On February 6, the 19th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Hengjia led an army of 70,000 to approach Sicheng. After Cen Zhaozhen learned of the arrival of the Jing Army, he conscripted all men aged 14 to 60 in Sicheng into the army. Both sides lined up on the outskirts of Sicheng.
The decisive battle. Historically known as the Battle of Sicheng.
There are more than 70,000 Cen soldiers, 40,000 veterans, and more than 30,000 temporary recruits, setting up a fish scale formation.
Cen Jun's fish scale formation is divided into six layers, one layer above the other. The first four layers are for veterans, with 10,000 people on each layer, and the last two layers are for recruits, with more than 15,000 people on each layer. The recruits are placed at the end.
There are two floors, which can prevent the new soldiers from panicking and breaking up the formation. Each floor is equipped with a general to command, in order: Cen Zhaoxi, Cen Jilu, Cen Jishou, Wei Zhuang, Hu Liu, and Li Qing. Cen Zhaozhen's own central army is located in the center of the fourth floor.
, and ordered the fierce general Wang Hu'er to lead 500 heavy armored infantry and place them in the central army. This was Cen's army's " trump card ", and Cen Zhaozhen was ready to enter the battlefield at the most critical moment.
The Fish Scale Formation of the Cen Army comes from ancestral traditions. An ancestor of the Cen family in Sicheng once served as a high-ranking official in the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. The Fish Scale Formation is said to have been created by Genghis Khan and is a common formation of the Mongolian army. This formation is dense, has strong attack power, and is not easily overwhelmed.
;The disadvantage is that there are fewer troops behind the formation and weak protection.
The Jing army consisted of 70,000 people, including 45,000 main force, 9,000 Qingyuan soldiers, 6,000 Huangma soldiers, and 10,000 Taiping soldiers, forming sparse formations.
The sparse formation of the Jing Army was based on the square formation, consisting of five larger square formations assembled into a square sparse formation. The front formation was commanded by veteran Li Mingzhong, with 21,000 troops; the left formation, Fan Youxian's troops, had 15,000 troops.
people; in the right formation, 19,000 troops from Wei Wan'an tribe and Taiping Huang clan surrendered; in the rear formation, 6,000 troops from Huangma surrendered; Zhu Tingjia led 6,000 troops in the center formation.
The five major square formations of the Jing Army were made up of small mandarin duck formations. The mandarin duck formations were united in hens and commanded by their commanders. There was a gap of about three meters between adjacent hens. These intervals were for artillery, musketry and archers.
The channel has a large distance between each one and the formation is sparse, hence the name sparse formation.
The characteristics of the Jing Army's sparse formation are "thin in the middle, thick in the square, and large in the formation." The center has few troops, so Zhu Hengjia ordered people to plant flags all over the place to show off their bluff. The surrounding troops are large, which can effectively defend against enemy attacks. Cen's army lacks cavalry and is difficult to bypass.
Seeing the weakness of the Jing army in sneak attacks from behind, Zhu Hengjia reduced the strength of the rear formation and strengthened the strength of the front formation. He also placed the cavalry battalion in the rear formation to maneuver.
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War drums were blaring and smoke was billowing. On the high platform of the Jingjun Army, a large dragon scroll was fluttering in the wind. Zhu Hengjia observed Cenjun with a telescope. These telescopes were copied from the Francois and were expensive. The Jingjun army was only equipped with Dusi.
The above generals.
Seeing that Cen's army was well-formed and advanced and retreated in an orderly manner, Zhu Hengjia couldn't help but secretly praise: Sicheng Coyote is indeed worthy of its reputation!
"Report, Cen's army is three miles away."
"The front camp forms an array," Zhu Hengjia ordered.
Li Mingzhong, the general of the front camp, saw Zhu Hengjia's flag waving, and immediately sent out the flag and ordered all battalions to form formation.
Zhang Chengwu, the commander of the cannon battalion, led four thousand gunmen in response to the order and ran to the front of the formation from the distance between the infantry. After forming the formation, he left a passage and waited for the archers to form their formation.
After the gunners formed their formation, Wang Xiang, the guerrilla archer, commanded four thousand archers and ran along the reserved passage in front of the gunners to form their formation, leaving the passage open and waiting for the artillery battalion to form their formation.
After the archers formed a formation, some of the Jingjun artillerymen carried the barrel, some held the gun mount, and some pushed the shells on carts. They ran from the reserved passage to the archers to set up the cannon.
