Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 368 Fierce Battle

"Stop! Turn around! Align! Raise the gun!"

Liu Shiquan threw the blunderbuss on the ground casually, drew out his waist knife and rushed towards the chaotic phalanx while screaming. The drummer quickly beat the army drum vigorously, while the trumpeter and two personal soldiers followed closely behind him. .

Although the soldiers who heard the sound of the military drum were still surrounded by a great sense of fear, their subconsciousness of obeying the military order still made them make corresponding actions.

Liu Shiquan ran to the front of the army with red eyes, raised his knife with his hands after a roar, and chopped off the head of a soldier who was running around like a headless chicken, then quickly bent over and grabbed the horrified, The head, which was still dripping with blood, yelled at the soldiers of the Ming army: "Those who disobey the order will be executed!"

Just at this moment, the third platoon of musketeers of the Dutch army had already stood facing the Ming army and started the third round. Amidst the explosion sound mixed with the weak and sharp whistling sound of projectiles, six more Ming soldiers fell to the ground after being shot. Fortunately, Liu Shiquan was not hit by the gun, and one of his soldiers was shot and fell to the ground without making a sound.

Liu Shiquan threw away the waist knife and head, picked up the gun that he beheaded the soldier just now, and after blowing on it, he found that the matchlock had not been extinguished, and the bullets and gunpowder had been loaded. The gun was aimed at the Dutch army.

Another soldier half-kneeled side by side with Liu Shiquan, and also raised the fire blunderbuss. The trumpeter half-kneeled on the other side and raised the trumpet to his mouth.

Under the harsh military law and the demonstration of a desperate battle led by Shangguan, the morale of the soldiers of the Ming army was greatly boosted. Following the rhythm of the drums, they quickly formed a three-stage formation according to the usual drills. At this time, the fourth row of the Dutch army He had already stood forward and raised his musket at the same time.

"put!"

With the short sound of swans, the Ming army and the Dutch army fired their firecrackers and muskets almost at the same time. There were also screams in the formation of the two armies. Several people on both sides were hit and fell to the ground, but the only difference was Yes, the soldiers in the back row of the Ming army quickly stepped forward to fill the vacancy, while the Dutch army prepared to retreat to both sides after closing their guns.

At this moment, the second round of fire from the Ming army fired, seven or eight Dutch troops who moved sideways fell down, and the remaining Dutch troops ran away to the sides in a panic to avoid continuous blows from the Ming army's firepower .

Due to the weak wind in winter, the smoke generated by the continuous rounds of firecrackers and muskets of the two armies condensed in front of the formation for a long time and could not dissipate, which greatly affected the sight of both sides. There was a tacit and short-lived calm between the opposing sides.

While Liu Shiquan's left wing was being continuously attacked by Dutch artillery and muskets, Chen Dashuan's right wing also encountered a similar situation, and the situation was even more severe than Liu Shiquan's side.

After the first shell of the Dutch army was tested, the next two shells all fell into the camp of the Ming army, and the successive explosions caused huge damage to the Ming army.

The two shells caused casualties to more than 20 soldiers of the Ming army, and completely destroyed the formation of the Ming army. This also caused the Dutch musketeers to fire three rounds calmly without any counterattack, causing more than [-] soldiers to die. Ming army casualties.

The end where Chen Dashuan was was not hit by the firepower of the Dutch army, but seeing his subordinates kept being shot and fell to the ground and wailing, his heart seemed to be twisted like a knife.

Amidst the desperate shouts of Chen Dashuan and several generals, the right-wing Ming army finally got rid of the chaotic situation temporarily, and formed a three-stage formation after the fourth round of musket fire from the Dutch army.

With the fire of the Ming army, the casualties of the Dutch army also increased rapidly. The sense of security in the first four rounds, like shooting training, immediately disappeared, and the two sides entered a state of mutual shooting.

Just when Liu Shiquan's left wing was in a state of temporary calm, the second round of shelling by the Dutch army started again.

One of the three flowering bombs landed in front of the Ming army's formation, the other passed through the Ming army's phalanx and landed behind the formation, while a cannonball exploded directly in the crowd, blowing seven or eight Ming soldiers to the ground. The formed formation became chaotic again, and the newly recovered morale of the Ming army was seriously bruised again.

As the gunpowder smoke gradually dissipated, the fifth round of gunners of the Dutch army lined up and then fired again. Several soldiers of the Ming army fell to the ground. The head is about to escape backwards.

