The officers and soldiers organized several attacks in succession, but all collapsed at the first touch.
They also attacked the mountain half a month ago, at least they could hold out for a few minutes.
Zhao Yu remained silent, of course he knew what was wrong.
The Mandarin Duck Formation and the like were only at the tactical level. The officers and soldiers were defeated so quickly because their morale was too low. A few casualties would lead to a large defeat.
Especially the young soldiers from the Chengdu Plain had high morale when they first joined the army, and many of them even left home with the idea of ​​killing thieves and making meritorious deeds.
However, they were trapped in Zitong for too long, and instead of winning a single battle, they lost two strongholds.
Those rural soldiers who suffered from the cold in winter also had an impact on the junior soldiers, who always felt that the government had gone too far.
There is also Ju Ming's appeal. Many of the soldiers knew its content, so they had a complicated psychology: on the one hand, they blamed Ju Ming for rebelling, causing them to leave their hometowns, and their families had to pay more taxes because of the war; on the other hand, they sympathized with Ju Ming and thought that
Ju Ming was speaking out for them.
In a word, I don't want to fight, and I don't dare to fight anymore.
Zhao Yu set up the "big formation" most commonly used in the Song Dynasty, also called the "Chinese Army Formation".
This formation has basic routines and can be adjusted according to the terrain. What is transformed at this moment is the "Four-door Doubi Formation".
Without him, this formation is the safest, and it is easy to change and is suitable for new recruits.
The commander sat in the center, and the swordsmen and gunmen were arranged in a phalanx around them. The shield and javelin men were mixed in between, and then the horse and soldiers were the foot of the formation. The crossbowmen were behind, and a small number of cavalry were also hidden in the formation.
More than 30,000 officers and soldiers formed a large formation that stretched for several miles.
Zhu Ming personally led the main force and came slowly. He climbed up and observed from a distance. Seeing the cautious formation of the army, he also calmly began to set up the formation.
Put the Juma at the front, followed by four battalions of infantry. The flat artillery was pulled to the front for assembly, the tiger crouching artillery, and the musketry team also came forward. There were two more rows following, with more than 10,000 infantry arranged directly horizontally.
These infantrymen are slightly "V" shaped.
"Female Formation?"
Zhao Yu's central army was on a small hill. He carefully observed Ju Ming's formation, but he really didn't understand it.
In fact, it doesn’t count as any formation, it’s just Qi Jiguang’s triple formation, a weird combination with the traditional female formation. Not only did Zhu Ming have few firearms, he even had very few bows and crossbows. He was unable to exert the power of the triple formation and could only use close combat troops.
Make up for the lack of firepower.
On Ju Ming's side, the formation took dozens of minutes.
The officers and soldiers did not move, and did not bother to divide their troops to attack the mountain. They allowed Deng Chun to lead the elites from the mountain down to join Ju Ming's main force.
It's not that Zhao Yu didn't want to move, but that he couldn't move. He was afraid to take the initiative and scattered his formation!
Once the army stretching for several miles becomes chaotic, it will probably take Han Xin's second life to contain it.
Zhao Yu just set up his formation, stopped quietly, and waited for Ju Ming to attack. Moreover, he occupied all the relatively flat terrain, leaving the place where Ju Ming formed his formation was rugged, and there were even several large ponds.
in the middle.
After the formation was completed, Ju Ming observed for a long time and did not order the entire army to move forward. Instead, he pushed out the large and small flat cannons.
Zhao Yu was too "calm" and arranged several layers of horse resistance in front of the formation. Although it was too far to see clearly, he probably also sprinkled caltrops in some areas.
This fellow treats the four-door Doube Formation as a turtle formation. He does not seek merit, but only seeks no faults.
Hundreds of flat cannons were pulled out, intending to smash the enemy horses in front of the army's formation first. It would be best if they could kill a few people along the way.
On Zhao Yu's side, they also launched flat cannons.
Before leaving Beijing, he specially studied the drawings of flat cannons, and when he arrived in Zitong, he immediately asked craftsmen to build them.
Ju Ming doesn't care about this and has no regrets about leaking the technology.
At that time, it was necessary to conquer the barbarians, and Yu Wenchang was definitely interested in bringing out the cannons to fight. Even if Ju Ming did not present it to the court, Yu Wenchang would definitely submit the drawings.
The real power is not the weapons, but the people who use them!
The number of catapults on both sides was about the same, with the officers and soldiers having slightly more than a dozen, which directly turned into a catapult shooting battle.
Stones, big and small, flew around.
After a round of test firing, each adjusted their distance. The rebels still fired stone bullets, but the officers and soldiers were mixed with fire bullets.
To be precise, it’s a poisonous smoke bomb!
This thing is added with gunpowder, and its proportion cannot explode, but it can burn violently. It is also mixed with various irritating substances. Once it is projected, billows of pungent smoke will emit.
