Gao Heng raised his right hand to signal the entire army to stop advancing. Some soldiers could not understand the order and were still advancing. The captains of each team shouted: "Stop!" There was some confusion. Gao Heng looked back and couldn't help but shake his head. These people are really not as good as the junior high school students of later generations. It's not their fault. People's level of knowledge at this time is already considered good to be able to do this. Rome is not the same. Built in a day.
The soldiers reorganized under the leadership of the captain. When the governor at the head of the city saw this posture, some monks were even more confused. Although these people were wearing the uniforms of the Annan army, they were in no way like the Annan army. They came from the south. , most likely the Beijing soldiers of General Zheng Guang, but look at the appearance of these people, the queues are not neatly arranged, how could they be elites.
But thinking about the soldiers from the four towns under his command, it seems that they are not much better. The standing army is better. Those military households recruited temporarily are used to farming on weekdays. They are all farmers anyway. If they are brought here, they are probably the same. It was about the same level, except that an army appeared out of thin air outside the city, which made people suspicious.
The fast horse rushed to Gao Heng and others, took a look at these soldiers, and said: "Whose subordinates are you? Tell me your name?"
Then he took a look at the soldiers in front of him. He couldn't see any clues from a distance, but when he got closer, he suddenly discovered something was wrong. These people, these people didn't seem to be Annan people at all. After all, although Annan was once part of the Central Plains regime in ancient times, the skin and appearance of the Annan people are obviously different from those of the Han people due to different water, soil and climate.
At a glance, the fast horse found that many of them looked different from the Annamites, and the parts of those people exposed outside of their clothes and armor were covered in scars. This did not look like scars caused during training.
While he was dazed, Lu Tao and Wang Qi walked over from left to right. Before the fast horse could react, Lu Tao grabbed the reins. Wang Qi dragged his legs and pulled him off the horse. Come down.
All this happened in a flash of lightning, and Kuai Ma had no chance to react. The governor at the top of the city shouted, "No!" Qi Chang and others were also nervous, and the soldiers immediately became alert.
"Let me go, let me go, you bastards, who are you?" Wang Qi kneeled Kuai Ma on the ground, and he raised his head with difficulty and shouted. Wang Qi threw his helmet aside and slapped him twice in the face until stars appeared in his eyes. Now even a fool knew that the group in front of him must have bad intentions.
"Tell me how many men and horses there are in your city. Tell me and I will give you a way to survive." Wang Qi said with a dagger against his neck. Kuaima was just a small soldier, and there was no need to die in vain. Under the threat of death, he immediately said: "I said, I said, there are three strange people in the city, and the leader is an inspector sent from above."
Gao Heng thought for a while and realized that the Three Strange Men and Horses were 600 people, and there were many more soldiers and horses than us. Gao Heng said to Wang Qi: "Who are these Three Strange Men and Horses?"
Kuaima now understands that what these people speak is not Annan at all. Because he has been managing overseas Chinese for a long time, he can understand it more or less. Could it be that these people are overseas Chinese? But he couldn't think too much, after all, the sharp knife was pressed against his neck. He immediately said: "One of them is a standing army, and the rest are military households."
Wu Rong said: "Boss, their military households are similar to ours. They work as farmers on weekdays and are recruited temporarily during wars. They have little combat effectiveness. The standing army must be more careful. After all, our civilians are worse than them."
At this time, Kuai Ma suddenly stared at the team in front and shouted: "I know you, I know you! You are, you are Jing Zhao!" It turned out that the person he was looking at was Jing Zhao. Jing Zhao had a certain prestige among the people. The Jing family is also a big family, so it is considered a celebrity in the civilian camp. It is not surprising that the soldiers guarding him recognize him.
Jing Zhao said in Annan dialect: "Since you recognize it, I won't let you go."
Gao Heng held him down and said, "Wait a minute, this person is still useful."
Gao Heng walked up to him and said: "Go back and bring a message. We are the immigrants you captured. Our families have been imprisoned by you. Today we are here to take revenge. If you are sensible, get out and die!" , took out the dagger and cut off his ear with a snap.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" The fast horse screamed like a pig, and blood spread all over the floor. Wang Qi let him stand up, but naturally the war horse was confiscated, and the fast horse stumbled towards the city.
