On June 3rd, the eighth year of Chongzhen reign, outside Yuzhou City in the afternoon.
The sun still hangs high in the sky, and the blazing sunlight shines on the earth, announcing that this place has entered midsummer.
Gao Zheng was wearing armor, with a red strip of cloth tied to the peak of his helmet. There was a red collar patch on the collar of the cloth armor, and on both shoulders there were epaulettes with a red background, a vertical line, and a gold star sewn on it.
Gao Zheng, who was wearing a helmet, was sweating constantly on his forehead, and his back was soaked with sweat.
After approaching the battlefield, he began to wear a full set of armor like many of his comrades. His armor was not only heavy, but also wrapped tightly.
Wearing this kind of full body armor on a hot day is actually very uncomfortable.
But even if he feels uncomfortable, Gao Zheng will not complain, let alone take off his armor.
The Ming army's camp was just over a hundred feet ahead, and a battle could break out at any time. If he took it off now, he wouldn't have enough time to put on his armor when the Ming army came out, or if the superiors ordered an attack now.
Compared to the protective capabilities brought by the armor, being a little tired and hot now is nothing.
Gao Zheng wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked left and right. There were his own right-wing troops on both sides, so densely packed that it was almost impossible to see the end at a glance.
He knew very well that at this time, his own army had already listed a standard formation.
Just wait for the artillerymen to fire.
But after waiting for a long time, there was still no artillery fire from our side. At this time, the man next to Gao Zheng was also wearing armor, but with a gray cloth strip tied on the top of the helmet. At the same time, he was wearing three vertical lines on a red background. You are young. A man came over and said:
"Captain Gao, the sun is too hot today. If it keeps going like this, my brothers will fall down from exhaustion even without being beaten!"
Gao Zheng turned to look at his chief of staff and said: "Of course the superiors have their plans. What should we worry about? Just wait!"
After Gao Zheng finished speaking, he couldn't help but look at his sentry commander who was riding in front of him again, but his own sentry commander was standing in front of the formation on his horse and didn't move for a long time.
He turned and looked at the so-called position of the battalion commander further away, but because of the distance between the crowds, he couldn't actually see his battalion commander. He could only see his own camp flag flying high.
But the camp flag was the same as before, and it did not send out any flags.
Gao Zheng was located in the middle of the battlefield, with friendly troops on his left and right, and he was not on horseback, but on foot like ordinary soldiers. He couldn't see very far at all, and could only see from the position of his own sentry commander and some battalion commanders further away. flag to determine the situation.
However, his battalion commander, Han Ziping, commander of the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the 1st Infantry Brigade, was very clear about the current situation.
Through the condescending observation on horseback, while constantly receiving flag messages from the rear headquarters, Han Ziping knew that the army had not yet launched, and even the artillery units had not launched an artillery attack.
That's because the artillery unit led by Brigadier Zhang Malin had just entered the predetermined artillery position, and before it had time to bombard the enemy's infantry square, the enemy's cavalry appeared on the left wing.
Frightened, Zhang Malin hurriedly directed the artillery to turn the muzzle and aim at the enemy cavalry, and at the same time ordered to prepare to fire rapidly!
This group of cavalry that came out from the edge of the enemy's right wing was immediately known to be the five hundred elite cavalry under Zuo Liangyu's command.
There was a lot of armor, and most of the cavalry carried two sets of bows and arrows.
This cavalry is also an elite cavalry capable of riding and shooting!
Such an elite cavalry appeared on the edge of the enemy's right wing. It was obvious that their target was the artillery unit on the left wing of the Baoxiang Army.
In order to avoid an accident, Zhang Malin's artillery brigade urgently turned its guns and targeted the enemy cavalry, which was a great threat.
At the same time, Wang Xiazi's cavalry brigade in the rear position was also on horseback and ready to fight.
In addition, the 9th Infantry Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Brigade guarding the left wing has also urgently changed its formation, preparing to intercept possible enemy cavalry attacks to protect its own artillery units.
Due to the sudden appearance of the enemy cavalry on the left wing of the Baoxiang Army, the artillery brigade was unable to launch artillery bombardment of the enemy infantry in time, which also caused the Baoxiang Army to delay the full-line attack.
When the Baoxiang Army engages in large-scale battles, regardless of whether it is offensive or defensive, the effect of the artillery bombardment must first be seen.
Now that artillery fire has begun, the infantry will naturally not be allowed to rush forward without artillery cover.
In today's battle, if nothing unexpected happens, the Baoxiang Army will have to wait for the artillery and cavalry units to set the tone. This is the time for the infantry on the left and right wings to take action. Well, there is no central army in the traditional sense.
This time, the Baoxiang Army did not launch the left, rear, and middle armies in the traditional sense, but only listed the left and right wings.
The 1st Infantry Brigade was on the right and the 3rd Infantry Brigade was on the left.
The distance between the two divisions is still relatively far, about two hundred meters, and about a hundred meters behind the air raid position between the two divisions is a formation of a thousand-man guard camp.
The air strike position between the 1st Infantry Brigade and the 3rd Infantry Brigade is a clear conspiracy. If the enemy chooses to break through from here, it will be destroyed by the musketeers from the two sides and the front, a total of three sides. Sexual blow.
