"Jian Changbo is just bluffing, he will never lead the troops to fight *** head-on."

Li Yan gave a judgment based on his previous understanding of Zhang Yanling.

Joke.

Zhang Yanling led the troops into the battlefield, and said that he dared to lead the troops to charge?

If he had 30,000 or 50,000 soldiers and horses, he would be able to charge at most, and at most he would say that he was ignorant and fearless, but now he only had 4,000 soldiers, and even if he ate the bear's heart and leopard gall, he wouldn't dare to play with the Tatars, right?

The generals suddenly felt that it made sense again.

That's Jianchangbo......

At this time, worried that he will come to the charge to grab credit? Are we too worried?

"Report, the Marquis of Wu'an sent a sentry to deliver a message."

"Call people in."

Zheng Ying and Li Yan need to secretly cooperate, at least to "advance and retreat together", and if it is not good, that is, neither side will rush forward.

But just when the troops were still standing here, Yang Yiqing's troops had already fought with the Tatars in the north of Shigou City.

Cui Yuan came out of the tent of the middle military camp, and the generals next to him didn't dare not take him seriously.

In front of Li Yan, the generals have to show respect for the boss, but in front of Cui Yuan, they still have to show enough humility, after all, Cui Yuan is now also a "red man" in the eyes of the emperor.

"General Cui, now is indeed not the opportunity to send troops, maybe Uncle Xiangcheng is right, we should wait. As long as the men of the Baoguo Gong reach our rear, we can send troops, and then the Tatars will definitely not confront us head-on, but will withdraw, and then we will pursue them all the way."

The general's words made Cui Yuan frown.

Cui Yuan said, "So the task of this battle is only to force the Tatars away, not to exterminate them?"

A general next to him reminded: "*** is inexhaustible, since ancient times, from the Xiongnu to Xianbei and Turkic, there are so many messy *** in the middle, it has been like this since ancient times." After a wave is wiped out, there will always be others rising, and it is best to drive them out and not let them come back."

Cui Yuan said indignantly: "No wonder the Tatars are unscrupulous, and all of you have this mentality? Why can't the grasslands be completely flattened? Even if there are other tribes rising in the future, at least it can ensure the stability of the northern frontier of the Ming Dynasty for the next hundred years."

The generals had never seen Cui Yuan's "angry youth", so they naturally felt that the eldest princess didn't have a backache when she stood and talked.

"Report ......"

As he was talking, news came from the battlefield on the front line of Shigou City.

The generals didn't go away, they all wanted to know how the front line was doing, Cui Yuan shouted, "Now you should perform your own duties, what are you waiting for here? If the Tatars are killed suddenly, are you ready to fight at any time?"

Many generals left in a huff.

Some were still muttering, complaining to their companions, "Who does he think he is? It's just a senator with the army, and if you don't lead the troops, you still have such a big anger, and sure enough, the emperor's relatives and relatives are not easy to serve."

The battle in the north of Shigou City was in progress, Yang Yiqing's troops had more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, and the Tatars were also more than 10,000 men and horses in the north of the city.

However, the actual battle was not as fierce as imagined.

The battle on the scale of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses was brutally beaten into a wrestling and tug-of-war between hundreds of men and horses, mainly because the warring sides were afraid of each other...... The Ming side was afraid of the charge and bow and crossbow of the Tatar iron horsemen, while the Tatars were afraid of the Ming firearms.

Yang Yiqing initially asked the soldiers and horses to attack the defensive position of the Tatars, but the charge was forced back by the opponent with a bow and crossbow several times.

The artillery was fired from a distance, because the Tatar formation was very loose, and dozens of artillery shots were fired, and it seemed that few people were killed, and then the vanguard of the front line was withdrawn, and the two sides re-entered a state of stalemate.

Guo Jun came back from the front line of the charge and brought back his own opinion: "Lord Yang, the Tatars deliberately pulled the formation apart, it was almost a long snake formation, there was no thickness, and the cannon couldn't hit so accurately, even if it was accurate, it could hit three or two people at a time. And we don't have enough shells here......