Jing Zhao said: "General, are you just letting him go back like this?"
Gao Heng said: "This is a method of provoking generals. Think about it, our people are not very strong in combat. Although this city is not very good, if the enemy sticks to it, we will be in trouble. What I do is to proactively reveal my identity and provoke the enemy. Let me ask you, if you were the enemy general, what would you do?"
Jing Zhao thought for a while and said: "It's just a group of civilians. They used to be just bugs underfoot, but now they have turned against them. I will definitely send troops immediately to eliminate these civilians."
Gao Heng said: "That's it. We don't have the ability to attack the city now. The only chance of victory is to let them go out of the city to fight in the field and defeat them in the field."
Jing Zhao opened his mouth, his expression obviously a little nervous. Two hundred versus six hundred, and the opponent also has a standing army. Can this be won? Gao Heng pretended to be relaxed, patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "It depends on human effort."
"Asshole! Asshole!" He quickly fled back in embarrassment and reported the situation outside the city. The governor was furious and furious. He never expected that these people dared to rebel against the world's disapproval. Although he didn't know how they did it. They escaped from Zheng Guang's military camp and even obtained a set of equipment, but there were only two hundred of them, and they dared to provoke him. This was enough to make him angry.
Anger overwhelmed his mind. He must cut these bugs into pieces. He did not bother to investigate the reason why these people appeared here, and shouted: "Send out troops, gather people and kill them."
Qi Chang reminded: "Sir, should you be more careful?"
The governor shouted: "Can't you hear my order?"
Qi Chang had no choice but to order the entire army to attack. Dozens of soldiers guarding the city were left behind. Dozens of soldiers and horses in the concentration camp were also left behind. The rest of the people and horses in the city were dispatched, making up a total of 500 people. With great strength, he marched toward the open space outside the city and stood there, really showing off his posture.
Although they were soldiers of the Fourth Town, their weapons and equipment were much worse than those of the Beijing soldiers, but they still had the equipment they should have. Gao Heng used the telescope captured from Zheng Guang's army to observe the enemy. He found that the enemy's troops were more powerful than his own, and they looked fierce. Guns and artillery are also available. This is a tough battle. The only way to win is to see who can carry it better. The one who persists to the end without losing focus will win.
The governor was riding a horse in the team and continued to observe the enemy's situation with a telescope. Gao Heng was also riding on the captured war horse. Although his riding skills were not very good, in the training of later generations, there were also horse riding subjects. Riding is no problem, but if you fight on horseback, there will be a question mark.
Gao Heng took a cursory look and saw that the opponent had about five or six artillery pieces of various types, lined up at the front of the position. Three of them were close-combat artillery pieces similar to the Crouching Tiger Cannon, and the other three should be similar to them. , which is a light-weight Folan machine. The archers were hiding behind and couldn't see clearly. There were dozens of gunners in front, but no cavalry.
This is what Gao Heng is most fortunate about. If the enemy has cavalry, the two hundred infantry he put together cannot be the opponent of the cavalry. One charge will be over.
The governor looked back at his men and horses. The team was still so-so. The military households at the back were not good, but the two hundred standing troops in the front were still good. These were the men and horses he could rely on. The two sides were about a mile apart, and he brought out all six movable cannons. There were also two city defense cannons on the top of the city. If the enemy was close to the city wall, they could also fire in support. However, he was confident that this group of civilians was of no use. It was impossible for them to get close to the city wall alone.
The governor ordered: "Artillery, prepare to fire."
Creaking, the sound of wooden wheels rolling on the ground was a bit harsh. Wu Rong and his men untied the rope tied to the artillery, drove the donkey aside, and the soldiers pushed the artillery to the front of the team. According to Gao Heng's prior arrangement, the soldiers formed a simple formation.
There are three artillery pieces at the front, followed by sword and shield soldiers. Behind the sword and shield soldiers are gunmen and a small number of archers. Finally, there are spearmen. Gao Heng stands on the flank of the spearmen on horseback, commanding the overall battle. . For Gao Heng, the advantage of the war horse is that it makes it easier for him to move. Although he was once a non-commissioned officer, his biggest position was squad leader. He was very experienced in leading a dozen people in combat, but he was very experienced in leading two hundred people in combat at once. Some drummed.
