Chapter 222 221 Side Car
"Dong Dong Dong"
After three dull war drums, the Ming army's queue began to change. They advanced slowly amidst the command. Most of them carried bows and arrows on their backs. They were mainly archers. In front of them, nearly a hundred people pushed more than 20 carts and advanced slowly.
Those who are familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty may be able to tell at a glance what these more than 20 carts are. They all have huge bodies, and a high baffle is erected on one side of the cart. There are also shooting ports of different sizes on the baffle.
On the huge firing port located at the lower part of the car body, an artillery was placed there. If Wei Guangde were here, he would recognize these artillery guns at a glance, wouldn't they be the bowl-mouth blunderbuss he has seen?
In fact, if you look carefully, you will find that in addition to the bowl-mouth blunderbuss, there are also Fran machine cannons.
In this era, the Ming army, especially the Ming frontier army, has been using Franco machine guns for a short period of time. Although it cannot be compared with the bowl-kou gun, it can still be used for thirty or forty years. It's history.
After the Fran cannon was sent to the border town, it was quickly liked by generals at all levels of the border army because of its rapid firing. However, for the sake of safety, this thing was made of all copper, resulting in a higher cost. Naturally, neither the Ordnance Bureau nor the Military War Bureau can mass-produce them and deliver them to military towns in various places for use.
Some of the large Franco cannons have been placed on the walls of important cities and fortresses because they are inconvenient to transport. The Ming army infantry carried some small Franco cannons when they went into battle.
Just as the chariot camp and the archers were moving forward, several figures were already running in front of them. They quickly found the right position and unloaded the dry firewood from their backs. When the chariot was pushed next to them , the fire has been lit.
The changes in the wilderness were naturally noticed by the soldiers on night watch in the Anta military camp. From the beginning, the sensitive Tatar soldiers felt a slight tremor on the ground, which was a sign that a horse team was moving nearby.
The sound of drums came next, and then a fire appeared about a hundred steps away from the military camp. They didn't need the dogs to call the police. They knew they were being attacked by the Ming army, and they picked up the food around them. They were armed with swords, guns, bows and arrows, and while warning the military camp, they ran towards the wooden fence of the camp, ready to fire their bows and arrows to block the approach of the Ming army when they approached.
The appearance of the Ming army was still very sudden. The Anda army has been stationed here for a long time. When they first faced off against the Ming army, the Anda army was still more cautious. Not only would they arrange There will be patrols out of the military camp for more than ten miles, and they even often wander around Baoan Prefecture and the Ming army camp to observe the movements of the Ming army.
But as time went by, seeing that the Ming army on the opposite side seemed to have no intention of starting a war, the vigilance gradually relaxed at this time.
It has been more than ten days, and the military camp has not arranged for anyone to patrol outside at night. They only arrange guards at the entrance of the military camp, and patrols inside the military camp.
The patrols in the camp were naturally not to guard against sneak attacks by the Ming army, but to guard against accidental fire breaks and unpredictable events caused by soldiers making noise at night.
It was precisely because of Andabu's arrogance that the Ming army had the opportunity to complete preparations for assembly very close to the Andabu military camp.
The chariots are in place, but the archer formation is still moving forward. They pass through the gaps between the chariots. They have to get closer to the Anta military camp before they can use their arrows. The arrow poses a threat to the enemy camp.
As the sound of rushing footsteps sounded, the Ming army infantry was already standing behind the gunner. The red mandarin duck war jackets illuminated by the fire looked even more bloodthirsty.
At this time, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, those young sergeants, were very excited. They had never seen such a large battle since they joined the army, with tens of thousands of people gathered together to form a military formation.
For those veterans who have experienced the Gengwu Incident, they have seen large armies gathering many times, but this is the first time that they have set up an offensive formation.
Even the team leaders of each team became excited at this moment. Most of them had this experience for the first time.
It was many years ago that the Ming army set up a military formation of tens of thousands of people in the wild. At that time, it was probably the Zhengde Dynasty.
That is, when Emperor Wuzong was still on the throne, the nine-sided army of the Ming Army began to have the opportunity to assemble and break out of the Great Wall, launching repeated attacks on the Mongolian tribes, plundering their resources and weakening their strength.
But now, such a thing is impossible to happen. It would be good if the Mongols don't attack.
In addition to garrisoning guard posts in various places, the Ming army's mobile forces were mainly battalions led by generals and guerrillas. The number of troops under their accounts was variable, ranging from three to four thousand to several hundred, so the Ming army In the process of fighting the invading Tatars, only a few thousand troops were often invested at a time, and battles involving more than 5,000 troops rarely occurred.
