There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 141 Head-on Battle
"Damn traitors, one third of the scouts we sent out this time were lost again." Delentang was cursing.

Eldengbao was also helpless when he heard this, because he knew that Chenlong Pass had fallen. So after discussion among the three of them, the army did not continue to march north, but stayed in Madi Town.

In the following days, the Qing army frantically sent out scouts and scouts, intending to go north to find out the detailed military situation of Chenlong Pass.

It was fine at the beginning. The Qing scouts suffered few casualties, but they also gained nothing.

On almost the third day, the Qing scouts felt that there was no danger and moved further north. Before they had gone far, they ran into the scouts sent out by the Han army.

As the Qing army that had emerged from the Xiangxi battlefield and were the more elite cavalry, they did not flee immediately. Instead, they wanted to engage in a fight with the Han cavalry.

The result... is obvious.

Under the premise that weapons and armor are equal, the brave will naturally win when they meet on a narrow road. However, when there is a huge generation gap in weapons and equipment, courage becomes the least worth mentioning thing.

After only three days, the Qing cavalry's casualty rate was so high that even Mingliang, a veteran on the battlefield, was a little alarmed.

Too fast, too fast death!
How come the rebels’ cavalry are so powerful?
It was not until Mingliang questioned the Qing soldiers who had escaped that he realized that the rebel cavalry were too well equipped. The Qing soldier who had escaped even saw with his own eyes that other people's machetes were cut off by the rebels with one sword, leaving no gaps at all.

Mingliang carefully examined the half-broken arrow in his hand. It was taken from a wounded soldier, and the arrowhead was still stained with dried blood. "This arrowhead is indeed made of steel, and it's better steel than the best steel ever made."

"Is it true, old general?"

Eldengbao was a little surprised, and without asking any questions, he took the arrow, knocked it carefully, and looked at it again.

Is it really a steel arrowhead? Judging from its appearance alone, it is already better than his tempered steel knife.

Delentang couldn't help but wonder, "Is there something wrong with this rebel? He actually used fine steel to make arrowheads. Doesn't he know that fine steel is more expensive than pig iron?"

Mingliang shook his head. "Let's put aside which one is more expensive. The rebels are equipping their scouts with steel arrowheads. I'm afraid they've already been widely used in their army. This is going to be a big problem!"

Eldengbao asked, "Old General, what should we do now?"

Mingliang thought for a moment and said, "Let's continue to send out more scouts and overwhelm them with numbers. The rebels have limited cavalry, and there will be a time when they can't be stopped."

"How about sending out my Baturu guards as well?" Delentang interrupted and suggested.

Eldengbao and Mingliang both looked at Delentang as if he were an idiot.

Delentang didn't understand what was going on, but he knew he had said the wrong thing, so he quickly kept silent.

"Okay, let's do as the old general says." said Eldengbao.

In the next few days, the number of Qing cavalry scouts heading north almost doubled.

With such a military advantage, even though the Han army's cavalry was more powerful, it was still impossible to keep an eye on them all, and the Han army's movements finally appeared in the Qing army's field of vision.

Since they couldn't stop them, they simply gave up. The Han army decisively withdrew its forces and instead drove away and killed the Qing spies who dared to approach.

After a battle, the Qing cavalry finally learned their lesson.

They could only watch from afar, not daring to get too close, fearing that they would be caught by the Han soldiers and their entire army would be annihilated. Eldengbao and Mingliang were at their wit's end, so they no longer placed their hopes on scouts, but marched north to prepare for a decisive battle!

In large-scale battles involving tens of thousands of troops, there are very few practical tactics that can be used.

Any so-called strategy will be greatly restricted or even completely ineffective in the face of absolute military advantage.

Among the Thirty-Six Stratagems, running away is the best one. This has been clearly stated. The difference in military strength between the enemy and us is huge. Why don’t we run away? Are we really waiting to be surrounded and killed?

The Qing army marched northward in large numbers, while the Han army also marched southward in large numbers.

