stubborn thief

Zu Kuan is not a fool. He went into battle to kill people when he was a teenager and has extremely rich combat experience.

Before rushing into the battlefield, he climbed up a tree in the locust forest to the west and briefly watched the battlefield situation.

After carefully observing the chaotic battlefield, he made a move, firmed his determination, and led more than a thousand Liaodong elite cavalry with high morale to directly attack Zhang Tianlin's headquarters, which only had more than [-] people.

The plan to directly attack the rear seemed very fierce, but in fact it was not important to Zu Kuan whether he could hit Zhang Tianlin - shaking the entire army was his purpose.

Although the battlefield situation was chaotic, with the Marshal's Mansion's roving troops in all directions, surrounding Yang Zhengfang's suppressing soldiers and kicking them, it was clear that there were more Ming troops and fewer rebels.

At this time, if he goes to attack any unit, he will end up fighting with Zhang Bu's cavalry, and may even lead Zhang Tianlin to gather cavalry to drive him off the battlefield. By then, the friendly forces will have been saved, and Yang Zhengfang can retreat to Henan with a breather. , his more than a thousand riders are in danger.

Zu Kuan's plan was to let Zhao Zhirui see him attacking the Chinese army, and be forced to withdraw the encirclement on the left flank of the Zhenyu soldiers to fight him fiercely.

In fact, he just asked Zhao Zhirui to change places.

As a result, Zhang Tianlin had no troops to mobilize for support. With the cavalry protection on the left wing of the suppression troops, the square formation on the left side could spread out and pull the square formation facing north into a large horizontal formation facing northeast. Use the superiority of troops to form a counter-encirclement against Zhang Tianlin.

It wasn't that he was sacrificing himself for others, but that only by fighting in this way could the army, including Zu Kuan himself, be under the cover of friendly forces.

Zu Kuan's killing move was not his own, but the more than a thousand Liaodong cavalrymen who looted Xianyang under Zu Da Le's command.

Once the battlefield forms a horizontal formation attacking from the southwest to the northeast, Zhang Tianlin's troop disadvantage will be particularly obvious. When Lei Shisheng leads the Huguang cavalry to cross the river to support, and Zu Dale arrives on the battlefield from the east, it will become the final say. The kidnapping horse made a surprise attack from behind and completely dispersed Zhang Tianlin's dismounted infantry.

The battlefield situation was exactly the same as Zu Kuan's imagined plan at the beginning.

He led the cavalry out of the locust tree, raised their spears and raised their knives, and went straight to kill Zhang Tianlin's army. Zhao Zhirui's men and horses were well-trained, quickly assembled, and immediately launched an interception on the route he must take during the attack - it can be expected that they will definitely be there. Expect a cavalry melee on your own battlefield.

But this is where the situation took a turn.

As the cavalry gallops, their ears can only hear the sound of friendly horses' hooves, and their eyes can only see the swirling smoke and dust. All hearing and vision are not as sensitive as static.

But even so, Zu Kuan could still see that the rebel cavalry commander on the left flank of the Zhenyu Army, with his sword and horse head originally pointed at him, suddenly turned a corner and led the galloping rebel cavalry out of the way. Circle, turned around and ran straight to the southwest.

At the moment when they were facing each other two miles apart, Zu Kuan even felt that he could clearly see the sarcastic smile on the face of the rebel cavalry.

In fact, he couldn't see it from this distance, but he told himself in his heart: That little kid is laughing at you!
When Zu Kuan turned his head and looked to the north, he saw the smoke and dust rising like a sandstorm behind Zhang Tianlin's army, and... under the smoke and dust that blocked the sky and the sun, the mighty Marshal's Mansion troops were leading their horses and running. Later, I understood why Zhao Zhirui ignored the Chinese army and only ran towards the Huguang army who was crossing the river.

