Three thousand cavalrymen continued to penetrate deeper into the northwest direction.
In a chilling atmosphere, the team did not stop at all. Wang Shouren knew that the situation on the battlefield would soon be discovered by the grassland tribes on the Haizi side of Weining after dawn, and it would be difficult to complete the raid by then.
It’s realistic.
After marching for more than an hour, when the sun had risen above the horizon, the Ming soldiers stood on the top of a mountain on a green grassland that connected to the sky. In front of them was the endless Weining Sea.
Reflected by the beautiful scenery of the lake and mountains, and the ripples of the water, the tents on the lakeshore stretch to the horizon, with green mountains, clear water and blue sky stretching endlessly.
The herdsmen who had finished their morning rest were preparing to drive their cattle and sheep out of the pen. Some used horse-drawn carriages to transport large quantities of fodder into the camp. When they looked back and saw the soldiers standing on the top of the mountain, these herdsmen did not even express any nervousness.
They looked as if they thought it was their own cavalry.
"How much does this have to be?"
Cao Shun dismounted with difficulty and climbed onto the mound. When he saw the scene in front of him, he was almost stunned.
"The troops are divided into three groups, left, middle and right, each with 800 troops and horses. Form a long formation and advance!"
Changing from his previous sneak attack tactics, this time Wang Shouren knew that it would be impossible to directly break into the tribal camp without the opponent being prepared.
We can only fight steadily, keep the formation of the team in order, and slowly advance towards the tribal camp.
Cao Shun shouted: "If you don't follow the trend and cover up the killing, aren't you looking for death?"
In Cao Shun's view, this kind of sneak attack can only catch the opponent by surprise. Like Wang Shouren, he lined up his troops and let the cavalry slowly walk towards the opponent's camp. What is this tactic?
But now Cao Shun's words have no meaning at all.
The team was already very loose. After Wang Shouren arranged the formation, the three thousand soldiers and horses lined up almost in a line, divided into three groups, left, middle and right, and slowly advanced towards the main camp on the north bank of Weining Sea.
…
…
The terrain is very flat, and the actual distance between the two sides is about five or six miles.
Just when Ming Dynasty's troops began to advance, warnings began to be issued immediately in the camp. Various horns sounded, and tribesmen quickly gathered from all over the place. The two sides completed this battle during the day, waiting for the opposing tribe's garrison troops to gather.
Afterwards, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were surprised to find that the number of soldiers and horses on the other side might still be greater than theirs.
In other words... without any firearm bonus, the two sides no longer attacked the camp and passively defended, but became an "encounter".
Since the Ming Dynasty's own strength may not be as good as that of the grassland tribes, it can be considered a 50-50 battle at most.
The lieutenant generals in the army obviously felt a sense of fear. In the past, wherever they fought head-on with the grassland tribes, they never gained even the slightest advantage in any battle. It was said that it was a 50-50 split, but there seemed to be a 20-30% split on the Ming side.
The odds of winning are pretty good.
But Wang Shouren was not afraid at all.
The grassland cavalry quickly gathered together. When they discovered that this unknown group of people was approaching their camp, they first demonstrated like a demonstration, and heard the sound of war drums and horns. Then all groups gathered together and headed towards the Ming army.
Side assault.
This is also the "thinking inertia" of the prairie cavalry.
In their opinion, if Ming's army dared to line up in a row without any follow-up troops and horses, and just expand the cross-sectional area of the battle, as long as the length is not thick, it would be easy to be opened by a wave of their cavalry, and then
Then use superior force to divide and surround the Ming cavalry that cut off the formation, completing the strangulation.
But even though the prairie cavalry had charged towards them, Wang Shouren still did not order a change of formation, nor did he even make any plans to charge into the formation.
"Array up!"
Wang Shouren waved the command flag in his hand.
His purpose was to allow the prairie cavalry to concentrate their superior forces and attack them, thus facilitating the use of artillery.
As various signal bombs were launched into the air, the sixty light artillery pieces brought by the army also completed their formation at this time.
The method of using this kind of gun is different from the previous ones that needed to be carried by horse-drawn carriages and chariots. It can be unloaded directly from the horse and set up on the spot. Only one person can complete the filling and insertion of a gun.