The distance between the two armies was rapidly closing, and the scouts used for probing had already engaged in several rounds of fierce fighting. Although the Han cavalry was better equipped and lighter, they were unable to gain much advantage. Because the range available to both cavalry had been greatly reduced, the Han vanguard could even see the Qing vanguard.

"Report!"

"speak."

"We've spotted the rebel vanguard five miles ahead. It looks like there are over a thousand of them."

The two armies were already moving in opposite directions. The Han army could see the Qing army's vanguard camp, and the Qing army could of course also see the Han army's vanguard. Although the view was not very detailed, and with the help of the scurrying scouts, they could only get a rough idea, but this general information was enough for experienced veterans to determine a lot of useful information.

The bright old eyes were not dim, but instead held a cold gleam: "The rebels are indeed planning a decisive battle with us. Just from the scouts' reports, the rebels must have at least 30,000 or close to 40,000 troops, if not 40,000. How courageous!"

"What about the rebels' armaments? Can you see them clearly?" asked Eldengbao.

The scout who reported back shook his head: "It's hard to see. The rebels are all wearing red. We can only see the periphery and can't get closer. Otherwise, we will be surrounded by the rebel cavalry."

Mingliang said, "Don't even think about getting closer to see it. The rebels are clearly here for a decisive battle. Excluding the civilians in disguise, there are at least 20,000 combat-ready soldiers among these 40,000 troops. There's no point in looking any further."

Delentang sneered: "There are only 20,000 rebels, and we have 30,000 combat troops. Our cavalry is also larger than the rebels' cavalry. We are sure to win this battle."

Eldengbao was relatively cautious. Perhaps it was because his own cavalry had suffered heavy losses in the previous cavalry clash that he had some concerns. "We can't calculate it that way. The rebel cavalry is elite. If all the rebels are like this, then this battle will be difficult to win!"

Mingliang added, "And then there are the rebels' cannons. I've heard from merchants who've traveled here that their firearms and cannons are incredibly powerful. Even if that's a bit of an exaggeration, at least the rebels have cannons, and those crossbows are incredibly powerful, rivaling even muskets."

As a veteran of the Qing Dynasty's decades of battles, Mingliang doesn't have many other advantages, except that he is experienced in battle formations and knows not to underestimate any enemy.

It's always better to be cautious in everything, but don't be like those fools who suppressed the rebels before. They were either incompetent or didn't seriously investigate the military situation, thinking that they were just a bunch of ordinary people who were bewitched by the White Lotus Cult and thus ran out to rebel.

If ordinary people were really so powerful, then His Majesty would have nothing to do and would have just handed over the country to the rebels as soon as possible!

Time soon came to noon. Although the Qing army and the Han army were still relatively far apart, with the closest being hundreds of meters away and the farthest more than a thousand meters away, strictly speaking, the troops of both sides had officially entered the range of engagement.

Eldengbao officially took over the command of the army. The veteran general Mingliang and the Mongolian guard commander Delentang served as deputy generals to provide support. A head-on decisive battle is about to break out!
The Han army had also made strategic deployments. It was no longer possible to retreat or use any strategies at this time. Once someone's army took a step back, it would instantly turn into a strategic defeat that would go down in history!
By the afternoon, the Han army's lookouts had been closely observing the movements of the Qing army, and the scouts sent out continued to report back the Qing army's real-time troop deployment.

"Report! The Qing army's artillery has entered the effective range (not the maximum range) of our artillery!"

Nie Yu also put down the telescope in his hand. He also saw several slowly moving red cannons appearing in the vanguard of the Qing army. It was obvious that the Qing army had brought all the money from their hometown in Xiangxi for the decisive battle. They were really not afraid that the Miao people would take the opportunity to rush out and cause chaos!
Nie Yu waved his hand and said, "Pass the order! Have the artillery battalion fire. Target: the red cannons of the Qing army right in front! Blow them up!"

(End of this chapter)