In the late Ming Dynasty, rising from the grassland

Chapter 278 Infantry Showdown
Of Cao Bianjiao's [-] cavalry, the only real elites who dared to die were his own nearly [-] servants. The remaining [-] were also newly recruited in the past six months, and the [-] horses donated by Jiannu were also given to him. .

This shows how much Emperor Chongzhen and Lu Xiangsheng attached great importance to it.

However, since there were only a thousand elite servants, Cao Bianjiao could only choose to concentrate his elite troops to attack the square formation in the middle on the left. The six thousand cavalry almost hit it head-on under the rain of arrows.

The first half of the phalanx was immediately smashed into pieces. Both sides suffered heavy losses, and the more than a thousand servants leading the attack were killed and injured.

The expressions of Lu Xiangsheng and the Ming army generals who were watching the battle from a distance changed drastically.

The Chinese army's phalanx remained motionless in the face of the cavalry attack, which was enough to shock them. But what shocked them even more was that the six thousand cavalry did not even have a small phalanx of about 5000 people during the head-on collision. It was really hard to accept that it was a stalemate just halfway through the rush.

After all, Cao Bianjiao's more than a thousand servants can be said to be the most elite cavalry veterans on their side. At such a cost, they still cannot defeat an infantry phalanx of the opponent. So how can they defeat the Chinese infantry phalanx?
There are a total of eighteen such phalanxes on the opponent side. Judging from the current situation, I am afraid that even if one phalanx is defeated, the other phalanxes will not be affected.

"Supervisor, the large formation on the opponent's right has already pressed forward."

"Deploy three troops of ten thousand people to fight!"

Lu Xiangsheng took a deep breath and did not let Wu Sangui lead the cavalry to charge. After all, looking at the situation just now, even if Wu Sangui's [-] Guan Ning cavalry charged forward, they would probably be able to block only two phalanxes.

The remaining cavalry at the rear of the Chinese army has not moved yet, and it seems that the scale is not smaller than the cavalry on their side. If all the cavalry are sent out too early and cannot cause large-scale damage to the opponent, then the next battle may be There's no way to fight.

It was useless for the cavalry to rush forward. If the infantry pressed forward in a swarm, they would be defeated faster. Therefore, Lu Xiangsheng had to send out his own infantry phalanx to fight head-on.

After sending out a team of [-] people on the far right, Lu Xiangsheng again sent a team of [-] people on the far left for reinforcements, fearing that Cao Bianjiao would be surrounded by the opponent's infantry.

The four thousand-man troops in the middle and the remaining soldiers and horses did not move. He wanted to see whether the infantry he had trained could compete with the Chinese infantry.

The Ming army's six-thousand-strong army was also equipped with swords, shields, spears, spears, and bows. The spearmen were in the front, the pikemen, swordsmen, and shieldmen were in the middle, and the archers were behind. They were all marching forward in a neat line. The advance was not like a swarm charge like other Ming armies.

Obviously Lu Xiangsheng also had an in-depth understanding of the Chinese infantry phalanx, and in the end he could only choose to use spears against spears. After all, this was the cheapest and most effective method.

"Fire arrows!"

Although the six infantry battalions at each entrance of the Chinese army are divided into two rows, they are staggered from each other.

Not long after, the three infantry phalanxes in the front row on the right and the [-]-strong Ming army that had already come forward were close to a distance of fifty steps. The long archers of the Chinese army took the lead in firing.

Although the shield bearers of the Ming army raised their shields high, many Ming soldiers fell down one after another, causing a commotion. The archers of the Ming army could only stare in fear because of insufficient shooting range.

"Don't panic, don't stop, stay in formation and keep moving forward!"

"If you don't retreat, you will be killed without mercy!"

Under the encouragement and intimidation of an officer, the three square formations of the Ming Army finally stabilized their formation and continued to advance, but many people's legs and feet could not stop shaking.

Obviously, this kind of slow advance under the rain of arrows tests the psychological quality of the soldiers more than a swarm of swarms.

It wasn't until both sides advanced twenty steps that the Ming army's archers drew their bows and fired. For a while, the archers on both sides were desperately firing towards each other.

On the Chinese side, people began to fall down after being hit by arrows one after another, and at this time both sides stopped.

"on!"

Following the order, the Chang Yu soldiers in the front row of the Chinese army rushed forward with their spears in hand, shouting.

"on!"

The Ming army was not to be outdone. The spearmen in the front row also gritted their teeth and charged forward with their spears.

For a time, sharp blades penetrated the flesh one after another, and most of the hundreds of spearmen of the Ming army fell down in just one stroke. Hundreds of people on the Chinese side were also stabbed.

"on!"

The spearmen on the Chinese side almost didn't need to give orders and rushed forward with their spears to fill their positions, while the Ming army only dared to advance after being urged by their officers.

