The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 343 Trap
"Line up to meet the enemy!"

In front of the main formation of the Ten Thousand People's Army, Li Ji immediately commanded the soldiers in the formation calmly and calmly.

"Ouch!"

After hearing the military order, all the soldiers shouted and responded.

Shields were raised one after another, and spears were lowered one after another. In an instant, a forest of guns was formed in front of the formation.

The central army of the Ten Thousand People's Army, the troops guarding Li Yan, are naturally the most elite troops among the Ten Thousand People's Army. They are all soldiers of the Ten Thousand People's Army.

Most of them started from Qixian County and followed Li Yan in the north and south, fighting in places thousands of miles away. They have been trained for a long time and have learned battle formations for a long time.

Rogue bandits roughly divide their troops into four levels, from top to bottom: elite cavalry, horse soldiers, infantry, and hungry soldiers.

Among the troops of the rogue bandits, the elite cavalrymen were the elites of the troops, while the horse soldiers were the old pawns.

Troops and hungry soldiers are nothing more than consumables and cannon fodder. Their lives are not important, so they will not be specially trained.

But in the Ten Thousand People Army, the divisions are not divided like this.

In the Ten Thousand People's Army, ordinary soldiers are divided into four categories: soldiers, warriors, warriors, and new soldiers.

New recruits who have just joined the army are collectively called new soldiers.

The current Ten Thousand People Army has the largest proportion of new recruits, with more than 200,000 new recruits, accounting for more than two-thirds of the total number.

The standard for a strongman is that after more than two months of training and experiencing at least one big battle or several small-scale battles, you can be promoted to a strongman.

The classification of soldiers is much stricter than that of warriors. Promotion from warrior to warrior requires at least half a year of experience in the army and several battles.

The last class of armored soldiers, as the name suggests, refers to those who wear armor.

All soldiers of the Ten Thousand People's Army, without exception, have the right to wear armor.

All armored soldiers are selected from among the soldiers. Priority is given to those who are strong, skilled, and have outstanding military exploits to equip them with armor and weapons.

In the Ten Thousand People Army, there are also assessments on skills.

Originally, due to the limited number of armors, those who could become soldiers of the Ten Thousand People Army were all elites among the elite.

At the beginning, when Li Yan led the troops to revolt in Qixian County, there were only a hundred or so people with armor.

Nowadays, the number of soldiers in the Ten Thousand People Army has reached 10,000.

This amount sounds incredible, but it is realistic.

The Ten Thousand People's Army is able to have tens of thousands of sets of armor, thanks to the many military towns in Henan Province that serve as "transportation captains".

The one who made the greatest contribution was naturally Henan Governor Li Xianfeng, the number one transportation captain.

In several early campaigns, Li Yan defeated Henan soldiers and horses and captured a lot of armored soldiers. As a result, he became stronger bit by bit and his armor stock also increased.

Of course, at that time, it was only around Qianling, just over a thousand.

Later, after Dengfeng was captured and the generals gathered, the number of soldiers increased to 2,000.

The next expansion was when entering Luoyang.

Luo Tai and Liu Jianyi surrendered and directly joined the Wanmin Army.

Wang Shaoyu, the commander-in-chief of Henan, was killed by the rebels. Some of the remaining soldiers fled, but most of them joined Li Yan's command.

On paper, there are a total of 7,000 people in these three battalions, but in fact, there are only just over 4,000 people, which is almost half of the shortage.

Although the three battalions of Luo Tai, Liu Jianyi, and Wang Shaoyu were inland camps, they had been supplemented to a certain extent by the war in Henan, so they had a lot of armor.

Li Yan entered Luoyang and surrendered Luo Tai and Liu Jianyi, as well as the remaining soldiers under Wang Shaoyu's command, as well as the garrison in the city. At this time, the number of armored soldiers under his command also reached 6,000.

Many people do not have a clear understanding of the armor coverage rate of ancient Chinese armies.

Because there were so many armies in ancient China, as well as the influence of film and television dramas, people tend to preconceptions that the armor coverage rate is extremely low.

But in fact, the armor coverage rate of ancient Chinese regular troops was not low.

When Chen Wang was still serving as a servant under Cao Wenzhao, everyone in the army had a suit of armor.

These servants, the elite servants all wore water-polished armor and helmets, while the lesser servants also wore cloth-covered iron armor with chainmail armor inside.

Military academies at the team level basically have a full set of armor, and their protective capabilities are not too bad.

But ordinary sergeants have no protection.

The ownership of cotton armor and cloth armor is about half and half.

Most cotton armors are of similar quality, but those wearing cloth-covered armors are quite different, mainly depending on how many armor leaves are left.

