Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 375: The Night Escape
The Xiang River roared, the Lei River wailed. Tunyuan and Pingtouling were sandwiched between the Xiang River and the Lei River, which was very disadvantageous to both the Red Army and the Qing Army.

The Qing army was defeated in the first battle and lost two important generals. First, Nikan died and his body was never found. Now, Tongtulai's death made Tunqi lose an arm.

As midsummer was approaching, the northern soldiers could not stand the heat and humidity in the south and often had to go to the north to escape the heat. There was already an epidemic among the troops in Tunqi, and it was difficult to fight for a long time. He made a prompt decision and led the Eight Banners to cross the Xiangjiang River overnight and escape to Hengzhou Prefecture.

The scout found out the news and hurried back to report.

Danchu woke up from his sleep and asked about the situation. He thought to himself, "I didn't expect that Tunqi would be so decisive and retreat overnight."

Ma Bao had already arrived in front of the tent and was waiting for orders. He said, "This fellow is so fast. He must be either timid or smart."

"Having the courage to withdraw troops and stop the loss in time is also a kind of bravery. The Tartars should not be underestimated."

Ma Bao seemed to understand something and asked, "May I ask the Lord whether we should send out the Tiger Guards to pursue them?"

Looking at the moon in the sky, it was a waning moon tonight, and the moonlight was not good. Danchu sighed, "In war, annihilating the enemy is the primary goal, and capturing the city is secondary. In the battle of Jiangxi, Huben Town severely damaged the Manchurian Firearms Battalion, so they were able to capture Ji'an and advance westward to Hengzhou. But Oboi fled back to Nanchang, and the Red Army was unable to let go and govern Jiangxi, which is still a regret.

"If we let the Tartars escape tonight, we will have to fight for them city by city when we pass through Huguang in the future, which will be very time-consuming and laborious. Send out the order, all the troops in Huben Town will be dispatched, with torches everywhere, to fight the Tartars at night.

"Chengbi, you lead the cavalry unit first and make sure to seize the Xiangjiang floating bridge to cut off the enemy's retreat. This clan will lead the First Corps of the Imperial Guard and the Artillery Corps to split the mountain cannons behind, advance with drums beating and forcefully attack Tunyuan."

"Yes." Ma Bao was happy to hear about the battle. He strode out of the central military tent without any fatigue.

Guard Captain Yang Dingzhen looked at Ma Bao's back and sighed, "Ma Zhentai is full of energy and never tired. He is really a tiger general. The king has a keen eye for talent and appointed Ma Zhentai to lead the Tiger Guards. He is really a natural genius."

Danchu chuckled and said without replying, "Go and prepare your clothes and armor, and bring up some snacks."

Before a battle, you must always fill your stomach and not fight on an empty stomach. This is the simplest truth, but it was a difficult problem that could never be solved in the Ming Dynasty. The Ming army often fought on an empty stomach, and a large number of border troops were reduced to peasant armies.

Tonight, the soldiers could only eat dry rations, but Danchu had snacks available at any time, and he was already satisfied.

Soon, whistles sounded inside and outside the camp, piercing the tranquility of the summer night. All the associations gathered urgently to count the men, horses and weapons. The order was busy but not chaotic, and the action was quite fast.

The cavalry was the fastest, and Ma Bao did not wait for the horses to gather, but ordered the first batch to move south and head straight for the floating bridge. The sound of horse hooves was as loud and powerful as a torrential rain, rushing towards the Qing army.

The water in the upper reaches of the Xiang River is shallow, and it is not possible to wade. The Qing army built two floating bridges on the left wing of the Xiang River in Tunyuan to connect the two banks. Tonight, of course, the Manchu Eight Banners will cross the river first, followed by the Mongolian Eight Banners, then the Han Army Eight Banners, and finally the Green Camp soldiers. Those who stayed on the east bank of the Xiang River to cover the crossing were naturally the Green Camp soldiers.

The Green Camp had the largest number of troops, but most of them were infantry, so their marching speed was slow. Some of them were even caught up by the Red Army's infantry brigades, and the main force had not yet arrived at Tunyuan.

The Qing army's crossing of the river was organized quite hastily. The Eight Banners did not distinguish between Manchu, Mongolian and Han troops, and most of them had two horses or even three horses. The bridge was narrow, and it was night, so the crossing was not fast.

When the Huben Town Cavalry Unit arrived at the front line, Tunqi had already crossed the river with the Manchu soldiers. The Eight Banners of Mongolia and the Eight Banners of Han Army each used a pontoon bridge and were speeding up their crossing of the river.

The Red Army cavalry advanced with a roar, and without thinking twice, they started shooting on horseback.

The main force of the Eight Banners had already crossed the river, and the remaining soldiers had no intention of fighting. They just randomly strung their bows and shot arrows at the Red Army.

The Red Army originally did not take rockets seriously, but during this night attack, the Cavalry Brigade brought along the rockets that were kept with them for combat readiness and fired at the direction of the pontoon bridge.

