The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 223
"Ugh——"

The low and deep sound of the conch horn sounded from the large formation of the Qing army, and then quickly swept away in all directions.

In fact, the shelling did not cause many casualties. Actually, only a dozen shells fired by the Hanzhong army hit the Qing army's formation.

The rest basically failed or missed due to calibration problems.

The blow to morale by shelling is actually the most serious.

Fighting on the battlefield, frontal confrontation is mostly strangulation by the army, stabbing with spears, stabbing with spears, chopping with random knives, and returning random knives.

Although cruel, at least his personal martial arts can still be useful. The armor on his body and the weapon in his hand can give people a sense of security.

But no one can completely eliminate the fear in the face of shelling.

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

Even if you are holding a strong shield and wearing the best armor, you can't resist it.

When the shell hits, there is no way to avoid it, no way to escape, nothing to do...

"Arrange horizontally, spread the distance!"

Chasuka steered his war horse galloping through the formation, brandishing the whip in his hand, and eagerly issued military orders.

"Raise the blue flag, let the Mongolian cavalry on the left and right wings step forward, and harass Nikan's artillery!"

Before Chasuka's words fell, the guards behind him who were in charge of delivering the order had already waved the blue flag.

In the next moment, there was already the sound of rumbling horseshoes from the two wings, and the Mongolian cavalry formations supporting the left and right wings rushed out of more than 200 Mongolian cavalry and swept towards the artillery positions of the Ming army in front.

With a distance of three hundred steps, they were carrying shield vehicles and needed to maintain their physical strength, so they couldn't move fast.

The artillery of the Ming army is afraid that they can fire two or three more rounds. Such a situation is naturally unacceptable.

Two or three more rounds of shelling, I am afraid that the morale of the army will fall to the bottom.

The current situation left Chasuka with only two choices.

The first option was to send a cavalry team to harass the artillery of the Ming army, prompting them to retreat to the rear of the Ming army.

There is no high ground suitable for setting up artillery in the east of Zhending City, and there is no high ground suitable for setting up artillery. As long as they are forced back to the formation, most of the threat of artillery can be eliminated.

Although the artillery can still be projected when retreating into the formation, but the observation field of view is lost, and there is still need to worry about accidentally injuring friendly troops, the threat can naturally be reduced.

The choice Chasuka made was the first one, forcing the artillery of the Ming army back into the formation.

Another option is to leave the heavy shield chariot, and everyone mounts their horses and rushes forward, dismounting and marching when they are close to a hundred paces, which can shorten the marching time.

At a distance of a hundred steps, if you get closer, you will enter the throwing range of the infantry bow, which can threaten the artillery of the Ming army outside the formation, and naturally eliminate the threat of artillery.

Only in this way, without the cover of the shield car, they would be exposed straight to the artillery and firecrackers of the Ming army.

Although the firecrackers of the Ming army were not good in quality and not very powerful, almost every Ming army was equipped with a large number of tiger squat guns and Francophones in the army.

Tiger crouching guns and Francophones can't penetrate shield vehicles, but they can easily tear off the armor they wear at close range.

No matter how small a cannon is, it is still a cannon.

Erhe gently pulled the bowstring of the bow and arrow in his hand with his thumb with antlers, and adjusted the finger to a suitable position.

Then he reached out to touch the quiver pinned to his waist, and slowly counted the heavy arrows in the quiver.

Erhe's gaze was still looking ahead, on the artillery position in front of the Ming army array not far away.

At this time, the Ming army had already stopped. They stood still and lined up in a horizontal formation, like a red mountain stretching across the field.

Having fought with the Ming army for many years, he is very familiar with the artillery Erhe. The Ming army installed many such artillery on the city wall.

The red cannon, the Franji, the tiger crouching cannon, Erhe has a certain understanding of all kinds of guns. After all, after fighting for so many years, how could he not have such knowledge?
The Ming army's artillery that can hit more than [-] paces has a low hit rate, and it is extremely troublesome to load, and it will take a long time before the next round of shelling will strike.

Erhe didn't say a word, he stepped forward slowly and followed the rest of the armored soldiers in the army formation.

With the sound of horseshoes roaring in his ears, Erhe looked sideways slightly, and he saw a large number of cavalry on both wings galloping towards the formation of the Ming army.

