There are two flowers, one on each branch.

The crisis encountered by Ding Xiaohong's transport ship was put aside for the time being, and on the frontal battlefield, the decisive battle between the Ming army and the White Lotus Sect rebels was about to begin.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! ”

The continuous sound of war drums sounded, accompanied by the rapid and dull drum sound resounded in the sky, shaking the nerves of every soldier present, and the Ming army wearing red armor was like a red stream, under the leadership of the small flag, the general flag, and the hundred household officials, from the battalions in an orderly manner.

Several banner soldiers in different positions raised five-color flags with ribbons in their hands and danced quickly in the air, guiding the convergence of the various battalions.

These Ming soldiers, each of them is draped all over their bodies, with red tassels inserted in their helmets, and they fall with the early morning skylight, as if they are flames burning in the sky, which is intimidating.

They were armed with a variety of weapons, mainly arquebuses or primitive firearms, some with rattan plates and waist swords, in addition to the infantrymen with long weapons such as spears, spears, and axes, and a small number of archers, but no matter what kind of weapons, the cold light reflected in the sun pierced people's eyes.

And with every step they took, the ground seemed to tremble.

The flickering weapons, bloodthirsty eyes, and neat steps all constituted the "murderous aura" on these Ming soldiers, which could make ordinary people frightened and weak, and filled the space around them at this moment.

The procession moved slowly but firmly, and finally reached a position about a hundred paces away from the Yuanmen, where there was a three-zhang high earthen platform as a platform, and the steps were made of wooden piles on both sides.

On top of the earthen platform was a stout stone column, and at the top of it stood a huge copper cymbal more than half a foot thick.

"Xunzi Yibing" has a cloud: "Hear the sound of the drum and advance, hear the sound of gold and retreat", the drum is made of leather, the sound is rich when striking, shocking, and can play a role in motivating; The cymbal's sound is crisp, penetrating, and has a long travel distance, making it easy for soldiers to hear the retreat signal clearly.

The so-called Ming Jin collects the troops, knocking is a cymbal, this thing is made of copper, the color is like gold, don't look at it looks thick, in fact, it is hollow, when it is used, the mouth is facing up, and the sound of "dang-dang-dang" is struck with a mallet, which can be heard by most soldiers in the chaotic battlefield, and will never move lightly until the last resort.

Jiang Xinghuo and Pingjiang Bo Chen Xuan, the second prince Zhu Gaoxu, and Liu Sheng, the governor of the Left Army, and other generals ascended the stage, and beside him, there were Tang Yin and Niu Zhen, the prisoners of the White Lotus Sect who were guarded by Cao Song and other Jinyi guards.

The military observation group of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, led by Zhu Neng, the Duke of Chengguo, went to Tushan on the other side to watch the battle, and did not directly intervene in directing the battle.

Today's Jiang Xinghuo is rarely dressed in military uniform, he is wearing a standard Mingguang armor of a senior general of the Ming Army, the gold-swallowing beast totem pattern on his shoulder is shining in the sun, and the center of the helmet is inlaid with a shining and dazzling ruby, exuding a dazzling light.

His face was already angular and well-defined, and at this time, with the blessing of the armor, there was a heroic attitude between the eyebrows, which were originally a little bookish, and at this moment, with the frowning eyebrows, but revealing a cold meaning.

Jiang Xinghuo stood there holding the Shang Fang Treasure Knife in his hand, at this time, he didn't have his usual polite appearance, just standing there, naturally revealing a trace of self-confidence, even if there was a mountain range hundreds of zhang high in front of him, he could lead the army to pass over without pressure, and destroy all the obstacles in front of him!

And Zhu Gaoxu, who was standing on his right, was also very powerful, Zhu Gaoxu, who was extremely tall and burly, was wearing crimson Ming army heavy armor, holding a long lance, wearing bones around his waist, and looking at the master with blazing eyes.

There is no doubt that this former prisoner of the imperial prison rank is now the powerful Ming national teacher!

"Headmaster, all departments are ready to meet the enemy at any time!" Xu Jingchang, who was a military cadet with the rank of 100 households, saluted respectfully and said.

