Chapter 153

"Everyone's elephant troops don't seem to have the combat power as legendary, right?"

Fu Sanqi, who was watching the battle, asked with feigned confusion.

In this uprising, the Bai Lian Sect and the chieftains were in a cooperative relationship.

To pull these guys onto the car, the Bai Lian Sect paid a high price.

But judging from the performance in front of them, it was obviously a mistake.

The elephant troops boasted by the chieftains made a big scene as soon as they appeared.

The elephant trampling the enemy camp did not appear, but the accidental injury to their own people was constantly increasing.

"Chancellor Fu, this is purely an accident.

The puppet imperial army is simply too despicable, not daring to fight us head-on, relying entirely on artillery to show off.

Once the war elephants adapt, they will definitely..."

Watching more and more war elephants lose control, Tian Zhichen forcibly swallowed the words behind.

Dozens of war elephants going crazy together caused huge destructive power.

The chieftain soldiers following behind the elephant herd became the biggest victims.

Facing the behemoth of war elephants, the soldiers could only flee everywhere.

The originally neat military formation suddenly became a mess.

"Lord Tian, these war elephants have lost control and do not distinguish between enemy and us at all.

You know the weaknesses of these war elephants best, hurry up and order to shoot these guys, otherwise the losses caused will be even greater."

Fu Sanqi said with an expressionless face.

Fortunately, he was cautious and did not put all his troops on, only letting the elephant troops go on an expedition.

Otherwise, if this group of war elephants disrupted their own military formation, the enemy army would only need one charge, and this war would be over.

"No!"

"These war elephants were all cultivated by us at a high price, and must not be easily abandoned!"

The Meng chieftain on the side immediately opposed.

Cavalry is expensive, and elephant troops are only more expensive.

The cost of raising a war elephant is enough to support hundreds of infantry.

Among the Guangxi chieftains, the number of war elephants possessed has always been an important indicator for evaluating their military strength.

"You don't need to make a decision, the enemy's cavalry is out!"

Fu Sanqi scolded angrily.

Looking forward, I saw cavalry in groups of three or five, outputting against the war elephants.

For a time, the sound of muskets kept ringing.

Muskets cannot kill war elephants all at once, but bullets hitting the elephant's body will also cause injury and bleeding.

Relying on the high-speed movement advantage of the cavalry, every time they finished their ammunition, they ran away quickly.

The enraged war elephants chased the cavalry frantically.

Unfortunately, the slow movement speed doomed this to be a useless effort.

They didn't catch up with the enemy cavalry, but fell down themselves first.

In less than a stick of incense, the war elephants that were rushing towards the enemy camp fell on the battlefield one after another.

But the war elephants that turned to impact their own camp were still raging at this moment.

The elephant trainers were trying their best to make the war elephants quiet down, but unfortunately the effect was minimal.

"Pass down the order to throw spears and solve these out-of-control war elephants!"

Tian Zhichen gritted his teeth and ordered.

There was no other way; if these war elephants continued to ravage, the 20,000 soldiers on the expedition would be finished.

At this moment, the enemy cavalry had forced up, constantly harvesting the lone chieftain soldiers on the edge of the battlefield.

In a short while, hundreds of soldiers fell under the guns of the enemy cavalry.

Counting the losses caused by the war elephants, they had already lost thousands of soldiers today.

Without solving these war elephants, it was impossible to send reinforcements.

On the observation deck, Li Mu, who was watching the battle, was also stunned by the scene in front of him.

Although he took action against the weaknesses of the war elephants, the slow reaction speed of the enemy army was still beyond his expectations.

You know, a similar scene appeared once hundreds of years ago.

In the past, the Mongol expedition to Burma relied on cavalry tactics to exhaust the Burmese king's war elephant army.

The current fighting method is nothing more than adding artillery, and the bow and arrow of the past has become a musket.

The essential tactics are still copying historical experience.

He thought that this group of chieftains had innovated elephant tactics and could play new tricks.

As a result, they added one more link, hunting down out-of-control war elephants themselves.

"Pass down the order to let the first cavalry brigade leave the battlefield and return to the camp to rest.

The second cavalry brigade will replace them, roaming on both wings to hunt down lone rebel soldiers.

Order the Huai'an Camp to attack the enemy army from the middle front and wipe out these remnants."

Li Mu immediately ordered.

After being ravaged by their own war elephants, the rebel soldiers left on the battlefield had long lost their military morale.

The time for a decisive battle had come, and he naturally would not let it go.

If the main force of the rebel army did not come out, he would eat up the 10,000 remnants in front of him.

If the enemy dared to order an attack, then he would directly fight a decisive battle.

Having seen the combat power of the chieftain elite, he was no longer worried about the subsequent war.

"Understood!"

Jing Yifeng replied, with a trace of gratitude in his eyes.

