stubborn thief

Chapter 337 The First Step

Liu Chengzong was not in a hurry to attack. He climbed up the earth hill built by his brother and overlooked the terrain of the battlefield.

To the north is the Huangshui River, which flows slightly from east to west. On the other side of the river is the farmland at the foot of the mountain. At the east end of the farmland is a long and narrow riverbank.

The vast field on the south bank of the Huangshui River was where his camp was located. A small river to the east blocked his way. Pao Wuzhong guards the key points.

There are thousands of soldiers farther away, but those people look like officers and soldiers.

The soldiers in the Northwest and the Southwest are different. The soldiers in the Northwest are not much different from the official army in terms of armor, clothing and weaponry. The only difference is that there are fewer firearms. The real difference is nothing more than the difference in the military formation.

The formation of the local soldiers is also a battalion flag, and the flags used by each battalion flag are also the constellations and stars, the flying tigers in the four directions and the five divine banners, so the formation is clear in Liu Chengzong's eyes.

A 24 battalion has 120 hundred regiments, each of which has a large and a small army flag, with a strength of about [-] and five people.

The 24th Banners, including the Chinese Army, have nine Banners cavalry soldiers lined up on the left and right, and the Fifteen Banners infantry soldiers form a loose square formation according to the formation of five sentries.

The reason why it is loose is that the small infantry formations of the native soldiers are not square formations. To be precise, each hundred general formation is actually two small formations. There is also a top team of 25 people arranged in five rows of one, three, five, seven, and nine people, and the leader holds a small army flag.

Liu Chengzong didn't quite understand the meaning of the existence of this top team. He turned his head and looked behind him with his eyes, wondering, "Where's Chieftain Li?"

Behind him, the chieftains of Xining lowered their heads and pretended to be dumb. When they heard him speak, they moved aside one after another, revealing Li Tianyu who was hiding at the end.

His hiding behavior was discovered by others, Li Tianyu panicked with embarrassment, with a dejected and dark face, he still tried to raise a smile: "Marshal, what's the matter?"

As if he didn't see his expression, Liu Chengzong raised his arms and pointed to the opposite side, saying, "What does that little team do?"

"What small sharp team?"

"You can't see such a big Li Ziqi? It's just the small team in front of your army formation!"

Li Tianyu had seen it a long time ago, he just hid when he saw such a big Li Ziqi in the army formation on the other side, if he hadn't been trapped in Liu Chengzong's army formation, he would have wanted to run out.

He never expected that there would be his own army on the opposite side. Their family is different from other chieftains. He had an agreement with Liu Xiangyu first, and even opened up the relationship with the Lanzhou defenders for the Marshal's Mansion. Raise the rebellious flag, he can't turn back.

If Liu Chengzong's suspicion is aroused by the situation of his own expedition, he will be out of character inside and out.

"Master, why don't you lend me the binoculars." Li Tianyu gritted his teeth: "Let me see which unworthy descendant is leading the army."

"Just take a look." Liu Chengzong handed over the binoculars. This time the chieftain's soldiers went to war, which means that the chieftains' control over the family is far less than he imagined. This is a good sign. He smiled and said: "Your family probably They're all on the opposite side."

Li Tianyu looked and looked through the binoculars, the more he looked, the darker his face became, and the leading soldiers on the opposite side became more and more familiar to each other, which really made Liu Chengzong sure.

My uncle Li Huaao's team, from grandparents to nephews, four generations under the same roof, all stand in front of the battle and lead the top team, no one takes his little life seriously!
It is difficult for him to explain this to Liu Chengzong. In fact, his family is a side branch. In the generation of the great grandfather Li Guangxian, there are two strong branches. It is not a grandfather. One is Li Guangxian and the other is Li Guangyu. They were still in the same generation at that time. , but the next generation will be different.

Li Guangxian had two sons, the eldest son Li Hualong and the second son Li Huaao.

Li Guangyu's descendant is Li Conglong.

Transforming the dragon and following the dragon, it is very clear who is the master and who is the second.

Li Guangxian was succeeded by Li Hualong as the chieftain, but because he had no heir, the chieftain fell to Li Tianyu, Li Conglong's son.

Now that Li Huamao is leading troops into battle, it is very clear what he means.

Li Tianyu was so angry that his teeth were itching. In the eyes of others, the efforts he made to prevent his family from being attacked by two sides in the war of the Lord of Hehuang were not worth mentioning at all.

Originally, they didn’t have to do anything, just tie the Tushe people at home and watch the success or failure. Liu Chengzong won, and the family did not send troops, so they would not be retaliated against; .

Fortunately, no one from his family was seen in the army formation.

He sighed, frowned and explained to Liu Chengzong: "Commander, those top troops are the generals and elite of the chieftain army. During the battle, the front dies and the rear fills up. Once the enemy's line is shaken, the soldiers behind can follow and cover up the kill, so To be able to move forward in the conflict... kill the native officials who lead the team first!"

so cruel?
Liu Chengzong raised his eyebrows: "Do you have a grudge against them, or do they have a grudge against you?"

