Commander Duxing'a's training army had collapsed, and the cavalry on both flanks of the Chinese army had also suffered defeat, which made Seng Lingqin fall into complete despair.

Although before going south from Suqian, Seng Lingqin expected that this time the southward rescue of Taoyuan would be a fire in the fire, and a major failure would be suffered if one was not careful, but because Taoyuan County was too important, if it was not saved, it would be equivalent to sitting back and watching the total number of more than 60,000 Qing troops in Taoyuan and Huai'an be surrounded and annihilated.

This situation is also unacceptable to the generals of the Qing army!

So despite knowing the danger, Monk Greenqin still made up his mind to lead the army south!

Of course, what prompted him to make this decision was the self-confidence of Du Xing'a and Nader, who said that their own training was enough to match the royal army in the Chinese army, even if it could not achieve a big victory at that time, but it was enough to achieve a tie in the battle, and when the time came, their 4,000 cavalry and the huge number of green battalion old army could become the last straw that overwhelmed the Chinese army, so as to achieve the entire strategic victory.

In other words, Seng Lingqin made the decision to go south because the training force of more than 16,000 people under his command was enough to fight against the same number of royal troops in the Chinese army!

However, when we really fought, we learned that although the Qing court's training troops had good combat effectiveness, it can be seen from the fact that they were able to hold on to the casualty rate of 20 percent and were able to shoot at the royal army of the Chinese army in a line and column, and the quality of these training troops in all aspects has far surpassed that of other old armies such as the Green Battalion and the Eight Banners of the Qing Army.

But this was still not enough, and the battle between the two sides of the line infantry was almost a fair head-on confrontation. In such a situation, Du Xing'a's training army was completely defeated by the Chinese army on the opposite side. This led to the collapse of the Qing army on the entire battlefield!

Even Seng Lingqin invested 4,000 cavalry to carry out a flank attack, but he still couldn't save the defeat!

Monk Lingqin looked at the training army in front of him, which had already broken and fled, and saw that the cavalry in front of him was passing through the infantry phalanx of the Chinese army. However, he was knocked to the ground one after another, and the cavalry in front of the right was also completely defeated by the cavalry of the Chinese army, and at this time the cavalry of the Chinese army was already coming straight in the direction of his Chinese army.

Although there are still tens of thousands of green battalions and the old army of the Eight Banners under his command, Monk Greenqin already knows that it's over, it's all over!

"My lord, let's go, if you don't leave, it's too late!" The staff next to him was already terrified.

"Mr. Xu can't stop for long. The cavalry of the rebel army will soon be able to kill here, and the safety of the whole army is tied to the adult, for the sake of the whole army, let's go! One of the staff members said, and there was obvious fear in his tone!

Monk Lingqin looked up, only to see a group of opposing cavalry in front of the right like sharp arrows, heading straight for his side, and the green camp army on the way was like a frightened bird, and tens of thousands of people were driven away by 800 cavalry. There is the courage to resist to the death!

Instead of resisting, they took the initiative to give way to the road, so that Wang Luyun's Second Cavalry Regiment rushed past the tens of thousands of green battalions on the right flank of the Qing army as if it had entered a no-man's land. Straight to the direction of the Chinese army where Seng Lingqin is located.

And the green battalion of the Chinese army led by Xu Zonghe was not much better, and Wang Luyun's second cavalry regiment had not yet been killed, but it was affected by the fiasco ahead. One by one, shouting words such as "defeated" and "flee for your life" began to collapse.

The tens of thousands of green battalions of the Chinese army have not had any contact with the Chinese army from beginning to end, but they began to collapse under the influence of the defeat of the previous army. No matter how General Xu and other senior generals of the Qing army restrain them, they can't stop these green battalion soldiers from turning around and running away!

Monk Grinqin closed his eyes. Without looking at the collapsed army in front of him, he muttered: "The 60,000 army is lost here, what face does this king have to face the saint?" ”

Then he opened his eyes, and then pulled out the waist knife on his waist with one hand: "Today, this king will fight to the death and die for the country!" ”

Monk Lingqin did not leave the battle, which is not an uncommon thing for the generals and officials of the Qing army, and it is strange to say that during the Taiping War, although there were some turtles with shrunken heads, there were many generals and officials who fled, but in fact, there were more people who did not retreat and committed suicide.

