Chapter 91 Kill the General and Capture the Flag
Chapter 91 Kill the General and Capture the Flag
Shao Quanzhong slammed his fist on his palm and laughed loudly towards the sky.
"Who says historical figures aren't awesome? It's so much fun to work with famous generals, and they don't let you down at critical moments."
Li Shixian assessed the situation and realized that once Feng Zicai's troops came out, the chaotic army behind him would be unable to resist at all.
Even though his more than 700 personal soldiers were elite, they were surrounded by Feng Zicai and the Huai Army and were inevitably wiped out.
He swung his sword and shouted, "Retreat!"
He turned his horse and personally led the charge, slowly retreating.
Li Shixian's personal soldiers were well-trained and obeyed orders when they received them. Li Shixian also commanded them in a calm and steady manner. They could withdraw and join the 10,000 troops in the rear to stabilize the position and minimize losses. There was no problem.
But they were originally fighting against the Huai Army. When they turned around to retreat, the vanguard of the Huai Army had already caught up with the tail of Li Shixian's personal guard.
Lin Bozi rushed to the front with a rifle in hand. In his excitement, he had completely forgotten Shao Quanzhong's instructions not to charge in person.
Although he was brave, he was also smart. When others fired at him, he didn't fire the bullets in his gun and charged forward with everyone else.
Now, as he was about to engage in battle with the enemy, who turned around and retreated, the King Shi personally led the charge, not far away from him, and pulled the trigger during the charge, aiming at the conspicuous target of Li Shixian on horseback and shot.
Bo Zai did not have the sharpshooter skills of Song Lao San, and he fired while running, so he missed Li Shixian. Li Shixian's horse was shot and fell to the ground with a scream.
Li Shixian was caught off guard and one of his legs was pinned by the horse, and he was unable to free himself for a long time.
Lin Bozai rushed forward and stabbed his bayonet directly into the back of the struggling Li Shixian.
He saw that this was a high-ranking official, so he took out a dagger from his waist, cut off the head and hung it on his waist.
After finishing all these, he found that his comrades were holding bayonets and fighting with the personal soldiers of the Prince of Attendants who wanted to snatch back Li Shixian's body. The Prince of Attendants' flag that was originally flying behind Li Shixian fell to the ground.
Bo Zai raised the flag of the King's Attendant and shouted, "Lin Bo Zai of the Huai Army, kill Li Shixian in battle!"
The soldiers of the Loyalty Camp shouted together, "The Huai Army will kill Li Shixian in battle!"
Soon, the Heng Camp behind also joined in the cheering.
The shouts of more than a thousand people were heard throughout the battlefield.
Lin Bozai killed the general and seized the flag. The 700 personal soldiers of the King of Attendants who were retreating in an orderly manner heard the enemy cheering, saw that the King of Attendants' flag had fallen, and their retreat was cut off by Feng Zicai. Even their most elite soldiers had no morale left, and they scattered in all directions, running all over the mountains and plains.
The king's personal soldiers were not a marching team. Without formation and unified command, they were chased and killed all over the battlefield by the 1,000 Huai Army soldiers in an organized manner. Most of them were killed by bayonets in the back.
Feng Zicai was originally planning to join forces with the Huai Army to attack Li Shixian's elite personal soldiers. However, when he saw that only 1,000 Huai Army soldiers had defeated 700 elite Taiping Army soldiers, he gave a thumbs-up to Shao Quanzhong in the distance, expressing his admiration from the bottom of his heart.
He immediately swung his saber and said, "Go after Hong Renxuan!"
Although Hong Renxuan was not good at fighting, he was riding a thousand-mile horse given by the king himself. The horse could run very fast and had already led the defeated soldiers to the rear.
The 10,000 soldiers in the rear belonged to the families of King Gan and King Shi. They were all miscellaneous soldiers such as followers and logistics. The elite troops were sent to attack the city.
If Li Shixian retreated here and reorganized the 10,000 soldiers to resist, Feng Zicai's 200 cavalrymen and 2,000 broadsword troops would not be able to break through.
The person who came now was Hong Renxuan. Hong Renxuan didn't care and fled on horseback through the enemy lines. The defeated soldiers around him shouted "Our army is defeated, our army is defeated" and followed Hong Renxuan.
This is what it means when an incompetent general leads to the exhaustion of the entire army.
Ten thousand reserve soldiers were beaten to pieces by Hong Renxuan and several thousand defeated soldiers, and they also turned and fled, shouting "Our army is defeated".
Feng Zicai seized the opportunity and led his troops to charge. Like Lin Bozai, he carried a saber and charged into the front line of the cavalry. He absolutely lived up to the title of Baturu given to him by the Qing Dynasty.
More than 10,000 defeated soldiers were chased for more than 20 miles by Feng Zicai and more than 2,000 people. Thousands were killed or wounded and they fled in all directions. Hong Renxuan cut off his beard and abandoned his robe, escaped alone on horseback, and returned to Tianjing.
Feng Zicai's troops killed and wounded an enemy force several times their size, defeated the 20,000-strong Taiping Army that attacked them, and seized the military flag and dragon robe of King Gan, returning in triumph.