"Hmm."

Jiang Xinghuo nodded, then looked around and looked at the Ming troops who had already lined up in a phalanx around the Tutai.

Although the number of this army is not large, only more than 5,600 tax guards, as well as some other artillery and cavalry units brought, the total is only a strength worthy of 6,000 households, but it can already be called the elite of the Ming army, and it is also the army specially allocated by Emperor Yongle to Zhu Gaoxu to fight tough battles!

Jiang Xinghuo's gaze swept over every young face, and finally stopped on the thick face of Pingjiang Bo Chen Xuan, and asked, "Are you ready?" ”

"Returning to the national teacher has already been arranged." Chen Xuan replied.

Today, Chen Xuan, who is still Ping Jiangbo and General Kou's seal, is the commander-in-chief, and Jiang Xinghuo can be regarded as taking a group of people to fulfill the role of the staff department.

This is also the first time that the Ming army's infantry, artillery, air, cavalry and other arms of the armed forces coordinated operations, although the number of participants in the battle is not large, but there are many places that need to be coordinated.

Jiang Xinghuo nodded, and asked Zhu Gaoxu again: "Have the cavalry under your command been assembled?" ”

Zhu Gaoxu hammered his breastplate with one hand, and replied solemnly: "Back to the national division, I have sent three light cavalry sentry scouts of the general banner (150 people) as scouts to reconnoiter nearby, and the rest of the armored cavalry (heavy cavalry) troops, a total of 400 households, have also been assembled. ”

"Good."

Although the overall strength of the Ming army was small, excluding Chen Xuan's inland water division, there were a total of about 6,000 people, compared to the White Lotus Sect rebels on the opposite side, which added up to about 17,000 soldiers, only a little more than one-third of the strength, but Jiang Xinghuo was not worried about anything.

According to his thoughts, this team can be attacked and defended in one, because he knows that the Ming army has always been heavily guarded when marching and camping, and the large battalion on the Taihu front line has been operating for many days, the camp wall is stronger, and there are many fortifications in the chessboard camp, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is not difficult to resist the offensive of the White Lotus Sect rebels.

This team only needs to take out more than sixty percent of the force to form a hollow phalanx to attack from both flanks, and the remaining forty percent is responsible for holding the camp.

In doing so, it would not only avoid consuming too many troops in the defense, but also ensure that the White Lotus rebels were defeated.

Jiang Xinghuo glanced at the Ming Army's Flying Eagle Guard hot air balloon cluster floating towards the camp in the distant sky, and then turned his head to look at Liu Sheng beside him.

Liu Sheng nodded knowingly, signaling to Jiang Xinghuo, the artillery had already demarcated the relevant position.

"-Report!"

Suddenly, there was a shout on the school ground, and I saw a scout cavalry galloping on horseback, turning over and dismounting at a close place, and rushing to the front of the generals to salute: "Your Excellency, your subordinates are the first to rush back, and the enemy army is already five miles away!"

Jiang Xinghuo said "um", then turned his head to look around at the generals on the entire earth platform, and after a few breaths, he said, "Let's start." ”

"Whoa!" Xu Jingchang responded with a fist

With a wave of Xu Jingchang's hand, a strong man with bare shoulders and knotted muscles picked up a wooden mallet wrapped in red silk, rounded his arms, and rhythmically beat the cowhide bulge.

"Knock~"

"Knock~Knock~"

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Xinghuo's voice suddenly exploded in everyone's ears.

"Da Ming children, today the national division was ordered to crusade against the White Lotus Sect thieves, since you and the others choose to follow, then today you will have to fight with the enemy on the battlefield, you are terrible?!"

The saying that a soldier can be killed but not humiliated, this sentence is most appropriate at this moment, and there is only one thought left in their hearts: to kill the enemy and defend their glory!

Subsequently, with the shouting orders of the hundred household officials and the thousand household officials, one after another the Ming army began to hammer their chests, and there was no fear or fear on their faces, only excitement and fanaticism, because they knew that today's victory would definitely belong to them.

- In the same way, they are the army of the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty will always be their homeland, and whoever dares to harm the people of the Ming Dynasty will definitely pay the price of blood!

