stubborn thief

Chapter 359 Shock
On the banks of the Huangshui River under the night, a series of gunfire briefly illuminated the outline of the army formation, and the three-eyed blunderbuss fired again and again, reflecting the horror of the Mongolian cavalry swimming around outside the general formation.

But the most terrifying opponent in the dark is the ghost-like team of pistol cavalry.

This escort team was supposed to guard tens of thousands of people in Nanshan, but Liu Chengzong's retreat exposed Nanshan to the enemy's detection range, and also made Zhong Bao aware of danger and opportunity.

The night made Zhong Bao eager to try, so when he saw He Huchen and Yang Qi leading the army to light up torches and head westward, Zhong Bao immediately set up 240 guards and followed behind.

The guard cavalry is not a normal army.

Although they undertook very important combat missions in the early days of Liu Shishi's uprising, they were once the elite corps of the Lion Army rampant on the battlefield.

However, with the establishment of the three major training battalions of the Marshal's Mansion, the army has formal training and selection channels, and the elite guard team has also followed a group of servants to the army to become officers, and has entered the dilemma of a shortage of all-round soldiers.

Today's guards can't raise their spears and charge for four rounds, then take out their bows and arrows and shoot left and right. If they lose their horses, they can dismount and form an formation to fight like the best infantry.

They are just a group of guard cavalry who specialize in melee combat, focus on maneuvering, and protect the generalissimo as their primary mission.

Although riding the tallest and strongest Hequ war horse in Liu Chengzong's hand, which is enough to bear the weight of heavy horse armor, their war horse only has a small iron chest.

The armor on the person is also very light, just ordinary cotton-padded jacket and mail armor and helmet, not to mention iron armbands and iron boots.

There is no spear, only a Yanling knife, a bone, and a round shield with a notch; no bow and quiver, only a Franji hand gun hanging on the horse.

This makes them lighter and more dangerous, both friend and foe.

Zhong Bao's cavalry retreated into the darkness after a successful attack, and the people regrouped without lights. After the short-term confusion caused by the recognition of human voices, they re-arranged in dense formation and launched an attack on the other corner of He Huchen's army formation. shock.

For those cavalry holding spears, the four-step interval is not considered loose when standing with gaps in front and back.

But for Zhong Bao's hand gun cavalry without spears, if they also advance forward and backward during the day, they can even narrow the distance between soldiers to one step.

They held guns and lined up in twenty teams of twelve cavalry. Each team stood in the front six at the rear and walked forward when they were ready. One team after another, each team formed a long column at intervals of more than ten steps. .

But this column was not in a straight line. It turned a corner to the inside of the official army's position in the front row. It was the twelve cavalry squad led by Zhong Bao himself. It was more than [-] steps away from the column and advanced in parallel.

When the left and right Mongolian cavalry whistled, Zhong Bao's guards raised their shields and launched a slow impact towards the corner of the phalanx.

In the dark, their vision is clearer than that of the officers and soldiers, because the officers and soldiers are lighting torches, and their eyes adapt to the light of the torches, but they cannot see further away.

What he was going to attack this time was the northeast corner of the official army phalanx.

When the gunners of the officers and soldiers were frantically searching for their figures in the dark, Zhong Bao had already led the guards to fire their guns [-] steps ahead in the dark.

A row of pistols exploded with fleeting light, and a row of lead shot across the boundary between darkness and light, hitting the shield wall set up by the officers and soldiers or the helmets of the soldiers behind them.

I can only hear it.

Regardless of whether the three-eyed gun or the hand gun, they can't penetrate armor at this distance. At most, they can paste a small amount of lead on the shield and helmet.

But in exchange for the officers and soldiers to fight back violently.

The blunderbuss hand held the three-eyed blunderbuss and erected it on the long shield, with the blunderbuss rod under his ribs, and held the matchlock in his left hand to ignite the blunderbuss skillfully. There were three bang bangs, and seven or eight pieces of lead were thrown into the flames in the smoke. Spray short bore.

Followed by the light gunner, the gunner pointed the gun barrel obliquely towards the sky, the gunpowder ignited, and accompanied by a few soft bangs, several small cylindrical shells pierced through the smoke and shot towards the direction where the gun was fired.

A moment later, the flower bomb exploded, sending out a cloud of gunpowder smoke.

Then there were infantrymen who drew their bows and set up arrows one after another, releasing arrows into the gunpowder smoke one after another.

The Mongolian soldiers were not treated so well. The officers and soldiers were only nervous when they saw firearms, and they didn't even have the time to open their eyes to those stone arrowheads.

But these series of attacks all seemed to sink into the sea, without any response in the darkness, not even a scream of people and horses.

Zhong Bao just came over to fire a blunderbuss, and after that, he led a 12-man team to pull his horses south. The stress response of the officers and soldiers all failed and had no effect.

But immediately after, more than [-] steps to the north of the explosion of gunpowder bombs, the real column of guns rushed out of the shadows under the hazy moonlight.

