"Put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

On the first day of October in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, this time was full of war and fear in the north and south......

First, Hong Chengchou and Ma Xianglin led more than 60,000 people to occupy all of them on the north bank of the Red River in Thang Long Province, and then selected men from the Tusi forces such as Mo, Wu, and Lao Cai who surrendered in the north and went south to harvest rice.

The situation was already in a stalemate, and the Ming army unscrupulously packed up the rice, so that the impatient Zheng Jie finally decided to set up a position in the area of Shenglong and Haiyang.

He rejected Hong Chengchou's proposal and chose to counterattack the Ming army's troops.

However, when he was about to join forces with Nguyen Phuc Yuan in the south, he learned that Huang Long and Li Dan led the Navy Six Guards to attack all the ports of the Nguyen Clan from the sea, and commanded the Navy Six Guards to defeat the Zheng Clan's naval division entrenched in the Zhengjiang River.

In other words, the Zheng clan no longer had the right to control the sea and hinder the Ming army from crossing the river.

After Hong Chengchou and Qi Jin and others learned of Zheng Jie's stubbornness, they also began to study how to attack Zheng Jie, so as to exchange the smallest casualties for the greatest success.

"I think, directly bombarded with artillery, this place is close to the Haiyang branch, the shells are gone, you can replenish them on the spot, first finish all the three thousand carts of baggage!"

Looking at Zheng Jie's army on the sand table, Qi Yuanfu aimed the banner of Zheng Jie's camp with artillery, but Hong Chengchou, Qi Jin, Ma Xianglin and others did not say anything.

"Qi Dudu will tell me his opinion first......"

Hong Chengchou knew very well that Zhu Youzhen valued Qi Jin's father and son very much, so he did not make his own opinion, but asked Qi Jin for advice.

Seeing Hong Chengchou speak, Qi Jin also bowed his head and said:

"We have just received eight prefectures and counties, and we have to send troops to garrison them, and besides, the rice harvest in the rear has not yet been completed, and the victims of Fujian and Shanxi are constantly moving forward, so we have to leave troops behind."

"Xiao Guogong and my general soldiers, they continue to guard the rear, take Thang Long and Hai Duong, with our hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, it is enough."

Qi Jin said his opinion, compared with seven years ago, he has improved a lot, although it is not as good as his father Qi Jimei and Hong Chengchou, but the gap is not very big.

"Hmm......" Hong Chengchou bowed slightly when he saw this, and then said:

"It's not a big problem to fight Shenglong and Haiyang, Zheng Jie's 30,000 Imperial Forest Army and 40,000 stragglers are outside Shenglong City, as long as they use the power of the navy to bombard and suppress them, and then the army crosses the river, covers the five-pound cannon forward with chariots, and then storms Shenglong City, you can easily take Shenglong."

"As for Haiyang City, you only need to send two general soldiers and lead six battalions to take it."

As he spoke, Hong Chengchou looked at Qi Yuanfu and Qi Yuanbi, and the two of them also took the initiative to step forward and said, "I am willing to lead the troops!" ”

"Good! Then I'll wait to celebrate the two commanders in Thang Long City. ”

Hong Chengchou smiled and spoke, and then turned his head to look at Ma Xianglin.

To be honest, it is not an easy task to control the Western Military Governor's Office and the Southern Military Governor's Office at the same time.

Most of the Western Military Governor's Mansion is from the Qin and Ma families, while the Southern Military Governor's Mansion is basically from the Qi family.

The three of them are very trusted and favored by Zhu Youzhen, and Hong Chengchou can't fall to either side, so he has to be impartial.

Therefore, after arranging for the Qi family to attack Haiyang, he said to Ma Xianglin and Qin Minping:

"Please the two generals control the artillery and soldiers and horses that cross the river tomorrow, and be sure to stand firm, and after the army crosses the river, they will take Thang Long City in one fell swoop!"

"I'll take my orders!" Ma Xianglin and Qin Minping spoke softly, after all, the Qi family came to Qi Jin, and it was not easy for them to compete for merit.

"In this case, then tomorrow we will send troops according to the plan, and ask the governor of Huanglong to lead the navy into the Red River and shell Haiyang and Thang Long."

"Yes!" The generals responded, and then retreated.

The night passed, and when the next day dawned, the sky was slightly bright, and the Zheng army under Thang Long City saw the Red River sailing into the 3,000-year-old battleships.

After more than 30 Ding and other battleships arrived at the Red River channel in the north of Thang Long City, the Ming sailors on board began to fill the artillery in an orderly manner.

