Luo Bin and Li Weiqun were both graduates of the first phase of the Suiying School. They were both very confident in the combat effectiveness of the elite soldiers of Gun Paobiao, so they suggested that Gun Paobiao rush into Ma Bao's camp while helping Ma Bao counterattack.
During the fierce attack on Xiying, we must seize the opportunity to repair the camp.
Because Hankou Town is at a particularly low administrative level, although it has a dense population and prosperous industry and commerce, it has not built any city walls.
For this reason, Li Weiqun believed that if the invading army wanted to repel the attack from the Western Camp, they must not abandon the camp outside the town. Not only could they not abandon it, but they also had to continue to repair and expand the camp while adding reinforcements and fighting.
It is indeed very difficult to build a new fort for oneself while fighting. However, guns and artillery are originally the elite of the invading army. They have always had the tradition of building field fortifications first when fighting. At this time, another method was used.
Tricky method: Li Fengwu ordered people to collect a large number of bamboo baskets from Hankou Town, then filled the bamboo baskets with sand and gravel, and then stacked the sand and stone bamboo baskets into a "city wall", completing the important task of repairing the fortress in a very short period of time.
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The sandstone and bamboo baskets were tied to ground piles and tied to each other, which provided a strong defense against guns and artillery. However, Zhang Dingguo was a famous general in Xiying after all, and under his command, Xiying's offensive was still extremely fierce.
Although Li Fengwu successfully led hundreds of fire rifle soldiers, he successfully rushed into the fortress and repaired the fortress wall, giving great support to Ma Bao's troops who had been hit hard.
Ma Bao was dazzled by Zhang Dingguo's surprise attack across the river, and his internal organs were shocked. Only then did he finally regain his breath. After the intruders regrouped, they relied on the fortification walls and the numerical superiority of the Western troops.
The army launched a fierce battle, and Ma Bao's cavalry troops also organized several short assaults and even broke out of the fortress wall, causing great shock to the Western Camp who was attacking the camp.
After all, Ma Bao is a general with quite good military talent. Although his talent cannot be compared with Zhang Dingguo, the troops, horses and forts in his hands have certain advantages over the Western Army.
The longer the two sides fought, the more obvious the qualitative and tactical advantages of the Chu army were. Li Fengwu's fire gun soldiers showed the most obvious performance. The new bird gun they used had far better firepower than Xiying. The gunmen's rate of fire and
The hit rate also greatly exceeded that of the soldiers of Xiying.
During the battle at Yingzi Mountain, the "thunder" power of the muskets and artillery targets had already shocked everyone. At this time, Li Fengwu let them exert the same power again, shooting fiercely in the morning mist, like a cloud from the dark clouds.
The bright thunder and lightning shined through, leaving a very deep impression on Zhang Dingguo.
Not only did the officers and soldiers call the gunmen of the Chuang Army "Ting Army", but soon after, Zhang Dingguo brought the name "Ting Army" back to Wuchang. Later, the Xiying and Gehui camps also called "Ting Army".
The reputation of the army spread to a wider geographical area.
Unknowingly, the Chuang Army themselves began to use the name "Ting Army" to refer to their elite firearms troops.
Bang, bang, bang...
The fierce firepower of the Ting Army caused heavy losses to the soldiers of the Western Camp who surrounded the camp. As the sun rose in the distance, Zhang Dingguo had already smelled the unfavorable atmosphere. He led three thousand soldiers and horses to sneak across the Yangtze River at night. If he could do it in a short time
If you cannot capture Hankou and transport a large amount of wealth back to the south bank of the Yangtze River, you will definitely not be able to resist the counterattack of the Chu army.
Not only were they unable to resist the counterattack of the intruders on the north bank of the Yangtze River, but due to the obstruction of the Yangtze River behind them, Zhang Dingguo's three thousand troops would not even have a chance to retreat to the south bank of the Yangtze River if the situation went unfavorably.
Therefore, although the hope of Xiying to break through the camp was not lost, Zhang Dingguo still ordered to blow the conch shell to retreat. The strength of the Ting army opened his eyes, and he felt that the gap between Xiying and Chuangying was not only not narrowing, but also
is expanding day by day.
All this information must be brought back to Wuchang!
Zhang Dingguo's troops were not sloppy, he was determined, and the soldiers of the Western Camp who stormed the camp retreated like a tide. Although Ma Bao wanted to pursue and kill him, he was worried that this was Zhang Dingguo's trick to lure the enemy. Considering the situation in Hankou Town,
Due to the importance, Ma Bao finally gave up his plan to pursue, and with a more prudent and stable attitude, he sat back and watched Zhang Dingguo gather his troops and retreat to the south bank of the Yangtze River.
