Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1376
In the golden army formation, the drums and trumpets sounded together, the flags danced, and the fast horses galloped between the formations. The army immediately began to form formations, ready to meet the enemy.

It's just that there is such a nail in Xinfeng Town, it is very inconvenient for the Jin army to line up.

If the formation is in the north of the town, then once the Ming army arrives, they will be able to support the town. It is also inappropriate to line up in the south of the town to separate the reinforcements of the Ming army from the town. If something goes wrong later on, the entire golden formation will collapse.

In the end, to be on the safe side, Meng Qiaofang still chose to line up in the north of the town. The Jin army followed the past habits, and nearly 6 horses rushed to their positions.

Each battalion of the Jin Army infantry formed a square formation, and there were large gaps between the square formations, spreading along the battlefield. Nearly ten thousand Jin Army cavalry were arrayed behind the square formations, ready to charge from the gaps at any time.

In the past, the horse army was the core force of a large army's attack, which was equivalent to a heavy hammer, but now the horse army's position is a bit embarrassing. With the strengthening of the infantry's firepower, harassment is tantamount to courting death, but if you don't attack and disrupt the formation, Then the horse army's ability to charge and break through the formation could not be displayed.

Firearms allowed the infantry to gradually ascend to the king's position, and the cavalry gradually reduced to a supporting role.Of course, this does not mean that the cavalry is dead. If you ignore him, once he catches the opportunity, it will definitely make people regret for life.

At this time, Meng Qiaofang and the generals were standing in front of the battle line, waiting for them. In front of them, Zhao Liangdong's troops were fighting desperately with Ruan Mei's remnant soldiers in the town.

The river wind along the Weishui River blew by, and the banners of the Jin army fluttered, hunting. Meng Qiaofang stood on horseback under the banner of the king's banner, staring darkly at the distance, waiting for a showdown with the Ming army.

This battle is a battle of annihilation of the country. It is related to the life and death of the Dajin Kingdom, and it is also related to the life and death of Meng Qiaofang, as well as his political future. He must go all out.

"Pass down the order, Zhao Liangdong will continue to attack Xinfeng Town, there is no need to hesitate, and then order the Ma Jun, once the bandits arrive, take advantage of the unstable formation, and immediately smash them down!" Meng Qiaofang shouted in a deep voice.

Meng Qiaofang is very confident. No wonder he is so arrogant. This is the battlefield chosen by the Jin army. I feel that no matter how you look at it, he has the best chance of winning.

Just when the Jin army was setting up the formation, the general Zheng Wencheng suddenly shouted: "Here we come!"

Meng Qiaofang and others looked to the south, and they saw banners and flags all over the sky, and reinforcements from the Ming army came all over the field.

He hurriedly took out the binoculars to watch, and saw a dazzling red line appeared in the south, and the soldiers of the Ming army lined up neatly among the weeds up to their knees, marching in formation.

The various phalanxes of the Ming army were in the trumpets and drums, orders and prohibitions, and the soldiers stepped forward in order, moving forward slowly, keeping a straight line.

Seeing this, Meng Qiaofang's face changed slightly. He didn't expect that the Ming army would advance in a battle formation. As soon as they entered the battlefield, they could go directly into battle, which surprised him a little.

However, judging by the number of people, the Ming army does not seem to have as many troops as him, about 4 to [-]. This made him not hesitate, and ordered decisively: "The horse army attacks, don't let them approach!"

Meng Qiaofang ordered without discussing with anyone.If the Ming army is allowed to advance to Xinfeng Town and join the defenders in the town, it will be difficult for the Ming army to defeat them with the support of the town.

As soon as he gave an order, the horns of the Golden Army's middle army suddenly sounded, and the [-] cavalry of the Golden Army slowly moved out.

Zhang Mingzhen led 12 pacers to advance northward, and there were many flag teams of the Ming Dynasty in the formation of mandarin duck formations scattered in front of the front line. They formed a group of [-] people and walked [-] steps ahead of the lineup. Each flag team was separated by more than [-] steps. Form a skirmish line.

