,!
The day after the Xiangyang Guards' troops arrived, twelve ships were also sent over by people from the Huguang Du Commandery Department, along with a dozen sailors.
With boats, cannons, and sufficient food and grass, Ma Xianglin decided to send troops across the river, break the rebel blockade on the river, and lead his troops across the river into Henan to quell the rebellion.
Although the ships sent by the Huguang Capital Commander were not big ships, more than a dozen ships were enough for the Sichuan Army and the Xiangyang Guards combined to cross the river, with seven or eight thousand soldiers and horses.
At dawn, the officers and soldiers had breakfast and began to prepare for crossing the river.
The six Franconian cannons brought by the Xiangyang Guards were all arranged near the river bank.
There were five boats docked on one side of the river, and hundreds of soldiers with white poles were standing on the bank waiting to board the boats.
The Baigan soldiers are the elite of Shizhu. They have experienced many wars. They not only suppressed internal rebellions, but also gained a great reputation in Liaodong. The most important thing is that Shizhu chieftain is rich and has the conditions to create an elite division like the Baigan soldiers.
The white pole soldiers are also the basis for the Qin and Ma families to dominate among the many chieftains.
It is precisely because the white pole soldiers have proven themselves time and time again that Ma Xianglin is confident in coming to Henan to quell the rebellion.
As long as the white pole soldiers cross the river and reach the other side, he is confident that he will lead the white pole soldiers to annihilate the rebels blocking the other side of the river in one fell swoop.
"Captain, look across the river, there seems to be a lot of people gathered."
There are tiger-shaped flag sentries patrolling the river bank every day, so if the officers and soldiers move on the river bank, it is difficult to hide it from the patrolling tiger-shaped flag sentries.
The captain of the sentry cavalry who led the patrol took out the monocular on his waist, raised it and looked across the river.
He could clearly see several ships on the river bank and hundreds of officers and soldiers preparing to board the ships through the monocular.
"As soon as you return to camp, tell the army that they are preparing to cross the river." The captain of the sentry team ordered the sentry rider who first noticed the movement on the other side of the river.
"Yes." The other party agreed, turned the horse's head and galloped away.
The captain of the sentinel cavalry turned back to the two men behind him and said: "You two stay and continue to monitor the movements of the army. The others will follow me along the river bank to patrol other river sections. I always feel that the commander of the army will not be so Silly, after suffering a loss once, you still cross the river here."
A team of twelve people.
He took the remaining eight sentry riders to other sections of the river.
The main camp of the Tiger Character Banner was not far from the river bank, and the news that the officers and soldiers were preparing to cross the river was quickly sent back by the sentries patrolling outside.
The gunners of the artillery team rushed to the artillery position not far from the river bank.
In order to prevent the officers and soldiers from suddenly crossing the river, the artillery team placed the artillery by the river in advance.
There are more than 3,000 people in each Tiger Banner camp, and the artillery team has dozens of cannons. However, because other Tiger Banner teams need to capture cities and territories in Henan, a large number of cannons are needed.
Therefore, the war barracks that went south to intercept the official troops entering Henan only brought twelve cannons, and the remaining cannons were left to several other war barracks.
As the gunners entered the position, several other soldiers in the camp also rushed to the river bank.
Yingzheng Qiao Yuansheng looked across the river with the telescope in his hand.
"It seems that the army has obtained a few more ships." Qiao Yuansheng handed the monocular telescope to the deputy beside him.
Deputy Battalion Chief Bai Kong took the handed telescope and looked across the river in front of his eyes, and said: "These ships should have just arrived in the past half day, but I don't know how many ships the army has prepared."
"No matter how many ships the officers and soldiers prepare, in short, they will attack every ship that comes. As long as the officers and soldiers dare to cross the river, I will let them come back without any return." Qiao Yuansheng's lips twitched with a sneer.
After hearing this, Bai Kong smiled and said: "The white-pole soldiers of the Ma family are still quite capable. Don't you want to fight with the white-pole soldiers on the shore?"
"It's easier to attack halfway across. Why should I cause trouble for myself." Qiao Yuansheng looked at the other side of the river and said, "If Ma Xianglin on the other side has the ability, he should cross the river in front of him first."
Bai Kong said: "Don't underestimate this Ma Xianglin. Since he dares to cross the river again, it means that he is sure of crossing the river. In my opinion, it is better to be prepared."
"Do you really think the officers and soldiers can go ashore?" Qiao Yuansheng turned his head and looked at Bai Kong.
Bai Kong said: "The river bank is so long. If the officers and soldiers are not limited to the few boats in front of us, and they divide their troops to cross the river in other sections, we have a small number of troops and it is impossible to cover everything."
"What you said makes some sense." Qiao Yuansheng nodded in agreement, and then added, "It doesn't matter if the other party crosses the river. Even though I only have one military camp with less than four thousand troops, I can still defeat the opposing army. Mother, beg for mercy.”
Bai Kong looked at the officers and soldiers on the other side for a while through the monocular in his hand.
He said: "The situation on the other side is not quite right. Maybe we have guessed it right. Ma Xianglin is going to cross the river from another place. Look, there are only a few hundred officers and soldiers on the other side of the river. This is too few. It is not like that at all. That time when the officers and soldiers crossed the river."
As he spoke, he pointed across the river.
Qiao Yuansheng took the monocular telescope from Bai Kong's hand, put it in front of his eyes and looked over.
After more than ten breaths, he said: "It seems that Ma Xianglin is really playing with us on the plan of building the plank road openly and secretly attacking Chencang, messenger!"
He shouted.
"Here." A young soldier came to Qiao Yuansheng.
Qiao Yuansheng said: "Give us the order to send out a few more teams of sentry cavalry to search within thirty miles along both sides of the river bank. We must find the place where the officers and soldiers cross the river."
"Yes." The messenger turned around and ran to deliver the order.
Soon, several sentry riders divided into two teams, one went upstream and the other went downstream.
At this time, in the official and military camp on the other side of the river.
"Report, a large number of thieves were found on the other side of the river." A scout who rushed back from the river bank brought back news from the other side.
Hearing this, Ma Xianglin put his palms in his hands and laughed and said: "Okay, okay, all the traitors are out. Now it's time for us to cross the river. Send the order, fire the cannon, and cross the river immediately."
The flag officer in the camp went to the white pole soldiers on the river bank to deliver the order.
Ma Xianglin looked at the commander of the Xiangyang Guard in the tent and said, "Commander Zheng, would you like to go to the shore with me to watch the army cross the river and kill the thieves?"
"I will accompany you." Commander Zheng gave him a fist.
Ma Xianglin strode outside.
When he and the commander of the Xiangyang Guards rushed to the river bank, they saw that a Franco machine gun placed by the army on the river bank was fired. The gun soared into the sky and flew towards the other side of the river.
However, the cannon only flew two-thirds of the way across the river before losing its power and falling into the water.
The sound of artillery sounded the clarion call for attack.
The soldiers waiting on the shore assisted the boatmen to push the wooden boats into the water and began to board the boats to cross the river.
Under the control of the boatmen, several wooden boats formed a cone shape and rowed towards the middle of the river little by little.
