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Sheng Bao did not think too highly of the Taiping army. Even though they had suffered a lot in the battles with the Northern Expedition Army, Sheng Bao still maintained this view. This was because ever since he fought with the Taiping army, they had never engaged in a traditional head-on battle. Every time Sheng Bao arranged his troops to fight in the field, the Taiping army would use the strategy of avoiding battle. This was not only in Hebei. Sheng Bao and the Taiping army fought from Jiangsu to Anhui, Shandong, and Hebei. The Taiping army had always avoided a head-on battle in the field.
Sheng Bao himself was also confident. He now had 7,000 men on horseback. Among the nearly 1,000 cavalrymen, there were more than 300 Mongolian cavalrymen who grew up on horseback. Every infantryman had a gun. Because of the battle in Zhili, the logistics and supplies were quite complete. This time, when they moved south, the 5000-pound cannons were left behind due to the inconvenience of movement. However, the muskets and mountain splitting cannons were still fully armed. Even though the Cantonese bandits were praised to be godly in the legends, Sheng Bao was not the slightest bit afraid.
Both sides were in formation on the plains. Sheng Bao was in the Qing Army's formation with the "All-Seeing Eye" at the entrance. From the lens, he could clearly see that the Taiping army's infantrymen were in front and the cavalry at the back. They were in a simple formation on the left, center, and right. After Sheng Bao saw this, he laughed in his heart at the Cantonese bandits. They really did not live up to their reputation.
Even the generals of the Qing army, who were not very skilled, would choose some special formations. The Taiping army in front of him was in a formation that even the most mediocre generals in the Qing Army could arrange.
Sheng Bao was facing the 11th Division. General Wei Changrong finally managed to arrange his troops in formation. He finally heaved a sigh of relief. Even in the plains, the ground was uneven. It was very troublesome to arrange a neat square formation. Fortunately, Wei Changrong had been in combat training. He had a good understanding of the commanders and the general level of the troops. That was why he was able to arrange his troops smoothly.
Six thousand versus seven thousand, and the Taiping army's cavalry at the back was the Nian Army. Even so, Wei Changrong still felt that victory was in his hands. The Qing Army on the other side did not have any heavy artillery, and their cavalry did not even number a thousand. The possibility of them creating a disturbance on the battlefield was very, very low. As for the fact that the Qing Army had allowed the Taiping army to get into formation so easily, Wei Changrong felt that when he caught the Qing Army's commander, he could give him a merciful death.
Wei Changrong looked at the sky, then looked at the troops standing in formation in the cold wind of early spring. He shouted to the staff officer beside him, "Pass down the order! Attack! "
"Pass down my order! Attack! "Vézé personally led the 13th Division into battle. The original commander of the 13th Division, Ke Gongyu, became the Chief of the General Staff, and the former Logistics Department Head, Lin Asheng, became the new commander of the 13th Division. At this time, Vézé was directly commanding the 13th Division. The battlefield between the two sides was located at Zhangguantun, northeast of Linqing City. Their enemy was the Shandong Provincial Commissioner, Chong En.
The various troops of the Qing Army did not expect that Vézé would only send a small number of troops to feign an attack on Linqing, while his main force would seize the opportunity to attempt a field battle with the various Qing Army troops. The news of Sheng Bao's troops rushing to Linqing stimulated the courage of these people, which had disappeared because of Shan Lu's death. They tried to make some similar offensive moves to fool the already incomparably angry Emperor Xianfeng.
Vézé seized this opportunity. While Shandong Provincial Commissioner Chong En led his troops out of Linqing, and then turned back to try to reach Zhangguantun, he brought six thousand troops to suppress Chong En's four thousand troops. At this time, Vézé did not calmly arrange his troops like Wei Changrong. Instead, he directly ordered two brigades of one thousand troops to advance from the front, with the left and right flanks circling behind the Qing Army.
Wei Changrong's two thousand troops were all members of the four largest Nian Army factions. They had followed Vézé all the way here, and after conquering many cities, they naturally had a strong will to fight. At this time, when Vézé ordered them to follow Wei Changrong into battle, it was precisely this drive that he wanted.
The one thousand troops following Vézé were the weakest of the thirty or so Nian Army groups. The twenty odd groups added up to no more than one thousand troops. The smaller the size of a group, the more they could not afford to lose men and horses. The more they did not dare to lose men, the smaller their chances of obtaining spoils of war. This was a vicious cycle on the battlefield.
When this group of people saw that the outcome of the battle had been decided, they began to chase after the fleeing Qing Army. However, the larger groups had already killed their way out. By the time these small groups reached the battlefield, the larger groups had already wiped out the Qing Army and taken control of the battlefield. These small groups could only rely on chasing down the scattered Qing Army that the larger groups had "eaten" to obtain spoils of war. In order to achieve this goal, they could only run further away. Because if they were further away from the main group, they would have to be careful of the counterattack of the Qing Army.
This situation made these small groups depressed for a long time, but they could not compete with the larger groups. Vézé's Taiping army never participated in fighting for spoils of war. The ones responsible for defeating the Qing Army head-on were Vézé's troops. So, some of these small groups temporarily defected to the larger groups, while those who refused sought out Vézé, hoping that Vézé could provide them with a better fighting chance.
