stubborn thief

Sparks bloom in the night.

When the Ming army approached the formation, ten thousand-jin cannon filled with silk bags of shotgun exploded.

Amidst the roaring sounds that alternated back and forth, fire dragons that were ten feet long spurted out from the muzzle.

In a very short period of time, more than five thousand three-coin bullets penetrated the flames and smoke, passing over the battlefield like rain and slag.

There were only a few screams and wails.

What's more, under the cover of night, the intact soldiers and mounts were torn into limbs and arms by the dense rain of bullets, and the limbs and arms continued to be beaten into stuffing. The last pool of flesh and bones fell to the ground, leaving only the thin wasteland in the early morning. The mist was dyed light red.

The divine light revealed a battalion of troops, as if they were marching against an invisible wall of air and stopped abruptly.

Six entire brigades of cavalry were beaten into two squads in the blink of an eye.

The vast majority of survivors under fire quickly reined in their horses, even without orders.

Only a few riders still raised their sabers and wielded their spears, shouting and rushing through the heavy blood mist and into the nearby smoke of gunpowder.

But the figures of them charging alone in the dark night looked more like frightened lunatics than warriors.

Boom!

Several muffled blasts of gunshots came from the smoke that had not yet dissipated, and spread far across the lonely wasteland.

The shouting finally stopped.

Da da da.

The sound of lonely horse hooves echoed on the other side of the smoke. After a few breaths, a war horse turned back to the stagnant cavalry carrying its fallen master.

During this process, no officer or soldier in the Ming army said a word, and even the injured soldiers stopped howling.

People can only stare in panic in the dark night, trying to see through the blood mist and smoke, and see clearly the monsters hiding in the darkness on the other side of the battlefield.

The smoke gradually dissipated.

There are no hideous and terrifying monsters on the other side of the battlefield.

Under the swaying torches in the night wind, there were only tanks, soldiers holding muskets behind the tanks, and a dozen heavy cannons with smoking muzzles.

Those chariots were not professional camp chariots, nor did they have on-board cannons. They were just ordinary two-wheeled or four-wheeled carts, but they had the same regulations and looked very formal when they became large-scale.

But when Cao Wenzhao saw it, his face was ashen.

It was discovered that the Marshal's army formed a car camp, which actually had a greater impact on Cao Wenzhao's morale than ten cannons firing shotguns that directly wiped out five cavalry brigades.

He couldn't figure out why Liu Chengzong, a fake Tatar who stole the throne, ended up using the car camp?

Cao Wenzhao was born in Guan Ningjun and was very familiar with Che Ying.

He clearly knows the advantages and disadvantages of the car camp.

It is neither an invincible formation nor a tactic that is behind the times.

It is a part of the Ming army's combat system, and only a part.

Chariots are essentially a kind of ordnance, just like war horses, artillery, horse fences, and iron caltrops.

Of course, weapons determine tactics. An army with many war horses will naturally use cavalry assaults as much as possible; an army with horse-rejection fences will also use infantry to join the tactic as much as possible.

This is understandable.

In terms of vehicle camp tactics, a single vehicle camp is very easy to target, and as long as it is targeted, it will be easily defeated or even surrendered.

The advantage of the chariot camp is that it is easy to form field chariot fortifications and provide shelter for soldiers. In this regard, the professional chariots of the Ming army are certainly better than the improvised baggage chariots of the Marshal's Mansion.

The deeper reason is that after the Saar Hu, the Ming army used chariot camps on a large scale in the Liaodong region in order to make up for the losses of elites caused by the Saar Hu, and to use chariot camps to protect newly recruited soldiers and enhance their survivability.

The disadvantage of the car camp is that in suitable terrain, the car camp can easily be destroyed by heavy firepower.

Even without the heavy firepower to form an advantage, the car camp can easily fall into siege.

As long as you have the advantage of troops and can form a field advantage over the troops in the car camp, you can cut off the food road, or even directly dig trenches and build walls on the outside, waiting for it to collapse without food.

But there is a problem:
The army attacking the chariot camp has more rations than the chariot camp, stronger artillery than the chariot camp, stronger field combat capabilities than the chariot camp, and stronger troop gathering capabilities than the chariot camp's camp.

In other words, it is not the car camp's problem that the car camp can be surrounded by people.

