Chapter 82: Slay the general and capture the flag, just now
Zhang Xianzhong has been very high-spirited recently. He is now the strongest battalion among the thirty-six battalions. The number has expanded to 30,000. Not long ago, he just defeated the Ming army in Shanxi and plundered a huge amount of ordnance and food. At this time,
I don’t know how happy the life is.
However, Zhang Xianzhong is not satisfied. He is a true hero. Now that he has achieved some results, they are still far from his expectations. He wants more.
Therefore, he has always been very alert. Zhang Xianzhong originally studied and received military training. After he gained momentum, he also recruited several scholars as his staff. At least on the shelf, his group of people had a bit of an army.
In addition, they robbed a lot of food, and these people were able to eat enough. So they still had a certain fighting capacity. At least they were much stronger than the Ming army who couldn't eat enough.
Zhang Xianzhong had arranged a sentry post. Therefore, when the sentry post reported that a Ming army was approaching them, he was not surprised.
"Let's go, I want to see who is this blind person who comes to deliver food to us again."
Zhang Xianzhong was arrogant and domineering, and the generals below also agreed. Several consecutive victories made them have no fear of the Ming army.
But what they didn't know was that the Ming army they faced this time was completely different from the previous ones.
When Zhang Xianzhong saw that there were only over 10,000 men on the opposite side, and there were no scouts to explore the way, and they were just walking on the road with such swagger, he concluded that this was just a Ming army that had been dispersed and reluctantly gathered together. Such a rout.
It's best to fight them, just charge them and they'll be scattered. Then just kill them casually.
"Another group of rabble. However, they have quite good armor and stomachs. I'm afraid they are from the Beijing camp, so take them and give them to the brothers to replace them."
When Lu Xiao saw tens of thousands of bandits rushing up in a swarm, his expression became slightly strange. He started charging two miles away. What is this tactic?
Isn’t it said that Zhang Xianzhong is a man who knows military affairs? What is this called, a wave of A comes over. This can be regarded as an understanding of military affairs. But on second thought, there is probably nothing that can be done. After all, most of Zhang Xianzhong’s men are just rogue bandits. To put it bluntly
The refugees are young and strong. They are not regular troops at all.
If he comes up with a too complicated tactic, these bandits will not have the ability to execute it. And the reason why the Ming army cannot defeat them is because the quality of the Ming army is not much better. Moreover, they do not have the ability to act as human beings.
The Ming army had no fighting spirit, so it was impossible to defeat Zhang Xianzhong.
Facing the charge of tens of thousands of people, the soldiers of Zhongyong Guard had a slight commotion. After all, the charge of tens of thousands of people was still very oppressive. However, under the scolding of several commanders, order was quickly restored.
Then the crowd quickly dispersed, revealing thirty red-coated artillery pieces guarding the center.
The recent battle obviously made these gunners improve a lot. They loaded ammunition skillfully, and then fired a volley directly at the enemy.
Zhang Xianzhong, who was watching the battle from a distance, also saw the Ming army's artillery. His men were a little uneasy.
"General, the Ming army has a lot of artillery. Wouldn't it be a bit heavy for our brothers to suffer casualties?"
"Don't worry, you have forgotten what the Ming army's cannons we saw last time were all about. On average, one out of every three cannons was blown up. Sometimes, it destroyed their own position."
"Yes, yes, the general is right."
However, they soon noticed something was wrong, because not only did all thirty artillery fire fire successfully, but their lethality was extremely shocking. The explosive shells fell among the rogues, directly blowing hundreds of people into pieces.
With just one salvo, the rogue bandits on the opposite side began to shrink. The Ming army artillery we encountered before was not so lethal.
At this time, Zhang Xianzhong from the rear waved his hand indifferently. He directly asked the supervising team to come on stage and kill the retreating bandits one by one. Only then did the already collapsed formation regain stability, and then the bandits began to charge again.
But at this time, the second round of loading has been completed.
Under another volley, Zhang Xianzhong himself couldn't sit still.
"It seems that this group of Ming troops has some skills. No wonder they dare to march arrogantly in this generation. You two, lead two teams and attack the enemy's position from the side. Be sure to contain the Ming army's artillery."
Although Zhang Xianzhong felt a little surprised, he did not panic at all, because he knew that the number of people on his side was more than three times that of the opponent. Therefore, he could completely surround the opponent and then eat away bit by bit.
The quality of the bandits who rushed up from the flanks was obviously much higher. These must be Zhang Xianzhong's personal soldiers. They were all tall and strong young men.
Lu Xiao gently raised his hand. A herald beside him immediately waved the colorful flag in his hand towards the rear. After a few breaths, two special teams rushed out of the team.
They worked in pairs, carrying a small artillery piece that looked like a mortar, and quickly set up positions on both sides.
These people are strong and skilled. In just half a stick of incense, they completed the layout of the position. And these small artillery are much more numerous than the red artillery. At a rough look, each position has at least
Hundreds of statues.
These artillery pieces are called Hu Zun Cannons. They are a kind of small artillery that Marshal Qi liked to use very much. The Hu Zun Cannons are small in size and light in weight. They can be carried by soldiers to quickly cross complex terrain and then quickly build a temporary position.
It is a type of artillery similar to a mortar.
The biggest weakness of this kind of artillery is its short range, which is only about two hundred to three hundred steps (I checked some information and saw a saying that the Tiger Cannon can hit four miles. But if you think about it carefully, it feels a bit ridiculous.
).
In fact, this kind of artillery does not need to fire a single shell. Instead, iron sand or even gravel tiles can be stuffed into the barrel, and then sprayed at the enemy. It feels like a large shotgun.
Therefore, the range cannot be too far, and the rate of fire is not high. However, this is the most mature artillery technology of the Ming Dynasty Foundry Bureau behind Zhongyong Guard. Therefore, Lu Xiao is equipped with a large number of this weapon.
Zhang Xianzhong's expression finally began to change when he saw Zhongyong Guard dragging out another two hundred artillery pieces. He began to feel that this was a bit difficult for the Ming army to deal with.
Just when Zhang Xianzhong was preparing to go into battle himself and lead his reserve team to capture only the enemy's tent, Lu Xiao was actually making the same plan.
"To sum it up, I haven't made a move for several years. This man named Zhang Xianzhong is a figure worthy of my taking action. Ding Xiu, you are the vanguard. Order 500 troops and follow me to break the formation."
As Lu Xiao said this, he put on his heavy armor. He took a horse stick handed over by Ding Xiu and waved it a few times. It felt okay.
Then Lu Xiao got on his horse, and the horse in his hand pointed directly at Zhang Xianzhong's banner.