"Fear of life and death! The Ming army is mighty! ”

"The Ming army is mighty! The general is mighty! ”

The roar of the mountains and the tsunami of the sea echoed through the vast wilderness.

"Good!"

Morale was available, Jiang Xinghuo was overjoyed when he saw this, pulled out the dark golden long knife in his hand, and waved it suddenly.

Just as a gust of wind blew, and the dust flew.

And in this smoke and dust, the voices of the generals sounded, and the voice spread to the school field:

"Soldiers, you need to work hard, break through the enemy camp, destroy the head of the White Lotus thief, repay the emperor's kindness, and eliminate harm for the country; Kill all the thieves, behead all the enemies, return my river Qinghai Yan, and appease my Ming Dynasty"

"Boom"

Suddenly, the sound of horns, shouts in unison, and the trampling of horses' hooves shook the sky and rushed straight to the ninth night!

In the rumbling footsteps, more than 5,000 Ming soldiers walked out of the Yuanmen formation along the flat and spacious camp with uniform steps.

Their faces were resolute and resolute, their eyes were like lightning, they held all kinds of weapons, and their expressions solemnly waited for the arrival of a large-scale enemy attack, and the sun in the sky was completely hidden in the clouds, leaving only gray light.

In the square barracks, which is about two feet high, there are twelve bed crossbows on each side of the camp wall, and the arrows of the black holes on them flicker with cold light, which is daunting.

The Ming army turned its back to Yuanmen and leaned close to the camp walls in the left, middle and right directions, forming a rather thick hollow phalanx defensive formation.

And behind the soldiers in the center is the camp wall that can be pulled down at any time.

On the periphery of each phalanx, more than 200 sword and shield soldiers and pikemen were responsible for the defense, totaling more than 1,800 people.

In addition, there were 400 cavalrymen in light armor, scattered around the front of the formation, protecting the flanks of the phalanx and being able to rush to the aid of all parties in time.

A small number of crossbowmen and archers stood by behind the formation.

In the end, there were only more than 3,000 firecrackers in cowhide armor left.

They stood at the four ends of the hollow phalanx, each holding a musket or arquebus, their eyes sharp and resolute, full of a murderous aura, and a sword that could instantly turn an arquebus into a spear hung from their waists, and a fire gun that could not be modified was equipped with a waist knife as a melee weapon.

——————

At this time, many locations inside the White Lotus Sect camp had already been lit up with raging fires.

It's not that the pilots of the Ming Army's Flying Eagle Guard can really make the whale oil tank play the role of an aerial bomb, but that the camping of the White Lotus Sect is too chaotic, and the troops of the White Lotus Sect are still a little bit not too disciplined, and the miscellaneous water bandits and green forest people and horses are not at all, and all kinds of ignitions are piled up in the open air, and if there are fires in a few places, the whole camp will suffer.

And many of the bandits guarding the camp fled cleanly when the camp caught fire, and they would not turn back to extinguish the fire.

Therefore, now the White Lotus Sect camp is extremely empty and quiet.

Everything that can be burned is burned, and everything that can run is gone, but it is not empty and quiet.

Only the hazy daylight on the horizon shone a faint halo on the faces of the rebels who had been assembled for miles in front of the camp.

The rebels held their breath, clenching their weapons and staring at the enemy five miles ahead.

Although the enemy's camp was only a dotted line in the sky, they knew that the next battle they would face would be the most powerful enemy they had ever seen in their lives-the Ming army!

But at this time, they had no choice, and the only way to win was to rely on a two- to three-fold numerical advantage and a meat shield that was enough to resist the sharp edge of the Ming army, and choose to swarm and crush the Ming army.

Otherwise, once the stalemate continues, the only thing that awaits the rebels is to be reinforced and surrounded by more and more Ming troops, and they will no longer have the ability to turn over.

"Knock ......"

The sudden sound of drums resounded throughout the rebel array, and the rebels, who were still a little restless, suddenly became quieter.

They knew that a new directive was coming.

A moment later, with a rapid and shrill sound of a horn, a figure in armor and a hat appeared in view.