At this distance, the platoon gunners behind the skirmishers can provide fire support, and the skirmishers can also support each other to shoot and kill the Golden Army scout squads who dare to harass.

This is also due to the lack of cavalry in the Ming army, so a skirmish line was used to walk in front of the formation to cover the formation.

However, this kind of stragglers can deal with the harassment of small groups of scouts, but facing the [-] cavalry in the golden formation, they are like a mantis' arm.

As the leader of the Lu faction, Zhang Mingzhen and Wang Yi from Siming Mountain independently supported half of the south of the Yangtze River, contained a large number of Qing troops, and shared the huge pressure for the Longwu court and Wang Yan to fight against the Qing in the southwest.

In the official history, after the fall of Zhoushan, Zhang Mingzhen protected King Lu and went south to Xiamen.

The surname Zheng Guo didn't think much of Zhang Mingzhen who had lost Zhoushan, and said loudly: "You have been waiting for Dingxi for several years, what have you done?"

Zhang Mingzhen replied: "The great cause of ZTE!"

Zheng Guoxing asked again: "Where is the great cause?"

Zhang Mingzhen replied: "If you are good, you will collect the actual performance, if you are not good, you will be in the middle of an inch."

The surname Zheng Guo asked again, "What is the basis for the square inch?"

Zhang Mingzhen replied, "On the back." After speaking, he took off his clothes to show it, and there were four characters of "serve the country with a heart", which penetrated into the skin.

Zhang Mingzhen can be said to be a battle-tested veteran. If it weren't for the faction issue, his achievements would not stop there.

Wang Yan knew his ability, so he was appointed as the leader of the northern front to stop Meng Qiaofang's attack.

At this time, when he saw the cavalry of the Golden Army coming out of the battle, he did not panic, but waved his hand, and the big flag behind him stopped immediately. When the [-] Ming troops saw the big flag stopped, they also stopped immediately, and the whole big formation was silent. stand down.

With 3 horses led by Zhang Mingzhen, there were only four divisions of dragoons, plus a battalion of skirmishers sheltering in front of the formation.

Zhang Mingzhen waved his hand to stop the large formation from moving forward, and then ordered in a loud voice: "The large army will form a formation to meet the enemy. The Shanzi Battalion in front of the formation will gather at one place and continue to advance towards Xinfeng Town! Defend on the spot."

When he gave an order, the sound of horns sounded in the formation of the Ming army, and the army stopped to form the formation, while the scattered soldiers in front of the formation gathered towards the battalion flag in the middle to form a square formation, heading towards the town two miles away. go.

Seeing the enemy cavalry attack, Zhang Mingzhen's troops lined up in an orderly manner.

A row of spears stood in front of the formation. The soldiers squatted down, stepped on the tails of the spears, and held the shafts of the spears with both hands, letting the sharp spears stab out obliquely.The spearmen squatted so as not to interfere with the shooting of the gunners behind them. Behind them were three rows of self-born gunners who were loading ammunition.

These were the four rows ahead, fifty paces from them, the second line was likewise arranged, and behind them a third such line.

In addition to the soldiers, the Ming army also placed vehicles in front of the formation, and placed obstacles such as antlers to resist horses on the front line, and the artillery was placed behind the obstacles, standing still and ready to go.

The Ming army responded calmly, mainly because the Ming army had already made plans for how to deal with Meng Qiaofang's attack when planning the north defense and south attack.

The battlefield is located on a plain, and the terrain is not complicated. After the Ming army left the camp, they set up a formation in advance outside the camp, and then kept the general formation, and moved forward. Therefore, after arriving at the battlefield, they only needed simple preparations, and the formation was quickly completed. listed.

In the distance, Meng Qiaofang was riding on a horse, using binoculars to check the Ming army's line, and saw that the cavalry attacked and forced the Ming army to stop, but the Ming army quickly formed a formation, and the cavalry wanted to take advantage of the Ming army. possible.

