After hearing the squad leader's order, Nong Zuxing quickly cheered up.
He is a child from Sicheng Prefecture (Lingyun). Because he has lived close to the Han people for a long time, many people in the tribe can speak Chinese.
Their relationship with the court is very delicate.
Most of the time, he was willing to obey the orders of the government. Even in the former Song Dynasty, he sent troops and food to help the court conquer Nong Zhigao, and also helped the court resist the invasion of Annan.
But when they encounter excessive taxation by the government, they may rebel, and the conflict between the government and the people turns into a national conflict, thinking that the Han people at the foot of the mountain are bad guys who deserve to be killed.
The current Ming Dynasty court is extremely supported by all the children's tribes.
Even the government during the Huizong period of Song Dynasty could tolerate no rebellion. Now the administration has become better, the exploitation is not as heavy as before, and they are taught to grow corn and sweet potatoes. Naturally, they think that the emperor of tomorrow is a good emperor.
Therefore, these tribes actively joined the army!
They also served as soldiers in the former Song Dynasty and were organized into Baojia starting from Wang Anshi's Reform to assist the Guangxi government in putting down the rebellion in Guangxi and Guangxi.
Now it is possible to join the regular army, but unfortunately there are not many recruitment places, and the proportion of non-Han soldiers cannot exceed 15%.
This made some children very disappointed, because serving as a soldier for the Ming Dynasty was more fulfilling than digging in the mountains.
Eat better, earn more, and have the opportunity to become an official.
A child has been promoted to a hundred-man general. I heard that he can be promoted higher based on his military merit, but he was blocked from promotion because he was illiterate.
Guangxi generals all said that child soldiers are very useful, they can climb mountains and ridges as if they were walking on flat ground, they can endure hardships and endure diseases. Therefore, they all want to recruit more child soldiers. Yang Zaixing also has the same idea, and has applied to the court for two consecutive years.
"Coming, coming!"
The first group of enemies Nong Zuxing faced were barbarians from the Aning tribe.
The name of Anning City in later generations originated from the Aning tribe, and the homophonic pronunciation of Aning became Anning.
The Anin barbarians holding round shields and two-foot daggers rushed to the front row to climb the mountain. Behind them were some Anin spearmen, and some Anin archers.
These barbarian soldiers also have rich experience in mountain warfare. The formation originated from hunting in the mountains and gradually evolved into a military formation.
The formation is relatively scattered, with soldiers spaced more than three meters apart.
On the not-so-steep hillside, the Aning soldiers climbed quickly.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
The fusiliers in the firearm version of Yuanyang Formation began to aim at the enemy and shoot freely.
The shields in the hands of Aning's barbarians could not be blocked at all, and they were knocked over repeatedly by the muskets.
Seeing a large number of rattan players killed in battle, Aning's barbarian soldiers were frightened. They climbed a few more meters, but due to increasing casualties, they finally couldn't bear the fear of death and turned around to escape.
Nong Zuxing, who was holding a spear in his hand, immediately relaxed and smiled again on his face. He made a bet with his comrades: "When do you think the enemy will be able to get in front of us and engage in close combat?"
"You have to attack six or seven times no matter what." Ding Man, the boring machine next to him, said with a smile.
Nong Zuxing said: "I estimate it will take more than ten times. Do you want to bet?"
"What bet?" Timon asked.
Nong Zuxing said: "If you lose, please drink the corn wine."
Timon said: "Okay."
The Ming army only banned alcohol during drills, marches, and battles, and did not care about drinking at other times.
Soon, the enemy's second attack came, and they were shot back by musketry in the middle of the attack.
Both sides are testing.
Gao Zhenshou was observing the Ming army's troop deployment, and Yang Zaixing was weighing the combat effectiveness and morale of the Dali soldiers.
No morale to speak of!
The internal strife among the Gao clan princes led to a serious depletion of Dali's national power, and the treatment of the army became worse and worse.
Moreover, the Thirty-Seven Barbarians rebelled in the east and even occupied Shicheng County and established an independent country. The Jintooth Barbarians rebelled in the south and took away Xishuangbanna and Pu'er.
