The power of a shotgun is impressive.
Over twenty meters, it can only penetrate cotton armor. If you encounter heavy armored infantry, it's like scratching an itch.
However, the Dongjiang rebels only had cotton armor, and even the iron pieces had almost fallen off. Coupled with the lack of maintenance and upkeep, the quality is not even as good as cotton-padded jackets.
Thus the first shotgun battle was accomplished.
A special company has only a small number of people, but its firepower is as ferocious as that of a regiment.
After they rushed into the first trench, they pushed forward without any obstruction.
Unlike the new army, the rebels could not stand on the trenches and cause trouble.
Anyone who dares to stand on it will be named with a flash cap gun.
And nestled in the trench, he was hit in the face with a shotgun.
In the end, the rebels couldn't bear it anymore, and they shouted and retreated from the trench and began to run back.
At this time, the cavalry led by Li Jiucheng was only halfway through the gallop.
Since leaving the formation, this group of cavalry has received key care from the artillery of the New Army.
Twelve infantry guns and twelve mortars were fired at them for free.
Under the continuous firepower, the cavalry fell one by one.
In order to avenge his son's anger, Li Jiucheng did not care about casualties, and just wanted to rush forward and unleash the power of Dongjiang Town's melee combat.
However, when he was still more than 300 meters away from the trench, he was shocked to see that the infantry of his side who had previously invaded the trench seemed to have encountered some kind of terror, and fled one after another, covering the ground in an instant.
Even when they saw a large group of cavalry approaching, these infantrymen forgot to dodge.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"
Li Jiucheng yelled anxiously, but on the deafening battlefield, his roar could not even be heard clearly by the soldiers around him.
But at this time, the remaining mines were stepped on by the war horses. Coupled with the artillery bombardment, the cavalry lost hundreds of people.
Even three of Li Jiucheng's personal soldiers were killed, and the formation was stagnant.
Now it's better, the cavalry can no longer push away the infantry and continue charging. People on both sides huddled together, completely out of order.
The infantrymen of the 13th Battalion had followed the special company back to the first trench, and upon seeing this, they immediately started free fire.
The sound of gunshots was like rain, and the barrages were like wind. Wherever they passed, whether they were cavalry or infantrymen in Dongjiang Town, they all fell down wailing.
Especially the cavalry, who ride on tall horses and move slowly, the target should not be too obvious.
In addition, cavalry is valuable, so soldiers like to shoot at cavalry.
Seeing that nothing could be done, Li Jiucheng's soldiers rushed towards him and clamped him on both sides.
"Commander, leave quickly!"
Li Jiucheng's eyes were about to burst.
"Let me go and rush forward!"
"If we can't rush, they will all die."
Li Jiucheng looked in shock and found that of the 1,500 cavalrymen who belonged to him, there were now less than 700 left.
This discovery made him feel cold all over. He was no longer able to struggle. He was wrapped up by his own soldiers and retreated hastily.
As soon as the general retreated, the rest of the soldiers and horses fled one after another as if they had been granted amnesty, leaving only a large blank space.
"The enemy has escaped, give chase!"
Ren Dong looked cordially in the trenches, and shouted out loud when he saw this, and wanted to jump out of the trenches and pursue the victory.
A big hand stretched out from the side and pulled him back.
"What are you doing? Are you disobeying orders?"
Ren Dong looked back and realized that the battalion commander had arrived at some unknown time.
"Battal Commander, the Dongjiang Rebels were defeated miserably. This is a good opportunity for us to complete our victory in one battle."
The battalion commander had a cold face.
"Do you have the final say on how to fight? You are a soldier and you follow orders."
Ren Dong was furious and wanted to protest, but looking around, he found that the others had already squatted down, sorting out their equipment.
Without orders, they would not act blindly.
Ren Dong didn't understand.
Why didn't they seize the good opportunity and let the Dongjiang rebels retreat calmly?
"I...I'll go find the leader to reason with you."
He was special. If he really left, the battalion commander didn't stop him. Instead, pick up the telescope and observe the situation on the other side.
