The officers and soldiers who saw this scene were all numb at the same time. They had never seen so many artillery pieces. They were densely packed all over the hill. There were almost a thousand artillery guns!
The cavalry in front could see more clearly. The style of those artillery pieces was shorter and more powerful than they had ever seen before!
Different from the huge artillery that the army can only use to defend and attack the city, these small cannons are no more than three feet from head to tail, with several iron hoops around the body.
Holding it firmly on the ground, it looks like a tiger that chooses and devours people, majestic!
There are three gunners around each small cannon. They divide the labor and skillfully fill the shells, plug in the fuses, light the torch, and complete the shooting preparations in just a few breaths! Obviously, they have practiced countless times!
In an instant, all the officers and soldiers had an ominous premonition, and Zhu Zhanji stood up immediately! He felt that he seemed to have made a fatal mistake - Wang Xian's Chinese army was not a soft persimmon at all, but a killer weapon that could kill people.
!
"Don't worry, Your Highness, cannons hitting cavalry will not have much effect!" The nobles hurriedly comforted Zhu Zhanji, and also comforted themselves: "Although it looks scary, it can't kill many people!"
It doesn't matter what they say, how could Zhu Zhanji not know that solid artillery shells would not cause much damage to the cavalry in dispersed formations! But since Wang Xian dared to make such an arrangement, he must have his reasons!
But at this time, it was too late to say anything. The official cavalry had already rushed within one mile of the enemy, so they could only bite the bullet and continue to charge forward!
"Let go!" Long Wuye shouted with all his strength, his beard and hair spread out.
The gunners all lit the fuses of the cannons. The fuses burned rapidly with sparks, and the roar of the cannons was loud!
The power of thousands of artillery fire was so terrifying that even the soldiers of Wang Xianjun were shocked to the point where their ears were roaring and they could not hear anything. The war horses were also frightened so much that they jumped up and down and almost lost control!
But everyone ignored their ears and stared dumbfounded at the officers and cavalry facing the artillery...
Only half of the more than 10,000 cavalrymen who rushed into the cannon range were left...
No one could forget the scene in front of them. The ground was densely covered with soldiers and horses. The wounded horses and soldiers screamed and struggled on the ground. Their whole bodies were covered with bloody bullet holes. Everyone who looked at them was scared to death!
The surviving 5,000 men and horses were all injured! Although they were terrified, they were unable to retreat, and they did not dare to stop where they were. They could only beat their horses desperately, trying to rush through this death zone and fight to the top of the mountain.
Under the hill! That's their only way out...
At this moment, the only group of people who were not shocked were the gunners on the hill. They were racing against time to clean the barrels of the cannons, refill the ammunition, and plug in new leads to the cannons.
But the speed of the official cavalry was too fast. They had already rushed a hundred feet down the mountain, but the reloading had not yet been completed!
"Come on!" Zhang Fu's eyes were bloodshot and he urged the cavalry to continue pressing forward. He must not let the army's artillery show off its power again!
Before Zhang Fu could finish his shout, the frightening sound of artillery rumbled again, and Wang Xianjun's artillery actually fired again!
The five thousand cavalry who survived the first bombardment were wiped out on the battlefield!
They died with eyes closed, because they clearly saw that the enemy's gunners had not finished preparing to fire!
Zhu Zhanji in the distance knew clearly in his heart that when the cannon was fired for the first time, only half of Wang Xian's thousand cannons must have been fired, and the other half was fired after more than ten breaths.
This is a segmented shooting method that the Ming army is very familiar with, but it was used by Wang Xian in artillery!
He could also see clearly that what was fired from the barrels of those cannons were not solid shells at all, but hundreds or thousands of scattered shells!
"Charge! Don't stop!" Zhang Fu was already crazy. He urged his horses with all his strength and launched a charge directly towards the enemy! He finally got the man from the prince to lead the cavalry attack and trample Wang Xian into mud.
Opportunity! How could we be defeated so easily?!
Under the leadership of Zhang Fu, the official cavalry launched an even crazier attack on Wang Xianjun!
Different from those miscellaneous armies, they are the proud Imperial Guards! The Royal Guards under the direct command of the emperor!
The prince is behind them, and the capital city and the others are behind them. Their sense of mission, soaked in blood, will never allow them to bow to the enemy!
They rushed forward another thirty feet, and Wang Xianjun's cannon roared for the third time, and thousands more cavalry disappeared...
But the cavalry were desperate. All they could see was the approaching enemy! The more than a thousand cavalry at the front, led by Zhang Fu, finally rushed within thirty feet of Wang Xian's army, and were about to break into the enemy's formation.
, to avenge the dead Paoze!
However, at this time, dense and crisp gunshots rang out! Wang Xian's 10,000 infantry troops deployed at the foot of the hillside fired at the cavalry who rushed forward!
The 10,000 infantry troops were all armed with muskets and lined up in six rows leaning against the hillside. They were also half loading and half shooting. Although their power was far inferior to artillery, they were better than artillery in terms of accuracy!
More than a thousand cavalrymen screamed and fell off their horses after being shot. In a blink of an eye, only a few of them were left. Zhang Fu's men and horses were shot several times and covered in blood, but they still charged forward with wild shouts.
