Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

Teams of cavalrymen dismounted and formed battle formations, while their horses were led to the rear and tied up. After all, they were experienced soldiers, and the guards quickly formed a battle formation, which was the "fish scale formation" invented by Genghis Khan. Unlike the "three-one-six" formation of the fish scale formation used in cavalry warfare, the fish scale formation used in infantry warfare was improved by the Great Khan Lianhua. The vanguard, left wing, and right wing were still arranged in a triangular shape, and the center army was still located behind the vanguard. The difference was that the six rear guard troops behind the center army were reduced to one, increasing the strength of the vanguard and the center army, and arranged in a "three-one-three" formation. It still looks like fish scales, but it has become much flatter.

The reinforced vanguard of the guards had 2,000 men, led by the Xidi Xili Batur, Setel, and Ayuqi; Wangchuk and Babai each led 2,000 men as the left and right wings; Baoyin led 2,000 men in the center; and Babu led 1,000 men as the rear guard. Unlike the vanguard of the ordinary fish scale formation, which had gunners with three-barreled guns in the front, archers in the middle, and artillery in the back, Baoyin simply concentrated all the three-barreled guns in the vanguard and arranged them in six rows, because the Tuo Tuo artillery battalion and the baggage battalion had not arrived yet and his subordinates were not equipped with the long-range and powerful large bird guns, they were only equipped with the three-barreled guns commonly used by cavalry.

"Form a battle array!" With Lai Tuku's order, the Qing army also began to form a battle array on the left, center, and right. The cavalry was arranged on the left and right wings, and the central army was arranged in a square array. The battalions were distributed at intervals. Each battalion was divided into several rows, and each row was five to six people deep. The firearms battalion was at the forefront of the central army, followed by heavy infantry, spearmen, Pudao soldiers, and sword and shield soldiers. There were passages between each battalion. Like the guards, in order to arrive at the battlefield in time, the Qing army did not carry artillery. Considering that the enemy's cavalry could hardly play a role due to the heavy snow, they did not even carry deer horns. Because of the long-term battles with the Thirteen Families of Kuidong, the main force of the Qing army, the Huguang Green Camp, was very good at fighting. The two thousand Eight Banner Han troops brought by Lai Tuku were also elite, and the speed of forming a battle array was not inferior to that of the guards. The two armies formed a battle array almost at the same time.

"Huh~" Lai Tuku let out a long sigh and put down the telescope in his hand. He found that there were no war horses in the enemy's army. It was obvious that all the cavalry were used for foot combat. Yes, the snow was so heavy that the war horses could not run fast. Instead, they became targets because they were large. Haha, it was just as I expected. In such weather, the guards can only fight on foot. After a long march, they must be exhausted. Our army not only has more people than the enemy, but also has the advantage in physical strength. Well, the enemy's two wings have slightly more people than our army. The front several battalions of the central army are obviously protruding. It is obvious that they put the most elite troops in front of the formation, hoping to use their bravery to break through my central army. Hum, well, the strength of our central army is far greater than that of the enemy. We will first defeat this elite force to dampen the enemy's spirit, and then break through the center. The battle behind will be easier.

The old general pondered in his heart, and suddenly swung his right arm fiercely, and spit out the military order: "The whole army charges, the two wings slowly engage the enemy, and the battalions of the central army attack the enemy's vanguard in turn. Those who retreat without orders will be killed!"

The snow was getting heavier, and not only the war horses, but also the shield carts that covered the infantry were stuck in the snow, making it difficult to move forward. On both wings, the Eight Banners Han Army Jiala Zhangjing Chai Yaoxian and Huguang Green Camp Lieutenant General Huang Guozhong each led 1,500 cavalrymen to slowly approach the two wings of the Guard Army. Like the Guard Army, they also put their war horses behind and dismounted to fight; at the front of the central army, General Jin Wanyi led 2,000 gunners to slowly advance, and the Qing army's brave general and left governor Yu Dahai led 2,000 people wearing double heavy armor to follow behind, followed by Lieutenant General Dong Yongfan and guerrilla Dong Yongai's 2,000 people, and at the end were the 1,500 soldiers guarding Lai Tuku and Dong Xueli. On the two wings, there were 1,500 Qing troops against 2,000 Guard Army each, and in the center, there were 7,500 Qing troops against 5,000 Guard Army.

