The musketeers in Zhou Shixian's army remained motionless and none of them fired, which surprised Wang Hui. Almost none of his troops used muskets. Not to mention the cumbersome operation of these weapons, the soldiers could not fire as required. Although

There was a lot of movement and momentum when shooting, but it was almost useless, and it often even exploded and injured one's own people.

"This escort force is indeed not simple. No wonder it can escape from the siege of hundreds of thousands of bandits."

Wang Hui began to feel a little worried, but now that the arrow was on the string and he had to shoot, it was useless to worry again.

When these rebel cavalry entered fifty or sixty steps and began to draw their bows and set arrows to harass Zhou Shixian's army, the archers behind the shields of Zhou Shixian's army immediately began to counterattack.

On the battlefield, hundreds of arrows shuttled back and forth in mid-air. Most of the rebels' arrows hit the shields, making a constant clanging sound, while most of the arrows from Zhou Shixian's army hit the shields.

On the ground, there were several screams from both sides.

The archers of Zhou Shixian's army used infantry bows to shoot extremely lethal heavy arrows at these enemies. Coupled with the absolute advantage of infantry bows over cavalry bows, both Wang Hui and Ma Huabao's cavalry suffered heavy losses and fell quickly.

There were more than a dozen war horses.

The cavalry on horseback were wearing battle armor and were constantly moving, so they were not the main target of the archers. Only three were killed and five were injured, including two who were injured when the injured horses fell down.

On Zhou Shixian's side, the soldiers had double protection with shields and armor, and the light arrows fired by the riding bows were basically ineffective. Only three people who were extremely unlucky were injured.

Ma Huabao and Wang met the situation. Knowing that this level of harassment was ineffective against this elite troop, they had no choice but to signal the Chinese army to withdraw their troops. Only then did the frightened cavalry leave the corpses of more than a dozen horses and retreat from the battlefield in disgrace.

Come back.

After winning the first battle, they watched the three slightly injured rebels fall to the ground with fear. They crawled back in embarrassment using their hands and feet. The morale of the escorting army was very high. The whole army was inspired again, and their determination to win was strengthened.

.

Ma Huabao looked at the middle of the battlefield with a gloomy expression. Several horses that had been hit by arrows and fell to the ground were struggling painfully on the ground. One of them had more than a dozen arrows in its body and was already dying. It also made a shrill neighing sound.

This round of probing and harassment not only did not disrupt the opponent's deployment and create opportunities for the soldiers to charge, but also caused the loss of more than a dozen horses, which Ma Huabao and Wang Hui never expected.

"General Ma, I'm afraid this insurgent army is really difficult to deal with. Not a single musketeer is shooting. If we attack by force, I'm afraid..." Wang Hui said worriedly.

"General Wang, do you and I still have a way out today?"

The flesh on Ma Huabao's face trembled for a few times, and then he sneered: "As long as our servants are still there, when we are promoted to officials in the future, we will naturally not worry about soldiers and horses, otherwise... we will lose our lives."

Already."

After Wang Hui heard this, his heart sank, and he suddenly felt a little funny. Even Ma Huabao understood this, but he was still hesitating. Now besides fighting to the death, do they have any other choice? Is it possible that they still want to surrender to the thieves?

"Let the musketeers go forward first, and shoot at forty or fifty paces to lure them to fire, and then the archers scatter. After approaching forty paces, the cavalry on both sides take the lead to attack, and the soldiers break through the chaos through the gaps.

Army's military formation." Ma Huabao said immediately, the battle plan is still so simple and crude.

Of course, there is a reason why Ma Huabao is only as good as Ma Huabao, but on the battlefield, if the enemy does not make a mistake, or in other words, makes a mistake and you don't notice it, then there is no such thing as a clever plan. Everyone can only

It's a hard hit.

Unfortunately, there were no obvious loopholes in the military formation laid out by Zhou Shixian. The only shortcoming was that there were too few soldiers and horses, so Ma Huabao and Wang Hui had no choice but to fight hard.

"Okay, as soon as a shot is fired, those musketeers who rebelled will definitely lose their composure." Wang Hui nodded.

He knows the Ming army very well. Whether it is the frontier army, the Beijing camp, or the southern army, they are all afraid of muskets. These things issued by the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty have cumbersome loading steps and are easy to explode. A volley fire.

