Hanyang Fucheng is located at the intersection of the Han River and the Yangtze River, while Caidian Town is located on the upper reaches of the Han River, more than 20 miles away from Hanyang City. Therefore, when Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo led 30,000 troops to the vicinity of Caidian Town, the Merchant Army The first group of men and horses crossed the Han River using the warp, and set up beachhead positions on the river beach. On the other side of the Han River, there were countless ships docked using the warp, and they were loading people and materials.
Although the men and horses arrived a little late, Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo rode up to a hillock to observe. They found that the defense line deployed by the merchant army was also very wide, about 300 steps, but the defense line was very thin. They just dug a trench that was half a man deep and was as large as a semi-arc shape that expanded outward. Then, a pile of homespun bags were placed on one side of the trench. And the first batch of people crossing the river did not There are many, never more than 2,000 people. Most of them are guarding the trenches. On the river beach behind the trench, there are still three to four hundred people scattered here and there. They are setting up temporary camps on the river beach. A dozen tents were set up, and a temporary simple dock was also being built.
After reading it, Sun Kewang couldn't help laughing and said to Li Dingguo: "Fourth brother, it turns out that the Ming army just came over with so few people and arranged it in such a position. What kind of merchant army is waiting for us to rush over and kill them all?" Leave no armor behind."
Li Dingguo looked at it carefully and then said: "Brother, I heard that Shang Yi is very good at using troops and is proficient in the art of war. He must have a reason for setting up such a position. We can't be careless."
Sun Kewang said: "Fourth brother, I don't blame the second brother for saying that you are getting less and less courageous. I can't help but say it to you. What's so scary about this? We have an army of 20,000, and he only has a few Ming troops in total. Even if Qi Jiguang is reborn, what can you do? If you don't kill him quickly, why are you hesitating? We have to wait for the second fleet of the Ming army to arrive, but it will be difficult to deal with." After saying that, he ignored Li Dingguo and urged him. The horse ran down the hill.
Although Li Dingguo still has some doubts in his heart, he also knows that what Sun Kewang said is right. He really can no longer hesitate now, because the fleet on the other side gradually begins to pull anchor and set sail, heading towards him. It is expected to arrive at the beach plus the next one. The boat took more than half an hour at least, so it was necessary to defeat the beachhead position before the second fleet arrived. So he also urged his horse to follow Sun Kewang and ran down the hill.
The two returned to the large group of troops and immediately led the army towards the merchant army's position.
In fact, the Merchant Army had already discovered the movements of the Western Army at this time. This time, the Merchant Army's troops crossing the river were the Third Regiment and the Fifth Regiment, as well as more than 800 auxiliary soldiers and some grain and grass supplies. They were personally led by Shang Yi. They were the first to cross. On the Han River, there are two artillery battalions of the Third Regiment, a reconnaissance platoon, and 300 auxiliary troops. Led by brothers Cheng Jin and Cheng Gang, there are about 2,000 people in total. Zhao Yingjie leads the artillery battalion and pike battalion of the Third Regiment. The second batch crossed the river.
After crossing the river, Cheng Jin, and Cheng Gang immediately sent scouts to inquire about the movements of the Western Army nearby, and led the soldiers to set up positions. The merchant army was now familiar with digging trenches, building positions, and building new roads. The soil in the Shangjiang Beach area was soft, so the process was very fast. The trenches were dug in less than half an hour. However, the merchant army was too small in number, and in order to protect the beachhead, the trenches could only be dug outwards. The semi-arc shape was formed instead of the commonly used prismatic shape. At the same time, Cheng Jin also allocated the current troops, stationing more than 1,400 soldiers in the trenches, and arranged the formation according to the three-stage continuous shooting method. And three hundred people were left as reserve troops to supplement at any time.
Before the men and horses of the Western Army approached the position, they were discovered by the scouts of the Merchant Army. In addition, they had telescopes to observe, so Cheng Jin quickly saw the men and horses of the Western Army.
Although the Merchant Army was well prepared, the Western Army dispatched 20,000 troops, which also surprised Cheng Jin and Cheng Gang brothers, because the Merchant Army's combat strength was only more than 1,700 people, and there were no artillery, only
Twenty thunderbolts.
Chenggang took a breath of air and said, "There are quite a few bandits here! There must be more than 20,000 people."
Cheng Jin said: "What is there to be afraid of? When the Second Regiment attacked Li Zicheng, it withstood the attack of more than 50,000 opponents for two days. We cannot be defeated by the Second Regiment. During this period, no matter what, we must
Hold the position."
Cheng Gang said: "That's true, but it would be great if there were artillery. Now the rebel army can only take 200 steps at most. If it is a Folang machine gun, it can fire shotguns. It will definitely sweep away a large area."
Cheng Jin chuckled and said, "Don't worry, the artillery is on the boat behind. Zhao Yingjie will come with the artillery soon. As long as we hold our position first, and when the artillery arrives, we will definitely have a good look at this group of thieves."
The soldiers inside the defense line were still busy with their own affairs. Some auxiliary soldiers looked up from time to time, looking absent-minded, but some auxiliary soldiers with combat experience were still doing their own work, as if nothing happened.
