Amidst the roar of fire and iron, twelve heavy bronze cannons recoiled heavily in the smoke. Twelve heavy iron bullets passed over the battlefield, crashed into the surrounding army formation, and crushed the Lele chariot into powder.
Before Dorji Taiji could clearly see what was happening on the front line, among the debris of vehicles flying in the sky, Zaisang, who saw the military governor in front of the formation, suddenly dwarfed, and then there was a heart-wrenching cry.
The chaos caused by several shellings on the front line did not affect Dorji Taiji who hid in the south.
His face was calm, but he slowly nodded and counted something along with the sound of cannons in the distance. He raised his whip and wanted to say something to his left and right, but in the end he did not speak.
I just nodded secretly in my heart: Four times, the Han army bombarded four times, and three of them fired like arrows, twelve shots in succession.
In other words, after the twelve artillery shells were blasted into the formation, during the interval between artillery reloading, the front of the formation was safe for him.
Dorzi discovered this pattern during the second artillery fire.
It is not difficult to discover this pattern. The shooting drill of the artillery of the Marshal's Mansion is mainly based on round fire. Unless it is disturbed, it will not be easy to use volley fire.
This kind of maneuver is because Liu Chengzong often gathers artillery in one place for use. This was not a big problem when the light lion cannon was installed in the past.
But when they replaced the artillery with heavy artillery, dozens of kilograms of gunpowder were fired simultaneously in the gun tubes, and the volley was deafening. The artillerymen and surrounding officers and soldiers fell into tinnitus, which had a great impact on subsequent orders.
This habit also has Huang Shengxiao's personal touch. The interval between firing two cannons is called "falling time" by him, because several cannons fire shotshells at the same time, and the cannons will repeatedly hit the same target, with slightly spaced rounds. Can avoid wastage of firepower.
For Dorzitaiji, he was in a state of shock when he was shot by artillery for the first time. The sounds of light and heavy artillery were mixed, not to mention the disturbance of six Hundred Tigers Rocket Cars, and he could not calmly distinguish the sound of the artillery.
But after the rockets were fired and the small cannons were withdrawn, the sound of the twelve heavy cannons hitting their heads in turn was like a sledgehammer, which sounded particularly clear.
However, he was not sure at that time and did not want to risk his own life, so he handed over the front line supervisor to his subordinate Zaisang and led his escort to retreat to the back of the position to avoid the artillery shells.
But this time there were twelve more cannon shots, which made him firm up his guess, so after the cannon fire ended, he decisively moved forward. The generals were unable to stop him, and they galloped in front of the formation like gods descending from the earth.
When the camel was overturned by the shells and the wreckage of the Lele vehicle was shattered, the fear of death from the shelling hung like a dark cloud over the ring formation.
The embarrassed and frightened herdsmen got up from the battered front formation, and what they saw was six Jiyang knives with helmets, armor, and white horses riding out of the formation. They rode in front of the formation with the most courageous attitude in the world, using the most powerful force. The movements and firm voice tell everyone: hold on!
The Khan of Heshuote will definitely send troops to help and drive away the Han cavalry who are watching eagerly behind the formation. If they persist for a moment, they will definitely get the opportunity to retreat as a whole army!
This is undoubtedly the most glorious moment on the battlefield.
No one has eyes on the back of their head, let alone the herdsmen. Even the princes and nobles leading the army in front of the formation suddenly saw Liu Taiji galloping in front of the formation. You can imagine how excited everyone was.
Even Zaisang, who was unlucky enough to have his foot injured by a shell in front of the formation, endured the pain and stood up with a spear, shouting to the left and right, ordering his troops to regroup.
Dorji saw that his outstanding performance made the northern herdsmen lose their dejected look and felt a little more at ease. At the same time, he figured that the Han army was almost ready for the next artillery bombardment, so he rode south, hoping to get farther away from the front line.
At this moment, a horn suddenly sounded from the distant car camp. Dorji on horseback suddenly felt a chill from his tailbone to Tianling Gai, and looked north in fear.
