Liu Chengzong was not in a hurry to attack. He climbed up the earth mountain built by his brother and overlooked the battlefield terrain.
To the north is the Huangshui River, which flows slightly from east to west. On the other side of the river is farmland at the foot of the mountain. At the east end of the farmland is a long and narrow river beach. Beyond the river bank in the north is Daping where it enters the Datong River.
The vast fields on the south bank of the Huangshui River are where his main camp is located. A small river blocks his way to the east. The enemy has a camp of 3,000 soldiers on each side of the north and south banks of the Huangshui River. In front of Chenbu Muzhai, a cannon is set up. The five layers of artillery guarded the key points.
There were thousands of soldiers further away, but those people looked like officers and soldiers.
The native soldiers in the northwest and southwest are different. The native soldiers in the northwest are not much different from the official army in terms of armor, clothing, weapons and equipment. They just have fewer firearms. The real difference is that the military formations are different.
The formation of the native soldiers is also the camp flag, and the flags used by each camp flag are also the constellations of stars, flying tigers in four directions and sacred flags in five directions, so the organization is clear in Liu Chengzong's eyes.
A three thousand battalion has twenty-four hundred corps. Each hundred corps has two flags, one large and one small. The strength is about 125 men.
The Twenty-Four Banners, including the Chinese Army, had Nine Banners horsemen, arranged on the left and right, and the Fifteen Banners infantry formed a loose square formation according to the formation of five sentries.
The reason why it is loose is because the small infantry formations of the native soldiers are not square formations. To be precise, each hundred formations are actually two small formations. The hundred people behind them hold the big flag for the ten vertical and ten horizontal square formations. In front of each flag, There is also a 25-man vanguard with one, three, five, seven and nine people arranged in five deep rows, with the leader holding a small military flag. .
Liu Chengzong didn't quite understand the meaning of the existence of this elite team. He turned his head and searched behind him with his eyes, wondering: "Where is Chieftain Li?"
Behind him, the chieftains in Xining lowered their heads and pretended to be dumbfounded. When they heard him speak, they stepped aside one after another, revealing Li Tianyu who was hiding at the end.
When his hiding behavior was discovered, Li Tianyu was very embarrassed and panicked. With a downcast face and a dark face, he struggled to raise a smile: "Commander, what's wrong?"
As if Liu Chengzong didn't see his expression, he raised his arm and pointed to the opposite side and said, "What does that little elite team do?"
"What little elite team?"
"You can't see such a big Li Ziqi? It's just the small guard in front of your military formation!"
Li Tianyu had seen it a long time ago. He hid behind seeing such a big Li Ziqi in the military formation on the other side. If he hadn't been trapped in Liu Chengzong's military formation, he would have wanted to run out.
He never expected that there would be his own army on the opposite side. Their family was different from other chieftains. He had an agreement with Liu Xiangyu in advance, and even opened up the relationship with the Lanzhou garrison for the Marshal's Office. Now Liu Chengzong raised the Raising the flag of rebellion, he could not look back.
If the situation of his family's expedition arouses Liu Chengzong's suspicion again, he will no longer be a human being inside and outside.
"Commander, why don't you lend me your telescope?" Li Tianyu gritted his teeth and said, "Let me see which unworthy descendant is leading the army."
"Just take a look." Liu Chengzong handed over the binoculars. This time the chieftains' soldiers went to war, which meant that the chieftains had far less control over their families than he imagined. This was a good sign. He smiled and said: "Your family probably They’re all on the opposite side.”
Li Tianyu looked over and over with the binoculars. The more he looked, the darker his face became. Each of the soldiers leading the troops on the opposite side was more familiar than the other. Liu Chengzong was really right.
In my uncle Li Hua'ao's team, four generations, from grandfather to nephew, all stood in front of the formation and led the vanguard, and no one took his life seriously!
It was difficult for him to explain this to Liu Chengzong. In fact, his family was a side branch. There were two strong branches in the generation of his great grandfather Li Guangxian. They were not the same ancestor. One was Li Guangxian and the other was Li Guangyu. They were still in the same generation at that time. , but the next generation will be different.
