About thirty steps in front of Li Changsheng and other Mingqi, there was a Garbush sage soldier wearing double layers of armor. Blood spurted out from between his mouth and nose, and a large bright red hole appeared on his chest.
Blood trickled out, and his face looked stunned at first, and then showed an expression of pain and resentment, and he rolled off the horse extremely unwillingly.
This Tatar soldier should indeed be unwilling to give in.
After many years of fighting in all directions, he went from infantry to vest, then to the Bajala camp, until finally he was selected to join the Garbush Xianchaoha camp. After hundreds of battles and nine deaths, a bright future was beckoning to him.
But he didn't expect that in the end, his life, which was full of hope, would be taken away by such a cheap and inconspicuous little projectile!
Although the penetrating power of lead projectiles at this time was still a little weak, their power was considerable. Especially the short-handed blunderbuss of the Xuanbei Army, in addition to being well-made, they also used accurately proportioned black powder.
When the Garbush warrior was hit, it was as if he was hit hard by a big hammer. The huge force was transmitted to his body instantly, causing him serious internal injuries in an instant.
Blood gushed out from his mouth and nose, and he fell off the horse after being hit hard. Unless his shaman came immediately, this Tatar would definitely die!
And being able to hit the Tatar head-on from such a long distance shows that Zhao Xingguang's riding and gun skills are extraordinary.
A series of gunshots exploded, and the Qing army's sentry riders were shot one after another. More than ten people fell off their horses. The Tatars' screams were not heard, and some of the horses under them were also hit by gunshots. After the attack, he fell down and screamed.
As the smoke from the handguns rose, a wave of short axes, iron bones, javelins and other objects thrown by the Qing soldiers on the opposite side also flew from a distance and hit several Xuan Bei Ye Bu Sheng warriors or horses.
Although the short-handed muskets were fired on a violently bumpy horseback and hit fast-moving targets at a slightly farther distance, after this round of shooting, the exchange ratio between the two sides was still significantly different.
The Xuanbei army did not retreat at night. One of Li Changsheng's soldiers was shot through the left thigh by a javelin, and two horses were shot by javelins, knocking off the two knights.
The two warriors suddenly fell off their horses, feeling as if their internal organs had been thrown out of place. However, they did not dare to neglect, and immediately rolled behind their own horses, narrowly avoiding being captured by the Tatars rushing from the opposite side. Trampled into flesh.
Both sides fired with guns, axes and spears flew wildly, and at the same time, the war horses also met together.
They all avoided direct collision with each other, and when they were about to collide, they slightly stepped aside from each other to the left and right, and passed each other. But at the same time, there was another burst of blunderbuss, throwing axes and spears.
During this period, there was also a clash of swords, tigers and spears. Li Changsheng's handgun did not fire first. He only fired when the horses of the two sides crossed each other. Each of the two guns shot a Tatar.
Under the bombardment of the bullets, one hit the chest, blood spurted out, and the other hit the head, blood spurted out from the brains. They all fell off the horse, and there was no sound again.
The two Ye Bu Zai warriors who fell off their horses after their horses were shot by spears spat out large mouthfuls of blood after they stood up. Then they were picked up by Ye Bu Zai behind, pulled onto their horses and out of danger.
There were more than fifty Tatars. They entangled with Li Changsheng and rode horses to fight. First of all, they had the advantage in numbers. Even when Tatars engaged in the battle just now, they were killed and wounded ten by Xuanbei Army's handguns. The remaining people.
But they were still superior to the Ming army's sentry cavalry in terms of quantity and quality, and some of the Tatars who had fallen from their horses but were still alive struggled to stand up and started fighting, roaring at the top of their lungs.
Li Changsheng's side was obviously at a disadvantage. He directed the knights to maintain a tight riding formation and fight while retreating.
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Wan Guangjin's right wing also fired a burst of short muskets while outflanking, but they were not as good as Li Changsheng's frontal bombardment. The Tatars' side targets were smaller, and it was harder to control the accuracy of their galloping horses.
The short musket fired from the right wing only hit three Tatars and injured two horses. However, there was only one warrior's horse on our side, and the horse's head was cut off by a flying ax thrown by the Tatars.
The war horse jumped wildly in pain, and the Ye Bu Shou warrior on the horse could not control it, so he could only jump off the horse in an emergency.
Later, there was another soldier who was unlucky. He had just pulled the trigger and was hit hard in the chest by an iron bone. His sternum was completely shattered, blood spurted out, and he rolled down the horse.
But he was hit by an iron bone flower thrown by a Tatar soldier named Gebusch. It seemed that even if he didn't die, he would probably retire.
When Zhang Cheng sent troops to suppress Henan last time, he had made an agreement with the soldiers that if anyone on the battlefield could bravely move forward and fight to the death, if he died in battle, except for a generous amount of money, all the orphans at home would be sent to Kaiping. The health department supports the whole body.
