Not to mention 5,000 horsemen, even if 5,000 horses forcefully charged into the formation, it would still be enough for He Renlong's men to drink from a pot, not to mention that the opponent charged with purpose.
The rebel cavalry in the front row were equipped with spears that were more than ten feet long. Mainly because there were too few long-handled broadswords, they had to settle for second best.
But at this time, the spear has become the sharpest weapon for charging into the battle. The long-handled broadsword has to be slashed with one arm, and the spear can use the inertia of the horses to cause great damage to the opponent as long as the horsemen clamp it tightly.
The official army also has a lot of spearmen, but if they stand on the same spot and fight against the horsemen rushing towards them, they will obviously be at an absolute disadvantage, and their number is far less than the opponent.
The moment the weapons connected, there were branches criss-crossing and countless long instruments intertwined. However, the officers and soldiers only killed more than a hundred people in the front row of the rebels.
However, in the previous long-distance blockade, the government troops also used long-range weapons such as Folang machines, blunderbuss, and bows and arrows to kill and injure hundreds of people.
This was nothing to the rebel cavalry. The horses that charged forward were still much faster. Like the waves crashing on the shore, their attacks were getting higher and higher.
The time left for He Renlong's troops to block the attack was very short, because when the war horse was sprinting at full speed, it only took two or three minutes to cover three to four hundred steps.
In such a short period of time, the gunner can fire four to six times, the archer can fire more than ten times, and the Franco gunner can fire ammunition at full speed.
However, this is under ideal conditions, and the opponent must cooperate with us and charge from the front of the formation.
Once they charge from a weak defensive position, even a circular formation with strong defensive capabilities will be overwhelmed alive.
The advantage of the cavalry over other arms is its powerful mobility and lethality, which is especially significant in field battles.
He Renlong fled back to the main formation in a panic, which suddenly increased the possibility of his own defeat.
When a large number of thieves are chasing after him, he can completely divert the trouble to the east.
The bandit army was led to the formation led by Li Guoqi and Zheng Jiadong, but He Renlong could no longer think about that much at this time.
He hurriedly ran back to the main formation, but the result was that the rebel army was also attracted by him, and the main formation could not resist it.
Regardless of casualties, the rebel cavalry rushed into the official formation at full speed from the open space between the carriages.
The sword and shield soldiers and spearmen in the front row were so afraid of the cavalry charging into the formation that they were unable to even parry. They only made a symbolic resistance and were overwhelmed.
When the front was in chaos, the musketeers and archers in the rear were naturally more panicked and ran away. No matter how much the lieutenants and generals shouted, it was of no avail.
Everyone has selectively forgotten the experience outside Ruyang City. In the open terrain, facing the charge of the cavalry, the result of the defeat was to give their back to the opponent for random assassination.
However, He Renlong's troops still had a large number of vehicles transporting grain, grass and baggage behind them. These retreating soldiers were not completely stupid yet, so they immediately used these vehicles as bunkers to resist the rebel horsemen on the spot.
"Brothers! Don't stop! Keep charging at the big formation on the side!"
Seeing that the first large formation had been overwhelmed by his own side, and the casualties were still within the tolerable range, Liu Zongmin immediately ordered the cavalry not to stay where they were, but to move to the next target.
Although these defeated soldiers are easy to deal with, we must not waste time on them at this time. The only way to rely on them is to maintain the speed of the attack.
The greater the damage that can be done to the dog officers and soldiers, the better, so that they will not pursue and kill their own troops later. This is the main force of the rebel army led by King Chuang.
"Kill!"
Seeing that the combat power of Sun Dog Thief, who was previously considered to be extremely vicious, was nothing more than this, the rebel cavalry who had already made a good start immediately boosted their morale and everyone was excited.
Everyone was in high spirits, and naturally they were willing to follow General Liu and kill the dog officers and soldiers in front of them, so that they would never dare to underestimate the warriors of the rebel army again.
"Quick! Turn the muzzle!"
Before Zuo Guangxian's men had time to turn their heavy firearms, they saw the bandits beating He Renlong's men to their core and then rushing toward him with great force.
Just now, many people came to watch the fun, including Zuo Guangxian himself. While he was surprised by the strong momentum of this bandit army, he was even more grateful that he had not suffered any disaster.
However, after the rebel army disrupted He Renlong's formation, they did not choose to withdraw from the battlefield. Instead, they directly selected the next target, which was Zuo Guangxian's command.
Liu Zongmin, who has extremely rich experience in actual combat, believes that since the scale of the two armies is almost the same, if the rebel cavalry can overwhelm the first one, they can also overwhelm the second one.
Although his idea was arbitrary, it was indeed very correct. At this time, the official army and cavalry did not dare to block the attack easily, because they were afraid that following the rebel army would wash away their own formation a second time.
With so many pawns and such a fast speed, how could there not be accidental injuries?
