The sun is shining.

The sky is blue, the sea is green, and the earth is red.

Dotted with evergreens, the soldiers are about to embark on a colorful stage.

The sea breeze blew the battle flags and made a hula sound.

Xu Dinghe was on his horse, and the sun shone from due south, that is, behind him, and the brim of his military hat blocked the light, hiding his face in shadow. Under the interweaving of light and shadow, the side silhouette is cold and resolute.

The adjutant of the regimental headquarters reminded the commander, "Lieutenant colonel, the time has come. ”

Xu Dinghe looked at the two wings, the commander of the 2nd regiment, Yu Shihui, and the commander of the 9th regiment, Andreo Ossi. Lasal's eyes fell on him.

Sweat oozed from the tip of Xu Dinghe's nose, and his excitement made his hand holding the reins of the horse tremble slightly.

"Sir?"

"Yes, I know." Xu Dinghe raised his right hand, "Infantry, attack!" ”

With the heavy wave of the commander's right hand, the marching bands of the three regiments played the "March of the Grenadiers" almost simultaneously.

The melodious sound of the flute echoes over the battlefield, and the war drums imitate the rumble of cannons, and its best battlefield instrument is never pronounced inaccurately.

Four companies of chasseurs opened the skirmish line at the front, five battalions were shoulder to shoulder, and one battalion column was behind the left flank.

The line infantry marched slowly to the beat of the drum of music at a rate of 75 paces per minute, and the flat terrain was the best battlefield for line attack.

The artillery was lined up in horizontal formations, with six 12-pounder field artillery vehicles marching in unison on the left flank of the 2nd Regiment and six 6-pounder artillery carriages also advancing in unison on the right flank of the 9th Regiment.

The red uniforms, the red battle flags, and the red soldiers are like a thin red line that moves.

The red earth, the red battlefield, in the chiaroscuro, is like an oil painting with strong colors.

More than a dozen regiments of gunpowder smoke rose into the sky, and the enemy's large and small multi-sided forts fired, and at the same time as the dull cannon sounded, black shells flew out of the barrels, bouncing on the battlefield, hungry for life to harvest.

The sound of flutes, drums, cannons, art and killing are perfectly intertwined in this moment.

The smell of gunpowder smoke in the air is refreshing, and the rush of adrenaline is more exciting than all good wine.

The roar of the soldiers, the backseat of the artillery, this is where the real joy of war lies.

On the embankment of the river, the guards set up binoculars on the shoulders of the attendants.

The Sikh cavalry regiment was divided into two divisions, two cavalry squadrons on the left and right flanks, and each cavalry squadron had two cavalry companies of 110 men under its jurisdiction.

The Union Army eliminated the Lancers, but the Hussars did not interfere if they were willing to equip the Lancers at their own expense.

Of these 8 cavalry companies of the Sikh Cavalry Regiment, 2 were lancers.

Nearly 900 cavalry separated to cover the two flanks, and the infantry and artillery safely attacked in parade formation.

Without cavalry protection, only infantry artillery, the platoon attack formation is more troublesome, and the enemy cavalry may attack the artillery marching on both flanks, and even if it is repulsed, it will greatly affect the development of the attack.

The horses of the Sikh cavalry regiment were not the best, but they were 12 centimeters taller than the Mongol horses, and small groups of Tatar cavalry cruised outside the town and did not dare to approach.

The distance from the starting point of the attack to the enemy's fort was more than 3 kilometers, and at the speed of the infantry attacking formation, there would be no substantial progress on the front for 40 minutes, and the telescope was turned to the flanks in an orderly manner.

On the right flank, the Ming army He Huchen Department extended the battle line to the seawall with 300 cavalry and 1300 infantry, and the three battalions of the Ming army did not completely cover the battle line, and the distance between them was about twice the range of the arquebus.

Some of the enemy's cavalry were cruising on the right flank, covered by the seawall, and it was unlikely that they would be attacked by the enemy cavalry, but He Huchen was still ready to form a hollow phalanx.

