Under the bright sky again, the clear and warm sunshine in the early spring is like a soft hand brushing over people's faces, and the clouds that flow away are smudged and imprinted on the fine pieces. Amber-like shades come out.
And a neatly lined up army horse is also slowly blowing towards the direction of Xunyang City with a sort of orderly and methodical beat, amidst the melodious flute and the beat of the drum. . Looking from a distance, I saw that these men and horses were arranged in many arrays on the riverside according to their different ownerships.
Among them, the Ma Jun, wearing a thick scale armor, a blue-gray battle robe, a large cloak, and a white-feathered oblate helmet, is in a loose horizontal formation like a wall and slowly moves forward; the billowing smoke and dust brought up by heads in parallel are like It is a looming yellow dragon.
There is also a phalanx of shooting soldiers carrying a thick stringed crossbow and a thick arrow box crossbow, carrying a small square group card, wearing a leather armor and leather cap, and a cowhide sheath. ; It is as shocking as the silent and rolling mountains.
And in the extended left and right wings slightly behind, they are wearing gray cloth shirts and knee-shouldered one-piece striped armor, wearing large round helmets with ribbons hanging on their heads, and holding sparkling spears or spears. A large column with shining swords like forest stands upright; the sequence of high and low before and after trembling reflects the sunlight, just like slices of crystalline undulating gratings.
And those who were guarded in the middle position, except for many carrying large shields, round cards, and short bows, half-length wearing wide-piece tie armor and iron nets to cover the knees, and wearing iron helmets with the same colored ribbons hanging down on their heads, and gray clothes. In addition to the sword platoons of the gray crotch pulling the growth team; there are also many long carriage vehicles and horses of various shapes that are slowly advancing in the middle;
In the farther rear team position, more carriages and horses are marching during the period; a lot of bulls, horses, donkeys and mules, carrying and dragging flat carts full of trucks, are holding wooden spears in a uniform gray-blue tone. Driven by the unarmed assistant pawns and the staff holding sticks, he walked slowly. There are also groups of small groups of light riders swaying back and forth, covering and guarding the gaps and junctions between them.
I saw them coming one after the other, like a wave of surges coming in one after another, overwhelming the sparse verdant greenery and residual white mottles in the wilderness.
It's just that the grand occasion of the tens of miles of the riverside joint camp no longer exists. Along the way these soldiers and horses passed, there was already a mess of camps and flags, flags, and other things discarded all over the ground. Occasionally, there were faint figures poking out of the withered reed grass by the river, or from the bushes in the distance, carefully looking at this unique team.
And under the blue flag with the red embroidered "Taiping", surrounded by guards in the top helmet and buckle, Zhou Huaian, who was riding on the "Pippi Shrimp III", also reluctantly retracted his sight. , And some headaches began to correspond to the next step.
Because the effect of this force declaration is too good, or it happened to happen in an unexpected period of time. As a result, although the people sent by the General’s Mansion have been contacted, it is obvious that the other rebels who are stationed outside are not sure whether the order is not communicated smoothly or is delayed, and there is no corresponding news at all or because of this. react.
The final effect is to carry torches and lanterns on the road all night, and want to merge with the navy side, directly let the rebels outside the city, who have become scary birds, actually bombed the camp under unknown circumstances; however, in the dark of the night. The chaos hit the camps of other ministries, and then in the chain reaction it turned into a continuous wave, directly hitting the large-scale camps under Xunyang City.
Therefore, from the observation of Zhou Huai'an along the way, at least a dozen large and small groups of rebels have lost their airs. Among them, the many deaths and injuries caused by fighting for roads and trampling on each other under panic are more precautions for this trip to the alliance. A shadow came. Even the joy and encouragement of winning in the Jiangshui River before have been diluted a bit.
