Because of Wu Sangui's heroic charge, the army finally found a foothold on the other side of the river.
Jin Guoqi said to Zhu Dadian and others: "My lords, we will cross the river first. Please hold your ground and win the battle."
Zhu Dadian took a step forward and said to him: "I will cross the river with you."
Jin Guoqi was startled and quickly tried to dissuade him.
"Sir, you are the commander-in-chief and should be in charge of the central army."
Zhu Dadian did not listen.
"There is no room for failure in this battle. Only when my officer is here can the morale of the soldiers be stable."
Zhu Dadian knew very well that this battle was related to the fate of the Ming Dynasty. Once lost, it would be a disaster for the Ming Dynasty.
A heavy burden weighed heavily on him, making him unable to care about his own safety.
If he, the coach, can take the lead, even if it only inspires 1% of morale, he is willing to do it.
At least after hearing his decision, the general Jin Guoqi was filled with enthusiasm.
"Order the whole army to charge forward bravely after crossing the river. Tell the sons and daughters that Lord Zhongcheng will accompany us to cross the river."
The news spread quickly, and sure enough, the morale of the officers and soldiers soared, and the crossing of the river became much faster.
After noon, all Guan Ning's army and Sichuan soldiers and Deng Qi's troops all arrived on the east bank of the Shah River.
In order to avoid being squeezed on the river bank, the various ministries that had crossed the river immediately launched an attack on the rebels, without even taking care of lunch.
Under the rapid offensive of the government troops, the rebel camps at the front fell one after another.
Le Guochen took the lead and led his troops to defeat seven or eight camps in a row. He was hit by more than thirty arrows and did not retreat.
Wu Xiang answered Wu Sangui, and her heart finally returned to her stomach.
"You bastard, do you want to die?"
Wu Sangui chuckled and said, "Father, because your child got there first, your guilt should be wiped off, right?"
After Wu Xiang was worried, he regained his spirits.
"The imperial court sees our talents, so we naturally rely on them as the Great Wall."
Wu Sangui suddenly became angry and said: "My child, go and kill for a while."
Wu Xiang held him back.
"The rebels are defeated but not in chaos. If your cavalry goes up, it will only increase casualties. Just hang around in the periphery and don't make trouble."
This is not because Wu Xiang is greedy for life and afraid of death, but because the situation on the battlefield has changed and the cavalry has lost its role.
Whether the rebels can be defeated or not depends entirely on the infantry of Jin Guoqi, Le Guochen, Zu Dabi, Deng Qi and others.
Otherwise, the camp will be continuous and there will be obstacles everywhere, and the cavalry will not be able to charge forward. It will be a living target.
Jin Guoqi escorted Zhu Dadian to the east bank and built fortifications on the spot. Then he personally led the main force of Guan Ning's army forward to act as an arrow.
With Guan Ning's army at the front, Sichuan soldiers and other reinforcements also rose up bravely.
The front camp led by Li Yingyuan could not resist at all, and retreated steadily, handing over every camp to the enemy.
Unknowingly, the various units pursuing the rebels had left the river bank several miles away.
At this time, the heavy artillery of the army was trying to find a way to cross the river.
No one had ever noticed that the rebels' casualties were not serious and their retreat was orderly.
At the same time, on the seaside to the north, the Northern Route Army led by Wang Zhifu and Wang Wuwei collided head-on with the right wing of the rebel army led by Mao Chenglu.
Wang Zhifu and Wang Wuwei thought that they were not far from the Chinese army, and as long as they outflanked it, they would definitely win a complete victory, so they launched a fierce attack on Mao Chenglu's seemingly small number.
Mao Chenglu's troops were defeated and retreated steadily, and unknowingly they reached the vicinity of Xiaoxingtai.
In later generations, this was Xiaoxingtai Village, but now it is a large swamp created by the sand river.
Seeing Wang Zhifu and Wang Wuwei fall into the trap, Mao Chenglu finally showed his fangs.
A group of more than a thousand cavalrymen who had always been hidden suddenly rushed past the south side of Wang Zhifu's troops, went around behind them, and cut off their retreat.
On the front, the rebels' strength suddenly increased to 5,000, almost twice as many as Wang Zhifu's troops. Not only that, but what frightened Wang Zhifu and Wang Wuwei even more was that the rebels actually had general artillery.
The ghosts of Wang Zhifu appeared in great numbers, and he hurriedly ordered to form a formation and begin to retreat.
However, the crowded military formations were bombarded by artillery, leaving furrows of flesh and blood on the ground.
The rebel cavalry galloped back and forth, raining arrows one after another, constantly weakening the number of official troops.
Wang Zhifu and Wang Wuwei chased them too far, and the journey back to the camp was a full ten miles away.
After three rounds of shelling, more than half of the officers and soldiers were killed or injured, and Wang Wuwei was also blown into two pieces. Those who were still alive could no longer bear it and immediately collapsed, like a panicked flock of sheep running wildly.
Mao Chenglu was overjoyed and led his army in full pursuit. Finally, only more than 300 officers and soldiers led by Wang Zhifu remained among the officers and soldiers who returned near the mouth of Shahe River.
But what made them most desperate was that the rebel navy lay across the Shahe River and even took over their camp.
