Chapter 2217
The reason why the armed forces under Lu Kangtai were able to suppress the Anhui salt merchants in the past period was mainly because they were equipped with standard muskets obtained from the Hirado Domain of Japan. Most of the combat operations Lu Kangtai had commanded were just leading the musketeers to set up ambushes in the middle of the road to intercept rival salt caravans, and encountered little decent resistance. This also made him have little confidence in the armed forces of himself and his men. They have a wrong self-perception and think that with this set of things, they can walk sideways in the world.
Haihan's attack in Yangzhou City last year dealt Lu Kangtai a heavy blow. The Musketeers under his command almost lost all, but this lesson still did not make Lu Kangtai truly realize his own strength, and he also pinned his hopes on reorganizing the Musketeers. To rebuild his reputation, he failed to consider that he had not resolved the conflict of interest that existed between him and Haihan.
By the time the news came that the Huizhou salt merchants were cooperating with Haihan, Lu Kangtai and the Shanshan-Shaanxi salt merchants group behind him were already in a dilemma. If you continue to attack the Huizhou salt merchants, you may incur a blow from Haihan. If you take the initiative to stop the confrontation, your competitors may not be willing to let you go. The Huizhou salt merchants may be slowed down in a year and a half. He was pushed to the ground and beaten.
The disadvantage would only get bigger if it dragged on, so even though the situation was not good, Lu Kangtai had no choice but to bite the bullet and take action. Such hasty action was obviously insufficiently prepared for Haihan's direct intervention. Lu Kangtai thought that the attack on Daijiazhuang was frustrated just because he was in the open and the enemy was in the dark. If they faced off openly and openly, his side should be able to fight. But now that he was fighting against the opponent, he realized that things were not that simple.
Lu Kangtai didn't even have time to get his musketeers to form a combat formation, and the battle suddenly started. From the commander to the combatants, everyone from the commander to the combatants showed their inexperience in an instant and failed to make a reasonable response. He was already beaten to pieces.
Although the Golden Shield is only a paramilitary organization, and its weapons, equipment and combat methods are still far behind those of the Haihan regular army, it took the lead to seize the initiative on the battlefield and immediately gained an overwhelming advantage on the scene. . However, Lu Kangtai's on-the-spot command fell into chaos. In addition to emphasizing high bounties, he could not come up with effective means to organize a counterattack.
It wasn't until he saw that the opponent's convoy had bypassed the congested area and was continuing to march towards the canal that Lu Kangtai remembered the purpose of this blockade again and quickly ordered: "Shoot the horses! Let everyone shoot the horses first. , intercept the car!”
If Dai Yingda is allowed to board the boat and cross the river, all the previous deployments will be in vain, and the opponent already has Haihan's support, and it will be increasingly difficult to use force to surrender the opponent. Lu Kangtai cannot sit back and watch this possibly be the end. The opportunity slipped away before his eyes, and he had to use all means to intercept Dai Yingda.
Shooting the packhorses pulling the cart is undoubtedly the most effective means of interception at the moment. The packhorse target is large and has no protective measures. It is relatively easy to hit as long as you focus your fire.
Sure enough, after adjusting the combat strategy, Lu Kangtai's musketeers quickly hit the packhorse of the leading carriage, causing the convoy to stop again. But the carriage was abandoned immediately, and the cars behind it only stayed for a moment before going around and moving on.
The muskets equipped by Lu Kangtai were produced in Hirado. Although their performance seemed to be slightly better than the muskets currently equipped by the Ming army, they also had the shortcoming of being too slow to load ammunition. As a last resort, other armed men armed with cold weapons could only rush out to fight again.
However, the effect of this kind of charge was extremely limited. What greeted them was another round of shooting that had already been loaded. However, with the previous lessons, some of them have learned a lot. When they see the people on the convoy aiming their guns, they either lie down on the spot or find a nearby bunker to cover their bodies. A few of them are hard-headed. The guy who charged inevitably became a living target and was knocked to the ground in an instant.
The people who looked at this gap and rushed out finally succeeded in rushing close, but what greeted them were several bright and sharp bayonets. With the blessing of this thing, the musket that had just finished shooting was transformed from a fire stick into a deadly short spear. Even a person with good skills would have a hard time dealing with several bayonets coming at him from different angles at the same time. Even if he could successfully block one or two of them, he would still be unable to avoid the follow-up swords.