Dark armor like cloth-covered iron armor is the least likely to be seen from outside, so it is naturally the hardest hit area for cutting corners.

This is the case in most camps and towns.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, even though armaments were lax and corruption was serious, the armor rate was still not low.

In the important town of Jiubian, most of the soldiers in the town are camped, and the soldiers among them can basically guarantee that each person has a set of armor.

Of course, this is only limited to combat soldiers. How much armor the auxiliary soldiers can have depends on how capable their battalion generals are.

Moreover, except for the elite troops, the quality and protection of the armor that ordinary soldiers can obtain do not have much guarantee.

In the end, the reason why Li Yan had tens of thousands of soldiers was that he defeated the main force of the Henan Army in the Battle of Zhengzhou.

The large amount of armaments left over from the defeat of the Henan army, as well as the large number of surrendered soldiers, gave the Wanmin Army a blowout in strength.

The Wanmin Army is no longer what it used to be.

Li Yan's eyes swept across the military formation formed by a large number of soldiers in front, and he felt a little at ease.

But soon, this stability was quickly broken.

In the distance, the troops attacking Kaifeng City were being driven back by the Ming army's cavalry.

The attacking troops had collapsed, and the shrill and desperate cries lingered in Li Yan's ears.

The rumble of horse hooves was as loud as the swollen river water.

Li Yan's facial expression and eyes remained indifferent, and there was no trace of intolerance in his eyes.

His gaze was always focused on the fiery red banner that was gradually approaching in the distance.

Except for the matchmaker, Li Yan never told the truth to anyone from beginning to end.

When he was outside Kaifeng City, he told Li Jiyu and his generals that they were only going to use Kaifeng City as a huge training ground.

But in fact, Li Yan never really gave up the opportunity to capture Kaifeng City.

Gao Mingheng did not allow the defeated troops who had fled all the way from Zhengzhou to enter the city. In fact, he did not do anything wrong.

Because Li Yan did place many internal agents among those defeated troops.

It is precisely because of this that Li Yan was able to obtain it. Late at night yesterday, someone secretly left Kaifeng Nancheng and entered the Ming Army's military camp in Xiangfu County.

The siege lasted for a long time, but the Ming army finally couldn't stand it any longer.

Through the internal investigation and the abnormal movements of Xiangfu Mingjun, Li Yan quickly guessed the general situation.

Chen Wang seemed to plan to mobilize Gao Qian to go north, cooperate internally and externally, and take the initiative to interrupt the progress of the siege.

After telling this speculation, Song Xiance took the initiative to ask Ying to persuade him to surrender, and that's what happened next.

The military order passed down by the envoy who was photographed from Kaifeng City was indeed Chen Wang asking Gao Qianli to cooperate with the outside world and cooperate with the Hanzhong Army in the battle.

This is undoubtedly an opportunity, an opportunity to capture Kaifeng City.

Li Yan knows full well how empty Kaifeng is now. As early as when the troops entered Dengfeng, he had already sent people to hide in Kaifeng and learned the information inside through secret letters.

After capturing Luoyang, the reason why they transferred to Kaifeng was because they knew that most of the soldiers in Kaifeng City were either following Li Xianfeng to help Luoyang, or crossing the Yellow River north to clear up Yangwu, Fengqiu and other places.

There are only a few thousand old and weak soldiers in Kaifeng City, and they can be defeated in one battle.

The capture of Kaifeng will cause a sensation ten times greater than the capture of Luoyang.

Because Kaifeng is the seat of the Chief Secretary of Henan and is now the center of the entire Henan, it will definitely shock the world.

The prestige of the Ming Dynasty will be wiped out as a result, and the world will surely gather in response.

In every troubled time, there are always countless people who want to take a peek at the artifact.

The Ming court was already stretched thin simply to deal with the previous rogue bandits and established slaves. When turmoil occurs again in various places, more and more loopholes and flaws will appear in the Ming court's defense lines and networks.

Chen Wang suddenly led three thousand armored cavalry into Kaifeng, disrupting Li Yan's chances.

The chance of conquering Kaifeng became extremely slim in an instant.

But now, everything will be back on track again.

Li Yan clenched the riding whip in his hand, and the fiery red banner was getting closer and closer in his field of vision.

No matter how everything was planned by Li Yan, no matter how nearly 10,000 armored soldiers in front were already ready, no matter how Li Yan had made multiple arrangements to deal with the impact of the cavalry.

But when he actually reached the battle formation and faced the charge of Hanzhong's armored cavalry, Li Yan still couldn't keep his peace.

Li Yan had never fought against the Hanzhong Army before, and all his opinions about the Hanzhong Army came from the Tang newspapers and legends published in the past.

Li Yan had already tried his best to improve his imagination, thinking about where the Hanzhong Army would be strongest.