This is completely different from the previous way of fighting with small troops. That's why it is said that leading generals like Bai Qi and Han Xin are gods. On the battlefield, commanding so many people to fight is not an easy job.
"Hmph! A bunch of reckless bugs even have artillery. Can they figure out how these artillery works?" The governor frowned, although a strange feeling arose in his heart. How could these civilians do this? Get the artillery. But the arrow had to be fired when it was on the string, and the army was ready to start.
"Let's begin." The governor said calmly.
"Ready, load!" An artillery captain ran out of the team and waved the flag twice. Immediately, a soldier scooped up a full spoonful of gunpowder from the gunpowder barrel with a wooden spoon in his hand, and then put it into the gun barrel. , poured the powder into the cannon, and then another soldier took out a ball of paper and stuffed it into the cannon. The soldier who put the gunpowder before put down the wooden spoon and lifted a wooden partition from the ground the same size as the muzzle. The strips are pounded in, and the gunpowder, paper balls and wooden boards are all compacted.
Immediately afterwards, another soldier picked up a one-pound solid projectile, put it into the barrel of the gun, and compacted it again with a purge bar. Finally, the original gunner inserted a lead wire into the small hole directly above the barrel, and the loading process was completed.
The reason why it is so cumbersome is that there is no way to do it. The air tightness of ancient artillery is very poor, and it can only be sealed with paper balls to improve the air tightness. The partition is to generate directional thrust for the projectiles. In addition to the rapid firing of the Folang machine's main and sub-cannons, such a loading step is required for both heavy and light artillery.
But even the mother-child cannon has huge shortcomings. The sealing performance of the mother-child cannon is even worse, and most of the shock wave of the gunpowder leaks out, resulting in a very short range. When using it, the gunner needs to get close to shoot to exert its power.
After the shells were loaded, the gunner took a rough aim, and the command flag suddenly fell from the captain's hand, "Fire!"
Only a bang was heard, and a shell was ejected from the muzzle. The hot projectile rubbed violently with the air, forming a white tail flame. After drawing a long arc in the air, it landed with a bang. hit the ground, splashing a lot of mud. Gao Heng watched the cannonballs flying over, and he felt pretty good. After all, he had experienced too many wars, and he still had some concentration.
Veterans like Gao Heng can roughly judge the impact point of the shells just by listening to the sound of the shells. As the saying goes, there is no need to hide when the sound is far away, but it is useless to hide when the sound is close. Artillery is not a particularly strong deterrent for veterans. What veterans fear most on the battlefield is machine guns.
But these civilian men under Gao Heng were different. They were real recruits. When they saw the cannonballs flying over, they subconsciously squatted on the ground. Some even lay down on the ground with their heads buried in the ground and their buttocks stuck out. , unspeakably funny.
Fortunately, the opponent only fired a test shot, which was basically inaccurate. The training intensity of the soldiers in the four towns was not very good. Getting a hit with the first shot depended on luck.
The shell passed over Gao Heng's head and hit the rear of the formation.
The governor said angrily: "Asshole! Look what kind of battle you are fighting, reload!" The Annan soldiers immediately reloaded.
Here, Wu Rong was already prepared. Both sides had the same shooting steps, but Gao Heng had an advantage. There were four soldiers in one gun position on Annan's side, but there were seven soldiers on this side. Although it seems that they have a lot of bloated staff here, each person is only responsible for one process and is sorted according to one, two, three, four and five.
The first person loads the gunpowder, the second person puts the paper balls, the third person puts the partition, the fourth person loads the projectiles, the fifth person tamps it with a rod, the sixth person inserts the fuse, the seventh person is responsible for igniting, and the aim The matter was left to Wu Rong himself. He had served as an artilleryman in the army and knew that artillery was not very accurate and could only be aimed by feeling.
He gave a thumbs up and made a gesture. In fact, this was the eye-tap method commonly used by the Ming army, and it was also the most basic aiming method in actual artillery combat. The method is not difficult. As long as an ordinary soldier is not stupid, he can basically learn it quickly.
