A tough battle, using 30,000 troops to attack the more than 100,000 Ming troops huddled in the camp, was definitely a tough battle. The Peiping Army had fought city defenses, guerrilla warfare, ambushes, and sieges, but they had not fought. Pass through a critical battle, because a critical battle means a large number of casualties. Unless it is absolutely necessary, the Peking Army will not use this method of combat.
Now, it is a last resort, because the Liao army will soon go south. If this Ming army is not dealt with quickly, the Peiping army will fall into the tragic situation of fighting on two fronts, and the losses will probably be even greater.
It's the lesser of two evils, that's right.
After establishing the combat goal, the staff department immediately formulated several combat plans. While the generals were gathering the troops, Wan Lei gently stroked his armor and felt the sound coming from it. a cold feeling,
"Xue'er, help me put it on." This set of armor is made of steel, fully covered, and protects all vital parts of the body. Therefore, it weighs more than ten kilograms and cannot be put on by one person. Someone needs help.
"You, you have to go into battle in person," Zhao Xueer looked at Wan Lei in shock,
"Why, I can't go into battle," Wan Lei smiled lightly. He usually would not go into battle in person, but this time it was extraordinary. The officers and soldiers had to risk their lives, but as a leader, he hid behind and watched. This is too Outrageous,
"You really want to go into battle. On the battlefield, there are no weapons and no eyesight. If something happens, then..."
"It is precisely because swords and guns have no eyesight that I have to go into battle. We are all children of father and mother, and we all only have one life. If the soldiers can sacrifice, then I can sacrifice too,"
Seeing that Wan Lei was determined, Zhao Xueer knew that it would be useless to persuade her, so she said: "Then I have to go into battle. Sister Wei'er said that my task is to protect you and not let the unborn child have no father."
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," Wan Lei said with a confident smile. This is not the first time he has gone into battle to fight. In the previous battle to defend Beiping, he personally went into battle to kill. That time, he was injured in many places, but it was... I have accumulated a lot of experience in slashing people, and I have also practiced a few tricks on a daily basis. Now I can at least be able to slash people without being slashed by them.
Of course, the battlefield is a place where lives are at stake. Any accident can happen. There is no absolute safety. As a leader, going to battle at critical moments can inspire people. If he must go to battle in every battle, he is deliberately seeking death. Wan Lei is not stupid. He is very In an emergency, he can't do it unless he can.
Wearing more than ten kilograms of armor on the body, most people would be exhausted, but Wan Lei was strict with himself, and he still had some strength. If the soldiers could carry the armor, so could he; if the soldiers could mount their horses and charge, so could he. able,
As the top leader of the Jingzhong Guards, Wan Lei went to battle. Of course, the dozens of Jingzhong Guards around him also had to fight. Soon, a group of fully armed Jingzhong Guards appeared behind Wan Lei. Their armors were different from ordinary ones. The soldiers are the same, except that there is an extra black tassel on the helmet to show the difference.
The Peking Army is very mobile. It only took half an hour from deciding to go to war to formulating tactics and then gathering the troops. Thirty thousand fully armed cavalry were concentrated on the plains, waiting to go out.
As soon as this person passed Wan, it felt like a huge crowd. Wan Lei held his helmet and walked around in front of the formation, scanning the soldiers with eyes like an eagle. There was no resentment in their eyes, let alone any resentment. Afraid, I only see determination and perseverance,
Perhaps, in terms of actual combat experience, the Peiping Army is still lagging behind, but its morale and morale are high enough to rival those of the Tiger and Wolf Division.
"Brothers, Wan Mou can't help you," Wan Lei stood in front of the formation, his anger was deep in his Dantian, and his voice was loud, "Wan Mou has no virtue and incompetence. Thanks to the help of the brothers, he has achieved what he has today. However, I ask for it from the brothers. To give too much, to give too little,”
"Mr. Wan regards us as brothers, and we will repay him to the death," a general said in a shocked voice.
"Mr. Wan regards us as brothers, and we will retaliate to the death," tens of thousands of soldiers responded in unison,
Wan Lei raised his hand and pressed down, and there was silence again, "Brothers, I believe you have heard the news. Yes, the imperial court has opened Shanhaiguan and allowed the Liao army to go south. The Liao army, yes, is the one who besieged our city of Beiping. The Yan rebels who killed countless of our brothers,”
Wan Lei paused, glanced at everyone, and then said: "The Yan rebels killed our brothers and destroyed our home. They managed to escape with great difficulty. Now they are coming again. They are really determined to destroy our Peking Army. Brothers, What should we do,,"
"Anyone who offends our Peking troops will die."