However, when it came to the battle, Li Yan realized that all his previous ideas were completely wrong.

Hanzhong Army...

Far more powerful than he imagined.

Whether it is the officers and soldiers of Henan or Shaanxi, there is no way to compare with the Hanzhong Army.

The setting sun in the sky is like blood, and the sunset is like a burning fire.

The armored cavalry of the Hanzhong Army swept forward like a prairie fire, and all living creatures along the way were burned to death by the blazing flames.

"The cavalry of the Hanzhong Army did not attack our military formation and were galloping toward the southwest!"

Li Yan had been paying attention to the fiery red scroll that was constantly moving in the distance. At this time, Li Jiyu had also rushed back to his side, reporting the latest situation to him.

Li Yan watched the fiery red flag unable to move, and heard the Hanzhong Army's cavalry formation turning.

The heart he had been holding on to was finally letting go a little.

In fact, he has always had this uneasiness in his heart.

That uneasiness came from the deepest part of his heart.

The better he got to know Chen Wang, the more Li Yan became more vigilant against Chen Wang.

However, in just a few years, Chen Wang went from an unknown servant to a famous general who was famous all over the world. He was undefeated in a hundred battles and appeared in everyone's field of vision like a comet.

So even at this time, Li Yan still kept a clear head and did not think that everything was a sure win.

"I have given orders to Wuguan to be careful. As long as the cavalry of the Hanzhong Army crosses the line, there should be no hesitation..."

Li Yan's eyes were sharp and his voice was low.

He stared at the fiery red banner in the distance that was moving rapidly toward the southwest. There was no joy in his heart that the plan was about to succeed, only infinite worry.

Li Yan turned his head and looked toward the southwest of the formation.

To the southwest, people were shouting and horses were neighing, soldiers and horses were crisscrossing back and forth, and the deafening sound of cannons and cannons seemed to be a real battle.

Several plumes of thick smoke billowed into the sky.

Li Yan looked solemn, looking through the heavy military formations, his eyes full of caution.

……

To the southwest of the formation, the sky was full of smoke and dust, people were shouting, shouting and killing, and the sound of cannons and cannons was loud.

However, there was no smell of blood on the huge battlefield.

Crock Pot stood on the mound riding a war horse, looking indifferently at the smoke-filled "battlefield" in front of him.

Everything you see outside is actually just an illusion.

"The armored cavalry of the Hanzhong Army are coming to us!"

The scouts responsible for collecting intelligence rushed in from a distance.

Without the report of the reconnaissance cavalry, the movements of the Hanzhong Army cavalry had already been seen by the crockpot.

Cun Guan inserted the riding whip into the belt around his waist, and the look on his face became more solemn.

Taking the spear from the guard's hand and feeling the cold and hard touch of the spear, Crock Pot felt a little at ease.

"Send the order to the entire army to prepare for the battle."

Cun Guan clenched the spear in his hand and stared at the fiery red banner in front of him that cast a haze in his heart and made him terrified when he was in Ruzhou, like a nightmare.

Even though he was surrounded by heavily armed soldiers, it didn't make Crock Pot feel much safer.

Cun Guan lowered his head and looked towards his own military formation.

In that military formation, there were no soldiers standing in many places, but Fran cannons one after another covered with grass!

The Fran machine gun is an iron breech-loading smoothbore cannon. The whole gun consists of three parts: barrel, belly and sub-cannon.

When firing, first fill the gunpowder pellets into the sub-cannon, then load the sub-cannon into the belly of the cannon, ignite the sub-cannon, and then it can be fired.

Generally speaking, sub-cannons can be loaded during pre-battle preparations.

Each Fran cannon is generally equipped with three sub-cannons.

Precisely because it is a reloading artillery gun, the Fran cannon fires extremely quickly, especially the first three rounds, because there is no need to load projectiles into the sub-cannon.

After the introduction of the Fran cannon in the Ming Dynasty, it was widely used in the war against Mongolia to deal with Mongolian cavalry.

The Fran cannon is also one of the core firepower cores of Qi Jiguang's subsequent training camp.

Long-term practice has shown that a large number of Fran cannons are enough to cause huge amounts of damage to charging cavalry.

This is also a method Li Yan arranged in advance.

Of course, the means of preparation are not limited to this.

Cun Guan looked at the Hanzhong Army cavalry sweeping forward like flames.

He had already seen the signal coming from Nancheng. He only needed to hold on for a quarter of an hour before Nancheng's cavalry could arrive, and his mission would be completed.

In addition to the cavalry rushing to help from Nancheng, there are also a large number of troops from various places who have been waiting for a long time and will also encircle them.

Dragnet.

Already deployed.

Just wait.

Birds come and cast.