Holding the binoculars, he quickly scanned the entire Ming army line, and saw more than 3000 Ming troops in the front line, breaking away from the cover of the big array, and continuing to advance towards Xinfeng Town. He immediately put down the binoculars and ordered: "Send the horse army, Detour to the west, attack the Ming army's flanks, and then order Pucheng Camp and Chengcheng Camp in Tongzhou Town to move forward, one on the left and one on the right, and attack the Ming army that is going forward, so that they cannot enter Xinfeng Town."

After the Jin army cavalry came out, they gradually picked up their speed and galloped forward, preparing to disperse the Ming army.

They first met the Shanzi Battalion, which was protruding forward. Three thousand Ming troops immediately formed a square formation in the wilderness, and their spears stabbed obliquely.

Most of the cavalry who can charge into battle are heavy cavalry, and they also need special training, otherwise people are willing to bump into them, and horses don't want to die.

Besides, even if it is a heavy horse, you can't bump into it blindly, otherwise, even if you wear it as an iron can, you will easily be stabbed to death by a spear.

The cavalry of the Golden Army came at a gallop. When approaching the square formation, the horses were divided into left and right sides independently, and bypassed to both sides. The cavalry on the horses bypassed both sides of the square formation. Immediately fell to the ground again and again.

But at the same time, the front, left and right sides of the phalanx opened fire at the same time, the firearms were fired from three sides, the flames flickered again and again, and the golden troops fell from their horses immediately.

In the formation of the Ming army, the iron sand shot out by the bronze cannons swept away the golden cavalry, scaring the golden cavalry behind them, and quickly bypassed them.

The Ming army attached great importance to artillery, and there were more than 100 people in each round, and they were equipped with a small cannon, some of which were three-jin cannons, and some were six-jin cannons, as fire support for the infantry.

The cavalry bypassed the Ming army's phalanx and appeared in front of the Ming army's large formation. They saw the Ming army lined up and refused horses in front. The spears were ready, but they could only rush forward without orders.

"Boom, boom, boom!" On the front of the Ming army, the cannons were fired at once, and the charging golden cavalry immediately turned their heads.

At this moment, the horns of the Jin army's central army sounded, and the cavalry who rushed forward were relieved immediately, pulled out the reins, and turned west and galloped away at a distance of one and a half miles from the Ming army's front.

Zhang Mingzhen immediately understood Meng Qiaofang's intentions. The Dufugou in the west had already fallen into the hands of the Jin army, and the Ming army had no support there.

The Ming army was arrayed in a line, with strong frontal firepower but relatively thin flanks. Meng Qiaofang obviously wanted to break through from the west and attack from the side and rear.

If the Jin army cavalry went around behind the Ming army and launched an attack on the Ming army, then the Ming army would be very dangerous, and once the Jin army broke through the Ming army's defense line, I am afraid that the Ming army would almost be defeated before Li Guo defeated Wu Sangui.

As a veteran, Zhang Mingzhen had been in the army for as long as Meng Qiaofang, and he had experienced no fewer battles than Meng Qiaofang.With all four towns surrendered and the Ming Dynasty without elite soldiers, he was able to rely on a group of newly recruited soldiers to support him in the south of the Yangtze River, so he was naturally capable.

At this time, he saw the Golden Army cavalry heading west, without even moving his eyelids, he directly ordered: "Order Qin Feng to block the gap to the west!"

As soon as the Chinese army gave an order, among the two thousand cavalry who retreated from the front, Qin Feng, who had become a 30-year-old middle-aged man, immediately raised his sword and shouted: "Zhongwu Town, it's time to wash away the shame!"

After finishing his speech, he took the lead, led the two thousand dragonriders who escaped from Lintong, drove the horses dragging the artillery, and galloped westward immediately.

The fronts of the two armies started from Dufugou in the west and reached Lingkou Town in the east. There was a ditch to the west of Dufugou, and a river to the east of Lingkou Town. The battlefield happened to be sandwiched between a ditch and a river.

Qin Feng led two thousand dragon riders, and quickly galloped to the west. On the west side of the Ming army's line, between the ditch and the Ming army's line, he quickly got off his horse. The soldiers formed a formation quickly, and the artillery was pushed forward. , ready to fight.

After a while, thousands of horses were galloping, and the cavalry of the Golden Army appeared in front of them...

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(End of this chapter)