At night on the banks of the Huangshui River, a series of gunfire briefly illuminated the outline of the military formation, and three-eyed cannons were fired again and again. The reflection of the Mongolian cavalry surrounding the general's formation was even more terrifying.
But the most terrifying opponent in the darkness is the ghost-like team of gunmen and cavalry.
This convoy was supposed to protect tens of thousands of people in Nanshan, but Liu Chengzong's retreat exposed Nanshan to the enemy's reconnaissance range, and also made Zhong Bao aware of dangers and opportunities.
The dark night made Zhong Bao eager to try, so when he saw He Huchen and Yang Qi leading an army of thousands of people, lighting up torches and heading west, Zhong Bao immediately lit up 240 guards and followed them.
The cavalry guard is not a normal army.
Although they undertook very important combat missions in the early days of Liu Shizi's uprising, they served as the elite regiment that was the decisive factor in the Lion Army's rampage on the battlefield.
However, with the establishment of the three major training camps of the Marshal's Mansion, the army has formal training and selection channels, and the elite guard team has also followed a group of servants to become officers in the army, entering the dilemma of a shortage of all-round warriors.
Today's convoys cannot mount their spears and form a formation to charge for four rounds, then take out their bows and arrows and shoot left and right. If they lose their horses, they can still dismount and form a formation to fight like the best infantry.
They are just a group of cavalry escorts who specialize in melee combat, focus on maneuverability, and have the primary mission of protecting the generalissimo.
Although they were riding Liu Chengzong's tallest and strongest Hequ war horse, which could bear the weight of heavy horse armor, their horses only had a small iron chest.
The armor on the human body is also very light, just ordinary cotton-padded jackets and mails and helmets, not to mention iron armbands and iron boots.
There was no spear, only a feather knife, a bone and a buckler with a notch; there was no bow and quiver, only a Franco gun hanging on the horse.
This makes them lighter and more dangerous, both to friend and foe.
Zhong Bao's cavalry retreated into the darkness after a successful attack. The people reorganized without lights. After a brief period of confusion caused by human voice recognition, they reorganized into a dense formation and attacked the other corner of He Huchen's army. impact.
For those cavalrymen holding lances, when they stand with their front and back separated, the four-step interval is no longer considered loose.
But for Zhong Bao's spear-less cavalry troops, if they advance forward and backward through the same gap during the day, they can even reduce the distance between soldiers to one step.
They held muskets and lined up into twenty twelve-horse teams. Each team stood with six in front and six behind. When they were ready, they walked forward, one team after another, and each team formed a long column with an interval of more than ten steps. .
But this column is not a straight line. The front row turns a corner to the inside of the official army's position. It is a squad of twelve cavalry led by Zhong Bao himself. It is more than twenty steps away from the column and advances parallel to it.
When a whistle sounded from the Mongolian cavalry on the left and right, Zhong Bao's guards picked up their shields and launched a slow attack towards the corner of the phalanx.
In the darkness, their vision was clearer than that of the officers and soldiers, because the officers and soldiers were holding torches, and their eyes adapted to the light of the torches, but they could not see farther away.
What he wanted to attack this time was the northeast corner of the official army's formation.
While the gunmen of the army were frantically searching for their figures in the darkness, Zhong Bao had already led his guards to fire their guns 40 steps away in the darkness.
A row of handguns burst out with fleeting light, and a row of lead shot across the boundary between darkness and light, hitting the shield wall built with shields at the foot of the army's position or the helmets of the soldiers behind it.
Just listen to it.
No matter whether it is a three-eyed gun or a hand gun, it cannot break armor at this distance. The most it can do is to paste a small lead sheet on the shield and helmet.
However, the officers and soldiers fired back fiercely at them.
The gun hand held a three-eyed gun and set it up on the long shield. He held the gun shaft under his ribs. He held the match rope in his left hand and skillfully lit the fire gun. There were three bangs and bangs, and seven or eight lead pieces were thrown into the fire in the smoke. Sprays short bore.
