On July 2, the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, after many attempts and confrontations, the two sides finally went out to battle, arranged their troops, and put on a decisive battle posture.

Yang Sichang took Wang Wannian and Wang Tingchen's two new armies as the front of the Chinese army, followed by Yang Wenyue and Yang Dezheng's Baoding men, and Liu Zeqing, He Renlong, and An Guoan's three troops as the left wing, and Xuanfu General Soldier Hu Dawei, Tongzhou General Soldier Jiang Mingwu, and Yulin General Soldier Niu Chenghu as the right wing.

The elite of the main force was arranged, and the remaining miscellaneous soldiers were in the rear, serving as the garrison reinforcements of the entire large array.

The crowds of people on both sides were like a sea, and the flags were like a forest, full of a monstrous atmosphere of war.

After two years of experience as a superintendent, Yang Sichang grew old very quickly and gradually lost his physical strength, but he insisted on personally beating the drum to motivate the soldiers of the three armies, shouting: "Kill the thief!" ”

Before the Ming army moved, the invading army had already launched an attack, and it was still a steady stream of hungry people as the vanguard, impacting the officers and soldiers in the army, and consuming its momentum.

Behind the hungry people, there was a large array of infantry troops that stretched for several miles, and the black-pressed intruders strode forward with spears in hand, and the cavalry on both sides of the two formations also attacked, and the momentum was like a tide.

As the drums of war became more and more urgent, countless hungry people shouted, and the whole line marched like a wall, and the crowd surged.

In the middle of the Ming army, Wang Wannian put down his usual uninhibited expression, his face gradually became solemn, and behind him was 10,000 well-trained Shanxi Town Fire Gun Army, as well as a battalion of artillery, which he poured countless painstaking training.

Looking at the soldiers' immovable appearance, Wang Wannian's confidence increased greatly, and he drew his sword and pointed forward: "Open the cannon!" ”

The command flag waved, and the cannon roared loudly in an instant, and the artillery battalion in Shanxi Town let out an angry roar, and the sound of the cannon was inexhaustible, like a burst of rain, and the hungry people who rushed into the battle were killed and wounded, and many of them collapsed before they rushed closer, and retreated in horror.

The border army in Miyun Town is also the focus of Chongzhen's formation of a new army, and after three years of army training, it has also begun to take shape, and 10,000 fire guns are waiting for orders there.

Yang Sichang looked at Wang Wannian, Wang Tingchen, Hu Dawei and other border troops in a strict array, and his heart was stunned, and he looked at Liu Zeqing and others on the left flank, with a loose style, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Yang Sichang couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "Fortunately, the three of them have fought with the crown prince and learned the training system of the Tianwu Army, if there is no three-sided man for them, I am afraid that this battle will be difficult......."

The smoke was billowing in front, and the thieves were killed countless by the artillery fire, wailing all over the field, and then a wave of thieves was defeated, and more thieves poured over behind, and the thieves on both wings of the horse army also fought with the two wings of the Ming army.

The number of artillery in the Ming army was not large, and for the thieves who poured into the sea like a tide, the shells fired out were like small waves, which could not stop the attack of the invading army.

When the army entered within 100 steps, the Ming army waved the military order flag, the unique sound of trumpets and cannons sounded, and the 20,000 firecrackers of the Chinese army in Shanxi and Miyun two towns shouted in unison: "Tiger! ”

In response to the majestic shouts and shouts, the firecrackers of the second town stepped forward neatly, flipped the firecrackers in their hands, and aimed the black pressure at another wave of hungry people rushing in front.

The crackling of the firecrackling soldiers in the two towns made a row, and the rogue infantry soldiers who were shouting and shouting were knocked to the ground, and the screams continued.

The smoke of gunpowder filled the field, the pungent smell of blood filled the field, and the battlefield was full of wailing thieves and wounded soldiers, as well as those densely dead corpses, and the tragic scene was terrifying.

Compared with Miyun Town, the soldiers and horses in Shanxi Town are more combative, Wang Wannian has moved the model of the Tianwu Army, recruiting children from good families with developed limbs and simple brains, dividing fields and settling down, and training every day.