Damn you, reinforcements from the Marshal's Mansion are coming!
The vast smoke and dust made it impossible to tell how many men and horses there were. They could only see boundless troops marching hand in hand. Each tall soldier held a long blunderbuss, and his red armor was rolled up on the horse's back, leading the horse. Bringing out the earth dragons one after another, the troops divided into four groups and ran quickly in the fields, woods, and trails.

In the galloping Liaodong cavalry, officers with high helmet flags looked at each other, and everyone could see their own shock in each other's pupils.

The overwhelming reinforcements from the Marshal's Mansion rolled up dust and rushed toward him with a sense of oppression. Zu Kuan wanted to run away at that moment.

This ideological dynamic of the Liaodong Army is particularly obvious in Zhang Tianlin's eyes.

Zhang Tianlin was observing the battlefield situation outside the carriage camp. Seeing a group of cavalry coming from the west, she hid in the carriage camp without saying a word to signal the Qianjin Cannon to turn.

In the process of mobilizing heavy artillery, he saw the Liaodong cavalry charging straight towards the Chinese military car camp where he was, turning around halfway, then continuing to turn halfway, making circles in the battlefield, and then giving up the attack. Instead, the car camp was filled with smoke and dust and headed north.

The look of Wang Huaizhong, the commander-in-chief of the army, changed and he reminded: "That's bad, general, the enemy cavalry rushed towards the commander's reinforcements. They were marching in a hurry without wearing armor. I'm afraid..."

This was Zu Kuan's first time doing this kind of thing on the battlefield.

That was his time to think, and it was also the time for him to use his personal will to take over the collective will of this thousand-horse team.

The first time the cavalry turned around did not come from his order, but because all the cavalry were frightened by the massive reinforcements from the Marshal's Mansion, especially the guerrilla Zu Keyong who was leading the cavalry at the front. He immediately turned his horse and led the entire cavalry to turn around. .

The enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered, so it is not wrong to make such a decision.

Although the vehicle formation of Zhang Tianlin's Chinese army does not look like a regular large vehicle formation carrying hundreds of small and medium-sized field artillery, it is just a field camp that is similar to the vehicle camp. However, even so, it is very difficult for Liaodong. It is also difficult for cavalry to break through in a short time.

The massive reinforcements from the rear cast a layer of gloom on Zu Kuan's cavalry. If they encountered a slight setback in their attack, they would probably break up and flee the battlefield before the enemy arrived.

So there is no need to rush into the car formation.

As for the offensive reinforcements, there is obviously a strength gap of more than ten times. Normal people will not have such an idea in their minds.

Steering is necessary.

Zu Kuan also followed the turn in the cavalry, but halfway through the turn, he realized that there was no point in going back.

They can turn around and attack Zhang Tianlin's dismounted infantry who are fighting fiercely.

Although the infantry showed extremely high fighting will in the process of confronting the heavy infantry of the Suppression Army, they could even gain a certain advantage with a smaller number of troops with the help of light artillery.

But as long as their heavy cavalry attacks from behind, they will surely win a partial victory easily.

But such a result is meaningless to Zu Kuan, let alone the fact that they scattered the more than a thousand dismounted infantry. Even if they could kill them all, it would also mean that they would be surrounded by tens of thousands of reinforcements from the Marshal's Mansion. , the entire battle still has no hope of victory.

The best option at this time is actually to escape, lead the cavalry to temporarily leave the battlefield, and wait for an opportunity to make a surprise attack back.

The cavalry are good at running, and they can definitely escape at this time.

But Zu Kuan felt that if he ran away now, he would most likely not have a better chance.

After all, there were more than ten thousand Ming troops assembled on the battlefield. It was impossible for the entire division to retreat. At least Yang Zhengfang's suppressing troops could not withdraw. It was also difficult for Lei Shi's troops who were crossing the river to withdraw to Henan.