Following closely behind, the light gunner pointed the cannon rod diagonally toward the sky, ignited the gunpowder, and with a few soft pop-pop sounds, several small cylindrical shells broke through the smoke and fired in the direction of the gunfire.
A moment later, the explosive bomb exploded, sending a cloud of smoke out of the place.
Then there were infantrymen who drew their bows and nocked arrows one after another, and fired arrows into the smoke.
The Mongolian soldiers did not receive such good treatment. The officers and soldiers were only nervous when they saw firearms. They did not even have the time to open their eyes to those stone arrowheads.
But this series of attacks were like nothing, and there was no response in the darkness, not even a scream from a man or a horse.
Zhong Bao just came over to fire a musket. After firing, he led a team of twelve people to move their horses south. The stress reactions of the officers and soldiers were all in vain and had no effect.
But immediately afterwards, more than twenty paces due north of where the explosive bombs were bursting with smoke, a real column of handguns ran out of the shadows in the dim moonlight.
They held the round shield in their left hand and pulled the reins. The bottom of the shield was stuck on the saddle. They lowered their heads slightly, leaving only a narrow line of sight between the shield and the eyebrow. They held the blunderbuss in their right hand, with the muzzle of the blunderbuss resting on the gap in the round shield.
Men, horses, shields, and muskets were integrated into one, bumping slowly as they marched, facing the arrows fired from bows and crossbows, approaching the official and army lines seventeen or eighteen steps.
Following the command from the commander of the first formation, the twelve-man cavalry team at the front and rear pulled the trigger in unison. The war horses took another step forward, the gunpowder ignited, and the first six and sixty-two rounds of projectiles were fired into the enemy's position.
This is not their code of conduct. The musket guards have never learned to deceive during training. This is Zhong Bao’s idea; and during the training, their requirement is to approach the enemy’s position ten steps with lead arrows and then release the musket. .
But the dark night not only brought fear to the enemies, they were also so nervous that the first group fired their cannons at a distance of nearly twenty steps, which made Zhong Bao frown not far away - this was very stupid.
According to the recruits' thinking, it is much safer to shoot at twenty paces from the enemy than at ten paces. In fact, it is more dangerous.
Because in the distance from a hundred steps to twenty steps, all the firepower that should be withstood has been withstood. Even if the enemy has enough determination to save the firepower until within twenty steps, they will shoot in advance and turn around in advance. The result is the same, it's just the difference between being slapped in the face or behind.
But it's different when you enter ten steps. Although it's only ten steps forward, the sense of oppression brought by the approaching cavalry to the enemy is completely different from the previous hundred steps.
Within ten steps, you can shoot flatly without aiming at this distance. No matter what armor the enemy is wearing, a hit will result in death or injury.
Especially at this moment, Zhong Bao watched Qian Shi fire the gun early, clenching his fists with a look of hatred on his face. He had deceived the enemy with a large number of firearms. This opportunity only came once, and he was missed like this.
Gu Qing
The first long team did not pose much of a threat to the army's position. Two people were shot down. More lead shot penetrated the long team and hit the soldiers behind them, but the effect was not great.
But they caused a huge morale shock to the enemy. The gunslinger holding the three-eyed gun in front of the formation did not even bother to reload, and raised the still smoking muzzle to the sky. Some people quickly lowered their bodies and hid in the long After playing cards, some people even wanted to use their iron blunderbuss to give the approaching war horses a hammer.
The spearmen behind also lowered their spears, and the formation became more compact.
At this moment, the second team of guards came forward. This commander was more courageous, and he might just be performing the drill mechanically. In short, he led the team ten steps in front of the formation. He didn't even put the musket on the shield, but directly stretched his arm towards the formation. Throw it at a shield bearer holding a torch.
With a bang, the lead shot directly penetrated the red lacquered brave helmet. The shield hand heard a clanking sound above his head and the torch fell to the ground.
