Chapter 1434: Collapse at the Touch of a Touch
It took a full month and a half before Shang Kexi led his army to the border of Yunnan Province.
If it weren't for the constant urging of Li Qifeng, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, he could have delayed it for another month.
However, there is no more time to delay.
"The Yunnan Province is just ahead. Tell all the troops to be alert and take precautions!"
Shang Kexi ordered.
As soon as Shang Kexi's order was passed down, a horn sounded from the front, followed by the sound of orderly footsteps coming from afar.
Shang Kexi rushed up a small mound and looked into the distance.
I saw a large army coming from afar, with a red flag with the sun and the moon in the front, and soldiers in blue clothes behind. Each of them wore shiny leather boots and had a short knife on his waist. Behind each person was a carriage covered with oilcloth, and no one knew what was loaded on it.
"What kind of military uniform is this? It's so beautiful." Shang Zhixin said.
"What's the use of having a nice-looking military uniform? It's just for show." Shang Kexi snorted coldly.
He looked and saw that the army in front of him was only equipped with short swords, without spears, long bows or anything else, let alone armor.
In his opinion, as long as his side launched a rain of arrows and then launched a charge, the enemy would be defeated.
"If I had known the Ming army was like this, I wouldn't have been so careful on the road."
Shang Kexi felt a little annoyed that he had been too cautious before.
"Pass the order down, form a battle array and fight the Ming army!"
Shang Kexi shouted with high spirits.
Following Shang Kexi's order, his soldiers formed up their battle formations, ready for a decisive battle with the Ming army.
Seeing that Shang Kexi's army on the opposite side had broken up, the Ming army's commander Mu Jiansheng sneered.
"You dare to fight my army? Then I'll show you the power of the Thunder Cannon. Form your formation!"
Following Mu Jiansheng's order, the Second, Third, and Fourth Grenadier Corps under his command began to deploy.
The Independent Cavalry Corps quietly bypassed the flank, waiting for an opportunity to launch an attack.
The army was ready and slowly advanced forward.
Shang Kexi was confused as he watched the Ming army carry the black cylinders off the carts, fix them on the cart frames, and slowly move them towards him.
After decades of fighting, he had never seen this kind of formation.
To be on the safe side, he ordered his troops to wait where they were and see what the Ming army would do.
At the same time, he had the archers ready, so that as soon as they came into range, they would shoot thousands of arrows at once, shooting the Ming army into a sieve.
As a result, the Ming army stopped three hundred meters away from him, and the gunner holding the torch directly lit the torch.
Immediately afterwards, there was a deafening roar.
Boom, boom, boom!
One after another, the flying thunder cannon roared, and thousands of explosive packs flew into the ranks of Shang Kexi's army.
Then , broken limbs and arms flew everywhere.
The front half of the army formation was directly defeated, and there were almost no intact corpses to be seen within the explosion range.
Outside the explosion range, many soldiers were injured due to the splatter of corpses.
"Advance ten meters!"
Mu Jiansheng shouted.
The flag bearer beside him kept waving the flag to convey the order.
The grenadier corps advanced ten meters and reloaded their explosive packs.
"fire!"
Boom!
There was another series of explosions, and the Qing army, which had not yet recovered from the explosions, was blown to pieces again.
“Push forward!”
The Grenadiers continued to advance.
After two consecutive bombings, Shang Kexi lost one-third of his troops.
The rest of the people were even more frightened.
Be brave.
They turned and ran in a panic.
"Run! The Ming army has some magic."
"The Dragon King has shown his divine power!"
"Demon, there is a demon!"
Shang Kexi's army retreated like a tide.
Even the supervision team was unable to play any role and was swept away by the army and rushed back.
"how so?"
Shang Kexi was stunned when he saw his army retreating directly.
He never expected that his army, which had fought in battles for more than ten years, would be defeated by the Ming army in one encounter.
Moreover, the collapse was so complete.
The most important thing is that until now, he still doesn't know how he lost.
What are those black cylinders?
Is it really a magic weapon of immortals?
"Hurry up, Marshal."
Shang Kexi fled the hill in a daze, escorted by his personal soldiers, and retreated backwards.
"You're retreating so quickly? You're really weak."
Mu Jiansheng sneered.
"Order the army to continue advancing. Follow your Highness' orders and attack Guangdong and Guangxi!"
Dududu——
A melodious horn sounded, and the army changed its formation and continued to advance forward.
The cavalry corps were scattered around, monitoring the movements around them.
At this time, Li Qifeng, the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, was marching behind with a large army.
He had already received news from scouts that Shang Kexi had encountered the Ming army.
"I don't know how much strength Shang Kexi still has now. If we can use the Ming army to weaken him, that would be great. It would eliminate a major threat to the imperial court."
Li Qifeng thought secretly.
Just as he was wondering how the war would turn out.
Suddenly, shouts were heard from the front, and then a large number of defeated soldiers were seen running from a distance.
At this time, the second wave of scouts returned.
"Governor, the King of Pingnan has been defeated!"
"How is that possible?" Li Qifeng's eyes were filled with disbelief.
"Is Shang Kexi a pig? How could an army of hundreds of thousands be defeated so quickly? Even if they were all pigs, the Ming army could not have broken through the defense line so quickly."
"Governor, the King of Pingnan has indeed been defeated, and the defeated army is about to arrive. Please make a decision as soon as possible."
"Hiss——" Li Qifeng took a breath of cold air.
He knew he was at a life-or-death moment.
If this matter is not handled well, your head may be moved.
He now has two options. One is to retreat with the army, retreat dozens of miles, enter the city, reorganize the troops and horses, gather the remaining troops, and plan for the future.
However, if Oboi knew about this, he would be charged with cowardice and fear of death, and his hat and feather would be removed, or even he would be taken to the capital to be punished.
Thinking about the consequences of retreat, Li Qifeng gritted his teeth and said, "Deploy the army and stop the fleeing soldiers. Let them fight back. If not, don't blame me for being ruthless. All archers, get ready. If the fleeing soldiers dare to rush into our camp within 100 steps, shoot them directly!"
"yes!"
Following Li Qifeng's order, the Green Camp Qing army deployed their battle formation.
"The Governor-General has ordered that you who fear fighting and death are ungrateful to be the men of the Qing Dynasty. You must kill the enemy immediately and redeem your crimes. Otherwise, the military law will be merciless and you will be executed without mercy."
The messenger shouted to the fleeing soldiers.
But the defeated soldiers were so frightened at this time that they dared not go back and continued to run forward for their lives.
Seeing the fleeing soldiers approaching, Li Qifeng gritted his teeth and said, "Shoot!"
Whoosh whoosh whoosh——
Arrows rained down.
