"Has Fengqiao Camp been breached by the Japanese pirates? Is Lord Zhu leading his troops to ask for help?"
Prefect Shang looked at the great changes in the direction of Fengqiao Camp, his mouth wide open in shock, unable to calm down for a long time. He looked at the Zhejiang Army riding horses straight towards Suzhou City, and asked the people around him in surprise.
An officer who had been paying attention to the direction of the Zhejiang Army camp shook his head slightly and explained to the prefect Shang, "My Lord, it doesn't seem like the Fengqiao camp was breached by the Japanese pirates, but more like the Zhejiang Army took the initiative to break out and abandon the camp. The change today was initiated by the Zhejiang Army. The Zhejiang Army cavalry cruising outside suddenly appeared and harassed the Japanese pirates from the south, and then the Zhejiang Army in the camp also attacked the Japanese pirates in the south. The Japanese pirates thought that the Zhejiang Army camp was going to meet the Zhejiang Army outside and return to the camp, and they tried their best to stop them. Originally, I also thought that the Zhejiang Army was going to cooperate with the outside and meet the Zhejiang Army outside into the camp, but just when the Japanese pirates were chasing and intercepting, a sudden change occurred. More Zhejiang Army in the camp suddenly appeared in the north, using dense muskets and artillery to break through the encirclement of the Japanese pirates in one fell swoop. After the Zhejiang Army broke through the Japanese pirates' siege from the north, they abandoned the camp and left. The Japanese pirates rushed into the camp abandoned by Lord Zhu and his men, and then an explosion occurred in the camp, and the Japanese pirates were badly blown up."
After hearing this, Prefect Shang frowned slightly, walked around twice on the city wall, and couldn't help asking, "Why is the Zhejiang Army in a hurry to break out? The food, weapons, and supplies in the Zhejiang Army camp should be sufficient, and it should not be a problem to hold out for a month or two. Why are they in a hurry to break out and abandon the camp?"
No one around could answer Prefect Shang's question, and they didn't know why the Zhejiang Army would take the initiative to break out at this time.
"Why do you think the Zhejiang Army is so eager to break out?" Prefect Shang turned and asked the deputy general beside him.
The deputy general shook his head. He really didn't know why the Zhejiang Army was so eager to break out at this time and left the camp that they had spent so much effort to build to the Japanese pirates. In his opinion, there was no need for the Zhejiang Army to break out at this time.
A few days ago, the Japanese pirates attacked the Fengqiao camp of the Zhejiang Army with all their might, but failed to break through the Fengqiao position of the Zhejiang Army. Instead, they suffered heavy casualties, especially the earth-shaking explosion in front of the battle line, which caused heavy casualties to the Japanese pirates.
These days, the Japanese pirates were obviously afraid of the Zhejiang Army's powerful firearms and only dared to surround the Zhejiang Army's camp, not daring to attack it at all.
Since the Japanese pirates dare not attack the Zhejiang army camp, the Zhejiang army is very safe in the camp. They only need to guard the camp tightly and form a pincer attack with Suzhou City to contain the Japanese pirates. When the Japanese pirates retreat, the Zhejiang army will have achieved a great feat and there is no need to break out.
Moreover, the Zhejiang Army relied heavily on firearms, which were slow to load and they were afraid of the enemy getting close. They had to rely on the camp to better supply, reload, and give full play to the advantages of firearms and protect their soldiers. Abandoning the camp and fighting in the field would at least waste 40% of their martial arts.
There is absolutely no need for that.
"Perhaps Lord Wu has other considerations." The deputy general really couldn't think of the reason, so he had to reply like this.
Just as the deputy general was answering, the situation on the southern battlefield changed again.
The explosion in Fengqiao Camp caused heavy casualties to the Japanese pirates and also made them angry and humiliated. The main victims of the explosion were the Japanese pirates in the encirclement from the south of the camp. The Zhejiang Army abandoned the camp and headed north. The Japanese pirates in the encirclement from the south naturally chased into the Zhejiang Army camp. On the one hand, they occupied the camp, and on the other hand, they passed through the camp and headed north to pursue the Zhejiang Army.
As a result, the explosion occurred as soon as they entered the Zhejiang Army camp, causing heavy casualties among them.