Under the condition that having chariots brings greater transportation capacity, we lose food, strength, artillery, field battles, and the gathering of troops and horses.

If you don't have a tank, you will lose faster.

Because the root of the problem is not that the car camp is easy to fight, but that the top commander on the battlefield has a brain problem.

The chariots, camps, and horses had enough food for forty days. Nasarhu changed battlefields many times, and the battle was completed in four days from beginning to end.

The reason why Cao Wenzhao's morale dropped was that his military rations... were not as large as those of Liu Chengzong.

His entire Ningxia army moved out of camp twice in one day. Who would usually dare to move out like this?

It's not that he didn't have so many bottles and cans at all. The whole army gathered a total of five days of food and grass, threw a few noodles into the horse's buttocks and left!

However, despite being discouraged, Cao Wenzhao did not give up.

The former camp leader, Shen Guangxian, ran back to the central army with a look of despair on his face. He dismounted from his horse and clasped his fists, saying: "Commander Cao, there are artillery hidden in the enemy camp, and the bullets are raining down like slugs. Our soldiers suffered heavy losses. They were overwhelmed by the enemy's momentum and missed the opportunity." .”

"Also ask Commander Cao to use the cavalry to cover the left and right sides to trick his artillery into moving. In this humble position, the cavalry will dismount and drive the horses to charge again!"

Shen Guangxian knew very well that he had been frightened just now.

If you can firmly believe and quickly organize your troops to continue the attack after the enemy's artillery fires, and take advantage of the time for the enemy's artillery to reload, dismount the cavalry, drive the horses into the formation, and use the horses to cover the guns, you will have a great chance of defeating the enemy's formation with one blow.

But to be honest, Shen Guangxian also felt that he could not blame himself.

The [-]-horse team was wiped out in an instant. Who should not panic about this matter?

In fact, this tactic was to let the cavalry dismount and drive their horses into the formation. Without the burst of artillery in front, even if he forced Shen Guangxian with a knife, he would not be so ruthless as to choose such a tactic.

Damn, he hates it.

The five most elite forward selection brigades under his camp were all handed over to Cao Wenyao, and now they don't know whether they are alive or dead.

Five cavalry brigades were defeated by a burst of artillery fire from Liu Chengzong.

The most important thing is that under normal circumstances, when a battalion suffers such a heavy loss, the officers are basically dead and can just retreat.

It happened that the one thousand troops in his camp were all destroyed in an organized manner. The remaining two thousand troops were still fully organized and their combat effectiveness was well preserved. They still had to continue fighting.

But Cao Wenzhao knew very well that Shen Guangxian's soldiers could not fight.

One-third of a battalion has been cut off, and the remaining soldiers are all terrified. Now asking them to rush forward and fight is no different in the soldiers' minds than asking them to die.

Cao Wenzhao shook his head and said: "Since we have missed the good opportunity, there is no need to rush. You lead the troops to circle from the west and prepare to attack the west. I will send another one to surround from the east... The number of artillery pieces on the south side of Liu Chengzong's army formation No, he..."

As Cao Wenzhao spoke, his head felt dizzy, and the word "he" in his mouth became choked, and he sighed to relieve it slightly.

He had never felt so wronged as tonight.

In the past battles with the Hou Jin Army, Cao Wenzhao showed his bravery and invincibility, killing the Eight Banners and throwing away their armor; when suppressing the rebellion in the pass, he took advantage of the peasant army's mentality of recruiting peace, recruiting and killing surrender, and he was full of clever tricks, and outmaneuvered the rebels. Round and round.

Only this long night. The whole person seemed to be shrouded in the shadow of Liu Chengzong. The northern camp was burned to ashes. The four battalions of troops were attacked by a small group of enemy troops at night and killed each other. His nephew died on the battlefield and his younger brother was missing. The army stayed up all night, Leading the troops around.

It was not easy to find the enemy's location, but they seemed to be waiting for him to come up and eat the artillery pieces. They prepared twelve heavy artillery pieces on one side of the formation.

How can He De He can!
He also attacked the killing formation and beheaded Liu Chengzong...Cao Wenzhao could not wait to drag Hong Chengchou over by the collar and show him the car base.

You're as big as your mother, can my horse jump over it?

