Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 306 Battle of Tianping Mountain (5)

Sixty miles north of Xianning City.

Zhang Yingwei said to Wang Fugui excitedly: "Wang Tongzhen, the Manchu prince Haoge is leading tens of thousands of people from the Eight Banners. We can't just charge forward!"

Wang Fugui and Zhang Yingwei had just gone sixty miles outside the city of Xianning when they received a secret report saying that Haoge's troops of the Qing army were marching from Wuchang to Xianning.

The two men stopped their advance immediately and ordered their scouts to investigate. Wang Fugui felt a little uneasy as he and Zhang Yingwei were only soldiers from two towns, and Zhang Yingwei's troops were reorganized from surrendered soldiers, so it was unknown how strong they were.

Hauge's troops first attacked Sichuan and then advanced into Huguang. They fought against Zhang Xianzhong, Ming general Yang Zhan, Li Dingguo and others. Their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

"The king has issued a military order for us to march and threaten Wuchang, but we have only been gone for two days..." Wang Fugui said hesitantly.

"Wang Tongzhen, we can't hesitate any longer. Hauge's subordinates must have a lot of cavalry. If we delay for two more days, no, one day at most, as long as we are entangled, we won't be able to retreat even if we want to!" Zhang Yingwei said anxiously. In fact, he was still a little scared in his heart. Zhang Yingwei was born in Zuozhen and he lacked confidence in fighting against the Qing army. If he had an advantage in military strength, he could still muster up his strength to fight, but now he was at a disadvantage in terms of numbers and they were in the wild. Zhang Yingwei couldn't help but feel a little panicked.

Wang Fugui put his hands behind his back and paced back and forth for a long time before he said in a tangled manner, "The scouts haven't sent back any news yet. No, no, I'd better send someone to ask the king for instructions."

"What does it mean that a general is not subject to orders from the king when he is away from the court? Wang Tongzhen, you haven't even seen a play. Now we are waiting for the king's instructions. The back and forth has wasted time. We are not going to run away. We should withdraw to Xianning first and wait for Haoge to climb the city wall." Zhang Yingwei said anxiously.

It wasn't that Zhang Yingwei was afraid of the Qing as a tiger, but he just didn't have enough confidence in encountering the enemy in the wild.

Wang Fugui looked back at Zhang Yingwei and said unhappily, "Why are you in such a hurry? We haven't even found out how many people are in Haoge's army yet, how do you know there are tens of thousands of people?"

Just as he finished speaking, a scout came hurriedly to report: "Report, the Qing army Haoge's troops have set out from Wuchang, with no less than 30,000 soldiers, most of whom are cavalry, and they have reached Tiantou Town."

Wang Fugui and Zhang Yingwei hurried to the map. Tiantou Town was about a hundred miles away from where they were. If Hauge led his cavalry to charge forward, he would run into Wang and Zhang tomorrow.

Wang Fugui and Zhang Yingwei looked at each other in bewilderment. Zhang Yingwei immediately said, "We are all infantrymen, and we are facing the Eight Banners cavalry. We have no reinforcements now. Once Haoge catches up with us and cuts off our food supply, I'm afraid we will be in great danger!"

Wang Fugui acted decisively. While passing the news of Hauge's approach to Meng Jun, he also hurriedly withdrew his troops back to Xianning.

In less than half an hour, Wang Fugui and Zhang Yingwei's 20,000 troops had assembled and the army returned along the original route. Although Wang Fugui ordered a retreat to Xianning, he was worried that if he retreated to Xianning, the Qing army would leave a part of its troops to contain Xianning and use cavalry to raid the main battlefield. If the king was not careful, something unexpected might happen.

On the way back, Wang Fugui immediately decided to divide the troops into two towns, one to garrison Xianning City and the other to camp outside the city, one inside and one outside, to prevent the Qing army from locking the city. At the same time, he sent a messenger to report to Meng Jun the news of his withdrawal of troops back to Xianning.

…………

The main battlefield.