"Fixed-shot loading...... Angle forty-two, the first round of test firing...... Put! ”

"Bang bang bang-"

Roaring artillery replaces crowing roosters, waking up many who are still asleep.

Thang Long City is only a mile and a half away from the Red River, just within the range of the five-pound cannon.

After many rounds of test firing, the Ming artillery finally found a suitable angle and began to continuously shell the Zheng army camp under Shenglong City.

It was only in the face of the artillery of the Ming army that the Zheng army, which had already suffered losses, used trees and soil to build anti-slope fortifications.

Although it was still embarrassing, it finally avoided the tragic situation of Lang Son Castle and other examples.

Zheng Jie, who was standing in the platform of Zheng Junshuai, held the clairvoyant mirror tightly, his face began to look ugly little by little, and seeing the Ming army preparing to load artillery, Zheng Jie immediately turned around and ordered:

"Let the artillery battalion and the elephant battalion prepare for battle, and once the Ming army crosses the river from the north bank and lands in Annam, immediately counterattack!"

"Yes!"

As Zheng Jie's mouth opened, the gate of the Zheng army was wide open, and more than 500 war elephants walked out one after another, and the artillery on the Zheng army's camp also began to fire.

Although they only had more than 200 Furlong machine guns, due to the long-term war with the Westerners, the Zheng army mastered the skills of how to build fortifications on flat ground, and the Ming warships on the Red River were too large and very conspicuous, so they still disrupted the Ming army's attack rhythm for a while.

"Governor, the five-pound cannon can't penetrate some of their fortifications."

"With a ten-pound cannon."

On the deck, Huang Long saw the so-called fortifications of the Zheng army with his double-barreled clairvoyance, and then ordered a counterattack with a ten-pound cannon.

When the ten-pound cannon was put into battle, the originally rudimentary fortifications were defeated in the dense rain of stone bullets.

"Artillery and elephant battalions retreat!"

Finding that the Ming army had used more powerful artillery, Zheng Jie hurriedly ordered, and the artillery battalion and elephant battalion in front also withdrew into the battalion.

While they were retreating, the Ming army on the north bank began to cross the river and land on the south bank.

"Ordered the general army of Ma, in a quarter of an hour, assemble the chariot to establish a chariot formation, and receive the army to cross the river"

Hong Chengchou, who was on the north bank and was holding a clairvoyant mirror to observe the south bank, immediately turned around and told the heralds under the shuai after finding that Ma Xianglin had crossed the river and gained a firm foothold.

After hearing the news, the herald immediately waved the military flag in his hand, and the news reached Ma Xianglin's ears after a while.

"Order the chariot battalion to form a formation, and move the five-pound cannon forward one mile to suppress the Zheng army camp!"

"Yes~ the chariot battalion is in formation, and the five-pound cannon moves forward one mile to suppress the Zheng army's barracks......"

Under the command of Ma Xianglin, the army proceeded in an orderly manner, and the chariots three meters high and one meter wide, filled with sandbags inside, formed a formation similar to the moon formation, and slowly moved forward step by step.

The five-pound cannon followed behind, and several gunners followed behind the chariot with dozens of five-pound stone bullets on their backs.

"The barracks fence is lowered, and the artillery counterattacks!"

In the Zheng army camp, Zheng Jie, who was standing on the Shuai platform, saw the Ming army's chariot start to move, and immediately shouted an order.

The Lingqi passed the news, and some specially prepared gun port fences in the camp were lowered, revealing a cannon behind the fence.

"Put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

Zheng Jun's artillery did not test-fire, but directly chose to open fire.

More than 200 artillery pieces of various sizes flew with stone shells, but most of them missed, and only a few stone shells hit the Ming chariot, but the impact was immediately offset by the sand and gravel piled up inside the chariot.

Hong Chengchou, who was standing on the north shore of the Shuaitai, looked at this tactic, nodded and said:

"If we continue like this, we will be able to advance to a position of one mile in about two quarters of an hour, and order the troops to cross the river!"

Two quarters of an hour is about half an hour, and one mile is six hundred meters.

At first glance, walking 600 meters in half an hour is simply turtle speed, but you must know that the speed of tanks during World War I was only more than ten kilometers per hour, or even several kilometers.

But even so, the Germans were defeated by the British and French.

The most terrifying aspect of chariot tactics is that they can cover the infantry and gunners on the battlefield, and when their own artillery suppresses the enemy's artillery positions, the infantry and knife players break into the enemy's artillery positions.

