Seeing the soldiers being slaughtered crazily, the rebel generals felt cold all over.
The war has reached this level and they have lost their reason and courage.
They had never encountered such tactics, never encountered such a terrifying enemy, and had never suffered such a defeat.
Li Jiucheng yelled, hoping to rescue more soldiers through artillery fire.
However, the old and clumsy red cannons could not cause much trouble to the New Army. When the rebels opened fire, the New Army soldiers only needed to jump into the tunnel to perfectly avoid it.
And taking advantage of the gaps in the shelling, you can still shoot at the fleeing rebels.
The barbed wire fence has become a Shura field.
The fleeing rebels completely lost their minds and did not care whether there was any gap. The people behind pushed the people in front crazily and smashed through the barbed wire fence with the flesh and blood of the people in front.
As for the people in front, even if they were not stabbed to death by the barbed wire, they were definitely trampled to death by those behind.
There were three barbed wire fences in a row. When the rebels finally rushed through, less than 2,000 people were still alive.
More than 8,000 corpses were dumped in this area.
Those who broke through the barbed wire fence had completely lost their souls and rushed towards their own camp in a daze.
Seeing that these defeated troops were about to scatter his own camp, Kong Youde's soul emerged and shouted: "Set arrows and let them go to both sides."
This is a common practice for military formations to avoid being scattered.
Even the most frightened soldiers will automatically run in both directions when they see the arrows fired from the military formation.
However, these defeated troops today have lost their spiritual consciousness. How can the arrows fired from our side be as scary as the muskets behind them?
So they ran straight into a hail of arrows.
After dozens of steps, not a single defeated soldier survived. The corpses strewn all over the ground made the rebels lose their fighting spirit and their will began to collapse.
Kong Youde was frightened and tried hard to see the enemy on the opposite side. However, the smoke-filled battlefield prevented him from seeing anything.
It was as if behind the thick smoke there was a devastating beast that could engulf him at any time.
Without waiting to discuss with Li Jiucheng, he ordered: "Send the money and return to Laizhou."
Tens of thousands of troops, as if granted an amnesty, moved one after another and retreated to the west bank of the Yellow River. Then they retreated all the way west, not daring to stay here any longer, and headed straight for Laizhou.
Obviously, this battle has broken the spirit of the rebels.
The idea of retaking Dengzhou has been forgotten by them. What they want to do most now is to stay as far away from the enemy on the opposite side as possible.
Seeing the results of the battle, Zuo Mengeng let out a sigh of relief and did not order the pursuit.
He had never thought about completely wiping out the rebels here and using the rebels to destroy Shandong's feudal system, so he could not let the rebels suffer too much loss.
The First Division stopped on the east bank of the Yellow River and began to clean the battlefield and make summary, giving the rebels enough time to breathe and respond.
"It has been proven that trenches are very effective in dealing with enemy artillery. Through such fortifications, casualties can be effectively reduced."
Bai Xiaoqi praised the trenches very much and had already made up his mind to have the whole brigade study it carefully and further improve the trench tactics after returning.
Although the army of this era would also conduct tunnel operations, the tactical purposes were obviously completely different from those of the New Army.
The army of this era dug trenches mainly for siege or siege, and did not regard trenches as combat areas.
The New Army gave full play to the bunker role of the trenches. Although the sturdiness and complexity of the trenches were far from comparable to those of later generations. However, the artillery of this era was too limited, and such fortifications were more conducive to the New Army's operations.
On the contrary, the soil work of other armies was as useless as paper in the face of the New Army's explosive bombs.
Furthermore, other armies do not have weapons like cap guns that load quickly, shoot accurately, and have an extremely long range.
If they were allowed to hide in the trenches and shoot with old matchlock guns like the new army, the enemy would definitely rush to poop and urinate on top of them.
This is the tactical innovation brought about by the difference in weapons.
The new army has mastered powerful new weapons, and it also needs to continuously summarize and study on the battlefield to bring the powerful weapons into play step by step.
Think about Qingshui Pass, the new army could only line up and shoot at the Hou Jin army. As a result, they suffered heavy casualties under the artillery bombardment of the Hou Jin army.
But now, the trenches effectively block the damage of solid artillery shells.
After a battle involving tens of thousands of people, the casualties of the new army were almost negligible.
In addition to trenches, the engineer shovel also received unanimous praise from top to bottom.
"This thing digs soil quickly and effortlessly, and is more useful than a bayonet in hand-to-hand combat."
Hearing Huang Sanhu's words, Zuo Mengeng was quite miraculous.
Sure enough, Chinese soldiers of any era have a special liking for engineer shovels.
This multi-purpose tool can no longer shine in this era.
