"Speed up! Speed up!"
Wearing heavy armor, Ai Nengqi charged in front of the military formation with his horse and gun drawn. Surrounded by a dense crowd of knights from the camp, he rode his horse at full speed towards the New Army artillery array in front.
In order to resist the terrifying volleys of cannon fire from the New Army, Ai Nengqi discussed with Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang and believed that only if the entire army wore heavy armor and protected themselves with shields, and then rushed up quickly and fought in close combat, could they defeat the New Army's cannon fire. Gun array.
So at this time, in addition to all the five thousand knights wearing armor, each of them also carried a round shield. These round shields are made of iron and covered with a thick layer of cowhide, making them highly defensive.
At this time, five thousand cavalry rushed over, and they were only more than 200 steps away from the low wall defense line in front. Ai Nengqi could even see the New Army gunners in the artillery array beginning to retreat, and even the artillery gave up on the spot. It was obvious that those The officers and soldiers were so panicked.
However, Ai Nengqi was not too happy, because he had already seen a large number of New Army infantry rushing forward, so he relied on the curved low wall to prepare for defense. Countless jet-black bird cannons were mounted on the wall. Liu Yan He was actually preparing to use a cannon to block the charge of the cavalry!
"Could it be that Liu Yan used these gunmen to defeat the Qing army's cavalry?"
At this time, the five thousand knights led by Ai Nengqi charged quickly, rushing within a hundred steps in the blink of an eye. Just as this question came to mind, there was a deafening roar in front of them, and a line of white smoke rose from the low wall. That was the sound of a volley fired by more than 7,600 gunners in the central camp.
The new army's blunderbuss is of excellent workmanship, and coupled with the power of granular gunpowder, it can shoot through the enemy's three layers of heavy armor within a hundred steps. Even if the five thousand knights are all wearing armor and have excellent buckler protection, Under the close range salvo, they were still beaten to the point of being knocked upside down.
Shen Tuo ordered Commander Guo Rong to lead all the spearmen, sword and shield bearers in the battalion, a total of more than 3,000 people, to form a formation behind the low wall defense line, and then he, Commander Teng Jianghe, and Yu Qian each led a row of gunners. , more than 7,600 gunners in the entire battalion lined up in three rows, taking turns to kill the enemy.
"put!"
Shen Tuo led the first row of gunners to retreat quickly, and then quickly reloaded from behind, while Teng Jianghe had already roared and ordered to shoot.
"Bang! Bang!"
There was another loud noise, and dense lead bullets swept across the front, shooting down a large area of the charging knights. There were scenes of people falling on their backs everywhere in front of the new army formation. Those knights who were shot fell to the ground in pain, and their bodies were covered with blood. The thick armor could not block the blows of lead bullets at close range, leaving bloody holes on his body.
The same goes for the bucklers among the knights. When lead bullets are hit on them, they basically penetrate directly. Then the lead bullets hit the human body behind the shield. Although the force is much reduced, it is still enough to knock off the thieves. .
In the high-speed charging cavalry formation, once the horse falls off the horse, it basically means death. Countless horse hooves will trample the horse into a pulp, and there is no possibility of survival.
Liu Yan held up a telescope to watch the battle, and saw thousands of bandit cavalry crowding in front of the battle. Hundreds of people in the front had been shot dead, while the cavalry behind were stopped by frightened horses scurrying around, and had to rein in their horses. Almost all of them were killed. The momentum of the army's charge was contained.
At the same time, the cavalry soldiers were not equipped with long-range weapons such as bows and arrows. They could only continue to advance on their horses, but they lost speed and were killed by rounds of volleys of bird cannons.
Seeing this, Liu Yan put down his telescope and couldn't help shaking his head and sighing. It seemed that Ai Nengqi had no experience in commanding cavalry to charge into battle. When using cavalry to attack a cannon formation, and a cannon formation with simple fortifications, you must have the mentality of a tragic victory and continue to charge forward despite huge casualties. You must not stop or slow down halfway. , even if it tramples or knocks the companion in front to death, he will not hesitate.
