Chapter 107 Shaohu Shuai breaks through the formation (2)
As expected, Hu Dawei's troops turned to Luo Dain and Li Shuangxi in the outer positions. They only had some simple temporary fortifications, and their strength was not that strong compared to the defenders of Shangcai Camp. Under the fierce offensive of the Baoding soldiers, they immediately
Showing signs of being unable to hold on.
Hu Dawei was very anxious. He had a premonition that Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai and others had disappeared. It was very likely that they had passed through Ruyang and cut off the retreat of the officers and soldiers. If they did not quickly eliminate this bandit and adjust the posture of the Baoding soldiers, then the officers and soldiers would
The army may be in danger of being annihilated.
Therefore, he did not hesitate to put on his armor and go into battle in person. The last time Hu Dawei went to the front line to kill the enemy was when he fought the Manchu soldiers in Julu in the 11th year of Chongzhen. He drew a sword that had not seen blood for a long time and took the lead in breaking through the party's defense system.
The two wooden fences set up almost completely broke through the outer bandit positions.
At the critical moment, Luo Yanqing, a female general, stood up with her sword and fought back with more than a hundred wounded soldiers. She killed more than twenty of Hu Dawei's capable servants and guarded the last wooden fence.
However, the entire rebel battle line was shaken, and there were even more than a dozen of Luo Dain's men, and more than a dozen people scattered and fled backwards.
Li Shuang gritted his teeth in anger, and said regretfully to Dang Shousu: "If I had known that the Baoding soldiers were so ferocious, we should have followed Gu Kecheng into the battle before they encircled them!"
Dang Shousu also felt regretful, but he believed that Li Zicheng's main army would arrive soon, and persuaded Li Shuangxi: "The marshal's troops will definitely arrive on the battlefield soon. We only need to hold on for the last breath, and the tiger will be powerful."
completely annihilated."
"I'm afraid we can't hold on to this last breath..."
Hu Dawei changed his tactics when he saw that the cavalry of the servants were forced to break through the wooden fence and were repulsed by Luo Yanqing's counterattack. He ordered his deputy Zhang Pengyi to transfer more than a dozen Hongyi cannons that were originally used to bombard Shangcai Camp, and use the cannons to concentrate their firepower to bombard the outside.
Rebels.
Luo Dain and Li Shuangxi had far less experience with artillery than Li Laiheng. At most, they had seen some Baizi cannons and prisoner-killing cannons used by Henan officers and soldiers. How had they ever seen the Hongyi cannon with such ferocious firepower?
Under the fierce bombardment by the government troops, the rebels finally could no longer hold on.
Luo Yanqing himself was also injured by the gravel gradually raised by the red barbarian cannon, and fainted to the ground. In desperation, Luo Danian even used force to suppress the fleeing wave like the army. However, with the loss of the last wooden fence, the morale of the rebel army had reached its peak.
The edge of disintegration cannot be stopped by human power.
Li Shuangxi roared angrily. He was not willing to be passively beaten like this. He squeezed the horse's belly with his legs and rushed out with the last batch of fresh troops. No matter how hard Dang Shousu tried to stop him, he could only sigh, grit his teeth, and lead the troops.
The soldiers on the left and right followed Li Shuangxi in a desperate counterattack.
Their counterattack did cause Hu Dawei a little trouble. He probably didn't expect that the intruders still had the fighting spirit to counterattack when they were unable to stand after being bombarded by Hongyi artillery. They were caught off guard for a while, leaving Li Shuangxi and the party defenders.
Su broke through several formations in succession and was almost killed by them until he reached the artillery position.
However, after Hu Dawei reacted, he immediately mobilized the concentrated army to prepare, and intercepted the troops of Li Shuangxi and Dang Shousu with double-teams on the left and right. Although both of them were first-class generals in the army, they were outnumbered, and it was difficult for them to rush left and right.
Break out of the situation and almost be destroyed here.
Li Shuangxi was stabbed several times by the Baoding soldiers. If his armor had not protected his vital parts, these few stabs would have killed him. The iron helmet he was wearing was also knocked crooked by several arrows, making him look very embarrassed, and his face
The one above was covered in the blood of himself and his enemies, and his face was ferocious.
Two more Baoding cavalrymen came over from the left and right. Li Shuangxi sneered a few times and threw his Yanling knife to kill one person. Then he drew out his waist knife to block the spear of the other person and waited for the war horse to get close.
, he used his horse power to punch the man in the face, and knocked him off his horse with brute force.
Li Shuangxi laughed at Dang Shouxu and said, "I killed two officers and soldiers, and I no longer lose money!"
Dang Shousu led his soldiers to attack repeatedly, still trying in vain to open a bloody path. He even felt that the strength of the official army had also reached its limit. As long as one more team of soldiers and horses... just one more team
With his troops and horses, he was absolutely confident of repelling Hu Dawei's offensive.
At this moment, Dang Shousu suddenly saw a look of surprise in Li Shuangxi's eyes. He looked over with Li Shuangxi's gaze and found that the flags behind the army were suddenly in chaos. Was it King Chuang?
But what he saw was not Li Zicheng's army, but Li Laiheng alone with his own cavalry, with their swords out of their sheaths, shining silver, charging rampant behind the officers and soldiers.