Only during the city defense battle, more soldiers may be invested in defending the city.
The Anda tribe was similar. Their attacks on the Ming Dynasty were mostly for the purpose of looting, so they often divided their forces.
The number ranges from dozens to two to three thousand.
I don’t know whether it is intentional or not, but both sides seem to be interested in avoiding a battle between large armies. Maybe no one can afford to lose.
Only at this time, the situation seemed to have changed. The Ming army gathered tens of thousands of troops outside the Andabu military camp. He was unusual.
The news was quickly reported to the ears of thousands of Mongolian households, and his scalp felt numb when he heard the news.
The Ming army did not show up sooner or later, but it happened that he came out to fight when the Wanhu troops under his command were at their lowest. This was because he was well prepared.
Although the Mongolians are bold by nature, they are not stupid. Ten thousand households in Mongolia obviously felt that they might have been deceived by the Ming army when they divided their troops and came to the county town.
"Command Rally."
While giving orders to his subordinates, he stood up and put on his clothes. He wanted to go out and see if the Ming army had really organized an army of tens of thousands to attack him.
This is in the wild. He wants to attack the Mongols. What a joke. As long as his army gathers together, he can smash the Ming army to pieces and even take Baoan Prefecture in one fell swoop.
Wanhu in Mongolia quickly recovered from the initial shock. Not only was he not afraid, but he was also filled with ecstasy.
"The Ming army's military formations gathered in the west of our army's camp"
At this time, the soldier who reported the news began to introduce the situation, but was interrupted by Wanhu before he finished speaking.
"Did you explain that the army did not gather in front of our camp?"
Wanhu plucked his ears in disbelief, why did he run to my side? Do you think the wooden fence can't stop their onslaught?
In fact, the purpose of wooden fences is to prevent wild creatures from running in. The reason why low wooden fences are built is not to facilitate cavalry troops to attack.
Walking out of the big tent where he was resting, Wan Hu looked to the west of the camp, but he couldn't see anything at this time, as his view was blocked by other tents.
In the distance, a general has loudly called for his warriors to start forming a team. Soon they will go to the stables outside the tent to take out their horses, and transform into warriors who will make the entire Ming army frightened.
At this time, the reporting soldier told him news that made his heart tremble. "Some people had felt signs of cavalry activities before. Behind our camp, there seemed to be no cavalry activity near the Ming army's formation."
"Is there anything going on at the Khan's military camp?" Wanhu asked quickly.
“No news has been sent from the rear camp”
Just as he finished speaking, a fast horse in the distance ran close to him, and a Mongolian soldier turned over He dismounted and arrived in front of Wanhu, half-kneeling to report: "Master Wanhu, there is a fire in the Khan's camp behind, and there seems to be a cry of killing.
In addition, a Ming army cavalry appeared outside the gate of our rear camp, seemingly planning to rush into the camp.”
“Bang bang bang bang.”
There was a sudden sound coming from the west of the camp. The sound like thunder was known to all the Mongolians in the Anta tribe, and it was the sound of the Ming army's cannon being fired
<. br>Sixty steps away from the Anda headquarters, the Ming army archers had already taken their positions. At the command of the team officer, the Ming army archers took out arrows one after another, and soon others were walking past them holding torches. , the igniter in the front part of the arrow was ignited.
"Open your bow and shoot."
Without waiting for much time, after the rocket in the archer's hand was ignited, the team officer began to shout orders.
According to the command of the team officer, the archers opened their bows and set arrows to aim at the Tatar military camp in front. After the sound of the word "shoot" reached their ears, they released their bowstrings one after another.
"Swish, swish, swish"
Countless small fireballs were shot into the air, and then dropped rapidly, flying over the wooden fence of the Tatar military camp, but most of them landed in the open space.
Hundreds of rockets were fired, but only dozens of them hit the tents, because the Tatar tents were really scattered.
But there was another effect, and that was the sound of several wails coming from the Tatar camp, apparently Tatar soldiers being hit by rockets in the darkness.
Soon, more than a dozen arrows were scattered from the opposite side. It was the Tatar soldiers who had rushed to the fence and fired their bows to fight back.
The team officer made a decisive decision and gave the order again: "Lower the height and shoot behind the wooden fence."
Since the attempt to set the Tatar military tent on fire with rockets seems a bit unworkable, then shoot them. Bar.
What is their purpose? That is to attract the Mongols to come over and shoot at the Ming army at the fence, so that they will not have the energy to support the Anda Khan camp behind them.
