prosperous age

Chapter 222 Chapter 221

"dong dong dong"

After the sound of three dull war drums, the ranks of the Ming army began to change. The soldiers in the front row advanced slowly amidst the commander's command. Most of them carried bows and arrows, and they were mainly archers. , or nearly a hundred people pushed more than 20 carts forward slowly.

People who are familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty may see at a glance what these more than 20 carts are. They all have huge bodies, and a tall baffle is erected on one side of the cart. shooting port.

On the huge shooting port at the lower part of the car body, a cannon is placed there. If Wei Guangde were here, wouldn't he recognize these cannons at a glance?

In fact, if you look carefully, you will find that in addition to the bowl-mouth gun, there are also a series of Francois cannons.

In this era, the Ming army, especially the Ming frontier army, has not been using the Fran cannon for a short time. Although it cannot be compared with the bowl-mouth gun, it has a history of three to forty years.

After the Fran cannon was sent to the border town, it was quickly liked by the generals at all levels of the frontier army because of its advantages of fast firing. However, it was still made of copper for safety, which resulted in a high cost. Neither the Bingzhanju nor Bingzhanju can be mass-produced and delivered to military towns in various places.

Some of the large Franco cannons were placed on the walls of important cities and fortresses because of the inconvenience of transportation. The infantry of the Ming army carried some small Franco cannons when they went out to battle.

When the chariot and the archers were advancing, several figures ran ahead of them. They quickly found their position and unloaded the dry wood from their backs. When the chariot was pushed beside them, the fire had already ignited .

The changes in the wilderness were naturally noticed by the soldiers on night watch in the Alta military camp. At first, the sensitive Tartar soldiers felt a slight tremor on the ground, which was a sign of a horse team moving around here.

Then there was the sound of drums, and then there was a fire pile about a hundred steps away from the barracks. There was no need for the dogs to call the police. They knew that they had encountered a surprise attack by the Ming army. Warned in the barracks, while running towards the wooden fence of the camp, ready to shoot bows and arrows to stop the opponent from approaching after the Ming army approached.

The appearance of the Ming army was still very sudden, and the Anda army has been stationed here for a long time. When we first confronted the Ming army, the Anda army was more cautious. Patrollers went out to the barracks for more than ten miles to inspect, and even wandered around Baoanzhou and the Ming army barracks from time to time to observe the movements of the Ming army.

But after a long time, seeing that the Ming army on the opposite side seemed to have no intention of going to war, the vigilance gradually relaxed at this time.

It has been more than ten days, and the barracks has not arranged for people to patrol outside at night. They only arrange guards at the gate of the barracks, and there are patrols inside the barracks.

Naturally, the patrol in the camp was not to guard against a surprise attack by the Ming army, but to guard against accidental fire and unforeseen events caused by soldiers making noise at night.

It is precisely because of the arrogance of the Alta Department that the Ming army had the opportunity to complete the assembly preparations very close to the Alta Department's barracks.

The chariots were put in place, but the archer army was still advancing. They passed through the gaps between the chariots. They had to get closer to the Alta army barracks before they could pose a threat to the enemy barracks with their arrows. .

With the sound of rushing footsteps, the infantry of the Ming army was already standing behind the gunner, and the red double-breasted mandarin duck battle jacket under the firelight looked even more bloodthirsty.

The soldiers of the Ming army at this time, those young soldiers were very emotional. They had never seen such a large formation since they joined the army, an army formation formed by tens of thousands of people.

And for those veterans who have gone through the Gengwu Revolution, it has been seen a lot that the army is assembled, but it is the first time that the offensive formation is set up.

Even the team leaders of each team became emotional at the moment, and most of them had such an experience for the first time.

It has been many years since the Ming army set up such an army formation of tens of thousands of people in the wild, and it should have been the Zhengde Dynasty at that time.

That is to say, when Emperor Wuzong was still in power, the Nine Frontiers of the Ming Army began to have the opportunity to gather and break out of the Great Wall, launching attacks on the Mongolian tribes again and again, plundering their resources and weakening their strength.

But now, such a thing is impossible to happen, and it would be good if the Mongols didn't fight over.

In addition to the guards stationed in various places, the frontier troops of the Ming army mainly consisted of battalions led by generals and guerrillas. In the process of fighting the invading Tartars, only a few thousand troops are often deployed at a time, and battles with more than 5000 troops rarely occur.

