The addition of Zhu Wenzhen further expanded the battle loss ratio between the two sides from the original one to two to one to three to more than one to five. The lives of the bandit soldiers were being harvested rapidly.
And the longer the fight lasted, the more reinforcements came from other directions. Zhang Xianzhong's army also threw in the last reserves, but it still failed to reverse the situation. It could only watch its own side slowly lose blood, and its morale gradually declined.
After all, the generals at the front of Zhang Xianzhong's army already knew that they had no reserves, so everyone filled them in.
The soldiers are still in the dark, relying on the belief that "we have more people" for the time being. Even if they see their comrades on the left and right constantly falling to death, they will not immediately run away. If there is no such information asymmetry, I am afraid it will only
Collapse faster.
Zhu Wenzhen led the cavalry in a bloody battle, charging back and forth. The fighting lasted no more than half a stick of incense. After the initial impact and vigor of the Ming army's cavalry gradually depleted, the casualties began to increase.
But at this time, Jin Shenghuan, who was in the siege camp in the east of the city, had also arrived with the main force of the Ming army, and there was even Chen Shuren personally taking charge.
Although Zhang Xianzhong also invested the last reserve team and turned the entire battlefield into a pot of porridge, the situation was still developing in an increasingly unfavorable direction for him.
The last two straws that broke Zhang Xianzhong's back finally appeared after the whole battle lasted for about two hours, at about half-time (10 a.m.).
First, it was Zuo Zixiong who led the exhausted troops who had retreated from the Hengshan Guard battlefield, about seven to eight thousand people, into the battle.
Secondly, Lin Chengcheng and Liu Sandaomen from the west of the city also arrived on the battlefield at almost the same time.
Lin Chengcheng also raised his own banner without hesitation, and ordered people to charge and scold the formation at the same time, disrupting Zhang Xianzhong's morale.
"Zhang Xianzhong is a thief! You have fallen into my family's plan to support Taiwan! You are a traitor and a traitor! If you hadn't coerced us into rebelling, our brothers in the other four battalions of the 5th and 4th Battalion of the Gezuo Battalion wouldn't have suffered such heavy casualties! It's all!
You have made it impossible for us to be loyal to the imperial court! Fortunately, Shen Futai ignored the past grudges!
Do you think I really care about your dirty money! But you broke your promise and didn’t want to give me even these dirty money! You deserve to die today! All the bastards who follow Zhang Xianzhong will be betrayed by him sooner or later!"
In fact, Lin Chengcheng has long wanted to join the battle and prove himself.
However, Chen Shuren had previously told him to be patient, but until he found out that Zhang Xianzhong had invested his final strategic reserve force, Lin Chengcheng could not act rashly.
Chen Shuren did this, of course, not to preserve Lin's strength, but because he was afraid that Zhang Xianzhong would find out in advance that he had fallen into the trap and would not dare to bet again, so he would not lose enough in the end.
Zhang Xianzhong must push the chips and bet them all. If Lin Chengyang appears again, Zhang Xianzhong will not be able to stop even if he wants to.
It has to be said that the sudden appearance of Lin Chengcheng, and the fact that he was charging and cursing at the same time, had a huge impact on the morale of Zhang Xianzhong's old camps in Shaanxi and Henan.
Because many of them knew that the 5th Battalion of Gezuo were originally comrades in arms, Zhang Xianzhong always said in his morale-boosting rhetoric that "Although the Shen Army has excellent weapons, their people are not united, and the men he has conquered will not fight for him."
There are only so many direct troops who are truly reliable if they work hard."
Lin Chengcheng's personal statement was tantamount to slapping Zhang Xianzhong's lies in the face.
Who said that the Shenshu people were unpopular? Even the peasant soldiers who surrendered were determined to work for the Shenshu people. How could this be called unpopular? In contrast, shouldn't Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates doubt their lives?
Zhang Xianzhong couldn't help but become furious. As the saying goes, heretics are more hateful than heretics, and Japanese devils are more hateful than Japanese devils. He quickly ordered Feng Shuangli to send all his soldiers and even flag formations over to block Lin Cheng's path. The two armies soon fought like crazy.
Got together.
