any death to the cavalry. It should be said that these Mongolians also had superb riding skills. After falling from their wounded horses, they immediately jumped onto the backs of empty horses and rejoined the charging formation.
As the Mongolian cavalry got closer and closer, the sound of more than a hundred horses stamping on the ground at the same time was like muffled thunder, making the ground in front of the Perak Army's formation begin to tremble slightly. Fifty cavalry had such an impact and sense of oppression, which made Cao Ergou secretly frightened, and he eagerly ordered the grenades to be thrown in advance. The loud noises of successive explosions and the iron caltrops in front of the formation caused more than ten horses rushing in front to fall to the ground one after another. This forced the Mongolian cavalry behind them to quickly turn their horses' heads and bypass the Perak Army array.
When the Mongolian cavalry gathered again and prepared to attack the flanks, they found that the two wings of the Perak Army had been tightly protected by giant shields and spears. At this moment, the leader of the Mongolian cavalry knew that even if he could forcefully charge into the huddled formation, he would probably only have a few of his men left in the explosion and spear thrusts. Seeing that the forced charge failed, the Mongolian cavalry surrounded the Perak Army array, riding their horses and shooting arrows while roaming. Since the Mongolian cavalry was always out of the grenade throwing distance, the Perak Army could only rely on muskets to shoot at the Mongolian army. However, because the Mongolian cavalry used movement to silence them, and the muskets were not as fast and accurate as bows and arrows, and their number was not as strong as the Mongolian army's bows. , so although the Pili army was protected by a giant shield, they were still at a disadvantage in the shooting. The arrows that increased the speed of the horses were so powerful that they made the giant shields bang. From time to time, arrows passed through the gaps between the giant shields, causing the soldiers of the Thunderbolt Army to scream miserably.
It was artillery that turned the unfavorable battle situation around. The urgently set up Tiger Crouching Cannon made the Mongolians panic as soon as it was fired. When several consecutive shells fell among the high-speed running horses, the Mongolian cavalry finally retreated. They understood that the opportunity to fight had been lost in an instant, and it was not a good idea to retreat to Dayi City and exhaust all their troops in a city defense battle that they were not good at. Therefore, after a few whistles, the Mongolian cavalry threw out long hooks, captured the wounded soldiers and corpses in front of the Perak Army formation, placed them on their empty horses, then turned around and rode straight towards Chengdu.
