Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 814
North of Xiangyang, south of Xinye, at the entrance of the Baihe River Valley.

To the east is the Tongbai Mountains, and to the west are Maku Mountain and Xikua Mountain. If the Qing army wanted to return to the north, they must go to the Baihe River Valley.

It was late December, and it was almost the beginning of spring. The blizzard that lasted for more than half a month stopped, and the climate gradually warmed up. The snow on the ground was about to melt under the winter sun.

At this time, nearly 5000 Ming army troops were forming formation at the entrance of the valley.

After breaking the camp of the Qing army at Baihekou, the Five Zhongjun Army continued to move northward to Xinye County. In order to prevent being attacked from two sides, it informed Xiangfan that Hao Yaoqi would send troops to block the entrance of the valley, and the invaders were bound to be defeated. The Qing soldiers in Huguang were wiped out in northern Hubei.

Although the sun is high, there is a saying that "melting snow is always colder than snowing". Xiangfan's defenders went out of the city and formed an array here, and it happened to be Taniguchi. , The soldiers were all unbearably cold.

The Qing army plundered Huguang for a month, killing people and committing countless crimes, while the Ming army could only hide in the city, already suffocating their anger.

Although the cold wind was cold, it couldn't suppress the raging flames in Hao Yaoqi's heart. He knew very well what the destruction of more than 5000 Qingqi who had entered Kou Huguang in northern Hubei would herald.

This battle is of great importance, Hao Yaoqi did not dare to be negligent, so that the soldiers cheered up, and those who dared to be negligent and slack off would all be executed.

Gukou is windy, and the soldiers have to grit their teeth and persevere. Fortunately, Huguang is the headquarters of the Chu Party, and all kinds of supplies are given priority. , the brethren are frozen into sticks.

Fifteen thousand troops were placed in a horizontal formation at the entrance of the river valley. The soldiers were setting up horse-rejection posts and obstacles in front of the formation. One member of the Ming army had thousands of households. It is tightly closed, only the eyes and nose are exposed.

At this time, he kept exhaling white air from his nose, pressed his saber, and walked in front of the soldiers in bloated jackets.

The opponent is the Eight Banners. They must do every detail before the battle to be sure of winning. Qianhu checks the equipment and mental state of the soldiers in turn.

Qianhu walked past many soldiers. They were in the first row of the entire formation. They had special long spears in their hands. Each spear was two feet long. It was the key to whether the entire infantry formation could withstand the cavalry attack. .

When Qianhu came, the soldiers wrapped their hands in cotton cloth tightly holding their spears and stood up straight. This made Qianhu very satisfied, but suddenly Qianhu's pace stopped in front of a soldier. .

"Stand still!" Qianhu turned around, faced the soldier, stared at him, and shouted loudly: "Zhi Niang, what the hell are you shaking?"

Qianhu shouted loudly, but the soldiers trembled more fiercely, not only he trembled, but also the soldiers next to him, as if forming a chain reaction.

Seeing this, Qianhu was furious immediately, and was about to beat someone to reprimand, but a soldier beside him tremblingly said: "Qianhu, the Qing soldiers are here!"

It's not that the Shence Chinese Army has never fought against the Qing army, but at that time it was mainly defending the city, not a field battle. Besides, many new recruits have been recruited this year, and it is reasonable to see Qingqi a little nervous.

After hearing this, Qianhu turned around and looked towards the south. His heart was shocked, and he saw people and horses gathering, banners flying, and countless cavalry all over the mountains and plains, layer upon layer, rolling towards the south.

There was a commotion in front of the Ming army. Thousands of households watched it, their Adam's apple moved, and they swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Then they tried to calm down and said to their subordinates: "Brothers, don't be afraid, look at the spears in your hands. If the Qing army dares to charge, you will go Squat down on the ground, insert the barrel of the gun into the ground, aim the gun at Qingqi, and make sure to string him along with the horse."

Qianhu gave a word of encouragement, without looking at the effect, and immediately turned around after speaking, and went to see Hao Yaoqi.

Not long after, Hao Yaoqi straddled his horse, and under the protection of several generals, galloped out of the battle, picked up the binoculars, and watched Qingqi.

He guarded the entrance of the valley with 3000 men, and sent [-] archers and musketeers to the hills on both sides. Although the cavalry is taboo to charge head-on, Hao Yaoqi chose a good terrain. There are mountains on both sides, and the cavalry cannot attack in a roundabout way. It was very difficult to harass his waist with riding and shooting. If Azig wanted to go there, he really had no other way but to break through him head-on.

