Chapter 502: War Begins with Artillery Fire

The light cavalry team over there was retreating in a panic, and the commotion on the battlefield was not good, and the shouts of the people who came out of the army here were completely drowned out.

The position he stood in was outside the range of firearms and bows and arrows, and the Jiaozhou battalion would not bombard it alone, and after the light cavalry of the Shun army that attacked and harassed over there withdrew, the battlefield gradually quieted down, and the shouts of this general were also heard clearly, whether it was the Shun army or the Jiaozhou battalion, but it became more and more quiet.

Now it's different from the past, as mentioned in the commentary of the romance, before the war, the two generals competed before the battle, and the victory or defeat determined the success or failure of the soldiers and horses led, and now if there are these things, they will only be regarded as a joke.

As a general, firstly, he has to command Ruoding, mobilize the troops everywhere, and when he needs to fight, he is also the first to lead his men to charge into battle.

The battle is a battle of thousands of people, what is the effect of a person's bravery, but the shouts of the generals of the Shun army have made many generals and soldiers on the battlefield excited, and the soldiers on both sides are looking at their own commanders, thinking that it is not that the king wants to invite the Duke of Qi, and the two of them will not succeed in fighting for 300 rounds with weapons.

But then it came back to the taste, the two biggest parties in the world, the rebellious homeless people naturally became the climate, and the soldiers and horses of this official family, careerists and heroes were not Li Mengmo.

Maybe the heroes on both sides cherish the heroes and want to meet before the battle, and it is estimated that this is the case.

"My family has no other meaning, I just want to meet the Duke of Qi and see the first-class heroes at that time!!"

Li Meng was under the banner of Shuai, listening to the news from the soldiers in front of him, he couldn't help but laugh dumbly, but he was also quite interested in this proposal, for him who traveled, Li Zicheng is the biggest legend of this era, and he also has a big figure in the history books.

"Dashuai, the thief chief is cunning and ferocious, meeting in front of such a formation is extremely dangerous, who knows what evil intentions this Li Chuang harbors, you must not go!"

Although the meeting between the two heroes will inevitably be a major event in the history books in the future, Huang Ping, who is in charge of Li Meng's safety, did not dare to be the slightest slack, and saw that Li Meng was quite moved, and hurriedly persuaded to stop it.

Li Meng shook his head, he had already decided to go and see, but the necessary safety measures still had to be done, Li Meng opened his mouth and commanded:

"It's okay, Ben Shuai also wants to meet this Chuang King, Huang Ping, you go and make an agreement with the other party, after confirming this safety matter, Ben Shuai and him will meet,"

The helpless Huang Ping had no choice but to take the order on the horse, and went to ride a horse to arrange, Li Shuangxi over there also came out, and the two sides bargained in front of the battle, the battlefield at this time was quite strange, obviously the war of nearly 200,000 people was about to start, but now the two sides did not move, but what kind of meeting ceremony was done here.

Each side carried four guards, each on horseback, each holding a large shield to cover it, and each sent someone to check the weapons of the other's guards, and visually inspected the equipment of the other's head ten paces away, and so on.

This action is also very fast, both sides are busy with this series of things, have under the cover of the guards, invariably, the commanders of both sides of the formation, there are cavalry, foot soldiers behind the move, anyway, the big war is about to take this kind of adventure, it is really too child's play.

Li Meng was naturally wearing a full-body plate armor, surrounded by four personal soldiers, and slowly walked out of the array, looking at the Shunjun main formation hundreds of steps away, Li Zicheng, who was black and red tasseled felt hat, slowly walked over under the escort of four personal guards.

Both sides were cautious, and the few personal soldiers who came out were like facing the enemy, and the big shields they were holding might not be able to penetrate even the fire guns at close range, so they blocked in front of their own commanders.

As predetermined, when the distance was thirty paces, the two sides stopped, and the four pro-soldiers held large shields in front of them, revealing a gap.

Li Meng's eyesight is good, but he can't see his face clearly at a distance of thirty steps, he only thinks that Li Zicheng's figure is much taller than most people in this era, his face is dark and angular, and he looks a little heroic, which should be.

In this era, if you want people to follow you convincingly, in addition to ability, appearance is also a very important condition, if the face is hateful, it will definitely make people suspicious.

Li Meng looked at it carefully, thinking to himself what Li Zicheng would do if he had a modern appearance, an actor with a character should not be able to run.

The first to speak was Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, his voice was very loud, and he could hear it clearly after thirty steps, and his accent was an official dialect with some Shaanxi accents:

"I have heard the name of the Duke of Qi for a long time, and when I see each other today, it is really a dragon and a tiger, and it is extraordinary."

