On the morning of the fourth day, the sky was still overcast, and the cold wind was still raging in the air, constantly taking away the heat from people's bodies.
But people today are no longer huddled in military camps like they did a few days ago. In two military camps twenty miles apart, countless soldiers are busy non-stop. After three days of dormancy, Manchu and Dahua
Both sides have obtained the materials they want, so naturally they will no longer remain silent. It is natural for both sides to have conflicts.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"
The desolate horn sounded on the west side of the cold plain land. With the sound of the horn, groups of neatly dressed knights urged their horses out of the camp. After they left the camp, they divided into two rows, forming
A wild goose formation was formed.
After the cavalry of the brigade came out, there were groups of infantry armed with firearms. They were wearing blue armor and holding firecrackers. They followed the cavalry. Finally, there were groups of mules and horses. I saw these mules and horses standing next to each other.
The soldiers were struggling to move forward under the whips of the soldiers. Behind them were heavy artillery pieces. Judging from the appearance of the wheels sinking into the ground, they weighed at least several thousand kilograms.
Due to the lack of copper in the Qing Dynasty, their artillery could only be cast from iron. However, the technology of the Manchu cannon casting was not very good, so the weight and size of the artillery were very large. In order to combine these hundreds of general cannons with
Hundreds of small French guns and squatting tiger cannons were transported to the front line. Kong Youde's Han army flag had exhausted nearly a hundred mules and horses.
Kong Youde stood behind these artillery pieces, directing the soldiers to rush to transport these artillery pieces to the military formation. However, if anyone observes carefully, they will find that although Kong Youde keeps shouting, his eyes are scattered around.
He had obvious dark circles under his eyes and his eyes were wandering around. It was obvious that his attention was distracted by something.
In fact, Kong Youde's heart is still echoing what Dorgon said last night when he secretly visited him, "Submit your Majesty. Your Majesty has ordered you and me to lead the battle tomorrow. What is the idea in his mind compared to yours?"
I know it well. We Mingren don’t tell secrets, so I will speak openly. You also saw the artillery fire of the Chinese Army yesterday. If you don’t want to burn all your hard work over the years, you’d better be good.
You must cooperate with me, otherwise if something happens, don’t blame me for not saying hello to you!"
Dorgon's words did not comfort him at all. They were only naked threats, but the bloody aura contained in them almost made Kong Youde suffocate.
After saying these threatening words to Kong Youde, Dorgon left his tent without staying much longer, leaving only Kong Youde thinking hard.
"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu..."
The desolate horn sound continued to sound in the camp. At this time, Kong Youde could no longer think anymore. The commands from behind and the officers' scoldings were urging the soldiers to speed up. Kong Youde could only follow.
The soldiers walked step by step towards the battlefield ahead.
Today, Huang Taiji's 100,000-strong army was dispatched. The mighty army occupied the plains with a radius of more than ten miles. The army pressed forward like a heavy hill.
The Chinese army on the opposite side was not to be outdone. Forty thousand infantry formed eight square formations and stood neatly in front of the military camp. On their flanks were more than three thousand cavalry. As usual, Dong Guo commanded two artillery battalions with three hundred cavalry.
Multiple artillery pieces and thousands of gunners rushed behind the military formation.
Looking at the slowly approaching Qing army in front, Wang Zhi's excited body was trembling slightly. He had been looking forward to this day for a long time. No matter whether he lost or won this battle today, he did not want to leave any regrets.
Looking at the neatly arranged phalanx in front of him, Wang Zhi shouted loudly: "Come here, beat the drum to help!"
"Dong dong dong..."
As Wang Zhi finished speaking, bursts of passionate drumbeats also sounded.
After hearing the sound of the drums, each guerrilla general in the formation pulled out the scimitar from his waist and shouted loudly: "Soldiers, move forward!"
"Wow... Wow... Wow..."
Countless riflemen lined up, striding forward in neat steps.
"Hurry up... follow up, follow up!"
At the back of the military formation, countless sweaty gunners urged the gunners to push the heavy artillery and follow the infantry. Although these Napoleon artillery were lighter than the Qing army's general artillery that weighed several thousand kilograms.
Much more, but the weight of five to six hundred kilograms also made the gunner pushing it tired and sweating profusely.
When the Chinese army left the main camp more than 500 steps away, they no longer continued to move forward, but stopped. The gunners of the artillery camp finally breathed a sigh of relief, and each one began to fire the artillery nervously and skillfully.
. Use sleepers to add sleepers, adjust the muzzle to raise the muzzle, and the ammunition carriers took out the projectiles and bags of ammunition wrapped in oilcloth from the wooden boxes regardless of fatigue, especially the aiming hand.
Dare to be careless in the slightest, otherwise the projectiles will be hit into the formation of his own army by negligence. Don't wait for the infantry officers to come to him to settle the score. Dong Guo, the commander-in-chief of the artillery, will definitely have to kill them alive.
