Ming Dynasty Road

Chapter 21 Returning Ambush
Songshan City, on the top of the city, Hong Chengchou walked up and down the city wall like thunder. He was going to report to the court to explain the situation of Songshan City. When he was about to turn around and go down the city, Hong Chengchou suddenly stopped and said: "All the commanders listen to the order, The Ming army must have been slow to move with so many people. At this time, they must be able to catch up with the cavalry. Except for the soldiers who stayed behind to defend the city, all the other cavalry should go into battle lightly!" But the commanders dared not let the commander-in-chief put himself in danger, and Songshan needed someone to sit in the town, and the commanders used their heads to guarantee that they would catch up with the Ming army, so they reluctantly persuaded Hong Chengchou to come down.

*****
After the convoy of people evacuated from Songshan City left the city, they evacuated towards the civil fort at the fastest speed. The people walked silently without complaint. Although they were reluctant to part with their homeland, they knew that the officers and soldiers did this for their safety. made.

After Zhao Yi withdrew from Songshan City with the rest of the soldiers, he hurriedly caught up with the follow-up team of the convoy and followed behind to observe the huge convoy. Will be overtaken by the Qing army.

Just when Zhao Yi was thinking about what to do, suddenly they came galloping from a distance, and the scouts immediately shouted from a long distance: "Master Zhao, we found enemy cavalry in the direction of Songshan City."

It was time to come. Zhao Yi specially arranged cavalry scouts to keep an eye on the movements of the Qing army behind the large troops, but Zhao Yi did not expect the Qing army to come in pursuit so quickly, which made Zhao Yi's heart go up. He raised it abruptly, looking at the old and weak women and children in the convoy, he didn't dare to think about it anymore, and asked quickly, "How far is the enemy army from us?"

"Returning to my lord, the enemy's track is erratic. I only found a small vanguard of the enemy. The large army should catch up with us in half an hour."

"Notify the entire convoy of vigilance, let the soldiers cheer up, and say that the enemy army is coming." Zhao Yi said calmly.

"My lord, do you want the brigade to stop advancing and use the cavalry to form a phalanx for defense?" Zhang Fengnian asked, after these days he was now Zhao Yi's confidant.

"We can't stop. There are so many people in the team. We can't be bitten by the tartars. We and the tartars can't afford it. Let's go ahead and move forward at full speed. We are sending out all the scouts and reporting the movements of the tartars at any time. After Zhao Yi finished speaking, the soldiers around him quickly passed on the order, and the convoy speeded up again.

Seeing that the order had been handed down, Zhao Yi, Niu Yong, Zhang Fengnian and others discussed and decided to return the carbine to the tartar. The ammunition is good, the weapons are placed where they can be easily obtained, and the ten Frankie guns pulled by the convoy are also quickly assembled, ready to fight at any time.

The convoy traveled to an open field, and in the distance there were dense forests and mounds, which were a good place for an ambush. Zhao Yi saw the terrain here, turned around and said to Zhang Fengnian: "This is just a good place for an ambush, let's retreat in a hurry. The Tartars definitely wouldn't expect us to have a counter-ambush, so we must not let them go back empty-handed. Niu Yong, you lead the convoy to continue retreating. Zhang Fengnian, take the rest of the generals and hurry up and make arrangements. A great gift to the Tartars."

When Zhao Yi was saying this, two more scouts came to report one after another, saying that they found that the Qing army's brigade was about to chase them. "Have you seen how many people there are?" Zhao Yi asked.

"Three thousand and up, and they are all light cavalry, and the speed is very fast."

"Ready to fight"

The order to prepare for battle was passed on, and the carriage brigade continued to move forward without stopping. Except for the cavalry guarding the convoy, the rest of the soldiers held firecrackers in their hands and swords on their waists. After several battles with the Tartars, , everyone no longer has a sense of fear of Tartars.

*****
The scouts of the Qing army finally discovered the movement of the Ming army. They saw that the cook of the Ming army was cooking with an iron pot and rice, and there was a burst of cooking smoke. The rest of the Ming army were also sitting loosely in the open space.

The sentries of the Ming army did not carry weapons, they sat on the ground and chatted one by one, and did not notice the arrival of the Qing army scouts at all. Seeing them cooking so relaxedly, several scouts smiled contemptuously. These Han people are really proud soldiers. Doomed to defeat, do you think it is safe to escape from Songshan?It happened that I didn't have breakfast, and after cleaning up the Han people, they could eat delicious rice.

A few scouts turned their horses around quietly, and rushed to report to the large army, "Kill!" A cry of killing came, and thousands of elite cavalrymen of the Zhengbai Banner charged towards the Ming army in the open space, like a A stream of white lightning continued to run towards the open space, howling savagely, and the bow and arrow in his hand kept shooting at the Ming army, and the war horse under his crotch was urged to run faster and faster.

Sure enough, the Ming soldiers were exclaimed by the sudden appearance of the Qing soldiers. While screaming, they hurriedly ran to the woods, no longer caring about the rice on the ground. Except for a few Ming soldiers who were shot and killed on the spot, more The Ming army rushed into the woods and saw the Ming army fleeing. The Qing army cavalry beat their horses desperately, and they didn't care about shooting arrows. The companions took revenge, and no one noticed that the ten black Franco cannons in the woods had been set up.