Li Guangxian had two sons, the eldest son Li Hualong and the second son Li Hua'ao.
Li Guangyu's descendant is Li Conglong.
It is clear who is in charge of transforming into a dragon or following a dragon.
Li Guangxian was succeeded as chieftain by Li Hualong, but because he had no heirs, the chieftainship fell to Li Conglong's son Li Tianyu.
Now that Li Humastiff is leading troops into battle, it is clear what he means.
Li Tianyu was so angry that his teeth were itching. In order to prevent his family from being attacked by two sides in this war of the Lord of Hehuang, his efforts were not worth mentioning in the eyes of others.
They didn't have to do anything originally, they could just tie the Tushe people at home and watch the success or failure. Liu Chengzong won, and the family did not send troops, so they would not be retaliated against. If the court suppressed the chaos, they might lose their lives, but the family could still be saved. .
Fortunately, no one from his own team was seen in the military formation.
He sighed, frowned and explained to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, those top troops are the generals and elites of the chieftain army. During the battle, if the front is dead, the back will be supplemented. Once the enemy's formation shakes, the soldiers behind can also follow to cover up the enemy. Therefore, If you can move forward in a conflict... kill the local official who leads the team first!"
So cruel?
Liu Chengzong raised his eyebrows: "Do you have a grudge against them, or do they have a grudge against you?"
"They don't care about my safety, so why should I do it?" Li Tianyu couldn't see any ruthlessness on his face. Instead, he had a sad look on his face, but he said the most decisive words: "When the commander takes Shangchuankou, I hope you can I'll go home and recruit troops... One Li in Hehuang can defeat more than just Li Hua'ao!"
After saying this, Li Tianyu let out a deep sigh of relief, but he did not return the telescope to Liu Chengzong, but handed it to Qi Guoping: "My brother-in-law also went to war with his nephew, and your Qi family is no better than my Li family. Where to go!”
Upon hearing this, Qi Guoping's face darkened.
Uncle Li Tianyu's daughter married Qi Guoping's younger brother. These chieftains were more or less related to each other. For a while, they all looked at the opposite side with telescopes, and each one had a complicated mood.
Except for the two chieftains' sons who were left at home and were reliable, the other brothers and elders of the chieftain's family didn't take the life of the head of the family seriously.
Liu Chengzong laughed out loud. Hearing that each of the chieftains was either requesting to recruit troops after the war or asking to go to the front of the battle line to persuade them to surrender, he knew very well that these people who wanted to fight for the Marshal's Mansion did not really like themselves, but hated the other side extremely.
"Since you are willing to join me, I will not treat you badly if you have achieved military exploits, but there is no need to surrender before the battle."
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said: "They want to set off mines and send you to the sky? Since I dare to raise troops, I know I want to kill people; since they dare to stop me, they also know they want to kill people. Let each of them do what they want."
Liu Shizi looked down upon the enemies in this battle in his words, but in fact he valued the soldiers in his heart.
Because the chieftain soldiers are most likely to be stronger than the official army...the difference is not in the soldiers. In terms of soldiers, regardless of equipment or tactics, they should be stronger than the official army, but the chieftain soldiers are not professional soldiers of the imperial court.
Not being a professional soldier of the imperial court, on the one hand, means not receiving the huge financial and manpower support of the imperial court; on the other hand, it also means that the strength does not need to be linked to the national power of the imperial court.
In fact, they were the real servants of the Ming Dynasty. They did not need court salary, rations, or equipment. They only had to listen to instructions and propaganda. Whether they could fight or not was entirely based on the chieftain's financial resources and ambition.
The additional positive status when the unified dynasty is strong has less impact on them, but the negative status when the unified dynasty is about to collapse also has less impact on them.
Therefore, even if the chieftain soldiers' equipment is slightly backward and their tactics are a little simple, in wars at this time, they can often have more fighting spirit and combat effectiveness than the standing army.
