Chapter 280: Unexpected Path (V)
The Qing army in the capital was very familiar with the road of more than 300 miles from Luanzhou to the capital. General Bassey could judge the position of the 20,000 Qing reinforcements and what scenery they would see along the way just by relying on his memory and the information brought by the scouts.
Such calculations greatly eased General Basai's mood in the confrontation with the Shengjing rebels. There were 40,000 rebels on the opposite side, and 40,000 government troops on his side. Together with the 20,000 Beijing troops who came, the number reached 60,000. He had a huge advantage.
The Shengjing rebels on the other side may have sensed that something was wrong, or perhaps they had heard some news, so they were desperately trying to provoke General Basai, trying to trigger an all-out decisive battle. General Basai calmly deployed his formation and repelled the rebels' challenges again and again.
When the 20,000 troops arrived in Luanzhou and joined General Basai, they could then fight the rebels. And in order to keep it secret, General Basai did not tell his subordinates another secret message. The court had already arranged troops in the south, and when it learned that the number of the rebels was only more than 40,000, it mobilized another 20,000 troops to encircle Luanzhou from behind.
When the 60,000 troops are fully assembled, they will fight the Shengjing rebels. The actual number of troops deployed on the battlefield will be 80,000, twice as many as the rebels. In terms of equipment, the troops of the capital are superior to the Shengjing rebels. The rebels will definitely be defeated.
The news from the scouts kept coming in. The troops coming along the official road were still 20 miles away from the Luanzhou battlefield. The commander told Basai that they should set up camp first, cook at 3:00 a.m. tomorrow, and get up at 5:00 a.m. They would definitely be able to join the battle the next morning.
General Bassey thought this was the best way. If reinforcements arrived at the front, not only would there be no camp to stay in, but it would also alert the enemy.
After ordering a decisive battle with the rebels tomorrow, the general was not too excited. He went to sleep naturally. Before he was about to lie down, someone came to report secretly. The reinforcements from the south arrived about 30 miles away. The terrain there was not particularly easy to walk, but they would be able to reach Luanzhou tomorrow afternoon.
The two reinforcements would arrive tomorrow, and the general lay down calmly. Not long after, he fell asleep.
The general didn't know that on a night like this, the Manchu generals in Jiangning City stayed up all night, discussing fiercely whether to cross the river.
Cook at three o'clock and send out troops at five o'clock. As if it was a tacit agreement, the rebels of Shengjing also appeared on the other side in the winter morning light. They were also ready for the battle and probably had a full meal. General Basai felt a little melancholy. Although the other side was a rebel, they were also Manchu men.
Aixinjueluo, Tongjia, Yehenara, Nalan, Hesheli... There are many prominent families of the Blood Manchus in the imperial camp, and there are also children of these families in the Shengjing rebels . Fathers and sons killed each other, and brothers killed each other. Even the imperial court, which was bound to win, had to wear mourning clothes.
As the sun gradually rose, more cavalry came running over, bringing news of reinforcements. They were still ten miles away.
The news was correct. Ten miles away from the battlefield, the Qing army commander stopped his troops and called over a dozen battalion officers.
The battalion officers standing in front of the commander knew that a fatal battle was imminent, and it was already quite cold in winter, so with their heavy breathing , white mist came out of everyone's mouth and nose.
"Listen carefully, Hong Zhou in the capital still favors Han people. He doesn't understand that we Manchus are the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty is the country of us Manchus. Hong Zhou's father did not get the throne legitimately. This time, I want to follow the Eighth Master. Are you willing to follow me?"
When several officers of the Han Eight Banners heard this, they were dumbfounded and speechless. The commander turned to them and asked coldly: "Don't you want to follow the Eighth Master?"
After being asked this question, the battalion commander of the Eight Banners of the Han Army was sure that he was not mistaken. The leader drew his sword and cursed: "Are you going to rebel?"
Before he could finish his words, a knife stabbed into his lower back. The Han army officer wanted to turn around to see who the murderer was, but the knife was stuck in his body. The slightest movement of his body caused him to feel excruciating pain.
Then he heard a few curses of shock and anger, and then screams. The Han army officer who was stabbed first felt a sweetness in his throat, and blood rushed to his throat, making him unable to make a sound. But he could hear those screams clearly, someone had actually murdered other Han army officers.
There was another sharp pain in his waist, and the guy who stabbed him from behind pulled out the knife that had been inserted into the body of the Han army officer. However, the Han army officer no longer had the strength to turn around and look at the murderer, and his whole body was so limp that he fell forward.
Looking at the corpses of several Han Eight Banners officers lying on the ground, the commander said coldly: "We are all Manchu heroes, we will not lie to you. The so-called Manchu and Han are one family. The emperor deceived the Han people and let them work for us. Now, whether it is Yongzheng or Hong Zhou, they can't wipe out the Han bandits, and they can't use the Han army Green Camp well. They only know how to please the Han people and let those Han officials become higher than us Manchus. When have they ever considered us Manchus in what they want to do!"
The officers of the Bannermen camp nodded one after another, agreeing with the commander's point of view. One of them asked, "General, what should we do with these Han army camps?"
The commander had already thought about it and immediately replied, "Send a few deputy battalion officers to keep the Han army camp where it is. Take these corpses away first."
General Basai did not expect reinforcements to arrive, but only 7,000 Han soldiers out of 20,000 were loyal to Hong Zhou. And these 7,000 Han soldiers lost their commanders and were left ten miles away from the battlefield.
However, Basai still felt something was wrong based on his years of war experience. The position of the reinforcements was too strange. Any commander with a normal mind would stagger their positions when rushing to the battlefield. This way, they could enter the battlefield quickly. However, these reinforcements entered right behind General Basai. No matter how he looked at it, he felt something was wrong.
However, the battle had already begun, and the government troops in Beijing and the rebels in Shengjing had already engaged in direct combat. As a last resort, General Basai ordered two battalions of the Eight Banners Army to move to the edge of the position, leaving a space for this group of troops to enter the battle line. At the same time, he sent people to urge the reinforcements to move forward quickly.
However, the two battalions of the Eight Banners Army had just left the formation of the government army when they suddenly stopped, raised their muskets and turned towards General Basai's formation. Following the order, the muskets began to fire. Although the firepower was far less fierce than that of Huo Chong's troops, it still caused some damage.
Compared with the damage to the troops, the psychological damage caused by the sudden defection of the Eight Banners Army to the troops led by General Basai was much stronger than the physical damage.
Almost at the same time, the "reinforcements" also took up their weapons, let out earth-shaking shouts of killing, and charged towards General Bassey's unprepared rear guard.
Although the reason was still unclear, General Bassey used his honed military instinct to understand one thing: the situation in which he thought he could defeat the 40,000 rebels with only 60,000 of his own troops no longer existed.
The rebels, their reinforcements, and the betrayed subordinates on his side turned 60,000 to 40,000 into 35,000 to 65,000 . The enemy had nearly twice the number of troops, the advantage of launching a surprise attack, and the advantage of surrounding General Basai on all sides.
The army loyal to the Beijing court was ruthlessly betrayed by the Manchu Eight Banners Army.
