stubborn thief

The heavy guns roared in the gaps between the shields, and the guns were raised and roared five steps away from the enemy.

Straight-blade sabers made in the Western Regions were slashing and stabbing in front of the formation. Although the Western Region soldiers fought hard and inflicted heavy damage on the enemy, they were lacking sturdy armor and were torn into gaps in the chariot formation.

The Blue Mongols charged forward with all their might and did not collapse even when shot at close range by heavy muskets. This was because the enemy was only wearing light armor and would inevitably collapse if they broke through their line.

However, this momentum was immediately shattered after they opened up their front line and discovered the red-armored Han army rushing towards them.

For a moment, those at the back rushed forward, while those at the front retreated, crowding at the jagged gap that tore the front line apart and kept squeezing.

The Niulu Zhangjing in the rear were all eager to make achievements, and before they could react, several cannon shots were heard from the formation.

Gun smoke billowed, and the sound of metal and stone breaking silk was heard. The shotgun bullets left short honeycomb trajectories in the smoke. Thousands of iron bullets shot out of the formation in a fan-shaped pattern twenty steps away, and sprayed out of the formation in the form of flesh foam and blood mist, which stunned the Mongolian flag soldiers who were coming in a line in front of them.

Niulu Zhangjing had no time to give further orders. The soldiers on the front line in front of him fell to the ground, and even the long shields on the left and right that had not been broken were suddenly unfolded. The red-armored soldiers wearing helmets and holding flags and spears, stepped on the bleeding wounded, and rushed out in rows with knives in hand and shouting.

At first, the remaining soldiers of the Niulu retreated immediately.

Even the heavy gunners of the Western Barbarians, who were filled with humiliation, ran out of the line with their heavy guns, fired a shot from a distance, then held the gun body back and smashed the butt of the gun viciously on the head of the wounded soldier who fell to the ground.

There was a rout, a rout everywhere.

Gushan Ezhen Huxibu turned his horse around and was about to accept the result of failure in the charge. He conveyed to Fei Yanggu that the enemy formation was firm and should not be moved lightly.

As a result, after taking only ten steps, he turned his horse around and ordered the defeated soldiers to regroup.

Fei Yanggu was busy, and while they were charging, the Blue Banner had already collapsed.

Zuo Guangxian's cavalry battalion first drove out the cavalry outside Tang Tong's formation, and without even looking at the cavalry that broke into the formation, turned around and harassed Fei Yanggu's main formation.

Fei Yanggu also had horses, and the two armies immediately engaged in cavalry combat on the flanks of the battlefield. At one point, more than 4,000 cavalrymen were stabbing, chasing, shooting, and driving each other away on the flanks.

As the cavalry moved, the battlefield covered an increasingly larger area, and in a blink of an eye it affected the Northern Yuan camp on the main battlefield on the flank. Many Northern Yuan cavalrymen who were in a state of panic rushed out of the formation, and when they looked up, they saw the Eastern Tartar cavalry running all over the ground. They immediately drew their bows and arrows and rushed forward to join the battle.

The Yellow Banner Army that came to support Dai Qing's right wing was in a similar situation to them.

Seeing the Blue Banner troops joining the battle from afar, they also drove faster and faster behind them, so that the artillery, infantry and cavalry were divided into three sections. Hundreds of cavalry rushed to the battle line and joined the charge as soon as they arrived.

However, the Marshal's Army was unable to seize such an obvious mistake in the deployment.

One of the advantages of the one-two line formation is that it can fully conceal the intention of outflanking the two wings from behind.

They were marching on the inner line behind the three lines, and even if the enemy generals noticed them, they would be out of reach.

What's more, the Northern Yuan veterans in the two camps of Taiji Xiantu and Wu Sihu had no strength to fight after repeated attacks.

Behind the front line, in the central camp of the Marshal's army, messengers from each camp were reporting the battle situation to Liu Chengzong like flowing water.

In order to prevent the battle from being disrupted and the enemy from spreading false military intelligence, each camp left eight cavalry messengers in the central army, and the Yulin Camp also left messengers in each camp.

At this time, the front line was in chaos and the two wings were fighting. Each camp was reporting the latest battle situation, which was summarized by Zhang Xianzhong and the Yulin Lang, who arranged the battle situation on the map with wooden figurines.

