How is it so little? It looks like it's less than 20,000 people.

There are also few artillery, only about two dozen pieces!

There doesn't seem to be any cavalry, it's all infantry phalanxes......

Is it about to be won?

This happiness came too quickly, right?

When I saw the 32 infantry phalanxes of the Ming army (all battalion phalanxes) slowly unfolding in the open space about three miles in front of their own formations, and also listed two large horizontal formations (each horizontal team composed of 16 phalanxes), the hearts of the soldiers on the Qing army's side were happy.

They originally thought that the Ming army had more people than themselves, but they didn't expect that there were only so many people, but now it's good, they can finally win a big victory!

Duoduo stood on a makeshift lookout, holding a telescope and looking behind the Ming army. However, it is not very clear, because now is the time when the sun is gradually rising, and the Ming army is backlit, and the Qing army is facing the sun. Therefore, it is not possible to see if there is smoke and dust stirred up by the advance of the Qingming army.

However, Duoduo still wouldn't believe that the Ming army only had such a small number, he turned around and came down from the high platform, and Nikan and Yue Le were waiting under the high platform.

Seeing Duoduo coming down, Nikan suggested loudly: "Uncle Huangtai, the Southern Barbarian must have a rear formation, and it should not be Qi now, this is our opportunity, it is better to attack him for a while first, and give the Southern Barbarian a dismount!" ”

Duoduo glanced at Yue Le again, and Yue Le said: "Uncle Huang, the Southern Army is good at building fortifications, we can't give the Southern Army time to build fortifications, otherwise it will be difficult to fight!" ”

Duoduo frowned: "Yue Le, do you think the Southern Army may use the 32 infantry formations in front of us to cover the rear team building a fortress?" ”

"It's very likely!" Yue Le said, "Our army is conducive to a quick battle, and the southern army is conducive to a lasting ...... If they are allowed to complete the fortification, our army will be in a dilemma. ”

Dodor nodded. It's a very bad thing for him to build a fortification! Because half of his army is infantry, and he doesn't just go.

Moreover, most of his troops are "squad troops" who are also soldiers and farmers, and it has been several months since they went out into battle, and most of this year's spring plowing was mistaken. If it is delayed for a few more months, there will not even be a chance to replant, and the harvest will be greatly poor in the autumn.

What if the two sides face off until the fall? Drag it out until next year?

At that time, it will not be a poor harvest in the rear, and even the food of the 70,000 or 80,000 troops on the front line will be a problem......

"Yue Le, I'll leave it to you!" Duoduo knew that Yue Le was cautious and steady, and had the style of a general, so he gave him the first formation, "The 72 Niulu infantry troops are all for you...... Fight well! Let the Southern Barbarians know the power of our Qing Heavenly Soldiers! ”

"Huh!"

Yue Le made a thousand salutes, received the order of Duoduo and went to the front line, and before he could reach the place, there was a rumbling shelling sound in front.

This is the 32 3-pounder guns under the jurisdiction of the 2 artillery battalions under Gao Jie's command of the Ming Army Xu Haijun Jiedu are firing!

Don't look at the small number of artillery of the Ming army, but it is very concentrated, so it has a firepower advantage in local areas!

In fact, Gao Jie's two columns of infantry were also relatively densely arranged, and about 240 pikemen in each battalion formed four horizontal columns, and the distance between the two columns was relatively close, only less than 20 paces. The 240 musketeers of each battalion were in three rows in front of the pike, each with a half-step apart. And the first two rows of musketeers also stagger the lineup, so that the first two rows of musketeers can fire at the same time. The musketeers in the third platoon were substitutes to replenish the losses of the previous team to maintain the queue...... Obviously, Gao Jie's plan is to maximize his firepower and give the opponent the maximum damage with bullets.

In front of the musketeers, there were 32 3-pounder guns that were firing rapidly!

The target of their bombardment was the artillery position of the Qing army more than two miles away, and all they fired were expensive lead bullets. There are four varieties of cannonballs in this era: lead bullets, stone bullets, iron bullets, and shotguns, among which lead bullets are relatively soft and easy to stuff into the bronze cannon chamber, so they can be made relatively large, and the clearance between the shell and the cannon chamber is small, and the air tightness is better, so it can be shot far and accurately.