Erhe knew that these cavalry were rangers who had harassed the artillery of the Ming army in the past, so he felt more relaxed. As long as they could approach within fifty or sixty steps, the artillery of the Ming army would have to retreat to the main formation.

And once the artillery of the Ming army retreated to the main formation, they no longer needed to worry about repeated shelling.

Just when Erhe was gradually relieved, his eyes suddenly narrowed, and his originally indifferent face also changed slightly.

He clearly saw that the artillery of the Ming army in front of the battle spit out large puffs of white smoke again.

Thick gunpowder smoke rose up, and together with the strong wind, it formed a wide smoke screen.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

In the next instant, the continuous sound of cannon fire rang in his ears, like thunder rolling from the sky.

Erhe's heart was suddenly raised, because his pupils suddenly enlarged in fear, almost covering the entire eyes.

He watched helplessly as the small black dot in his sight gradually grew bigger.

The shadow of death hung over Erhe's head. He wanted to avoid it, but he couldn't. He was in a state of stiffness all over, and he couldn't move his feet to avoid the attacking shells.

"Oh!"

There was a loud noise, and the lost strength returned to Erhe's body again. With the help of this loud noise, he regained control of his body.

The shell didn't hit him, but landed more than ten steps ahead of him, opening up the original green grass and leaving a deep hole in it.

Curly blue smoke rose slowly from the entrance of the cave, and was quickly blown away by the strong wind.

Fear rose slowly from Erhe's heart, he felt his limbs became extremely cold, and his body was no longer as flexible as before.

The blood-red sunset reflected the cold field, and the Ming army lined up to the west, with their backs facing the setting sun.

The afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled on its fiery red front, as if it had been coated with a layer of molten gold armor, just like the heavenly soldiers in mythology.

Erhe clenched the bow and arrow in his hand. The artillery loading speed of this Ming army far exceeded all the artillery he encountered, beyond his original cognition.

Stern wailing sounds came from the left and right sides one after another, Erhe didn't turn his head to check.

Facing the enemy in front of battle, those who turn their heads and move their feet will be cut immediately!

The military discipline of the Qing army was extremely strict when they were about to go into battle. Once the military orders were issued, even if there were mountains of swords and seas of fire ahead, they had to go forward bravely. shame.

Erhe knew that the wailing sound was all caused by the artillery of the Ming army.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!!!"

The sound of high-spirited battle drums suddenly sounded from the large formation of the Ming army. Erhe's eyes narrowed and his pupils shrank slightly. The sound came out with a bang.

Erhe's heart kept falling downwards, and he had a bad premonition in his heart...

With a short distance of more than two hundred steps, the two cavalry units rushing straight were soon within the distance of the engagement.

The Mongolian cavalry who had already charged forward once did not make the same mistake this time. They turned their horses' heads as early as a hundred steps away, and galloped across the front to avoid the direct charge. Ming cavalry.

Without command or orders, these Mongols who grew up on horseback calculated the distance and proficiently threw upwards with their bows.

The light arrows flew high with the speed of the horse, and the dense arrows rose into the sky almost at the same time, covering the Ming army's cavalry formation.

However, the expected scene of the Ming army cavalry turning their backs on their backs did not appear. The Ming army cavalry scattered like the Mongolian cavalry, and a large number of arrows shot up from the Ming army cavalry formation almost at the same time. Like swarms of migratory locusts.

Arrows shuttled back and forth between the cavalry formations, knights were constantly shot to the ground, and war horses kept prostrating and falling down.

It was none other than Chen Gong who led the cavalry of the Hanzhong Army into battle.

The cavalry armaments of the First Cavalry Headquarters of the Hanzhong Army are among the top in the entire army.

These Mongolian cavalrymen grew up on horseback since they were young, and their archery skills are extremely superb, but although the arrows they shoot are accurate and numerous, these arrows cannot penetrate the armor of the cavalrymen of the Hanzhong Army at all.

On the other hand, the Mongolian cavalry, many of them had no armor at all, but were only wearing thick furs.

Fur clothing can keep out the cold, but how can it withstand sharp arrows.

During the confrontation, they were already inferior, a large number of Mongolian cavalry were shot off their horses, and the cavalry was in chaos.