In the yellow sand that was flying all over the sky, there was a blur of black shadow rushing towards them at an extremely fast speed. They paused briefly in the trench, and only then did Dorji see clearly that the black shadow was made up of groups of tanks. composition.
The chariot is not too wide, but very long. It is pulled by two war horses. Each vehicle carries three or four people. When passing the trench, soldiers jumped from the vehicle and placed planks on the trench channel filled with sandbags. , then got in the car again and drove south.
Dorji was puzzled at first as to what use this two-horse four-wheeled cart was on such a battlefield. Could it be that the Han army still planned to use the chariot to break through the circular formation?
It is not an unusual tactic to use vehicles to ram into positions. In the Mongolian battles for the purpose of plunder, if they can surround the enemy's main force and make sure that they will not be attacked by effective forces in a short period of time after annihilating their troops, they will even gather their war horses to attack. The enemy's formation came to break the long pole and break the formation.
In Heshuote Liutaiji's heart, this kind of chariot probably has this kind of mission.
He was even a little afraid that the Han army would rush over with a car full of gunpowder and detonate it... After all, the Heshuote Department was adjacent to Yarkand, which was a place with almost inexhaustible gunpowder.
At this time, the herdsmen on the north side of the circular formation also saw the clues, and they all put down their work. Under the leadership of the princes and nobles, they assembled behind the Lele chariot to prepare for the frontal impact of the chariot.
But at this moment, Dorji Taiji saw clearly that it seemed that the soldiers on the battlefield were not holding long knives and spears, but were all holding muskets.
And the caliber of the musket seems to be quite small.
Hundreds of tanks began to turn a hundred steps away from the circular formation. The convoy slowly turned in the shape of a long snake formation. When the first tank of the team turned its side towards the circular formation, the distance between the two sides had shortened to fifty or sixty steps.
The Heshuote soldiers who formed the infantry formation behind Lele's chariot reacted quickly. Seeing the Han army's chariot turn, the soldiers who had drawn their rifles and raised their muskets no longer waited for the enemy to enter the most suitable shooting range, and fired their muskets one after another. bow.
For a moment, gunpowder smoke billowed out from the north of the Heshuote circular formation, and dozens of muskets of different lengths and models started shooting; hundreds of rifle bows sprayed arrows at the same time, like locusts covering the sky and swooping towards the galloping enemy. Chariot fleet.
Zaisang, whose foot bone was broken, had no time to bandage the wound, so he could only hold the Lele cart in front of the formation and observe the battlefield.
He saw that the scattered chariot columns were difficult to hit by scattered muskets, so he shouted an order and asked his troops to use bows and arrows to fire volleys.
The two sides were fighting in an instant. Before Dorzi could walk back from the outside of the circular formation, he turned back on horseback to look at the rain of arrows shot by his side. However, just one glance made him widen his eyes and raise his legs. Come and roll off the horse like a loach.
While rolling, he did not forget to shout to the cavalry escort behind him: "Dismount, gun!"
He could see clearly that there were long shields with tiger or lion heads on the edges of the chariots, which protected the soldiers on the chariots tightly. There were three people on the chariots, the reins in the front and the two behind the shields. Only half of his head is exposed under the cover.
But there was a perforation hole on the side of the ferocious car body, and a foot-long pipe was tilted up from the rear of the car. It didn't look like a long and thin musket, but more like a long-barreled cannon.
The next moment gunfire roared and people fell from their backs.
The projectiles released from the heavy guns penetrated into the formation with incomparable power, knocking down each soldier amid the flying wood chips.
The chariots came and went so quickly that the herdsmen had no chance to draw their bows again. The chariots they aimed at earlier were already halfway across the battlefield. In a matter of seconds, hundreds of projectiles hit the frontline formation to pieces.
Even a stray bullet that passed through the outside of the circular formation and passed a hundred paces in the air would still hit the horse's head and kill it.