Fuze and ignition and other steps.
In order to confuse the opponent, Wang Shouren tried his best to use a long snake formation of cavalry to block the artillery behind them, so as not to let the opponent know that the Ming army had brought new artillery.
…
…
The rumble of horse hooves came.
The ground seemed to be shaking.
The three thousand soldiers of the Ming Dynasty also held their breath and concentrated, and they had already held the firecrackers in their hands.
At Wang Shouren's center, where the artillery was set up, the two hundred flint muskets provided by Zhang Zhou were already in the hands of the soldiers. Their task was to complete the volley of guns and cannons when the opponent's cavalry approached.
After suppressing it with focused firepower, they then rush into the enemy's position on horseback.
There were some in the army who were not afraid of death, but most of the soldiers had fear in their hearts and just stood in formation on the hillside, waiting for the Tatars to stab them with their sharp cavalry. In the past, it would have been no different from waiting to die.
The distance between the two sides is gradually getting closer.
Cao Shun was so nervous that he was wiping his hands in cold sweat, still muttering: "The herders in the camp are still there..."
It means that the other side didn't take us seriously. They sent cavalry to fight us head-on. The herdsmen had no intention of retreating to the west. It seemed that the tribal herdsmen thought that we were waiting to die.
finally.
When the vanguard of the tribal cavalry was about one mile away from the Ming cavalry formation, Wang Shouren waved the command flag in his hand.
The surrounding dragon flags of the Ming Dynasty were immediately raised, and more than a dozen dragon flags suddenly stood up. As the flag bearers shook, the dragon flags of the Ming Dynasty appeared again in this area of Weining Sea.
At the same time, the tribal cavalry finally confirmed that it was the Ming Dynasty's army that was invading.
Naturally, they couldn't figure out why the Ming Dynasty's army appeared here, let alone why the Ming Dynasty's army seemed to be seeking death. Under the charge of their cavalry, they formed a long snake formation to fight, but when the roar of artillery fire came,
When it came, almost at the same time, a black iron ball shining with sparks fell from the sky.
The Ming Dynasty's army is on the east hillside, which is the direction in which the rising sun rises.
The Tatar cavalry charged against the sun, which was already a bit dazzling. When they found that something seemed a little wrong, they were given almost no time to react to the spearhead charging men...
With such a killing momentum, it was impossible for them to temporarily turn around and retreat. This was the same situation as the three Duoyan guards who charged outside Ningyuan City.
There is no turning back when the bow is drawn.
Even if they knew that the Ming army would use artillery to attack, they could only bite the bullet and continue to charge. Moreover, in their original impression, the Ming army's artillery just sent a big iron ball over, and it was not that small to hit them.
How could the Ming army bring long-range artillery when it appeared in the hinterland of the grassland?
Maybe the Ming army just wanted to boost their morale by firing cannons, and the cannonballs would fall on the open space where the two sides were about to fight.
That's all.
"boom!"
The first cannonball fell into the charging formation of the prairie tribe's cavalry.
Accompanied by a muffled sound, followed by a "crash", the soil on the grassland that had not been plowed and cultivated for hundreds of years was instantly blown up. The cannonballs landed nearby, and the cavalry fell to the ground in response, creating a huge deterrent effect.
.
But before the surrounding or subsequent cavalry could react further, more shells fell from the sky.
"Bang bang bang..."
This time, the artillery used by the Ming Dynasty was no longer like Ningyuan City, which had only twelve.
There are sixty artillery pieces this time. Even if the caliber is small, the explosive power of the shells fired will be much smaller, but after all, it has been improved. The proportion of yellow gunpowder contained in them is greater. Sixty artillery can form
The suppression effect is unmatched by twelve cannons.
Just after this round...
There were about three to four thousand tribal cavalry, but three to four hundred were killed and injured. One cannon shot caused the opponent to lose 10% of their combat effectiveness.
This 10% battle loss may not be a big deal in normal cold-weapon warfare.
But this is after all...the tribal cavalry has not yet reached the forward position of the battle, and suffered such a large loss just a mile or so apart. The biggest difference between the Huoshii troops and the other tribes is...among them
Many of them have experienced the tragic battle at Piantou Pass. For them... the shadow of yellow gunpowder will be engraved in their hearts for a lifetime.
