Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 372 Lead the snake out of the hole
Wang Yan stood on the lookout car and watched with his eyes. After losing less than a hundred people, the enemy cavalry finally entered the range of the fire system!
People in the world often wonder why the Ming army, which possessed advanced firearms, could not beat the bows and arrows of the Qing army. In fact, many years ago, Qi Jiguang explained, "The bird gun is definitely better than the arrow, but the gun is worse than the arrow. Possessions are not as good as style, and if you are not good at learning, you are not as good as arrows, and let the enemy use their long skills."

That is to say, if the quality of the bird gun is good and the training is sufficient, then the bird gun is worse than the bow and arrow; but if the quality of the bird gun is poor and the training is insufficient, then it is not as good as the bow and arrow, and will be overcome by the bow and arrow.

Since the Wanli period, the government of the Ming Dynasty has become more and more corrupt, corrupt officials are rampant, and the gentry class is also particularly fond of money. very bad.

Most of the firearms in Wang Yan's army have been destroyed after many battles. They were small Franco cannons bought from the Portuguese, and nothing was scrapped.

Now the proportion of bird guns in Wang Yan's army is only [-]% left, but after weeding out the low-quality bird guns, the rest are excellent.The Qing army was good at archery, and Hu Hua’s Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty also had a strong riding and shooting ability, but the range of bows and arrows was inferior to that of the Ming army’s weapons. , the Qing army must bear it! "Ignition~" The general of the Ming army in front of the army watched nervously the galloping Qing soldiers, calculating the distance in his heart, suddenly waved his hand heavily, and shouted loudly: "Let go~"

As soon as the general held the flag in his hand, a burst of flames flashed among the hands of the Ming army's guns. A moment later, there was a "bang~bang~" sound of the guns, and the green smoke filled the air.

More than two hundred paces away, the cavalry of the Qing army who attacked in two directions, left and right, had raised their full speed and rolled towards the Ming army like the wind. When they heard the command, the veteran cavalry, who had been frightened by the battle for a long time, immediately lowered their upper bodies and held their hands tightly. Holding the bow and arrow, waiting for a counterattack.

When the rain of bullets came, dozens of horses were hit, and they immediately fell forward, often hitting the ground with people and horses, rolling endlessly!
A volley of muskets obviously could not stop these cavalry cavalry of the Qing army who had taken down the huge country on horseback.
After the first wave of bombardment, the Qing soldiers quickly met the attack of the second row of the Ming army's bird commanding hands. At the same time, the infantry archers in the back row also poured out a rain of arrows, and the Qing soldiers who were galloping also rushed to the attack. The Ming army's formation fired the first wave of bows and arrows.

The forest of arrows soaring into the sky was like a black curtain, blocking the brilliance of the sun for a while. The Qing army finally ended the passive situation and fought back with cavalry and archery.

Due to the impact of the arrows and the penetration of the sharp arrows, in the Ming army formation, all those who were hit by the arrows passed through the armor and died directly into the body, and a large number of Qing army cavalry were also shot off their horses.

After the Qing army shot the arrow, they were only a hundred steps away from the Ming army's formation, and at this moment, the two groups of Qing soldiers on the left and right began to make big moves.

Instead of directly attacking, they changed to walking around the formation. All the Qing soldiers turned over and hid on the side of the horse. Most of the Ming soldiers could not shoot the concealed Qing soldiers, whether they were birds or bows, and could only attack them. War horse.

Immediately not sitting on people, naturally reduces the possibility of being shot, and after another wave of arrows from the Ming army, these Qing soldiers suddenly turned on their horses, and shot them immediately with the bows and arrows they had drawn. The horse's proficiency left Wang Yan dumbfounded for a while.

Wang Yan originally thought that due to the constraints of the terrain, the cavalry of the Qing army would be greatly restricted, but he did not expect that the Qing army could turn such a big turn and be so flexible, connecting back and forth without any interruption!

Just when Xianghong started to make a detour, another four thousand Xiangbai broke out from the Qing army formation.

On the watchtower, Wang Shixiu saw the movements of the Qing soldiers. He obviously wanted to use wave after wave of cavalry to harass and disrupt the formation of the Ming army. Immediately after finishing, change to another one and continue to attack, so that the other army can rest, but our army will be tired after a long time of fighting, and once the army is tired, the formation will be chaotic. Five thousand superintendents fight out, riding against riding!"