Hearing Li Zicheng's shout, Li Meng suddenly felt a little in a trance, the opposite side was King Chuang, but there were rich and colorful characters in history, before the crossing, history textbooks and army textbooks all gave Li Zicheng a very high evaluation of Li Zicheng, who led the peasants to survive the uprising.

After coming to this era, he gradually developed, began to hear the legend of Li Zicheng, with the growth of his own strength, he gradually wanted to think of ways to restrain the army, to think of ways to let the army develop in a direction that was beneficial to himself and Shandong, in a sense, the rebellion of the displaced people actually helped the growth of Shandong.

Most of the attention of the Ming court was attracted by the chaos, so that Shandong could grow and develop relatively quietly.

Up to now, what Li Meng is thinking about is how to eliminate Li Zicheng's Shun army and clear the way for himself to gain the world.

I have also become a person who competes for the world, and I have also become a character equal to this Li Zicheng, I don't know how the history books will evaluate him a hundred years later, hundreds of years later.

Could it be that he said that he was a big warlord and a big landlord who hindered the development of history and national integration, a careerist and a tyrant, and a big hooligan who oppressed and brutally exploited the people?

"King Chuang's name, Li Meng has also heard of it for a long time, but now that I see it, it is not the same as I thought."

Li Menglang's answer, but the person on the other side was stunned, there was a lot of emotion in these words, but I don't know where this emotion came from.

"Qi Guogong, my Lao Li was forced to live by this damn court, so he led the poor brothers to rebel together, but I didn't expect that today it has reached such a point, there can be such a large territory, so many soldiers and horses, Lao Li is satisfied, Qi Guogong, you came with more than 40,000 soldiers, Lao Li has almost 300,000 here, if it is really a fight, the two sides will definitely damage the vitality, but let the emperor Lao'er pick up the cheap, do you say this reason?"

Li Zicheng talked loudly there, what he said, what he said made Li Meng gradually smile, these words really have a bit of a rustic atmosphere, of course, they are also cunning and abnormal, Li Zicheng continued to speak:

"Qi Guogong, Lao Li has two provinces here, and there is nothing else to think about, this place allows the brothers to have a place to settle down, the northern and southern provinces of Qi Guogong, there is still a lot of territory to fight for, we might as well demarcate the territory they occupy now, Lao Li as long as Nanyang Mansion and Henan Mansion still have Huguang's territory, and the rest of the places are all under the control of Qi Guogong, and they will not invade each other from now on, and when Qi Guogong takes the world, Lao Li takes refuge with his subordinates in the past, how about asking Qi Guogong to give a reward?"

The two sides confronted each other, with 40,000 on one side and nearly 300,000 on the other, no matter how you look at it, Li Zicheng of the Shun army had the advantage, but Li Zicheng proposed a peace proposal, and the Shun army took the initiative to withdraw from several provinces that were still fighting.

Moreover, in this matter, Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, was still in front of the battle, and asked the coaches of both sides to come out to talk in person, which made this peace talk very real.

Li Meng was stunned on the horse, and replied with a smile:

"The meat is in the mouth, how can there be any reason not to eat it, don't waste your efforts in vain, this noodle has already been opened, wouldn't it be a pity not to sing a big show to the world."

When Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, heard Li Meng's answer, he laughed immediately and said:

"Since my Lao Li's kindness is not accepted by Qi Guogong, it's hard to say anything, it's just Qi Guogong, 300,000 soldiers and horses on my side, you have so much confidence to eat, don't break your teeth, the situation in Shandong is as stable as Mount Tai, don't spend effort on Lao Li's side, but cheaper others."

Li Meng shook his head with a smile and said loudly:

"King Chuang, you are a heroic hero for a while, but you can't see who is strong and who is weak, you and my soldiers and horses are all the people of the Han family, the blood of China, wait for the war, there must be a lot of casualties, my father does not want to see my Han family children shed a drop of blood, have the courage to fight the barbarians, wouldn't it be better!"

In the history without Li Meng, after the Shun army entered Beijing, the Manchu Tartars outside the pass were seriously underestimated, thinking that entering Beijing would be all right, and they could enjoy themselves and be comfortable.

Then it collapsed after the First World War, and the whole world fell into the hands of the Manchu Tartars, and the dark age of hundreds of years came, Li Meng said this, but outsiders heard that Li Zicheng did not know the strength of the Jiaozhou battalion.

Li Meng continued:

"King Chuang, if you descend now, I will ensure that you will be prosperous and rich all your life, your relatives and children will not have to worry, and I will have proper placement here......

Li Meng's words were not finished, but Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, interrupted and said:

"Duke Qi Guo, if you wait to be captured by Lao Li, Lao Li will definitely not kill you, and will give you an official as a ......"

