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Chapter 1245 Where did the bandit cavalry go?

Although Zhang Guodong's strategy was not foolproof and was actually a pure military adventure, he still had some confidence. After all, the Chuang army's lack of ability to attack strongholds was obvious to all and known to the world.

Even though they had been attacking states and cities with great determination in Zhongzhou, most of the time they arranged for internal support to break into the city, and a few of them had no soldiers in the city. In fact, they had not fought many real siege battles.

  Kaifeng is not only the starting point for Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, to become emperor, but also an important checkpoint to test the ability of Li Zicheng's army to attack and break into cities. It may also be the turning point of his success or failure in life!

Once Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, captures Kaifeng, his influence will spread throughout the Central Plains, and his personal reputation will be unparalleled. He will overpower major bandits such as Zhang Xianzhong, the "Eight Kings", Luo Rucai, "Cao Cao", and the Five Ge Zuo Thieves, and become the sole leader of all bandits in the world.

At the same time, it can also prove to the world the strength of Chuang's army. The huge number of troops under its command already have the power to break through the fortified city. In this way, they will be invincible in future battles, and the capture of the Ming capital will be just around the corner.

At that time, when Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, was facing south and changing the dynasty, the bandits who followed him now suddenly became heroes of the founding of the country, and were granted titles of king, duke, or earl.

With such a comparison, when Li Zicheng broke through Kaifeng City and dominated the Central Plains, the difference between joining the Chuang Dynasty or not immediately became apparent. Naturally, people with a discerning eye had already seen through it all.

Now, the whole world is watching, and the eyes of various forces are focused on Henan. They are watching the end of Kaifeng City and planning their own future...

Therefore, the battle between the Chuang Army and the Yongyi Army has become the beginning of determining the ownership of Kaifeng City. It is also a key battle that determines the future of Li Zicheng, the King of Chuang. Both sides are fully prepared for this and dare not be vague at all!

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Zhang Guodong did not personally participate in the charge. He was on a high platform built with large wooden beams inside the eastern defense line, observing the battle situation in the distance with a monocular telescope.

Overall, on the front line east of Liuzhuang, the Qinglong Camp was encircling and intercepting the defeated Chuang army. Facing the Chuang army that had completely lost its will to fight, they had almost absolute advantage.

Although they could not repel the rebels, they could at least kill nearly 3,000 regular soldiers and about 2,000 friars, and restore the three trench defense lines that had been abandoned two days ago.

After this battle, not only did the Chuang army suffer a sharp decrease in manpower, but its morale would also be greatly hit. It would also be afraid of breaking through defenses, and it would be difficult for it to organize a large-scale attack in the short term.

But just when Zhang Guodong was feeling proud and happy about his risky move, he suddenly received an urgent report: "Emergency on the Western Front, requesting support!"

Zhang Guodong's expression suddenly tensed up. This was exactly what he was worried about. Now all the main forces were concentrated on the eastern front, and even the central army and the reserve troops were rushing up. What he was most afraid of at the moment was problems in the west and south.

  But the more you fear something, the more likely it is to happen!

Zhang Guodong ordered without hesitation: "All the soldiers from the Artillery Division and the Chariot Division, assemble immediately to support the Western Front!"

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The central army of the Qinglong Camp has three divisions: cavalry, artillery, and chariot. The cavalry division has 150 elite cavalrymen, who are responsible for military tasks such as scouts, reconnaissance, surprise attacks and pursuits on weekdays, as well as communications.

The Artillery Department was equipped with five large artillery carriages, twenty side-carriage chariots, and ten baggage carts specially used to carry gunpowder, shells and other military supplies. Each chariot was equipped with twenty soldiers, and each baggage cart was equipped with ten soldiers.

Although they are divided into two teams, regular and irregular, and there is a distinction between chariot commanders, charioteers, and gunners, they are all used as combat soldiers. They can not only operate the Yunzhou quick gun, but also use cold weapons such as guns, sticks, swords, and shields. The use rate of firearms among charioteers has reached 70%.

The Chariot Division had thirty baggage wagons, each with ten charioteers, who were also combat soldiers, and were as elite as the charioteers of the Artillery Division. Thus, the Artillery Division had six hundred charioteers, and the Chariot Division had three hundred charioteers, adding up to a total of nine hundred soldiers, equivalent to a thousand-man infantry headquarters.

The drivers of vehicles and equipment such as wheelbarrows, stretcher carts, command carts, watchtowers, siege carts, and the craftsmen in the Chariot Department are not managed as combat soldiers. Although they also participate in some military exercises on weekdays, they mainly focus on operating the vehicles and not on combat, so they cannot be considered combat soldiers unless they go into battle in extremely urgent situations such as the destruction of a camp.

It was obvious that the camp had not yet been destroyed, so Zhang Guodong's order did not include them, but only the 900 chariot soldiers.

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The military situation was urgent and could not tolerate any delay. Following the military order, the charioteers from the Artillery Department and the Chariot Department quickly assembled.

Du Chungang, deputy general of the Qinglong Battalion, was originally commanding the chariots, baggage carts, and artillerymen to fire their cannons. At this moment, he was the first to come to Zhang Guodong and asked to lead the chariot soldiers to support the western front.

Zhang Guodong originally wanted to lead the troops to provide assistance personally, but after hearing Du Chungang's words, "The commander-in-chief must not move rashly. It's just a small matter, and he, a deputy general, is enough!", he changed his mind.

He even skipped the pre-battle speech and only said to Du Chungang: "Just hold the opening, don't rush to counterattack!"

Du Chungang naturally understood what Zhang Guodong meant. He didn't say anything, but just nodded heavily, then turned around and left with big strides...

After watching Du Chungang leave, Zhang Guodong hurriedly climbed up to the platform again, raised the telescope and looked at the battlefield in the east. He saw that Liu Changliang had led the cavalry to separate the fleeing bandits, while Kuang Yongzhong led Chen Shi's left 1,000 infantrymen following closely behind, chasing the bandits who were running around.

He shouted loudly: "Flags, change orders, order Kong Shouchang's right wing to establish a defense line at the second trench!"

"Order Liu Changliang's cavalry division to return to the camp immediately and not to fight any longer!"

"Order Huang Daguang's troops to return to the camp immediately and wait for orders. Act as soon as you receive them!"

"Order Kuang Yongzhong to lead Chen Shi's left troop to gather the captives. Anyone who refuses to comply will be killed on the spot!"

"Order, all the soldiers in the central army to take up their weapons and go to the north to deploy and wait for orders!"

As the orders were shouted and passed down layer by layer, on the watchtower not far away, several flag bearers nervously beat gongs and drums and blew trumpets. There were also small colorful flags waving continuously, constantly changing colors and postures, conveying the general's orders to the distant battlefield.

It can be said that although Zhang Guodong fought this battle somewhat riskily, his military acumen was still very strong. After hearing the emergency on the western front, he immediately deployed and dispatched the overall situation and began to supplement the defense in the north.

He was heard standing on a high platform, looking around with a telescope, and muttering to himself, "Why haven't I seen the bandit cavalry?"