The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 12
Chen Wang looked back and saw that the cavalrymen who had been defeated by them more or less helped them stop the pursuit of the rogue elite cavalry behind them.

Most of the bandits and cavalry were defeated, and their successors were weak, which could no longer prevent the Ming army on the official road from retreating.

Chen Wang also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, this battle has basically been declared over, as long as he can break away from the bandit's encirclement net, retreat to a pioneering place and form an army formation.

At that time, even if there are tens of thousands of bandits, they will not lose this battle.

They are now only forty miles away from Sanshui County in the south. There are more than [-] soldiers in Sanshui County, led by Lieutenant General Zhang Waijia.

Zhang Waijia has more than [-] men under his command, all of whom are elite riders.

The distance of fifty miles is nothing to the cavalry, as long as they persist for a while, Zhang Waijia receives the news and leads the troops to come to support, and then the defeat can be turned into victory.

When Chen Wang withdrew his gaze, he happened to pass over the big black flag on the top of the slope, and he saw the black hole barrels one after another.

The chill rushed straight from his tailbone to the Tianling Gai, and several balls of fire and gunpowder smoke suddenly rose.

"boom!"

Then the huge noise rolled in in an instant, and it overwhelmed the originally chaotic human voices in all directions in just an instant.

A great sense of fear suddenly surged into Chen Wang's heart, and he could clearly hear his heart beating wildly.

Wearing solid armor and holding a shield, it can resist most weapons and arrows, and it is difficult for firecrackers to shoot through them.

But artillery is not the case. No matter how thick armor you wear and how heavy your shield is, as long as you are hit by a shell, you will never be spared.

Severe limbs can be severed and disabled, severe cases can be killed on the spot, scratched and injured, and touched can be disabled.

In the low sky, the trajectory of the cannonball could not be seen at all. No one knew where the cannonball was sent to, but they all felt that they were hitting where they were.

Although the artillery hit rate in this era is already impressive, and it was released by a group of thieves who may not even be very skilled in operating artillery, the probability of landing on the top of the head is almost negligible when riding a horse and galloping , but the fear still lingers in Chen Wang's heart.

Chen Wang looked around, he saw panic on everyone's face, not just him.

No one is not afraid of artillery...

Even Cao Wenzhao could no longer remain indifferent as before.

Chen Wang's face froze, he thought of a very serious problem, and at this moment a huge noise suddenly sounded from the direction of the official road.

Since the target of this artillery bombardment is not them, then the target will naturally only be the troops above the official path.

Chen Wang turned his head to look at the official road, and his heart suddenly became cold.

The official road was already a mess at this time, and the Ming army's originally fairly well-organized army formation was already showing signs of collapse at this moment, and screams of panic could be heard endlessly.

Of the five shells, only two hit, but these two hits dealt a huge blow to the morale of the Ming army, causing the entire front and center of the Ming army to fall into panic.

Cao Dingjiao was trembling all over, the back of his head was numb, all the hairs on his body stood up, even his legs were trembling.

Although Cao Dingjiao was battle-tested, had fought his life in Liaodong and the Tartars, and had never been afraid of thousands of rogues in the southern border, but this time he walked through the gate of hell.

He had just led the troops back to the formation and was directing the troops to retreat when he saw the sudden rise of gunpowder smoke.

Of the two shells that fell in the army formation, one of them fell two meters in front of him to the right.

A few kilograms of shells passed by, and blood mist sprayed out.

The pungent stench instantly poured into his nostrils, blood and flesh flew everywhere, as if something had stuck to Cao Dingjiao's face,

Just under his feet, a soldier was struggling and turning over on the ground, hissing and howling, and the shell hit his thigh, directly breaking it at the root.

The soldier's entire right leg was broken by the shell, and a pale cracked bone was exposed from it, and a large amount of blood gushed out.

Cao Dingjiao tightly held the Yanling Saber in his hand, trembling uncontrollably.

A man joins the army, and as a frontier general, dying in battle is just a common thing, and it is also his destiny. He is really not afraid of death.

To die on the battlefield, to die under swords, bows and crossbows, to be able to know how one died and how one was defeated.

But when the shells hit, there was no way to avoid them, no way to escape, nothing to do...

No one knew whether the shells would land on top of their heads after the next shelling, and no one wanted to bet.

Cao Dingjiao opened his mouth, but he couldn't say anything, he just felt his mind was blank.

The places plowed by shells in the army formation were all in a mess, with stumps, broken arms, and broken armor scattered all over the place.

The wounded and surviving soldiers fell to the ground and wailed in pain, dripping blood flowing from their severed wounds.

Survivors who survived the catastrophe all showed fear on their faces and trembled endlessly. After all, they were afraid of the swords behind them and the harsh military law. No one dared to escape.

Cao Dingjiao looked up at the big black flag on the slope in the distance, and his heart was full of fear.

It is estimated that there are about three or four hundred distances from the army formation, and the shells shot from top to bottom, directly smashing into the army formation.

"Don't mess up!"

Cao Dingjiao knew in his heart that panic would only make people die faster on the battlefield.

"There are not many rogue guns, and their people don't know how to use guns!"

"They made the cannons are just old cannons from the warehouse, they can't hit three or four hundred paces, don't be afraid!"

"Those who dare to leave the army without authorization don't need cannons, I will send them to hell first!"

Although Cao Dingjiao's hand holding the knife was still trembling and his fear was still there, he still stood up. As a general, he knew that he must not mess up.

Cao Dingjiao's words had an effect. Although the surrounding soldiers were still terrified, they did not dare to leave their positions.

When the shell hits, they may not necessarily die, but whoever runs away first, I am afraid that the sharp knife behind him will cut his throat immediately.

It's just that when the army formation had just regained its stability, the bandit infantry had already launched an offensive.

The collapsed starving people had already been driven to the two wings by the cavalry among the thieves.

Ahead, the bandit's infantry is slowly approaching.

Different from the hungry people who were chaotic and noisy before, this bandit army that came slowly oppressed obviously had a lot of tricks.

In the front row are old bandits holding swords and shields and wearing armor. Behind them are long spears standing up one after another, standing up like hedgehogs, and further back are bandits holding bows and firearms.

It is densely packed like a colony of ants, layer upon layer like a wave!
(End of this chapter)