"Kill, kill them all, and avenge their dead brothers,"
Wan Lei waved his hand again to calm down the people below, and said: "The Liao army is the life and death enemy of our Beiping army. However, before the decisive battle with the Liao army, the Ming army in front of us must be wiped out. They are the same as the Liao army." Everyone along the way is our enemy. If we don’t eradicate them as soon as possible, they will stab us in the back.”
"Yes, this garbage should be cleaned up, all of it,"
"However, the Ming army is powerful and huddled in the camp. We have to fight quickly, and I'm afraid some sacrifices will be made. However, this battle is related to the entire war situation. Even though we know it is a hard nut, we have to gnaw on it. The next battle , all the soldiers must fight with their lives, Wan will not dare to hide behind, he will live and die with his brothers." Wan Lei glanced at the soldiers, suddenly pulled out the sword from his waist, and slashed it in the air, "We will not break the enemy camp. , I swear not to return my master,”
"Unless we break the enemy camp, we vow not to return," tens of thousands of sabers were raised together, shining brightly under the sunlight...
"Set off,"
The setting sun in the afternoon was still warm, and it was easy for people to feel sleepy when bathed in the sunshine. In the Ming army camp, many sentries on the sentry towers fell asleep in a daze. There had been no fighting in the past few days, and they were nervous. The nerves were also relaxed. Many people still thought that the Peking Army could only fire artillery, but err,
Suddenly, there was a rapid sound of horse hooves not far away, and the ground trembled slightly. The sentries suddenly woke up and looked up. Good guy, there were densely packed blue figures in the east. Looking closer, it turned out to be... The Peiping army in full armor,
"The enemy is attacking, the Peiping thieves are attacking," the rapid sound of gongs sounded, and the Ming army camp was filled with people. Many people picked up their weapons and rushed out of the camp. There were even messengers running around, urging the soldiers to assemble. challenge,
Just as the Ming army camp was in chaos, rumbling cannons were heard from the sky. Immediately afterwards, countless projectiles fell from the sky and fell like raindrops on the Ming army camp. Some unlucky Ming army soldiers were unfortunately shot, and there were screams and shocks. The screams are endless,
This was not the first time that the Ming army was shelled. The outer palace of the military camp was also a bit messy. However, the inner camp was not affected by the artillery fire. The soldiers of the Ming army hid behind various bunkers to effectively avoid being hit by the shells. After three consecutive rounds of shelling, the sound of artillery finally stopped. The camp outside the Ming army was in a mess, with craters of various sizes everywhere, but not many people were injured.
About one mile outside the Ming army camp, Zhao Quanjie stood on his horse on a small earthen bun. He used binoculars to carefully observe everything that happened in the Ming army camp. He saw that the Ming army was not disrupted by the shelling. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, but it was a disappointment. He still ordered the 3,000 cavalry of the First Division to attack.
The three thousand cavalry were divided into three horizontal teams. The one who rushed at the front was the thousand-man light cavalry. This cavalry rushed three hundred meters in front of the Ming army camp and fired a volley at the Ming army camp. The Ming army had just been attacked by artillery. Ravaged, just when he wanted to show his head, he was frightened back by the rain of arrows.
After a round of volleys, the light cavalry separated from the middle and began to circle the camp in two parts, followed closely by a heavy cavalry. This cavalry formed an impact formation and rushed towards the Ming army camp. Behind the heavy cavalry, there was still a group of light cavalry. This light cavalry set up their bows and arrows, and as soon as they entered the shooting range, they fired a volley at the Ming army camp to cover the attack of the heavy cavalry.
With wave after wave of bow and arrow attacks, the Ming army guarding the camp was overwhelmed and unable to take the lead. The heavy cavalry came quickly and had already rushed to the front of the camp, waving the iron ax they carried with them and shining on the wooden fence of the camp. It was just a random attack, and the light cavalry that had been bypassed came back again and again, charging back and forth in front of the Ming army camp, firing volleys at the wall while charging, covering the heavy cavalry's assault on the camp.
Under such a rapid and violent attack by the Peiping Army, the Ming army on the walled city was unable to take the lead at all. They could only use continuous crossbows to shoot arrows down the city. However, the heavy cavalry of the Peiping Army, including both men and horses, were fully covered with armor. These The crossbow arrows fell on them, but they were useless. Soon, a large hole was cut through the first line of defense of the Ming army camp.
Although a hole was broken in the first line of defense, the Peiping Army did not invade aggressively, because this was only the outermost line of defense of the Ming Army Camp, and it was also the weakest line of defense. You must know that the Ming Army Camp was operated by hundreds of thousands of people for several days, and there were two lines of defense. The first line is a wooden fence, and the second line is a rammed earth wall. There are trenches dug between the first and second lines of defense. There are also many traps and barriers, which are not conducive to the movement of cavalry.
