Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 423 The Brave Untouchable

"Fixed shot reloading, three quarters in the direction, and twelve rounds of preparation... Let it go!"

"Boom boom-"

"Avoid! Get down!"

"Boom--"

In August, while Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao were discussing how to reduce the conflicts between rich and poor and class in Ming Dynasty, Li Dingguo was helping with farming at home, and at the same time as choosing concubines in the capital, the flames of war in South Asia had completely ignited.

As the southern rebels were further suppressed by Lu Xiangsheng, the rebels basically hid in the dense forests of the Deccan Plateau, and did not even dare to attack the Ming army's supplies and caravans.

10,000+ rebels were wiped out in chatter and laughter, and there were less than 1 people left.

Facing Lu Xiangsheng who had encircled them so far, they, who believed in Hinduism, "kindly" gave Lu Xiangsheng the title of "Yama".

In the legend of Brahmanism, the predecessor of Hinduism, the first person to die in the world is called Yama.

After his death, this person became the ruler of Hades in Hinduism, one of the twenty heavens, with eighteen judges in charge of the eighteen hells.

Later, this legend was inherited by Buddhism, and Buddhism gave him a more comprehensive title, the full name "King of Yama".

The rebels were scared out of their wits, and after several successes in encirclement and suppression, Lu Xiangsheng further divided his troops to support the north.

This time he divided his troops into ten battalions and went north, while he himself left less than ten battalions of troops to continue to encircle and suppress the rebels.

With the support of 3 people from ten battalions, the number of Ming infantry on the front line reached 12, while Mirza did not receive follow-up reinforcements and remained at 3000.

The number of artillery pieces of the Ming army further increased to [-], while the Mughal army remained at the pitiful [-].

The advantage of firepower made Qi Yuanfu decide to launch a full-scale counter-offensive, and under the order of Huang Long, Huang Fei and Li Dan commanded the navy to launch an attack on the coastline of thousands of miles of Mughals.

The sudden artillery fire beat the Mughal army into disgrace, and the defense line was disrupted...

"A group of useless waste, cough cough cough... The order is to be guarded, and I have sent someone to Lahore to ask for reinforcements..."

"Boom bang bang-"

While talking, Mirza coughed, his face turned bright red instantly, and he covered his mouth with a dark handkerchief.

After he stopped coughing, when he looked at the handkerchief again, it was already stained with a lot of bloody phlegm, and the sound of artillery was heard beside him.

Faced with such a situation, he let out a slight breath, but held the handkerchief directly in his hands without saying a word.

Because the Mughal army was at a disadvantage, he could not take turns going to other places to rest like Huang Long, Qi Yuanfu, and Qi Yuanbi of the Ming army. Therefore, his body was in a bad state due to long-term acclimatization.

It's just that Mirza also knew in his heart that if he didn't win another battle, the whole Mughal would be in danger, so Mirza at this time was completely willing to go all out.

He no longer cared whether he would die on the battlefield, he just wanted to win!
It's a pity that the Mughal army was not the only one who wanted to win. The Ming army who launched a counterattack wanted to win even more.

The day before the full-scale counter-offensive, Huanglong sent down the military order.

As long as the whole army can take down all the cities along the Mughal coast before the end of the year, then this expedition will be declared a victory. Over the past few years, 17 soldiers of the Ming army went home and reunited with their families.

Just the simple word "go home" made the soldiers of the navy and the guard battalion go crazy.

"Before September, if we defeat the southern captives, we can still celebrate the New Year when we go home!"

"Give me a hard beat!"

On the artillery positions of the various passes of the Ming army, all the generals were clamoring to go home for the New Year.

What Huanglong gave them was to win before the end of the year, but they couldn't wait any longer.

The word "New Year" seems to have a magical power, which made the soldiers of the Ming army go crazy...

"Beep--"

"Counterattack!"

After blowing the wooden whistle, Li Zicheng, who was on the Yanan defense line, pulled out the Yanling knife at his waist, shouted the word "counterattack", and led his troops to attack the Kolinga defense line in the north of Yanan.

"Give it to me! Go home to celebrate the New Year after the fight!"

When Liu Zongmin, Li Zijing, and Li Guo saw Li Zicheng draw his sword, the three also drew their swords one after another, and blew their wooden whistles to launch a counterattack.