With his head buried in the sand, Dorji heard lead bullets passing overhead, war horses neighing in pain, and a continuous stream of muskets being fired from behind. When he raised his head slightly, the position in front of him was already a nightmare scene.
The sound of muskets is not as good as that of heavy artillery, but it is more fierce and poisonous. It sweeps across the front of the formation like a strong wind. The battle breaks out in an instant, with orders, screams, bows drawn, muskets fired, and lead punching through wooden boards and cowhide. The sound is endless.
The guard cavalry behind him couldn't react in time, and several of them were killed. The guard who was lucky enough to escape crawled over, grabbed his shoulders and dragged him into the formation. There was a sudden pop and his body froze.
Dorzitaji looked over again and saw that the last guard was also hit by a lead bullet. He groaned and fell to the ground, curled up and twitching continuously.
But these terrifying projectiles were only the first batch of attacks by the chariots. When the chariot convoy turned halfway, the leader of the team had already reached the northwest of the circular formation, and the guns that were tilted up at the rear of the vehicle to reveal the foot-long tube finally started shooting from the side.
Suddenly there was a loud noise, and smoke filled the rear of the car. Fire burst out from the smoke. Two and a half projectiles passed through the battlefield and penetrated the horse. Even a strong camel would only die in the face of lead bullets of this weight.
The Heshuote South Camp fell into a passive position. If it came to heavy gunfire, Dorji Taiji saw one nomadic soldier fall down, then when the gunfire came, rows of soldiers lay down one after another.
His behavior of galloping in front of the battle to boost morale pales in comparison to this powerful firearms attack.
A difficult choice was thrown on Dorji Taiji's shoulders: let the leader Zaisang launch an exciting charge, forcibly shorten the distance between firearms and pull the other two formations into the battlefield; or risk being attacked by the cavalry Risk of exiting enemy range?
Just at this moment, Dorji Taiji saw Zaisang, who had been injured on the foot by a shell earlier, slowly put down the scimitar he held high, lowered his head and covered the side of his neck with the other hand, turned around and staggered towards He comes.
Zaisang's face was full of disbelief, and blood was spurting out from his covered neck. As he staggered, he spurted out lines of red blood on the hot yellow sand.
Three steps away, he could even hear Zaisang's throat whirring like a broken bellows.
Finally, this old general who had served him for many years and was highly skilled in martial arts twitched the corners of his mouth helplessly, looked up at the setting sun in the west as if dizzy, swayed, and finally couldn't support his armored body and fell back heavily.
Zaisang likes to drink and is extremely strong. He is thrown seven or eight times in wrestling every year. He will also fall off his horse several times after drinking. He has participated in seven major battles in his life and has three scars on his body. There were fourteen arrow wounds, but he was still alive and kicking after being hit by a cannonball on his feet.
But such a strong man died in an unexpected place.
What killed him was not a lead bullet, but a flying severed hand. The severed hand belonged to a soldier three rows in front of him.
When the tank fired a heavy bullet, it was supposed to be a stray bullet that hit their heads and hit the rear. However, the soldier raised his arm and blocked the path of the lead bullet.
The lead bullets were smashed into pieces by the bones, and seven or eight small lead blocks hit the three soldiers in the two rows behind him evenly. The severed hand leaped and spun in the air, grazing Zaisang's shoulder and landed on the sand, leaving stubble on the bones. Briefly but quickly, he scratched the right side of Zaisang's neck.
Just like that, this tough guy with a steel beard and a lifetime of urinating on the head of the Lord of Hell was gone.
This severed hand solved Dorji Taiji's difficult choice. He had no choice.
After taking a hundred rounds of heavy musket fire, the soldiers in the north of the circular formation remained indifferent amid the commotion. However, after a hundred rounds of heavy muskets were fired in turn, Dorzi Taiji could not find any officer in front of the formation who was still holding on to the line. .
Even if all the herdsmen who only know how to herd sheep and shoot arrows panic, the army will not collapse. But once the officers start to act on their own, the King of Heaven will not be able to stop the army from beginning to collapse.
