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

How could Zhang Kewang and his two brothers not know that they had fallen into a trap? They were so furious that they could only order their troops to chase after the retreating White-Flag Soldiers again.

At this time, Zhang Xianzhong, who was worried, ordered his subordinates to send out his own direct reserves as well.

In addition to leaving 10,000 men to guard him, the total strength of the bandit army participating in the battle once again reached 80,000.

First they were bombarded by artillery, then they were hit by four volleys of musket fire, and then they were tricked by the white-spear soldiers' tricky operations and were hit by artillery again.

The morale of the bandit army, which had originally been low, was restored somewhat after it received reinforcements from 30,000 elite troops directly under their majesty.

On the vast basin plain, 80,000 troops launched a new round of attacks on the imperial army. The momentum was no less than that of more than an hour ago.

However, the White Spear Soldiers retreated very quickly and took advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness.

When they quickly ran back into their own shooting range, Ma Xianglin and Qin Yiming immediately split into two groups, left and right, as if they had discussed it beforehand.

Ma Xianglin led a team to run to their right side, while Qin Yiming led the rest of the white-pole soldiers to run to the left.

It was a dry and hot summer, and the flying dust blocked the view of the bandit army in the rear.

And when the bandit army, led by three generals including Zhang Kewang, rushed to the front again, the dust settled and tens of thousands of troops vigilantly discovered that they had once again come within the range of the imperial musket phalanx.

"Woo——"

Bang, bang, bang—bang, bang, bang—

hula-

Once again, it was repeated firing, repeated retreat, reloading, and repeated formation.

Same operation, same cycle.

Zhang Wenxiu and Zhang Nengqi rushed too far forward, and one was shot in the left arm and the other in the right shoulder, and they fell off their horses one after another.

But this war was so important that the two men still fought to the death.

"Charge! Charge!"

Zhang Kewang was also completely crazy. With such a large number of troops, the three of them understood what the consequences would be if they started to retreat.

It might be easier for 20,000 people to retreat in an orderly manner, but when the number of people reaches the current scale, it becomes a very difficult task.

This not only requires the generals to have absolute prestige and command ability, but also requires the soldiers to have iron discipline.

Both are indispensable.

Otherwise, once friendly forces in one direction become cowardly and begin to retreat, a chain reaction will be caused in an instant.

Once the orderly retreat is disrupted, the overall rout of the entire army will be difficult to reverse.

In many battles in history where the outnumbered side won, the key to expanding the results and achieving complete victory was at this moment.

It is obvious that Zhang Kewang doesn't have that ability.

So they had no choice but to move forward and charge continuously until they defeated the imperial army. There was no other way.

Bang, bang, bang—bang, bang, bang—

The musket phalanx was still firing steadily, and after three more rounds of volleys, Zhang Kewang's three troops finally got close to the imperial army again.

At this time, the 10,000 swordsmen of the Guards, who had already changed their equipment, rushed towards the bandit army.

At the same time, on the left and right sides of the square formation, the white-pole soldiers who had already completed re-formation also joined the battle formation from both sides.

At the rear of the entire battlefield, Sun Dasheng's cavalry protected the left and right wings, as well as the most precious artillery.

The forty cannons never stopped firing, and every three minutes or so, they would fire a salvo at the bandit army.

Zhang Xianzhong had thought about using cavalry to launch a surprise attack on the imperial artillery, but was stopped and repelled by Sun Dasheng.

After 10,000 sword-wielding guards and 20,000 white-spear soldiers joined the battle, the battlefield once again fell into chaos of close combat.

At the same time, the remaining 10,000 Guards musketeers began to retreat again.

After completing the eighth round of salvos, the gunners began to retreat in a hurry.

Zhang Shikang equipped one cannon with twenty gunners, four of whom were responsible for cleaning the barrel and loading ammunition, and the remaining sixteen were responsible for the transfer and defense of the artillery.

After completing a strategic shift, the experienced gunners were able to move the artillery and clean the barrel at the same time without any delay.

Zhang Xianzhong immediately realized the intention of the imperial army.

"You idiot! How can you fight a war like this?

No martial ethics! Damn Zhang Shikang has no martial ethics! "

Zhang Xianzhong smashed the jar of wine in his hand into pieces and became furious in his central military tent.

This was the first time he encountered such a tactic.

In fact, it was probably the first time for not only him but also the whole world.

The traditional troops and firearms troops cooperated perfectly, and for the first time, muskets and artillery appeared on the battlefield as the absolute main force.

In the next hour or so, the imperial army used flexible tactics to score three, four, and five goals...

Zhang Xianzhong ordered his cavalry to raid the imperial army's artillery positions and the rear of the musket formations three times, but was repelled each time by the imperial army.

The three Zhang Kewang brothers seemed to be trapped in an endless cycle.

They could only move forward and not retreat, but they were unable to break free from the entanglement of the White-Pole Soldiers and the Sword-Warriors of the Guards who were blocking their advance.

Especially the group of sword-wielding guards, who seemed to be of the snake element when they attacked, and were very vicious.

When retreating, they became like counting rabbits and ran very fast.

The smoke and dust billowed from the melee of tens of thousands of people. When the dust settled, all that was revealed before them was the musket formations of the Guards.

No matter which direction they attacked from, the phalanx could always adjust its direction in real time, aim its guns at them, and launch rounds of uninterrupted volleys.

The stalemate lasted until the afternoon, after 3 p.m.

The imperial army was in good order and its morale was still high, but the three Zhang brothers were all injured, and the most unlucky one was Zhang Wenxiu.

He was shot in the left arm, left leg and buttocks, and was limping and almost unable to fight.

Zhang Kewang was also shot in the back, but fortunately he was protected by armor and the bullet did not injure his internal organs.

Zhang Nengqi was shot twice in the right shoulder and left thigh, and his right calf was stabbed by a thin young soldier, causing bleeding profusely.

The three generals were already like this, and the morale of their subordinates behind them was also very low. They had been fighting for four or five hours without stopping.

The constant fighting exhausted them, and their morale was low as their colleagues died under the enemy's artillery and muskets.

They hadn't eaten for the entire day, but had been charging forward continuously, yet it seemed that they would never achieve the results they wanted.

But the adoptive father still did not give them the order to retreat.

The three of them were now in a difficult situation and could only grit their teeth and continue to limp forward.

Zhang Kewang no longer knew that this was his first reincarnation.

When the smoke cleared for the last time, Zhang Kewang was holding up his shield to defend against the shooting of the imperial army musketeers.

However, he did not hear the familiar volley of gunfire. Zhang Kewang carefully lowered the shield and looked out from behind it.

But the musketeers of the imperial army had lost their muskets. Just like the swordsmen, they had all changed their equipment at some point in time.

Zhang Kewang only felt his heart pounding, and he seemed to have realized something.

In front of the imperial army, there were Sun Weifan, Huang Degong, Ma Xianglin, Qin Yiming, and in front of their respective formations, there were Xu Wenyuan, Wang Jingduo, Zheng Chong, Song Liangzu, Chen Tao...

Including the ordinary soldiers of the Guards and White-Pole Soldiers, all of them had firm eyes, especially the 10,000 Guards who had just finished getting equipped. They had been waiting for the opportunity for a whole day.

Everyone understood that the opportunity for a real fight to the death had arrived.

At the same time, as a grassroots soldier, the opportunity to gain military merit for oneself has also arrived.

As the second-in-command of the Imperial Guards, Sun Weifan had already drawn his sword, so there was no need to say any more nonsense.

He raised his sword high and said simply:

"Soldiers! The bandits are at the end of their rope.

The time has come to perform meritorious service.

From me, charge!"

……