The two Ming armies had similar numbers, about fifty or sixty men each, and they were all warriors, including shield bearers, spearmen, musketeers, and archers.
The formations they listed were also relatively close, and you could tell at a glance that they were not easy to mess with. If the cavalry had to charge directly, they would probably suffer some losses.
This was also the reason why the cavalry led by Wang Xiazi and Anyonduo did not attack them immediately.
Because even if we can win, well, if nothing unexpected happens, we will definitely win if we charge forward, but our side will inevitably suffer certain losses.
The cavalry in the cavalry posts in the Baoxiang Camp are all very valuable. Most of the cavalry are elite cavalry who can rush and kill and are good at riding and shooting. No matter how stupid the blind man is, he cannot do it when his own side has a huge advantage. , use your own elite cavalry and the enemy's infantry to fight.
Even if one is exchanged for ten of our own, it will be a big loss!
As long as they, the cavalry, block the enemy's retreat and contain the enemy, the infantry and artillery will naturally handle the rest.
What tactics are best used these days to deal with a dense array of enemies that are surrounded and have a tight formation and have long-range counterattacks such as muskets and bows and arrows?
Of course it was bombarded with artillery!
It's already the 17th century. Since the enemy infantry is surrounded, who would be stupid enough to fight you face to face? Wouldn't it be better to just bombard it from a distance with artillery...
If there is no artillery, there is no other way but to use traditional methods, such as using bows and arrows to shoot at the opponent, and at the same time sending infantry wearing armor to take the lead and rush forward to fight the enemy.
Judging from the situation of the Baoxiang Battalion, if we simply let the infantrymen of the left, center, right and supply battalions deal with these two Ming army units, even if the other side has been besieged, it is estimated that our own side will have to pay a lot of casualties to capture them. .
After all, the infantry division in the Baoxiang camp is really not that good, and its combat effectiveness is not comparable to these officers and soldiers.
But Baoxiang Camp has artillery, and there are several of them.
Of course, the artillery in the Baoxiang camp is only a light short-barreled artillery, not the long-barreled artillery that can directly fire solid shells.
But it was enough to deal with dozens of besieged infantry.
Now Zhang Malin has already led the artillerymen to rush over with the artillery. Since there is not much distance, it is estimated that a moment will be enough.
Ever since, Huang Guangmao saw such a scene.
First, the rebel cavalry bypassed his own formation, and then blocked his escape route. Then another one or two hundred enemy infantrymen surrounded him.
These cavalry and infantry were all arrayed a hundred meters away, with no intention of getting close to them.
However, the more this happened, the more worried Huang Guangmao became.
He didn't think that these thieves would not attack now. He planned to wait until lunch time to have lunch with them...
Sure enough, it didn't take long for him to see the bandits on the opposite side pull out two artillery pieces.
This is the artillery unit led by Zhang Malin himself.
When two 200-pound cannons were placed in front of the formation, Huang Guangmao understood why these thieves did not take the initiative to attack before. They were waiting for the artillery.
Not long after, Zhang Malin had already prepared the artillery. Although the two 200-pound artillery pieces under his hands were small, they also had serious two-wheeled gun mounts. It can be used without having to remove the artillery from the gun mount or fix the gun carriage like those traditional old artillery guns.
After being prepared, Zhang Malin did not fire immediately, because Luo Zhixue had also arrived in front of the formation and was shouting for the opponent to surrender.
Huang Guangmao is also very confused now!
Their current situation was such that they could not escape. If they formed a formation to protect themselves, they would have to be passively bombarded by artillery fire from the opposite side.
what to do?
When Huang Guangmao was struggling, Luo Zhixue, who was on the opposite side, saw that there was no movement from the Ming army on the opposite side, so he directly ordered Zhang Malin to fire.
He can't wait like this forever, right? There are Ming troops who have also been blocked waiting for him to deal with them, but he doesn't have time to waste time with these Ming troops on the opposite side.
——————
Huang Guangmao was wondering what to do, when he saw the rebel army on the opposite side firing directly.
After the rumbling sound of artillery stopped, an array of dozens of soldiers under Huang Guangmao fell to the ground. A dozen people fell...
Seeing this scene, Huang Guangmao couldn't help but take a step back.
The next moment, the confidant beside him said with a look of horror: "Du Si..."
Not only this man, but also several other soldiers and junior officers around him looked at him.
Everyone looked panicked, as if they wanted to say something but didn't dare to say it...
Looking at these people, Huang Guangmao didn't know what these people were thinking. They just wanted Huang Guangmao to order surrender.
However, Huang Guangmao was a dignified Dusi, a fourth-grade military general. How could he easily surrender to a group of bandits?
At this time, someone shouted again: "They are loading again..."
After a round of shelling, Zhang Malin and his artillery began to reload. When they finished loading and another round of shelling came, more than half of them would be killed or injured.
