Chapter 896 0891 [Annan Barbarians Encounter the Firearms Version of the Mandarin Duck Formation]
When Liu Yannian returned to Jiangxi, the war between the four countries besieging Annan had ended.
The first to send troops were Champa and Chenla. These two countries were at odds with each other, but they jointly attacked Annam two years ago.
In the beginning, they were victorious, but conflicts intensified due to their victories. After all, they were feuding, and they could join forces when they had a common enemy. After winning a battle and grabbing the spoils, they would inevitably fall out.
Then, they were defeated by Annan and returned!
It is estimated that they have not yet recovered from the loss of troops and generals. They only sent 10,000 troops to Champa this time, and only 8,000 troops to Chenla. The former started fighting on the border between the two countries in early November of last year's lunar calendar. The latter only sent 10,000 troops in late November.
Arrive at the battlefield.
The Golden Tooth Kingdom did not directly fight against Annan, but instead attacked the tribes affiliated with Annan in the northwest—these tribes would later become Laos.
Yang Zaixing sent troops in the ninth month of the lunar calendar and arrived in Menzhou in the middle of the tenth lunar month.
It was about 20 degrees at this time and the weather was extremely cool.
Under his command, there were 6,000 newly formed field troops, 3,000 Guangxi garrison troops, 5,000 Guangxi local soldiers, and 25,000 food transporters of all ethnic groups.
Menzhou was located near Zhennanguan in later generations, and Ming Dynasty and Annan respectively built related castles.
The terrain of the fortress on the Annan side is even more dangerous!
Before Yang Zaixing's troops arrived, Annan had already received the news. After all, traveling in mountainous areas was too slow.
"Start attacking the stronghold tomorrow!"
"General, the envoy from Annan wants to see you."
"Bring him here."
Before the two armies started fighting, Annan's envoy had arrived, or it could be said that he had been waiting for a long time.
The envoy's name was Zhang Xianlu. He bowed to Yang Zaixing and said: "Zhang Xianlu, the envoy of the lower country, pays homage to the general of the Great Tomorrow!"
Yang Zaixing said: "If you have something to say, say it quickly, and then fight after you finish speaking."
Zhang Xianlu said: "As the saying goes, divisions are famous when they come out. I wonder why the Ming Dynasty sent troops this time?"
Yang Zaixing said: "You paint scales on rhinos and treat them as unicorns as tribute. You are guilty of deceiving the emperor!"
"This was the case all before the Song Dynasty," Zhang Xianlu said.
Yang Zaixing asked: "In the previous Song Dynasty, they were all fools, and they were deceived by you. Do you think that the emperor of tomorrow is also a fool?"
Zhang Xianlu quickly explained: "That's not the case. Our country is just following the old rules. After the envoy returned to China, our Lord regretted it very much. Next year, he will send another envoy to Luoyang to plead guilty. I beg the general to withdraw his troops!"
Yang Zaixing sneered: "You can retreat. Annan must return the land of the two prefectures, two caves, six counties and eight passes, and return the tens of thousands of people and their descendants who were kidnapped back then."
"this……"
Zhang Xianlu tried to stall for time, and it would be easier to wait until the weather was hot: "These can all be discussed. I can't make the decision, so I will return home immediately to report and ask the general to postpone the attack on the stronghold."
"You go back and discuss it." Of course Yang Zaixing said that he would fight first and then talk.
Zhang Xianlu left overnight and returned to Thang Long (Hanoi) at full speed under the stars.
The next day, Yang Zaixing began to attack the stronghold.
Annan guard general Liu Chun was not very scared. He had a thousand soldiers guarding the pass under his command, and thousands of Annan barbarians were gathered. The terrain of the pass was difficult, so it was no problem to hold on. Just wait until the weather gets warmer, and the Ming Dynasty would be sure to do so.
Choose to withdraw.
He said to the barbarian chiefs who assisted in guarding the pass: "There are not many enemies. As long as we work together, we will definitely be able to hold off until the weather is hot. Your Majesty has already said that whichever unit makes great achievements will marry the princess. Once the enemies have all withdrawn,
Let’s go, let’s kill and go to the Ming Dynasty to rob the property and women!”
As soon as these words came out, all the barbarian generals were excited.
Throughout the northern and northwest mountainous areas of Annan, various barbarian tribes lived.
