Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 266 Tao Ranwo Xihuang (5)

Laiyuan City is located on the west bank of the Yalu River, and Xia Guo's artillery is erected around Xilixu in Laiyuan City.The cavalry battle between the two armies was hundreds of paces away to the northwest of Xia Guoying, and there was only a melee of men and horses at the top of the city.Coming to the far city, Cui Xianxi tried his best to restrain the deployment of the army formation, while asking the strange soldiers in the distance how the battle was going. The cavalry of the *** army is weak, and the officers who watched the battle are also incompetent.It was clearly Xia Guo's cavalry lion fighting the rabbit with all their strength and scattered the Japanese cavalry with the most powerful front arrow array, but the city head shouted loudly: "The enemy's horse is young, and he is surrounded by our regiments!" .”

The two cavalry armies confronted each other, and the sky was covered with dust, and the Japanese army under the city could only see a faint shadow. Cui Xianxi did not expect it, and said happily: "General Huang is indeed a brave general." He thought that the cavalry army broke into the enemy's back , and immediately ordered: "Press up, and flank the enemy with General Huang." In the gap between the roar of artillery fire, this order was particularly exciting. Don't let Park Chenggui go below. .The artillery barracks was still a few miles away from the far city where the troops were deployed, and the artillery fire was neither violent nor accurate. The *** army also gradually overcame the fear, so under the urging of the officers, the forwards were in front with swords and shields, the bows and crossbows were in the back, and there were two hundred cavalry in the back, surrounded by soldiers and horses. Cui Xianxi, the army formed It became a tight formation and slowly pressed up.

There is a white belly in the eastern sky. Where the sea and the sky meet, the warships of the Chengying Fourth Battalion set sail again and go up the river, only anchored between Baozhou and Laiyuan County. Twenty four-inch guns on the left and right sides So they seized the river for several miles and cut off the connection between the Baozhou Revolutionary Army and Laiyuan County.

At the head of Baozhou city across the river, Jin Xianrong, the governor, watched the battle with a binoculars, his face sinking like water.Cui Xianxi led the army to line up in the city for a long time, and the formation finally moved forward.Jin Xianrong raised the binoculars slightly, and across the vast battlefield, he saw black smoke rising from the enemy camps from time to time, and he could almost see the round iron bullets drawing arcs in the air, which looked more like that on a ship at sea. The shells fired are much less powerful.Apart from artillery, there was no other weapon on the ground army barracks that could hit Li Xu, and Jin Xianrong's face softened a little.Cui Xianxi led the elite of the three armies and six guards, twice as many as the enemy army, occupying an advantage in the battle.As for the enemy's biggest reliance, it can be counted, but it is only ten guns.

On the battlefield, Cui Xianxi felt completely different. With the rhythm of the battle drums at the top of the city, more than thirteen hundred cavalry formed a tight formation and moved forward slowly.According to the Tang Dynasty's Art of War, when the two armies confront each other, a strong crossbow will be fired at 150 paces, archers will shoot arrows at 200 paces, and close combat will begin at [-] paces.However, just three hundred steps away, the enemy's artillery fire began to intensify. The cast iron shells weighing five or six kilograms were not flying fast, but they carried great power.Oncoming arrows can only 'shoot' to kill one person.However, if the shell hits the soldiers in the front line, the momentum will not be exhausted much, and the wooden shield will be useless at all.The shells must penetrate at least two or three soldiers.The army commanded by Cui Xianxi was elite, and most of the infantry wore leather armor covered with nail bubbles, but only the more than [-] cavalry surrounded by Cui Xianxi wore iron armor. Most of the shells 'fired' into the front line were able to penetrate ten people before stopping.

Surrounded by black smoke, the enemy camp was completely silent, making it increasingly difficult to see clearly.Only the sound of cannons rang out from time to time, the flames flickered in the black smoke, and the hiss of shells passing through the air.Cui Xianxi's heart skipped a beat every time a cannon sounded. He was wearing a sturdy fish-scale armor and was surrounded by more than 200 cavalry in the rear.The other Japanese soldiers felt even more fearful.If this army hadn't fought against the Jurchen tribe in the northeast and fought a real bloody battle, it would have scattered and fled in fear. "General Huang's cavalry who turned around from the flank should have been killed, why haven't they dealt with the enemy's artillery?" Cui Xianxi's heart was clouded.

The formation became more and more 'chaotic', all the captains and vice captains were yelling, trying their best to control their subordinates not to panic and flee.Everywhere the enemy's shells passed was a mess, and the surrounding soldiers were desperately crowding to the side, and no more than a dozen people were knocked down each time, but in order to rectify the hundreds of troops that had become messy Soldiers, the speed of the entire formation was slowed down.If it is usual, you have to hold down the formation and move slowly from 150 steps away, neither letting the warriors advance or the weak lagging behind, so as to keep the formation tight.However, under the force of the artillery fire, the front team hesitated, and the officers behind wanted to quickly pass this damn distance, so they couldn't bear their temper and shouted: "Go!" "Hurry up!" "Go, go!" He even started to push.

