Over twenty meters, it can only penetrate cotton armor. If it encounters heavy armored infantry, it will be like scratching an itch.
However, the Dongjiang rebels only had cotton-padded armor, and even the iron pieces had almost fallen off. Coupled with the lack of maintenance and upkeep, the quality was not even as good as cotton-padded jackets.
Thus the first shotgun battle was completed.
A special company has only a small number of people, but its firepower is as ferocious as that of a regiment.
After they rushed into the first trench, they pushed all the way without any obstruction.
Unlike the new army, the rebels could not stand on the trenches and cause trouble.
Anyone who dares to stand on it will be named with a flash cap gun.
And nestled in the trench, he was shot in the face with a shotgun.
Finally, the rebels could no longer bear it any longer, and they all shouted and retreated from the trenches and began to flee back.
At this time, the cavalry led by Li Jiuzheng was only halfway through the gallop.
Since leaving the formation, this group of cavalry has received key care from the artillery of the New Army.
Twelve infantry guns and twelve mortars were fired at them for free.
Under the continuous firepower, the cavalry fell one by one.
In order to avenge his son's anger, Li Jiucheng did not care about casualties, and just wanted to rush forward and exert the power of Dongjiang Town's close combat.
However, when he was still more than 300 meters away from the trench, he was shocked to see that the infantry of his side who had previously invaded the trench seemed to have encountered some kind of terror, and fled one after another, covering the ground in an instant.
Even when they saw a large group of cavalry approaching, these infantrymen forgot to dodge.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way!"
Li Jiucheng yelled anxiously, but in the deafening battlefield, his roar could not be heard clearly even by the soldiers around him.
But at this time, the remaining mines were trampled by the war horses. Coupled with the artillery bombardment, the cavalry lost hundreds of people.
Even three of Li Jiucheng's personal soldiers were killed, and the formation was stagnant.
Now it was better, the cavalry could not push away the infantry and continue charging. People on both sides were huddled together, and order was completely lost.
The infantrymen of the 13th Battalion had followed the special company back to the first trench, and upon seeing this, they immediately started free fire.
The sound of gunfire was like rain, and the barrages were like wind. Wherever they passed, whether they were cavalry or infantrymen in Dongjiang Town, they all fell down wailing.
Especially cavalry, which ride on tall horses and move slowly, the target should not be too obvious.
In addition, cavalry is valuable, so soldiers like to shoot at cavalry.
Seeing that nothing could be done, Li Jiucheng's soldiers rushed towards him and trapped him on both sides.
"Commander, leave quickly!"
Li Jiucheng's eyes were about to burst.
"Let me go and rush forward!"
"If you can't rush, everyone will die."
Li Jiucheng looked around in shock, only to find that out of the 1,500 cavalrymen directly belonging to him, there were now less than 700 left.
This discovery made him feel cold all over, and he was unable to struggle anymore. He was hugged by his own soldiers and retreated hastily.
As soon as the general retreated, the rest of the troops fled as if they had been granted amnesty, leaving only a large blank space.
"The enemy has escaped, let's chase him!"
Ren Dong looked at him kindly in the trench, and shouted out loud when he saw this, and wanted to jump out of the trench and pursue the victory.
A big hand stretched out from beside him and pulled him back.
"What are you doing? Are you disobeying orders?"
Ren Dong looked back and realized that the battalion commander had arrived at some unknown time.
"Battal Commander, the Dongjiang rebels were defeated miserably. This is a good opportunity for us to complete our victory in one battle."
The battalion commander had a cold face.
"Do you have the final say on how to fight? You are a soldier and you follow orders."
Ren Dong was furious and wanted to protest, but looking around, he found that the others had already squatted down, sorting out their equipment.
Without orders, they will not act blindly.
Ren Dong doesn't understand.
Why didn't they seize the good opportunity and let the Dongjiang rebels retreat calmly?
"I...I'll go find the leader to reason with you."
He was special. If he really left, the battalion commander did not stop him. Instead, he picked up the telescope and observed the situation on the other side.