From the governor to the ordinary county, there are countless people who do not retreat or commit suicide after defeat!

I don't talk about middle- and low-level officials, but just high-ranking officials are quite a lot. In June 1857, the Chinese army broke through Yangzhou, and Huang Zonghan, the governor of Liangjiang, committed suicide in defeat; At the end of 1856, the Chinese army broke through Hangzhou, and He Guiqing, the governor of Zhejiang, committed suicide in defeat; At the beginning of 1856, the new army of the Lin Chengting Department of the Taiping Army broke the Jiangnan camp, and supervised the Jiangnan Military Minister Xiang Rong to commit suicide in Yu Danyang; In 1854, Wu Ruxiao's troops of the Zhenjiang Taiping Army marched east to Suzhou, and Xu Naizhao, the governor of Jiangsu, was defeated and died. In addition, there are many martyrs in the two provinces of Huguang, Jiangxi, and Anhui, and there are governors in Anhui, Hubei, where the Taiping army and the Qing army repeatedly tug-of-war: Tao Enpei, Chang Dachun, Jiang Zhongyuan, and Jiang Wenqing died in battle or committed suicide in defeat.

As for why this situation is caused, let's not mention it for the time being, but suicide in defeat is still relatively popular in the Qing court officialdom!

The current monk Grinqin obviously has this kind of thought, but just because he wants to fight and die doesn't mean that others want to be like him.

Several staff members behind him glanced at each other, and they all saw the fear of death in each other's eyes!

In these years, whether you are an official or a big official in the shogunate, isn't it just to get promoted and make a fortune, who has nothing to do with you to play and die and die for the country.

Immediately, a few people walked into each other's eyes, and a deputy general waved his hand quietly, and immediately more than ten personal guards walked up, directly snatching the waist knife in the hand of Seng Lingqin, and then hurriedly knelt down and snored in the past few months: "Please also ask the prince to focus on the overall situation, and then collect the rout and fight again, how can this be done without the prince's master, for the sake of the country, I am offended!" ”

Immediately, the dozen or so soldiers snatched the waist knife of Monk Lingqin and forcibly pressed him on the horse, and finally hundreds of people in this group mounted their horses and ran backwards.

These hundreds of people are just a small wave in the current chaotic army, and Wang Lu Yun in the fierce battle in front of him is not an immortal, but there is no way to use perspective eyes to see that the monk Lingqin in the rear has been forcibly taken away by his subordinates!

Now he is leading his troops to disperse the right flank of the Qing army!

The reason why it is said to be a dispersal rather than a fierce battle. It was because the more than 10,000 people on the right wing of the Qing army were all old troops of the Green Battalion, and they saw that the core and main training troops in front of them had been defeated. And the 2,000 cavalry on the right flank were also defeated by the cavalry of the Chinese army, and they dared to meet it there. One by one, they are scrambling to avoid it.

Although it is said that the green battalion on the right flank of the enemy army has fallen into chaos, there are more than 10,000 people, and there is not a single cavalry regiment under his Wang Lu Yun, and he also lost part of his strength when he hedged against the Qing army's 2,000 cavalry, so he did not dare to despise these green battalions, but continued to disperse them with high-speed movement as much as possible, and did not let them gather.

Otherwise, if these green battalion Qing troops gather together and tens of thousands of horses are surrounded, his second cavalry regiment will have to fall into a heavy siege.

So for the time being, Wang Luyun didn't have time to care about whether the monk Greenqin in the Qing army in front of him had fled. Instead, they continued to disperse the right flank of the Qing army and prevent them from gathering.

In fact, the current battlefield situation is very clear, the training army of Commander Du Xing'a has collapsed and fled, the two cavalry have also been defeated separately, the more than 10,000 green battalions on the right flank have also been defeated, and even the more than 10,000 green battalions of the Chinese army have also collapsed without a fight, and the only ones that are still intact are the tens of thousands of green battalions on the left flank and a small number of Hu Linyi's Shandong training army.

