Ming Dynasty: Summoning game players at the beginning

Chapter 348 It’s so cold, I’m playing in the mud in Northeast China
Even though the Red Turban Army was ten miles away, the two generals still felt the urgency coming from the wind.

"stop!"

General Wen's roar pierced the morning light, and the entire ranks were filled with the whistling of war drums and suonas.

Liu Qin stood up in the stirrups and saw a colorful torrent coming from the east, raising half a foot of yellow dust.

He immediately ordered the sidecar to move forward and surround the infantry formation as much as possible.

"Make way!" Thousands of soldiers and horses were deployed in a hurry and disorderly manner. The loud shouts came from behind them continuously, and the garrison troops retreated to the left and right like a tide.

"Why did the enemy army rush towards me, but the horses in the east didn't give any warning!" Wen Tong looked puzzled and turned around to summon the mounted guards to gather around him.

Liu Qin tightened his grip on the reins. "It's the Beiwei Army's Kongming lanterns! The enemy soldiers can fly up on these lanterns and spy on the enemy for dozens of miles. It must have been the large lanterns released by Haibin that discovered Tangma's location, leading the Beiwei Army soldiers to attack and kill him."

"Ridiculous!" Wen Tong pointed at the giant Kongming lantern that was gradually disappearing into the distance. "Even if the enemy army could monitor military activity within a radius of dozens of miles, that lantern has already drifted out to sea. How can they relay this information to their allies on shore? Even with flag signals, the distance is too great."

"This..." Liu Qin was also quite puzzled. Normally, messages could be sent on land by means of "writing, shooting arrows, releasing signal arrows, waving flags" and so on.

But the Kongming lanterns have already flown to the sea. It’s impossible that the enemy soldiers can still follow them and move forward on the sea, right?
Could it be true, as the rumors say, that the Beiwei Army raises strange creatures called "Blood Crows" that can come and go freely and transmit information?
Seeing that it would take some time for the bandit cavalry to approach, Wen Tong's panic subsided greatly, and he even had enough time to take out a bag of dried meat and eat it.

But Liu Qin didn't see it that way.

He knew very well that Wen Tong was neither anxious nor impatient, and he simply did not realize how strong the Beiwei Army's combat effectiveness was.

Since the enemy sent 700 cavalrymen deep into the "imperial court controlled area", the government troops who encountered superior forces did not turn around and leave, but instead went straight to meet them, which shows that the other side had enough confidence to win.

If there is a flaw somewhere in the infantry formation and is discovered by the Beiwei army, the 6,000-strong army will suffer heavy losses!

"Quickly put on your armor and set up your formation!"

Liu Qin raised his whip and gave instructions. His personal soldiers immediately whipped forward and severely whipped the slow-moving soldiers. However, the infantrymen could not move faster and still had to go back and forth between the pack horses, baggage carts and the positions.

"General Liu, you haven't seen battle in six months, yet you've become so cowardly?" Wen Tong clutched a piece of dried meat, his brows arched in disdain. "We have six thousand brave warriors, why should we fear a few hundred enemy cavalry?"

"The Beiwei Army is a powerful force of the time. After the great victory at Xiongyueyi, everyone spread the rumor that one Beiwei soldier could kill five Tartars. We can't even contend with the Tartars, so how can we possibly fight against the Beiwei Army?"

"Oh, I've worked with you for two months. I thought you were prudent and cautious, but today I see you're a coward who fears the enemy like a tiger! Lu Wenjin marched 300 miles without giving up a single shot. Do you want me to retreat without a fight and suffer the ridicule of others?" Wen Tong snorted coldly and turned his face away. "You'd better remember that Governor Yang appointed me as the vanguard general, not you! If you say anything that disrupts the morale of the army again, I will punish you severely!"

"you!"

Liu Qin suddenly felt a breath stuck in his throat and it itched unbearably. He wished he could force his experience of fighting with the Beiwei Army into Wen Tong's head.

