Chapter seven hundred and eighty-eight minister, it is really powerless!
After Wang Yiqi ordered the cavalry to attack the Tang Army's left artillery position, the situation on the battlefield changed dramatically in an instant.
Originally, the two sides were just testing each other. Although the fighting was lively, it actually failed to damage the foundation of both sides. But now, with the biggest trump card in Wang Yiqi's hand, three thousand cavalry under his command were dispatched.
However, Li Chunjing decisively launched a full-scale military offensive!
That was not an attack by one battalion or one regiment, but a huge attack involving two divisions and two mixed regiments, with more than 30,000 infantrymen launching the charge!
The Ming army on the opposite side was frightened at first, but they also knew that there was no way to hide. The generals of the Ming army also urged their troops to fight!
The main force of the Chinese army, that is, the numerous huge phalanxes formed by the Jiangnan New Army, were the first to directly collide with the 7th Infantry Division in front of them.
However, although our own side had more troops, the fight left Wang Yiqi in the rear with a deep expression on his face.
Although the army under his command was more powerful, after a round of volley fire and explosive bomb throwing by the rebels, the soldiers in the front row suffered heavy casualties, which affected the morale of the entire army.
And the hand-to-hand battle that followed was even more unbelievable.
There are really too many armored men in the rebel army. Not only are the spearmen in the front row wearing full-body armor that exudes metallic light, but most of the spearmen in the back row are also wearing half-body armor or traditional armor.
armor.
Many of the musketeers in the front row also wore cotton armor and breastplates.
These heavily armored thief soldiers didn't have much power before, but during the hand-to-hand combat stage between the two sides, they burst out with incredible power.
Often a team of rebel spearmen can kill hundreds of our own people and be defeated!
A huge phalanx of tens of thousands of people on our side could withstand the attack of an infantry regiment. However, this huge phalanx on the right wing could only hold on for a mere quarter of an hour, and finally collapsed completely!
And this is not a unique situation, but is the case on almost the entire front!
One after another, the phalanxes were defeated by the rebels. The Ming army's stragglers were almost spread across the entire front. They were running around in panic and confusion, trying to leave this huge battlefield. However, this huge battlefield spread for several miles, how could they
Such an easy escape.
Seeing the troops on the front line being continuously defeated, Wang Yiqi could still remain calm, with a dark expression on his face at most, but the faces of several other Ming army generals on the side were filled with panic.
"This is not a battle at all, this is massacre, this is massacre!" A deputy general on the side obviously couldn't accept the scene in front of him. At this time, he became confused and said something he shouldn't have said.
Although the people on the side were not so arrogant, their expressions were not much better. One person walked up to Wang Yiqi and whispered: "Sir, we can't go on like this!"
Wang Yiqi did not look back at him, but said: "It doesn't work, maybe you have a better way?"
The man was stunned after hearing this. What could he do at this moment? The armies of both sides were already fighting together. Even if they wanted to make tactical adjustments, it was impossible.
Now the soldiers on both sides of the front line are fighting entirely by relying on the instincts of the soldiers and the command of middle and low-level officers. Not to mention the generals in the rear, even the commanders and commanders of the front line are unable to control the troops.
Now all they can do is wait, waiting for good news to come from the front line, or for the entire army to be defeated!
After they watched for a while, someone suddenly said: "Sir, our cavalry has retreated!"
Wang Yiqi looked in the direction indicated, and saw that the cavalry he had sent to attack the rebel left artillery position were already retreating like a tide, and the number of cavalry was less than half of what it was before departure.
, there were hundreds of thief cavalry chasing them from behind.
"A bunch of trash, trash!" At this time, Wang Yiqi's expression finally changed!
"Three thousand cavalry can't break through the rebel artillery positions, but they are still being chased by hundreds of rebel cavalry. These losers deserve to die!"
Those were three thousand cavalry. They were all elite cavalry drawn from the northern border towns. I dare not say that all of them were skilled in bows and horses, but most of them were elite cavalry who could shoot arrows immediately. However, in this battle,
First, they were intercepted by the rebel infantry and artillery, and then they were repeatedly charged and killed twice by the 800 rebel cavalry, completely disrupting their formation.
Now, the remaining more than a thousand cavalry have no intention of fighting, or in other words, they simply do not have the courage to continue fighting. They are actually being chased by the rebel cavalry who are far smaller than themselves.
The cavalry is finished!
Wang Yiqi withdrew his gaze, and then stopped looking at the armies of both sides fighting off the field, because he knew what the outcome of this battle would be without looking at it.
At the beginning of the melee between the two sides, when his first phalanx of ten thousand people collapsed, he knew that he had lost this battle!
What's more, he failed to find any reason to defend himself!
An army of 100,000 people faced off against an army of 40,000 rebels, and the two sides fought openly and openly. There was no conspiracy or trickery in the whole process, but the rebel army had the advantage from beginning to end.
They used artillery to continuously bombard their own phalanx, causing their own infantry phalanx to suffer heavy losses before they even engaged in the battle. Our cavalry tried to raid the enemy's artillery positions to change the disadvantage faced by Su, but they also
Failed.
By now, he is very clear that this battle has been lost!
Wang Yiqi retracted his gaze from the front line, and then gave a few instructions to the soldiers around him. Then these soldiers took his letters and rushed back, and then left the battlefield.
