Therefore, he led his army in a fighting and retreating manner, and hurriedly reported to his father, detailing the Ming army's counterattack route. He waited for his father Daishan's decision on whether to send troops to support or to directly attack the Ming army.
A dozen miles further was Shicheng Post, and Sahalian was anxious. If the Ming army captured it, they would have a solid foothold and could continue to advance step by step.
The view suddenly widened, revealing a vast expanse of open land. Sahalian's spirits rose. This was the spot he had chosen for his counterattack. Whether he could repel the Ming army depended on the battle here.
Clearly, the Ming army was also quite familiar with the terrain. The chariot camp advancing along the main road slowed down, and the troops moved out in battalion units and gradually deployed in battle array in the open area.
Town, brigade, regiment, battalion, general flag... This is the organization of the new army of the Ming Dynasty. The Dongjiang Town has 28,000 soldiers, and each brigade has 6,000 combat soldiers; each brigade has three regiments, each regiment has 2,000 soldiers; each regiment is divided into three battalions, each battalion has more than 600 soldiers.
The battle formations practiced by the new army were mainly based on battalions, as they had relatively fewer people and could be deployed and formed into battle arrays more quickly.
According to the weapons and equipment of the various brigades of the Dongjiang Army, spearmen and sword and shield soldiers accounted for about a quarter, and the rest were musketeers equipped with bayonets.
In other words, a battalion of soldiers had nearly 200 cold weapons. Needless to say, the spears, swords, and shields were at the front of the battle formation, followed by the musketeers.
The proportions of each unit were slightly different. For example, Zhang Pan's Left Brigade and Kong De's Right Brigade had similar organization due to their long-term cooperation.
Kong Youde admired Zhang Pan because he was literate. Zhang Pan reduced the number of cold weapons in each battalion, but increased the number of grenade launchers, and Kong Youde followed his example.
On the open plain, with the chariot camp on the main road as the center, the Ming army deployed four camps, each no more than a hundred meters apart. At the sound of drums and trumpets, they pushed forward again.
Three rows of long spears pointed obliquely to the sky, flashing coldly under the sunlight; fully equipped with armor, iron faces, and clanging footsteps, thousands of Ming troops advanced like a wall, giving people a sense of oppression.
Sahalian observed for a while and knew that he could not wait any longer.
The chariot formation on the highway was not easy to deal with. They were loaded with Portuguese cannons that could spray hundreds and thousands of projectiles. In addition, the Ming army's muskets were firing at them from behind the chariots. He had tried to charge and had suffered losses.
Therefore, the Ming army deployed in the wild was obviously easier to deal with than the chariot camp, although this was just an appearance.
Amidst the wailing horns, the Jiannu cavalry launched a charge. The rumbling of their hooves, coupled with their shouts and roars, created a formidable sound.
But if you observe carefully, you will find that the Jiannu's charge was not a straight frontal attack, but a bit slanted, or in other words, it had an arc.
The Jiannu soldiers stared with wide eyes and frowned, looking extremely ferocious. They screamed and roared wildly, and rushed towards the Ming army like evil spirits.
Flags shifted, drums and horns sounded, and the Ming army responded. Three rows of spearmen, some crouching, some kneeling, and some standing, their spears pointed forward, resembled a dense forest.
There was still a one-meter gap between the spearmen, and the heavy muskets were supported by poles, with the black muzzles pointing forward.
The Jiannu cavalry initially charged fiercely, but slowed down halfway. Then, at a distance of about 100 meters, they reined in and turned, passing diagonally through the Ming army formation.
It turned out that this was a common tactic used by the Jiannu to lure the enemy, using the momentum of the attack to lure the Ming army into opening fire.
But they miscalculated. The Ming army's battle formation remained motionless, without a sound of gunfire or cannon fire. The Ming soldiers, without any noise or confusion, watched the Jiannu army's shouting and galloping in silence, as if they were watching a circus.
Kong Youde, sitting on his horse, sneered under the general's flag behind the formation. This tactic had been taught countless times in martial arts, and the standards for musket shooting had long been clearly written in the manual.
Of course, this is also the result of long-term rigorous training.
Ask the musketeers, who hasn't received a beating from their instructor? Improper movements, incorrect firing order, incorrect execution of orders... even being timid can result in punishment.
Strict training forms skilled operations like conditioned reflexes, and then the combat experience is continuously increased.
From small battles to large ones, from defense to offense, after a year of training, the Dongjiang Army was finally able to compete with the Jiannu in the field on the basis of meeting certain conditions.
Of course, the matchlock's flaws were unavoidable, but in the eyes of Zhang Pan and Kong Youde, not being crushed in close combat, or simply being able to hold out for a short time, was already a guarantee of victory.
The first wave of Jiannu cavalry failed and turned back; the second wave galloped in, shouting even louder than before. Moreover, they advanced another dozen meters, getting closer to the Ming army's battle formation.
It was still a lure, but the provocation was stronger. It was intended to test the Ming army's psychological quality and also to irritate them.
The Ming army's battle formation remained silent, the soldiers seemed frozen, only the flags in the formation fluttered in the wind.
As the third wave of Jiannu cavalry galloped forward, Kong Youde issued a general order. The war drums beat rhythmically and then stopped quickly.
The middle and lower-ranking officers shouted commands in the battle formation, and the musketeers ready to shoot began to move, clamping the burning match on the dragon head and aiming forward through the gap in the aisle in the battle formation.
The third wave of Jiannu cavalry rushed over, closer and with a stronger sense of oppression, hoping to lure the Ming army into opening fire.
This time they got what they wanted. When they passed by the Ming army's battle formation, the swan sound suddenly rang out in the Ming army's formation.
After just a brief interval, flashes of fire appeared in the Ming army's battle formation, clusters of white smoke rose up, and continuous shooting finally broke out.
In the eyes of Sahalian and other Jiannu, a distance of sixty or seventy meters was also safe. However, their empiricism ultimately cost them blood, a consequence of poor information and inaccurate intelligence.
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