In this brief conflict between the Chuang Army and the Western Army in front of Hankou Town, the Western Army relied on the suddenness of tactics to gain an early advantage. Ma Bao's immediate panic almost caused the Chuang Army to be defeated by Zhang Dingguo, but Jiao Da
His bravery and composure and Li Fengwu's decisive actions, of course, the most important thing was the qualitative advantage of the Chuang Army compared to the Western Army, which made the balance of victory and defeat tip to the side of the Chuang Army.
When Ma Bao showed off his victory over Hanyang Prefecture, he also needed to learn more from the conflict in Hankou Town. Of course, Ma Bao probably did not expect that in later history, he would be active in the annals of history as an important lieutenant of Li Dingguo.
He also learned countless valuable experiences from Li Dingguo, and finally achieved Li Dingguo's greatest victory against the Qing Dynasty after Zheng Chenggong's death during the San Francisco Revolution.
Li Laiheng, who was resting in Hanchuan County, heard about the battle of Hankou Town from Gu Junen. Because the scale of the battle was small, Li Laiheng did not care much about the specific process of the battle. He was more concerned about whether the wealth of Hankou Town
Has it been damaged? How will the diplomatic relations between the Chuang Army and the Western Army develop in the future?
Gu Junen asked tentatively: "Commander Jiejie, the Xiying camp has not yet established a stable foothold in Wuchang. If we mobilize all the Zuozhen naval forces that have been recruited and cross the river with all our strength, we may not be able to defeat Zhang Xianzhong and recapture Wuchang."
Li Laiheng hummed softly, without commenting. He had his own opinion. He did not follow Gu Junen's tentative suggestion, but thought to himself:
"Mr. Liu has come back, right? The old camp will be moved to Xiangyang during this period. You Ci, Uncle Qing, and I have also been apart for a long time, and we miss you even more!"
Fang Yiren indeed understood Li Laiheng's thoughts better than Gu Junen. As soon as he heard Li Laiheng mention the name of storyteller Liu Jingting, he understood the intention of Shao Hushuai and said slowly:
"Mr. Liu is currently in Jingzhou. The Western Camp failed in its attack on Hankou. It is estimated that Zhang Xianzhong will not rashly raise troops against me in the short term. Perhaps we can invite Mr. Liu to Wuchang to meet with the Western Camp to show that we will not embarrass Zhang Xianzhong.
"
"Well, Leshan's method is very good, just do it like this."
Li Laiheng clapped his hands twice and praised Fang Yiren's idea. He did not intend to capture Wuchang now. Not only would the army pay a lot of additional losses and costs, but also taking Wuchang too quickly would mean that Gao Yigong could
Being appointed as the Wuyue Jiedu Envoy soon also means that he, the "Jianghuai Economic and Strategic Envoy", will have to temporarily leave the Huguang base camp.
Li Laiheng had made up his mind to work as a foreigner with Li Guomo for a while, not to mention that he also wanted to wait until the old camp moved to Xiangyang, then go back to Xiangyang to see his little sister Youci, whom he had not seen for a long time.
Gu Junen, who could not figure out what Li Laiheng was thinking, didn't know why. He looked at Fang Yiren's half-smiling expression, frowned, and then reported:
"The surrendered Zuozhen Navy led by Liu Xiyao and Lin Chengcheng has captured Yidu, Zhijiang, Songzi, Gong'an, Shishou, Huarong and other counties located on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Yidu, Zhijiang, Songzi, Gong'an and other counties
, Shi Capital is in Jingzhou Prefecture, and Huarong is already in Yuezhou Prefecture, are we going to take advantage of the navy to go straight to Yuezhou and control Dongting Lake?"
Yuezhou controls the intersection of Dongting Lake and the Yangtze River, and also controls the Pianyuan area from the north of Huguang into what is later known as Hunan. Its position is very important. But Li Laiheng is still focusing on delaying time and wasting foreign workers. He does not want to attack Wuchang Prefecture quickly.
and Yuezhou Prefecture, and Li Laiheng was also a little worried about the navy being controlled by Liu Xiyao.
The manipulative Shao Hushuai left Yuezhou, which was almost unguarded, and did not go to take it. Instead, he said to Gu Junen:
"The navy has not been inducted for a long time and has not made any formal changes. Its troops are still old people from Zuozhen and their military discipline is very poor. If Liu Xiyao and others are allowed to supervise the navy and continue to attack the south bank of the Yangtze River, I am afraid that sooner or later those old people from Zuozhen will cause trouble.
What big trouble is coming? Let's do it this way. The navy will stop moving south and retreat to Jingzhou for a while. Then we will transfer some reliable people from Suizhou and other places. It is necessary for us to make drastic reorganization of the navy in Zuozhen.