What's more important is that the soldiers who were originally waiting in formation were panicked after being hit by a round of artillery fire that killed and injured more than ten people. Many of them had already involuntarily stepped back, and no one stupidly stepped forward to compensate. Vacancies created by shelling.
If this continues, I'm afraid they will collapse without waiting for the second round of cannon fire from the other side.
After all, they were now besieged and faced unilateral bombardment.
With no hope of escape and no way to hold on, they really had no other choice but to surrender.
Huang Guangmao also knew this very well, but he couldn't make up his mind before. Now he saw that the rebels were loading and preparing for the second round of bombardment.
He sighed and said: "Now that things have come to this, we cannot be brave but we are brave. However, the king, thieves and dog officials have repeatedly forced us to disrupt our army's deployment, and we have ended up in the current situation."
After putting all the blame on Wang Jida, Huang Guangmao continued: "We have been fighting for the imperial court for many days and suffered heavy casualties. We have lost your favor. Now it is time to consider your life."
Speaking of this, he paused for a while before saying the last words: "Tell the other side that we will surrender as long as our lives are guaranteed."
At this time, the confidant beside him also said loudly: "It's all the fault of that bastard Wang Jida. If he hadn't repeatedly forced us to attack Songshan, so many brothers wouldn't have died tragically, and we wouldn't have been surrounded."
"With such a dog official here, the court will not be able to get better. We have fought and killed for the court for so many years. Now surrendering for our own lives is not too much."
"Not too much!"
Many people immediately responded: "Damn it, the dog official won't let us live, so we might as well turn against him."
Whether it was for their own lives or because of their anger towards Wang Jida, each and every one of them acted bravely and directly agreed with the surrender. Some even said on the spot that they should just surrender to the thieves and rebel.
For many ordinary soldiers, they are serving as soldiers and eating. There is not much difference between working for the imperial court and working for bandits.
Today, they can surrender to the bandits if they are defeated by the bandits. They can also surrender to the officers and soldiers if they are defeated later and become part of the officers and soldiers again.
Zuo Liangyu had recruited and surrendered many of the original elite bandits, otherwise it would have been impossible for his troops to expand so rapidly, and there were still many elites.
When Huang Guangmao decided to surrender, the next thing became simple.
Under the instructions of the bandits on the opposite side, they threw down their swords, spears, bows, arrows, muskets and other weapons one by one, took off their armor and lined up.
While Luo Zhixue arranged for people to take custody of these prisoners of war, he also met Huang Guangmao on the other side.
Huang Guangmao looks like a middle-aged general in his forties, not tall, but very stout, but he doesn't look good now.
After all, he had just surrendered, so his expression was naturally not much better.
Luo Zhixue did not speak too much to Huang Guangmao, but simply said a few words to him, nothing more than saying that Huang Guangmao's choice to surrender was the right one, and that Huang Guangmao did not have to worry about the lives of himself and his soldiers. They Funiu Mountain Baoxiang Camp is not an ordinary bandit who likes to kill prisoners.
Luo Zhixue actually had no intention of killing the prisoners. On the contrary, he even planned to recruit a group of new soldiers from these prisoners of war.
There were nearly 400 prisoners captured this time, of which more than 180 were soldiers, and the rest were county warriors and civilians. As for other Ming soldiers and civilians, some were killed or wounded, and some were Taking advantage of the chaos, he ran away without knowing where he was.
Let’s not talk about the county warriors and civilians, but the more than 180 soldiers are more important.
These soldiers are all recruits from the Ming army. Regardless of their combat effectiveness, they are not comparable to those of county warriors and civilians. If some of them can be selected to join the Baoxiang Battalion, it will be enough to increase the Baoxiang Battalion's combat effectiveness.
What's more, he had heard some of the noise among the Ming soldiers before the surrender. Many of them said they should surrender or rebel. He knew that many of these Ming soldiers really planned to surrender. Thief.
In this case, Luo Zhixue would naturally not disappoint their wishes and planned to select some of the Ming army soldiers to be added to the Baoxiang camp. As for the rest, they would naturally continue to be incorporated into the prisoner of war camp to work as a living.
But even if we choose people from among them, we can't do it now. We have to clean up the battlefield before doing these things.
Cleaning the battlefield is also a troublesome task. Not only do you have to pack up the weapons and equipment, baggage and other messy things left by the Ming army, but you also have to collect the soldiers who died in the battle on both sides.
At the same time, we have to treat the wounded soldiers, but the treatment of the wounded soldiers can only be limited to the personnel, especially those who are seriously injured. Based on the current medical conditions, there is a high probability that they will not survive.
Even with some moderate injuries, whether they can survive it depends on fate.
There was no way, even if Luo Zhixue personally guided and established a preliminary military medical system in the Baoxiang Camp, the level was still just that.
Minor injuries are better, and as long as the infection is controlled, it won't be a big problem, but whether you can survive moderate or above injuries depends purely on fate!
