Chapter 229 Cavalry Showdown
Chapter 229 Cavalry Showdown
The Gansu Army's hard-working character was fully demonstrated in this raid. The Gansu Army, with four battalions of 6,000 men, marched through the 70-mile steep path from Fukang to Huangtian at 2 a.m.
The Huai Army's military system was based on the training at Xiaozhan. The infantry battalion was a reinforced battalion of 1,500 men, and the cavalry was also more numerous than the Hunan Army's 500-man standard, with 809 men in each battalion.
After two expansions, the Gansu Army Independent Division reached as many as 16,500 people, including four battalions of infantry totaling 6,000 people and as many as thirteen cavalry battalions.
The Gansu Army had more cavalry than infantry, and its number exceeded that of the cavalry brigade trained by Grant himself, which was specially configured for the Western Expedition.
When they arrived outside Huangtian Town, Dong Fuxiang did not order an attack, but waited for the cavalrymen who were trudging on horseback behind him.
At five o'clock in the morning, 4,000 cavalrymen had arrived, and the rest were still on the way. Unable to wait any longer, Dong Fuxiang waved his hand and his men blew the horn to attack.
The ancient pasture has a city wall, and there is only a military camp on the Huangtian Town side. Bai Yanhu's subordinates are still asleep, and the Gansu army has already moved the deer horns from the camp. The sounds of gunfire and shouts of killing resounded throughout the camp.
This group of bandits, who only had the courage to die and had not received any professional training, could never have imagined that the Huai Army had no night blindness and could travel seventy miles at night like a divine force descending from the sky.
The military camp was in a mess, and many bandits were stabbed to death with bayonets when they rushed out of the tents in dishevel.
There were more than 10,000 bandits stationed in the military camp. A one-sided massacre began here, and those in the distance finally gathered together.
Seeing that the military camp was full of fire and the situation was deteriorating, they withdrew from the camp from the side and prepared to fight a desperate battle with the Gansu Army that was attacking at night.
Dong Fuxiang led the infantry to charge through the military camp and engage in a head-on battle with several thousand bandits who had gathered together.
On the gentle slope behind, 4,000 cavalrymen who were lying in ambush rushed out, without using carbines at all. They rushed towards the bandit infantry in dense formation, waving sabers. Among them, there were also beautiful women in green feathers and yellow shirts, holding scimitars.
As expected, the bandits' formation was disrupted when they were attacked by the Gansu Army's infantry and cavalry. By the time Dong Fuxiang and Kalisa, the chivalrous couple, joined forces, only about 2,000 bandits were left who fled to the ancient pasture. The rest were either killed in battle or scattered in all directions.
The bandits were not part of Shao Quanzhong’s Jiangyan hometown guards brigade, so it would be difficult for them to get together again.
Dong Fuxiang handed Huangtian over to the follow-up cavalry that continued to arrive from the trails, and pursued them closely with his infantry and 4,000 cavalry.
Ten miles away from the ancient pasture, they encountered several thousand bandit cavalrymen who had received the news and were going to reinforce Huangtian.
Even without machine guns and rapid-fire cannons, cavalry would not dare to charge head-on into the infantry lines with breech-loading rifles that fired an average of 15 rounds per minute. Once the breech-loading rifle appeared, the era of cavalry being king was over.
Four thousand cavalrymen also dismounted and fired with carbines.
Yakub Beg's backers were the British and the Ottoman Turks, while the bandits' backers were the Russians.
The Russians’ military industry was not good, and they equipped the bandits with the Ridge muzzle-loading rifle, which put them at a great disadvantage in shootouts.
The reinforcements were no match for Dong Fuxiang's infantry battalion, and they left behind hundreds of corpses and retreated into the ancient pasture along with the two thousand defeated soldiers who fled back from Huangtian.
Gumudi had a strong wall and was the northern gate of Dihua. It was impossible for the Gansu Army's infantry and cavalry to take it down. Dong Fuxiang stopped at the right time and retreated to Huangtian for repairs.
After not sleeping all night and chasing the enemy for dozens of miles, the Gansu Army is not invincible.
Bai Yanhu encouraged the morale of the bandits, "The Kokand soldiers are equipped with the same breech-loading rifles as the Huai Army. As long as we hold on to the ancient pasture for ten days, the Kokand soldiers will surely arrive."
After Huangtian was lost, Heigouyi was faced with a pincer attack from the Huai Army coming from the directions of Huangtian and Fukang. Bai Yanhu had no choice but to withdraw the garrison deployed on the Heigouyi defense line and prepare to defend the ancient pasture to the death.
The feint attack on the main road by the Huai Army was not in vain. Without the harassment of the enemy cavalry at Heigouyi, the army moved slowly along the main road. The road was wide, and steam tractors kept going back and forth, transporting water from the karez in Ganquan Village.
