Seeing the thieves dispatching, the sound of trumpets and drums suddenly came down from the plateau, and on the No. 5 defense line, the commander of the Jingbian Army who was supervising the battle waved his hand, staring at his first low wall, and the general of the new army and the battalion commander immediately nervously handed down the order: "All in place, ready to fight!" ”

"Bird Hands Ready!"

All the new army battalion soldiers came to the low wall one after another, and put the bird guns in their hands on the low wall, not only here, but also on the defense line for more than 20 miles, the sound of the officers shouting one after another, the soldiers of the defense line have put the bird guns down, and the metal clattering sounded. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

There were 100 new army gunners on the first low wall of No. 5, and they were divided into three layers to shoot, and there were more than 10 bird gunners of the battalion firearms team along with the first layer. After they had set up their birds, they lit the ropes with their folds, and the officers finally confirmed the condition of their firearms.

They snuggled behind the low wall, and saw the thieves rolling down on the opposite side, they were wrapped in yellow turbans, and when the crowd poured down from the slope, they couldn't help but remind people of the water of the Yellow River, Hukou Waterfall, the kind of torrent that swallowed everything made people change color.

Even if those battalion soldiers claimed to be old in battle, their faces were as pale as paper at this time, and if it weren't for the presence of the Jingbian Military Supervision Team, some of them might have to flee.

The battalion commander and the new army commander looked nervously at the enemy, and they looked at the opposite side, and then at the commander of the Jingbian army who was supervising the battle, and saw that his face was sinking like water, and his expression was just motionless.

The sound of huge footsteps was getting closer and closer, and in the dust, the thieves who were charging down the hill path on the opposite side had gone down to the ditch, and the crowd seemed to disappear somewhat, and then they suddenly appeared on the oblique waves, and they roared and shouted, and they rushed down the uphill path to the edge of the ladder.

There are just too many of them. According to rough estimates, the number of thieves rushing to the side of Jiawu is more than 2,000, which is five times the total number of Ming troops guarding the first low wall.

The oblique waves are full of them. A small road could not accommodate their density, and the crowd spread to the slopes on both sides of the road.

Everyone also saw their expressions clearly, all of them were distorted, full of fanaticism, looking at the hideous appearance of these hungry soldiers, regardless of the new army camp soldiers, all of them had their hearts beating hard, and each of them was holding the bird's hand, and the green tendons were exposed, but they were nervously waiting for help.

The commander of the Jingbian army who supervised the battle was still calm. The battalion commander and the new army commander looked anxious, but they did not dare to act rashly, otherwise the commander of the armor would have killed them on the spot.

Closer, closer, the slopes on both sides were full of thieves, they filled the road to the brim, and because there were so many people, they even had the front of the team on this side of the slope. The rear is still on the opposite slope.

Everyone also saw more clearly, most of the thieves who rushed in were hungry soldiers with yellow faces and thin muscles. Wrapped in turbans, most of them were spears and clubs, a small number of old thieves with swords and shields, and some foot guards who were followed by supervising the battle.

The commander of the Jingbian Army who supervised the battle still did not move, not only him, but not a single person from the Jingbian Army supervising the battle on the hill gave the order to open fire. At this time, the artillery temporarily stopped bombardment, and the entire defense line of more than 20 miles of Yuanwanggou was silent.

The tide of thieves made everyone feel cold and hot, and when they saw that the thieves were about to rush to the edge of the cliff, and the endurance of everyone was about to reach the limit, the battalion commander and the new army commander were about to grit their teeth. The commander of the Jingbian Army, who was supervising the battle, suddenly shouted: "Shoot!" ”

The soldiers pulled the trigger at the same time, and they roared and fired, erupting the pressure in their hearts as the fire rope fell. The fire ignited the primer in the fire door, and the fire and smoke came out, and then the primer ignited the gunpowder in the gunpowder tube, and the fire and smoke burst out even more violently, merging into a deafening sound.

Dense white smoke rose from the No. 5 defense line, and then connected with the smoke rising from the adjacent defense line, and finally the eighteen defense lines of Yuanwanggou all rose up with thick smoke, and the white fog shrouded a piece, covering the slope of more than 20 miles.

With the volley of fire cymbals, in front of the first low wall of No. 5, the tide of thieves surging like a tide suddenly stagnated, and the hungry thieves in front of them overturned a large piece like a cut wheat harvest.

They fell to the ground, making a heavy sound of flesh falling to the ground.

"Shoot!"

