Sanhe, Dachang.
After a long and severe winter, the Chaobai River and the Baoqiu River finally resumed flowing, nourishing the long-dried Jingdong Plain.
The earth is still a lifeless yellow, but if you bend down and take a closer look, you will find that the dry grass has turned green and tiny tender shoots are quietly poking their heads out.
I believe that it won’t be long before this ancient land will be full of life again, right?
Suddenly, there was a blast of horse hooves, trampling the dry grass on the ground, causing smoke and dust to fly everywhere.
A huge cavalry rolled in from the Chaobai River camp like a dark cloud. Thousands of cavalrymen rolled over the flat hill, making the ground tremble under their feet!
They wore red tasseled iron hats with iron plates nailed to the leather caps, blue foam-studded cloth face armor with iron plates inside, and arm armor. **Mongol war horses were all equipped with saddles, belts, and girths, and even leather armor with iron plates was added to the vital parts of the horses.
Even if you ignore the triangular yellow dragon flags they hold high, it is clear at a glance that they are the most elite ace troops of the Ming Emperor!
Yes, this is the Three Thousand Camp that Emperor Chengzu formed with three thousand Mongolian cavalry as the core! Although it has been renamed the Shenshu Camp, it is still the most powerful cavalry force in the Ming Dynasty!
The 5,000 cavalrymen from the left wing of the Shenshu Camp were moving to the designated position on the battlefield. After the battle began, they would attack the two wings of the rebels together with the 5,000 cavalrymen from the right wing!
The task of attacking the middle route was left to the famous Shenji Battalion!
This most prestigious and invincible division of the Ming Dynasty is the earliest pure firearms unit in the world. It was already famous during the Yongle period. Although it has experienced ups and downs, it has always been the most professional and powerful trump card in the Ming army!
Other troops thought that the firing procedures of muskets were complicated and prone to explosion, so they tended to use simple and safe three-barreled guns... Even the Shenshu Camp and the Five Army Camp were no exception.
The Shenjiying is different. They have always regarded themselves as the most powerful firearms unit, so of course they must master the most advanced muskets.
Not only had they replaced their rifles with Longqing rifles many years ago, but they also had a large number of light and heavy artillery, from Portuguese cannons, Dafagong cannons to red cannons!
As the army with the strongest sense of honor among the three camps, the mission of the frontal attack was actively sought by the Shenji Camp. They had long wanted to clash with the rebels to see who was the strongest pure firearms unit in the world!
There is one more camp in the three major camps, which is the largest of the five military camps. They are field armies composed of elite troops selected from various military commanderies and border towns. They are mainly infantry, supplemented by cavalry, and also have chariot troops.
The Fifth Army Battalion is responsible for protecting the Shenji Battalion and launching a general attack after the enemy's defense line is defeated for the final harvest!
In addition, Yin Bingheng also had an elite dragoon force of more than 10,000 people as a strategic reserve.
Well, General Yin didn’t know what dragoons were.
As we all know, on the battlefield in the era of cold weapons, those with horses were better at fighting, while those without horses were much weaker.
Moreover, the Ming army's cavalry archery ability was too weak, and they had to use firearms to fight against the ancestral craftsmanship of the Tartars. However, it was impossible to complete the tedious steps of loading a musket on horseback, and aiming was also a big problem.
Therefore, this compromise method was adopted, whereby the infantrymen were mounted on horses during marching maneuvers, and then dismounted after entering the battlefield, fighting with muskets.
Although it took some effort, we were finally able to keep up with the pace of the Tatar cavalry, and the range of the muskets could suppress the bows and arrows.
In addition, since Altan Khan paid tribute, the Ming Dynasty was able to obtain a large number of Mongolian war horses steadily, so both the border troops and the Beijing camp were equipped with a large number of "dragoons"...
This is Admiral Yin’s military strength and deployment for this battle.
In fact, last night, he sent a cavalry battalion of five soldiers to launch a night attack behind the enemy lines.
This is a common tactic when outnumbering the enemy. Even if the surprise attack fails, it can still make the enemy worried and exhausted for the whole night, and they will be in poor condition the next day.
However, the cavalry of the Fifth Army Battalion worked hard all night but still could not break through the barbed wire that the rebels had set up outside the camp. In the end, they could only return with wounds all over their bodies...
I thought the rebels would be defeated today after being tormented all night. Unexpectedly, at dawn, the scouts found that the rebels had broken camp again. At the same speed, they were slowly and steadily moving towards the central army camp set up against the Chaobai River.
Now there is no choice but to attack according to the plan!
~~
Here are the soldiers.
There was no need for scouts to report; the billowing smoke and dust in the distance that dyed half the sky yellow said it all.
The officer on duty immediately ordered the troops to march, and then the battalions changed from marching formation to dense square formations.
This is not a formation to meet the enemy, but a speech by the commander.
Formation training is the infancy of the soldiers. In a blink of an eye, the ten thousand soldiers formed ten square tofu blocks with the commander's flag as the center.
Zheng Yiluan, wearing shiny riding boots, jumped onto a Yongle cannon, looked around at his subordinates with a dignified look, and said with full vigor:
"Soldiers, we have finally forced out the trump card of the government army before the main force arrives!"