They held the round shield in their left hand and pulled the reins. The bottom of the shield was stuck on the saddle, and they lowered their heads slightly, leaving only a narrow line of sight between the shield and the eyebrows.

People, horses, shields, and blunderbusses were all integrated into one, bumping slowly as they marched, facing the arrows from the bow and crossbow, approaching the line of officers and soldiers seventeen or eight steps away.

Following the long command of the first formation, the 12-man cavalry with broken fronts and rears pulled the trigger together, and the horses took another step forward, and the gunpowder ignited, sending 62 rounds of projectiles into the enemy's formation.

This is not their code of practice. The hand gun guards have never learned to lie during training. This is Zhong Bao's idea; and during the training, their requirement is to approach the enemy's line for ten steps with arrows and lead balls, and then fire the guns. .

But the dark night not only brings fear to the enemy, they are also very nervous, so that the first shot of the pistol was fired at a distance of nearly twenty steps, which made Zhong Bao frown not far away-this is very stupid.

According to the idea of ​​​​the recruits, it is much safer to shoot at twenty paces from the enemy than at ten paces, and it is actually more dangerous.

Because from a distance of [-] steps to [-] steps, the firepower that should be endured has already been endured. Even if the enemy has enough concentration, they will save their firepower until they are within [-] steps before firing. They will shoot and turn around in advance. The result is the same, it is nothing more than the difference between being hit in the face or being hit in the back.

But after entering ten steps, it is different. Although it is only ten steps forward, the oppressive feeling brought by the approach of the cavalry to the enemy is completely different from the previous hundred steps.

And within ten steps, this distance can shoot flat without aiming, no matter what armor the enemy wears, the hit will either kill or injure.

Especially at this moment, Zhong Bao watched Qian Shi release the gun early, and clenched his fists full of hatred. He had already deceived the enemy with a large number of firearms. This kind of opportunity was only once, and it was missed like this.

The first long team did not pose a great threat to the officers and soldiers. They shot down two people, and more lead shots pierced through the long cards and hit the soldiers behind them, but the effect was not great.

But they caused a great shock to the enemy's morale. The gunmen with the three-eyed guns at the front of the formation didn't even bother to reload. After playing the card, some people even wanted to raise the iron gun to hit the approaching horse with a hammer.

The subsequent spearmen also set up their spears, and the formation became more crowded.

At this moment, the second team of guards stepped forward. This leader was more courageous, and he might just be performing the drill mechanically. In short, he led the team ten steps closer to the front of the formation, without even putting the gun on the shield, and directly stretched his arms towards Throw it at a shield bearer holding a torch.

With a bang, the lead shot directly pierced through the red lacquered helmet with the word "Yong", and the shield hand heard a ding above his head, and the torch fell to the ground.

Twelve lead pellets hit the front of the formation with a width of 20 men, knocking down the musketeers and infantry behind the shield holders at a distance of ten steps, causing shaking and commotion at a width of nearly thirty steps.

Then they turned their horses around from the left, followed by the third team, the fourth team, and the fifth team... The smoke of gunpowder bloomed one after another under the night, and each team carried a huge sense of oppression, getting closer than the previous team .

In the tiny corners of the huge army formation, the soldiers who were threatened with death had nothing to do, their firearms had no time to reload in the panic, their bows and arrows could hardly pose a threat, and their spears and knives couldn't even touch the enemies close at hand.

The people retreated under shock, those in front leaned back, and the soldiers with muskets ready to shoot in the distance retreated without knowing it. Pushing and shoving until the northeast corner of the huge army formation began to lose control.

It was too late when He Huchen noticed the commotion in his abdomen and back. His army formation was too large, and he blindly guarded against the Mongolian cavalry from the north and south, but no one expected that there would be a cavalry with muskets coming from behind.

Like a corner of a huge glass being cracked by a sharp cone, panic spread around the army like a spider web in an instant.

Liu Chengzong, who was in the distance, noticed the commotion in the front and back of the enemy formation through the binoculars. For a moment, he even thought that Yang Yao had come back, but then he noticed the flickering fire, and then remembered the guards left in Nanshan.

This is opportunity.

It was an excellent opportunity for a cavalry team carrying pistols to attack the enemy's formation at night, causing disturbances in the army formation.

Immediately, the lantern flags in the courtyard of the headquarters were lowered, and when it was raised again, only one lamp was still on. Then the lights in the courtyards went out one by one, and Basang's army was gathering.

Xie Erhu on the front line also received light orders from the rear, but he was not as good at the situation on the battlefield as Liu Chengzong. He knew that there was a cavalry of his own joining the battlefield, but he was only riding on horseback and could not see the situation there.

However, the order from the rear would not go wrong, and Xie Erhu immediately sent an order to his subordinates to cooperate with Zhong Bao to launch an attack.

The overtones of the Mongolian soldiers resounded across the north and south banks of the Huangshui River as they galloped, and the galloping horse team slowly assembled in the dark. Xie Erhu also had a special Mongolian soldier on horseback.

