On a sunny day, a thunderbolt rumbled.

At first, the sound was slow, like a giant bee buzzing, and then gradually it grew louder and louder, like thunder on the horizon.

With his rich experience in fighting with the Ming army many times, Ao Bai reacted at once, this is not thunder at all, this is the roar of artillery.

He held down his restless mount, looked up and looked around, and soon he found the cannonball.

It was a very obvious shell, and Ao Bai could even recognize it as a shrapnel at a glance, and this shell had a unique marking. When they fly in the sky, they will fly high into the air with a clear tail fireworks, and if they are at night, this cannonball will be as conspicuous as a broom star.

And this kind of shrapnel is indeed like a broom star, which makes people smell and change.

Unlike ordinary artillery, his trajectory is not straight, but has a large arc, more like a traditional car-throwing stone, but the cannonball is much more powerful than the stone-throwing. They would fly over the dense array and then explode in the air, killing countless people and horses in an instant.

The shrapnel flew from one side of the hill with a pyrotechnic trail and arcing.

Ao Bai quickly calculated in his heart, this cannonball is not an idle shrapnel, but a large shrapnel. This means that there is a heavy howitzer on that hill, perhaps a canon. But what made Ao Bai uneasy was that such heavy artillery was always used by the Han army, and according to the law, the heavy artillery group must be assigned to the division-level troops.

The presence of heavy artillery means that there may be a heavy artillery group here, and the presence of a heavy artillery group means that there is at least one Han army of more than a division here.

Aobai's cold sweat came down, how could there be a large army of the Han army here? Even with only one division, it would be a nightmare.

Today's Han army is not the Ming army of the past, they are far superior to the original Ming army, and even better than the original Chu army.

A division of the Han army. There are usually at least fifteen thousand people.

They had 30,000 horses, but they did not necessarily defeat the 15,000 Han troops. And Ao Bai had an even worse prediction in his heart, the Han army suddenly appeared here, then they were likely to have more than one division.

"Lord Wang, we were ambushed, this is Liu Jiye's big army, they went around and outflanked it." Ao Bai shouted loudly to Hauge.

Hauge looked incredulous, "How is this possible, how can Liu Jiye come around behind us, didn't Duoduo say that Liu Jiye's soldiers and horses have not been mobilized?" ”

"It must be that Dodor's information is wrong. That's a heavy shrapnel, which means that there is heavy artillery here, and it is very likely that there will even be a heavy artillery group, and there will be heavy interceptions by the Han army, so let's withdraw. ”

"Withdraw?" Hauge gritted his teeth, "Where to retreat?" ”

"Withdraw to the Chaohe camp and join forces with Duoduo and their soldiers and horses to resist Liu Jiye's attack." Ao Bai proposed.

Hauge was hesitating, not that he couldn't save that face, but that he thought of another possibility. Since Liu Jiye quietly transferred a heavy army to outflank and intercept it. Then the Ming army on the other side of the Great Wall was afraid that it had already launched an attack at this time.

"I'm afraid Duoduo can't protect himself at the moment."

Hauge thought about it and felt that he still couldn't go back.

"When we go back, we're afraid we'll be completely surrounded. The only way to do this now is to put it to death and live later. Pass my orders, prepare to break through, break through to the east! ”

Aobai's prediction was accurate, and Liu Jun's Han army was in the world in this era. The army that first set artillery as a professional arm is also the army that attaches the most importance to artillery in this era, and they are also the army with the largest number of artillery in the world in this era. They were also armed with artillery that was far ahead of their time.

The first shrapnel exploded and landed in the ranks of the marching Qing army, knocking down one piece.

This was just the beginning, that shell was really only equivalent to a test firing calibration distance.

As the earth-shattering war drums sounded, the trumpets sounded.

The 50,000-strong army, equipped with thousands of large and small artillery pieces, began to fire in unison on the preset artillery array. Artillery emplacements one after another, artillery artillery after artillery.

Heavy artillery battalions, field artillery battalions, long canons, short canons, canon grenades, howitzers, mortars, light and heavy artillery of various calibers, roared one after another, and dense shells flew and fell over the heads of the Qing troops in the river valley.

Under the bombardment of countless shells, Hauge led the Qing army to gallop on horseback, trying to rush over quickly with the speed of the war horse. After rushing for less than a mile, Hauge found that the artillery fire in front of him had not only not weakened, but had become more violent.

And through the smoke of artillery fire, they found that in front of them, one array after another appeared.

