Xinyang Prefecture, where Yang Wuwei's garrison is located, has a total garrison of about 20,000 people. However, they have to guard Chengtian Prefecture, Huangzhou Prefecture, Xinyang Prefecture, Guangzhou and other places, so the troops are very scattered.
After Wu Di came to Luzhou to supervise the division, Li Zicheng also sent many spies to find out the movements of the Ming army. The news that Wu Di divided his troops into three groups to attack was soon known to Li Zicheng. He immediately also sent General Quan Tian
Jian Xiu led two battalions on the left and right, with a total of about 30,000 troops, and rushed to rescue Yang Wuwei. However, Tian Jianxiu focused his rescue on Huangzhou Prefecture because Tian Jianxiu had learned clearly about the Ming army attacking Huangzhou Prefecture.
There are two groups, with a total of about 40,000 troops, while the Ming army attacking Guangzhou only has one group, with about 15,000 troops. Han Huamei should be able to withstand it. After defeating the Ming army attacking Huangzhou Prefecture, Han Huamei can attack Guangzhou.
The Ming army will naturally withdraw.
At this time, Han Huamei also gathered nearly 7,000 troops and was stationed in Guangzhou, preparing for a decisive battle with the Ming army here. When Shang Yi's troops approached Guangzhou, the spies reported to Han Huamei that there were originally about 15,000 Ming troops.
There were only seven or eight thousand people left. Han Huamei couldn't help laughing after hearing this. In just a few days, the Ming army had been reduced by almost half.
In another time and space, although Li Zicheng was the most famous figure in the peasant army in the late Ming Dynasty, he actually only began to develop in the 13th year of Chongzhen (1640). He attacked Luoyang, opened the seal three times, and fought fiercely in Zhuxian Town.
The capture and killing of Fu Zonglong, the decisive defeat of Zuo Liangyu, and the severe injury to Sun Chuanting were all achieved thirteen years after Chongzhen.
It was during these more than three years that Li Zicheng's Chuang Army repeatedly defeated the official army. Except for some setbacks when attacking Kaifeng, the other battles were invincible and invincible. Therefore, the Chuang Army's current self-confidence
Extremely arrogant, they also looked down upon the Ming army. When Han Huamei heard that the Ming army attacking Guangzhou only had seven or eight thousand men, he immediately ordered to gather troops and go out of the city to fight the Ming army.
Han Huamei led out of the city to face the Ming army with more than 6,500 troops, including 1,000 cavalry. Therefore, Han Huamei was very confident that with his own strength, it was more than enough to deal with 10,000 Ming troops.
After leaving the city, I walked more than ten miles in the direction of the Ming army pointed by the spies. Immediately another spies came to report that less than two miles ahead, I found the Ming army, lined up in formation, waiting for me.
The men and horses arrived and killed.
Han Huamei was a little surprised when she heard this. It seemed that the Ming army moved very quickly, and the formation was ready in one go. But Han Huamei had seen a lot of what the Ming army was like.
So what if they formed an array, they would not be picked up by him as soon as he rushed. This kind of situation had been seen too many times before. So Han Huamei looked back at his own troops, and then immediately ordered that the entire army should attack the Ming army.
direction forward.
The two-mile journey was almost a matter of steps. But when Han Huamei saw the Ming army's array clearly, he almost burst into laughter because he had fought with the Ming army for several years and this was the first time.
Seeing this formation, I saw that the Ming Army used countless cloth bags filled with soil to form a low wall about two feet high. There was a row of Ming Army soldiers all hiding behind the low wall. I don't know if they were squatting or squatting.
Lying down, only the head and shoulders are exposed. The low wall is stretched horizontally very long, about three hundred paces. However, behind the low wall, there are still some soldiers of the Ming army standing, about two to three thousand.
People, right? They are also spread out horizontally in a row. At the same time, the Ming army is basically infantry, with few horses. Behind all the Ming army, there is a high platform with several people on it, which is probably the command vehicle of the Ming army general.
.
Han Huamei was very amused. The Ming army's array was too wide and the formation was too thin. Such an formation could be broken with just one attack. Could it mean that the Ming army thought it could only rely on this mere two-foot-high earthen wall?
Can they block their own attack? And why did the Ming army not stand on the low wall to resist but hide behind the low wall, squatting or lying down? There are people who fight like this. It seems that they are really right to attack this time.
Yes, this battle is definitely won.
In fact, Han Huamei did not know that the Ming army was neither squatting nor lying down, but standing in the newly dug trench.
Each main battle soldier of the Merchant Army will be equipped with a short-handled shovel, which is used to temporarily dig trenches. Trench tactics are a new method of warfare that has entered the age of firearms. It can not only reduce the soldiers' exposure to blows, but also
The artillery is placed at the rear of the entire army for use. During combat, the soldiers in the trenches can also provide protection for the artillery, and there will be no conflict between the two sides.
Because the trench was dug in a short period of time, it was only possible to dig down more than two feet from the ground. The excavated soil was packed in cloth bags and placed against a low wall more than two feet high, so the actual area was four feet.