Not the same. He also lectured the new recruits from time to time.
"Look at whatever you're looking for. If there's anything interesting to see, get to work quickly."
"There are so many thieves, can our people stop them?"
"This is not much. We have seen more than this. It's no big deal. When we were in Suizhou, who was called "many"? They were surrounded from all directions, with three floors inside and three floors outside. Even a fly could fly.
If we don't come in, we fight for two days, but none of the thieves come in. The few troops in front of us are not enough to fill the gap between our teeth."
"Really? Is what you said true or false?"
"Of course it is true? Can this be false? What kind of team are we? We are called the Merchant Army! When did you ever hear that the Merchant Army lost a battle?"
…
After the Merchant Army deployed its troops, the Western Army's attack also began. The Western Army first sent out 5,000 troops to attack from the front. Although Zhang Xianzhong had hundreds of thousands of troops at this time, they quickly gathered and expanded in a short period of time, so
The assembly can't keep up at all. More than half of the soldiers have no armor, and the weapons are uneven. There are only a few hoes, sickles, shovels, etc., and there are not many cavalry. The total number of cavalry in the entire army is less than ten thousand, and there are less than 10,000 cavalry in Guan Jian.
At this time, Zhang Xianzhong was reluctant to take it out.
Among the 50,000 men and horses brought out by Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo this time, there were only 2,000 cavalry in total. Moreover, Zhang Xianzhong repeatedly told them to use them with caution. Therefore, the 5,000 men and horses dispatched first were all infantry.
Because they knew that the Ming army on the opposite side had very few troops, the five thousand Western troops who launched the attack first were all confident. They each waved their weapons and shouted to kill and rushed towards the Merchant Army's position.
At this time, the Merchant Army was already well prepared for the battle. The soldiers guarding the trenches had their muskets set up and pointed forward, while the soldiers remaining outside the trenches were also in full formation, ready to provide support at any time.
Cheng Jin and Cheng Gang stood on the edge of the trench, closely observing the distance of the Western Army's advance. The ranging method currently used by the Merchant Army had a large error and was not suitable for muskets with a shorter range. But when Cheng Jin was arranging the position, he
Outside the trenches, several distance marking points were made, so that the direction of the enemy's front could be known very accurately until the Western army entered the range of the muskets.
"Fire!"
Following Cheng Jin's order, the first row of more than 400 muskets fired almost simultaneously, spitting out tongues of fire and making a huge sound that shook the wilderness on the bank of the Han River.
It was almost the first time for the soldiers of the Western Army to hear such a huge volley of guns, and they felt their hearts were shaken. Even Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo, who were watching the battle in the back, felt their hearts trembling. At this time, the Western Army was attacking.
At the front of the soldiers, a row of soldiers fell down like mowing grass. Some were shot through the body by the projectiles, and they immediately fell to the ground on their backs or lying down, dying. Others were not fatally shot.
Partially, but the severe pain completely incapacitated them, and they fell to the ground, moaning in pain from their wounds.
There was an uproar in the entire attacking team of the Western Army, but before they could react, the Merchant Army's second row of volleys began again.
The first row of muskets of the Merchant Army all used Rumi muskets and new-style forged muskets, and the Western Army was just within the shooting range. But the second row of muskets were basically bird muskets and Mulinguan's homemade fire muskets, and the range
Slightly shorter, and because the Western Army was not advancing very fast, it was still a little beyond the range of the cannons. Therefore, when the second row of muskets fired a volley, the number of enemy troops killed was reduced by at least half.
Although it is not fatal, the projectile can open the skin and flesh when it hits a person, causing heart-piercing pain. If it hits the right part, it is not impossible to break the bone, so it is also unbearable. As a result, this time the guns were all fired up.
After the shooting, many people covered the place where they were shot and screamed at the top of their lungs. The soldiers who were not injured were frightened and retreated.
Immediately afterwards, the merchant army's third volley fired again, and more people were shot and injured. The screams became more and more fierce. Some people's faces were distorted in pain, and some people were bent at the waist.
There were huge shrimps, some had tears, snot, and saliva all flowing out, and some were rolling on the floor in pain. Anyway, there were all kinds of movements.
At this time, other soldiers saw that they dared to continue to attack, so they quickly turned around and ran away. Some of the lightly injured people limped behind, and some of the seriously injured people could only lie on the ground and shouted:
"Don't leave me!" "Take me with you!" and the like. In the blink of an eye, they all retreated. Only two to three hundred corpses were left in the middle of the positions of both sides, and some others were not.
Dead, but seriously injured people are struggling as hard as they can.
Neither Cheng Jin nor Cheng Gang expected that the thieves, who seemed to be coming with a ferocious force and were outnumbered, could be so careless that they only used three rows of shots to beat them and flee back in embarrassment. It seems that Zhang Xianzhong's
The men and horses are really terrible.
Cheng Gang murmured: "Why are these thieves so useless? They retreated so quickly. I heard that when the Second Regiment attacked Li Zicheng in Suizhou, they tried their best to point their guns at them, so the fight should be effective.