Not to mention, now that he ran away and the army was defeated, the others were all guest generals and reinforcements. After the defeat, the army retreated to the south bank of the Weihe River, and they would definitely flee to Huguang. Only he, the commander-in-chief of the reinforcement and suppression, clearly received the mission and was transferred to Shaanxi. counterinsurgency.

Even if he leads the Liaodong cavalry to retreat to Henan, the only ones who can cooperate with him will be Lu Xiangsheng's pacesetters. Even if he gathers more defeated soldiers, his strength will hardly exceed [-].

Obviously, if all the more than 1 troops are defeated at this time, then with only [-] troops, can they still defeat Liu Chengzong, who has the power of victory?

Isn't that daydreaming?

At this moment, Zu Kuan knew very well: he could run, but the monk could not run away from the temple.

So in the process of circling, Zu Kuan thought for a moment, then hurriedly urged his horse, passed the guards beside him, rushed to the front of the cavalry, took over the command with a long sword, guided his own flag-bearing horse soldiers, and pointed at the marshal running in the distance. Military reinforcements: "While they are not wearing armor and their camp is unstable, disperse them!"

Liu Chengzong's reinforcements came quickly.

From the dust they brought up that covered the sky and the sun, Zu Kuan could tell that these were the troops stationed in Maoling earlier. They had received news of the Ming army crossing the river in the south and marched all the way over.

Emergency marches are also divided into purposes and circumstances.Generally, when marching to compete for geographical advantages, they may walk fast on the road. Soldiers may also put on armor and continue marching quickly when they are ten or twenty miles away from the target location, in order to grab the place first, and then rest for a while to prepare for the battle.

When the front line is engaging the enemy and the goal is to support friendly forces, there is a high probability that armor will not be worn during a rapid march, or only a small number of troops will wear armor. This is to maximize the physical strength of the soldiers, so that they can directly wear armor and go into battle after arriving on the battlefield.

As for the latter, the higher the Tang soldiers cover the battlefield and the stronger the reconnaissance cavalry's perception of the battlefield, the fewer soldiers wearing armor during the march - it's safer.

Based on this common sense, Zu Kuan judged that it would be good if at most half of the large reinforcements were marching through armor, so he made the decision to take advantage of the rapid movement of the large reinforcements and launch a surprise attack on them.

The Liaodong cavalry were already well-trained, and they were plundering in the suburbs of Xingping County before the war. The men and horses were well fed, and they still carried mouths for several days on their horses. Their morale was very high at the moment.

As Zu Kuan gave orders during the march, the huge cavalry, composed of more than a thousand cavalry, changed formations during the gallop. It was first divided into two large groups of more than [-] cavalry, and then divided into ten brigades of [-] cavalry. The large cavalry was then divided into small groups. , and even servants riding on horseback shuttled back and forth between the various brigades to convey Zu Kuan's orders.

His orders were simple. Each trooper would find countless flaws in the reinforcement line while running, that is, the horse-led infantry who were marching in a hurry without wearing armor.

Then use the five brigades in your hand to attack the flaws in sequence. If a flaw cannot be overcome, they will attack the next flaw. The next team will continue to attack until a flaw is stimulated and rushed away. The following brigade will drive straight in through the gap. Squeeze and stir the entire [-]-strong army formation that was unable to stand, completely scattering and defeating them.

This tactic is very reckless. On the surface, it is attacking the many with the few, but in reality it is attacking the weak with the strong.

For example, Taishi also faced Mingbao Zongqi Town first, using the strategy of withdrawing first and then returning, to attack the Ming army in the moving camp, and destroyed each other in one fell swoop.

But when facing a well-trained army, this trick is not easy to use. In Liaodong, the Eight Banners often got into the face of the moving Ming army. Give away the head.

But this does not mean that the Eight Banners of Hou Jin Dynasty were weak, but that the generals used wrong tactics when facing the wrong opponents. In fact, those battles in which the Ming army fought well ended up being defeated, surrounded, and trapped by Hou Jin who gathered superior forces. , wasted, and overwhelmed - being able to quickly gather superior forces on a local battlefield is in itself a manifestation of strong organizational capabilities.

