Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 57 Destroying the Enemy
Lu Xiangsheng was riding on his horse and was watching the formation of the bandits. The terrain around the Sanli Bridge was flat and open, which was very suitable for a large-scale cavalry assault. Unfortunately, Zu Broadband took away most of the cavalry, and he had only Li Chongjin's more than 500 cavalry under his command. Although Lu Xiangtong's two hundred or so cavalry were very elite, they were still mainly sentinels on weekdays, and lacked experience in large-scale cavalry combat.

The cavalry charge is very particular. The distance between each cavalry, the distribution of weapons used by the vanguard and the rear row, and the instant judgment of the strength of the battlefield after charging will directly affect the outcome of the entire battle. Rushing into the crowd is also death. There must be tacit protection and cooperation among comrades in arms. Those brave generals who are enemies against thousands of people must have someone around them to block the attacks of various weapons. They only need to deal with the enemy in front of them with all their strength. Otherwise, even an invincible person would not be able to block all kinds of weapons attacking him from front to back, left, and right.

The bandits on the opposite side are divided into three armies, the front, the middle, and the rear, with about [-] cavalry guarding the flanks on each side; the bandits in the front line are close to [-], and they are mainly young and strong. There are about [-] bandits in the front row. Holding a shield in one hand and a knife, gun, axe and fork in the other, there are all kinds of shields in his hands, including leather shields, wooden shields and iron shields, and some even use chopped thick door panels as shields.

Behind them is the largest group of bandit soldiers, armed with various weapons, and once the front row breaks through the formation of the officers and soldiers, they will rush up to fight in melee.

Lu Xiangsheng led his troops to fight against the bandits for many years, so he has rich experience; at first, the bandits didn't dare to fight the army head-on, and often ran away when they saw the flags of the officers and soldiers from a distance. After chasing, they will gather together by themselves.The current bandits are quite different from the old ones. After years of fighting, the surviving old thieves have dared to confront the officers and soldiers head-on; The thieves surrounded them to attack and kill them. The combat effectiveness of the thieves has been greatly improved. The only disadvantage is that the weapons and armor are not as good as the officers and soldiers.

The Tianxiong Army was established when Lu Xiang was promoted to the magistrate of the daimyo. Although the imperial court also issued weapons and armor from the military supervision department, most of them were old and dilapidated and unusable. Most of the soldiers have just been fully equipped. After years of fighting, most of the weapons and armor have been damaged. They can only be repaired by soldiers who can blacksmith in the camp when they set up camp after the war.

Since the second half of the eighth year of Chongzhen, Zhu Zhenqing, who traveled over here, attached great importance to the logistical support of the officers and soldiers. The quality of various weapons and armor has been greatly improved. According to Chongzhen's order, various military supplies are given priority to Lu Xiangsheng and Hong Chengchou, because these two people are fighting on the front line of suppressing bandits, and then the surplus is given to Liaodong and Hong Chengchou. The first line of Xuanda sent a little bit, because according to the historical trajectory, Chongzhen knew that at least in the past few years, there will be no large-scale wars in these two places, and it is a waste to give them good things, right? Good steel is used on the blade. This sentence is the most good description.

During the refurbishment of the Tianxiong Army in Ruzhou, a steady stream of military supplies were sent from the capital, such as long knives that could break gold, spears that pierced armor, three-edged arrows that could break through armor at fifty steps, and hundreds of new-style firecrackers. and ammunition, and even the technology-mature Thunderbolt, which weighs about two catties. After training, a strong soldier can throw more than forty steps, and the killing range is about ten to twenty steps. Lu Xiangsheng saw the Thunderbolt After seeing the power of the thunderbolt, he was overjoyed. For this reason, he specially selected a hundred brave, careful and strong soldiers to serve as grenadiers. Lu Xiangsheng believed that the thieves who had never seen Zhentianlei, in the face of the huge explosion and lethality , what a rout will happen.

This time, the Sichuan Army who accompanied the team also got the benefits. Not only did they reissue half a year's rations, but many elite soldiers also replaced them with sharper weapons and cotton armor with stronger defenses. I'm so happy, the generals above Qian Zong are all equipped with excellent mail armor, and their ability to defend against bows and arrows and swords and guns is greatly improved. Although the defense against blunt weapons such as maces and hammers is poor, compared The previous leather armor was no better.

After observing the thieves' formation, Lu Xiangsheng ordered in a calm tone: "Come in!"

