Yongle Emperor's grandson: Zhu Yuanzhang with cheats, Zhu Di went crazy

Chapter 214: All three axes, let's see who swings the tiger

The old man originally wanted Zhu Zhanjun to command this war, but Zhu Zhanjun refused.

In Zhu Zhanjun's words, he has countless generals under his command. If one day he is really needed to lead the army in person, then the Ming Dynasty will be on its way to extinction.

The old man was speechless about this.

Why does he like to lead the army in person?
Besides the fact that I really like the feeling of being on the battlefield, it’s also because I have no one under my command.

As a result, his grandson had so many subordinates that he could not use them all.

But when I think about it, it seems to be true.

The man suspected to be his father-in-law, Xu Nian Da, and Zeng Guofan and Hu Ruzhen, who commanded the troops in the south, were all very well-organized in their warfare, according to the intelligence of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Just as Sun Tzu said, if the time came for Sun Tzu to lead the army into battle, the Ming Dynasty would be at its end.

Of course, the old man may not know that the reason why Zhu Zhanjun gave up commanding this battle was that he wanted the old man to experience the feeling of the battlefield for the last time.

After this war, it was impossible for the old man to lead the army again.

"Report, the Shenji Camp and the Shenwei Camp have been deployed."

"Report, the cavalry on both wings are ready for battle!"

"Report, all artillerymen are on standby and can fire at any time."

One by one, the messengers ran quickly to the central army with flags in hand and reported the preparations of each army to the old man.

The old man, holding a telescope and looking at the smoke and dust on the opposite side, calmly gave an order: "Tell the artillery to fire only when the enemy is within a hundred feet."

"Send a message to Xu Nian Da. He can decide when to open fire. I have only one request for him: I want a great victory in this battle!"

The order was conveyed quickly and all units began to prepare for battle.

The cavalry on both wings began to move slowly, ready for battle.

Cavalry combat is not like what is shown on TV, where the soldiers stay there and do not move until the superiors give the order to launch an attack.

Cavalry is a mobile branch of the military. It is almost impossible for them to launch an attack at high speed after receiving the order.

Therefore, in order to maintain the ability to launch a charge at any time, the cavalry will move slowly on the left and right wings so that they can launch attacks and pursuits at any time.

The vanguard army, 20,000 musketeers were ready to go, quietly waiting for the order from the vanguard general Xu Nian Da.

After Jiang An's daily fussing, the Ministry of War finally gritted its teeth and agreed to his plan to expand the Shenji Camp by one more battalion.

In this forward operation, it is impossible for all 40,000 gunners to be deployed to the front, and the old man does not want his own Shenji Battalion to come and make up the numbers.

He asked Xu Nianda to transfer 10,000 soldiers from the Shenwei Camp and take over the command of the Shenji Camp to fight at the front.

The remaining 20,000 musketeers were temporarily deployed to the rear army and the left and right armies.

Xu Nianda held a telescope in his hand and watched the cavalry charging quietly.

"These barbarians, it's been nearly a hundred years, and their tactics haven't changed."

Looking at the charging Wala cavalry, Xu Nianda shook his head secretly.

After hearing the order given by the old man, Xu Nianda raised his hand.

Jiang An, who was on standby nearby, raised the flag without hesitation.

"Crash..."

The soldiers in the front row instantly aimed their guns at the oncoming cavalry, and those in the rear were also ready to replace or pass their guns forward.

The combat methods trained by the Shenwei Camp and the Shenji Camp are almost the same, so there is no barrier to cooperation.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Thirty thousand Oirat soldiers were divided into three attack directions and launched an attack on the Ming army formation with shouts.

The Oirat soldiers, who had not engaged in large-scale battles with the Ming army for decades, had no idea of ​​the Ming army's combat effectiveness.

Seeing that the Ming army was lined up there without moving, they thought they were scared silly and everyone showed excited expressions.

The team leader Dariba Taiping, when he saw the formation of the Ming army, instantly had a plan in his mind.

"Woooooooo..."

A horn sounded in the charging column, and the Wala cavalry who were following the team in the charge took off their bows and arrows one after another.

The Mongolian tactics were also very simple, with light cavalry luring the enemy's heavy cavalry to break through their formation.

