Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 291: Defeating the Jiangbei Camp (Part )

In the Qing army camp, Ke Yongsheng and his men were gathering behind the formation. The sound of artillery and shouting in front of them made people panic.

Ke Yongsheng's eyes were a little panicked. He never thought that the earthen wall of the camp, which he thought was solid, was so vulnerable. A few rounds of artillery fire blew the wall down. The arrow tower on the top of the wall was completely destroyed before it could shoot an arrow. There were still injured but not dead Qing soldiers at the collapsed site, groaning in pain under the bricks and earth.

Ke Yongsheng clenched his fists, his nails digging deeply into the palms of his hands, trying to suppress the fear in his heart. When Ke Yongsheng led his army to escape from Jiangning, there were only more than a thousand people. Along the way, they either recruited bandits or forcibly conscripted young men. When they arrived at Baiyintu's camp, they already had two thousand soldiers.

Baiyintu left Ke Yongsheng to guard the main camp and allocated another 3,000 men to him, making a total of 5,000 troops. Although the number of troops increased, the composition was complicated and the soldiers were suspicious of each other. It was still okay on weekdays, but when the Zhou army attacked in large numbers and cannonballs and rocks collapsed the walls, everyone, whether they were low-level officers or ordinary soldiers, realized that the main camp could not be defended and it was over!

Zhang Songen, a captain under Ke Yongsheng, said in a trembling voice: "General, the enemy is very fierce. What should we do?"

Ke Yongsheng pretended to be calm and said, "It doesn't matter. The enemy only attacked one side. Even if there is a gap, the enemy army cannot form a battle array when entering the camp. They will enter the camp in a scattered manner. We can move the soldiers up and form a battle array to block the gap. We still have a chance!"

Zhang Songen's heart sank, but he still reluctantly replied, "Yes, General."

Amid the roar of artillery and under the cover of shield carts, the Zhou army swarmed into the gap. Zhao Yongping, who was behind the formation, saw that the front army had already entered the enemy camp, and immediately waved his hand to stop the artillery fire.

The war drums were beating like thunder, and the Zhou army soldiers were in high spirits. They rushed into the Qing army camp like a tiger descending from the mountain.

Although the bricks and earth at several collapsed places were rugged and difficult to move on, and the gaps were not large enough to form an array, the morale of the Zhou army was high, while the Green Camp soldiers of the Qing army were in panic after the collapse of the earth wall. Although they were arranged in array under the command of the general, when two brave men meet on a narrow road, the braver one will win.

The Zhou army soldiers formed a small formation of ten people, with shields, spears, swords, long and short weapons, and charged forward violently, making earth-shaking shouts of killing.

The archers in the back made way for the enemy in front, standing on both sides of the collapsed earth wall, shooting arrows forward to support their comrades fighting in the front.

The collision of weapons made crisp sounds, and their shouts were like a tsunami. From time to time, soldiers from both sides fell to the ground and screamed in pain.

On the battlefield, blood was gushing out like a fountain. The Qing army's front line had been retreating, and corpses had spread all the way from the gap into the camp. At a glance, the majority of the bodies were those of the Green Camp soldiers.

Seeing this, Gao Jinku could not hold back. He left Du Yonghe to continue commanding, while he rushed into the battlefield with his personal guards, howling.

Looking down from a high place, the Zhou army soldiers were like hunters, the Qing army was like prey, and the Jiangbei camp was like a ship in a storm, swaying on the verge of collapse.

The Qing army was outnumbered, their earth walls collapsed, and their morale was low. Under the violent attack of Zhou's army, they could no longer hide their defeat.

Ke Yongsheng became more and more anxious. He repeatedly ordered his subordinates to block the gap and ordered his personal guards to form a supervision team. Anyone who retreated would be executed immediately to deter the troops from retreating.

"Block it quickly"

"Those who retreat will be killed immediately"

However, his voice seemed so weak and powerless amid the sound of artillery and shouting outside.

Ke Yongsheng's eyes were filled with despair. He realized that he had no chance of winning this battle.

Inside the Jiangbei camp, the defeated soldiers were running around in all directions in a disorderly manner. Even the supervisory team composed of the royal guards could not stop the army from fleeing.

Although the weather in December was so gloomy and cold, Ke Yongsheng was still sweating profusely and kept commanding his personal guards to try to gather and reorganize these panicked fleeing soldiers.

Ke Yongsheng's ribs were hit a few times, and it hurt a little. He shouted angrily, "Where's Zhang Songen?"

But no one paid any attention to him.

Ke Yong was so angry that he grabbed a fleeing soldier and saw that he was a junior officer. He angrily scolded him, "Coward, don't run away. Where is Zhang Song, the benefactor?"

I don’t know if it was the collapse of the entire army that gave the young officer courage, or because Ke Yongsheng’s tone was unfriendly and he pulled his arm with too much force, but the young officer seemed to be enraged. He drew his knife and slashed at Ke Yongsheng.

Ke Yongsheng was horrified and quickly dodged to the side. The guards behind him seemed to be frightened, but they quickly reacted, rushed forward and snatched Ke Yongsheng out.

"Brothers, run!"

"The Zhou army is fierce and invincible"

These confusing words made the Qing army even more confused, not to mention that Gao Jinku led his personal guards to chase and attack the fleeing soldiers.

For them, this battle has become a hopeless struggle, a nightmare from which there is no escape.

Ke Yongsheng never thought that one day a small officer would dare to draw his sword at his commander in public. You should know that this is not the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties when soldiers killed Jiedushi like killing chickens.

The personal guards gathered closely around Ke Yongsheng, using shields or swords to drive away the fleeing soldiers from time to time to prevent any bolder ones from harming the commander.

A guard turned around and whispered to Ke Yongsheng: "General, the army has collapsed and cannot be reorganized."

Another guard also advised: "General, retreat first, if you delay any longer, the enemy army will rush over!"

Ke Yongsheng looked grim, but he nodded as he looked at Gao Jinku who was getting closer. Ke Yongsheng looked at the arrogant Gao Jinku, spat, and cursed, "You thief are so arrogant."

Afterwards, surrounded by his personal guards, he fled all the way north. After escaping the camp, Ke Yongsheng looked back at the camp and said to the personal guards beside him in a firm tone: "Today's defeat is not the fault of war. It is because the camp is not strong, the soldiers are insufficient, and the morale is low. When I arrive in Huai'an, I will regroup and fight Gao the bandit again!"

After Ke Yongsheng finished speaking, as if to strengthen his confidence, he said fiercely: "I will definitely come back!"

…………

Zhao Yongping clapped his hands and laughed happily. This time, they broke through the Qing army's Jiangbei camp. More than half of the 5,000 Green Camp soldiers surrendered, and nearly a thousand fled out of the camp. They also confiscated some weapons and enough food to supply the soldiers of the two towns for a month in the Qing army camp. This would also reduce the burden on Yang En.

While Zhao Yongping was resting his troops, he sent people across the river to spread the victory news to Nanjing City, and at the same time sent a messenger to report urgently to Meng Jun in Jiujiang.

The war is imminent, and breaking through the Qing army's Jiangbei camp would be like a good start, which would surely boost the morale of Zhou's army far away in Huguang.