The grief-stricken and desperate Wang Zhifu had no choice but to lead his remaining soldiers to break out of the encirclement southward.
Only a dozen people escaped in the end.
Mao Chenglu defeated the officers and soldiers on the north route. With the help of the navy, he crossed the Shahe River at a high speed and began to outflank the retreat of the officers and soldiers on the middle route.
At the same time, the rebels in the middle, who had been retreating, also began a counterattack.
Le Guochen, Zu Kuan, Zu Dabi and others attacked fiercely and finally penetrated the rebel camp. But the scene in front of them forced them to stop.
It turned out that the rebels dug a trench one and a half feet wide and seven feet deep behind the camp.
Once a person enters it, there is no way to climb out without tools.
The rebels first set up planks on the trench, and after retreating all the way across the trench, they removed the planks.
When the officers and soldiers chased them here, they had no tools for a while and could only look at the ditch and sigh.
As a result, Li Yingyuan's troops broke away from the official army, and Kong Youde finally came up with the means he had prepared.
"Tell Bu Shiren to shoot out all the poison bombs."
Behind the rebel center, there were already a dozen red-coated cannons loaded with charges. After receiving the order, they quickly fired towards the place where the government troops gathered.
More than a dozen artillery shells roared into the camp, frightening the officers and soldiers and running for cover.
When they saw that the cannonballs shattered into pieces after they hit the ground, the officers and soldiers were overjoyed. They all felt that the weapons of the rebels were poorly kept.
However, thick ocher-yellow smoke gradually rose from the shattered shells.
Today happened to be an east wind, and the smoke took advantage of the wind and rolled all the way in the direction of the officers and soldiers.
Seeing the rebels setting off smoke, Zhu Dadian, Jin Guoqi and others did not take it seriously at first. They just ordered the soldiers to cover their mouths and noses, thinking they could resist.
However, the first wave of soldiers who encountered the thick smoke did not inhale the smoke after blocking their mouths and noses, but all exposed skin such as their eyes, face, hands, etc. were itchy.
Especially the eyes were in unbearable pain like burning and tearing. Many soldiers screamed and wiped their eyes. As a result, the more they wiped their eyes, the more they hurt. Soon, everything in front of their eyes was completely white and they could not see anything.
The rebels fired a total of three rounds of poison bombs, and the poisonous smoke spread for several miles, shrouding all the officers and soldiers. Even Zhu Dadian and Jin Guoqi were not immune.
"Retreat, retreat quickly!"
Zhu Dadian completely lost his composure. His inability to see anything made him panic, and he just wanted to escape from such a dangerous place.
Jin Guoqi immediately issued an order to retreat.
But the problem is that no one can see anything and can't tell the difference between east, west, north and south. Even the soldiers around them can't protect them, so how can they retreat?
Tens of thousands of officers and soldiers were trapped in the poisonous smoke, wailing and writhing, and the organization was completely in chaos.
The Yiding cavalry led by Wu Xiang and Wu Sangui happened to be away from the Chinese army, so they were not injured by the poison. However, looking at the miserable situation of the Chinese army that was like hell on earth, both father and son felt cold all over.
At this moment, they finally understood why crossing the river was so smooth.
The rebels did this deliberately. After luring the officers and soldiers across the river, they created a gap between the infantry, cavalry and artillery, and then used this unheard-of vicious weapon to launch a counterattack.
At this time, all the artillery of the official army was on the west bank of the Shah River, and it was difficult to transport it for a while. However, the main force of the official army had completely lost its combat effectiveness under the attack of poisonous smoke.
The number of winners and losers is already known.
While Wu and his son were horrified, they suddenly heard the sound of trumpets from the rebel camp. Then groups of rebels came out one after another and began to push towards the official army.
Although the thick smoke had drifted away by now, the poisoned soldiers were still invisible, scurrying around like headless flies.
After the rebels pressed forward, they only needed to stab and kill, and the officers and soldiers died in pieces.
"Quickly leave! This battle is unwinnable!"
Wu Xiang was indeed an experienced running general. When he saw the rebel cavalry charging towards them, he and Wu Sangui quickly fled with the Yiding cavalry.
They followed the Shahe River all the way south, and finally met Chen Hongfan and Fang Dengyun from the South Road in the area of Songjiacun.
While these two men were fighting with Geng Zhongming, the Wu family and his son rushed in from behind to assist Chen Hongfan, and Fang Dengyun killed the rebels.
Chen and Fang didn't know the situation in the middle yet, so they thought Wu and his son were here to help.
"Wu Zongrong, the middle road won a great victory?"
Wu Xiang's scalp was numb and he didn't dare to stay at all. He just said: "Go quickly, go quickly. The Chinese army is defeated. If we don't leave, we will all be trapped here."
Chen and Fang looked at each other in shock. Seeing that Wu and his son had disappeared, they quickly sent scouts to the middle road to check the situation.
An hour later, the scouts fled back, and there was no need to report. The overwhelming rebel cavalry behind them was enough to explain everything.
Chen and Fang turned around and ran away. However, they were both infantry. They could not outrun the cavalry and were chased all the way.
Fang Dengyun was trampled to death by a random horse, Chen Hongfan was captured, and the entire army on the South Road was wiped out.