After the sadness that surged into his heart was slightly suppressed, Cao Wenzhao continued to say to Shen Guangxian and Bu Yingdi: "A battalion should not have twelve heavy artillery. They are just defending the main formation. We have to kill them." Position your artillery to the south and attack elsewhere."

Centralized artillery formation is not popular these days. Just twelve heavy cannons, even with the weight of a general, would require two vehicles, six to eight large animals, and more than ten artillerymen and grooms.

Counting other small artillery, if a battalion is equipped with twelve heavy artillery, then the battalion does not need to do anything else, and it will not be able to move at all when fighting.

"We still have to attack on one side, but if we want the artillery to be stationed in the south, General Bu, your battalion will not move."

Cao Wenzhao said to Bu Yingdi: "You dig trenches and build walls one mile away from their formation to force the enemy out."

Bu Yingdi immediately accepted the order with clasped fists, but still reminded: "Commander Cao, even so, our army's soldiers and supplies... we can't surround the enemy by building a wall."

"How did he know I was out of food?"

When Cao Wenzhao said this, he was not confident himself. In the end, his tone softened: "It's okay if you know. You don't have to force him out, as long as his cannon can't move."

To be honest, this whole night had been planned by Liu Chengzong. At this moment, he was really not sure whether Liu Chengzong knew about his food plight.

But it doesn't matter whether you know it or not. There are already too many blood feuds tonight.

He doesn't have to wait until the rations are finished, he wants revenge now.

As the military order was conveyed, the army mobilized quickly under the cover of night, and two cavalry teams began to move around Liu Chengzong's formation, one on the left and one on the right.

In the middle of the camp, on a high platform based on a chariot, there were no torches around and it was pitch dark. Liu Chengzong looked towards the periphery of the camp and saw Cao Wenzhao's deployment clearly.

He was not afraid of being concentrated by the artillery fire. He was surrounded by large formations on all sides. This distance had long exceeded the effective range of the Ming army's artillery, and even if it really hit, it would not be accurate.

But to him, there were not only two cavalry moving outside the military formation, but three.

To the north is the Ming cavalry that has just regrouped after the failed night attack.

"Brother Zhang, where is Rocket?"

Zhang Tianlin was standing next to Liu Chengzong with an expressionless face. When she heard the rocket, her eyes shone brightly in the dark night: "Commander, take it with you, take it with you!"

It can blow people up again!
Liu Shizi raised his hand and drew a range in the north: "Take half of it and blow up those people in the north."

Zhang Tianlin was very excited at first, but she was stunned when she heard this, and her excitement was extinguished. She said: "Commander, it's too dark over there, we can't see clearly. This... blowing up is a waste of rockets."

"Don't be afraid, take half of it and beat it out. I'll ask the Ordnance Bureau to make it for you when you get back."

Liu Chengzong waved his hand and said: "After blowing up that side, see where they run. Forget it, just go north. Meet the cavalry on the other two sides and let them shoot themselves. If the fight starts, shoot out all the remaining rockets!"

Zhang Tianlin was dumbfounded. What kind of tactic is this?
However, he thought to himself that it would not be a loss anyway. Even if there was no fight, the rockets would not be needed for a short time after the war was over. He could go back to Xining and build another batch, and he would be able to get supplies soon.

He immediately jumped off the high platform to deliver the order.

After he left, Liu Chengzong looked to the south. The Ming army there had begun to dig trenches and build walls with the excavated earth and stone. He thought to himself, this is really not easy to handle.

"pass."

As soon as he spoke, there was Yu Linqi beside him who was ready.

He then heard him say: "Order Gao Yingdeng to prepare for an attack. When there is an explosion in the north, he will press forward and use guns and artillery to hit the Ming army on the wall for a while. Go back quickly and don't be surrounded by the Ming army."

As for how effective such a fight would be, Liu Shishi was not sure.

If the general in the south is a veteran in the army, he must first dig a low ditch and build a low wall to hide the guns. Gao Yingden's battalion has the heaviest guns, but it is not easy to shoot.

Thinking of this, Liu Chengzong thought to himself, he might be disgusted with Cao Wenzhao for a while.

He walked down the high platform, waved Han Shiyou over, and said: "Find the loud-mouthed centurion in Huben camp who is good at swearing, and ask Cao Wenzhao why he didn't listen to me and go to the Hou Jin."