Lin Chengcheng had also been holding back for a long time and had no chance to perform. Today, he just beat Zhang Xianzhong to accept the certificate of nomination, so he did not dare to reserve his strength.
In fact, his three battalions were mixed with sand and were broken up and reorganized. Only about two-thirds of the veterans were brought from the Dabie Mountains by him for many years, and the remaining one-third were Liu San.
Sword soldiers, as well as the newly recruited troops from Huangzhou at that time.
But no matter what, the proportion of veterans in the Fifth Battalion of Gezuo is still good, and the combat effectiveness is relatively brave. At least it is not weaker than Zhang Xianzhong's old camp in Henan, and at most it is not as good as Zhang Xianzhong's old camp in Shaanxi.
Before the war, Lin Chenggong had repeatedly publicized that as long as he fought well in this battle, he would be able to fully enjoy the treatment of the direct line officers and soldiers in the future. The soldiers who had lived in poverty for a long time were also looking forward to it, and everyone was high in fighting spirit.
Soon, a bloody massacre involving Shaanxi people from both sides broke out in the southwest corner of the battle formation. Regardless of the cost, Lin Chengcheng attacked the left wing of Zhang Xianzhong's army formation from west to east, and for a while his limbs were broken.
Flying around, bleeding and drifting.
Neither side had many firearms, so they just fought hand-to-hand with swords and guns.
However, Zhang Xianzhong's army was already in a tight situation in all directions. In the end, the number of people brought by Feng Shuangli to fight with Lin Chengcheng was not large, and they were all Zhang Xianzhong's personal guards. It was very distressing for any of them to die.
The bloody battle only lasted less than half a stick of incense. After Zhang Xianzhong calmed down a little, he realized that he could not continue fighting like this. If all his guards in the flag formation were dead, who else would protect him and break through?
The reason why I had a decisive battle with Shen Shuren in Hengzhou was because I couldn't bear to bear the burden of the new Huguang auxiliary army that I couldn't take away. It directly broke people's hearts and gave Chen Shuren an advantage, so I wanted to consume each other's cannon fodder and the enemy.
Fan.
But when the battle reached this stage, his old Shaanxi and Yu battalions were heavily involved. He had not yet understood that on the battlefield where the main force was decisively fighting, he should have more than twice the strength advantage, and he also had the upper hand.
Machine, Shen Shuren's side was the one who started the tactic of adding fuel to the fire, but why did it end up like this?
The left wing was beaten by Lin Chengcheng to the point of demoralization and confusion. At the same time, Zuo Zixiong's investment on the right wing also brought disaster to Zhang Xianzhong's army.
After the last charge, Zhu Wenzhen's cavalry battalion finally chose to retreat in a roundabout way due to lack of physical strength and running out of ammunition.
Bai Wenxuan's main infantry force could not catch up, so they just fired a burst of arrows to see them off, and then wanted the cavalry on the bandits' side to pursue them, so as not to give the Ming cavalry a chance to breathe and recover.
But Zhu Wenzhen's move was actually to give Zuo Zixiong's troops space to fire muskets. If one's own cavalry kept cutting back and forth in the enemy's formation, the Ming army's musketeers would not be able to fire casually for fear of accidentally injuring their own people.
gun.
Zuo Zixiong's direct troops, which had just withdrawn from the Hengshan Guard, happened to have the highest firearms equipment rate among the Ming army, with almost half of the musketeers. As the final offensive force to crush the enemy,
It couldn't be more appropriate.
As thousands of volleys fired in stacked formations and gradually advanced, Bai Wenxuan hurriedly sent out to pursue Zhu Wenzhen's rogue cavalry. Soon, a large number fell in the open space between the two armies, leaving only a fluke.
The surviving rogue cavalry also scattered in a panic.
After a while, as the two armies' formation approached within 150 steps, the crossbowmen and spearmen in the front row of the bandits began to fall down screaming after being shot. The density of firepower was so fierce that the bandits' side was unprecedented.
Not seen.
Zuo Zixiong's troops were killing wildly while shouting various slogans to demoralize the enemy troops:
"Zhang Xianzhong's dog thief fell into the trap! Wang Shangli's troops have been completely wiped out at Hengshan Guard! Wang Shangli's head is here!"