The man held a gun in one hand, raised the other, and shouted: "March!" ”

Hearing this, the helmsmen of the rebel forces of the White Lotus Sect immediately stood up and gave orders to all troops: "Listen to the order, march and kill the enemy!" ”

After finishing speaking, the rest of the rebel hall masters and other leaders also pulled out their sabers from their waists, raised them high above the top, and shouted: "Kill!" ”

The rebels immediately responded: "Kill ......"

Although the rebels are a rabble, after all, they have been organized in such a short period of time, and they look very imposing.

The five-mile journey is not far away, but it is not close.

The rebels of the White Lotus Sect drove more than 8,000 strong men who were used to block bullets like cattle and sheep, and went to the people who went to attack the Ming army's water village, with a total of more than 24,000 people.

The goal of the rebels is very simple, that is, to break through the camp of the Ming army, because once the camp of the Ming army is broken, the Ming army, which is inferior in numbers, has no support, and it will be easy to defeat the other party at that time!

The rebels poured towards the Ming camp like a tidal wave, and everything along the way was trampled to pieces.

Li Wuliu held a broken bed board in his hand, was wrapped in the team of strong men, looking at the weeds on the ground that were crushed by his straw sandals, and for a while, his thoughts were extremely confused.

He relied on a large bag of rice that his younger brother Li Liuqi gave to the son of Fan Wenlong, the landlord of the Fan family in Qingpingbo, and fled from Changzhou Mansion with his sister-in-law and children, followed Baihe River to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and went all the way south to the richer Suzhou Mansion, wanting to do some work to earn food.

However, it backfired, Li Wuliu not only did not find a job, but was coerced into the rebels by the White Lotus Sect, and the rice on his body was also robbed, and now he has become cannon fodder, going to use his own body to resist the Ming army's bullets like these more than 8,000 strong men.

Li Wuliu lamented the injustice of fate, but at this moment, he was like an ant following the vast ant colony, he could only go with the flow, the only thing he could do was to hold the broken bed board in his hand and try to block his head and upper body, as for whether this thing is useful or not, God knows.

Li Wuliu felt that his heart was beating extremely violently, and he even suspected that his heart was about to jump out of his chest in the next second.

Finally, the White Lotus Sect's huge rebels were less than two miles away from the Ming army camp, and Li Wuliu saw clearly the appearance of the Ming army camp in front of him - the Ming army's camp architectural style was diametrically opposed to the White Lotus Sect, both the southern local materials were adapted to local conditions, and the northern military camp of the Ming Dynasty was heavy, the overall shape was square, the area was quite large, the circumference was estimated to be about seven or eight miles, cut off by a wooden fence, and there were defensive facilities such as horses, antlers, thistles, and arrow towers around the camp.

There was still a mile away from the Ming army's camp, and Li Wuliu, like many people, began to move forward as if he was stuck in a quagmire. He was scared.

Not only was he afraid, but the rest of the strong men who were coerced were also timid.

The swords and guns of the Ming army were so shining, and their uniform armor was as breathtaking as a sea of crimson.

After all, most of the strong men were ordinary peasants, who had not received harsh training, and did not have rich combat experience like most of the White Lotus rebels.

What is especially daunting is that there are also firearms arrays around the Ming army's camp, which makes these strong men even more afraid to rush forward.

However, the helmsmen and deputy helmsmen of the rebels were not afraid at all, they did not allow these strong men to stop at all, gritted their teeth, and shouted: "Keep going, whoever dares to retreat will be killed!" ”

As these words fell, the White Lotus Sect rebels took another step and slowly pressed towards the strong people in front of them.

Facing the bright blades of the rebels behind them, the strong men had no choice but to take the sandbags, farm tools, etc. in their hands, and began to accept their fate, closing their eyes and rushing forward.

Li Wuliu was the same, he closed his eyes and hugged the broken door panel, trying to step out of his heavy legs, and in his mind, he almost imagined the next moment, he was smashed by the Ming army's fire along with this broken door panel.

however

The Ming army did not seem to make any movement.

Until the strong men almost rushed to the weak middle of the Ming army's spindle formation.