The spearmen of the Dutch army, under the order of the officer, had already crossed the musket phalanx with their sharp spears and stepped forward in unison, ready to take advantage of the situation and completely crush the Ming army dozens of steps away.

Seeing such a situation, Liu Shiquan had no choice but to stand up loudly and order the gunners to retreat to the whole team, and ordered two hundred spearmen to move closer to the center and line up to meet the enemy.

He knew in his heart that not only would he not be at a disadvantage when it came to shooting firearms against each other, on the contrary the advantage would be getting bigger and bigger. In a few more rounds, the Dutch army would definitely be defeated.

But the artillery of the Dutch army is too powerful. The soldiers on my side have never seen such shells that exploded and hurt people after landing.

Under the great fear of this unknown thing, the soldiers who usually practice extremely hard and have strict military discipline also showed signs of collapse. Even he himself was frightened by this shell.

The right-wing Ming army also suffered the second round of bombardment from the Dutch army's artillery fire. After being killed by the artillery shells and killing many people, they barely maintained their formation. However, the soldiers were obviously panicked when loading ammunition. Many people turned to one side in fear while loading. Watched the Dutch artillery positions, for fear that the terrible shells would fall again.

At this critical juncture, the gate of the Ming army's camp suddenly opened wide, and the cavalry led Hu Yong, the head of the army, and led more than forty horsemen out of the camp gate. go.

Immediately behind the cavalry were hundreds of soldiers of the Ming army, including swordsmen and shields, as well as a few dozen archers and grenadiers. Wu Qun personally led the team to the left flank where the situation was most critical.

"Damn Ming people! They still have cavalry!! Order the spearmen to move closer to the artillery! Order the artillery to evacuate quickly! Hurry up!"

Fan and Dyke, who were standing on a high place observing the battlefield, turned extremely pale when they saw the cavalry of the Ming army rushing out suddenly. Rush to protect the precious artillery.

The camp of the Ming army was only about four miles away from the artillery position of the Dutch army. Before the spearmen of the Dutch army could turn around to support, the cavalry of the Ming army had already bypassed the phalanxes of both sides from one side, and rushed to prepare for the next attack. The artillery fired.

Hu Yong, who was at the front with his horse, leaned down on the head of the horse, holding a bright saber in his left hand, and a flintlock pistol in his right hand, with his legs clamped on the belly of the horse to control the direction. For oneness.

More than [-] cavalry with the same equipment as him followed closely behind. The horseshoes rolled and the sound was like thunder. Under the eyes of the officers and soldiers on both sides, they rushed towards the Dutch artillery who had spotted them like a gust of wind.

Although they did not receive an order to retreat, the artillery who had suffered from the cavalry on the European battlefield abandoned their positions and decisively chose to flee in all directions.

This escape does not violate military discipline.

Artillery, as the most important arm of European countries, has no resistance to the enemy's force that hits under the nose.

There are unwritten rules in the armies of various European countries, that is, in the case of force majeure, artillery can choose to abandon their positions to save their lives.

Because when the enemy has reached the artillery position, it means that the frontal battlefield is already in a failure or a very unfavorable situation. At this time, the artillery is no longer important, and the most important thing for the artillery is to keep their lives alive.

The Ming army cavalry on both sides rushed to the Dutch army artillery array in a blink of an eye.

Hu Yong clamped the horse's belly violently with his legs, and the horse rushed forward under the pain, knocking a Dutch gunner who was fleeing desperately to the ground.

The weight of the war horse itself was several hundred kilograms plus Hu Yong's weight of more than 100 kilograms, plus the huge inertial addition of the acceleration of gravity, the gunner suddenly broke his bones and tendons, spit blood at the mouth and lay motionless on the ground.

The horse continued to move forward. After Hu Yong pulled the trigger, he fired the pistol. After a loud bang, a gunner of the Dutch army who was struggling to escape a few steps ahead was hit by the pistol at close range. On the ground, a large stream of blood flowed wantonly along the wound.

Hu Yong smashed the pistol to another gunner of the Dutch army on the front right, then handed over the saber to his right hand, and with the rein in his left hand, the horse galloped forward.

When rushing past the Dutch soldier, Hu Yong held the knife in his right hand and waved his horse horizontally. The head of the Dutch soldier was separated from his neck immediately, and blood gushed out of his neck cavity like a fountain. However, the body continued to run for a few steps according to inertia, and then fell to the ground with a bang. The head with a horrified expression on its face rolled on the ground for a while before stopping.

(End of this chapter)