Chapter 173: Mounted and Foot — Amphibious Warfare

The Yongwei Camp cavalry dismounted, muskets in hand, becoming arquebusiers. They lined up ten abreast in three ranks, calmly loading powder and shot with practiced order, not even glancing at the roving bandits, let alone showing any fear.

The Yongwei Camp soldiers finished loading their powder and shot quickly. They coldly watched the roving bandits charging toward them with wild shouts. In their eyes, those bandits were nothing more than death-cries before their demise.

When the bandits charged within a hundred paces, Li Shaoyou said coldly, "Fire!"

"Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!" The sound of volley fire rang out like popping beans. Great clouds of gunpowder smoke billowed forth, and the charging bandits instantly fell in droves.

After the first rank of arquebusiers completed their volley, they swiftly withdrew from both sides of the street to the rear rank and continued loading powder and shot.

The second rank of arquebusiers fired another volley, then the third rank, and then the original first rank came up again. Thus it repeated — gunfire unceasing, firepower unending.

The roving bandits across the way let out cries of agony. Of those struck by lead balls, some were killed outright by a single shot, others tumbled to the ground writhing in pain. They wore not a single layer of armor, and within a hundred paces the shots punched clean through them.

The bandits were falling continuously before they could even close to fifty paces to loose their arrows. The shields in front were utterly useless — men and shields alike were pierced through. Terror filled the bandits' eyes, and those remaining fled in panic, turning tail at once.

The musket fire did not cease — volley after volley rang out, and with each discharge men kept falling. Blood covered the ground. The other bandits hiding around the houses on both sides felt a chill run down their spines, and they too turned and fled, not daring to remain in ambush against those killers of men across the way.

Tuo Xianling began to panic. If these fools scattered in all directions, the officers' cavalry would mount up and continue the pursuit, and then he would be utterly finished. He roared, "Don't run! Charge them for your father! Whatever warhorses and heavy armor you take, you divide among yourselves!"

"Divide your mother's ass — I'm about to lose my life!" a bandit muttered as he ran past him.

Another volley of gunfire rang out, once again reaping the lives of the roving bandits. Even a good number of the elite Old Camp soldiers who ran too slowly were cut down.

The men in front grew fewer and fewer as they fled. Tuo Xianling, still mounted on his horse, was finally exposed in the arquebusiers' line of sight. This volley, all ten arquebusiers in one rank aimed their muzzles at him, then pulled their triggers.

Several blossoms of blood burst from Tuo Xianling's body. He was stunned for a moment, then fell from his horse's back in a posture of considerable difficulty, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Similar scenes played out on the other streets entering the town. On every street, gunfire rang without cease, gunpowder smoke rose, and screams filled the air without end.

With every volley from the Yongwei Camp, the roving bandits grew more chaotic. Even the elite Old Camp soldiers were beaten senseless.

With Tuo Xianling dead, the bandits, now without their commander, fell into even greater disorder and immediately collapsed into full rout. The Old Camp soldiers in particular desperately whipped their horses and galloped away at full speed.

Seeing the Old Camp soldiers fleeing, how could the others be willing to stay and wait for death? The nearly ten thousand bandits who had packed into the town awaiting their ambush collapsed in an instant, scattering in terror.

In truth, many of them had no idea what was happening up ahead. Based on past experience, they only ran when the front had been defeated or when they encountered formidable government troops. In any case, if the front ran, the rear followed. When they won, it was the same — they just ran along.

Seeing the bandits scattering in rout, Sun Yingyuan did not pursue immediately. The town was full of houses, which was unfavorable for cavalry charges. If the bandits ran out of the town themselves, then on the flat, open ground—

After waiting about a quarter of an hour, Sun Yingyuan finally bellowed, "Mount up! Kill the bandits!"

The bandits fleeing south had just been about to stop and rest when they heard the thunderous pounding of hooves behind them. They turned to look and saw the government cavalry charging at them again. Their formation stretched several hundred paces wide, every man wielding a long lance, with countless more cavalry rolling forward behind.

"Kill the bandits!"

The thundering cavalry, brandishing gleaming cold weapons, rolled toward them. Terror seized the bandits' hearts. They scattered into a panicked mob, each one sprinting for his life, terrified of being caught from behind and butchered by the government troops.

