Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 58 Rout
Zhou Xiong took a few steps forward and rushed into the crowd, swung the hammer and swept half a circle horizontally, with the 1.5-meter body of the hammer plus the length of his arm, several thieves within two meters around him were swept away, screaming He fell to the ground in the sound.

Seeing Zhou Xiong's incomparable bravery, the thieves ran away in panic and flocked to both sides of him; led by Zhou Xiong, the heavy armored infantry rushed on rampage, breaking a gap in the formation of the shield-wielding thieves in a short while. The sword and shield hand quickly followed up, stabbing with a gun and slashing with a knife, widening the breakthrough gap.

In this round of attack by the officers and soldiers, although the number of bandits killed was not large, their destructive and deterrent effects were large enough. The 200 men rushed forward and forced the bandits with shields to retreat to both sides, revealing the shieldless bandits behind them.

Gundilong was in the front line. Seeing the fierceness of the officers and soldiers, if he didn't make up the gap in time, his subordinates would probably retreat back. He gritted his teeth and roared: "Follow me!", then held up his long handle The machete rushed towards the armored soldiers of the officer army, and a group of brave thieves followed closely behind, shouting.

The ground dragon rushed up to a heavily armored infantry, and slashed at his neck diagonally with both hands. In the middle of the air, the officer's mace swept across his body, and the thief behind the ground dragon reacted very quickly, grabbing the belt of the ground dragon and dragging him half a step back, the mace brought the sound of the wind Passing by a few inches in front of him, Gundilong broke out in a cold sweat, and in a flash, his life almost died.

A thief took the opportunity to rush over, and hit the soldier's waist and abdomen with a short hammer in his hand. The armored soldier bent down slightly in pain, and a big mouthful of blood spurted out from his mouth, which was spraying on his wounded chest. On the face of the thief, the eyes of the thief were instantly covered with blood, and a hammer hit him on the shoulder. Amidst the screams, half of his shoulder was smashed, and the person fell down immediately.

A long hook and sickle gun hooked the wounded armored soldier's calf, and the gunman pulled back forcefully. The armored soldier fell to the ground unsteadily. Before he could get up, several knives and guns fell on his face. The armored soldier died instantly.

Gundilong changed to a long knife, and slashed forward desperately with red eyes. Under his leadership, many thieves rushed forward fearlessly. Soon to be surrounded by large groups of thieves, caught in a bitter battle.

When He Shixian saw that the officers and armored soldiers were encircled, he immediately ordered his personal soldiers to send orders to the cavalry on both sides to encircle and attack the flanks of the officers and soldiers' phalanx. As long as the flanks were opened, the infantry could only die when facing the cavalry's attack.

After receiving the order, the thieves and cavalry not far away rushed towards the flanks of the officers and soldiers from both sides.

The Sichuan soldiers who have not participated in the battle are divided into two groups, each with about 3000 people, led by the general soldier Qin Yiming and the guerrilla Gao Qixun respectively, in order to cover the two flanks of the Tianxiong Army. The two ordered separately, a thousand infantry from both camps came out, holding carbine guns to face the bandit cavalry, a thousand shields held shields to guard both sides, and more than a thousand archers gathered in a square formation to follow closely behind.

The horse-repelling guns in the hands of the officers and soldiers were nearly four meters long. The spearmen in the front row inserted the tail of the horse-refusing guns into the ground, stepped on the tail of the gun with one foot, and held the barrel of the gun with the other hand. The sharp spear points pointed obliquely towards the enemy. Then put the horse-rejecting guns on the shoulders of the soldiers in the front row, and suddenly a hedgehog-like phalanx formed.

Gao Qixun rode a horse and stood a hundred paces behind the gun array with a gun, surrounded by more than a dozen personal soldiers, and everyone looked eager to try.

