Wang Chong's luck wasn't too bad, but he couldn't run as fast as the cavalry, so he was caught up by Pei Le and Su Jianian.
In line with the attitude of not letting go even if they come, the Ming army's cavalry surrounded the Song army.
This Song army also numbered 10,000 people. However, the Ming army broke through the formation before they could form a formation. They were then divided and surrounded by Ming army cavalry, killing more than 3,000 people. The rest all surrendered, and they were not killed at last.
Wang Chong also surrendered. He did not fight to the death. After surrendering in despair, he reported his identity and position. Pei Le and Su Jianian found out that they had captured a general of the Southern Song Dynasty Forbidden Army. They were very happy and quickly sent someone to capture Wang Chong and other officers. Take him to Zhang Yuejing's place.
Wang Chong did not run away after all.
On the other side, Li Xianzhong was also determined to kill the thieves but was unable to save him.
He was first misled by Wang Chong's false news and was tricked by his own people. Then when he learned through spies that the Ming army had begun to move north, he was very happy and immediately led the main army to move towards Zaoyang.
He was basically certain that the Wang Chong operation was successful and had already mobilized large Ming army troops to come back for reinforcements.
He knew that the Ming army was good at fighting, and he also knew that the Ming army had a large number. If he led the troops directly to Mang, the effect might not be very good. Therefore, after transferring part of the main force of the Ming army, and then cooperating with the Song army in Xiangfan, the fighting effect might be better. . .
With such thoughts, Li Xianzhong also wanted to say sorry to Wang Chong.
Because he really didn't consider whether Wang Chong could go back after entering Henan.
These 10,000 people, including Wang Chong, the commander of the Guards and Horse Army, and senior generals of the Forbidden Army, were all cannon fodder in Li Xianzhong's eyes, the kind of cannon fodder that had to sacrifice for victory.
As long as they can mobilize enough Ming army soldiers to return for reinforcements, that's enough.
Of course he knew that the Ming army had strong cavalry but Wang Chong had few cavalry. In the Henan area, he was basically a dead man and could not escape at all.
But, so what?
unimportant.
As long as you can win.
Paying 10,000 people for victory is simply too much money, okay?
After many years of fighting, Li Xianzhong had long been cold-hearted and did not care about human life at all. However, in the face of the bloody reality, he had to admit that he seemed to have made a big mistake.
When he led his army to Zaoyang, everything was normal. The Zaoyang Ming army closed the city and defended it. Li Xianzhong commanded the army to surround Zaoyang while launching a fierce attack, trying to take Zaoyang in a short time and clear the obstacles to Xiangyang.
But when he further besieged Zaoyang, he unexpectedly learned that a large Gu Ming army was approaching from the north and had already reached the Tongbai Mountain area, blocking their way back north.
At the same time, there was another Ming army galloping towards Zaoyang from the direction of Kemenguan. It was very close to them and could be reached in half a day.
At the same time, Suizhou on the south side was not under his control.
Li Xianzhong looked at the map, his brows furrowed and his face full of disbelief.
"The south and west are normal. Where did the Ming army in the north come from? The Ming army sent more troops to Henan again? But I just arrived in Zaoyang! Why did they come?"
Li Xianzhong did not understand the situation of the Ming army in the north, but he had a vague feeling that his action plan seemed to have been known to the Ming army, and everything had been leaked. If he did not lead his army to leave, he might be in danger.
Decades of fighting on the battlefield have brought him not only glory and scars, but also a strong sixth sense.
Li Xianzhong immediately made the decision to personally lead the army to attack north, and then continue the task of attacking Zaoyang.
He handed over the remaining 20,000 people of the Forbidden Army to his generals and asked him to continue attacking Zaoyang and deal with the Ming army from Kemenguan. He led the main force of 50,000 people to the north, trying to carve out a bloody road back. Xinyang.
I have to say that the decision made by Li Xianzhong was quite meaningful, because even Ma Hongxing, who led his army to block his retreat, did not expect that Li Xianzhong would lead his troops to attack so quickly. As soon as he set up camp, Li Xianzhong's forward arrive.
