The Mongolian cavalry retreated for more than a hundred miles in one breath. They stopped briefly when they encountered Liu Da'er, who was returning to Meizhou by land. Leading this thousand-man Meizhou army was one of Liu Da'er's confidants. Hudu sent someone to tell the general that Meizhou City had been occupied and that the Pili Army was extremely powerful. It was better to return to Jiading and make further plans. The general was very hesitant after hearing the news from Hudu. Although he was not afraid of the Perak Army, he could make the arrogant Mongolian cavalry retreat. The Perak Army that occupied Meizhou was presumably very powerful, at least in large numbers. Even if he marched for two more days and arrived, he would probably be no match when his troops and horses were exhausted, and he might even be completely defeated. However, Liu Daer strictly ordered that Meizhou must be recaptured, and his soldiers also clamored to go home. The general hesitated for a long time, and finally decided to rest the entire army on the spot, and sent someone to ask Liu Daer for instructions on whether to retreat or advance.
When Hudu led his army to retreat from Meizhou, he sent Qingqi to report to Niulin and Liu Daler respectively. He told Niulin that the Pili army was about to move south in a large scale and that time was running out to besiege Jiading City. He told Liu Daer that he should withdraw to Jiading quickly because Pili's powerful navy had already been dispatched. After receiving the news, Niulin on the one hand increased the intensity of the siege and limited the new auxiliary army to capture Jiading within three days. On the other hand, he asked a messenger to tell Hudu that Liu Da'er, who was heading towards Meizhou by land, would be brought back to Jiading. . Niulin Zhihudu is by no means a timid person, and an opponent who can make a thousand Mongolian cavalry retreat can definitely destroy Liu Dal'er's thousand infantry.
When Liu Da'er, who was in charge of the navy, first received the news from Hudu, he suddenly felt contempt in his heart. At this moment, in his heart, the famous Mongolian cavalry was nothing more than that. He was called a strong general in vain, but he was scared away by a group of Xiang soldiers who were engaged in handymen. Didn't the opponent just have some firearms? In the system of the government and the army, the frontier troops in Sichuan, Lianghuai and Jingxiang battlefields have the strongest combat effectiveness, followed by the regular troops in various states in the interior. The combat effectiveness of the Xiang troops, who are mainly engaged in capturing bandits and miscellaneous workers, is extremely low. It’s not an exaggeration to say that they are just making up the numbers. Liu Da'er regarded himself as the elite of the frontier army, so he naturally looked down upon the Perak Army, which started out as the Xiang Army's grain collection team.
Although the speed of sailing against the current is not fast, the navy led by Liu Da'er is still much faster than the infantry advancing by land. It can reach Meizhou City in another day's walk. Liu Daer ordered the navy to continue advancing. In his opinion, even though Meizhou City had been lost, he was confident of recapturing it. However, the news brought by the cavalry who escaped from Meizhou City made him feel angry and fearful. These cavalry who were forced to conduct a tentative attack found Liu Daer directly after escaping. What made Hudu angry was that he actually sent his own cavalry as cannon fodder. You must know that those 200 cavalry were his treasures. They were not only the best equipped and well-trained, but also the most adequate. What was scary was that the remnants of the soldiers told him that the Pili Army's two rounds of artillery destroyed them, and their number was even more than ten thousand.
Although Liu Daer didn't care about Hudu's reminder, he had to pay attention to the words of the cavalry who escaped. He relies heavily on this cavalry. In addition to being skilled in martial arts, the selected personnel must also be submissive and obedient. Of course, Liu Da'er also trusted this cavalry very much. He was fed and drank well every day, and his treatment was no worse than that of officers and soldiers. These cavalrymen all agreed, and Liu Daer suddenly discovered that the Pili Army had developed into a behemoth at some point, and was no longer the Xiang Army of Chongqing Mansion. When Yu Xing was in charge of Jiading, the Perak Army deliberately concealed its strength in order to prevent it from suppressing them. They also showed weakness in their interactions with the Jiading Army and tolerated every conflict. Therefore, the arrogant and powerful generals under Yu Xing naturally did not put the Perak Army in the first place. In eyes. Cao Zhizhou also reminded Liu Da'er to pay attention to the Perak Army, but he secretly ridiculed Yazhou's weak military force and mistakenly mistook a domestic cat for a tiger.
