The thick fog quickly dissipated and the weather became clearer. On the plains and wilderness of the village north of Fengyang City, Sun Hu's "Jinwu Camp", Zhang Hong's "Wufen Camp", and Xue Laoer's Tianweizhong Camp gathered in the area. More than 10,000 soldiers and horses had already formed a formation to fight.

Considering that the Qing army was anxious to cross the river, it must have not carried artillery, Zhou Shixian made the troops of the third battalion form a very thick and tight military formation.

The first level of the military formation is a three-row musketeer, with thirty tiger squat cannons and ten four-pound cannons in front of them. These forty light cannons will provide necessary fire support to the musketeers behind them. The range and fire density of the tiger squat cannons and four-pound cannons is very powerful in melee combat, especially the four-pound cannons. Under the operation of skilled gunners, the rate of fire is very high, and can even exceed the melee gun.

In front of the artillery, soldiers held shields as cover to defend against the Qing army's arrow attacks from a distance. After each artillery, there were several gunners who performed their own duties. The main gunners held ignition fork sticks in their hands. There were two gunners who were specifically responsible for loading, cleaning the barrel and adjusting the gun position.

Now all units of the Ming army have used the new gunpowder produced after the workshop innovated the gunpowder formula under the guidance of Johnson Chan and Zhou Shixian. The power and effective range of the firearm have been greatly improved.

There are more than 1,500 cavalry on the left and right wings of the military formation, which not only covers the military formation when defending and defending, but also serves as the main force for attack at critical moments.

Behind the musketeers were the central army consisting of archers, spearmen and swords and shields from the "Tianwei Central Military Camp". They deployed more than a dozen small square formations in the center of the military formation, which belonged to the core combat power of the military formation.

In addition, there are hundreds of people and surprise troops behind the Central Army's military formation. They can replenish the military formation at critical moments, and can also bypass the front of the military formation and launch a sudden attack on the Qing army from the flanks.

This formation was not original by Zhou Shixian, but was improved by the Ming border generals based on Qi Jiguang's military strategy. If the soldiers had corresponding combat power and the firearms were reliable, it would be no problem to deal with the Qing cavalry with the cooperation of the two.

However, except for the military formation, it seems that other places are beyond the reach of the Ming generals, which makes this military formation with both offensive and defense almost lost.

After Xue Laoer, Wu Xingye, Sun Hu and others deployed the military formation, they were all waiting anxiously.

The cavalry sent by Wu Xingye had been driven back by the Qing army, and several Manchu cavalry were chased by him, but before they could get close to the military formation, they were immediately intercepted by the cavalry sent by Wu Xingye.

Xue Laoer looked up at the bank of the Huai River in the north. Under the clear sky, several cavalry of the two armies were still fighting fiercely. However, the cavalry of both armies was very strong. After dropping a few corpses in the wilderness, they all retreated at the same time.

Xue Laoer didn't want to reveal his strength too early, but Nikan, who led the troops, was worried that he would scare the enemy away - if this Ming army hid in the city, it would be difficult to fight.

He looked down on the Ming army opposite him in a formation to fight. In his opinion, these people were just like the Shun army in Tongguan, and they would fall down with just a touch of light.

"Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, take your servants and attack!" Nikan waved his hand, and a slight vibration instantly came from the formation of tens of thousands of Qing troops that had just completed the assembly on the river bank.

A black line began to emerge from the river bank and appeared on the horizon in front of Xue Laoer. It gradually grew taller. The flags swayed, the military horn sounded, and the sound of muffled thunder came from far to near, completely like a strong army.

At this time, the Qing army was still very strong. Whether it was the Eight Banners soldiers or the Sanshun King Han army, they surrendered, had very strong combat power. Even some of the Green Camp Army were very strong after eating and drinking.

"Yingqi!"

Seeing this, Xue Laoer immediately gave an order. In the Ming army's formation, all the troops from top to bottom, and the flag bearers began to raise the flags one after another. The flags of the Ming army immediately flew in the tight array, with a magnificent momentum.

Soon, with a loud military horn sounding, more than 10,000 soldiers stood up in the Ming army formation with a "boom". Zhou Shixian stood on the Fengyang City Tower. Looking at the military formation that had suddenly risen, his heart was filled with confidence.

The orders from Xue Laoer, Wu Xingye and Sun Hu were passed down layer by layer, and the soldiers in the military formation immediately began to check their equipment for the last time, especially artillery and musketeers. Under the technical level of this era, their weapons were very complicated to use and were prone to problems.

As the Qing army gradually approached, the horse's hooves hit the ground like raindrops, thousands of Qing army rushed over like tides, making a thunderous roar, with an aggressive momentum.

The Qing army finally stopped about two hundred steps in front of Xue Changfu's army formation. Nikan, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming and a group of Qing generals were all looking at the Ming army formation in front of them, and always felt that something was strange.

