In Shuilin Town, a large number of soldiers of the Home Guard Army and countless supplies gathered here. On the simple temporary emergency dock, there were a large number of civilians carrying supplies to the ships at all times.
On the landing beach, which is about several kilometers across from Shuilin Town, there are two temporary trestles with many ships leaning on them. Many soldiers and boat workers who came with the ships are carrying the supplies off the ship, and then use two-wheeled carriages or Wheelbarrows, or simply carried directly to the shore by soldiers.
A large amount of materials were transported ashore through these two temporary trestles, and then sorted into different categories on the open space.
At the same time, there were also soldiers who had gone ashore to transfer these materials to the defensive positions built by combat troops further away.
Now the entire beachhead has expanded to about a thousand meters in depth and more than a thousand meters in width.
Directly in front of and on both sides of the beach, there were breastworks and other defenses built on the spot by soldiers of the Baoxiang Army, and a large number of artillery pieces were also deployed.
A large amount of ammunition has been transported to the front line. At this time, Brigadier General Han Ziping also issued an order to launch an attack.
According to the plan, they would stay on the beach for at least two days, waiting for the engineering troops to build a pontoon bridge and for more friendly troops to cross the river.
But these two days were enough for the nearby Ming army to come over.
According to the information reported by the Intelligence Department, Wuchang City had urgently dispatched reinforcements of about 10,000 people in the morning, and Ming troops from several other camps on the west side of Wuchang City were also gradually gathering towards the landing beach.
If the Baoxiang Army does nothing, then by the evening, the Ming Army gathered here will be more than five or six thousand, and by tomorrow, it is estimated that there will be about 20,000 people.
And if we wait until tomorrow, the number of troops that the Baoxiang Army successfully crossed the river and landed will only be around 10,000 people, and they will not carry too many artillery and ammunition.
Even so, the Baoxiang Army was confident of holding the beachhead, but confidence did not mean that they had to wait for the arrival of the main force of the Ming Army.
They could completely attack and defeat the two thousand five hundred or so Ming troops in front of them before more of the main force of the Ming army arrived.
Anyway, the first batch of river-crossing troops under Han Ziping have arrived. The commandos, the 1st Infantry Regiment, the 1st Cavalry Post of the 1st Cavalry Brigade, and an artillery battalion of the 1st Artillery Regiment have successfully crossed the river and are equipped with and ammunition are all ready.
It's time to launch an attack. First, defeat the two thousand and five hundred Ming troops in front of us, so as to lay favorable conditions for facing a large number of reinforcements from the Ming army tomorrow or even the day after tomorrow.
Following Han Ziping's order, the artillery belonging to the First Artillery Regiment began to roar!
Ten two-and-a-half-pound field cannons and two five-pound field cannons that had landed on the beach and secretly maneuvered to the front line, about five hundred meters away from the Ming army camp, opened fire one after another.
After the twelve field guns opened fire, they immediately caused casualties and panic among the Ming army.
"These damn security thieves actually moved all the long cannons directly from the ship, and there are so many of them!"
"No, in addition to the two kilograms of small red cannons in the bandit army, there are also larger red cannons, at least five kilograms!"
"How did these damn security thieves transport these one or two thousand kilograms of red cannon across the river!"
"We can't hold on any longer. The rebel army's artillery is so sharp that the soldiers can't stop it!"
"The thieves' guns are sharp and cannot be stopped by manpower!"
A group of Ming army generals looked at the fierce shelling by the Baoxiang army in front, and then looked at the battered horses, wooden walls and other defenses that were hit by the rebel artillery, as well as the wounded soldiers who kept howling after being hit. They couldn't help but look panicked.
The leading general gritted his teeth, and his right hand holding the handle of the knife could not help but tremble.
He was a guard general belonging to Chu Nan's side. He had never fought against the bandit army before. He had only heard that the bandit army had sharp guns and artillery, and he had made some preparations for it.
However, he found that the sharpness of the rebels' artillery was still far beyond his previous expectations. The camp he and his people carefully built could not withstand the fierce shelling of the rebels.
Those seemingly thick wooden walls couldn't stop the cannonballs at all, not even the temporary low walls, and some defenses such as arrow towers and horses were even more useless.
He saw with his own eyes that a cannonball fired by the rebels directly penetrated the thin low wall built by his side, and then smashed the arrow tower behind the low wall, directly causing the arrow tower several feet high to collapse, and more than ten people deployed on it collapsed. An archer fell down and was killed or injured.
The cannonball fired by the rebels continued to move forward after smashing the arrow tower, sweeping through many tents along the way, and killing and wounding several unlucky people along the way.
This is at least a five-pound cannonball!
Damn it, these anti-thief troops actually brought one or two thousand kilograms of Hongyi cannon to the front line.
Before meeting the Baoxiang Army, he had never seen them before, or even heard that those heavy-duty Hongyi cannons could be pulled out for field battles.
