Chapter 229 228 Breaking the Camp

Chapter 229 228 Breaking the Camp

"Da da da"

Wei Guangde vaguely heard the sound of dense horse hooves in the distance. Although the Tatar cavalry could not be seen yet, it was obvious that they were really coming, and they were still accelerating.

All Wei Guangde could see was that the Tatars who had been standing near tents or horses quickly ducked aside.

When the first Tatar cavalry appeared in front of him, Wei Guangde was shocked for no reason, because he suddenly saw countless arrows flying from all over the Tatar direction at the same time, drawing parabolas in the air towards the front of the Ming army's formation. Slide over.

The Tatar archers had not fired arrows so densely before, but this time it was a true salvo, flying in like a small dark cloud.

Wei Guangde had no time to say anything and could only wait for the result quietly. Whether the sword and shield hand in front could protect the gunman behind him was crucial.

Wei Guangde was not worried about the people in the car camp. The existence of their sidecars, even if some fish slipped through the net, would never stop those artillery fire.

The rain of arrows pierced into the Ming army's formation. Although most of the arrows were blocked by the shields, Wei Guangde could still see the people in the front part of the formation who were hit by the Tatar's arrows being turned upside down.

Fortunately, most of the gunners in the first few rows were protected by swords and shields, so their formations were not in chaos.

When groups of Tatar cavalry appeared in the sight of the Ming army, there was inevitably a commotion in the front army.

Most of the Tatar cavalry at the front used heavy weapons such as hammers and axes, and their goal was naturally to smash the Ming army's shield array.

Wei Guangde knew it in his heart, and the Ming army generals and soldiers in front naturally understood it too.

Wei Guangde could not hear clearly the order issued by the commander in front. Wei Guangde could only see the Ming army behind the military formation, as if it was setting off a wave of people. The first row of swordsmen and shieldmen suddenly squatted down, and then the first row of bird cannons fired the cannons in their hands. .

"Papa pa pa"

On the noisy battlefield, the unique sound of bird cannons still came over, along with the "bang bang bang" sound of the Fran cannon, making the battlefield seem even more noisy.

After the gunsmiths in the first row finished shooting the guns in their hands, they did not turn around and retreat directly to the rear. Instead, they squatted on the spot, as if they were attaching a spur to the muzzle of the gun.

The Ming army was very densely lined up in front, and there was obviously no space for them to move to the rear and reload their ammunition. After the gunmen in the first row squatted down, the gunmen in the second row also fired their guns quickly. As soon as they saw the green smoke in front of them, followed by the third row.

"Bang, bang, bang!" The Fran machine guns equipped by the Ming army fired again at this time. At the same time, there were also bowl-mouth blunderbuss that had never had a chance to be used. After the Tatar cavalry rushed closer, they fired large and small shotguns into the group of Tatar cavalry. .

There were only three rows of gunners in the Ming army. After all the shots were fired, they were unable to fire a second time. The spearmen at the back were blocked and could not get up.

Wei Guangde did not expect that the commander in charge of the Ming army would line up the team so densely, and he was a little speechless for a moment.

If you turn slightly sideways, you can still pass by, but when you see the Tatars who have rushed forward, Wei Guangde understands that they will do this.

Passing by will inevitably affect the preparation of the soldiers behind. When encountering the impact of the cavalry at close range, there is really no way to make a better response and can only stand there.

Although many people were killed and injured by the Ming army's firearms, there was no sustained firepower after all. The Tatar cavalry managed to withstand the Ming army's attack and paid a heavy price but still rushed close to the Ming army's formation.

Wei Guangde visually observed that nearly a hundred people fell off their horses and fell on the charge road. Although the originally dense Tatar formation in front was much scattered, there were still cavalry rushing out of the tent behind, and at least 300 people had already come out.

Wei Guangde judged that this should be an attack launched by the cavalry of a thousand households.

Considering the Tatar cavalry that rushed out of the rear camp before, the rest of the camp should be almost empty.

However, the Tatar cavalry who followed up also encountered a lot of problems, because at this time, many human and horse corpses were lying on the road, and there were also frightened horses running around or spinning in circles, and injured people were there. The miserable howl affected the speed of the cavalry rushing out from behind, and they did not quickly make up for the gap left by the cavalry in front.

However, the Tatars in front who were lucky enough to survive or were slightly injured were still urging their horses to rush forward, and the distance between them and the Ming army's formation was getting closer and closer.

Wei Guangde couldn't bear to watch directly. He could think of the tragic scene of the Tatar cavalry attacking the Ming army's formation with hammers and axes as they approached.

