The repeated shelling for more than half an hour caused considerable casualties to the Yuan army's cavalry archers. When nearly 10,000 cavalry archers retreated, less than half of the soldiers could remain intact on their horses.
The second team of 10,000 mounted archers, led by Boyandi, rushed to a place more than 100 meters away from the front of the Guanzitan camp.
Although the sound of artillery still occasionally sounded, it no longer threatened the Mongolian cavalry.
Boyan waved his hand, and saw a shower of arrows flying towards the Song army's camp, causing the shield troops who were guarding them to scramble. Taking advantage of the air, a large number of Yuan army infantry rushed up again.
Ali Hague said excitedly: "Your Majesty, do you need to bring in the Huihui artillery?"
"No need," Kublai Khan shook his head and said, "The accuracy of the return artillery is a bit poor, and it is easy to accidentally damage our soldiers who are attacking in front."
Just like the first attack of the Yuan army, when the Yuan army reached more than ten meters in front of the camp, except for the more than a thousand sharpshooters with the most exquisite archery skills, most of the mounted archers stopped shooting. With the cover of bows and arrows, and the Qie Xue troops holding huge shields, many more Yuan soldiers rushed to the camp.
Upon seeing this, Wen Zhang immediately ordered: "Throw the bombs." Nine times in succession, Wen Zhang, who was good at throwing, threw a hundred bombs.
As soon as the Yuan army at the front saw hundreds of bombs flying out of the camp, they immediately fell to the ground. After the explosion of "boom, boom", the unharmed Yuan army got up again and continued to move forward. rush.
Wen Zhang was stunned for a moment and said to himself, "The Mongols have become smarter." Seeing that the Yuan army was less than ten meters away, he had to give the order again: "Seven companies, nine companies, throw bombs,"
After receiving the order, the soldiers of the two companies threw two rounds of grenades, this time from two companies, with a total of 400 grenades, to disrupt the enemy's formation. The musketeers took the opportunity to pull the trigger, causing the charge to advance. This group of Yuan army soldiers suffered all casualties.
"If this continues, there will definitely not be enough throwing bombs," I said with a frown.
Gongsun Xiaochen said: "Your Majesty, the general has been calculating, and the Royal Forest Army has already used 1,500 of them."
"kindness,"
"Your Majesty, then, do you need to notify them to stop using it?"
I thought for a while and said, "No need."
Hundreds of meters away.
Ah Shu looked at the expressionless Kublai Khan and said, "Your Majesty, our army has suffered heavy losses. Do you want to continue the attack?"
Kublai Khan said coldly: "Continue,"
The Yuan army launched attacks one after another with almost no pause.
This battle started in the early morning and had lasted for nearly two hours. Not counting the cavalry and archer soldiers who were killed by artillery fire a hundred meters away, there were at least 20,000 Yuan soldiers who fell in front of the camp. There were more than 800 soldiers left, and the casualties of the Song army were less than 800. It can basically be said that the firearms slaughtered the soldiers with cold weapons. However, at this time, the weaknesses of the firearms began to be slowly exposed.
The artillery entered the rest period, and the hot barrel needed to be cooled with cold water. The heat of the barrel of the musket was soon going to reach the critical point, so the musketeers began to take turns shooting. The archers from the third compartment of Wu Songhan's unit in the Lin'an Military Region He also appeared at the forefront, shooting alternately with the Royal Guards musketeers on the guardrail.
Time passed little by little, and when Gongsun Xiaochen told me that there were only 1,200 bombs left, I said: "Xiaochen, inform the 20th Army to prepare to leave the camp."
"Yes, Your Majesty,"
"The artillery battalion still needs at least half an hour to cool down. This period will be the most difficult,"
"Brother, how about I go too," Fang Ling said hurriedly, seeing the tense situation.
"Ling'er, it's not that bad," I said with a smile.
Last night, according to my instructions, Jiang Wanzai led his men to dig several new simple trenches from 30 meters to 120 meters in front of Guanzitan. Together with the previously dug trenches and various obstacles, the The Mongolian cavalry could not pass in large numbers, so the infantry were all fighting at the front. This was of great benefit to the Song army, which was not good at horse fighting.
Under the command of the commander of the Twentieth Army, more than 2,000 heavy armored infantry suddenly rushed out of the camp and attacked the Yuan army's forward troops.
The sudden heavy armored infantry made the Yuan army slightly panicked. However, under the leadership of Qie Xue's army, they quickly stabilized their position and the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat.
At the same time, all the cavalry archers of the Yuan army stopped firing arrows, and most of the musketeers also stopped shooting at short range, pointing their guns at the Yuan army in the distance. No one could guarantee that they would not hurt their own people, and the matchlock gun Unlike the rifles of later generations, after all, there is an ignition process. On the guardrail, there are only more than forty musketeers, still shooting at the enemy in front of them. These people are snipers in the Imperial Guard. Although in the chaos, They can also capture the target from time to time. With the help of their companions around them, their match ropes are always on fire. As long as there is an opportunity, they will pull the trigger. With every gunshot, a Yuan army will fall to the ground. If When the match rope burns out and the target cannot be found, it will be launched into the sky.
During the melee between the two armies, no one paid attention to these sporadic gunshots, and it seemed that they did not help the entire battle situation. However, a few clever soldiers of the Yuan army discovered that their superiors were decreasing one by one.