When encountering this type of array-type enemy, they will circle in front of the formation and shoot arrows, wearing down the enemy's patience.

Once the enemy can't hold on and wants to attack them, it gives the heavy cavalry an opportunity.

Once the heavy cavalry found a flaw, they would be almost dead.

If the enemy could not withstand the impact of the heavy cavalry and collapsed, they would face the Mongols' final tactic of chasing and killing them all the way.

It was with these three axes that the Mongols fought their way from East Asia to Eurasia.

Unfortunately, these three axes of the Mongols were surprisingly effective against cold weapon troops.

But facing the countless musket troops whose range was longer than their bows and arrows, it was hard to say whether their tactic of luring the enemy was a lure or just a suicide pact.

Xu Da, who was listening to the horn from the opposite side, couldn't help but sneer.

Having fought against the Northern Yuan people for a lifetime, he could tell what the other side’s horn meant when giving orders just by listening.

"Order all units to open fire immediately once the enemy enters range."

"Notify the cavalry on the left and right wings, and remember to drive them to the front when the time comes."

The Ming army's tactics actually consisted of three tactics.

The artillery bombarded, the cavalry charged, and after the cavalry charged, the infantry attacked.

In war, it's all about seeing who can hold on first and suffer casualties and retreat.

Xu Da was very confident in his army.

In addition, Zhu Zhanjun just sent news that Huo Qubing and Lan Yu are already on standby in the rear and can cooperate in the full-scale battle at any time.

Now the advantage is in our hands. Unless God sends a rain of swords from the sky, the Oirat Mongols will surely be defeated today.

Soon, the Wala cavalry approached within a hundred feet of the formation.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The artillery units on standby started shelling as Zhu Di requested.

The whirring artillery shells slammed heavily into the Wala cavalry ranks.

In a short time, people and horses were thrown to the ground, and countless people were killed and injured.

Mahamu, who was observing from the top of the mountain, saw several cavalrymen falling off their horses. He gritted his teeth and ordered, "Tell them not to stop and rush towards the Ming army. Once the two sides get close, their artillery will not dare to fire randomly."

He had heard about the Ming army's artillery a long time ago. He had also heard adults talk about it when he was a child, but he did not expect it to be so fierce.

But he only thought about it for a moment and figured out a solution.

Although this thing has a long range, it cannot be controlled. Once the two armies meet, Mahamu does not believe that these artillery can only hit his Wala cavalry. As Mahamu guessed, as the Wala cavalry approached the Ming army formation, the Ming army's artillery fire did not withdraw, but continued to bombard the Wala rear formation.

Seeing this, Mahamu smiled.

He knew that with his men's cavalry and archery, once the two sides got close, the infantry in front of the Ming army would only be killed.

Just as he was about to watch the Ming army's front formation being shot apart by the cavalry and chased down by the heavy cavalry, something strange suddenly occurred.

"Every department is ready."

The grassroots officers commanding at the front saw the shooting flag raised by the commander, raised their hands, drew their command swords at their waists, and shouted angrily.

"Crash!"

The soldiers raised their rifles and aimed at the approaching Wala cavalry.

The two arrays were getting closer and closer, reaching a distance of 50 feet in the blink of an eye.

The Oirat cavalry had already raised their bows and arrows, and the charging cavalry in the front began to adjust their formation, preparing to form a large circle in front of the Ming army and fire at the Ming army's formation.

They also calculated the range of the enemy's bows and arrows and muskets according to the experience passed down by their ancestors.

Unfortunately, they don’t know that the words of their ancestors cannot be fully trusted.

Just as the cavalry in front adjusted their direction and prepared to draw their bows and shoot arrows, a burst of dense gunfire suddenly rang out from the Ming army formation, and a large cloud of smoke rose.

"What's going on?"

Before the Wala cavalry could react, they heard a series of puffing sounds, and countless cavalrymen and horses fell to the ground screaming, and were trampled by their teammates behind them.

"Damn it, don't panic, they are very slow in reloading, shooting arrows, shooting arrows..."

The general in command had his back soaked with sweat, but he still commanded the troops according to his experience.

However, before he could finish his words, a round of gunfire rang out again from the Ming army formation.