As for the cause and effect of this battle on the river, it was much simpler, but it was an inevitable process of expelling and destroying the enemy after finding out that the enemy was in the way. Only this time, in order to demonstrate the need for force, the navy was additionally equipped with a fire-throwing team trained in coordinated operations; and a few large ships were equipped with the position of the enemy gun as a reinforcement;
But I didn't expect that when encountering the tactics of official-military water warfare with traditional cold weapons as the mainstay, it would be so easy to use, and with the doubling of the bonus, it would exert a one-sided suddenness and crushing effect. In other words, those officers and navy divisions have never encountered and experienced them, and do not plan to prepare for melee combat by jumping to help, but are purely psychological preparations and experience of fighting with firearms;
Therefore, once it is approached by the Taiping navy and encounters throwing explosives and incendiary cans, it is easy to collapse and chaos on the official warships; even if there are a few large ships that encounter more tenacious resistance, use the scattered grams. The enemy's artillery blasted at the crowded place, and it was killed and wounded on the spot.
In the cabin where the remnants want to continue to resist, the explosives made of black powder or the special poisonous smoke ball can also have a better cleaning effect; and it greatly avoids the continuous Unnecessary damage and sacrifices caused by the bloody battle with fuel. Therefore, it can be said that this is a battle under the asymmetric advantage of knowing oneself and the enemy.
Therefore, in the end, the loss of the Taiping Navy was only seventeen ships of all sizes. Most of them were injured or smashed by the projected stones with low accuracy of the officers and soldiers, or they were ignited by the concentrated rockets to ignite the sail cables and superstructures. The result of having to run aground near Chongtan in order to save oneself;
After all, Jingzhou is one of the birthplaces of navies with a long history of shipbuilding since ancient times. It also has large woods from the mountains of central Hunan as raw materials. Therefore, the ships built are also known for their durability; therefore, even this stranded ship , There is also a probability and possibility to be repaired again, or to disassemble the available parts to continue shipbuilding. In this case, the specific loss indicators can be further adjusted downwards.
As a result, the specific casualties in the water battle were about five or six hundred people, which accounted for almost one-tenth of the overall naval force; among them, fewer than a hundred people were killed directly, and most of them were in the process of shooting close to the official warship. Caused by it. Mainly because he didn't spare the use of firearms, the losses in the subsequent melee and fighting process were almost negligible.
In the end, it is roughly estimated that the number of official ships that were directly burned, destroyed and sunk has reached more than 100, and the number of official ships that were injured, damaged, and demoralized and escaped was about twice this number or slightly more; In the end, at least seventy or eighty official warships with varying degrees of damage were captured, all of which were relatively large and inconvenient to steer, and belonged to the stern and battleship that had not had time to run and escape.
This number would have been more. Only in this process of taking over and operating one by one, because of the lack of manpower and the lack of corresponding experience of the Taiping Navy, more than a dozen ships were capsized and out of control one after another, and the rest were captured. Controlled and drove up, swaying slowly and slowly leaning to the shore to anchor.
Then there were more than a thousand soldiers who had been caught in the water from the river, and they were all placed on the shore to be guarded. Although there are many unexpected factors in the upstream that cannot be replicated, at least for the newly established Taiping Squad led by Wang Zhongba, it is still a satisfactory answer.
It can be regarded as an unexpected surprise outside of the original power display plan.
. . . . . . . .
On the head of Xunyang City, which is looking high, many officials and generals from the Grand General’s Mansion are also looking at the distant Taiping army formation with subtle expressions and complex eyes. From time to time, he gave out cold sighs and low exclamations.
In contrast to them, the rebels who had gathered in the city and were barely gathered, still a little frightened, were as shabby and shabby as if they had just picked up a little bit of tatters, and gladly put them on their bodies to show off beggars and beggars. .
And it's different from most ordinary soldiers who can only see things on the surface, and show surprise, nervousness, panic, or even complaining and yelling; they can obviously see the deeper meaning behind them, and Can't help but talk on the spot.
And the more overflowing in it is undoubtedly full of envy and jealousy, mixed with fear and jealousy, and even fascinating voices.
"It's only been two or three years. Wang Zilian and Xu Monk's operations in Lingwai already have such a scale and atmosphere..."