The internal security officers and soldiers burst into laughter, the security detachment also forced a laugh, but the basic militiamen could hardly laugh.
Because now smoke and dust are visible in all directions, and even faint thunder can be heard... Those are the hooves of countless cavalrymen, shaking the earth!
It happened before, but this time, without the protection of trenches and artillery positions, facing cavalry that outnumbered their numbers several times, how could they laugh on this vast plain?
"Are we in such a hurry to attack? No, we are not that narrow-minded!" The young soldiers listened to the shameless Zheng Yiluan and continued: "Your generation grew up in group schools. We were taught from childhood that we are the great Chinese nation and we must fight to protect our nation!"
"And now, because of a tyrant, we have to fight against our compatriots. This makes us feel very uncomfortable, and the commander-in-chief must feel uncomfortable too!" Zheng Yiluan said loudly: "That's why the commander-in-chief instructed that the civil war cannot be delayed and must be ended as soon as possible!"
"In my opinion, nothing can destroy the opponent's will to resist more than a battle that makes the enemy completely despair!" He drew out his sword and shouted loudly: "In this battle, bring out your most powerful fighting power, the strongest fighting will, and the most fearless spirit of not fearing sacrifice! For our nation, for our country, for our compatriots, achieve the most shocking victory and stop the war with war!"
"End the war with war!" The soldiers cheered loudly.
"Long live the people!"
"Long live the people!" Amid the unanimous roar, the battalion commanders commanded their respective troops to run out together.
After arriving at the designated position, the nine battalion squares dispersed from a dense formation to a sparse hollow square formation.
But the square in the middle is solid because the headquarters and artillery battalion positions are located here.
In fact, the other eight battalion formations were not completely hollow, because they were equipped with more than a dozen Xuande cannons and Hongxi cannons from their respective battalion artillery companies.
At the same time, the nine camp formations formed a huge hollow formation.
The dust has settled and the formation is complete.
In comparison, the government troops were too slow. By the time their cavalry had circled back to their positions and the Shenji Battalion had arranged their chariots and artillery, the soldiers even had time to eat a meal, so as to avoid having no time for lunch when the battle broke out.
The battlefield food was even worse. Each person only had one and a half pounds of canned beef, high-sugar and high-salt energy biscuits, and a few pieces of deadly sweet candied fruit.
This set of food for the soldiers in the northern battlefield was okay at first, but after eating it for a month, they were really sick of it. If it weren't for the hot drink made with orange powder for each person, the soldiers would have been too sick to eat it...
But there was actually a scout from the government army who, after seeing the soldiers' meals from afar, surrendered and asked to join the rebel army. I don't understand what they were thinking.
But now they were on the battlefield, and everyone consciously wolfed down their food, finishing this battlefield meal that would sustain them for six hours of high-intensity combat.
Seeing that there was still some time, the officers and soldiers polished their helmets and leather boots until they were shiny, and took care of every detail on their bodies meticulously.
This damn sense of ritual made the militiamen jealous and they started to learn it.
Unfortunately, clothes make the man, and gold makes the Buddha. Their gray militia uniforms had no cap badges or collar badges, only a piece of cloth sewn on for identification.
It's nothing compared to the brown uniform of the security detachment, complete with insignia, combat boots and belts.
Not to mention the dazzling and cool outfits of the Internal Security Detachment - a black woolen short coat on the upper body and white military trousers on the lower body. The red collar badges and piping, the golden buttons and cap badges, and the three to five rows of medals on the chest are shining!
"This is our trump card..." Anyway, the militiamen felt much more at ease after seeing this.
~~
At this time, the sound of rumbling cannons was heard in the distance of the battlefield, but our artillery had not yet fired.
Obviously, the red cannon of the Shenji Camp took the lead!
However, dozens of artillery shells whizzed down hundreds of meters in front of the soldiers' formation, none of which caused any damage. Instead, they exposed the artillery positions of the government troops.
"Distance 1430 to 1543 meters, direction left 21 to 37..." The artillery battalion commander immediately used the artillery telescope to observe the exact firing position.
The artillery staff immediately used trigonometric functions to calculate the firing parameters, and the artillery commanders adjusted the firing angles accordingly. Soon, all forty Yongle cannons raised their heads!
"Fire for test firing!" The artillery battalion commander gave the order, and amid the rumbling sound, several artillery pieces in different positions spoke one after another!
The artillery battalion commander stared at the point where the shells landed in the gunnery mirror and found that it was a little shallow. He knew what was going on and shouted an order: "Add 50 to the distance, and fire one by one!"
After a burst of continuous artillery fire, all the shells fell into the artillery positions of the government troops.
The artillery battalion commander waved his hand excitedly and said, "Four rapid fire!"
The one-piece steel barrel can withstand greater explosion impacts, greatly increasing the amount of propellant, so that even the effective range of the Yongle Cannon has reached one kilometer!
Three miles away, the Shenjiying artillery battalion suffered a devastating disaster, just as tragic as Zhang Chen's artillery unit that day...