"Bang bang bang"

There was another round of bombardment by Fran machine guns, but these guns were obviously loaded with solid bullets. If they were shotguns, the effect might be better.

Wei Guangde looked at the smoke constantly spewing out from the sidecar in front. He knew that the soldiers in the car camp were still struggling to replace the sub-cartridges for shooting. However, they were not well prepared at first. Maybe they did not prepare shotguns, but loaded them with solid bullets.

It can be seen from the situation of the Tatars falling off their horses that there is a bloody road where the cannonballs flew. The Tatars on the road either fell off their horses directly, or covered their broken arms with their hands and howled miserably.

If there were more Fran cannons and more sub-cartridges equipped with shotguns, maybe the soldiers in front could still be saved.

Wei Guangde could only think this in his heart, but just thinking about it, he couldn't do anything at this time.

"Boom boom."

Vaguely, Wei Guangde heard the sound of a bowstring popping out. At this time, the Tatar cavalry was very close to the Ming army's formation, and the Tatar army did not fire a volley of arrows like before.

The Tatars dare not shoot, but the Ming army can.

At this time, the archers standing in the middle had had enough rest, and they shot arrows continuously in response to the command of the team officer.

Although the archers of the Xuanfu Army are not as famous as the Datong Archers and their number is not large enough, at this moment, those hundreds of archers became the savior of the Ming Army's formation.

After a round of arrows, the Tatars at the front had turned into hedgehogs and fell off their horses. After they fell, their companions behind them were exposed and became the second target of the Ming army's archers.

The Fran cannon continued to roar, and all the Ming army archers still gritted their teeth and persisted, using their remaining strength to draw their bows and fire arrows, preventing the Tatars who wanted to rush into the army formation.

At this time, some horses that had lost their owners were still running forward and had already reached the front of the Ming army's formation. The archers retracted their shields and waved their long knives to attack those horses that they considered extremely precious in the past.

Of course, they did not swing the sword like in the storybook. The charging horses were split in half with one sword, but it also frightened the horses and turned around and ran away.

The frightened horses did not break through the Ming army's formation, but the Tatars who followed behind were unable to quickly approach the Ming army due to the relatively narrow passage and obstacles on the road.

This is an opportunity.

The commander in front asked the archers to charge up and prepare, and at the same time asked the bird gunners in the two rows behind to start loading. At this time, the bird gunmen in the first row had already hit the bird spines, and it was very troublesome to remove them unless they changed. Formation goes to the back.

At this time, only the dozen or so Fran cannons were still roaring, bombarding the several passages where the Tatars appeared.

However, the opponent's Qianhu also seemed to see that the passage was too narrow and it was not conducive for the cavalry to rush out and form an attack formation.

Well, it can only be said that they thought the attack was too beautiful at first, thinking that as long as the Tatar cavalry appeared, the Ming army's formation might collapse.

Unfortunately, they forgot that this was the largest military force of the Ming Dynasty they had encountered in field battles in so many years. It concentrated almost all the elites of the Xuanfu, and its resistance to pressure was naturally far superior to that of the Ming army they had encountered in the past.

After losing about 300 people, the Tatars decisively stopped charging.

When Wei Guangde saw all this, no matter what the Tatars' plans were, he knew that this opportunity could not be missed.

There are still more than 2,000 Tatars in the military camp. If they are allowed to reorganize their troops, transfer one of them to move outside the camp to capture his rear camp, or widen the passage, they can easily organize thousands more cavalry troops to launch a charge. Imagine again. Now it is unrealistic to defend those channels like this.

"When we attack, the Chinese army also presses forward, leaving no room for the Tatar horses to accelerate."

At this time, Wei Guangde turned to Tian Shiwei and shouted loudly. He knew that he was lucky to be able to withstand the Tatar attack this time. The Tatars had underestimated their strength.

At this time, Tian Shiwei naturally had no other choice and directly gave the order to attack to the soldiers nearby.

"Dong dong dong"

The intensive sound of war drums sounded again in the Ming army formation.

Soon, the several commanders in front knew the command from the rear commander, and they were going to attack with all their strength.

Although it is different from what was promised before, military orders are still military orders, and they must be resolutely implemented even if they are not understood.

When the rhythm of the drum beat stabilized slightly, the Ming army's formation had split into three sections, and the Ming troops on the left and right wings began to develop to both sides in response to the drum beat.

After quickly pushing aside the obstacles such as horses blocking the road, he turned around and surrounded the Tatars.

The Ming army on the Zhongjun Road also began to advance slowly, but unlike before, the gunmen in the front row had already retreated to the end. They were already pulling out the thorns inserted into the barrel.