"Woo woo woo ......"

In Li Wuliu's ears, there was a sudden continuous sound of horns.

He opened his closed eyes, and then he saw a shocking scene.

- The Ming army changed its formation with extremely rapid movements!

"Woo woo woo ......"

The sound of the horn sounded again, although the sound was relatively shrill and piercing, far less shocking than that of the cowhide drum.

But the sound of the Ming army's horn is more like a catalyst, and the formation that the Ming army has lined up is like an ingredient in the catalyst.

With the sound of the Ming army's horn, the horizontal formation originally composed of several hollow phalanxes slowly changed, from the original very regular team, gradually moved to the sides, and quickly extended to the two wings.

The high-ranking generals of the White Lotus Sect, who were supervising the battle in the rear with Bai Yu on a tall horse, were also slightly puzzled after taking a look at the formation of the Ming army, because the pattern of the Ming army's formation was completely different from the ordinary army they had encountered in the past.

The Ming army moved out of the middle and began to extend to both sides, directly leaking out the weak middle door.

This is equivalent to two people fighting each other, one directly exposing the vital midline of the body in front of the enemy, but just opening his arms and trying to open the bow left and right, which looks simply stupid.

In particular, the rebels of the White Lotus Sect are driving the strong men to attack the Ming army's camp, and once the central part is crushed, the weak two wings of the Ming army will be divided into two.

"Who commanded this?"

"Isn't that Jiang Xinghuo a scholar who doesn't know soldiers?"

Listening to the discussion of his subordinates, Bai Baiyu raised his hand and said cautiously.

"Don't be happy too early with such a formation, maybe it's weird!"

Bai Bai Yu suffered two losses at the hands of Jiang Xinghuo, and he was not as optimistic as the other high-ranking generals of the White Lotus Sect who had been staying on the front line of Taihu Lake, or rather, he underestimated Jiang Xinghuo too much.

But at this time, the arrow was on the bow and had to be sent.

The organizational strength of the rebels of the White Lotus Sect has not reached the point of being like a finger, strictly speaking, it is similar to herding sheep, and the tactical direction and goal and fighting method were set before the war, and how much they can execute in the chaotic battlefield, I don't know; Whether it can temporarily change the formation like the Ming army again, it is impossible.

So, when the standard-bearer of the Ming army on the opposite side waved the flag in his hand, and the suona hand also blew the suona again, the army of the White Lotus Sect still rushed into it in a daze.

Then, the hollow phalanx of the Ming army, whose two wings began to fully extend, began to bypass the driven people and directly strike at the two wings of the White Lotus Sect rebels behind.

At this time, from the perspective of the captured White Lotus Sect Holy Maiden Tang Yin, the overall battle situation was like this.

Left Wing of the Ming Army \ White Lotus Rebellion / Right Wing of the Ming Army

The left wing of the Ming army \ Zhuangding / the right wing of the Ming army

———————— Ming military barracks

Tang Yin looked at the front solemnly, and even stood on tiptoe, but the heart was constantly falling.

"It's over."

After staying in the White Lotus Sect for so many years, even if he was betrayed by Bai Baiyu, Tang Yin's heart was still on the side of the White Lotus Sect.

However, from the perspective of the Ming army, Tang Yin could naturally see that the back of the central camp wall was empty, and the camp that should have existed was swept away and became an open space.

Once the strong men driven by the White Lotus Sect come in from here, if the people mixed in are not enough to threaten the two sides of the "concave" camp wall, then these people are equivalent to meat buns beating dogs, and there is no return!

Moreover, if the Ming army has no scruples about coercing the people, and the White Lotus Sect has one less hole card in its hand, the speed of defeat will only become faster!

Tang Yin looked desperately at the man in front of him wearing bright light armor

The White Lotus Sect once again stepped into Jiang Xinghuo's trap without accident.

"Not true. Although Bai Baiyu is not a good thing, he is definitely not stupid, what other countermeasures will I teach? ”

Tang Yin was once again entangled.

When Tang Yin was entangled, the Ming army was not entangled.