Relatively speaking, the Japanese pirates in the encirclement to the north of Fengqiao Camp were in a much better situation. They pursued the Zhejiang Army to the north and only sent a small part of their forces to the south to occupy the Zhejiang Army's Fengqiao Camp. They suffered limited damage in the explosion.
After falling into the same pit twice, the Japanese pirates became angry and humiliated.
Seeing that the Zhejiang army voluntarily abandoned their camp, gave up their martial arts and fled into the wilderness, the Japanese pirates, who had experienced many battles, immediately realized that this was a good opportunity to inflict a heavy blow on the Zhejiang army.
Therefore, the Japanese pirates in the northern encirclement, after a brief chaos caused by the explosion, began to frantically pursue the Zhejiang army.
Generally speaking, a two-legged person cannot catch up with a four-legged horse, but the Zhejiang army not only rode good horses, but also slow horses, donkeys and mules, and their speed was not very fast.
In addition, since they had just broken through the encirclement of the Japanese pirates, the speed of the horses had not yet been increased.
The Japanese pirates raided various places all year round. They were able to run very fast and they actually caught up with the slow-running troops of the Zhejiang Army.
Seeing that the situation was critical, at the critical moment, more than 100 Zhejiang troops who fell behind, under the command of a sentry leader, turned around and rushed towards the pursuing Japanese pirates, taking the initiative to act as the rear guard to block the Japanese pirates and buy time and space for the Zhejiang troops in front.
More than one hundred Zhejiang soldiers rode their horses upstream towards the Japanese pirates. They first fired muskets. The accuracy of firing muskets on horseback was much worse than on ground, but it also caused considerable losses to the Japanese pirates. After they had fired all the muskets, the Zhejiang soldiers drew their swords and chopped the Japanese pirates on horseback.
Cavalry naturally restrains infantry. They can fight when they want and retreat when they want. Although the Zhejiang Army has not had much horse riding training, it still has a natural advantage.
More than a hundred riders rushed into the pursuing Japanese pirates, like a tiger descending from the mountain. After hacking and slashing for a while, they turned their horses around under the command of the sentry leader, fled far away to increase the distance between them and the Japanese pirates, loaded gunpowder, and then started all over again.
However, the second time, the Zhejiang Army behind suffered casualties.
When they rushed towards the Japanese pirates again, the number of Japanese pirates chasing them increased again. After the Zhejiang army rushed into the formation, the vast number of Japanese pirates quickly surrounded the Zhejiang army that had rushed into the formation, making it impossible for the cavalry to play out its advantages. From time to time, the Zhejiang army was pulled off their horses by the brave Japanese pirates.
Once he was pulled off the horse, he was stabbed by seven or eight Japanese swords in an instant. He had no time to resist and died heroically.
Of the more than one hundred cavalrymen who were guarding the rear, only more than seventy finally broke out of the Japanese pirates' formation, and more than thirty remained in the Japanese pirates' formation forever.
Of course, their sacrifice also bought time and space for the Zhejiang Army.
The Zhejiang Army had already left the Japanese pirates behind by more than two miles, and the horses' speed had also increased, leaving them further and further behind.
Prefect Shang and other soldiers on the Suzhou city wall watched from afar and saw that the Zhejiang cavalry behind the guard charged towards the Japanese pirates twice, and finally lost dozens of horses.
Seeing this scene, Shang Zhifu couldn't help but shake his head and sighed, "Oh, why is Zihou so eager to lead the Zhejiang Army to break out at this time? So many lives have been sacrificed in vain. It could have been done without bloodshed. Why? If the Zhejiang Army had held on to the Fengqiao Camp like a few days ago, with low walls as barriers and the advantage of firearms, the Japanese pirates would not be able to do anything to the Zhejiang Army. Why did so many soldiers die? Although I am not very good at military affairs, I also know that the Zhejiang Army relies on firearms, and firearms are not good at field combat. If the Zhejiang Army breaks out, isn't it destroying its own martial arts and using its own weaknesses to attack the enemy's strengths?"
Upon hearing this, the deputy general nodded in agreement. He also thought so in his heart. There was no need for the Zhejiang army to break out at this time.