These garrison generals originally had strong objections to letting their garrison soldiers take the lead. Now that they saw Chen De taking the initiative to lead his troops to participate in the battle, they felt a little better.
Even if Hong Chengchou is forced to fight with the traitors of the Baoxiang Army, we can't just fight with the traitors. You Chen Yongfu also has to send his direct relatives to go up.
Chen Yongfu scanned the people around him, and even if he didn't want to, he knew that he couldn't mess around at this time.
After thinking about it, Chen Yongfu said to his son Chen De with a cautious face: "You lead a thousand soldiers to supervise the battle. Once a gap is opened, rush in and kill him without leaving a trace."
It's okay to go out to fight, but you have to let the guards at the front open the gap before going out to fight. Don't stupidly rush to the front.
Chen De immediately nodded and said: "Son, take the order!"
On the Ming army's side, under Chen Yongfu's arrangement, they mobilized their troops and generals before slowly moving forward.
This time the Ming army deployed about 2,600 garrison soldiers and 1,000 headquarters soldiers, with a total strength of about 3,600 people.
The leaders were still the guardsmen. They set up infantry phalanxes. There were also a few musketeers and archers in the infantry phalanxes. There were more than ten light artillery pieces in the intervals between the phalanxes.
After they formed up about 800 meters away, following Chen Yongfu's order, many of the guardsmen in front had to break into a trot and run towards the front, even though many of them were dejected and showed fear on their faces.
After the first attack, they also knew that they could not just stupidly and slowly move forward in formation, but had to speed up the advance, otherwise they would be hit by rounds of artillery fire from the rebels and unable to take care of themselves.
After rushing over quickly, even if they rushed within two to three hundred meters, they could launch a counterattack with two or three hundred kilograms of light artillery.
It won't be like the first attack, where it will be unilaterally withstood by the rebels' bombardment from beginning to end, without even the slightest counterattack.
Seeing the Ming army attacking again, Zhang Malin, the artillery director and first artillery sentry officer, was not polite and commanded the 600-pound artillery that had been cooled for many rounds to continue firing.
In the previous bombardment, each of his 600-pound long cannons fired seven or eight rounds in a short period of time.
After firing artillery shells at the maximum combat rate of fire, even after each firing, a wooden stick wrapped in cloth would be dipped in water to clean the barrel and cool it down. However, the accumulated temperature in the barrel will still be relatively high. If it continues later, If fired, after firing a few more rounds, the rate of fire will have to be reduced to avoid a chamber explosion accident.
After the Ming army retreated, these artillerymen did not sit idle, but continued to use cloth dipped in water to continue cooling the barrels.
No, these Ming troops seemed to have negotiated better. After the artillery post had just lowered the temperature of the gun barrel to normal levels, these Ming troops came up again.
As the six 600-pound long guns of the artillery sentry roared again, the attacking Ming army inevitably suffered continuous losses.
But soon, Zhang Malin saw that these Ming troops were different.
The advancement speed of these Ming troops was much faster than during the first attack.
These Ming troops have been trotting from the beginning. If this continues, they may be able to advance to a distance of two to three hundred meters without waiting for a few rounds of artillery shells from their own side.
Thinking of this, Zhang Malin said to the deputy next to him: "Prepare the shotguns, wait for the enemy to enter Baizhang and shoot the shotguns quickly."
At the same time, he added: "Inform the artillery teams of each infantry battalion and let them prepare. This time, the officers and soldiers may rush forward in one go."
Although the 200-jin and some 100-jin light artillery in the Baoxiang Army are currently under the jurisdiction of the artillery teams of each infantry battalion or some independent infantry artillery teams, as the leading artillery general in the Baoxiang Army, Zhang Ma Lin still believes that he has an unshirkable responsibility for guiding the operations of these light artillery units.
Of course, Lin Dongsheng, Huang Dingquan and other infantry generals disagreed with this...
Zhang Malin saw the unusual behavior of the Ming army, and Luo Zhixue, who had been paying attention to the changes on the battlefield, also saw the unusual behavior of the Ming army.
Just listen to his calm tone: "It seems that they have learned to be smart and know that they can't be a target by advancing so slowly."
An Yongduo on the side said: "They have become smarter, but they still haven't changed enough. With such a sudden attack, I'm afraid their formation will be completely scattered without going a hundred feet away, and they will be attacked by us again." The intensive attack of shotguns will probably lead to complete chaos."
Luo Zhixue did not answer the conversation, but asked: "Where are Wang Dazhuang and the others? How long will it take for the second cavalry post to arrive?"
An Yongduo said: "A quarter of an hour ago, our troop transmission order was in contact with the 4th Infantry Battalion. Now Brother Wang and the others are about four miles away on the west side of the battlefield. They have recovered their physical fitness in advance and are currently on the march. It is expected to arrive on time within two quarters of an hour and launch the attack from the west.”
"The second cavalry post followed the order and has now merged with our rear flank and the first cavalry post."
Saying that, Anyong said: "Should we let two cavalry sentries attack? The enemy is charging so fast, and the formation will inevitably be scattered. When the time comes, our cavalry can rush out and destroy the enemy in one fell swoop."