The stacked formation method was created by the Wu brothers in the Southern Song Dynasty. Wang Yan was very clear about the advantages and disadvantages of this formation. Wang Shixiu's strategy was very correct. The safest tactic for this formation is to use light cavalry against light cavalry, and then rely on strong bows and hard crossbows. Hold the cavalry and charge, so that you will be invincible.

It's just that there is still a problem in Wang Yan's mind that has not been resolved. It is true that what Wang Shixiu said is true, but it is not so easy for the Qing soldiers to disrupt the Ming formation. After all, the Ming army is on the defensive side and has advantages in firearms and range. Just like the shock just now, the Qing army lost about 100 cavalry, while the Ming army only lost more than [-] people. The Qing army must have suffered a lot of casualties if they wanted to disrupt the formation.

Relying entirely on the light cavalry to deal with the Ming army, even if they won, the Qing army would kill one thousand enemies and lose eight hundred. For Boluo, the life of the Eight Banners is more valuable than gold, and he would not fight such a battle.

Now the war has just begun, before Wang Yan understands Bo Luo's intention, he will not easily send out the cavalry, so he shook his head and rejected Wang Shixiu's suggestion, "The time has not come yet, wait~" Supervise the bid of [-] cavalry, yes It was not easy for Wang Yan to form it. Although he had fought many battles, there was still a certain gap compared with the Eight Banners cavalry. Even if Wang Yan sent a supervisor to fight, he might not be able to beat the Eight Banners cavalry, and the casualties must be heavy.

Although there will definitely be casualties in war, the casualties must have an effect on the war to be worth paying.

At this moment, after throwing a rain of arrows, the Xianghong flag that was shot out first made another big turn and rushed to the main formation. After a short rest, it came to the next attack.

At the same time that the bordered red flags left the battle formation, the Manchurian bordered white flags entered the range of the Ming army again, so they started the same steps as before, and the riding and shooting and equestrian skills of the Manchu Eight Banners were obviously more elite than the Han Eight Banners.

For the Manchus, they have been in contact with bow horse riding and archery since they were children, so they are naturally very skilled.

Once within the range of the bow and arrow, the knight who was still on the horse back straightened up immediately, the bow in his hand was like a full moon, and the arrow was like a locust!The soldiers in the Ming army mostly wore cloth armor. When they caused damage to the Qing cavalry, it was difficult for them to resist the sharp arrows thrown by the Qing army.

At this time, in order to keep the formation in order, the Ming army did not allow anyone to leave their positions. Even if they saw arrows raining down in mid-air, they could only grit their teeth and endure it!

Leaving your post without authorization in the army formation is an absolute death penalty!

The cavalry of the Qing army kept attacking in wave after wave. After the inlaid white flag was finished, the Eight Mongolian Banners continued to attack. The Manchu and Qing flags seemed to be practicing with the Ming army.

While the Ming army shot and killed a large number of Qing cavalry, in the formation, there were occasional cries of arrow pain. There were many commanders and archers shooting arrows. Stick to the standard, and those who feel tampered with will not be forgiven." The military academy repeated the order "no tampering" over and over again, and Dai Zhifan also brandished a knife and loudly scolded the few soldiers who did not make up for it in time. While cursing, a stray arrow hit his cheek, and there was a sharp pain in his cheek immediately!
Dai Zhifan lost a pair of glasses in Yangzhou. He was known as a one-eyed tiger in the army. Now he was shot in the cheek again, which made him even more ugly. The master who pulled out the arrow, he was ruthless enough, stabilized his body, pulled off the shaft of the arrow, ignoring the blood gushing from his face, and continued to roar with his leaking mouth: "Leave the post without authorization, and those who see what is lacking will die." !" The soldiers of Zhongyong Town saw the ferocious appearance of the general, even if the arrows were coming straight at them, they had to straighten their backs, close their eyes, and grit their teeth to brace themselves.

On the watch chariot, Wang Yan watched the battlefield. After five groups of cavalry were attacked, the front army and Li Guo's troops on the left were still maintaining a tight formation, while Jin Shengheng's troops on the right were already a little chaotic.

Seeing this, Wang Yan knew that if he dragged on like this, he would really be dragged down by the Qing cavalry as Wang Shixiu said. He couldn't wait until the Ming army was exhausted before attacking.

At this time, Wang Yan still didn't see Boluo's purpose, but he decided to create an opportunity by himself and find out Boluo's hole card. "Come here, take Bendu's token and tell Jin Shengheng to sell a flaw to the Qing soldiers."

(End of this chapter)