As long as this kind of bayonet penetrates the soft parts of the body, it will lose the ability to move in an instant. For a while, there were screams in the field, and this wave of offensive was quickly disintegrated by the people of the Golden Shield.
However, the desperate charge of these people still slightly slowed down the advance of the convoy and bought valuable time for the musketeers to complete the loading of ammunition. Therefore, after they completed the third round of firing, they finally caused casualties to the convoy.
Yuan Tao took advantage of the cover of the carriage and was unscathed, but what troubled him was that the horses of the carriage Dai Yingda was riding in had also been shot. After the horse was in pain, it wanted to run forward, but the road ahead was blocked by its own carriage. The horse was so frantic that it struggled desperately and almost kicked the groom over.
Upon seeing this, Yuan Tao thought that it was impossible for Dai Yingda to complete the last part of the journey in a carriage, so he made a prompt decision and asked Dai Yingda and Lin Zhong to get out of the car, and evacuated to the canal pier on foot under the protection of the guards.
At this time, almost all the irrelevant people had fled. The defenders of Yijiang Gate not far away did not seem to be interested in participating in the chaos outside the city. They closed the city gate backhand and ran to the tower to watch the excitement. .
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the chaos outside the city is no ordinary battle. Both sides of the battle actually used a lot of muskets, which were even more advanced than the equipment of the city defense army. Moreover, the two sides opened fire and knocked down several people as soon as they came up. If you take the initiative to intervene in this situation, you may become a target for no reason, so it is safer to just sit back and watch.
Of course, the officer responsible for guarding Yijiang Gate did not forget to send someone to report to Gao Yongshou. After all, such a big thing happened outside the city, and according to the procedures, it must be reported immediately.
In the situation outside the city at this time, Lu Kangtai's side has a clear numerical advantage. After adapting to the rhythm of the battle, it is slowly forming an encirclement from the southeast and west. However, the smaller side has stronger combat effectiveness and is exposed to the enemy. The people outside the carriage were almost armed with a musket, making it impossible for the opponents on the outside to get close.
"It seems that the incident last year also happened here!"
Someone on the city tower suddenly thought of the battle that took place outside Yangzhou City at the end of last year. At that time, the two warring parties also used a large number of muskets, and the intensity of the firefight seemed to be even more intense than today. However, how many casualties occurred in the battle that night could not be confirmed in time because the city gates were closed at night.
When the officials went to inspect the dock where the battle took place the next day, they found that it had been cleaned up long ago. Only the blood stains on the ground that had not been washed away proved that a tragic battle had indeed taken place that night. As for the people along the canal, many people heard gunshots coming from the canal that night.
Rumors about that battle have been circulating in Yangzhou city for more than half a year. There are various theories, but the most widely broadcast among them is that the Shanshan salt merchants offended the Haihan people, and the other party secretly sent an army to come Yangzhou, solve the problem of salt merchants in Shanxi and Shaanxi. Lu Kangtai did disappear from the market for a period of time afterwards, and this rumor seemed to be confirmed.
However, Yangzhou is a peaceful place, and the peace and security is still quite good. Moreover, the battle took place at night, with almost no civilians witnessing the scene, and no victims came to the Yamen to complain afterwards. Therefore, except for a few insiders, this incident In addition, people in the market just regard it as an interesting conversation piece. Now that more than half a year has passed, many people have slowly forgotten what happened last year, but the sudden battle that broke out outside the city today reminds people of those previous rumors. And this time it was in broad daylight. At least hundreds of people inside and outside the city witnessed the outbreak of the battle. Now the people involved could no longer hide it through follow-up measures like last year and pretend that nothing happened. Passed.
Several pack horses in the convoy were shot one after another, causing the carriage to completely lose control. Yuan Tao could only order the carriage to be abandoned, and everyone broke out towards the dock on foot. At the same time, he ordered someone to take out a signal bomb, light the fuse and shoot one into the sky.
This kind of military signal bomb can reach a height of more than ten feet and can be seen within a few miles. The signal released is that it is urgent and requires response and reinforcement as soon as possible.
Just in case, Yuan Tao arranged for dozens of musketeers to lurk on the two boats on the canal in advance, which came in handy at this time.
Soon a burst of gunfire came from the south, and the encirclement formed around the convoy was immediately torn open. Lu Kangtai's side, which had no advantage in the first place, immediately fell into chaos again.