If the four generals are like this, the soldiers below will naturally not bear it.

They surrounded their own generals and launched a counterattack. They pushed the chariots and began to advance the front line in a coordinated manner.

More than 1 troops from four battalions poured into the battlefield, which was very difficult for the Mughal army in charge of guarding the Kolinga line of defense.

Kolinga is a necessary city on the eastern coastline. Mirza stationed 2 people here, including 5000 cavalry, 8000 light infantry, 2000 elephant soldiers, and [-] musketeers and two soldiers. Thousand artillery.

Compared with them, the Ming army's rear line of defense is 5000 artillery, the front is [-] infantry gunners, [-] sword players, and [-] cavalry, a total of [-] people.

The positions of the two sides were five miles apart, and the Ming army pushed their chariots forward for three miles. When they arrived at their own artillery positions, the scattered troops began to gather, and they pushed forward with chariots to cover the artillery positions.

Ming musketeers and sword players marched on chariots filled with sandbags as shields, as did cavalry.

"Load the shells and knock 'em down!"

Faced with the pressing force of the Ming army, the general Shah, relying on the defense of Kelinga City, began to give orders.

Three hundred Portuguese gunners hired by them began to lead [-] Persians to load the artillery.

The number of artillery at the head of the Kelinga city is one hundred. Although they are not as good as the Ming army on the opposite side, the power of their artillery is actually greater than the five-jin cannon and ten-jin cannon of the Ming army.

After busy filling the cannon, accompanied by the sound of "chi chi" burning matchlocks, one after another the stone bullets escaped, and with a piercing whistling sound, they hit the Ming army who was already less than two and a half miles away from Kelinga. .

"Advance the artillery one mile, and target the artillery at the head of the enemy's city!"

"Yes!"

Qi Yuanbi, who was guarding the artillery position, was indifferent and didn't care about the counterattack of the Mughal army at all.

In his opinion, as long as the [-] cannons of one's own side determine the position of the other side's cannons and carry out forward strikes, then without heavy firearms, the Ming army will surely win!

"put!"

"Boom bang bang-"

The cannons of the Mughal army were ringing, and some of the stone bullets fired hit the flat ground in the wilderness and turned into ricochets, while others were lucky enough to hit the chariot, but were unloaded by the sand and soil .

In one round of shelling, only six of the hundred stone bullets hit the chariot, and less than a dozen of them turned into ricochets and injured Ming soldiers, and the force was not enough to cause serious injuries, because the surrounding knives Players will raise their cards to cover their own riflemen to relieve the force of the stone bullets.

Relying on chariots, the Ming army hardly suffered too many casualties during the two-mile journey.

It's just that when the chariot entered the range of one mile, a stone bullet hit the chariot suddenly.

The powerful stone bullets completely destroyed the entire chariot, and the Ming soldiers who were pushing the chariot also died terribly, and the whole person was very miserable.

Li Zicheng was startled by the soldiers who were knocked into the air, and the deep red blood smeared a thick layer on the ground, making people feel chills when they saw it.

Only chills followed by anger:
"Come on! Avenge the brothers who died in battle!"

"kill!"

Everyone mustered all their energy, pushed the chariot and rushed towards the Mughal position.

Just at this time, the artillery of the Mughal army was emptied, and the hot artillery was destined to be unable to fire again.

Seizing this opportunity, Li Zicheng and others pushed their chariots to keep approaching the Mughal army's defense line outside Kolinga.

"preparation……"

Imitating the trench defense line of the Illumination Army, soldiers of the Mughal army stand in it, and in front of them are defensive obstacles such as rejecting horses and horn walls.

The Persian and Mongolian officers in the army shouted loudly, and the [-] Mongolian cavalry around the city also began to prepare restlessly.

When the Ming army entered the range of one mile, Shah, who was defending the city, waved his whip, and the soldiers nearby blew their horns.

Five thousand Mongolian cavalry rushed out like wild horses, trying to cut off Li Zicheng and others.

"Beep--"

"Formation!"

Li Zicheng whistled and yelled to form an formation, because he saw that the Mughal artillery could no longer shoot.

Without artillery, the Ming army began to form a chariot formation, approaching Kelinga City step by step.

"Drive! Drive..."