In the face of such a turtle shell tactic, Zheng Jie, who was on the platform, had no way to take the Ming army's chariot, so he could only watch the Ming army's chariot keep approaching.

By the time two quarters of an hour had passed, the chariot had already advanced the battle line from a mile and a half to a distance of three hundred paces, and at this time the gunners of the five-pound guns had begun to perform.

More than 300 five-pound guns were operated by more than 2,000 gunners, and stone shells rained down on Zheng's camp.

At first, Zheng's artillery could still counterattack to try to disrupt the rhythm of the Ming army, but with the continuous arrival of the Ming army's follow-up five-pound cannons, and after the Ming army on the north bank began to land on the south bank one after another, the artillery positions of the Zheng army suffered a dense rain of stone bullets.

Three quarters of an hour later, the stumps on the battlefield were severed, and the earth was soaked red with blood.

Hong Chengchou on the north bank saw that the Zheng army's artillery was destroyed, and immediately stepped down from the platform to greet him:

"The herald and artillery battalion must destroy the wooden wall of the Zheng military camp, and the sword players and infantry players are ready to break through!"

"Yes!" The generals who followed Hong Chengchou's side responded and led the team to cross the river.

A battalion of Ming troops continued to cross the river, and when Ma Xianglin commanded the artillery to suppress the Zheng army, tens of thousands of Ming troops soon gathered on the south bank.

Hong Chengchou himself also crossed the river himself, built a handsome platform on the south bank, and commanded the army to march from a high and far-sighted distance.

"Put!

”

"Bang bang bang-"

Under the command of Hong Chengchou and Ma Xianglin, the artillery of each battalion of soldiers and horses in the Battle of Ping'an South advanced one after another.

More than 3,000 artillery pieces, large and small, advanced to a position 200 paces away from Zheng's army and began to increase their firepower.

After the two-zhang high wooden wall was hit by stone bullets, some of them were dented, and some of them were broken in two, and the camp became full of holes for a while.

When Zheng Jie's artillery was not taken over, Zheng Jie, seeing such a scene, immediately hid in some fortifications, and ordered the elephant camp to go out from the west gate of the barracks, trying to use the elephant camp to defeat the Ming army.

"It seems that the defeat of the Zheng army is today."

"Zheng Jie's command of the 50,000 army of Thang Long is not as perfect as his command of 20,000 people."

Hong Chengchou, Ma Xianglin, and Qin Minping were talking and talking, and the appearance of a leisurely walk was obviously in hand.

It's just that at this time, the right-hand Tang rode a fast horse and ran from a distance, and when he was close to Hong Chengchou and them, he directly turned over and dismounted and reported:

"Jingluo and Zheng's war elephant battalion went out from the Ximen camp, and the number was about five hundred, probably to attack our army's right wing."

The confrontation between the two armies on the battlefield is like a mirror, the left of the other side is its right, and its right is the left of the other side.

The Zheng war elephant attacked from his left side, preparing to attack the right side of the Ming army, and then used the elephant to disrupt the Ming army's position, this tactic was too inferior, even Mu Qiyuan, who was sweeping the tail in the rear, would not use this method.

"Adjust the first battalion of the Chinese army to assist in the right wing, defeat the war elephant battalion, the front army will not move, and the rest of the armies will prepare, wait for the war drums to sound, outflank the Zheng clan from both sides, and the artillery will not move, and continue to suppress the Zheng army camp!"

"Yes!" After taking over the tiger talisman from Hong Chengchou, Tang Qi also immediately transferred troops.

At this time, Hong Chengchou also remembered something, and said to Ma Xianglin:

"Cavalry is not allowed to charge against an army with firearms, except in a matter of survival."

"The last will understand." Ma Xianglin nodded, he knew very well that when the scales of victory fell to his side, there was no need for his side to charge with cavalry.

At this time, the most important method of cavalry is to harvest and disrupt the enemy's disposition.

"Put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

As time passed little by little, the artillery and stone shells of the Ming army immediately consumed more than 500 vehicles, and from the use of artillery to the present, only half an hour has passed.

By the time Zheng's wooden village fell in pieces, Zheng's army had retreated to the moat under Thang Long Castle and surrounded the baggage carts around the perimeter.

"But the moon array?" Ma Xianglin, who saw the movements of the Zheng army through his binoculars, frowned.

The Moon Formation is a formation invented by Liu Yu, which once broke the 30,000 elite cavalry of the Northern Wei Dynasty with about 2,000 elite infantry.