If the enemy does not break through here, the Janissary Battalion can simultaneously serve as a reserve for two infantry brigades, reinforcing one of them at any time.
At the same time, there is the first baggage battalion on the right rear position of the infantry square. This battalion is still the old rule and serves as the strategic reserve of the entire army. It is also to prevent the enemy from detouring and attacking from the right.
On the left side of the infantry square are the 1st Artillery Brigade and the 1st Cavalry Brigade.
The entire rural protection army has formed more than ten square formations of various sizes!
The Ming army on the opposite side also listed numerous large-scale dense phalanxes, and the number was even greater.
Some of their phalanxes were behind the wall, and some were in front of the wall. At the same time, there were a large number of archers deployed on numerous arrow towers made of bamboo and wood on the wall.
But the most eye-catching thing is their right wing. In the direction facing the left wing of the Baoxiang Army, there are three large-scale vehicle formations.
This vehicle formation is not a defensive formation composed of ordinary horse-drawn carriages, but a vehicle formation mainly composed of horse-drawn carriages equipped with light cannons.
They often use a small cannon on a vehicle as the core, and gather many or even a dozen musketeers, archers, and spearmen.
Multiple carriages equipped with artillery formed small formations, and finally multiple formations merged into a large formation.
The Ming Army's vehicle array with light vehicle-mounted artillery as the core is very effective against traditional cold-weapon infantry. It requires mobility, power, and firepower. It once made the Tatars in the north unable to take care of themselves.
Until the Ming army met Dongduo, who liked to play with heavy armor and shield vehicles...
In the early and mid-term field battles between the Ming army and the Eastern captives, they basically followed the same pattern. The Ming army relied on car formations, while the Eastern captives relied on heavy armor!
The results are also highly consistent. Most of the time, Dongduo pushes a thick shield cart and carries the shrapnel of various light cannons of the Ming army. When they enter the rifle range of tens of meters, they will use rifles. Bow shooting intensively.
Then...then the Ming army collapsed.
The Ming army fought too many battles like this and lost too many. It's just that when a normal army saw that Dongduo was equipped with shield chariots and heavy armor, and that its own chariot array couldn't defeat them, it would think of ways to counteract Dongduo's chariot formations. Captive's heavy armor advantage.
After all, this war was not a year or two, but lasted for many years. Such a long time was enough for the Ming army to adjust its tactics.
For example, if those small cannons are no longer useful, then they will find a way to bring their own more powerful Hongyi artillery onto the battlefield.
If it can't be pulled up, then lighten it and improve the gun mount.
In front of the Hongyi cannon, a mere shield vehicle is nothing. A single shell fired at it can directly destroy an entire row of so-called shield vehicles...
What, you said that the technical content of artillery is too high and there is no way to improve it, okay, for those who don’t play artillery, let’s play something more traditional.
For example, heavy armor!
People just plunder heavy armor, so you can also pile up heavy armor. Armor doesn't have much technical content. If you have money, you can make a lot of it.
A full set of armor for ordinary soldiers costs twenty or thirty taels of silver. If it's half armor or something like a dozen or so taels of silver, you can get a few more taels of silver.
Get more heavy armor and put it at Jiliao, and Dongjie will be pushed flat...
What, you are sitting in all the nine states in the world and have a prosperous hinterland like Jiangnan, but the number of heavy armors is still no more than that of Dongduo who is hiding in the barren mountains and rivers!
That……
There is no other way, just defend the city!
Well, that's what the Ming army did. Up to now, the Ming army has been concentrating on defending the city in Jiliao area.
But it must be mentioned that the Ming army played with chariot formations in Jiliao and suffered repeated defeats. However, when they took it to the hinterland of the Central Plains to deal with the bandits, the results were completely different, and it was very useful.
At least it is used to deal with the various rebels led by Gao Yingxiang, which is a one-hit-one shot.
After all, Gao Yingxiang and the others don't have much armor, let alone armor, and they don't have many serious weapons.
Now, Zuo Liangyu moved this set of things directly to the Yuzhou battlefield, counting on the three large vehicle formations on the right wing to make the final decision, break through the left wing of the Baoxiang Army, and then establish the battle situation.
The Ming army clearly set up three large vehicle formations on the right wing, with a total strength of at least 2,000 people and hundreds of various small cannons.
Luo Zhixue was not blind, so he naturally responded tit-for-tat and directly pulled all the eighteen artillery pieces of the artillery brigade to the left wing.
To deal with the Ming army's chariot formation, Dongduo relied on thick shield chariots and heavy armor to carry the Ming army's artillery fire to a distance of tens of meters, then intensively fired with bows and arrows, and finally rushed forward wearing heavy armor to fight and win.
The Baoxiang Army is different. Although the Baoxiang Army also has a lot of heavy armored infantry, the positioning of the heavy armored infantry in the Baoxiang Army is different from that of the Ming Army and Dongdu.
The heavy armored infantry of the Baoxiang Army is positioned to provide protection for the musketeers, and is not the main fighting force.
The main means of killing of the rural protection army is guns and artillery.
To be more precise, it is a 600-pound long-barreled artillery piece.
