Although even Meng He himself was not familiar with the title of regimental leader, and a group of subordinates often exchanged military titles with each other, the entire regiment was 250% satisfied with the salary and benefits set by His Highness the Crown Prince.
The monthly salary of the entire mortar regiment is much higher than that of infantry of the same size. The starting salary for new recruits is twenty taels per month, plus half a stone of rice. After one year, they can enjoy a salary of thirty taels per month.
Because it is too difficult to transport rice over long distances, at least 30% of it will be consumed on the road alone, so the rice salary is the same. From ordinary soldiers to regiment leader Meng He, there is no difference. The difference lies in the silver salary.
Therefore, raising a regiment of more than a thousand strong men is not much cheaper than raising horsemen of the same size. The monthly salary of the artillery is the same as that of the horsemen, but the artillery regiment has fewer horses than the horsemen.
The food and salary consumption of this mortar regiment is almost the same as that of three thousand infantry, and the share of gunpowder and horses must be calculated separately.
Fortunately, the two mortar regiments are directly subordinate to the two commanders. Otherwise, the huge monthly consumption would really give the two chief officers Niu Chenghu and Yang Guozhu a headache. It is okay to pay them in full, but they cannot stand up to their colleagues and subordinates. Jealousy.
For the officers and soldiers of the mortar regiment, those training days in the capital were almost as cruel as purgatory. They had to do physical training in the morning, do artillery practice in the afternoon, and could only rest at night.
In addition to being able to read and write, mid-level and senior officers also have to learn knowledge about measuring distances, pre-aiming positions, estimating troop strength, surveying terrain, selecting gun positions, adjusting ballistics, etc. They have almost no time to spare.
You also need to know how to fight formation battles, defend cities, ambush battles, counter-ambush battles, etc. Since Mr. Chitose is teaching in person, no one dares to make mistakes and everyone has to listen carefully.
It was really tiring, but they did learn skills. According to His Highness the Crown Prince, what they learned was only the superficial aspects of artillery, which was the easiest part to understand. However, everyone in the class felt that they could walk sideways as soon as they left. …
Going south to suppress the bandits was just a matter of "applying what they learned." Before leaving, Chitose also said that he would know the actual combat performance of the two regiments from the reports of the two commanders-in-chief and their respective commanders.
Using this as a reference, key elites from the two regiments will be drawn from the two regiments next year for special training to form a more elite unit, which is said to be called the "Armored Troopers"!
Everyone only knows the name of the military branch, and they haven't figured out what this thing is used for, but ordinary soldiers can enjoy a salary of five or two months. This is the starting price, and it is no joke.
For the strong men who could receive less than one tael of silver before, the price offered by Chitose is too attractive, and it is almost the same as the soldiers around General Rong.
No one dared to question Master Qian Sui's words. He said that everyone would actually receive a full monthly salary with cash salary. This was a good thing that Master Qian Sui did not even dare to think about when he was in power.
The boss who drank the blood of his soldiers no longer dared to take advantage of his free wages. It was hard to say whether he would return to his old tricks in the future, but at the moment he was too determined to dare and was actively looking for discomfort.
During the military parade in the capital, the actual number of people from all walks of life was counted very accurately. The difference between the number and the difference between the number and the number of soldiers under each general officer was less than fifty people.
Maybe the higher-ups will turn a blind eye to a small fight between twenty or thirty people, but once a large-scale incident of empty pay occurs again, all generals, lieutenants, and general officers will have to Being dealt with.
The father-in-law's house was confiscated, the moths were liquidated, the rebellion in the capital was suppressed, and almost all the traitors who had harmed the Ming Dynasty were killed by Master Qiantose, so the soldiers below also believed that they would have a good life.
Based on this, it is even more important to obey orders and fight the enemy bravely. The mortar regiment does not need to be in a front-line position to fight, it only needs to do its job of fire support.
Judging from the current battle situation, the performance of Meng He's troops is very excellent. This is also related to the fact that the enemy forces on the opposite side are not familiar with the characteristics of mortars, which invisibly plays a cooperative role.
"It came so quickly!"
A soldier instinctively looked to the opposite side and saw a lingering cloud of smoke and dust not far away. The rebels had launched a full-scale attack on them.
"Quick! Arrange in formation! Line up with shields! Horses behind!"
No matter how fast the mortar regiment moved, it could not move faster than the enemy's cavalry. Meng He knew that his troops had no time to retreat, so he could only parry temporarily and then worry about it.
Each battalion has at least one company of cavalry, with a strength of no less than 80. The three battalions add up to more than 200, arranged in two lines, which doesn't look too small. This is the strength used by the entire regiment to protect themselves.
If Bai Guangen's infantry really couldn't withstand it, then the rebel horsemen would rush directly into the artillery position behind the infantry formation. Meng He could only bite the bullet and let his horsemen fight with them.
The terrain in this area is not very open, so it can be used for infantry formations. Otherwise, it would be a bit cramped for an army of tens of thousands of cavalry to charge.
