Since the death of Yuan Shizhong, Yuan Shitai has brought a group of old troops from the Xiao Yuan Camp to serve Li Laiheng loyally. Although the Xiao Yuan Camp is not directly related to the breakout army, its combat effectiveness is one step better than that of the ordinary rebels, and its strength is not even inferior to that of Liu Fangliang.
The left camp of the Chuang Army.
Chen Yongfu dispatched the army very carefully. He arranged Yuan Shitai and other former members of the Xiaoyuan Battalion to be on the front line of blocking the decisive battle of Baiyangdian. This was not only taking into account the tenacity and defensive characteristics of the Xiaoyuan Battalion, but also considering that relatively many people were from Shaanxi, Henan, and Huguang.
The soldiers of the Xiaoyuan camp, mainly from Hebei, were direct descendants of the Chuang army and were more adapted to the climate conditions in the Baiyangdian area.
Although the heavy snow had stopped for a long time, there was still a biting cold air on the ice. The gray Baiyangdian was trembling slightly due to the actions of the two armies. Yuan Shitai exhaled a ball of hot air from his mouth and spit it on the blade.
When the blade encountered hot air, water droplets immediately condensed on the front surface, blurring the cold light.
"Captain Yuan, the vanguard of the coalition forces seems to be Donglu!"
The enemy intelligence brought back by Ye Bushuang made Yuan Shitai very nervous. Xiao Yuanying had not really fought against the Qing army, and Yuan Shitai had not participated in the Battle of Dangshan.
In the previous Battle of Baigouhe, although Xiao Yuanying's old troops followed Li Laiheng into the battle, they mainly fought against the Guan Ning Army on the western front, and few of them fought directly against the Qing Army.
Although the Battle of Dangshan and the Battle of Baigou River have ended the myth of the Qing army's invincibility. However, since the end of Wanli, the terrible impression of the Donglu's repeated victories and their power of ravaging North China has still been
Yuan Shitai couldn't help but sweat for the brothers in Little Yuanying.
"Brother Yuan... You often said back then that if you weren't bullied by a big family and had no way out, you would never revolt. Instead, you would work hard with both hands to achieve military success... Brother Yuan, you often said back then that
He said that the harvests in Henan and Hebei were so bleak, and the people were worse off than dead, all because of the slave creation and the harm to Liaodong..."
The enemy was getting closer and closer, and the murderous aura of the Qing army seemed to have rushed to the tip of Yuan Shitai's nose. At this time, he suddenly remembered many of the words Yuan Shizhong mentioned many years ago.
These brothers were originally just ordinary farmers. They were neither Zhang Xianzhong, who traveled extensively as a red date trader, nor Li Zicheng, a ruthless person who had served as a postman and was familiar with the army.
If it weren't for the extra money from the imperial court, the brothers of the Yuan family would never have gone so far as to gather in the mountains and forests.
In fact, even after Yuan Shizhong led the hungry people on the north bank of the Yellow River to revolt, they rarely killed the rich and helped the poor like Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and Luo Rucai, and took revenge on the big families who had bullied them before.
Yuan Shizhong's uprising was purely for the purpose of making a living. As long as there was a slight chance, he would work hard to obtain the favor of the court and gain a decent background.
The topic that Yuan Shizhong often mentioned to Yuan Shitai was how their brothers would go out to fight against the Eastern captives after accepting the imperial court's recruitment, and how they would protect their family and country...
"The imperial court is supposed to allow the people to live and work in peace and contentment, but today the imperial court is colluding with Brother Yuan, the Donglu whom you are bent on conquering... Brother Yuan, why do you, a wise man like you, place your hopes on those pigs?
It’s on the dog-like officials and gentry!”
Thinking of Yuan Shizhong's death, the corners of Yuan Shitai's eyes couldn't help but get wet again. However, the severe cold weather prevented him from shedding tears, and he could only feel an unusually cold touch emanating from the corners of his eyes.
The soldiers beside Yuan Shitai looked at the sad look of their commander and asked cautiously: "Captain, the Donglu are approaching...how should we fight?"
"How to fight? According to General Chen's arrangement, we will be the vanguard and attack against the trend. We cannot allow the Donglu to occupy the favorable terrain on Baiyangdian!"
Yuan Shitai did not wipe the corners of his eyes, but held the long knife across his chest. The thin layer of dew on the blade caused by the heat had completely frozen into a sheet of frost.