The Mongolian cavalry who came rushing howled some words that even the Mongolians in Mobei could not understand, and when they thought that the Ming army infantry had become lambs to be slaughtered, the Ming army cavalry hidden behind the chariot filed out .

With a distance of more than 500 steps, the cavalry of the Ming army quickly increased their horse speed, and they also gripped their riding guns and short hammers tightly in their hands.

The wind is blowing, the horses are neighing...

Horseshoes trampled outside the city of Kelinga, and the three thousand Ming army's iron cavalry scattered and attacked in a wall-like formation.

"They want to charge into the wall, be careful!"

The Mongolian officer who didn't know the musketeers roared, and the flag officer next to him saw the situation and quickly waved the flag in his hand.

All the Mongols saw a large group of flags waving within a few breaths, and they dispersed completely upon seeing this.

It has to be said that they were regarded as blind cats who caught dead mice. They were so scattered that they were defeated by the Ming army's gunless guns.

But even so, Liu Zongmin, who led the cavalry, still calmly raised his blunderbuss.

Two cavalry teams rushed forward, one was the Mughals' heavy cavalry, the other was the Ming army's semi-armored cavalry. When the two sides were about to intersect, a large amount of white smoke and the sound of gunfire suddenly appeared on the Ming army's side.

"put!"

"Clap clap-"

It seems that the volley of guns appeared on the cavalry, and the Mughal cavalry who were caught off guard were knocked off their horses, or their horses fell forward.

It is a terrible thing to fall under such a high-speed galloping situation. The fall of one horse means that more than ten horses will be in danger.

Experienced cavalry steed their horses over fallen men and horses, while inexperienced cavalry turned forward with both men and horses.

It's not round after round, it's round after round.

The cavalry of the Ming army was divided into three triangular Mughal cavalry formations with arrows piercing straight and spreading out. Taking advantage of the advantages of platooning guns, they continued to shoot between the staggered.

The Ming army in front swung a pumpkin hammer and collided with the Mughal cavalry. Some weapons were knocked flying, and some were accidentally hit in the arm, and the whole arm shrugged.

The battlefield is bloody, and soldiers are not strings of numbers, but fresh lives.

Between the interlacing, the Mughal cavalry left six or seven hundred corpses, and the Ming army also paid one or two hundred corpses.

Such casualties are unacceptable, no matter which side it is.

Liu Zongmin's eyes were red, but he also had some fear in his heart, while the Mongolian officer who led the army only had fear in his heart.

He subconsciously looked up at the city wall of Kolinga, hoping to see Shah's semaphore ordering him to withdraw troops, but he saw nothing.

"Assault on the infantry of the Ming army!"

He gave up entanglement with the Ming army cavalry, and only wanted to attack the "weak" Ming army infantry.

Under his leadership, more than 4000 Mongolian cavalry rushed towards Li Zicheng, who was forming a chariot formation. At this time, the chariot formation had not yet been formed, but the Ming army had already formed a square formation of guns.

The scene of four thousand cavalry rushing forward was shocking, but the rifles in their hands gave the soldiers of the Ming army full confidence.

"preparation……"

Li Zicheng held up the flag, leading many general flag officials to raise the flag one after another, and the soldiers who saw the flag moved raised their rifles one after another, aiming at the Mongolian cavalry charging towards them.

"Beep-"

The ear-piercing wooden whistle sounded, although it was very faint, the Ming army's musketeers who formed a hollow square formation were ready.

"Clap clap-"

The familiar white smoke rose again, but this time there were not many Mongolian cavalrymen who fell from their horses, only about [-] people.

This is because Li Zicheng chose to fire the gun for the first time at [-] paces, and he did this to confuse the Mongolian cavalry and make them think that their casualties would not be great.

"Beep--"

Li Zicheng blew the wooden whistle again, which stopped many soldiers who were about to pull the trigger for the second time, and looked at their team leader and chief banner officer in puzzlement.

The two beeps are to stop shooting, which means that they want to get close to the enemy to fight, but as the battalions of the Southern and Western Military Governor's Mansions, in fact, many Ming troops are not as rich as the Northern, Eastern and Shangzhi troops. With experience in cavalry, I couldn't help feeling a little panicked.

When the Mughal cavalry rushed to seventy paces, many of them clenched their rifles and swallowed hard.