If you move more than forty steps, you won't be able to penetrate the armor at all, but you will be more injured by the explosion on your side.

"Let's all come together and let Eunuch Lu send some soldiers and horses to help in the battle in case anything unexpected happens."

After Ma Huabao said this, he called the messenger, and then a war horse galloped out from the attacking army formation, bringing up dust all the way.

They still have great trust in Lu Jiude. This eunuch is not the kind of person who doesn't know how to fight, nor is he the kind of person who would make a name for himself for meritorious deeds. There is no need to worry about being plotted by asking for help from him.

Soon, the war drums rumbled, and dozens of rebel musketeers armed with three-eyed muskets, bird muskets and other old muskets rushed to a place fifty or sixty steps away from Zhou Shixian's army and opened fire, but Sun Hu's musketeers were unfazed at all.

move.

Seeing that there was no movement from the opponent, they kept running there, and slowly came to a distance of forty paces. However, except for the archers to shoot back, the musketeers of Zhou Shixian's army did not move at all as if they did not exist.

The scattering effect of these musketeers was almost ineffective. The muskets they used were very old and the quality was even more worrying. The soldiers were afraid of exploding the chamber and did not dare to fill the powder according to the standard. Because the range and power were greatly reduced, the lead bullets hit the shields.

, just like a stone hitting it, except for a sound, it has no effect.

The rebel archers also quickly lined up to reach fifty paces. Behind them were soldiers wearing double armor, almost all of whom were elites in the Mahuabao army. As they marched, the armor blades collided with each other and made a clanging sound.

, followed by Ma Huabao and Wang Hui's servants, these people are the core combat force in the army.

As the Ming army entered fifty steps, muskets were set up on the shields. The intimidating muzzles of the guns were pointed at the rebels on the opposite side, but still no one fired.

Sun Hu knew the combat effectiveness of the Ming army. In order to ensure maximum damage, he asked Zhou Shixian for instructions to wait until forty steps before shooting, instead of the traditional seventy or eighty steps.

Zhou Shixian has no doubt about Sun Hu's expertise. Although he comes from a later generation and has a much higher vision than Sun Hu, he will not use his amateur level to command the most professional musket in this era in the matchlock battle.

One of the officers.

Soon, a bugle sounded, and the three rows of archers in the front line of the rebels unfurled their bows and nocked arrows, and began the first round of volleys. Hundreds of arrows roared out in the air amid a sound of bow strings vibrating like cotton.

They crossed beautiful parabolas and rushed towards the position of Zhou Shixian's army in a dense manner.

The arrows hit the shields and armor, making a crisp sound. At the same time, the cavalry on both sides of the rebel army also began to attack. Wang Chaodong and Wu Xingye rode out at the same time, leading the cavalry to cover.

Wu Naohu looked at the rebels rolling in from the front of the position, and immediately ordered the musketeers behind the parapet to check the ammunition and match ropes for the last time and prepare for the first salvo.

"preparation!"

"aim!"

More than one hundred and eighty matchlock guns were leveled at the same time, the black muzzles of the guns pointed at the rebels who were setting their bows and arrows, preparing for the second round of volley.

Sun Hu stared closely at the unprotected rebel archers and immediately shouted: "Shoot!"

On Zhou Shixian's army position, white dragons rose up one after another, and soon merged into a thick wall of smoke. Orange-red fire flashed through it, and gunshots exploded in succession.

More than 180 lead bullets swept past like strong winds and huge waves, roaring into the rebel formation. Whether it was cotton armor, chain armor, or more expensive armor, single-layer armor was extremely powerful and powerful.

Even the very cheap lead bullets are vulnerable.

Lead bullets smashed into the rebel formation like heavy hammers. A large number of archers in the front row fell down. Shocking screams resounded through the plains. Pillars of blood fell from the bodies of these soldiers.

The bodies of fallen soldiers and the heart-rending screams were heard gushing out from their bodies, seriously disrupting the determination of the subsequent rebel forces to attack.

In just an instant, in this round of musket fire, which was earth-shattering for the Ming army, more than sixty rebels fell, and the first row of archers was almost wiped out by the deadly lead bullets.
Chapter completed!