Seeing the Peking Army easily breaking through the first line of defense and then retreating easily, leaving almost no wounded soldiers behind, Chang Sheng, who was supervising the battle in the camp, was shocked by such skillful tactical coordination. However, what shocked Chang Sheng even more was that , as soon as the cavalry team retreated, an infantry team with a large shield appeared,
This team formed a large square formation, with large shields covering their heads and sides. It looked like an iron fortress. The defenders' bows and arrows shot at the square formation were all blocked and could not be hurt at all. When they arrived, thousands of cavalrymen followed behind the phalanx, still using bows and arrows to cover them, which made the Ming army on the wall unable to raise their heads.
Wherever the phalanx passed, be it fences or traps, they were either pushed away or filled in. Even the trenches were quickly filled up to create a road. Watching the armored formation attack the second The road was also the last line of defense. Chang Sheng also panicked and ordered the infantry team from the outer camp to attack and drive away this annoying armored formation.
However, as soon as the Ming army's infantry team gathered together, the armored formation began to retreat slowly. As soon as the Ming army approached the armored formation, they saw the armored formation scattered in all directions. A heavy cavalry suddenly rushed from behind and faced the Ming army. They rushed and killed indiscriminately, and the Ming army could not withstand such a fierce attack. They had to retreat while fighting, and retreated to the inner camp without coming out again.
In this way, the Ming army gave up the first line of defense, and the entire army of 100,000 people retreated to the inner camp. The defense of the inner camp was still very strong. The several-meter-high rammed earth wall was not only equipped with repeated crossbows, but also many Firearms are not easy to attack by force.
However, the Peiping Army had no intention of attacking with force. When the heavy cavalry saw that the Ming Army retreated into the inner camp, they also retreated. The battlefield temporarily returned to calm, just like before the storm, it was as quiet as before.
"Let the artillery battalion bring the artillery over, get closer, fire at a small angle, and blast it at the earth wall, flattening the earth wall," Zhao Quanjie ordered calmly. The troops just sent were only responsible for clearing the peripheral obstacles. , the real weapon for siege is artillery,
In fact, the Ming army had long been prepared for the Peking Army's artillery bombardment tactics. The first line of defense and the second line of defense were widely separated to prevent artillery bombardment. Now that the first line of defense was leveled, artillery could Get close, and then blast the second line of defense. Once the second line of defense is broken, the only thing left is to face the Ming army head-on.
Soon, more than 20 artillery pieces were pulled to a place 500 meters away from the inner camp of the Ming army and lined up. There was a cavalry team behind the artillery position to protect them. The Ming army in the inner city saw it and were filled with hatred and fear. , but they did not dare to send people out to attack the artillery positions of the Peiping Army.
"Boom, boom, boom..." In the first round of volley, more than 20 large lead balls drew low and flat trajectories and hit the earth wall heavily, immediately creating several large craters and causing a mess of rocks. Hengfei, when the defenders on the earth wall saw this, they were frightened and hurriedly hid behind the female wall.
After a round of salvo fire, the artillerymen loaded the shells with great ease, adjusted the gun angle, and then calmly fired the gun. Another twenty seconds of large lead balls flew straight towards them, and more than twenty large craters appeared on the earthen wall. Large areas of mud walls collapsed and were about to be smashed.
"General, the rebel army's artillery is too sharp. If we don't send troops to fight, I'm afraid we won't be able to defend the inner camp," an aide suggested anxiously, looking at the crumbling earth wall.
"Send the order and ask Lin Zong to lead 50,000 infantry out of the city to fight the rebel army. The rebel artillery array must be destroyed." Chang Sheng also knew that if the Beiping Army's artillery array was not destroyed, the inner camp would not be able to defend it. Yes, so even if he was unhappy, he still had to send troops to fight.
Several gates of the inner camp were opened, and 50,000 Ming troops swarmed out, forming a formation and charging toward the artillery positions of the Peiping Army. Zhao Quanjie, not far away, saw that the Ming troops were finally willing to come out and risk their lives. The corners of his mouth turned up and he thought: This was what he was waiting for. With a wave of his hand, more than 25,000 cavalrymen behind him launched a charge at the same time.
"Brother, the cavalry is charging, let's charge too," Zhao Xueer beside Wan Lei shouted excitedly,
"Don't be anxious, it's not the time for the decisive battle yet," Wan Lei said in a deep voice,
"Now that all the troops are on board, it's not the time for the decisive battle yet," Zhao Xueer asked with some confusion. She was even more puzzled: Just now, Brother Wan was so passionate that he wanted to go into battle in person. Why did he suddenly shut down now? Could it be? retreat,