Li Laiheng's troops marched neatly, were majestic and full of energy, and their formations varied. Before approaching the officers and soldiers, they fired a wave of three-eyed muskets captured in the Shangcai barracks to disrupt the formation of the Baoding soldiers and attack them.
caught them off guard.
Dang Shousu never expected that the person who saved his life would be Li Laiheng. Li Shuangxi was overjoyed and led his troops towards Li Laiheng.
When Luo Dayen, who was in the rear, saw the changes in the battle situation, he gritted his teeth and led all the remaining troops who still had fighting spirit to abandon the dilapidated Muzha defense line. The entire army counterattacked one last time and tried their best to defeat the enemy.
The officers and soldiers pushed back.
Hu Dawei was shocked that Li Laiheng took the initiative to attack the camp. He did not expect that the defenders at Shangcai camp still had so many fresh troops available, and the uneasiness in his heart became even stronger.
"Retreat first, adjust your position, and don't fight with the bandit's trapped beast soldiers!"
Hu Dawei ordered all the troops to take a step back. Zhang Pengyi could not understand and persuaded: "Zhentai! The bandits are no longer able to survive. As long as we try hard again, the bandits will be completely wiped out. Now that we can take a breath, we don't know what to do."
How much effort does it take to kill the traitors!"
Hu Dawei raised his whip and slapped Zhang Pengyi in the face, scolding: "Go and adjust the situation quickly, move the entire army's position to the north!"
Zhang Pengyi covered the right side of his face, stopped retorting, turned around, patted his horse and ordered to stop the offensive, asking the Baoding troops to adjust their positions slightly to the north.
Yang Wenyue, who was watching the battle with the Chinese army, saw that when the soldiers were about to defeat the rogue bandits, they suddenly stopped attacking and turned north one after another. He was very angry and immediately took a group of staff to talk to Hu Dawei.
He scolded: "The army has no discipline, and the generals cannot follow orders. I thought General Tiger was a rare loyal and brave general, but I didn't expect that he is also such a domineering and reckless general!"
Hu Dawei remained silent. He watched the two troops of Li Laiheng and Li Shuangxi merge smoothly, and the morale of the rogue bandits was restored. He knew that the opportunity to annihilate this elite rogue bandit had been completely missed.
"Master Taiwan, if we don't go north, we won't be able to leave."
He raised his head and looked far to the south. A large cloud of smoke and dust was sweeping towards Shangcai. It was the reinforcements that Li Guo and Liu Fangliang had arrived first, and the main army of Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai followed closely behind.
If Hu Dawei had not made a decisive decision and given up his stubborn fight with Li Laiheng, I am afraid that the entire Baoding army would have been annihilated and trapped here.
Yang Wenyue was shocked and said: "The thieves are coming from the south... Ruyang has been lost?"
Hu Dawei lamented: "Ruyang has been lost. Sir, let's retreat north quickly to join forces with Qin and Henan, so that the whole army will not be wiped out!"
Baoding's army of more than 10,000 soldiers hurriedly withdrew northward. Although Hu Dawei was prepared, he still seemed very panicked. Li Guo and Liu Fangliang seized the opportunity, and after breaking the siege of Shangcai Camp, they pursued them one after another.
They chased Yang Wenyue and Hu Dawei for two days and one night, and pursued them all the way to the gates of Yancheng before retreating.
Hu Dawei's more than 10,000 elite troops lost nearly 1,000 people in the battle of Shangcai Camp. On the way to the north of Yancheng, they were chased by Li Guo and Liu Fangliang, killing and wounding nearly 2,000 people.
In addition, more than 3,000 people were appeased by Li Zicheng along the way and surrendered to join the invasion army.
After this battle, although Hu Dawei made a decisive decision and successfully led the Baoding soldiers to escape from the encirclement, he still lost most of them. As a strategic corps of the Central Plains official army, the Baoding Army had lost its independent strength.
However, the cost paid by the Allied Forces of Cao Cao was also high. Not only did they fail to annihilate all the Baoding soldiers as expected before the war, but the elite vanguard force of the entire army of 4,000 people also suffered nearly half casualties and lost about 2,000 people.
For both the rebels and the government, this was a difficult result to swallow.
But Li Laiheng couldn't care about that much for the time being. His hands were still shaking. During the previous counterattack, if Zhang Pizhu hadn't risked his life to save him and blocked several attacks with his body, he would have almost died.
The Baoding army was hit.
Even now, when I think about it, I still feel scared.
It's just that such a victory, even a tragic victory, makes Li Laiheng increase his confidence in himself. Next time, if he needs to fight desperately, he will be more confident and sure to win with his own ten fingers.
"The handsome young tiger!"
The defenders who rushed out from Shangcai camp, including Gu Kecheng, Yang Chengzu, Hao Yaoqi, Ma Bao and others, rushed to Li Laiheng's side and supported him.
Even Yang Chengzu, who had always had no good impression of the Chuang Army, praised: "What a tiger. No wonder the Generalissimo commands an army with you alone."
Li Laiheng asked: "Are the brothers seriously injured?"
Hao Yaoqi remained silent, and Ma Bao replied from the side: "There were 1,500 defenders, more than 400 were killed, and countless others were injured."
"A miserable victory...!"
Yang Chengzu said with relief: "Many people from Baoding surrendered. They are all good soldiers. With the supplement of these surrendered troops, the strength of the rebel army will not decrease but increase."