Frankly speaking, there is nothing wrong with the front deployed by Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others.
According to their understanding of the war, we have a large number of troops and the natural dangers of the Huaihe River. Even if the Shandong New Army can fight again, there is no possibility of crossing the river.
They just didn't expect the Shandong New Army to be so capable.
Especially the weapons used were completely beyond their knowledge.
Under the repeated bombardment of heavy artillery, rocket launchers, and infantry artillery, the Northwest Rebel Army was completely unable to stand, and large areas of casualties were caused.
Seeing the earth devastated by artillery fire, Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng were so frightened that they lost their reaction.
Is this kind of weapon really the only thing in the world?
The rebel generals were no longer as arrogant and domineering as before, and had no idea how to deal with such an attack.
The only person who is awake is Liang Yue.
He did not care about overstepping his bounds and shouted quickly: "Send orders to all the troops to retreat quickly and get out of the way of the river beach."
Li Zicheng woke up from a dream.
"Retreat, retreat quickly!"
The rebels had already been bombed to pieces, and they could no longer hold on. Even without Li Zicheng's order, a rout would not be far away.
Now that the general had given the order, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly ran back, not daring to stop at all.
Looking back at the battlefield, in just a short period of time, the rebels paid a price of more than 3,000 casualties.
There were still some rebel soldiers who were not killed by the explosion rolling on the ground, their wailing sounds heart-stopping.
Seeing that the northwest rebels had given way to the river bank, Huang Sanhu formally gave the order.
"Cross the river."
The first regiment of the 5th Division set off first.
More than 300 wooden boats carrying soldiers rowed slowly towards the other side.
Each ship has a platoon of troops on board, and is accompanied by a mortar.
The soldiers raised their guns and aimed at the river bank, alerting them to any possible enemies.
The mortar crew constantly measures the distance and is ready to go into battle at any time.
The most dangerous stage of the swimming operation is the moment of landing.
Once the enemy takes advantage of our own unstable foothold and launches an attack, it is likely to cause heavy casualties.
Liang Yue also knew this very well, and after the formation withdrew, he quickly gave Li Zicheng advice.
"General, Zuo Menggen doesn't have many men to cross the river. If you get mixed up with them while their footing is not yet stable, then those terrible cannons will definitely be useless."
Unexpectedly, Liang Yue also thought of a method that has been used throughout the ages to deal with the enemy's superior firepower.
That's close combat.
After the previous round of attacks, Li Zicheng also became afraid of the terrifying firepower of the Shandong New Army, and knew that what Liang Yue said was the only way.
"King Chuang, please give me the order."
Gao Yingxiang took a deep look at Liang Yue and became jealous that Li Zicheng had such a powerful general.
"You and I must gather all the cavalry and rush over with all our strength. We should be able to do it."
After the two discussed, they gathered all the cavalry from the two groups, handed them over to Li Jin to lead, and rushed towards the river bank.
The first group on the other side began to land one after another.
Their landing operations were very particular.
Not all the boats docked, and some were left in the river.
The remaining ships spread out left and right, forming a loose military line, less than a few dozen meters away from the shore.
In this way, the soldiers remaining on the ship can provide sufficient fire support to the friendly forces landing and expand the fire network.
The landing soldiers immediately formed phalanxes in company units and expanded toward the front to protect the landing base.
The mortars were set up on the shore and ready for battle immediately.
The formation of the new army had just advanced less than a few dozen meters, and thousands of cavalry led by Commander Li Jin had already charged over.
The artillery commander who accompanied the crossing was lying on the river bank, seeing all this, and immediately raised the red flag in his hand and waved it towards the rear.
The advanced command system of the New Army artillery is far beyond the understanding of this era.
"Standard 639.1, 72.6, height positive 11, three rapid fire rounds."
Since the rocket launchers are still being loaded, heavy artillery will be used to attack the northwest rebel cavalry this time.
Dozens of artillery shells flew high into the sky like raindrops, and then fell heavily, landing right on the path of the rebel cavalry's charge.
The Iron Storm once again crazily harvested human lives, disrupting the ranks of the rebel cavalry.
Countless war horses collided with each other in fear and fell to the ground, leaving many cavalrymen trampled under the hoofs of their own horses.
The infantry of the new army had long been accustomed to this scene, and they all raised their guns under the command of the commander.
When the rear mortars moved in, they also opened fire.
There is also a problem with the hit rate of artillery strikes. In addition to the shocking explosion, many of them actually fall into the air.
But the musket array of the New Army infantry did not have this problem.
The three-stage array moved forward in succession and fired continuously, with no period of firepower vacuum.
And under each round of bullets, the damage to the rebel cavalry was extremely shocking.
It was as if there was an invisible wall directly in front of them, preventing them from crossing the 70-meter distance line.
In terms of combat effectiveness alone, the rebel cavalry is not even a bit inferior to the Eight Banners cavalry.
The musket array of the New Army infantry can defeat the Eight Banners cavalry, so there is no pressure when facing the rebel cavalry.
During the fierce battle, the 2nd Regiment of the 5th Division also completed the landing.
The number of troops crossing the river was doubled, and the attack on the rebels became more severe.
As Li Zicheng's nephew and a famous warrior in the rebel army, Li Jin was afraid.
Seeing the people around him fall down in droves, and the formation becoming more and more sparse, he deeply felt that it was impossible to win this time.
If he rushes forward any further, he will die too.
The fear of death filled his heart, causing Li Jin to let out a heart-rending cry.
"retreat!"
When the remaining rebel cavalry heard this order, they felt as if they had been granted amnesty. They turned their horses and fled back faster than they could charge.
Far away, in the main formation of the rebel army, they saw the cavalry fleeing back in confusion. Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng were not angry at all.
Ask yourself, even if they lead the army themselves, it will not be better than this.
Accompanying Li Zicheng, Liang Yue's pupils were filled with blood as he watched the Shandong New Army's formation as steady as a mountain and as slow as a forest.
"Zuo Mengeng!!"
Of course he could see that the Shandong New Army at this moment had become stronger than when they encountered it that year.
Is there no hope of revenge in his life?
Once the desperate thoughts were generated in his heart, they immediately cut through Liang Yue's boiling internal organs like a sharp blade.
puff……
Everyone was shocked when they saw him spitting out a mouthful of blood and falling off his horse.
"Call the doctor quickly."
Li Zicheng ran over personally and helped Liang Yue up. He saw that his face was like gold paper and his breath was weak.
For a moment I couldn't figure out why.
But with the battle going like this, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the rebels couldn't even stop the Shandong New Army from crossing the river.