Huaibei, Fuliji.
The sound of gunshots and the sound of horse hooves echoed throughout the fields in the early morning when the sky was just getting light.
The roaring sound of horse hooves made by the charging Manchu cavalry swept out from Fuliji City to the west. The sharp arrows thrown by the cavalry were like rain, and they all hit the formation of the Huaixi regiment. Arrowheads were inserted into the wooden boards everywhere. the sound of.
The Huaixi regiment, which relied on chariot formations to fight, counterattacked with shotguns and bows and crossbows. They also rained down bullets and arrows, causing unexpected heavy casualties to the Manchurian cavalry who charged bravely.
Before the Huai Army's chariot formation, there were dead men and horses everywhere.
Li Zhongshan stood on horseback behind the car formation to the west of Fuliji, looking intently at the battlefield in front of him. He was surrounded by elite soldiers from the Shanzi Battalion, all eager to rush out of the car formation and rush into the enemy group. , first cut off ten or eight of his heads to repay the favor!
However, the two thousand mountain-shaped battalions in Li Zhongshan's hands cannot be thrown into the battlefield lightly - they are the backbone of the entire army, used not only to supervise the formation, but also to plug gaps. If they fail to win, they have to serve as palace troops!
There were 10,000 Huai troops who followed Li Zhongshan northward, and another 5,000 Yingtian regiments borrowed from Lu Sanhao. However, because the situation in Huaibei was promising, and Yingtian Mansion was a bit tight, Lu Sanhao sent someone across the river a while ago to ask Li Zhongshan for the five thousand Yingtian regiments. Therefore, Li Zhongshan only had 10,000 Huai troops left on hand. Apart from the two thousand "Huai Yong" who spoke Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew and northwest accents, there were still about 8,000 "Huai Yong" with extremely high "Huai content". Huai Yong. One of the battalions, or 1,600 men, was stationed at the old camp in Suzhou, and the remaining four battalions were split into "military bases" and spread to various "group armies" in Huaixi to serve as pillars.
By the way, the Huai army in Li Dazhongtang certainly had some rules that soldiers should be prepared for generals and soldiers should follow the generals, but it was not a fundamental rule. In each battalion under the Huai Army, there is a team of 200 people who are the old Huai Army.
The old Huai soldiers in this team had practiced a simple and practical "car-fort warfare" before crossing to the north - that is, using a cart with a wooden shield and a horse rifle and a straw bag (filled with soil) , quickly build a simple fortress on the battlefield to protect yourself from being defeated by the enemy.
Although this style of play is very inflexible and cannot be compared with the high-end "long gun and queue to kill", it is easy to achieve quickly. The new Huaixi battalion leaders who have just joined the army cannot master the cooperation of musketeers, pikemen, artillery, and cavalry at all. If they encounter an assault by the Eight Banners cavalry, they will easily collapse. And by using this car base tactic, you can at least build the stronghold right under the enemy's nose.
In this battle of Fuliji, the car base tactic came in handy.
The battlefield of Fuliji was chosen by Luo Dawei for that local snake in Huaibei. It was naturally not conducive to the Manchurian cavalry movement - Fuliji was sandwiched between two rivers of Suishui, and it was a long and narrow inter-river plain.
The Huai army of the Ming Dynasty could first rely on the defense of the south river channel. After the Qing troops gathered around Fuliji, they could then send out temporary naval forces to march along the middle river channel of the Suishui River (there is also a north river channel to the north of the middle river channel) to cut off the water on the middle river channel. The floating bridge formed a north-south pincer attack on Fuliji's Qing army.
Then, according to Luo Dawei's plan, the Huai army marching along the middle river channel would set up defenses between the middle and north river channels to block the attack. Huaiyong, who was driving from the direction of Suzhou, had to ford several shoals on the south river in the evening of that day - these shoals were not easy to find. Only the local snakes in Huaibei could find them. The Qing army had no idea. Know.
After completing the crossing, the Huai army's encirclement of Fuliji changed from a north-south attack to an encirclement on all sides - these fords were located on the east and west sides of Fuliji.
Gestei was a little anxious now. Forget about the north-south attack, there were two rivers blocked anyway. If he really couldn't bear it, he could still escape upstream along the river, that is, to the south of the river.
But that Wang Datou is so wicked. He blocks not only the front and rear, but also the left and right. He doesn't give a way out! Why don't you come and surround Sanque? Why are the southeast, northwest and everything surrounded?