When the Vietnamese Li Dynasty invaded the border of the Northern Song Dynasty, they first married the barbarian chiefs, married princesses or noble daughters, and gave them some benefits. Then they asked the barbarian tribes to repeatedly harass the Northern Song Dynasty, rob the population and supplies, and then ran away. The Song army could not catch up.
The enemy could not be found. If the Song army pursued them deeply, they would be ambushed by barbarians.
After the war between the two countries, Annan went on a military campaign and its finances collapsed, and he gradually began to focus on internal affairs.
It’s been a long time since I married a princess, and I haven’t supported the barbarians’ march north to plunder for a long time.
Hearing that they were going back to their old profession, the barbarian chiefs cheered and led their troops to defend the fortress.
There are three Annan Walled Forts here, including the later Zhennang Pass and Longmen Pass. They are all under the control of Annan at this time. The Ming army controlled Guanqian Pass further north.
Annan did not build a fortress at Zhennanguan, but built a mountain fortress at Hengpo Ridge to the north.
"You lead people to guard the west!" Yang Zaixing said.
"Yes!" Li Herong cupped his fists and raised his hands.
The person who served as deputy general to Yang Zaixing was Li Herong, the general under Prime Minister Zhong.
This man was forced by Zhong Xiang's brother to defect to the Ming Dynasty, and later served as a garrison general in Guangxi. He was very good at suppressing barbarians, so he was selected by Yang Zaixing.
Li Herong only led 500 new troops and 500 garrison troops, and they formed formations and stationed themselves on the main roads between several passes.
To the west is the later Longmen Pass, to the southeast is Hengpo Ridge, and there are also mountains to the south where enemy soldiers may appear.
Yang Zaixing left the civilians at Guanqian Pass and led the rest of the troops to attack Henpoling.
Annan guard Liu Chun climbed up the mountain to look out, and said happily: "The enemy general is arrogant and only sends a small number of troops to guard the flanks and rear. We will hold here and send troops to attack the rear. Once we win, we can take advantage of the victory to pursue and block the enemy's main force from front to back.
At the bottom of the mountain!”
Liu Chun ordered his soldiers to defend Hengpo Ridge, and sent people to notify the defenders in the direction of Longmen Pass. He even sent 200 elite soldiers to climb over the mountains from the south to attack in a surprise attack.
Yang Zaixing led the main force and dragged the artillery forward.
Most of the artillery in his army are small cannons, and only two can be used for attacking fortresses, and the caliber of these two cannons is not large.
However, the Annan Walled Fort on Hengpo Ridge is a weak earth and stone structure, and its ability to defend against cannonballs is far inferior to that of the rammed earth city wall.
It was difficult to find the angle for the artillery fire. Several groups of infantry protected the gunners, looking for suitable firing positions everywhere.
The rest of the troops were also sent to occupy nearby mountains.
…
Li Luohan led two to three thousand barbarians to attack Li Herong's tribe from the direction of Longmen Pass.
Although Li Luohan was a barbarian chief, his biological mother was a princess of the Li Dynasty of Vietnam. He himself was also given the national surname Li, and he believed in Buddhism, so he changed his name to Li Luohan.
Such barbarians were almost assimilated by Annan.
"There are enemies to the west!"
On a hillside in the north, there are Ming army lookouts, using binoculars to observe the situation.
After Li Luohan led his troops out of the mountain, he was immediately discovered by the Ming army lookout. The light cavalry saw the lookout's flag signal and rushed over to report the enemy's situation.
Li Herong said to the soldiers who were sitting cross-legged and resting: "Line up to kill the enemy!"
Five hundred new field troops and five hundred garrison troops stood up slowly and quickly formed an array.
Not to mention that these new troops were very calm, even the garrison was not afraid at all. The Ming army had already gained confidence.
The new army is equipped with flintlock muskets, and the improved firearm Yuanyang Formation is listed.
The garrison did not have flintlock rifles, and was still the old version of the Yuanyang Formation. However, the wolf soldiers were canceled and replaced with crossbows and spears.
Li Luohan led his troops to fight, and found that there were only a thousand Ming troops. He immediately shouted with joy: "There are few people on the opposite side. If you kill them, you will win! Charge!"
Two to three thousand Annan barbarians rushed forward in a chaotic manner, and their formation was extremely chaotic.
They actually knew how to outflank the Ming army, sending hundreds of people on each side to surround the Ming army.