During the long battle between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia, especially in the long-term security war, Mongolia was actually at a disadvantage for many periods of time.

The cavalry led by Chen Gong are basically Liao cavalry. They have excellent shooting skills. It can also be said that they grew up on horseback and have excellent military equipment. How can they not win.

……

"Woo——" "Woo——"

The low horn sounded again, Erhe gritted his teeth, clenched the bow and arrow in his hand again, and accelerated his pace.

The order of the Chinese army ordered to speed up again. The Mongolian cavalry who went to harass were about to be defeated. The artillery positions of the Ming army could not be removed for the time being. They had to speed up their pace, otherwise they would suffer more shelling.

After advancing for dozens of steps again, a large amount of white smoke rose again from the front of the Ming army in the field of vision, and the silvery white smoke once again joined together, followed by a huge roar.

Erhe's face was pale, the back of his head was numb, and all the hairs on his body stood up.

A sound suddenly rang in his ears, and then he felt a gust of wind blowing across his face, making his cheeks hurt.

Before he could react, there was already the sound of bone shattering and the sound of gold and steel coming from behind him, followed by howls full of pain.

Erhe trembled all over, death had never been so close to him, the shell almost flew past his head, as long as he lowered a little, he would be the one who was shot and died.

Three rounds of shelling by the Ming army had passed, and they were already within 150 steps.

There are only the last fifty steps left, but in Erhe's eyes, these last fifty steps are as insurmountable as a natural moat.

Now that the distance is still far away, they cannot rush forward. Their armor weighs tens of kilograms, and they sprinted all the way. After running these 150 steps, they may not have much physical strength left.

And once running, it is absolutely impossible to maintain a complete army formation.

The confrontation between the two armies is a majestic formation, thousands of people line up, the role of the military formation is extremely important, if one side's formation is scattered, it may be defeated sooner or later.

They need to maintain the current speed and continue to move forward, and to maintain this speed, they can only withstand the artillery bombardment of the Ming army.

Most of the Francophones in the army are light-weight, used for street and city battles when breaking cities and fortresses, and have not given much consideration to field battles.

The Ming army basically would not use this kind of long-range artillery in field battles, and not many Ming troops had the courage to go out of the city to fight in the field.

"Move forward!"

The leader, Niu Luzhangjing, roared at the top of his lungs.

The morale of the Qing army has been greatly shaken by these rounds of continuous shelling.

The distance between them and the Ming army is constantly shrinking, and the accuracy of the Ming army's artillery is also getting more and more accurate.

"All behind the car!"

Erhe moved his steps and hid his figure behind the shield car.

The large shield chariots in front of him gave Erhe a sense of security. These shield chariots were covered with quilts, and there were sand and stones, which made it difficult for guns and arrows to penetrate, and for artillery stones to break through.

Standing behind, Erhe had some confidence in his heart,
Erhe raised his head. He was standing on the outer edge of the shield car. He only needed to lean out a little to see the artillery positions of the Ming army not far away.

The artillery of the Ming army was loading at this time, and the distance was only close to a hundred steps. Erhe could clearly see the movements of the artillery of the Ming army.

The artillery used by the Ming army was very strange, and the gun mounts were different from all the gun mounts he had seen before.

Next to each cannon stood a man standing upright, holding a yellow command flag, who seemed to be the one giving orders.

In addition to that person, there is also a soldier who is cleaning the barrel of the gun.

There were about three or four people behind the cannon, one of them was holding something like a fork, and the others were squatting behind the cannon, not knowing what they were doing.

There were people walking up and down, as if they were carrying shells and other things.

"The distance is 120 steps, the angle is lowered by half a quarter, the iron bullet is loaded, and the salvo is fired! Prepare the shotgun!!"

In the formation of the Hanzhong Army, the artillery commander standing at the forefront put down the binoculars in his hand and roared angrily.

Naturally, his voice cannot be heard over a distance of 120 steps.
Erhe didn't hear the voice from the Ming army formation, but he saw the rows of yellow command flags suddenly waved down in the front formation.

The next moment, the orange-red fire suddenly flashed and almost formed a line, completely obscuring Erhe's entire field of vision.

(End of this chapter)