Chapter 106: Massacre

By the time Yin Erwu and the second group of Yangzhuang people arrived panting, the dead and wounded had been dragged aside, and the crowd that had chased them to the river also returned to the place where the three flying beast battalions of Gao Tengdou were arrayed one after another. Many people have already lost the sticks and hoes in their hands, but fortunately, there are many branches on the ground that the auxiliaries have thrown down to create obstacles in the morning, so they have picked them up and broken off the branches and held them in their hands, and their hearts are somewhat more steady.

Grandpa Tai set up Nanyang Wei in the second year of Hongwu. However, in the past two hundred years, especially Qian Yuchuan's tossing in recent years, there are still more than 8,000 people on paper in the military department, and there are not enough people from a few thousand households to get together with the old, weak, sick and disabled. Can you hit the first and put it aside, less than half of them can really afford to carry a knife compared to two strokes. Therefore, Qian Yuchuan left these so-called soldiers on the wall just in case, and those who were sent out to supervise the "killing of thieves" were all quick arrests by the officials - compared to those "soldiers", Qian Daren also trusted them more. Of course, these people felt that they were much higher than the common people, so they mixed in with the lower positions of the crowd to supervise the battle, and they were not hit by the bow and arrow. Seeing that the thief ship was rowing upstream unhurriedly more than ten or twenty zhang away in the water, and the thief camp was four or five miles away, and there were a large number of new troops rushing over behind him, one by one they were bold, for fear that the credit of the thief would be robbed by others, they shouted loudly and drove away, regrouped everyone, and forced the thief's camp over.

Most of them, including the officials, did not know how to control the rhythm of the march and adjust their physical strength, and after many runs, they already felt a little tired, so they all dragged their feet and walked slowly with sticks. Everyone could not help but look back and forth when they climbed the mound that Gao Tengdou had just looked, and saw that there were so many people on their side, endlessly covering the outskirts of the north of the city, and then looking at the camp of the thieves a few miles away that was smaller than a block of tofu, and the small pile of thieves, although they were exhausted, even the most timid ones regained their confidence.

Two thousand auxiliaries, who had drunk the broth last night, brushed their hands about fifty paces behind the first pyre, and pulled out a horizontal formation. Fifty paces after that was the second line of the same two thousand archers. Each horizontal formation is composed of twenty solid formations of 100 people, each small formation is twenty people wide and five people deep - such a small formation can not only ensure that everyone in the formation can clearly hear the command of the officer standing next to the formation, and after the first horizontal formation has completed the shooting task, it can also calmly retreat from the gap in the second array.

On the humble lookout, Guo Qinglin and Luo Shifan stood side by side. Originally, this kind of watching the enemy was enough to hand over to an experienced foot archer, but because it was the first time that his auxiliary soldiers were the main force, Guo Qinglin was not at ease, and he wanted to make a show in the generals, so he volunteered. Luo Shifan figured out this tactic, although the generals praised it when they heard it, after all, it was the first time to fight, so they also climbed up. Under the lookout were Sun Chunlong and several other guards of the Young Army Division, leading their horses and waiting.

Looking at the crowd squirming half a mile away, Guo Qinglin waved the green flag in his hand. After the auxiliaries rushed out several groups of men, carrying sacks and baskets, they ran to the woodpile, and poured the sulfur, rosin, and black fire (typo) on it—the fire attack was not as simple as one might think, and if it was done early, the morning dew would make all the hard work go to waste.

The people who were slowly approaching were a rabble, and the closer they were, the faster their confidence and courage faded, and the slower and slower they marched. Some of the officials simply walked to the front row while shouting and whapping in the crowd to lead everyone forward, while others cursed and threatened to drive them away from the back.

The crowd was a little faster.

Seeing that the crowd came about sixty or seventy steps away from the firewood stack, Guo Qinglin took out a red flag and shook it. Seeing this, the officers of the small formations in the first row who had been looking up shouted at the same time: "Open your bow, release!" ”

Two thousand flying locusts rose up in an instant, flying higher and higher into the air, and for a moment, as if they were about to disappear in the clouds, they suddenly turned down, and rushed towards the crowd with great speed, and the screams rang out!

