Li Shiyao was eager to return to Guangzhou City. In addition to calming the anger of the court as much as possible, he also had to deal with the problem of food and fodder for the mobilized army.
Due to his hasty escape, Li Shiyao had no time to move food and fodder for the arriving army.
Originally, the grain and fodder were not transferred in time and should have been burned immediately to avoid supporting the enemy. However, Li Shiyao believed that as long as the army arrived, he could capture the city of Guangzhou, so in a sudden thought, Li Shiyao did not let people burn the grain and grass, which actually gave Zhang Rui's bandit suppression army an advantage.
Nowadays, the bandit suppressing army has sufficient food and no worries, but the Qing army mobilized under Li Shiyao's order is about to run out of food.
In order to support the rations of the 80,000-strong army, Li Shiyao and He Nian even acquiesced to the incoming Qing army "borrowing food" everywhere around Guangzhou. Even so, it was still difficult for the people around Guangzhou Prefecture to support the food rations of so many Qing soldiers.
Therefore, Li Shiyao's Qing army had to fight. If they didn't fight, they would be in chaos due to lack of food. Zhang Rui's bandit-suppressing army has to fight. Without fighting, there will be no way to develop stably.
Therefore, on the eighth day after Guangzhou City was captured by the bandit suppression army, the Qing army gathered in Guangzhou City.
"General, we found rebels coming out of the city to fight." A scout knelt in front of Li Shiyao and reported.
"Okay, great. There is a reward, go down and receive the reward." Li Shiyao was in a good mood after listening to the scout's words, and couldn't help but shout out the reward.
"Hey, I thanked the general." The scout did not expect to receive any reward, so he knelt down happily and thanked him before retreating.
"I was worried that the rebels would be in trouble if they huddled in Guangzhou City, but I didn't expect that they would dare to come out and fight us." Li Shiyao said, looking at the generals around him.
"No, the rebels actually gave up the tall walls of Guangzhou City and came out to fight with us. They are too conceited. As the saying goes, arrogant soldiers will be defeated. They are not far from defeat." Chen Muqing quickly echoed Li Shiyao.
"Exactly, no matter how powerful they are, they are nothing more than muskets. As long as our army approaches. Could it be that their newly recruited mud-legged soldiers will be the opponents of our Qing soldiers? Maybe they will fall into chaos as soon as we get close." Ku Yalanan followed closely and said.
"Mr. Nan is right. It is indeed true. Even if a group of rebels are capable of fighting, they will definitely not be a match for our Qing warriors." At this time, Li Yizhang, the commander-in-chief of Chaozhou, led troops from Chaozhou. Agreed.
"That's right. Everyone, Your Majesty has treated us with great kindness. We must not ignore your kindness and bring shame to Your Majesty." Li Shiyao said and knelt down facing north.
"Everyone, it's time to sacrifice your life to repay the Lord's kindness. If I fail again this time, I will have no face to face the Lord."
"I am willing to fight for the Qing Dynasty, and I am willing to die for the Holy Lord."
Everyone around Li Shiyao followed him and knelt down facing north and shouted.
………
Many of the Green Camp soldiers who surrendered in the bandit suppression army did not understand why Zhang Rui gave up the tall protective wall of Guangzhou City and went out to fight the incoming Qing army. In their eyes, what is this behavior other than stupidity?
Not only those who surrendered, but also the new recruits recruited for training were also a little worried. After all, the Qing army that arrived was about twice as many as they had left the city.
However, the veterans of the anti-bandit army sneered at such worries.
Since they went into battle, they have always used less to make more enemies. Twice the number of enemies is nothing more than a few more shots and a few more chops. The optimistic remarks of these veterans also influenced the worried bandit suppressing troops.
When some generals asked why they did not defend the city and kept watch, Zhang Rui explained to them: With this point, the enemy is still worthy of suppressing the bandits and defending? The bandit-suppressing army is not afraid of field battles. The real battlefield of the bandit-suppressing army is outside the city, not on the city wall.
In fact, only a few people have understood that it will be dangerous once the bandits are surrounded in Guangzhou.
In Zhang Rui's view, this is when the morale of the bandit suppressing army is strong. If they don't dare to fight at this time, why do they need to revolt?
The east gate of Guangzhou City is one mile outside Donghao, an open space.
There is no rain in winter. Although there is a scorching sun in the sky, if you are wearing thin clothes, it is still difficult to resist the coldness brought by the north wind during the day.
Unlike other uprising leaders who love to collect silver, Zhang Rui is more willing to exchange the silver for practical things, such as weapons and armor for the bandit suppressing army, clothing and food, etc.
Zhang Rui is ready to devote his whole life to overthrowing the Qing Dynasty. As for money, he can only spend it if he has life. If the uprising fails, what's the use of keeping it?
As seen before, the state found one million taels of silver that Zhang Xianzhong had sunk. Even if Zhang Xianzhong could grab so much money and keep it, would he be able to spend it if he failed?
After Li Shiyao suffered the loss from his previous rest, the men and horses of both sides faced each other in the open space, and both sides quickly adjusted their troops and horses.
The distance between the two sides continued to get closer.
When there are tens of thousands of people, it looks like a huge crowd. Although this place is empty, it is impossible to deploy all the Qing troops and the bandit-suppressing army to fight.
"Report, Brother Six. Enemies appear one mile ahead." The scout came back to report.
"Okay. Just stay down!" Zhang Rui replied.
"Yes, Sixth Brother." The scout bowed and then retreated.
"Taiping, pass the order. All the musketeers fired in three sections, and all the artillerymen lined up their artillery and prepared to fire volleys." Zhang Rui said one by one to Chen Taiping, the order team next to him.
"Yes, Sixth Brother. I will go and deliver the order right away." Chen Taiping saluted to Zhang Rui and replied.
"Um."
At this moment, in addition to the soldiers from both sides on the battlefield, there were also many people watching from a distance.
After all, this battle is not just a battle between the bandit suppressing army and the Qing soldiers, it is also related to the interests of many people in Guangzhou.
The distance between the two sides is getting closer
"One hundred and fifty feet, the enemy has entered the shooting range." The bandit suppression army personnel responsible for observing the distance announced loudly.
"fire…"
"Fire..."
With one command
"Bang..."
"jump…"
The gunpowder of the musketeers in front of the formation and the thirty-two six-pound cannons placed in a straight line were quickly ignited, and the bullets in the barrels were ejected.
The weather was good and there was no rain, so the ground where the battle took place was naturally dry.
Thirty-two guns fired a volley with a loud sound. The flying shells were like thirty-two death scythes, flying over and reaping the casualties of the Qing army.
Especially on a relatively dry ground, the iron bullets that flew over continued to ricochet after landing. This made the Qing soldiers even more frightened.
"Dong...dong...dong..."
The drumbeat of the Qing army's attack continues
Since Li Shiyao considered that the troops he mobilized were coming to encircle and suppress Zhang Rui, he asked them to come lightly.
In addition, according to Manchu rules, non-Eight Banners Green Camp soldiers were absolutely not allowed to carry cannons.
This is the reason why Li Shiyao had a headache and was afraid of the tall city wall of Guangzhou City. It was difficult to fight without siege artillery.
However, facing the bandit suppressing troops that came out of the city at this time, the Qing army was not necessarily easy to fight.
