Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 232: A tragic victory is also a victory?
Liu Yongfu's uncle was one of the leaders of the Tiandihui in Wuzhou. When the Tang Dynasty marched eastward from Guangxi to capture Wuzhou, Liu Yongfu followed his uncle and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty.

After surrendering to the Tang Dynasty, he stayed in the army, participated in several major battles, and made many military achievements.

He was promoted from a private to a regiment commander.

Moreover, the merits and experience he has accumulated as the head of the group are already sufficient. He only needs to make some more achievements to go further.

It is even possible to drop a few levels and be promoted from regiment commander to brigade commander.

In Liu Yongfu's view, his troops' mission as the vanguard of the army's eastern expedition was the promotion opportunity he had been waiting for for a long time.

Suddenly, the expression on Liu Yongfu's face froze, and the hand holding the telescope involuntarily exerted force, and veins bulged.

But then the expression on his face changed to joy, and then he spoke.

"Quick, send a fast horse to report to the higher-ups immediately. The Qing army in Jiangning has taken the initiative to attack!"

"Request the higher-ups to send reinforcements as soon as possible!"

Through the telescope, Liu Yongfu saw Senggelinqin leading his troops out.

Seeing the Qing cavalry rushing towards him, Liu Yongfu, who was used to the storms, did not panic. He calmly commanded his troops to prepare to line up to meet the enemy.

Soon, with the military flags waving, the Tang army gathered in a dense formation, ready to meet the enemy.

Although the Tang army now rarely uses dense arrays.

But that's because dense arrays are not applicable in many battlefield situations, not because they can't be used.

In the current situation facing the enemy's cavalry attack, if the Tang army wants to stop the enemy cavalry, then the best option is to let the infantry form a dense array to meet the enemy in order to achieve the greatest firepower density.

Benefiting from the strict formation training in the army in the past, the Tang army soldiers easily completed the formation adjustment under the command of flags and drums.

The black muzzles of guns were aimed forward.

At the same time, two mobile rotary machine guns mounted on gun carriages, as well as corresponding field artillery and rocket launchers were set up and aimed forward in preparation for firing.

Just as the Tang army's vanguard was preparing to engage the enemy, the Qing cavalry led by Senggelinqin was also advancing rapidly.

At the end of the field of vision, the smoke and dust produced by the galloping cavalry became more and more obvious.

There is a solemn atmosphere in the air!

……

Senggelinqin rode on horseback, spurring his horse and charging forward.

Gusts of river breeze mixed with moist water vapor blew towards him. Senggelinqin took a deep breath, and as his horse galloped, all the burden in his chest disappeared.

"Kill!"

"Brothers, kill the Tang thieves and save the Qing Dynasty!"

Amid the shouts, Senggelinqin held a horse bow, bent the bow and drew the arrow, ready to ride and shoot.

The cavalry he led were almost all Mongolian cavalry!

The characteristics of Mongolian cavalry are that they are good at riding and shooting but not good at charging.

Senggelinqin was not stupid, so he would certainly not use his opponent's weakness to attack his strength.

Take advantage of the mobility of your own cavalry and use mounted archery to fight the enemy. Once they have worn down the enemy formation with mounted archery, it is the best time to launch a cavalry charge and reap the harvest.

Using cavalry to attack an intact infantry formation is a foolish choice that any general who has some knowledge of cavalry combat will never make.

Senggelinqin certainly wouldn’t know either!
The Qing cavalry galloped on their horses and rushed towards the Tang army.

Seeing that the distance between the two sides was getting closer, Senggelinqin quickly ordered the Qing cavalry to prepare to adjust their formation, change direction, and pass in front of the Tang army's formation.

At the same time, Senggelinqin also issued an order, ordering the Qing cavalry to prepare for shooting.

However, the Qing cavalry's formation only slightly deviated, and they didn't even have time to draw their bows and draw arrows.

A roar was heard on the battlefield!
Boom! Boom!
The roar of artillery resounded throughout the battlefield, and the artillery placed in front of the Tang army's formation spewed out a large amount of gunpowder smoke.

The shells cut through the air and whistled towards the Qing cavalry formation.

Senggelinqin watched helplessly as the shells flew over and hit the Qing army's formation, causing a bloody storm wherever they passed.

Many Qing cavalrymen were torn to pieces by the shells, along with their horses, leaving only minced meat and broken bones.

Boom boom!

Boom boom boom!
The bombardment became more and more intense, and fist-sized field artillery shells flew across the battlefield indiscriminately.

A shell flew past Senggelinqin, less than one meter away from him.

After passing by him, it directly beat several Qing soldiers behind Senggelinqin into pieces.

The warm blood directly dyed the warhorse under Senggelinqin's crotch into a bloody horse.

In the face of the Tang army's artillery bombardment, the Qing cavalry's momentum slowed down significantly.

But at this moment, Senggelinqin shouted at the top of his voice.

"No retreat, no retreat at all!"

"Anyone who retreats without my order will be killed!"

"The Tang bandits' artillery has just fired a round. It will take time for them to reload if they want to fire again. We should take advantage of this time to charge forward and crush them."

"Kill!"

After saying this, Senggelinqin continued to lead the charge.

When the Qing army saw this scene, they were moved by the bravery of Prince Senggelinqin and followed him forward to kill.