Only during the battle of defending the city, perhaps more soldiers were devoted to defending the city.

The Alda Department is also similar. Their attacks on Daming are mostly for the purpose of looting, so they often divide their troops.

There are dozens of people at least, and two or three thousand people at most.

I don't know whether it was intentional or unintentional, but both sides seem to be interested in avoiding large armies fighting, maybe no one can afford to lose.

It was only at this time that the situation seemed to have changed. The Ming army gathered tens of thousands of troops outside the camp of the Alta Ministry, which was unusual for him.

The news was quickly reported to Wanhu in Mongolia, who felt his scalp go numb when he heard the news.

The Ming army didn't show up early or late, but it happened that he came out to fight when the ten thousand households under his command were at the least, so he came prepared.

Although the Mongols are bold by nature, they are not stupid. The Mongolian Wanhu clearly felt that the division of troops in Huailai County might have been fooled by the Ming army.

"Command assembly."

While giving orders to his opponent, he got up and put on clothes. He wanted to go out and see if the Ming army had really organized an army of tens of thousands to attack him.

This is in the wild, and he wants to attack the Mongols, what a joke, as long as his army is assembled, he can smash the Ming army to pieces, and even take Baoanzhou in one fell swoop.

Mongolian Wanhu quickly recovered from the initial shock, not only was there no fear, but also a burst of ecstasy.

"The Ming army is assembled in the west of our army's camp"

At this time, the soldier who reported the letter began to introduce the situation, but was interrupted by Wan Hu before he could finish speaking.

"You mean that the army did not gather in front of our army camp?"

Wan Hu picked out his ears in disbelief, why did he run to my side?Think wooden fences can't stop their impact?
In fact, the function of the wooden fence was to prevent wild creatures from running in. The reason why the low wooden fence was built was not to facilitate the cavalry troops to attack.

Walking out of the big tent where he was resting, Wan Hu looked towards the west of the camp, but he couldn't see anything at this time, and his sight was blocked by other tents.

In the distance, some generals have already called for their warriors to form a team, and soon they will go to the stables outside the tent to pull out their horses, and they will turn into warriors that make the Ming army tremble with fear.

At this time, the soldier who reported the letter told him the news that made him shudder, "Someone felt the signs of cavalry activities before. Behind our army's camp, there seems to be no cavalry activities near the Ming army's formation."

"Is there anything going on at the Great Khan's barracks?"

Wan Hu asked loudly.

"There is no news from the back camp"

Just as he finished speaking, a fast horse in the distance had already come forward, and a Mongolian soldier got off his horse and came up to Wanhu, kneeling half-kneeling and reporting: "Lord Wanhu, there is a fire in the Khan's barracks behind. The sound of killing.

In addition, a Ming army horse team appeared outside the gate of our army's rear camp, which seemed to be planning to charge the camp."

"Bang bang bang bang."

Suddenly there was a sound like thunder from the west of the camp. All the Mongols in the Alta tribe knew that it was the sound of the Ming army's cannon firing.

Sixty paces away from the barracks of the Alda Department, the Ming army's archers had already stood still. As the commander's command sounded, the Ming army's archers took out their arrows one after another. Soon, others walked past them holding torches. The firelighter on Yamae was ignited.

"Zhang Gong. Shoot."

Without waiting for much time, the team officer began to shout and give orders after the rocket in the archer's hand was ignited.

According to the command of the team officer, the archers raised their bows and aimed their arrows at the Tazi barracks ahead, and after the sound of the word "shoot" came to their ears, they all let go of the bowstrings in their hands.

"whoosh whoosh"

Countless small fire balls were shot into the air, and then dropped rapidly, flying over the wooden fence of the Tartar army camp, but most of them landed in the open space.

Hundreds of rockets were fired, but only a few dozen hit the tents, because the tents of the Tartars were scattered.

However, there were other effects, that is, there were several wailing sounds from the Tartar army camp, apparently some Tartar soldiers were shot by rockets in the dark night.

Soon, more than a dozen arrows were scattered scattered from the opposite side. It was the Tazi soldiers who had already charged into the fence and fired their bows to fight back.

The team officer made a decisive decision and ordered again: "Lower the altitude and shoot behind the wooden fence."

Since the attempt to set fire to the Tartar tents with rockets seems a little off, let's shoot people.