In the eighth year of the Chongzhen reign, Hong Chengchou was merciful and did not punish the officers and soldiers who made trouble. Instead, he reissued the salary for several months. The soldiers stayed there, and later the imperial court appointed Qin Liangyu's younger brother, Qin Yiming, as the chief soldier, using Qin Liangyu's prestige to suppress them, and later transferred to serve under Lu Xiangsheng's command. changed.

In this battle outside the city of Chuzhou, Lu Xiangsheng still arranged for the Tianxiong Army to take the lead, and the Sichuan soldiers only played the role of covering the flanks. This made the Sichuan soldiers very dissatisfied. , so that you can make meritorious deeds and earn rewards, it is only used as a reserve team to cover the friendly army, and it is suspected of being overqualified. A few thousand generals and the generals found Qin and Gao, and asked them to come forward to find the commander-in-chief and demand to exchange positions with the Tianxiong army. Well, Qin Yiming is soft-tempered, and neither side wants to offend, Gao Qixun is not a vegetarian, relying on the personal prestige he has built up every day, he only gave up by scolding those generals.

The thieves' cavalry consisted of about [-] riders, and when they rushed a hundred paces away from the officers and soldiers, the spear array had already been set up. When the thieves saw the dense spear array, their scalps felt numb, and suddenly, the horses slowed down. Their nature is to plunder innocent people, so they don’t want to exchange their lives for money. Normally, they would not go straight in such a situation, but now it’s a fierce battle between the two armies. Those big bosses will not bypass them, but if they want to assault the official army phalanx, then this gun formation cannot be bypassed at all.

During the fierce battle between the two armies, the dust rising from the ground covered the sky and the sun, and the thieves and cavalry, which were blocked from sight, rushed over and found that the cavalry of the official army was two miles away from the infantry formation, and had been covered by the infantry formation. Without being discovered by the thieves on the opposite side, they didn't even hit the flag. A large array of red armor was staring at them. Once the order to charge was issued, they would rush into their own formation after a while. Now they are just waiting for the thieves' formation to be cleared. It's just broken.

The thieves rushing in the front row were so frightened that their souls froze, and they pulled the reins to control the horses. The horses drew an arc dozens of steps before turning back. Gao Qixun reacted quickly and shouted: "Arrow!"

The archers who had already bent their bows and set their arrows, let go of their fingers following the order, and more than a thousand long arrows flew forward. The thieves who were slowing down and turning suddenly screamed again and again. Dozens of thieves were either shot directly, or It was the horse that hit the arrow, and the thieves who had already turned the corner beat their horses and ran away desperately. Although the thieves in the back row did not know why, but because of the tacit understanding formed over the years, most of the thieves started to run away when they were not within the range of the bows and arrows of the officers and soldiers. And go, so the second wave of bows and arrows of the officers and soldiers only killed a few thieves and cavalry.

Gao Qixun yelled: "Turtle son! You can run faster than a rabbit!"

Lu Xiangsheng found that the battle situation had entered a stalemate. The bandit army, which had rarely fought head-on with the officers and soldiers in the past, was uncharacteristically today. Relying on the strength of several times more people than the officers and soldiers, they insisted on withstood the huge impact of the heavy armored infantry, especially the nearly ten thousand soldiers in the front row. The thieves had already shown their blood, and they fought hand-to-hand with the officers and soldiers without fear of death. The two hundred heavy armored infantry had already suffered dozens of casualties, and the formation of the pikemen began to loosen under the impact of the thieves.

Lu Xiangsheng decisively ordered: "Grenadiers on! The cavalry is ready to charge!"

The [-] grenadiers in the back line were divided into two parts, and under the leadership of the two generals, they strode forward and quickly rushed to both sides of the gun formation; because the heavy armored infantry had already entered the bandit formation, the bandit army avoided their edge , Flocked to both sides one after another, large groups of thieves crowded together densely.

There are only three rows of pikemen in the phalanx, and the last row is only ten steps away from the thieves. They are ready to move forward at any time, so as to fill the vacancy left by the casualties of the officers and soldiers in the front row. As the battle progressed, the pikemen's casualties gradually increased stand up.