As an artillery commander, Deng Xia saw that the situation was not good and immediately ordered the civilians to take off their clothes, tear the cloth, wet it and bring it back.
Fortunately, there was a large pond in the rebel formation. After coughing and throwing in the second round of stone bombs, the gunners began to cover their mouths and noses with wet cloths.
His eyes were still exposed and red and bloodshot, but he still persisted.
The accuracy of the flat artillery was extremely poor. The two sides fought for more than 20 minutes, and only a few were destroyed. Even after occasionally hitting the gunner, the scene was bloody and bloody, making people feel extremely uncomfortable.
The artillery battle gradually decided the winner. The rebels, who had fewer flat artillery pieces and were still plagued by thick smoke, won.
And the officers, soldiers and artillerymen collapsed one after another!
The supervising team raised their swords to kill, and at the same time announced generous rewards, and even if they died in battle, they would provide generous compensation to their families. However, the morale of the officers and gunners was still low. After being forced back to the artillery position by the supervising team, they continued to throw stones in an almost desperate battle.
Their status in the army was very low, they were treated like servants, they never had enough to eat, and now they were still wearing autumn clothes.
When they are alive, they don’t have enough to eat or clothing to keep warm. How can you make them believe that they will receive pension after death?
After another round of shelling, only two people were killed, and the rest of the gunners collapsed. And it was not a retreat, this time it was a "rout". They were afraid of being hacked by the supervising team and ran towards the rebels crying and screaming.
Zhu Ming saw it clearly with the telescope and said with great joy: "It's a good idea to entertain the enemy's defeated troops. Bring a few big pots and get some meat to catch the wind and wash away the dust for them!"
Bullying Zhao Yu and not daring to disturb the military formation, Ju Ming stopped attacking and even stopped the bombardment. He set up a pot between the two armies to cook rice and meat.
Zhao Yu didn't understand at first and quickly guessed what Zhu Ming wanted to do, and shouted: "Send more gunners to destroy those rice pots!"
The so-called gunners are all civilians.
The operation of the flat cannon is too simple, so the officers and soldiers do not pay attention to the gunners. They treat them harshly in peacetime, but in wartime they just pull some up and fire.
The rice could no longer be cooked and the bombardment resumed.
The rebels had already filled up the stone bullets, and before the officers and gunners were in position, they fired a volley at them.
With the previous success stories, this group of officers, soldiers and artillerymen didn't even bother to touch their own catapults and just ran away towards the rebel positions.
Zhao Yu was stunned and speechless for a long time.
The morale of the officers and soldiers near the artillery positions dropped sharply. Although they were not bombarded, the friendly forces escaped right under their noses. Anyone who was not stupid knew that they were going to be defeated today.
"The general system cannot stand firm and must change its formation to attack," Huang Gai reminded. "Otherwise, if the Zhu thieves push up the flat artillery, they will have to throw rocks at the military formation. Throwing stones can hit the front line of the army." Collapse."
Of course Zhao Yu knew this and said helplessly: "Send the order, the front army will stand still and wait for orders, the left and right armies will change into horizontal formation and move forward, the rear army will move forward to defend the center army, and the whole army will prepare to advance."
As soon as the formation of officers and soldiers moved, local chaos immediately occurred.
Ju Ming seized the opportunity: "Drum roll, the whole army except the Chinese army will attack!"
The drums beat loudly and the flags wave.
More than 10,000 elite rebel troops advanced over rugged terrain.
Ju Ming then ordered: "The auxiliary troops are young and strong, and move around the enemy's left flank!"
As the elite rebels advanced, their formations also became chaotic. But it was only the whole team that was in chaos. Each Yuanyang team still maintained a high degree of organization.
They are closer than brothers, eating and sleeping together.
If private accommodation must be requisitioned, a team of twelve people will live in the same room.
The reward based on beheading has been cancelled. Now it only depends on the overall performance and whether the combat objectives have been completed. When rewarding based on merit, merit is usually recorded as a team, and only those who are particularly outstanding are credited with individual merit.
Various systems have allowed every Yuanyang team to become one with each other, and many of them even become brothers in private.
When they made a sworn vow, they also agreed that if someone died in battle, the surviving brother would have to help take care of the family.
The drum beat became faster, and the soldiers changed from sprinting to trotting. Looking down from a high altitude, the rebel front line was uneven, but there was never chaos. Because the grassroots organization of the squad was still there, and each squad leader looked higher. First level flag.
Watching the flag advance step by step, it is always chaotic but orderly.
The young and strong auxiliary soldiers who were responsible for bypassing were obviously much worse. They had already rushed into a swarm. They were just trying to scare the officers and soldiers. To put it bluntly, it didn't matter if they were all defeated. Anyway, they were bypassing the side and defeated. Soldiers will not attack combat soldiers.
The left and right armies of officers and soldiers were still adjusting their formations and moving forward, and some rebels had already rushed in front of them.
Some rebels screamed, but their feet were pierced by caltrops.
To be continued...