As Yang Maogong waved the flag in his hand, more than [-] Tianxiong troops and [-] Sichuan troops shouted in unison: "Guard!", and the formation of officers and troops began to move slowly, with two hundred soldiers in double armor walking in the front. The heavy infantry, this is also Lu Xiangsheng's carefully crafted weapon to break the formation. He selected two hundred warriors with outstanding physique and incomparable strength from the Tianxiong army, and equipped them with blunt weapons such as hammers, maces, and flails. , wearing more than [-] kilograms of chain armor on the outside, a layer of cotton armor on the inside, an eight-petal iron helmet, and iron mesh boots on the feet. Although the movement speed is slower, the protection is unparalleled. This was also made under Chongzhen's suggestion. The armor suit manufacturing workshop of the Armor Supervisor was working day and night, and it took more than half a year to produce more than [-] sets of mail armor for use.

The rogues on the opposite side have also begun to greet the officers and soldiers. Compared with the neat formation of the officers and troops, the formation of the rogues is still as chaotic as ever. They swarmed up, relatively neat at the beginning, and after dozens of steps, the fast-paced thieves began to break away from the group and rushed to the front of the entire formation.

The officers and soldiers are still marching neatly. Every few tens of steps, the leading generals at all levels will shout orders to complete the team. Some soldiers in the back row with a slightly scattered pace follow the command to keep up with the whole team. Although the newly recruited soldiers in the army looked decent in their daily drills, they had never been on a real battlefield. It was the first time they faced such a big scene. There is indeed a blank space, and these recruits are arranged at the back to avoid unexpected situations when the battle begins. These people will only grow up after seeing blood.

When the distance between the two sides was about one mile, the thieves in the front row had already started shouting and charging, and with the sound of a horn, the official army brigade stopped advancing, and more than a thousand archers came out and divided into two rows, front and back, each shooting from the arrow. Three long arrows were taken out of the pouch and inserted on the ground in front of him. An archer bent his bow and set up an arrow and shot it obliquely forward. As long as it reaches this area, it is the effective killing range of the bow and arrow.

Two hundred heavy infantry soldiers from the Tianxiong Army lined up. These are old soldiers who have fought for many years and have rich combat experience. They look at the rushing bandits with contempt, as if they were dead. They have fought against the bandits for many years. , these thieves still haven't changed their inherent bad habits. They start charging hundreds of steps away. By the time they rush to the front of the formation to fight, less than half of their physical strength has been consumed. It takes less than a quarter of an hour to swing their weapons and fight. Charging, in fact, is just because of inner timidity to embolden oneself.

After tens of breaths of effort, some thieves had already passed the position of the range-finding arrow, and a slightly longer horn sounded. The archers pointed their bows obliquely at the sky, and the brigade of thieves had already reached the attack range with a shout. The horn sounded, and more than a thousand long arrows flew into the sky almost at the same time, reaching the sky above the bandit soldiers in the blink of an eye, and then turned downward, stabbing fiercely at the crowd.

"Raise the shield! Raise the shield!"

The bandit leader shouted hoarsely, but the bow and arrow had already fallen, and the bandit soldiers who raised their shields a little later were hit by arrows one after another. The three-edged long arrow easily pierced through the leather and cotton armor of the bandits and pierced into their bodies. There was a miserable howl, and hundreds of armored thieves were either dead or injured. The thieves hurriedly raised their shields to cover them. The protection of the bows and arrows in the next few rounds was much smaller, but more than a hundred bandits lost their combat effectiveness.

Seeing the officers and soldiers' archers retreating, the bandits' morale was immediately boosted, and they rushed forward shouting again. As for the bandits who fell to the ground, no one cared about them. Those who died were fine, and those with lesser injuries ran back on their own. Then, those who were seriously injured and fell to the ground screamed loudly and gradually weakened until they bled to death.

Amidst the commander's shouting orders, two hundred heavily armored infantry stepped forward to meet the bandits dozens of paces away. The army and the bandit soldiers crashed into each other.

The general who led this team of heavy armored infantry was named Zhou Xiong. He was in his thirties. Six years ago, he was recruited from the Daming Mansion and followed Lu Xiangsheng to suppress bandits. He was born as a blacksmith. , the body of the hammer is 1.5 meters, and the hammer head made of refined iron is as big as a baby's head, weighing more than [-] kilograms.

He exerted all his strength on his waist, and swung the hammer to hit a rushing bandit soldier. Seeing the hammer coming, the bandit quickly raised his iron shield with one hand to block it, only to hear a loud sound of "Duang", the bandit's iron The shield was dented by the huge force, the arm holding the shield was smashed together with the shoulders and chest, the internal organs were shattered, blood mixed with minced meat spurted out of the mouth, and he fell to the ground dead without making a cry.

Zhou Xiong retracted the hammer and swung it horizontally. The shields, knives and guns in the hands of several thieves were swept away. A thieves jumped to his side and slashed horizontally with a knife. A stream of sparks splashed from the armor, but it didn't cut through the iron armor at all. Before the thief swung his knife again, a flail hit his head, and the thief suddenly fell to the ground with his brain burst and died.

(End of this chapter)