In the chaos of the army, even if Wang Shangli's head was placed on the barrel of a gun, it would not be easy to see clearly from a distance, so Zuo Zixiong repeated the same trick as when he was in Hengdong County, picking Wang Shangli's head, helmet, and armor in several places.
Show as much as you can.
Although the soldiers Zhang Xianzhong on the opposite side couldn't see clearly, this kind of thing, regardless of whether it was believed or not, would damage morale to some extent. Moreover, the scale of the official army was indeed larger than what the pre-war intelligence showed, and reinforcements were almost endless.
There is only one explanation: "The official reinforcements from the battlefield behind the Hengshan Guard have rushed back, and our troops who are robbing the grain at the Hengshan Guard must be in trouble."
In the final analysis, war is fought against the support of the people's hearts. When people's hearts are dispersed and morale is shattered, everything is over.
"Don't worry about the enemies on the two wings! Let Feng Shuangli come back! The whole army breaks forward! Crush the enemy on the front!" Zhang Xianzhong was finally frightened into a cold sweat by the increasingly decadent situation, and finally made up his mind not to be greedy for too much.
.
Although several percent of his old battalion brothers were killed or wounded, after all, the main force was still there, and it was still possible to break through.
The total number of cavalry in his army was still greater than that of Zhu Wenzhen's troops. Moreover, Zhu Wenzhen had repeatedly charged and killed, which consumed a lot of physical strength and caused many casualties. It was definitely impossible to continue the pursuit.
Zhang Xianzhong knew very well that at the worst, he could still ensure the retreat with all the old cavalry battalions under his command.
Feng Shuangli quickly withdrew most of the flag formation troops at Zhang Xianzhong's request and stopped entangled with Lin Chengcheng. At almost the same moment, the left wing of Zhang Xianzhong's army was charged by Lin Chengcheng and almost collapsed.
Zhang Xianzhong didn't think much and rushed forward with Feng Shuangli and Bai Wenxuan. Lu Datou and Jiang Shoude's camp was already in tatters. It was possible to escape, as long as they worked harder.
A little life, but a few more waves of flanking fire.
Zhang Xianzhong also very viciously chose to charge quietly, instead of letting his flag follow him. Instead, he ordered the guards holding the flag to retreat and withdraw into the city.
Therefore, most of the friendly troops on the battlefield did not know that the king was about to escape. Even the Ming army on the opposite side saw Zhang Xianzhong's flag and retreated to the city. They thought that Zhang Xianzhong knew that he was invincible in the field and wanted to retreat and defend the city.
As a result, although the morale of the Ming army was crazy high and they became more and more active in killing the enemy, they did not bother to pursue and kill Zhang Xianzhong himself in the chaos. All the combat actions of the Ming army still revolved around "trying not to let the enemies who are currently stuck withdraw."
In the city, clear obstacles for subsequent siege, reduce resistance, and annihilate as many enemies as possible in field battles."
Zhang Xianzhong's move was equivalent to completely selling out all the new Huguang auxiliary troops, at the expense of their chaos and collapse, and breaking out of the encirclement to escape in the chaos.
Fortunately, Zhang Xianzhong is very good at escaping. He has been here for fourteen years and has backup at any time and place. This time when he went out to fight in the city, he still did not forget to separate hundreds of people from the Chinese army's cavalry.
Take all the gold and jewelry you plundered with you so that you can take them with you at any time when you break out.
Unfortunately, the silver was already too heavy and I couldn't bring it all with me, and I didn't even bring any copper coins or silks with me. They were all left in Hengzhou City.
After all, before Zhang Xianzhong left the city today, he wanted to take the opportunity to severely injure or even wipe out part of the army. It was impossible to prepare completely for a breakout and escape. It was inevitable to leave a considerable amount of property behind.
"No, Zhang Xianzhong is trying to run away!" Shen Shuren, who was in the distance, had been observing the battlefield situation with a telescope. It was impossible for him to see the flaw at first.
But as Lu Datou and Jiang Shoude's camp was completely penetrated, thousands of rogue cavalry passed through the camp without looking back and continued to run towards the hilly area in the northwest. It didn't look like they were taking a detour at all.