The Tianwu army copied the homes of the eight great Jin merchants, and the harvest was huge, and Wang Wannian, who assisted from it, naturally reaped a lot of benefits, these were the capital for him to train the new army, and the new army he trained was not comparable to the new army in other towns.

On the right flank, Hu Dawei personally led 3,000 cavalry from Xuanfu Town to fight fiercely with the horse army that broke into the camp, and defeated several thief cavalry attacks.

On the right flank, Liu Zeqing and He Renlong's army formations also stood tenaciously and repelled several attacks by the intruding army, with good results.

The situation is very good, the officials of the Ming army will look at each other excitedly, Yang Sichang and several civilian officials are even more emotional, he said arrogantly: "The thief is nothing more than that!" ”

The attack of the Chuang army was frustrated, and Li Zicheng decisively gave up the attack of the Ma army on the two wings, and only attacked the middle army and the two wings with the hungry people and the infantry army, while part of the Ma army continued to wander outside the large array, looking for the flaws of the Ming army.

The crowd tactics implemented were not a joke, and the old battalion soldiers in the rear were supervised, and the hungry people who rushed to the formation did not dare to retreat, and they were beaten back and gritted their teeth and rushed up frantically.

In the earth-shattering sound of killing, the two sides were inseparable, the Ming army suppressed the thieves with firearms, Yang Sichang continued to dispatch troops, and replaced the tired men and horses in the front, and the same was true in the army, taking turns to fight.

After several hours of continuous fighting, the battlefield plain was full of dead and wounded, and the eyes were densely packed with dead people.

After cooling, the guns of the Ming army rang out one after another, and the soldiers of the new army in the two towns of Shanxi and Miyun in the plains were extremely tenacious in their fighting will, and the thieves attacked in waves, and they were calmly defeated in front of the battle by their firearms.

The attack of the hungry people became more and more weak, and the thieves rushed into battle with hungry soldiers, facing the Ming army's strict array, which was really a one-sided massacre.

Wang Wannian held the binoculars and looked, those invading soldiers were still tirelessly rushing up, he frowned, and muttered: "Maybe in the eyes of the intruders, these hungry people are not worth a lead bullet of officers and soldiers......

But he thought it was strange, what was the thief doing? Why did his Chinese army keep surrounding each other with banners in the sky and not moving at all? Could it be that Li Thief is not in the Chinese army? Personally led the old camp around the back of the sneak attack?

After thinking about it carefully, Wang Wannian dispelled this idea again, according to the layout of the Ming army, even if the thieves sneak around the back, they will not be able to take any advantage, and they may be defeated by the defenders of Zhending City on both sides.

After a while, the artillery and guns in the Ming army gradually stopped, and began to dissipate heat, and the archers and pikemen of the Ming army rose up here, replacing the artillery battalions and fire guns.

At this moment, a guerrilla general of the Ming army in front suddenly shouted: "Artillery, it's artillery!" ”

Everyone didn't understand what he meant, but when the generals raised their binoculars to observe, their hearts were shocked.

I saw that there were fewer and fewer hungry people in the invading army, and the rear infantry army dispersed, revealing a row of artillery of different sizes, and there were as many as hundreds of Hongyi cannons and Furlong machine guns!

Not only that, but there were even denser firecrackers in the army! He was still wearing the Mandarin Duck uniform of the Ming Army, and it was obviously those Henan officers and soldiers who surrendered to Li Zicheng.

It was only now that the generals of the Ming army understood why Li Zicheng covered the Chinese army with banners, and constantly used hungry people to charge the battle, consuming the firepower of the Ming army, it turned out that they had artillery and firearms!

As early as 10 years ago, some officers and soldiers took refuge in joining the Liukou, and in recent years, with Li Zicheng's growth, more officers and soldiers in Henan, Shaanxi, and other places have surrendered, and every time they break into the army, they will kill officials and deter them, and most of the officers and soldiers choose to surrender in order to save their lives.

(End of chapter)