A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 229
This time the troops were sent out to fight for their own survival, and they did not need Wang Dou's encouragement, the soldiers were already high-spirited.

After the men and horses were assembled, at the middle of the hour, at six o'clock in the morning in later generations, thousands of soldiers had already set off from the official road in front of the village fort.Wang Dou's battalion led the way with a banner, followed by the guards of the Chinese army, the sergeants of Zhenfu, and Li Guangheng's cavalry.

Then came Han Zhong's army of thousands, and the carriages and artillery carts followed Han Zhong's army.All these carts have been vacated, and they are only waiting to return with a full load.

The carriages were pulled by mules and horses, and the soldiers pushing the wheelbarrows easily pushed the empty carts on the hard road.Like the firecracker soldiers in the army, each of these supply sergeants also carried firecrackers on their backs, and they also had waist knives around their waists, which they also used as firecrackers when encountering enemies.

Like the unicycle, most of the carriages are empty, only some of them carry gunpowder and shells, and some of the army's baggage.Behind the carriage, mules and horses were pulling the cannon, and the iron-toothed wheels ran over the hard road, sucking and sucking.

This time Wang Dou went to battle, the battalion artillery team consisted of 25 medium-sized Buddha wolf machine guns, 160 small Buddha wolf machine copper cannons, and [-] tiger squatting guns. A total of [-] people from the artillery team set off. Artillery is a great baby, and I don’t feel at ease if I don’t make inspections a few times a day.

In addition to the artillery team of the battalion, each artillery team under Qianzong Han Zhong and Wen Fangliang also set off. Each Qianzong artillery team has five Buddha wolf machine guns, ten small Buddha wolf machine bronze cannons, and fifteen tiger crouching guns. .There are a total of 130 large and small artillery pieces, which will definitely provide great fire support for the entire army.

Behind the carriage and the cannon carriage, Wen Fangliang led a thousand generals of his own behind him, from the banner of the battalion headquarters to the banner of the thousand generals, and then to the banner of the general army, the banner of the team armor, and the whole army marched one by one , the queues and flags are orderly, which shows the powerful posture of this army.

Wang Dou released [-], [-] miles in the morning, [-] li, left and right, and did not collect them all night. If there was any movement around, he could come back at any time to report the situation.

……

Shunxiang's army was physically strong, even with armor on, they walked several miles quickly.

Gradually the surrounding terrain dries up, and the wheat fields on both sides turn into a wilderness.Now that the road is smooth and easy to walk, Wang Dou ordered the army under his command to deploy in a row of five.He rode on a maroon horse and looked around. At this time, the official road had been hidden in a loess wilderness, only some lonely young trees trembling in the cold wind.

The weather is dry and dry, and it is a good weather for fighting, but a cold wind blows from time to time, and a few small snowflakes are rolled over, which hurts a little on the face. The horse also snorted from time to time.

At the end of Ming Dynasty, the weather was cold early, but it was rare to see heavy snow, so the drought has not been relieved.For Wang Dou, it is better to be dry and cold than wet, so that his gunpowder is in good condition and will not be damp and difficult to ignite.

Of course, for the army at the end of the Ming Dynasty, this kind of weather was also a big taboo for the battle of bird guns, because the priming medicine in the fire door would be blown away by the wind, even the three-eyed guns would have such a problem.However, Wang Dou's bird guns all have automatic fire door devices, so this problem does not exist for him.

Walking in this wilderness, you can gradually see some traces of the battlefield, which seems to be the place where Li Guangheng chased the defeated Qing army a few days ago.

More than 100 levels of headless and naked corpses lay scattered in the wilderness. Many dry and hard corpses have been mutilated by wild dogs, and their internal organs are dragged all over the place. crimson bloodstains.

There was a smile on Wang Dou's face, and he looked back at Li Guangheng. Han Zhong's father-in-law also had a pretty face on his face. The cavalrymen under his command made a lot of noise. Many people pointed at the corpses, their faces Full of pride.

The town governor Chi Dacheng frowned, and several of his soldiers with patrol flags on their backs immediately stepped out and galloped in front of the cavalry and shouted loudly: "Don't make any noise during the march, otherwise you will be dealt with by military law."

