Several fusilier battalions in the first model town of the Ming Army and several assault cavalry battalions of Wu Guogui's soldiers almost collided head-on! Moreover, people on both sides seemed to be in a hurry and did not take the time to form their formations. They were all focused on attacking!
The great general of the Ming Army, "Li Po Lun", was mainly afraid that "Wulu Xier"'s cavalry would not be able to withstand it if they charged at full strength, and directly turned the Laodao River into Waterloo.
On the other hand, "Wu Lücher" did not care about protecting "Ma Quan", because there was a very hard-working "Li Luxi" behind him. The vanguard sent by "Li Luxi" was far away from the rear guard of "Wu Lücher" The troops were so close that they could shoot each other with rifled flintlock muskets! Therefore, "Wu Lu Xie Er" also wanted to defeat "Li Po Lun" as soon as possible, otherwise he would be attacked by "Li Po Lun" and "Li Lu Xi" later, and then he would become the sinner who ruined Wu Zhou's world.
The battle between the two armies of "Li Po Lun" and "Wu Lücher" first broke out between the 4th Fusiliers Battalion, the 8th Fusiliers Battalion and "Wu Lücher" in the Model 1 Town of the Ming Army. Expand between riding on the left camp. Although the fusilier battalion of the Ming Army did not form a hollow square formation, they did not form a horizontal formation, nor did they draw a "thin red line". Instead, they went directly into battle in the form of a marching column.
The so-called marching column means that one platoon is divided into four columns, and the five platoons of a fusiliary platoon (including the team headquarters platoon) follow each other to form a column. A battalion consists of five teams, one team following the other, forming a larger column. The eight battalions belonging to the Model No. 1 Town were divided into two large columns consisting of four battalions each, advancing hand in hand.
Columns of this width cannot march on official roads and can only walk in the wild. If the two large columns are closer together, they can actually be regarded as a "rectangular array" of about twenty times one hundred.
Because the depth of this "rectangular array" is too great, and most of the soldiers who "formed the rectangular array" were carrying flintlock rifles with bayonets on their shoulders. They were walking in the sun with amazing momentum, and they looked like they were lined up in rows. Like a moving steel jungle. Even if they were the personal assault cavalry of "Wulu Xier", they would not have the confidence to attack them in one fell swoop - a hundred rows of "big depth", how to attack them? Moreover, the three rows of musketeers walking in the front were all carrying rifled guns. When they saw a group of cavalry rushing towards them, they immediately stopped advancing amidst a burst of harsh suona sounds, and then the first row came to a shooting kneeling position. , the second row held their muskets flat, and the third row of soldiers placed their muskets directly on the shoulders of the second row of soldiers, using the second row of soldiers as human gun stands.
As a result, all sixty flintlock rifled guns were aimed at the Wu cavalry in front, and then there was a burst of accurately aimed volleys!
Although the shooting distance was quite long, more than 150 steps, the rifled gun could not hold up and the Mini bullets were used to shoot farther and more accurately, so he was placed under the command of more than a dozen "Wulucher" on the spot. . Eleven or twelve of them were hit in the body by enemy bullets. They lost the value of saving on the spot and fell off their horses screaming. Although the remaining people were not shot, their horses were hit by bullets. Those horses were already "working overtime" and had been driving for most of the day. Now they were sprinting without even letting them take a breather to eat something good. They couldn't stand it any more. If they were shot again, they wouldn't fall down on the spot. Waiting for death on the ground? The horses were overturned, and the Wu and Zhou Tuqi riding on their backs were also defeated?
Seeing the assault cavalry rushing in front, people were shocked. The Wu and Zhou assault cavalry following behind were all frightened. No one was able to attack the front of the Ming army column in front. Moreover, it was impossible to penetrate it. Such a thick enemy formation!
Therefore, these Wu and Zhou assault cavalry had to detour to the left of the two battalions of Ming army riflemen, hoping to take advantage of the fact that the Ming army had not yet deployed the square formation and launch an assault from the relatively thin flank - in their impression, a marching It is not that easy for the infantry in the army to successfully form a hollow square formation. After all, this involves the coordination of two different arms: pikemen and musketeers. No, this group of Ming troops are pure muskets! They don’t even have spears, so aren’t they afraid of cavalry attacks?
