On the 15th day of September in the 14th year of Chongzhen (3 o'clock in the afternoon), on the day when Zhu Pingjin boarded the carrier hall and accepted the congratulations of the hundred officials of Shudi, the advance detachment of the caravan escort caravan with the third battalion of the caravan as the main body went north to fight for the first time with the local tyrants who had been ravaging northern Sichuan for many years in Changpingshan, the junction of the southern county of Baoning Province and Yilong County of Shunqing Prefecture.

The opponent of the advance detachment of the caravan to the north was Yao Yuchuan, the son of the famous local tyrant leader in Sichuan. Yao Yuchuan was anxious to pass through Changping Mountain and go to the salt field of Beiyuan Temple to grab salt; The caravan guarded on the Changping Mountain, the main road through which the local tyrants must pass, built a strong fortification, and did not give an inch.

Chen Youfu and Luo Jingyun returned to their respective command positions in the central position, and just now while the local rioters were still messing around, the two commanders once again carefully inspected this defensive position that was sandwiched between two roads.

This defensive position is close to textbook perfection.

The central position protruded from the flanks and was guarded by a company commanding a platoon of short spears, three platoons of muskets, and a platoon of battalion guns. The central position has a narrow frontage and is protected by deer, ditches, fences and cliffs. The gun platoon and artillery platoon can divert most of the fire and cover both flanks with all their might.

The right flank position was a long and narrow pass, and three platoons of the four companies of the 1st Battalion were guarded behind a breastwall of trenches, deer barriths, and earthen bags, and were supported by a platoon of firearms and two tiger guns from the central position on the left front.

During the reorganization of Songlinshan, the company headquarters of the 1st Special Service Company led two platoons to mix with a squad of the 2nd Company and a squad of the Huayang County Guardian Brigade to form the new 4th Company of the 1st Battalion. Company commander Xu Shoucai, who was originally a tenant in Qiongzhou who came out with Wang Daniu, participated in the unsuccessful night attack on Feixian Pass, and later became the deputy company commander of the first company of the special agent. After Wang Daniu was promoted, he took over the post of company commander. His advantage is that he dares to fight hand-to-hand and dare to see blood, and his disadvantage is that he has a weak learning ability. He stood on the right-wing road, impregnable.

Compared to the solidity of the right flank, the position on the left flank was weaker. On the left side of the avenue, from the position of the Tyrants to the left flank of the caravan, it was all a bare hill, without any shelter, and could be outflanked at any time. The four platoons of the 3rd Battalion and 3rd Company also constructed a strong fortification consisting of trenches, deer barricades, and breastwork, but due to the terrain, they constructed a semicircular circular position.

The two ends of the left flank position were supported at the left cliff of the central position in order to receive cover from the side fire of the central position. Behind the position was a one-zhang wide gap left in the cliff on the left side of the central position. Above the gap was a protruding dwelling, the firing ports of the muskets had been pulled out of the earthen walls of the dwellings. Two platoons of the third battalion and four companies of the reserve and Hejiazhuang Ding were deployed in the gap. In the event of an unfavorable situation, the reserves either rushed down the gap to support the third company, or lined up on the gap to cover the third company to withdraw from the gap to the central position.

But even with such an arrangement, Chen Youfu and Luo Jingyun are still not at ease. The reason is simple, because the left flank position formed a ring, so the front was greatly widened. Chen Youfu personally measured the length with his feet, a full thirty steps, that is, fifteen zhang. The dense horizontal formation of the caravan spearmen, a standard squad of twelve men was only eight paces wide, so that a row would have four squads, and the depth of the formation was only three columns, which was much less than the right flank. Chen Youfu transferred a platoon on the right flank to the central position, and the purpose was also to prepare to support the left flank.

The troops guarding the positions on the left flank were three battalions and three companies. The old foundation of the third company is the old sixth company of the Renshou County Army. When Songlinshan was reorganized, the company headquarters of the old Sixth Company led two platoons to mix with two squads of the First Special Service Company and two squads of the Second Special Service Company to form the new Third Company of the Third Battalion. The company commander was Wang Xingwu, a martyr scholar from Jianzhou, forty percent of the officers and soldiers were from Jianzhou, three percent were from Lushan, and the rest were mostly from Pengxian and Xinfan's Wangzhuang Zhuang. They underwent long-term training under the veteran company commander He Qiukou, and non-commissioned officers and veterans participated in two battles in Niujiaozhai and Jiangkou. The vast majority of the officers and men were loyal supporters of Zhu Pingjian, the prince of the world, and the overall quality of the military and political affairs was better than that of the three battalions and four companies that were reorganized from the Huayang County Guardian Brigade. If their main battle weapon was a firecracker, perhaps it would be three companies in the central position, not Lin Yan's first company.