At this time, Senggelinqin had given up his previous idea of ​​harassing the Tang army by riding and shooting, and then dragging the Tang army down.

Instead, they planned to use the frontal impact of the cavalry to directly attack the Tang army formation.

This is not because Senggelinqin lost his mind.

It was because he found that his previous idea was good, but it was not so easy to implement in practice.

According to Senggelinqin's original idea, he wanted to take advantage of the mobility of his own cavalry and defeat the enemy by archery.

To put it simply, the cavalry would charge forward, shoot at the enemy, then quickly retreat, charge forward again, shoot again, and retreat again...

But the problem was that the Tang army's firepower was too strong. If the Qing cavalry wanted to charge forward, they would have to endure a round of artillery fire first.

By the time they had finished firing and retreated to accumulate strength for another charge, the Tang army's artillery must have been reloaded. At this time, the Qing army rushed forward and was just in time to receive another round of fire.

If the two sides continued to be in a stalemate, the result would be self-evident when the Tang army reinforcements arrived.

Of course, Senggelinqin could also choose not to charge forward, but instead rely on the mobility advantage of the cavalry to keep the Tang army at a distance.

When the Tang army broke up their formation and started marching, they rushed up to harass them.

As soon as the Tang army formed a battle formation, they retreated.

However, this tactic is also not feasible in the current situation.

Because the main force of the Tang army was not far from the battlefield.

If Senggelinqin drags on for too long, the main force of the Tang army will enter the battlefield.

Then, continue advancing towards Jiangning!

In this way, Senggelinqin's goal of dealing a heavy blow to the Tang army's vanguard and boosting the morale of the Qing army would naturally become impossible to achieve.

But this was unacceptable to Senggelinqin!

So Senggelinqin made up his mind to take a gamble.

Go straight to his mother!

The main force of the Tang army moved eastward, Jiangning was in danger, and the morale of the Qing army was low. They urgently needed a victory to boost the morale of the army.

Now is no longer the time for Senggelinqin to worry about the cost-effectiveness of exchanging casualties between the two sides on the battlefield!

A tragic victory is still a victory!
Senggelinqin was prepared to inflict heavy casualties on his cavalry at all costs and to inflict a heavy blow on the Tang army's vanguard.

Because only in this way can the Qing army have hope of winning the battle of Jiangning!

The rumbling sound of horse hooves continued.

Thousands of Qing cavalry led by Senggelinqin rushed towards the Tang army formation.

Seeing this scene, Liu Yongfu put down the telescope in his hand and sneered disdainfully.

"Haha, this Qing demon really hasn't made any progress in fighting."

"What era is this? Why are we still using this outdated cavalry charge?"

“It’s just hilarious!”

"Pass the order down, let our artillery, rockets, and Yuannian heavy machine guns prepare to fire, let these Qing monsters see what firepower coverage is and what the new way of fighting in modern warfare is!"

Soon, as military orders were issued, the Tang army's artillery began to fire rapidly.

Moreover, as the distance between the two sides shortened, the artillery shells used by the Tang army were changed from solid bullets to shotgun shells.

Boom boom! Boom boom boom!

The sound of artillery fire rang out, and dense bullets flew across the battlefield like raindrops.

Those Qing soldiers who were rushing in the front were swept away by bullets in the blink of an eye, and both the men and their horses were shot into sieves.

There was even blood mist in the air!
Senggelinqin lowered his body as much as possible, lying on the horse's back, with his legs clamped on the horse's belly to signal the warhorse to speed up the charge.

The sound of bullets breaking through the air continued to ring in his ears.

He reaped the lives of the Mongolian cavalry who followed him in the charge.

The explosive shells fired by the breech-loading artillery fell among the Qing army. Amid the rumbling sound of the explosion, flames shot up into the sky and broken limbs flew everywhere.

The flesh and blood that was blown into the sky fell down under the action of gravity. At that moment, it seemed as if blood was raining in the sky.

As the distance was shortened again, the Qing cavalry finally rushed into the coverage range of the Tang army's rockets.

"Rockets, fire!"

Phew! Whoosh!

The sound of breaking through the air continued to sound.

Like meteors streaking across the sky, rockets poured down on the charging Qing cavalry.

There were more explosions!

The Qing army was almost stunned by the explosion.

Senggelinqin also felt his head buzzing, and everything in front of him seemed to be shaking.

However, what made Senggelinqin feel fortunate was that as the distance shortened, there was an obvious gap in the Tang army's firepower delivery.

His emotions were extremely excited and exhilarated.

It feels like hope is just around the corner.

He immediately raised his arms and shouted.

"Warriors, follow me!"

"The Tang bandits' firearms are no longer effective. Follow me!"

"..."

However, before Senggelinqin had time to be happy for long, the next moment, a burst of machine gun fire was heard on the battlefield.

Dada! Dada!

Ta-ta-ta-ta!

Two rotary machine guns aimed at the charging Qing cavalry and began to fire indiscriminately.

The bullets were as dense as raindrops, sweeping away everything.

The sound of clattering, like the roar of a devil, continued to be heard.

Bullets were flying, and the charging Qing cavalry were like wheat being cut, falling to the ground in clumps, like being sieved by a sieve.

The screams of people and the neighing of horses continued to sound!
Some Qing cavalrymen were even torn to pieces by bullets along with their horses, and their blood was spilled on the battlefield. The scene was horrifying.

(End of this chapter)