Wang Yuan's initial plan was to attack the Dongsheng Youwei City in a roundabout way, leaving the Ordos tribe without a city to rely on. At the same time, he would use the city as a base to control the reinforcements from the Tumote tribe that might come to aid.
Unexpectedly, halfway along the Yellow River, Yuan Da suddenly sent a messenger. He said that Bansheng City had been captured by him and he was currently rushing to Tuotuo City, where the remnants of Tumut's troops had gathered.
The plan did not change quickly. Wang Yuan immediately changed the target of the attack and went straight along the Yellow River to attack Duoduo City.
There was once the administrative city of Dongshengwei in the Ming Dynasty, Dongsheng Zuowei City!
Food and artillery were transported by boat, and where the river was fast, they were pulled by trackers. The total was only three hundred miles, and it took a few days to arrive. Because three thousand cavalry were sent out in advance to harass the Ordos pastures and cut off the northward movement of Babaishi,
Wang Yuan's main force has never been discovered.
When they arrived at Duotuo City, Wang Yuan still had 27,000 gunmen, 3,000 artillery troops, 1,500 border cavalry, 5,000 chariot troops, and more than 30,000 auxiliary troops. The rest of the troops were abandoned.
Out to be used as bait or to harass.
"Ruoxu, you're finally here!" Yuan Da galloped over.
Wang Yuan asked: "How is the situation?"
Yuan Da said: "In Tuotuo City, there are Lao Badu's widow and eldest son, and about six or seven thousand cavalry. In the past two days, they chased me, and I ran away. I used cold guns and shot them until they lost their temper. Now Tumote
The cavalry no longer dare to leave the city."
"How does the Fire Gun Cavalry perform in actual combat?" Wang Yuan asked.
Yuan Da smiled and said: "At the beginning, the accuracy was not good enough. With a volley of three thousand cavalry and a cannon fired from a distance of thirty feet (nearly 100 meters), I could hit forty or fifty enemies. After a few more battles, I will get used to it. Now I can do it once."
I can kill seventy or eighty of them. This damn thing is so powerful, seventy or eighty at a time, and several hundred more times, and those Mongolian cavalry can’t do anything to me."
"That's good." Wang Yuan was very happy.
Under Duotuo City, nearly four hundred field artillery pieces were lined up there.
Yuan Da felt his scalp numb when he saw it: "Why are there so many artillery pieces?"
Wang Yuan smiled and said: "Your Majesty spent 600,000 taels of silver to have craftsmen from the five provinces of Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Huguang, Fujian, and Guangdong cast cannons together. In order to quickly cast cannons, steel-making and cannon-casting techniques have been developed.
It has completely spread in the five provinces."
Zhu Houzhao had no choice. The efficiency of the official weapons bureau was too low, and the quality was not good enough. He simply disclosed the artillery manufacturing technology, let the private sector cast cannons together, and then placed orders for high-priced purchases.
The Tumut tribesmen in Duoduo City looked at the Ming army outside in deathly silence.
Yuan Da's 3,000 musketry cavalry had them all spinning around. Now that the opponent had added countless more troops to attack the city, they could only stay in the city and defend it.
Because Duoduo City has a barbican city, it is useless to directly bombard the city gates. Nearly four hundred artillery pieces are all aimed at the same section of the city wall, just waiting to hear the order and fire together.
Five thousand chariot soldiers, pushing wheelbarrows, used iron chains to build a barrier against horses to protect their own musketeers and artillery.
After the rifled gun came out, the Ming army's formation was reformed again, eliminating most of the melee infantry, and when encountering Mongolian cavalry, they formed a hollow formation.
"preparation!"
"ignition!"
Each field artillery piece of the Ming army was equipped with eight artillerymen and seven auxiliary troops, each performing their own duties during transportation and combat.
"Boom boom boom!"
Nearly four hundred artillery pieces fired a salvo. Although they were all light and small cannons, the loud sound was still deafening, and many of our trained war horses were frightened.
