Chapter 24 Luochuankou Offensive and Defensive Battle (3)
After the muskets started firing, the Merchant Army's attack suddenly became tougher. Although the cavalry of the Chuang Army were equipped with iron armor, the quality of the iron armor captured from other Ming armies was far from comparable to that of the Qing army.
It was impossible to prevent the musket fire. At the same time, other artillery began to use shotguns with even greater lethality. With one shot, at least two dozen cavalrymen were killed by the iron sand, almost all of them in rows.
The number of people fell, so the casualties of the invading army immediately increased significantly.
The number of corpses piled up on the battlefield almost doubled, and blood flowed out in large quantities, gradually beginning to cover the yellow-brown ground. The air was filled with the smell of blood and sulfur, making people feel suffocated and nauseated. And at this time, the merchant
The army's position was also shrouded in a large amount of smoke generated after the firearms were fired, and their vision could only reach twenty or thirty steps away. The soldiers could not see clearly where the enemy troops had rushed, so they could only shoot forward blindly.
However, although the invading army suffered a heavy blow, after all, the impact of the cavalry was far beyond that of the infantry, so at least about 1,500 men and horses rushed to within thirty steps of the position.
Liu Rukui was always at the forefront of the offensive array of the Protagonists. Many Prosecuting Army soldiers around him were killed by muskets and artillery, but he actually charged from the beginning to the end without being hit.
He only suffered a few minor injuries. At this time, he led the remaining cavalry and rushed into the fog that was filled with a choking smell. After being vaguely hit, he saw that the Shu army's position was not far ahead, with only two soldiers.
More than ten steps away. Moreover, most of the Ming army's muskets and artillery had stopped firing, and the battlefield became rarely quiet.
Although Liu Rukui had difficulty breathing due to the choking smell of sulfur, he still couldn't suppress the joy in his heart. He was finally about to reach the Ming army's position and could start a close combat with the Ming army. So he also yelled.
He shouted: "Brothers, we are almost here, kill!" He said, clamping his legs tightly on the horse's belly, urging the horse to rush through the final distance as quickly as possible.
But at this moment, dozens of strange-shaped objects were suddenly erected on the Ming army's position, like an upright cauldron or a round shield, but with many long poles stuck on them.
, there seemed to be a person kicking behind him, wondering what he was doing? But before Liu Rukui realized what he was doing, he saw tongues of fire spurting out from the long pole one after another, and the sound like exploding beans also sounded continuously.
"What kind of weapon is this? Is it also a firecracker? Why does it look so strange?"
This thought flashed through Liu Rukui's mind, and he immediately felt a huge pain in his lower abdomen. When he looked down, he saw that the meridian on the left side of his lower abdomen was broken, and blood was gurgling outward.
"I've been shot." Just as he thought of this, another burst of pain came from his right shoulder. Liu Rukui finally couldn't sit in the saddle and fell down from the horse. The moment he landed, Liu Rukui looked behind him.
Beside them, many invading cavalry or war horses fell to the ground, and the roar like exploding beans continued to sound.
Of course, the Merchant Army uses Thunder Guns. There are now a total of forty-eight Thunder Guns in the Merchant Army, including four with twenty-two tubes, seven with eighteen tubes, thirteen with twelve tubes, and twenty-four with five tubes.
At one time, Shang Yi allocated all of them to the three groups. However, because the reloading speed of the Thunder Gun was too slow, it was usually only used during the Guan Jian period. Now is the time.
At this time, the cavalry of the invading army reached within thirty steps of the position. The artillery of the merchant army stopped firing, the musketeers also equipped their thrusters, and the pikemen and sword and shield soldiers also came to the trenches. On the other side, a springboard was set up, ready for a hand-to-hand battle with the intruders. But it was time for these forty-eight thunderbolts that had been prepared for a long time to show their power.
Forty-eight Thunder Guns were launched almost at the same time, and together they sprayed tongues of fire at the intruders who had rushed to the front of the position. Almost all the ammunition in the barrels was fired out in one go. There were about 450 rounds. The bombs were unleashed on the invading cavalry in just ten seconds.
The cavalry of the Chuang Army never expected that they would be about to win, but they would be hit by such a powerful attack from the Ming Army. Because the distance between the two sides was too close at this time, and the troops of the Chuang Army were densely packed, so The hit rate of the thunderbolts was also extremely high. After a rapid and intensive round of firing, nearly three hundred cavalrymen fell down. Almost immediately, they piled up into a wall of corpses. The other cavalrymen also fell. He was stunned by this sudden and violent blow, and was stunned and at a loss for a moment.
Just after the thunderbolts were fired, more than 300 grenades were immediately thrown out from the Merchant Army's formation, blowing up the stunned cavalrymen of the intruders and knocking them off their feet, causing numerous casualties. Only then did we know that, It turns out that just because we are close to the Ming army's position, it doesn't mean we are done.
These two consecutive rounds of unexpected attacks caused the intruder army to suffer another seven to eight hundred casualties, and the number of people was immediately reduced to less than a thousand. At this time, the merchant army's musketeers and the rear pikemen, sword and shield The soldiers also came out together to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the intruders.