Immediately, the whole army calmed down again, and everyone strode quietly towards Zhangjiawan.

After walking for more than ten miles along the dry and hard road from the village fort, the Ye Bu Shou who had been scattered had encountered some Qing sentries one after another, most of them were red armor with white borders, and the sentry cavalry of the Qing Dynasty with red flags .At first these sentries with red flags were arrogant and arrogant, but they rushed up to investigate from afar, and they were immediately besieged by Yebushou soldiers in the army.

I didn't expect these Ming soldiers to be so tough at night. After accidentally leaving some corpses behind, they ran far away, just peeking around from afar.

Wang Dou ignored them, and his marching formation remained unchanged.He was not afraid of the Qing army's battle, especially after the Shiqiao victory a few days ago, the self-confidence of the soldiers reached an unprecedented level.

But Wang Dou knew that this time the expedition was not peaceful, those sentries must have rushed back to report, perhaps halfway through the journey, there would be thousands of Tartar soldiers waiting for him, what a fierce battle.

Near noon, I had already walked more than half of the way to the destination of Zhangjiawan, the land of Taihu Lake in later generations.Although the area has a word for a lake, it is a large dry wilderness. A river a few miles to the left is about to dry up, and the Liangshui River, two miles to the right, has already dried up more than half.A village by the river was burnt down long ago, leaving only some broken bricks and tiles.

Wang Dou knew it was time to stop, and at this moment, a Ye Bu Shou a few miles ahead hurriedly waved a small yellow flag. He received a signal from the Ye Bu Shou ahead, at least a few thousand Tatar troops were rolling towards this side.

As far as Wang Dou could see, it seemed that in the wilderness at the other end of Zhangjiawan, there was a large cloud of smoke faintly coming here.It's still going to be a fierce battle, Wang Dou sighed in his heart.But fierce battles are fierce battles, Wang Dou is not afraid, looking around at the soldiers around him, all the faces showed excitement.

The army's morale was available, Wang Dou ordered the spot to be on alert for the battle, and the urgent drums of the Chinese army sounded, and Wang Dou's army immediately connected head to tail according to the military order, forming a wild camp.

Wang Dou boarded his command chariot, the Yuan Rong Chariot, which was pulled by two horses. The platform was three meters high, surrounded by guardrails and a canopy, which was enough to protect the generals inside from the threat of enemy arrows, guns and bows. .You can look around the military formations on all sides condescendingly, and command your subordinates to fight well.

Not far from Wang Dou's side, the telescopic cart was erected urgently, and a Chinese army standard bearer in heavy armor jumped into Diao Dou.A few thick sergeants beside him shouted one, two, three, and used the seesaw principle to erect the thick and thick lookout pole more than ten meters long.

The battalion chariot is composed of two chariots, and each chariot needs to be pulled by two horses. The flag bearer stands on the diaodou and looks out. He can see the enemy's situation within a dozen miles around him and pass it on to the general at any time. The standard-bearers next to them are closely following the surrounding enemy's situation.

Wang Dou brought the telescopic cart thousands of miles from Baoan Prefecture, and it finally came in handy.

There are 120 wheelbarrows and 380 horse-drawn carts for the battalion to accompany the army.There are also fifty wheelbarrows and forty horse-drawn carts in each of the thousands of convoys.The mules and horses quickly gathered into the central army. This total of [-] chariots was surrounded on all sides, with [-] chariots arranged on each side, spread out in a horizontal pattern, and each chariot was connected, tightly enclosing the sergeants inside.

On the shaft on the right side of each chariot, a protective card was also quickly inserted. The card was made of hardwood, and the outward side was painted with the appearance of a ferocious beast.Wang Dou's thousands of soldiers and horses hid in the chariot formation, so they could shoot out leisurely, maximize the power of their firearms, and reduce the casualties of the soldiers.

The remaining [-] chariots, many of which contained gunpowder and shells, set up a small square camp along the four sides of the central army.Including Wang Dou's Wanggan chariot, Yuanrong chariot, Chinese army flag bearer, drummer, guards, and others.

Li Guangheng led his own cavalry, dismounted all of them, and stood quietly in front of Wang Douzhong's army. Chi Dacheng, the governor of the town, also led his own soldiers, and patrolled the military appearance of the soldiers everywhere. Color, strict responsibility not negligence.

