At dawn, the smoke from cooking quickly dissipated with the morning breeze.

Outside Huailai Weicheng, tens of thousands of Ming troops began to gather after breakfast.

Their camp was located northwest of Huailai City, where there was a huge open area in front of them. Not only was the view wide, but the terrain was also very flat.

The Ming army was divided into three armies: left, center and right.

On the surface, the three military formations all appear to be infantry.

In the front was the chariot, which had two wheels and a protective front made of wooden boards and iron sheets, with copper nails on them and spears tied to them.

Not only can it defend against arrows, but even the lead bullets fired from bird guns can block some of the damage. Coupled with the protection of the cotton armor, the bullets shot from the bird guns can hardly hurt them.

The protective ability is evident.

The role of the spear is simple, it is mainly to prevent the enemy infantry and cavalry from charging.

Each tank is equipped with twenty soldiers, ten of whom are responsible for operating the tank and the other ten soldiers fight with the vehicle.

There are many weapons on the car, and they are rich in variety!

There are relatively small and light firearms such as bird guns, three-barreled guns, rockets and falcons.

After all, chariots need to be pushed by manpower after entering the battlefield, and weapons that are too heavy will increase the burden on soldiers.

The most popular and unpopular among these is the bird gun.

The bird gun is popular because its range is second only to artillery, and its long-range killing capability is considerable.

Taking the Wanli Korean War as an example, the Liaodong Army applied to the Ministry of War for more than 10,000 bird guns, while only a few hundred of the three-barreled guns that shine in many novels were applied for.

The reason for being unpopular is simple.

Due to the complicated manufacturing process and high cost of bird guns, and the lack of money at the imperial court, many of the bird guns produced by the Ministry of Works were shoddy products.

Very easy to explode!

Things were fine during the Wanli period, after all, the imperial court at that time had almost no shortage of money.

During the reigns of Tianqi and Chongzhen, this problem became serious.

Many Ming soldiers were not injured on the battlefield, but were instead injured by the exploding barrels of their bird guns.

On the front of the battlefield, chariots were lined up in front, surrounding the Ming soldiers and forming a movable wall.

There were also chariots on the flanks of the army, but their number was much smaller than that in the front.

Behind the chariot battalion is the infantry battalion, and behind the infantry battalion is the cavalry.

Three huge military formations quickly took shape, majestic and magnificent in the early morning sun.

"Where is the Ming army's artillery camp?" On a slope several miles away, Duoduo hid his body behind a big tree, carefully observing the Ming army's formation with a telescope in his hand.

Tulai and Aobai held the same clairvoyance in their hands, hid behind a big tree, observed and quickly recorded with paper and pen.

"Could it be that the Ming army hid the artillery camp inside the chariot camp?" Oboi guessed.

"Impossible!" Duoduo directly denied Aobai's guess, "Those heavy artillery pieces need animals to pull them, at least one or two, at most five or six or even more."

"If the Ming army attacks, except for the artillery on the official road that can keep up with the Ming army's pace, the rest of the artillery will sink into the ground due to their heavy weight. Moreover, those animals are very likely to go crazy and run around after being injured, so they can never be placed in the chariot camp."

"Then where can the Ming army deploy the artillery battalion? There is none on the two wings, and none in the center!" While Tu Lai was speaking, he had already recorded the deployment of the Ming army's formation on paper.

Although the view was not very clear due to the distance and the chariots and flags blocking the view, this did not pose a problem for Tulai.

The chariot in the front can be seen at a glance, and behind the chariot are definitely infantry and cavalry.

Considering that chariots need infantry support and cavalry need space to adjust direction and sprint, they will most likely be deployed at the end.

"Where did Huang Degong place the artillery?" Tudor put down the telescope in his hand and stared blankly at the paper in front of Tulai that recorded the Ming army's formation.

The use of artillery in defending a city and in field battles is completely different.

When defending a city, you can place artillery at any position on the city wall, because there are only enemies in front of the city wall!

It won’t work in the field.

If they are deployed in the army, they will not be able to keep up during the attack and will not be able to escape during the retreat.

The most important thing is that if there are friendly troops in front, if the artillery is fired horizontally, it will injure the friendly troops; if the artillery is thrown high, it will also accidentally injure the friendly troops.

"Damn it!" Thinking of this, Duoduo cursed: "Did Huang Degong learn Wu Sangui's tactics of camping and carrying artillery?"

Camping artillery tactics?

Hearing these words, Tulai's body shook uncontrollably.

To put it simply, the tactic of carrying artillery in camping is to hide the artillery in the army, and then push the artillery up when attacking a city, or let the soldiers in the front retreat, and then fire the artillery.

The difficulty of this thing lies in the fact that the speed cannot be kept up during the attack, and letting the soldiers retreat when firing can easily lead to defeat!

"No!" Aobai said affirmatively, "It took Wu Sangui several years of training to get the artillery battalion and the infantry battalion to work well together. Even Huang Degong couldn't do it at the last minute."

Duoduo smiled bitterly and continued to observe.

While Duoduo was observing the Ming army's formation, Huang Degong was also observing the Jiannu army's formation.

The Jiannu were also divided into three armies: left, center and right.

At the front are the chariot battalion and shield vehicles.

Behind them are the infantry battalion and the cavalry battalion.

Although the military formation was not exactly the same as that of the Ming army, it was not much different.

After all, the Jiannu's equipment, personnel and even military knowledge all came from the Ming Dynasty.

To put it in modern terms, they were all taught by the same master and there’s no way to break their moves!

The only difference is that the Jiannu cavalry is numerous, several times more than the Ming cavalry.

As for the artillery battalion, Huang Degong looked left and right but couldn't find it.

As time went by, the sun in the sky became hotter and hotter.

"Take off your helmets, drink water and rest on the spot!" As the signal was sent out with flags, the Ming army began to rest on the spot.

They took out the gourds or bamboo tubes they carried with them, opened the stoppers and started drinking.

In ancient times, not everyone had a cowhide water bag when marching and fighting. That thing was very scarce, and only officers were qualified to use it.

Gourds and bamboo tubes used by ordinary soldiers.

It is recorded in "Wujing Zongyao" that everyone should bring a gourd, a bamboo tube or a two-liter container to estimate the water of their future, and then they will be successful.

A quarter of an hour later, Huang Degong ordered the messenger: "Send a message to Ma Dai, and order him to lead a thousand cavalrymen to lure the enemy out front. Send a message to Wang Yongji, and have him lead his cavalrymen to meet Ma Dai."

"Send a message to Bake Yong. If Ma Dai and Wang Yongji are in danger, order them to provide quick support!"

"Yes, sir!"

at the same time.

Duoduo, who had just finished drinking water, ordered: "Aobai, I order you to lead a thousand men to pretend to observe the Ming army's formation, but in fact to lure the enemy."

"Tulai, you lead one thousand cavalrymen of our flag and one thousand cavalrymen under my command to provide support."

"The rest of the troops, be alert!"

Boom boom boom!

The ruthless iron hooves stepped on the warm earth, stirring up clouds of dust.

Two cavalry units rushed out of the army formation almost at the same time and charged diagonally towards the battlefield!