"They don't care about my safety, so why should I do it myself?" Li Tianyu couldn't see any ruthless look on his face, but with sadness on his face, he said the most decisive words: "When the commander-in-chief takes Shangchuankou, I still hope that you will be allowed." I'll go home and recruit soldiers... Hehuang is one Li, and I can fight more than Li Huaao!"

After saying this, Li Tianyu let out a deep breath of depression, but he didn't return the telescope to Liu Chengzong, but passed it to Qi Guoping: "My brother-in-law and nephew also went out to fight, and your Qi family is no better than my Li family." Where are you going!"

Hearing this, Qi Guoping's face also darkened.

Uncle Li Tianyu's daughter married Qi Guoping's younger brother, and these chieftains were more or less related, and they looked at each other with binoculars for a while, and the mood of one watching was more complicated than that of the other.

Except for the reliable sons of the two chieftains who stayed at home, the brothers and elders of the other chieftains did not take the life of the head of the family seriously.

Liu Chengzong laughed and heard that each of the chieftains asked to recruit soldiers after the war, or to persuade them to surrender before the battle. He knew very well in his heart that these people wanted to fight for the Marshal's Mansion not because they liked him so much, but because they hated them extremely.

"Since you are willing to join me, I will not treat you badly if you have made military exploits, but surrendering before the battle will be avoided."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said, "They wish they could light mines and send you to heaven? Since I dared to raise troops, I knew I was going to kill people; since they dared to stop me, I knew I was going to kill people. Let's do it according to our ability."

In his words, Liu Shizi despised the enemies in this battle, but in fact he attached great importance to the soldiers in his heart.

Because the chieftain soldiers are more likely to be stronger than the official army... The difference is not in the soldiers. In terms of soldiers alone, regardless of equipment or tactics, they should be stronger than the official army, but the chieftain soldiers are not professional soldiers of the imperial court.

Not being a professional soldier of the imperial court, on the one hand, means not having the huge financial and human support of the imperial court;

In fact, they are the real servants of the Ming Dynasty. They don't need court salaries, rations, and equipment.

The positive status added when the unified dynasty is strong will have less impact on them, but the negative status when the unified dynasty is about to collapse will also have less impact on them.

Therefore, even if the equipment of the chieftain soldiers is slightly backward and the tactics are slightly single, they can often have fighting spirit and combat effectiveness that exceed the standing army in the war at this time.

While speaking, Liu Shizi had asked the guards to tell the generals in front of the formation about the enemy's advanced tactics and the laying of landmines in front of the formation, so that they should not enter lightly, and wait for the enemy to be defeated by layers of firearms, and then wait for an opportunity to advance.

A moment later, Liu Chengzu and Huang Shengxiao climbed the earth mountain, and the artillerymen arrived at the battlefield with twelve thousand-jin bronze heavy artillery and guns.

Of course, there is also the big mortar and enchanted flower bomb that Liu Chengzong cast in Bajiao City. That gun was also mounted on a two-wheeled gun cart in Juerwan, but the range is too short, and that thing is not needed for this battle. The supply camp is left to eat ashes.

As artillery and other heavy weapons arrived at the front line, the enemy army became less calm. Even through the binoculars, Liu Chengzong could see that the various units of the local soldiers could not hold back their panic, and ordered soldiers to shuttle between the army formations.

Mo Yujing always paid attention to the movement in front of the Marshal's Mansion. He was on the defensive. On the one hand, he did not want to give up the trench fortifications to advance, and on the other hand, he wanted to wait for the sun to be less dazzling.

The Marshal's Mansion has more armor and equipment than the soldiers, so it is more tiring while waiting, and it is beneficial to him to wait for work.

However, the heavy artillery was slowly transported to the front line, and the situation was different.

Originally, the two armies in front of the formation had artillery, and the artillery regulations were the same. What the official army had, Liu Chengzu's Xining Guard Banner Army and Zhenhai Battalion were equipped with whatever. They were all Western Army, and the firearms they used were roughly the same.

The reason why the peace of mind can be kept at a distance of [-] steps is because the army in the Northwest does not popular heavy artillery. The artillery they are mainly equipped with is the Mielu Cannon and the Franco Cannon, supplemented by light artillery that fights poisonous smoke and sparks.

The guns are all good guns. Gongchang Mansion is the center of iron smelting in the northwest. After Ye Mengxiong came to power in Shaanxi, forged guns became popular here.

There are only two disadvantages. It requires extremely strong manufacturing capabilities to build in large quantities. The second is that forging cannons are not big.

But these two shortcomings are not a problem for the Northwest Army. Daming has no shortage of manpower and technology, and has extremely strong productivity in the handicraft era.

