Amidst the rumble of artillery, Chen Yongfu looked at a phalanx of guardsmen that had collapsed with a dark face.
"It's hard to deal with the artillery of these thieves!"
At the same time, Chen De, the eldest son beside him, also frowned and said: "Although Li Shubei's camp is just an ordinary guard camp, there are more than a hundred soldiers pressing the formation, but how long has it been? There are not even a hundred feet of soldiers who have stepped forward. A battalion of more than a hundred people suffered hundreds of casualties.”
"Father, please slow down for a moment, otherwise, the guard camps in front may be..."
Chen Yongfu said with a dark face at this time: "Send the order to let them back down first!"
Just ten minutes ago, Chen Yongfu ordered the phalanx composed of the first few guard soldiers to continue to advance. However, when they were more than 200 feet away from the rebel army, the rebel army had already opened fire.
The artillery fired by the rebels crossed a distance of more than 200 feet and then dived into the dense formation of the guard soldiers.
The shell, which seemed to be only a little over two kilograms, fell into the crowd, causing many casualties on the spot. It did not stop after landing, but continued to bounce and roll forward. Whenever the guard soldiers were encountered along the way, they were extremely vulnerable. Death means disability.
Many shells killed and injured more than ten people before they stopped completely.
After the rebels started shelling, the front guard square inevitably wavered after suffering casualties. However, under Chen Yongfu's order, they still had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to move forward, and they were still accelerating.
However, not long after, another round of artillery fire from the rebel army came over.
The continuous sound of artillery brought shells that continued to cause casualties to them.
In front of this kind of solid artillery shell, even the few soldiers wearing armor in the guard station can't stop it at all. If you are hit by this kind of solid artillery shell, no matter how many layers of armor you wear or how strong you are, it will be very serious. The fate of death and disability.
As time passed bit by bit, the phalanx of the first few guardsmen could no longer hold on. Although they had advanced at least two to three hundred meters, they had suffered heavy losses in the process.
Li Shoubei's battalion was the first to collapse, followed by several other guard phalanxes that had not been hit hard. After seeing the collapse of friendly forces, their morale was also unstable.
Even if Chen Yongfu did not give the order to retreat, it is estimated that the remaining phalanxes of guard soldiers would completely turn around and flee soon.
Seeing the guardsmen in front retreating one after another, Chen Yongfu sighed and said, "The bandits' artillery is sharp and invincible!"
"Go down and order all the guard battalions to rush forward in three groups, and the headquarters will send out a thousand soldiers to plunder the formation."
"Don't be slow this time. Just speed up and rush over. Don't worry about the formation."
"They don't have many long cannons, only six of them. Even if they attack, they can only disperse one or two battalions. The other battalions can still charge forward."
"The chariot camp and archers must follow up in time, and fire cannons and arrows as soon as they get close."
Although the first attack by the guardsmen failed, Chen Yongfu did not give up the attack directly.
The attack just now also allowed him to test it out. Among the rebels, there are only six artillery pieces that can fire from a distance. The rest should be short cannons that can only fire within a few dozen feet like our own. .
Although the six long cannons of the thieves are amazingly powerful, they are still too few in number. One or two of my own battalions were defeated by their long cannons, but as long as the other battalion leaders can rush forward, they can still capture these thieves. opportunities for soldiers.
No matter what I say, Chen Yongfu has a military advantage.
Excluding the two thousand civilians who were unable to fight on the battlefield, he still had a full five thousand army under his command.
As for the bandit soldiers on the opposite side, excluding civilians and auxiliary forces, only a thousand people can be beaten to death.
He still has hope of winning.
Under Chen Yongfu's order, at about 10:20 in the morning, the Ming army launched another offensive. This time Chen Yongfu sent out all the remaining 2,600 or so guardsmen in one go.
Behind the guards, there were more than a thousand soldiers from the headquarters raiding the formation.
A total of more than 3,000 troops spread out to form small square formations, approaching from a distance of about 800 meters.
On the top of the short mountain in Zhaozhuang, Luo Zhixue squinted and the Ming army launched another attack, and when it was still the same attack routine as before, he couldn't help but shook his head slightly: "Is this a lack of memory or stubbornness?"
In the face of a large number of our own guns and artillery, if these troops equipped with only cold weapons and a small number of guns and artillery can also force their way through, is this looking down on guns and artillery too much?
Luo Zhixue asked himself that it was difficult to understand Chen Yongfu's approach. If it were Chen Yongfu, the first attack failed, and after seeing the sharp artillery of the Baoxiang Army, he would attack again in another way.
For example, they tried to dig trenches to advance, and used the communication trenches to maneuver their two- to three-hundred-pound light artillery to the front line, and then launched artillery attacks on the rural defense troops after approaching.
There were many other methods, but Chen Yongfu chose the least tactical, simple and crude method: adding more troops to launch a strong attack again, trying to directly use the advantage of troops to offset the artillery advantage of the Baoxiang Army!
Luo Zhixue didn't understand that because Luo Zhixue didn't know that Chen Yongfu didn't treat the guard soldiers in front as his own soldiers, but only as cannon fodder.