Among them, the defeat of the elite cavalry of the Northern Wei Dynasty with the "Moon Array" is a typical example of Liu Yu commanding all the troops to fight together.

After this battle, the prestige of the "Moon Array" was greatly enhanced, and it was talked about by future generations, so that when it came to how to "ride with steps", it must be said that "the Moon Array".

Ma Xianglin didn't know much about the Moon Array, but relying on the big river to form the Array, it was obviously the Moon Array.

However, as soon as he said the three words of the Moon Array, Hong Chengchou shook his head with a smile and said:

"Not counting the Moon Array, they don't have a naval army, they can't form a Moon Array, and they can't stop the Shenji Battalion and more than 20,000 iron cavalry!"

Under Hong Chengchou's explanation, Ma Xianglin understood the main composition of the Moon Array.

The conditions that constitute the "Moon Array" are slightly more complex, including geographical conditions, weapons, types of troops, and troop allocation.

Geography is backed by a large river, and weapons require ships, chariots, heavy shields, and crossbows.

Warships were used to control waterways, transport troops and war supplies, and in the event of an unfavorable battle, they could also meet the troops in the array.

Chariots are used to resist the onslaught of enemy cavalry and play a defensive role, heavy shields are used to protect chariots, and long weapons such as crossbows, hammers, and lances are used to kill and injure enemy troops.

After these two are complete, the army needs to use chariots and hundreds of times to lay out an arc-shaped "moon array" at a distance of more than 100 steps from the water.

And it is also necessary to hug the river at two ends, with the river bank as the moon string, and each chariot is set up with seven staff soldiers.

After the formation, the navy needed to send enough soldiers ashore to meet them, and carry 100 large crossbows, and each chariot should have 20 soldiers on each chariot, and a shield on the chariot to protect the chariot.

Because the "Moon Array" is an arc, from the perspective of physics, the arc can disperse the force at the point of force, and has good impact resistance.

In addition, the soldiers in the formation have long weapons such as rods, crossbows, and lances, so the lethality is very strong; At the same time, the soldiers in the formation have their backs to the water, which can have the effect of "falling into the place of death and reviting".

However, the important prerequisite for these is the sailor and the warship!

Because of the right to control the water, the river can ensure the safety of the rear and flanks of the "Moon Formation", and there is no need to worry about being surrounded by enemy forces and the flat river bank with a wide field of vision.

A good field of vision is convenient for observing the actions of both sides and grasping the situation on the battlefield in a timely manner.

Flat terrain can make the enemy lose the terrain advantage, and the large army can overlook the battlefield from a high war ship, which is equivalent to occupying the commanding heights.

But now the Zheng Clan's sailors have been completely wiped out by Huanglong, and their backs are not a wide river, but a moat with a width of no more than ten zhang.

This situation also led to Zheng Jun's move not like a moon formation, but like a shipwreck.

After explaining, Hong Chengchou sneered at Zheng Jun in the air:

"It's a pity, my Chaotian soldier is not a Xing apprentice soldier, and he Zheng clan does not have a Chu overlord."

"What I have said is that Zheng Jie's move is just a trapped beast fighting, as long as the artillery is pushed forward by two hundred steps, his vehicle formation will not be able to hold the position at all."

"As soon as the chariot formation is broken, it is time for the cavalry to harvest......" Ma Xianglin also laughed.

Seeing that the war was about to end, Hong Chengchou was not nervous, but just instructed Ma Xianglin:

"The herald and artillery moved forward two hundred paces, and drove the Zheng army off the moat for me."

"Yes!" Ma Xianglin clenched his fists to receive the order, and then passed the order to Qin Minping on the front line.

After Qin Minping received the order, the artillery positions of the Ming army began to move forward, and with the sound of artillery, one after another the chariots were shattered, and more than 40,000 Zheng soldiers saw tens of thousands of Ming troops like a red tide holding their guns to kill, and they all jumped into the moat.

With the narrowing of the encirclement of the Ming army, except for a small number of Zheng soldiers who had withdrawn to Thang Long City, a large number of Zheng soldiers were driven off the moat and were shot and drowned by the Ming army with platoon guns and spears on the bank.

The wide city of Thang Long only escaped less than 20,000 Zheng soldiers, and in the city were a large number of civilians and more than 200,000 people who were captured by Zheng Jie.

With the city gate and moat lost, Thang Long City was breached in just one day under the roar of 3,000 cannons.

"Uhh

"Ahem, ahem, ahem......"