The elderly in his family will be supported until the end of his life, and the Secretary of Health will be responsible for the burial.
As for the young children in the family, the Secretary of Health is responsible for supporting them until they reach adulthood at the age of sixteen. After that, both men and women can enter the military camp or various workshops, or be given a certain amount of money and earn a living freely.
Because Zhang Cheng's workshop on Xuanfu North Road was booming, all the armor, weapons, guns and cannons were purchased directly by the Xuanbei Army. Other items such as cigarettes, fine salt, fine sugar, glass and many other items were also in short supply, so the labor force The amount is huge.
In order to ensure the needs of the Xuanbei Army for weapons, armor and other military items, and to expand the production capacity of civilian supplies, in order to obtain more money to support such a large-scale Xuanbei Army.
Zhang Cheng has long used a large number of female workers in his workshops, such as preparing Xuanbei military robes and uniforms and army flags, and other places in the quilt and flag guard workshops. There are also a large number of family members of Xuanbei Army officers and soldiers in the cigarette shop.
When Zhang Cheng first arrived in Xuanbei, he established a healthy women camp. Although it was criticized many times at that time, as time went by, Zhang Cheng also raided the Xuanbei group of thieves, rectified the farmland, reclaimed wasteland and built canals.
As a result, the lives of the military households were greatly improved. Zhang Cheng even vigorously reorganized the army and purified the guards and officials. The entire Xuanbei was under purge. Even if it was not to the extent of not closing the door at night and not picking up things on the road, it was almost the same.
Zhang Cheng's prestige in Xuanbei is increasing day by day, and people's trust in him is also increasing day by day. Many things that were previously unacceptable have become signs of Zhang Cheng's success in Xuanbei.
So when the Detachment of Women was later formed, not only were there no doubts and criticisms, the family members of the generals in each battalion actively signed up to join the army. Everyone was proud to be a member of the Detachment of Women.
Naturally, there is the Xuanbei Army's signature among them. After all, the pay is paid every month, but it is obvious to everyone that the most glorious thing in the land of Xuanbei is that someone in the family serves as a soldier under Admiral Zhang.
Not only are there regular monthly wages, but there are also many hidden benefits. For example, with food stamps, cloth stamps and other military stamps, you can always buy cheap grain and cloth.
In addition, many supplies that are in short supply are only sold in the official stores of the Kaiping Wei Division in Xuanbei Province. However, for all the families who joined the army after Zhang Cheng arrived, there is no family that is not prosperous in their childhood.
Before Zhang Cheng aided the Henan campaign, he decided not only to sacrifice his soldiers in front of the battlefield, but also to propose the new concept of retirement.
The so-called retirement mainly refers to those soldiers who were injured before the battle and were not suitable to fight in the army again.
There is no doubt about the bravery and loyalty of these people, so Zhang Cheng decided that all those who were injured before the battle and could no longer fight with the army would be uniformly placed by the Guard and transferred to local errands.
For example, they can be turned into guards in castles, mines, workshops, etc., or serve as government agents, or be sent to various schools as instructors, etc. They can even be sent to various horse farms and military camps to serve as hundreds of households. There are also tax collectors from various official markets and so on.
It is precisely because they have no worries about the future that the generals and soldiers of the Xuanbei Army can be so brave and dare to fight with their lives in front of the enemy. If they are lucky enough to survive and achieve great achievements, they will not only receive generous rewards, but also be rewarded in the army or local areas in the future. Yes, that's all for the sake of face.
Just like the Yebushou soldier who was knocked off his horse by the iron bones thrown by the wise soldiers of the Qing army Gebushu just now. If he was not killed as a result, although he may not be able to merit merit for this incident, it would not be a bad thing if he retired after returning to Xuanfu and went to work somewhere else. A good thing.
However, generally speaking, from such a long distance, most of the short axes, iron bones, javelins and other objects thrown by the Qing cavalry failed to reach the horses of the Xuanbei Army soldiers, or they could not reach their heads. Not anymore.
On Wan Guangjin's side, only two Ye Bu Shou soldiers fell off their horses and were wounded, while on Liu Shouzhu's side, only one was killed and three others were wounded and fell off their horses.
In this way, the Xuanbei Army's first charge was outflanked, with no more than ten casualties, and all of them were caused by Baya La soldiers or Gebusixian soldiers rushing from behind.
During this charge, Li Changsheng and others caused heavy casualties to the Tatars with the Yellow Flag in Manchuria. Some were hit by bullets, or their horses were shot in the crotch and fell off their horses. There were as many as 18 casualties in total. .
At least 30% of them were elite Baya La soldiers and Gebushe soldiers in the Qing army.
There were only fifty-seven of them in total, and eighteen of them were injured in just one charge. This kind of battle damage was not insignificant.