The commander of the camp, Zhao Erhu, dropped his finger, and the four hundred tiger squat cannons were quickly set up.
Cen's army marched three miles away from Jing's army, and each general of Cen's army began to mobilize their headquarters before the war. The cries of "We must win!" "We must win!" "We must win!" were getting louder and louder.
Seeing that his morale was ready, Cen Zhaozhen waved his arms lightly, and the Chinese army raised their arms forward, giving the order to attack.
"Kill!" Cen Zhaoxi, the first-level general of Cen's army, led his troops towards Jing's army.
"Kill!" A hundred steps later, Cen Jilu led the second layer of wolf soldiers to follow closely.
"Kill!" A hundred steps later, Cen Jishou led the third layer of wolf soldiers to follow the second layer??
Layer after layer, the six layers of wolf soldiers were like six waves in the sea, rushing towards the Jingjun battle formation.
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Zhu Hengjia handed the telescope in his hand to Zheng Feng and said solemnly: "The Sicheng coyotes are fierce and difficult to control. This battle is not easy to fight!"
Zheng Feng made an observation and said: "Supervise the country, I see that the first four layers of Cen's army are in strict formation, they must be veterans; the last two layers are in scattered formation, they must be new soldiers. As long as we send cavalry to go behind the enemy's formation and attack the next two layers, our army will
Must win!"
Zhu Hengjia took another look at Cen's army's formation and nodded: "Don't worry, I will order the cavalry to attack them again when the enemy's spirit weakens.
The soldiers at the front are fighting to death, but the generals at the back can talk about the war with ease. The so-called weapons and oars are wiped out while talking and laughing. This is the tragedy of the feudal system. The people at the bottom are always the people at the bottom who are hurt the most by war.
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Cen Jun approached Jing Jun's battle formation step by step.
"Boom!" Jingjun's test gunner began to test fire.
The flag and drum soldiers continuously reported the distance between Cen's army.
"A thousand steps!" (One step in the Ming Dynasty was about 1.3 meters)
"Eight hundred steps!"
"Six hundred steps!"
Zhao Erhu, the commander of the artillery battalion of the Jingjun Army, began to order: "Six hundred steps, the gunners are in position!"
"Four hundred steps, fire!"
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!" The four hundred squatting tiger cannons let out a deafening roar. Although this ancient mortar is not as powerful as heavy artillery, it can be fired at a large elevation angle and has a wide radiation range.<
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Large and small bullets flew together with thunderous roars, and one Cen Jun soldier after another was blown to pieces. Seeing one warrior after another fall beside him, the veteran Cen Jun veterans began to trot, trying to break through Jing Jun's bullets.
curtain.
At the 220th step, General Li Mingzhong of the Jing Army's front camp issued an order for the artillery to retreat. Zhao Erhu quickly ran back to the main formation with the artillery through the passage.
As the artillery left, the archers automatically moved closer to the general flag of the archer guerrilla Wang Xiang, and the passage was closed.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" Jingjun began to shoot positioning arrows.
"Two hundred steps, archers prepare." Following Wang Xiang's command, three rows of archers aimed their bows and arrows at the sky at different elevation angles in accordance with the general's orders, preparing to launch.
"One hundred and eighty steps, shoot!"
Wang Xiang waved the flag, and thousands of arrows were fired.
The equipment of the Cen Army was not as good as that of the Jing Army. Many soldiers did not have armor, and those who had armor mostly had bamboo armor. Therefore, although the projectiles of the Jing Army were less powerful than direct fire, they still caused huge casualties to the Cen Army.
A small colonel just ran a few steps, was hit by an arrow in the neck, and slowly fell down; a sergeant rolled on the ground holding his feet??
When the veterans of the Cen Army saw the fierce arrows of the Jing Army, they put their shields on their heads one after another. Those who did not have shields also rushed towards the Jing Army's position. Veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles knew that they wanted to survive under such a dense rain of arrows.
We can only attack quickly.
At 110 steps, Li Mingzhong gave the order for the archers to retreat, and Wang Xiang led the archers back to their positions along the passage.
After the archers left, the gunmen automatically moved closer to the flag of Zhang Chengwu, the commander of the gun camp.
The gunmen of the Jing Army stood in two rows, with the first row firing and the second row charging. Each soldier in the first row had two gunners, which ensured that at least three rounds could be fired before Cen Jun rushed forward.
