In Sichuan, Liu Wenxiu fought with Li Guohan for several months, Li Guohan's troops were not much, but Liu Wenxiu and Li Yuanyin tried to eat him several times without success. Liu Wenxiu knew in his heart that this opponent was very difficult.

After coming to Hanzhong, he couldn't get Li Yuanyin's response, because Liu Wenxiu didn't have any delusions about killing Li Guohan in Hanzhong City.

If it is a strong attack on Hanzhong, Liu Wenxiu's troops are obviously not enough, but if he uses these troops for pursuit, then 30,000 people are completely competent, because Liu Wenxiu is not afraid of the Qing army in Hanzhong City running away, so he concentrated his forces in the west of the city 5 miles after camping, he no longer asked about the siege, only sent 500 soldiers to Chencang Road and Bao Chuan Road to defend the entrance of the two roads.

Liu Wenxiu, who was camped west of Hanzhong, hoped to take advantage of the tension in Guanzhong to force the Hanzhong defenders to continue their escape north, and drive Li Guohan to Fu Luo Dao or Zi Meridian Road in the Qinling Mountains east of Hanzhong. As long as Li Guohan walks into these two roads, as soon as he walks out of the Qinling Mountains, he will inevitably fall into the encirclement and ambush of Ma Jinzhong.

In order to prevent the Qing army from breaking through his camp, Liu Wenxiu planted all the camps together, and also dug two trenches half a zhang deep outside the camp, each one zhang wide, and arranged several antlers, and arranged a large number of soldiers to be on strict guard every day and night.

Breaking is in the making, and the pre-dawn darkness is always creepy. The previous He Luohui or Nikan, either because of the light enemy, or because they were ambushed, and this battle of Hanzhong was the first fair contest between the fierce generals and strong soldiers of the Ming and Qing armies after Tianlang took charge of the Ming Dynasty.

The next day, there was no change in the city of Hanzhong compared with the past, and the soldiers patrolling the city were still coming and going with torches, and it seemed that it was just a normal morning. Suddenly, listening to the creaking of the city gate, a row of five Qing troops appeared inside and outside the city gate, and they formed a long line. All of them were dressed in blue cotton armor, armed with swords, shields, and spears. A rough calculation showed that a total of about 2,000 people lined up in a shield formation ten meters near the trench outside the Ming military camp. Then another 3,000 men, still dressed in blue cotton armor, formed a spear formation, which was behind the shield array.

When the Ming army found out about the situation, they also reacted, they also sounded their horns, gathered one after another, and organized about 2,000 archers in the large camp and began to stand within the fence to shoot at the large array of the Qing army.

The rear of the Ming army camp was also lined up with many thousand-strong troops ready to support the front camp at any time, and the battle began without warning, and it was so quiet and gentle at first.

At this time, 1,000 shield bearers of the Qing army covered 2,000 archers out of the city, and lined up in a gun array to return fire at the Ming archers in the camp.

Unlike the Ming army, they fired rockets, and the people in the city kept coming out, and Li Guohan also moved out of the twenty cannons defending the city. The distance of 5 miles from Hanzhong City is generally a safe distance outside the range of artillery, and the Qing army moved these cannons out, and the safe distance became the killing radius. The camp of the Ming army was bombed repeatedly, and for a time there were clusters of arrows flying back and forth in the sky, and the camp was filled with flames.

The Shu road was difficult, the heavy equipment was not easy to transport, and the Ming army could only give a counterattack to the firearms of the Qing army, more than 100 portable small cannons.

The bow and arrow did not cause much damage in the face of the shield and cotton armor of the Qing army, and only a small number of strong crossbows made waves in the shield array of the Qing army.

Although the range and lethality of the small artillery of the Ming army were limited, their rate of fire was very fast. Since each Franc machine cannon is equipped with a cannon, which is a kind of equipment that can be quickly taken out and put in together with the shells and the loaded gunpowder, so the Ming army can quickly reload the artillery, so the rate of fire of their artillery can reach as many as several rounds per minute.

As early as in the battle of Wanli to aid Korea, the Qi family army used this kind of Franc machine to replace the sub-cannon as a firepower projection, and conquered the Korean king's capital in one fell swoop.

In addition, Liu Wenxiu also carried a large number of lightweight leather cannons, which increased the firepower of the Ming army by several orders of magnitude.

The manufacture of leather cannons After the battle of Quanzhou, Tianlang deliberately increased the investment in manpower, and this expedition to Hanzhong, through the Sword Pavilion and Bashan, it was really much easier to carry a large number of leather cannons than to carry iron cannons.

Li Guohan didn't expect that his original plan was to make good use of his artillery to completely ravage the Ming army, but unexpectedly, he was inflicted more damage by countless Ming artillery fire, and he was almost overwhelmed.

"Didn't this group of Ming troops come from Shu Dao? How could they carry so many guns? Li Guohan was very surprised and annoyed, and the staff were all dusty and dusty with artillery fire and gunsmoke, and some of them said: "General, act quickly, don't pay attention to how the Ming army pulled so many cannons, our formation is almost unbearable!" ”

"Well, order, attack immediately!"

The horn sounded, there was a change in the gap of the Qing army's array, dozens of bamboo ladders rushed out from behind the formation, some people in the Qing army who set up the ladder quickly moved forward, bravely pulled off the antlers, and for a while they continued to pull the cowhide on the antler barrier, stepped on the antlers, and then put the bamboo ladders on the two trenches one after another.

This is a race against time, the Ming army's bows and arrows quickly adjusted their aim to shoot at them, if they have not built a ladder on top of the trench before everyone is dead, it will only be more difficult to break through the Ming army's cross-fire again.

Li Guohan is one of the most qualified generals of the Han Army, and his Zhenglan Banner Han Army is definitely the elite of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, stronger than Kong Youde and others, and Liu Wenxiu's combat effectiveness is definitely not weak, and both armies have already reflected their respective combat qualities.

At this time, part of the sword and shield men of the first team of the Qing army began to charge at high speed, they stepped over the antlers and stepped on the bamboo ladder, and the spearmen of the second team followed closely behind.

At this time, musket teams began to appear on the fence of the Ming army camp, shooting at the Qing troops outside the camp, and the two sides soon fought over the one-zhang high fence.

The Qing army outside the fence was still covered by sword and shield hands, and pikemen attacked; Due to the limited space of the Ming army in the fence, the cooperation between the sword and shield hands and the pikemen was relatively clumsy, so that the Ming army pikemen could not take too much advantage for a while.

The Ming musketeers' damage to the cotton armor would only be reflected by shooting at close range, while the Qing army's pikemen were much more lethal to the Ming musketeers at close range, so the Ming musketeers were quickly defeated.

The ladder men in the Qing army had also rushed to the vicinity of the Ming army's fence at this time, but they did not come to set up the ladder to climb the fence, but put down the ladder in their hands and rushed up, and threw a lot of hooks, and then in a group of about a dozen people, they violently pulled to the rear, intending to destroy the Ming army fence.

(End of chapter)