When the Mughal cavalry reached fifty paces, everyone was sweating profusely.

When the Mughal cavalry charged thirty paces, the former nine-sided bird gunners would choose to throw their guns and escape, but the soldiers of the Gongwei Battalion did not.

Their persistence was right, because in the next second, Li Zicheng blew the life-saving whistle.

"Beep-"

"Clap clap-"

The heat wave hits, the war horse neighs...

At this distance of less than thirty steps, even the triple armor of the old slave could not hold the rifle, let alone the double armor of the Mughal cavalry.

Facing the [-] rifles raised by the first row of soldiers of the Ming army, a large number of Mughal cavalrymen felt a chill in their chests, and instantly became powerless, and they fell down with their horses.

"Clap clap clap..."

It's not over yet, as the second round of guns started to sound, a large number of Mughal cavalry who fell down because of the cavalry in front and followed the horse and fell down suffered the second round of blows.

"Withdraw! Withdraw!"

The Mughal officer, who was surrounded by dense crowds, could not see his own casualties, but the constant sound of rifles from the Ming army made him flustered.

He quickly ordered the follow-up cavalry to withdraw from the battlefield, and they fled in another direction. The cavalry who failed to escape in time were harvested by the chasing Ming army cavalry.

"This is the Europa style of play..."

On the city wall, Shah watched his own cavalry being beaten into such a virtuous manner within a few minutes of going into battle. His face was so livid that people suspected that he had taken poison.

Especially when the cavalry withdrew from the battlefield, there were exactly half fewer people than when they set off, which made Shah's heart blocked, and at the same time, an inexplicable sense of fear arose in his heart.

"How many muskets do they have?" This question echoed in Shah's mind. I'm afraid it was hard for him to believe that the Ming army's firearms equipment rate reached [-]%.

"Keep attacking, don't be greedy for the head!"

In the formation of the Ming army, Li Zicheng watched some soldiers trying to harvest their heads, shouted quickly, grabbed the flag next to him and waved it.

His military order was conveyed along with the semaphore, and all the general banners stopped the soldiers under their command one after another, and the Ming army once again formed an formation thinking about killing Kolinga.

The Ming army and the chariots formed a "Hui" chariot formation, advancing at a speed of more than ten steps per minute, while the [-] light infantry and musketeers stationed in the trenches were breathing heavily.

"The elephant soldiers are ready to destroy their chariots!"

"Yes!"

Shah dispatched his elephant soldiers, two thousand elephant soldiers represented more than 600 elephants, and when his military order was issued.

On both sides of the Kelinga city, some war elephants who had been appeased began to walk onto the battlefield under the comfort of the soldiers.

These war elephants, which are seven feet to one foot high and weigh three to five tons, are covered with a layer of cotton armor, which protects the head, abdomen, and buttocks, and they are very obedient to let soldiers with muskets climb on their backs .

When the [-] war elephants appeared, even many Ming soldiers who had fought with them in Jiaozhi were stunned.

It's just that the car formation is still advancing, and it's impossible for them to retreat, so everyone bites the bullet and greets them.

"Roar..."

The roar of war elephants filled the battlefield, and the horses of the Ming army had not been trained to face war elephants, so they stagnated for a while.

The distance between the two sides was getting closer, from one mile to two hundred paces. During this period, the war elephants did not move. Shah seemed to be planning to let the war elephants break through the Ming army's chariot formation at close range, and then rely on muskets to harvest the Ming army. .

It's just that his wishful thinking was wrong. The number of muskets of the Ming army far exceeded that of the Mughal army in Kolinga.

"preparation……"

"Beep beep beep-"

The whistle sounded three times, and the Ming army riflemen in the front row had already started to prepare, and they were only a hundred steps away from the war elephant.

Gradually, they began to approach the line of defense, and Shah also looked at the Portuguese artillery next to him: "Is it still okay?"

"It will take at least 3 minutes." The gunner tested the temperature of the barrel and replied shaking his head.

His answer made Shah very uncomfortable, so he gritted his teeth and said, "I'll give each of you an extra thousand rupees!"

"Oh... then you can fire now!" The Portuguese artillery officer smiled.

Waiting for a price, this is already a common method used by European mercenaries against the Mughal Dynasty, and they will often do this at critical moments in the war.