Moreover, such cavalry must be equipped with bows and arrows. During the charge, part of the cavalry must be separated to suppress the firepower of the cannons in a diffuse manner. Like Ainengqi, if you try to use armor and shield to defend yourself from the close-range volleys of cannons, and then try to rush in to end the battle, you are simply looking for death!
"The center camp has done a great job, now it depends on the situation on the two wings!"
Liu Yan raised his telescope and looked at the two wings of the army. However, there were many troops on both sides at this time, and the enemy troops on both wings were too far away from the Chinese army. Even with a telescope, they could not see clearly.
Liu Yan had no choice but to send messengers to strengthen contact with the two wings.
"Um?"
Suddenly, Liu Yan raised his telescope again and saw a large banner moving forward quickly in front of him. It was Li Dingguo's battle flag, and it was Li Dingguo who led thousands of gunmen running to support him.
Behind Li Dingguo's troops, an army of 20,000 to 30,000 people also formed, and the banner was Sun Kewang's troops.
Liu Yan nodded. It seemed that Li Dingguo also knew that Ai Nengqi's troops were about to be defeated, so he led his gunmen to support him and wanted to shoot with the soldiers of the middle camp.
"Order Qian Qian to be prepared. Once the enemy cavalry is defeated, send Hu Zun to bombard and kill the enemy's gunners!"
"yes!"
"Hmph! I have a lot of firepower, and it's only an idiot who shoots at you with a blunderbuss!"
At this time, on the battlefield, Ainengqi rode his horse and roared loudly in the formation. The knights under his command had begun to collapse. More than half of the two thousand people in the front were killed or injured, and the formation behind them was also in chaos.
The volleys of gunfire from the new army in front were still continuous and very rhythmic. To Ainengqi's ears, they sounded like the talisman of the King of Hell. Every roar was like a drumstick, hitting his own body hard. In my heart.
"Everyone, follow me and rush forward!"
Ai Nengqi saw with his own eyes that one of the commanders in front was shot. A lead bullet hit his face directly, then flew out from the back of his head, taking his helmet with him and flying a small part of his skull into the air.
There was also a general who was riding forward with a round shield in his hand, shouting to his subordinates who were milling around along the way. However, he was hit by several lead bullets. The round shield in his hand was pierced, and two flowers of blood surged from his body. Then he fell down from the horse on his back.
On the other side, two sentries charged forward with more than a dozen knights. They were about to rush to the damn low wall, but they were hit by a volley of fire. The dozen or so brave knights were like He was hit hard, and both men and horses were shot dead in front of the low wall. Not to mention the men, even the dozen horses were beaten into gourds of blood and fell to the ground mournfully. A dozen men and horses fell in one place. It turned out to be a small mountain of corpses!
The soldiers who were shot and killed were all Ainengqi's confidants. They had been with Ainengqi since he followed Zhang Xianzhong in the uprising. They were brothers and sisters with Ainengqi, but at this time they were all dead. They came here, and they all died worthless!
From the beginning of the war to now, the five thousand cavalry have suffered heavy casualties, but the new gunmen at the front have not seen any casualties. This situation is unacceptable to Ai Nengqi, who is now close to madness.
As Ainengqi roared, hundreds of brave knights gathered, and everyone was about to charge. But at this moment, a brigade rode over, grabbed the reins of Ainengqi's horse, and shouted: : "General, the general has ordered us to withdraw and reorganize our formation!"
"Asshole!"
Enengqi was furious: "Withdraw now, and their death will be in vain!"
"General Zhi has arrived with his troops and ordered us to withdraw. General, please think twice!"
Ai Nengqi looked in the direction of the brigade's finger, and sure enough, the five thousand gunmen led by Li Dingguo had arrived, less than a mile away.
