Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 453 The Battle of Qiuyu Mountain (5)

Gao Yingxiang noticed that Zhang Xianzhong's troops had suddenly stopped advancing. At first, he thought they had encountered obstacles such as rivers or mountains and had slowed down their march. He didn't think much of it, since marching tens of thousands of troops was no easy task, especially since they were carrying a lot of spoils of war, and climbing mountains and wading through rivers would be a considerable burden. So he ordered his men to remain in place and wait until the road ahead was clear before continuing.

But after waiting for almost half an hour, Gao Yingxiang gradually became anxious. What on earth was Zhang Xianzhong up to? Just as he was about to send someone to the front to ask, a loud "boom boom boom" sound came from the front. Gao Yingxiang's scalp tingled. It was the sound of cannons!

Considering the previous unexplained disappearance of the scouts, Gao Yingxiang concluded that something serious had happened! Zhang Xianzhong's army of over 20,000 men could easily crush even a small group of government troops without taking so long. Moreover, there were few capable government troops in Anhui, let alone cannons—it should be noted that from Luzhou, Anqing, and Hezhou to Chuzhou, there were hardly any decent cannons on the city walls, let alone in the field.

He couldn't wait to send people to gather information, so he rode straight through the crowd to see what was going on.

Several guards on horseback cleared the way ahead, shouting, "Make way, the King of Chuang is here!" The crowd in front recognized the King of Chuang and quickly parted to let them pass.

Passing through the long convoy of carts laden with gold, silver, and silk, and the dense crowd, Gao Yingxiang arrived at the front of the army. With the crowd no longer obstructing his view, the scene before him suddenly opened up.

Before Gao Yingxiang could find Zhang Xianzhong and ask him what was going on, he was stunned by what he saw. A mile ahead, as far as the eye could see, there were countless corpses and rivers of blood. On both sides, groups of people were running back in a disheveled state, as if they had suffered a defeat.

Looking further ahead, a small hill, not very high, stood there, blocking the army's path. Several thousand soldiers occupied the hilltop, ready for battle. It seemed that this was the culprit.

Gao Yingxiang's mood turned somber. Anyone who could make Zhang Xianzhong's army of over 20,000 suffer a setback was no ordinary person. But where did these soldiers come from? He rode his horse slowly to the central army and found Zhang Xianzhong.

When Zhang Xianzhong saw him, he greeted him: "King Chuang, you've come." There was a hint of unconcealed frustration in his tone.

Since Gao Yingxiang joined forces with him, they had fought all the way from Xingyang, Henan to Yizheng, Jiangsu, capturing cities and strongholds along the way. He had never seen the arrogant and conceited Zhang Xianzhong with such an expression before, and couldn't help but ask, "Who exactly is this person who has caused you to run into a wall?"

"Damn it, I have no idea where these rinds came from!" Zhang Xianzhong said angrily. "They suddenly appeared on this mountain, and there's no way to get around them. I sent seven thousand men up there, and they were driven back in one fell swoop!"

Gao Yingxiang's heart tightened, and he pressed on, "Even if Cao Wenzhao were here, it would be impossible for him to rout seven thousand men in such a short time, wouldn't it?"

Zhang Xianzhong said irritably, "If only we could fight like Cao Wenzhao, with real swords and spears, at least I could understand why I lost. These idiots are just bombarded with cannons, like mountains collapsing and the earth splitting, they can't even get close..."

At this moment, Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi led their remaining troops back. Without even exchanging greetings with Gao Yingxiang, they panted and said to Zhang Xianzhong, "Father, this battle is difficult. Their cannons are too powerful. We don't have cannons on the flanks, but we have a type of small cannon that fires extremely fast, almost as fast as the government troops' muskets. We can't even close the gap by throwing our lives at them..."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Xianzhong said to Gao Yingxiang, "Did you hear that, Chuang Wang? In front of us are cannons that can fire for miles. Sun Kewang and his three thousand men were decimated by the cannon fire. And then some smaller cannons appeared on the flanks... We've never encountered soldiers like this before!"

Gao Yingxiang frowned deeply. He had never seen a battle primarily fought with artillery before. Cao Wenzhao, under Hong Chengchou, was the most formidable general he had ever encountered, but even he fought with his life on the line, and although the refugee army generally suffered more defeats than victories against him, it was still within the realm of understanding. How could they possibly fight a battle where they were bombarded and unable to get close?

Seeing that Gao Yingxiang remained silent, Zhang Xianzhong suggested, "Why don't we turn back? These soldiers are too strange. We can't figure out their tactics. It's not worth wasting our manpower here."

“No, retreating now will not only lower morale but also waste the brothers’ strength. And where will we go after retreating? Back along the way we came from Chuzhou and Hezhou all the way west? Wouldn’t that mean we’d run right into Hong Chengchou? A weary army encountering a pack of tigers and wolves is bound to be defeated!” Gao Yingxiang rejected his suggestion without even thinking.

"What are we going to do? Are these government troops so easy to defeat?" Zhang Xianzhong shouted. He almost blurted out, "You chose this route, that's why this mess has happened. If you had listened to me and gone through Huainan, Queshan, and Fuyang into Henan, we wouldn't have had this trouble."

Gao Yingxiang carefully observed the Qiuyu Mountain opposite and slowly said, "These people have powerful cannons, but I want to find out more about them. Once we find their weakness, we can defeat them in one fell swoop, and then the road ahead will be clear."

Zhang Xianzhong shook his head repeatedly: "I've lost so many soldiers and generals, even Sun Kewang was killed inside. If you want to test me, I'm not going."

Gao Yingxiang wasn't annoyed: "I won't let you bear it alone. My men will be in front, and yours will be behind. When the opportunity arises, we'll go side by side."

Zhang Xianzhong blinked a few times: "That's great." As long as he wasn't the one leading the charge, he'd give it a try.

After discussing their attack strategy, Gao Yingxiang turned back to his troops to arrange their formations. Zhang Xianzhong ordered his army to make way for the rebel king's forces.

At this moment, a group of bloodied men struggled back into the ranks. One of them, being supported by two subordinates, cried out, "Father, your son is incompetent. He couldn't take down this front line and instead lost most of his men..."

Zhang Xianzhong recognized the voice immediately. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was Sun Kewang, covered in blood, whom he almost didn't recognize. Overjoyed, he exclaimed, "My son is still alive! It's good that you're back. It's okay to have lost a battle; it's not like we've never lost before. These guys' cannons are too strange; it's no wonder you're in trouble."

Ai Nengqi and the others rushed forward to help their sworn brother. The brothers had all escaped death and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

On the mountain of seeking rain, Liu Ye raised his binoculars to survey the battlefield and nodded in satisfaction: "These field artillery pieces are indeed powerful. Mingzi wasn't bragging. Give me two more artillery battalions, and even if a hundred thousand bandits came, I could wipe them out without them recognizing their own mothers."

Zhu Dadian, standing to the side, was already speechless with shock. He knew the Qionghai Army was powerful, but he hadn't realized it was this powerful. If they had arrived a month earlier, how could he have lost cities and territory, forced to retreat again and again?