Chen Jin does not lack reflexes, but he and his descendants, the Han Banner Army, have major flaws in their response speed.

It is no wonder that the training of soldiers in the era of cold weapons, which pays more attention to individual force and formation, has almost no involvement in the reaction of soldiers.

The so-called elite is more about reaching the predetermined position according to the general's command flag or trumpet, but the subjective agility is insufficient.

The coverage area of the tiger squat cannon is actually not large, with a radius of dozens of zhang, which is very small for the range involved in the thousand horses.

Even if the thousand cavalry charged in a concentrated and parallel manner, the distance from their head to tail was also one or two miles, which was still the case when the enemy cavalry spread out and wanted to annihilate the artillery position of the Northern Expeditionary Army in one fell swoop, that is to say, the horizontal area was very wide.

The real distance between the two sides was only about one and a half miles, and in fact, when the front and middle of the enemy cavalry were covered by artillery fire, the tail of the enemy cavalry had just rushed out of the smoke and dust in front of the city gate.

In other words, if the response is fast, Chen Jin can keep at least three or forty percent of the cavalry, then Wu Zheng will have to think of other ways if he wants to break Pei County.

The ability of the Northern Expeditionary Army does not lie in attacking fortifications, especially in the absence of bows and crossbows and artillery on the city walls, and the musketeers who are not armored cannot fight with the armored enemy at all.

In a way, the musketeer is actually a variation of the crossbowman, but the crossbowman has light armor, or leather armor or chain mail, and at least a heart shield or something.

But the Northern Expeditionary Army didn't, the military uniform was handsome, because the dress was uniform, on the other hand, the enemy had all kinds of clothing, and even some of them hung a piece of fur diagonally as a covering, God knows if it was used to resist swords or arrows, maybe it was used to reduce friction when preparing to fall.

Therefore, there was a huge omission in Chen Jin's response at this time, he did not stop the cavalry from continuing to charge at the first time, but Chen Jin, after a short period of consternation, ordered the shield spearmen on both sides to press forward.

Maybe Chen Jin thinks that in such a short distance, if the Northern Expeditionary Army wants to annihilate a thousand horses, it can't be done without a single hour, and it's right to think about it, even if you slaughter a pig with a thousand hairs, it will take time.

Pressing the shield pikemen on top was enough to deter the Northern Expeditionary Army and thus defuse the threat to the cavalry.

In this regard, Chen Jin's response is also correct.

But Chen Jin didn't seem to have forgotten that every soldier of the Northern Expeditionary Army was equipped with a grenade on his waist, although it was not very powerful, and it could be used as a smoke bomb at most when used sporadically, and only group use was an artifact, but if it really had to be detonated at close range, killing and injuring one or two people, it was still okay.

Wu Zheng was also horrified in his heart at this time, such a strict deployment, more than 30 light cavalry that rushed into the position, actually caused more than twice as many casualties, he couldn't help but sweat for his "recklessness", you know, Wu Zheng was too far ahead, and finally stopped and was dragged off the horse by several Northern Expeditionary soldiers, and the enemy cavalry who were stabbed to death with bayonets were only two or three zhang away from Wu Zheng.

At this distance, if the enemy cavalry jumps up, I am afraid that Wu Zheng will at least flee in embarrassment, and maybe the cavalry will come to rewrite history.

Maybe the cavalry didn't know Wu Zheng, who made the color, style, and fabric of the Northern Expeditionary Army's military uniforms roughly the same, only the decorations were a little different.

But Wu Zheng reacted quickly and immediately organized artillery to reload rapid-fire again.

Not only did Wu Zheng react quickly, but the artillery had actually subconsciously reloaded before Wu Zheng gave the order.

It's an instinct and it's very important.

Wu Zheng's original deployment was that after completing a salvo, the artillery quickly retreated to 600 soldiers fighting with bayonets, and then carried out loading and filling, because once the enemy cavalry rushed through the area covered by artillery fire, the artillery would not have time to reload.

In fact, the enemy cavalry did rush forward, but there were not many of them, and they were knocked out by a volley of muskets from six hundred soldiers, and two-thirds of them were knocked out.

Immediately the soldiers who rushed forward with bayonets dealt with the remaining thirty or so horsemen, then the artillery did not care to retreat.

Agility is important, sometimes more so than banning.

It takes time for the general's orders to be delivered, especially when this kind of artillery fire is pervasive and the fighters are fleeting.

The artillery of the Northern Expeditionary Army did not wait for the order to be issued, and took the initiative to reload on the spot, and when Wu Zheng's order arrived, it was already only left to fire.

Then, the enemy cavalry, who had just come back to their senses and adjusted their war horses frightened by artillery fire, charged again in the rear, which was equivalent to stepping into the Ghost Gate Pass with one foot.

Without incident, the flying shrapnel harvested any living creatures that passed through the area, including warhorses.

In a short period of time, two rounds of artillery bombardment and a volley of muskets overturned the enemy's thousands of horsemen, which was still in front of the enemy's main formation, and it had to be terrifying, including Wu Zheng, the initiator.

It's incredible, just paying less than a hundred casualties and annihilating the enemy's thousand horsemen, which makes Wu Zheng involuntarily shout loudly - Long live the artillery battalion!

Wu Wangdi shouted loudly, attracting the entourage of the soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army, who thought that this was an alternative way of celebration for the prince.

As a result, the momentum outside Peixian County shook the sky.

At this time, the commander of the artillery battalion, Chen Qicai, the son of Chen Shoujie, the supervisor of the military workshop at the time, and the grandson of Chen Yujie, an artillery expert in the Ming Dynasty, this shy boy and little-known teenager four years ago has become the commander of the artillery battalion.

He was shocked by this huge Qi shout, and his face trembled palely, what is King Wu going to do?

However, this is not the time to celebrate when the battle is over, because the battle continues.

The fear in Chen Jin's heart at this time was beyond words, and the same was true of the army under his command.

Within a stone's throw of them, I watched the thousand horsemen being engulfed in the smoke and dust of artillery fire, or twice, and the distance between the front and back was less than a pillar of incense.

It can be said that one foot is born, and one foot is dead.

But on the battlefield, once the battle begins, it is like opening a bow and there is no turning back.

Fools know that retreating at this time is tantamount to suicide.

Chen Jin originally thought that if the battle situation was unfavorable, he could quickly withdraw to the city and hold on to the city, but the premise was that there were cavalry after the rear.

Okay, now the cavalry used to break the rear has been annihilated, who will break the queen?

Both sides are two-legged and two-legged, not to mention that the running speed of the soldiers of the Northern Expeditionary Army is far better than that of the Qing Army, if this is a hasty retreat and is chased into the city by the Northern Expeditionary Army, then a river of spring water will flow eastward, not good, the defeat is still light, and it is captured alive, then the widow dies and her son dies, and there is no hope.

Therefore, Chen Jin's second order was to press the whole army and take the initiative to attack.

Not only did the crossbowmen of the rear team who had not yet moved press forward, but Chen Jin also transferred the crossbowmen on the city wall down the city to join the general attack.

It's all or nothing.

Chen Jin has no choice, this cavalry is lost, the defenders of Pei County will lose their ability to maneuver, and then see a large number of artillery of the Northern Expeditionary Army, Chen Jin's heart is cold, and no matter how strong the city wall is, I am afraid it will be difficult to resist the bombardment of so many artillery.