Countless iron bullets hit the city wall, leaving dents and throwing up clusters of dirt.
More than thirty Mongolian soldiers standing on that section of the city wall were torn to pieces by cannonballs. Many more cannonballs hit the city, killing countless unlucky people, and many light-transmitting holes were smashed into the roof.
Wang Yuan sighed and said: "Light artillery is not strong enough for attacking the city. After a salvo was fired, the city wall did not move at all."
The city was built with rammed earth, and the walls were high and thick. When an iron bullet hit the wall, it was as if it hit the ground. We can only blame Zhu Yuanzhang for building the city wall too strong.
The Mongolian soldiers guarding the city were motionless. When they heard this, they probably wanted to curse. Nearly four hundred shells had been fired just now, and they felt that the city wall under their feet was shaking, crumbling as if they had experienced an earthquake.
"Come again!"
Wang Yuan suddenly said to Yuan Da: "Take your cavalry to the north. Firstly, you can prevent the enemy troops from escaping from the north city, and secondly, you can attract them to leave the city on their own initiative. If you stay here, even the Tumote cavalry will not dare to leave the city and charge into battle."
"
Yuan Da could only leave and lead his cavalry to wait outside the North City.
"Boom boom boom!"
Second artillery salvo.
After adjusting the angle, more shells hit the city wall, and no Mongolian defenders dared to stand on the city wall.
"Boom boom boom!"
The third round of artillery salvo fired, and small cracks appeared in some places in the thick rammed earth city wall.
It is estimated that another ten rounds of volleys should be able to blast a large crack, and I am afraid I will have to continue to directly blast the gap.
"Kill out!"
The Tumut cavalry in the city did not dare to let Wang Yuan bombard the city wall.
Seeing the troublesome Yuan Da's cavalry, they had already run to the north city. They quickly rushed outside the city to form a formation, and more than 6,000 cavalry circled the flanks of the Ming army.
The Ming army had already set up a hollow square formation.
At the outermost perimeter are five thousand chariots, with iron chains tied between the chariots to slow down the enemy's cavalry charge.
On the second level, there are nine thousand rifled riflemen.
On the third, fourth and fifth floors were eighteen thousand musketeers.
In the middle, there are artillery troops and more than a thousand cavalry, as well as tens of thousands of auxiliary troops. The rest of the auxiliary troops are left on the ship.
The Tumut cavalry originally wanted to go around to the flank and charge, but after going around, they discovered that the formation of the Ming army was the same no matter where it was. They didn't care about the number of cavalry. More than 6,000 cavalry rushed directly. As long as they knocked away the chariot defense, they would be defeated.
Able to break into the Ming army infantry formation.
This is the first time in this world that they have faced the hollow formation cavalry!
"Bang bang bang!"
The first row of rifled guns fired at a long range. The second row of smoothbore guns fired at a close range. The third row...
Before the third row could fight out, more than 6,000 Tumut cavalry collapsed. Only a few lucky warriors who were not afraid of death rushed to the chariot defense circle on horseback, but were blocked by iron chains and chariots. The remaining cavalry
, fled in all directions, not returning to the city at all, running as far as they could, just wanting to leave this terrifying battlefield as soon as possible.
Yuan Da immediately led his cavalry in pursuit. The fifteen hundred border town cavalry brought by Wang Yuan also rushed out of the hollow formation with swords in hand and pursued them wildly.
"Persuade them to surrender." Wang Yuan said.
A Baofang soldier who could speak Mongolian immediately ran to the city and shouted.
The defenders in the city were so frightened that they neither surrendered nor resisted, and allowed artillery to bombard the city wall.
Wang Yuan added: "Tell them, if they don't surrender, they will massacre the city!"
The soldiers took advantage of the gap between shelling and shouted again at the top of their lungs.
Finally, the city gate opened.
Lao Badu's widow took her eldest son out of the city to ask for surrender. Duotuo City was occupied by Wang Yuan. If the Ordos tribe wanted to escape from the Hetao, this most critical crossing was also occupied by the Ming army.