The first layer of gunners stepped back, and the second layer of gunners stepped forward and continued to erupt gunpowder smoke from the front, but the battalion firearms team did not have bird gunners to move forward, because there were only a dozen of them, and the three-eyed gunners had not yet taken their turn to fire.

After they retreated, they also used gunpowder canisters and lead bags on their bodies to reload, and the bird guns they used were still old, with different sizes of guns and different thicknesses of pipe walls, which not only had hidden dangers in quality, but also could not use fixed cartridge ammunition.

"Shoot!"

The front of the low wall was full of smoke, and the third layer of gunners stepped forward again, firing a salvo at the panicked crowd in front of them, and the hungry soldiers on the slope were crying, and the salvo power of the fine bird guns could not even stop the Qing soldiers, let alone these hungry people who had only been coerced for a short time.

The bulleted Hungry Soldier rolled and howled on the ground, and the bullet struck their bodies, shattering their bones and internal organs, giving them a feeling of pain.

Although the new army and the battalion soldiers only fired more than 100 birds, and many of them were fighting for the first time, there were too many thieves on the roads and slopes, and every time the guns were fired, there were few misses. In particular, most of those who were shot were the bravest of the teams, and they rushed to the front and died the fastest.

The bird hit them, and the weak penetrating lead deformed and flipped inside them, tearing and shattering many things inside, and even a mess of lead bullet fragments flew everywhere, forming a terrifying traumatic force.

Seeing the miserable appearance of these people who were shot and so on, watching them crawl on the ground and shouting and struggling, the cruel scene immediately turned the fierce momentum of the hungry soldiers into nothing, and many people fled backwards with shouts. Before they joined the war, most of them were just ordinary people, and it was okay for onlookers to coax, how could they see the real chapter? As soon as the brave people in the army died, their blood and courage disappeared in an instant.

Seeing these people fleeing, the old thieves with swords and shields desperately suppressed them, and the hungry soldiers in the rear also rushed under the threat of foot soldiers, they were densely packed together on the slope, and some even had an unstable footing, rolled down the slope, and knocked over a large number of people.

Seeing the chaos on the slope, the commander of the Jingbian Army, who was supervising the battle, took the opportunity to shout again: "Release the arrow!" ”

There was another whistling of arrows, and the hungry soldiers on the slope fell in large numbers, and the battalion archers behind the low wall fired waves of arrows at them. The bows and arrows they used, though not strong, were sufficient to deal with hungry soldiers without armor.

Most of the soldiers of the special battalion used small bows, which are known for their arrow speed, and some Kaiyuan bows, and in a short time, the rain of arrows seemed to cover the slope in front of the low wall.

There were more trails of smoke in the arrows, and there were more than fifty archers on the first line of defense against the low wall. But there are more than 100 rocketeers. They were all equipped with pistolium, and they had an arquebus tied to the front of the palladium, and they took out the rockets from the quiver, put them between the pronged palladium, aimed them at the enemy, and then led them to the arquebus, and when they lit them, they let go, and the arrows flew away.

Although their rockets are not as fast as bows and arrows, they do not require much effort. It is also convenient to aim on a palladium frame, as if using a crossbow. Even if some rockets have the problem of flying randomly due to quality problems, there are many thieves and hungry soldiers on the slope path, and there are also few who miss.

The arrows under the impetus of gunpowder are extremely powerful, and the power of the arrows can reach the standard of the force bow, as long as they are shot by rockets, the powerful force will carry these people to roll out, and they knock over the people behind them. Roll down the slope with them, causing even more chaos.

"Stone-throwing!"

Raining stones were dropped. The hungry soldiers on the slope path howled like headless flies.

……

"The thieves are in the way?"

On the No. 5 hill, the heralds continued to pass on the situation of the battle on the hill, and the new army commander and the battalion soldiers who were responsible for the defense here were overjoyed, while Han Kaihui was very calm, this was only the first attack of the thieves, and those hungry people had no attack power. And your own ......

Not to mention the excellent birds, guns, firearms, etc., let's just say those defensive fortifications, those ladders, cliffs, low walls and trenches, which are not ordinary hungry people can climb and attack. Plus this kind of hilly trail terrain. The hungry soldiers with spears and clubs in their hands can only be beaten on the road, and it is normal to be able to block them, otherwise the defense line of Yuanwanggou will be in vain.

However, this is only the first wave, and the thieves are also the most superficial hungry people, and the war in Tongguan has just begun.