The firepower coming from the direction of the dock was stronger and more concentrated, and all the attacks were from behind. Originally, Lu Kangtai's command should not have made such a serious mistake, but he wanted to intercept Dai Yingda's convoy, but he did not care about the tail. They made defensive arrangements in the direction of the dock, but were once again caught off guard.
After the originally fragile encirclement was broken, the two teams of Golden Shield quickly completed the merger, and then protected Dai Yingda and the wounded on their side and evacuated towards the dock. Although Lu Kangtai still strictly ordered his men to pursue and intercept him, his morale was lost at this time and he was unable to organize a decent attack. He saw that this battle was about to be lost again.
Lu Kangtai watched from a distance as Jindun's team quickly retreated to the canal, his face ashen. Although this defeat would not immediately lead to the disintegration of the Shanshan Salt Merchant's power in Yangzhou, he knew that after this confrontation, he might never find a similar opportunity to attack his opponent again.
And under the circumstances of this ebb and flow, perhaps in a year and a half, the seven major surnames supported by Haihan will ride on him. By then, the prospects of Shanshan salt merchants in Yangzhou will become precarious, and they were still able to do so in the past. The armed force that we rely on may no longer be an invincible weapon in the future.
Yuan Tao withdrew to the dock and saw that his men here had used various cargoes and ship rails on the shore to form a three-dimensional defense line. If the opponent continued to attack and prevented the ship from leaving the shore safely, he could rely on this line of defense to fight with the opponent again. Deal with it.
Of course, judging from the opponent's current reaction, it seems that there is no need to fight. Evacuate this place of right and wrong as soon as possible and return to the south bank of the canal where it will be safe.
"Escort Boss Dai to the ship quickly!"
Yuan Tao was not in a hurry to get on the ship. As the commander, he wanted to make sure that all his men had withdrawn. He didn't want to leave his brother to the other party whether he wanted to see him alive or dead.
Both Jin Dun and Dai Yingda's men were killed or wounded in this battle, but Jin Dun's rules were strict and everyone had to come and go together, so everyone withdrew, and even those who couldn't leave managed to carry or carry them out. However, Dai Yingda's men were all soldiers who worked hard to die, but they were not so particular. The injured were taken away and the dead were left behind.
Yuan Tao turned around and saw Lin Zhong being held up by two people, with blood stains on his pants. He was shocked and said: "Brother Lin is injured?"
Lin Zhong hummed and responded: "It seems that he was injured by a musket..."
Yuan Tao waved his hand and said: "There is a doctor on the boat, hurry up and bandage the wound!"
Lin Zhong was also unlucky. He and Dai Yingda were riding in the same carriage. Yuan Tao asked them to get out of the car and walk forward. Dai Yingda got off with his front foot and it was okay. He got off the back foot and got off. As soon as he landed, he received a stray bullet and hit him in the thigh. He suddenly couldn't walk anymore. However, Dai Yingda did not abandon him, a meritorious official. When he turned around and saw Lin Zhong injured and lying on the ground, he immediately asked his two personal guards to pick up Lin Zhong and take him away.
Although Lin Zhong's legs hurt, he knew that it was a matter of life and death, so he could only grit his teeth and keep up. Fortunately, the distance to the canal is not long, and just getting on the boat is equivalent to regaining safety. There is a doctor with a golden shield on the ship who is good at dealing with all kinds of injuries caused by swords and guns. As long as Lin Zhong's injuries are not fatal, it will usually be fine.
Yuan Tao first arranged for Dai Yingda and others to board the ship. After waiting for a while and confirming that the other party had basically given up the pursuit, he ordered the team to withdraw. Nearly a hundred musketeers retreated back to the ship unhurriedly, and then the sailors used poles to lift the ship. Push away from the river bank and slowly slide along the current to the other side.
The open space outside Yijiang Gate was now in a mess. The abandoned carriages and horses were parked all over the place. Several injured packhorses finally fell to the ground after pulling the carriages and colliding with each other.
The casualties in this battle were almost all over the entire battlefield, and the smell of blood and gunpowder in the air was very depressing.
The city defense troops who watched the entire battle on the top of the city were also dumbfounded. They had never encountered such a situation before. They didn't know whether to open the city gate immediately and go out to arrest the culprits, or wait for orders from their superiors before reacting.
(End of chapter)