In the great victory at Zhenjiang, the leading general of the Taiping Army's quick-gun team was seriously injured, all the elite troops were lost, Li Shixian's troops were completely wiped out, and Hong Renxuan escaped alone, barely escaping with his life.
Feng Zicai's troops and the Huai Army worked together to achieve a resounding victory. Feng Zicai chased too far and it was dark when he returned to Zhenjiang.
He was an honest man and felt that his previous contempt for Shao Quanzhong was a bit excessive. Without taking off his blood-stained battle robe, he sent someone to invite Shao Quanzhong.
The guards reported, "The Huai Army has completed the transfer of grain and grass, and has escorted the grain transport fleet back to Qingjiangpu."
Feng Zicai scratched his head. He thought that the battle was won with the help of the Huai Army, and he owed Shao Quanzhong a big favor.
He had no habit of embezzling the military exploits of his allies, so he reported the entire process of the battle truthfully, and sent an urgent message of 800 miles to Emperor Xianfeng who was visiting the Mountain Resort to report the victory.
…………
On the fifth day of March in the eleventh year of Emperor Xianfeng's reign, Shao Quanzhong led the Huai Army back to Hailing.
Half a day later, Shao Quanzhong's detailed battle report, including one thousand heads of Hong Renxuan's troops, eight hundred heads of Li Shixian's elite personal soldiers, and three hundred heads of the Taiping Army's quick-gun team, were delivered to the Lianghuai Salt Transport Commissioner's Office along with the head of the pseudo-Prince Li Shixian, the dragon robe, and the military flag.
After reading the good news, Qiao Songnian laughed out loud.
"My son is the best among men, a great general in the world! He led a thousand soldiers to guard the grain and grass, and brought back 2,100 heads of the elite Guangdong bandits. He killed generals and captured flags, and made great achievements on the battlefield. The famous generals in ancient times were no more than this."
He immediately wrote a letter of victory and handed it to the messenger together with Shao Quanzhong's report, Li Shixian's head, the dragon robe of the king, and the military flag.
The messenger rode out of Hailing's north gate on a fast horse, speeding for 800 miles, leaving a trail of dust and smoke, straight to Rehe.
Shao Quanzhong finished writing the victory report at home and sent it off. Wenxiu, who was standing next to him, twisted his ear and said, "You were disobedient and wanted to show off again, right? You ran over to be a scout and almost died on the battlefield?"
Shao Quanzhong said with a grin, "How could that be possible? Look, I'm fine. I just twisted my ankle. It's all right now. Look, I'll take a few steps for you, hiss—"
He turned around and looked, "Huh? Where's Hui'er?"
Wenxiu pointed at Shao Quanzhong's head with her index finger in a reproachful manner, "It's all your fault. Hui'er is pregnant."
"Hahahaha, I've recovered from my arm injury and achieved great results. Come, help me go to Hui'er's room to see her."
After returning from Rong Hui's room, Shao Quanzhong was very satisfied. "Xiu'er, Hui'er needs to recuperate. You see, I'm injured again. You can't leave. Just stay in this house in Zhonglou Lane."
"I'm so busy, how can I have time to accompany you... Hey, hey, what are you doing?"
"Look, my sprained ankle doesn't prevent me from combing your hair, right?"
"Ah - I don't want to wear twin tails..."
Shao Quanzhong's sprained ankle healed on the third day, and he took Liao Rong back to Jiangyan.
He kowtowed to Zhang Wushuan's parents and personally delivered compensation to the families of the fallen soldiers. After Liao Rong's approval, 17 young children studying in the UK were recalled, and the English class of the preparatory school for overseas students officially opened.
On the fourth day, the Huai Army's rapid-moving teams went out to various places in Taizhou and insurance teams in Tongzhou, Jingjiang, Taixing, Jiangdu, and Guazhou to issue notices, recruiting 3,000 new soldiers to join the Huai Army. The Huai Army was preparing to expand to six battalions.
Shao Quanzhong had 190,000 silver coins in his hand, which was the result of deducting part of the military pay. He couldn't afford to buy a lot of equipment for the time being, so he could recruit people first and gradually expand the army and train them.
In another three months, we can collect another wave of likin and donations from various parts of the territory. The military funds promised by Lord Qiao should also be in place by then, so we can train our troops first.
On the second day after the announcement, new recruits reported for duty one after another. Shao Quanzhong was very busy organizing the new recruits. On the sixth day, when 3,000 soldiers were recruited, Shao Quanzhong assembled the troops at the training ground.
There were more than 4,000 veterans and new recruits in total. All the new recruits wore new military uniforms and were waiting for Shao Quanzhong's lecture and salary payment with excitement and anticipation.
"Report! Lord Qiao and Lord Wu have arrived, accompanied by the chief eunuch Lu Laifu."
Lu Laifu was brought by Lord Qiao and Lord Wu. The guards of Weizi did not dare to stop him. Before Shao Quanzhong came out to greet him, they had already arrived at the training ground.
The chief eunuch looked around at the soldiers who were all in high spirits, nodded with satisfaction, and coughed, "Shao Quanzhong and Lin Bozi, accept the order."
(End of this chapter)