He ordered: "You can't just defend and wait for the thieves to retreat, the gunners of the defense line need to wait for the opportunity to fight, take the initiative to expel the thieves, and put strong pressure on the thieves!" ”

……

On the edge of the walled hill in the north of the city, Sun Chuanting stood by the handsome flag, and the clairvoyant mirror in his hand kept looking at the opposite hill, occasionally looking at the situation of the hill below, and seeing the fire guns ringing below, the smoke was rising, and occasionally the smell of blood was transmitted to the nose.

The flowing herald came over and reported to Sun Chuanting about the situation of the defense line everywhere, Sun Chuanting's expression was unmoved, and the battle situation from A1 to A10 was expected by him.

The thieves are best at crowd tactics, but this kind of terrain defense line, their biggest advantage cannot be exerted, and their new army is not easy to match, and the thieves in each defense line are blocked in front of the first low wall, which is the most normal.

He was concerned about the battle from the No. 11 defense line to the No. 18 defense line at the southern end of the ditch, where the bottom of the ditch was wide, generally more than one mile, or even two miles, and the bandit forces could be deployed, which made him a little worried.

He heard the sound of artillery fire over there, and the herald also came to report: "There are many thieves, but our division is bombarded with artillery, and the thieves have suffered heavy casualties." ”

……

In the terrible roar, an iron ball weighing several catties slammed into the ground, stirring up a cloud of dust from the boss. Then the iron ball flew up again, and slammed into a group of foot soldiers in red uniforms, and flesh and stumps flew everywhere they went, and a sentry in the right battalion of the formation scattered in fright.

The bottom of the ditch in the ditch of the Daizi Battalion, Nantou Plateau and other places is covered with soldiers and horses of the right battalion of the Chuang Army, this side is at the south end of the Yuanwang ditch, the gully drop is gentle, and the bottom of the ditch is wide, so Liu Xiyao, the general of the right battalion system who is responsible for the war here, has arranged a large number of men and horses here.

At the beginning of the offensive, along the No. 11 defense line to the No. 18 defense line, Liu Xiyao arranged an attack with 10,000 people in each defense line, intending to use the tactics of crowds to pile up the Ming army guarding the hill.

Before the attack began, the Ming army did not move, Liu Xiyao was able to calmly arrange soldiers and horses, he arranged one army formation after another along the bottom of the wide ditch, of course, the hungry soldiers were in charge, and the foot soldiers of the overseer were behind. Unexpectedly, as soon as the battle began, the Ming army bombarded the army formation at the bottom of the ditch, especially they ignored the hungry soldiers in front and focused on the foot soldiers in the rear, making the intrusive army in the right battalion miserable.

As early as when the Yuanwanggou defense line was set up, the artillery officers of the Jingbian Army measured the high and low positions on this side, and the artillery set up on the slope of the hill bombarded according to the unit, and the accuracy was amazing.

The rate of fire of the Wolf cannon is notoriously fast, and in the roar of the shells, the raindrops of cannons fall in the formations of the infantry troops, and the flesh and blood fly. Broken hands and feet, every time a shell falls, it always causes a great commotion. There was also a large amount of poisonous smoke and ash bombs, which caused no worse chaos than solid shells.

In fact, there are not too many artillery pieces arranged here, and there are only 20 general cannons and 20 mortar cannons on the plateau. It is also scattered along the lines of defense. But the power of artillery in this era is too great, and the army that can stand calmly and take the cannon is an elite with very firm willpower, and it is obvious that the army is not a strong-willed army.

Therefore, even if the artillery on the hill did not actually cause many casualties to the right battalion intruder, the fear of being hit by artillery caused a lot of commotion in the military formation, and every time the shell fell, the sergeant who felt that he would be hit by the cannon always ran away, whether he was an officer or a soldier.

The reason why the thieves' crowd tactics are sharp is that there are a large number of old thieves in the rear to drive, supervise, and suppress the hungry people. Let them consume the enemy's arrows with flesh and blood, consume their vital strength, and wait until it is almost time to get the main elite on it.

But at this time, the foot soldiers who were driving the bullets in the rear were too busy to take care of themselves, where could they take care of supervising the hungry soldiers in front? And most of those hungry soldiers are ordinary hungry people who have never seen a battlefield in their lives, even if some blood and courage were aroused by the instigation and threat of the old thief before the war, this anger comes and goes faster. Often, all it takes is a volley of guns, and the brave men who rush forward are killed and wounded. They immediately turned back into timid and fearful little people.

