Gao Changlin put down Kuaizi and said: "It takes a thousand days to raise an army, but it takes only a short time to use it. Tomorrow should be the time for us to use it. Everyone has eaten. Don't lose the prestige of our car camp when we start the battle tomorrow." Hu Qi said: "Boss.
Don't worry, last year we beat the Tatars to a crawl, these rebels in Ji Town are nothing." Gao Changlin said: "That's all you can do, these people are veterans of the border army, and they have fought with the Mongols for a few times.
It has been ten years, and no one can take it lightly. Go to bed early tonight, have a good sleep, and be energetic tomorrow." Early the next morning, when the first ray of morning light shone on the earth, the reveille bugle sounded.
The sound of ticking could be heard far away in the quiet morning. Dong Jishu slept in the building last night and was awakened by the sound of the trumpet.
He immediately went behind the battlements to observe. He saw countless officers and soldiers running out of tents and lining up to wash up in the carriage camp opposite.
Then they queued up to get food. One by one, they sat around and finished eating quickly, then started to rush to their posts.
I saw these people moving in an orderly manner, not chaotic. Everyone knew where they should go and what they should do.
He sighed. Compared with these people, his soldiers were just like comparing goods. His soldiers were considered elite soldiers in Xuanfu Town.
But it was not enough to compare with these people. The soldiers in the car camp began to prepare ammunition. The civilians began to carry various artillery shells and propellant packs to the front line.
Rumi gun soldiers, also with the general flag as a unit, entered the shooting position behind the steel city wall of the carriage camp. Dong Jishu saw this when he visited three days ago.
Those steel plates have small holes and sliding baffles. As long as they are pulled open, there are shooting and observation holes one by one, five inches long and two inches high.
The matchlock gunners could hide behind and shoot. But Dong Jishu also clearly saw that the optimal troop configuration of this car camp should have at least 20,000 infantry.
At present, there is obviously a shortage of troops. There are only more than 3,000 cavalry in the city wall as a reserve force. Wherever there is tension, support will be provided.
With the troops in the car camp deployed in place, the rebels from afar also lined up and marched towards here.
They set up camp five miles away. They were all infantry and did not have much cavalry. They could only attack on foot.
They made fires and cooked meals at the third watch, got up to eat at the fourth watch, assembled the troops at the fifth watch, and immediately entered the battlefield at dawn.
Huang Hao and Zhou Yuji were both on a scaffolding platform at this time. The platform was twelve meters high, and the entire battlefield could be clearly seen.
He used his binoculars to carefully observe the situation on the other side. He saw rebels from a hundred households one by one, walking in a square formation.
The secret was numb. An hour passed and the carriage camp was surrounded from all sides. There were 16,000 enemy troops in every direction.
These rebels had obviously conducted reconnaissance in advance. They knew that they were coming from the emperor's direct troops. They had a large number of artillery and six thousand terrifying Rumi guns.
They improvised many wooden shields. They were made of tree trunks as thick as a child's arm, crudely nailed together with iron nails.
There were also hundreds of bullock carts, with wooden shield walls nailed in front of the carts. They were similar to the shield carts used by the Jiannu slaves.
There were dozens of soldiers pushing behind. Behind the wooden wall were three musketeers, or archers. They were equipped with muskets, shotguns or crossbows.
They attacked and advanced in the car. They saw that in addition to sending troops to loot Zhangjiawan, the more than 40,000 rebels who stayed behind were not idle either, but made full preparations.
Zhou Yuji was not surprised. After all, the opponent was not a fool. Who would directly hit the muzzle of the cannon with a flesh and blood body.
Standing next to Zhou Yuji was a young eunuch with fine features. He was Wang Kun, the supervisor sent by Chongzhen this time.
This time, the emperor sent eunuchs to supervise the army on an experimental basis. The emperor felt that the problem below was very serious. Generals at all levels were colluding with each other, having intertwined interests, and concealing the actual situation.
The first purpose of sending eunuchs was to keep an eye on them and prevent them from messing around with the unspoken rules. After all, the emperor's eyes and ears are standing by your side. Do you still dare to mess around?
Wang Kun raised his chin arrogantly. This man had a bad temper and was very arrogant. The reason why Chongzhen sent him for the first trial was mainly because of his character trait of daring to bite.
Those who don't dare to break up and fight won't do. Good old people will definitely not be able to do this job well. They are not there to unite.
Instead, I am looking for trouble. The key is to make you afraid.
"General Zhou, you have been building the camp for the past three days and have not taken any action. What's good now? They have built countless engineering equipment. What should we do now?" Wang Kun said with a bad expression.
Zhou Yuji knew that this person was personally sent by the emperor. In essence, he was an imperial envoy. His job was to watch him and report his every move to the emperor.
What he did did not let the emperor know. This person's report was what the emperor knew about what he did.
He couldn't see the emperor, so what did he say? Zhou was an upright official when things were auspicious, and he never embezzled or accepted bribes.
Historically, he had been an official for decades and his family had not accumulated any property. He spent all the rewards he received on the soldiers he led.
It was used to subsidize their arrears of military pay, improve food, and purchase weapons and armor. He was an upright official and was not willing to flatter the powerful.
When he and Wang Kun met for the first time, they didn't like each other. However, he was not inflexible. Although he had principles, he also tried his best to treat the supervisors with respect and courtesy.
Unlike Zhang Shize who showed them dead faces directly and ignored Wang Kun's hints several times, Zhou Yuji pretended not to understand.
Wang Kun was already very dissatisfied. This time he started to find trouble.
"My lord, don't be anxious. You may not know the power of our cannons. We have five hundred heavy-duty copper-fired cannons. They don't know the power of these artillery pieces at all. Their knowledge of the car camp is still the old history.
.In the past, the artillery equipment of the vehicle camp was the No. 5 general gun and the small Franco machine gun."
"The shield trucks and shields they prepared can indeed block the No. 5 general cannon and the small Fran machine gun. The Lumi gun can also block it. However, in front of our heavy artillery, these are just like paper lakes. Basically.
It's useless. The lead ball shells from the heavy artillery will penetrate and shatter these wooden shields, but will cause a large number of sharp wooden thorns to fly in all directions, causing serious secondary damage. They are helping us expand the power of the artillery." Wang Kun squinted his eyes confidently.
Zhou Yuji gave a full look.
I said in my heart: "You can just fucking brag to our family. Don't we know how powerful the Ming Dynasty's artillery is? If a fight breaks out, if you can't withstand it, you see how our family wants His Majesty to impeach you."
"Okay, then our family will wait and see. Mr. Zhou, please don't let our family down."