"Ninety steps, guns ready!" Zhang Chengwu issued the military order.
"Eighty steps, shoot!"
"Bang! Bah! Bah!" The sound was like a hammer, hitting the hearts of Cen's soldiers one after another.
Although Jingjun's fire cannons have a short range, they are extremely powerful. Once they are hit, they are basically dead. One after another, hyenas fall down like sacks.
At thirty steps, Li Mingzhong gave the military order for the gunners to retreat, and the gunners ran back to their formation along the passage.
Standing on the high platform, Zhu Hengjia saw the enemy approaching and ordered a change of formation. The command flag was waved, and the sergeants in the five formations on the front, left, and right moved closer to the general's flag. The distance between each formation was closed. The originally sparse formation quickly became
The musketeers and archers also quickly ran back to their positions in the mandarin duck formation.
Next, Cen Jun faced a dense phalanx composed of small mandarin duck formations. The brutal hand-to-hand combat began.
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On the fourth floor, Cen's army was in the middle. Cen Zhaozhen saw that five or six thousand of his own men had fallen before they had direct contact with Jing's army. He trembled with pain. But he understood that now was not the time to be sad. The only one who fought hard was a
The word "ruthless".
The soldiers of the Cen Army rushed to the front of the Jing Army's formation. In the Jing Army's mandarin duck formation, the swordsmen and shieldmen were in front for protection, the spearmen were stabbing at the back, and the archers or gunmen in the middle fired. One after another, the Cen Army's hyenas fell. Finally, there was
The brave soldier Cen rushed into the Yuanyang Formation and fought with the soldiers of the Jing Army. At this time, his personal bravery began to show its effect.
After the Cen Army warriors broke through a mandarin duck formation, they discovered that there was another one behind them??
One after another, the mandarin duck formations were broken through, and one after another, one after another, the mandarin duck formations moved forward to meet them; one after another, the coyotes fell down, and one after another, the coyotes rushed up.
The Cen Army on the first floor met the Jing Army's military formation, followed by the second, third, and fourth floors, like huge waves lapping at the rocks.
Cen Zhaozhen saw that his own four layers of veterans could not break up the Jing army formation, so he ordered his "killer weapon" heavy infantry to assault.
There were five hundred men in Cen's army, Wang Hu'er, who were all the best warriors in the army. They were all extremely powerful, wearing double armor and holding heavy weapons. The king's army had been resting in the middle army for a long time. After hearing the general's order to attack, the king's army went down the mountain.
The tiger fiercely pounced on Jingjun.
Wang Hu'er held two hammers and took the lead. He grabbed the flag and captured the general along the way. He was invincible to those who stood in his way. He soon reached the flag of General Li Mingzhong.
The primary school guarding the flag was terrified and wanted to move the flag back. Li Mingzhong was furious and cut the primary school in two with a knife.
Li Mingzhong ordered dozens of firecrackers around him to be fired at Wang Huer, who was hit by several bullets and died.
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At this time, Zhu Hengjia, who was standing on the high platform, found that Cen Jun was trapped in the formation. His front, left, and right formations were still as solid as rocks. He ordered the cavalry to go around and attack behind Cen Jun's formation.
Sun Guangwei, a guerrilla from the Jing Army Cavalry Battalion, led 3,000 cavalrymen, quietly moved behind Cen Army's formation, and stormed the sixth and fifth levels of Cen Army's formation.
The sergeants on the fifth and sixth floors of Cen's army were mostly new recruits recruited temporarily. Seeing Jing's army galloping with great momentum, their faces turned pale with fright and they collapsed at the first touch.
After Sun Guangwei dispersed Cen's army on the fifth and sixth levels of the formation, he went to kill Cen Zhaozhen's middle army on the fourth level. At this time, there were only a few hundred people around Cen Zhaozhen, so he had to recruit men and horses to resist desperately.
Seeing that Cen's army was in disarray, Zhu Hengjia ordered all formations to attack, and he personally beat drums on the high platform to cheer up. The morale of Jing's army was greatly boosted, and they charged bravely. Cen's army could not withstand it and collapsed thousands of miles away.
In the Battle of Sicheng, Jing's army suffered 6,000 casualties, and Cen's army suffered 20,000 casualties and 30,000 prisoners. Cen Zhaozhen returned to Sicheng Prefecture with only more than 10,000 remaining soldiers.