Guo Jun and other generals were in front of Yang Yiqing

It shows a heroic and fearless spirit, but when he actually leads the troops, whether it is the upper generals or the soldiers below, they are a little unintentional.

I also know that there is a gap with the number of Tatar soldiers and horses.

Yang Yiqing said: "Isn't it because of the battle of Huamachi, the soldiers think that they have merit, and they can slack off in this battle?"

Zhang Yu said: "Oh, Yang Zhongcheng doesn't need to sarcastically mock them, this is not comparable to in Huamachi, they gathered and rushed forward, artillery and heavenly gunpowder exploded casually, now they are prepared, this terrain is not easy to fight, and there are gaps in all directions, we can't form a big ambush here, we can't surround it."

Yang Yiqing raised his saber and said, "In that case, then this officer will personally lead the troops to charge."

Gao Pi, the deputy chief soldier on the side, hurriedly persuaded him: "Your Excellency, I just reported that Jian Changbo has led more than 4,000 soldiers and horses on the flank, and he will be killed at any time, as long as the men and horses from the east are killed, it will be tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and the two roads will definitely be able to win by attacking together."

Yang Yiqing said: "This battle is dominated by the official, how can he hand over the variables to others? What's more, it's still a relative of the emperor who doesn't learn and doesn't know how to do it! At this time, it is better to ask for others than for yourself, and only if we suppress the sharp spirit of the Tatars, can the rest of the men and horses come to reinforcements. Listen to the order, the Chinese army presses forward, and the fire is ready!"

Gao Pi looked at Guo Jun with a verifying eye.

When they wanted to charge up and send them to death, Gao Pi and others also hoped that the general soldier Guo Jun would come out and persuade the "reckless" commander in front of him.

Guo Jun still kept the same pace as Yang Yiqing, hugged his fists and said, "I am willing to listen to Lord Yang's dispatch."

The Tatars didn't want to engage in a full-scale battle with the Ming side, but Yang Yiqing led the troops to rush directly to kill.

The Tatar formation was very loose, obviously I didn't expect the strategic goal of the Ming Dynasty to change from "forcing the enemy to retreat" to "fighting to the death", so when Yang Yiqing personally led the cavalry to charge, the formation on the Tatar side was obviously a little flustered.

However, the Tatar side immediately reorganized the troops and horses, and the cavalry hidden behind the shield array saw the opportunity and prepared to complete a hand-to-hand encounter with the Ming side.

I have long seen that the Ming side is not pleasing to the eye, before Wang Shouren was on the grassland, and did not rely on any bows and crossbows, swords, all playing with firearms, this time I did not take advantage of your Daming firearms to show our advantages, so that you know what is called "a nation on horseback".

The Tatar cavalry formed a formation very quickly, and then there were more than 4,000 elite heavy armored cavalry, which were also deployed in the form of a long snake formation, ready to start a head-to-head battle with the cavalry charged by the Ming Dynasty.

"Kill!"

The Ming side was the first to unleash its momentum, and the cavalry from all walks of life killed in the direction of Shigou City, and the dust was all over the sky.

The Tatars, on the other hand, were unhurried, they sent out heavy cavalry, even if they were late, they obviously had a certain advantage, and this kind of heavy armor was modified, that is, the hardness of the armor was reinforced in front of the body, and the thickness of the iron armor was higher, so that it seemed to be able to withstand the attack of the Great Open Fire.

As the soldiers and horses of the two sides approached, the Ming side had begun to "not talk about martial virtues", launched an offensive with artillery with a longer firing range, and covered the cavalry forward, and the musketeers in the front row of the Ming cavalry had already carried the muskets in their hands, and the lancers were redefined, and they could fire with firearms at the enemy when galloping.

Both accuracy and lethality are much stronger than the Tatars' mounted archery, while mobile combat used to be the preserve of the Tatars, and the Ming soldiers have always been not good at bow shooting.

Two black currents will soon converge in one place.

