Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 124: How many divisions does Jiannu have?

The motivation to "slaughter wild boars" boosted the morale of all players, who rode mules, drove grain carts, or walked quickly beside the vehicles.

The two sides soon met at an ice-covered creek.

"Array up!"

The commander's orders were passed on to the entire army through the captains, and the players who were originally marching in columns immediately dispersed and reorganized.

They were divided into five square formations of 300 men each, standing like the "five tubes" in mahjong to meet the enemy.

Each square was temporarily marked as one, two...

He Lusi stood in the back row of the central phalanx. He took a folding triangular ladder from the mule cart behind the phalanx and used it to support the ground with branches.

He climbed up the wooden ladder, opened the monocular telescope, and observed the every move of the Tatar cavalry from a high vantage point.

The Tartar's cloth armor is blue with red borders, so he must be a soldier of the Blue Banner, whose leader is Jirgalang.

Behind the three hundred or so Tartars were donkey carts and several hundred infantrymen, and the captured men and women were forced to follow.

Since the Qing Dynasty conquered a large number of Mongolian troops and raised horses on a large scale, they had basically no shortage of war horses.

However, the Tatar infantry were poorly equipped, and He Lu Si judged that they were so-called bondservants/retainers, as well as "cannon fodder" slaves of even lower status.

It is now January 1639 AD. After years of management by Huang Taiji, the Jiannu army has eight banners of Manchus, baoyi affiliated with the eight banners of Manchus, eight banners of Mongolians, and four banners of Han troops, with a total estimated number of about 1 Niulu.

This does not include the cannon fodder slaves and the Outer Mongolian troops.

Of course, these Niulu are not full.

Theoretically, a Niulu has 300 households, and at least one male would be sent out during wartime. However, during the reign of Huang Taiji, it was considered good if a Niulu had 200 males.

Nine hundred Niulu have about 180,000 or 190,000 men. If two out of three men are drafted during a general mobilization, that's still 120,000 or 130,000 men. Including the troops from the Outer Mongols, it's easy to gather 150,000 or 160,000 men for the main force. If you add in slave cannon fodder, the number would be even higher...

When the Tatars discovered the existence of the Black Flag Camp, they immediately stopped eight hundred steps away.

Niulu Zhangjing, who led the troops, was a little confused. His warriors of the Qing Dynasty had been invading for several months and had seen thousands or even tens of thousands of Ming troops dare to fight.

But it was the first time that more than a thousand Ming soldiers encountered the Qing cavalry and not only did they not disband, but they formed a battle formation and prepared for battle.

But even the best warriors must die—

His Majesty Huang Taiji has issued a death order that any Ming army that dares to fight must be annihilated at all costs, and the morale of the Ming army must be severely hit so that they dare not engage in head-on combat with the Qing troops.

Now, the commander of the right wing army, Yue Tuo, is gathering heavy troops and planning to encircle a Ming army stationed in the small town of Jiazhuang. I heard that the commander of the Ming army is also a general.

Niulu Zhangjing sent a dozen cavalrymen on fast horses to scout around the Black Flag Camp, firstly to determine that the enemy had no reinforcements, and secondly to check the enemy's weapons, military appearance and morale.

The two sides faced each other silently, with the only sound on the battlefield being the thud-thud of horses' hooves.

As the captain appointed by the leader and one of the six advisors of the expeditionary force, "Sula" is responsible for improving the legion's chances of victory.

He advised the captain on the triangular ladder, "We can't waste time with the Jiannu. We don't know how many main forces they have around them."

"I see."

He Lusi also knew that it was his own army's strict discipline that awakened the enemy's vigilance.

If it were the loose battle line of the Ming army, this Tatar cavalry would have launched an attack.

He Lusi needed the Tatars to take the initiative and needed a bait to lure them into the trap.

He pondered for a moment, discussed the details with several military advisors, and then selected the second team with the strongest defense.

"All troops, disband your phalanx formation and advance in three separate columns. The second column, accelerate! I want you to create distance between you and our allies!"

"Roar!"

The second team of players who received the order burst into a shocking roar.

Horus left the triangular ladder in place, took over a black flag fluttering in the wind and followed the fifth team.

The split in the front and back of the Black Flag Camp's line attracted the attention of the Tatars. The three hundred infantrymen trotted forward as if they were injected with chicken blood, leaving their teammates far behind.

The other four Ming army squads also dispersed to the left and right, as if trying to keep up with their teammates, or perhaps they all wanted to steal the credit.

Niulu Zhangjing laughed contemptuously, laughing at the Ming army's bravery but lack of strategy.

Not only did they use the "happy cavalry formation" of horizontal columns, but they also charged forward alone, even causing the friendly forces to break down their positions.

Even though Niulu Zhangjing felt that this army was extremely brave, he couldn't help but feel greedy.

The advantage of cavalry lies in its mobility and impact. As long as they break through the tight formation of the infantry, the rest is to charge back and forth to kill all the infantry.

Even if the battle was lost, the cavalry could just leave and the enemy infantry could not catch up at all.

This is why organized cavalry units can often defeat infantry three to four times, or even ten times their number.

At this time, the enemy infantrymen of the same number as ours have completely separated from the main force, and are in a poor formation such as a horizontal column. How can we not take them?

Niulu Zhangjing immediately ordered an attack. As long as the 300-man infantry that had escaped from the formation were defeated, the remaining Ming army would collapse and retreat due to the shock of casualties.

This encounter would also turn into a pursuit and slaughter. By then, with a huge amount of military merits, his status would rise rapidly. Charge!

