On April 28, the third year of Dashun Yongchang, at dawn, Li Zicheng wore a long iron armor made of fine workmanship, covered with a blue cloth arrow jacket, and rode a horse on the mountainside on the northern slope of Jinmaoling, which is thirteen or four miles southeast of Tangjia Mountain.

Seven or eight miles away in front is a large Taoist temple called Guangde Palace, which is now an important support point of the Dashun army in the southeast corner of the former Tangjiashan battlefield. Li Zicheng's artillery corps was based in Guangde Palace, and 32 general cannons are now placed on the open flat ground north of Guangde Palace (which was originally used to hold temple fairs), which is less than 100 zhang from the course of the Hudu River.

These generals' cannons in Li Zicheng's hands were all pulled from Jiangling City, and they were all carefully made by the good generals of Wuchang Mansion ordered by Zuo Liangyu before his death. It is not a large and medium-sized artillery that fires seven or three catties of shells, but a small cannon that fires a pound of shells, the body of the cannon is cast iron, reinforced with multiple iron hoops, and if you don't count the gun carriage, the weight of the gun is only three or four hundred catties.

This artillery could be placed on a special three-wheeled gun carriage for field warfare. However, the three-wheeled gun carriage could not be used for defending the city, because it was three-wheeled, and the wheels mounted behind the gun carriage were not taken down when the cannon was fired, but a dirt slope was piled up behind the cannon to restore the recoil. There was no way to pile up earth on the city wall, so I had to take down the cannon and carry it to the stone turret......

It's really a strange design, and I don't know who came up with it? Not only is it inconvenient to use it in defending the city, but it is also very inconvenient to use it in field warfare, and it is difficult to transfer positions in time.

However, for Li Zicheng in the Battle of Tangjiashan, the inconvenience caused by the strange gun carriage was not a problem at all. Because the initiative on the battlefield is pinched in his hands!

Although it is the era of the roar of firearms, the position of cavalry on the battlefield is still very critical - strong firearms mean strong lethality, and strong cavalry means the initiative on the battlefield.

On the battlefield of Tangjiashan at dawn on April 28, the third year of Yongchang, the lethality and the initiative, the two favorable factors that could determine the outcome of the battle, were in the hands of Li Zicheng!

Of course, his enemies are not without a chance of victory.

The Ming army occupied advantageous underground, relying on the Hudu River, the Lotus Temple and Tangjia Mountain to set up formations, and also built improvised fortifications to strengthen the defenses.

Plus, their reinforcements are coming!

According to the information that Li Zicheng had, Zhu Cihong mobilized at least three so-called "model divisions of the New Army to fight in Huguang."

This kind of "model division" was equipped with powerful guns and artillery, and it was well-trained and disciplined, and the soldiers under its command were also treated very well, far exceeding the ordinary Ming officers and soldiers, so their combat effectiveness was very strong.

Fortunately, the number of "exemplary teachers" is limited. According to the information provided by Huang Shu, the Ming army only had six model divisions - Huang Shu was a blind cat who met a dead mouse, and Zhu Cihong issued a total of six division-level numbers, and now all of them are model divisions. It's impossible to send them all to Huguang, right? There are always two to guard the Huai River defense line, and one more to keep in Nanjing to watch the family.

Therefore, there are three divisions that can be used.

Now one division is determined to be in Xiangjing and Nanyang, one division is in Hanyang, and one division is in Huya Mountain. Therefore, in the area from the county seat of Gong'an to Hudukou, there should be no model division.

Without a model teacher, Li Zicheng has the chance to win!

The Ming army that fought against Li Zicheng in Tangjiashan also showed great cowardice, and the army of tens of thousands of people did not dare to set up for a field battle, but only dared to rely on the Hudu River, Tangjiashan, and Lotus Temple to construct fortifications, and was ready to build a fortress and hold on.

It's a pity that Li Zicheng's army came suddenly, and didn't give this group of Ming troops much time to build strong enough fortifications.

Li Zicheng arrived yesterday afternoon with his troops, and first occupied Jinmao Mountain and Niutou Mountain (the two mountains are very close to each other, on the bank of the Hudu River that turns south) as the foundation. Then one part occupied the Guangde Temple and began to build artillery positions there. One unfolds along the Hudu River to the west of Guangdeguan, and some very simple fortifications are also constructed.

