Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 937 [Abandoned by Friends and Relatives]

Two of the three Annan vanguard armies have been defeated.

After another round of shotgun shells, the third one also began to flee.

The elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty all came to the ridge of the field and turned into six or seven long snakes to chase forward. The fleeing soldiers could not run fast in the mud, and the archers stopped from time to time to shoot arrows, while the musketeers kept reloading and moving forward.

Unfortunately, the fleeing soldiers could not escape fast enough to effectively attack the supporting troops, and their fleeing trend was quickly stabilized by the supervision team.

Annan's supervision team killed the most fiercely on several ridges, scaring the fleeing soldiers into jumping into the fields.

Du Yingwu's central army kept waving flags, and except for three elite troops, all the others were thrown into battle. Many troops ran along the ridges of the fields and went around to the two sides. It seemed that they were about to surround the Ming army, but in fact it was extremely difficult to engage in battle.

This is a fertile alluvial plain, and all the paddy fields are owned by nobles or gentry.

The area of ​​a field is relatively large and not divided into small pieces. If you want to go around from the side ridge, you have to cross a large area of ​​muddy paddy field.

The elite troops of the Ming Dynasty no longer went to the fields. Some of the Mandarin Duck teams stood on the ridges of the fields, shooting at the enemies coming from the sides. Some of the Mandarin Duck teams were still rushing forward, charging at the Annan reinforcements coming from the top.

The ridges of the fields are wide and narrow. The wide ones can accommodate two people standing side by side, while the narrow ones can only accommodate one person.

No matter how wide or narrow the passage is, only one person can stand during the battle!
Ruan Xing led his troops to stand on the ridge of a field. He had driven the fleeing friendly troops into the field, but he had thrown his soldiers in the field into chaos.

The Ming army had already rushed in a long line, and Ruan Xing shouted in joy: "Attack the enemy troops on the ridge from both sides of the field. Quick, quick, quick!"

If it were on flat ground, with the Ming army's formation, they would be defeated no matter how elite they were.

Now it was just the opposite. Some of the enemy soldiers who were walking on the mud were fast, some were slow, and some even fell down. The Ming army, standing in a long line on the ridge of the field, just happened to shoot diagonally in front of them, and the surrounding enemy soldiers were all sitting ducks.

The Ming army at the front was still charging, with the musketeers rushing in front, firing at close range and then jumping into the fields, immediately stepping on the mud to load ammunition.

The squad leader shot an arrow, hung up his bow and arrows, and charged with his spear in hand.

The two sides fought on the ridge of the field, with one man each stabbing the other with a gun. Several soldiers behind them jumped into the field and started fighting.

Three Ming soldiers could form a formation, with one person in Tiangeng as the main attacker and two people in Tianzhong as assistants.

The Annan soldiers were somewhat at a loss. They only knew how to fight on their own and thrust forward randomly with their spears.

The Annan soldiers couldn't hold on the moment they started fighting. They had more people than them, but they were always fighting one against three. The man in front was stabbed to death, and the second man was forced to take over, but he was injured before he could get into shape.

The Ming army just charged forward. The auxiliary soldiers on both sides could not keep up because of the mud, so some of them jumped down immediately and cooperated with the soldiers on the edge of the field to kill the enemy, always maintaining the state of the small three-talent formation.

Later in the battle, the Ming troops who fought together were no longer from the same team.

Relying on their daily training habits, they automatically formed three-person combat teams regardless of whether they were familiar with each other.

As the killing went on, the Annan soldiers became more and more panicked.

The Annan soldier on the ridge of the field in front died, and the first reaction of the soldiers behind him was not to fight, but to jump into the field in fear to avoid the attack.

The Annan general Nguyen Hang was commanding from the rear and suddenly realized that the front-line soldiers on the ridges were getting fewer and fewer, and his troops were about to be killed from the middle. Some of the soldiers in the fields on both sides had already outflanked them, but they had no formation at all and were completely out of touch with the friendly forces. Most of the Ming troops stood on the ridges, and a few jumped into the fields to fight, forming small formations wherever they were.

The seemingly fragile Ming army was like a long snake, and as many Annan soldiers as there were killed!

Even at this point in the battle, not a single Ming soldier was killed. Although there were hundreds of wounded soldiers, they were all wounded by arrows, and no one was stabbed in close combat.

"General, retreat!"

The personal soldiers dragged Ruan Xing away.

Ruan Xing was a little confused now. He didn't know how things turned out like this. He abandoned his troops and fled in a daze.

On the other side, the Annan general Li Hui was also about to be killed.

Li Hui was much braver. He did not choose to run away, but instead went up to fight himself.

Then he understood why the soldiers could not hold on. Three long spears were thrusting at different parts of the field from the ridge and the fields on both sides. The three Ming soldiers cooperated very well. His own soldiers also jumped into the fields on both sides to assist him in the battle, but they could not form effective coordination at all.

Li Hui relied on his excellent armor and continued fighting even after being stabbed by a spear.

A musketeer jumped into the field, put one foot in the mud, bent one leg and stepped on the ridge, and fired from the gap left by friendly troops in front.