The Dali army couldn't even regain these lost lands, and it didn't even dare to conquer the barbarians. What kind of combat effectiveness and morale could it have?
After several unsuccessful attempts to attack the mountain, Gao Zhenshou called the generals and said: "Those who died in the attack on the mountain will be given five guan as a pension. If we take down the stone wall outside the mountain stronghold, the first person to climb the wall will be rewarded with 500 guan, and the one who follows the wall will be rewarded with 20 guan."
Guan. If the second stone wall is captured, the first person to climb the wall will be rewarded with one thousand guan, and the one who follows the wall will be rewarded with 50 guan!"
Many tribes in Dali still barter and even use shells as currency.
But there are also a lot of copper coins.
Yang Zaixing also sent someone to give an order to the generals: "You can move closer and wait for the enemy to flee. Then take advantage of the situation and chase them for a while. But if you get close to the foot of the mountain or encounter enemy troops who are responding to you, you can quickly retreat and continue to defend the stone wall."
.”
Under heavy rewards, there must be brave men.
Moreover, Gao Zhenshou used his own clan soldiers this time.
There are three types of military units in Dali: standing army, rural soldiers and barbarian soldiers.
The standing army is similar to the Forbidden Army and Xiang Army of the Song Dynasty.
Like the Song Dynasty, rural soldiers and barbarian soldiers were recruited temporarily.
Because their treatment is getting worse and worse, these soldiers are no longer willing to fight, so the real elite are the private soldiers of the princes.
It can also be understood as the "housekeeper" of the generals!
However, Gao Zhenshou invested two hundred private soldiers at one time. All officers and above wore iron armor, and ordinary soldiers also had leather armor, and there were iron plates in key parts of the leather armor.
They asked the soldiers to attack the mountain first, trying to consume the Ming army's bullets and gunpowder, while they hid behind and seized the opportunity to attack.
The north and east sides of the mountain stronghold were full of Dali's attacking troops. It was really hard to find the two hundred private soldiers hiding among them... Well, they were discovered very quickly.
With a telescope, this trick is easier to expose.
A lookout said to the sentry behind him: "Go and report quickly. An elite enemy force has sneaked in from the northeast. All members are wearing armor. The generals have iron armor and the soldiers have leather armor."
In less than a moment, twenty squatting tiger cannons were carried over, and several reserve teams also took action.
Two groups of miscellaneous soldiers over there were defeated. The Ming army gradually reduced the frequency of firing, and finally only fired a few sporadic shots.
"The Ming army is out of medicine!"
"Kill with me!"
The morale of the Dali soldiers here was greatly boosted, and even the village soldiers roared and charged.
Gao Zhenshou's two hundred private soldiers rushed so fast that they climbed the hillside as if they were walking on flat ground. In the blink of an eye, they had already reached the first stone wall.
"Run away!"
The Ming army defending this low wall panicked and fled.
Nong Zuxing was also running away, but there was no panic on his face, and he even smiled after turning around.
The acting skills are not up to par.
Behind the first stone wall here is a relatively gentle mountain col, used for hiding soldiers and stacking rolling stones, wood and other materials.
The Gao family's private soldiers quickly climbed over the low wall, and each one of them rushed towards the second stone wall with high morale.
"I'll log in first!"
a soldier yelled.
The Dali military officer next to him scolded: "I climbed up first!"
The soldier stopped talking and continued to charge with his head filled with resentment.
As long as you rush up to the second stone wall, the reward will be even more generous.
Several Dali reserve forces at the foot of the mountain had already discovered that the first stone wall had been breached, and immediately some generals led their troops out to expand the victory.
Yang Zaixing has reached the highest point in the northeast corner of the mountain village, licking his cracked lips and observing the battle situation through a telescope.
The "deserters" of the Ming Dynasty fled in panic to the bottom of the second stone wall.
Then, they all turned around and faced the enemy with weapons.
It was only then that the Gao family's private soldiers who rushed to the front discovered that there were twenty tiger squatting cannons deployed there!
"Go back quickly!"
