Chapter 183 Unsealed Pocket Formation
Chapter 183 Unsealed Pocket Formation
Inside Jinjibao, the generals were extremely excited and actively requested to fight and attack.
It was suggested that Master Ma should take advantage of Li Yuanhao's illness to kill him, destroy the Huai Army in one fell swoop, split Shaanxi and Gansu, establish the capital in Lingzhou, and establish Li Yuanhao's achievements.
Ma Hualong stood with his hands behind his back, squinting his eyes and remained silent.
Ma Hualong is not an ordinary rebel leader. He is a brave man and it is no exaggeration to call him a hero in troubled times.
Ma Hualong, whose Buddhist name is "Mohammed Aiyinama Alamao Lahu", Taoist name is "Tobul Tunla", respectful title is Sayyid Shuhaidayi, and is known as "The Thirteenth Master".
He was the chief planner of the bandit uprisings throughout Shaanxi, Gansu, Yunnan and Yili provinces, and the culprit behind the massacre of tens of millions of Han people.
How could he organize such a big event? He has disciples all over the world.
Building this large group of fortresses near Jinjibao is not something that a local bumpkin could do.
To store up food, build high walls, and slowly become king requires intelligence and long-term planning, as well as being quite rich.
When he was young, he studied in the capital, and his disciples were spread all over China, even as far as Jakarta and Baghdad.
There are his disciples among the high-ranking officials in the capital, and half of the people in the Green Camp in Shaanxi and Gansu are his disciples. This is why Shaanxi and Gansu quickly fell into disrepair when he started to act.
In order to conquer the world, the Ma family has been preparing for several generations. He is the fifth generation and finally got the opportunity.
The Ma family had trading posts all over the country - even in Hailing City. They established a business network from Jakarta to Guangzhou, to Gansu and Shaanxi, and then to Baghdad. They were the richest people in the world.
He had money and food, countless fortresses, a strong army, a large number of advanced artillery, guns and ammunition, and millions of disciples who were absolutely loyal to him, but he still endured it.
It was not until I saw the Taiping and Nian Rebellions rising in force, the foreigners invading, and the Qing Dynasty in turmoil and looking doomed that I finally made up my mind to start an uprising.
The goal was to divide the world into three parts with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Nian Army and divide up the beautiful country of China.
He killed a large number of people after the uprising, not because he was cruel and bloodthirsty, but to clear the territory and allow his disciples, who were particularly fertile, to reproduce in large numbers so that he could establish his ironclad empire.
So, the rioters were not bandits, but rebels who were purposeful, organized, planned, and had been preparing for a long time.
Unfortunately, he misjudged the general situation. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Nian Rebellion failed and were suppressed. His brother was the only major rebel left, and now he became the Qing court's main target of attack.
Ma Hualong believed that he was brave and resourceful, and had great ambitions. Of course, he could not listen to the instigation of a group of reckless men under his command. He shook his head and said, "The Huai Army suddenly retreated. We must be on guard against fraud. However, we cannot miss the opportunity."
After thinking for a long time, he began to select his troops. "Send a message to the remaining troops of the 18th Battalion in the southern fortress to go out and intercept the Huai Army. Ma Wanchun, you take 3,000 troops and go out of the city to supervise the battle. Don't rush to the front. If the enemy is pretending to be defeated, immediately return to defend."
Ma Hualong's confidants were the Gansu bandits, so he sent more than 15,000 people to pursue them, most of whom were Shaanxi bandits. If they fell into the trap, they would not feel sorry even if they died.
Besides, we are all cavalry. If the enemy sets an ambush, we can run back even if we cannot defeat them. The loss will not be too great. It is worth taking the risk.
Ma Wanchun obeyed the order, selected three thousand soldiers and marched out of Jijin Fort.
The remaining bandits of the Eighteenth Battalion did not have that much brains. They originally formed their own system and just respected Ma Hualong as their boss. Now they were driven over by the Huai Army and completely surrendered, losing their independence, and they have been resentful.
Now the Huai Army ran away because they had no food? Led by their generals, they rode their horses and rushed out of the fortress, chasing after the Huai Army.
There are many horses in the northwest, and the Huai Army also has a lot of horses. A large number of horses were seized during the suppression of Dong Zhiyuan, and a full cavalry has been built.
