Ming Dynasty entry: I am Chongzhen, the greatest emperor of all time!

Chapter 43: Three Thousand Battalions, Mount Up!

However, Liu Zongmin was still misled by experience.

After so many battles, except for a few generals' personal soldiers who could wear three layers of heavy armor, the other elite soldiers could only wear two layers of thin armor at most.

It’s not that they can’t afford the equipment, but that the soldiers’ physical strength can’t keep up.

Not to mention the corruption in the Ming Dynasty's guard post, even among the servants and adopted sons who could eat meat every now and then, it was rare to find someone who could carry hundreds of kilograms of equipment and fight for several hours.

In his worldview, it is impossible for a well-organized three-layer heavy armored army to appear.

Until the Tiger Guards appeared.

Two veteran soldiers managed to hold the guard's bone club, while the other one took advantage of the situation and drew his knife, stabbing the guard directly under the armpit.

There was a crisp clang sound.

The waist knife was bounced off by the chain mail inside, but the guard was not affected at all. He turned around and kicked the knife-wielding soldier away.

He didn't need any bone fists, but just crossed his arms over his chest and used his heavy body to smash heavily on the shield.

The soldier in the old camp felt as if he was hit by a galloping wild bull and flew backwards two meters!

I fell to the ground and couldn't get up for a long time.

The three-man formation was broken in two strikes, and the hands of the remaining soldiers in the old camp were shaking as they held up their shields.

However, the guard did not continue to attack, but took two steps back, picked up the shield on the ground, and formed a small shield formation with several guards around him.

Confronted with dozens of rebel troops on the opposite side.

A wave of changing formations and attacks only caused casualties of a dozen or so to the guards.

But the soldiers of the old camp paid the price of nearly a hundred people.

For a moment, both sides were extremely cautious and kept looking for weaknesses in the guards.

Liu Zongmin rode on his warhorse with a frown on his face.

Only a thousand people were able to stop the offensive momentum of his thirty thousand men.

Seeing that the Ming army was still rushing out of Weng City, if he allowed them to form a battle formation and equipped them with artillery and bows and arrows from the defenders, it would be difficult for him to break into the city.

Perhaps sensing his master's impatience, even the warhorse kept shifting its pace.

Song Xiance murmured as if speaking casually, "This heavy armor is not light. It is not easy for the old emperor to gather these thousand men."

This sentence instantly awakened Liu Zongmin.

According to his previous guess, there were at most 50,000 defenders in the capital, most of whom were garrison soldiers who had no combat power and would collapse at the first blow. It was good enough to have a thousand soldiers carrying heavy armor, plus a cavalry that could completely wipe out the Children's Camp.

I’m afraid all the elite troops in the capital have been used!
Let the old camp send some people to hold back these thousand elite soldiers in heavy armor, and the rest of the troops will rush forward. At most, they will suffer more casualties from arrows, but they only need to engage in close combat with those soldiers who have not yet formed a formation.

With the soldiers from the old camp as the vanguard, they will surely be able to rush into the city, carrying the fleeing Ming army with them, just like before!
By then, the emperor would be powerless to save the situation!

As if to confirm his thoughts, the soldiers rushing out of Weng City were struggling to form a battle line. Because they could not tell left from right, they had gathered into a big lump.

Inferior to the previous Ming army.

Liu Zongmin slapped his thigh and shouted at the guards, "Hurry up and pass the order, the left and right armies should avoid the center army and attack the city with all their strength!"

"Send half of the central army aside, bypass those heavily armored elite troops, and defeat the tens of thousands of rabble-rousing hordes beneath the city walls. Then, seize the opportunity to charge back into the city!"

"Send a message to Liu Tiren. If he can capture the city gate, all his previous crimes will be forgiven and his achievements will be credited as merit!"

After saying that, he turned his head and looked at Song Xiance, "Grand Military Advisor, I'll leave the rest to you. I'll lead the elite cavalry to encircle them from both sides and kill those Ming dogs who overestimate their own capabilities!"

Song Xiance smiled and nodded, "General Quan, please leave. I will take care of everything."

"Yes!" Liu Zongmin was not vague. After getting the response, he rode away. The personal soldiers behind him kept waving flags to gather the cavalry.

At this time, behind the left army formation.

Liu Tiren, wearing exquisite armor, was urging the surrendered troops to move towards the central army, but he heard the sound of military drums again.

A messenger wearing a Fan Yang hat hurried over.

He loudly repeated Liu Zongmin's order from a distance, "Ignore the Ming elite troops. The left army will focus on attacking the Ming army's main formation under the city and seize the city gate. General Guoyi will be pardoned for his previous crimes, but we can still attack later!"

After receiving the military order, Liu Tiren was extremely confused.

Less than three quarters of an hour after the war began, military orders had changed three times in succession.

The old camp in the center could still barely adapt, but the surrendered soldiers in the left and right armies could not adapt. The change of formation to press towards the center had already made the formation somewhat messy.