On the left flank, the Ming army Jin Shiying's division expelled a small group of enemy soldiers in Longtou Village, leaving 300 soldiers in the village to fortify, 6 light cannons were placed in a column to the west to cover the left flank of the entire front, and another 12 heavy cannons were placed in a column 300 meters northwest of the village.

The Tatar Army's small multi-sided fort is located at 2 compass points north-west of the Ming artillery position, 1.5 kilometers away, and the two sides are in the extreme range of heavy artillery, and are in a fierce artillery battle with a low hit rate.

Once the Ming army's iron artillery is placed, it will be difficult to deploy it in a mobile manner, so the federal artillery and the Ming army carefully selected these two artillery positions, and the firing fan coverage of the artillery after the column is quite large, and it can directly cover the left flank of the attacking Sikh cavalry regiment to the north.

With 900 cavalry and 2,100 infantry, Jin Shiying's task was to cover these two artillery positions with infantry, and to keep in touch with the Sikh cavalry on the right flank of King Town, the left flank of the Union Army, and to open the cavalry curtain to the west.

Orderliness swept the entire battlefield with a telescope.

The entire offensive front looked like a frontal line of advance with infantry in the rear, with the cavalry overflowing and pulling back diagonally on the left flank, and the fulcrum on the left flank was the two fixed artillery positions of the Ming army.

For the most part, since the guards did not want to throw their troops into the fire range of the small multi-sided fort right now, it was still an oblique attack, and the first line of attack of the infantry was the enemy's main bunker.

The cavalry curtain spread out on the left flank could be retracted back if necessary, and the retreat stop line was the line between the artillery positions and the Sikh cavalry regiment.

Raising the telescope in order, the Tartar army's large and large multi-faceted forts spat out tongues of fire, because they were at the limit of the range, and the frequency of fire was not fast.

There was a ring trench outside the two forts, and the Tartar infantry made a targeted defense, covering the small multi-sided fort with only a small part of the infantry, and about 7,000 infantry formed a formation on both sides of the mostly faced fort.

The center of the Tartar army was still the same old one, with antlers in front of the formation, a layer of rattan soldiers behind the antlers, 2 pikemen followed by 6 arquebus battle columns, and in front of the antler line, there was a row of large and small breech furlong machines.

The 2 sides of the capital are fluttering in the wind in the Tartar army array, all kinds of guards and staff leaders, as well as more than ten green battalion flags, and dozens of battalion flags are dressed up in flowers.

Portuguese legacy.

If you remove the antlers and ignore the uniforms and flags, from a distance it looks little different from the European armies of not so long ago.

A variant of the 30-year war military formation with Asian characteristics, and a musical instrument that commands a salvo of birds, it is also featured. The military band behind the formation is dominated by horns and conchs, and there are no war drums and gongs.

There were a few enemy rangers in the center of the battlefield, and a few cavalry behind the antler line, between the flanks and the array of infantry battalions, and the more cavalry were out of sight and should have been hidden behind the main bunker.

The artillery, antlers, spears, and shotguns of the Tartar army were neatly arranged and in a defensive state, and they could not be seen in the orderly movement of "slowly advancing", but from the perspective of the defensive position, this was a well-trained army, and it was normal for the Ming army to fight.

Covered by two strong civil artillery forts, large and small, the Tartar army made up for their lack of strength to a certain extent.

An enemy shell flew far across the battle line and landed not far from the defensive order, stirring up a cloud of red dust.

Put down the binoculars in order.

The shell rolled slowly on the grass, and the visual shell weighed 15 pounds, making it a super-heavy gun.

A recruit, a little curious, tried to stop the shell with his legs, but the veteran next to him grabbed him. Despite its extreme range, even though the cannonball almost ran out of kinetic energy, the iron ball was enough to crush a human leg.

This is the war of the firearms age, where the order is far from the line of fire, but it is still under the threat of enemy fire.

Langemann also put down his binoculars and asked Shou Xu: "Your Excellency, the main force of the Tatar cavalry has been hiding behind the battle line and has not moved, how do you think they will fight?" ”

"What do you think?"