In the past, at this time, the old thieves in the army had to desperately press and drive them forward, but at this time, the rear soldiers themselves were in chaos, how to supervise?

Because of the artillery, the right battalion attacking Nangou was even worse than elsewhere. After all, even if the bird gun is sharp, it can only hit the hungry soldiers in front, and the foot soldiers in the rear supervision are generally safe. They can comfortably drive away the hungry people in front of them in the back, but here, they have to endure the treatment that the hungry soldiers do not have: take the artillery!

The sound of shells whistling came in waves. There was also lime poisonous fog, and Liu Xiyao, the general of the right battalion standing on the slope, looked at the battlefield below, and couldn't help but turn pale.

It was okay that the hungry soldiers in front were beaten into a rout by several rounds of guns of the Ming army, but the foot soldiers in the rear also turned into wolves and ragtags under artillery bombardment, which he couldn't bear. As the general of the 5th Battalion of the former Zuo Ge, he originally wanted to show himself well in this battle, and he also carefully organized before the attack, but he did not expect that as soon as the battle began, this attack on which he had high hopes would become a farce.

On the hill, Zhao Rongsheng retracted the clairvoyant mirror, the crowd below was like ants, and the thieves looked huge at first, but after the artillery bombardment, it was obvious that there was chaos everywhere, no matter which defensive line was on the battlefield from the 11th to the 18th.

Such a result was expected by Zhao Rongsheng, Chongzhen had accompanied the army to the south in the thirteenth year, when he was still an ordinary spearman, at that time he knew that if he wanted to ask for thieves, it was useless to kill how many hungry people in the front, and if he wanted to fight, he would hit the foot soldiers in the rear, and even the old battalion.

Looking at the crowd of people under the black pressure, he ordered: "Continue to bombard, hit the foot thieves in the rear, and order the gunmen of all defense lines to fight, and inflict a heavy defeat on the thieves!" ”

"Fire!"

The general cannon on the hill continued to emit fierce flames, and in the deafening cannon sound, the thick white smoke and the gunpowder smoke inspired by the bird guns shrouded this area of the ravine.

……

On 3 May, the battle at Tongguan, which attracted the attention of the whole country, kicked off on the defense line of Yuanwanggou, which was more than 20 miles long. From the air, the entire Yuanwang ditch was shrouded in smoke, and through the smoke, a sea of ants loomed below.

The sea of people poured down from the top of the hill and down the ditch like a flood to fill the upper hill, but they were held back by the toil of the various defensive lines between the hills, and the raging tide was dissipated by strong dikes.

At the same time that the Yuanwanggou army attacked fiercely and the Ming army resisted stubbornly, more than 2,000 cavalry horses set off from the front of Jinqiao Pass to try whether they could spy on, and even attack the northeast side of Tongguan.

At this time, the army had already controlled the Niutou Plateau, but the five-mile natural danger from the Jinshu Pass to the East City Gate was like walking on the ground for them, and more than 2,000 horseback teams galloped on the official road, and the rumbling hooves were like thunder. They have been running to the front of the Yuanwang ditch, not far from the ditch is the Qilin Mountain, because the city wall and the east gate tower are built on the mountain, so the Yuanwang ditch at this end does not set up a low wall defense line.

Two thousand people ride in front of the Yuanwang ditch for a while, see the front city wall along the mountain winding, the east "Ying'en Gate" in the Qilin Mountain is more like a tiger standing on the dragon plate, not far from the slope is the water of the Yellow River.

The old battalion of the leader, General Guoyi, hesitated, he had seen the situation in the east of Tongguan from a distance on the Niutou Plateau, and at this time, he looked at it up close, and felt that the east gate was precipitous.

In the end, he waved his hand, gritted his teeth, and led a team of fifty horsemen to rush out. They rushed down the Yuanwang ditch and ran to the top of the ditch along the official road.

After going to the ditch, they were divided into two parts, one part ran along the official road to the "Heavenly Danger Building" arrow tower in front of the "Ying'en Gate". Part of it goes south, along the gentle slope path at the bottom of the ditch of Qilin Mountain, to see if you can go around to the south gate of Tongguan.

But as soon as they ran down the ditch, a dense crowd of human heads appeared on the walls. As soon as they approached Qilin Mountain in the ditch, they heard the rumbling sound of the mountain, and a large number of rolling logs and stones were thrown down from the city wall. The height of this side is more than 10 zhang even from the city wall and the hillside, and the force of rolling wood and stones down the hillside is unimaginable, and when it rolls down, it also stirs up a large amount of dust and rubble, like a mudslide.