Currently, there are about 500,000 people under the rule of the Perak Army. Most of these people are young and strong. Because they have enough food, clothing and necessary medical conditions, as well as night schools and literacy classes, their quality is much higher than that of other places. Although there are only more than 4 million acres of land at the moment, it is all fertilized and fertile land, and with two crops per year, there can be a surplus of food even in ordinary years. What's more important is that the Pili Army also has dozens of large and small mines and factories, with tens of thousands of industrial workers. It can also continuously obtain resources and funds from the outside world through caravans, so its strength is no less than that of Chongqing, where the Sichuan Manufacturing Division is located. The government is over. It's just that the Perak Army has always kept a low profile and implemented a confidentiality system. Even if some outsiders know that the apparent strength of the Perak Army is just the tip of the iceberg, they don't know the specific situation at all, especially a frog in the well like Liu Da'er.
"Thirty-six strategies, taking action is the best strategy." Liu Dal'er ordered the naval forces to withdraw to Jiading, and at the same time sent people to notify the Meizhou Army on land to return to Jiading. It's just that the withdrawal order was issued too late. Just as the Meizhou navy ships turned around, a large number of ships appeared upstream. There were about a hundred of these ships, many of them large. They lined up like a wall along the water, and took advantage of the chaos when the Meizhou Army turned around and rushed over. Seeing this, Liu Daer quickly ordered the rear warships to turn back and fight to cover the retreat of the main force. This order is undoubtedly correct. It will allow some ships of the Meizhou Navy and Liu Daer to escape. It's just that life is selfish, especially Liu Da'er, who has always been mean and ungrateful. There are no soldiers in Meizhou who are willing to do such a certain thing as death. At that moment, everyone seized the boat and scrambled to escape.
Although the Meizhou navy has more than a hundred ships and more than a thousand men, which is about the same number as the Pili army, the navy has many large ships and the quality of the soldiers is not the same. There is a crushing generation gap in weapons and equipment. In addition, the Pili Army had the advantage upstream, and the Meizhou naval vessels were panicked and their formations were in chaos, so the outcome of the battle was undoubtedly one-sided. Except for the fearless attacks of several Meizhou fire warships that caused some trouble, the attack of the navy brigade in this battle can be said to be smooth and smooth. It was completed in one go and most of the Meizhou navy was annihilated in less than half an hour. , even Liu Daer died under the artillery fire, and only a few light boats escaped. In fact, Liu Da'er also tried to surrender when he was surrounded, but with a wave of Le Quan'an's hand, he was beaten into a sieve.
At the joint military and political meeting before the battle, Ouyang Xuan made it clear that Liu Da'er, Cao Zhizhou and others would not be spared from surrendering to the Mongols. On the one hand, the Perak Army has established a firm image of resisting Mongolia, and no longer needs to use public trials, hanging heads, etc. to deter potential traitors. On the other hand, Liu Daer and Cao Zhizhou were local officials before they surrendered to Mongolia. Their capture required judicial procedures and required approval from the Sichuan Zhiji Department and even Lin'an before they could be executed. The relationship between these two people is intricate, and many important officials in the court have accepted bribes from them. Keeping them here will inevitably lead to long nights and many dreams. Therefore, Ouyang Xuan ordered not to accept the surrender of these traitor leaders, but to kill them on the spot.
After the Meizhou navy was completely annihilated, the navy brigade had a smooth journey south to Jiading. Le Quan'an then left the rear team to clean the battlefield, and sent people to send hundreds of captured prisoners back to Meizhou, and then led the front army directly to Jiading. go. After the navy moved south, Cao Ergou ordered the cavalry to clear the way, and sent light infantry to conduct reconnaissance along the mountain trails on both sides of the official road. He led the main force of the field division to Jiading.
After learning the news that the navy army was completely destroyed and Liu Daer was dead, the Meizhou infantry mutinied. Originally, these infantry troops were preparing to return to Jiading after receiving Liu Dal'er's order. At this time, under the order of Niulin, they suddenly came to prepare to escort - or escort them. The cavalry were used as cannon fodder under Meizhou City, which made these infantry extremely dissatisfied and unwilling to accompany the Mongolian cavalry. The general who led the army tried to comfort the soldiers with kind words. Just when his subordinates reluctantly agreed, Hudu couldn't wait any longer. In his opinion, the war in Jiading was going on at the moment, and there was an urgent need for cannon fodder to attack the city, but this general was really wasting the opportunity to attack the city, so he ordered the general to be killed. As soon as General Pi died, the Meizhou infantry soldiers were leaderless and mutinied at night.