Among this group of charging troops, there was one who was injured in a battle and lost combat effectiveness, and could only be placed in the rear as a reserve guard cavalry.
When they found out that it was the Ming Dynasty's army, they might have thought at first that the Ming Dynasty army would be able to avenge their past humiliation if the Ming Dynasty army marched to the hinterland of the grassland.
But when they saw Daming again projecting explosives from a long distance, there was only one word in their hearts...
Danger!
After a round of artillery suppression, the loading of the light cannon will be more complicated than that of the sub-cannon. The short range can only ensure that another round of loading and firing can be completed before the tribal cavalry rushes over, and not every cannon can
Hit the second shot.
The tribal cavalry's charge slowed down significantly, but they still charged forward without hesitation. Even if they lost their troops in the first round of artillery suppression, they were still confident that they could break through the Ming Dynasty's long snake formation.
"Firearms ready!"
Wang Shouren waved the flag in his hand again.
While the second round of volley is still being prepared, the volley gun on hand needs to be used now.
Whether it was the flint gun provided by Zhang Zhou or the matchlock gun brought by the soldiers, they were all in hand at this time.
Their crossbows were also prepared.
As the distance between the two sides further narrowed to less than 200 meters, the tribal cavalry began to bend their bows and set arrows. However, the effective range of the bows and arrows was only about a hundred steps. They were still making preparations at this time and did not intend to release them immediately.
However, although the effective range of the matchlock guns, flint muskets, etc. of the Ming Dynasty was only about a hundred steps, their penetrating power was much stronger than that of bows and arrows fired by human power.
"boom!"
Sporadic, there is still the sound of artillery firing.
But it was not the second round of cannon, but the misfiring of the first round of cannon that had been modified with a fuse.
This can no longer cause effective damage to the enemy formation.
"put!"
"Bang bang bang..."
The volley of guns started firing almost a hundred meters before the tribal cavalry leader approached the Ming Dynasty position.
The fire blunderbuss in the hands of the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty emitted a coquettish red and blue light. With the sound of the gun, the first row of tribal cavalry was not surprised, and was almost beaten into a sieve.
At the same time, the loading of ammunition for the Ming Dynasty's artillery platoon was basically completed. The gunners were trained repeatedly in the Beijing camp. After completing the loading, all they had to do was to fire the second cannon and try to disrupt the situation.
The enemy's formation.
"kill!"
By this time, Wang Shouren's three opening axes had been used up.
The artillery is mainly suppressing the middle and rear formations of the tribal cavalry. What he has to do now is to gather the long snake formation to form a pocket, and surround the three to four thousand tribal cavalry from all directions.
…
…
The hand-to-hand combat began.
Wang Shouren did not back down at this time, and Ma Yi led a group of men and horses to start a horse battle with the Tatars from both sides.
This was a scene that rarely happened after Jingtai. In the border battles in the past few decades, the combat logic of both sides was not this kind of fighting on horseback, but more like a tacit understanding of harassment in which you advance and I retreat.
.
But this time it was a head-to-head bloody battle.
The number of troops dispatched by both sides seemed small, but the brutality was no less than any other battle.
The Ming side had the geographical advantage, that is, it was in a commanding position. Coupled with the support of volleys of guns and artillery, it had an absolute advantage from the very beginning of the war.
It is also related to the fact that the men and horses left behind on the other side are mainly old, weak, sick and disabled. They could initially show the brave and fighting side of the prairie tribe cavalry, but faced with such powerful firearm suppression from the Ming Dynasty, coupled with the high morale of the Ming Dynasty soldiers and their fearless spirit of death.
, then the Ming Dynasty's long snake formation gathered into a pocket formation, and they felt that there were soldiers from the Ming Dynasty in all directions.
What's even more terrible is...the Chinese army's dragon flag formation where Wang Shouren is located also has the flint musket given to him by Zhang Zhou.
During the battle, the fire gun soldiers raised their hands and could knock down a tribal cavalry wearing armor from thirty or forty paces away with one shot. Even this kind of single-person kill created a great deterrent effect.
.