Soon, the team officer's order was transmitted to the ears of all the archers through small flags. After the second shooting order was issued, they all lowered the height of the arrows, and the shooting range was controlled to about 80 steps.
Just when the second wave of arrows hit the wooden fence of the military camp, the Ming army artilleryman not far behind the archer was also ready to finish. There was no need to ask the superiors for instructions on whether to fire, so the team officer directly gave the order to fire. command.
"Bang bang bang bang."
The Fran machine gun mounted on the tank opened fire, spraying solid bullets at the Anta military camp in front.
This time, more than 20 tanks in the camp brought out twelve medium-type Fran machine cannons. They were manufactured more than ten years ago and have been well maintained. The gun length is about 4 feet. It weighs a hundred kilograms and requires several soldiers to take turns to lift it. Each time it is loaded with 6 taels of projectiles and 6 taels of powder.
The solid projectile flew out of the muzzle driven by the gunpowder explosion, broke through the air, and jumped into the Anta military camp carrying unparalleled kinetic energy.
Big holes were punched through several nearby tents behind the fence in an instant. The Mongolian soldiers in the tents who had not yet put on their armor were still wailing inside. However, in the tents that had been set alight by rockets, there was no one inside. , but the impact of the cannonball hitting the tent completely shattered it, and the tent fell to all sides.
Soon, the Fran machine gunners had removed one sub-cartridge, quickly replaced it with the second one, loaded it and ignited the fuse again.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang."
A thick smoke came out from the Ming army's chariot from time to time, followed by a thunderous sound.
The hundreds of archers in front fired more than ten rounds of arrows to suppress the Mongolian soldiers behind the fence. Then, under the command of the team officer, they began to retreat slowly, still following the route they came from, passing between the gaps in the chariots. After that, go back to the back of the chariot and rest for a while.
After the archers retreated, the gun and shield soldiers behind slowly advanced amidst the command, completely closing the gap between the chariots.
This is the frontier army of the Ming Dynasty. Although their living standards are not as good as before due to the exploitation of officials, the tactics left by their ancestors have not been lost, and they all know what they should do.
Of course, this is also related to the perennial wars in Xuanfu. Although there is less training, under the guidance of veterans, recruits can still figure out basic things quickly. At least they can learn something. wrong.
After the Ming army archers stopped shooting arrows, a large number of Tatar soldiers with scattered clothes and armor quickly appeared behind the short fence of the Anta military camp. They were waiting with weapons such as knives, guns, bows and arrows in their hands to prevent the Ming army from invading. military camp.
These people were all soldiers assigned to be stationed in tents nearby. They were sent here under the order of the general at this time. They needed to buy time for the other thousands of households behind them.
However, when they saw the chariots and rows of shields in front of the Ming army's formation, they were a little at a loss. They couldn't figure out whether the Ming army was going to steal the camp or demonstrate.
The Ming Dynasty's frontier army has a long history of using chariots. Most people in later generations only thought that it was Qi Jiguang who organized and trained the chariot camp when he was in Ji Town. In fact, Qi Jiguang's biggest advantage was that he was good at using things that could be used. , and integrate it so that he can exert greater power.
The sidecars of the Ming army should have first appeared during the reign of Emperor Zhu Qiyu of the Ming Dynasty. The person who innovated the chariots was the famous general Guo Deng.
Guo Deng, the grandson of Guo Ying, Marquis of Wuding, served as the governor of Datong in the 14th year of Zhengtong. It was during this period that he followed the ancients in manufacturing sidecars and four-wheelers, and hid firearms in the middle. Put up flags, connect them with hooks and loops, arrange them into formations, and use them both offensively and defensively.
His army consisted of five men, and Guo Deng taught them to swear an oath in the temple. If one person has merit, the five will receive the reward together, and the same will be done when receiving punishment.
Ten soldiers form a team, and the leader of the team is the person who can draw a sixty-pound bow.
The ten teams are led by a metropolitan commander, so that they can do their best and take responsibility for their crimes. This approach was praised for a while.
This is the predecessor of the chariot camp, which was the main force in infantry operations in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. However, it has been over a hundred years since Emperor Jingtai, and the sidecars manufactured at that time have naturally been scrapped and cannot be used.
The more than 20 sidecars placed in front of the Ming army's military formation were manufactured more than ten years ago. Naturally, it was not because the Ministry of War was kind enough to purchase weapons for them, but because of another battle called It is brought about by unjust cases that “the world hears about and accuses them of being wronged”.
(End of this chapter)