Then something even more wrong happened. This group of Ming Army musketeers did not try to form a hollow square formation at all. They just "turned left", "turned right", and "turned back"—— The three rows of musketeers on the right side turned right, the three rows of musketeers on the left side of the large column turned left, the three rows of musketeers on the rear side of the large column turned back, and the others did not move.
After completing their turns, these musketeers knelt in the front row, and the back row placed their muskets on the shoulders of the middle row. They fired three rows of volleys to shoot at the Wu Zhou Army's sudden cavalry who tried to pass by a hundred feet away in front of them. .
Although most of the musketeers at the rear of this large Ming army column were equipped with ordinary flintlock muskets, the bullets they used were all "chrysanthemum" stubby bullets with corks attached. This kind of bullet is different from the "mini bullet" which has a longer bullet body and a groove in the middle and lower part of the bullet body. It is a stubby round-headed bullet with a cavity at the bottom of the bullet, which can also be inserted into a small A cork base. The principle of this kind of bullet is similar to that of Minie bullet, and it can also be regarded as a minie bullet specially used for smoothbore guns. According to tests conducted by the Guangdong Jiangwu Hall, the effective range of a musket using this bullet can be doubled!
If used by strictly trained infantry, it can easily hit a target 150 steps away during training, and there is a high probability of hitting a target 100 steps away in actual combat.
It is difficult to pierce a Yang with a hundred steps, but there is still a certain probability of piercing a horse or a man with a hundred steps.
And when a battalion of Wu Zhou's sudden cavalry circled around to the left side of the Ming army's large column, stopped a hundred steps away from the Ming army's column, and prepared to launch a charging line, at least 2,780 were installed. The corked musket fired!
These Wu and Zhou cavalry were all stationed in Hunan with Wu Guogui, and they all had seen the power of rifled flintlock guns. But they also knew that flintlock muskets were rare, so they never expected that they would be hit by intensive firepower from "flintlock muskets" a hundred steps away from the enemy line. Caught off guard, forty or fifty people in this battalion of less than a thousand Wuzhou Tuqi were killed and wounded, and more than thirty war horses were also knocked over. Wu Zhou Tuqi, who was in the front, suddenly A piece fell. The remaining Wu and Zhou cavalry were all confused. Could it be that the Ming army in front of them not only had all flintlock guns, but also all rifled guns? Is this too broad?
Before these Wu and Zhou cavalry could react, a rapid sound of drums and drums sounded!
It turned out that Wu Guogui, who went to the front line to supervise the battle, had people beat the drums.
And the beat of the drum is the command!
It's an order to charge!
Wu Guogui's level of military management is still very high, and his pro-army assault cavalry can even command and enforce orders. Although he knows that there may be too many rifled flintlock guns in the front, when the sound of drums and drums sounds, the more than a thousand soldiers of this battalion are The cavalry warrior launched the charge without hesitation.
However, although their charge was resolute, it was a bit hasty. Instead of completing the entire team, a large group of cavalry rushed up in confusion.
The reason why Wu Guogui was eager to launch an attack was actually to disrupt the deployment of the Ming army and prevent them from deploying in time, so that his troops could deploy first and then launch a fierce attack. Therefore, this cavalry charge was actually a feint attack.
However, the charge of more than a thousand Wu and Zhou cavalry still looked very impressive. These Wu and Zhou cavalry armed with long spears surged forward like a tide, rushing towards the "rectangular formation" of the Ming army.
These are thousands of cavalry. Even if they are spread out in chaos, they are still very large, almost drowning the "rectangular formation" of the Ming army in front!
However, the Ming Army's musketeers were not intimidated by these imposing lancers. They were the infantry of Model Town!
What a model! Of course he is extremely powerful, with extremely strong discipline, strong will to fight, and extremely high level of training. He also often trains with Li Zhongshan’s cavalry. He has long been accustomed to being worn by those wearing expensive clothes that blind people’s eyes. A's cavalry was frightened. Compared with them, this chaotic cavalry in front of them is nothing at all?