But none of this was as clear as what Liu Chengzong saw himself through the telescope.

He could not see small changes or waving military flags, but he could clearly see the clashes between camps and the large-scale activities of the enemy, even if he could not see the troops, just by the flying dust rising from the ground.

Emperor Chongde is frantically mobilizing troops.

The front is thinning fast.

"General, the Yanmen camp is exhausted and should be withdrawn. The Beiyuan camp is eager to fight and has not reported yet, but it has also been fighting for a long time."

"The clan camp..." Zhang Xianzhong was a little speechless, frowning and said, "Jin Chanzi and Sun Long from the Liaoyang camp are asking for battle and requesting to advance."

The Minister of Rites muttered in his heart: He is sick!

Unexpectedly, Liu Chengzong became even more seriously ill, and said as a matter of course: "Chuanzong's Liaoyang Second Battalion, follow up with chariots and block the Beiyuan Yanmen Second Battalion."

"General, Dai Qing has changed his formation and is bound to counterattack. These two battalions can't withstand it."

"No problem, let them go in, and then inform the First Brigade to lead Gao Yingdeng to follow up."

Liu Chengzong certainly knew that Huang Taiji was going to counterattack, and he also knew that the Liaoyang Second Battalion of his clan members could not hold the front line.

But they have no choice now, they must push the car formation forward, and maybe they will be able to hold on.

Because if they did not suppress the enemy, it would be tantamount to giving up the previous victory. Once the Second Battalion of Yanmen of the Northern Yuan Dynasty retreated, the Dai Qing Army would immediately counterattack and take away the fallen soldiers of the Zhenglan and Xiangbai Battalions who had lost their combat effectiveness.

Although it would be difficult for the two battalions of soldiers to continue fighting even if they were taken back, Liu Chengzong did not think it was a victory as long as they were not killed.

Conversely, Liu Chengzong also knew why Jin Chanzi and Sun Long were so eager to advance.

The soldiers of the clan camp might lose their bearings in this battle.

Because about 30% of the soldiers in the camp had never fought in a serious battle before, they just followed Liu Chengzong's march endlessly, cutting through mountains and building bridges across rivers.

They only had the experience of being chased and attacked by the Marshal's regular soldiers and the Mongolian soldiers.

Therefore, being surrounded by a strong army and flanking the enemy's formation in this way can easily make them have a distorted understanding of war and feel that the Eight Banners Army is vulnerable.

In fact, if this kind of stance is suddenly attacked during the march, anyone would be vulnerable.

If they can regroup in the chaos at the cost of one or two battalions, they are considered to be a force to be reckoned with.

In the Battle of Xing'an Mountains, the northern detachment of the Marshal's Army composed of Wang Chengen, Ding Guodong, He Huchen, and Feng Rang suffered the cost of Ding Guodong's camp being broken into two. The rapid support of the cavalry camps of Wang and He allowed Feng Rang to deploy the chariot camp and reorganize the army.

The situation is similar now, except that this Eight Banners Army is far less elite than the Eight Banners Army in the battle of Xing'an Mountains, so it paid a greater price.

But Liu Chengzong knew very well that Lieutenant General Jin Chanzi would not get carried away just because his head was hot.

This is a powerful general from the royal family.

The scene outside Pingliang City in the past, with the machete in his hand and the black donkey under his crotch that bit anyone he caught, galloping around recklessly, killing the Pingliang guards and the royal family of the Han vassal, and finally making the royal family, the rebel army, and the Lion Camp gather in a circle to watch the donkey movie is still vivid in our minds.

Later, Liu Chengzong entered Qinghai, and the Golden Chanzi died one after another, but this second generation remained evergreen. He was still alive until Liu Chengzong returned to Guanzhong from Qinghai, and he set up a stronghold in Ningzhou and lived a good life.

To say that he is not good enough, his military strategy and the old soldiers under his command are definitely inferior to the powerful generals and soldiers on the front line of the Ming Dynasty border army.

But he was not like other clans who had never fought a war. Jin Chanzi must have known the stakes.