The Ming army immediately launched a counterattack after encountering a cavalry attack, which was a bit beyond the expectations of the Tatar generals.

Seeing the Ming army outflanking them from both sides, and the Ming soldiers advancing to the beat of drums, thousands of households in Mongolia knew their purpose of doing this.

With a few cavalry, the horse speed can be easily increased, but now that the two armies are facing each other, it takes a certain distance to increase the horse speed.

The Ming army was squeezing their space, preventing their dispatched cavalry from completing their acceleration.

Cavalry without speed is actually far less powerful than infantry.

At this time, Wanhu in Mongolia felt a little regretful. This time, they were overconfident. The loss of more than 300 people was a small matter. The Ming army attacked in one night, and the total number of Tatars killed was only 500 or 600. However, the cavalry attack failed. The blow to morale was a bit big and he couldn't bear it.

what to do?

Now he needs to come up with a solution immediately, but for a moment, he can't think of a good way.

"Master Wanhu, we have no choice but to retreat, otherwise it will be even worse if we are surrounded by the Ming army."

Qianhu, who was standing next to him, saw the current crisis and it was unacceptable to continue like this, so he hurriedly said to him.

"Retreat first and let Sahatu regroup the cavalry as soon as possible."

Mongolian households immediately ordered that no matter what, they had to retreat at this time, and they must leave space for the war horses.

The Ming army continued to advance in the Tatar camp. The Tatars could only form a small phalanx of dozens of archers to cover their retreat and prevent the Ming army from rapidly pursuing.

However, at this time, the Ming army had no plans to attack in an all-out manner. They still took their time and moved forward in a tight military formation.

For most of the soldiers of the Ming army, this battle was a bit strange, but it was very satisfying. The Tatars were always suppressed by them.

The gap in technical equipment was vividly reflected in this battle.

Although it can be said that almost everyone in the Tatars is an archer, bows and arrows also have disadvantages, that is, they have a great impact on the body.

Most of the Tatar Qianhu who resisted the Ming army before are now unable to shoot arrows.

Before dawn in the early morning, they quickly fired many arrows in order to prevent the Ming army from rushing into the military camp. At this time, most of them were taken by Qianhu to mount their own horses and merged into the previous assault cavalry.

Although Qianhu, who came as reinforcements from behind, could still fight, they were obviously no match for the Ming army at this time.

Soon, three thousand households gathered in front of Wanhu to discuss what to do about this matter.

"Sir, please retreat to the rear camp. The barbarians from the Ming Dynasty continue to approach like this. Our cavalry cannot display its combat power at all. The military camp we have arranged is also helping them."

"Yes, sir, the Ming army used infantry to attack the camp. Now we have no geographical advantage."

Several thousand families talked about their understanding of the current war situation, and they all wanted to retreat as soon as possible to temporarily put a distance between themselves and the Ming army.

Another thing they didn't say was that the Ming army's numerical advantage was too obvious.

Now they have less than 3,000 people here. If you exclude those who are injured and cannot fight, they only have over 2,000 people.

The losses of the Ming army were estimated to be similar to theirs, at least close to ten thousand people, and the army was spread out again, so it was really impossible to fight.

The tribes below do not understand the field advantage that the Tatars have over the Ming army. Don’t they, the tens of thousands and thousands of households, still not understand?

Raid.

They dared to attack the Ming army in the wild, which was several times their size. In fact, it was not because of how powerful they were, but because they often took advantage of their mobility and appeared suddenly in places where the Ming army did not expect it. Most of the attacks were on the marching columns of the Ming army. .

The rapid raids caused the Ming army to be overwhelmed by them before they had time to set up their military formations. This is the real reason why the prairie cavalry repeatedly defeated the Ming army.

Once the Ming army completed their military formation layout, there was only one way in front of them, and that was to withdraw.

Mongolian households are not procrastinators. They naturally understand and will not hesitate.

"Withdraw to the rear camp. If that doesn't work, give up here first and let this military camp become Ming Gou's grave."

Hearing his Wanhu say this, a Qianhu who was slow to respond but very impatient said in confusion: "Sir, what do you mean?"

"Everyone is on horseback. We will leave the rear camp and defeat the Ming army's cavalry first to join the Great Khan."

The Mongolian households looked at the camp with a sneer on their lips, "Give it to them here. After we destroy the Ming army cavalry outside, we will come with the Great Khan to surround them and trap them to death, hehe."

When he said this, Qianhu also understood.

We are indeed at a disadvantage now, so we should first kill the Ming army cavalry outside, and then join the Great Khan's Royal Guards to destroy the Ming army in front of us.

"Go ahead and move quickly."

Wanhu urged.

"Yes, sir."

"As commanded."