The rise of the prince

Chapter 616 First Battle
Because of the distance and the cover of the small woods, Li Xingzhou could only see people walking in the woods from a distance, and there were quite a few people.

The light cavalry of the new army had already undergone countless trainings. When encountering the enemy, the sound of crackling gunshots was instantly remembered, and the blue smoke filled the foot of the mountain. After the first round of shooting, they began to retreat under the leadership of Wei Yubai. Five or six flares.

The smoke of the fire rose instantly, and the slightly dark woods at dusk were illuminated, and the orange flame of burning rosin could be clearly seen from a distance of one mile.

I can't see the enemy clearly, but I can see the light.

"Ten meters above the target signal flare, fire!" Li Xingzhou quickly ordered. The twelve artillery squads on the top of the mountain had been waiting for a long time, and they fired in unison in an instant. Hit the cypress forest at the foot of the mountain.

After the first salvo, several trees in the woods were knocked down, creaked and fell, and then there were screams in the woods.

The black-shirted cavalry had retreated about a hundred meters to the rear, loading their pistols.

Then the artillery reloaded quickly and fired a round of volleys. The area above the pine and Berlin signal flares below had been beaten up and down. No one could be seen in the woods, but they screamed again and again. Then Li Xingzhou ordered to stop shooting, because the black-shirted cavalry had already reloaded After that, the second round of approaching shooting began.

Under the leadership of Wei Yubai, the cavalry of the new army turned their horses and charged again.

Li Xingzhou didn't know the specific situation below, but from the overall situation, the Liao people who were still dizzy during the shelling had no room to resist. Wei Yubai quickly led people to occupy the woods where the Liao people were ambush.

In the back and forth gunshots in the woods, I finally saw a large black shadow on the opposite hillside escape from the woods and flee towards the top of the mountain. Many horses were startled by the gunfire, fell off their owners and ran around. The horse has long been accustomed to the sound of guns and guns, and is not afraid.

When the dark Liao people were about to reach the top of the mountain, they finally slowly gathered again from the panic, occupying the top of the mountain to resist Wei Yubai's attack, and there were still a lot of people gathered from all directions, and soon filled the mountain.

It is indeed a good tactic to deal with the cavalry from a high position. Wei Yu rushed halfway, and suddenly led his men to retreat down the mountain. Firstly, the black-shirted cavalry needed to reload their firearms, and secondly, they threw signal flares at the top of the mountain.

In fact, the artillery on this side of the mountain had already been prepared, because there were no trees to cover them, and everyone could see the movement of the Liao people clearly.

But the signal bomb is not only to guide the artillery to shoot, but also has another function to tell the artillery forward that the troops have left the dangerous area. You must know that the artillery shells do not have eyes.Such things as hitting one's own people and startling their own horses have happened in training, and they have experienced blood lessons, so there are such things as signal flares in the new army.

When the signal flare lights up, it also means that the forward troops are out of the fire attack range, and the rear artillery can fire with confidence.

Li Xingzhou gave an order, and the twelve cannons standing on the top of the mountain began to shoot at the top of the opposite mountain in turn. The opponent's idea of ​​occupying a high place to defend against the cavalry was correct. With a wide field of vision and a slope, it was difficult for the opponent to break through by concentrating on defense.

In history, when Su Dingfang destroyed the Western Turks, he used this kind of tactics in a big battle that decided to win.

The Khan of the Western Turks held more than [-] soldiers, while Su Dingfang had only more than [-] Huihe soldiers to assist in the battle, and more than a thousand elite cavalry from the Tang Army.He ordered the infantry to defend the top of the mountain, and led the elite cavalry to break through.

The Turkic cavalry attacked the Tang army defending the top of the mountain, but three bottom-up attacks failed to break into the Tang army camp, so that Su Dingfang, who led more than a thousand people, had the opportunity to go back on his horseback and take the Turkic central army. In an instant, the Western Turkic army The front collapsed.