Before the words fell, the two of them looked at each other immediately, and they both laughed, but both sides also knew that there was no need to talk about each other, and the requirements of the two sides were too far apart.

Li Zicheng felt that he had an advantage, but the reason why he was reluctant to go to war was that the main force of the Shun army was almost gathered here, and there was a slight mistake, and most of the strength of the Shun army would disappear.

But after this conversation, Li Meng, the Duke of Qi on the other side, was extremely resolute in the battle, and it seemed that although there were few people, he was very confident in himself.

Thinking about the east and west, thinking about so many things, Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, never believed that he was several times the elite of the other party, and he would lose, no matter how strong the Shandong soldiers and horses were, could they still be strong to the point of heavenly soldiers and generals, since they wanted to fight, then they would start a war.

After Li Meng returned to his main formation, the team that had stopped just now unfolded and began to move again, on the front line facing the Shun army, eight regiments were in a row, a total of two rows, and four regiments were behind the array as reserves.

When the commander Li Meng returned to the commander's flag, all the regiments had already entered the predetermined positions, and the officers' orders sounded in turn.

The musketeers lined up in front of the phalanx of spears, aligned with each other to the rhythm of the drums, and when they were all aligned, they all stood solemnly.

After all the teams were in place, the feeling to Shun Jun was as if a mountain had suddenly fallen in front of him out of thin air, and the queue of Shun Jun couldn't help but stir.

Li Meng shook his head and said with a smile under the handsome banner:

"I thought that when I met Li Chuang in front of the battle, I would say what timeless words of heroism and sympathy, but it turned out that Li Chuang took out the same set of persuading Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong back then, and persuaded Ben Shuai to open the net and not to be profited by others, which is really boring."

The soldiers on the side looked nervously at the Shun army on the opposite side, seeing that the big battle was coming, but no one had the heart to tell any jokes with the marshal.

A heralded cavalryman galloped from the left side of the formation, came to Li Meng, gave a military salute on his horse, and said loudly:

"Report to the commander, the regiments have been settled and are ready to fight at any time!"

Li Meng put on his helmet, lifted his visor, and said loudly:

"All infantry regiments are on standby, pass on our military orders, and order Guo Liang, the commander of the artillery team, to take position immediately, and start bombarding the enemy army as soon as he settles down, there must be no mistake!"

Li Meng's order was given, and the herald quickly ran to the right, and it didn't take long for a large number of troops to appear on the right side of the Jiaozhou battalion.

Although the troops of the Shun army have not been attacked by the Jiaozhou battalion now, the commotion of the whole team has not stopped, looking at the Shandong infantry soldiers who are neatly lined up hundreds of steps away, each is speechless, the infantry drill of the Jiaozhou battalion, when the ordinary infantry regiment is lined up, the soldiers in the front four rows should be wearing armor.

This half-body armor is naturally the plate armor produced by the Jiaozhou Battalion Manufacturing Bureau hydraulic forging and mass production, because the quantity is too large, so it does not use the polishing and bright anti-rust method, but directly completes it in a blackened way.

The armor is all black, but after all, it is a metal product, and it still has a unique luster and appearance, eight infantry regiments in a row, and the soldiers in front of the platoon are wearing armor. From a distance, it was spectacular, and the infantry soldiers in front of the line were all well-informed veterans, and they naturally knew how difficult it would be to buy such an armor and how much money it would cost.

Looking back, even the generals of the Shun army wore armor that was not as decent as the one on the other side's soldiers, so many people were equipped with armor, how much silver did it cost, not to mention those weapons that shimmered with cold light.

The soldiers of the Jiaozhou battalion stood there in line so ordinarily, which already put great psychological pressure on the soldiers of the Shun army opposite.

This formation, this armor, symbolizes the incomparably huge material and financial resources, which is a manifestation of the strength of the Jiaozhou battalion, which is enough to deter the enemy.

The entire Jiaozhou battalion was spread out from right to left, and at this time, a large number of soldiers suddenly appeared on the right, most of these soldiers were riding in the carriage or running with the carriage, and behind each carriage was dragging an artillery, and an officer stood at the same level as the front of the array with a red flag.

The soldiers took control of the wagons and stopped in turn, and the soldiers skillfully unloaded the guns from the wagon, propped them up on the ground, and then cleaned the chambers and loaded the ammunition.

According to the regulations, each regiment of the Jiaozhou battalion was equipped with three three-pounder guns, but in battles in which several regiments participated, the artillery was drawn out and used intensively.

The soldiers of Shun also knew how to set up artillery, transport the artillery loaded on the box car to the position, then dig a pit to cultivate the soil, unload the gun from the box car, and then fix and bundle it, so that the cannon can be fired.

