I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 97 The Ming army’s chariot formation must be captured!

Baimachuan, on the banks of Liuhe River.

The five thousand running cavalry spread out in a fan shape on the grassland and pounced towards the chariot formation.

"Shield bearer, make sure to cover your companions. The Northern Tartars only have a few moves. There will be arrows flying towards you soon, so be careful."

Qi Jiguang hid under two shields and spoke loudly.

Then he called Zhang Yuanxun's name again: "Shichen, is the artillery team ready?"

"General, we are ready. We can only give the order once."

"Good! Zhang Yue!" Qi Jiguang continued to call out names.

"My subordinate is here!"

"Is the bird gun team ready?"

"General, be ready."

"Wu Weizhong!"

"My subordinate is here!"

"Is the reserve team ready?"

"General, be ready."

"Okay. Wherever there is a gap, you must fill it up and block it with all your might. Don't let any northern barbarians rush in."

"As ordered!"

Qi Jiguang walked and gave orders, and four personal soldiers holding two large shields followed him quickly, covering him tightly.

The soldiers were all busy.

Some people put wooden deer and chevaux de frise on the outside of carriages and carts.

Some were attaching spears to vans and carts.

Some were carrying ammunition and preparing arrows.

Some were lining up and entering the artillery and musket firing positions.

Some were nailing wooden boards to vans and carts to build temporary shelters.

Some used water trucks to pump water from the nearby Liu River and pour it into a dozen or so pools that had just been dug in the vehicle array.

Everyone is busy in a tense and orderly manner.

"Five hundred steps!"

The lookout reported the position of the enemy cavalry in the front.

"Artillery team/bird gun team, all get into position, check ammunition, and prepare to fire!"

The officers' commands rose and fell, echoing above the convoy of vehicles.

"Four hundred steps!"

"Prepare the submachine gun!"

"Report! The submachine gun is ready!"

"Load the six-pound cannon with shotgun shells and get ready!"

"Report! The six-pound cannon is loaded with shotgun shells and ready!"

"Bird gun team, get ready!"

"Report! The bird gun team is ready!"

"Three hundred steps!"

The heavy sound of horse hooves, like a hammer hitting the chest, came rushing over and surrounded the entire chariot formation.

The traffic jam became extremely quiet, just like the sea before a hurricane. The sound disappeared, the air solidified, and everything seemed to become illusory at this moment.

The five thousand Kharchin cavalrymen in the distance were made translucent by the projected sunlight. The sound of horse hooves fell far behind their figures, as if floating over, and surrounded the chariot formation.

"Two hundred steps!"

"One hundred steps!"

The lookout's voice seemed to come from a very far distance, not belonging here at all, and slipped past everyone's ears.

"Fifty steps!"

Just as this sentence was about to slip out, it was stopped by the rising and falling roars of each other.

"Fire!"

Such roars were heard everywhere, but before they could gather into an angry tide, they were interrupted by a loud roar that seemed to tear through the air between heaven and earth.

"boom--!"

“Bang—bang—bang!”

The huge sound swept across the grassland like a hurricane, and the horses of the 20,000 Kharchin cavalrymen who were waiting for the order to attack were frightened and shook their heads, raised their necks and neighed. The cavalrymen hurriedly pulled the reins to calm their mounts. Xin Ai, who was far away on the hill, hurriedly pulled the reins, trying his best to calm his restless mount.

His mount was a sacred horse on the grassland. It was usually "pampered", but was frightened by the sudden loud noise and became more panicked than other war horses.

Xin Ai was busy in the hills trying to calm his beloved mount, while his elite cavalry were being slaughtered in the distance.

The shotgun shells fired from hundreds of submachine guns and six-jin cannons covered the sky and formed an impenetrable net of death. Any man or horse caught in the net would be beaten into a bloody mess.

Whether you can escape the web of death by chance depends on your luck. The bullet is flying everywhere and no one knows where it will go.

Often, when the cavalry were running, suddenly a fountain of blood would burst out from both the man and the horse, and then the horse would fall headfirst.

The musketeers fired in a row, specifically targeting the Northern Tartar cavalry who escaped from the artillery shells.

