On the second day of the first month of June, the weather was sunny and there was a net"* Xue Chongxun led the guards from the camp to the east and rode for about five or six miles, and came to the battlefield that he had seen on the map for a long time, and this place was Cui Qi's tall.

On the battlefield, the people and horses shuttled and shouted in all directions, and it was very lively, and before the battle started, both sides were mobilizing and preparing. Xue Chongxun found a small hill nearby, and ran up with the cavalry to observe the situation, there was no fog this morning, the wind was not too strong, and the sight was very good, and everything could be seen from the hill. Yin Ci was in charge of the Chinese army, and Xue Chongxun felt that he could see more clearly from this high place, so he didn't plan to go over, and let him command the battle.

The two armies were about a mile apart, and Xue Chongxun didn't know why Cui Qigao put the front army within the range of the cannon, probably because it was more than a mile away from the range of the bow and crossbow. On both sides of the land occupied open land, the opposite side was significantly higher, and the army camp was on a soybean field, and the crops had long been trampled on; Only the middle is still green, but after a while, the cavalry will definitely scrap all the bean seedlings.

The middle field, about a mile long, was not too wide, and there was a canal at the foot of the mountain range to the north; There is a village at the foot of the mountain to the south, but there is probably no one in it. The flat and easy-to-walk territory is like a "small" word, and the post road is also in the middle. Obviously, Cui Qigao's intention was to stand still, wait for the officers and troops to make a feint attack from the main road, and then create a local advantage to surround the men and horses who rushed up on three sides.

At a glance, there are a lot of people and horses on the opposite side, not to mention 50,000, the clothes and armor are not very neat, but the team is still like that, divided into six parts, and the three phalanxes in front are horizontally swinged; There is a distance between the back, and there are three left, middle and right. On the north side of the rear army there was a force of light cavalry, the rest of the horses were mixed with infantry and horses, and a few horsemen were in the front and the infantry was behind. The color of the enemy's clothes and armor is messy, but the heads are wrapped with white cloth, which is a bit of a feeling of wearing linen and filial piety. Xue Chongxun was wondering the meaning of this dress, and vaguely saw the word "Tang" written on the tallest flagpole, and he understood in his heart that Cui Qigao was under the banner of Li Tang, but the Li Tang clan had been almost killed by Xue Chongxun, so they wanted to avenge the monarch Dai Xiao...... Maybe that's what happened.

And the Shence army column placed nearby is horizontal and vertical, and the structure is very clear. The front army was about a mile wide laterally, and the ten regiments with muskets were divided into three rows of horizontal formations in regimental units; Behind the musketeers were ten infantry regiments, heavily armoured with crossbows and short men, armed with long weapons and no shields. Then there are more than forty cannons in a centralized place, and this thing is very spectacular. Behind the cannon was the Chinese army of Yin Ci, and there were several thousand cavalry on the left and right sides.

Looking at the camp of the Shence Army from a high place, although the number of people is not as large as that on the other side, it seems that the eyes are full of metal. The armor, blades, and artillery were all iron, and there was a patch of steel on the soybean ground. The gap between the two is too big, as if they are not people in the same world.

There was a long stalemate, both sides were more or less ready, and the movement became smaller and smaller, and only the heralds on horseback were moving between the queues, and everyone else was standing still. After a while, a horse rushed out of the ranks of the Shence army, holding a small flag with a book "persuade to surrender", the horse ran fast and approached the enemy's front army after a while, but before he could open his mouth, he heard a few strings "bang", and a few arrows flew over, and the cavalry turned around and ran without saying a word, fortunately he didn't shoot, and there was a burst of laughter and noise in the crowd opposite. The cavalryman ran back to the Chinese army and reported: "General, the traitor is not willing to surrender!" This seems to be a ceremony, indicating that the officers and soldiers are benevolent and righteous.

Yin Ci looked back at Xue Chongxun on the hillside, and Xue Chongxun nodded.

The drums with a special rhythm of "Dong Dong Dong ......" sounded, and the enemy soldiers on the opposite high ground also moved, preparing for the first assault of the officers and soldiers.

Unexpectedly, the infantry of the front army did not advance but retreated, and retreated in an orderly manner behind the artillery. At this time, the red flag waved, and a group of sergeants ran into the guns with smoking torches, and after a while, they heard the shouts of the generals, "Boom! There was a loud bang, the mountains shook, and the smoke suddenly rose, and then there was an uproar among the former soldiers and horses on the opposite side, and several frightened horses ran out of the way, but the whole camp did not move, as if the shells had not hit.

The artillery of the Shence Army was busy adjusting the altitude, but the enemy soldiers still did not move. After a while, the cannon roared again, like a cannon, and the shining balls could be seen flying in the air, and the scene was very gorgeous; However, after a while, the smoke covered everything, and the smoke of black powder was not ordinary. In the distance, there were screams, neighing, and a noise. But Xue Chongxun couldn't see the scene of flesh and blood, and there was only black smoke in front of him. When the wind blew away some of the smoke, I saw that the enemy soldiers were already in a mess, and from a distance it looked like a frightened ant nest scattered, and there were many debris and corpses on the ground. Dozens of cannons bombarded in one round, and the men and horses were still so densely arranged, it was really impossible to say that a thousand people would not die.

