The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 203 Hollow Square Array
After two rounds of gunfire, Zhuobutai's cavalry rushed to the front of the Ming army.First, with the lives of dozens of Xiaoqi, he forcibly charged away two rows of rejecting horses, and then the first wave of cavalry swung their swords to kill them.

After these Eight Banners cavalry could see the appearance of the Ming army, they were embarrassed to find that it was like a dog biting a hedgehog with nowhere to go.Wolf traps nearly one and a half feet long were densely covered in front of him, even if the rider wanted to charge up, the horse under his crotch would not do it.

All of a sudden, hundreds of horses neighed again and again, standing up in front of the Ming army.The rest of the cavalry galloped past both sides of the eight-column-wide phalanx, but they were all spears as far as they could see, and even if they threw the three-foot saber in their hands, it would be difficult to hit the Ming army.

The gunners on both sides of the Ming army's phalanx shrank behind the spearmen. Although the crowding of the formation slowed down the firing of the guns, the short-range volley still caused a lot of damage to the captive cavalry.

The captive cavalry who ran past both sides of the phalanx had no choice but to put away their sabers and switch back to bows and arrows, and fired arrows at the Ming army from the gaps in the spears.

Due to the short distance, the hit rate of bows and arrows has been greatly improved, but the disadvantage of slow firing rate of bird guns still exists.

Immediately, many spearmen were shot by sharp arrows, but the comrades in the back row immediately stepped forward to fill the gaps, keeping the entire phalanx stable.

Just when the Jianlu cavalry thought they were gaining power, they suddenly fired dense lead bullets from their sides, and the rate of fire was obviously much faster than the blunderbusses of the Polu camp.

Under the volley of flintlocks, the captives fell off their horses one after another, and were immediately beaten into a panic by the crossfire of the Ming army on both sides.But the advantage of the cavalry lies in their speed. When they found that the momentum was wrong, the Qing army immediately turned their horses and ran.

After several rounds of volleys, the front team of captive cavalry finally escaped the firing range of the flintlock.Although they caused some damage to the phalanx of the Polu camp, they left behind nearly [-] corpses.

Zhuobutai could see clearly from the rear, and couldn't help being furious when he looked at the "thin" long snake formation of the Dragon Guards. These musketeers had no infantry cover, and they were extremely easy to strangle.

Immediately, he sent someone to send a message to Ru Battelle, ordering him to hold back the southern guns, pointed his saber in the direction of the Dragon Guards, and shouted, "Follow me and kill all these southern gun soldiers!"

Nearly [-] Xiaoqi simply formed a team, and then left the Polu camp to kill the "soft persimmon" in their minds.

Ma De and Xia Fuxian noticed that the Jianlu cavalry changed direction almost at the same time, and immediately gave the order without hesitation, "Turn to the hollow phalanx!"

If the infantry line is attacked by cavalry on the flanks, it will be extremely dangerous, but once they are converted into a hollow phalanx dedicated to dealing with cavalry, they will have defenses on all sides and it is extremely difficult for cavalry to break through.At the end of the eighteenth century, Napoleon defeated the fierce Mamluk cavalry with this formation.

The soldiers of the Sixth Battalion of the Infantry and the Battalion of the Dragoons immediately shouted in unison: "Turn to the hollow square formation!" The two battalions simultaneously formed a line formation and turned 3 degrees from the middle, and then connected end to end. It took only about [-] minutes to form together. A huge hollow square battle formation was formed.

The three three-pound guns and two hunting companies carried by the Sixth Battalion entered the middle of the hollow square and were surrounded by infantry for protection.

Although Zhuobutai was amazed at how quickly the Ming army's musketeers formed an formation, he almost didn't laugh out loud when he saw the large and thin phalanx. There were only three or four rows of soldiers on each side. how?I'm afraid it only takes one surprise attack to break through.

He kicked the horse's belly fiercely, and led thousands of captives to roll towards the hollow square of the Dragon Guards like a hurricane.

Soon, the three cannons in the formation were dragged onto the mound and began to spit projectiles.Zhuobutai didn't even bother to give the order to disperse the formation, so he rushed straight at the Ming army with the cannon.

Seeing the captive cavalry rushing towards them, the soldiers of the Dragon Guards fired the last volley when the enemy was forty steps away, and then they all held guns and bayonets outward, waiting like a rock for the enemy cavalry to kill.

The situation was completely different from what Zhuobutai expected. The galloping cavalry rushed to the front of the Ming army, but they were forced out of the circle by the shiny bayonets. To the Dragon Guard soldiers.

Even if some desperadoes urged the horse desperately, trying to step over the Ming army, but the horse under his crotch had a natural fear of the sharp bayonet, no matter how the whip was whipped, it would stop abruptly in front of the bayonet.

The seemingly thin Ming army phalanx stood in place like Mount Tai. No matter how the brigade of cavalry charged, they would be divided into two sides like a tide, flowing away from both sides of the hollow phalanx.

At this time, the three-pound guns in the formation had been replaced with shotguns, and fired at the dense Qing army Xiaoqi at a very close distance.Immediately, hundreds of small iron balls shot out, knocking over ten captives off their horses in an instant.

The three field cannons fired continuously at the fastest speed. When Zhuobutai's men and horses galloped past both sides of the hollow phalanx, nearly 400 people died under the shotguns fired by these three cannons!

The more than 140 hunters next to the cannon were even more unkind.The Jianlu cavalry was thirty or forty paces in front of them. If they couldn't hit them, it would be an insult to the word "hunter".

For a while, the Jaeger Company had almost no missed shots, and it only picked Jianlu officers with small flags on their helmets to shoot.What annoys them the most now is that it takes too much time to reload, and these prisoners are just like letting them shoot targets in front of them.

Zhuobutai himself also passed by the side of the hollow phalanx, and only then was he surprised that the "thin" battle formation of the southerners was not simple, but when he looked around, he saw that his men were constantly being killed by cannons and blunderbusses, and he couldn't help but feel big. hatred.

Then he took off his hard bow and shouted loudly to order Xiaoqi to shoot in front of the southern formation.

When the cavalry of the Qing army got the order, they all pulled their horses back a few steps, picked up their bows and arrows, and shot towards the Dragon Guard phalanx.

Although the soldiers in the front row of the Dragon Guards were all wearing cotton armor, they were still unable to block the armor-piercing arrows fired by the hard bow at a very short distance.

But soon, the soldiers in the two rows at the back of the phalanx completed quick reloading with extremely quick movements, and then raised their guns and fired.

A burst of black gunpowder smoke rose, and since the two sides were almost face to face, this round of blunderbuss passed, even if the Qing soldiers were not shot, their horses must have been killed.

Zhuobutai's eyes were almost red. He exchanged the elite cavalry for the Ming army's infantry, and under the heavy guns and cannons, his men seemed to lose more than the Ming army.

He pulled the lacquer bow in his hand vigorously, and roared with a beast-like voice, "Shoot! Shoot these brutes to death for me..."

He shouted halfway, but suddenly felt the ground tremble slightly, turned his head hastily, and saw a group of cavalry in shiny steel armor with their entire faces covered in helmets galloping from the east.

Only then did Zhuobutai remember that the Ming army still had a troop of cavalry.

He hastily ordered Xiaoqi to leave the Ming army's phalanx and quickly form formation on the west side.But the cross-shooting just now made his cavalry in a mess, and it was difficult to respond immediately in a hurry.

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(End of this chapter)