While talking, Liu Shizi had already asked the guards to tell the generals in front of the formation about the enemy's advanced tactics and the laying of mines in front of the formation, so that they should not advance lightly and wait for the layers of firearms to defeat the enemy before waiting for an opportunity to advance.
A moment later, Liu Chengzu and Huang Shengxiao climbed up Tushan. The artillerymen arrived at the battlefield with twelve thousand-jin bronze heavy cannons and carrying guns. The flag army of Xining Guard also transported heavy weapons such as rocket vehicles, Fran machine guns, and prisoner-killing cannons to the scene.
Of course, there is also the large mortar and enchanted explosive shells that Liu Chengzong forged in Bajiao City. That cannon was also mounted on a two-wheeled gun carriage in Juerwan, but the range was too close and there was no need for that thing in this battle. It is still there. The baggage camp is just sitting there gathering dust.
As artillery and other heavy weapons arrived at the front line, the enemy troops were no longer so calm. Even through the telescope, Liu Chengzong could see that the various troops of the native soldiers could not restrain their panic, and ordered soldiers to shuttle back and forth among the military formations.
Mo Yujing was always paying attention to the movements in front of the Marshal's Mansion. He was on the defensive. On the one hand, he was unwilling to abandon the trench fortifications and march into the army. On the other hand, he also wanted to wait until the sun was less dazzling.
The army in the Marshal's Mansion has more armor and equipment than the native soldiers, so they are more tired while waiting. It is beneficial to him to wait for work in leisure.
But when the heavy artillery was slowly transported to the front line, the situation was different.
Originally, both armies had artillery in front of the formation, and the artillery regulations were the same. Whatever the official army had, Liu Chengzu's Xining Guard Banner Army and Zhenhai Battalion were equipped with whatever they had. They were both Western armies, and they used roughly the same firearms.
The reason why you can still feel calm at a distance of 400 steps is because heavy artillery is not popular in the army in the northwest. The artillery they mainly equip is the anti-Japanese cannon and the Franco machine gun, supplemented by the light artillery with poison smoke and divine fire explosive shells.
All cannons are good. Gongchang Mansion is the iron smelting center in the northwest. After Ye Mengxiong took charge of Shaanxi, forging cannons became popular here. Forging can produce forged steel cannons, which are strong, durable and easy to fire quickly.
There are only two shortcomings. It requires extremely strong manufacturing capabilities to build in large quantities. Secondly, the forging cannon is not large enough.
But these two shortcomings are not a problem for the Northwest Army. The Ming Dynasty has no shortage of manpower and technology, and has extremely strong productivity in the era of handicraft industry.
However, the enemies to be dealt with in the northwest are difficult to use heavy artillery with a slow rate of fire and high power. The Mongolian soldiers who aim to plunder usually avoid fighting and do not fight in formation. Moreover, the horsemen and soldiers are scattered and never reunited. If the heavy artillery cannot hit the target with one shot, it will be a big loss. , and the range does not need to be too far, as long as it is farther than the Mongolian hard bow.
This resulted in the fact that no matter east of the river or west of the river, the most numerous artillery pieces used by Ye Guoqi's soldiers were anti-captive cannons, and the most numerous artillery pieces used by Liu Chengzu's Xining Banner Army and Zhenhai Battalion were also anti-capital artillery pieces.
The Ming Dynasty faced two kinds of threats from the captives, the old northern captives and the new eastern captives. Therefore, the captive-killing cannon also had two models, the old one was lighter and the newer one was heavier.
The main equipment of the newly destroyed Donglu is Liaodong, which is a Hongyi-style cast medium-sized field gun.
The Western Army's captive-killing cannon is a small cannon used to fight the Mongols. It is made of pure iron. It is two feet long, weighs ninety-five kilograms, and can fire one kilogram of shells. It is equipped with a double-coiled three-wheeled artillery cart, with two large wheels in front. , a small wheel at the back, each vehicle carries three cannons, which are fired at the same time, focusing on maneuverability.
