More than forty knights riding mules and leading horses, the wind through the boundless night, although it is night, but these cavalry who have horses and do not ride, but have to ride mules, but still can not raise fire to expose their tracks.

Because they are the mule soldiers of the Ming army, they have now entered the territory of the Great Qing Kingdom!

Xia Wanchun from Songjiang Prefecture took the lead, carrying an eight-foot horse pistol on his shoulder, leading the way in front of the team, followed by a Humpty Dumpty Hequ horse, with no one on horseback, and the reins were tied to the saddle of the mule under Xia Wanchun's crotch, and the mule led the horse to run.

Xia Wanchun also had forty horsemen behind him, and they all rode mules and led horses like him, but the weapons they carried on their backs were different. Twenty of them were carrying muskets, the muzzles of which were all upward, and they were not loaded with bayonets. Ten horsemen carried bows and arrows, and ten horsemen carried spears like Xia Wanchun.

Obviously, this is also a group of black lancers, but unlike the black lancers of Shuofang, they are armed with flintlock pistols.

A flintlock pistol is much better than an arquebus! First of all, there is no open flame, so you can use a flintlock pistol to shoot a black gun or a night attack at night. Otherwise, the arquebus will be lit and dotted with dots, and the enemy will be able to find it as soon as they are not asleep.

The second is that the flintlock pistol has a faster reload, and the faster the reload, the faster the rate of fire! And the rate of fire is fast, and the firepower is, of course, fierce!

The third is that flintlock pistols are not easy to misfire! Because the arquebus has an open flame, if you are not careful, it will ignite the flame in the powder pool, and it will have to go off. If you go off fire during the ambush, you're going to be exposed.

In addition, the sparks that spill after snatching the fire can easily ignite the powder pool of the muskets placed in the vicinity, so the arquebusiers are too dense and prone to "misfire". As a result, arquebusiers tend to be loosely formed, and when upgraded to flintlock muskets, they can be shot side by side......

Xia Wanchun, who was originally a teacher in Nanjing Jiangwutang (his father was Xia Yunyi, a Jinshi in Chongzhen's 18th year, was also a scribe, but caught up with the suspension of the imperial examination for a few years, so he had to be recommended by his fellow villager Xu Ermo to enter the Jiangwutang and stay in school to teach after graduation) After coming into contact with the flintlock pistol imported from the Netherlands, he immediately discovered its great military value!

So he immediately reported and applied for a transfer, and became a company commander in the 1st Musketeer Regiment - because he had never been on the battlefield, his official position was not high, and he was only qualified to be a company commander.

However, Xia Wanchun is still full of confidence in his career in the army!

Therefore, as soon as the above order was given, he immediately led his company, found a shallow place to cross the canal, infiltrated the territory of the Qing State, and then divided the team into three and began to sweep away the sentinels of the Qing army.

No matter what era the confrontation between the two armies is, it basically starts with reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance!

Because the battlefield is always shrouded in "fog", no matter how good a general is, he must rely on the intelligence obtained by scouts or other reconnaissance means to grasp the enemy's situation, and then formulate a targeted combat plan.

If one side's reconnaissance methods are completely restrained by the enemy, then it will become blind and deaf...... No matter how high the martial arts are, no matter how powerful the warrior is, once he is blind and deaf, he will not be able to beat anyone.

On the battlefield of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the main means of reconnaissance was cavalry, and those who probed horses, sentinel horses, and did not collect at night were basically cavalry.

Therefore, whichever side has strong cavalry, it will often be able to grasp more information, and at the same time cover the eyes and ears of the enemy.

In the previous Northern Expedition of the Ming Army, the Qing army relied on a huge cavalry advantage and always occupied the initiative. Dolgon was able to defeat the stronger Ming army with weaker troops, and he also went to Qufu to defeat the fight of the Confucian saints, didn't he rely on the cavalry to seal Zhu Cihong's sight, and at the same time he had enough battlefield information?

But now, the Ming side already has a way to deal with the cavalry of the Qing army!

"Stop!"

Xia Wanchun shouted at this time, and at the same time grabbed the reins of a donkey and mule (donkeys and mules are easier to obtain than horses and mules, so most of the Ming army mules and soldiers are equipped with donkeys and mules).