Twelve lead pellets hit the front of the formation that was twenty people wide, knocking down the musketeers and infantrymen behind the shield hand at a distance of ten paces, and causing shaking and commotion when it was nearly thirty paces wide.
Then they turned their horses around from the left, followed closely by the third team, the fourth team, and the fifth team... The smoke of gunfire bloomed one after another under the night. Each team carried a huge sense of oppression and was closer than the previous team. .
In a tiny corner of the huge military formation, the soldiers who were threatened with death had nothing to do. In the panic, they had no time to reload their firearms, bows and arrows could not pose a threat, and spears and swords could not touch the enemies close at hand.
The people retreated in shock. Those in front leaned back. Soldiers in the distance who were holding muskets and preparing to shoot also retreated without knowing what was going on. The muskets were fired into the sky, further exacerbating the chaos. The soldiers behind who didn't know what was going on could only move forward. Pushing and pushing, until the northeast corner of the huge military formation began to lose control.
It was too late when He Huchen noticed the commotion on the front and back. His army formation was too large and he was always on guard against the Mongolian cavalry coming from the north and south. However, no one expected that a cavalry team carrying muskets would come from behind.
Just like a corner of a huge glass was cracked by a sharp cone, panic spread across the army like a spider web in the blink of an eye.
In the distance, Liu Chengzong noticed the commotion in the enemy's front and back through his binoculars. For a moment, he even thought it was Yang Yao who had come back, but then he noticed the flickering light of fire, and then he remembered the guard team left in Nanshan.
This is opportunity.
A cavalry team armed with muskets attacked the enemy formation at night, causing commotion in the army formation, which was an excellent opportunity.
Immediately, the lamp flag in the headquarters courtyard was lowered, and when it was raised again, only one lamp was still on. Then the lights in the courtyards were extinguished, and Basan's army was gathering.
Xie Erhu on the front line also received light orders from the rear, but his grasp of the situation on the battlefield was not as good as that of Liu Chengzong. He knew that a group of cavalry from his side had joined the battlefield, but he was only riding on horseback and could not see the situation over there.
However, the orders from the rear were unmistakable, and Xie Erhu immediately sent orders to his subordinates to cooperate with Zhong Bao in launching an attack.
The overtones of the Mongolian soldiers resounded across the north and south banks of the Huangshui River as they galloped. The galloping conscripted cavalry slowly assembled in the darkness. There was also a special Mongolian soldier beside Xie Erhu who got on his horse.
It was a mixed force that included one heavy cavalry centurion, three light cavalry centurions equipped with forged arrow clusters, two horse-armored herdsman centurions, and three unarmored herdsman centurions, with a total strength of 900. Formed a Mongolian cavalry brigade.
All the heavy armor, vests, steel knives, hooks, sickles, spears, and even forged arrowheads in Xie Erhu's hands were concentrated in the hands of this team, and the officer of this team was... Guitu Taiji from the Han tribe.
In fact, this team was established by Xie Erhu with the help of Qututaiji. This is why the Mongolian soldiers who besieged the official army formation only had stone arrows.
Prior to this, the combat capabilities of Xie Erhu's fishing camp's thousands-man teams were uneven, neither that weak nor that strong. However, Tututaiji suggested that he abandon the traditional prairie bandit thinking and organize it in the form of the Mongolian regular army. An army, even with only a hundred men, can fill the battlefield and play a decisive role when needed.
Xie Erhu followed his good deeds and actually recruited a Mongolian cavalry of 6,000 people to form this mixed cavalry with a hundred heavy cavalry as the core.
This army has a mixed cavalry of 100 heavy cavalry, 300 soldiers, and 500 grooms. The equipment conditions are not up to the level of equipment in the heyday of Hu Duntu, but compared with the Qinghai Mongolian cavalry in the past, it is better organized , There has been a qualitative improvement in equipment.