What can be seen is that the Dongjiang rebels on various fronts began to shrink rapidly, while the Chinese army began to move towards the north.
Gu He
Obviously, this is a complete withdrawal of troops.
The order to withdraw was given by Kong Youde.
When Li Jiuzheng rushed forward, Kong Youde felt angry in his heart.
This kind of general attacking in anger is simply acting in disorder.
Later, when he saw the cavalry and infantry mixed together and being wantonly slaughtered by the new army, Kong Youde felt even more distressed.
Although the New Army has always been more restrained and tried its best to avoid reducing the rebels' combat effectiveness, after several battles, the death toll of veterans in Dongjiang Town exceeded 10,000.
There are fewer and fewer veterans as the fighting continues, and more soldiers are young men captured and prisoners released later, which has begun to affect the combat effectiveness of Dongjiang Town.
Now because of Li Jiucheng's chaos, more people have died, and Kong Youde can't help but have other thoughts.
Just as Li Jiucheng was on his way back in embarrassment, he had already ordered the horn to sound the withdrawal.
During the Mulingguan offensive and defensive battle, the New Army's Third Division, with one regiment, stopped the offensive of tens of thousands of Dongjiang rebels.
This battle caused the greatest trauma to the rebels.
The rebels have realized that the enemy on the other side is a terrifying existence that they cannot defeat.
The only solution for now is to avoid the new army's edge and find a new way out.
……………………………………………………
Chiping, official road, New Army sentry post.
A donkey cart came slowly from the direction of Dongchang Mansion.
The drivers were three men.
Wearing a ragged leather jacket, with his hands in his sleeves, his face was dark.
"What are you doing? Where are you going?"
An officer came forward and asked.
"Master Jun, we are ordered by our boss to deliver some goods to Jinan."
"What kind of goods?"
"Millet."
The officer walked over, walked around the donkey cart, and even opened his pockets to take a closer look at the contents.
"Let's go."
The checkpoint opened, and the three men thanked him profusely, drove over quickly, and drove away.
Behind them, a man came next to the officer.
"Jinyiwei's?"
"Definitely."
"Why are you so sure?"
"Do the local people call us military masters? In addition, there is a knife hidden under the car, a Xiuchun knife specially used by Jin Yiwei."
"Tsk tsk, this Jin Yiwei is getting more and more alive."
"There is no way. Didn't the commander-in-chief say it before? To do intelligence work, say a thousand or ten thousand, it is all made of money. The people in Jinyiwei are starving to death, how do you expect them to hone their skills?"
"Hey, tell me, if the commander-in-chief gives these guards a pass, aren't you afraid that the situation here will be reported to the imperial court?"
"Haha, you don't know yet, right? The northwest bandits have broken into Henan. So what if the court knows about it? Are they coming to fight us, or are they going to worry about the chaos in Henan first?"
………………………………
North Zhili, Xingtai.
Lu Xiangsheng stood on the city wall, looking at the officers and soldiers on standby, feeling confident.
"Order all the troops to leave the city one by one. Wipe out all the bandits in one fell swoop."
The flag was waved, and the officers and soldiers marched out one after another.
Liang Fu, the commander-in-chief of Baoding, led a central army of 5,000 people and left the city to the west.
Zuo Liangyu, the commander-in-chief of Hejian, led 3,000 men as the left wing and headed straight out of the city towards Fengshan area.
Changping guerrilla Xu Datong led 2,000 people on the right wing and rushed to Xingtai Town.
In the Wohu Mountain area to the west of Xingtai, Gao Yingxiang's tribe, Zhang Xianzhong's tribe, Li Zicheng's tribe, and Lao Hui's tribe of the Northwest Rebel Army all gathered here.
Gao Yingxiang was in a high position. After receiving the military information, he immediately said: "The whole army will attack, destroy the official army and capture Xingtai."
After the Northwest Rebel Army left the Taihang Mountains in the east, they attacked cities and villages along the way and made a lot of gains, which frightened the Ming Dynasty.
Lu Xiangsheng, a famous soldier in the army, immediately asked the court to gather all the Ming troops in Gyeonggi to fight with the rebels.