On November 3, the troops of Lu Xiangsheng and Li Zhi reached Gaoyang County and encountered a Qing army.
There were about 15,000 Qing troops on the road. The middle army held a gold-woven dragon banner high and were besieging Gaoyang County. The pits and traps outside Gaoyang City had all been filled by Qing army chariots. The defenders in Gaoyang City
After struggling to hold on, the city was destroyed in only one or two days. Lu Xiangsheng's reinforcements arrived at the right time. In a few days, they would have to collect the corpses of the defenders in the city.
Seeing more than 20,000 Ming troops approaching, the attacking Qing army reluctantly abandoned Gaoyang City and set up a formation under the city to face the Ming troops.
The Qing army has rarely failed against the Ming army over the years. A thousand Qing troops could often chase two or three thousand Ming troops. Although the Qing army under the city was only more than half of the Ming army, they obviously believed that the Ming army was vulnerable.
, it is useless to have more people. They think they can defeat more than 20,000 Ming troops.
Li Zhi captured several Tatar prisoners, pointed to the Qing army flag in the distance and asked them: "Which Qing army is that?"
The general translated Li Zhi's Chinese into Manchu. The prisoners looked at the Qing army flag in the distance for a while and replied: "That is the flag of Rao Yubeile Abatai!"
Li Zhi asked again: "How many vests and how many foot armors does Abatai have?"
The prisoners said: "Now the Qing soldiers are all divided into three major battalions. During the war, troops and horses are allocated from the battalions to Commander Baylor as needed. The troops are all temporarily allocated. We don't know how many vests there are in this group of troops.
,How many armored infantry!"
Li Zhi asked his men to give these Tatars a few whips, beating them alive until they were bloody and painful. However, these Tatars screamed a lot, but they still did not change their words.
Li Zhi then let the Tatars live and asked the soldiers to take them under custody.
Li Zhi rode up to Lu Xiangsheng's central army. Lu Xiangsheng and three generals were looking at the map to discuss the strategy of defeating the enemy. Seeing Li Zhi coming, Lu Xiangsheng said happily: "General Longhu has arrived just in time. We are dividing the flanks and discussing how to deploy them."
Defeat this Qing army!"
Lu Xiangsheng thought for a moment and then asked: "General Longhu captured many prisoners. Do these prisoners know who the Qing generals are on the opposite side?"
Li Zhi cupped his hands and said: "Confess alive, the leader of the Dongnu opposite is Rao Yubeile Abatai of the Dongnu!"
"It turns out to be Abatai!" Wang Pu said loudly: "I heard that Abatai is considered brave and good at fighting in the Tatar clan. However, because his mother was born in a lowly family, he has only been granted the title of Baylor instead of the king."
Lu Xiangsheng nodded and said: "Abatai is leading the army on the opposite side. It should not be underestimated. It is a tough battle."
Li Zhi cupped his hands and said: "The last general is willing to serve as the east wing and attack the Tatars' right flank!"
Seeing Li Zhi's request, several other general soldiers also said: "We are willing to guard the right flank of the army for the west wing."
Lu Xiangsheng nodded and said: "Okay, then I will lead the standard army as the Chinese army!"
Lu Xiangsheng stood up and said loudly: "Everyone, we will go into battle to kill the enemy! You are all high-ranking officials and nobles, and it is now time to repay the emperor's great kindness!"
Yang Guozhu and others shouted: "Here!"
Everyone returned to the military formation, and asked the soldiers to put on their armor, grab their bows and knives, and enter combat mode. The 25,000 Ming army soldiers and horses were like a huge machine, moving slowly and forming a formation.
Li Zhi rode on his horse and observed the Lu Xiang Shengbiao military camp who was going into battle. He felt that the four thousand soldiers were also quite tough. At first glance, they looked like veterans who had seen blood. Most of these soldiers wore cotton armor with iron plates inside, and each of them held a broadsword.
Fighting in formation, they seem to be fighting well.
These soldiers are all professional soldiers who receive military pay. In terms of fighting skills, they are not inferior to the soldiers of Li Zhi's Huben Division. Even if they face the same number of Qing troops, these soldiers can last for a period of time.
Of course, compared with the Huben Division who used rifles and cannons to kill enemies, their combat power seemed very bleak.
Li Zhi rode in the middle of Huben Division and called Zheng Kaicheng.