Zhang Mazi walked in front of the crowd, dozens of steps away from the low wall built by the thieves, and was about to shout a few times to let everyone rush over, when he suddenly saw a large rain of arrows rushing to his face, he subconsciously squatted down with his head in his arms, and he was about to shout and suffocate back into his stomach.

The screams sounded loud, but Luo Shifan and Guo Qinglin on the lookout could see that there were actually only more than 100 people who were hit by arrows in this round. After all, it was the first time for the auxiliaries to fight, and they were all improvised, and they only touched the bow and arrow for the first time yesterday, and at a distance of 100 paces, this effect is normal.

The rain of arrows stopped the crowd at once, and many people stopped in a daze, and only took a few more steps forward to react slowly, and then threw the stick in their hands and squatted down with their heads in the same way as others. Zhang Mazi settled down, didn't see the second wave of arrow rain for a long time, straightened his waist slightly and quickly looked left and right, and didn't see a few arrows around him, he became bolder, straightened his body and shouted: "Death row prisoner!" Afraid of a bird! Come on! Rush over and kill the thief! ”

The other officials also shouted, and slashed at the people next to them. Everyone also recovered from the shock just now, let out a shout, and rushed forward in unison. Zhang Mazi didn't take a step, he shouted vigorously at the top of his voice, and knocked on everyone who passed by - we Mazi are still waiting for the reward of the Lord of Lingfutai, so that he will not use his good body to block arrows for which cannon fodder!

As the red flag waved on the lookout, the second and third rounds of arrows rained down.

These two rounds of shooting are much more effective. The distance was closer, and just after an arrow was spared, the hands of the vast majority of the auxiliaries no longer trembled so much. Guo Qinglin on the lookout quickly estimated in his heart that there were more than 1,000 people who were hit by the arrow, and even more were tripped by them. Although the other side looked like there were forty or fifty thousand people, most of the people who were rushing to the front fell to the ground, blocking the brigade behind.

At the same time, the three Flying Beast battalions had begun to disembark in an orderly manner, and began to form behind the archers at the shouts of the officers. Takato also returned the thirty borrowed horsemen to Gu Baisong, who commanded the horse team to assemble a little west of the second group of archers according to the predetermined plan. The horsemen all led their horses and stood, waiting for orders.

The successive blows really shocked the crowd. However, not long after, there was no need for Zhang Mazi to roar and remind, everyone gradually understood from the initial fear: the thieves had the advantage of long-range firepower, and if they didn't move, they would be beaten in vain, so they simply rushed over! Whether or not you get an arrow halfway depends on each person, we have an overwhelming numerical advantage, as long as we rush over and get entangled, we will win the battle in hand-to-hand combat!

After three rounds of shooting, Guo Qinglin did not continue to wave the red flag. Although he knew that if there was another volley at this time, the lethal effect would definitely exceed the sum of the previous rounds of fire in the face of the almost stationary and entangled crowd - but the hand that wanted to raise the flag was held down by Luo Shifan. The young commander then explained that there were too many enemies on the opposite side, and in order to win, it was necessary to strike hard at those living forces. Shooting now can certainly kill a lot, but there will definitely be a lot of feathered arrows wasted on those enemies who have lost their combat effectiveness.

As he spoke, Luo Shifan's mind was thinking quickly at the same time: Most of the generals were from the border army, and their combat experience was to fight with the regular army in armor with a knife and a gun. Bows and arrows have limited damage to armor - this can be seen from the way the Ming army remembers injuries: three arrows are worth one sword, which is considered a slight injury, and three knives are one shot lower, which is considered a serious injury - the bow and arrow are at most delayed and disruptive to the rhythm of the attack, or to cover the siege troops and suppress the firepower of the city, so they generally do not pay much attention to the role of archers. We've never experienced a battle like this before, but there's no guarantee that we won't do it again. In this case, the role of archers comes to the fore! After the capture of the city, the armor in the arsenal was a treasure, and even the pig iron had to be taken away, but the feather arrows were not very cherished - I had seen a soldier pile up half-finished arrow shafts to make a fire and roast his hands! Is it possible to suggest to the marshal, in addition to the archery team of each battle battalion, simply form an archer battalion, well, like a horse team, an independent army, directly under the jurisdiction of the Chinese army, according to the predicted combat characteristics in the war, assigned to those who need it. However, when you calculate the cost, it is not small......