Once there is accidental injury, it will be hundreds or thousands of casualties. How to explain to Sun Shaobao when he returns?
The only way is to wait for the bandits to either rush into the formation of the strongest Li Guoqi and Zheng Jiadong, or to follow them and pursue them when they retreat.
"...You are really as stupid as a pig!"
Li Guoqi could not help but curse when he saw that Zuo Guangxian did not adjust the main defensive direction of the formation when He Renlong's formation was being charged and killed by the bandits.
The reason is that whether in Huguang or in eastern Sichuan, the official army has been in an offensive posture before. The formation is a "straight formation" that emphasizes offense and light defense, and a "square formation" or "circle formation" that is strong and weak in defense.
As the habit becomes natural, after a long time of forming a "straight formation", as soon as the general shouted "formation", the soldiers instinctively formed a "straight formation".
You are extremely passive at this time. Once formed, it will take a lot of time to adjust the position of the troops, and the opponent's thief army will not give you this opportunity.
Generally speaking, the front of the "straight formation" is the direction with the strongest offensive and defensive capabilities, followed by the two sides and the weakest tail.
When defending, a "straight formation" can only defend in one direction.
Once the enemy turns to attack in other directions, the "straight line" must immediately adjust the direction of defense, otherwise it may be defeated.
Zuo Guangxian and He Renlong's troops formed a "straight formation". The rebel army attacked He Renlong's troops from the front, but still did not expend much effort.
The attack on Zuo Guangxian's troops was from the side, which meant that the possibility of Zuo Guangxian's troops being overwhelmed was even higher than that of He Renlong's troops.
Zuo Guangxian also realized the problem, but facing the accelerating thief army and cavalry, he had little time left to adjust.
The gunners were hurriedly moving the Folan machine, intending to aim it at a predetermined position so that they could attack the thieves who were running over.
But Zuo Guangxian's troops and He Renlong's troops were only half a mile apart. In wartime, this distance was very dangerous.
The distance is far, and there is still time to adjust.
The distance is zero, so you can hug each other to keep warm.
Whether it is far or not, whether it is close or not, is the most important thing.
"Move the baggage vehicles over quickly!"
Zuo Guangxian also understood that the flesh and blood of his own soldiers alone would be difficult to resist the thousands of rebel soldiers on the opposite side.
Seeing that there were not enough carriages, he immediately ordered his men to bring the baggage vehicles to the front of the formation.
We can bring in as much as we can, and we don't care about food. Human lives are at stake right now.
"Boom, boom, boom..."
The Folangjis have been firing one after another, indicating that the bandits are approaching the formation.
The baggage soldiers all began to push the cart crazily. After all, they did not want to fall prey to the thieves' swords.
One after another, grain trucks were pushed to the front of the formation, as were vehicles carrying tents and other trophies.
Whether it can be blocked is another matter. Anyway, after hundreds of cars were pushed up, they blocked half of the line. With these things in front, everyone was not so scared.
It's just that the time is too short, and the vehicles pushed in front of the formation can only block half of the sides of the formation, and the situation with the remaining half is extremely dangerous.
The archers and musketeers were working hard to kill the thieves, knocking a large number of thieves off their horses before a close encounter. Including those who were tripped, the total number was no less than five hundred.
However, they were unable to change the direction of the attack. Although the casualties were heavy, the rebels still rushed towards Zuo Guangxian's formation without stopping.
"Put it on your forehead! Kill a traitor and get five taels of silver!"
In order to avoid a tragedy similar to He Renlong's, Zuo Guangxian also spent a lot of money. After killing a thousand cavalry, he would spread out 5,000 taels of silver.
This is what Zuo Guangxian paid out of his own pocket. When Sun Shaobao's reward comes down, the soldiers can get another share. This does not include the money for touching the corpse, otherwise no one will work hard to fight.
After all the money is spent, you can make more money, but if you die, it will be difficult to regroup. Even if you recruit a lot of new soldiers, their combat power cannot be compared with that of the veterans.
Except for the heavy baggage troops, most of the soldiers were brought out from Shaanxi by Zuo Guangxian. However, gold is very expensive and large-scale casualties must not occur.
This is the capital of his own livelihood. All his soldiers are dead, and he, as the chief military officer, has only one name left, which cannot even be compared with the generals in his department.
"Brothers, rush forward! Defeat the dog army! Then you can go back to the mountain!"
Liu Zongmin knew that many of his men were definitely not Chuang Wang's subordinates, and he could not let them rush in and kill them blindly. As time went by, the casualties would be too great, and they would not be able to protect themselves and lose their energy, and they would suddenly be defeated.
At most, charge into three formations. It is best to charge into two formations and then retreat. Retreating when you are ready is also the basis for preserving strength. This group of dog officers and soldiers are not chickens and dogs. They can quickly form a formation on the spot and their own troops cannot eat them in one bite.
