At the beginning of the battle, Luo Zhixue left two reserve groups: the baggage camp and the personal barracks.
Now, although the enemy's center and right wing have launched a full-scale attack, their left wing has not yet moved. Luo Zhixue will not line up all the reserves, but will leave a personal camp just in case.
When the generals of both sides successively issued orders and dispatched troops, huge changes occurred on the battlefield.
A large number of Ming troops, mainly the central army and the right-wing Ming army, began to move forward quickly, but their movements were blocked and their formation could not be maintained.
After a while, the original neat dozen or so square formations became loose and scattered, and the Ming army in the first few square formations completely lost their formation and turned directly into scattered soldiers all over the mountains and plains.
The Ming army launched a rapid attack. In order to intercept the enemy, Zhang Malin's artillery was not idle, and once again increased the rate of fire for intensive shelling.
As the shells fell one after another, the Ming army continued to suffer casualties, but it was just as Lu Xiangsheng said.
After all, the Baoxiang Army's artillery was still a little short. Although the shelling could bring some casualties to the charging Ming army, in a short period of time, only a hundred people died, and the casualties of two to three hundred people were huge for the tens of thousands of Ming troops. In fact, it is nothing.
Therefore, even though they withstood a certain amount of long-range bombardment, the Ming army's charge still did not stop, and even ran faster.
But even if they ran fast, it would still take a certain amount of time for the Ming army to cross a distance of five to six hundred meters.
Just before the infantry on both sides closed the distance, three hundred cavalry from the Ming army had been ordered to rush out first and try to attack Zhang Malin's artillery position.
But as soon as these Ming Army cavalry ran out from the flanks, and before they accelerated towards the Baoxiang Army artillery position in front, Blind Man Wang, who had been staring at them, had already rushed over with his cavalry!
According to normal circumstances, a brutal battle will break out between the cavalry on both sides.
But, there really was an accident. The Ming cavalry general on the opposite side saw Wang Xiazi rushing towards him with three hundred fine cavalry. He still remembered that Lu Xiangsheng asked them to rush over no matter what and destroy the enemy's artillery position. .
In panic, he turned his horse's head and ran away again with his cavalry...
Moreover, during this run, he did not run towards the main queue of the Ming army, but ran directly towards the north, and after a while he left the battlefield and disappeared without a trace.
Looking at this scene, Luo Zhixue couldn't help laughing. To be honest, he had led his troops and fought many battles with the Ming army, but he had never seen anything like this before.
The menacing three hundred Ming Army cavalry ahead faced Wang Xiazi's men who came to intercept them. They didn't even dare to get close. They simply turned around and ran away.
Should we say that the Ming cavalry general who led the team was too smart, or should we say that the Ming cavalry general was too stupid?
Luo Zhixue was in a great mood when he saw this scene, but Lu Xiangsheng was not.
At this time, his face was dark and he was filled with regret.
If he had known better, when the cavalry unit fled back without a fight for the first time, he should have killed the guerrilla and replaced him with someone else to lead the cavalry.
In this way, even if one's own cavalry cannot defeat them, they can still rush forward to delay for some time, and maybe even go around and destroy the rebel artillery positions.
But I didn't expect that my moment of caution would cause such a big disaster.
The cavalry's unauthorized escape from the battlefield not only failed to destroy the rebel artillery, but also allowed the rebel cavalry to completely free up their hands.
And more importantly, the cavalry's unauthorized escape from the battlefield greatly affected the morale and morale of the entire army.
After all, many soldiers were still charging ahead under the gunfire of the rebels, but the friendly cavalry and the rebels escaped first. What do you want the other soldiers who are still fighting to think?
They can run, why can't I run?
This battle is over.
What to do now?
But no matter what Lu Xiangsheng thinks now, or even what he does, he can no longer change the situation on the entire battlefield.
The charging soldiers of the Ming Army were getting closer and closer, but when they finally braved the artillery fire and rushed to a distance of more than 200 meters with hundreds of people killed and injured, the many 200-pound light artillery in the Baoxiang Army also opened fire, and Focusing on the artillery in the Ming army's array.
There are also artillery in the Ming army array, but they are only light cannons weighing tens of kilograms to one or two hundred kilograms. In the past, because they could not shoot at long distances, they had no sense of presence. Instead, they were constantly attacked by six hundred soldiers from the Baoxiang Army. Heavy losses were caused by the heavy shelling of the Jin Chang Cannon.
The few dozen or so remaining light cannons managed to reach a distance of one to two hundred meters, but it was not easy to fire.
Because the artillery of the Ming army were all deployed on horse-drawn carriages, they had to go through some complicated preparations when they arrived at the place.
For example, some artillery must be moved from the carriage and then fixed so that it can be fired, such as the Crouching Tiger Cannon.
There are also some that can be fired directly on the carriage, but the wheels of the carriage must be dismantled first and then staked to fix them.
This is a huge limitation of the lack of advanced gun mounts, and the preparation work is too long.
Before they even deployed, numerous 600-jin artillery pieces and 200-jin light artillery pieces from the Baoxiang Army were already aiming at them and firing intensively at them.
Under the intensive bombardment, a large number of surviving Ming army gunners suffered a devastating blow.