There was another burst of gunfire, and Wang Xianjun's shooters made up for the remaining enemy soldiers. There was no one in front of the formation. Zhang Fu rushed to a distance of only ten feet from Wang Xianjun's shooters. The war horse finally couldn't support it and fell to the ground, leaving him fiercely.
On the ground!
Zhang Fu spurted blood from his mouth and nose, used his last strength to look up at the man on the hillside, and finally died of exhaustion...
When Zhang Fu died in battle, the following cavalry were still charging. However, no matter how hard they tried, they could not break through the restricted area of life formed by the interweaving of guns and cannons. The distance of only a hundred feet, and the charge of the war horses could only take a few breaths. All the cavalry who rushed here
, but all of them were ruthlessly wiped out!
All this sounds very long, but in fact, in just a few breaths, half of the official cavalry was killed in front of Wang Xian's army. The half-mile square battlefield was filled with layers of corpses, and the flowing blood had formed strips of blood.
Xiaohegou...
The remaining officers, soldiers and cavalry finally stopped, and their courage finally disappeared amidst the terrifying roar of guns and artillery. This was not the war they knew at all, this was a unilateral massacre!
Even if they still have the courage to charge, the mountains of corpses are enough to make it difficult for the war horses to move and become a living target for the enemy!
Wang Xian immediately ordered someone to blow the horn. The Shandong cavalry on both wings were stunned for a moment before they recovered from the immense shock!
That's their order to attack!
Deng Xiaoxian and Yang Rong quickly put away their mixed emotions and urged their subordinates to outflank the officers and cavalry!
The officer cavalry was so frightened that they reluctantly raised their weapons to resist, but their attacks were weak and they were no match for the Shandong cavalry!
As soon as they fought, they almost collapsed at the first touch. They all turned their horses' heads and fled backwards crazily...
It didn't matter that he escaped. It immediately caused a chain reaction. The officers and infantry who were also frightened also turned around and ran away.
Seeing the overwhelming force of the defeated troops, the infantry in the rear also fled. Even Zhu Zhanji's central army was forced to retreat in embarrassment under the impact of the defeated army. His Royal Highness, who was helped to the horse by the guards, refused to turn around.
Ma Tou, he couldn't believe it, couldn't accept it, he was defeated like this...
It was so fast that he had no time to react. He didn't even issue a response order, so he was defeated like a mountain!
"Your Highness, please leave quickly, or it will be too late!" Chen Wu pulled Zhu Zhanji's horse rein and urged anxiously.
Because there was too much emphasis on infantry and cavalry coordination, Zhu Zhanji's central army followed too far forward, and was only three miles away from Wang Xian's army. Seeing that Wang Xian's 20,000 cavalry were already following the defeated army, they were about to kill him in front of his central army!
"I won't leave!" How could Zhu Zhanji accept such a defeat? He roared like a mad tiger: "Why are those damn infantry running away? They can obviously block Wang Xian's cavalry!"
What Zhu Zhanji said is absolutely correct. If the infantry of the army maintained their courage, they could at least block Wang Xian's 20,000 cavalry, which would be a full 120,000 people!
However, war is never a simple arithmetic problem, but an extremely complex equation, in which psychological factors are the biggest variable! Once the psychology collapses, all the troops and horses will be equal to zero!
Wang Xian's rumbling guns completely defeated the psychology of the officers and soldiers. Apart from fleeing, they could do nothing. Once the fleeing started, it would spread rapidly to the entire army like it is now, and no one could stop it!
"This battle is over, Your Highness. If you keep the green hills, don't worry about not having firewood!" Chen Wu pulled Zhu Zhanji hard, trying to bring the stunned Crown Prince back to reality.
Zhu Zhanji turned around in despair, and the two of them discovered to their horror that in just this delay, Wang Xianjun's cavalry had penetrated deeply into their own formation like two pointed awls!
The cavalry guarding the central army had no intention of fighting and fled on horseback. Thousands of infantry were left behind and surrounded His Royal Highness and a group of guards, making it impossible for them to escape even on horseback...
Wang Xian's cavalry penetrated Zhu Zhanji's central army without any hindrance, and then completed the outflank...
Obviously, Zhu Zhanji is their first target!
Seeing that they were surrounded by enemy troops, the army and infantry naturally tried their best to break out, but Wang Xian's cavalry gathered more and more, waving their sabers and wildly slashing at the infantry in the encirclement.
The encirclement was getting tighter and tighter, with fewer and fewer officers and infantry. In the end, only Zhu Zhanji, Chen Wu and dozens of guards were left, surrounded by Wang Xian's cavalry on three levels inside and outside.
The guards were unwilling to give up and wanted to fight their way out to protect His Highness the Crown Prince from escaping! However, no matter how high their martial arts skills were, they could not resist the heavily formed cavalry and were quickly killed.
Zhu Zhanji looked desperately at the Wang Xian cavalry around him. He pulled out his sword and was about to kill himself! But a cold light knocked the sword away...
He smiled bitterly and watched the cavalry separate a passage.
Wang Xian appeared in front of Zhu Zhanji.
Xianyun followed Wang Xian, and that cold light was obviously his masterpiece.
Zhu Zhanji only had Wang Xian in his eyes. He lowered his hands and stared at his former best friend, who had now become an enemy who had completely defeated him. He was speechless for a moment.
Wang Xian also looked at Zhu Zhanji steadily and said nothing.