In addition, a twelve-man cavalry squad led by Xu Yinhuan, the commander of the Tusi infantry platoon, was also deployed on the left flank. They hid behind Changping Mountain, waiting for an opportunity to attack. In addition to the war horses of the battalion commander Chen Youfu, all the horses that could go into battle in the northward detachment of the cavalry team belonged to them, including the eight pack horses of the artillery platoon.

……

The war drums of the two armies beat almost simultaneously, and the bloody Battle of Changping Mountain began.

The army of the Tyrants rushed over and stopped at about two hundred paces. A group of about 1,000 bandits gathered around a golden spear and rushed to the left flank, while another group of about 1,000 bandits slowly pressed towards the front with the banner of "Jiang".

As expected, the main direction of attack of the Turbulrs was chosen on the left flank. When the drums of war sounded again, the left flank and the local thugs in front let out a violent howl and rushed forward together.

Chen Youfu stood on the big stone, pulled out his waist knife and raised it high: "God bless me Daming, long live!" For the sake of the world, for the sake of the people, fight bravely to kill the enemy! ”

"Kill!" All the officers and soldiers on the battlefield roared angrily and raised their swords and guns in their hands!

……

As soon as the figure of the Soil Riot entered the front thirty paces of the formation, it was immediately met with a volley of fire from the three platoons in front of him. A line of white smoke rose from the central position of the caravan, and dozens of unarmored thugs immediately rolled on the ground screaming. They either died immediately, or they didn't die for a while, and then they breathed under the unceremonious trampling of countless pairs of feet behind them.

However, the fierce thugs were not deterred by the volley of firearms. As they continued to advance, they fell into the wheat field like locusts that covered the sky and the sun, and quickly covered every gap in front of the caravan position.

"It's now! Tiger Squat Cannon! Lin Yan, whose whole body was tense, roared angrily: "Shoot continuously!" Put! ”

The four gun emplacements on the cliffs on both flanks of the central position exploded almost simultaneously, and four hundred pieces of iron weighing five cents scrambled out of the muzzles to find their victims. The bombardment distance of ten to twenty steps, the perfect position of condescending side shooting, and the target that is so dense that there are no gaps, so that every grain of iron shot has the opportunity to taste the taste of human blood and experience the pleasure of breaking tendons and bones. Everywhere Gangfeng went, there were wails and screams everywhere. The unequal contest between flesh and steel immediately divided the results. To be precise, this is not a contest, it is a massacre.

……

"Fortunately, Lao Tzu only used a thousand rotten soldiers in the rear team! These rotten soldiers are dead and count as a ball! Jiang Chengren gloated and thought, "Chen Xin's turtle son plucked Lao Tzu to play the front, and he knew that it was no good thing!" ”

At this time, he held a round shield in his left hand and a waist knife in his right hand, half-squatting behind the cliff in front of the central position. The cliff is very high, and the caravan guards are not visible from under the cliff. In other words, this is a dead spot for the musketeers. But Jiang Chengren, who has great battlefield experience, still brought more than a dozen escorts. These thugs surrounded him like a shield of flesh, lest the Lord would be killed by a grain of iron.

The offensive on the right flank quickly failed. The retreating thugs were cowardly and hid under the cliff in front.

Jiang Chengren shouted orders to the surroundings: "If they can repair it, Lao Tzu can tear it down!" Dig up the cliffs and tear the branches off! Lao Tzu doesn't believe it, a few tree branches can block Lao Tzu's way! ”

Hearing the order, the big minions who bent over and squatted on the ground to hide from the iron immediately opened up. A large crowd of minions rushed up and began to dig the cliff with the hoes and iron tips they carried. But there were many stones of various sizes sandwiched between the dirt of the cliff, and the blade of the hoe was quickly snapped by these hard stones. The iron tip is more useful, as long as it is inserted into the cliff wall, two or three people hold the wooden pole and shake it vigorously, and they can always shake off some dirt and stones.

The so-called iron tip is not a unique weapon, it is a piece of wood with a pointed tip. A thick round wooden rod with a heavy, flat iron tip attached to the end, which was used by three or four people. This crude weapon was often used by the tyrants against the squires of large households. As long as the iron tip is inserted into the rammed earth wall and shaken, the soft earth wall will reveal a large hole. Several iron tips work together to shake down even a wall. Chen Youfu's idea of hitting the wall with wood against the wall outside Fan Wenguang's house for the rioters is actually the use of iron tips.

