Ping An Biography

() Amidst the sound of rumbling horseshoes, a black mass of horses rushed in like a mudslide after a heavy rain.The artillery on the top of the city was still roaring, making Huang San's ears buzzing in the battle.The shelling failed to stop the advance of the cavalry. After a burst of shelling, the loading was slow, and the cavalry quickly approached more than 100 steps away from the Suzaku Army.Huang San could already hear the alternate and rhythmic trampling of horseshoes, the grinding of iron armor, the clashing of swords, and even a rough and strong panting sound.At this time, someone in the horse team shouted "Long Live", which was immediately echoed by the crowd. People shouted loudly, as if they were celebrating a victory.

In this situation, it is obvious that the cavalry of the official army is about to charge.The generals in the Suzaku army shouted "ready", and the musketeers heard the familiar grinding sound of armor when they raised their firearms.Huang San suddenly felt a palm on his shoulder, and when he looked back, Lao Han was nodding to him.Lao Han is a Musketeer who has recently participated in training. After the team re-arranged, he happened to be standing behind Huang San.

The two can only express their trust in this way.At this time, the horse team on the opposite side had already accelerated and galloped towards them.The proud horse's head, the gleaming swords and guns in the sun, swept towards them like the wind.

"Bang bang bang..." After the choking smell of gunpowder smoke rose, almost a moment after the sound of gunfire, the musketeers had just changed teams, and it was too late to reload, and the cavalry had already been killed in the misty gunpowder smoke. to.Those cavalry charged more than 100 steps, as if they were only in the snap of their fingers.

If the cavalry is determined to charge and reach the enemy, the musket formation cannot stop it at all, let alone the current multi-circle formation for defense in depth.The Baihu officer shouted loudly in the middle: "Shoot with all your strength! The long spear array sticks to its position, and those who retreat will be cut!"

A large number of cavalry came to the front, and the hair in the nose could be seen clearly from a few steps away, and the matchlock gun almost shot against the chest of the cavalry.Not far away, a cavalryman was shot several times in a row, bleeding profusely, the spear in his hand was also lost, and the horse sitting under him was also shot and knelt down.But the dead men and horses still couldn't stop the momentum, and the man and the horse moved forward consistently.The men and horses fell into the circular formation in the northwest corner with a weight of one or two thousand catties in front of them. The pikemen in the front row couldn't stop them at all, and broke through a gap in an instant.

At this time, there were more and more cavalry around, and a general roared and rushed into the formation with a long halberd.The Baihuguan in the middle drew his sword and moved forward. Unexpectedly, relying on the momentum of the impact, the halberd easily broke through the armor of the Baihuguan with a "huh", piercing directly through the chest, and the front part came out bloody. With a "bang", the horse-riding general was shot in the left chest, and then he discarded the halberd that had been pierced into his chest, and drew out a slender saber from his back to slash, but the spear pierced through his lower back very quickly. The musketeers in the inner circle pulled out their waist knives one after another and pulled him off his horse to chop him into a bloody mess.

... Looking down from the city wall, the camp in the northwest corner has been broken, a large number of cavalry and the infantry of the Suzaku Army fought in a melee, and the infantry who lost their formation were slashed with sabers condescendingly, causing heavy casualties.The screams and screams and the tearing and rubbing of metal that made people's teeth hurt were chaotic, and there was blood everywhere.The explosion of firearms continued, and three formations remained organized.

The cavalry of the official army was also not easy. They walked through the circle and suffered heavy casualties from the musket shooting.After the cavalry suffered casualties in the first round of impact, the momentum had weakened significantly. Some cavalry fought back nearby with three-eyed guns and bows and arrows while running, and few of them rushed into the circular formation.

At this moment, there was a commotion inside the north gate, and a large number of infantry rushed into the city.After a while, someone came to report: "The officers and soldiers smashed through the gate of the city with a ram, and rushed into the northern city!"

There is no need to report, Zhang Ning has already seen it on the city wall.Why was the northern city captured instead of the farther eastern city?It is indeed unexpected that the combat power of the officers and soldiers can break through the city gate in such a short time.The defenders are indeed short of troops, and the city defense is also very weak, but the siege troops need to pay a lot of casualties to break the city. This requires morale and great endurance. How does the combat effectiveness of the official infantry break the city?

The troops and combat plan have been deployed before the war, and now they are in the battlefield and there is nothing to change, except for the use of reserves.But Zhang Ning did not have a reserve team, because the strength was not enough.

He tried his best to maintain his composure and said to the left and right: "The cavalry under the city has been abolished, as long as we persevere, until the cavalry is completely defeated, we still have hope of winning."

At this time, the officers and soldiers rushing into the city first began to attack the walls of each gate, and they attacked from the stone steps of the inner wall.The defenders on the city wall fought hand-to-hand with him at the entrance of the stairs, and the fighting has spread to the west city.

Seeing the crowds of officers, soldiers and soldiers on the city wall, Lao Xu couldn't help saying: "This place is very dangerous, it's better for my master to leave first."

where to go?Zhang Ning said: "I'm here, until the soldiers win the victory, no one can retreat, and there is no place to retreat." He turned around and ordered: "Send someone to Yao Erlang to give up the defense of each city, and all to defend the west city. Beware of the officers and soldiers breaking through the west city too quickly, and going out through the west gate to threaten our main rear; the artillery team also goes down to the city, and forms an array inside the west gate... Wang Xian, you take the guards to reinforce the city."