But this time, Ma Hongxing will not let Li Xianzhong go.
He organized his troops and sent 10,000 troops to face Li Xianzhong's 10,000 vanguards on a vast battlefield.
The two sides were evenly matched in strength, but the problem was that the army led by Ma Hongxing still had two thousand firearms troops.
They did not run away with the generals, but only brought the cavalry, generals, artillery and musketeers. During the confrontation, they faced the Song army's formation from a relatively close position and started shooting.
The thunderous roar and the terrifying penetration and lethality of the artillery shells caused huge panic to the Song Army's originally relatively tight military formation.
When they realized that it was impossible for them to withstand a hot iron bullet and hit their faces, the Song Army's military formation began to collapse.
Dozens of cavalry generals' artillery roared continuously, and the dense military formation of the Song Army was severely hit by artillery shells. The artillery shells raged in the military formation, killing and injuring many Song troops.
But to be fair, the number of Song troops who died directly from artillery shells was really small.
An iron bullet will not explode. It will kill or shock to death not many people directly, and the lethality cannot increase explosively. It is impossible to have the lethality of modern artillery.
But the problem is that the shock caused by a complete dense military formation being hit by an iron bullet and the fear of unknown weapons will directly destroy the Song army's will to fight.
They were not a powerful elite, nor were they an iron army that would fight to the last soldier without retreating. Basically, they would collapse after losing 10 to 15%.
No matter how powerful the feudal iron army is, it is estimated that it can withstand a casualty rate of 20 to 30%, and then it will collapse.
Fighting to the last soldier is not that simple. Just watching your comrades die one by one, the huge fear can completely swallow you up. If you don't scare to death on the spot, you can be considered strong.
It is simply impossible to fight to the last soldier, just for money and promotion, without the blessing of faith.
This Song army obviously has no strong beliefs. They fight for money, for a better life, and for themselves, so that's it.
After several volleys of cavalry and general artillery fire, the Song army's will to fight was destroyed. The army formation collapsed and the soldiers fled one after another. The officers could not stop them.
Some officers simply ran along with them, running faster than the soldiers.
The Ming army's infantry and cavalry took advantage of the situation to cover up the killing, so that the musketeers in the military formation were of little use. The 10,000 Song army collapsed and suffered heavy losses under the Ming army's covering up and killing.
"My dear, this firearm is incredible. With this, I can take them directly to Lin'an."
Ma Hongxing was so powerful that he immediately led the Ming army to pursue the defeated Song army southward, not intending to give the Song army any chance to breathe.
As a result, the main force led by Li Xianzhong was not ready for battle, but the Ming army had already arrived, pushing the artillery cart and firing.
The artillery shells smashed craters one after another in the dense formation of the Song Army, exploding clouds of blood and blasting the Song Army's formation to pieces. Blood splattered everywhere, and broken limbs flew everywhere.
The hell-like horrific scene destroyed the fighting will of many Song soldiers on the spot. They were quickly frightened and tried desperately to escape.
The army led by Li Xianzhong included 30,000 elite troops. They were well-trained and had better food and clothing than ordinary Song troops. Under the heavy bombardment of the Ming army, some parallel-imported troops collapsed, but Li Xianzhong's elite troops still persisted. for a while.
Of course, Li Xianzhong also contributed a lot by promptly pulling out the personal guards to serve as a supervising team and violently slashing at the fleeing soldiers.
At least he succeeded in stabilizing the main force of the Song army, which was about to collapse under the artillery.
Then he quickly delivered the military order, divided the 10,000 elite main force into four military formations, and arranged them neatly to the front as the vanguard of the entire army.
Then let the deputy general rectify the broken troops in the rear that have lost order and reorganize them.
The deafening sound of gunpowder explosion was a firearm, Li Xianzhong could confirm.
