In the wilderness, thousands of people from both sides were slowly approaching. Because of the small number of troops in the New Army of the Tang Dynasty, and also because the Ming Army took the initiative to launch an attack, they did not continue to advance. Instead, the entire army stopped, and then listed
Standardized field formation.
Hundreds of spearmen are located in the center of the army, forming a tight formation as thick as six columns. The spearmen in the front row and even the second row are all heavily armored spearmen wearing armor. They will be defensive and even
The core strength of the offense.
On the two wings of the spearmen, two teams of musketeers were dispersedly arranged on each side!
These musketeers also arranged a formation as thick as six columns!
This formed a huge rectangular square array hundreds of meters long!
Behind this huge phalanx were other units, including half a team of about fifty grenadiers, dozens of sword and shield soldiers, archers, and Hao Bainian himself.
The Ming army on the opposite side also listed a tight formation. Like the New Army of the Tang Dynasty and even all armies of this era, the Ming army relied heavily on tight formations when fighting.
Whether it is the cold weapon era or modern times, whether the army can form a tight and neat formation to fight has always been the main criterion for judging whether an army is qualified.
Because only a tight formation can defend or attack. Once the formation collapses, it is often the standard of defeat.
Individual fights by skirmishers and battles between small-scale troops have never been the mainstream on the battlefield.
A phalanx of about 600 people at the front of the Ming army was obviously very conspicuous, because the soldiers in the front row of these phalanxes all carried huge shields.
These shields are as tall as a man, enough to protect the soldiers holding the shields themselves and the soldiers behind them.
These soldiers holding shields were lined up closely in front, forming a moving shield wall.
On both sides, there are numerous wheelbarrows, which are also covered with huge and thick shields. The defensive capabilities of these shield carts are stronger than the giant shields held by the giant shield soldiers.
These two weapons were the sharp weapons used by the Ming army to fight against the new armies of the Tang Dynasty. They were also one of their main confidences in winning this battle.
Behind these shields and shield carts, there is a row of neat bowl-mouth cannons being carried by soldiers. Behind the bowl-mouth cannons, there are a large number of sword, shield and spearmen wearing heavy armor.
Further behind, there were at least two hundred archers.
This is a composite square formation composed of multiple arms. The front row is giant shields and shield vehicles, followed by artillery, heavy armored melee units and archers.
Seeing this square formation, even Hao Bainian couldn't help but frown.
But what relieved him was that there was only one such phalanx in the Ming army, and the remaining phalanxes were just ordinary spearmen or sword and shield men.
However, if this phalanx is allowed to advance into our own formation, the opponent's use of bowl-mouthed cannons and bows and arrows will cause a lot of damage to our own side.
In this case, I'm afraid I will have to change my previous defensive strategy.
The musketeers and spearmen of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty were never used for defense, but for offense!
Once a huge phalanx of 800 people launches an attack, it is enough to crush an enemy several times larger.
The Ming army's advance was not fast, and could even be called slow. However, the opponent's new Tang Dynasty army had no idea of advancing and just waited for the Ming army to arrive!
After seeing that the distance between the two sides had shortened by a hundred meters, Hao Bainian still did not order the musketeers to fire!
Because it was useless to fire, the New Army of the Tang Dynasty had tested the shields of these pseudo-Ming thieves with live ammunition before, and their defensive capabilities were quite good. Our own muskets from a hundred meters away could not pose a threat to them at all.
Eighty meters later, Hao Bainian still didn’t give the order!
He is still waiting!
Seventy meters later, Hao Bainian finally gave the order: "Aim!"
However, the Ming army continued to advance. At this time, the archers on both sides actually began to shoot arrows using the projectile method.
The thrown bows and arrows began to cause casualties to the soldiers on both sides, but the number of archers on both sides was not large, and the archers on both sides were not elite. The archers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty were not very good, but the archers of the Ming Army were not very good either.
It only took three months of training. These archers were shooting at a distance of 70 meters, and they were still located behind the formations of both sides. This distance had to be extended by another ten or twenty meters, almost reaching 80 or 90 meters.
meters distance.
The accuracy and power of a bow and arrow at such a distance are quite poor!
Although there were some casualties, they did not cause chaos in the formations of both sides!
Sixty meters away, at this time, Hao Bainian had already asked the grenadiers to come out!
To deal with these Ming troops covered in tortoise shells, the best way is to use grenade grenades. Those shields can block bullets, but they absolutely cannot block grenades.
What's more, after the enemy's shield entered a distance of more than fifty meters, it couldn't even block musket bullets!
When the grenadiers came out, they raised their muskets together with the musketeers, waiting for the final order to fire!
The Ming army continued to advance, and it didn't take long before they advanced a few more meters. After reaching a distance of about fifty meters, the Ming army generals in the rear were already getting excited. At this distance, even if they were separated by their own soldiers in the front,
At a distance of almost twenty meters, their two hundred archers can be considered to have entered the effective shooting range of about seventy meters. At this time, the archers can already exert their true power.