The artillery unit of the Ming Army failed to deal any effective blow to the Baoxiang Army from beginning to end. It suffered heavy losses and was unable to play any role at all.
The artillery of the Ming Army was almost useless, and the infantry were not much better. After a group of Ming Army infantry who rushed at the forefront entered a distance of 100 meters, they came under intensive fire from the musketeers from the 1st Infantry Brigade. There were heavy casualties.
And when they finally got close, they found that the bandits in front were in a dense formation, and at the same time, there were neat rows of armored spearmen in front of them. They were like hedgehogs, making it hard for people to eat.
At the same time, they continued to be continuously killed by Baoxiang Army musketeers and light artillery.
As the Ming army continued to approach, the First Infantry Brigade not only did not retreat, but continued to press forward!
A large number of heavily armored spearmen at the front steadily moved forward. They formed a dense formation and continued to press forward under the cover of the musketeers on both sides.
Such a situation caused many Ming soldiers to retreat involuntarily!
They had experienced a large number of casualties, and they were still encountering intensive casualties at the same time. The morale of the army was already at the bottom. After the First Infantry Brigade of the Baoxiang Army stepped forward to put pressure on them, they finally could no longer hold on.
At first, the Ming soldiers in the front row started to turn around and want to run, followed by hundreds, thousands!
It didn't take long before almost the entire central army and the Ming army of several thousand people in the right army ran back together.
No matter how Lu Xiangsheng at the back gave orders, no matter how the senior generals shouted, or even used personal soldiers to supervise the battle, they could not stop the thousands of Ming soldiers from running for their lives.
It’s over!
Lu Xiangsheng closed his eyes, sighed and no longer hesitated, but ordered: "Withdraw the entire army to Sanyuan Village!"
The frontal field battle was completely over. Now all Lu Xiangsheng could do was to collect the defeated troops as much as possible and retreat to Sanyuan Village.
Fortunately, he had a premonition that something was not going to happen from the beginning. He did not order the three thousand Ming troops on the left wing to go into battle before. Otherwise, even the stronghold of Sanyuan Village would be gone.
As Lu Xiangsheng officially ordered the retreat, the Ming army at the front could not run any longer.
It didn't take long for it to completely collapse. Thousands of people were running towards the rear all over the mountains and plains. The speed was so fast that it was even difficult for the 1st Infantry Brigade to maintain a complete formation and pursue it.
But at this time, there is no need to keep the first infantry brigade and the baggage battalion in full formation. The right way is to rush forward and pursue the enemy directly.
Luo Zhixue immediately ordered the 1st Infantry Brigade and the baggage battalion to attack, and divided them into battalions to pursue the enemy.
At the same time, the cavalry brigade attacked to cover up the enemy.
The artillery brigade began to bombard the enemy array, which still maintained an organized formation.
However, as a precaution, Luo Zhixue also ordered the personal barracks to move out. This was to guard against the enemy's left wing, which was still intact.
The ensuing battle cannot be called a battle. Basically, the First Infantry Brigade and Cavalry Brigade of the Baoxiang Army and the heavy supply battalion cooperated with each other to hunt down and capture a large number of defeated Ming troops. There was no further outbreak between the two sides. There was not even one organized large-scale battle.
A pursuit lasted for more than an hour, and it came to an end when some of the remaining Ming troops retreated to Sanyuan Village, while more Ming troops fled the battlefield and did not know their whereabouts.
As soon as the pursuit battle ended, Xu Zhixian couldn't wait to report to Luo Zhixue with the preliminary statistics.
"According to our statistics, in addition to the enemy's more than a thousand troops originally deployed in Sanyuan Village, the enemy's left wing of 2,000 troops also successfully withdrew into Sanyuan Village, and about a thousand more defeated troops fled into Sanyuan Village. village."
"Currently, there are estimated to be about 5,000 enemy troops in Sanyuan Village. In addition, the enemy troops have also transported a large amount of baggage to Sanyuan Village. It is estimated that there will be no shortage of food in the short term."
"Among the remaining enemy troops, we killed about 1,200 people on the spot, not counting the wounded. In addition, we also captured about 4,000 prisoners and about 2,000 enemy troops. Including the three hundred cavalrymen who escaped before, they have completely fled the battlefield and have no idea where they ended up."
"In addition to the enemy troops, we also controlled about 3,000 civilians accompanying the enemy's rear, and at least 2,000 civilians fled."
"As for our army's casualties, the current statistics are forty-three killed and eighty-seven injured."
Xu Zhixian finished his brief report and said with excitement: "Our army has won a great victory in this battle!"
Huang Guangmao, who was standing next to him, also spoke in time: "Congratulations, General, congratulations, General. After this battle, our army will no longer have any rivals in Xiangyang, and we can expect to achieve hegemony!"
Others also stepped forward in time, congratulating Luo Zhixue one by one, and at the same time, their words were full of hope for the future.
Nowadays, the hegemony of the Baoxiang Army can be expected. Luo Zhixue will definitely be crowned king or even emperor by then, and people like them will also be the founding heroes, and they will be indispensable for glory and wealth.
Many people have even fantasized about what kind of title they can get when the Home Guard Army officially takes over Chubei and the general founds the country and proclaims himself king and emperor.