Since it is cannon fodder, it will naturally not hurt to use it. Why waste so much work? Just let all the guards rush to it and it will be done.
It was not mentioned in advance whether he knew how to dig trenches or had he prepared a concept. However, without the tools at hand, it would not be easy to dig a transportation trench that could accommodate thousands of troops. With their level, it would probably take only a few days. Can't finish.
However, Chen Yongfu also had limited time. Hong Chengchou gave him a time limit to die. He must wipe out the Baoxiang army and thieves within half a month, and then go to the Lu family.
After many considerations, Chen Yongfu finally chose the simplest and most direct method, asking the guards to increase their intensity in the attack.
If you can fight, fight, if you really can't fight, then you can't. Anyway, the casualties are not his own soldiers. He doesn't feel sad even if all the guards soldiers die...
Moreover, with the guardsmen suffering heavy casualties, if he delayed the attack for a long time, it would be justified.
Hong Chengchou couldn't blame himself in the end just because he couldn't defeat the Hometown Protection Army despite all his efforts. But he had said before that the Hometown Protection Army was tough and difficult to fight.
By then, it is estimated that reinforcements and the like will arrive, and it is very likely that they can continue to be consumed without having to fight to the death with the rural protection army or go to the Lu family.
Yes, even now, Chen Yongfu doesn't want to go to the Lu family.
In recent times, he has continued to hear news about the fighting between the main force of the rebel army and the main force of officers and soldiers in the Central Plains.
He doesn't care about victory or defeat. The important thing is that he knows that the main force of the rebel army of more than 100 to 200 thousand people is bent on running to Shaanxi.
If he turns back to garrison the Lu family, and the rebels run towards the Lu family, facing the main force of the rebel army, which can easily be tens of thousands, or even more than ten or two hundred thousand, Chen Yongfu might as well wipe his neck himself.
All of this makes Chen Yongfu's strategic and tactical decisions seem forward-looking and inconsistent with military common sense.
To put it bluntly, Chen Yongfu did not want to fight to the death with the Baoxiang Army, nor did he want to fight with the main force of the rebel army.
He is still thinking of ways to buy time!
He had already planned it. It would be best if the strong attack could succeed this time. If the strong attack failed, it would depend on the number of casualties.
If there were fewer casualties, he would continue to launch a third storm.
When the casualties were almost gone, he would not hesitate, but would directly retreat and return to the camp two miles away to garrison.
At the same time, he will send a letter to Hong Chengchou to inform him of the situation of the battle.
Well, there is only one meaning: It’s not that I don’t want to fight, and it’s not that I haven’t fought, but the bandit army is too strong and cannot be defeated!
Look, there are already one or two thousand casualties. The casualties are extremely heavy. If the fight continues, all the soldiers under my command, Chen Yongfu, will be wiped out.
Then ask Hong Chengchou to send reinforcements.
In a word, don't expect him to lead his own soldiers to fight with the Hometown Protection Army, let alone lead his own soldiers to fight with the main force of the rebel army.
Not to mention Luo Zhixue, not even his son Chen De knew about Chen Yongfu's thoughts.
After all, you can't talk about this kind of thing outside. If you do say it, it is very likely to cause big trouble.
For example, those guardsmen.
What Chen Yongfu told the generals of the guards was that Hong Chengchou forced him to fight. He, Chen Yongfu, had no choice but to fight hard. So even if there were heavy casualties, don't blame me. If you want to blame you, blame Hong Chengchou.
If they knew now, Chen Yongfu planned to let them fight to the death. It would be best if they won. If they couldn't win, they could use the heavy casualties of their guard soldiers as an excuse to retreat, and neither left nor right would lose.
I'm going to show you how to mutiny every minute...
So Chen Yongfu kept his mouth shut and didn't say anything to anyone. Instead, he looked like he was going to fight to the death to capture the traitors of the Baoxiang Army.
This appearance impressed his son Chen De, who was even encouraged to take the initiative to fight: "Father, the bandit army has sharp artillery and it is difficult to attack. I am afraid that it is not enough to rely on more than 2,000 guardsmen. My son is willing to lead the army." Our soldiers go out to fight and try to defeat the enemy with one strike!"
Chen Yongfu was stunned when he heard Chen De's words.
What is this silly son doing? He wants to tear me down, right?
I also want to take my own soldiers to go up and fight with the traitors to the death.
Those two thousand soldiers of our headquarters were all maintained by me with all my efforts. How could we lose them so easily?
If too many soldiers in our headquarters die, you and I will be dismissed from our posts in minutes, and there is a greater possibility that you and my son will die on the battlefield.
When I get back from get off work after the fight, I’ll slap you twice...
But Chen Yongfu glanced at the other generals around him, especially those generals with unsightly faces, and Chen Yongfu swallowed back the words he wanted to reprimand his son.
If he directly reprimands his son, saying, you fool, don't take my precious soldiers with you if you want to die!
But if he really wants to reprimand him like this, I'm afraid these generals who are not considered his subordinates but are only temporarily under his command will go berserk on the spot.