Then Ai Nengqi looked forward. The army of knights was still charging, but all the men and horses had lost their speed. They were shot and killed every time they charged forward. Occasionally, a lucky person rushed forward, roaring and trying to ride his horse over. The low wall was stabbed to death by many spearmen waiting for work.
At this time, Ai Nengqi was able to understand the "viciousness" of the New Army's tactics. Such a line of defense could only be broken through with firearms.
"retreat!"
Ai Nengqi gave the order loudly, and thousands of knights quickly retreated, leaving corpses on the ground. In this charge, Ainengqi's five thousand knights left behind at least one thousand and hundreds of corpses, while the officers and men of the New Army's middle camp had only a dozen casualties.
When Liu Yan saw the rogue cavalry retreating, he ordered the artillery battalion to prepare the Tiger Cannon.
Qian Qian had already led the gunners from the Hu Zun Gunnery Command to re-enter the artillery camp position. The gunners and long gunners from the center battalion in front also retreated, leaving the attack surface and firing range clear.
"Haha, brothers, give those thieves a big one!"
The gunners of the General Tiger Cannon burst into laughter. More than seventy Tiger Cannons were lined up behind the low wall, and all were loaded.
The gunners used shotgun shells, and then they moved all the sandbags and bamboo baskets in front of each Tiger Cannon and stretched out the muzzle.
At this time, the five thousand gunmen led by Li Dingguo were two hundred steps away. After a simple formation, they lined up in five rows and pressed over in a mighty manner.
Seeing this, Qian Qian shouted excitedly: "The range of the bandits' fire cannons is within seventy steps. Everyone obey my order and place the bandits within a hundred steps before firing!"
The firing range of the Hu Zun Cannon is about 200 steps, and the effective range of using Qunzi is about 120 to 150 steps. Qian Qian was ready to fire a volley within a hundred steps, which could maximize the power of the Tiger Cannon's shells.
Under the protection of dozens of soldiers, Li Dingguo walked behind the last row of gunners. From here, he could not see the situation of the New Army's artillery battalion defense line in front. He could only constantly learn about the situation ahead from the mouths of the scouts.
"Report! All the gunners and artillerymen of the official army have withdrawn."
"Report! There is no one behind the low wall of the army..."
Li Dingguo couldn't help but worry. Considering the strong combat power of Liu Yan's troops, it was impossible to retreat without a fight, so he felt strong uneasiness in his heart.
At this time, Li Dingguo looked back and saw that Sun Kewang had led 30,000 spearmen to follow. The soldiers at the front of the military formation were all holding heavy shields. The entire military formation looked like a moving city wall.
Looking at the left and right sides, the large banners of the left camp and the rear camp were fluttering in the wind in the distance. As long as their own side made progress, the two battalions of 300,000 troops would rush towards the two wings of Liu Yan's tribe like a flood.
Thinking of this, Li Dingguo felt relieved: "No matter how powerful Liu Yan's troops are, they can't defeat hundreds of thousands of rebels with tens of thousands of troops!"
Soon, Li Dingguo led his troops to advance eighty steps in front of the new army's formation.
Qian Qian looked at the army of bandits getting closer and closer, and could even see clearly the fire cannons in the hands of the thieves. There were bird cannons of different lengths, double-barrel, three-barrel, and even four-barreled three-eye cannons. , and there are also some weird-shaped firecrackers that cannot be named at all.
All the fireguns equipped by the bandit firegunners are matchlock guns, dragging a long match rope, which are far inferior to the flintlock birdguns equipped by the new army battalions.
"cut!"
Qian Chong said with disdain in his heart: "It is estimated that even if it is a volley, those thieves will not be able to maintain the volley for two rounds, and they will lose the rhythm of the volley. The filling methods of those complicated fire guns are all different, if they can fire consistently If you can shoot without messing up, it will really be like hell!"
At this time, the five thousand thieves and gunmen entered the new army's formation seventy steps. Qian Qian waved his hand suddenly and roared: "Fire!"
Some people died, but not completely...