After the two grenadiers arrived, they stood in a row, and under the general's loud order, they blew on the matchlocks in their hands, ignited the thunder fuze, counted silently for five or six breaths, and pushed the two-pound thunderbolt forward one after another. cast out.

Because the earth-shattering thunder made of clay pots fell to pieces without exploding, so under the order of Chongzhen, Jin Yiwei found many craftsmen who cast bronze wares from all over the country, and cast them into thin shells with pig iron. , which is basically similar to the hand grenade of later generations.

These grenadiers have been strictly selected. They are not only strong, but also calm and careful. If the mind is not calm enough, flustered before the battle, the fuze has just been ignited or the force is not thrown into their own camp, the effect will be great. Are not the same.

For the sake of safety, the outer fuze of the Thunderbolt produced by the Military Weapons Supervisor is relatively long, and it takes nearly ten breaths to burn out. The Thunderbolt can only be thrown after five or six breaths after burning, so that it will basically be released immediately after it hits the ground. Needless to say, the lethality of the explosion, if it is thrown out as soon as it is ignited, and it will continue to burn for a few breaths after it hits the ground, in a dense crowd, the fuze is likely to be trampled out, then this thunderbolt is useless at all.

The latter is even more terrifying. After all, it is thrown behind their own formation. Many people will lose their strength in a panic. If the thunder falls on the front row of their own formation, the consequences will be devastating. The strict formation of their own It will collapse instantly, because after all, this is not the skirmish formation of the hot weapon generations of later generations. The formation of cold weapons must be tight to be lethal. , The selected grenadiers are also trained every day, and they don't take shape until they form a subconscious reaction.

Hundreds of thunderbolts flew over the spearman's head and fell into the dense array of thieves dozens of steps away. Many thieves were hit by the thunderbolt that fell from the sky. There was a series of sounds, and broken limbs and arms flew around. The explosive power of the improved black powder was extraordinary. In addition to the amazing damage caused by the fragments exploded from the shell casing, the broken iron and porcelain fragments mixed in it were also scattered and splashed. The untouched thieves caused huge damage. Many thieves' faces were covered with fragments, and their eyes were also blinded by the projected fragments. They covered their eyes and howled miserably. The sound wave was dizzy, and both Gundilong and Pilizhen were killed on the spot.

Huge explosions and thieves' screams resounded all over the battlefield. The movements of the thieves in the front row who were fighting desperately with the officers and soldiers suddenly slowed down. Some even ignored the spears that were being stabbed and looked up to the sky. The bright sun was shining in the sky. , the blue sky without a cloud.

The officers and soldiers were familiar with the power of the Thunderbolt every day. Hearing the sound of the explosion, they were immediately refreshed and stabbed forward with the spear in their hands.

The large group of thieves who were coming from behind heard the explosion and saw the scene like a Shura field after the gunpowder smoke cleared. They were frightened and frightened.

"Grandpa Tian thundered!"

"The officers and soldiers have cast a spell!"

"Run, run, run!"

Amidst all kinds of terrified shouts, some people ran backwards first, and then quickly spread. The thieves in the front and middle teams began to flee on a large scale. The cavalry team was on standby behind the infantry formation. At this time, the sound of an explosion came from a distance. The smoke and dust raised by the explosion covered the sky. Before they could figure out what happened, thousands of fleeing thieves swept towards them. Come on, He Shixian was riding on the horse, and he had already seen the figures of the cavalry of the officers and soldiers starting to appear in the distance. He sighed and said: "Let's go! We lost today!" Then he turned the horse's head and took the lead to gallop north. A group of cronies drove their horses to follow closely behind, Gao Shentong gritted his teeth, shouted "Go!", and rode his horse to chase He Shixian, and the leaders of his cronies also started to flee with their subordinates.

(End of this chapter)