Although Cheng Jin is still under twenty years old, he has seen many battles and fought against both the Qing Army and the Chuang Army. The strength of the enemy's army can be judged at first glance. Looking at the posture of the Western Army, he knew that the troops in front of him were almost the weakest army he had ever encountered, and they did not have an advantage in numbers. It was indeed a great opportunity to try a charge. Therefore, Cheng Jin Immediately ordered the entire army to advance.
As the order was passed, the musketeers in the front row of the Merchant Army immediately formed three neat rows and marched towards the Western Army. Behind the musketeers, a battalion of spearmen formed a second row. soldiers.
Since the Western Army had never fought against the Merchant Army before, Han Yukui did not know how powerful the Merchant Army's long-range strike capability was. He led the team until they were more than two hundred steps away from the Merchant Army's position before stopping. Now they are basically It was within the range of the artillery strike, so the artillery of the Merchant Army did not advance. They just waited for the musketeers to move out a certain distance to leave a space for the artillery to launch.
In the early offensive battles of hot weapons, it was actually a matter of cooperation between artillery and infantry. If you bombarded with artillery first, then suppressed the enemy before attacking with infantry, it was of course the safest tactic. But in this way, It is possible that the artillery can be fired and the enemy is pushed back, but the infantry is unable to catch up with the enemy due to the long charge distance and has the opportunity to expand the results first. Therefore, the infantry and artillery must launch an attack at the same time. , in order to ensure the most effective attack on the enemy. Then the timing of artillery launch is very particular. It cannot be early or late. It must be during the period when the infantry has given up a firing distance and has not entered the range. This requires more detailed calculations.
In this regard, the Merchant Army has gone through countless tests and calculations, and conducted many drills before arriving at a series of valuable data. Therefore, after the musketeers and pikemen array set off, the artillery responsible for ranging immediately Close observation and calculation of the distance advanced by the infantry array. Behind the infantry array, there are also soldiers who are responsible for reporting the distance traveled to the artillery. Every ten steps forward of the infantry array, they will report to the artillery behind. The position is reported once to provide reference data for the artillery. After checking the distance between the two shots, it can basically be guaranteed that the distance is within ten seconds.
Therefore, after the infantry array set off, the artillerymen responsible for observation continued to loudly report various data:
"The enemy's array is 220 steps forward, and our infantry array has advanced ten steps. The artillery has begun to take up positions and load ammunition."
"The enemy's array is 220 steps forward, and our infantry array has advanced 20 steps. Each artillery begins to adjust its firing angle."
…
"The enemy's array is two hundred and twenty steps. Our infantry array has advanced forty steps and is about to leave the firing area. Each artillery is ready."
"The enemy's array is two hundred and twenty steps forward. Our infantry array has advanced fifty steps and is out of the firing area. Each artillery fire."
…
Like all the armies that fought against the merchant army for the first time, in Han Yukui's eyes, this was a very strange Ming army. Although it took the initiative to attack, it did not form a common cone-shaped formation or square formation, but A row spread out horizontally. Although the queue was very orderly, it stretched the whole team wide and thin. Moreover, the speed of the process was not fast. The most ridiculous thing was that the Ming army held not swords, guns, swords and halberds, but They all seem to be firecrackers.
In Han Yukui's impression, it seems that he has never seen the Ming army charging forward with firecrackers. Therefore, he feels that it is baffling. But even if the Ming army takes the initiative to attack, he cannot show weakness, and Han Yukui is also prepared to give orders.
, the whole army went out to fight.
At this moment, a series of earth-shattering roars were heard: "Boom - Boom - Boom - Boom -".
Because the distance was so close, Han Yukui felt his heart tremble, his eardrums were shocked, and even the ground seemed to be shaking. In his own army, more than a dozen soldiers fell down because they were unprepared.
to the ground.
"What's going on? Does the Ming army have artillery? But now that their infantry has attacked, are they not afraid of the artillery hitting their own people?" These thoughts flashed through Han Yukui's mind.
More than twenty black things flew out from above the heads of the Ming army's array, and smashed down towards their side.
The power of falling solid bullets is simply not something that flesh and blood can withstand. The Qing army in the past and the Chuang army not long ago have suffered. Now it is the turn of the Western Army to pay for it. The formation of the Western Army
A series of screams immediately erupted, and the soldiers hit by the shells were all beaten to pieces with blood and blood flying everywhere.
A round bullet hit the head of a small leader who was less than four feet tall, Han Yukui, and immediately smashed the head of the small leader to pieces. The red brain also flew out and shot far away. On Han Yukui's body,
There was a lot of stickiness on his face. Han Yukui could not help but be frightened and hurriedly shouted: "Attack, attack, charge! Charge me!" As he said that, he urged his horse, pulled out his saber, and took the lead towards
The infantry array of the Merchant Army rushed forward.