This is a very good field light artillery, suitable for small-scale encounters with Mongolian tribes, but what they are going to fight this time is not small-scale encounters. Originally, everyone saw that Liu Chengzu's troops were also equipped with official military equipment. Who would be afraid of the other in a head-on confrontation? Anyway, No one's cannon will go off two hundred paces away.
But then Liu Shizi suddenly took out a dozen big guys weighing more than a thousand pounds from his pocket. Who can withstand these!
Mo Yujing's face turned green. He had been fighting with the Northern Shaanxi rebels for more than a year. It's not that he didn't know that the Northern Shaanxi rebels had artillery, but they were captured cannons from the army. They had the same shape as them, and they were even officers. Military cannons contain lighter gadgets such as yongzhu, but I have never seen the rebels take out thousands-jin cannons.
However, he did not dare to order a retreat because the opponent had a lot of Mongolian cavalry. Usually the northwest frontier army was not afraid at all when seeing the Mongolian soldiers, but this was different. After discussing with Jinghe Yeguoqi, Mo decided to There was no certainty that the entire army would be brought back under the attack of the Mongolian cavalry.
Inch long and strong, there is only one choice left for him, take the initiative to attack.
Horns sounded one after another in the east of the river. The Northern Army, which was not threatened by heavy artillery and was guarding the narrow river beach on the north bank of the Huangshui River, broke out of camp and moved westward, intending to seize the north bank of the Huangshui River and pose a threat to Liu Chengzong's left wing.
Then the Eastern Army advanced in unison amidst the sound of horns. The horsemen on both wings took the lead in wading across the river. Then the infantry unloaded the captive-killing cannon from the artillery cart and carried it on their shoulders to pull the cart through the water.
Seeing this scene, Liu Chengzong showed a smile on his face. The enemy's intention was very clear. They used their feet to eliminate the disadvantage of the artillery's range and win by fighting, but this also meant that they temporarily gave up the advantage of the mine position.
Liu Chengzong quickly issued an order to use the Mongolian battalion of Ahai Daiqing's tribe from the left to defend the enemy's crossing of the north bank of the Huangshui River. He withdrew his brother Liu Chengzu's 4,000 battalion flag troops from the front of the formation and moved them to the left to assist Ahai Daiqing.
Huang Shengxiao was ordered to advance the entire force with heavy guns and heavy artillery, bombarding the enemy's formation with heavy artillery, forcing them to accelerate forward and consume their energy. He ordered Basang to stabilize the front and face the impact without collapsing, advancing or retreating.
The horse-drawn carriage with the gun on its back was speeding across the battlefield. Ngawang was dancing and shouting silently in front of the formation. Buchi was loudly encouraging morale in the formation. Basang was running across the formation with a red flag with Liu characters on his shoulders. The slave cavalry was marching to both wings. Dispersed, the soldiers raised their spears and shouted in peace, and the Mongolian sabers struck the iron-clad shields, making a clanging sound.
The Han army led by a mixed team planted flags and spears in the farmland with the message "Peace in the World". They looked around and wondered who was taking a step forward first.
Soon, all the Han soldiers took a step together, set up heavy musket supports, placed heavy muskets as high as a person in front of them, skillfully blew fire and ignited the match rope wrapped around their left arms, and placed it on the faucet pole. Clamp.
A thousand-jin heavy artillery fired from the rear, and suddenly the iron bullets screamed over the infantry's heads and over the formation, and landed on the other side of the river. The frightened soldiers suddenly quickened their pace, followed closely by eleven heavy artillery blasts. .
When artillery shells flew overhead and the soul-stirring roar echoed in the river valley, the six hundred veterans of the Lion Battalion at the front of the battle line turned a deaf ear to the murderous intent spreading across the battlefield.
The homeless wanderers put their muskets on their shoulders and used their dark eyes to look through the front sight. They looked at the black line spreading on the river beach, and also looked beyond the black line at the blurred clouds and blue sky further away.
At the end of the white clouds and blue sky is their loess and their home.