Wang Xian was stunned for a moment, then clasped his fists together and said: "Decree!" He drew out his sword and called the twelve guards standing on the left and right to go north.

At this moment, Wang Xian really felt in his heart that he made the right choice to take the initiative to vote for Zhang Ning.Most of the descendants of Jianwen Yuchen like Wang Xian had a tragic and humiliating experience behind them.In the past, he could only hide in a wild forest in a certain mountain area to survive, and he was afraid when he saw officers and soldiers.Today, he can finally compete with them face to face, and the scene of fighting to the death without losing dignity in a critical situation is exactly what he has always hoped to encounter.

He took his men and ran northward for a while, and saw that the two armies were fighting together at the entrance of the stone steps in the inner city, and the heads of the people on the stone steps were surging like a forest of swords and guns. This scene made him feel inexplicably excited.Wang Xian drew out his knife and shouted: "Kill!" Then the soldiers charged forward.

A sergeant in front of him stabbed Wang Xian with a spear, Wang Xian grabbed it with one hand, then jumped down, waved his knife, only heard a scream, hot blood spattered his face.Those officers and soldiers with long guns were rushed to them suddenly, they didn't react for a while, and the long guns couldn't attack him, so Wang Xian took the opportunity to pick up a knife and slash at him.At this time, there was a sharp pain in his thigh, and he was stabbed by someone behind him. He knelt down on one knee in pain, and stabbed forward with the knife in his hand.At this time, the soldiers of the Suzaku army who were originally at a disadvantage were infected and also counterattacked. The narrow stone steps were crowded, and the two sides stabbed each other, only the muffled sound of chi chi's knives and guns piercing into the flesh, and the ground was full of corpses and pools of blood. , the entire stone steps were dyed red.

Sure enough, many officers and soldiers rushed from the cross street to the west city.However, the northern city was set on fire, because most of the houses were built with wood, and the fire spread quickly and could not be stopped. The raging fire burned half the sky red, and the thick smoke almost enveloped the entire city.

Yao Erlang led the rest of the infantry to abandon the North City and East City, and rushed to the West City Wall. There were still about a hundred people in total, most of them were Musketeers, and most of the defenders in close combat had died in battle.There were dozens of artillerymen who used to operate the artillery before. At this time, they had given up the artillery and walked down the city wall to join other soldiers and horses in formation.

"The last general deserves to die!" Yao Erlang knelt down in front of the chair when he came up to the city. He defended the city wall, but he didn't hold it for half an hour. He really felt guilty. The ladders were like ants, and we had no choice but to fight back. There was no moat outside the city, and we arrived at the city gate after rushing over the trench we dug. I asked people to carry stones and wood to seal the city gate. But still can't stop..."

Instead of blaming him, Zhang Ning stood up and said, "Almost half of the defenders suffered casualties, and they were still able to move to the west city, which is already admirable. You must go down to the city and lead the army to fight immediately, and you must not let the enemy soldiers break through the west gate!"

Zhang Ning turned his head and looked down at the battle below the city. Although the Suzaku army also suffered a lot of casualties, the cavalry of the officer army suffered even more losses from the forced charge.But at this time, if Zhu Yong's large infantry took the opportunity to get close to participating in the melee without collapsing; then the Suzaku army would most likely face annihilation, after all, its strength was much smaller.

Since Zhu Yong chose the infantry to attack the city before the battle, and indeed hit Zhang Ning's weak link, he could only let the infantry completely defeat the defenders from the city and penetrate to the outside of the west city to participate in the battle.And he couldn't let the infantry withdraw from the city and then detour to fight in the west city, because it would take a long time for the infantry who had already been caught in the city battle to retreat and form an formation again.

By now, the nearly 200 people in Xicheng will be the key to the victory or defeat of this battle.

A battle like this is because Zhang Ning did not intend to take a defensive stance from the very beginning, otherwise the officers and troops would withdraw the outside troops into the city to defend the city as soon as they attacked the city. With Zhu Yong's current strength, it would be impossible to break through city.The main force of the Suzaku army confronted the cavalry outside the city. It seemed to be a defense, but it was actually an offense. They did not take the initiative to attack because of mobility problems, and they could only lure the cavalry to come to fight.

Zhang Ning had already heard the chaotic footsteps at the other end of the long street, and a large number of army infantry were rushing towards this side.Yao Erlang came to the city and shouted: "Array!" About 200 people, maybe less, formed four rows of square formations one after another. There are only waist knives, and the two rows behind are matchlock gunners, equipped with short guns, single swords and rattan cards.

Looking back outside the city, the cavalry with nearly half of the casualties was regrouping after passing through the Suzaku army formation several times, and wanted to launch another attack.Zhang Ning judged that this would be the last charge that the cavalry could carry out. Regardless of the battle damage, they forcibly attacked the camp that could not be completely torn apart many times. The elite's endurance did not stop here.

There were only about 34 people left in the circle of the Suzaku army that was completely dispersed and nearly killed. Most of them were injured, but they still took the opportunity to reorganize a small circle to fight back.Such a scene made Zhang Ning very shocked. It is completely reasonable for the elite soldiers with more than half of the casualties to collapse and flee, but those people didn't run away. Maybe they knew the world was big but they had nowhere to run.

"I am determined to fight until the last soldier!" Yao Erlang in the city shouted loudly, "For the dignity and glory of the Suzaku Army!" This sentence shows that he is a man greatly influenced by his cousin Zhang Ning. people.

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