Chapter 108 Madman Liu Mingchuan

Chapter 108 Madman Liu Mingchuan

Chapter 108 Madman Liu Mingchuan

Shao Quanzhong and Zhang Zhidong, who were in command of the Haichang, felt relieved when they saw the Huai Army's left-wing infantry rushing up the Yangtze River embankment.

In fact, Yang Fuqing's troops first ran eastward, were blocked by Le Sen and Hai Qing's troops, and then turned south. The distance was much farther than that of Shao Hengzhong's troops from the dock to the levee. Zhang Zhidong's battle plan left sufficient time.

There was intensive gunfire on the Yangtze River embankment. Yang Fuqing's troops, like a lost dog, found it almost impossible to capture the Yangtze River embankment defended by two battalions, and had to retreat back to the depression.

The water in the depression is now waist-deep and has reached the same level as the river surface, but the water is no longer rising.

Yang Fuqing's troops, with just over 4,000 men left, were surrounded on three sides, with a deeper flood main to the west, soaking in water and unable to do anything.

Chen Yucheng, who was on the west side of the flood, thought for a moment and said, "Logistics should immediately cut down trees and prepare to rescue Yang Fuqing's troops in the water."

He held up a telescope and observed for a long time on his horse. Yang Fuqing's troops in the east were surrounded on three sides, and there was no possibility of escape.

However, the soldiers who besieged Yang Fuqing's troops, although they had advanced weapons and powerful firepower, just stayed in the trenches and on the levees and did not surround and attack.

Although young, the battle-hardened British king immediately judged that either the enemy commander was cowardly, or the enemy was only well-equipped and only defended well in trenches and embankments, but the organization of charges and hand-to-hand combat was not up to standard, thus exposing his weaknesses.

His judgment was correct, and this was what Shao Quanzhong and Zhang Zhidong were worried about. They had a bad hand, and they had done their best to surround the enemy and fight like this.

As long as Yang Fuqing's troops can hold out in the water for half a day, or at most a day, the Taiping Army's engineering corps here will definitely be able to build a bridge and rescue them.

Yang Fuqing is a famous general and is strict in military discipline, so there should be no problem.

The logistics officer responded by gathering the troops and preparing to cut down trees and prepare sandbags. A fast horse came galloping from the northeast.

"Reporting to the King of Ying, the Duolong'a Division of the Hunan Army is rushing to attack Tongcheng. The remaining commander Lin Shaozhang fled when he saw the enemy, and the city was almost broken. It was Huang Wenjin's troops who came to the rescue at the critical moment. Now the Qing demons are attacking the city fiercely. Huang Wenjin's troops are in danger. Please make a decision, King of Ying."

Chen Yucheng cursed, "Lin Shaozhang, this bastard, this waste, this idiot! How could the king use this mediocre general who has lost every battle as the leader of the reinforcement army!?"

Chen Yucheng looked at the defeated 4,000-plus troops of Yang Fuqing's army that were isolated in the east by the flood, and sighed with reluctance, "Retreat!"

The Huai Army's five infantry battalions, plus a mixed regiment of logistics troops, artillery, and cavalry, totaled 9,500 people.

Relying on the two trenches on the high ground and the dikes on the east and south sides of the Yangtze River bend, with the help of weapons and floods from the west, the 4,000 elite troops of Yang Fuqing's army were surrounded.

Except for the officers, these semi-finished soldiers had never participated in combat before. They were lucky enough to be able to fight a defensive battle and barely surround 4,000 elite enemy troops.

If they charged in hand-to-hand combat, who knows what might go wrong, and they might be defeated one by one by Yang Fuqing's elite troops, and it would be hard to say whether they would be defeated.

The Huai Army and Yang Fuqing's troops standing in the water stared at each other, neither of them attacked, and they just stood there in a standoff.

The Taiping Army would not be able to continue like this for long and would eventually be defeated. This was the idea of ​​Shao Quanzhong and Zhang Zhidong.

The King of England withdrew his troops for unknown reasons, and Ma Yutang, who was hiding in Wuwei City, could no longer be relied upon. The only thing supporting the faith of Yang Fuqing's troops was the 15,000 friendly troops on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

Even without Yang Fuqing's command, his subordinates were still able to lead 15,000 people to reinforce their comrades on the north bank of the river.