Seeing the enemy chasing them, the three troops of Song Lao mounted their horses and became dragoons, fleeing in panic. Their formation was scattered, they were in a hurry, and they left food and supplies everywhere. They didn't need to pretend, they were infantrymen, and their horse riding skills were quite good. In their hands, horses were just a means of transportation, not a combat weapon, and they couldn't even maintain formation.
The Shaanxi bandits were extremely skilled in riding, and they pursued the enemy with great pleasure, while some of them were full of energy and kept doing tricks on their horses, just like the Third Brother parading his troops.
Non-professionals were not as good at riding as authentic cavalrymen. After running for a while, they were about to be caught up when suddenly a battalion of cavalry rushed out from the side, fired a volley of carbines on horseback, and then attacked the pursuers from the flank.
A cavalry team of more than a thousand people could not stop the charge of ten thousand people, but the vanguard was fighting with others, and the speed of the Shaanxi bandits' charge team suddenly slowed down.
These more than a thousand cavalrymen were responsible for harassment and containment. After a half-circle charge and blocking the enemy, they saw that Song Lao San's troops had run far away and immediately retreated.
They had been trained by Grant for a long time and their riding skills were slightly inferior to those of the Eighteenth Battalion, but the Shaanxi bandits could not catch up with them.
When the dragoons of Song Lao San's army were about to be caught up again, the diversionary troops began to harass them like sticky cakes.
Harassment also causes losses. Seeing that more than 200 people of the harassing troops had been wiped out and 20% of the casualties, it was difficult to maintain morale. Suddenly, they all whistled, abandoned their formation, fled to both sides, and ran all over the mountains and plains.
The three divisions of Song Lao fled at the same time and became a group of scattered soldiers.
This is the precursor to a great victory. The next step is to split up and pursue the enemy, which will surely kill a large number of Huai Army soldiers.
Uh, there is no next step. We arrived at the destination, and suddenly a hot air balloon rose in front of us.
In the blocking trenches dug by the engineers in front, fifty Gatling machine guns and fifty Williams rapid-fire cannons raised their black muzzles and gun barrels. Behind them were various light and heavy artillery of six reinforced companies.
Machine guns, rapid-fire guns, and artillery fired at the same time, and all the artillery used shotgun shells.
The Shaanxi bandits who were charging bravely suddenly stopped, and nearly a thousand of them died in an instant under the powerful firepower network.
This is the result of the cavalry charging and pursuing with a dispersed formation, not as dense as the infantry.
The Shaanxi bandits immediately turned their horses and ran back. Machine guns escorted them for 500 meters, rapid-fire cannons escorted them for 1,000 meters, and all kinds of artillery escorted them for several miles until they were out of the observation line of sight of the hot air balloon.
The Shaanxi bandits deeply realized that after the appearance of machine guns, cavalry could no longer be the protagonists on the battlefield, and they should learn to sing and dance in the future.
The Shaanxi bandits were hit head-on by the blocking fire, suffering more than 2,000 casualties. They turned around to flee, and just as they escaped the range of the artillery attack, cavalry from two battalions on the flanks suddenly appeared. After a row of carbines fired, they charged forward and cut the Shaanxi bandits in half.
The Shaanxi bandits were inexplicably surprised. They passed by here when they came, and the road was flat. Where did they ambush?
Um, they lay down in ambush together.
The cavalry of the two battalions charged with sabers in hand. Ma Yukun bravely rushed into the front line and immediately beat the Shaanxi bandits into pieces. Five hundred people were cut off on the battlefield.
The Shaanxi bandits behind wanted to come over to rescue the cut-off part, but suddenly there were bursts of gunfire on both sides, and the infantrymen lying in ambush in the trenches showed their heads, and there was a burst of rapid gunfire.
The Shaanxi bandits were ambushed and quickly fled, preparing to run back to the fortress.
The Huai Army's infantry could not catch up with the cavalry. In order to avoid being discovered by the Shaanxi bandits when they came out, the infantry ambushed far away and could not form an encirclement.
However, along the way, many trenches were dug, and the Shaanxi bandits were blocked from returning to the southern bunkers. With the Huai Army sending them off with gunfire, 12,000 Shaanxi bandits left behind 3,000 bodies, and 9,000 Shaanxi bandits escaped and retreated to Jinjibao.
The 500 Shaanxi bandits who were cut off and did not surrender were all killed in the battle. Ma Yukun killed Yang Wenzhi, the leader of the Shaanxi bandits and the most powerful general of the Shaanxi bandits, after Bai Yanhu escaped.
(End of this chapter)