When the Taiping Army was discovered by the retreating army led by Yinglong, the two sides were already very close.
Yinglong panicked now. Without the soldiers and horses behind him, how could he escape with so much baggage?
In particular, the dozens of red cannons carried by the army were very heavy and heavy. They had to be pulled on oxcarts and moved slower than a person walking.
The other deputy commanders didn't dare to bring up good ideas now, for fear of being left behind by Yinglong. So Yinglong could only rack his brains there.
It's okay for Yinglong to get involved in officialdom, but he's really not good at fighting.
While Yinglong was thinking of a solution, the Taiping Army was already approaching. The Qing army hurriedly responded, and the Taiping Army entered the Eight Banners Army with a group of veteran soldiers, which greatly shocked the minds of the Eight Banners soldiers.
The veteran soldiers of the Taiping Army were very powerful. Most of them were from mountain people in Guangxi, Guizhou and other places. Their perseverance was naturally tempered by nature.
These people joined the Taiping Army at an early age and were brainwashed by the teachings of the God-worshipping religion. After several years of training and continuous battles, they possessed skilled combat skills and a fighting will far beyond ordinary people.
These elite soldiers of the Eight Banners had not seen a strong enemy outside the Pass for a long time. Although they also had combat skills training, their combat capabilities were far inferior to those of the veterans of the Taiping Army who had been honed in actual combat.
However, these old soldiers are Lin Fengxiang's basic base. With the continuous war consumption after the Northern Expedition, there are now fewer and fewer. Unless forced, Lin Fengxiang would not use them easily.
Now Lin Fengxiang must defeat the Qing army in front of him as soon as possible, and then he has to use his trump card.
Why is Lin Fengxiang so anxious to defeat the Eight Banners Army in front of him? As long as he maintains such pressure, the Qing Army will probably collapse on its own.
Because the news that General Shengjing led the Eight Banners troops to retreat has reached Seng Gelinqin's ears.
When Seng Gelinqin heard this, he was so angry that he waved his riding whip and cursed Yinglong for being a coward!
The dignified General Shengjing, who commanded the elite Eight Banners, actually withdrew without much loss as soon as he engaged the bandits.
When did the Eight Banners become such a virtuous people? They even started to be afraid of rogue bandits.
At this point, Senggelinqin could only attack Shanhaiguan City with all his strength, regardless of casualties.
Defeat the Shanhaiguan City, rush behind the fleeing bandits, and attack Yinglong from both front and back, and still have a chance to defeat the bandits in a field battle. It may not be impossible to complete the victory in one battle. Unless that coward Yinglong can't even hold on for this little time.
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Lin Fengxiang also knew this, so he risked his life and must defeat the Eight Banners Army in Shengjing before Shanhaiguan was breached. Otherwise, their Northern Expeditionary Army might fall into an embarrassing situation.
If it were an ordinary army, trapped by veterans from the Northern Expedition, it would probably collapse in a short time. But this group of Eight Banners soldiers is still resisting.
At this time, the two sides were fighting in a melee, and the artillery had no effect at all.
The white-armored soldiers in the Eight Banners were wearing heavy armor, and they were a formidable presence to the Ming army back then. In close combat, they could often defeat ten enemies one at a time, relying on their thick armor to directly block the swords and spears of the Northern Expeditionary Army with their armor.
Seeing the Northern Expeditionary Army being entangled by a group of white-armored soldiers, Lin Fengxiang was extremely anxious.
"We can't drag it on like this any longer. If we drag it on for too long, the morale of the Qing army will come back." Lin Fengxiang thought.
"Send a team of musketeers over and kill the heavy armored infantry of the Qing army. Don't worry about accidentally hurting your own people." Lin Fengxiang ordered.
Although the heavy armored infantry has strong defense against cold weapons such as swords, guns, swords and halberds, it cannot protect against lead bullets.
After the lead bullet is fired, it will soften due to heat and can penetrate through the gaps in the armor. Even if it cannot penetrate, its powerful impact will cause serious damage to the soldier who is hit.
Soon a brigade commander led a group of loaded musketeers to join the battle group. They specifically looked for those Eight Banners soldiers wearing heavy armor to shoot, and then withdrew after firing one shot.
These musketeers did not care about their own lives at all. In order to ensure the accuracy of shooting, they would get close before shooting. However, after they fired the bullets, many musketeers were unable to escape from the battle group. Basically, they had no wounds on their bodies.
What decent protection.
However, the sacrifices of these musketeers were worth it. This wave of attacks finally broke the balance on the field. The Qing infantry retreated steadily.
However, the cavalry led by Yinglong did not come forward, as if they were watching a show. The generals below gritted their teeth. They watched their comrades die in battle, and they hated this general in their hearts.
One general is really incompetent and the entire army is exhausted!
Yinglong was still hesitant in his mind whether to rush forward to support the infantry.
But he was also worried that if he charged forward with the cavalry, he would be held back by the bandits, so that he would not even have a chance to escape.
A person who is indecisive and dare not make bets cannot be a good general. An excellent general must be responsible, dare to play cards, and not be afraid of the consequences.
Only in this way can we make prompt decisions on the battlefield. The battlefield is changing rapidly, and a moment's hesitation may lead to failure.
Yinglong is such an indecisive person, he is unwilling to put himself in danger.
Every time he fights, he must leave a retreat for himself. The two thousand cavalry in his hands now are his retreat.
So he has never dared to take action. In fact, these two thousand knights are obviously a king bomb, and it is really strange that he insists on dying in his hands.