He immediately raised his sword and shouted to the old soldiers of Xiaoyuan Camp: "Brothers! The old commander of Xiaoyuan Camp often told us that in the future we would be recruited by the imperial court and go out to fight against the Eastern captives for the imperial court...
…”
"He often told us that the Eastern captives brought trouble to Liaodong, which was the root cause of the people all over the world being exploited and finally unable to live. As long as they go out and pacify the slaves, everyone's life will be better. But today, the imperial court
But they stood together with Donglu, and those dignified court officials and generals were actually mixed with those pigtailed Hulu...
The old palmist has a good saying, Donglu is one of the root causes that make it difficult for us to survive...but so is the imperial court! These root causes are right in front of us today, brothers, get your swords and guns! We have to rely on ourselves to survive.
Fight it out!"
Yuan Shitai raised his sword high and rushed out at the lead. After being reorganized by Li Laiheng in Shandong, the old soldiers of Xiao Yuan Camp were supplemented with a large number of new ordnance transported by Bai Wang and Bai Jiuhe from Huguang.
When you are alive, you will be even more majestic and magnificent.
Although the soldiers had a somewhat intermittent sense of fear towards the terrifying Qing army, after all, they were not the Ming army that had been repeatedly defeated by the Eastern captives for decades, and they did not have the kind of fear that truly penetrated their bones.
Unable to extricate themselves from the fear, on the battlefield, the mentality and morale of the rebel soldiers are equal to those of the Eight Banners soldiers.
Therefore, people are not afraid of Abatai's troops who serve as the vanguard of the coalition forces. On the contrary, Yuan Shitai wants to use Abatai, the Eight Banners unit, to try to see whether Yuan Shizhong's dream is correct!
"I'm fighting the Eight Banners soldiers!"
On the Baiyangdian Lake in winter, the water under the ice surged secretly, and the fallen reed poles were completely withered, and were trampled to pieces by the soldiers. The fierce charge launched by the old troops of Xiao Yuan Camp was setting off a storm on the solemn land of North China.
They stepped through the snow and ice fields. The soldiers stepped on the snow and pulled their feet out with some difficulty. However, because the people's fighting spirit was very strong, this terrain did not slow down the impact speed of the army, but instead made everyone
There was a fire in everyone's stomach, eager to decide the outcome with the legendary uncontestable Eight Banners soldiers.
"It's Donglu's flag!"
The soldiers had seen the flag of the Qing army, and Yuan Shitai's spirit was lifted. He whistled, and the pro-army cavalry rushing forward around him blew the charge horn of the new equipment.
This kind of charge was originally equipped only with soldiers and horses directly from Li Laiheng, but because its sharp whistling sound was very suitable for the atmosphere of a cavalry charge, it gradually became popular among the soldiers of Zuoying.
Now not only the Three Walls Cavalry of Zuoying, but also the old troops of Xiaoyuan Battalion are completely accustomed to using the charge of Li Laiheng's men as a sign of launching an attack.
The chants will become louder and louder, which will startle the enemy to realize that the intruders are, after all, a force that was once scornfully called "thieves."
dong dong dong
"The army will be victorious!"
In the moment before the soldiers finally came into contact with the Qing army, Yuan Shitai's words no longer emphasized their identity as belonging to Xiao Yuan's camp, but shouted another one that was more glorious and worthy of the soldiers to fight for.
New identity.
Xiaoyuan Camp was also part of the Chuang Army.
The vanguard troops stepped on the ice and quickly approached the Qing army's front line. The enemy's posture was much less rigorous than Yuan Shitai imagined.
He originally thought that what he was about to collide with would be a battle line as solid as steel, but the actual situation was that the enemy's position was already loosening before the battle began.
Yuan Shitai didn't think much about it, and the troops of the Chuang army who quickly charged could not allow him to think too much. Amidst the majestic shouts, the vanguard of the Chuang army finally entered the Qing army's battle line.
The expected fierce and fierce battle did not happen, but there was only a little fighting between the vanguard troops of both sides, and then the Qing army suddenly became shaken.
Before Yuan Shitai could fight his way into the enemy's ranks and confront those brave Eight Banners soldiers, and when he was still a long way away from the Qing army, Yuan Shitai suddenly saw large swaths of enemy flags, and he
fell down.
Before there was any battle... the enemy collapsed on its own!