Disharmony between the commander and the deputy commander has always been a taboo in the army, but fortunately, the soldiers pushing the side carriages exerted their strength, causing the four "low walls" to rise from the ground.

As if realizing that there was no opportunity to attack the infantry formation in front of them, hundreds of enemy soldiers gradually stopped outside the side carriage, but there was no order to stop, such as horns, suonas, or arrows.

How did they do it? Liu Qin's brows furrowed even more.

In a trance, he saw a new red iron fist flag, which accounted for a large proportion and seemed to be a newly issued flag.

Considering that the Beiwei Army that recently landed in Shandong was vaguely called the "Red Turban Army" by the people, could it be that there was an internal split within the Beiwei Army and one side changed its flag?

The Red Turban Army cavalry lined up in two rows and stopped several miles away, like lions patrolling their own territory, with their heads raised proudly, not taking the Ming army, which was nine times larger than their own, seriously.

The two sides confronted each other briefly for a cup of tea, and then the Red Turban Cavalry moved again.

One hundred and twenty riders stayed where they were, while the remaining five hundred or so riders circled around the infantry formation with a fierce look in their eyes, like a group of hyenas entangled with a lone zebra.

Wen Tong immediately ordered an attack on the rebel army. Arrows and bullets were thrown one after another, but they could never reach the rebel cavalry.

"Oh oh oh oh oh oh!" The bandits rode in circles, making strange noises, as if they were teasing the noses of the government soldiers with ribbons, but the latter could not reach them with their hands.

When 600 enemy cavalrymen divided into three groups and surrounded the rear and wings of the government army, less than a mile away, Liu Qin was eating the water and dry food handed to him by his personal soldiers.

The rebel army seemed to have circled around to find out that the government army had no long-range lethal weapons, so they dared to get closer to the government army's position.

Suddenly, a thief with strange attire broke away from the group. He wore a feather crown and leather armor, like a well-dressed wild man.

He jumped off his horse swiftly, picked up a powerful bow, drew an arrow and shot.

With a whoosh, the arrow flew through a hundred steps and pierced into the soil in front of the government army's formation. There seemed to be a roll of paper tied to the end of the arrowhead.

Several shield-bearing soldiers carefully retrieved the letter from the arrow and handed it to the general Wen Tong.

The content of the letter was not complicated - the Red Turban Army stated that they had contracted the government army's retreat route, and if they wanted to pass through this route, they had to pay a bribe.

The government troops could either leave behind their food, supplies, weapons, armor, and detailed intelligence on the main force, or they could engage in a head-on battle with these 700 men, with the loser surrendering. "A mere 700 men dare to threaten me?" Wen Tong crumpled the paper and threw it away, his face trembling slightly.

Liu Qin ordered his men to retrieve the scroll and examined it. He immediately advised Wen Tong not to act rashly, "The enemy soldiers are very good at provoking. They just want you to attack without authorization and disrupt your formation!"

"Are you saying that my 6,000-man army can't defeat his 700? The enemy army only has 700 cavalrymen, but they are divided into four groups and surrounded on all sides. There are only about 100 people in the west. It's clear that they are taking advantage of the fact that our official army has no troops!
The enemy army thinks I'm impatient, but I'm going to take advantage of their weakness and severely crush their morale!"

Wen Tong's eyes widened as big as cow's, and he ignored Liu Qin's advice and whispered a few words to the soldiers around him, and immediately sent out the few 500 cavalrymen in the team to attack.

The western carriage slowly opened a gap, and hundreds of cavalrymen poured out like ink.

At the same time when the chariot formation was opened and the cavalry were still sending out one after another, dozens of the bandits who surrounded the government army on three sides dismounted, and the rest tightened the reins and waited in place.

These dismounted bandit soldiers held a long "bird gun" in their hands and five sharpened wooden stakes under their arms.

They inserted the sharp stakes diagonally half a step in front of them, as if setting up a shield as tall as a person, and then began to load ammunition quickly.