was thinking about it in a trance, and his thoughts were interrupted by Guo Qinglin: "Young military division, the thieves are rushing up again!" Let's get out. ”

Looking up, the crowd of black oppressors not far away shouted and hugged again, and Guo Qinglin waved the red flag for the fourth time. When the two climbed the rope and slid down to the bottom of the lookout, two thousand feathered arrows broke through the air and rained at the charging crowd. When Luo Shifan turned over and got on the horse, he smiled at Guoqing Linwaner: "Brother Guo, you just said 'thieves are rushing up again'." You call them thieves, and they call us thieves – then, who are the thieves? ”

Guo Qinglin was stunned and smiled. didn't answer Luo Shifan's ridiculous question, and shouted: "Team A, withdraw!" ”

With the order, the first platoon of archers quickly turned back, passed through the gap in the second bow formation fifty paces away, and re-established themselves in the predetermined position behind them. Men ran past them with baskets, and each of them grabbed a few special feathered arrows from the basket: behind the arrows was a ball of cloth soaked in grease.

The oncoming crowd was not stopped by the rain of arrows, and those who fell from the arrows were struggling, and those who tripped quickly got up and continued to rush forward with shouts. Zhang Mazi shouted in the crowd, jumping up from time to time to look ahead, and the person in front had already run through the gap blocking the low wall and couldn't see it. Zhang Mazi estimated that the thieves should be desperately fleeing, and the people of Nanyang were chasing their buttocks. I vaguely saw that the thieves still had a second array, but it didn't matter, it was a big deal to shoot two or three rounds of arrows, and it wouldn't stop these many people! It won't be long before you're overtaken, at that time, hum...... Just thinking about it, I heard a familiar greeting: "Brother Zhang! Turning his head, it turned out to be Ma Laoqi and Yin Erwu from Yangzhuang. He agreed, and then shouted: "Old seven, two five, kill the thief!" The crowd rushed forward with great courage.

The second bow array was a hundred paces away from the firewood stack. Seeing someone emerge from the gap in the stacks of wood, the officers of each small formation issued orders one after another, sprinkling a rain of arrows into the chaotic crowd.

Due to the need to bypass three obstacles in succession, coupled with the rushing feather arrows, most of the people were crowded between the various stacks of wood, and there were very few people who could force the front of the battle. The officers of the small formation of 100 people calmly gave the order to shoot flat, shooting them in front of them a few paces away. The horsemen of the white pine in the west had already mounted their horses, but they were all stopping to watch when they saw this. The original plan was to use the horse team to attack and block the crowd that had burst into front of the formation, but now it seems that there is no need for this.

At the same time, several fast horses trotted past the queue that had just taken the rocket, and the knights on the horses held their torches in their hands, and as they passed in front of them, the archers ignited the rockets that had already been stringed, and then pointed the half-drawn bows diagonally towards the sky. With the command of "first row, release", "second row, release", the rocket took off into the air one by one. The auxiliaries who fired the feathered arrows quickly mounted the second one, ignited on the flaming arrows of their comrades in the back row, and at the same time drew their bows again, the rockets in the back row burst out......

Stacks of firewood that had been sprinkled with brimstone were ignited one after another, and a raging flame rose into the sky.

Yin Erwu crawled out of the fire with a roll, just now, he saw Ma Laoqi a few feet away trapped in the fire, struggling to pull Zhang Mazi beside him, and immediately, the soap coat on the latter's body that represented supreme majesty also began to burn! Seeing Zhang Mazi stretching out his hand to grab him, in a hurry, Yin Erwu opened the pickaxe in his hand to open a way out for himself, and finally escaped from the scorching and scorching hell in horror.

Yin Erwu hunched over and coughed desperately. A breeze blew, and I couldn't help but take a hard breath of the cool air that penetrated into my heart. Just straightened up and looked forward, his chest was cold, and it was like someone had punched him hard - the ambitious Yin Erwu was nailed to the ground alive by a sharp arrow.

As usual, on the sixth day, I took the baby crazy and stopped watching.