As Zhong Bao's artillery and cavalry troops attacked the northeast corner of the military formation one after another, He Huchen and Yang Qi quickly responded. Their response was to separate the headquarters that had been attacked in the northeast corner from the military formation, adjacent to The ministries distanced themselves from it, and then the two on the left and right moved forward from the headquarters, trying to surround the gun and horse team.
Zhong Bao's team could not even attack for one consecutive round. The twenty twelve-man cavalry team only rushed to the fourteenth, and their flanks were threatened by the infantry forming forward. In desperation, Zhong Bao could only draw his bow and shoot a shot. A shot of an arrow signaled the end of the attack, and the cavalry turned around.
But it is enough to shake the army formation and create gaps.
The surrounding Mongolian levy cavalry returned to harassment after a short period of reorganization. Amidst the overwhelming shouts of various overtones, the scattered Mongolian cavalry launched a more ferocious attack than before. , there will even be Mongolian soldiers trying to fight in close combat.
Due to the problem of the material of the arrow clusters, the Mongolian horse soldiers using copper and iron bones shuttled between the military formations, posing a greater threat in close combat.
But this was painful for Zhong Hu. He watched helplessly as a brave Mongolian cavalry carried Guduo past the edge of the southern military formation. He didn't find a chance to hit him. The artillerymen operating Fran cannons in the military formation were aimed at him. gun.
The cavalry soldiers quickly passed the gun muzzle, and then the artillery exploded, and a cloud of loose particles penetrated the gunpowder smoke. The Mongolian soldiers galloped back and forth on the edge of the forest of spears, jumping lively, but the gun muzzle passed him, which was where Zhong Hu's cavalry was turning. direction.
The spray-like particles swept across the sixty-step front line, sweeping half a dozen soldiers and cavalry off their horses from the flanks.
This shot frightened Zhong Hu, who was leading his troops to withdraw from the battlefield. He thought to himself, I didn't lose six of my cavalry even after charging for sixteen, you bastard, you can kill six of my cavalry with one shot?
Immediately he frowned, drew his bow, and fired an arrow. The entire cavalry team turned their horses again and ran toward the smoke in front of the enemy's formation.
At the same time, in the southwest position at the other end of the battlefield, Xie Erhu's two light cavalry centurions also lined up in a large column. They were divided into teams of ten and twenty cavalry, and they used forged arrow clusters to carry blunderbuss and cannons towards the military formation. There are layers of arrows scattered in one corner.
The leader on the left let go of the arrow and then turned around from the left to the rear of the formation. The one on the right after releasing the arrow turned around from the right and returned to the end of the formation, shooting continuously towards a corner of the formation.
The officers and soldiers in this position were used to being shot at by stone arrowheads. At first, they did not dodge the arrows. However, unexpectedly, this time the bows were heavier than before, and the arrow clusters were more powerful. At one time, more than ten people were attacked. After being shot to the ground, he adjusted his attention for a moment and sent out a team of flankers to come out from the side to deal with the turning light horse team.
At this moment, the dull and firm sound of horse hooves rumbled from the rear of the forward troop formation. Xie Erhu's heavy cavalry arrived on the battlefield, hitting and running over the troop formation like a torrent, disappearing into the darkness like ghosts again.
The scattered team broke up and fled into the formation. He Huchen's central army finally realized that their biggest enemy was that their opponents occupied the darkness and would attack from all corners. However, they were trapped and did not dare to disperse, so they could only be treated as Make a target.
If this continues, both positions will be disrupted, and the army will face the threat of scattering in the dark.
In desperation, He Huchen still ordered the army to move westward and enter the bonfire square prepared for him by Liu Chengzong.
Liu Chengzong on the roof put down his telescope: "You still came in."
The next moment, the roar of the huge flash echoed in the river valley, and twelve seven-pound cannonballs flew and screamed from different positions, falling into He Huchen's formation, smashing out and shattering limbs.
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