There were three letters sent away, one to General Yu. Wang Yiqi ordered him to lead his troops to break out of the encirclement immediately after receiving the order. As for how to break out of the encirclement and where to go, Wang Yiqi did not say because he did not know where to ask Yu Dayou to break out of the encirclement.
A letter was sent to Jinling, informing the troops and officials left behind in Jinling that the battle had been lost, and asked them to stick to the city defense and be sure to keep the bridgehead of Jinling City, so that they could have a bridgehead to counterattack Jiangnan in the future.
A letter was sent to the capital. It was the last letter he sent to Emperor Zhengde. In the letter, he analyzed the puppet Tang rebels and the situation in the world in detail, and finally made a bold suggestion to negotiate peace with the rebels. If the talks could be successful, he would first draw the river.
To rule the country, we must endure hardship for ten years and then counterattack ten years later. If this fails, we will retreat to the north of the Yangtze River and resist every step of the way.
After watching the soldiers go away, he turned back to look at the battlefield. On the battlefield, his right wing had completely collapsed. Multiple huge phalanxes composed of more than 10,000 rebel troops were slowly advancing toward his side.
The Chinese army advances.
Tens of thousands of Jiangnan New Army troops from our own central army are making a final stubborn resistance. They have to face at the same time the more than 10,000 rebel troops directly in front and the more than 10,000 people coming from the right.
The left wing composed of frontier troops and guard soldiers was also facing its final collapse at this time. Many small square formations were defeated, and then the soldiers fled. The rebels even moved many artillery to the front of the formation, and then approached to attack.
bombardment.
When charging, explosive bombs were thrown into one's own square formation for free.
Wang Yiqi naturally didn't know that Li Chunjing brought quite a lot of grenades during this expedition, with a total of more than 50,000 grenades. All of these 50,000 grenades were distributed before the war. Except for the grenadiers, ordinary grenades
The musketeers basically brought grenades. Although the distance they could throw grenades was not as good as the grenadiers, they could still fire and throw them.
A quarter of an hour later, the left wing was also finished!
Wang Yiqi sighed at this time, and then said: "Ming Jin withdraws his troops, we can take back as many as we can!"
Seeing that the entire army was about to be completely defeated, Wang Yiqi finally gave the order to retreat, which made a group of people around him breathe a big sigh of relief. He was just afraid that Wang Yiqi would be like that lunatic Cheng Hongan, and he would not run away without saying a word.
The generals under his command were not allowed to flee for their lives.
When Cheng Hongan was defeated, he poisoned his generals. After this incident was later spread, it caused a great shock. Some people praised Cheng Hongan's behavior, while others cursed him.
However, after many Ming army generals learned about this, they would inevitably be more defensive. The soldiers nearby were not only Wang Yiqi's soldiers, but also the soldiers of other generals.
If Wang Yiqi asked them to drink a glass of wine at this time, they would probably attack first and kill him directly!
Even if you want to die, don't kill us!
Although they don't want to die in battle, they can reluctantly accept it, but if they are killed by their own people, the nature of it is completely different.
After listening to Wang Yiqi's order to withdraw his troops, the others silently mounted their horses one by one, preparing to withdraw from the battlefield with their soldiers, but Wang Yiqi did not move.
Bystanders glanced at Wang Yiqi, and most of them could guess what Wang Yiqi wanted to do. Some people sighed and left directly, while a few people walked up to Wang Yiqi: "Sir, we should leave, too late.
It’s too late!”
Wang Yiqi looked back at him: "You go ahead, I won't leave!"
Although Wang Yiqi didn't say it clearly, others could see what he wanted to do. The person who persuaded him sighed and left!
Wang Yiqi watched everyone else leave, then looked at the dozen or so soldiers who were still here, and said with a smile: "You guys can leave too!"
The dozen or so soldiers shook their heads in unison!
After hearing this, Wang Yiqi stopped talking and nodded slightly: "That's fine, it's up to you!"
At this time, Ming Jin's order to retreat had been spread throughout the entire army. Not to mention the collapsed left and right wings of the Ming army, each one began to scramble to escape. Even the tens of thousands of Chinese Jiangnan New Army who had been resisting before, this time
At that time, he also started to retreat.
Of course, the retreat in this situation would be more accurate to say a retreat than a rout.
But Wang Yiqi no longer cares about these!
He began to arrange his clothes. After finishing, he stretched out his hand: "Knife!"
The soldier on the side hesitated for a moment, and finally took out the sword and handed it to Wang Yiqi's hand, crying: "Sir!"
Wang Yiqi did not look at the man. After taking the knife, he turned and looked north, looking in the direction of the Forbidden City: "Your Majesty, I have tried my best!"
Then he looked back at the defeated army in front, and continued to murmur: "But the rebel army is much stronger than expected, I, there is really nothing I can do!"
Wang Yiqi's voice became louder and louder: "Although the soldiers fought hard to kill the enemy, the bandit army had sharp guns and thick armor and sharp arrows, so that a hundred thousand troops were wiped out in one day!"
"That's an army of 100,000 people!"
"A whole hundred thousand troops!"
After saying that, he just raised the knife and wiped it on his neck, and the blood arrow immediately spurted out. As he fell to the ground, he looked at the sky for the last time, still with deep reluctance!