A standoff formed here, and the Haichang began to bombard the Taiping Army on the south bank. New soldiers were afraid of cannons, and veterans were afraid of foreign guns. These 15,000 troops were elite, and after the initial panic, the generals reorganized the troops and slowly retreated to avoid the bombardment of the warships.

The generals were preparing to find another place to cross the river, but the plan to cross the river at Liudu was somehow leaked and they were attacked by the Qing monsters halfway across the river.

But these veterans are very arrogant. Aren't you just relying on your warships?

The Yangtze River is so long, can you guard it with just one warship? I will divide my troops and cross the river. Eventually, some of them will be able to cross and bring my comrades on the north bank to the King of England.

Seeing that the Taiping Army on the south bank was defeated but not in chaos and their retreat formation remained strict, Zhang Zhidong sighed.

"The strength of this group of Guangdong bandits is beyond my expectation. They will probably split up their forces and take a detour to cross the river. Once Chen Yucheng defeats Duolong'a, they will probably come back. We have limited time to besiege Yang Fuqing's troops. I don't know if we can exhaust their courage to persist."

Then he waved his hand and ordered the engineering battalion to fire and try to damage the morale of the Guangdong bandits on the south bank.

Five cargo ships, Yunsheng No. 1 to Yunsheng No. 5, were lined up on the river. The only reserve force in Shao Quanzhong's hands, 500 engineers who had finished digging trenches and carried out the task of blasting the Fenghuang Neck Dike, took action.

On the side of each cargo ship, there were one hundred engineers armed with carbines. At a command from Wu Ziyi, the acting battalion commander of the engineers, five hundred quick-firing guns coordinated with the Haichang's artillery fire to shoot at the Taiping Army retreating from the south bank.

Now the Taiping Army's formation was in chaos. They didn't know how many musketeers the enemy had, and they rushed to the south.

Shao Quanzhong was not as good as Zhang Zhidong in terms of strategy, and could not formulate such a perfect encirclement plan as Zhang Zhidong. But his tactical ability was first-rate, and he was able to capture opportunities on the battlefield.

Seeing the chaotic formation of the Taiping Army on the south bank, he punched the palm of his right hand with his left hand, feeling extremely regretful.

"Alas, if I had 500 elite cavalrymen to charge the enemy's formation, the enemy would surely be defeated despite their large numbers. Unfortunately, my cavalrymen are not yet fully trained—"

"Reporting to the commander, friendly troops have arrived and are beginning to attack the defeated enemy troops on the south bank."

Friendly forces? Where did the friendly forces come from? Shao Quanzhong and Zhang Zhidong were both surprised.

Even if the Hunan Army really came, with Zeng the Barber's vicious mind, the other Hunan Army troops would definitely not help. Only Duolong'a, the bannerman, would think about the country of the Qing Dynasty and lead his troops to help as a friendly army.

It was the normal thing for that old bastard to do to laugh at us and let the besieged Yang Fuqing's troops escape. He deserves praise for his noble morals for not adding insult to injury and "accidentally attacking" friendly forces.

Apart from the Hunan Army, there are no other Qing troops in Huainan.

Don't say it, there really is.

Six hundred Qing cavalrymen came at a rapid speed, carrying a large flag with the word "Ming" on it. The leading general, holding a saber, rushed to the forefront of the cavalry front and continuously chopped at the Taiping army's fleeing soldiers who were facing them from the back. The Taiping army on the south bank was on the verge of a rout.

Shao Quanzhong let out a long sigh, "God help me, it's that crazy Liu Mingchuan who has arrived."

In the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, white sails were hoisted high, and hundreds of long dragon boats and sampans were going upstream, with their long sails filled and soldiers on the boats paddling hard to help.

On the first Changlong warship, the newly appointed Jiangsu Governor Li Hongzhang jumped up and cursed, "Liu Mingchuan, that madman, attacked more than 10,000 Guangdong bandits with only 600 men, and refused to listen to my dissuasion. I will definitely remove him from his post later - Huh? Madman Liu actually won?"

(End of this chapter)