Three hundred cavalrymen formed a loose line. Niulu Zhangjing gave a low shout and the horses under his crotch trotted forward.

The war horses started out by walking at a fast pace, then gradually increased their speed to a trot to conserve their energy, and only began to increase their speed further after reaching 400 steps.

Only after taking 200 steps will you start the real sprint.

The three hundred cavalrymen were like old hunters galloping through the hunting ground, waving their steel knives proudly. The blood-stained steel knives reflected bright light under the winter sun.

They roared confidently, as if staring at a group of lambs to be slaughtered.

However, just as the Tartar cavalry advanced 200 to 300 steps and accelerated their charge, a loud cry rang out from the Ming army formation, "Hollow Square!"

The 300 players at the head of the group changed their formation upon command. All the players seemed to be doing the familiar radio gymnastics and could complete each movement with their eyes closed.

The three horizontal rows became a square hollow infantry formation, and the shields and spears formed an unbreakable line of defense outside the square formation.

Niulu Zhangjing felt bad!

The Ming army remained calm in the face of the cavalry charge, changing formations quickly and orderly, with everyone in their proper place, and no one was in the wrong position.

He had a bad premonition and had no time to change his tactics. His horse was galloping and his men were roaring. No matter how loud his voice was, it was drowned out by the noise.

No matter what, let’s break through the enemy line in one breath!

The galloping wind whistled in his ears, and Niulu Zhangjing could already see the excited expressions of the Ming army's leading infantrymen, who seemed unable to wait to join the battle.

At this moment, he suddenly saw more than a dozen clouds of white mist coming out of the enemy line. After a few puffs, the wounded warhorse screamed and fell to the ground, and the dead rider exploded in blood and fell.

Before Niulu Zhangjing could come to his senses, another round of gunfire rang out, killing several riders. Some bullets even pierced their necks and continued to kill and injure riders backwards.

Why did the Ming army's bird guns have such power at this distance?!

He followed the front row of cavalry and suddenly heard the screams and cries of a large number of war horses.

It turned out that the warhorse had no time to brake and ran head-on into a forest of sharp spears. The inertia of the sudden stop threw the rider on its back out.

The rider fell into the hollow square and splashed mud, and was instantly surrounded by the "zombies" who were eager to take credit and stabbed to death with their swords.

Even if the war horses in the front row tried to avoid the spear tips of the terrifying horses, they would be squeezed into the sharp tips by the war horses rushing behind.

Niulu Zhangjing was lucky. His warhorse was in the middle position, and he instinctively avoided the sharp objects that could hurt his own kind and went around the hollow square formation.

However, even if they bypassed the hollow square, they would still encounter bullets and arrows. Riders were constantly injured and fell off their horses, and then their limbs were crushed or even trampled to death by the hooves of horses behind them that had no time to avoid them.

Niulu Zhangjing immediately changed his strategy, picked up the bow and was about to shoot an arrow.

But as soon as he turned his head, he found that the other four Ming army infantry units that were originally scattered had completed their formation without his knowledge, semi-surrounding the Qing cavalry and the "advancing" team.

Each "hollow square" is about a hundred steps apart, which is exactly the range of muskets and bows and arrows. It can kill Qing cavalry that are slowed down by spears, and its position and direction will not accidentally injure friendly forces.

boom! boom! boom!
Several hollow square formations with spears like a forest spewed out white smoke from time to time, taking away one Qing Dynasty cavalry warrior after another.

The originally snow-white land was soaked in blood and turned into mud, and the thick smoke gradually dissipated with the cold wind.

Every time the Ming army fired a bullet, they advanced dozens of steps, gradually shrinking the semi-encirclement.

Niulu Zhangjing felt like he had stepped into a maze and no matter how he ran, he could not escape the fire coverage of the Ming army. Even if someone wanted to run out of the "square formation maze", they would be shot down by bullets.

A lot of sweat spurted out of his back, adrenaline was secreted, his heart beat faster, and the roars, screams, bird gunshots, and the neighing of war horses intertwined together, increasing Niulu Zhangjing's anxiety and fear.

"Change!"

The terrifying command voice of the Ming army sounded again.

All the hollow squares, like experienced hunters who had spotted their prey, turned into infantry teams that were connected at both ends, surrounding all the cavalry that had lost their charging speed in the open space in the middle.

It's like a spread-out fishing net suddenly tightening, catching all the fish that have no time to escape.

Even if hundreds of cavalrymen turned their horses around and fled before being trapped in the encirclement, they would not have enough time to turn back and attack the Ming army's "circular formation" that was defending both front and back.

The good feeling and morale had collapsed, and the riders who were still alive just wanted to escape as quickly as possible.

Seeing the Ming army infantry closing in on all sides, Niulu Zhangjing was shocked. Is he going to be defeated?
But he didn't have the chance to see the end, as a heavy bullet pierced his neck, and a large amount of blood spurted out instantly from the broken carotid artery.

He was knocked back by the impact of the bullet, but one of his feet was stuck in the stirrup.

The warhorse dragged him around in the encirclement, and the spear tip forced the warhorse to circle inward.

"Kill the Tartars!"

The officer's orders resounded through the heavens and earth, and the players roared in anger, as if they wanted to hold hatred in their mouths.

The "Golden Rat Tail" in front of him had a glaring red name on its head.

With double the bounty and the rage for revenge, players showed astonishing killing efficiency.

Ignoring all the pleas for mercy, they gripped their spears tightly and advanced step by step, thrusting them into the bodies of the horses and riders, then pulling them back fiercely, splashing blood all over the ground.

(End of this chapter)