After the Tatar cavalry launched an offensive, they immediately found that their improved iron armor still had a limited resistance to the improved fire guns of the Ming Dynasty, and the direct lethality became impact power, even if the Tatar cavalry wearing heavy iron armor was hit by the fire guns, they would still be hit by the impact and fall from the horse, and once the cavalry left the horses, it was like a lamb to the slaughter at this time.

What's more, the Tatar cavalry had to brave the cannonballs flying overhead, many of which were shotguns.

Even if the Tatar cavalry had a heavy iron helmet on their heads, they still couldn't stop the fragments of the shells, and if they happened to be around the place where the shells landed, even the iron armor would be shattered, after all, this was not just a shell of black powder, but also an explosive mixed with lead pellets and yellow powder, and every shot was fired

Wherever you go, you can leave a pit in the hard ground, even a deep or shallow one.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

The battlefield was initially dominated by shouts of killing, but as the battle progressed, the sound of cannons and firearms overshadowed the shouts of killing.

In other words, the soldiers of the two warring sides have no intention of shouting to kill, and the two sides seem to have no mind to care about anything other than thinking about how to deal with the enemy.

"Yang Yiqing, the soldiers have been killed!"

At first, the soldiers on the side of the Ming Dynasty were extremely afraid of charging without an advantage in troops. net

And as the war progressed, they found that even if they had insufficient soldiers and horses, and even insufficient firearms, and the Tatars had improved their iron horses, the Ming side could still stabilize their position in this seemingly unfavorable situation.

With more Tatar cavalry outflanking from both flanks, the Ming soldiers no longer need to charge, they only need to defend, and they can wait for the Tatars to come up and send them to death...... Still too good.

That's the generation difference of weapons, it's like a trick, you only need to complete the basic shooting action on your side, and the Tatars can fall from their horses or even be killed two or three hundred paces away, and if they are hit by artillery, they will suffer from a distance of one or two miles.

Yang Yiqing initially presided over the charge, but after all, he was the commander, not the vanguard, so after the war advanced, he had already guarded the almost central position in the formation, and used his handsome flag to tell the surrounding Ming and Tatar soldiers where the core position of the Ming army was.

If you have the ability, rush here.

In the dust, the Ming and the Tatars launched an almost head-to-head contest.

There were casualties on both sides, but it was clear that the Ming side stood firm, while the Tatars suffered heavy losses, and the first to withdraw from the battle were the two wings of the Tatars who had not yet charged forward, especially the eastern ones, because they encountered a problem that was a hundred times more troublesome than the western ones......

There is actually a way of Ming soldiers and horses from the northeast to kill, although it is not within the range of five miles, but it is expected to be killed within half an hour, the Ming side is menacing...... If this will be attacked by the Ming side, then their people and horses can only be wiped out.

After all, the Ming had guns on the side, while the Tatars could only rely on primitive bows and crossbows, and they couldn't even count on the knives in their hands, because the battlefield didn't give them the opportunity to fight hand-to-hand.

If they can really kill in a state of hand-to-hand combat, the Tatars will not have an advantage.

It is that sentence, fast outside seven steps, accurate and fast within seven steps.

After all, it is no longer the original firearm of the front-loading projectile, and it doesn't even need a lead ignition, as long as the projectile is loaded, the projectile can be launched with a hook of the finger, and the lethality at close range is greater, and the Ming side also has a shield armor to defend, compared to the thick iron armor to guard against the projectile, the iron shield on the side of the Ming obviously does not need to be so thick, and the lethality of the bow and arrow at medium and close distances is just like that, at least it is much easier to guard against.

What the Ming side needs to guard against more is those arrows that are lucky enough to pass through the gun array and are within the range of the bow and arrow, and the Tatar cavalry shoots arrows into the sky in a "blind shooting" way, and it is not certain where they will fall, depending on who is more unlucky.

As the Tatars retreated southward on the eastern route, the situation in which the Ming army was surrounded on three sides collapsed in an instant.

