If the invading army did not have artillery, then the battle would have ended when Cao Wenzhao broke through the ambush on the left flank and solved the encirclement plan of the right flank army.

But when the artillery of the invading army rang out, the situation on the battlefield was instantly reversed.

A tight military formation was originally the best weapon for the Ming army to fight against thieves, but when artillery bombarded it, it could easily cause a large number of casualties and hit morale.

Most of the cavalry were taken away by Cao Bianjiao, and Cao Wenzhao led a group of cavalry to rush and kill several formations one after another, although they took advantage of the unstable foothold of the thieves and defeated one after another, but also lost more than a dozen people.

If it's just an ordinary horse team, it can still be solved, but the opponent is the elite cavalry of the invading army, not the horsemen who have difficulty even charging with a knife when the horse charges.

Moreover, the enemy army has now gained a firm foothold, and more than 80 cavalry can only be a drop in the bucket for the current situation.

There are now four categories of soldiers in the army of thieves.

One is the hungry people, the second is the infantry army, the third is the horse army, and the fourth is the elite cavalry.

Men in the ranks of the exiles were conscripted into the army as long as they were fifteen years old and not more than forty-five years old, and there was no room for resistance.

And these soldiers were the lowest level of the thief army, and these people were generally called "hungry people" in the Ming army.

Only after going through one or two battles and getting combat merits, you are eligible to become an infantry army, which is the second level.

If you are skilled in riding, you can directly join the horse team and become a horse army.

Even if you don't know how to ride a horse, as long as you get high enough, you will be assigned horses, and someone will teach you how to ride.

Only when you become a horse army can you be considered truly secure, even if you die in battle, the leader will help continue to support your family, and you will do what you say.

Most of these horse armies' riding skills are actually very average, and there are only a few officers who can shoot arrows on horses, and many people can't even shoot arrows on horses, but just barely ride.

It is said that it is a horse team and a horse army, but in fact it is just a group of infantry on horseback.

This is also the reason why Cao Wenzhao dared to lead a hundred horsemen to rush straight to the enemy formation, and he was able to defeat one after another.

But now the enemy in front is the real elite of the rogue army, a thousand elite horsemen.

Most of the elite horsemen who were selected were from the border army, and some of them were from the interior of the army, and the last part was promoted from the elite of the horse army, and they were real cavalry, not infantry on horseback.

Holding the best armament, eating the best meals, riding the best horses, all the treatment is the best.

Just like the family members in the Ming army, there is no need to do any chores, and there is no need to pay attention to them, the only thing to do.

Choose the front and fight for your life.

However, they are diametrically opposed to their families in one aspect - the will to fight.

The family system is a freak formed under the influence of the collapse of the guard, and part of the reason why the Ming army is so weak today is because of the proliferation of the family system.

Chen Wang himself is a family member, and he is very aware of the situation of many family members like him.

In Liaozhen, the commanders, generals, and guerrillas brought out to fight against Jiannu, and they really didn't necessarily fall into disadvantage.

Of the seven heads of the seven Jiannu under him, three were cut by Liaodong, and the other four were won in the battle of the four cities in the second year of Chongzhen's change in Beijing and the three years of Chongzhen.

In the small-scale border confrontation of dozens or hundreds of people, the Ming army on the nine sides actually did not fall into the disadvantage.

Once the battle expands and the confrontation evolves to thousands or even tens of thousands, the situation on the battlefield will show a one-sided situation.

There are only a few hundred soldiers in the first army, and the rest of the more than 1,000 soldiers are all weak and weak, and they will be defeated in a rush, and tens of thousands of people can not be defeated in the battle?

The family system of the Ming Dynasty was bad and unbearable, but there were no black spots in the will to fight.

In the hearts of these families, they will be like a mountain, and when the flag moves, even if the Lord will let them die, they will not necessarily frown.

They and the Lord will prosper together, and if they are lost, they will live and die together.

This is the family.

However, the thief's fine rider is different.

Although their combat strength is outstanding, not much weaker than ordinary families, their will to fight is very weak, and once the casualties exceed 10%, they will give up the battle and go backwards.

They are afraid of death, not because their soldiers are afraid of death, but because their generals are also afraid of the death of their elite cavalry.

Tens of thousands of hungry people, thousands of foot soldiers, and more than 1,000 horses will not break their bones at all.

It only takes a few cities and a few towns to break down, and tens of thousands of people can be engulfed.

But when the elite rider dies, it is really one less dead, and it is extremely difficult to replenish it.

The current thirteen families and thirty-six battalions are not all of the same heart, and there is an undercurrent surging inside, with big fish eating small fish, small fish eating dried shrimp, and mutual annexation is not uncommon.

And it is precisely because of these reasons, as well as the orders of the leader, that these elite horsemen in the thief army themselves began to spare their lives.

Therefore, it only takes a moment to have enough firepower to make the forward of its charging formation suffer heavy casualties, which is enough to make the thief who leads the team feel heartache, and make his army frightened, dare not attack, and retreat.

The war horse led by Chen Wang pressed the military formation and slowly retreated, just walking a distance of more than ten steps, and the military formation was already a little scattered.

Ahead, thousands of elite horsemen who broke into the army were slowly pressing, and they were waiting, waiting for the moment when the military formation showed its flaws.

The sound of artillery fire sounded from the sky like muffled thunder, and the artillery of the invading army did not know when it began to fire again, perhaps realizing that a single cannon fire would not cause much deterrence.

And this time, the artillery of the invading army made another contribution, this time two shells fell in the middle of the formation.

Chen Wang watched as a cannonball smashed in front of him, and the cannonball first hit a soldier who was supervising the battle, and then castrated without a single inch, smashing over several soldiers with three-eyed guns, and finally stopped the momentum.

The unpleasant smell of blood filled the entire military formation in an instant, not to mention those soldiers with firearms, even the family members who supervised the battle were also afraid in their hearts.

The undead were wailing on the ground, and no one came to save them, not even to pull them, and those who retreated bypassed them, turning their heads away from them.

Almost none of those who were hit by shells survived.

"Keep walking, don't be afraid!"

A group of officers in the military array shouted loudly, and the warlord Ding Ding, who was holding a Yanling knife, was also eyeing at the side.

In the end, the army was re-established, and they did not have much fear of the thieves in their hearts, and after many battles with the thieves, they finally won the victory, and these victories made them still not collapse.