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For the Xuanbei Army, they were able to achieve such results because, firstly, Li Changsheng and others caught the Tatar soldiers by surprise, and secondly, because the distance was quite far, the opponent's throwing weapons failed to exert their due power. .
Throwing weapons such as javelins, hatchets, and iron bones can be seen by the naked eye. If you react quickly enough, you can mostly avoid them or block them with the weapons in your hands.
Throwing weapons on a galloping war horse also requires very high skills. It is very particular about the use of hand strength and waist strength, and you also need to know how to use the leaping action of the galloping war horse.
Moreover, after all, they used human power to throw. Even if there were some skills involved, the starting speed of throwing on a bumpy horseback was still a little slower. At this time, the distance between the two sides was slightly farther, and the accuracy of the Tatar's throw was different from that of the others. The strength is very poor.
As for the short-handed muskets of the Xuanbei Army, the firing speed is not to mention. At the same time, you can't even see the shadow of the muskets fired, let alone avoid or block them.
Furthermore, the Xuanbei Army relied on its large numbers. In addition to the twenty-nine cavalry in front of them, they also had twenty-seven cavalry flying past and outflanking each side of the left and right wings. This was naturally considered a side attack. Although the hit rate was a bit worrying, After all, the Qing army was shot at with muskets from three sides, which somewhat improved the hit rate.
Finally, there is also the reason for the quick hands and quick eyes. Even if the short-handed muskets of the Xuanbei Army did not require a match rope and were fired by flint, they were fired while the horses were galloping.
In this way, one must not only have superb riding skills and control the horse well, but also seize the moment when the horse is stable and fire the short-handed musket to ensure accuracy.
And even if there are elite sentinels such as Xuanbei Army Ye Bu Sheng, not everyone can control the horse to gallop with their legs. Therefore, the few Ye Bu Sheng warriors with superb riding skills are even more likely to fly by in an instant. Fire the gun left and right, shooting twice in succession.
Li Changsheng, Wan Guangjin, Liu Shouzhu, Zhao Xingguang and others all fired two blunderbuss, but only Zhao Xingguang hit the captives with both blunderbuss, while most of them missed the target with one blunderbuss and hit the target with the other.
However, there are many people who fired two cannons in succession, but both shots were empty!
In addition, most of the Ye Fushou, whose riding skills and reflexes were slightly inferior, only had time to fire a shot from the high-speed moving horse, and then the two sides were completely separated.
However, most of the Xuanbei Army personnel who were injured or fell off their horses still had a chance to save their lives.
Those Tatar soldiers who were hit by the high-speed spinning bullets fired by the short-handed muskets and fell off their horses, even if they did not die at this time, they would definitely die in the future, and their death would be extremely painful.
However, the Tatars' misfortune did not end there.
After they rushed past each other with the Xuanbei Army sentries, they originally wanted to fight with Li Changsheng and others, but Li Changsheng organized the sentries to quickly distance themselves from them, and immediately there was another burst of short muskets and hand crossbows.
Immediately, several Tatars rolled over and fell off their horses. Li Changsheng also took advantage of this opportunity to retreat back and distance himself from the Tatars.
The Tatar's Garbush Xianzhang Jingdasu originally wanted to take advantage of the fact that he had more troops and was more elite and brave. He happened to take advantage of the fact that there were few southern soldiers on the opposite side and deal with them first.
Unexpectedly, Li Changsheng and his cavalry had so many hand cannons. They originally thought that after the blast just now, it would be their home court, and it would be time for the Qing warriors to go into battle and win military glory.
But there is a saying: the ideal is very full, but the reality is very skinny!
How could he have imagined that the Xuanbei Army Sentinel Cavalry could be equipped with two such sharp short muskets, and more?
Just when Li Changsheng commanded the sentries and cavalry to occupy the enemy with short muskets and hand crossbows, fight and retreat, and put some distance between themselves and the Tatars, Wan Guangjin and Liu Shouzhu, who were outflanking on the left and right, also led their troops back in circles.
Dasu was also a veteran on the battlefield and was naturally very sensitive to the battlefield situation. He knew that the Xuanbei Army in front of him was indeed different from the other armies of the Southern Kingdom.
Not only do they have excellent armor and weapons, and sharp guns and cannons, but what is even more rare is their fighting spirit and morale. Now that there are more people on the opposite side than themselves, a head-on confrontation may not be an option.
What's more, in the previous battle, our own losses were obviously higher than those of the Confederate army, and now there has been some slight change in morale.
He made a prompt decision, shouted and commanded everyone to rush towards the smokers and blacksmiths who were staying behind, intending to capture the Xuanfu military sentry cavalry who were staying behind, and then seize the war horses.
In this way, we can first gain some military merits and boost the morale of our own warriors, and then we can decide the outcome with the remaining Southern Sentinel Cavalry!