If you don’t have good accuracy, you can make up for it with quantity.

Under the order of the sergeant, five bird guns fired a volley at the nearby Northern Tartar cavalry, and some unlucky cavalry would be hit by bullets.

After finishing the shooting, he immediately took the musket handed over by the loader behind him, pulled the trigger, followed the sergeant's order, aimed at the target, and fired the next round of volleys.

People were screaming and horses were neighing, it was a horrible sight.

The Northern Tartar cavalry behind desperately shot arrows into the chariot formation, trying to kill the Ming army inside.

The artillery carts, musketeers and loaders who were firing at boxcars and carts all hid in makeshift shelters, where thick wooden boards blocked the flying arrows.

Officers and soldiers who needed to move would also hold up large shields and run carefully.

The random shooting of the Northern Tartar cavalry had little effect. Instead, their first wave of 5,000 cavalry were hit head-on, with corpses scattered all over the ground!

When Xin Ai finally calmed his beloved mount down, he looked up with his eyes tearing up.

Almost half of the 5,000 cavalry were lost.

There were corpses of people and horses everywhere in a circle. From time to time, a mount without an owner would run out from the battlefield, neighing.

The remaining cavalry were in a state of disarray. They wandered back and forth at intervals of more than two hundred steps, like lonely ghosts, without the courage to charge forward.

"Could it be true what Baduer said, that the Ming shaman wizards could perform rituals to send down thunderbolts?"

Xin Ai muttered.

"Xin Ai Huang Taiji, this should be the firearm of the Ming army." Dong Huli saw that Xin Ai's mind was unable to figure it out for a while, so he spoke up to remind her.

"Yes!" Xin Ai turned around at once, "It's the firearms of the Ming army, the three-barreled guns, the swarm of bees. I saw them when I fought the Ming army in Xuanda. They were also very loud, but not as powerful."

"The Central Plains is vast and rich in resources, with many talented people. Perhaps they made some improvements."

"No matter if they improve or not! I must take down this southern barbarian convoy today!"

Xin Ai was furious. She waved her whip and gnashed her teeth as she gave the order: "Team 2, team 3, charge together! You must charge in!"

Dong Fox knew that he was in a difficult situation.

Last year, we suffered a great loss in the south and gained nothing, and our friends also caused heavy losses to Duer's Duoluo Tuman tribe.

In today's home battle, 30,000 cavalrymen were unable to defeat several thousand Ming army infantrymen. The name of Xin Ai Huang Taiji can be hung behind a cow's butt and used to smear cow dung!

As the horns sounded, ten thousand Northern Tartar cavalry set off.

The huge sound of horse hooves made the entire grassland tremble, and endless cavalry came pouring in.

If the 5,000 cavalrymen just now were just sweeping in from the Liu River, then these 10,000 cavalrymen were simply roaring in from the Yellow River.

Qi Jiguang, standing under the big shield, had a stern expression on his face and gave orders calmly.

"Hold steady, everyone, fire at 60 paces!"

"Yes!"

"Four hundred steps!"

"Three hundred steps!"

"One Hundred Steps"

"Sixty steps!"

"Fire!"

boom--!
Bang-bang-bang!
Black smoke billowed and bullets flew everywhere. The bloody scenes that had just happened happened again, in an endless cycle.

Slowly, the entire chariot array and the surrounding battlefield, which was more than a hundred steps wide, were shrouded in thick black smoke.

People in the distance could only see flickering flames in the black smoke.

Men and horses emerged from the black smoke and then went back in.

The sun was shining brightly, but the Northern Tartar cavalrymen who were watching the battle from afar felt a chill on their backs, as if they were watching demons from hell fighting fiercely.

Xin Ai held the reins tightly, staring at the battlefield in the distance. Her right hand tightly grasped the whip, squeezing so hard that her knuckles turned white.

But Xin Ai was still full of confidence in her heart. Her cavalry was invincible and would definitely be able to break through the damn chariot formation of the southern barbarians!
The roar continued, but it was noticeably decreasing.

The black smoke was blown away by the strong wind and slowly dispersed, and the convoy and the battlefield gradually appeared in everyone's sight.

(End of this chapter)