In hindsight, Dorji discovered that the Han army's chariot warfare method was the most commonly used ranger attack by the Mongols. To put it simply, the chariot and muskets were replaced by cavalry and bows, and it was a horse-riding attack. Nomadic cavalry attacking in a circle.
The only difference lies in the fact that weapons such as muskets allow the cavalry to maintain the huge lethality of breaking the formation from fifty or sixty steps away without having to rush to the formation more than ten steps before firing arrows to move the horses.
The panicked Liutaiji saw that the army was about to collapse. At this time, he did not care whether he would die in the stray bullets. He hurriedly got up and grabbed a soldier and asked him to tell the two lines on the front line, who were obviously dead in battle, to retreat.
This was his worst mistake of the fight.
The sound of gunfire obscured the officer's order, and the efficiency of receiving orders from the various lines in the front of the circular formation that was directly impacted began to become imbalanced. Then, due to the casualties of officers between the lines, the ability to coordinate was further lost.
When the leader Zaisang died, each centurion team completely lost their command. Some officers wanted to lead their men back and look for higher-ranking officers to take over their troops.
At this moment, the two horizontal formations that had lost their centenarians received orders from Liu Taiji and began to retreat in an orderly manner, causing other harried officers... to begin to blindly follow them.
Some people thought that the two horizontal groups were beginning to escape, and fearing for their own lives, they also led their troops to escape.
The more officers who were still alive didn't know what happened. They just noticed that friendly troops were leaving the front line in large numbers amidst the casualties and panic. They thought something important must have happened, and they immediately started running.
The people on the front line did not panic much during the retreat, because the casualties caused to them by the Han army were extremely limited from beginning to end, but the lack of panic did not mean that they would not flee.
The retreat was often unorganized. During the retreat, each horizontal team found that friendly troops were also retreating. The series of footsteps made people more and more anxious, so that one walked faster than the other, and finally it became a running competition for each team.
While Dorji Taiji was stunned, his solid ring formation formed a concave surface from north to south, and all the teams fled backwards from him. Even the teams standing firm in the south thought that the friendly forces had received some order, and pushed The chariots that blocked the road ran south.
The moment of the great rout became a tacit agreement among thousands of troops. The officers of the chariot convoy who were preparing to return to camp from the west were equally stunned when they saw this scene. They also chose to do their own thing. They led the chariot convoy in a circle and once again attacked the formation. Chase down the enemy and use the heavy gun for another round of shooting.
Marco, who was in the direction of the enemy's retreat, panicked when he saw this scene.
Even though he was well prepared, he suddenly saw the enemy troops galloping towards him like a herd of migrating wildebeests on the African grassland. His mind went blank for a few seconds, and he looked left and right while holding a knife on horseback.
At this moment, what Marco was thinking was, should I charge from the enemy's left wing or from the enemy's right wing?
The result of this problem is not difficult for Marco. There is most of the enemy army to the east. If he rushes from the right flank of the broken army, it will force the enemy army to flee eastward and join up with the enemy army to the east.
Of course, it is possible to achieve greater results, such as driving the defeated army to attack the enemy's formation and causing chaos to the enemy.
However, according to Marco's self-evaluation, he believed that this was beyond his ability of five to six hundred horsemen, and he might be wiped out as a result... This was not his responsibility.
In the eyes of Dorji Taiji, who was forced to join the retreating team, the more than 500 Han army cavalry blocking him gave way to their left wing with a whistle, which made him deeply relieved.
Apparently, the enemy cavalry were intimidated by their superior strength.
Rokudaiji, who felt a little relieved, re-dispatched his troops while running away, trying to summon the officers of each team to his side and issue new orders.
The anxious princes and nobles moved quickly and hurriedly gathered beside Taiji.
While they were trying to find the next assembly area, Dorzi heard an exclamation: "Look over there!"
In the vast smoke and dust raised by the rout, the Han cavalry formed several front formations on their left wing. Under the leadership of the madman holding a broadsword, they blocked the middle and charged at them!
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
good afternoon!
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