The officers of the hollow phalanx on both sides saw that the White Lotus Sect rebels were also led by shield bearers, followed by spearmen and archers, and their expressions suddenly became solemn, but they did not panic, they still blew the whistle in their mouths, and then shouted: "Shoot!" ”

"Bang ......"

The Ming army's firearms unit took the lead in firing, and a series of dense lead pellets fell into the rebel formation in an instant, causing a large number of casualties and even disrupting the formation of some rebel infantry.

However, after all, the rebels have an absolute advantage in numbers, they don't care what firepower they suppress, anyway, it is the people in front who die, and these crazy bandits also began to fight back as much as possible at this time.

"Shoot the arrows!"

"Hurry up, release it!"

The archers in the rebel army of the White Lotus Sect finally reached the distance of the infantry bow counterattack.

Under the orders of the leaders, the archers bent their bows and arrows, roughly aiming at the formation of the Ming army on the opposite side.

"Bang!"

"Whoosh!"

Arrows rained down like a torrential rain.

"Poof!"

Several Ming soldiers in the hollow phalanx immediately fell in a pool of blood.

"Ah~~"

There were screams in the Ming army, and some soldiers were shot directly by arrows because they were slow to dodge, and they could not continue to reload ammunition.

"Steady! Don't be afraid! ”

Baihu's face was pale, but he still pretended to be calm and commanded his soldiers, stabilized the defensive line, and shot at the enemy!

"Bang bang bang!"

The two sides clashed again, and the rebels lost more than 80 front-row infantry, while the Ming side lost more than 10 musketeers.

Such casualties have obviously exceeded many people's expectations, but at this time they have no choice but to continue to perform three strikes as they did in training.

The archers of the White Lotus Sect rebels rained arrows one after another towards the Ming formation, and at the same time, the pikemen in front of them also quickly approached the Ming formation, trying to block the Ming army in the line, and then annihilate it in one fell swoop.

And the musketeers of the Ming camp were also shooting desperately to stop the approach of the rebels, and the sword and shield bearers were also under the orders of the small banners, holding down their positions, and once hand-to-hand combat began, they would be the first to rush forward.

The fighting between the two sides was fierce, with smoke and blood spurting.

But the advantages and disadvantages of both sides are obvious.

The number of the Ming army was much smaller than that of the rebels, but the quality of the Ming soldiers and the amount of training on weekdays was much higher than that of the White Lotus rebels.

Therefore, in the case of a stalemate between the two sides, the Ming army's firearms troops did not show a sign of defeat, but used their sharp firearms and three-stage tactics to maintain the front, and the rebels were unable to advance by the fierce fire for a while.

The shield soldiers in the front row of the White Lotus Sect rebels were quickly lost, and the archers' rate of fire began to slow down due to the limitation of physical strength, but the Ming army's three-stage attack had no intention of stopping.

On the other side, Li Wuliu watched as the White Lotus Sect rebels who rushed to the front were blasted off their heads and torsos by rows and rows of dense lead pellets, blood splattered, and stumps scattered.

In an instant, the rebels' momentum was contained.

Of course, in the eyes of the discerning people, this balance of power is only temporary, the Ming army has the advantage of being the first to spread the two wings, the White Lotus Sect rebels will definitely respond, and the Ming army's firearms will definitely start to become less useful over time.

But Li Wuliu didn't know this, his eyes were dull, as if he had lost his soul, he looked at the amazing scene in front of him in a daze, and couldn't return to his senses for a long time, but his body was mechanically pushed forward.

At the front, the Ming army got out of the way, but no strong man felt that it was a smooth road.

However, at this moment, the barracks in front of him, which was like an iron wall, suddenly began to shake.

Li Wuliu was stunned for a long time, thinking that he was dazzled, but he rubbed his eyes and came back to his senses, the camp wall of the Ming army actually collapsed by itself?

Wrapped up and carried into the camp wall, the front turned out to be empty land, and on the sides and the camps further ahead, there were Ming troops waiting for them.

Li Wuliu didn't have time to think about what all this was for, and the next moment, he raised his head.

Countless "shooting stars" streaked over his head along the pre-marked positions.

(End of chapter)