Lai Tuku admired Yu Dahai very much and thought he was a brave and courageous general. He specially gave him the trump card, 49.05 heavy armored infantry. According to past experience, the cavalry of the guards mostly used bows and arrows, and there were not many musketeers. Even the enemy's armor-piercing arrows could hardly penetrate the heavy armor. First, use musketeers to mess up the enemy's formation, then break through with heavy armor, and then each camp will take turns to attack, and the enemy will be defeated. However, this veteran general never expected that many of the guards' cavalry in the Northern Expedition to Liaodong were the most elite imperial guards of the David Kingdom, and most of the imperial cavalry were currently equipped with improved three-barreled guns, which had a longer barrel, a stronger initial velocity and destructive power, and used fixed ammunition and flintlock devices, saving loading and firing time, and could severely damage heavy armored infantry within thirty steps (about meters).

"Archers, prepare for battle!" Seeing the enemy's vanguard approaching, Xili Batur ordered his troops to take their bows and prepare to shoot on foot. It takes a long time to train an archer, but it is not a problem for the Mongols who grew up on horseback. The cavalry of the guards can all shoot, and the soldiers of the imperial guards who serve as the vanguard are even better. They are all equipped with long-range hard bows and lined up in six rows. The front row takes arrows and prepares to shoot straight, and the back five rows prepares to throw arrows.

"Boom~boom~boom~"

The war drums sounded, and Jin Wanyi, the general of the Qing army, led 2,000 gunners in ten rows. They slowly approached the enemy one by one to the beat of the drums, and were ready to shoot at the enemy in turns when they were eighty steps away.

"Shoot!" Seeing that the enemy had already advanced a hundred steps, Xili Batur, the elder brother, decisively gave the order, and two thousand archers released arrows, and the arrows rushed towards the Qing army like locusts. Because they were carrying heavy muskets and ammunition, Jin Wanyi's men were only wearing light jackets, and it was difficult to resist the shooting of bows and arrows, and they fell down in groups under the arrows.

"Speed ​​up, move forward!" Jin Wanyi was very brave, braving the rain of arrows and leading his men to speed up. After advancing to the 80th step at a huge cost of casualties, the general ordered to shoot.

"Bah~bah~bah~"

The Qing army's muskets began to fire in volleys, but because a large number of musketeers were shot down by the arrows of the guards during the march, their volleys were not dense, and people kept falling down during the exchange of fire. Because the muskets were slow to load and could only fire straight and not projectiles, after the first row of Qing soldiers finished firing, they had to retreat to the back of the formation to reload and switch to the back row to fire. This resulted in only the 200 frontmost 200 of the 2,000 Qing musketeers being able to shoot, and a maximum of 200 projectiles could be fired in one volley, while the archers of the guards could fire both straight and projectiles, and could fire 2,000 arrows at a time, and their shooting speed was much faster than that of the Qing army, causing greater casualties to the Qing army.

Jin Wanyi's men only had time to fire three rounds before seven or eight hundred of them fell in the dense rain of arrows. The huge casualties gradually broke down the army's discipline, and some soldiers who could not bear it began to retreat.

"Hmm?" Lai Tuku, who was standing on the high platform behind the formation, put down his telescope and angrily ordered, "The Gun Battalion retreats, and the Heavy Armor Battalion charges!"

"Woo~Woo~Woo~" The retreat horn sounded, and Jin Wanyi felt as if he had been pardoned. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, led his subordinates and ran wildly to the rear, leaving his back to the archers of the guards.

"Swoosh~swoosh~swoosh~" The guards shot them down like rabbits. (End of this chapter)