"kill!"
When they heard that they could immediately withdraw their troops and go back to the mountains to rest, everyone was ready to rush to finish this task. That was still acceptable. Otherwise, they would have to leave the team without General Liu's order.
It's just that the dog officers in front of them were so afraid of death that they brought a bunch of large vehicles to block the rebels' attack route. As a result, our own side could only charge from the side without vehicle cover.
This is where the opponent's loophole lies. It is impossible to lure the enemy deep into the ground, and the exposed position of the enemy is a place that our own side can take advantage of.
"Charge to the left!"
Although a large number of Folangji were deployed on the left wing, Liu Zongmin still ordered his troops to rush there, because the presence of Folangji meant that the army generals could not deploy vehicles there.
At this time, all the muskets of the Fo Lang machine had just been fired, and the gunners could only load the ammunition one by one. Seeing the rebel cavalry rushing towards them, the gunners immediately gave up loading and all ran to the rear.
The front was held by spearmen and shield soldiers, but the makeshift defense line could only parry against the cavalry charging at full speed.
As soon as there was a confrontation, the officers and soldiers in the front row were directly pushed back by more than ten feet, causing the entire formation to be squeezed backwards by the opponent.
Under the fierce charge of the war horses, the infantry of the army and the army had no chance of holding on. After only holding on for a moment, a gap more than three feet wide was opened.
Hundreds of soldiers of the rebel army immediately filed in through the torn gap and charged into the hinterland of the army's formation. As long as they could stir it up in their stomachs, they would make the dog officers and soldiers miserable.
"All officers and soldiers retreat to the vicinity of the vehicle!"
Seeing that his troops had been broken by the bandits, Zuo Guang didn't want to let his soldiers run away. This area was full of plains and unobstructed. Running into the open space would mean death. They had to use vehicles as proof. .
Fortunately, the rebel army only defeated nearly half of the formation, and the unit was not completely collapsed. It could still defend in place and would not be beaten to pieces by the rebel army like He Renlong's unit.
"Cut off the horse's legs!"
The officers and soldiers of various ministries are equipped with a lot of zanma knives, but they have never had the opportunity to use them before. Now they come in handy. When there is a chaotic battle, this is where the zanma knives come in handy.
The soldiers holding machetes did not dare to confront the rebel horsemen head-on. Most of them saw the right moment and slashed the horses' legs from the side with their swords.
The goal is very clear. As long as one leg is cut off, the war horse will be completely disabled. Once the main force of the bandit army is defeated, it will be a meal for everyone.
"Don't stop! Rush away from the formation!"
Unexpected results were not obtained, and only half of the official army formation was defeated. Liu Zongmin immediately ordered his soldiers to continue to charge and kill, and they must break through the enemy formation as soon as possible in order to retreat unscathed.
At this time, it is impossible to turn around and kill the other half of the enemy formation. The most practical way is to directly penetrate the earthquake and then evacuate the battlefield.
At this time, the victory has been sufficient. If we stay any longer, more dog officers and soldiers will be attracted to pursue and intercept our troops. This will no longer be the case.
Although Zuo Guangxian gritted his teeth with hatred, his own strength was limited and there were a lot of casualties. The many thieves in front of him couldn't keep them even if they wanted to.
They just managed to kill more than a hundred thieves and horsemen, and shot some over with spears and bows. The total was only three hundred, so that was it.
"The wind is so tight!"
When Liu Zongmin saw that the casualties of his troops began to increase, he immediately ordered his troops to retreat. He led the troops to kill the officers and soldiers, not to be killed by the officers and soldiers.
After hearing General Liu's order, the remaining horsemen immediately ran away like wind and clouds. They did not want to continue the fight and even died here.
"Chase!"
Seeing that the time was ripe, Li Guoqi ordered his own soldiers who had been standing still to go forward and chase the bandit army that was planning to retreat.
Zheng Jiadong's troops were also dispatched, determined not to let the opponent slip away from his eyes, but to gain some results at least.
"Don't leave, the thief!"
At this time, Bai Guangen of the Chinese army had sent his son Bai Liangbi with two thousand horsemen to support him. He arrived at the battlefield at the right time, so Li Guoqi and others had to admire the luck of the Bai family and his son.
The dust raised by the cavalry troops who dared to come from the right wing of the army could also be seen with the eyes, which meant that the army had regained the initiative on the battlefield.
Due to successive charges, Liu Zongmin's men and horses have dropped from 5,000 to less than 4,000. The officers and soldiers here have all the infantry, horse, artillery, and chariots. After receiving reinforcements, his troops are completely unable to fight with the cavalry.
Facing the officers and soldiers surrounding him from multiple directions, Liu Zongmin had no choice but to run away quickly. If it were a little later, all the results he had obtained before would have to be vomited out by the opponent.