The more the Qing infantry retreated, the more passive they became. Their morale was declining rapidly, not only because of the strength of the bandits, but also partly because of Yinglong's refusal to save them.
"You're defeated, run away!" Someone shouted.
This sentence became the straw that broke the camel's back. Thousands of Eight Banners infantrymen collapsed in an instant.
"Quickly retreat!" Yinglong, who had been hesitant, finally made a decision at this time.
The two thousand cavalrymen fled, leaving the remaining infantry in complete despair.
"Forget it, let's not kill them all. Tell them to surrender without killing them." Lin Fengxiang ordered.
Everyone has a misunderstanding that Taiping Road hates the Qing army very much and will definitely kill the Qing army if caught.
In fact, the Taiping Army did not kill Qing prisoners indiscriminately. From the beginning, the Taiping Army attached great importance to the recruitment and surrender of the Qing army. Along the way out of Jintian Village, the Taiping Army incorporated many Qing troops and strengthened its own ranks.
Even the Eight Banners Army would not kill indiscriminately. When they conquered Jiangning, the Taiping Army tried to surrender the Eight Banners in Jiangning City.
It's just that the Eight Banners in Jiangning City did not surrender in the end, and they were burned together with the entire city.
Those captured by the Taiping Army have always been mainly Green Camp soldiers and militiamen. After being captured, these Qing soldiers will become a good source of soldiers for the Taiping Army after being brainwashed and educated.
"Surrender without killing!" tens of thousands of Northern Expedition troops shouted one after another.
These Eight Banners infantrymen fought very bravely just now. With their character, they would not surrender. But Yinglong's behavior of escaping completely chilled their hearts. Instead of following a loser like Yinglong and working hard, it would be better to surrender to the Taiping Army.
As a result, the remaining 1,000-odd Eight Banners infantrymen and the artillery that could not be taken away all surrendered to the Taiping Army.
This was the first time that the Eight Banners soldiers surrendered to the Taiping Army. The surrender of these people made Lin Fengxiang think about how to treat these Manchus, Mongolians and other ethnic minorities in the Northeast in the future.
The Taiping Army has always believed that all people are equal under Heavenly Father, except of course the few sons of Heavenly Father.
They did not practice Han chauvinism. This may also be related to the fact that the Taiping Army started in the southwest.
The Southwest is a place where various ethnic groups live together. If Taiping excludes other ethnic groups from the beginning, then they will inevitably face more enemies in the Southwest.
The fact that these Eight Banners soldiers were able to surrender today shows that the Qing government is in the Northeast and their home base is not monolithic. This is good news for the Taiping Army that invaded the Northeast.
In fact, this is easy to understand. After the Qing Dynasty entered the Pass, everyone who had a good relationship with the Aixinjueluo family followed them to enjoy the blessings.
The Qing government has always maintained a blockade attitude towards the Northeast. There has been no development in the Northeast for hundreds of years. It may be because they are afraid that another fierce ethnic nomadic tribe will emerge in the Northeast. After all, they themselves are living teaching materials. After entering the customs, they are full of
The Qing Dynasty was in the same position as the Ming Dynasty.
It was not until the end of the Qing Dynasty that Japan, Russia, and Russia reached out to the Northeast, and the Qing government relaxed its blockade on the Northeast. Only then did the well-known invasion of Guandong come into being.
Imagine that you have a rich and capable relative in your family who takes all your poor relatives to live in big cities, leaving your family in a poor area. Will you feel resentful in your heart?
The human heart is like this. Without comparison, there will be no harm. Those relatives who entered the customs spent all day walking around and fighting with crickets, and their lives were very uncomfortable.
And these people who stay outside the customs, guarding a bunch of tombs of the Manchu emperors, can't go anywhere. They still have to worry about their own livelihood. In order to stutter, they have to go through the old forests, and in winter they have to endure the harsh conditions of the ice and snow in the Northeast.
weather.
In addition, the shamanism believed by the Manchus in Northeast China is actually a primitive nature worship. Therefore, it is not difficult for them to accept God worship.
After placing the prisoners, Lin Fengxiang did not delay, but immediately organized his army and set off. The soldiers who stayed at Shanhaiguan would not buy themselves much time.
Yinglong led the cavalry to Jinzhou in one breath. After passing Jinzhou, he would reach the area of Shengjing.
Yinglong did not stay in Jinzhou, but asked the Jinzhou local government to step up its own defense organization.
He himself left Jinzhou on the pretext that he wanted to return to Shengjing to organize troops. He was frightened by the bandits. He had never seen such brave bandits fighting, and he actually dared to fight against the white-armored soldiers!
While Yinglong rushed back to Shengjing, he sent people to ask for help from General Jilin and General Heilongjiang.
However, these two places are far away from Shengjing, and the road conditions in the northeast are not good. It will take many years and months for reinforcements from the two places to arrive!
After Yinglong returned to Shengjing, he immediately began to recruit bannermen. Basically, the people living here were registered bannermen.
But good things don't go out, and bad things spread thousands of miles. The story of Yinglong abandoning the infantry quickly spread in Shengjing.
Everyone was yelling at Yinglong behind his back. These abandoned Eight Banners soldiers were all sons of various families.
Therefore, now that Yinglong is recruiting troops again, every family is resisting him. Some families who are unwilling to fall out have sent their slaves to take their place. These people have no fighting power.
In the end, Yinglong only recruited more than 10,000 people, plus the 3,000 people who had stayed in Shengjing before, and the 2,000 cavalry he brought back.
In this way, Yinglong still had more than 15,000 people in his hands.