The Yuan army in front were basically sword and shield warriors and could not compete with the heavy armored infantry. Although the Xue army was brave, their numbers were too small and they soon fell into a disadvantage. However, the following Yuan army broke through the fire of the musketeers. The net was attacked wave after wave, reaching the front of the camp.
Taking advantage of their numerical advantage, two or three soldiers of the Yuan army besieged a heavy armored army, gradually regaining their disadvantage.
"The 20th Army is indeed the main infantry of our army. In the infantry battle with the Yuan Army, it had a slight advantage."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Yuan Ji said, "This heavy-armored infantry unit in the Lin'an Military Region is made up of strong men from the original Forbidden Army, but it can only barely form an army. Yin Yinglei also lamented, we The physical fitness of the North Korean soldiers is still lacking,"
In this kind of hand-to-hand combat, strength is undoubtedly the most important. A slash from the enemy may cause some damage to the heavily armored soldiers, but if they are hit by the heavy weapons in the hands of the heavy armored infantry, they will be seriously injured even if they are not killed. .
There is no skill to speak of, you have a sword, I have a sword, it is simple, this is the ancient war, except for the duel between generals, the battle between soldiers is so direct.
If there are spectators watching outside, it may even feel boring.
Of course, the heavy armored infantry also has its weaknesses, that is, the physical strength consumed is much greater than that of ordinary soldiers. Not to mention the weapons in their hands, the armor alone is not something ordinary people can bear.
The experienced soldiers of the Yuan Army certainly knew this. Under the leadership of Qie Xue Jun, they tried their best not to confront the soldiers of the 20th Army head-on.
Jiang Wanzai, who was directly directing the battle on the guardrail, saw that the heavy armored infantry was gradually exhausted, and the Yuan army soldiers who followed were rushing up in a steady stream, so he nodded to General Zhu Huan on the side.
When the 20th Army attacked, all the soldiers in the sixth compartment had already gathered in front of the camp, and they only waited for the order to rush out.
Zhu Huan held two swords and said loudly: "Soldiers in the sixth chamber, follow me and charge."
The commander of the sixth compartment, Zhu Huan, was a refugee who fled to Yangzhou from the north. He was an extraordinary martial artist. Under Li Tingzhi, there were three generals with outstanding martial arts skills, including Jiang Cai, the leader of the Polu Army, and the stick and spearman general of the Yangzhou Military Region. Shi Zhong, the instructor and commander of the eighth chamber, and General Zhu Huan, the former leader of the military tax army and the current commander of the sixth chamber.
After the establishment of the Jianghuai Military Region, the original military tax army was disbanded. Half of the soldiers in the sixth chamber were from the military tax army. The military tax army was composed of refugees from the north. These military tax armies had similarities with the Mongols. How can we easily forget the pain of deep hatred and family destruction? Compared with the original Yangzhou Army, the Military Tax Army trains harder. In their hearts, they have only one purpose, which is to fight back to their hometown.
More than 10,000 soldiers from the Jianghuai Military Region replaced the heavy armored infantry and fought against the Yuan army.
The two sides gathered more and more troops in front of the camp. There were people within a hundred meters in front of the camp. The musketeers could no longer shoot. Even the snipers could not capture the target. The battle completely returned to the A battle of cold weapons.
Zhu Huan was born in foot combat and had outstanding swordsmanship. He saw his swords waving with flashes of light and shadow, opening and closing like huge waves crashing onto the shore. The soldiers of the Yuan army who came up fell under the light of his swords. Even the timid Xue army rarely had enemies against Wuhe. Seeing Zhu Huan's bravery and unique armor, the Yuan army could naturally tell that this man was the chief general of the Song army.
At this time, a soldier of the Yuan Army wearing an ordinary Xue Army armor rushed up from the side. This man was wielding a scimitar. As soon as he came up, he fought with Zhu Huan, and they were evenly matched after a few rounds.
In the battle with thousands of troops, my eyesight was already out of reach. Even Fang Ling couldn't clearly see the melee situation, and could only listen to Yuan Ji's narration of the details.
"General Zhu Huan was entangled by a timid soldier named Xue. This man is skilled in swordsmanship and must not be an unknown person."
After a few breaths, Yuan Ji said again: "The two of them are of equal strength. I'm afraid they won't be able to tell the winner in a short time."
The sixth compartment was waiting for work, and had the upper hand in terms of physical strength. The military tax troops in it were also very high-spirited. Although the follow-up troops of the Yuan army attacked one after another, they still had a slight upper hand.
The melee lasted for about a quarter of an hour, and another team rushed from a distance. It could be seen from the military uniforms that this Yuan army of about 3,000 people were all Mongolian Qixue soldiers. Although they were not on war horses, Qixue soldiers were The impact was also quite sharp, and a team of three thousand people rushed to the center of the battlefield in an instant.
"Charge, kill," Qie Xue Jun shouted loudly in Mongolian.
The joining of a large number of Qie Xue immediately increased the confidence of the Yuan army present. Qie Xue's army had simple moves and rich experience, and they suppressed the momentum of the Song army in one fell swoop.
Zhu Huan, who was in the middle of a fierce battle, heard another cry of killing from the Yuan army. He knew that the other side had added new troops, and that he was entangled by his opponent and could not direct the battle. He suddenly became anxious.