I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 15 The bandit army collapsed at the first touch

June fifteenth.

I learned that the Taiwanese rebels were internally divided and their strength was greatly reduced. In addition, the north and south roads were completely blocked.

Shi Shibiao decisively gave up the three-way attack strategy decided by the governor before setting off, and persuaded Lan Tingzhen to assemble a total of 8000 land and sea officers and soldiers.Together with more than [-] naval warships, they set off towards Luermen.

June sixteenth.

The coalition forces arrived at the sea outside Luermen.

Shi Shibiao ordered Penghu garrison Lin Liang, and guerrilla Lin Xiu was the left and right vanguard. He led six warships and elite navy troops to attack first and uproot the defense line of gun towers deployed along the coast of Luermen.

Then...the two men drove their warship into Luermen without firing a single shot.Of course, the Luermen Port gun tower also failed to fire a single shot.

This scene immediately stunned both Shi Shibiao and Lan Tingzhen.

What's the situation?
Did the rebel army simply abandon the port?
The two got the answer quickly. After Lin Liang and Lin Xiu led their troops to land at Luermen, after a search, not to mention the people, not even half a barrel of gunpowder was found, and only a few empty cannons were left standing in the gun towers.The two didn't know what to do, so they had to send someone to report the situation at the port first.

Shi Shibiao received the information, which was equally confusing.But as a famous general in the early Qing Dynasty, he was not a sloppy person.

After thinking for a moment, Shi Shibiao made a decisive decision, ordered the landing, or rushed to the landing.

Now that the rebels have given up on Luermen, no matter what they want to do, they must capture it as soon as possible.The real battlefield is all about being upright, and conspiracy and deceit are just trivial matters after all.

"Send the order, the whole army will land!"

Shi Shibiao gave an order, and four hundred warships formed several formations, guarding the flagship in the center, and sailed towards the Lu'er Gate at full speed.

After half a moment, the coalition forces successfully landed at Luermen.

Shi Shiqiao looked at the empty port in front of him and said to Lan Tingzhen beside him: "General Lan, now our army has landed at Lu'ermen. In order to prevent the thieves from committing fraud, please personally lead the headquarters and sit here to protect the enemy." Our army’s logistics will not be lost.”

Although the probability is very small, it is still necessary to take precautions.

It would be troublesome if the bandit army really bypassed them and attacked Luermen, cutting off their escape route.

Lan Tingzhen readily agreed to Shi Shiqiao's somewhat polite order.Firstly, he is the commander-in-chief of the navy and is not good at land warfare. Secondly, he is also the admiral of the Fujian Navy. In terms of rank, he is half a level higher than his Nan'ao town.

And what others said makes sense. He is already here anyway, and he has the title of chief officer.The merit of leading the troops well is indispensable, and there is no need to work too hard.

In this way, Lan Tingzhen took two thousand troops from his headquarters and stayed at Luermen Port.

Including the sailors and soldiers left on board the ship, the actual landing force of the coalition forces still numbered [-].

In addition to basic cold weapons and equipment such as swords and shields, as a member of the Fujian navy, Shi Shibiao's army also equipped with many blunderbuss and more than ten small land artillery.

This combat power is not to say invincible, but it is definitely enough to deal with ordinary rebels.

After a short rest, Shi Shibiao immediately led the remaining [-] troops, heading south towards Anping Town.

Marching all the way down, Shi Shiqiao deliberately slowed down his marching speed.

However, let alone being blocked, the army was stunned and didn't even see a single traitor.

Just walking slowly like this, the army soon arrived at Anping Town.Shi Shiqiao had just sent out scouts to investigate. As a result, the gate of Anping Town was opened wide.

Several well-dressed squires came out of the door with wine and meat.

"The common people come to see the general! We, the common people in Anping, have been suffering from thieves and bandits for a long time. Now that the king's army is here, we, the common people, are cheering for joy. We can only talk about preparing wine and meat in order to work for the army!"

Among the squires, a young old man who took the lead bowed and said.

After saying that, he still pretended to squeeze out a few tears.

"Well, let's all get up!"

Shi Shibiao was confused, but he still said kindly, "I will accept this meat and wine. However, I would like to ask you, are you the only people in Anping Town?"

The little old man nodded: "To tell you what the general is saying, we are indeed the only people in Anping Town."