"Boom boom boom boom!"
The enemy closest to the Tiger Crouching Cannon is only more than ten meters away.
The gentle slope, firing from a high position, firing shotgun shells at the enemy ten or twenty meters away...
Many hay tendons fly out along with the stones. The hay is used to stuff into the barrel to prevent the shot from sliding down. After all, the angle of the gun barrel is slightly inclined. The gravel is shot, the big ones are like goose eggs, and the small ones are like quail eggs.
almost.
A large number of enemies fell down in an instant, and many of them were seriously injured and were rolling on the ground crying and moaning in pain.
Nong Zuxing, who fled behind the Tiger Crouching Cannon, followed his comrades and fought back.
"Dong dong dong dong dong!"
The Ming army's war drums beat.
Not only were they charging here, but several nearby sections of stone walls were also launching counterattacks.
Several reserve teams suddenly joined, and the number of muskets doubled. After defeating the enemy in front of them, they suddenly jumped over the low wall to pursue, and then rushed to the side.
On the northeastern slope of the village, the remaining private soldiers of the Gao family fled together with the miscellaneous soldiers behind them. They were frightened out of their wits. Many of them lost their feet and fell down the hillside. After escaping the first stone wall, they discovered in horror that they
Ming troops also came to kill on both sides.
The Dali troops who came later to expand their victory rushed to the mountainside and discovered that something was wrong. In front of them were countless friendly troops who were defeated, and there were enemy troops on both sides of the front who were about to attack.
"Let's go!"
Dali's follow-up troops quickly turned around. At first, they just retreated. They retreated without caring about anything. From time to time, someone fell down and rolled down the mountain.
Gao Zhenshou was shocked and said to his younger brother and eldest son: "You personally lead the cavalry to respond!"
Then he said to a Yang general: "You lead the infantry in formation and move forward slowly. When encountering the attack of broken troops, kill them without hesitation. You must stabilize the situation of defeat!"
Gao Zhenming and Gao Shouchang's uncle and nephew each led hundreds of horses to circle around on both sides.
General Yang led the infantry and moved forward in formation.
"Dang-dang-dang-dang!"
The gong sounded, and Yang Zaixing called for gold to withdraw his troops.
At this time, the Ming army was almost catching up to the foot of the mountain. Seeing the enemy's infantry and cavalry coming to meet them calmly and orderly, and seeing that his own troops were too scattered to defend the stronghold, Yang Zaixing did not choose to rush all the enemy troops in one go.
The Ming army that was chasing them heard the sound of gongs and issued orders and prohibitions.
Some soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who had escaped even formed a small group to return nearby.
And on the way back, he kept poking at the enemies lying along the way. Regardless of whether they were dead or not, he would touch them casually and deliberately not touch their vital points.
The fighting stopped temporarily.
After several hours of fighting, the Ming army still had zero casualties. During the pursuit just now, more than ten people were injured - some were sprained and some were injured by falls.
Such outrageous casualties were due to the fact that up to this point in the battle, the two sides had never faced each other head-on.
The morale of Dali's standing army, rural soldiers and barbarian soldiers was too low. They rarely won battles in the past ten years and were defeated by the barbarians again and again. Moreover, their military pay and rewards were not as good as before.
Therefore, everyone cherishes their lives and is unwilling to fight vigorously.
The first two groups that attacked the mountain were still relatively far away. Later, they found that even the shields could not stop the bullets. Everyone was trembling when they attacked the mountain. After a few were killed by fire cannons, the entire team retreated.
It might be better to fight on flat ground, but they really don't dare to attack the stronghold.
Gao Zhenshou was also counting the number of casualties, and the reports that were constantly being compiled made his face livid.
In fact, not many people died in the initial attack on the mountain. More than ten attacks were repulsed, and there were only two to three hundred casualties in total, including injuries from falls and sprains.
But the group just now suffered heavy losses, with nearly a thousand casualties in one go!
At this moment, there are still wounded soldiers escaping back from the hillside. They pretended to be dead while the Ming army took last hits, and now they are rolling and crawling back, and all of their knees have been hit by last hits.