So as soon as it was light the next day, Gestei gritted his molars and sent out cavalry to launch a counterattack against the Huai army to the west of Fuliji. The reason why he gritted his molars was because he was confused for a moment. , I didn’t regret launching a breakout battle last night!
Because in just one night, the Huai Army of the Ming Dynasty built two deadly car barriers on the east and west sides of Fuliji!
With the carriage blocked, it would be a bit difficult for Gerstei's 18,000-horse team to stand out.
But now that things have happened, there is no use regretting. We can only meet on a narrow road and the brave will win. So starting from this early morning, the west side of Fuliji became a battlefield for cavalry against chariots.
The first round of attack organized by Gerstad hit the opponent's "granite defense" and caused a bloody blow.
Although the car barrier looks quite thin, it seems not difficult to break through. But when a battalion of Eight Banners soldiers rushed forward, we realized how powerful it was. The archers, crossbowmen, and musketeers of the Huai Army were hiding behind the car barriers. As soon as the Eight Banners soldiers approached, they fired arrows and fired randomly! Although the shooting is not very accurate, and the lethality of the crossbow is limited, it is difficult to knock down an Eight Banners soldier at once. But I can't stand up to the arrows coming like rain! Besides, the arrows were also mixed with bullets, and they were all very accurate bullets! The Eight Banners vests were forced to run along the car base while firing arrows, and at the same time looking for weak points in the Huai army's defense. The Eight Banners vests suffered heavy casualties. People kept falling off their horses and fell heavily to the ground. Some of them were hoofed by the horses running up from behind. A few hard steps will cause more injuries, causing death or life.
However, the current Eight Banners soldiers are still much stronger than when they were beaten by Wu Sangui two years ago in southern Sichuan. Even though they were killed and wounded by the enemy's arrows and bullets, they still insisted on running in front of the Huai army. After going back and forth, we even found the weak point of the Huai Army's vehicle barrier - this weak point was located near the Suishui River. There were no carbine guns placed in front of the vehicle barrier, and the vehicle barrier was also piled sloppily, with more than ten short grain trucks. There is no shield on the cart, just a few straw bags piled on top to deal with it, and the war horse can even jump over it!
A commander of the Eight Banners soldiers who was leading the team felt that an opportunity had come. He pointed the waist knife in his hand towards that place and shouted: "Eight Banners warriors, charge for me!"
"Come on!"
The Eight Banners soldiers who followed him closely also roared, they were all holding back their anger!
Since the majesty of the Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers was destroyed by that old rebel Wu Sangui in Sichuan, these Eight Banners Soldiers are really frustrated. They used to walk sideways everywhere, but the Heavenly Soldiers are invincible!
When they were stationed in Jingzhou, there was "Xiong" in Xiangyang in the north who was powerful in the world, "Chuang" in Wuchang in the east dominated the three rivers, and there was Wu Guogui in the south who was so ferocious that they couldn't defeat any of them!
Later, when I arrived in Jiangnan, I thought I could bully the Jiangnan people, but I didn’t expect that the easily bullied Jiangnan people had not yet rebelled. The rebel Jiangnan people were entrenched in Jinling, and they were also difficult to provoke. Although they were not allowed to knock their heads against the city wall of Jinling, they felt uncomfortable watching their friendly troops fall under the gunfire, rain of bullets, and arrows from the rebels every day!
Now that we have arrived in Huaibei, our opponents have been replaced by peasant soldiers from Huaisi, so they can cut melons and vegetables, right? Who knew that this bunch of Huaisi country bumpkins were not only extremely numerous in number, but would also form a large car array! However, their commander, Gestei, was in a hurry and left behind the artillery team that was specially designed to break up the car formation and did not bring it to Fuliji. As a result, he accidentally had people use the car formation to block both sides of Fuliji. Got it!
And the north and south of Fuliji were blocked by the Huaisi farmers relying on the river!
This... this is the rhythm of being surrounded and hungry!
This time they came with light troops and no food! Of course, it’s not that there was nothing at all, but I didn’t bring much, just enough for a few days to eat horse chews. Once these days are over, horses will have to be killed for food.
Once the cavalry loses their horses, they can only wait for the rear infantry led by Mu Zhan to rescue Mu Zhan. He is the direct descendant of Jin Taiji's eldest brother!