Shi Shibiao asked: "What about the rebels?"

"Thieves? For some reason, all those thieves left two days ago. Before leaving, they took away all the food in the city."

"what?"

Shi Shiqiao was a little surprised, "Where have the bandits gone? Do you know?"

"The grassroots don't know!"

"You bastard!" "General, forgive me, general, forgive me!"

The little old man was immediately frightened and fell to his knees, kowtowing repeatedly.

Shi Shibiao was not really angry. After scolding him, he began to think about what the rebel army wanted to do.

As Luermen is an offshore port, it is enough not to leave a single soldier to garrison it.Anping was the last line of defense in Fucheng. Instead of sending troops to defend it, they left with food.

Needless to say, Shi Shiqiao knew that these people must have gone to Fucheng.

Taiwan is so big, there is not much place to go.

And the rebels abandoned their defenses one after another, maybe they knew that their troops were insufficient.Just thinking about gathering the main force, hoarding food and gunpowder, and fighting with yourself in Fucheng?Or is it a strong wall and a clear field?
No matter which one, Shi Shiqiao felt that this group of thieves must have something wrong with their brains?
As the saying goes, if you defend for a long time, you will lose. Simply defending the city is a bad idea, especially when the opponent does not have any strategic depth or reinforcements.

Behind Fucheng is a mountain, and the mountains are full of headhunters.

And if it was a decisive battle with himself, that would be even more wishful thinking.

Husband fights with courage.Then it declines, and three times it declines.The bandit army is just a ragtag group, and they retreat again and again. What kind of fighting power can they have?

If the other party really resists, it might be really troublesome.

Thinking of this, most of Shi Shibiao's original caution disappeared instantly.The contempt for the bandits is even greater.

However, out of basic caution, Shi Shibiao still stationed [-] troops here before leaving Anping.

In this way, even if the rebels want to fight back, Anping Town can teach them what war means.

Shi Shibiao himself led the remaining [-] elite troops, accompanied by his main force of [-] standard battalions.

After marching hurriedly, they quickly rushed to the outskirts of Fucheng.

Until then, Shi Shibiao, who had been marching almost all the time and had not fought a single battle, finally encountered resistance from the bandits.

I saw a large group of thieves wearing different clothes and not even a decent piece of armor, holding high a variety of "weapons".

Yes, there are all kinds, and there are even "weapons" such as sheep-forked hoes.

At a rough glance, there must be at least tens of thousands of thieves.

One by one, they shouted and rushed towards Shi Shiqiao's military formation.

Shi Shiqiao saw the situation and immediately sneered: "It's really a mob! The whole army is ready to kill with my supervisor!"

After saying that, Shi Shiqiao took the lead and rushed forward with a big sword in his hands.

As a naval admiral, Shi Shibiao naturally has a horse.It is still the kind of northern horse specially used for cavalry, not the kind of short-footed horse produced in the southwest.

Although Shi Shibiao's men had musketry equipment, they even had a dozen small marching artillery pieces.

However, the fire rate and reloading speed of firearms at this time are very slow, and tens of thousands of thieves on the opposite side have already rushed over, so charging directly is the best tactic.

Moreover, Shi Shibiao did not take the tens of thousands of thieves on the opposite side at all.

Although the opponent has many people, the formation and equipment alone are definitely not comparable to the formally trained Fujian sailors under his command.

Even if they are all sailors.

Sure enough, once the two military formations collided, the tens of thousands of bandit troops almost collapsed at the first touch.

The Fujian navy under Shi Shibiao was like a wolf entering a flock of sheep, killing everyone it saw.

Those thief soldiers who were poorly equipped and many of whom were charging with farm tools, no, they couldn't even be considered soldiers.

I have never seen such a ferocious and brutal army completely collapse in a matter of seconds.

What was originally an army charge turned into a complete rout.

Countless rebel soldiers began to put down their weapons and run away, and some even collapsed and took off their clothes.Others simply knelt down, surrendered and begged for a living.

Of course, the murderous Fujian navy would not care about them.

The people kneeling in front of them and surrendering, as well as the bandits fleeing everywhere, have already become meritorious achievements in their eyes.

The war was almost one-sided.

　Ok……

　　
　
(End of this chapter)