Haoge was pleasantly surprised to find that the Han army in front of him was not lined up in a tight phalanx, but one after another small formations, each of which numbered a few hundred people, and these small formations were next to each other, but they were separated by a distance of more than ten steps.

"Why did the Han army set up such a formation, did they want to use such a small infantry formation to deal with our cavalry charge?" Hauge has fought for many years, fought with the Mongols, fought with the Ming army, fought with the Koreans, and fought with the Jurchen tribes in Haixi, no matter which opponent he fought with, in his impression, the cavalry was the strongest type of troops, especially when the cavalry gathered a sufficient number, it was completely able to level everything, and no one could stop it.

If the infantry wanted to deal with the cavalry, they could only rely on the city, and if they were in the field, they had to set up a barracks or set up a chariot barracks. Protect the infantry with chariot formations, and at the very least, the infantry should also be assembled in a large phalanx as much as possible, with a repelling horse in front, and then a protective layer with spears and large shields.

In general, such infantry is actually only self-preservation, and the counterattack is weak.

But now, the Han army actually set up such an unheard-of formation in front of their 30,000 light horsemen, what kind of formation is this, the mushroom formation?

Can this formation stop the cavalry?

Why didn't the Han army assemble into a large formation, as well as their artillery, why didn't they be placed in front of the formation or on both sides, didn't the Chu army fight like this before?

And what about the cavalry of the Han army? As far as he knew, although there were not many cavalry in the Han army, there were quite a few.

Hauge had a feeling that the second monk couldn't figure out his head.

Maybe it was a civil servant who commanded the troops, and he was a complete layman, otherwise, he should not have set up such a formation. These two or three hundred people are a small mushroom array. Aren't they here to send them to death, and they can block the impact of the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty?

The only thing that made Haoge a little uncomfortable was that the Han army's mushroom formation seemed to be a little too much. As far as the eye can see, there are clumps of small mushrooms like this.

"Rush over and flatten them!" Haug shouted with his sword raised.

Liu Jun stood on a hillside not far away, standing there and looking at the battlefield.

"Your Majesty, Hauge did not retreat, he chose to charge east to break through." Zhang Guodong said to Liu Jun, "I can't imagine that this Haoge is still a little bloody." ”

"Reckless, brave and unscrupulous. Did he really think that my hollow gun array was so easy to break? Don't you know? This hollow array is specially prepared to deal with cavalry. This time, we must let them have a good look at what is called the tactics of the new era. Ordered the artillery groups to open fire with all their might, and I asked the Qing cavalry to approach the infantry's hollow formation, and the formation was scattered. ”

"Don't skimp on the shells, despite the bombardment, try to break up their formation. Disrupt their charge formation, and the impact of the cavalry will be greatly reduced. They are no match for the infantry hollow array. ”

The hollow infantry array, a battle formation specially designed to deal with cavalry in the musket era, especially the huge hollow array composed of countless small hollow arrays that Liu Jun is now putting down, is the meat grinder of the cavalry.

Compared to horizontal infantry or vertical infantry. The Hollow Array is better able to defend against the onslaught of the cavalry, and at the same time, it can also kill the cavalry stronger. In particular, this kind of large array containing countless small hollow arrays will make the large array of the Han army like a huge sponge, easily attracting the charging power of the Qing cavalry.

The cavalry's greatest reliance is on impact. Without the power of the impact, their power would be reduced by more than half.

The gap between the various small hollow arrays is not a flaw. It's where the real killer trick lies.

When the cavalry rushed into the Han army's large array, facing a circle of bayonets and firearms, they would continue to rush along those gaps, which was the instinct of the war horse and the instinct of the knights.

And when they rushed in, they found that there were hedgehog-like hollow arrays everywhere, and they had nowhere to put their mouths at all, so they could only keep rushing forward, and then they were killed and wounded by the infantry behind the hollow array with guns one by one.

To deal with hollow infantry formations, cavalry alone is completely insufficient.

Even in the era of muskets, cavalry was no longer the main force on the battlefield. They alone could not defeat the infantry.

"If it were you, how would you deal with my hollow infantry formation?" Liu Jun asked Zhang Guodong.