After painstaking training for a long time, his artillery team finally came in handy. Zhao Xuan was so excited that he ordered the gunners to set up artillery on the four sides and remove the gun cover.In his battalion artillery, except for five medium-sized Buddha wolf machine guns, ten small Buddha wolf machine bronze guns, and fifteen tiger squatting guns set up at the rear of the car formation, the rest of the artillery were all set up on the back of the car formation. front of the array.

Han Zhong's and Wen Fangliang's Qian Zong Artillery Team were set up on the left and right sides of the chariot formation.In order to better protect the artillery, there is a cannon between every few tanks, and some barbed wire is scattered in the range of dozens of steps in front of the cannon.

Spreading out on all sides, the chariot formation in this field easily wrapped Wang Dou's thousands of troops and horses.

Wang Dou has a total force of more than 70 men, and the heavy soldiers in the middle can also fight, and they can be used as firecrackers.Excluding the 900 members of the Qian Zong Artillery Team, as well as the guards, flag bearers and drummers at the headquarters, the town governor, doctors, gunpowder craftsmen and others who are not fighting for the time being, most of the remaining [-] people can fight.

The firecrackers and pikemen in the two thousand headquarters, Han Zhong and Wen Fangliang, were in charge of the two sides of the phalanx, and the rest of the battalion did not receive them at night, and Li Guangheng's cavalry was used as a reserve team.Support the four sides of the car formation at any time.In Li Guangheng's cavalry, everyone has firecrackers, and when the firepower is insufficient, they can also be used as firecrackers.

Wang Dou looked around, the soldiers had quickly prepared to take their positions, each of them clenched the weapons in their hands, nervously waiting for the upcoming battle.On the inside of the Chinese army surrounded by chariots, the medical officer Wang Tianxue led the doctors and had set up iron pots to boil hot water for the soldiers. Once the soldiers were injured in battle, they could be healed immediately.

Yishun's township army trained rigorously on weekdays, and when the huge cloud of enemy troops was still far away, everything was ready for the chariot camp here.

……

The Ye Bu Shou team had already retreated into the car formation, and the flag bearers standing on the tall lookout poles kept changing their flags, reporting to Wang Dou in Yuan Rong's car about the arrival of the enemy.Wang Dou was wearing his gleaming silver armor, and kept a close eye on the situation ahead from inside the car.

The smoke and dust were getting closer and closer, and then the ground trembled faintly, as if tens of thousands of horseshoes hit the ground heavily, causing the whole ground to tremble.It seems that at the same time, an overwhelming number of red and white banners appeared on the horizon, and a huge gold-woven dragon banner appeared looming.

They raised a lot of smoke and dust, and under the red and white flags fluttering like oceans, there were all Qing soldiers wearing red and white armor. Looking at the boundless posture, the number of people was fixed above ten thousand.It seemed that all the knights of the Qing soldiers were galloping on their horses, and all the sounds in the world seemed to have disappeared, only the sound of horseshoes was heard.

Seeing them getting closer, Wang Dou let out a yell, making such a big noise, it's okay to frighten other Ming soldiers, but not himself.

He looked around coldly. After his sergeants lined up their chariots neatly, they had gunners in front and pikemen in the back. They were all well-armored, stout and high-spirited.Although the might of the Qing cavalry surprised them, everyone still stood upright with a calm expression.

The sentry of the Qing army should have found out that this is a Ming army's chariot battalion, so less than two miles away from Wang Dou's chariot formation, the Qing army gradually slowed down their horses, and Wang Dou smiled: "Run!" Are you not moving?"

He glanced contemptuously at the opposite side, and said loudly: "Don't look at the arrogance of these Tartars, you will know that you will suffer later."

His voice spread far away, and the soldiers on all sides could hear it clearly, and immediately burst into laughter, even if everyone was a little nervous before, it disappeared at this moment.

Wang Dou knew that the Qing army on the opposite side could not attack immediately, so he said loudly, "Soldiers, sit down and rest on the spot. Drink some water, eat some dry food, gather up your strength, and kill the thieves later. Take those Tartar soldiers , kill him like a fool."

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Old White Bull: There is another chapter tonight.

(End of this chapter)