Luo Zhixue shook his head slightly: "There's no rush, just let Blind Wang get ready. There's no need to rush into the formation."
Under the Baoxiang Army, the first cavalry sentry led by Wang Xiazi and the second cavalry sentry led by Ma Dapao were very valuable.
This kind of elite light cavalry cannot be used randomly to charge into formations, even if the enemy's formation has collapsed.
If you rush in and get into a melee with the enemy's infantry, no matter how many enemy troops you can kill, Luo Zhixue will be heartbroken if your own elite casually loses dozens of cavalrymen.
Now that the battle is going smoothly, and no matter how we look at it, there is no great danger to our side, so there is no need to risk the precious elite cavalry.
Hearing what Luo Zhixue said, An Yongduo consciously shut his mouth. He also knew that he was a little impatient and came up with a bad idea.
Huang Guangmao on the side watched An Yongduo shut his mouth. Although he looked expressionless as he was paying attention to the battlefield, there was a hint of joy in his heart: "A soldier is born as a soldier. This knowledge is still too bad. This time I came up with bad ideas at least three or five times when I went south."
"If this continues, the General will not keep him in the important position of Chief of Staff for long, no matter how nostalgic he is. And after Anyondo gets out, his chance will come."
Although Huang Guangmao was a surrendered general, since he surrendered to the bandits, Huang Guangmao, like many former officers and soldiers who surrendered to the bandits and mutinied, began to devote himself wholeheartedly to the cause of rebellion.
For Huang Guangmao personally, with the continuous development of the Baoxiang Army in the past six months, his personal expectations for the Baoxiang Army and Luo Zhixue have become greater.
According to the development momentum of the Hometown Protection Army, I can't say whether it will be able to dominate the world in the future, but it is very possible to recruit tens of thousands of people to separate one side.
It is not too late for him to join the army. With the development of the Baoxiang Army, he can continue to accumulate qualifications and military exploits and become one of the top generals in the Baoxiang Army.
However, Luo Zhixue refused to let him leave the army to lead troops, so he could only think about competing for the position of director of the staff department.
Huang Guangmao's guess was correct. As time went by, especially as the Hometown Protection Army grew larger, An Yongduo became increasingly incompetent as the Chief of Staff.
After all, the position of the staff office in the Baoxiang Army is very important. It not only formulates strategies and tactics for the entire army, but also supports military expansion and training matters.
In the past, when there were only a few hundred people, Anyong could barely manage it. However, as the size of the rural protection army has now expanded to more than 4,000 people, and it is still expanding at a high speed, it will not take long to exceed 6,000 people. When people mark the pass.
Anyongduo's ability has become increasingly unable to keep up.
Even though Anyongduo has been working very hard on reading and literacy in recent months, and even asked his literate subordinates to read Sun Tzu's Art of War and other military books to him, his ability still cannot keep up with the development pace of the Baoxiang Army.
Luo Zhixue was already thinking about changing An Yongduo's position after this battle and asking him to be a battalion commander and lead the troops.
As for the subsequent candidate for the director of the staff office, he has not yet decided.
Huang Guangmao, Fei Bingqing and Xu Zhixian, the chief of the Operations Section of the General Staff Office, are all candidates. It remains to be seen who will be chosen as the Chief of the General Staff Office.
And these things are all follow-up matters. Luo Zhixue is not in the mood to consider the selection of the director of the staff department after Anyongduo.
As Zhang Malin's artillery continued to fire, the Ming army continued to approach after paying a certain price of casualties.
Soon, some of their forward soldiers had arrived about two hundred meters away from Zhaozhuang's first infantry defense line.
At this time, the commander of the 1st Infantry Battalion, Huang Dingquan, ordered his two-hundred-pound light artillery to prepare to fire.
As a result, the many 200-pound guns originally hidden behind the parapet bunker were pushed up.
These light artillery pieces have been loaded in advance and can be fired as long as the enemy rushes up.
In fact, before these light artillery fired, Zhang Malin's 600-pound long cannon no longer used solid bullets for shelling, but instead used shotgun shells to cover a large area.
After the 200-pound light artillery in the defense army also fired a large piece of shrapnel and iron beads, the Ming army in the process of charging suddenly stopped gaining momentum.
If you look closely, you will find that the more than a hundred Ming troops rushing at the forefront almost all fell down in front of the shotgun offensive of the Baoxiang Army.
But even so, the generals of the Ming Army continued to urge their soldiers to continue the attack, and at the same time asked the remaining artillerymen to pull out their own light cannons and start fighting back.
The battle between the two sides has now entered its most intense phase.
Even though they suffered a lot of casualties, these Ming army guardsmen were still forced to move forward. At this time, the ones leading the charge were no longer the ordinary recruited guardsmen, but became the guardsmen. Soldiers left behind.
These guard soldiers who were originally hiding behind the ordinary guard soldiers were gradually charging past the ordinary guard soldiers in front.
Not long after, about two hundred soldiers in armor were seen rushing forward with various weapons such as knives, spears, bows and arrows, and muskets.