The sound of artillery stopped one after another, but Yin Ci still did not give the order to attack, and the ranks of the Shence army remained motionless. This kind of artillery bombardment is obviously very cost-effective, and the enemy troops cannot reach it, so they can only be beaten there; While suffering heavy casualties, he was unscathed. If the war situation continues like this, Cui Qigao will have to pay miserably.

Cui Qi's high election place, now he is estimated to be bitter and can't say it, occupying the high and low just under bombardment, just after the war started, several people and horses were defeated. At this time, Cui Qigao only had two choices: either immediately retreat and withdraw the range of the artillery, so that the Shence army would occupy the high ground through the guò road without resistance, and this battlefield would lose its meaning, which would mean that Cui Qigao's troops were defeated and retreated, but they were not annihilated; Either he uses the cavalry as the vanguard, and the infantry behind the formation takes the initiative to attack, and the short combat artillery loses its meaning, and the distance between the two sides is only more than a mile, and the attack is also very fast.

The roar of a cannon, like the urging of war drums, immediately accelerated the rhythm of the battle, and the attack and defense were only in an instant.

At this moment, I saw that the horse team behind the opposite side took the lead, and the situation was clear at a glance, and the enemy soldiers chose to attack. The drums in the Shence army beat again, the flags waved, and the spearmen and infantry who had retreated before marched to the front. All of them are orderly, and the sound of drums controls the speed of the queue, so it seems calm.

The cavalry in the distance had already swooped down, stepping on the soybean field, and only slowed down to assemble at a distance of three hundred paces, although the number was not large, but the posture of the cavalry to start charging in a queue did look like a cavalry. They intended to break through the front infantry of the Shence Army head-on, and the purpose of this kind of combat was to keep a wide distance between the front and rear teams, otherwise there would be no speed or they would collide together, as if they were going forward and following. Xue Chongxun always believed that the cavalry that launched the charge was the bravest type of troops, because once the charging war horse was extremely difficult to turn, it could only rush forward and die if it could not enter.

The general of the Shence Army shouted: "Whoever shoots without hearing the sound of the drums, behead!" ”

The first wave of horses galloped forward, starting from a distance of more than three hundred paces, speeding up at two hundred paces, and swooping down like arrows off the string. There were only two hundred paces, and it took less than half a minute for the cavalry to rush in front of them at this distance. The iron cavalry suddenly sounded, and the sharp blades in the hands of the murderous enemy soldiers reflected the cold light, and it was obvious that the psychological pressure of the musketeers lined up in front was also very great.

In the flash of light, the distance of the first wave of cavalry in the center was only more than a hundred paces. At this moment, the big drum sounded three times, and the generals also shouted at the top of their voices. "Bang bang ......" The fire flickered in the black smoke, and the gunshots rang out.

It was as if a team of galloping horses had suddenly crashed into a sieve, and even the men and horses fell, leaving only a few horses still rushing forward, and then a burst of crossbow arrows was fired, and the remaining scattered cavalry also turned into hedgehogs and fell.

It was also the first time that the soldiers of the Shence Army used muskets to beat people, and they were also cavalry, and at this time, their eyes widened with nervousness. The generals shouted "change the team" one after another, and they hurriedly walked back, the queue at this time was not so neat, the soldiers of the Shence Army were veterans who had been training for several years, but they did not walk the queue at this time, and their hearts were also a little panicked.

Soon the second wave of charges was also approaching a hundred paces away, and in front of them was a whole row of black muzzles more than a mile long. This wave of charging was already a bit chaotic, the horses were frightened, and before they could rush over, some knights were squeezed down, falling and screaming "wow".

There were a few more loud drums, and all the faces of the oncoming cavalry were written with despair and fear, as if the drums were mourning the death sentence for them. Four or five hundred muskets on the front were facing their queue of less than a hundred people, countless lead bullets flew like raindrops, those who were shot fell off their horses and some did not die, but the few who were not shot were even more unlucky, and they were immediately greeted by the second wave of crossbow arrows, the rebels were particularly short of armor, and there were few people with armor in these gangs, and the crossbow arrows immediately saw blood on their bodies, and they were instantly full of blood, and they died so much that they could not die anymore.

The horse team only rushed in two waves, and the latter were reluctant to charge, so they turned around and left. After a while, the infantry sword and shield bearers in the back also came up, and the team was more chaotic, mostly armed with wooden shields and short weapons. In the absence of armor, it is still very effective to block arrows with a wooden shield, which is many times better than wearing cloth clothes to carry arrows. Don't look at the infantry of the Shence Army, they are only equipped with long and short weapons and bows and crossbows, and there are no shields, but they are all covered with iron armor, and the armor is not invulnerable, but it has a miraculous effect on defending against long-range crossbow arrows.

A group of infantry advanced in a zigzag, unskilled formation, lined up with wooden shields as thick as door panels. These people were in disarray, and they were greeted by a neat row of long muskets. The attacking infantry moved more and more slowly, and at last they were pushing and shoving, as if they were about to collapse at any moment, and they were obviously terrified.

"Bang bang bang ......" was another flash of fire, and what wooden shield was used to block lead bullet was as fragile as cardboard, and a large piece fell in an instant. Screams erupted, and ghosts cried and howled. After fighting for a long time, there was blood everywhere, and the rebels didn't even touch a single hair of their opponents. Q