Before the government cavalry had advanced more than 30% of the way, they saw three rows of white smoke billowing out almost simultaneously, followed by a sharp whistling sound that cut through the sky.

The shot horses howled in pain, a fresh blood mist filled the air, and the still-moving government troops immediately fell as if struck by a sledgehammer. Twenty or so men fell within a mere two seconds of each other.

The frightened horse let out a long cry and ran and jumped with its dead rider on its back, as if it was swinging a plaster monkey that refused to let go.

The bodies of the fallen soldiers and horses temporarily blocked the gap, and even tripped up a few war horses that were unable to dodge in time. The officers and soldiers in the front row galloped forward without waiting for the friendly forces to arrive.

However, such a short distance made it impossible to achieve a sprinting speed, but the enemy army reloaded their ammunition very quickly, and it took them almost half the time of an ordinary musketeer to reload.

"Bang bang bang!"

Another round of volleys from three sides, dozens of riders and their horses fell dead, and some officers and soldiers had more than two bloody holes in their bodies.

Perhaps it was because the warhorses under their crotch had gone mad, or perhaps it was because only by charging forward bravely could they fight their way out, the surviving seventy or eighty cavalrymen continued to charge forward like a long, skinny dragon.

But the warhorse is ultimately a "cowardly madman" and when it encounters a "bush" made up of sharp stakes, it still chooses to go around it.

There were only a dozen or so riders who charged at the sharp stakes. The sharp stakes scratched several bloody wounds on the horses' bellies, and then they fell forward suddenly as if they had stepped on a trip rope, and the unfortunate riders were thrown away one by one.

"kill!"

The bandits who were originally holding their guns immediately threw away their guns and drew their swords, bringing the steel swords close to the necks of the government soldiers like killing chickens, and then pulled them hard, splashing three feet of blood, or raised the sharp swords high and stabbed them into the faces of the government soldiers.

The cavalrymen who were making a detour were about to attack the musketeers from behind, but they found that the enemy cavalrymen who were waiting behind had already rushed to them, and the two sides had to collide with each other.

Although they were clearly a rebellious army, they were equipped with quite complete armor.

After one round of attack, even if some of the bandits were hit and fell off their horses, none of them died on the spot.

On the other hand, the government cavalry could never have imagined that there was such tacit cooperation between infantry and cavalry in the world as there is in the rebel army.

It's like the front-row infantry can use their "heart voice" to tell their teammates the best time to attack, or like the left and right hands understand each other and know when to release the shield to stab the spear to kill the enemy.

The remaining government troops had to turn their horses around and return, but they encountered continuous fire from the enemy's guns on the left and right wings on the way, and fell one after another.

This bloody battle hasn't even begun, but nearly two hundred government troops have already been killed, and the casualties are still increasing.

The enemy's infantry and cavalry advanced slowly, shortening the distance between the enemy and us.

The cavalry brandished their swords and spears to show off their might to the government troops, while the infantrymen with guns carefully finished off the government soldiers who had fallen off their horses but were not dead, and even had the leisure to take away the ownerless war horses.

Wen and Liu, who were standing in the stirrups, were both stunned, and the other infantrymen who witnessed the defeat were also dumbfounded.

The bandits' bird guns are so sharp!
"It's the Thunder Gun! It's the Thunder Gun of the Beiwei Army that can fire at a distance of 200 steps!" Liu Qin immediately recalled it.

But he remembered that the number of these Thunder Guns was limited, and even among the Beiwei Army, only one or two percent of the soldiers were equipped with them.

How come there are now vanguard cavalry units numbering hundreds of people?

The scattered government cavalry were almost all killed, and even the defeated soldiers who retreated did not dare to go out to fight the enemy.

Just as the side carriage was closing, the enemy troops surrounding them from three sides had already approached within 200 steps.

"Bang bang bang!"

The familiar sound of gunfire rang out, and Liu Qin was surprised to find that the enemy army was actually shooting at the wooden boards of the side carriage.

(End of this chapter)