However, the enemies in the Northwest have to deal with heavy artillery with a slow rate of fire and high power. The Mongolian soldiers who aim at looting usually avoid battles and do not fight, and the horsemen regroup and do not reunite. , and the range does not need to be too far, as long as it is farther than the hard bow of the Mongols.

This led to the fact that regardless of the east and west, the most artillery of the local soldiers who made national weapons was the Mielu Cannon, and the most artillery of Liu Chengzu's Xining Banner Army and Zhenhai Battalion was also the Mielu Cannon.

There are two types of threats that Daming faces captives, one is the old northern captives and the other is the new eastern captives. Therefore, there are also two types of extermination cannons, the old ones are lighter and the new ones are heavier.

The new Mie Donglu is mainly equipped in Liaodong, which is a Hongyi-style cast medium-sized field gun.

The Western Army’s Mielu Cannon is a small cannon for fighting the Mongols. The whole body is forged from clean iron. It is two feet long, weighs 95 catties, and can fire one catty of shells. It is equipped with a double-wheeled three-wheeled artillery cart. A small wheel, three guns per vehicle, fired at the same time, focusing on maneuvering.

This is a very good field light artillery, suitable for small-scale encounters with Mongolian tribes, but this time they are not going to fight small-scale encounters. At first everyone saw that Liu Chengzu's troops were also equipped by the army. Whoever is afraid of head-on, anyway No one's cannon will fire two hundred paces away.

But at this moment, Liu Shizi suddenly pulled out a dozen or so heavyweights from his pocket, who could resist it!
Mo Yujing's face turned green. He had fought against the northern Shaanxi rebels for more than a year. It's not that he didn't know that the northern Shaanxi rebels had cannons, but those were the cannons captured by the official army. They were in the same shape as them, and they were even official soldiers. The military cannons contain light pearls and other gadgets, but the rebels have never seen a rebel take out a heavy cannon.

But he didn't dare to order a retreat yet, because the opponent had many Mongolian cavalry, and the Northwest Frontier Army usually didn't fear the Mongolian soldiers at all, but this meeting was different. It is not sure that the army will be brought back under the harassment of the Mongolian cavalry.

An inch is long and an inch is strong, leaving him with only one choice, to take the initiative to attack.

One after another, the sound of horns sounded in the east of the river, and the Northern Army, which was not threatened by heavy artillery and guarding the narrow river beach on the north bank of Huangshui, led its troops out of camp and moved westward, intending to seize the north bank of Huangshui and pose a threat to Liu Chengzong's left wing.

Then the Eastern Army advanced in unison with the sound of horns, and the cavalry on both wings took the lead in wading across the river. Then the infantry unloaded the destroyer cannon from the artillery cart, carried it on their shoulders and pulled the cart to wade.

Seeing this scene, Liu Chengzong showed a smile on his face. The enemy's intentions were very clear. They used their feet to erase the disadvantage of the artillery's range and won by fighting, but this also meant that they temporarily gave up the advantage of the minefield.

Liu Chengzong quickly issued an order to use the Mongolian battalion of the Ahaidai Qing Department to guard against the enemy crossing the river on the north bank of Huangshui from the left wing, and to withdraw the [-]-battalion Banner Army of his elder brother Liu Chengzu's department from the front and move to the left wing to assist A Haidai Qing.

He ordered Huang Shengxiao to advance the heavy gun team in an all-round way, and bombarded the enemy's formation with heavy artillery, forcing them to speed up and consume their energy.

The horse-drawn carriage with the rear of the carriage turned upside down and carrying the gun was galloping across the battlefield, Ngawang danced and roared silently in front of the formation, Buchi loudly encouraged morale in the formation, Basang galloped across the front of the formation with the red Liu character flag on his shoulders, and the slave cavalry marched to the two wings. Dispersed, the Fanbing held up their spears and let out a shout, and the Mongolian saber struck the iron-inlaid leather shield, making a clanging sound.

The Han army led by a mixed team planted a flag spear in the farmland with the inscription "World Peace", looking around, not knowing who would take a step forward first.

Soon, all the Han soldiers took a step together, set down the heavy gun bracket, put the heavy gun with the height of a person in front of them, skillfully blown the fire, folded and ignited the matchlock wrapped around the left arm, and put it on the dragon head pole. Clamp.

A thousand-jin heavy cannon fired from the rear, and the iron bullets dragged and screamed from the top of the infantry, crossed the formation, and fell on the other side of the river. The frightened soldiers suddenly quickened their pace, followed by eleven heavy cannons roaring .

When the shells flew overhead, and the terrifying roar echoed in the river valley, the [-] veterans of the Lion Battalion at the forefront of the front turned a deaf ear to the murderous aura spreading across the battlefield.

The homeless wanderers put their guns on their shoulders and looked at the door with their pitch-black eyes through the front sight. They looked at the black line spreading on the river beach, and beyond the black line, they looked at the blurred clouds and blue sky further away.

At the end of the white clouds and blue sky is their loess and their home.

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)