But looking at the arrangement of the artillery of the Shandong soldiers on the opposite side, this is completely beyond common sense, and the soldiers of Shun were stunned to watch the artillery pieces one by one set up one after another.

"Zhang, Liu, and Li, the three lieutenants, immediately lead your subordinate soldiers to dispatch, and don't let the thieves calmly open fire!!"

After the surprise, the Shun army also reacted quickly, Li Laiheng on the left flank issued an order loudly, the distance between the two military formations is not far, and it takes time for the other side to set up artillery positions, and it is also a matter of duty to take advantage of this opportunity to send troops to assault and harass and prevent the other party from being able to set up a good artillery position.

The soldiers and horses of the old battalion of the Shun army also reacted quickly, and the three captains who were named by Li Laiheng were already leading their respective soldiers out of the battle after receiving the order.

The arrangement before the battle is really clear, the front team is full of foot soldiers, except for the officers above the brigade, even the personal soldiers have no horses, and a large number of cavalry are stationed behind the foot soldiers.

There were nearly 4,000 foot soldiers, divided into three teams, and under the leadership of the general, they rushed towards the artillery array on the opposite side.

In the eyes of the older generals, although the Jiaozhou battalion is neatly arranged, it is inevitably a little too stiff, for example, the left side of the handsome banner is the infantry formation, but the artillery array on the right side has no foot cover.

The Shun army is to seize this gap to fight, the weapon of artillery is a powerful weapon in the eyes of the Shun army, but it is also a bulky and inflexible firearm, at this distance, it will definitely not be themselves who suffer.

At this time, more than a dozen artillery pieces were set up, and the artillerymen were a little panicked when they saw the enemy soldiers in the distance rushing towards them violently.

Guo Liang also saw standing on the gun carriage, and a deputy next to him shouted nervously:

"My lord, hurry up and ask the marshal to send someone to come to the rescue, we can't stop it here!"

Guo Liang laughed a few times, and shouted angrily:

"Don't bother the commander, we can deal with it ourselves, what is the cannon in our hands for, that is, the thick gun, the cannon of the cannon, the cannon is set up and blasts it towards the thief, blow up the damn!"

After he finished shouting, the artillery of the dozen or so three-pounder guns that had been set up shouted and turned in the direction of the enemy's rushing guns.

Loading gunpowder, tamping, slightly aiming, ignition and firing are all steps that have long been mastered in daily training and completed quickly.

The Shun soldiers over there only rushed out more than thirty steps, these cannons were already roaring, more than a dozen shells whistled and fell into the crowd, without accident to open a bloody road, screams followed, but behind them was their own army, in front of the enemy's military formation.

The three captains gritted their teeth and shouted orders to disperse their ranks as soon as possible, and the only thought was to rush to the front of the artillery array, overturn the cannons, and kill the artillery to avenge them.

But they didn't expect that Shandong's artillery was fighting so fast, the formation was scattered, and the artillery of the Jiaozhou battalion hit again, this time the opponent was scattered a lot, but the artillery from the opposite side was also a lot more, and the casualties were still not small.

After the second round of shelling, the team, which had just appeared to be relatively powerful, was now much worse, and the formation also appeared sparse, not only because of the dispersion, but also because of the shelling.

Only then did he rush to a distance of about seventy paces, and it was already two rounds of artillery bombardment, seeing that there were more artillery pieces each time, how could this be hit.

Several lieutenants had the heart to shout orders, but they could see that a cannon on the opposite side of the artillery array was erected, and then adjusted to aim at their side, the swarthy muzzle of the cannon has never been as terrible as today, in the Shun army and the Ming army, the artillery is used to attack and defend the city, so used in the field is really unseen.

Guo Liang, the commander of the Jiaozhou battalion artillery team, saw the killing of the artillery, jumped on the gun mount excitedly, and shouted loudly:

"Keep fighting, give those thieves some iron eggs to taste, let them know that our artillery team is not being bullied!!"

The previous tension of the artillery soldiers was swept away, and they were all there shouting trumpets, loading ammunition, and one artillery gun was pushed to a predetermined position, and at this time there was no attention to any salvo, the artillery was loaded with ammunition, and it was directly ignited and fired.

How could this small force of the Shun army encounter such dense artillery fire, and at the end of the third round of artillery bombardment, it collapsed directly in front of the two armies.

Guo Liang, the commander of the artillery team, jumped down from the gun carriage and shouted loudly from the position:

"Stop firing, reload your ammunition, raise your muzzle, and aim at the bandit formation in front, ready to fire a salvo!!"

The nervous and busy artillerymen suddenly agreed, and the artillery pieces arranged on the artillery position were already more than 60 at this time, but there were still artillery trucks that kept entering the position.