However, before they could be happy, they saw the pseudo-Tang thieves on the opposite side firing in unison!
The familiar sound of gunfire appeared in the field, and as white smoke rose, countless bullets began to hit the shields of the Ming army.
However, the shields they had placed high hopes on were punched with small holes by bullets, and then the shield-holding soldiers behind the shields were killed. After these shield-holding soldiers were hit, they were naturally unable to maintain their shields.
Ever since, we could see that in front of the Ming army's array, dozens of soldiers holding shields fell down almost at the same time, exposing the gunners behind the shields!
At this time, the Ming army generals in the rear also knew that the time for the real decisive battle had arrived, and each one of them frantically ordered the troops in the rear to rush forward.
More than two thousand Ming troops launched a charge at the same time. They were running without even thinking about their formation. It gave people the illusion that the mountains and plains in this wilderness were filled with Ming soldiers.
However, Hao Bainian ignored the Ming soldiers who rushed up from behind. He still only had eyes for the Ming army's forward phalanx of five or six hundred people in front.
The musketeers continued to fire, and the archers in the rear row also continued to shoot arrows, causing the soldiers of the Ming army to fall continuously. The Ming army continued to advance while suffering casualties, and the archers of the Ming army also continued to shoot arrows.
, and brought casualties to the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
The heavy-armored spearmen in the front row were fine. They were protected by armor, and the bows and arrows could not hurt them. However, the musketeers and the spearmen in the rear began to suffer a large number of casualties.
After seeing that his own soldiers had suffered a lot of casualties, Hao Bainian decisively ordered: "The whole army attacks!"
The rumble of drums sounded, and the spearmen of the new army of the Tang Dynasty moved in formation. They held spears and continued to move forward with steady steps!
The musketeers also fired the last round of volley after the Ming army rushed to a distance of about thirty meters, and then rushed out with their muskets with bayonets attached!
However, it was not these musketeers or spearmen who made the first move, but the grenadiers, which only had 50 people. At this time, they even carried their muskets on their backs, and each of them held grenades in their hands.
They were still in complete formation, ignoring the fact that their comrades beside them were constantly being shot by the Ming army's bows and arrows.
The deputy officer leading the team held his waist knife high and shouted: "Light the fire!"
Then there was another shout: "Drop a bomb!"
In an instant, dozens of black grenades fell into the Ming army's array, not only causing the remaining shield soldiers and shield vehicles to be blown up, but also those behind the shields who were preparing to load ammunition and launch.
The artillerymen of the artillery were also killed and wounded in the bombing.
Even the landing point of most grenades was not the front row of Ming army shield soldiers, but near the artillery where the bowl-mouthed guns were located in the rear.
Once the bomb was thrown, it was not one round, but several rounds in succession. When the grenadiers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty were fighting, in addition to the standard guns and ammunition, they carried a total of four grenades.
This means they can throw four grenades in a short period of time!
Dozens of people throwing them together meant that one or two hundred grenades would fall into the Ming army's square formation and explode in just ten or twenty seconds.
Even if these grenades are only filled with black powder, the power of the explosion cannot be underestimated, especially if it explodes in a crowded array. The explosion of one grenade is enough to kill four, five or even seven or eight Ming soldiers around them.
life.
The Ming army generals in the rear looked ashen as they watched the phalanx acting as the vanguard set off more than a hundred explosions of smoke and dust in a short period of time.
How come there are so many explosive shells of these pseudo-Tang rebels? There are more explosives than the last time at the Lanjiang Ferry. And isn’t it said that all the explosives of the pseudo-Tang rebels are at the Lanjiang ferry? Why do they appear here?
so much?
After more than a hundred rounds of explosions, the spearmen and musketeers of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty also braved the smoke and rushed into the Ming army's forward array.
After watching the hundreds of spearmen of the puppet Tang rebel army rushing into the Ming army's forward array with a sweeping attitude, the deputy Qianhu of the Ming army who commanded the archers in the Ming army's forward array couldn't help but murmured: "It's over!
"
At this time, the shield soldiers and gunners in the Ming army's forward array and even the sword, shield, and spearmen were either killed or injured in the previous battles, or were greatly frightened, and could not be organized to intercept the bayonet charge of the new army of the Tang Dynasty.
Once the melee friendly troops in front fail to stop the pseudo-Tang rebel army, then the two hundred or so archers of my own will be completely crushed to pieces!
At the same time, the middle-aged general of the Ming army in the rear also took a deep breath: Now, it is time to decide the outcome, and the whole army is ordered to kill anyone who dares to retreat without mercy!"
Then, he looked back at the soldiers and subordinate generals behind him: "Follow me to kill the thieves!"