On July 20, the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, the sky was clear and clear.
On a flat ground fifty miles away from Chengdu, the two parties set up their positions in tacit understanding.
The sun is shining brightly, the grass is growing and the orioles are flying.
The bumpy road along the way dragged on time, and finally came to the decisive battle. Zhu Yixi was always a little nervous.
In the past two months, due to the rugged terrain of Shu, the cost of transporting grain has increased significantly. In addition, people eat horse chews, and the monthly consumption is almost one million taels.
This is an extremely exaggerated amount, which places a heavy financial burden. An early decisive battle would still be of some benefit to Zhu Yixi.
On the side, Sun Changzhou relied on his connections from Chengdu and said: "Your Highness, as a province of Sichuan, the spring and autumn taxes exceed tens of millions of taels, and the tea and salt taxes also exceed 100,000 taels. It is a first-class province in the world."
"One hundred thousand taels?"
Zhu Yixi sneered: "I think it's more than a million taels."
Just the Shaanxi merchants’ annual business tax of millions of taels or 100,000 taels on the Tea Horse Road is simply insulting!
No longer thinking about this, he turned his attention to the battlefield.
The Western Army, which numbered close to 200,000, and the Ming Army spread out from north to south, densely packed, like two large swarms of ants, so dark, layer after layer, that it was almost impossible to see the edges.
Seventy thousand versus two hundred thousand is a bit exaggerated no matter how you look at it.
At this point, the initiative on the battlefield was no longer under his control.
The tactics this time are completely different from before.
Due to the advantage of his troops, Zhang Xianzhong chose to cover from all sides, making the main attack invisible.
On Zhu Yixi's side, the former army was still the Chongbu Battalion.
On the left are Li Jizu's Sanbiang camp, Zhao Guangyuan, and Prime Minister Hui Deng's Mingyuan and Ming Hui camps.
On the right are Liu Tingjie's Mingjie camp, Bai Wang's Mingwang camp, and Qin Liangyu's local soldiers.
As for the Chinese army, it was still suppressed by the firearms battalion.
The cavalry roamed on both wings, responsible for containing the enemy.
This time, Zhu Yixi is not without advantages.
Just like the cavalry, since Li Dingguo was defeated previously, the initiative rests with him this time.
However, compared with Zhang Dingguo, the previous intruder, Zhu Yixi did not want to rush with cavalry and break the formation with iron hooves, but roamed the two wings, looking for opportunities.
The two parties were slowly approaching, and the momentum was extremely tense.
"fire--"
This time there were too many people, and although the heavy infantry was powerful, they were still outnumbered. Therefore, Zhu Yixi changed his old routine this time and directly used artillery to open the way.
Dozens of 500-pound French cannons emitted huge fury.
The iron balls, like red meteors, were scattered forward without any rules.
Bang, bang——
The iron ball bounced, and the huge crowd seemed to be made of paper, easily fighting its way out.
When dozens of iron balls charged into the military formation recklessly, they easily took hundreds of lives.
This was a drop in the bucket for the huge Western Army, but its deterrence and fear made many people shudder.
"kill--"
Zhang Xianzhong's yellow face was full of perseverance. He had seen a lot of the Ming army's artillery, and he said without fear: "When the enemy is approaching, artillery is useless as long as they fight hand-to-hand."
Sun Kewang, Liu Wenxiu, and Ai Nengqi also agreed one after another.
In an instant, the Western Army was so powerful that with nearly three times its strength, it seemed as if it opened its bloody mouth and swallowed up the Qin Army in one fell swoop.
Countless artillery pieces were fired forward, including Crouching Tiger cannons, Franchise cannons, and hundreds of them.
A large number of arrows were thrown into the air, forming parabolas, and landed among the Western Army.
Here, the Western Army showed no signs of weakness and fired a large number of arrows.
You come and go, it's so lively.
However, the huge power of the artillery still delayed the pace of the army. There were only a few Western troops within a hundred steps of the front army.
Standing high, Zhu Yixi stared straight ahead.
There was so much smoke and dust that it was impossible to see clearly.
In other words, the war is no longer up to him at this time, and he can still make adjustments in general aspects. Specifically, he can only trust the people under his command.
After thinking about it for a while, he suddenly became confident again.
Whether it is Liu Tingjie, Li Jizu, or Bai Wang, they have experienced hundreds of battles, and the soldiers under their command are all trained in the new army camp. They are much stronger than the Western Army.
"Tell me, if you win this battle, your merits will start at five points——"
"Woohoo, long live!!"
The most inferior five points, isn’t the first achievement eight points?
In other words, if you win this battle, you will get at least sixteen acres of land, plus promotion and wealth. Who can withstand this?
Zeng Ying, listening to the Qin army's commotion, couldn't help but wonder: "What are merit points? It's not silver, why are you excited?"
Even though he said this, he couldn't help but be affected and excited by the thought of fighting against the Western Army and washing away his shame.
Wearing armor, he looks like a giant and has no fear.
Looking around, I saw a group of figures in front of me, layer upon layer, and I couldn't see the edge. They were like a forest of spears, full of momentum.
But he was not afraid, looked forward, rode his horse, and led his brothers to fight forward.
The scar on his face became more and more ferocious as his expression became distorted. Coupled with his huge body and a group of burly men, it can be said that if a god stands in front of him, he will kill a god, and if a Buddha stands in his way, he will kill a Buddha.
For a moment, it seemed like there were ten thousand enemies, but no one dared to challenge him.
Zeng Ying was greatly relieved and shouted: "I know this Western thief best. He really bullies the weak and fears the strong, hahaha!"
The thousands of surrendered Western soldiers under his command were immediately excited when they saw how powerful he was, and they became more and more energetic in killing him.
In a daze, these thousands of people broke open the Western Army's formation and attacked directly.
"Pfft--" Suddenly, an arrow shot out, killing the soldier beside him with one blow and piercing his throat.
Blood burst out and splashed onto his armor, making it bloody.
"You are such an idiot!"
Zeng Ying was furious, his own soldiers were killed and wounded, and he was frightened, which made him feel very bad.
Looking around, he saw a tall man with a long neck and broad shoulders, glaring at him angrily, holding a long bow in his hand.
"Mom, you dare to attack me secretly!"
What he didn't understand at this time was that the boy missed the shot and the target was originally aimed at him.
"kill--"
He was only a hundred steps away. Even though he was protected by soldiers, Zeng Ying was not afraid. He waved his spear and killed him directly.
Just when Feng Shuangli realized that he had missed his shot, the man who flirted with the Ming army boldly came towards him to kill him. He simply didn't take him seriously.
"snort!"
Feng Shuangli's heart sank. He held the spear tightly. He had never been afraid of it after more than ten years of fighting.
For a moment, the two big men looked at each other as if they were facing each other.
The war horses kept approaching, and the soldiers along the way gave way knowingly, widening their eyes, wanting to know the result.
Zeng Ying was even more excited. He had just joined the Qin army and it was time for King Hanyang to see how powerful Zeng Ying was.
Therefore, Feng Shuangli's ugly face seemed even more pleasing to him.
"Whoops——"
With a flick of the spear, Feng Shuangli hit it.
"It's so heavy!" Feng Shuangli's heart sank and he shouted, "It's not good."