In addition to Sun Long, who was an old rebel who followed Li Jiuchen to sweep across the eastern route, these two people jointly requested to advance. Liu Chengzong estimated that they would also be able to achieve the result of breaking through the enemy's formation.

In fact, it was pretty much what he thought.

As soon as the order for the cavalry to gallop forward in the battle formation was delivered, the clan camp immediately unfurled the battle flags, raised their guns and chariots and turned their heads together, running over the corpses on the ground, firing sporadic large bullets, and pressing forward.

But after this line of chariots, things are not so neat.

In Sun Long's Liaoyang camp, only half of the soldiers were left to follow the chariots forward. The people at the back were quickly cleaning up the battlefield. When they saw people wearing their own hidden armor, they pulled them to the back and ignored them. When they saw people wearing visible armor, they stabbed them twice, stripped off the blood-stained visible armor and put it on themselves.

Sometimes, even if you see wounded soldiers on your side, if you don't make any noise or say anything, your armor and weapons will be stripped off.

Of course, they did not forget to mark the enemy and our friend. The people in the clan camp who were wearing dragon robes had their sleeves missing.

While waiting for orders, the Liaoyang Camp stripped them into strips. Those who were lucky enough to pick up a helmet wrapped a circle of red satin around their brow guards; those who didn't have a helmet simply wrapped their heads with red satin.

Even if they didn't pick up the iron armor, they would still put on the leather jacket or compacted cotton armor, take the bow and sword, fill the quiver, and trot to catch up with the caravan.

When the Zongren and Liaoyang Second Battalions began to advance, many of the white-armored soldiers who had cut their braids and fought to the death on the front line were still fighting back while surrounded by cavalry.

It was not that they were good at fighting, but that Wu Sihu and Qintu Taiji were too cruel. They wanted to surround them and kill them. The defeated soldiers gathered around Baijia. They could not rush out, and they had nowhere to run. They could only fight on foot again and again, and were pierced by arrows all over their bodies.

They were divided into small teams like this in the encirclement. In the end, the white-armored soldiers could not even move, and the cavalry did not rush forward to hack and stab, but only galloped left and right, making it impossible for them to support each other, and they waited to bleed to death in the encirclement.

Until the gun-carrying chariots of the clan camp ran over, and the Liaoyang camp rushed up like wolves and tigers... This group of people really pounced on the fight, and in a blink of an eye they swallowed up the remaining soldiers and stripped them clean.

At this moment, in Daiqing's formation, the front-line commander Yue Tuo was holding a telescope and saw the movement of the Marshal's army. He immediately issued an attack order to the Han army flag and the Mongolian army flag.

Yue Tuo's judgment for ordering the attack was very simple, that is, the formation moved.

If the formation does not move, you can fight if the formation moves; if the formation does not move, you can also fight if there are people moving inside the formation.

As long as there are people moving in the formation, it means that there is a weak point in the formation and it can be attacked; and the movement of the entire formation is also a signal for him to attack.

Buglers blew conch shells all over the front lines. Some were plain conch shells, while others were copper trumpets cast in the shape of conch shells.

The humming sound was like an ancient and distant cry. When the Eight Banners front line heard the signal, they advanced to the left and right at once, pushing shield carts and guns, and charging straight into the clan camp's chariot formation.

At one moment, the Beiyuan and Yanmen camps quickly retreated into the chariot formation, while the clan camp stayed at the chariot camp and kept firing cannons and guns. The Han army flag on the opposite side also moved forward with a broken formation, stayed behind the shield chariots, and fired cannons and guns.

Two mobile wooden fortifications made of chariots, shields and shield carts slowly advanced during the battle.

Gunfire and artillery shells rained down, sending wood chips flying across the front lines of the two armies.

They raised their muskets and shot hard, piercing the shields; the solid shells flew and also made holes in the chariots carrying muskets.

And behind the Marshal's Army, at the position of Gao Yingdeng's First Brigade's main barracks, on the nine-meter-high artillery platforms, the thousand-jin field artillery kept roaring, firing solid shells into the front of the Daiqing formation two miles away.

A shield cart was knocked over by a shell, and several soldiers pushing the cart were immediately crushed under the shield cart, wailing in pain.

However, the overturned shield cart was quickly lifted up by the Han army flag and continued to advance under its cover.