……

The local tyrants in front of them came up with a new force, about 300 people, including more than 100 archers. The archers stopped thirty or forty paces in front of the formation, hid behind the shield-wielding thugs, and hurled a continuous shot at the central position, covering the earthwork under the cliff.

An arrow flew past Lin Yan's ear. He just subconsciously lowered his head slightly, allowing the wide eaves of the eight-petal helmet to block the door and neck. There was also a bamboo arrow lying on the ground in front of him, which hit his breastplate, but it didn't have enough kinetic energy to penetrate the iron blade, so he had to fall to the ground. The arrow is a three-edged light arrow, but the shaft is simply a thin bamboo pole, and the tail of the arrow is stained with a few chicken hairs. These shoddy arrows are not only inaccurate, but also have low lethality.

Lin Yan had personally tested the protective power of the iron armor and was very confident in this kind of forged steel plate armor. The light arrows fired by the soft bow thirty paces away posed no threat to the iron armor. Even if you don't wear iron armor, the leather armor inside can barely be resisted.

Another round of arrows flew over, and the shaky black dots in the sky were clearly visible. The three platoons of the reserve retreated more than ten paces, and the soldiers crouched on the ground close to each other, shaking their short spears rapidly to withstand the blow of the rain of arrows. The caravans were not equipped with shields, so they had to stick bamboo cards or wooden rafts made of bamboo pieces and branches on the tips of their spears to protect against arrows. If the arrows weren't blocked, the soldiers would have to rely on the helmets on their heads and the leather armor on their bodies to mitigate the damage.

The Tiger Squat Cannon on the right has already been fired three rounds, and the Fire Gun has been fired twice. Outside the trench in front of the right-wing position, more than 100 bloody corpses were added, and even a dozen dead people were added to the trench. The fierce assault of the local rioters on the right-wing position left a miserable scene in an instant. On the contrary, the frontal enemy is quite stubborn. Under the repeated blows of the firearms, the enemy turned into a digging rat that did not dare to show his head.

"Right wing artillery withdraws from position! Put two rounds to the front! Lin Yan shouted loudly.

The two Tiger Squat Cannons completed the task of clearing and loading, and were quickly carried by the soldiers to the preset gun position of the frontal earthen rampart. Both gun emplacements were thickened and reinforced with earthen bags, so it was not a problem to withstand the recoil of the small guns. The gunners carefully adjusted the muzzle aiming and pressed it with a bag of earth, and then the pestle ignited the tail fire door.

The bombardment of the tiger squat artillery was deafening. Two rounds of shelling in a row have stopped a lot of the local thugs in front of them. It's just that there are too many enemies in front of them, and most of the people who fall are those who don't know how to cover and run around. The archers of the Tyrant have already shot ten rounds and are retreating. They've regained their strength, and they're sure to come back again.

"A row of guys with anti-arrows go to the earthen ramparts! Hit it from above! Lin Yan said, carrying a fire gun and climbing up the earthen ramparts.

With a height of four feet, Lin Yan's vision suddenly widened a lot.

The right wing has completely lifted the threat. The Tyrants were not stupid, and as soon as they discovered that the offensive line on the right flank would fall into the fire trap of the officers and soldiers, they immediately concentrated the remaining forces on the center and left flank. The weakest left, in particular, has been completely surrounded by local thugs. The mobs were carrying improvised bamboo ladders and erected them on the trenches. On the left flank near the cliff edge of the central position, a large number of corpses wounded by artillery fire were filled into the trench by the local thugs. At this speed, the third company is about to enter a state of hand-to-hand white-knuckle combat.

Lin Yan immediately made a decision and shifted the direction of fire support from the central position: "The second platoon withdraws from the right flank and supports the left flank!" Frontal artillery, also turn one over! ”

Three firearms rows, two of which were already placed on the left; Of the four Tiger squat guns, three went to the left flank. The front of the caravan actually rotated ninety degrees to the left.

"Report to the company commander!" The acting platoon commander of the artillery platoon on the left flank gun position came to report, "Five rounds have been fought, and there is a danger of exploding again!" It must be a quarter of an hour! ”

"Fuck X!" Lin Yan rarely scolded a foul word, "You can't shoot cannons, you throw stones at me!" ”

The artillery was dumb, and the supporting fire was weakened by half. Now, he can only rely on the strength of the three companies to withstand this difficult quarter of an hour.