It's not professional at all to charge without even forming a team, so don't be afraid!
It can be said that this cavalry group relies mostly on intimidation and only half on charging. If the cavalry cannot overwhelm the opponent in terms of momentum, but allows them to calmly load bullets, calmly aim, and calmly fire volleys, then this charge will have no effect. .
With a piercing sound of the suona, the first three rows of musketeers on the left side of the Ming army's "rectangular formation" fired another volley. Wu Guogui, who was supervising the battle not far away, seemed to see a hurricane sweeping past his precious cavalry formation. Dozens of cavalrymen fell to the ground like blown dead leaves. Some of the horses that were frightened or injured and had not yet laid down fled randomly, causing the already chaotic Wu and Zhou cavalry to become even more chaotic. But they were still surging forward, but their scattered formation began to have a negative effect at this time.
Since there is no dense formation to constrain, the charging cavalry can choose to avoid the enemy's dense bayonet formation. Most of the assault cavalry wisely avoided the Ming army's hedgehog-like rectangular formation and divided into two groups. , pouring to the left and right sides. Although there were dozens of lancers who bravely charged into the Ming Army's rectangular formation, they also successfully broke out large and small gaps, and even sent some Ming Army musketeers flying, and then fell heavily. among the crowd at the rear.
But the "rectangular formation" with dozens of lines thick was simply not something that just a few dozen brave Wu and Zhou cavalry could break through!
The Wuzhou assault cavalry, who failed to disrupt the Ming army's formation and suffered a lot of losses, were unable to immediately launch a second round of attacks, so they had to withdraw first to regroup and conserve their power.
After successfully withstanding the first wave of enemy cavalry attacks, another suona blast suddenly sounded in the Ming army's rectangular formation. Then, the long square array suddenly expanded in four directions, front, back, left, and right, and in a short period of time, it opened into a large hollow square array composed of two thousand people.
Once this hollow square formation is completed, the Ming army on this line will have a reliable support point. Immediately afterwards, two more double-battalion columns rushed up from the left and right wings of the hollow square formation. Wu Guogui knew not to give the Ming army a chance to form a front, otherwise it would be difficult to fight! So they immediately mobilized four battalions of "double spearmen" and two battalions of cavalry to attack the two new double battalion columns of the Ming army.
A more intense confrontation than the previous battle ensued immediately. This time Wu Zhou had four more battalions of infantry! So they first attacked with a wave of cavalry to prevent the Ming army from forming their formation. Then the cavalry retreated, and the "double spearmen" equipped with pikes and muskets took advantage of the cavalry's attack to complete their deployment, forming a six-row line with four pikes in the center and muskets on both sides, and then launched a charge.
The two double battalion columns of the Ming Army were also afraid of Wu Zhou's "double spear" soldiers. After repelling Wu Zhou's cavalry, they immediately began to change their formations. However, they did not deploy a hollow square formation or form a horizontal formation, but deployed It became two charging columns - the front of the formation was wider, but it still belonged to the column. Subsequently, a more intense confrontation unfolded on both wings of the Ming Army's hollow square formation that had just been opened.
While the eight battalions of the Ming and Zhou Dynasties were engaged in a fierce battle, more Ming and Wu Zhou armies arrived on the battlefield! They all rushed towards both wings of the battle line in an attempt to outflank the enemy's two wings.
With the input of one battalion after another, the display of both sides became longer and longer, and soon a battle line more than ten miles wide was formed.
Tens of thousands of troops from both sides fought fiercely on this battle line. The sound of gunfire, artillery, and shouts mixed together to form the most heroic battlefield symphony!
And there is not just one such fighting line on today's Laodao River battlefield, but at least four!
The main forces of the Ming Army and Wu Yingqi's troops were facing the front line formed when they were facing each other - the battle on this front began first. By the evening of September 22, the two warring parties had been fighting fiercely for eight or nine hours. After Li Zhongshan left, Li Fuchen took over the command. Under his organization, the Ming army successively attacked the Wu army's front line. The number of casualties on both sides increased sharply. The breath of death spread across the entire front, and people fell to the ground everywhere. The corpses of soldiers from both sides!
