The rear was facing threats, and She Chongming no longer had the fighting spirit to fight the Ming army here. It was only with great difficulty that he defeated Chongqing, killing and injuring tens of thousands of people.
If he was recaptured by the Ming army, not only would these people die in vain, but he would also have no way out and would be blocked by the Ming army in this wild forest.
He hurriedly dispatched a dozen messengers to ride horses back to Chongqing to inquire about the military situation. The others went to fortresses in various places and the battalions staying around Chongqing, so that they could quickly enter Chongqing to return to defense.
Although he knew that Chongqing was in danger, She Chongming still did not dare to order the troops to turn around. At this time, he had to be calm. There must be no chaos, and no rash withdrawal of troops.
Rumors are spreading all over the army, and the morale of the soldiers is inherently unstable. If the withdrawal is not properly arranged, it will inevitably cause panic and chaos.
Moreover, there is an elite Ming army in front of him. If there is any movement on his side, he will not be able to hide it from them. If he launches a surprise attack, he may not be able to escape intact.
He asked his son-in-law Fan Long to lead five thousand elite Yi soldiers first, secretly evacuate the military camp at dusk, and return to defend Chongqing.
According to the previously agreed plan, he prepared to attack the Ming army with fire.
Unexpectedly, the Ming army had already taken a preemptive strike, pulling out all the artillery on the wall and bombarding his barracks from afar.
Zhou Ding, who was defeated by the Ming army with this tactic, remembered the fear of being dominated in the past few days in She Chongming's tent, and quickly persuaded She Chongming to launch an attack.
The Ming army took the initiative to go to war, which was exactly what he wanted. He now urgently needed a war to relieve internal pressure and win another victory to stabilize the morale of the army and restore morale.
"Zhang Tong, I will allocate you 10,000 troops and horses. Go to battle quickly. I will be here shortly!"
Zhang Tong, who is known as a general, has always been regarded as a confidant by She Chongming. He is aware of all matters, big or small. She Chongming sometimes asks his opinion when he is unsure of his decision.
This person does indeed have some talents, otherwise he would not be so reused.
Although he is a Han Chinese, he has no idea about the nation and the country. He has received this kind of knowledge and is looking for opportunities to make contributions and repay the kindness of She Chongming.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I am confident that I can defeat this Ming army, and there is no need for Your Majesty to take action!"
Zhang Tong led his army to the front line. After briefly taking a look at the formation and terrain of the Ming army, he began to think about it in his mind.
It must be said that the generals of the army are very cunning and have a good way of arranging troops. It is really a unique idea to actually think of setting up a stronghold in such a place.
The area where both of them were located was a basin, surrounded by high mountains, densely covered with trees, and with many broken rivers, which was not suitable for large-scale army battles at all.
But fortunately, the rebels are all locals. Especially for these hard-working Yi soldiers, fighting in the mountains and forests is their strength.
Because he trusted Zhang Tong and hoped that he could defeat the Ming army in one fell swoop, of the 10,000 soldiers She Chongming gave him, a full 7,000 were Yi soldiers.
Zhang Tong launched the attack first with two thousand old and weak soldiers, attacking the Ming army to attract their attention. Then he sent a thousand Yi soldiers, divided into two teams, sneaking in from the mountains and forests on both sides, and went around the two wings of the Ming army to launch a surprise attack.
But the two thousand troops he sent up couldn't even hold on for a quarter of an hour before they were beaten back by the Shenji Battalion's cannons and blunderbuss, and they rolled and crawled back.
The kidnapper cannons and thunder cannons installed in the Shenji Battalion are multi-barreled, and they are perfect for fighting these unarmored and helmetless rebels.
Because they had no defensive power, as long as the Ming army's firecrackers hit them, they would be either dead or severely disabled. Some of them were even shot far away, with a big black hole in their chests exposed to the sky.
Such a scene, these are just opportunistic, how can they afford to make ends meet? They follow She Chongming, don't they just not want to die?
In the eyes of these ignorant refugees, the weapons used by the Ming army were like the magic of gods. When they heard a sound from the opposite side, someone fell down.
The people who rushed up from behind saw corpses littering the field in front of them, and some had their bodies shattered by artillery fire from the army. They felt extremely nauseated and wanted to vomit. Their psychological quality simply could not withstand this cruel battlefield.
"The officers and soldiers are too powerful. How can we survive this fight? It's better to run for your life!"
One person took the lead, and the entire army suffered. The rebels who were lucky enough to survive and were not killed by the Ming army ran frantically along the same route, much faster than when they had just charged.
Zhang Tong was so angry in front of the military formation that he almost fell off his horse. These muddy legs were of no use at the critical moment except to hold him back.
At this moment, they all rushed to a distance of less than a hundred steps. As a result, because of a few people who were afraid of death, all their previous efforts were in vain, and the hundreds of people who had just died died in vain.
"Send the order to gather the shields of the entire army and line them up in three rows. Behind the shields, the crossbowmen will follow. When they reach the range of the crossbows, they will fire thousands of arrows at the officers and soldiers to break their artillery array!"
The firearms of the army were powerful, and Zhang Tong no longer had the confidence he had before. The outcome of this battle was unpredictable.
Before the new attack started, Zhang Tong faced a big problem. As soon as he collected them, he discovered that among his ten thousand troops, there were very few shields. It should be said that there were very few shields made of iron. There were only more than a hundred shields in total.
.
Most of the rest were made of vines and bamboo, and could not protect against the powerful fire blunderbuss of the army.
This kind of shield can only protect against arrows, swords and guns.
As a last resort, he could only ask someone to report the matter to She Chongming and beg him to allocate all the iron shields of the army to him to help him defeat the official army.
This is the gap between local military forces and government forces. Sometimes you may not be short of money or people, but you will be short of resources, especially food, salt and iron, which are the most important things for the military.
Although the Ming Dynasty did not have very strict control over iron, no one dared to buy these resources that could be used to build military equipment.
Especially chieftains like She Chongming were already at the forefront of the storm. Even if they had anti-Ming intentions, they were just thoughts and preparations.
His army of nearly 100,000 people needs countless swords, guns, swords and halberds. How can there be any iron left over to make armor?
After giving the instructions, he glanced at the officers and soldiers on the opposite side with a bitter look on his face. At a glance, he saw that all the people in the front row were made of refined iron shields standing diagonally on the ground. A shield was set up between every two to four shields.
artillery.
He had also read some military books and military preparation records of the Ming Dynasty. He knew that the equipment and weapons of his army were very different from those of the officers and soldiers on the opposite side. If he had to fight head-on with equal forces, he would have little chance of winning.
Therefore, he placed all his hopes on the thousand elite Yi soldiers, hoping that they could successfully pass through the mountain jungles, go around to the side and cooperate with him, and attack the official army from a flank.
By then, those powerful firearms, as well as the exquisitely crafted armor and sharp weapons that cover the whole body, will all become theirs.