"boom!"

Li Hui was shot in the chest and finally fell down unwillingly.

The two Annan armies that encountered the enemy fled one after another. The outermost troops that came around to encircle them, some of them were charging forward through the mud, while others were still going around to the back along the ridges of the fields.

The Ming army's small cannons on the ridges of the fields slowly loaded shotgun shells and fired in turns at the enemy that was outflanking from the side.

The tiger squat cannon and similar small cannons can only fire a few dozen meters away. Their power is so small that they will not be able to shake off the ridges of fields, but they can cause huge damage to the enemy.

The more than 10,000 Annan troops involved in the battle were so chaotic that Du Yingwu didn't know how to command them.

Some had been killed and were struggling to escape in the mud.

Many of the encircling troops did not suffer any casualties, but were scattered haphazardly and unable to form effective coordination.

Du Yingwu said to the messenger: "Tell all the soldiers that the enemy camp is on fire. We are going to burn down the Ming army's camp!"

More than a dozen messengers went along the ridges of the fields to announce the news of "victory".

Du Yingwu's central army immediately shouted: "Great victory, great victory!"

However, the Ming army, whose camp was burned, didn't care about what was happening in the rear, and rushed faster and faster along the ridges. There were still a large number of Annan fleeing soldiers in the paddy fields between the ridges, but as long as the fleeing soldiers didn't come to kill them, the Ming soldiers were too lazy to pay attention to them.

Charge straight towards Du Yingwu's central army!

Du Yingwu became increasingly panicked: "Elephant soldiers, elephant soldiers attack!"

More than 30 elephants went out to fight, and behind each elephant was a small group of Annan soldiers. The battle formation had a bit of the flavor of infantry-tank coordination. The elephants were tanks.

The war elephants trampled large holes in the mud, but this did not affect their movements at all. Instead, the formation of the soldiers coordinating with the elephants was not in order.

"Aim for the elephant!"

Han Jing didn't need to give any orders, the musketeers had already seen that thing.

The musketeers stopped and aimed, and those with bad angles jumped directly into the fields.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

From time to time, bullets hit the elephants.

But war elephants were covered in a mixture of leather and iron armor. Muskets could penetrate the armor and even continue to injure the flesh, but were blocked by muscle tissue.

If you want to kill a war elephant with a flintlock rifle, you must hit a vital part or make the elephant bleed and become weakened.

Of course, the war elephant, which was injured but not dead, also became irritable because of the pain.

"Bring the cannon over there and use large iron bullets!"

The Ming army's small artillery was dealing with the outflanking enemy and did not charge with the front army. However, they hurried forward after receiving the order.

Some fleeing Annan soldiers saw their own war elephants coming out, and were suppressed by the supervision team and reorganized.

"Ang!" A war elephant was hit by more than 20 bullets and finally couldn't bear the pain all over its body. It shook its trunk and let out a long roar, turning around and running to the side and rear.

Three soldiers in the rear who were deployed in coordination with the war elephants were trampled to death and several others were knocked over. The rest of the soldiers were so scared that they all fled. However, because it was difficult to walk in the mud, the Annan soldiers could not dodge in time and dozens of them were trampled to death or injured.

The Ming troops on the edge of the field jumped into the field to make way for the artillerymen carrying small cannons and artillery shells.

The caliber of this cannon is about 5 cm, and the largest iron bullet is smaller than a tennis ball.

In order to save time, the gunner was running alone, carrying the shells, but it took two people to carry the basket.

The charge of Annan's war elephants was not going smoothly. One had already escaped, and several others were restless. The riders were carefully trying to calm them down, while the archers on the elephants' backs were shooting arrows from above.

"Boom boom boom!"

The three small cannons fired first, but unfortunately all of them missed.

It wasn't a miss, as the attack just didn't hit the war elephant, but it did kill and injure several Annan soldiers.

At the same time, the sound of artillery fire from dozens of meters away startled the war elephants. They were already in pain from being shot, and were also disturbed by the sound of gunfire. Now there was the sound of artillery fire, and they no longer listened to commands.

Elephants are really smart animals. They don't want to die.

Even if you can still use it after long-term training, it is impossible to ignore it when you are suddenly faced with firearms.

The fire in the Ming army camp grew bigger and bigger, and the Annan navy that had surrendered to Zhu Kang was terrified. Although they did not surrender directly, they were frightened and kept retreating, even ignoring the Ming officials.

Du Yingwu's navy surrounded them and everyone was in a panic.

Xie Hong, who had escaped from the camp to the grain transport ship, took the initiative to walk to the bow with local officials and said to the surrounding enemy navy: "I am an envoy sent by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the Queen Mother of Annan Du!"

Chen Kai hurriedly shouted in Annan: "The envoys of the Ming Dynasty and Empress Dowager Du are here. Do you want to help the rebels murder the angels?"

Li Changlu, the Marquis of Baoning in Annan, immediately ordered: "No arrows are allowed to be fired."

The officials, doctors, craftsmen, and naval gunners brought by Zhu Kang were all wiped out.

