Chapter 222 221 Sidecar

"Dong Dong Dong"

After three dull drum sounds, the Ming army formation began to change. The soldiers in the front row slowly advanced under the command of the captain. Most of them carried bows and arrows, and the archers were the main force. In front of them, nearly a hundred people pushed more than 20 carts and slowly advanced.

People familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty may be able to tell what these more than 20 carts are at a glance. They all have huge bodies, and a tall baffle is erected on one side of the cart, with shooting holes of different sizes on the baffle.

A cannon is placed on the huge shooting hole at the bottom of the body. If Wei Guangde were here, he would recognize at a glance that these cannons are the bowl-mouthed guns he has seen.

In fact, if you look closely, you will find that in addition to the bowl-mouthed guns, there are also many Portuguese cannons.

In this era, the Ming army, especially the Ming border army, has been using Portuguese cannons for a long time. Although it cannot be compared with the bowl-mouthed guns, it has a history of 30 to 40 years.

After the Portuguese cannon was sent to the border town, it was quickly liked by generals at all levels of the border army because of its advantage of rapid firing. However, for safety reasons, this thing was made of all copper, which resulted in a high cost. Naturally, neither the Military Equipment Bureau nor the Arms Bureau could mass-produce it and deliver it to military towns in various places for use.

Some of the large Portuguese cannons had long been placed on the walls of important cities and fortresses because they were inconvenient to carry. The Ming army infantry carried some small Portuguese cannons when they went to battle.

Just as the chariot camp and archers were moving forward, several figures had already run in front of them, quickly found the right position, unloaded dry firewood from their backs, and when the chariot was pushed next to them, the fire had already been lit.

The changes in the wilderness were naturally noticed by the soldiers patrolling the camp of the Altan tribe. At the beginning, the sensitive Tatar soldiers felt a slight tremor on the ground, which was a sign that there were cavalry activities nearby.

Then came the drum sound, and then there was a fire about a hundred steps away from the military camp. They knew that they were attacked by the Ming army without the need for the dogs to warn them. They picked up the swords, guns, bows and arrows around them, warned the military camp, and ran to the wooden fence of the camp, ready to shoot arrows to stop the Ming army from approaching.

The appearance of the Ming army was still very sudden. Altan's army had been stationed here for a long time. When they first confronted the Ming army, Altan's troops were still cautious. Not only would they arrange light and dark sentries every night, but they would also have patrols go out of the military camp for more than ten miles to patrol, and even often ran to Baoanzhou and the Ming army camp to observe the movements of the Ming army.

But after a long time, seeing that the Ming army on the opposite side seemed to have no intention of starting a war, their vigilance gradually relaxed at this time.

For more than ten days, the military camp had not arranged anyone to patrol outside at night, but only arranged guards at the gate of the military camp, and patrols inside the military camp.

The patrol in the camp was not to guard against the Ming army's sneak attack, but to guard against accidental discharge and unpredictable things caused by soldiers' noise at night.

It was precisely because of the arrogance of the Altan tribe that the Ming army had the opportunity to complete the assembly preparation very close to the Altan tribe's camp.

The chariots were placed in place, but the archers were still advancing. They passed through the gaps between the chariots. They had to get closer to the Altan tribe's camp to threaten the enemy camp with arrows in their hands.

As the footsteps sounded, the figures of the Ming army infantrymen stood behind the gunners. The red double-breasted mandarin duck war jackets under the firelight looked even more bloodthirsty.

At this time, the Ming army soldiers, those young soldiers were excited. They had never seen such a large battle since they joined the army, and the army formation of tens of thousands of people gathered.

For those veterans who had experienced the Gengwu Change, they had seen many large army gatherings, but it was the first time to set up an offensive army formation.

Even the captains of each team became excited at this moment. Most of them had such an experience for the first time.

It was many years ago that the Ming army deployed such a military formation of tens of thousands of people in the wild. It should have been the Zhengde Dynasty at that time.

That is, when Emperor Wuzong was still in power, the Ming army's nine border official troops began to have the opportunity to gather and break out of the Great Wall, launching attacks on the Mongolian tribes again and again, plundering their resources and weakening their strength.

But now, such a thing is no longer possible. It's good enough that the Mongols don't attack.