But he didn't know what improvements the Ming army had made to their firearms. They could actually fire such terrifying iron bullets, which could directly penetrate the front line of defense of a military formation. If they were lucky, they could directly crush them through the middle of the military formation in a straight line. No one on earth will survive.
This kind of firearm is far more powerful than a bed crossbow. At the same time, it doesn't look like a fireball thrown out. What on earth is this?
Li Xianzhong couldn't make up his mind for a while, so he could only send his elite troops forward to resist the Ming army's offensive and buy time for the rear to reorganize.
The four military formations of the former army were all trained by him. He withstood the artillery fire of the Ming army and used bows and crossbows to shoot at the Ming army in the distance. However, because of the long distance, the Ming army's firearms phalanx was not threatened.
However, artillery cannot fire continuously for a long time. After one round of shooting, all four muskets have been used up, and they must be poured with warm water and cleaned inside. So after four rounds of firing, it is the Song Army's chance.
Ma Hongxing did not order the firearms phalanx to move forward, but planned to continue to take advantage of the artillery and give the Song army a few more hits.
Although the Song Army on the front line did not know why the Ming Army stopped artillery bombardment, the Ming Army's stopping of artillery bombardment at this panic moment was tantamount to saving their lives for the Song Army.
Li Xianzhong discovered this gap. Although he didn't know what was going on, he felt that it was meaningful for Che to take this opportunity to close the distance with the Ming army and enter hand-to-hand combat.
So he issued the order to advance and shoot to the frontline commanding officers, and ordered the crossbowmen to fire arrows. The military formation continued to move forward, closing the distance with the Ming army, and began to fight hand-to-hand.
The Song army's formation continued to move forward, and arrows were fired without interruption. Ma Hongxing realized that this Song army was not weak, but rather elite, and he had the idea of a good fight in his heart.
However, the Ming army's gunners are still relatively powerful.
Before the Song Army's military formation reached the appropriate position, the Ming Army's gunners were ready for the second round of firing. As the firing order was conveyed, the second round of firing began.
The artillery shells with astonishing speed were wrapped in hot and strong airflow and hit the Song Army's formation.
Whenever this dense military formation is hit, the people in the military formation will be smashed with blood and broken limbs, and their limbs will be flying around. Basically, there will be no whole bodies of those who are hit, and those who are lucky enough to survive will be half-dead.
The people around him were either knocked down or had blood on their faces, and they didn't know whether it was their own or their comrades' blood. They were so scared that they lost everything except fear and confusion.
The artillery's blow to the Song Army's formation was still very huge.
When Li Xianzhong finally realized that his military formation was likely to be completely destroyed by the Ming army's artillery before hand-to-hand combat, he couldn't help it anymore and immediately ordered his only two thousand cavalry to attack the Ming army's artillery in a roundabout way, using his speed advantage to avoid the artillery. of bombardment.
Although he didn't know what artillery was, it was not difficult to analyze that this kind of artillery was of little significance to high-speed moving horses.
Obviously, this is the correct answer.
The Song Army's cavalry soldiers were divided into two groups and circled from left to right towards the Ming Army's position, trying to destroy the Ming Army's strange firearms.
But the problem is that the Ming army will only have more and stronger cavalry than the Song army.
Zhang Yuejing allocated 5,000 cavalry to Ma Hongxing. When Ma Hongxing saw the Song cavalry dispatching, he immediately ordered the Ming cavalry to meet them head-on and launch a countercharge. The goal was to defeat the Song cavalry head-on and then circle back to the rear of the Song army to cut off the Song army's retreat. .
By then, the only way the Song army could go was to collapse.
Five thousand Ming Army cavalry versus two thousand Song Army cavalry, who wins and who loses does not seem to be an unsolvable problem.
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PS: A new coronavirus diagnosis has appeared in my hometown, and the whole city has become nervous. I have to prepare for a nucleic acid test, and I have to be prepared to close the community at any time. I cry.
PPS: My small third-tier place has been affected. It seems that this wave of epidemic is coming fiercely...
PPPS: Damn the new crown!
