"General, the Xuanwei Envoy has fired artillery over there." A Qianhu said in Qin Yiming's ear.
Qin Yiming nodded and said, "Follow the arrangements explained before and cross the river!"
There is an army of officers and soldiers lurking on each side of the river bank, and the agreed signal is the sound of cannons. As soon as the cannons sound, the officers and soldiers of the upstream and downstream begin to cross the river.
The order to accompany the crossing was given.
A team of several thousand officers and soldiers appeared around the originally silent river bank. Most of them were white soldiers, and a small number were soldiers and horses of other chieftains.
The officers and soldiers preparing to cross the river carried four boats for crossing the river and rushed to the river quickly, followed by a large troop of thousands of soldiers and horses.
Small boats were quickly pushed into the water, and groups of officers and soldiers began to quickly board the boats to cross the river.
In order to ensure the safety of crossing the river, three Fran machine guns, one large, two small and three small, were pulled up from the river bank. The direction the muzzles of the guns were facing was exactly on the other side of the river.
Qin Yiming stood on the shore and watched his boat slowly rowing towards the other side of the river. At this time, no enemy could be seen on the other side of the river.
"Keep a close eye. As soon as you find traces of the bandits, fire on the other side immediately. We must not let the bandits block the army from crossing the river." Qin Yiming told a general next to him.
"Yes." Mr. Boss responded from beside him.
Qin Yiming looked at the river again.
In order to cross the river smoothly, the army deliberately divided its troops into three different sections of the river and crossed the river at three different locations, catching the thieves on the other side of the river by surprise.
The soldiers and horses crossing the river from here were white pole soldiers and chieftain soldiers and horses from Sichuan. Those crossing the river downstream along the river bank were a group of Xiangyang Guard soldiers and horses.
The six Franconian cannons sent by the Xiangyang Guards were also divided into three parts and handed over to the officers and soldiers crossing the river in three places for use.
The officers and soldiers crossed the river at three places on the river bank. The first person to cross the river was Ma Xianglin, who was in charge of the Chinese army.
The Lord's flag is unfurled in the wind.
Ma Xianglin looked at the officers and soldiers crossing the river on the river, and he said: "Give me the order, don't stop the cannon fire. No matter whether you can hit the bandits on the other side, you must keep firing on me."
The token officer ran to deliver the order.
"Envoy Xuanwei is really willing to give up. These are hundreds of elite soldiers." Commander Zheng of Xiangyang Wei said from the side.
Ma Xianglin looked at the several boats crossing the river with an expressionless face, and said: "As long as the other two places can cross the river smoothly, their sacrifices will be considered valuable, and the court will record their merits."
As he spoke, he looked back at Commander Zheng and said, "Besides, I will kill all the traitors on the opposite side and avenge them."
The hundreds of soldiers in front of him were specially used by him to attract the attention of the bandit soldiers on the other side of the river, just to allow the other two soldiers and horses to cross the river smoothly to the other side.
"The official admires Xuanwei's determination to serve the country with fists and fists." Commander Zheng cupped his hands and clasped his fists.
Ma Xianglin withdrew his gaze and looked at the boats crossing the river again.
The hundreds of soldiers who crossed the river were all from Sichuan and Guizhou, not only the soldiers and horses of the chieftains, but also the white-armed soldiers of the Ma family, especially the white-armed soldiers. He would feel bad if any of them died.
In order for the army to cross the river smoothly, he had to pay such a price.
He only hoped that these sacrificed soldiers of Sichuan Gui could hold back the thieves on the other side for a longer time and buy more time for the soldiers and horses crossing the river upstream and downstream.
Across the river.
When the officers and soldiers began to forcibly cross the river, the officers and soldiers at the two places upstream and downstream no longer hid. The Tiger Flag sentry cavalry patrolling along the river bank first discovered the officers and soldiers crossing the river at the two places upstream and downstream almost at the same time.
"Report, officers and soldiers crossing the river were found three miles upstream."
"Report, officers and soldiers crossing the river were found in the downstream direction."
The Tiger Flag Sentinels who patrolled upstream and downstream relayed the news immediately.
"It seems that we have guessed it right. These officers and soldiers in front of us are to protect the officers and soldiers in the upper and lower reaches crossing the river." Deputy Battalion Zhengbai Kong said.
Qiao Yuansheng next to him said with a smile: "It's useless to cross the river. We are not as easy to deal with as ordinary bandits."
"Do you want to send troops over to block the way for the officers and soldiers to go ashore?" Bai Kong asked.
Hearing this, Qiao Yuansheng thought for a while and said: "Since Ma Xianglin wants to compete with us on the shore, let's give him this opportunity, messenger!"
"Here!" The messenger on the side stood up.
Qiao Yuansheng said: "Order the 2,000-man team and the 3,000-man team to go upstream and downstream respectively to intercept the enemies crossing the river and pass on the order."
The messenger ran to deliver the order.
Soon, two thousand-man teams received the order and set off from their original positions. Under the leadership of the sentinels, they rushed to two locations where the officers and soldiers might be disembarked.
"Command the artillery team to stop hiding and bring out all the artillery to destroy the enemies in the river."
Since the officers and soldiers crossing the river in front of them were not the main force, Qiao Yuansheng was not going to waste time on these small boats in front of him.
The dozen or so four-pound guns in the gunner's position were all fired quickly.
The cannonballs fell into the river like free money, stirring up water columns and muddy the clear river water along with the silt at the bottom of the river.
The gunners of the Tiger Flag have all received specialized gunner training, and the gunpowder used has been adjusted many times and fixed into a fixed amount of gunpowder. There is no need to rely entirely on experience to load gunpowder like the Ming army did.
A dozen cannons blocked the river.
Five ships in the river were hit on the spot by cannons, which penetrated the bottoms and sides of two ships. Another ship not far away was even more implicated, was knocked over by the splashing water, and was knocked upside down on the water. All the people in the boat fell into the water.
Ma Xianglin on the other side of the river noticed the situation on the river, his face gloomy.
The dead and injured were all their Sichuan and Gui soldiers.
"The thieves don't have four cannons, but there are more than a dozen cannons according to the sound of cannons." Zheng Qinyu, the commander of the Xiangyang Guards, looked at Ma Xianglin with an ugly expression.
"The Sword Comes"
Ma Xianglin noticed Zheng Qinyu's eyes and said in a gloomy tone: "The rebels just hid a few more cannons on the other side. This also shows that the rebels did not expect that we would divide our troops to cross the river from other places."
"What if the rebels have more than these cannons? If the rebels set up these cannons at the other two landing sites of the army, even if the army successfully crosses the river, it will suffer heavy casualties." Zheng Qinyu said solemnly.
Hearing this, Ma Xianglin looked at Zheng Qinyu and said, "Commander Zheng, you think too highly of them. The bandit soldiers on the other side of the river are only a few thousand people, but having more than a dozen cannons is already a big deal. Is it possible that Commander Zheng thinks that Can they bring out a dozen more cannons?"
"The official is worried that the failure to cross the river will delay the army's entry into Henan to quell the rebellion." Zheng Qinyu's tone softened slightly, feeling that his worries were indeed unfounded.
The sound of cannons on the other side of the river slowed down slightly, and soon started to sound again.
One of the only two ships on the river carrying officers and soldiers across the river was hit by artillery fire. The ship's hull was torn apart, and the officers and soldiers on the ship fell into the water dead.