What is their purpose, that is to attract the Mongols to come over and shoot at the Ming army at the fence, so as not to let them have the energy to support the Altan Khan camp behind.

Soon, the team officer's order was transmitted to all the archers through the small flag. After the second shooting order was issued, they all lowered the height of the arrows, and the shooting range was controlled at about [-] steps.

Just as the second wave of arrows fell on the wooden fence of the barracks, the gunners of the Ming army not far behind the archers were also ready. There was no need to ask the higher authorities whether to fire, and the team officer directly gave the order to fire.

"Bang bang bang bang."

The Fran cannon mounted on the chariot opened fire, spraying solid bullets at the Alta army barracks in front.

This time, more than 20 chariots brought out twelve medium-sized Franco cannons, which were manufactured more than ten years ago and are still well maintained. The cannons are about 4 feet long and weigh a hundred catties. Several soldiers are required to take turns to lift, each time loading 6 taels of projectile and 6 taels of powder.

Driven by the explosion of gunpowder, the solid projectile flew out of the muzzle, broke through the air, and rushed into the Alta military camp with unparalleled kinetic energy.

Several nearby tents behind the fence were pierced through a big hole in an instant, and the Mongolian soldiers in the tents who had not yet put on their armor were still wailing inside, and those tents that had been ignited by rockets before, although there was no one inside, the shells pierced through the tents The impact caused it to completely shatter, and the tent fell to all sides.

Soon the Franco gunners had removed one sub-cartridge, quickly replaced the second, loaded it and fired the fuse again.

"Bang bang bang bang."

From time to time, a puff of thick smoke burst out from the Ming army's chariot, followed by a thunder-like sound.

The hundreds of archers in front shot more than a dozen rounds of arrow rain continuously, and after suppressing the Mongolian soldiers behind the fence, they began to retreat slowly under the command of the team officer. However, go back to the back of the chariot and rest for a while.

After the archers retreated, the spear and shield soldiers behind them advanced slowly amidst the sound of passwords, completely sealing the gap between the chariots.

This is the frontier army of the Ming Dynasty. Although their living standards are not as good as before due to the exploitation of officials, the tactics left by their ancestors have not been lost. They all know what they should do.

Of course, this is also related to the perennial wars in the Xuan Mansion. Although there is less training, the basic things, under the guidance of the veterans, the recruits can still quickly understand, at least if they follow the example, there will be no mistakes.

After the archers of the Ming army stopped shooting arrows, a large number of Tazi soldiers with scattered armor appeared behind the low fence of the Alta army camp.

These people are all soldiers assigned to be stationed in tents nearby. They were sent here under the order of the general at this time. They need to buy time for the other thousands of families behind.

However, when they saw the chariots and rows of shields in front of the Ming army, they were a little at a loss. They didn't know whether the Ming army was going to steal the camp or came to demonstrate.

The history of the use of chariots by the frontier army of the Ming Dynasty is very long. Most people in the later generations only think that Qi Jiguang compiled and practiced chariot camps when he was in Jizhen. In fact, Qi Jiguang's greatest advantage is that he is good at using some available things and integrating them so that he can Can exert greater power.

The Ming army’s side-cars should have appeared in the period of Zhu Qiyu, Emperor Zong of the Ming Dynasty, and the person who made the chariot was the famous general Guo Deng.

Guo Deng, the grandson of Wuding Marquis Guo Ying, was orthodox for 14 years. He used the governor and Zhixie to town Datong. It was also during this period that he imitated the ancients to manufacture sidecars, four-wheeled vehicles, central Tibetan firearms, tree flags, and hooks and rings. , Arranged in an array, can be used both offensively and defensively.

His army consisted of five people, and Guo Deng taught them to swear in the shrine that if one person made meritorious deeds, the five would receive the reward together, and it was the same when they were punished.

Ten Wu formed a team, and in the team, those who could draw a heavy bow of sixty catties were the vanguard.

The tenth team is led by a commander, so that they are indomitable and responsible for their crimes.This approach was praised for a while.

This is the predecessor of Che Ying, the main force of infantry combat in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. However, it has been over a hundred years since Emperor Jingtai, and the van cars made at that time have naturally been scrapped and unusable.

The more than 20 vans placed in front of the Ming army were made more than ten years ago. Naturally, it was not because the Ministry of War was kind enough to buy weapons for them, but because of another event known as "the world heard about it and felt wronged." brought about by the injustice.

(End of this chapter)