The three shells drew a perfect arc in the air and then slammed heavily into the ground.
The impact point was still two hundred steps away from the Ming army that was testing the artillery.
Looking at the dust stirred up on the ground in the distance, the dozen or so Ming soldiers breathed a sigh of relief.
A Ming soldier patted his chest and said, "Damn, you scared me!"
"Hehe," another Ming soldier laughed sinisterly, "The bandits' artillery is old and useless!"
"Stop talking nonsense and get to work. Reduce the amount of gunpowder by one ounce and five cents and test fire another shot."
(The term "bullshit" has been around since the Ming Dynasty. The earliest written record comes from the collection of essays "Xihu Youlan Zhiyu" during the Jiajing period, which contains the sentence "Talking nonsense is called bullshit.")
Under the command of the small leader, a dozen soldiers put the artillery back to its original position, reloaded the ammunition and tested the artillery.
Looking at the busy figures of the Ming army in the distance, Li Zicheng finally understood Qin Liangyu's thoughts.
If the Shun army defended the city, Qin Liangyu would bombard the city with artillery until the battlements or even a corner of the wall collapsed.
On the other hand, the Shun army could only withstand the bombardment unilaterally because its artillery range was inferior to that of the Ming army.
Hao Yaoqi, who was standing in formation to meet the enemy at the foot of the city wall, also realized this problem. He hurriedly ordered behind him: "We must not give the Ming army a chance to test their artillery. Send a dozen cavalrymen to shoot these people into hedgehogs."
Following Hao Yaoqi's order, twelve cavalrymen rushed out from the Dashun army.
They made a detour and entered the battlefield from the side, aiming and stabbing.
Qin Liangyu had already occupied the commanding heights to observe the enemy situation.
After seeing the other side send out a small cavalry unit, he also gave the order: "Send a cavalry squad to support the artillery."
Swish, swish, swish!
With the waving of the command flag, Li Xingzhong sent out a small team of twenty-five cavalrymen to fight.
After bypassing their own infantry formation, they did not choose to make a detour, but rushed directly into the battlefield and reached the artillery first.
The cavalry of both sides met on the battlefield.
The predecessor of the twelve Shun cavalrymen was the Northwest Frontier Army of the Ming Dynasty, and they were famous for their bravery and fighting skills.
The twenty-five Ming cavalrymen were the elite Guanning troops brought back by Li Xingzhong from Liaodong. With the support of excellent weapons and equipment, their comprehensive combat power could be said to be the ceiling of the Ming cavalry.
Boom——!
The iron hooves of the war horses crushed the tender green grass on the ground.
The Ming army formed a horizontal formation to meet the enemy, while the Shun army formed two teams, front and back, to defend against the enemy.
Ten steps away, the cavalry on both sides raised their bows and arrows at the same time.
whoosh!
Arrows pierced the air and shot towards the enemies on horseback.
Before the arrow left the bowstring, the cavalrymen lowered their bodies and lay on their horses to reduce the possibility of being shot.
More than thirty cavalrymen were chasing each other on the huge battlefield.
They first competed in archery, and after shooting all the arrows, they drew their swords and competed in close combat.
Both sides suffered casualties, but neither side retreated.
What these former Northwestern Frontier troops looked down upon the most was the Guanning Army.
The Guanning Army is indeed capable of fighting, but their practice of taking credit when the wind is favorable and taking the lead when the wind is unfavorable is very unpleasant.
After fighting for a while, the Shun cavalry finally couldn't hold on anymore.
First, their equipment was inferior to that of the Ming army, and second, their numbers were smaller than those of the Ming army.
Seeing that his cavalry was about to retreat, Hao Yaoqi waved his flag and ordered: "Send another hundred cavalrymen."
This was the first battle between the two sides in Tongguan, and the victory or defeat was very important.
The morale of the Shun army was already somewhat low, and if they lost this battle, their morale would suffer a serious blow.
After seeing the number of the enemy cavalry, Qin Liangyu also waved the flag and said, "Send two hundred cavalrymen."
A quarter of an hour later, Hao Yaoqi gritted his teeth and said, "Send another 500 cavalrymen."
Qin Liangyu calmly ordered: "Send a thousand cavalry."
Hao Yaoqi: I also have one thousand!
Qin Liangyu: I have two thousand!
Hao Yaoqi: Oh no, I have no cavalry left!
Qin Liangyu: I’m sorry, I still have a lot of cavalry.
A strange scene appeared.
No matter how many troops Hao Yaoqi sent to fight, Qin Liangyu sent twice as many troops.
The current Ming army is no longer the Ming army of two years ago.
Two years ago, the Ming army was short of soldiers and generals, lacked pay and food, had weak combat effectiveness, and was on the verge of collapse at the first blow.
The current Ming army is a battle-hardened elite force with a large number of soldiers and generals, sufficient pay and food.
With the help of superior military forces, the Ming army quickly took the initiative on the battlefield.
They first sent a cavalry unit to ambush on the left wing of the battlefield, and another cavalry unit drove the Shun cavalry to the left wing of the battlefield.
"kill!"
As soon as the Shun cavalry reached the left wing of the battlefield, they were ambushed.
Under the attack from both sides, the Shun army was defeated and retreated towards Tongguan City.
The Ming army did not chase after them, but quickly cleaned up the battlefield and returned.
After that, neither side sent troops to fight again, but stood still and confronted the enemy.
In the afternoon, Qin Liangyu gave the order: "Inform all units to respond, with the infantry in front and the cavalry in the rear."
Seeing that the Ming army had retreated, Li Zicheng also walked down from the city wall.
He sighed as he walked.
"Why is the emperor sighing?" Song Xiance asked hurriedly.
"I am sighing about how to defend the city tomorrow..." Li Zicheng's tone was full of helplessness.
Field battle?
The Shun army was no match for the Ming army.
Defending the city?
Their artillery lacked range.
The Ming army could attack them, but they could not attack the Ming army.
Song Xian Ce thought for a while and suggested: "I think we can send troops to attack at night."
"Qin Liangyu must have been on guard..."
"The night attack is just a disguise, the real purpose is to kill the enemy!" Song Xiance showed a mysterious expression while speaking.
Li Zicheng's eyebrows twitched: "Military Advisor, tell me in detail!"
"Yes." Song Xiance whispered his plan.
After hearing this, Li Zicheng's eyes suddenly lit up: "Military Advisor, this is a really good plan!"
Song Xian Ce smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty, you are too kind. I am already at the end of my rope and have no choice but to resort to this strategy. The key to whether this plan can succeed is the commander of the night attack. We need to choose a brave and courageous commander."
Li Zicheng nodded, turned around and slowly left.
In the Ming army camp, Qin Liangyu was arranging tomorrow's attack plan.
Yang Zhan stepped forward and said, "Governor, I have a plan."
Qin Liangyu looked up at Yang Zhan and smiled at this military general who was already in his forties.
Yang Zhan is not only good at naval battles, but also at land battles.
He is definitely a rare talent for her and the Ming Dynasty.
The purpose of transferring Yang Zhan from Jingzhou this time was to see with one's own eyes his land combat capabilities.
If possible, she planned to assign part of the Sichuan Army to Yang Zhan after capturing Tongguan, and then divide the troops to attack various places in Guanzhong.
"Please speak, Lieutenant General Yang." Qin Liangyu asked with a smile on her face.
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