Zhou's army was coming from the south to the north, and Duoduo was marching quickly from the north to the south. However, Lin Shiqi and Wu Sangui on the main battlefield fell into a strange silence, without the imagined shouting and sounds of artillery fire.

Wu Sangui did not dare to use cavalry to break through the enemy's formation, nor did he want to charge. Liu Sanchong's troops were almost destroyed, which made Wu Sangui feel sad and regretful. Besides, he had already done his best for the Qing Dynasty by being a vanguard.

Duoduo led his troops and galloped all the way, finally arriving at this nameless battlefield, but Meng Jun was still a little slow after all.

When Duoduo arrived at the battlefield, he looked around but couldn't find Meng Jun's flag. After looking for a while, he went straight to Wu Sangui. As soon as he saw him, he asked, "Where is Meng Jun's flag?"

Wu Sangui was totally confused when he heard this. How would he know where Meng Jun's royal flag was?

Wu Sangui said: "Prince Yu, it must be that the traitor Meng has not arrived yet."

"Didn't you say that we ran into the Meng bandit headquarters?"

"These must be the elite troops of Meng's headquarters, there is no doubt about it!"

Duoduo was speechless for a moment. He turned his head and looked at the battlefield. Duoduo frowned and said in a deep voice: "Is the King of Pingxi putting on a big show? Are tens of thousands of troops here to enjoy the spring? Why don't they charge in!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Sangui immediately complained: "The infantry suffered heavy casualties in the charge, and the cavalry cannot charge the infantry. We can only use our elite cavalry to harass and contain them, and see if we can find an opportunity to fight."

After listening to this, Duoduo said nothing more. He looked at the weak front line of the Zhou army with some disapproval. This formation was like a long snake, and its depth was too thin.

Duoduo immediately reorganized his army, with 5,000 Green Camp soldiers as the vanguard, 5,000 Han army flags as the secondary formation, and 2,000 Bordered White Banner soldiers in the rear, all dressed in bright armor, ready to go.

As the saying goes, "The battle begins after the battle", He Luohui looked at the imposing army formation and said flatteringly: "Prince Yu, you can know the success or failure by looking at the formation. There is no need to fight. The victory or failure is immediately determined. Now it seems that this battle is without suspense!"

Duoduo laughed out loud when he heard this, but what he didn't notice was that Wu Sangui, who was far away, saw Duoduo organizing his troops and preparing to charge head-on, and although he remained expressionless on the surface, he was actually laughing in his heart.

At this time, Fang Guangchen leaned close to Wu Sangui's ear and said, "Your Highness, after Prince Yu has his men charge, Your Highness will tell Prince Yu how our army was defeated."

Wu Sangui nodded immediately and praised: "Sir, you have considered everything carefully."

Lin Shiqi was in the backcourt, and now he had no doubts about the concept of winning with firearms.

Seeing Duoduo's army arrive, Lin Shiqi reorganized the three armies while quickly delivering the military report to Meng Jun.

But after a while, Lin Shiqi felt that something was wrong. Wu Sangui charged once, but didn't dare to charge again. Duoduo was so brave. Looking at the posture of the army, it seemed that he still regarded the Po Lu Army as a point of attack. Was Duoduo blind? Didn't he see the densely packed corpses of the Qing army in front of the battle?

Duoduo was certainly not blind. He saw it, but seeing is believing, so he had to charge forward. Besides, the Green Camp soldiers were the ones leading the charge.

Although he did not attach great importance to the lives of the Green Camp soldiers, Duoduo still ordered the army to prepare more large shields in front of the army, trying to let the infantry rush closer. Duoduo firmly believed that as long as the infantry disrupted the enemy formation, the Eight Banners cavalry would be able to completely defeat Meng Jun's vanguard with a charge. As long as the middle was defeated and the two wings were attacked, Meng Jun's vanguard would be scattered, and it was possible to sweep away the defeated soldiers and defeat Meng Jun in one fell swoop.

Duoduo waved his hand expressionlessly, the attack horn sounded again, and five thousand Green Camp infantrymen charged towards the Po Lu Army in a dense crowd.