Xie Hong was not afraid. He was taken to see Li Changlu and asked, "Do you know who is commanding the battle at the front?"

After Chen Kai translated, Li Changlu shook his head blankly.

Xie Hong said: "That is the eldest son of the Ming Emperor, His Royal Highness Prince Yu!"

Li Changlu looked shocked.

Xie Hong asked: "If Prince Yu makes any mistake, the Ming Dynasty will certainly launch an attack. Will Annan be able to resist an army of 100,000?"

Li Changlu became hesitant.

Xie Hong added: "Du Yingwu murdered the king and the prince, deposed the queen, and defiled the palace. You are a member of the Annan royal family, so why would you allow a foreigner to do such atrocities? Surrender quickly and follow my command!"

Historically, it was about ten years later that Li Changlu conspired with the civil officials to eliminate Du Yingwu. In the end, Du Yingwu stripped him of his title and he could no longer command troops, becoming an idle official who could only receive a salary.

Seeing that Li Changlu remained silent, Xie Hong continued, "You have done a great service by submitting to His Royal Highness Prince Yu. Why don't you help me eliminate the Du thief? Do you want Empress Dowager Du to come in person and the Ming Dynasty to send out 100,000 troops to attack again? By then, you will be a traitor, and the execution of your entire family will be the least of your punishment!"

Li Changlu suddenly knelt down: "I am willing to help the angels eliminate the traitors and the traitors!"

"Very good, follow me and fight." Xie Hong smiled and nodded.

In this way, Xie Hong, who had just been captured, became the commander of the Annan navy in an instant.

Soon, the defeated navy was recalled, and the two navies joined forces to attack Du Yingwu.

"Boom boom boom!"

More than twenty small cannons fired iron bullets slightly smaller than tennis balls.

Four of the iron bullets hit the war elephants, causing them to flee madly and rampage, causing heavy casualties among the Annan army.

The war elephants kept roaring "Ang Ang Ang", causing the war elephants that were not hit by the cannon to become anxious and start to lose control.

The muskets were still crackling, and the Ming army was fighting with the enemies rushing towards them.

The Annan troops who had burned down the Ming army camp were now rushing over to attack.

As the war elephants got out of control, the Ming army, surrounded on three sides, launched another attack before the enemy completed the encirclement.

Du Yingwu was almost going crazy: "Surround them, surround them all!"

Annan troops had already surrounded them, but they were unable to break through the Mandarin Duck Formation and were instead defeated one after another.

"General, Marquis Baoning has rebelled and is leading his navy to attack Beijianglu City!"

Du Yingwu was horrified when he heard this.

More and more war elephants were fleeing in panic, and more and more Annan troops were disbanding. The Ming army was rushing towards their central army, and their own navy had actually surrendered to the enemy again.

Although the Ming army seemed to be in danger, so far only one person had been killed and more than 200 were injured by arrows.

The paddy field battle is the home ground of the Mandarin Duck Formation!
"Follow me to kill the traitors!"

The eunuch Du Yi, who was in charge of the troops on the side of the central army, suddenly defected with his troops.

Du Yi was Du Yingwu's confidant and even a servant of his father. Du Yi played a huge role in Du Yingwu's success in the coup.

Historically, it was Du Yi's rebellion together with the civil officials that completely broke Du Yingwu's defenses, and from then on, the king was prohibited from contacting eunuchs privately.

Du Yi's ending was also tragic, he died from the Trojan Horse.

Anal fissure and intestinal rupture!

At this moment, Du Yi led a part of the central army to rebel, which frightened Du Yingwu to death. He really couldn't understand why his trusted eunuch, who was originally a slave, turned against him?

In fact, it is very simple. Du Yi is not only Du Yingwu's confidant, but also the confidant of Queen Dowager Du. He also raised King Li Yanghuan and regarded the king as his own son.

King Li Yanghuan was indeed critically ill at first, but he showed signs of improvement after taking medicine.

Du Yi couldn't bear to do it, but he was isolated and Du Yingwu didn't let him see the king. When he got the news again, it was the news of the king's death. Du Yi blamed himself and hated Du Yingwu.

All the officers in his army are eunuchs!

Having eunuchs in charge of the military is an old tradition of Vietnam's Ly Dynasty.

Du Yingwu personally led his troops to fight against the defecting troops, but was unable to wipe them out quickly for a while.

The general Long Kan, who was in the front, was fleeing back with his defeated soldiers. He saw the internal strife in Du Yingwu's central army and the Ming army chasing them, so he shouted: "Come with me to eliminate the traitor. Whoever captures and kills Du Yingwu will be rewarded! Long live the Ming Dynasty, long live Empress Dowager Du!"

In a blink of an eye, Du Yingwu was attacked from both sides.

His roots in Annan were too shallow. Less than a year had passed since the coup, so he had no time to consolidate his power and could only buy off the military with benefits.

It would be fine if you keep winning, but if you fail in battle, some generals will defect!

Seeing the defeated soldiers charging towards him, with the Ming army following behind them, Du Yingwu was so scared that he fled with his personal soldiers.

(End of this chapter)