The mules who followed him saw him stop and grabbed the reins. Among them, the mule soldiers armed with muskets also handed over the mules under their crotches and the horses they were leading to their companions, and they themselves dismounted and held their guns, forming a vigilant formation.

Three squad leaders and a platoon leader all arrived in front of Xia Wanchun and waited for his order.

Xia Wanchun raised his horsewhip, pointed to a village with fire in front of him, and said to his four subordinates: "That village looks a little interesting...... The house is very dense, there seems to be a watchtower, and there are so many torches and lanterns lit at night, most of which are the cavalry of the Qing army! Let's take a look! ”

"Company commander," the squad leader of the flintlock squad immediately asked for battle, "hand it over to his subordinates!" There are 20 flintlock pistols under his subordinates, and the Qing army in that village is no more than 100, and one wave can be driven out. ”

He's not bragging, the Qing army here in Shandong isn't the kind of Eight Banners Old Manchuria that can fight particularly well, and 20 flintlock pistols are afraid that they won't be able to win hundreds of Green Flag soldiers in a sneak attack?

Xia Wanchun nodded and said to the squad leader of the archer squad: "The archers are responsible for covering, if the flintlock pikemen withdraw, you will shoot arrows." ”

"Whoa!"

Xia Wanchun said to the platoon commander of the mule platoon he brought: "You command the flintlock pikemen and archers in a unified manner, and I will take the lancers around to the other side to fight an ambush." ”

"Whoa!" The platoon commander of the mule platoon arched his hand and took the order.

Xia Wanchun's deployment was not very clever, but this kind of battle in which a small group of troops carried out night raids behind enemy lines was an extremely test of the morale of the troops.

The old-fashioned Ming army, not to mention the ordinary soldiers who don't have enough to eat, and even the family members may not be willing to perform this kind of fatal task of hanging their heads on their belts.

But the current "mule cavalry" of the Ming army dares to do this!

Because this unit not only has a good salary, but also has undergone long-term rigorous training, and most importantly, it is also equipped with a large number of officers who have graduated from the lecture hall.

The combat effectiveness and morale are very high in today's Ming army, and they are not at all comparable to the more than 100 grain-searching cavalry led by Sun Yanji, who was resting in Xiaozhangtun tonight.

Sun Yanji is also Sun Long's son and Sun Yanling's elder brother, because he was born to a girl, his status in the Sun family is not high, so he does some errands.

For Sun Long, who is currently stationed at Anping Fortress, the most important thing is to get enough money and food. Only when there is money and food can there be soldiers!

Only with soldiers can we hold the fortress of Anping!

If you keep it, you will have the capital to bargain with Daming...... It's not okay to be empty-handed, so he and his brother have to leave 100,000 acres of land to live.

Everyone is a brother, and they have been killed and injured for so many years, but they can't be left to beg for food in Jiangnan when they are old and helpless!

And Sun Yanji is also quite willing to carry out this task of grabbing food and money, as soon as he comes, he can make a little money and put it in his pocket; Second, you can still have a little beauty to sleep with...... It's better than being at ease in Anping Castle.

Tonight, Sun Dagongzi became the groom official again, and when he was working, he suddenly heard a crackling sound outside, as if where were the firecrackers?

What's a good thing about that? Could it be that his cheap father-in-law is setting off firecrackers? No, it's a firebolt, right?

As soon as Sun Yanji thought that something was wrong, the door was knocked open, startling him and the little girl......

"Leopard Head Li, what's wrong?" Sun Yanji already knew that something was wrong.

"The eldest prince, the Ming army is coming, the Ming army is coming!"

As if to prove his words, another crisp sound of a platoon of guns came.

Bang Bang Bang ......

"My lord," said the leopard-headed Li in a trembling voice, "there are at least 30 firearms firing in a salvo, and there has already been a salvo just now...... There are at least 60 guns on wheel! With the addition of pikemen and sword soldiers, there are at least 200 people! That's twice as much as us! ”

"Quick, gather the brothers!" Sun Yanji was already panicking, "Let's fight with them!" ”