These are all veterans on the battlefield who have experienced many battles. They have seen many military formations, but they are rarely seen with such strict military formations. Logically speaking, the Ming army cannot form such military formations.

However, the successive victory of the Qing army since entering the pass made these Qing generals disdain for the Ming army in the south, especially after they noticed that the Ming army had equipped a large number of firearms.

After all, they still know what kind of firearms of the Ming army are and how much they kill their own people. The more equipment they are, the worse the close-killing ability of this army. It is probably another bad idea from a minister in the court that they have to rely on firearms to deal with the cavalry.

Moreover, if the Han army could rush forward first, it would be fine if it could defeat the thousands of green camp soldiers in one fell swoop, it would not work, and it would attract most of the Ming army's fire. Then the Manchu cavalry would be dispatched again, and the Ming army's musketeers who fired a round of fire for a round will inevitably be in chaos, and the so-called musketeers will inevitably lose their effect.

Nikan has seen this scene for many times.

Over the past few decades, countless facts have proved that if the fight is really started, the so-called musket formation will not withstand the cavalry's successive attacks.

Moreover, they all noticed that although this Ming army was backed by the village, it seemed that there were no fortifications built except for the shields in front of the army. There were neither trenches, horses, nor chest walls. It can be seen that the commander who led the army should be an amateur, but he was so careless when dealing with the real Manchu cavalry.

Thinking of this, Nikan couldn't help but sneer, as if victory was right in front of him. He no longer hesitated, and immediately ordered his cavalry to start attacking. The Green Camp soldiers held their shields and advanced in a square formation.

At the same time, the two Niulu cavalry on both wings of the Qing army formation also received the order and rushed forward. Their mission was to harass and cover the charge of the Green Camp soldiers.

The sound of horse hooves sounded again in front of the two armies. The two teams of Qing cavalry began to slow down and stop about one hundred steps away from the Ming army. Seeing that the Ming army formation opposite was still motionless, the two teams were even more arrogant, and strange howlings came from the team, with extremely arrogant arrogance.

Then, the Eight Banners soldiers began to slowly enter a distance of about 60 or 70 steps, and then drove horizontally in front of the military formation, and used a bow on the horse's back to shoot at the opposite Ming army formation.

This is an extremely common way of fighting between the two armies and cavalry attacks. The purpose is to shock and provoke the enemy, and lure firearms in the enemy's military formation to shoot, and then launch a fierce attack through the gaps in loading.

However, such an attack is basically ineffective for well-equipped and tightly formed military formations. More than 500 light arrows crossed the air and landed towards the area where the Ming army formation was located. The archery skills of the Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing Dynasty were very exquisite, but at present, the fully armed Ming army formation had almost no effect. Apart from a few screams, there was only the jingling sound of arrows hitting the iron armor.

This is the question of whether the equipment is excellent or not. In this era, if there is no armor, no matter how high the morale is, it will be useless. Even if the most common light arrow shooting is in this round, I don’t know how many people will be killed or injured. Where can I have the ability to fight melee?

At the same time, facing the attack of the Qing army, Xue Laoer was not passively beaten. In front of the army, hundreds of Ming army archers immediately launched a counterattack. The power of the archery bow was much greater than that of the cavalry bow. The dense armor-breaking arrows flew out, and more than a dozen Qing army war horses fell down amid the whistling of arrows, and even the Ming army's arrows directly shot the legs of the horse without armor protection.

More than a dozen war horses that fell down by the arrow jumped on the ground with four hooves, neighing in pain, and black blood kept flowing out of their bodies. Seeing that the situation was not good, the remaining Qing cavalry quickly retreated.

Seeing this, Nikan felt a little incredible, but at this time, more than 6,000 Green Camp soldiers, the Han army had already advanced directly to about 150 steps from the Ming army's phalanx.

Their formation is also very conventional. The first row is a dense shield player, and the back is a long and close combat power composed of crossbowmen, spearman and knife shield player. Some green camp soldiers holding firearms are the first to rush to the place where the two wings are seventy or eighty steps to shoot and provoke.

However, facing these Qing army cannon fodders who were advancing forward with the drum beats, Xue Laoer did not order the army to respond. The entire Ming army formation seemed to be unable to feel the danger at all, and was quiet.

However, when the Qing army advanced about one hundred steps away from the military formation, the "Qin" flag immediately shook, and the sound of war drums and trumpets sounded instantly. Thirty tiger squatting cannons and ten four-pound cannons were exposed from behind the shield at the same time, and the gunners who were waiting for the battle immediately ignited and fired.

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

In front of the Ming army, a dense explosion immediately broke out, and the fire flashed violently, and the thick white smoke quickly rose and spread, forming a smoke wall.

Hundreds of lead bullets of the same size flew out from the muzzle, and then smashed heavily at the shields in front of the Qing army. These lead bullets were amazingly powerful and easily broke the Qing army's shields. The originally strict shield formation quickly fell down with the tragic wail.
Chapter completed!