The New Army was overjoyed as they had won a great victory. However, the rebels were filled with worries and panic after they fled back to Laizhou in embarrassment.
"How can Zuo Mengeng have so many soldiers and horses?"
Li Jiucheng walked around anxiously, chattering endlessly, but no one could answer his questions.
And this issue is no longer important.
Everyone understands that with the strength of the rebels, it is impossible to recapture Dengzhou.
If we cannot recapture Dengzhou, we will not be able to control the Dengzhou navy, and we will lose our retreat at sea.
Once the imperial court formed new reinforcements to come from the west and attack Zuo Mengeng from the east and west, they would really be completely defeated.
Kong Youde closed his eyes and meditated, and then spoke for a long time.
"Zuo Mengeng's artillery and fire blunderbuss are very weird. Looking around the world, even the Folangji people don't have such artifacts. Where did he get them?"
Still no one can answer.
Mao Chenglu said dejectedly: "That fire gun is very fast and accurate. It can hurt someone in three or four hundred steps. Our fire gun may not be able to penetrate armor even in twenty steps. How can we fight like this?"
Chen Yongfu also said: "That cannonball can actually explode. It will explode into a large area and leave no body alive. Didn't Sun Zhongcheng say that the best cannon-making craftsmen in the world are all in Dengzhou? Why haven't we seen such magic weapons?"
"
Listening to the crowd's noise, Li Yingyuan was quite depressed and just asked: "What should we do? Should we fight in Dengzhou?"
There was silence in the tent, no one spoke.
Everyone is afraid, and no one wants to appear cowardly.
When Li Yingyuan saw it, he could only do this kind of thing as a junior.
"Uncles, in my nephew's opinion, this Zuo Mengeng is far more ferocious than the Tatars. If he attacks Dengzhou again, I'm afraid we will all suffer losses. We should think of a way to see if there is any other way out."
Everyone nodded in agreement, feeling that this was the right thing to do.
Although the new army did not follow the trend and allowed the rebels to withdraw to Laizhou, the situation of the rebels was already very dangerous.
Especially since Laizhou has been destroyed, the local area cannot provide food and grass supplies at all. The rebels' material consumption will be reduced. Over time, they will collapse due to logistics without the need for new troops to fight.
Kong Youde thought about the fear of the new army, his heart was still beating wildly, and he tried to say: "Let's go west. As long as we rush to Liaodong, we will have a way to survive."
When everyone heard this, they all frowned and no one recognized it.
Going to Shandong by land is a long way and there are many passes. Especially in Liaodong, where the imperial court is gathering heavy troops, how can they rush through?
Geng Zhongming suddenly asked: "After the Battle of Shahe, we asked people to send a message to negotiate peace with the imperial court. Will the imperial court receive a reply?"
Everyone looked at each other in shock and had forgotten all about this matter.
After the Battle of Shahe, the world's elite Guan Ning Army was completely wiped out. Li Jiucheng, Kong Youde and others realized that the court was no longer able to conquer, so it was inevitable to separate Shandong.
Negotiating peace with the imperial court is just to buy time to digest the fruits of victory. Whether the imperial court agrees or not does not affect the established facts.
Unexpectedly, Zuo Menggeng's magic soldiers descended from the sky and not only attacked Dengzhou, but also defeated them completely.
Now how to survive the attack of the new army has become a top priority.
How can they care about the court's reply?
Besides, how could the imperial court agree to negotiate peace after learning that Zuo Menggeng had won a great victory?
Li Jiucheng and others did not know that the current court knew nothing about the situation in Shandong.
Zuo Mengeng would not report to the imperial court how the war was going. In addition, the imperial court's rule in various parts of Shandong was seriously damaged, and the smooth flow of information could no longer be achieved.
The imperial court was still immersed in the shadow of the defeat of Shahe.
Chongzhen has not been in court for half a month.
This is the first time since he ascended the throne.
The excuse was that Long was ill and needed to recuperate. Moreover, the outside world had already known that he had fainted before.
As a headstrong and extremely proud man, the defeat of Shahe was a huge blow to Chongzhen.
Although he has encountered various difficulties in the past, as a powerful emperor, he can always find a way to deal with it, no matter whether his response is wise or stupid.
However, this time, after the defeat of Shahe, the imperial court had no more troops to send. Seeing that the rebels had become powerful, Chongzhen looked around blankly, helpless, and his self-esteem was completely crushed.
He...shamefully chose to escape.
Everyone in the inner court, the outer dynasty, the harem, civil and military officials, and nobles all stared at the Forbidden City worriedly. For the first time, they discovered that the emperor's situation was so affecting people's hearts.