In addition to the guards stationed in various places, the mobile forces of the Ming army are mainly battalion soldiers led by lieutenant generals and guerrillas. The number of troops under their accounts is not fixed, with as many as three or four thousand and as few as hundreds. Therefore, in the process of fighting with the invading Tatars, the Ming army often deployed only a few thousand troops at a time, and battles with more than 5,000 people rarely occurred.

Only when defending the city, perhaps more soldiers were deployed to the top of the city for defense.

The Altan tribe was similar. Their attacks on the Ming Dynasty were mostly for the purpose of looting, so they often divided their troops.

The number ranged from dozens to two or three thousand.

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, both sides seemed to be trying to avoid large-scale battles. Perhaps no one could afford to lose.

But at this time, the situation seemed to have changed. The Ming army gathered tens of thousands of troops outside the Altan tribe camp. He was unusual.

The news was soon reported to the Mongolian Wanhu, and he felt his scalp tingling when he heard the news.

The Ming army did not appear early or late, but just came out to fight when his Wanhu had the least troops. This was well prepared.

Although the Mongols were generous by nature, they were not stupid. The Mongolian Wanhu clearly felt that the division of troops in Huailai County might have been a trick of the Ming army.

"Order to assemble."

While giving orders to his subordinates, he stood up and dressed. He wanted to go out and see if the Ming army really organized an army of tens of thousands of people to attack him.

This was in the wild. What a joke to attack the Mongols. As long as his army gathered, he could rush the Ming army to pieces and even take Bao'an Prefecture in one fell swoop.

The Mongolian Wanhu quickly recovered from the initial shock. Not only was he not afraid, but he also felt ecstatic.

"The Ming army's formation assembled to the west of our army's camp"

At this time, the soldier who reported the news began to introduce the situation, but he was interrupted by the Wanhu before he finished speaking.

"You said that the Ming army did not assemble in front of our army's camp?"

The Wanhu scratched his ears a little unbelievingly. Why did you run to my side? Do you think the wooden fence can't stop their attack?

In fact, the function of the wooden fence is to prevent wild creatures from running in. The reason for building a low wooden fence is to facilitate the cavalry to attack.

Walking out of his resting tent, Wan Hu looked to the west of the camp, but at this time he could not see anything because his vision was blocked by other tents.

In the distance, there were already generals calling their warriors to start assembling. Soon they would go to the stable outside the tent to lead out their war horses and transform themselves into a warrior that frightened the entire Ming army.

At this time, the soldier who reported the news told him the news that frightened him again, "Someone felt the signs of cavalry activity before, behind our army camp, but there seemed to be no cavalry activity near the Ming army's formation."

"Is there any situation in the Khan's camp?"

Wan Hu asked quickly.

"No news from the rear camp."

Just as he finished saying this, a fast horse in the distance had already run up to him. A Mongolian soldier dismounted and came to the front of Wan Hu, half-knelt and reported: "Sir Wan Hu, the Khan's camp behind us is on fire, and there seems to be shouting and killing.

In addition, a group of Ming army cavalry appeared outside the gate of our rear camp, and they seemed to be planning to rush into the camp."

"Bang bang bang bang."

A thunder-like sound suddenly came from the west of the camp. All the Mongolians of the Altan tribe knew that it was the sound of the Ming army's cannons firing.

Sixty steps outside the Altan tribe's camp, the Ming army archers had already stood in formation. At the command of the team officer, the Ming army archers took out their arrows one after another. Soon, someone holding a torch passed by them, and the ignition material at the front of the arrow was ignited.

"Draw the bow. Shoot."

Without waiting for much time, after the rockets in the archers' hands were ignited, the team officer began to shout and give orders loudly.

Following the command of the team officer, the archers drew their bows and aimed their arrows at the Tatar camp in front. When the sound of "shoot" reached their ears, they all released the bowstrings in their hands.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh"

Countless small fireballs were shot into the air, and then they dropped rapidly and flew over the wooden fence of the Tatar camp, but most of them fell on the open ground.

Hundreds of rockets were fired, but only dozens of them hit the tents, because the Tatar tents were really scattered.

However, there were other effects, that is, several wailing sounds came from the Tatar camp, and it was obvious that Tatar soldiers were hit by rockets in the dark night.

Soon, more than a dozen arrows were scattered from the opposite side, which were the Tatar soldiers who had rushed into the fence and shot arrows to fight back.

The team officer made a prompt decision and gave a new order: "Lower the altitude and shoot behind the wooden fence."

Since the attempt to ignite the Tatar tents with rockets seemed a bit unfeasible, let's shoot people.