Moreover, after these years of strict training, the gunners of the Ming army have also become more skilled, and the speed of firing cannons is very fast, and the aim is also accurate. There is no longer a need for salvo fire and unified sighting (which will affect the rate of fire), and it is possible to shoot lead bullets into piles on the Qing artillery positions.

The artillery array of the Qing army was suddenly a cloud of smoke and dust, and people raised their cannons.

When Yue Le ventured to the front on foot, the Qing artillery also began to counterattack. Because the artillery shells of the Ming army continued to fall, the artillery positions of the Qing army were in chaos. Artillery was constantly overturned, artillery was killed and wounded, and screams and exclamations came one after another.

In this case, the Qing gunners, who were not very well trained (training artillery was too expensive for Duoduo), were very disorganized, neither fast nor accurate. Although the number of cannons was three times that of the opponent, it did not exert its due power, and after bombarding for a while, it seemed that it did not dumb a few artillery cannons of the Ming army, but five or six artillery pieces had already been knocked over on their own side.

However, these Qing artillery cannons were not completely useless, but they produced a lot of smoke. Because there was no wind on the battlefield today, the smoke could not be dispersed at once, so the center of the battlefield was soon filled with smoke, and visibility dropped sharply.

"Trumpet, drum!" Yue Le was waiting for this time, so he gave the order without hesitation.

On 13 February, just after noon, 40 Niu Lu's Qing infantry began to march in formation amid the sound of war drums.

Because of the lack of muskets, the infantry of Duoduo could not adopt the European-style phalanx tactics, but instead adopted a mixture of muskets, pikes, swords, and archers. Among them, the musketeers accounted for about one-eighth of each cow, that is, less than thirty and less than forty. At the beginning of the battle, they were all lined up in front of the battle, usually in two or one column, and five or six rounds of guns were all over the place—and it was impossible to fight more, because the barrels of their arquebuses needed time to cool.

Behind the muskets were archers, about the same number as musketeers, who would retreat after firing their guns, and then the archers would go up and shoot arrows. There is no condition to shoot more, and generally shoot ten arrows and twenty arrows to rest.

When the musketeers and archers are done, it's the work of pikemen and swordmen......

When the Qing infantry attacked, their artillery stopped firing - because the artillery was all in front of its own infantry!

Although the Ming artillery on the opposite side could not see the situation in front clearly, they heard that all the artillery of the Qing army was dumb and knew that the infantry of the Qing army was coming.

So they also stopped shooting and began to load shotguns and transfer ammunition trucks.

Shotguns are two or three shots, and the 3-pounder shotgun is not very powerful, which is not enough to block the Qing army of the entire 40 Niulu. So after the shot, the gunner had to rush to pull the horse and pull the cannon to transfer.

Seeing that the ammunition trucks of the artillery were withdrawn first, the musketeers of the Ming army behind became nervous, and the company-level officers blew the whistle of "preparing for battle" one after another, and the squad leaders and platoon commanders at the grassroots level began to give orders.

"Light the arquebus! Reloading ......"

After a period of chaos, the front of the Ming army's position suddenly became unusually quiet, and there was no loud voice, and there was no rumbling of artillery. There was only the sound of rumbling footsteps that were so dense that they could not be counted......

All of them held their breath and stared intently ahead. The smoke has dissipated a lot, and the "white Qing army" of the brigade has appeared in everyone's sight.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

The 3-pounder regimental cannon in front of the infantry fired again! This time it was shotgun, twenty or thirty musket lead bullets wrapped in deerskin and stuffed into the barrel, and now the deflagrated gunpowder was pushed out, and it suddenly spread out at the muzzle, flying forward, sweeping on the bodies of the Qing army musketeers more than a hundred steps away, the white cotton armor was suddenly beaten into a blood-red color, and the soldiers who were shot didn't even have time to scream, so they fell to the ground on their backs, and there was no movement.

But the Qing soldiers, who were not shot, are still moving forward with their heads covered!