At this time, Hao Yaoqi's binoculars quickly locked on a white-armored general under the banner of the king's banner of the Qing army. From his circular vision, he saw that white-armored general reining in his horse, and the galloping Qing army Slowly slowing down together, the war horse changed from a gallop to a walk, and finally saw the white-armored general, waved his hand back, and the Qing cavalry stopped abruptly.

Hao Yaoqi moved the binoculars, and the circular field of vision was scanned in front of the Qing army. They were all armored soldiers, and there were probably more than 2 people.

The cavalry of the Qing army stood quietly two miles away from the large formation of the Ming army, without making a sound, and did not howl like before.

That's right, the back road was cut off, and most of the robbed things were lost, who the hell is still in the mood to howl with you?But this didn't howl, the great formation was completely silent, on the contrary, it put great pressure on the Ming army, a huge murderous air spread in the Qing army, overwhelming the Ming army.

In the formation of the Qing army, Azig also looked at the Ming formation again. He looked at it for a while, put down the binoculars, and said to the Qing general beside him: "The banner of Xiangyang Hao Yaoqi is the soldiers and horses of the Shence Chinese Army, not the loyal and brave Dai Zhifan." This shows that Xinye has not fallen into the hands of the Ming army at least for now, otherwise he would send tens of thousands more to block this place, and this king would be unable to fly."

"Ama, what are you going to do next? Do you want me to take someone to harass Luanzhen?" Fu Lehe urged him to take a step forward. He has not been approved by Azig, which makes him very much hope that he can fight in front of Azig. Performance.

"There's no time!" Azig also didn't consider the second son's thoughts this time. He was not a person with delicate emotions, so he shook his head and vetoed it. Fu Lehe had to bow his head.

Azige went on to say: "The situation in Xinye is unknown. We must defeat Hao Yaoqi as soon as possible. If King Pingnan is defeated, we will enter Baihe, and the Ming army will be blocked at both ends. We will be the turtle in the urn. There is no way to attack him in this terrain." Two waists, so that the Han army is preparing to charge hard at the red flag, and in one round, I will break through the bright array for this king, and then rush past."

The Manchus were originally a small tribe outside the Guan, with few people and few soldiers. This is a shortcoming, but it is precisely because of the small number of people that they are more afraid of the dead. In order to reduce the number of dead people, Qi Ding paid special attention to equipment. , incomparable.

The Zhenghong Banner of the Han Army is a member of Kong Youde, and he is considered an elite among several Han Banners. When the Qing general Xu Degong heard the order, he immediately asked his subordinates to prepare.

At this time, Hao Yaoqi drew his horse and returned to the Ming army's formation. After a while, the officers shouted in the formation, "In front of long guns, sit on the ground, followed by bird guns and archers. The enemy advances five hundred steps. The machine is released first, nearly 150 steps, the bird gun shoots in rounds, and the hundred-step archer throws heavy arrows."

The soldiers of the Ming army in the formation heard the orders and immediately followed the instructions. The spearmen in the front row squatted on the ground as soon as they took their positions, and put the tails of the spears on the ground, with the tip of the spears facing forward, and lined up densely. There is a row of sharp iron guns waiting for them.

Hao Yaoqi was at the front this time, and arranged fifteen rows of soldiers, with long spears stabbing obliquely, like a forest of spears, and the gleaming spearheads made people shudder.

The gunners in the front row are ready, and the gunners and archers in the back are also ready.

Most of the bows and arrows in the Ming army were old soldiers, because using bows and arrows requires more experience than bird guns.

At this time, a Xiaoqi took down the step bow from behind, brushed the bowstring with his hand, and then pulled it lightly a few times, checked the bowstring, it must not be damaged by frost, he comforted the people next to him while fiddling with his bow and arrow , "Don't be afraid. Last year when defending Xiangyang, I shot four Qing soldiers to death by myself. When I get close to you, just follow the instructions taught during training and fire the blunderbuss. Your blunderbuss is better than my bow and arrow piercing armor." Be stronger!"

"Zhao Xiaoqi, why am I afraid?" the soldier next to him blushed and said unhappily.

"Then why are you shaking?" Xiao Qi gave him a blank look.

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(End of this chapter)