"Prepare……"

"Boom boom-"

Before the Portuguese artillery officer could say anything, the sound of artillery came from a distance, and then the roaring stone bullets hit the head of Kolinga City densely. Many wall bricks were directly hunted, and some artillerymen who were caught off guard were also killed .

While evading, Shah quickly picked up the binoculars to observe the battlefield, only to find that the artillery of the Ming army had moved a mile.

This is the disadvantage of Mughal officers, who often only care about local battlefields and ignore the entire battle situation.

"It should be a test firing. It will take 5 minutes for their next round of shelling."

After the shelling, the Portuguese officer stood up to comfort Shah, but at this time Shah's face was ashen, because they had missed the best time to bombard the Ming army's vehicle camp.

"Beep-"

"Bang bang bang..."

When the chariot of the Ming army came within fifty paces of the war elephant, Li Zicheng chose to fire the gun without hesitation.

The [-] Ming army rifles began to hit the war elephants, and the dense lead bullets only felt pain to the [-] war elephants.

They neighed, but did not fall.

In the war on the South Asian subcontinent, war elephants that had more contact with firearms were not afraid of fire.

In the age of matchlock guns, hundreds of bullets were often unable to kill a war elephant. It was not until the gradual development of artillery technology that elephant soldiers were completely useless in South Asia.

A mammoth creature that has been used for thousands of years in the history of warfare, elephants are far less fragile than many imagine.

The elephants, enraged by the shooting, began to rush towards the Ming army, while the Mughal cavalry who had withdrawn from the battlefield were still chasing and entangled with the Ming army cavalry.

Many Mughal soldiers were ready, and when the elephants smashed the opponent's chariot formation, all the light infantry would rush forward.

They firmly believe that no one can defeat them in short combat...

The sound of "neighing" continued to sound, and the huge monster formed by six hundred war elephants faced the Ming army's rounds of guns. Although it fell down, compared with the number of rushing, it was a drop in the bucket.

"Knife player ready!"

Li Zicheng shouted with a sullen face, and the flag officers around him kept waving the flags to pass on the military orders.

All the sword players rushed to the fourth row to prepare for the battle, and at this time the war elephants also rushed in front of the Ming army's chariot formation.

The chariots filled with a thousand catties of sand seemed as fragile as toys in front of the war elephants, and they were knocked down one by one, while the soldiers of the Ming army retreated while fighting.

The appearance of war elephants really disrupted the deployment and planning of the Ming army, so that Liu Zongmin, who was leading the cavalry, immediately gave up chasing and killing the Mughal cavalry after seeing this scene, and rushed towards the battlefield.

"Kill these people!"

"kill!"

Six thousand ready light infantry climbed up the trench, crossed the horn wall and rejected horses, and charged towards the Ming army.

The crazy war elephants have ignored them, and occasionally even killed their own people.

Some Ming troops were unable to retreat in time, and they would be trampled to death by war elephants. Mughal light infantry rushed to the front of the formation, but before they could react, Liu Zongmin led more than 2000 Ming cavalry to cut them off.

"Dog slave dare!"

Liu Zongmin rode his horse into the path of the light infantry, brandished a gourd hammer and pulled the trigger of the blunderbuss at the same time, reaping two lives in an instant.

His brave appearance made many light infantry of the native race timid, but at this time, the Mughal Persian musketeers hiding in the trenches began to pull the trigger on the Ming cavalry indiscriminately.

"Clap clap clap-"

"withdraw!"

When Liu Zongmin heard the sound of the matchlock gun, he immediately led his people to retreat, but he was still hit by many cavalry.

When some Mughal light infantry saw the Ming army who had fallen off their horses, they rushed forward, trying to use their heroic "force" to surrender the opponent.

It's just that the ideal is plump and the reality is skinny.

When the light infantry in simple chain mail faced the Ming cavalry in triple armor, they couldn't help them even in foot combat. Instead, they were constantly knocked down by the musketeers behind them.

The more than a hundred Ming army cavalry who had fallen from their horses immediately united together, and beat up the [-] Mughal light infantry who were trying to encircle them and show their bravery.

"This group of untouchables..." Shah looked at the embarrassing scene on the battlefield, and at this moment, he really wanted to slaughter a few native villages to vent his hatred.

(End of this chapter)