Henan, Ruzhou.

At the foot of Huo Mountain, by the Beiru River, more than 600 light cavalry battalions of the Chu army met with 3,000 cavalry of the Chuang army.

In front of the Chu army, the commander of the light cavalry battalion was a young man in his early twenties.

Zhang Huangyan, 22 years old, a native of Ningbo, Zhejiang, with the rank of Right Military Academy. And there is also a show of fame, when Liu Jun patrolled the southeast to break the red Yi, Zhang Huangyan, who was carrying the fame of show talent at that time, heard about Liu Jun's heroic move of leading the Chu army, and yearned for it, abandoned the pen from Rong and defected to the Chu army.

Because of his talent and fame, and because he was born in an official family, he has been riding and shooting since he was a child, and he is good at both civil and military affairs. Outstanding performance in the army, he was soon selected to be sent to the martial arts hall for further study, and after the expiration of one year, he also joined Liu Jun's guards, served as Liu Jun's attendant for a period of time, and became Liu Jun's protégé.

Since then, in the battle of Liaodong, he has performed outstandingly, led his troops to make meritorious contributions repeatedly, and personally shot and killed seventeen enemy soldiers, and was promoted all the way because of his merits, and now he is subordinate to Denglai Town, commanding a battalion of light cavalry, hanging the rank of right military academy, and won a gold nine-headed bird medal.

"Battalion, the enemy is five times our strength, what should we do?" The overseer asked him nervously.

Zhang Huangyan held a clairvoyant mirror and looked at the thieves opposite, three thousand rode, and they were coming arrogantly.

Putting down the clairvoyant mirror, Zhang Huangyan just said very calmly, "Grab the hillside on the left, set up cavalry artillery and mountain grenades, let go of the horses, cloth iron thistles, and we will dismount and fight with them!" ”

"Dismount and fight?" The military envoy was a eunuch of low rank, but he represented the emperor and the imperial court. He was somewhat puzzled by the order of the light cavalry battalion to dismount and fight. "Shall we retreat first and wait for the arrival of the main army?"

"There's no need for that." Zhang Huangyan vetoed his proposal. In the Chu army, on the battlefield, the battalion commander of a battalion has absolute command and decision-making power, and the supervising army cannot interfere.

Although they were light cavalry battalions, they did not necessarily have to fight cavalry battles with the intruding army. He had already discovered that although there were 3,000 cavalry, they were all traditional cavalry. The cavalrymen were armed with spears and straight knives, and were not fully armoured. They had no artillery and no firearms, and such a cavalry unit was certainly not weak in mobility and charged fiercely, but when they encountered the Chu army, they did not have the ability to attack fortifications.

"We have artillery, we have guns, and we have to give full play to these advantages. Especially since there is a hillside right next to it. After we seize this vantage point, the cavalry of the thieves will be greatly limited. ”

The advantage of the light cavalry battalion is that in large-scale battles, it cooperates with the infantry artillery of the Chu army, attacks the enemy's flank, implements roundabout outflanking tactics, and pursues the enemy after victory.

Hedging against the enemy is the task of the hoplites, not the hussars. Now there is no infantry and no artillery on the side, and the heavy cavalry is not there. Faced with five times the enemy's cavalry, they should seize the hillside, build fortifications, and erve artillery.

Then dismount and fight.

The light cavalry is not a firecracker cavalry. But they were the most superior cavalrymen, also armed with firearms, and each of them was rigorously trained to ride on foot, in a way. The Hussars are an advanced class of the Musket Cavalry.

As an officer who has studied in the martial arts hall for a year, and has studied as an attendant beside the king of the county for nearly a year, Zhang Huangyan has won Liu Jun's true biography with soldiers. We are not confined to any fixed model, but to adapt to the situation and make the most advantageous choice.

In the face of cavalry, dismount and fight, this is a kind of courage.

Constructing fortifications, erecting artillery, and laying down hollow rifle phalanxes are the courage of a master of art.

The cavalry cannons and mountain grenades carried by the army, these light guns, were quickly taken down at this time and erected on the hillside. Other soldiers began to arrange the strings of thistles they carried in front of the battle, and some began to take the bundles of combined horses from the pack horses and began to set them up.

There are even soldiers digging horse pits when they are grasping for their preciousness.

Tian Hu held the clairvoyant mirror and watched the movements of the Chu army's cavalry, a little puzzled.

"What are they doing?"

"The dog officers and soldiers seem to be guarding the hillside."

Tian Hu laughed a few times, "It's a little interesting, just these six or seven hundred people, if they want to fight with us, their courage is really admirable." ”

"Maybe they're just arrogant, they're just stupid." One of the generals said.

Tian Hu said, "It can't be said to be arrogant and stupid, when the two armies meet, can they fall?" Instead of fleeing all the way, it is better to fight against the mountains, these people still have some courage, and they are worthy of the officers and soldiers who once beat the Tartars in Liaodong. They chose to set up a formation on this mountain, apparently to dismount and fight, which is probably to fight against the water, put them to death and be born. ”

"It's a pity they met us!" The general next to him hummed.

Tian Hu also nodded, although the opponent is very respectable, but on the battlefield, either you die or I die.

"Blow the trumpet, brethren, come with me and pacify these dog officers and soldiers! Kill! ”

Tian Hu didn't intend to give the Chu army too much time to prepare, and as soon as he arrived, he rushed to the hillside with the cavalry.