"Your Excellency, the Tatars do not understand line infantry, and they can also directly attack our infantry line."

"Oh, thanks to this plain, the Tatars have nowhere to hide their cavalry. If the Tatar cavalry were to attack head-on, it would take them at least 5 minutes to cover 1 kilometer, even if they ran at a brisk pace for the whole time. And our artillery marching in a column will be in 2 minutes, and in 2 minutes it will be 6 to 8 rounds of heavy shotgun, and their cavalry will be thoroughly beaten from both flanks, and the infantry will be replenished with two more volleys, and then we will be able to harvest the battlefield. ”

"In fact, the Tatar cavalry appeared behind the battle line, and it couldn't take only 5 minutes to storm 1 kilometer in formation, right?"

"If it can be completed within 10 minutes, I will give Geng Jimao a full score."

"But the Tatars do not know the power of our field artillery."

"They really don't know, but with the habit of the Tatars using cavalry for thousands of years, in the face of neat infantry formations, like our soldiers, the Tatars usually tend to choose two flanks to assault."

"There is a seawall on the right flank, and the cavalry cannot be used, and the left flank is more likely. Maybe they will storm the left flank of our infantry out of the window covered by the Ming artillery? ”

"Our 12-pounder field guns are lined up at a distance of 800 meters from Fort Majority, and the left flank front will have 400 meters of space without artillery cover, and he can throw in cavalry in this gap and sweep our infantry line from the rear."

"Can Geng Jimao find this fighter?"

"The Tartar army understands the approximate range of artillery, and when he sees our field artillery marching in formation, even if he can't react for a while, he will be able to find out sooner or later."

"The cavalry of the Ming army is not reliable, if this is the case, just now we should have arranged the main force of the Sikh cavalry regiment on the left flank, instead of separating the two wings, after all, the right flank has a sea wall, and the enemy cavalry does not have much room to maneuver."

Shou Xuan shook his head, "Karl, this is just our speculation, what if there are fewer cavalry on the right flank, and the enemy army is really desperate to rush over?" That would force us into the cavalry reserve too early and cause confusion in the rest of the battle. In this battle, what I ask for is foolproof. ”

"Then we'd better send an infantry to cover the left flank after the attacking force is out of the Ming artillery cover. The Guards Infantry can't be put in now, you only have the Electric White Battalion. ”

"Yes."

Walk down the embankment in an orderly manner.

The officers of the reserve were communicating on this unprecedented battlefield, Bandus. Ensu. Hill and Pedro. Patus, the two commanders of the electric white battalion were among them.

"Mr. Hill, Mr. Patus."

"Your Excellency."

"Your battalion has 9 companies, right?"

"Yes, 3 companies of pikes, 6 companies of musketeers."

"Where's the Furlong cannon?"

"There are 5 small 2-pounder cannons."

Shou Xuan nodded, "Two gentlemen, we have had a good cooperation in the past, and we have established mutual trust with each other. ”

Bandus: "You can continue to trust us. ”

Shou Xuan tilted his head, "Yes, gentlemen, I have to give you a difficult task, which has to do with whether the outcome of this battle is a very brilliant victory or a generally brilliant victory. ”

Pedro smiled, "I think I prefer the former, Your Excellency, what is the mission?" ”

Guard Order took the sketch of the battlefield from the staff officer, picked up a pencil and drew the line of the retreat of the cavalry on the left flank.

"I will give you 2 howitzers, and form two hollow phalanxes on this line to cover the window that is about to appear between the Ming Army and the Federal Army."

"Directly in the phalanx?"

"Yes."

"It's easy, can I ask what might be faced?"

"Up to 3,000 cavalry may charge at you."

Bandus: "I have only one request."

"Please."

"After the war, all my troops were reloaded with flintlock pistols."

"As you wish."

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Note: The Qing army commanded the phalanx to advance with war drums and commanded the direction of the salvo with gongs, which first appeared in the 34th year of the Kangxi Dynasty.