At this moment, Zhang Tianlin led his cavalry to move north. A moment later, streaks of fire screamed from the north of the military formation and flew into the air. The huge light briefly illuminated the northern battlefield.

Under the firelight, separated by three to four hundred steps, the soldiers on both sides raised their heads and looked at the rocket tail flames flying into the sky.

Cao Wenyao hurriedly assembled his troops. After ordering his troops, he was thankful that all the troops he led were elites from Ningxia Town. Although the night attack failed, at least the losses after regrouping were not too great.

At this time, I saw a bunch of "Sky Monkeys" rising into the sky, and I thought to myself, what is this guy Liu Chengzong doing?
How about calling for reinforcements?
Does he have reinforcements?
"General, it seems that he has flown over."

Cao Wenyao had never seen this before, but looking at the direction in which the rocket was falling, he felt something was wrong in his heart: "Go away, spread out!"

The cavalry still moved quickly, whistles sounded in the army, and the commanders of each army quickly led their troops to disperse. At the same time, rockets fell to the ground, and some of the rockets exploded before they even hit the ground. The projectiles flew, piercing the man cave and the horse, knocking many unlucky ones to the ground who had no time to disperse.

At the same time, Gao Yingdeng's headquarters camp in the south also received an attack signal, and the sound of war drums hit people's hearts for a while.

Groups of soldiers rolled forward pushing chariots. At first, twelve loaded heavy artillery pieces were mounted on two-wheeled chariots and were carried by horses to advance quickly. They approached more than a hundred steps, and then each of them turned their horses' heads upside down. The heavy cannon sat down and fired immediately.

Boom!

As early as the chariot was advancing, Bu Yingdi had ordered the soldiers to lie behind the newly dug low wall.

Most of the soldiers were able to escape the spray from the heavy artillery, but as soon as the soldiers raised their heads, many of them had already drawn their swords and jumped out of the low wall.

Groups of infantrymen carrying large guns on their shoulders arrived immediately, lined up with the gunmen on the tanks, and joined in the second batch of shooting.

Bang bang bang!
Thousands of lead pellets and iron bullets came rushing towards us again.

Once again, the soldiers of Buyingdi Battalion who wanted to fight were firmly pressed to the ground.

Then came the movement of chariots and the galloping of horse hooves. When the officers of Buyingdi Battalion took the risk of being shot and looked up again, they saw a scene that shocked them.

This group of birdmen came and left just as quickly. After a round of shooting, they all rushed to pull their carts and horses, and before the smoke cleared, they lined up and went back!

It was as if the two heavy rain-like gun attacks were a short-lived nightmare, leaving only the soldiers writhing around on the ground with bullets and wailing.

Groups of Ningxia border troops leaned behind the riddled low wall and sighed, lamenting the fate of their lives after tonight's calamity.

No one expected that at this moment, there was a dense sound of horse hooves hitting the ground behind them.

The Bai Zongguocai of Luo Rucai's tribe sat astride a horse, located on the left side of the galloping cavalry. He held up a torch that had just been lit with a fire stick and drew a circle in the air, just like holding a wild goose feather sword in his hand while galloping. The commander directed the cavalry to attack forward.

The light of the torch swayed with the breaking wind, and the shining oil dots scattered with the fleeting light of fire as they ran.

Beside the swaying torch, a cavalryman holding a spear held a military bowl above his head, and his low eyebrows cast shadows on his cheeks, like evil ghosts shrouded in armor, rushing toward the robbery. Ningxia Army for the rest of his life.

The war horse raised its hooves faster and faster, and the sound of the hooves changed from a rhythmic thunder to a chaotic rumble, and soon it became a group of "ta, da, ta" hoofbeats again.

The pace of the war horse is changing!

The distance of a hundred steps passed in an instant, and the spears were leveled while running. The cavalry behind them rested their wild goose feather knives on their shoulders. Behind them, there were rows of cavalry holding golden melons and bones in their hands, moving their wrists while galloping.

The sound of hoofbeats became clearer, and three became four, and in the blink of an eye, it became two.

The center of gravity of the war horse is lowered, and the front and rear hooves alternate at an extremely fast frequency, galloping quickly with the momentum of crushing the enemy.

The next moment, the cavalry army marched into battle! (End of chapter)