Ping An Biography

The farther you go east, the more rivers you encounter, and the criss-crossing water network in the area near Changsha greatly affects the marching speed.This was already the third time that the Suzaku Army had crossed the river in one day. Fortunately, the river was shallow and narrow during the dry season, and in some places the deepest water reached chest level.So the infantry waded across the river, and the equipment passed over the stone arch bridge above. The march of the army could not be blocked.

Suddenly there was a "bang" sound, and a firework shot up from the forest in the north, and when it roared into the air, it exploded, and immediately bloomed into a huge spark.All the soldiers who had just crossed the river looked up one after another.Zhang Ning was also immediately attracted attention.

It's not the Chinese New Year or the holidays. It is indeed a very strange thing for a firework to suddenly appear in the wilderness in broad daylight.Zhang Ning had an idea almost instantly: signal flare.

"Horse team!" Someone shouted at this moment.

Zhang Ning hurriedly looked around, but saw nothing, and the people around him were similar to him.To the north is the left wing of the Suzaku Army, which is a gentle hilly forest, from which the fireworks just came out; on the right wing is a village in the distance, with bamboo forests and low trees and crops nearby, which is a small hilly area; The front is the main road for the Suzaku army to march.

At this time, a general next to him jumped off his horse, then got down on his stomach, and put his head on the ground with his ears on the ground.After a while, he raised his head and stared, "Right Wing, there is the sound of horseshoes!" As he said this, Zhang Ning seemed to have vaguely heard a low voice in the distance; Listen to the sound with your ear on the ground.

Seeing the strange situation, many brigades stepped forward on their own. After a while, Wei Bin also ordered the messengers to ride on horseback to order the sentries and brigades to stop in place.

Wei Bin rode his horse to catch up with Zhang Ning, and said, "There should be a large number of horses from the right wing rushing towards us. I'm afraid the officers and soldiers set up an ambush here to attack us."

"What's on the forest on the left wing? Have the former army scouts searched it?" Zhang Ning pointed in the opposite direction.

The generals didn't know it. Along the way, the Suzaku army was in a hurry to catch up with the army camp retreating to the east. In addition, most of the scouts went to chase the retreating troops. This time the march was indeed a bit aggressive.Only then did Wei Bin shout: "Qiu Duizheng! Immediately call Qiu Duizheng to the Chinese Army!"

Everyone focused their eyes on Zhang Ning's face. He was not mentally prepared at this time, but he had to act calmly.This is the case with the battlefield. When planning and layout, you can take your time solemnly, but it is also very important to adapt to the situation. Sometimes you have to make a decision on the spur of the moment.

Zhang Ning immediately said in a deep voice: "Order all the sentries to set up a refusal phalanx and prepare to meet the enemy."

The Suzaku Army's so-called refusal phalanx is actually a passive defensive formation. Because it has heavy matchlocks and pikemen, and it is an infantry phalanx, it is somewhat similar to the Spanish large phalanx.This formation is very defensive against mobile raids, especially against cavalry attacks.It is suspected that there is a large group of cavalry on the right wing, so Zhang Ning made this decision.

The generals of the Chinese army immediately dispatched messengers to convey orders along the way.Soon, the sergeants shouted from far and near: "The Chinese army has an order. Each battalion sentry will form a formation of two sentries, and set up a refusal phalanx nearby. Prepare for battle and meet the enemy. There must be no mistakes!"

Team Qiu, the scout group that Wei Bin had sent to find before, finally arrived, so Zhang Ning repeated the previous question: "Have you sent anyone to search for the left-wing mountain forest?"

Qiu Duzheng replied: "Returning to the prince, I went to someone, and found nothing unusual."

Wei Bin on the side asked angrily, "Then what happened to the signal that was sent there just now?"

Team Qiu bowed his head and said: "My lord, you know that, just follow our marching speed, and there are not many people in the last general. It is impossible to have time to check all the places near the left and right along the way."

Zhang Ning stopped Wei Bin's questioning, and said calmly: "Now is not the time to question the crime, Captain Qiu, send someone over now to see what is in that forest."

"Decree!" Team Qiu was hurriedly saluting, mounted his horse and left.

The drums and trumpets in the army have been sounded, people and horses around are constantly coming and going, people are running and lining up to prepare weapons. At first glance, they are chaotic, but they are orderly in the noise.The two sentries of the standing army were the most well-trained, and they soon took the shape of a phalanx. The other peasant and soldier units were somewhat mixed. "Changde Battalion" is the new army, the most chaotic.Although the total size of the Suzaku Army's infantry has reached more than [-], the army has not been formed for a long time. In addition, the territory is limited and resources are insufficient. In fact, not all of them are elite soldiers. The number of people who can be called elite is at most five or six thousand, which is less than half of the total.

The tactical maneuvers of the cavalry were very fast. Not long ago, they could not even hear their voices, and soon they appeared in sight.Among the hills and mountains, people and horses came in groups, and the number of people was unknown. At a glance, it was like a scene of a hundred beasts migrating in the animal world.