Bullying the remnants is sending military merit.

The previous battle, although it went smoothly, was also fought by the Yangzhou Camp.

Changing to the Huai'an Camp, it would definitely not be so easy.

There was no other way; the previous Huai'an Camp Assistant Regional Commander was older and had more conservative thinking.

The soldiers trained were mainly based on cold weapon hand-to-hand combat.

Not only were muskets poorly equipped, but even the artillery equipped were bulky big guys, not suitable for field battles at all.

Cavalry existed only in theory; after all, soldiers skilled in archery and horsemanship were not so easy to cultivate.

In order to save funds, the goal was still at the stage of ground training and had not yet applied to the imperial court for warhorses.

After Jing Yifeng took office, he made certain adjustments, but once the foundation of a unit was set, it could not be changed in a short time.

Infantry in the cold weapon era, encountering big guys like war elephants on the front battlefield, would inevitably spend some effort.

"Chancellor, the puppet imperial army is killing over!"

Seeing the panic of his subordinates, Fu Sanqi's face sank.

Just now he was only watching the chieftains' jokes and forgot that this was on the battlefield.

Nominally, he had 100,000 troops in his hands, but this was just a virtual number.

The number of troops required by the Holy Emperor's decree did not mean that the chieftains would obediently execute it.

The soldiers were under the command of others, and it was impossible for him to verify them one by one.

The elephant troops suffered heavy losses, which was actually reducing the military power in his hands.

"Everyone, the enemy army is out.

Should we send the whole army to fight a decisive battle with the enemy, let's discuss it!"

Fu Sanqi asked.

As a commander, at the critical moment of the decisive battle, he still had to listen to the opinions of his subordinates.

Just thinking about it made him feel aggrieved.

However, most of the troops under his command were chieftain soldiers, and the true Bai Lian Sect direct line was only 10,000 people.

On the battlefield, whoever has strong strength has a heavier right to speak.

If he could not obtain the support of everyone, the troops he could mobilize would only be the 10,000 soldiers of the Bai Lian Sect.

No matter how arrogant he was, he did not think that his own troops could eat up the puppet imperial army in front of him.

"Decisive battle!

Of course, we must fight a decisive battle!

The puppet imperial army has already killed over, and the troops in front cannot retreat at all.

Unless everyone is willing to abandon the soldiers on the battlefield, otherwise we must fight this battle today!"

The Meng chieftain took the lead in saying.

His words were tough, but deep down, he had long been thinking about retreating.

If he had known that the imperial army was so difficult to deal with, no matter how many benefits the Bai Lian Sect promised, he would not have joined in the fun.

It was a pity that he couldn't resist the temptation earlier, plus the instigation of the Annan people behind his back, he was blinded by interests.

Now it was too late to regret; at this moment, even if he was willing to withdraw, the imperial army would not let them go.

Doing things secretly, as long as things were done cleanly, those Yu Dynasty officials who were afraid of trouble might pretend to be confused.

Today, appearing directly on the front battlefield was undoubtedly challenging the bottom line of the imperial court.

Great Dayu could be weak to any force, but it would never compromise with rebels.

If they didn't wipe out this imperial army, when the imperial court's large army fought back in the future, they would definitely not let them go.

"Fight!

We have 100,000 troops; if we are scared by the enemy, how will we stand in Guangxi in the future!"

The Tian chieftain on the side followed and said.

With the two big chieftains speaking, the hesitant chieftains expressed their stance one after another.

Today's battle was destined to be unavoidable.

The imperial army had cavalry; running away with the troops now was just sending military merit to the enemy.

"Good!

Pass my order, the whole army will attack and fight to the death with the enemy!"

Following Fu Sanqi's order, the chieftain coalition forces killed out one after another, and the shouting reached the sky.

At almost the same time, the Yangzhou Camp also killed out of the camp.

Closer, closer, when the distance reached a hundred steps.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

The sound of muskets rang out, opening the prelude to the decisive battle.

"Ah!"

In an instant, screams filled the entire battlefield.

Exceeding the effective range of the musket does not mean that the bullet cannot hurt people.

The effective lethality of fifty steps refers to the armor-piercing ability.

Within the range, it can break through most armor.

After exceeding this distance, the power of the bullet fired by the musket will decrease as the distance increases.

At this moment, it was clearly beyond the range, but among the rebel soldiers, those who could wear armor were a very small minority.

Affected by the distance, the bullets fired rarely killed directly, but injuries were inevitable.

A large number of wounded were born, causing a serious blow to the rebel army's morale.

They had never received formal military training, and the biggest scene they had participated in was the armed struggle between chieftain strongholds.

Encountering volley tactics with cold weapons is a naked massacre.

In almost one face-to-face effort, nearly a thousand casualties were caused.

Watching their comrades roll and wail on the ground after being injured was too much of a stimulus for the rebel soldiers.