Almost every shield car can protect thirty or forty people at the back.

These Han Banner soldiers armed with bird guns, under the cover of shield carts, were like conveyor belts moving forward.

The four of them walked side by side, and the shield cart moved forward slowly. The two people on the outside held their muskets and fired. After they were done, they entered the shield cart and stood still to reload. The musketeer who was originally behind them took two steps forward, and after firing, he also entered the shield cart and stood still to reload.

When the two soldiers who entered the shield cart finished loading, they had reached the end of the team. They followed the team forward to shoot, and then entered the shield cart again to reload.

But in reality, neither the shield cart nor the gun-carrying chariot is an invincible defense in essence, but rather a field equipment that provides partial protection for soldiers, reduces their chances of casualties, allows them to reload ammunition calmly, and does not require them to be overly fearful.

During the march, the tanks carrying guns would be penetrated by artillery shells; the shield carts would also be penetrated by artillery shells.

But even if penetrated, these things can still provide protection to the soldiers.

The biggest role of these equipment in field battles is that when soldiers want to escape, they can hide behind a vehicle, which is safer than turning around and running away from the battle line.

When the distance between the two armies was reduced to thirty or forty steps in the exchange of gunfire, the Han Banner Army in the Eight Banners Linear Formation stopped and continued firing with muskets. At the same time, the Mongolian Banner Army pushing shield carts began to move forward to cover the infantry and cavalry in every broken gap in the line.

In each squad, the infantry firearms and the cavalry archers covered each other; in each small formation, the Han army flags and the Mongolian flag army covered each other. Although the advance was slow, the clan camp's gun line was facing every broken gap in the Han army flags, launching a continuous and dense hail of bullets.

All the Han army's flag-bearers did not attack the enemies in front of the shield carts, but instead directed their bullets to the left and right front, creating opportunities for the next Mongolian flag-bearers to attack and break the formation.

This is an advantage that belongs exclusively to the attacker.

The defender has to deploy defenses everywhere, but the attacker only needs to break a little on the long front to tear through the defense and advance in succession.

However, Ma Guangyuan, the general of the Han army stationed at the Han army flag line, discovered that his casualties were not right.

They were attacking while the enemy's chariots were defending, so casualties were inevitable. But why were the large wind-chasing spears on the enemy's chariots targeting the Niulu under the Han army flag?

The Mongolian Niulu cavalry is right behind the shield carts, and it is obvious that they want to engage in close combat and charge into your chariot formation.

But the enemy did not take seriously the Mongolian Niulu who were shooting from a dozen steps away, and just used their rifles and heavy guns to focus on attacking the Han army's flag Niulu who were thirty or forty steps away.

The gun was raised and fired slowly, but the deterrent effect was too great. One shot could penetrate several people. The nearby soldiers were so scared that they didn't even dare to raise their guns and ran back.

However, the situation did not allow Ma Guangyuan to think carefully. The Mongolian Niulu who came out of the gap quickly overwhelmed the clan camp on the front chariot, making them unable to raise their heads. They dropped their guns and hid behind the chariot boards.

Without the direct threat, the Mongolian Niulu launched a frontal attack, used chariots to ram shields, broke through the lines, raised their swords and bows, slashed left and right, and rushed forward.

It's just that when they rushed into the front, they were no less dumbfounded than their blue-bordered colleagues on the right.

In front of them were small military formations. In the front stood groups of soldiers holding Later Jin's large bows, wearing Later Jin's Ming armor, and Later Jin's helmets tied with red silk. Some of them didn't even wear helmets, but only tied a circle of red silk on their bald heads.

At this moment, the front of the clan camp’s chariot formation was opened.

The chariots of the various Niulu of the Han army flags were facing each other, and were pulled backwards by the war horses, leaving the empty gate wide open.

Then, with the sound of whistling horses' hooves, the red-armored cavalrymen of the First Brigade's regular battalion held high the red flag of the Marshal's Office, symbolizing the South, and crossed paths with the attacking Mongolian Niulu, and charged towards the Han army flag Niulu that had been defeated on the front line.

This scene shocked Ma Guangyuan: "Hurry up and report to the Holy Khan, the enemy has not stopped fighting and is still attacking!" (End of this chapter)