In the other part, the river was blocked with soil bags at the foot of Jinmao Mountain and Niutou Mountain, which was to divert the water from the Hudu River flowing upstream into the rice fields on the east bank, thereby reducing the water depth of the Hudu River in the Tangjiashan area downstream.

The Hudu River is not a big river, the water level in the area of Tangjiashan is not very deep, if there is less water from the upstream, then the Dashun army can cross the river to attack.

At a time when the large forces of both sides were preparing for a decisive battle, small-scale contacts began last night.

First of all, there was a contest between the scout cavalry of the two sides, and after the victory of the Dashun army with more people and horses, Li Zicheng ordered his "gun-carrying soldiers" to go to the Hudu River to shoot at the Ming army's position under the cover of darkness, and the Ming army also counterattacked with guns that they don't know.

The exchange of fire between the two sides lasted for a night, but not fiercely, and by the time it was dawn, there was still no intention of ending.

Gu Junen, the military advisor standing beside Li Zicheng, put a goose feather fan on his eyebrows and observed it carefully for a while, and said to Li Zicheng in a low voice: "Emperor, our cannons have been placed and are ready to fire." ”

Liu Zongmin next to him also said: "This time, there are too many cannons, and they bombard his mother with cannons!" ”

Li Zicheng looked at the flag of the king of Chu fluttering on Tangjia Mountain, and said to the two: "Then try it...... The order went down and told the brothers to beat him for two hours.

In addition, after letting the big lifter cool down, he also went to help the artillery. Concentrate your forces and defeat the Zhu thief all the way first! ”

......

Daniel Zhang, Qiu Lei, and Jin Shenghuan were accompanying the little Chu King at this time, his face was pale and tearful, and he only muttered in his mouth: "Sister wife, sister ...... wife", and climbed Tangjia Mountain together to watch the enemy formation from afar.

Looking southeast from Tangjia Mountain, the scene is spectacular!

Li Zicheng's army, numbering tens of thousands, had already left the temporary camping place and was set up on the battlefield.

They set up an arc formation, and Guangde Palace was almost a central point, with troops spread out on both sides. Among them, the Dashun army west of Guangde Palace was deployed along the Hudu River. To the east of Guangde Palace, the Dashun army waded through a shoal and spread out in Tangjia Mountain, east of the Lotus Temple.

There is also a cavalry of about two or three thousand, which swings upwards in the northeast of Tangjiashan, threatening the communication channel between Tangjiashan and the county seat of Gong'an at all times.

At this moment, bursts of white smoke suddenly rose in front of Guangde Palace, and there was a thunderous roar, and it was a pound of general cannon of the Dashun army that began to roar.

The power of a catty cannon was not great, but the thousands of infantry under Jin Shenghuan who were placed by the Hudu River near the Lotus Temple still suffered.

Although they had been busy all night, they had not built any strong fortifications - they had no shovels or shovels at their disposal, and they had no construction training. It was still the original way of thinking, and the carriage, side plates, and horse rejecting guns were put together, and the fortifications along the Hudu River were built to prevent horses. But I didn't expect to be shelled by Li Zicheng!

These miscellaneous things can't defend against artillery at all, and they will fly around after being shattered by a pound of projectiles, and whoever is bumped by these fragments will inevitably have their heads broken and their bones and tendons broken!

At this moment, two thousand Dashun soldiers carried their big iron guns in groups of two, and spread out on the left flank of the artillery position in front of Guangde Palace. Then it crackled and fired, and it wasn't a salvo, and it wasn't too good for accuracy, it just knocked the lead out and pulled it down.

It was Jin Shenghuan's troops who were beaten, they were already a bit of a rabble, they were made up of a small number of Shaanxi people and the villagers in Huaiyang, they had not been in the army for a long time, their training level was poor, and they had not fought any hard battles.

It was precisely because their combat effectiveness was unreliable that Daniel Zhang would let the 30,000 Jin family army deploy defenses along the Hudu River, forming the west and south sides of the defensive position of the Ming army in Tangjiashan.

Unexpectedly, Li Zicheng actually put the east and north sides of the Ming army without the cover of the river, and singled out the southern line guarded by the Jin family army as the main direction of attack of the Dashun army.

And Li Zicheng still has a cannon!