The Tang army fought fiercely for [-] miles and beheaded tens of thousands of people. From then on, the Western Turks were limped and were chased and beaten by Su Dingfang until they destroyed the country.

Therefore, highland defense is a classic tactic of the cold weapon era. It has a wide field of vision, and it is easy to concentrate troops for defense. It can often achieve the effect of fighting more with less.

Sadly, times have changed.

An area with a wide field of view and concentrated personnel is for artillery - it is for nothing.
The sharp and whistling shells flew across the valley one after another, and soon caused a bloody storm among the crowd on the opposite side, hitting people with solid shells, killing people.

After a few rounds of shooting, the top of the opposite mountain was like a hell on earth, covered with all kinds of scattered limbs, and the Liao people had collapsed.

Someone could be heard crying across the valley. At this time, Wei Yubai's black-shirted cavalry surrounded him again. After a round of approaching shots resounded through the valley, the cavalry of the new army directly mounted their sabers and rushed to the top of the mountain to start hand-to-hand combat.

But instead of talking about hand-to-hand combat, it is better to talk about one-sided pursuit, because the Liao people have completely collapsed until now, and they hardly have any thoughts of resistance, only thinking about how to escape quickly.

Li Xingzhou made a decisive decision and ordered the army to move out of the camp. The musketeers guarded the vanguard. The third and fourth battalions of black-shirted cavalry guarded on both sides and approached Weizhou.

The sound of guns and guns continued until it was completely dark, and the army approached the direction of Weizhou all the way, except for the corpses stumbling all the way, it was unimpeded.

On the way, a group of Liao cavalry, about three or four hundred, escaped Wei Yubai's vanguard and wanted to attack the camp, but after being shot by the musketeers, they fell off their horses one after another, and only a hundred or so fled in a hurry.

When the sky was completely dark and the army approached on the hillside three or four miles outside the city of Weizhou, Li Xingzhou ordered to stop advancing and set up camp directly under the enemy's city.

Soon the two battalions of cavalry led by Wei Yubai also returned one after another, bringing back three corpses and 16 wounded.These three people were unlucky enough to be shot to death by Liao people's arrows. Although three comrades died, the soldiers were excited and their morale was high.

Because the Liao people didn't know how much they died, but the hillside forest they passed just now, and the mountain top were full of corpses, plus the team that was wounded by muskets later, they didn't know about the sudden first battle. How many Liao people were killed, in short, many!

Even they can feel it
That night, Li Xingzhou sent people to take turns to be on duty, and camped directly under the city of Weizhou. He was extremely daring, but this way of despising the enemy also greatly boosted morale. As a result, no one dared to attack the camp all night. It is estimated that the Liao army was already scared. .

Early the next morning, Li Xingzhou sent scouts to count the battle damage and clean up the battlefield. At noon, the scouts reported back that the Liao people dropped a total of 730 corpses from various places last night. Those who could not be found intact by the artillery, whose bodies were taken away by the Liao people when they retreated, and those who were injured.

It is estimated that if the corpses brought back to the city are counted, they may have killed a thousand enemies in the battle last night, and the casualties of the Liao people were at least more than [-]!

The news quickly spread throughout the barracks, and the morale of the army was greatly boosted. For many new soldiers who fought for the first time, this victory was too important, and at the cost of three deaths and 16 injuries, they killed 730 and nine enemies. , and more.

Moreover, the battle last night scared the defenders of Weizhou into hiding in the city, and they didn't dare to come out. From a distance, the defenders at the top of the city didn't dare to show their faces. It is estimated that various legends of monsters and ghosts have begun to spread in the city.

For example, the newcomer Jing Jun is invulnerable or something
Originally, it was the Liao people who set up an ambush to give them a warning. Unexpectedly, the new army organized a wave of lightning-fast counterattacks. From [-] miles outside the city of Weizhou, they directly hit the city of Weizhou within a few hours. .

Leveraging this morale, Li Xingzhou planned to attack the city that afternoon and directly take down Weizhou, an important town in one of the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun.
(End of this chapter)