The only ones who attacked the central army were Chang Guoan and the "One Dragon" cavalry, which totaled less than 3,000. Moreover, if three large infantry formations were to be attacked, the average number of troops invested in each formation would only be 900 cavalry.
In fact, it is of little use to invest too many pawns in the charge. What can really take advantage of the size of the cavalry is the mutual attack style.
In this mode where the opponent stands firm and one's side attacks forcefully, once the front attack is blocked and unable to rush into the advance formation, it will be a disservice to the cavalry from behind to rush over.
"put!"
"Puff puff……"
Regarding the life and death of his own troops, the defense of this battle was personally directed by the commander-in-chief Bai Guangen, who was wearing armor. He first let the rebel horsemen enter a distance of fifty steps, and then asked the gunmen to fire a volley at them.
Although the bird gun's ability to delay enemy cavalry was limited, nearly a thousand bird gunmen divided into two groups and opened fire at the enemy cavalry charging in a dense formation, knocking down nearly a hundred people in one time.
At the same time, the archer behind the gunner can also fire arrows at the same time. Like the mortar, the bow and arrow can choose to shoot directly or in a curve according to the battlefield environment.
Bai Guangen paid more attention to blocking the enemy's advance from a distance. He had about a thousand gunmen and archers under his command, and the rest were spearmen, sword and shield soldiers, and big gunmen.
These two thousand soldiers who could shoot from a distance were the best choice to block the enemy's cavalry advance. He didn't have much confidence in whether he could stop so many enemy cavalry in close combat.
Different from infantry charging into battle, due to the speed and huge size of the horses, more than two thousand enemy horsemen look like a huge torrent, layer upon layer, densely packed, rolling towards one's own side, the visual effect is very shocking. .
Without the cover of the carriages and the squatting tiger artillery, even Bai Guangen's calves would be trembling with these pikemen under his command. It would be better to let Bai Liangbi lead his own cavalry to counterattack earlier.
The distance of three hundred steps is just a gust of wind for the horsemen. No matter how powerful the bird's blunderbuss is, it can only be released in one round. On the contrary, the rapid-fire arrows are more annoying.
The horse pawn can also choose to use a bow and arrow to counterattack, but in this case, the action of opening the bow and setting the arrow will inevitably increase his body size, which is far safer than lying on the horse's head and concentrating on the impact.
"ah……"
Some guys who couldn't bear it were hit by arrows fired by the army when they were releasing arrows. They screamed and fell to the ground, and were soon submerged in the billowing red dust kicked up by their own horses' hooves.
"Set off the fire!"
“Tum…Tum…Tum…”
Seeing that the enemy cavalry was about to rush in front of him, less than thirty steps away, Bai Guangen asked his men to light the Crouching Tiger Cannon. This thing had a short range, so its accuracy was very poor. The target had to be close before it could be hit.
Scatter-type weapons such as the Tiger Crouching Cannon can only make their debut at this time. The rest of the time, you have to watch the performances of the Folang Machine and the Great God Cannon.
"ah……"
Directly opposite the muzzle of the cannon, the rebel horsemen who were about to charge directly were suddenly struck by numerous small bullets. The wounds were so painful that both men and horses screamed and hissed, and five or six of the horsemen were immediately knocked down. Fall to the ground.
If they don't resist the sharp spears that are more than ten feet long, the gap between the carriages is where they can rush in, but this is also a veritable hell gate, where the lives of men and horses are used to attack the muzzle of the Crouching Tiger Cannon.
"No sound!"
"Quick fix!"
Seeing that his Crouching Tiger Cannon had not been fired, the gunman guessed that either the fuse was damp or the gunpowder was damp, or both, so the cannon had become a decoration, and he hurriedly shouted.
The commander of the pikemen next to him immediately ordered his soldiers to hold the gap with their spears. If the horse soldiers rushed in and trampled them, they would be trampled to death by the horses' hooves.
"Fire the arrow!"
Just using a spear may not necessarily be able to block the murderous enemy cavalry. Only arrows can really kill the enemy with one blow.
It was really a life-and-death moment. Although our own troops were outnumbered, the infantry of the army were extremely afraid of the enemy's cavalry, and they couldn't help but retreat with their spears in hand.
If not for the fact that Bai Guang'en, the commander-in-chief of the formation, was not far behind them, and there were dozens of soldiers suppressing them, they would have turned around and fled under the forcible impact of the rebel horsemen.
These infantry are all good at fighting with the wind. It is like covering up the enemy and making money easily. I didn't expect that the rebel army would be so brave after being bombarded. They dared to come and charge into the formation. Now they didn't even have a chance to escape. .
"Whoosh...poof!"
The sharp arrows passed over the spearmen in the front row and struck hard around the oncoming enemy cavalry. In an instant, nearly a hundred horsemen were shot to the ground.
However, there were still many horse soldiers who forced their way into the infantry formation from the position of the Crouching Tiger Cannon. However, they were attacked by many pikemen before they could advance very far.