When the field artillery opened fire, a group of six 18-pound mortars also moved forward on the move, and finally stopped at the front line about 300 meters away from the Ming army camp and launched an artillery bombardment.
As the shells fired from the eighteen-pound mortar exploded one after another, the casualties of the Ming army in the camp became even more severe.
There was artillery fire everywhere, and some tents were set on fire by shelling with explosive shells.
There were dead and wounded everywhere, and the wounded but not dead soldiers were wailing.
This war far exceeded the expectations of a group of Ming army generals. They did not expect that the war could continue like this.
The rebels actually launched an artillery attack from nearly two hundred feet away, which was completely beyond the range of the Ming army's fire counterattack.
"What should we do now?"
"Just getting beaten is not enough!"
"Why don't you rush out and fight them? As long as you rush up and destroy their artillery, it will be much easier to fight later!"
"Charge out? How can we rush over here? We haven't formed a formation yet. There are only so many casualties. If we rush out in formation, we will be a living target, and we will die even more miserably!"
"We can't hold it anymore. Sir, please think of a way quickly. If it doesn't work, let's retreat some distance temporarily!"
"After all, we have to avoid the rebel artillery. We can't just be beaten without being able to fight back!"
A group of Ming army generals were talking to each other, making the leading general even more irritable.
After a while, seeing more and more casualties on his side, the general couldn't help but ordered: "Withdraw, let's withdraw three hundred feet first."
Just like what my subordinates said, rushing out to fight back would be suicide, and staying in place would be waiting for death.
There is only one way left for them, and that is to retreat!
Not to mention running away directly, at least withdrawing from the rebel artillery range.
After the general issued the order to retreat, many frightened Ming soldiers finally breathed a sigh of relief and began to retreat.
The situation on the Ming army's side was also seen by Han Ziping. After seeing signs of retreat of the Ming army, he immediately said: "The commandos are pressing forward. The first infantry battalion and the second infantry battalion are separated enough to have two wings to press forward. cover."
"The two-and-a-half-pound field artillery comes forward, and the infantry comes forward to provide fire cover!"
"The cavalry sentry is ready to attack and pursue the defeated troops!"
After a series of orders were issued by Han Ziping, various departments of the Baoxiang Army began to take action.
The three soldiers of the rural protection army on the left, center and right began to line up, and the gunners of the two-and-a-half-pound field artillery and the two-hundred-pound light artillery also stepped forward. Even their speed was faster, directly passing the infantry and walking at the front.
Behind them were multiple ammunition trucks.
As for the two five-pound field cannons, they cannot maneuver directly on the battlefield. However, based on the range of the five-pound field cannon, they can continue bombarding even if they do not move their position until the Ming army evacuates to a kilometer away. .
This is the advantage of large-caliber field artillery.
When a two-and-a-half kilogram field gun attacks an enemy six hundred meters away, even if it hits, the damage is seriously insufficient.
However, the five-pound field artillery can maintain relatively good lethality at a distance of 700 to 800 meters, and can even carry out coverage bombardment of large-scale cluster targets at a distance of about a thousand meters.
The Baoxiang Army pressed forward under the command of Han Ziping, which also caused the Ming army in the camp to panic even more.
What was originally a relatively orderly retreat turned into chaos, because no one wanted to be the one left behind...
As a result, a large number of Ming soldiers began to retreat on their own, ignoring orders.
This chaos caused chaos in the entire retreat of the Ming army. Many Ming soldiers who were still holding on and trying to counterattack with assault cannons and muskets to buy time for retreat, saw that the surrounding areas were originally All the friendly forces behind him ran away first.
Immediately, one by one, they dropped their assault cannons, tiger cannons, muskets and other weapons and ran away.
As a result, the leading Ming army generals watched helplessly as their more than 2,000 troops retreated in an orderly manner for only a quarter of an hour before falling into complete chaos!
but……
At this time, the infantry of the Baothief Army were more than three hundred meters away from the nearest Ming army.
Neither side was even within range of infantry fire, let alone infantry engaging each other.
Only the artillery unit of the First Artillery Regiment of the Baoxiang Army was engaged effectively from beginning to end.
But just like that, his more than two thousand people collapsed.
The defeat in this battle was even more inexplicable!
————
The Ming army collapsed under the heavy pressure of the Baoxiang Army's shelling and infantry advance. Naturally, the Baoxiang Army was not polite. The commando soldiers in the play did not maintain their formation and directly launched a trot charge.
However, the fastest ones were not these so-called elite infantrymen, but the hundreds of cavalrymen from the First Cavalry Post belonging to the First Cavalry Brigade.
After receiving the order to attack, these more than a hundred cavalrymen of the rural protection army were like sharp swords and inserted directly from the left wing.
These cavalry quickly crossed a distance of several hundred meters, went all the way around from the left, and went directly to the front of the Ming army's retreat.
So a group of Ming soldiers who were fleeing for their lives saw a group of cavalry appearing in front of them!
