vstars Chapter 369 Born from the same roots
Chapter 369 Born from the same roots
As Liu Zeqing fled on horseback, he looked up ahead and saw the Guan Ning Army in the middle, Wu Anbang, the general of Dengzhou, on his right, and the arquebusiers of the Guangdong barbarians on his left. A plan formed in his mind.
The rebel cavalry pursued relentlessly, and his retreat would inevitably disrupt his allies' formation, creating an opportunity for the rebels to attack. He dared not offend the Guan Ning army again; he couldn't go to the middle, and Wu Anbang, the Dengzhou general on the right, was an official from the same province and a good friend of his—he couldn't harm him. The only option was the Guangdong barbarians; this Liu fellow was extremely arrogant, and under these circumstances, it was better to sacrifice a friend than himself.
He brandished his saber and shouted, "Follow me! Retreat towards the Guangdong troops!" The Shandong cavalry behind him obeyed, charging towards the Qiongzhou camp's formation. A thousand Shandong soldiers, plus two thousand rebels hot on their heels, all charged towards the Qiongzhou camp. The thunderous sound of hooves, the billowing dust, and the trembling earth made it appear as if over three thousand cavalry had launched a simultaneous attack.
"Holy crap!" Liu Ye couldn't help but curse. "Has Liu Zeqing gone mad? It's one thing to be unable to defeat the rebels, but he actually charged into my ranks and even attracted the rebels here! Is he deliberately seeking personal revenge?"
Xu Yifan explained from the side, "Whether it's for self-preservation or personal revenge, it's probably a combination of both. At this speed, to control a warhorse to make a sharp turn and rush past our lines, then circle back to the rear, there are very few people in the world besides the Mongols who can do that. Now is not the time to talk about this, General, let's form ranks and meet the enemy!"
Liu Ye, his face ashen, ordered: "Form square formation to meet the enemy!"
After the order was given, the two long rows of soldiers quickly changed, rearranging themselves according to company and platoon organization, forming a huge hollow square in a very short time. Five companies were deployed in each direction, with two battalion-level mountain artillery companies positioned at the two front corners. The guards and special forces remained in the center of the square as reserves.
Shi Ying asked, "We definitely have to fight the rebels, but what about the Shandong soldiers at the front?"
Liu Ye stared intently at the approaching cavalry and said coldly, "If he is ruthless, don't blame me for being ruthless. If Liu Zeqing insists on attacking my troops, treat him the same as the rebels—kill him without mercy!"
Liu Zeqing saw that the Qiongzhou camp ahead had formed a strange battle formation, changing from a horizontal line to a square formation with a hollow center. He couldn't understand what this was all about and muttered to himself, "Are these Cantonese barbarians idiots?"
Any general who has fought against cavalry knows that the only way to deal with a high-speed cavalry charge is to form a dense, solid infantry formation and use long spears to block. If they can withstand the cavalry's initial onslaught and slow down the horses, they can hold their ground. If the formation is broken, it will be a one-sided massacre. Therefore, the closer the soldiers are packed, the better; a sparse formation will break easily. In Liu Zeqing's eyes, using a square formation with an empty center and only a thin horizontal line on each side to fight against cavalry is no different from suicide.
Liu Zeqing shook his head. What did it matter to him if the Qiongzhou Camp was going to their deaths? As long as he could break through the thin line of soldiers in front of him and pass through this hollow formation, he would escape alive. Let the Qiongzhou Camp deal with the rebels behind them.
To his utter surprise, it wasn't the Qiongzhou camp that was sent to their deaths, but rather his own thousand cavalrymen.
When the vanguard of the Shandong troops was only 700 meters away from the Qiongzhou camp, the artillery company, ready to fire, lit the fuses. A total of 20 mountain guns from the two companies roared angrily, and 10-pound solid shot whistled as it flew toward the Shandong troops, piercing the chests of the cavalrymen and the bodies of their horses with great kinetic energy. Blood splattered in the air, and one after another, the cavalrymen fell from their horses, and one after another, their horses crashed to the ground.
Unlike previous infantry charges, this hollow square formation positioned artillery at the two front corners of the formation, creating two diagonal firing angles instead of a straight line. While straight-line fire is more effective against dense infantry, it is less effective against relatively sparse cavalry units. Diagonal firing, to some extent, compensates for the shortcomings of straight-line fire, creating a diagonal fire network that can inflict more casualties on fast-moving cavalry.
After a nearby soldier's head was smashed into a pulp by a cannonball, Liu Zeqing wiped away the blood and brains splattered on his own head and panicked. He had imagined all sorts of reactions from the Qiongzhou camp after he had betrayed them, including hesitation, anger, hasty resistance, and complaining to the governor and the supervising officer afterwards. But he never expected that a newly arrived southern army with no foundation would choose to attack without hesitation, treating their own troops as rebels and showing no mercy.
Logically, he should have been furious: "I was just using this route to escape. Even if it caused you losses, I could take the matter to my superiors later and apologize. But you came at me with cannons and started beating me to death. That's going too far." However, seeing his men being killed one after another by cannonballs, with more than a dozen lives lost for every step forward, he was filled with fear and terror. What kind of magician made these cannons from the southern barbarians? How could they fire continuously? At this rate, even if they reached the Qiongzhou camp, nearly 30% of their thousand-plus cavalry would be killed or wounded.
Despite the fear, the warhorses could not slow down in an instant, and the Shandong soldiers continued their charge forward due to inertia.
Liu Ye shouted, "We can't let them disrupt our formation, otherwise it will be a disaster if the rebels attack! Switch to shotguns and fire at these Shandong soldiers to death!"
Although the artillery fire slowed the cavalry's charge to some extent, 700 meters was not a long distance for galloping warhorses. In the blink of an eye, the vanguard of the Shandong cavalry had closed to within 200 meters, enough for only one volley even with grapeshot. In any other unit, the gunners would have turned and fled at the sight of the approaching sabers. However, the well-trained and disciplined artillery company seemed oblivious to the charging cavalry, methodically taking grapeshot from the ammunition boxes, loading it into the cannons, and calmly lighting the fuses.
Meanwhile, the Shandong cavalry had raised their sabers and were charging forward with howls. Pursued by the rebels and bombarded by friendly artillery fire, these Shandong soldiers had lost their minds. They lacked the courage to turn their horses and fight the rebels to the death, instead placing their only hope of survival on breaking through their allies' lines. To this end, they didn't hesitate to raise their sabers at their own comrades, ready to behead anyone who stood in their way.