Although the invaders were all cavalry, after suffering two major blows in front of the position, their vigor was greatly weakened, and the speed of the attack also slowed down. However, the soldiers of the Merchant Army were in high morale and were popular. People are brave, and with one thing going down and the other going up, the two sides are naturally not competing on the same level at all.
Moreover, the cavalry of the Chuang Army had always thought that as long as they reached the position of the Merchant Army, the Merchant Army would be defeated immediately like other Shu armies. Who knows that this Ming Army not only did not collapse, but on the contrary, everyone was very angry. Their bravery, whether they were musketeers, pikemen, sword and shield soldiers, or hand-to-hand combat abilities were not inferior to any of the elite troops in the invading army. Therefore, the soldiers who only killed the invading army were felled off their horses and died.
At the same time, a group of troops also came up on the left and right sides of the intruder army. It turned out that Cheng Jin saw that the intruder army was blindly attacking his left line and completely gave up on his right line, so he ordered the remaining two companies on the right line to fight out of their positions. He walked around from his headquarters to the battlefield on the left line, charged in from the right side of the invading army, and ordered the defenders on the hill at the end of the left front line to also kill down the hill and attack the left side of the invading army.
Under such a three-sided attack, the intruder army could not resist it at all. The smart people immediately pulled their horses' heads and fled towards their main formation, while those who reacted slowly were either killed by the merchant army or abandoned their weapons and surrendered. .
But after running away from the battlefield for a while, he looked up and suddenly discovered that his main formation no longer existed at all.
It turned out that after the cavalry attack of the Intruder Army, more than a dozen long-range artillery pieces of the Merchant Army always targeted the main formation of the Intruder Army. After several rounds of shelling, they only caused numerous casualties to the Intruder Army. Although Tian Jianxiu , Liu Xiyao, Bai Jiuhe, Liu Tichun and other generals were all safe and sound, but the main formation of the intruder army was in chaos. The soldiers were running around and looking for places to hide. Tian Jianxiu and others couldn't stop shouting.
At this moment, a burst of gunshots like loud beans suddenly came from the left wing of the main formation of the Chuang Army. The soldiers on the left side of the main formation of the Chuang Army immediately fell into rows and fell continuously. It turned out that
This was when Shang Yi led the soldiers of the Second Regiment and the Cavalry Battalion and launched an attack from the left side of the Chu army.
In fact, the Second Regiment has been lying in ambush not far from the battlefield, and Shang Yi has been observing the situation on the battlefield with high-power telescopes, waiting for the opportunity to launch the final blow to the Chuang Army. Seeing that the Chuang Army has gathered
All the cavalry were ready to launch an all-out attack on the Shang Army's position. Shang Yi couldn't help but sweat for the third regiment. Fortunately, Cheng Jin made a prompt decision and decisively ordered to take action first, bombarding the main formation of the Chuang Army, disrupting the chaos in one fell swoop.
Shang Yi also knew that it was the turn of the Second Regiment to attack. Therefore, he immediately ordered Zhou Shaohuan to lead the soldiers of the Second Regiment and the Cavalry Battalion to immediately attack the Chuang Army from the left and cooperate with the Third Regiment to defeat the Chuang Army in one fell swoop.
military.
After Zhou Shaohuan received the order, he immediately led his troops to attack and formed a formation about a hundred paces away from the left side of the Chuang army. The Merchant Army's attack was a three-stage continuous fire. After the soldiers in the first row finished firing,
Instead of retreating, they reloaded the ammunition on the spot. The soldiers in the back row went up to the front to continue firing, and then the soldiers in the third row came forward, and so on, advancing layer by layer.
Cheng Jin also saw this scene on the top of the mountain, so he boldly mobilized all the defenders on the right line and launched an all-out counterattack against the intruders.
And Tian Jianxiu couldn't help being surprised. He never expected that the Ming army was actually ambushing an ambush. Because the two warring parties were too far away, Tian Jianxiu and others couldn't see how many men and horses were on the opposite position.
, I just take it for granted that this is the entire Ming army. After all, the Ming army only has seven or eight thousand people in total. If you want to stop yourself on the battlefield, you should go all out. Who knows that now another Ming army has come out to attack you?
On the left side, Tian Jianxiu couldn't help but think that maybe his intelligence was wrong, or perhaps the Ming army had sent reinforcements.
In fact, there are still 15,000 or 6,000 soldiers in the main formation of the Chuang Army at this time. If there is correct command, they may not be able to block the attack from the left side of the Merchant Army. It is only enough that the main formation of the Chuang Army is under the artillery fire of the Ji Army.
After the chaos, Tian Jianxiu and others were unable to command effectively, so they were unable to organize effective resistance. The soldiers on the left were beaten by the merchant army and kept retreating to the middle, but the position in the middle was also limited, and the soldiers
Pushing and encouraging each other makes it even more chaotic.
Just at this moment, the cavalry that attacked the Merchant Army's position were also defeated. Cheng Jin, Cheng Gang and Zhao Yingjie also led the soldiers of the third regiment, and then pursued them.
This also became the last blow of the Merchant Army against the Chuang Army. The soldiers of the Chuang Army were unable to resist any longer and had to retreat one after another. Tian Jianxiu, Liu Xiyao, Bai Jiuhe, Liu Tichun and others also knew that the situation was over and the battle was completely defeated.
He had no choice but to turn his horse's head and flee in defeat.