Before long, the Yongwei Camp cavalry had ridden down their quarry, sending them flying with blood spat from their mouths. Some tumbled and rolled on the ground; others were trampled into pulp beneath the rolling tide of iron hooves.

The roving bandits had no capacity to resist. They were impaled by the Yongwei Camp cavalry's lances and hacked down by saber strokes. Screams joined into one continuous wail, and blood spilled endlessly across this land of northern Wanbei.

Some of the Old Camp soldiers ran the fastest. They were all elite riders, but few in number — fewer than a thousand. The rest of the main force followed beside the various bandit chieftains.

Sun Yingyuan said to Li Shaoyou at his side, "Li Shaoyou, take a thousand cavalry and pursue the bandits' Old Camp soldiers. You must cripple them — kill them dead!"

"Your subordinate obeys!" Li Shaoyou gave a whoop of excitement and immediately led his men in pursuit of the Old Camp soldiers.

Li Shaoyou was born into a military family. Not only was his horsemanship superb and his fighting ferocious, but most importantly, his mind turned quickly. Though barely past twenty, he had earned repeated merits in battle, and this time he had even slain Tuo Xianling. Sun Yingyuan had great confidence in him.

The Yongwei Camp cavalry, having undergone multiple raids and pursuits against the Qing troops, followed by extremely rigorous training, now possessed highly respectable horsemanship, and their combat capability had been greatly improved as well.

This time, Zhu Cilang had the cavalry fight independently in order to train their mobility and organizational ability, to make the cavalry even more formidable.

The Yongwei Camp was an army whose main fighting strength lay in firearms. Compared to the arquebusiers, the cavalry's status could only rank second. Therefore, every cavalryman was holding in a breath of frustration, wanting to perform well in this southern campaign.

The cavalrymen were high-spirited. Every man urged his warhorse forward, pursuing with all their might, slaughtering the roving bandits until heads rolled and bodies toppled dead. Many bandits chose to kneel and surrender on the spot.

In this battle, the cavalry battalion slew over ten thousand enemies and captured more than six thousand prisoners. The rest of the bandits had long since fled to who knows where.

Sun Yingyuan was arranging for the prisoners to clean up the battlefield and handle the aftermath when a Night Scout came galloping up with a report: the Crown Prince and the main force of the Yongwei Camp were half a day's march from arriving at the Central Capital, Fengyang.

Sun Yingyuan nodded. It seemed the fighting here needed to be wrapped up quickly. He ordered the cavalry pursuing the routed enemy to begin regrouping, and sent men to comfort the nearby commoners who had fled and scattered.

Only as the sky began to darken did the commoners who had fled finally emerge slowly from the distant dry ditches and return to the town.

The common folk had been terrified all day long while the government troops and bandits fought around them. To avoid being caught up in the cavalry's charge, they had hidden far away in the cracked, dry ditches, waiting for the government troops to put down the rebellion.

Some commoners, seeing from afar the might and majesty of the imperial army, felt a measure of joy — those bandits were in for trouble now. But at the same time, they harbored a worry: once the imperial army drove off the bandits, would they plunder their property too?

Some Dragon-Soaring Night Scouts galloped about and discovered the hidden commoners. They shouted at the top of their voices, "The imperial army has come to suppress the rebellion and will not harm a single hair of the people! No need for alarm — return home in peace!"

When the words reached them, all the commoners were overjoyed. One venerable elder of high standing called out, "Soldiers, which army are you from? Who is your commanding general?"

"By order of the Crown Prince, the Yongwei Camp has come to suppress the rebellion!" A Dragon-Soaring Night Scout galloped past, leaving behind a ringing, forceful voice.

"They truly are the imperial army!"

"The imperial army has come south to suppress the rebellion!"

The commoners' hearts stirred with excitement. They hoped the court would swiftly exterminate these damned bandits so they could live out their days in peace.

As the saying goes, better to suffer poverty than to suffer insecurity. Even if the officials were ever so corrupt, one could still scrape out a living. But the roving bandits — they not only killed people, they also stripped you of everything you owned.