In the rumbling sound, I heard the screams and neighing of men and horses, and from time to time some intruders were smashed and brought to such a high distance. With such a strong force, as long as the people and horses are smashed by rolling logs and stones, they will break their tendons and fracture, vomit blood and die.

In particular, the dozen or so riders who detoured to the south of the ditch in Yuanwang, because the road on the side of the mountain next to the ditch was narrow, and the space to dodge was very small.

The old battalion General Guoyi saw with his own eyes that a horse was hit by a stone. I saw them rise directly into the air, screaming and falling into the ditch. The horse was still neighing in mid-air. The cavalry also howled bitterly, and the ditch was still high and deep, and it took a long time for everyone to hear the dull sound of men and horses landing.

Not only this ride, but in the flying dust, the rain fell like rolling wood and stones, and I saw the dozen or so riders who made a detour to the south. One by one, they were smashed into the ditch, and none of them were spared, and they saw that the faces of the people on this side changed greatly, and they were silent.

The trespassers heading to the east gate were not much better, and the official road ran along the root of the mountain wall. Meander up until you reach the Arrow Tower Urn City. As far as the defenders are concerned, these thieves running along the official road are within the range of their firepower, even within the range of the rolling logs.

The rest saw the dust flying overhead, and the dense rolling logs or rocks kept whistling, and they either hurriedly pulled out their horses and ran back, or even panicked, rushing down the steep hillside by the official road and rushing to the bank of the Yellow River.

The old battalion General Guoyi's face was pale, this time the snooping suffered heavy losses, and in a blink of an eye, he lost more than thirty horses, no more than the hungry people, every death of this kind of cavalry was enough to make the old battalion feel extremely distressed.

Retracting the remnants of the army, General Guoyi of the old battalion looked around and left, every officer avoided his eyes, the fact was obvious, this kind of terrain temptation was meaningless, they didn't want to die in vain.

Then I heard the howling and moaning of the wounded soldiers from the official road in the distance, which was extremely miserable and upset when I heard it, and everyone just didn't hear it, they didn't dare to propose to save it, otherwise they might fold themselves in.

The old battalion General Guoyi remembered his military order, and finally his heart was crossed, and he ordered another department commander, asking him to lead two teams of soldiers to walk from the bank of the Yellow River under the slope to see if he could spy on the situation of Beishui Pass and Beiguan defense, and even see if he could go around to the West Gate.

The department always secretly called it unlucky, he opened his mouth, and he had the intention to object, but looking at the eyes of General Guoyi Sen Han, he did not dare to disobey the order.

He also saw the situation correctly, so after leading the two teams of soldiers to set off, he just rushed down the Yuanwang ditch along the official road, and as soon as he went up the ditch, he immediately led the people to leave the official road and go to the bank of the Yellow River as much as possible.

The bank of the Yellow River here is also wide, but when it comes to the place where Qilin Mountain and the Yellow River meet, there are only dozens of steps of river stalls that can be walked here, even if they try to walk along the river, but as soon as the general leader of the horses approached, the rolling wood and stones on the slope of the city wall fell like rain, and several horses were smashed to the ground screaming.

At the same time, the arrow tower wall on that side shot like arrows like rain, and the sound of bursting beans sounded, and the old battalion General Guoyi saw it very clearly, and at this moment, the army lost thirty percent of its men and horses.

Then the rest of the cavalry rushed into the corner and disappeared, and the old battalion General Guoyi waited anxiously, listening to the sound of the rows of guns and the sound of artillery.

After a long time, suddenly there was a sound of bursting beans at the place where Qilin Mountain and the Yellow River met, and then rushed out in a bloody manner, desperately fleeing towards his own front. But before he had escaped a few steps, the knight fell to the ground, and the horse gave up on his feet, and the neighing of the "Rhythm".

The old battalion General Guoyi's face was extremely gloomy, and the whole army was annihilated, and this round of temptation was even worse than the first round.

He somewhat understands why he has always attacked Tongguan, always from the Yuanwanggou, the forbidden ditch to attack, this time the king attacked Tongguan, the main force is also placed in the southern section of Yuanwanggou Taojiazhuang, on the northeast of this terrain, a husband is a pass, ten thousand people do not open, just with rolling wood and stones can make it difficult for people to move an inch. (To be continued.) )