"Be good, be tight, this is really an amazing ability and chance... You must know that after the Battle of Da Yuling, they will be left with a ruined battalion... And these manifestations are just one part of it. ."
"Even if it is one of them, I am afraid that there are no tens of thousands of horses here. It seems to be much more prestigious and decent than all the officers and soldiers I have ever seen. No wonder those newcomers who have no eyesight were scared last night. It's light... after all, it's rare and truly powerful..."
"If I have these powerful men and horses, how can I not go away in this great place, why bother to succumb to others and do things..."
"Even if the court is recruited, it should be more decent and style than most officers and soldiers... No wonder people are not so rare about this..."
"Since they really have the capital and confidence in their hands, and they seem to be able to hold on to their foundation, then the long-term business may be able to continue."
After all, for most of the rebels from the localities, apart from the common expectation and general goal of desperately seeking a living and struggling for wealth, they are basically based on their respective strengths to determine their success or failure and the amount of language power.
However, after yesterday's performance in the Battle of Jiangshang and what they saw with their own eyes today, they have easily reversed their previous contempt and disdain, and quickly changed their course and accepted the corresponding reality.
"Lao Meng had taken this step back then, and it seemed that he was really at a loss... If he can survive and survive, I'm afraid it's not all of him..."
Then after some discussion, some people inevitably gathered a certain expression of sympathy, pity, and pity on the Zuo Junshi's Meng Jia.
After all, compared with the fact that he was in charge of several soldiers and horses and a large area of ready-made turf as a left-behind envoy outside the Lingwai, it was a huge advantage to be used. However, he was under the superiority and harmony of the people, the fire merged with Lin Yan's men and horses, and then ambushed the Xu monk's Sanjiang army and lost; as a result, he could only lose everything and reluctantly escaped by himself.
Although it is still expensive to be an envoy to the right army, the fact that the men and horses under his command are killed is just an unsatisfied army order; its roots and feet are a battalion head specially assigned by the king of yellow, and he has experience in it. There are very few veterans who are good at war, and even most of the military leaders are inferior.
"Think of the Qizhou Association of the Northland Rebels back then. It was just like this..."
"When General Wang was still there, King Huang was not..."
There are also some older rebel generals who can be traced back to the time when the only remaining rebel generals who had reaped their troops in the hometown of Changheng, Henan, remembered the time when General Wang, who was the chief of the rebel army, met with Huang Wang, who was in the early stage of the party. ; It also seems to be a similar scene that seems familiar.
Although the men and horses brought by King Huang are still rudimentary in armor and well-organized, they are simply a stream of enviable and admirable rebels among all kinds of ragged rebels; this caused General Wang to be vaguely jealous and had to Everything depends on it. Only afterwards gradually disagreements and renunciation occurred, and finally because of the imperial court's enmity and rewards, they turned their faces into enemies, and each left one side of the continuous incident.
Looking back now, the lineup is far from being compared with the current situation and scenes; and some vicissitudes of the world, the vicissitudes of things, the non-humanity of things, and the corresponding sighs from generations to generations came forth.
At this time, leading a team of honor guards with many flags on display, Zhao Zhang, the right branch envoy of the General’s Mansion to greet, also came to Zhou Huai'an in front of the army, and shouted solemnly with a cheerful but relieved expression.
"Zhao was appointed as a welcome ambassador by the order of the King of Huang, to welcome the virtual leader and his team... and thank Jiang Shang for helping to fight the enemy. I hope that the sky will make up for the average, and the world will be peaceful, and work together to achieve the great cause of the rebels..."
"Your ministry is coming from afar for fear that the journey will be tiring, so please follow me in the city to rest and try to make the best of the landlord's friendship... I'll do the meeting later, whether you say..."
And in the messy Xunyang Tower, a general named Li Tangbin came and gave way to the general manager who had some hangover freedom.
"Manager, Huang Wang has ordered again, let your old man go to the door to greet him..."
At this moment, Shang Rang couldn't help but burst into laughter, and kicked the case along with the cold food and drink to the side.
"Why, why is he..."
(End of this chapter) (End of this chapter)