Can't swallow it.
Although the gunners at the back were very busy, the tens of thousands of Dahua infantry in front were already standing quietly on the spot. They had already taken off the Mini rifles from their shoulders, and the black muzzles of the guns were pointing coldly at the sky.
"Quick, adjust the muzzle, the distance is six hundred steps, the height is four knots, and load the explosive shells!"
"Brothers, hurry up. If anyone doesn't speed up, don't blame me for kicking his ass!"
Behind the infantry phalanxes, the gunners who had just stopped were busy setting up their artillery. The sighters were carefully observing the distance from the enemy with telescopes, and the loaders were shooting from behind.
Boxes of artillery shells were taken off the cart, and the rest of the people were setting up the artillery. In short, everyone was busy and sweating.
Time passed like this little by little, and when the gunners finally finished their work, the originally fierce drumming stopped, and for a while the air became eerily silent, with only the icy cold wind blowing.
At this moment, a rumble of horse hoofbeats came faintly from the front, and the thunderous sound seemed to cover up the sound of the wind that originally floated between heaven and earth.
At this time, in Wang Zhi's telescope, groups of cavalry wearing white armor began to appear in his sight. What surprised Wang Zhi was that these cavalry were only covering on both sides, not as usual.
To launch an attack.
"Hey...what are these Tatars going to do?"
Wang Zhi murmured, and moved the telescope forward. At this time, groups of soldiers in blue armor appeared in the frame, and they pushed heavy shelves forward.
There seemed to be animals pulling in front of the shelf. Because the distance was too far, Wang Zhi couldn't see clearly in the telescope.
After a while, those frames finally appeared clearly in front of Wang Zhi's eyes. The long muzzle and heavy wooden frame clearly looked like a red cannon.
"No, the Tatars are going to fight hard today!"
Wang Zhi's expression changed. In previous battles with Qing soldiers, Qing soldiers rarely used firearms, let alone artillery, because the artillery cast by the Qing army was often very heavy due to manufacturing technology and was very inconvenient to carry.
.In addition, the Qing army had always despised firearms, so artillery was rarely seen, but today so many artillery suddenly appeared, which made Wang Zhi nervous.
After thinking for a while, Wang Zhi said to the messenger beside him, "Go and call Dong Guo."
Soon, Dong Guo, who was sweating profusely, appeared in front of Wang Zhi. Before Dong Guo could speak, Wang Zhi immediately said: "General Dong, have you seen the Tatar artillery in front?"
Dong Guo nodded calmly: "I see it!"
Wang Zhi then asked: "Can you destroy all those artillery pieces before they are set up!"
Dong Guo raised his telescope to test the approximate distance and then shook his head and said: "Sir, although our artillery has the advantages of accurate aiming and fast firing speed, its range is not much farther than the Tatar's red cannon. Now they are far away
We are a mile away, and our artillery is somewhat out of reach, and even if it could reach it, it would lose its accuracy."
Wang Zhi's face darkened when he heard this, "General Dong, didn't you say that our artillery can hit as far as two miles away? Why can't it hit a distance of only a few hundred steps?"
Dong Guo spread his hands and said helplessly: "Sir, that is the 32-pound large-caliber artillery you are talking about. We are on an expedition this time. For the sake of convenience, the artillery we brought are small 16-pound artillery pieces.
, there is no way it can hit this far!”
"asshole!"
Wang Zhi was so angry that he cursed, not knowing whether he was scolding Dong Guo or himself for being careless.
Finally, Wang Zhi gritted his teeth and said, "So we can only fight head-on with the Tatar artillery fire?"
"I'm afraid that's the case!" Dong Guo replied helplessly.
Wang Zhi frowned, "Well, can you promise me that as soon as the artillery battle begins, we will destroy the Tatar artillery as soon as possible, and we will never let them wreak havoc on our military formation!"
Wang Zhi, who has experienced battles for a long time, is very aware of the power of artillery. Even if the Tatars use the most primitive solid bullets, if they are allowed to tilt the projectiles in front of their own military formation today, the consequences will be
The casualties are not something I can accept.
Faced with Wang Zhi's questioning, Dong Guo frowned, and finally gritted his teeth and replied: "Okay, sir, don't worry, I will try my best to destroy the Tatar artillery positions!"
"It's not about trying your best, but you must destroy them, otherwise I will take care of you!" Wang Zhi stared straight at Dong Guo, with a hint of imperceptible pleading in his resolute expression.
Dong Guo gritted his teeth, "Okay, I will definitely destroy all the Tatar artillery in this humble position!"
"Okay, that's it, go ahead and remember your promise to me!"
Wang Zhi didn't talk nonsense and drove Dong Guo away with a wave of his hand.