Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

With bursts of white smoke, dozens of Guards musketeer phalanxes completed another round of volleys.

The bandit army had only just entered the range of their own archers at this time.

But at this time, the morale of the bandit army had been severely damaged. In just two rounds of volleys from 20,000 musketeers, as many as three to four thousand soldiers died from the muskets.

Just as the crossbowmen were about to draw their bows, the third round of volleys from the Guards' musketeers arrived.

As the distance shortened, the accuracy and power of the muskets also improved. In the third round alone, at least nearly three thousand people died from the bullets of the new muskets.

The archers of the three bandit armies finally fired the first round of arrows, and the Guards' musketeer phalanx also began to suffer losses.

But dozens of phalanxes did not panic at all. They retreated and reloaded bullets mechanically like robots. The soldiers in the rear who had loaded ammunition moved forward again.

Zhang Shikang has ridiculed the so-called queuing and shooting tactics more than once, but it must be said that such tactics were still very effective in a certain period of time.

Mockery aside, Zhang Shikang never doubted the wisdom of the ancients. No matter whether it was the Ming Dynasty or the Europeans, there was no fool among those who could become military commanders and win many battles.

The firing rate of the musket at that time was not high enough. In this situation, one could only rely on strict military discipline to ensure that the musket could exert its maximum power.

The thing the musket phalanx fears most is panic, which will lead to a disorganized formation, and a disorganized formation will lead to gaps in the attack.

Once the enemy forces broke into the phalanx, it would mean that the musketeers' mission had come to an end, and what awaited them might be being killed by the enemy.

Just like they rely on their range to kill locals.

But Zhang Shikang had already thought of a countermeasure. As early as when the firearms battalion was formed, Zhang Shikang required that the close combat ability of the musketeers must not be lower than that of ordinary infantry.

They spend more time training than ordinary infantry, and in addition to muskets, swords will be their second combat tool.

In order to enhance mutual coordination, Zhang Shikang, at the suggestion of Sun Weifan, used squadrons as units.

If close combat is needed, they will, under the leadership of the squad leader, quickly hand over the muskets to the carriages that have been prepared by the baggage camp in the rear.

Then, just like ordinary weapons, they lined up again and killed the enemy at close range.

Of course, this requires a buffer, which is also the important reason why the Guards retained spearmen, rakemen, swordsmen, and even cavalry, to give the musketeers time to change their equipment.

With the completion of the fourth round of volleys, after once again harvesting the lives of the bandits, under the order of Qin Liangyu, the 20,000 guards phalanxes, some of which began to evacuate the battlefield in an orderly manner, and the remaining musket phalanxes gradually moved closer.

The 20,000 white-pole soldiers, who had been hungry and thirsty for a long time, rushed out from both sides and the center of the square at the same time.

The ten thousand retreating musket phalanx soldiers, led by the squad leader, handed their muskets to one of the soldiers. The soldier, holding a bundle of muskets, rushed to the baggage camp at the rear like a fly.

The sergeant immediately ordered his soldiers to start forming a battle line. The sergeant, sentry chief, and battalion chief formed a medium-sized unit of 600 people and completed the changing of musketeers and swordsmen as quickly as possible.

Above them are the captains, guerrilla commanders, and lieutenant generals. In each phalanx, there are several messengers carrying flags to convey the latest military orders from the commander-in-chief.

These 10,000 guards who have completed the equipment replacement will serve as possible reserves.

After the bandit army and the white-spear soldiers were in a stalemate, the remaining 10,000 musketeers stood solemnly like robots, waiting for the latest military orders from their commander.

The Ya flag was waved again, and Sun Dasheng led 6,000 cavalry to join the battlefield, adding new chaos to the already chaotic battlefield.

At this time, a messenger carrying a flag rushed to the phalanx of musketeers, and then the phalanx of musketeers, together with ten thousand swordsmen, began to turn around, from the front to the back, and began to move backwards.

What no one in the rear could see was that thousands of gunners were also commanding horses to retreat with heavy artillery weighing nearly three thousand pounds.

Zhang Kewang felt relieved when he saw that the imperial army had only sent more than 20,000 people to fight him.

Although they had to withstand four rounds of volleys from 20,000 musketeers of the imperial army, the three brothers still had 50,000 troops under their command.

Although morale was low, the absolute numerical advantage was enough to make up for it.

The three Zhang Kewang brothers did not realize the intention of the imperial army, but Zhang Xianzhong, who was in the central army, frowned.

His intuition told him that something was wrong with the imperial army!

Scouts kept reporting the latest situation on the battlefield to him. Zhang Xianzhong had already learned that the imperial army's artillery battalion was quietly retreating.

Such operations made Zhang Xianzhong somewhat confused. He didn't understand what the court was doing.

There were only 20,000 White-Pole Soldiers and several thousand cavalrymen blocking his army. Although Zhang Xianzhong had a psychological trauma towards the White-Pole Soldiers, this time he brought only elite troops.

He did not think that these 20,000 people could stop his conquest. However, as time passed, Zhang Xianzhong suddenly felt a shock.

"Damn it! Quickly pass on my military order, tell Wang'er and his men not to fight with the White-Pole Soldiers, but to continue attacking the Imperial Fire-Pistol Soldiers!"

After all, this was a tactic that had never appeared before, so much so that Zhang Xianzhong did not guess it for a while.

That damn Zhang Shikang actually wanted to score twice!

When the military order was conveyed to Zhang Kewang and the other three, the phalanx of musketeers in the rear of the imperial army had already retreated a full hundred steps, and the forty cannons retreated even further with the combined efforts of a large number of war horses and gunners.

Zhang Kewang, Zhang Nengqi and others thought they had a sure victory because they did not know the movements of the imperial army in the rear.

Although the three men were somewhat confused, they carried out Zhang Xianzhong's military order without hesitation.

But in a melee involving nearly 100,000 people, it was impossible to get rid of the opponent without fighting. Although the number of the white-spear soldiers was small, they cooperated very skillfully in units of ten.

The military orders given to them by their superiors were simple: there was no need to risk charging, but to focus on defense.

Under the command of Qin Yiming and Ma Xianglin, the 20,000 people never dispersed. Although they were slightly exhausted, they remained in good order.

Just when Zhang Kewang and others were struggling to get rid of the entanglement of the white-flag soldiers, bursts of gongs suddenly sounded from the rear of the imperial army, with drums advancing, gongs retreating, and horns sounded to call the troops back.

Now they didn't need to get rid of them. Under the leadership of Ma Xianglin and Qin Yiming, the White Spear Soldiers abandoned their opponents and ran to the rear.

Zhang Kewang was a little confused. Although the three brothers had the advantage, it was pure nonsense to say that the White Spear Soldiers had no power to fight.

But the enemy retreated without even saying hello, without any hesitation.

Just as the three brothers were hesitating, a loud noise suddenly came from their ears again. Zhang Kewang's eyes widened and his mouth opened in horror again.

That was the imperial court’s heavy artillery.

Boom-boom-boom-boom-

……