Looking back to fight again, the top brass of the Ming army finally realized that Zhang Xianzhong had really abandoned the army and fled.
"Hurry up and let Zhu Wenzhen chase!" Shen Shuren didn't care about the fatigue of Zhu Wenzhen's men at this time. Even though they had been fighting for a long time today and almost everyone was injured, he still hoped that they would try their best to expand the results.
At the same time, on the frontal battlefield, the Ming army quickly followed through and began to chant the slogan "Zhang Xianzhong has been defeated! Surrender and avoid death!"
Of course, the soldiers of Zhang Xianzhong's army who were still fighting in the chaos could not directly believe this kind of slogan. Most of them turned around in panic, only to see that the king's flag had returned to the city. At most, they panicked and thought that their side was defeated and the king retreated first.
They didn't think that "the king has abandoned them".
But this level of morale collapse was already fatal enough. The remaining Huguang New Affiliated Army was almost within a cup of tea. The entire army collapsed, and the remaining seven or eight thousand people were scattered around like headless flies.
jump up.
Zhang Hualong, the commander-in-chief of the right army, was unable to restrain his troops and was counterattacked by the resilient Jiang Shoude. He fell off his horse in the chaos and was trampled on, and finally died at the hands of Jiang Shoude's troops.
The old camp in Henan led by Ma Weixing, the commander-in-chief of the Zuo Army, was also the second to collapse. The 15,000-strong army had suffered thousands of casualties before, and now it also completely collapsed. Ma Weixing was also killed by Zuo Zixiong's troops in the rebel army.
.
As for the small part of the Shaanxi old camp that did not escape in the end, they were also defeated by Lin Chengcheng and Liu Sandao's crazy attack like a mad tiger. However, Feng Shuangli had been called back by Zhang Xianzhong in advance to break out, so he didn't get much profit.
Level of achievement in killing generals.
After a series of bloody battles around Hengzhou, Wang Shangli, Ma Weixing, and Zhang Hualong were successively appointed as the commander-in-chief of the five armies of the later Western Army regime. Only Feng Shuangli and Bai Wenxuan were left alive to follow them.
After all, Zhu Wenzhen was unable to track down Zhang Xianzhong himself. After all, he spent too much money to allow tens of thousands of people to fight on their own, just for the main force of his direct cavalry to escape.
Zhu Wenzhen only caught up with some stragglers, especially some thieves who were too slow to escape due to greed and carrying too heavy belongings.
There were several rogue cavalry officers who were overtaken. They could have run away, but their horses were exhausted from running. At least they were so tired that they foamed at the mouth and fell to the ground. After losing their horses,
, and was caught up by Zhu Wenzhen.
However, these officers were bachelors. When they saw Zhu Wenzhen's cavalry coming up, they knelt down and begged for mercy, offering the belongings on their horses in order to avoid death.
Zhu Wenzhen had also been told by Shen Shuren in advance that prisoners of this kind should be treated preferentially, so as to prevent the officers carrying the gold from hiding in the jungle and not showing their faces for fear of death.
The cavalry officer, Zhu Wenzhen, was saved from death, and the soldiers were allowed to shout such surrender slogans.
Several captured rogue officers finally opened their sacks and found that they all contained gold equivalent to at least the volume of several basketballs——
As we all know, a piece of gold the size of a solid basketball weighs more than 1,500 taels, which is equivalent to one hundred kilograms. Carrying gold that is the size of several basketballs must not weigh hundreds of kilograms. With such greed, no wonder the horse in the Mercedes-Benz
They were all crushed to death.
Any capture of such a cavalry officer would cost at least three to five thousand taels of gold, equivalent to fifty thousand taels of silver. It was really a bargain.
Zhang Xianzhong's 50,000-strong army finally broke out with only the vast majority of cavalry troops. The infantry only had a small number of stragglers who fled, totaling only seven or eight thousand people.
The remaining 42,000 people were either lost on the battlefield or were driven back to the leaderless city of Hengzhou. Sooner or later, they would be the prey of the Chenshu people.
The main force of Zhang Xianzhong's army in Huguang was completely wiped out, leaving only sporadic small groups of bandits.
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