Faced with this situation, Zhang Tianlin could easily detect Zu Kuan's tactical purpose.

Therefore, he quickly gathered the [-] cavalry in the chariot camp, stood on the chariot with a telescope, and looked towards the reinforcements with a livid face: he was judging whether Liu Chengzong needed his assistance.

His six hundred cavalry can now intercept Zu Kuan, but once the six hundred cavalry rush out, the Chinese army's baggage will be taken away at any time. He has not forgotten that Zu Kuan's Liaodong cavalry is a full battalion, with only half in the west and half in the east. There is also half of it in the direction of Xianyang, I don’t know where it is hidden.

At this moment, Zu Dale, who led the other half of the Liaodong cavalry, actually arrived at the battlefield. He was behind the river embankment seven or eight miles east. He laid down all his horses in a particularly obscene manner and hid on the river embankment to observe the battlefield.

Because of the news being passed on in the middle, Zu Dale led the cavalry to arrive at the battlefield a little later than Zu Kuan.

It was this time difference that allowed Zu Kuan to launch an assault when he didn't see Liu Chengzong's reinforcements. After rushing out, he saw the vast smoke and dust to the north. When Zu Dale arrived at the battlefield, he saw Zu Kuan assaulting. To be precise, he saw Zu Kuan. Launched an assault on the mighty reinforcements of the Marshal's Army.

Zu Dale's original idea on the river embankment was to see how the situation was going, and Zu Kuan would rush to attack Zu Kuan together with him. If Zu Kuan ran away, he would run away first, and then beat Zu Kuan when he turned around.

But seeing this scene on the battlefield, Zu Dale's face turned green: You are so damn brave, you domestic servant bitch, you are so damn brave, you can use my ancestral soldiers to put them in Liu Chengzong's mouth, right?
However, Zhang Tianlin's complexion improved.

Because during the march, there were Tangqi and Ma Ke from the Huben camp, who led a thousand cavalry to set up defenses along the west side to defend against possible Zu Kuan troops, so Liu Chengzong's army did not have many soldiers wearing armor during the march, only about a quarter of them. one.

But Zhang Tianlin saw that the forwards walking in the front, divided into four groups, were from Gao Yingdeng's camp.

Tang Tong was riding a horse and shouting in front of the formation. The horse-led infantrymen of the four columns saw the enemy cavalry coming. No one took this time to put on armor and quickly led the horses to merge together. They did not even need to form a team, and they merged into one. Large square array.

A number of lying war horses and gun carriages were placed in front of the formation as bunkers, and the soldiers took aim directly with heavy muskets.

At this time, Zu Kuan's cavalry had also trotted into the dangerous distance of [-] steps, and began to urge the horses to speed up, preparing to enter the impact stage. This distance was only a blink of an eye for the cavalry who were charging at a fast pace.

He watched the marshal's army quickly form a square formation, and he was originally a little worried about facing these well-trained enemy troops.

But then I saw that the enemy actually used the precious time to put on armor to load the clumsy muskets and light the match ropes, and then formed a pure musketry team. Even every dozen steps, there was an officer wearing a shoulder-baring shirt. Standing on the side holding a wild goose feather sword and a red corner flag in one hand.

This made Zu Kuan laugh out loud while galloping!

The best person in the world who plays with firearms is Guan Ningjun. More than half of the current Jiubian mine coaches, the generals of the Shenji Battalion, and the generals in various places are from Guan Ningjun.

Your phalanx can hold up five to six hundred muskets from the front, and a salvo only contains five or six hundred lead pellets. Even if every lead pellet hits my soldiers, I still have more than [-] cavalry, and there is no chance to reload. , enough to rush in front of your unarmored soldiers and kill everyone!

