Ming Zuo

Chapter 412
"Fire! Fire!"

Watching the soldiers being slaughtered frantically, the rebel generals were all cold.

For this reason, the battle has already made them lose their sanity and courage.

They had never encountered such a tactic, never had such a terrifying enemy, and never had such a defeat.

Li Jiucheng yelled, hoping that through the artillery fire, more soldiers could be rescued.

However, the old and clumsy red-clothed cannons did not cause much trouble for the new army. When the rebels fired, the soldiers of the new army only needed to jump into the tunnel to avoid it perfectly.

While taking advantage of the gap between the shelling, it is still possible to shoot at the fleeing rebels.

In front of the barbed wire has become a Shura field.

The rebels who ran away completely lost their minds, and no matter what the gap was or not, the people in the back pushed the people in front frantically, and with the flesh and blood of the people in front, they smashed the barbed wire.

As for the people in front, even if they were not stabbed to death by the barbed wire, they must have been trampled to death by those behind.

There were three barbed wire fences in a row, and when the rebels finally rushed over, only less than [-] people were still alive.

In this area, more than [-] corpses were thrown away.

Those who rushed through the barbed wire have completely lost their souls and rushed towards their camp in a daze.

Seeing that these defeated soldiers were about to disperse their own camp, Kong Youde roared, "Send the arrows and let them go to both sides."

This is the common practice of the army to avoid being washed away.

Even the frightened soldiers would automatically run to both sides when they saw the arrows shot by the army formation.

However, these fallen soldiers have lost their spiritual consciousness today.The arrows shot by this side, how can there be the horror of the musket behind it?
So they crashed straight into the rain of arrows.

On the way of dozens of steps, not a single defeated soldier survived.The corpses spread all over the ground, causing the rebels to lose their will to fight, and their will began to disintegrate.

Kong Youde was frightened and tried his best to see the enemy on the opposite side.However, the battlefield filled with gunpowder made him see nothing.

It seems that behind the thick smoke, there is a beast that destroys the sky and destroys the earth, and it may engulf him at any time.

Before discussing with Li Jiucheng, he ordered: "Ming Jin, go back to Laizhou."

Tens of thousands of troops, as if receiving amnesty, moved one after another and retreated to the west bank of the Yellow River.They retreated all the way to the west again, but did not dare to stay here any longer, and went straight to Laizhou.

Obviously, this battle has broken the spirit of the rebels.

The idea of ​​taking back Dengzhou has been forgotten by them, and what they want to do most now is to stay as far away from the enemy as possible.

Seeing the result of the battle, Zuo Menggeng let out a sigh of relief, but did not order the pursuit.

He never thought of completely destroying the rebels here, but also using the rebels to destroy the feudal system in Shandong, so he couldn't let the rebels lose too much.

The [-]st Division stopped on the east bank of the Yellow River and began to sweep the battlefield and make summaries, leaving enough time for the rebels to breathe and respond.

"Trenches have proven to be very effective against enemy artillery. With such fortifications, casualties can be effectively reduced."

Bai Xiaoqi highly praised the trenches, and has made up his mind. After returning, he will let the whole brigade study hard and further improve the trench tactics.

Although the army of this era also carried out tunnel operations, it was obviously completely different from the tactical purpose of the new army.

The army of this era dug trenches more for siege or siege, and did not regard trenches as a combat area.

The new army gave full play to the role of trenches as bunkers, although the sturdiness and complexity of trenches were far from comparable to those of later generations.However, the artillery of this era is too limited, and such fortifications are more conducive to the new army's operations.

On the contrary, the soil work of other armies, in the face of the new army's blasting bombs, is like paper paste, completely ineffective.

Furthermore, other armies do not have the quick-loading, accurate, and extremely long-range weapon of the flasher.

If they were to hide in the trenches like the new army and shoot with old arquebuses, the enemy would surely rush over their heads to poop and piss.

This is the difference in weapons, the tactical innovation brought about.

The new army has mastered powerful new weapons, and also needs to constantly summarize and study on the battlefield, and play the role of powerful weapons step by step.

Thinking about Qingshuiguan, the new army could only line up and shoot against the Houjin army.As a result, under the artillery bombardment of Houjin, there were heavy casualties.

But now, the trenches are effectively blocking damage from solid shells.

After a war of tens of thousands of people was over, the casualties of the new army were almost negligible.

In addition to the trenches, the engineer shovel has also received unanimous praise from top to bottom.

"This thing digs soil quickly and effortlessly, and when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, it's better than a bayonet."

Hearing Huang Sanhu's words, Zuo Menggeng was quite miraculous.

Sure enough, Chinese soldiers of any era have a soft spot for engineer shovels.