Four days later, all members of the Huai Army arrived at Heigouyi. On the fifth day, Dong Fuxiang's troops in Huangtian moved forward, joined the main force, and encircled Gumudi.
Shao Quanzhong left three heavy artillery companies each to Shao Hengzhong in Hami and Lin Bozai in Barkol. The remaining five heavy artillery companies were immediately deployed and began to bombard the ancient pasture.
The city walls of Gumudi were far inferior to those of Jinjibao and Suzhou, and even inferior to those of Dabashancheng and Turpan. Many parts of them were destroyed in less than a day.
Nie Shicheng's division was responsible for two sides, and together with Dong Fuxiang's division and Song Laosan's brigade, they surrounded the enemy from all sides. Soldiers rushed into the gap with bayonets in hand-to-hand combat. When it came to the hand-to-hand combat, the bandits showed their advantage of fearlessness and fearlessness. They shouted slogans and counterattacked. After paying a huge price, they resisted the attack of the Huai Army in street fighting. The Huai Army lost 1,000 people and suffered 1,500 wounded, and withdrew from Gumudi.
This was the first minor setback in the Western Expedition to Ili Province. Although the casualties were far less than those in the battle in Shaanxi and Gansu, it still made Shao Quanzhong so angry that he was smoking.
"Don't charge yet. All artillerymen, switch to shotgun shells and fire."
Ten eight-inch heavy guns from five heavy artillery companies, plus more than eighteen mountain guns, three twenty-four-pound howitzers, four thirty-two-pound howitzers, and twelve mortars roared together, and iron balls rained down on the enemy troops in the ancient pasture.
The remaining Hale rockets were fired into the city as if they were free. After firing two thousand in one breath, they stopped. The buildings here were all sand and earth and could not be ignited.
The cannons bombarded the city day and night for two days. Finally, the defenders in the city could not bear it anymore. They could only take the beatings without any resistance. One after another, the bandits were hit by iron balls and died. If this continued, they would all be dead before the arrival of the Kokand ruler.
The rebel troops suddenly poured out from various gaps and fought with the Huai Army.
Shao Quanzhong laughed loudly. He had been waiting for this moment. Maybe he could capture or kill Bai Yanhu this time.
Shao Quanzhong was wrong, Bai Yanhu was not in the city at all.
When he saw the 40,000 Huai Army troops arriving at Gumudi, he knew something was wrong, so he led 5,000 cavalry out of the city before the encirclement was formed.
What he told his subordinates was that once they found an opportunity to fight, they should join forces inside and outside to defeat the Huai Army.
Bai Yanhu did not lie and had been leading the cavalry to ambush in the distance.
Although he intended to use these bandits to consume the Huai Army, he could not give up easily.
Seeing the defenders in the city rushing out from afar, five thousand cavalrymen immediately attacked the flank of the Huai Army.
Bai Yanhu was a veteran and he chose the time for the pincer attack quite well, but he could not match the Huai Army's long training and weapon advantages.
If the Huai Army did not panic at the first moment when it was caught in the pincer attack, Bai Yanhu would be doomed to fail.
No one, including Grant, expected that Bai Yanhu himself was not in the city to command the defense. The machine guns and rapid-fire cannons were all pointed at the defenders in the city. They could not turn urgently at this time, so they simply opened fire as planned.
A large number of charging bandits were cut down by the firepower like leeks, and they fell one after another, only thinking about the arrival of Bai Yanhu's ambushed cavalry.
Dong Fuxiang roared and led his Gansu cavalry to meet the enemy.
The cavalry of both sides charged at each other and began a head-on saber fight.
In terms of riding skills, the bandits were slightly better, but in terms of training and coordination, the Gansu army was better. For the first time, a decisive cavalry battle between evenly matched forces appeared on the battlefield.
The number of cavalrymen of the Gansu Army was twice that of the bandits' cavalrymen, but their combat area was not that wide, and the fighting at the front was stalemate. If the front was defeated, the Gansu Army might still lose.
Dong Fuxiang was about to lead his men into the charge when he suddenly saw the enemy's cavalry flank in chaos and the cavalry brigade led by Ma Yukun had arrived.
As for Ma Yukun's cavalry brigade, their riding skills were not as good as those of the bandits, or even the Gansu Army. The only thing that made them better than their opponents was their training.
The cavalry formed a dense formation and began a wall-like charge, which immediately broke through the bandit cavalry and cut Bai Yanhu's cavalry into two.
The bandit cavalrymen were blessed with faith and were ready to fight, which frightened Bai Yanhu.
He didn't want to die here, so he took the remaining 2,000 cavalrymen and ran away again.
(End of this chapter)