This kind of cruel spear thrusting can be said to have no tricks. The comparison is the will of the soldiers, the sheer casualty endurance ratio, as well as a small amount of equipment and daily stabbing accuracy.After several waves of this, both sides laid a line of corpses in front of the formation, and the disadvantage of the Ming army was also exposed. The soldiers in front were already as pale as paper. No matter how much the officers continued to yell and curse, their legs seemed to have roots. Yes, I don’t dare to rush again.

The result was that they could not be replenished in time, and the dispatched row of spearmen was stabbed to the ground by the Chinese army. The lucky few who tried to turn around and escape were stabbed to the ground from behind by the spearmen who were chasing them.

"Press it up!"

When the spearmen of the Chinese army saw that the spearmen of the Ming army did not dare to rush forward and stab each other, they immediately stepped over the corpse and rushed forward.

The spearmen from behind also rushed forward in a steady stream. Although the spearmen of the Ming army did not run away out of fear, they fell down in pieces after being stabbed in panic.

"Don't retreat, hold on, anyone who retreats will be killed without mercy!"

"Fire the arrow, let the arrow go!"

The generals responsible for commanding these three Ming army troops of ten thousand people were sweating profusely. Fortunately, Lu Xiangsheng knew his own affairs and arranged the troops very densely, almost people next to each other, with swords and shields behind them. The soldiers used their shields to resist, so that the pikemen and pikemen in front could not retreat, and had to draw their spears and stab at the rushing Chinese army.

But the three infantry phalanxes behind the Chinese army had pressed up through the gaps between the three phalanxes in the front row.

Seeing this, Lu Xiangsheng was also very anxious, and immediately asked Wu Sangui to lead [-] Guan Ning cavalry to rush up from the flank to intercept and stabilize the battle line on the right. Sure enough, as soon as Wu Sangui's cavalry moved, the three infantry battalions behind him stopped.

Wu Sangui did not dare to charge directly, but led the cavalry to harass from time to time to put pressure on the Chinese army's formation.

Lu Xiangsheng just breathed a sigh of relief when the [-] troops on the left also engaged the Chinese army. Even though Cao Bianjiao crippled the square formation in the middle, as the three square formations in the back row pressed forward, the Ming army's battle line Still in danger, Lu Xiangsheng had to ask Zhou Yuji to bring [-] troops and horses to reinforce him. Only then did he barely stabilize the front line that was about to collapse.

If Lu Xiangsheng hadn't used a stupid method to arrange the people in a dense row, with the shield hand pressing the back of the spearman behind, the Ming army's phalanx would have collapsed without waiting for reinforcements.

But this method of relying on people to defeat others is obviously unsustainable.

Lin Rui, who was on the high platform in the distance, was shocked when he saw that the battle lines on the left and right had been fighting for so long, but the Ming army had not collapsed yet.

"Hey, how did Lu Xiangsheng train? How can a group of new recruits be able to withstand this level of battle?"

"Your Majesty, all the cavalry of the Ming Army have been dispatched. As long as our cavalry charges forward, they will definitely be defeated!"

At this moment, even Hai Lanzhu could see that Ming Jun was holding on for dear life and shouted excitedly.

Naturally, Lin Rui didn't need to remind him. If he wanted to send cavalry, he had already sent it. He would not wait until now, so he waved his hand: "The cavalry can't move for the time being. It's enough to let the trapped camp go up."

"But it was too slow to fall into the camp. We are still four or five miles away from the battlefield."

Hai Lanzhu pointed at the three slowly advancing trap camps in front and said, since Lin Rui did not issue an order to charge, the trap camps were always hanging behind the infantry battalion and walking leisurely for four or five miles, worried that they were too close. , will affect the infantry brothers.

"It's okay. The worst thing is to let the Ming army hold on for a while. In fact, it won't be much slower." Lin Rui said indifferently.

Now that they have the absolute upper hand, it is only a matter of time before the Ming army collapses. Letting the cavalry go up at this time is just the icing on the cake and is not cost-effective at all.

After all, even if they don't send cavalry, the Ming army will only be able to hold on for a while and a half at most.

And these three Han cavalry battalions are the last mobile troops in his hands. They can only provide help in times of need, and they must not do stupid things like icing on the cake.

So he would rather send firearms soldiers up than cavalry.

"The king is worried about the cavalry fighting situation in the east?"

Seeing that Lin Rui never sent cavalry to fight, Hai Lanzhu looked to the east and woke up.

"Not bad!"

Lin Rui nodded solemnly. Now the nearly [-] cavalry on both sides have been completely strangled together. You have me, and I have you. The cavalry rushes directly to reinforce, but it has little effect. Instead, it will fall into the quagmire and run rampant. It will accidentally hurt one of our own, so we can only wait for them to decide the outcome on their own.

The infantry can go for reinforcements, but the speed is too slow. By the time they reach the battlefield, it may be over.

(End of this chapter)