The East Road Scout also brought exciting news to Yang Yiqing, Zhang Yu and others: "Report ...... There were thousands of cavalry of our army, accompanied by artillery carriages, etc., coming from the left flank, and hanging the handsome banner of the Zhang clan of Jianchang Bo, which was less than eight miles away from here."

"So fast?" When Zhang Yan heard this, he instantly smiled.

Before, he still felt that this battle was fighting for his life, or even losing less and winning more, a little bit regardless of the meaning of looking for death in the back road, and even ready to slip away at any time when the situation was not good.

Who would have thought that their own side would be able to gain a firm foothold, the Tatars were supposed to be at ease but could still suffer heavy losses, depending on the situation

The loss was greater than the battle in Huamachi, and the reinforcements from Daming's side actually came, and it turned out to be Zhang Yanling, the Jianchang Bo who even Yang Yiqing and his Zhang Yan looked down on before.

"Who doesn't grab the credit that is at their fingertips?" Yang Yiqing did not show any excitement for Zhang Yanling's help, but was sarcastic.

Zhang Yu smiled and said, "Jian Changbo is different from those people, he dares to come, and he still has the courage. Since he is here, then Wu Anhou and Xiangcheng Bo will definitely bring troops with them."

This is the "officialdom experience".

If even Zhang Yanling led the troops to charge, and Wu Anhou and Xiangcheng Bo watched from the wall, then the two of them really don't have to mix in the Ming military world in the future, even if the emperor gives them a chance, they themselves will be ashamed of the military uniforms on their bodies, as well as the official hats and knights on their heads.

"That's right."

Yang Yiqing agreed with Zhang Yu's words this time.

In Yang Yiqing's view, it doesn't matter whether Zhang Yanling really comes to fight or not, and his 4,000 soldiers and horses may not be strategically decisive, but what he plays is an "exemplary role".

If Zhang Zhou and Wang Shouren represent the "upper limit" of the strength of the Ming army, then what Zhang Yanling represents is the "lower limit".

No one wants to be looked down upon, so the final result is ...... Zhang Yanling rushed, then we have to rush.

Otherwise, wouldn't we even be as good as Zhang Yanling?

"Is Jian Changbo crazy?"

When Li Yan heard the news before he had put together two thousand soldiers and horses, he thought he had heard it wrong.

After Li Yan finished arranging 2,000 soldiers and horses, he did not intend to attack the enemy formation, but was ready to "advance and retreat and defend", which is quite a nice saying, but not good...... It's just to slip away at any time.

But now, with Zhang Yanling leading the troops to join the battle circle, he is forced to have no choice but to enter the army.

Cui Yuan rode on his horse and asked, "Uncle Xiangcheng, if you don't enter the army at this time, when will you stay?" Are we going to enter the battlefield later than Jian Changbo?"

Many generals looked at Cui Yuan, as if waiting for him to give a final answer.

You can still run now, or you can continue to hold your ground, but now you need someone to come out and give an order, and in the end, the black pot needs the person who gave the order to bear it.

"Is there any movement over there in Wu'anhou?" Li Yan now has his eyes set on "friendly forces".

Zhang Yanling's crazy criticism that we don't pay attention to him, who makes the logic of this kind of person's behavior difficult to judge? Now let's talk about Wu'anhou...... As long as he is like us, there can still be a story in hindsight.

No one could answer Li Yan.

When the war started, the intelligence system was not so perfect, and now everyone's attention was on Zhang Yanling, who was about to join the battlefield, whether Wu Anhou would enter the army...... He was already in the rear, who cares?

Cui Yuan said: "If Uncle Xiangcheng still has any concerns, you might as well send people and horses first to cooperate with Uncle Jianchang to send troops, and you should cooperate sincerely at this time."

"Impossible!" Li Yan said, "I can't give the lives of the soldiers to someone like Jian Changbo, what is the advantage of working with him? If he seeks death, will you also seek death?"

Someone proposed, "Why don't we march from the south?"

Cui Yuan asked again: "You should send a group of people to go into battle first."