It was a mixed cavalry centurion consisting of one heavy cavalry centurion, three light cavalry centurions equipped with forged arrow clusters, two armored herdsmen centurions on horses and three unarmored shepherds centurions, with a total strength of [-]. Make up the Mongolian Cavalry Brigade.

All the heavy armors, vests, steel knives, hooks and sickles, and even forged arrows in Xie Erhu's hands were concentrated in the hands of this team, and the officer of this team was... Ji Tutaiji from the Chahan Department.

In fact, this team was established by Ji Tutaiji to help Xie Erhu, which is why the Mongolian soldiers who besieged the official army phalanx had only stone arrowheads.

Before that, Xie Erhu's fishing battalion's 100-man teams were uneven in strength, neither that weak nor that strong. However, Pitutaiji suggested that he abandon the traditional thinking of grassland bandits and organize them according to the form of the regular Mongolian army. An army, even as few as [-] men, can play a decisive role in filling the battlefield when needed.

Xie Erhu followed the good example and recruited a Mongolian cavalry team of 6000 people to form this mixed cavalry team with one hundred heavy cavalry as the core.

This army has a mixed cavalry team of [-] heavy cavalry, [-] warriors, and [-] horsemen. In terms of equipment, it has not yet reached the level of equipment in the heyday of Huduntu. , There has been a qualitative improvement in equipment.

As Zhong Bao's pistol cavalry team rushed to the northeast corner of the army formation, He Huchen and Yang Qi also quickly responded. Their response was to give up, and separate the headquarters of the northeast corner from the army formation. The ministries distanced themselves from it, and then the two on the left and right moved forward to try to encircle the team of pistol horses.

Zhong Bao's team couldn't even charge for one round in a row. The twenty 12-man cavalry only rushed to No.14, and the flank was threatened by the infantry marching forward. In desperation, Zhong Bao could only draw out his bow and shoot one The arrow sounded, announcing the end of the impact, and the cavalry turned back.

But it is enough to shake the army formation and pull out the gap.

The surrounding Mongolian cavalry regrouped to harass again after a short reorganization. Amidst the overwhelming shouts of overtones, the scattered Mongolian cavalry launched a more fierce attack than before. , There will even be Mongolian soldiers trying to fight in close quarters.

Because of the material of the arrow clusters, the Mongolian horse soldiers using copper and iron bones shuttled between the army formations, and they were more threatening in close combat.

It's just that this is a pain for Zhong Hu. He watched Tiguduo, a brave Mongolian cavalry soldier, pass by the edge of the southern army formation. He didn't find a chance to hit anyone. gun.

The cavalry quickly passed the muzzle of the gun, and then the cannon exploded, and a piece of scattered particles pierced through the smoke. The Mongolian soldier galloped back and forth on the edge of the spear formation like a forest, alive and kicking, but when the muzzle passed him, it was the Zhonghu cavalry that was turning around. direction.

The spray-like scatter swept over the front line of sixty paces, sweeping half of the pistol cavalry off the horse from the flanks.

This cannon made Zhong Hu anxious, who was leading his troops to retreat from the battlefield. He said in his heart that I didn't even lose the six horses in the sixteenth battle, you bastard, you will wipe out the six cavalry with one cannon?
Immediately, frowning, he drew his bow and shot an arrow, and the whole team of pistol horses turned their horses around again, and ran towards the smoke in front of the enemy's formation.

At the same time, at the southwest position on the other side of the battlefield, the two light cavalry centurions under Xie Erhu's command also formed a large column, divided into teams of ten and twenty cavalry. There are layers of splashing arrows in one corner.

Those who belong to the left hundred leader let go of the arrow and then turn from the left to the back of the line, and those who belong to the right hundred leader let go of the arrow and then turn from the right to the back of the line, shooting continuously towards the corner of the army formation.

The officers and soldiers in this position are used to being shot by stone arrows in turns. At first, they did not dodge or avoid the incoming arrows, but unexpectedly this time the bow was heavier than before, and the arrows were more powerful. After being shot to the ground, he adjusted his attention for a while, and sent a team of flanks forward from the side to deal with the turning light cavalry team.

At this moment, the dull and firm sound of horseshoes rumbled from the rear of the forward formation. Xie Erhu's heavy cavalry arrived on the battlefield, crashed and ran over the formation like a torrent, and disappeared into the darkness again like ghosts.

The disbanded squad fled to the formation. He Huchen's central army finally realized that their biggest enemy was the opponent who occupied the darkness and would attack from every corner. Hit as a target.

If this continues, both positions will be disrupted, and the army will face the threat of dispersal in the dark.

In desperation, He Huchen still ordered the army to move westward and enter the bonfire square prepared for him by Liu Chengzong.

Liu Chengzong on the roof put down the binoculars: "You still came in."

The next moment, the roar of the huge flash echoed in the river valley, and twelve seven-jin shells flew and screamed from different positions, and fell into He Huchen's formation, smashing into pieces.

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)