The rockets themselves had limited lethality, but they had a great impact on the enemy's morale. The rockets, some with long trails of flames, some with piercing whistles, panicked the Qing troops who were eager to cross the river, and many drowned. Night battles were usually chaotic, and the Qing troops had no intention of counterattacking, only of escaping to the other side of the Xiangjiang River as quickly as possible. The Red Army had not yet figured out the situation, and they fired guns and arrows from a distance of a hundred steps.

Soon, a streak of dawn appeared in the distance, and through the sound of gunfire came the sound of roosters. Daybreak was approaching, and Ma Bao whistled, calling the cavalry commander and the captain, and said briefly:
"It's almost dawn. Judging from the situation of the Tartars, they are no longer in the mood to fight. We don't need to fire our guns. The troops don't need to maintain formation. Just charge forward. Make sure the swords draw blood, the horses sweat, and the men are injured. After we spread out, attack immediately. Go ahead."

"Yes!" All the generals left in a flash, leading their troops to charge into the enemy. Ma Bao led his personal soldiers and led the first battalion to attack the floating bridge.

"Pah! Pah!" He swung his signature whip gun, making a harsh sound in the air. It was really a preemptive move. As soon as the Tartars heard the whip gun, they knew that Ma Bao had arrived, and no one dared to confront him.

This whip spear is two or three feet long and can only be used by a strong man. There is a double-edged spear tip tied to the spear head, which looks like a horse lance and can kill the enemy from two or three feet away.

The Green Camp soldiers who were responsible for guarding the floating bridge originally wanted to put up a last-ditch effort and threw arrows at the Red Army. When the Red Army cavalry charged over, the Green Camp soldiers simply dropped their weapons, ran onto the floating bridge, and those who could swim took off their armor and jumped directly into the river. Some of them ran southward like headless flies.

Ma Bao was unstoppable, riding a large horse from outside the pass, and rushed straight to the floating bridge. Most of the Eight Banners soldiers had already crossed the river to the other side, and a small number of Eight Banners soldiers and Green Camp soldiers were crowded on the bridge.

He gently used the stirrups to stir the horse, and the horse seemed to understand human nature and rushed straight towards the floating bridge.

"Pa!" A whip went down, and several screams came from the opposite side. Then, the enemy soldiers and horses fell into the river. Seeing Zhentong's bravery, the Red Army was very excited. They followed Ma Bao onto the floating bridge and shot at the enemy with carbines.

An invisible pressure forced the Qing army to move forward desperately. Countless soldiers and horses fell into the water, but no one dared to turn around and fight back.

When Cen Danchu led the First Brigade of his personal soldiers to the scene, it was already light. The cavalry brigade galloped back and forth, wantonly harvesting the heads of the Qing army. The Green Camp soldiers were abandoned on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River, leaderless, and were divided into several groups by the cavalry brigade, with no power to fight back.

There was a Green Camp army in Xuanhua and Datong. They were originally the border troops of the Ming Dynasty. They were dispatched by the Qing court to the battlefield in Huguang at the beginning of last year and were under the command of Hong Chengchou. Their generals included Gao Wanli, Zhang Pengcheng, Li Rong, Zhang Hongde and others.

These people were all veterans who knew how to avoid fighting and preserve their strength. In the melee, Gao Wanli, Zhang Pengcheng, Li Rong, and Zhang Hongde all led their troops to retreat to the south, using the Xuanda Border Army signals to communicate with each other, and gradually joined together.

"Old Gao, how is it?" Zhang Pengcheng, who has a lot of seniority and prestige among the crowd, asked when he saw Gao Wanli was injured.

"I was hit by a bullet in the waist, which penetrated the armor and caused severe pain in my ribs."

Zhang Pengcheng was very experienced. He looked at the injuries in the morning light and said, "Fortunately, they are just flesh wounds. Just take out the lead and it will be fine. How many troops do you have left?"

"Only five out of ten are left, probably less than six hundred." Gao Wanli was sad, fearing that the generals would abandon him, and said, "Brother Zhang, I'm fine, I can still walk."

"The mountains and plains are full of Red Army soldiers. Even if we can move, where can we go?" Li Rong was a reckless person and said directly.

"That damn Tunqi abandoned us and took the Eight Banners across the river."

"We are all soldiers and eat food, why should the bannermen be superior? I brought the warhorse from Xuanhua, and I have to give it to the bannermen. The situation is so urgent now, and I have less than 20 warhorses. I've had enough of this, so I might as well surrender to the Red Army and lead them to attack Tunqi. I'll not only make a contribution, but also get the warhorse back!"

"Brother Zhang, please say something and give us your opinion. We brothers will listen to you."

Zhang Pengcheng pondered for a moment and said, "Looking at the situation, we can't escape today. Cen Danchu is a descendant of Yulin Town, and we are descendants of Xuanfu Town and Datong Town. In short, we are all descendants of the Nine Frontiers. I have heard that he is good at comforting his soldiers. If we surrender to him today, we will not have to worry about wealth and honor in the future."

After everyone had made up their minds, they gathered their troops, raised the white flag, and surrendered to the Red Army.

(End of this chapter)