"Boom boom boom!"
About forty paces away, several New Army cannons fired shotgun shells.
Not many Annan barbarians were killed, but many were injured. After being hit by shotguns, some had their bones broken, and some even had no bones broken. The power of this small cannon was too small.
The effect was obvious. The injured barbarians screamed, causing the friendly troops around them to panic.
"Bang bang bang!"
About thirty steps apart, each squad leader of the new army led his musketeers to fire freely.
After a burst of gunfire, the Annan barbarians began to chaos.
Continuously attacked by muskets and artillery, although the Annan barbarians suffered few casualties, they were fearful of the unknown. Some continued to charge, some stopped to watch, and some even began to retreat.
Barbarian soldiers rely on their bloody courage.
Just beat them awake.
"Archery!"
What followed was a volley of bows and crossbows from the garrison's Yuanyang team.
"Throw the gun!"
There are also rattan players in the garrison. The long shield player's huge shield has legs and can be placed on the ground without using hands. Together with the rattan players, they drew their javelins and threw them violently at the Annan barbarians.
Each rattan player is equipped with three javelins.
After the three javelins were thrown, the crossbowmen had already started the second round of shooting.
The fusiliers are about to finish loading their ammunition.
At this time, after encountering muskets and artillery, the enemy encountered two rounds of crossbows and three rounds of javelins. These barbarian soldiers were completely confused. More and more of them ran away or stopped, and fewer and fewer dared to charge.
Many people stood still and fought back with earthen bows.
Li Luohan was also frightened at this time, but he still shouted the order: "You will win if you charge forward. Charge!"
But Li Luohan's own soldiers only had a few hundred soldiers, and the rest were soldiers from other tribes.
Just as Li Luohan was charging, a tribal chief fled with more than two hundred people.
"Bang bang bang!"
The fusiliers of the new army finally fired their second shot.
Because the distance is too close, the hit rate is close to 100%.
Li Luohan, who was charging forward, was suddenly shot and fell down.
Li Herong drew his sword and shouted: "Array forward!"
As the military bugle sounded, a thousand soldiers of the Ming Dynasty marched forward in formation.
The Annan barbarians have collapsed.
The barbarian soldiers under Li Luohan didn't even care about his body, and turned around and fled in the direction of Longmen Pass.
The power of the Yuanyang Formation has not yet been fully exerted, because the two sides have not yet come into close combat.
Li Herong left 200 reserve troops and continued to guard the place, while the remaining 800 men pursued at full speed to occupy the fortress in the direction of Longmen Pass.
More than twenty Ming light cavalry riding southwest ponies also chased and killed the collapsed Annan barbarians.
The two hundred Annan elites who came over the mountains from the south were so frightened by this situation that they immediately retreated and did not dare to enter the battlefield again.
When Li Herong captured the fortress in the direction of Longmen Pass, Yang Zaixing was still choosing a position to test the artillery.
"Quickly retreat!"
When Liu Chun learned that the friendly fortress had fallen, he was so frightened that his entire army abandoned the fortress and retreated.
If he didn't leave, the Ming army would be able to cross the mountains from the west and get behind him in a day or two to block his retreat.
The Annam garrison withdrew all the way to the vicinity of Lang Son, and sent people back to Thang Long House to frantically ask for help.
However, Yang Zaixing did not take advantage of the victory to pursue Langshan. Instead, he asked the Yongzhou native soldiers to guard the passes of Menzhou. He himself led his troops to kill Qiyuanzhou in the northwest.
Qiyuanzhou was established in the Tang Dynasty and later belonged to Qixi, Lang Son Province, Vietnam.
This place used to be the Jisi territory of the Northern Song Dynasty, and was gradually controlled by the Vietnamese Li Dynasty, and then by Nong Zhigao and his son. After the Northern Song Dynasty came back, it was impossible to garrison troops for a long time, and Annan's invasion of Qiyuan Prefecture was acquiesced.
After conquering Qiyuan Prefecture, continuing to the northwest is Guangyuan Prefecture, which was conquered by the Northern Song Dynasty and given to Annan.
The order given by the Ministry of War to Yang Zaixing was to beat Annan painfully, but he did not intend to kill Annan.
Therefore, Yang Zaixing wanted to take back the lost territory of the Northern Song Dynasty, which would be considered a great achievement!