It was not only the front army that was stimulated; the rebel soldiers in the rear of the military formation did not encounter musket attacks, but ushered in the baptism of artillery fire.

More than a hundred artillery pieces were arranged in three rows, taking turns to bombard.

As long as it was a locked area, after the explosion, besides the cleared ground, there was flesh and blood flying everywhere.

The bloody scene in front of them exceeded the endurance limit of many people.

"Devil!"

"The enemy are all devils!"

Some chieftain soldiers who could not stand the bloody scene were scared silly on the spot.

Morale collapse is contagious; after the first soldier threw away his weapon and ran away, countless soldiers soon followed.

Disaster was imminent, and they couldn't care about the overall situation of the battlefield.

Soldiers from the same stronghold formed groups to flee for their lives.

The chieftain elite responsible for supervising the battle could not make a move against their own people.

Even if they killed to establish prestige, it was a tacit choice, people from other strongholds.

This differential treatment made the scene even more chaotic.

Fu Sanqi, who was sitting in the rear to command, was already dumbfounded at this time.

The decisive battle in front of him was completely different from what he had expected.

In the past, when fighting the imperial army, as long as their large army rushed up, they could defeat the enemy army by relying on the advantage of numbers.

Today the situation is completely different; clearly their military strength is greater, but when they reach the battlefield, they are beaten by the enemy.

Whether it is the local battlefield or the overall situation, they have fallen into a disadvantage in all aspects.

Looking at the defeated soldiers everywhere, Fu Sanqi immediately ordered:

"Pass down the order, those who dare to retreat will be killed without mercy!

Everyone will act as a supervision team with me to kill those defeated soldiers!"

While giving the order, Fu Sanqi picked up a big knife and led his personal guards to prepare to step forward to block the defeated soldiers.

"Chancellor, keep the green hills, don't worry about no firewood!

Those chieftains have already run away, and if we rush up again, it's just sending ourselves to death!"

Zhou Damao persuaded in a panic.

Fu Sanqi was his thigh in the sect; if this guy had an accident, he would not be able to escape being held accountable when he went back.

Staying to die was even more impossible.

There were more than a dozen beautiful concubines at home waiting for him, so he couldn't easily abandon his life.

"Let go of me quickly, or I will kill you first!"

Hearing Fu Sanqi's scolding, Zhou Damao was slightly stunned.

He was just persuading, not pulling him!

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration, Zhou Damao, who reacted, rushed up and grabbed Fu Sanqi's arm, and did not forget to scold the personal guards nearby:

"What are you still standing there for, hurry up and take the Chancellor away with me!"

After such a reminder, Fu Sanqi's confidants reacted one after another and hurriedly carried the commander away.

No matter how Fu Sanqi struggled, everyone refused to let go.

Although the Bai Lian Holy Kingdom was a makeshift troupe, it had long developed to the peak in terms of human relations.

The commander fleeing in the face of battle was definitely a capital crime.

If it was forcibly carried away by his subordinates, then the nature would change into personal guards loyally protecting the master.

When the time comes to find someone to operate it, the original death penalty would become a living penalty.

As a confidant of the Bai Lian Holy Emperor, as long as there was a justifiable reason, big things could be turned into small things.

Anyway, the main force in this battle was the chieftain army, and not many Bai Lian Sect troops participated.

After going back, Fu Sanqi could completely push the responsibility for the defeat to that group of chieftains.

The commander took the lead in running away, and the supervision team that was originally working hard to intercept the defeated soldiers also joined the ranks of fleeing for their lives one after another.

A major defeat broke out in an all-round way, and everyone was desperately running for their lives.

"Pass down the order to let the soldiers shout that those who surrender will not be killed!

The cavalry will attack in full force to intercept and kill the enemy leaders as much as possible.

Notify the temporary camp that took the detour to let them delay the rebel army's actions as much as possible."

Li Mu immediately ordered.

The time to expand the results had come, and most of the preparatory work before was for this moment.

In order to leave as many rebel troops as possible, before the outbreak of the big battle, he also let the temporary camp carry fire oil, gunpowder, crossbow arrows, and other materials, and land on small boats twenty miles away from here.

At this moment, countless traps had been laid on the main road for the rebel army to retreat.

Big army fighting was not the strength of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, but they were professional at setting such traps.

It was unrealistic to leave all the rebel troops, but delaying their escape speed and striving for time for the main army to catch captives was still possible.

The suppression war was different from the external war; from the beginning, Li Mu had never thought of killing them all.

If the goal was to kill the enemy, it would not be a quick-decision fighting method.

Guangxi, which had experienced the Bai Lian Sect rebellion, would inevitably have a significant reduction in population.

Wanting to take root here without labor was impossible.

Compared to spending a lot of money to recruit refugees, it was obviously more cost-effective to use captives.

(End of chapter)