"Bang bang bang-"

As the sun sets, the Red River Delta, which was still green in October, is stained red with blood, and the drowned corpses in the moat flow down the moat into the Red River.

Tens of thousands of drowned Zheng soldiers' corpses floated in the magnificent Red River, and the Ming army was rowing bamboo rafts to salvage the corpses on the river, and the corpses were piled up and burned on the south bank.

The battlefield is so cruel, either you die or I live.

Zheng Jie, who still held 70,000 male soldiers the day before, has disappeared without a trace today, under the attack of the Ming army, in the chatter and laughter of Hong Chengchou and Ma Xianglin, 70,000 soldiers of the Zheng clan in Annan turned into a tree and disappeared.

More than 200,000 strong men in the city were captured by Hong Chengchou, and if nothing else, they were sent to Luzon and Zhongshan to become miners and be released after ten years of labor reform.

Hong Chengchou, Ma Xianglin, and Qin Minping rode war horses to observe the battlefield, and happened to pass by the decapitation platform by the Red River.

The generals of the Zheng clan were dragged here one by one, and then beheaded one by one.

When Hong Chengchou passed by, this group of people stared at Hong Chengchou deadly, revealing hatred in their eyes, but they fell to the ground in the next second.

"Jingluo, General Soldier ......" looked at Hong Chengchou coming over, and the general in charge of the beheading platform immediately made a move, and Hong Chengchou glanced at the beheading platform next to him before he spoke: "What about Zheng Jie?" ”

"Zheng Jie has some backbone, and when the car formation was broken, he drew his sword and killed himself." Speaking of Zheng Jie, the general also had to sigh that this person still has a bit of backbone.

"It's a pity to die, I wanted to escort him to the capital to hand over to His Royal Highness......" Hong Chengchou felt a little regretful, and then glanced at the station next to him, and then explained:

"Remember, all the captives who have marriages, transactions, or relatives with the Zheng clan will be beheaded, and the rest of the captives will be taken to the old port."

"Rest assured, the last general will know what to do." The general responded, but Qin Minping hesitated:

"Jingluo, just now the Thang Long Mansion opened the city gate, and the Zheng family begged to surrender ......"

"Drop?" Hearing Qin Minping's words, Hong Chengchou smiled and glanced back at Ma Xianglin: "It seems that the Zheng family wants to keep a trace of blood......

"Mr. Ma, if the Zheng clan wants to surrender, what do you think?"

Seeing Hong Chengchou asking himself, Ma Xianglin also knew that Hong Chengchou was afraid that he would not be satisfied with the handling, so he went to Zhu Youzhen to complain, so he pulled the reins of the horse and said:

"Since Liu Yu killed the Jin family, it has become a practice to cut the grass and eradicate the roots, our army has defeated the Zheng family, and the people of the other four provinces of the Zheng family are no more than 10,000 people, and it is useless to stay."

"Huh...... Then leave it to Mr. Ma, and you will do it. As he spoke, Hong Chengchou continued to ask: "What about the casualties of our army?" ”

"More than 3,300 people were killed and more than 7,500 were wounded, but most of them were minor." Ma Xianglin briefly talked about the casualties in his headquarters, and Hong Chengchou nodded after listening.

"After that, I will go to His Royal Highness Shu to indicate whether it is made up, and as for the soldiers who died in battle, in accordance with the rules of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, the pension field and pension silver will be distributed, and the heirs will be sent to Yanshan Academy to study."

"The last general knows..."Ma Xianglin shook his head, and Hong Chengchou also instructed Ma Xianglin and the others after seeing that there was nothing wrong with Ma Xianglin:

"The Zheng family still has four prefectures and thirteen counties left, and these places don't need to be done by the two of them, I will transfer the small princes to the south."

"The two commanders have a good rest for two months, and in two months we will go south to recover the territory of the Nguyen clan."

Ma Xianglin, who heard this, was a little dissatisfied, but Qin Minping pulled him, and he was helpless: "It's ......"

Qin Minping knows very well that it is not a good errand to fight the four prefectures and thirteen counties, this is not to say that these places are difficult to fight, but he has already seen that what Hong Chengchou wants is not as simple as laying down these places.

"Then I'll go back to the camp first, and the surviving Zheng thieves in the Shenglong Mansion will be handed over to the two of you to clean up ......"

"Walk slowly ......"

The two sides fought each other, and then Hong Chengchou led people to leave the beheading platform.

However, Ma Xianglin and Qin Minping looked at the beheaded Zheng army generals on the beheading platform not far away, and their frowning brows could see that they were a little displeased......