Gradually, the cavalry vanguard, who was running fast on the wasteland in the south, quickly jogged and approached hundreds of paces away.Zhang Ning immediately observed his troops, and most of the phalanxes were basically formed, only one phalanx in Changde Battalion was still not ready.This battle can be described as hasty, but it doesn't look particularly bad; it is obvious that the South Road army is planning an ambush, but their ambush can't be arranged too close, or they will be discovered, so Zhang Ning still has a little time Prepared.

The cavalry of the official army several hundred paces away showed no intention of stopping, and ran straight to the Suzaku army, and the time to engage in battle was imminent.

As soon as Zhang Ning kicked the horse's belly, Qian Lixue rushed out swiftly, and the generals on the left and right hurriedly rode their horses to follow.He ran past the formations of all sides, and some soldiers recognized him and shouted one after another, one of the generals leading the troops even hissed and shouted "prepare for battle", maybe he wanted to show it in front of Zhang Ning.

The wind whistled in his ears, Zhang Ning raised his scabbard and shouted, "Do you remember the brother who was murdered in Lizhou?"

At this time, the people around had already attracted the attention of Zhang Ning running between the formations, and many people shouted.Zhang Ning asked loudly again: "Do you want to become captives of the puppet government and be insulted|humiliated and slaughtered?" Someone in the dense crowd responded quickly, and everyone shouted: "No!" Zhang Ning shouted again : "Brothers are willing to succumb to unjust tyranny?" The shouts of the soldiers have become more orderly at this time: "No!"

Zhang Ning took advantage of the situation and shouted provocatively: "Unity and glory! For the Suzaku Army!" The army became more emotional, shouting "Long live" and "Victory"!

The shouts on the battlefield shook the sky, resounding through the sky and the earth, and the earth seemed to be boiling, extremely enthusiastic.In the bloody atmosphere, the fear of death seemed to have weakened.After a while, the military band played the tune again, echoing and fluttering in the shouting and killing amidst the sound of horseshoes.

Soon the cannons roared, but just after the cannons, the suppressed military music still did not stop.It was the mounted cannon of the Suzaku Army that fired the cannon. It was a light-weight blunderbuss, also known as the Franc cannon.The mother and child blunderbuss weighed about [-] catties, and were loaded with artillery after the primary level. The range was about two to three hundred paces. Because they could be directly transported by mules and horses, they were called cavalry cannons; The only kind of artillery.

After the cannon fired, the cavalry forwards in the south charged.They accelerated from a distance of about 150 to [-] steps, and rushed directly to the phalanx in the direction of Changde Camp.The cavalry is attacking the weakest link, and the commander of the officer army is probably not a second-hander; their first attack is the weakest group of troops in the Changde camp, and the people there have not yet formed a tight formation. Array.

Amidst the gunpowder smoke, one could see galloping war horses rushing towards sharp arrows, swords shining among the crowd, and roars of killing. "Bang bang bang..." Amidst the successive explosions of matchlock guns, the cavalry rushed to the camp formed by the two sentries on the left and right of the Changde camp.Even the music on the battlefield could not conceal the screams of pain.

The phalanx that was not yet ready was quickly broken, and the queue in front was thrown into chaos by the cavalry.The charge speed of the echelon behind the cavalry was obviously weakened, because the road was blocked by a large number of casualties along the way, but they still joined the battle group one after another, fighting with the soldiers of the Suzaku Army with knives, guns, three-eyed guns, bows and arrows, etc. The Changde Battalion infantry suffered heavy casualties.

Another phalanx close to the battle group used arquebuses and cavalry cannons to hit the flanks of the cavalry charge, but it still couldn't stop the cavalry from rushing towards the broken infantry.Zhang Ning is already mentally prepared. It is only a matter of time before the first phalanx of the Changde Battalion is defeated by the cavalry alone, and it will not take long; With 500 people, it can hardly affect the overall situation. At this time, besides the Chinese army, there are six large square formations on the battlefield, each of which is separated and independent.Therefore, the deployment of the Suzaku Army usually does not cause the entire army to be defeated.

The battlefield was noisy, and Zhang Ning kept reminding himself to maintain a calm judgment.At present, it seems that only the cavalry in the ambush of the official army can't get any results. They also paid a corresponding price for defeating a weaker phalanx. It is impossible to die here.

Zhang Ning looked back at the mountain forest on the left wing again. If it was as expected, there should be an ambush on the left wing, so that it could be regarded as a qualified ambush... If there were heavy artillery on the mountain, he felt that the situation would be very bad.

However, he felt that this kind of tactics should not have appeared among the "natives" in the early Ming Dynasty, because it was too advanced and out of date.

The cavalry and artillery cooperate to fight, the cavalry raises the wind to force the enemy infantry to stand still and defend, and the artillery attacks the phalanx; the artillery opens the gap for the cavalry, and then creates opportunities for the main force of the cavalry to break through the formation.Collaborate with each other, and each is connected... This is a tactic that is unlikely to appear suddenly in an era when warfare mainly relies on cold weapons, because the tactics are all developed in actual combat.

Perhaps the left wing came from a group of infantry, and the coordination of infantry and cavalry was a well-known tactic for the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty.Zhang Ning waited for the situation to change. Team Qiu, who brought the scouts to inquire about the military situation, hadn't returned yet. I hope he can complete the task as soon as possible.