Isn't this a big fool?
Then they entered a distance of [-] steps. According to the current order, the cavalry soldiers of the ten brigades of Zu Kuan's department directly spread out on the battlefield to form a wide front with two stacks: the enemy's entire front is full of holes, and they can just rush across. Make a reverse roll bead curtain!

Hundred steps.

First the cannons fired. Several small-caliber lion cannons sprayed out hundreds of iron pellets, breaking out of the fan in the smoke and spraying towards the charging cavalry.

Some of the cavalrymen were knocked down as the war horses screamed. Some horses stood up in pain after being wounded and refused to move forward. However, more cavalrymen ran faster. Some cavalrymen even knew that they had been hit by an iron bar. He still endured the pain and leaned on the horse to continue the attack.

Everyone knew that the enemy troops had no armor penetration.

Everyone knows better that only by overwhelming the enemy can the wounded be treated after the war.

The galloping horses' hooves stirred up clods of earth. Everyone in the Liaodong cavalry knew that they were about to receive a volley of muskets and ride into the battle. Under the mixed emotions of tension and excitement, everyone held their spears or waist knives tightly and breathed heavily.

Fifty steps.

Some cavalrymen could no longer hold back, pointing the sabers leaning on their shoulders forward, and roared in disobedience to the military order of silence.

Then with a high-pitched suona sound, small red flags were waved in front of the formation. At the same time, a famous heavy gunman leveled his musket and pulled the trigger. The match fell and ignited the primer in the medicine chamber, and then detonated the gun. gunpowder in the chamber.

Bang bang bang!

Amidst the muffled sound of a series of heavy guns, a large amount of gunpowder smoke surged in front of the formation. Each heavy gun sprayed one large, three small and four lead pellets out of the barrel. At one time, thousands of projectiles rushed towards the Liaodong cavalry like pellets.

The galloping cavalry was stunned.

Thousands of war horses fell dead, and dozens of war horses stood upright. Amidst the noisy neighing and wailing sounds that resounded across the battlefield, the cavalry in the rear bumped into the butts of the horses in front. The cavalry in the front looked around, and saw horses that had lost their owners running away everywhere. People reined in their horses and stood in the cavalry that was forced to stop. Only then did they realize that the cavalry had been almost flattened by a volley.

But in the smoke that had not yet dissipated in front, the sound of densely moving footsteps could still be heard in an orderly manner, and soon there was another suona sound like the king of hell demanding his life.

The rotation of the muskets is over!

Bang bang bang!
Gao Yingden, who was in the middle of the square formation, looked at the thick smoke in front of the formation. Although his eyes could not penetrate the smoke, he saw that only a few cavalry were running into the smoke from different directions. They were immediately blocked by infantrymen holding cavalry spears and wild goose feather knives. Turning, slowing down, not having time to turn around, the horse's hooves plowed the ground and slid crookedly into the formation. He was chopped up by the unarmored soldiers who were messy, knowing the fate of the enemy's troops.

Just kidding, I plugged four blunderbuss into one shot and had a hit rate of more than 100% against the arrayed target. How many lives do you have to dare to attack?

Gao Yingdeng turned his head and smiled at Tang Tong, who had just buckled the last button on his beggar. "It seems they didn't rush in."

After saying that, he looked back at the hundreds of Tangqi and guards who were already wearing armor, and drew out the wild goose feather sword hanging from his waist: "Send my general's order to beat the drum and start the formation on the right wing; Tang Tong, I order you to lead the cavalry. Attack...announce to the whole camp that they will eat horse meat and burn it on fire tonight!"

After a while, the heavy gunners formed on the right side of the phalanx gave way to the passage. The galloping cavalry, led by Tang Tong, who was wearing a bare-shouldered jersey and holding a spear of eight feet, filed out in column. They had taken enough shots to the front. The defeated Liaodong cavalry launched a pursuit! (End of chapter)