Now, the opportunity had come. As long as they completely defeated the 4,000 troops of Shandong's Chief Minister Chong En, these people would be able to make a fortune. Although Vézé had ordered them to outflank the Qing Army and block the Qing Army's retreat, the risk of this kind of battle was far greater. The risk of this kind of battle was far greater than chasing after the collapsing Qing Army. However, these people had seen how easily Vézé had dealt with so many Qing Army troops, so they had long since lost their fear.
When thousands of horses galloped, the rumbling of hooves shook the earth. Even though these troops that had set off from Vézé's right flank were still three to four li away from Chong En's troops, just the sound of hooves was enough to scare Chong En's troops silly.
To the north of Linqing, Lei Hu was leading the Fourteenth Division's troops into battle. At this time, Lei Hu didn't have any cavalry under him. Wei Changrong had divided a thousand men and two thousand Nian Army troops to feign an attack on the south of Linqing, while Lei Hu had led the 14th Army to feign an attack on the north of Linqing. Lei Hu's enemy was a pure cavalry unit. This unit suddenly appeared on the outskirts of Lei Hu, intending to launch a surprise attack.
Because they had suffered at Changsha City, Lei Hu's troops had undergone combat training to deal with the enemy cavalry's surprise attack. Even though the scouts on the outskirts had suffered some losses, Lei Hu was already prepared when the enemy approached. Seeing that there were only a thousand enemies, Lei Hu's ferocious nature flared up. He personally led three of his most elite brigades, and in a hollow square formation, they charged towards the enemy cavalry.
One thousand five hundred infantrymen attacked the cavalry without fear. This action undoubtedly frightened the Manchu Qing cavalry opposite Lei Hu. The cavalry troops could only be seen retreating like the tide.
However, this was only for a moment. This group of cavalry didn't seem to have any intention of letting Lei Hu go. After running for less than two hundred meters, the cavalry split into two groups and turned to the left and right of Lei Hu's assault troops.
"Don't shoot! Let them get as close as possible! "Lei Hu quickly gave the order. The advance of the troops only slowed down a little. The hollow square formation was surrounded by two layers of pikemen. At this time, they were marching forward at the same pace. Although the Qing Army's troops were charging towards the left and right of the Taiping army, they didn't receive any orders to stop. Although they were extremely anxious, the entire troops still maintained their marching state.
The Qing Army's cavalry obviously didn't have any intention of charging over. Their horses were nocked with bows and arrows, and they shot a rain of arrows at the hollow square formation of the Taiping army. However, the cavalry was too far away from the Taiping army's square formation. A round of arrows actually couldn't hit the Taiping army's soldiers.
"Continue forward! Hurry up and occupy the road!" Lei Hu urged. This order was quickly conveyed to the base level. Following the command, the troops entered a state of trot. Less than three hundred meters ahead was the road. Once they occupied this road, the infantry's mobility advantage would increase. If the cavalry completely lost control of the road, they could only 'gallop' through the fields. Although the official roads were not smooth, compared to the fields, the official roads were much better.
The Qing Army's cavalry quickly reorganized their formation. For the second time, they moved to outflank Lei Hu's troops. The cavalrymen of the Qing army brandished their sabers, shouted loudly, and rushed over in a threatening manner. Lei Hu couldn't understand what they were shouting about. In fact, because of the distance, he couldn't hear the Qing Army's shouts either.
Lei Hu frowned, his mind was in a fierce struggle. As the commander of the troops, Lei Hu had to bear a completely different kind of pressure. He had to give orders to the entire army, and the well-trained troops would obey his orders. Even though the Qing Army's cavalry was heading straight for the Taiping army, everyone was still marching quickly. Right now, Lei Hu had to decide whether the Qing Army's cavalry charge was for real, or if it was just for show like last time.
Among Vézé's troops, Lei Hu's was the only one that had suffered at the hands of the Qing Army's cavalry. Lei Hu knew what would happen if the infantry were to be attacked by the cavalry when they weren't fully prepared.
As a general, Lei Hu had naturally passed the cultural test. He could read and write the word 'inertia', and he understood this point in practice. The cavalry was large, so it would take a certain amount of time for them to stop moving. In theory, this amount of time was enough for the troops to react quickly. However, that would be a very small number of infantry, not a thousand and five hundred troops advancing in a very dense formation.
Stopping an army of one thousand and five hundred soldiers required a lot of training time. Only those who had personally participated in the training and command could understand how difficult it was. Take stopping a movement as an example. When all the troops were very close together, if the wrong order was given, the immediate result would be that the troops at the front would stop, but the troops at the back would not. Then, a group of people would fall to the ground like overturned gourds.
Hollow square formations couldn't be stopped just because they wanted to. In terms of 'inertia', hollow square formations were even harder to control than cavalry in some aspects.
Lei Hu stared at the Qing Army's cavalry. Looking at them from a distance, Lei Hu made up his mind. "Don't stop. Stop when we reach the intersection!"
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