Behind a piece of thistle terrestris is a simple wall of rejecting horses, and behind it is a large hollow array composed of four hollow phalanxes. On the higher slopes behind them were a dozen guns from the battalion.

The bayonet has been put on, and each infantry formation is like a blooming steel rose, so brilliant and dazzling in the sun.

The intrusive army was charging, shouting to kill the sky, and the ground under their feet was trembling slightly.

However, the position of the Chu army was quiet. These are all troops led by veterans who have been trained for a long time and fought on the battlefield, even those who were recruited later, who have not experienced the flames of war, but have also experienced countless live-fire training and actual combat exercises.

They are no strangers to fighting.

The enemy forces were still fighting, but the soldiers of the Chu army were only staring at the non-commissioned officers next to them. These veterans, who have rich battlefield experience, are the backbone of the Chu army and the core of the battle.

They clearly controlled the emotions of the soldiers, and kept an eye on the distance between friend and foe.

If you don't have a range, you won't fire.

"Gunner ready!"

The intruder army has already rushed to a range of three hundred meters, and this distance has entered the range of cavalry artillery, and mountain grenades can also hit the enemy.

The gunners first loaded solid iron bullets, and one by one several pounds of iron bullets were loaded into the barrel, and the lethality of these solid bullets was not the strongest, but their range was the farthest.

With a command, the gunner corrected the direction, adjusted the angle, ignited the fuse, and the shell whistled out of the chamber.

The intruding cavalry of the charging army was dense, which increased the number of them killed and wounded by artillery fire.

The artillery was loaded at a high rate, firing one after another.

"Two hundred steps!"

An artillery staff officer shouted, "Change the shrapnel!" ”

The howitzer has always been a big killer weapon of the Chu artillery, and the excellent metal disc timing fuse, coupled with the construction technology of the cannon shell, makes this kind of artillery shell extremely lethal, especially at close range, to deal with dense enemies, the effect is better.

Shrapnel roared out of their chambers, carrying tail flames on timed fuses, flew over the charging intruders, and then exploded in the air. In an instant, hundreds of small iron bullets shot out in all directions, and this kind of covering damage caused the intruding army that rushed to the front to suffer a catastrophe.

"One hundred steps!"

The company commanders of each company drew their command knives, waved them forward, and shouted the order, "Shoot!" ”

The infantry in the front row of the phalanx raised their volleys one after another.

At a distance of 100 paces, the flintlock rifle fires a dense salvo, and the effect of the grenade is the same, it is a covered area of effect. Unlike artillery shells, the number of artillery pieces is limited, while the infantry salvo of the phalanx can form a dense and uninterrupted burst of fire in a short time, and at a distance of 100 paces, they can shoot several rounds of salvos.

The cavalry finally rushed to the front, but the fire blows suffered were multiplied, and the knights continued to fall from their horses, and even more terrible were the iron thistles arranged on the ground and the horse rejection wall, which slowed down their charge, and many horses injured their hooves and fell, and the knights were fallen.

Finally rushed to the front of the formation, but was blocked by the rejection of the horse, and the speed slowed down, and the dense shells hit with lead

The aggressive attack of the invading army was repulsed in the more violent rain of bullets.

Tian Hu looked at the cavalry that had turned around and retreated, his face sank like water, but he couldn't say anything. It's not that his subordinates are too afraid of death, it's that the artillery fire of the Chu army is too fierce.

But Tian Hu was not willing to retreat, he had three thousand men and horses, while the Chu army only had six or seven hundred.

After some thought, he decided to attack in batches in turn, not giving the Chu army time to rest. He believed that although the artillery fire of the Chu army was fierce, the artillery always had to be cooled, and the ammunition was always limited.

Once the Chu army's artillery could not be used, or the ammunition was exhausted, that was when they were trampled out.

From morning to afternoon, Tian Hu's troops launched dozens of charges, and more than 500 cavalry were killed in the battle, but they never rushed up to destroy this Chu army.

Several times, they all rushed up the hillside, but the Chu army's firearm phalanx was like a hedgehog with long thorns all over its body, making them unable to speak.

And the Chu army in this phalanx can still shoot constantly, and even directly stab the cavalry on the horse with the long stab on the gun.

The most lethal thing is that the ceasefire of the Chu army's artillery, which Tian Hu has been looking forward to, has never stopped. These artillery, at least hundreds of shots, are still firing. Although the rate of fire was slowed down a bit, when they rushed closer, the guns fired directly into the shots, and the power was still amazing, and the damage was very high.

Seeing that the Chu army was finally overwhelmed, his subordinates reported that a cavalry of the Chu army had been found in the east.

Another light cavalry battalion of the Chu army arrived, and it was a light cavalry battalion led by Cao Xiong in Huguang Town. They arrived quickly, and instead of directly reinforcing Zhang Huangyan's hillside, they directly outflanked him from the flank.

Chu Jun had a great appetite and was ready to swallow his more than 2,000 horsemen directly.

Tian Hu hesitated, but in the end he didn't want to risk being outflanked.

Although the reinforcements from the Chu army also only had more than 600 horsemen, since the first reinforcement had appeared, more follow-up reinforcements could also come at any time.

In all kinds of helplessness and unwillingness, Tian Hu gave the order to retreat. (To be continued.) )

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