The Ming army's roundabout troops and Wu Yingqi's right flank covering troops formed a second battle line. The battle on this battle line was extremely fierce! Wu Yingqi's right wing was almost defeated by Li Zhongzheng!
However, after Wu Shicong led the cavalry to launch a counterattack, Li Zhongzheng's offensive momentum was curbed, and Wu Shicong and Ma Bao jointly forced him back some. However, the powerful firepower and tenacious style of the Second Model Town quickly helped Li Zhongzheng stabilize his position and caused huge casualties to his opponents. The entire front was littered with corpses!
The blocking force led by Li Zhongshan and Wu Guogui formed a third front line of battle. The battle on this front was fierce from the beginning. A fierce battle broke out between the two sides even before the deployment was completed. In the end, they had to fight while spreading. . When the horizontal formations, columns, square formations, and hollow square formations of both sides were deployed one by one, the front line had long been in a stalemate.
The muskets of the First Model Town are also the well-deserved gods of death on this front, wantonly harvesting the lives of Wu Zhoujun, and repelling their attacks one after another.
As well as the battle line formed by Wu Guogui's palace army and Li Laishun's tribe. This is the fourth dead line on the battlefield of Laodao River today! Li Laishun "Li Luxi"'s performance today is also quite positive, but his unit's combat effectiveness is not very strong. It is equipped with far fewer flintlocks than other parts of the Ming army. It is on a shoulder-to-shoulder level with Wu Zhou's army, and the number of cavalry There are very few, and there are not many artillery pieces that can be used on the field battlefield. In short, his strength is mediocre.
But Li Laishun was still the "most handsome boy" in Li Zhongshan's eyes. It was precisely because of his dedication that Li Zhongshan did not become the Napoleon of Waterloo. Li Laishun almost rushed to the battlefield with Wu Guogui in his ass.
So Wu Guogui only mobilized 20,000 to 30,000 people to attack Li Zhongshan, and at the same time, he had to use 20,000 people to resist Li Laishun. It was like a piece of meat in a steamed bun, and it was almost crushed between two steamed buns!
And when the battle reaches this point, the outcome is a competition of wills!
At this time, perseverance is victory!
"Persistence, persistence, perseverance to the end is victory!"
Li Zhongshan was so red-eyed at this time that he didn't even care about the threat from the enemy's sharpshooters. He just rode his war horse back and forth behind his own front, and kept cheering up the Chinese soldiers who were fighting hard!
And "persistence to the end is victory", these eight simple but philosophical words are the motto of the Martial Arts Hall founded by Li Yat-sen. When the battle is at its fiercest, it is often about who can persevere to the end!
If you persist a little longer, maybe you will win!
"Come on, come on with me. The Ming Dynasty will win! The general is invincible in the world!"
This was the cry of the Southern King Li Fuchen when he once again led the Ming cavalry who had had enough rest to charge! He really went all out for the sake of "eighteen sons to rule the world". He twice braved the hail of bullets, rushed across the smoke-filled battlefield, and launched attacks on the enemy lines.
The real Lu Bu is here, but that’s it, right?
"Model Second Town Go Forward! Go Forward"
When it was getting dark, Li Zhongzheng organized another model army charge, throwing six battalions of fusiliers at once, forming a wide line, approaching the enemy's position, using fierce firepower to try to suffocate his enemy.
"Come on, charge again. After this battle, I promise to give you guys houses and land!"
Li Laishun was a real person. He was carrying a trumpet made of rolled cowhide, and while galloping behind his own front line, he promised the soldiers below him to share houses and land. The experience and lesson Li Zicheng summed up was that everyone should not let everyone's work go in vain!
Only when you get real benefits can you persevere!
And this battle that persists to the end is victory. When night falls completely on September 22, it is finally time to decide the winner.
Because people can persist better than horses after all! A flintlock gun is, after all, more durable than a matchlock gun!
Faced with heavy casualties, facing the depletion of horse power, facing the firepower of matchlocks being crushed by the enemy's flintlocks, and facing all the ammunition of artillery.
Wu Zhou's army finally began to collapse!
(End of chapter)