What can be seen is that the Dongjiang rebels on various fronts began to shrink rapidly, while the Chinese army began to move towards the north.
Obviously, this is a complete withdrawal of troops.
The order to withdraw was given by Kong Youde.
When Li Jiucheng rushed forward, Kong Youde felt angry in his heart.
This kind of general attacking in anger is simply acting in disorder.
Later, Kong Youde felt even more distressed when he saw the cavalry and infantry mixed together and being wantonly slaughtered by the new army.
Although the New Army has been relatively restrained and tried its best to avoid reducing the rebels' combat effectiveness, after several battles, the death toll of veterans in Dongjiang Town exceeded 10,000.
There are fewer and fewer veterans as the fighting continues, and more soldiers are young men captured and prisoners released later, which has begun to affect the combat effectiveness of Dongjiang Town.
Now because of Li Jiucheng's chaos, more people have died, and Kong Youde can't help but have other thoughts.
On the way back in embarrassment, Li Jiucheng had already ordered the horn to sound the withdrawal.
During the Mulingguan offensive and defensive battle, the New Army's Third Division, with one regiment, stopped the offensive of tens of thousands of Dongjiang rebels.
This battle caused the greatest trauma to the rebels.
The rebels have realized that the enemy on the opposite side is a terrifying existence that they cannot defeat.
The only solution for now is to avoid the new army's edge and find a new way out.
……………………………………………………
Chiping, official road, New Army sentry post.
A donkey cart came slowly from the direction of Dongchang Mansion.
The drivers were three men.
Wearing a torn leather jacket, his hands were in his sleeves, and his face was dark.
"What are you doing? Where are you going?"
An officer came forward and asked.
"Master Jun, we are ordered by our boss to deliver some goods to Jinan."
"What kind of goods?"
"Millet."
The officer walked over, walked around the donkey cart, and even opened his pockets to take a closer look at the contents.
"Let's go."
The checkpoint was opened, and the three men thanked him profusely, drove over quickly, and walked away far away.
Behind them, someone came next to the officer.
"Jin Yiwei's?"
"Definitely is."
"Why are you so sure?"
"Do the local people call us military masters? In addition, there is a knife hidden under the car, a Xiuchun knife specially used by Jin Yiwei."
"Tsk tsk, this Jin Yiwei is getting more and more alive."
"There is no way. Didn't the commander-in-chief say it before? To do intelligence work, say a thousand or ten thousand, it is all made of money. The people in Jinyiwei are starving to death, how do you expect them to hone their skills?"
"Hey, tell me, if the commander-in-chief gives these guards a pass, aren't you afraid that the situation here will be reported to the court?"
"Haha, you don't know yet, right? The northwest bandits have broken into Henan. So what if the court knows about it? Are they coming to fight us, or are they going to worry about the chaos in Henan first?"
………………………………
North Zhili, Xingtai.
Lu Xiangsheng stood on the city wall, looking at the officers and soldiers on standby, feeling confident.
"Order all ministries to leave the city one by one. Wipe out all the bandits in one fell swoop."
The flag was waved, and the officers and soldiers marched out one after another.
Liang Fu, the commander-in-chief of Baoding, personally led 5,000 people into the central army and left the city to the west.
Zuo Liangyu, the commander-in-chief of Hejian, led 3,000 men as the left wing, and headed straight out of the city to the Fengshan area.
Changping guerrilla Xu Datong led two thousand people on the right wing and rushed to Xingtai Town.
In the Wohu Mountain area to the west of Xingtai, Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, Li Zicheng, and Lao Huihui of the Northwest Rebel Army gathered here.
Gao Yingxiang was in a high position. After receiving the military information, he immediately said: "The whole army will attack, destroy the official army and capture Xingtai."
After the Northwest Rebel Army came out of the Taihang Mountains eastward, they attacked cities and villages along the way and made a lot of gains, which frightened the Ming Dynasty.
Lu Xiangsheng, the famous military commander, immediately asked the court to gather all the Ming troops in Gyeonggi to compete with the rebels.
The war is about to break out!