Are the direct descendants of Jin Taiji's eldest brother trying to influence the Qing Dynasty for the sake of Nurhaci?
It’s not reliable even if you think about it, you have to rely on yourself!
Knowing that Mu Zhan was unreliable, these Eight Banners men from Beijing had no choice but to save themselves. They cursed and charged with spears one by one!
"Wang Datou, you are a slave with the third surname, I will fight with you!"
"Wang Datou, bring Datou!"
"Wang Datou, if you have the guts, come and fight me for three hundred rounds!"
"Wang Datou, fuck your grandma."
Not to mention, scolding Wang Datou can indeed improve a little bit of energy. Not only the spirit of people, but also the spirit of horses. They really jumped over the more than ten short grain trucks one after another. After a while, two to three hundred horsemen jumped over the low grain carts and rushed into the Huai army's position!
"It's in. It's great that it's finally in!" Gerstad almost cried with joy when he saw this scene.
"Capital Commander, hurry up and get the second battalion of the forwards to press forward!" A leader from Goshha quickly came up and made a suggestion.
"Okay! Beat the drum and march." Gestei waved his arm vigorously, "Bring me a drum, I want to beat the drum myself!"
"嗻!"
Before the military drum could be brought over to Gerstad, a military commander who was watching the battle screamed: "No, there's an ambush. There are pikemen behind the car array!"
It turned out that this flaw was deliberately arranged by Luo Dawei, the camp leader of Luojiaji Dazi Camp. He had someone pull a curtain behind the low grain truck. Many flags were placed in front of the curtain, and behind the curtain were several banners. Hundreds of spearmen formed a ten-row formation. A row of anti-horse guns was also placed to prevent the Eight Banners cavalry from rolling towards the side and rear of the car barrier.
When the vests of the Eight Banners soldiers jumped over the grain carts and rushed into the car formation, the originally standing flags and curtains were all lowered, revealing rows of spear heads that gave off a cold glow under the morning sun.
Behind these spearmen were hundreds of swordsmen brought by Luo Dawei, the patriarch of the Luojiaji clan, and his brother Luo Youwei.
A big leather drum was placed in front of the two brothers of the Luo family. They both held drum hammers in their hands. When the curtain was lowered, Luo Dawei shouted: "Kill all the Tatars! The glory and wealth depends on today!" "
His brother Luo Youwei also shouted: "If you want to be rich, you have to risk your life!"
After the two brothers finished shouting, they threw away their arms and started playing the drums!
The two of them have always had prestige in Luojiaji, and the people standing in front of them today are also the real sons of Luojiaji who are fighting, father and son, fighting brothers, with the clan leader behind them. And there is glory and wealth ahead!
Clan Chief Luo and Clan Chief Luo 2 have both said that if anyone steps back even half a step, his head will be cut off and he will be expelled from the family tree!
All the children of the Luo family could only grit their teeth and hold up their spears, motionless as if there were roots under their feet.
The Eight Banners soldiers who found out that they had been fooled had no choice. They could no longer stop their horses, so they had no choice but to bite the bullet and rush into the gun formation with a sad face. The most they could do was to shrink back behind the horse's neck - if they wanted to die, let the horse die. !
Just hearing a terrifying sound of "bang bang bang", the war horses, cavalry, lances, spears, and spearmen all collided into a ball!
Some people were stabbed through the body, some were knocked away by the huge momentum, some were thrown off the backs of injured horses, some died on the spot, and some were seriously injured and let out shrill screams. There are also people who are lucky enough to fall off their dying horses, and can still draw out their swords and slash wildly. The cavalry at the front and their horses suffered heavy casualties, while the cavalry at the back continued to climb over grain trucks and into the battlefield like a meat grinder. However, because there were so many fallen horses and soldiers in front, they were all crowded together on top of each other. The cavalry coming up from behind had no way to attack, so they had to wave their spears, slap, or stab the Luo family gunners below. The cavalry assault rifle array soon turned into a bloody hand-to-hand battle!
Since most of the sons of the Luo family were not wearing armor, they were not originally superior in hand-to-hand combat, but the market towns in Huaixi also often fought with each other. Therefore, their martial arts and strength were no worse than those of the Eight Banners masters. In addition, they had an advantage in numbers and fought side by side. They refused to retreat and continued to fight to the death. Therefore, more and more people died in front of the spear array. People on both sides are constantly falling. At this time, it depends on who has a stronger will, who is more willing to bear the losses, and who has the energy to keep filling people in.