It is so bright that it can cover most of the soldiers' bodies, with only the heads and shoulders exposed. Because the muzzle-loading gun cannot be used in a lying down shooting position, it can only be used in this way, while allowing the soldiers to maintain a standing posture.
It also ensures that the soldiers in the front row will not block the firing of the artillery. At the same time, Shang Yi is on the high-level command vehicle behind the entire army, overseeing the overall situation and directing operations.
And all of this is naturally an unknown field for Han Huamei, so it can only be taken for granted that the commander-in-chief of the Shu army does not understand the art of war at all, does not know how to fight, and is completely indiscriminate in his command. This battle was won.
The scroll was in hand, so Han Huamei immediately ordered a thousand cavalry to attack the Shu army first, overcoming the Ming army's formation in one fell swoop.
There was a chaotic sound of horse hooves immediately in the invading army formation. A thousand cavalry rushed out of their own formation, arranged in a cone formation, and advanced towards the position established by the merchant army. The cavalry attack would not be possible.
Sprint at full speed from the beginning, but there is a gradual acceleration process. When you reach an area about fifty steps away from the enemy, it is when the war horse reaches its maximum speed. In this way, when the two sides come into contact, the knights can use the war horse to
The momentum will give your opponent a fatal blow.
At this time, the cavalry of the Chuang Army was still more than 200 steps away from the Merchant Army. At this time, the war horses were just trotting, and the charging formation was also very neat. But at this moment, only behind the land, standing on the ground
The Ming army on top suddenly withdrew as a whole. Han Huamei thought at first that the Ming army was scared and was about to flee, but soon he realized that he had thought wrong. After the Ming army retreated, they immediately revealed their different sizes.
, a black hole with dozens of gun ports.
"Artillery!" Han Huamei felt her head buzzing, "I didn't expect that this Ming army had artillery, and there were so many artillery."
But now that he wanted to withdraw his troops, he could not withdraw them. He only heard a series of loud sounds of "Boom - Boom - Boom -". Although he was more than 300 steps away, Han Huamei still felt as if the earth was
They all trembled.
The two regiments of the Merchant Army had a total of forty artillery pieces. Except for the eight long-range Hongyi cannons that did not fire, the other thirty-two artillery pieces roared loudly and spewed out a large amount of black smoke.
It enveloped the entire position and caused the heat on the battlefield to rise rapidly.
The artillery of the merchant army fired all solid bullets, and they were all shells that had been burned hot in advance. The thirty-two shells hit the cavalry array of the intruder army with a trajectory that was difficult to catch with the naked eye. Because the intruder army The cavalry of the army adopted a dense charge formation, so the artillery shells were almost always fired, and each one hit its target.
A series of screams and wailings were immediately heard from the invading army formation. All the men and horses hit by the cannonballs had their heads bruised and bleeding, their muscles and bones broken, and some horses' bodies were smashed through. Some people would be knocked backwards by the cannonballs, and some would even hit several people in succession, leaving behind a scene of bloody flesh and broken limbs along the trajectory.
After the first round of artillery fire, the cavalry of the Chuang Army lost at least a hundred people. The artillerymen of the Merchant Army did not bother to check the results of the artillery fire, but immediately cleaned the cannon bores, then refilled the ammunition to prepare for the next round. However, the cavalry of the Chuang Army took advantage of this opportunity and did not care about their horse power. They galloped towards the Merchant Army's position as quickly as possible, hoping to catch the Merchant Army before the second bombardment. , first fight to the merchant army's formation.
But at this time, all the musketeers of the second regiment were ambushing in the trenches. They had already prepared for four-stage shooting, and the first batch of more than 460 musketeers had also set up their muskets. , aimed at the charging cavalry, and pulled the trigger.
The dense and ear-splitting gunfire sounded almost simultaneously, and the sound was no less powerful than the artillery fire just now. At the same time as the gunfire sounded, the cavalry of the invading army immediately suffered a second round of attacks.
Although the power of the bullets was not as terrifying as the artillery shells, they were more powerful because they were larger in number and fired more densely. They hit the invading cavalry like haildrops, so the results were greater.
The soldier who was shot fell off his horse. After the war horse fell to the ground, he violently knocked off the knight on its back. Whether it was a man or a horse, after falling to the ground, it became an obstacle for the companions who rushed up from behind. A war horse that is galloping at a fast pace cannot avoid or stop, or it will step over its companions, or be tripped to the ground by them, and become an obstacle for its companions behind. The entire formation The shape also became very chaotic.
After the Merchant Army's musketeers finished firing the first row, they did not stop for a moment, immediately took the loaded muskets from their companions behind them, and continued firing.
After the first round of four bursts of fire was fired, more than half of the thousand cavalrymen of the invading army were dismantled. At this time, the artillery used rear-loading ammunition, and it was also a Franco machine gun with a milling hole. , Yi Jing took the lead in filling up the ammunition, and once again launched a new round of artillery bombardment against the intruders.
Although many cavalrymen rushed within thirty steps of the Merchant Army's position, after suffering a heavy blow, most of the cavalrymen did not have the courage to continue charging forward and turned their horses' heads one after another to charge towards the formation. escape.