If there is no miracle, the Qing army will have no chance to turn the tables in this battle!

As for whether the monk escaped or not, it was not an important question. If he doesn't escape, at most, he will kill or capture a high-level general of the Qing army, and it will be impossible for this monk Greenqin to set off much turmoil.

Therefore, for the current Chinese army, it is to continue to maintain the current situation and completely defeat the 60,000 Qing troops in front of them.

As long as the 60,000 Qing troops are defeated. Then you can lay the foundation for the strategic victory of the Northern Jiangsu Campaign!

For the Chinese army, it does not matter much whether Monk Lingqin flees or not, but for the Qing army. The commander of Seng Lingqin fled, which naturally made the Qing army below who were still resisting dare to despair!

Du Xing'a was also mixed with the defeated army at this time. He fled and gave orders, trying to re-stabilize the rout of the training army. But looking up at the direction of the Chinese army, although the flag representing Monk Greenqin was still there, there was no longer Monk Greenqin and other senior generals around the banner, and he knew that Monk Greenqin had fled.

Soon after, Du Xing'a saw that Hu Linyi, who was located in the direction of the left flank, also began to flee backwards with the remaining 2,000 Shandong training troops and tens of thousands of green battalions, and the rout of the green battalion army in the direction of the left wing and the Chinese army, the retreat of the Qing army on the left wing of Hu Linyi was relatively orderly, and it was obvious that this was an organized and active retreat.

Seeing all this, Du Xing's heart had no other thoughts except the word despair!

The next battle does not need to be described in too many words, the 60,000 Qing army collapsed very quickly under the attack of the Chinese army!

The Chinese army has no longer encountered organized resistance, and most of the follow-up things are to pursue deserters and capture prisoners!

And this ensuing battle lasted until night approached!

"The second cavalry regiment of the vanguard has reported that the remnants of the enemy have fled into Suqian City, and it is expected that the enemy troops who have fled into the city will not exceed 10,000!" After the victory of the war, Major General Bing Qusong, chief of staff of the First Army, reported to Shi Qingxuan with a happy face.

Bing Qusong's face was full of joy, because the great victory in this battle was not only of great strategic significance for the Chinese Empire, but also of great strategic significance for him personally.

As the chief of staff of the First Army, he contributed a lot in this battle, and he will definitely be indispensable when the time comes, and it may be extremely difficult to further advance in the rank at that time, but there is great hope for him to be knighted for meritorious service.

At the beginning of the year, when he served as the chief of staff of the First Army, he was only the rank of colonel, and after the Yangzhou Campaign and a series of battles in northern Anhui, he was promoted to the rank of major general.

This has not been promoted to the rank of major general for a long time, and it is naturally unlikely that he will be promoted to another level in a short time, but there is great hope for the knighthood.

If he could be knighted after this war, even if it was the lowest baron, it would be enough to make him proud.

You must know that Bing Qusong is not an infantry general, he is an artillery general, and the only major generals in the Chinese army who were born in artillery are Bing Qusong and Fu Linyang, the new commander of the Third Division.

If he can be awarded a knighthood after this war, it will be enough to make him proud of the entire Chinese army!

With this expectation, Bing Qusong continued to recount the battle report of today's battle: "In today's battle, according to incomplete statistics, our army killed a total of 8,500 enemy soldiers and captured more than 18,000 prisoners. ”

In addition, more than 500 first-class war horses, more than 2,000 second-class horses, mules, etc., and more than 1,000 carriages were seized, all of which were full of grain. They also captured 1,600 firing smoothbore guns, 6,000 flintlock smoothbore guns, 3,000 arquebuses, 12 old-style artillery pieces of more than 3,000 catties, 32 light and medium-sized artillery pieces of more than 500 catties to about 1,000 catties, and 100 light mountain-splitting guns and carrying guns.

More than 30,000 pieces of cold weapons such as swords, spears and other types of weapons were seized, and more than 500 flags of various sizes were seized! ”

Hearing that so many things had been seized, Shi Qingxuan said: "Such a great victory, you must report to the Jingshi as soon as possible, you can remember it!" (To be continued......)