The chaotic scene made Cui Xianxi's mood sink to the extreme.After becoming a hereditary martial arts class, he also wanted to make contributions on the battlefield. However, this place is not what he imagined. Soldiers with mutilated limbs and hands screamed loudly, and the pale faces of the officers and soldiers seemed to have encountered evil spirits in hell.

Marching in chaos and patience, finally getting closer and closer to the enemy's line, Cui Xianxi can even see the enemy's face behind the trench clearly "soon, soon." Although the shelling caused a lot of chaos, as long as close combat The advantage of our forces will be brought into play, "Even if there is no cavalry attacking from behind, we can win!"

The Zhanfeng team was less than a hundred and twenty steps away from the enemy's formation. Cui Xianxi raised his right hand upwards. This was the military order for the archers to shoot arrows while advancing. A smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.At this moment, Pu Chenggui suddenly heard Biejiang shout loudly: "My lord, be careful!" Before Cui Xianxi had time to react, a cannonball rushed towards him with a low whistling slant, and with a bang, it hit the relative next to him. The guard cavalry, the cavalry was caught off guard, and with a muffled snort, he was actually thrown into the air by the shells, and Cui Xianxi's horse neighed in shock, almost throwing him down.The frightened war horse kept kicking, Cui Xianxi desperately grabbed its neck, and had little time to look around.

When the Japanese army entered the range of a hundred steps in front of the formation, Xia Guo's two wing artillery fortresses began to shoot with all their strength.The gunners fired at the fastest speed, and Gao Su even ordered to fire two round iron shells at a time. At the same time, the crossbowmen placed on the two wing forts also shot towards the sky. The archers are the elite of the entire army. Without the need to aim, they shoot arrows at an astonishing speed. The arrow feathers fly out in a parabola almost continuously, and fall into the army formation .

The sudden flank attack caused chaos in the Japanese army, and the well-trained elite archers were shot to death before they could even shoot an arrow.The Chinese army flinched, the front team almost collapsed, the rear was directly bombarded by artillery, the horses kicked and ran around, and many cavalry were thrown off their horses.

In the chaos, Cui Xianxi controlled his horse, drew out his saber, and shouted loudly: "Rush over!" His eyes were bloodshot, and the back of the knife slashed at the confused officers around him, pointing at The Xia army camp a hundred steps away shouted: "Kill it!" "Kill it!" At this time, the generals who were at a loss finally woke up.The battle has reached this point, within a hundred paces, the two armies meet and the brave wins.The bravery of the chief general Cui Xianxi moved the cavalry generals from the martial arts class. They drew their weapons one after another, bypassed the chaotic infantry in front, and prepared to ride their horses across the trench to thin the enemy's formation.The other lieutenants and deputy lieutenants saw that the soldiers and horse envoys had rushed up with the cavalry, and they rectified their subordinates one after another, and followed the cavalry to charge towards the enemy formation. Bombardment and arrow feathers risk their lives.

This scene made Jin Xianrong, the leader of Baozhou city, also moved and sighed: "General Cui is really brave!"

The face of the trapped beast was hideous and terrifying. Zhao Xingde put down the binoculars and sighed: "I'm afraid this army is considered elite among the Japanese army. However, if the artillery fire was more intense, there would be twenty four-inch guns in front of us." , Twenty gates are attacking on both sides, I am afraid they have been scattered long ago." He stood behind the main artillery position, ordered his own soldiers to surround him, and the subordinate officers who guarded the surroundings looked at this side from time to time, but Zhao Xingde I feel that these people have smiles in their eyes, and they are a little ashamed of their own idleness.I don't know why, after checking one of the sentry posts last night, he actually fell asleep. This sleep was so peaceful that when the sergeant reported that the Japanese were going out of the city to attack at night, he found that there was no movement in the tent of the Chinese army except snoring. In the end, it was Ma Rui, Jian Cheng, and Du Chuijiao who came in to wake him up.

"Strange, I usually don't sleep so hard," Zhao Xingde shook his head mockingly, "Could it be that I'm really not excited about the battlefield?"

After finally being woken up, Zhao Xingde understood that Mr. Chu was going out of the city to form an array, and the first sentence he said was: "What are you waiting for, the cannons fire, fire!" led the team.The frontal artillery fire has never stopped from the very beginning. The gunner just aimed at the enemy as much as possible without too much interference.Gao Su and Liu Zhijian were in command of the artillery fortresses on the two wings, and he only gave the military order to fire and ignored them.In the rear, Ma Rui and Jian Cheng had already dealt with the enemy's outflanking cavalry, Du Chuijiao's Sword and Shield Centurion was on standby, and Tang Qiyong was watching the trench defense.

It is not common in the army that the captain who led the army could not wake up without drinking before the war.This incident is legendary in the legends of sergeants. Some people swore that Ma Rui poured a cup of cold water on the captain's head. Some said that several centurions lifted the captain and threw him to the ground. The lieutenant did not wake up until after the firing.All in all, this extraordinary demeanor of a general greatly encouraged the sergeants below the centurion to face the enemy calmly.Up to now, the battle in all aspects has gone smoothly, except for those who are on standby.No centurion has yet sent someone back to ask the captain what to do.