The situation was changing, and Liu Tiren was worried that the entire formation would fall apart.

However, the military order had been issued and had to be executed, and the merit of being the first to attack the capital was indeed tempting.

After thinking it over again and again, I decided to change the formation.

No matter what, Liu Tiren is also a veteran of the Chuang Army. In order to ensure that the formation does not fall apart, he must use the soldiers from the old camp to hold the line!
He stretched out his hand and yanked out his goose-feather knife, pointing it in the direction of the city wall. "Brothers from the old camp, advance and form a battle array! The rear team will follow with eight patrols!"

At one moment, gongs and drums sounded and command flags fluttered. Most of the 5,000 surrendered soldiers were defeated soldiers from the garrisons who had only undergone simple training and had only a vague understanding of military drums and commands.

At this moment, they could only push the surrounding soldiers around in confusion, looking for the squad leader's flag. The army formation, which was not in good order to begin with, was already showing signs of restlessness.

Five hundred soldiers from the old camp kicked aside the infantrymen who were blocking their way, and rushed to the front of the battle with their iron-scale armor clanging. In a blink of an eye, they arrived at the front of the battle, formed into three horizontal rows, and raised their spears like a forest.

Ready to charge at any time.

Faced with the chaotic surrendered troops, Liu Tiren and many scout commanders could only keep driving them away.

However, the more they pushed, the more chaotic it became. The strong men carrying ladders and the infantrymen holding swords and shields tripped each other, the three-eyed musketeer had his fuse knocked over by the spearmen, and several blue flags with "Follow the will of heaven and advocate justice" written on them fell askew in the crowd.

"Don't even bother looking for the leader! Just look at the people in front and follow them!"

The supervising team killed dozens of people in disorder before they managed to get the surrendered troops to move.

With the butcher knife behind them and the old camp soldiers taking the lead, the surrendered troops finally couldn't stand the pressure and rushed forward in scattered groups.

Five thousand people ran out with the momentum of ten thousand people, and the smoke and dust wrapped around the soldiers rushed towards the city wall like a broken dam and flood.

The more than 10,000 militiamen who were lined up outside the city were suddenly in an uproar.

These porters who were temporarily recruited from the capital had never seen such a scene before.
Don’t worry about the elite brave guards in front, let alone the four thousand border troops guarding the flanks.

Someone in the front row threw down his spear and turned to run, but was shot dead on the spot by the archers on the arrow tower.

Seeing the surrendered army rushing within 300 steps of the city gate, the large battle formation was still being arranged under the city.

Ni Yuanlu's heart was about to jump out.

Fortunately, Zhu Youjian, who had been waiting for this moment, waved his hand and said, "Release the Shenji Camp!"

The crisp sound of a gong suddenly rang out, and hundreds of artillery pieces of various types lined up on the city wall spewed out flames at the same time!

The left wing of the rebel army, three hundred steps away, was the first to suffer.

Iron bullets as big as bowls swept across, and the soldiers in the front row of the old camp were blown into pieces with their armor, and the flying lead bullets turned the infantry in the rear into blood gourds.

Moreover, arrows over ten feet long shot from the Eight Ox Crossbow broke through the air. One giant arrow pierced through five surrendered soldiers in succession, and finally nailed the flag-bearing officer who was holding the flag to death on the yellow earth.

Liu Tiren watched helplessly as the soldiers of the left army fell like wheat under a sickle, and subconsciously shouted, "Disperse! Protect from artillery!"

The military commander behind him also skillfully sounded the order to disperse.

In this era, the most familiar and commonly used tactic for every army that fought against the Ming army was the anti-artillery dispersal formation.

Except for the Ming army itself...

The Ming army, which was accustomed to building strong camps and fighting static battles, and using firearms to kill the enemy, most often practiced hollow formations.

The five thousand surrendered soldiers had never experienced the scene of being bombarded by hundreds of artillery pieces, and they immediately panicked.

He didn't even bother to listen to the military orders, threw away his spear and ran away.

The supervision team in the rear had just knocked down two deserters when they were dispersed by the retreating crowd.

The surrendered soldiers in the back row were so frightened that they lay on the ground and dared not move, but were trampled to pieces by their comrades who rushed in front.

The ground was littered with swirling Fan Yang hats and broken weapons, and thick blood plasma formed thin streams on the loess.

"Fight back! Run through the artillery fire and you will survive!" Liu Tiren also realized that something was wrong, and he roared at the top of his lungs while riding his warhorse behind the army formation.

As the cannon sounded, Wu Wei, who had been waiting at Anding Gate for a long time, pulled the reins.

"Three thousand battalions, mount your horses!"

Wow!
There was a loud sound of metal rubbing against each other, and thousands of cavalrymen put on their masks at the same time, with spears like a forest.

Dozens of civilians struggled to open the Anding Gate. Wu Wei slowly raised his spear and shouted, "Go!"

(End of this chapter)