"Puff puff……"

Nearly a hundred cavalrymen fell to the ground wailing and were silent in the blink of an eye.

"Damn it, adjust the formation, and have the heavy cavalry lead the way."

Taiping, the commander, saw this scene and realized that the Ming army's firearms had changed. If they continued to use the same tactics as at the beginning, they would end up being shot to death by the enemy one by one.

After figuring this out, he changed his order without hesitation, letting the heavy cavalry go in the front, preparing to forcibly reopen the Ming army's formation.

Just now, he made a simple observation and found that almost no one in the front formation of the Ming army was wearing armor, and they were holding weapons such as muskets. This made him feel that there was an opportunity to take advantage of, and he changed the order without hesitation.

"Woooooooo..."

As the horn sounded, the heavy cavalry shouted and launched a charge, hoping to use the advantage of the heavy cavalry's thick armor to break through the enemy's formation in one fell swoop.

"Command, prepare the shotgun!"

Xu Da just chuckled and changed the battle order.

In addition to field artillery, each Ming army team was equipped with small artillery equipped with shotgun shells.

Their function is to prevent the enemy from charging on a large scale.

Each shotgun shell contains hundreds of steel balls. When shot at the face at close range, you can imagine how terrifying the lethality is.

The distance between the two sides was not far. When the enemy heavy cavalry appeared in front of the formation, the riflemen who were shooting quickly made way for them.

Under the puzzled gaze of the heavy cavalry, more than 50 small artillery pieces were pushed out and aimed directly at them.

"what is that?"

Before a charging Wala heavy cavalryman could react, a flash of fire came out from the muzzle of the small artillery opposite him.

Before the deafening sound of cannon fire reached his ears, he felt his body being hit by countless raindrops. Then he lost reaction and fell heavily from his horse.

"Rumble, rumble..."

It was not until dense shotgun shells swept across the battlefield that the sound of artillery fire reached everyone's ears.

For a moment, everyone seemed to have lost their hearing, staring blankly at the scene before them.

Thousands of charging cavalrymen fell in droves like harvested wheat.

Some of the horse cavalry at the front were blown into pieces by shotgun shells.

Nearly half of the thousand Wala heavy cavalrymen who were charging were killed or wounded by this round of shotgun fire alone.

Such a brutal and bloody scene, not only the Oirat people were shocked, even the Ming soldiers who were shooting with their guns were staring in a daze at the scene before them that was like hell.

"hiss!"

The old man who was observing the battlefield through a telescope couldn't help but gasp.

This kind of close-range shooting, like a rainstorm, causes the greatest mental oppression to the soldiers, and even a swarm of swarms may not be able to compare to it.

Back then, the troops he led were almost defeated by Zhu Yongwen's swarm of troops.

He couldn't imagine what would happen to his troops if Zhu Yunwen had used this kind of small shotgun.

But it only took a moment for the Wala people on the opposite side to respond to him.

"Devils, devils, they are devils sent by Changshengtian..."

A series of terrified roars rang out in front of the array.

In ancient times, when the casualties of an army exceeded 20%, those who were able to continue fighting were the elite.

The Oirat cavalry, who were bombarded by artillery and rifle fire from the Ming army, were already in a state of tension, and their only hope was that the heavy cavalry could break through their formation.

However, not only did the heavy cavalry fail to achieve the expected results, but more than half of them were killed or wounded as soon as they came into contact with the enemy. This was not a battle, but a suicide mission.

The disastrous defeat of the heavy cavalry became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

The Wala cavalry ignored the orders of their commander and retreated hastily behind the front line, trying to escape this demonic battlefield.

"Blow the horn and order the cavalry on the left and right wings to press forward."

Seeing the enemy being defeated, the old man drew the knife from his waist and thrust forward fiercely.

Then, regardless of Zhang Fu's helplessness, he led the rear wing cavalry and rushed out.

"Dududu...dududu..."

The charge was sounded instantly by the central army.

"bass!"

Zhu Zhanjun thrust the sword at his waist forward fiercely.

"Kill the enemy and make merit now, brothers, follow me."

"Kill!"

The left and right wings moved together, and the galloping cavalry were like two giant dragons of ancient times. They fearlessly rushed into the defeated cavalry formation of the Wala from the side.

(End of this chapter)