"Cui Yuma, it's not honorable to let others go into battle to kill the enemy." Li Yan said, "Now send a front army, four hundred men and horses to contain the Tatars of Shigou Station, Cui Juma to rectify the men and horses, and go up with the army!"

Cui Yuan was sent to the front line again because of his "offense".

First Zhu Hui, and then Li Yan, they couldn't stand his character who likes to move his mouth, and even Cui Yuan felt that he was very aggrieved, he just used the formations and tactics he learned to remind the people in the army who had actual authority, why did he let me go to the front line?

Leap into the vanguard army?

Who did you provoke?

Cui Yuan is obviously not an official

or the experience of leading soldiers, he still doesn't know that his uprightness is actually a quality that is incompatible with his colleagues in the army.

However, even if Cui Yuan was sent to the front army, he was not much frustrated, because in his imagination, since he came to the northwest to make meritorious contributions, he should not hide in the rear and watch others die.

He even thought that the princess had made me a meritorious career and expected a lot from me, and if I didn't do what she expected, then when I went back...... What other face will you have to see her? Even Wang Shilang and Cai Guogong, I didn't have the face to see them, and I even failed to live up to His Majesty's expectations of me.

Cui Yuan is now hot-blooded, even if he just charges into battle with four hundred soldiers, he does not complain.

But for him...... The battle was not very "friendly".

Because even if it is 400 soldiers, he is still not the commander, and the leader of the troops is Xu Shi, a general who was transferred from Yansui.

Xu Shi gave a total of three light cannons along the way, but all of the four hundred soldiers were equipped with flint guns, and the biggest difference between Xu Shi and Zhu Hui and Li Yan was that he didn't dare to offend Cui Yuan, and he didn't want to be responsible, and he was even a little afraid of death.

"General Cui, even Your Majesty has praised your ability to govern the army, don't be humble, how should we fight now?"

Xu Shi and the surrounding soldiers looked at the Tatar cavalry on the opposite side, and felt like a sheep in the tiger's mouth.

Although the Tatars fought with the local soldiers and horses of Ningxia in the north, they still arranged more than 5,000 soldiers and horses in the east of Shigou City, and the defensive position was very perfect, and the cavalry could rush out at any time, and the distance of two or three miles, in this almost wilderness environment, was not called distance at all.

If the other side wishes, the two sides can complete the exchange in a very short time.

The Tatar cavalry could even quickly swallow up their four hundred men and horses.

"Look north!"

Someone pointed in the direction of due north.

There was a lot of dust, and you could see from a distance that the dust and sand were approaching in the direction of the north of Shigou City.

When Cui Yuan saw this scene, his spirit lifted a lot, and he clenched his fists and said, "Jian Changbo's men have arrived!"

"Then we ......."

Xu Shi asked for instructions, probably saying, should we wait here, or choose to outflank, or charge...... Of course, the option of charging can be removed, Xiangchengbo and Wu'anhou combined 4,000 soldiers and horses, and they didn't dare to rush the enemy formation, so let us 400 soldiers and horses rush ...... Looking for death?

Cui Yuan said: "*** also has the fear of death, what we can rely on is the gun in our hands, even if we are defeated, but the one who gets close to us first and is hit by the gun will also die!" Are you afraid?"

Xu Shi asked, "This is death...... Do you want to pull a cushion on your back?"

Cui Yuan asked rhetorically, "Do we have a choice? Do you want to withdraw to the headquarters camp? Or do you want to move north and get out of the way? We are strong enough, but we are actually weak, and if we attack, they have to retreat...... No need to gallop! Let the soldiers line up, and just push through little by little!"

When Xu Shi heard this, he didn't understand.

The cavalry did not rely on charging, but on slow advance? So why do you still ride a horse? Just go down to the ground and lead the horse.

Cui Yuan said: "Four hundred people, no matter how you fight, it's not as good as the other side, then rely on deterrence!" As long as we advance, *** will not retreat, and when it comes to our range, they will die first!"