"There are too many of them, right?" Geste's voice trembled as he spoke from a distance.
Although he was a veteran with Dorgon, he had never seen a battle in which large areas of his family fell into a pool of blood. And the opponents were just some unarmored spearmen and swordsmen!
"Capital, should we withdraw our troops and let our brothers step back and take a breather?"
"Du Tong, it's no longer possible. The cavalry behind us don't dare to charge in anymore!"
"Withdraw."
Gerstad's ears were full of defeatist remarks, and he himself knew that something was wrong!
What he has under his command is the Eight Banners vest, and he is considered an elite soldier among the Eight Banners soldiers. If it were the generation of horse-armed soldiers who entered the customs back then, all of them were warriors with strong martial arts skills, how could they possibly be in a difficult situation with a group of Huaixi Han farmers? Oh, it seems that they were beaten by the enemy and still retreated steadily?
This shows that the force of the Eight Banners soldiers has declined to the point where they can only compete with the Han regiments, and are even slightly inferior. How can they still fight this battle?
Not only did Fu Liji not have to fight, but the entire "Second Ming and Qing War" didn't have to fight.
Thinking of this, he looked a lot sluggish, and said in a hoarse voice to the people around him: "Ming Jin. Ming Jin withdraws his troops! Let everyone withdraw, there will be no fighting today!"
"No fight? How can we break through without a fight?" A military commander on the side was shocked.
"If we don't break out, we will wait for General Mu to come to rescue us. We will wait for help. General Mu will not leave us alone. He is a noble man from Manchuria!"
At this time, Mu Zhan didn't mention Jin Tai Ji anymore.
"Minister in charge, you have to save Ge Dutong and his 10,000 bannermen!"
"Minister in charge, for the sake of the Qing Dynasty, you must unify all the Ragdu!"
The people who were stopping Nala Mu Zhanma, the minister in charge of the Jiangbei camp, and begging him for help were Shang Kejiao and Nian Xialing. Didn't they bring 3,000 infantrymen and were left behind by Geste? This was a blessing in disguise. Because they were walking too slowly, they didn't have time to enter the encirclement.
Although they didn't have time to enter the encirclement, they didn't dare to go back home. The unlucky guy in Geste led 18,000 bannermen to seek death in front!
Now that we are surrounded by Wang Datou, what should we do? Do they want them to take the blame? They can't carry it. What can we do?
While they were in a hurry, Mu's 20,000-strong banner army and green battalion infantry finally arrived.
After joining forces twice, Mu Zhan now has 23,000 fighting troops, which is quite a lot, and he can go to rescue Gestai.
Although he doesn't like the old guy Gestei very much, he can't just watch tens of thousands of Eight Banners disciples disappear in Fuliji, Huaibei!
Otherwise, what should he do if the regent and the emperor were furious together?
But the question is, with only 23,000 yuan on hand, can he rescue Gerstad? Don't try to get in there yourself.
"How many Han people are surrounding Fuliji?" Mu Zhan decided to find out the number of people on the other side first.
"One hundred thousand! At least one hundred thousand!" Shang Kejiao gritted his teeth and reported a number.
"What? One hundred thousand." Mu Zhan was shocked.
The Qing Dynasty used very few troops for wars. Ten to twenty thousand was enough for a large army. One hundred thousand would have to be of the rank of a regent to lead that many troops.
"You can't be wrong, there are really 100,000! Even if it is less, it is not much less," Nian Yaoling said, "Although it is just a group training and not an army of the imperial court, an army of 100,000 thieves cannot be underestimated!"
"General manager, how about we retreat first, take a look, and then make a decision?" Shang Kejiao didn't want to fight at all, he just wanted to negotiate a peace, not to mention dividing the river to rule, even if it was to divide the Huaihe River to rule, it would be peaceful. His personal interests did not matter much.
"No!" Mu Zhan shook his head, "We must be saved. Even if there are one million enemies, we can't just ignore them! If the emperor and the regent blame us for not saving them, what should we do?"
"But there are one hundred thousand enemies!"
Mu Zhan sighed: "Do your best and listen to fate. Order the three armies to speed up!"
"嗻!"
The generals below shouted together.
(End of chapter)