This will make the tribal cavalry suspicious.
Are we fighting against people?
Why can soldiers of the Ming Dynasty use such magical methods to kill people? But we can only use bows and arrows and sabers?
…
…
The war progressed very quickly.
After the two sides fought, the tribal cavalry showed signs of decline. It was also because Wang Shouren did not send troops to make a surprise attack and was waiting for work. After the battle began, although the men were sleepy, the horses were not tired, and the battle in the battle formation was more flexible.
The use of flint muskets also laid a great foundation for Wang Shouren's Chinese army, allowing him to use a few hundred soldiers to stabilize the Chinese army's formation and prevent the tribal cavalry from being scattered and defeated at once.
When the Ming Dynasty's long snake formation attacked like scissors, the pressure on Wang Shouren's central army was basically gone.
The task of the Chinese army was just to strangle forward, like a meat grinder. The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty charged all the way, and the sabers in their hands were sharper than the opponent's... After all, this was the essence of Zhang Zhou's craftsmanship.
Steel alloy knives are mass-produced. It is an exaggeration to say that they are indestructible, but when it comes to chopping melons and vegetables when the battlefield situation is advantageous, there is no problem at all.
With the confrontation.
The tribal cavalry already felt that they were unable to support themselves, and the cavalry behind them began to break away from the battle formation.
The Fire Sieve headquarters does not only have one tribe, but is also composed of various small and medium-sized tribes. Even if they are the same tribe, there will be regional differences. In the absence of clan blood relations, they cannot be united in attack and defense.
It is precisely because we can share wealth and honor but not share adversity. When the war goes well, all the people in the army charge into battle together and make achievements. When they encounter defeat, each tribe and small group also has its own small calculations.
Although they were also protecting their tribesmen behind them at this time, facing such a powerful expeditionary force from the Ming Dynasty, all they could do was to withdraw from the battlefield as soon as possible, escort their tribesmen to escape as much as possible, and let others come out to resist them
, let others die...
…
…
The sun rises further.
The battle on the hillside was almost coming to an end when the volley of artillery fired again.
At this time, all the people in the Ming Dynasty were divided into four groups.
Two groups completed the cleaning of the battlefield, and the other two groups rushed directly into the tent that could not be seen to the end.
Inside the camp, it was no longer the peaceful pastoral, nor the joyful family carnival, but a strangulation like hell. After the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty entered, the first thing they faced were the tribes who were holding weapons and resisting.
Men, they will be swept off their horses and beheaded without even having to deliberately chop off their heads, because there are countless heads waiting for them.
There were about six to seven hundred tribal cavalry left, and they fled directly to the north.
Wang Shouren did not give the order to pursue him. His mission was to cover the entire Weining Sea in front of him.
"brush!"
At this point, Wang Shouren pulled out a sword that looked a bit old and did not look like it could be used on the battlefield.
That sword was gifted to him by the Wang family. It was the sword that Wang Yue used to command his troops during the surprise attack on Weininghai.
"Sacrifice to Marquis Weining! Kill!"
After Wang Shouren commanded the remaining tribal cavalry to be strangled on the battlefield, he raised his sword.
When he called out the name "Marquis Weining", the surrounding Ming soldiers' blood boiled with excitement.
They will naturally think that...the path they are taking and what they are doing are exactly what Weining Hou Wang Yue accomplished back then. This year is the day when Weining Hou just passed away. The Ming Dynasty frontier army was plunged into sorrow.
Wang Weining is still highly regarded by everyone in the army, and the current war has an extra layer of meaning.
That is to inherit Wang Weining's legacy, fight on the battlefield, and promote the power of the Ming Dynasty soldiers.
What fear of death, what timidity, what interests...
Under the influence of this kind of pride, it seems that it no longer exists.
Wang Shouren was like a battlefield orator, instantly capturing the hearts of these soldiers. They just wanted to follow Wang Shouren and rush into the enemy's formation to repeat the achievements of Wang Weining.
"kill!"
There were not many soldiers in the Ming Dynasty.
But at this time, it seemed like a tide, pouring into the camps on the north bank of Weining Sea unstoppably. The camps that stretched for twenty or thirty miles seemed to be undefended.