Under his leadership, the Western Army's only more than 300 cavalrymen also urged their horses to rush forward, while the vast majority of infantrymen also waved their own weapons and followed the cavalry to kill. It should be said that Han Yukui's
This order cannot be regarded as a mistake, because after rushing up to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Merchant Army's infantry, the artillery did not dare to fire any more. This also shows that Han Yukui's mind is still very clear now. But Chao Yukui also forgot that the Merchant Army's infantry
The soldiers were holding firecrackers.
But it was a pity that the Merchant Army was not just another Shu army. As soon as they saw the enemy attacking, they immediately stopped their advance and quickly adjusted their array. The musketeers in the front row raised their muskets and pointed at them.
The cavalryman rushed into range and pulled the trigger.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
There was a burst of volley fire like a violent bean, and among the cavalry of the Western Army, people screamed and their horses neighed, and nearly half of them fell immediately.
After firing, the musketeers immediately reloaded their ammunition on the spot, and the musketeers in the second row immediately took two steps forward and fired with their guns. But there was a sound of firing muskets, and among the remaining Western cavalry, there were another
Most of the men and horses fell, leaving less than thirty riders.
And among the less than thirty horsemen, most of them were frightened out of their wits by the fierce firepower of the merchant army. Some of them dared to rush forward. They turned their horses and tried to escape.
But it was too late at this time, because Yi Jing, the third row of musketeers from the Merchant Army, came to the front row and raised their guns to shoot. As a result, none of the remaining cavalry were spared, and they were all shot down. Even Han Yukui was among the Merchant Army's soldiers.
He died violently under random gunfire.
The Western Army's cavalry was completely wiped out after three rounds of attacks from the Merchant Army. The infantry still didn't understand what was going on and continued to charge forward, but it was about to be their turn. At the same time,
The Merchant Army's artillery also stopped firing to avoid accidentally injuring its own people.
The musketeers who fired in the first round had all reloaded their ammunition, and once again stood in the front row, they launched another merciless attack on the infantry who followed up from behind.
There was another burst of gunfire. Because the formation of the infantry was much denser than that of the cavalry, the damage was much greater. After the gunfire, almost all the infantry rushing in the first row fell to the ground. Then the second row followed.
Round, third round.
After three consecutive rounds of firing, seven to eight hundred of the Western Army's infantrymen fell. The other infantrymen now knew how powerful they were, and the leader, Han Yukui, was also killed. The remaining soldiers dared to continue advancing.
, so they turned around and ran away. Because the Merchant Army's musketry fire was advanced layer by layer, the distance between the two sides was not far at this time, only about forty or fifty steps. After the Western Army retreated, the musketeers again
After two rounds of chasing and firing, they all mounted their bayonets, and together with the pikemen, they chased the enemy's rear column and charged forward. The Western Army was immediately completely defeated.
Cheng Jin saw the entire battle clearly from the command vehicle in the rear formation. He did not expect that the battle would be decided so quickly. On the one hand, it was certainly because the merchant army's firepower was too powerful.
, On the other hand, it was also because the Western Army's combat effectiveness was too weak. Not to mention compared to the Qing Army, it was much different than the Chuang Army. It was almost broken up in one fight. It seems that Zhang Xianzhong is easier to deal with than Li Zicheng.
too much.
Cheng Jin immediately ordered an all-out pursuit and took advantage of the victory to capture Yunmeng County in one fell swoop.
It has to be said that the fighting will of the Western Army was indeed not as good as that of the Chuang Army. Under the fierce pursuit of the Merchant Army, the defeated army did not even dare to defend Yunmeng County. Instead, they passed through the city and continued to flee in the direction of Xiaogan.
Taking advantage of the victory, the merchant army also occupied Yunmeng County in one fell swoop.
After entering Yunmeng County, Cheng Jin did not stop for a moment and immediately ordered Cheng Gang to lead a musketry battalion and two pike companies to continue chasing the defeated troops and directly attack Xiaogan County in one go.
Because the Merchant Army rested in De'an Mansion for more than ten days, and after the beginning of autumn in August, the weather gradually became cooler. The soldiers' mental attitude was very good, and they had won consecutive victories against Li Zicheng a while ago, so the morale of the whole army was
Gao Gao, although there were only more than 1,300 people, showed no fear. Under the leadership of Cheng Gang, he chased the rear of the Western Army and ran towards Xiaogan.
The Western Army was chased in a panic, and before they could escape to Xiaogan, they dispersed like birds and beasts. Cheng Gang led two companies of this battalion to capture Xiaogan. At this time, Xiaogan was basically an empty city, so Cheng Gang
As soon as Gang's troops arrived, they captured Xiaogan County without a single blow.
After Cheng Jin of Yunmeng County received the news and captured Xiaogan County, he immediately ordered Zhao Yingjie to lead the remaining two companies of another battalion to capture Yingcheng County.
After Zhao Yingjie led his army to leave Yunmeng, he sent people back to Yunmeng to report the victory to Cheng Jin at dusk that day, and captured Yingcheng County. Cheng Jin was also very satisfied and immediately sent people to report the victory to Shang Yi in De'an Prefecture.