This multi-purpose tool, do not worry about not being able to shine in this era.

The new army won a big victory here and was beaming with joy.But on the side of the rebels, after fleeing back to Laizhou in embarrassment, they were filled with gloom and anxiety.

"Why does Zuo Menggeng have so many soldiers?"

Li Jiucheng walked around restlessly, chattering endlessly, but no one could answer his question.

And the question is no longer important.

Everyone understands that with the strength of the rebels, it is impossible to retake Dengzhou.

If Dengzhou cannot be recaptured, the Dengzhou navy cannot be controlled, and the retreat by sea will be lost.

Once the imperial court formed new reinforcements to press in from the west and attack Zuo Menggeng from the east and west, they would be completely defeated.

Kong Youde closed his eyes and pondered, and opened his mouth for a long time.

"Zuo Menggeng's artillery and fire cannons are very strange, and they are all over the world. Even the Folang machines don't have such artifacts. Where did he get them?"

Still no one can answer.

Mao Chenglu said dejectedly: "The fire gun is fast and accurate, and it can hurt people at three or four hundred steps. Our fire gun may not be able to pierce armor at twenty steps. How can we fight?"

Chen Yongfu also said: "That cannonball can actually explode, and it exploded a large piece, leaving no bones alive. Didn't Sun Zhongcheng say that the best artillery craftsmen in the world are all in Dengzhou, why haven't we seen such magical weapons? "

Hearing the crowd clamoring, Li Yingyuan was quite depressed, and just asked, "What should we do? Are we still fighting in Dengzhou?"

There was silence in the tent, no one said a word.

Everyone is afraid, and no one wants to act cowardly.

Li Yingyuan saw that this kind of thing can only be done by him as a junior.

"Uncles, according to my nephew, this Zuo Menggeng is far more ferocious than the Tartars. If we attack Dengzhou again, I'm afraid we will all be damaged. We still think of a way to see if there is any other way out."

Everyone nodded and said yes, and they all felt that this was the right thing to do.

Although the new army did not follow the trend and let the rebels withdraw to Laizhou, the situation of the rebels was already very dangerous.

In particular, Laizhou has been smashed, and there is no way to provide food and grass supplies locally.The material consumption of the rebels will be a little less, and over time, they will collapse due to logistics without the need for new troops to fight.

Kong Youde thought about the horror of the new army, and his heart was still beating wildly, and he tried to say: "Let's go west, as long as we rush to Liaodong, there will be a way to survive."

When everyone heard this, they all frowned, and no one recognized it.

Going to Shandong by land, there are thousands of miles and many passes, especially in Liaodong, where the imperial court is full of troops, how do they rush through?
Geng Zhongming suddenly asked: "After the Battle of Shahe, let's have someone send a letter to negotiate peace with the imperial court, will the imperial court reply?"

Everyone looked at each other in dismay, and had long forgotten about it.

After the Battle of Shahe, the world's elite Guan Ning army was wiped out. Li Jiucheng, Kong Youde and others felt that the imperial court could no longer fight, so it was imperative to separate Shandong.

To negotiate peace with the imperial court is to buy time to digest the fruits of victory.Whether the court agrees or not will not affect the established facts.

Unexpectedly, Zuo Menggeng's magical soldiers descended from the sky, not only attacking Dengzhou, but also defeating them.

How to survive the new army's attack is now a top priority.

How could they still care about the court's reply?
Besides, when the court learned that Zuo Menggeng had won a great victory, how could they agree to make peace?

Li Jiucheng and others did not know that the current imperial court knew nothing about the situation in Shandong.

What happened to the war, Zuo Menggeng would not report to the court, and the court's rule in various parts of Shandong had been severely damaged, so the smooth flow of information could no longer be achieved.

The court side is still immersed in the shadow of Shahe's defeat.

Chongzhen has not attended court for half a month.

This is the first time since he ascended the throne.

The excuse is that the dragon's body is small and needs to rest.And the outside world has long known that he had passed out before.

As a self-willed and extremely proud person, the defeat of Shahe's defeat to Chongzhen was too great.

In the past, despite encountering such and such dilemmas, as a powerful emperor, no matter whether the countermeasures he came up with were wise or stupid, he could always have a countermeasure.

However, this time, after the defeat of Shahe, the imperial court had no more troops to send. Seeing that the rebel army had become powerful, Chongzhen looked around at a loss, helpless, and his self-esteem was completely destroyed.

He... shamefully chose to escape.

The inner court, the outer court, the harem, the civil and military, and the nobles all stared at the Forbidden City worriedly. For the first time, they discovered that the emperor's situation was so touching.

(End of this chapter)