When the Qing cavalry rushing ahead were about to rush into the woods to search for the fleeing Ming army, the ten Franco cannons made several loud bangs, and thick white smoke sprayed out from the pipes.

The Qing cavalry rushing to the front subconsciously lowered their heads to avoid the loud noise. He suddenly felt that the horse below him seemed to fly. After a moment of dazed attention, he saw his body and the body of the horse being blown up. It was smashed, and the last scene that the head that didn't close its eyes saw was that the companions behind were blown to the ground in groups, the brothers who had been together day and night had their heads cracked, their hands and feet were broken and died tragically in front of them, and then there was no more breath. .

It is impossible to stop thousands of Zhengbai Banner elite cavalry with ten Franco cannons. The Qing army cavalry did not hesitate because of the tragic death of their companions, but rushed into the woods with even more frantic roars. In the woods, I heard an exclamation: "Retreat, firecrackers."

It is the firecracker, although the firecracker is not as easy to use as a bow and arrow, but fortunately it is easy to learn, and the power of this kind of firecracker in close combat is amazing. Once fired, the firecracker will eject a piece of iron and lead shotgun. , covered with iron and lead, with the current medical conditions, there is no doubt that he would die. If hundreds of firecrackers were fired together, it would be like a torrential rain, and the scattered iron and lead bullets would hit the Qing army like a torrential rain.

The most unlucky ones were the war horses. The soldiers were still protected by armor, but the war horses did not have armor or helmets. A large number of war horses fell to the ground screaming, with blood holes all over their bodies. The next round of firecrackers fell to the ground, and the Qing cavalry behind seemed to use bows and arrows to fight back when the Ming army reloaded, but the Ming army did not give them this opportunity at all. The formation of the Ming army suddenly changed. A row of blunderbuss soldiers squatted on the ground to change lead bullets, and the soldiers standing in the back row fired again, which could ensure continuous shooting. Where there were more people shooting hundreds of blunderbusses, before the Qing cavalry could reach them, they would Was shot in large numbers on the way of the charge.

The ammunition for the firecrackers ran out in a short while, and the cavalry of the Qing army finally rushed into the woods relying on the tactics of crowds and the flesh and blood of their dead brothers and horses. The battle situation soon became chaotic, and more and more The cavalry of the Qing army rushed in, but the advantage of the cavalry also disappeared the moment they entered the woods.

The two sides fought together, and the Franco cannon also lost its effect. When the two armies meet, the brave wins. This kind of close hand-to-hand combat relies on the soldiers' morale and will to fight.The Qing army is all elites of the Zhengbai Banner. They have experienced hundreds of battles, and they are first-class regardless of horsemanship and swordsmanship. In the previous battle, the morale of the Ming army was high. The two sides were fighting together, one side was full of anger to avenge their comrades, and the other side was fully prepared for a surprise attack. The sound sounded, and there were scuffles everywhere in the woods, and blood and broken limbs and arms could be seen everywhere.

Zhao Yi entered the flock of sheep like a tiger. A long spear flew up and down. The so-called one inch long and one inch strong, this long spear was like a dragon, rushing from left to right, and gradually formed a no-man's land with Zhao Yi at the center. The Qing army no longer dared to come to die. Zhao Yi saw that no one was coming, so he roared: "Kill, come with me."

All the Ming soldiers were infected by Zhao Yi's bravery. The Ming soldiers had blood vessels and pupils, regardless of life and death. They only knew to follow Zhao Yi to kill the Qing army, like a sharp knife, full of murderous intent, vicious to kill the Qing army.

When the Qing army saw the evenly matched Ming army that they were fighting with just now, and killed them one by one like ferocious beasts, the Qing army couldn't help being startled: I have fought against the Ming army countless times, and I have never seen the opponent's desperate momentum. .

There are no tactics left, only the most primitive life-to-death fighting is left. Soldiers on both sides use the simplest method to hack and kill each other, and there is no time or opportunity to dodge at all.Whoever is faster than the opponent's hand can take the opponent's life first.Soldiers who have just won may be easily pierced by other people's weapons immediately, and fall to the ground spraying blood, unable to stand up again.

The commander of the Qing army looked around, and there were fewer and fewer soldiers who persisted, while the morale of the Ming army was getting stronger and stronger. The brothers were hacked to the ground by the enemy in twos and twos, one by one with spears and swords. Get rid of.If this goes on like this, the entire army will be wiped out in a short while, no, we must not leave the lives of all the brothers here, and we must return to Songshan to report to Marshal Hong to avenge us.

With tears in his eyes, the commander-in-chief of the Qing army shouted unwillingly: As soon as the order "withdraw" was issued, the well-trained Zhengbai flag warriors walked away without any reluctance to fight, and quickly ran out of the woods. battlefield.

Seeing that the Qing army was being repulsed, the soldiers of the Ming army no longer had the energy to chase them. They just pulled out the Franco cannons in the woods and continued to bombard the Qing army in the direction where the Qing army was fleeing, to see the Qing army off.

(End of this chapter)