What was their purpose? That was to attract the Mongols to come over and shoot at the Ming army at the fence, so that they would not have the energy to support the Altan Khan camp behind.

Soon, the team officer's order was passed to all the archers through the small flag. After the second shooting order was issued, they all lowered the height of the arrows and the range was controlled at about 80 steps.

Just as the second wave of arrows rushed to the wooden fence of the military camp, the Ming army gunners not far behind the archers were also ready. There was no need to ask for instructions from the upper level as in the past. The team officer directly issued the order to fire.

"Bang bang bang bang."

The Portuguese cannons on the chariots opened fire, spraying solid bullets at the Altan Khan camp in front.

This time, more than 20 chariots in the chariot camp brought out 12 medium-sized Portuguese cannons, which were manufactured more than ten years ago and have been well maintained until now. The guns are about 4 feet long and weigh 100 kilograms. Several soldiers need to take turns to lift them, and each time they are loaded with 6 taels of projectiles and 6 taels of powder.

The solid projectile flew out of the muzzle under the impetus of the gunpowder explosion, breaking through the air and rushing into the camp of the Altan tribe with unparalleled kinetic energy.

Several tents near the fence were instantly pierced with a big hole. The Mongolian soldiers who had not yet put on their armor were still wailing inside the tents. Although there was no one in the tents that were previously ignited by rockets, the impact of the shells piercing the tents made it completely shattered and the tents fell to the four sides.

Soon, the Portuguese gunners had taken out a sub-cartridge, quickly replaced the second one, and lit the fuse again after installing it.

"Bang bang bang bang."

Thick smoke burst out from the Ming army chariot from time to time, followed by a thunder-like sound.

After firing more than a dozen rounds of arrows in a row and suppressing the Mongolian soldiers behind the fence, the hundreds of archers in front began to slowly retreat under the command of the team officer, still following the route they came, passing through the gaps between the chariots, and returning to the back of the chariots to rest for a while.

After the archers retreated, the spear and shield soldiers behind them slowly advanced at the command, completely closing the gap between the chariots.

This is the border 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 long-term war in Xuanfu. Although there is less training, the basic things can be quickly understood by the old soldiers under the guidance of the old soldiers. At least there will be no mistakes if you follow the example.

After the Ming army archers stopped shooting arrows, a large number of Tatar soldiers in scattered clothes and armor soon appeared behind the low fence of the Altan army camp. They were holding swords, guns, bows and arrows and other weapons in their hands and waiting in formation to prevent the Ming army from entering the camp.

These people were assigned to the soldiers stationed in the tents nearby. At this time, they were sent here under the order of the generals. They needed to buy time for the other thousand households behind them to form a team.

However, when they saw the chariots and rows of shields in front of the Ming army, they were a little at a loss. They couldn't figure out whether the Ming army was going to steal the camp or to demonstrate.

The history of the Ming border army using chariots is very long. Most people in later generations only thought that Qi Jiguang organized the chariot camp when he was in Jizhen. In fact, Qi Jiguang's greatest advantage was that he was good at using some things that could be used and integrating them to enable him to exert greater power.

The Ming army's side-box chariots should have first appeared during the reign of Zhu Qiyu, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The person who tinkered with the chariots was the famous general Guo Deng.

Guo Deng, the grandson of Wuding Hou Guo Ying, was the governor and co-governor of Datong in the 14th year of Zhengtong. It was during this period that he imitated the ancients to make side-box chariots and four-wheeled chariots, with firearms hidden in them, flags on them, hooks and rings to communicate, and arrayed in formation, which could be used for both attack and defense.

His army was divided into five people in a group. Guo Deng taught them to swear in the temple that if one person made merit, the five people would receive rewards together, and the same was true when they were punished.

Ten teams form a team, and the vanguard is the person who can pull a sixty-jin heavy bow.

Ten teams are led by a commander, so that they are not hindered by each other's merits and have their own responsibilities. This practice was praised for a while.

This is the predecessor of the chariot camp, the main force of the infantry in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. However, it has been more than a hundred years since Emperor Jingtai, and the side-carriage chariots made at that time have naturally been scrapped and unusable.

The more than 20 side-carriage chariots placed in front of the Ming army were made more than a decade ago. Naturally, it was not because the Ministry of War wanted to add weapons for them, but because of another unjust case known as "the whole world heard about it and was wronged."