In order to save their own lives, the infantrymen with long spears used fierce attacks, stabbing the horsemen from above and stabbing the horses' belly from below. The horsemen who were not wearing light armor would have been overwhelmed, and more than a dozen of them were stabbed on the spot. hole.
As long as all the enemy troops that rush into the formation have strength, the infantry will fight hard to surround and kill them, making it completely impossible for the rebel horsemen to charge and kill. This way, throughout the entire formation, you can truly experience the desolate feeling of a forest of swords and guns.
The officers and soldiers they encountered before, especially the infantry, were rarely so stubborn when faced with the rebel cavalry charging into the formation. Most of them just pretended to be defeated, but they didn't expect it to be a different scene now. They were considered Suffered a big loss.
The core of the Ming Dynasty's army is the servant system. If the general leads the servants to fight bravely and refuses to retreat, and the surrounding subordinates are mobilized by the general, they will naturally stay in place and not attack enough, but they can still save their lives.
Even in Liaodong, when the Donglu cavalry faced large formations of Ming infantry in the field, they rarely charged directly into the formation. Instead, they fired around the formation, waiting until the defenders lost interest in fighting and began to flee. Cover up and kill.
The rebels acted like this because they had the confidence to directly break through the formation of the powerful Dog Officer Army in front of them. However, the actual situation was different from what they expected. They rushed to the front of the formation, but it was difficult to succeed for a while.
After nearly 200 horsemen were killed or injured, the rebel army really suppressed Bai Guangen's infantry formation and began to slowly move backwards. This was even when the officers and soldiers kept firing arrows and using long spears to hit the ground.
Before the change, such a formation would have been directly broken up by the opponent, and the officers and soldiers were not without rout in the field. This battle is very important, neither side can afford to lose, they are all gritting their teeth and holding on.
"use this!"
"..."
"After lighting it, throw it into the enemy's cavalry, as far away as possible!"
Seeing that Bai Guangen's foot formation was a bit unbearable, Meng He, who had followed Niu Chenghu for many years, was not blind, so he came up with a potentially effective strategy to kill the enemy, which was to throw explosives outside.
The distance is so close and there is no cover, so you can't tie nails, which will hurt your own people. Just using a gunpowder bag weighing several kilograms is enough to hurt the enemy cavalry that is close at hand.
The situation was urgent and Bai Guangen did not allow Bai Guangen to think twice. The commander-in-chief immediately sent a number of soldiers to bring the explosive packs to the front of the formation, close to where the two armies were fighting, lit them and threw them out.
"boom……"
It can't be thrown very far, only four or five feet at most, but the impact on the enemy's cavalry is not small, especially the sound of the violent explosion, which frightens a large number of horses and begins to disobey orders. The horsemen are also caught off guard and are affected. arrive.
As a result, the front line offensive was instantly gone. By the time the horse soldiers tried to control their mounts, it was too late to fight with the dog officers and soldiers in front of them. They would either be hit by arrows in their upper bodies or pierced by spears, and they would die on the spot.
This only happens in the blink of an eye, but on the battlefield, especially at the moment of life and death, every moment is extremely precious, and more than thirty soldiers lost their lives because of this.
"no!"
"Can't get away!"
"Too many dog officers and soldiers!"
"...How serious is this?"
"The wind is so tight!"
It was really difficult for the rebel horsemen to withstand the numerous spears on the opposite side, as well as the cold arrows flying from time to time. If they were not careful, they would be killed on the spot.
Their plan was to overwhelm the infantry formation of the army. If they could not do so, they would turn around and run away. They could not lose their lives and possessions here.
In the end, 500 horsemen chose to leave the battlefield in order to save their heads. They were not greedy for life and were afraid of death. They had tried their best. The original plan was not like this, and such a hard fight was a last resort.
There was a reason why Bai Guangen fought so hard. In order to capture Luo Rucai first, he had to stick to the spot. If his troops were defeated, let alone 50,000 taels of silver, Sun Chuanting would still have to settle the score with himself.
A downwind battle turned into a decisive battle between officials and thieves. Bai Guangen did not expect it at first. Luo Rucai and others struggled to the death and sent a large number of cavalry to carry out a crazy counterattack, which finally made him clear his head.
Fortunately, the infantry stayed where they were. If during the charge, they encountered the rebel horsemen on the way, the enemy would be as easy to deal with them as chopping melons and vegetables. All his 6,000 infantry would have died miserably in the charge. On the road.
Thinking about it this way, Lord Dushuai's strategy of steady advancement is absolutely correct. However, you must be more careful when dealing with the rebel army. If you are not careful, you will lose everything and all your previous efforts will be wasted.
But just in front of our troops, there were no less than 1,400 to 500 enemy cavalry returning to our formation. Their presence was still a serious threat to our troops and even the entire army.
Counting the enemy cavalry retreating from both wings, the total number was even greater, estimated to be at least 5,000. However, the bandits' losses during this charge were considerable.