"Your Majesty once said to his ministers that the age of firearms is no longer an era of defense, but an era of attack. Soldiers no longer need heavy armor, which will gradually be phased out. And artillery will replace cavalry and become the darling of the battlefield, but in the final analysis, the real main force on the battlefield in the future is the infantry with rifles. ”

Zhang Guodong pointed to the battlefield, "Your Majesty, even if the minister leads these cavalry, there is no chance of winning this battle, and the only countermeasure is to retreat, not to rush into this hollow array meat grinder in the face of artillery fire." ”

Zhang Guowei, the secretary of the military department on the side, asked in surprise, "Is it true that the cavalry can't beat the infantry?" Hauge led 30,000 cavalry, many of whom were the elite of the Eight Banners. ”

Zhang Guodong said confidently, "War, it is the right time, place and people, if you put it bluntly, it involves the geography of the battlefield, weather conditions, as well as the army's equipment, training, commander's experience and command system, and even the morale of the army." ”

"All things considered, whoever occupies more favorable conditions will have a better chance of winning. And in this current battle, in terms of troops, we have 50,000 troops, and the Qing army is 30,000. Moreover, we are waiting for work, and the Qing army came from afar and was raided by our army. Second, this battlefield is our choice, although it is quite open, but one side is the river, both sides are mountains, in fact, it is a long and narrow river valley area, our artillery is laid on the mountains on both sides, condescending, easy to defend and difficult to attack, although the Qing army is cavalry, but this terrain, in fact, is the most unsuitable for them to deploy, can not outflank the flank. ”

"Again, it is the crushing of equipment, we carried thousands of artillery pieces this time, not to mention the mountain grenades and other light guns equipped with each battalion and company. Our infantry is now all equipped with advanced flintlock guns, and also equipped with a lot of handcuffs and grenades, but what about the Qing army? Although they were cavalry, almost all of them were still in the era of cold weapons, and they were equipped with very few artillery pieces, and they were still very backward. There are almost no firecrackers. ”

Liu Jun nodded appreciatively to Zhang Guodong.

"That's right, but there is one most important point, the Qing army will lose this battle because they don't have infantry."

Zhang Guowei was stunned, "The Qing army will be defeated, just because they don't have infantry?" "What kind of reason is that.

"Any military formation will have flaws and shortcomings, such as the longitudinal array, which is the easiest to maintain in formation, but it is the most afraid of artillery attacks, and when it encounters artillery bombardment, it will suffer the most damage. The horizontal attack, on the other hand, is the least afraid of artillery fire, but it is the most difficult to maintain a formation, and the attacking firepower will be weakened. ”

"Similarly, our hollow array is the most useful against cavalry, but if the Qing army does not only charge with cavalry alone, but with infantry to assist in the battle, cavalry charge, and then advance with line infantry formations, then the hollow array will inevitably be difficult to resist, if the opponent's infantry is also equipped with artillery coordination, then the victory or defeat is unpredictable."

Zhang Guowei sighed, "You have to match the line infantry, right, Your Majesty?" ”

Liu Jun nodded, line infantry, that is, musketeers. Only musketeers could fight against the hollow array musketeers of the Han army. Ordinary infantry, separated by a long distance, will be scattered, and they will not be able to get close.

"Then we don't have to worry, even if the Tartar cavalry is equipped with infantry, they don't have musket infantry. Their infantry, all heavy infantry on horseback, wore thick armor and held broadswords, bows and arrows, moved slowly, moved on horseback, and then dismounted to fight. In the past, this method of warfare was very useful when dealing with the army of the previous dynasty, but now, in the face of our empire's new firearms troops, this kind of stupid iron-hulled heavy infantry is completely a dead rake and is useless at all. ”

Liu Jun put down the clairvoyant mirror, no longer staring, he had already predicted the outcome of this battle.

"Pass my order, let the cavalry go out, go around to the rear of the Qing army, and block the valley road when they came, this time, we will catch turtles in an urn, and not let go of a single tartar, I will completely annihilate the 30,000 Qing army."

The emperor's appetite was so great that he took 50,000 people, but he wanted to annihilate 30,000 Qing cavalry. Zhang Guowei secretly exclaimed, if he had heard a Ming Dynasty general dare to speak like this a few years earlier, he would have squirted him fiercely, spraying all the saliva on his face, it was really nonsense to open his mouth.

But now, when these words came from the emperor's mouth, Zhang Guowei didn't doubt it at all.

He looked at the battlefield, the Qing army was still under artillery fire and constantly approaching those groups of infantry that seemed to be fragile, the Qing army galloped wildly, shouting angrily, and in front of them, one by one the small infantry hollow array, but it was like a cluster of reefs in the face of turbulent waves, let you go crazy and waves, I will not move! (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you for your support in spring, the sixth in the family, the owner of the dust shelter 2, and some summer, thank you!