"You lead 2,400 soldiers and horses to guard the westernmost flank of our Huben division, bordering the governor's standard army. You ask the 1,000 and 200 men closest to the governor's standard army to release the Tatars a hundred steps away before shooting.
, don’t let the Governor find out that our rifles can hit one hundred and forty paces!”
"The remaining 1,200 people are a few hundred steps away from the governor's troops. The governor can't see clearly, so he can open fire at 140 steps!"
Zheng Kaicheng said doubtfully: "It takes a hundred steps to open fire. What should I do if the firepower is insufficient?"
Li Zhi said: "Don't be afraid. I will place fifty artillery pieces in your formation. When the time comes, I will bombard the Tatars with shotguns. How can the Tatars withstand it?"
Zheng Kaicheng then replied: "Subordinates obey orders!"
Li Zhi nodded and asked Zheng Kaicheng to arrange it. The fifty cannons of the Selection Regiment quickly heard the order and were deployed in Zheng Kaicheng's army, scattered among various companies.
As soon as Li Zhi arranged his troops, he saw Lu Xiangsheng's military command flag waving in the distance. Lu Xiangsheng ordered all armies to advance and force the Qing army under the city.
Li Zhi also asked the flag to be raised and the whole army advanced.
The Tatar army immediately saw that the Ming army was coming over from the left, center and right, and also came over from the left, center and right. Abatai saw that the Ming army had more people on both wings, so he placed 6,000 people on the west wing and 6,000 people on the east wing.
, leaving only 3,000 men in the middle. Those who challenged the east wing of the Ming army where Li Zhi was located were 6,000 Tatar soldiers on the east wing.
Li Zhi raised his telescope and looked around, and saw that the Tatars were all riding horses, about a quarter were in horseback, a quarter were in infantry, and the remaining half were auxiliary soldiers.
The Tatars jumped off their horses in front of the formation and stepped forward to fight on foot. The Tatars are a fishing and hunting people. Although they have many horses, they are best at fighting on foot. Whether it is a Tatar spearman or an archer, the fighting ability under the horse is
It's much stronger than when you're on a horse.
However, they did not understand that Li Zhi's side was full of firearms, and the slow sprint speed of the infantry would turn the two hundred meters in front of the formation into a Shura hell.
Li Zhi asked the entire army to form a horizontal formation with four deep rows, preparing to launch four rows of rounds.
Lu Xiangsheng's Chinese army blew the horn of attack, and all the armies moved forward to kill the Abatai army arrayed below the city. Not to be outdone, Abatai's 15,000 Qing army also blew the horn and marched toward the Ming Dynasty.
The army pressed forward.
The distance is six hundred meters, five hundred meters, four hundred meters, and the two armies are approaching.
Three hundred meters away, two hundred fifty meters away, two hundred meters away, the Tatars rushing over from a distance were very close, and Li Zhi could already see the ferocious expressions of the Tatars clearly with his naked eyes. The Tatars seemed to despise what was happening in front of him.
Zhi Mingjun rushed up quickly, howling, and many of them even had evil smiles on their faces.
Li Zhi's one hundred and forty six-pounder guns opened fire.
One hundred and forty artillery pieces spit out tongues of fire and fired 14,000 pellets at the ignorant Tatars.
The damage caused by these shotgun pellets is devastating.
As soon as the cannon fired, a storm of blood and water immediately erupted in front of the Tatar formation. Fourteen thousand projectiles swept through everything in the front row, piercing the bodies of the Tatar soldiers with or without armor, and shooting out the wounds they thought they had.
Their strong bodies and the armor they are proud of are as fragile as pieces of paper in front of shotgun pellets. After passing through the body of the first row of Tatars, the shotgun pellets can even kill a Tatar and then continue to pierce back.
Kill the second Tatar in the back row.
The blood was like flowers that bloomed collectively in June. They bloomed suddenly in front of the Tatar formation. One by one, they connected into one piece and formed a surface, like a red picture of beautiful flowers. It was extremely gorgeous, but it suddenly disappeared.
Killed a thousand Tatar soldiers.
Thousands of Tatar soldiers in the front row suddenly fell to the ground, screaming or not screaming, dying or groaning. Broken limbs and meat were everywhere, and intestines and various organ fragments were scattered on the ground.
.Blood and water burst out from the corpses and flowed out in the lowlands in front of the battle, forming countless small streams.
