Chapter 64: Field Battle

  Long-distance maneuvering is a huge test for an army, especially for newly organized troops. Blindly fleeing will only lead to defeat and collapse, just like Li Zicheng's forces.

  This point has been verified on the battlefield in later generations. Only by winning battles continuously, like the great man did during the Long March, can an army be stabilized.

  So Gu Zhenhua had long wanted to win a few victories at the right moment to boost morale. Wu Sangui happened to be very cooperative and led his troops to pursue them actively, so Gu Zhenhua made up his mind to take down this big traitor!

  It's definitely not an easy task to confront Wu Sangui, a cunning and powerful general. Deploying troops and arranging formations made Gu Zhenhua rack his brains.

  Firstly, Li Xu and Guo Yunlong were from the Xiang Army after all. Even if they had parted ways with Wu Sangui, the accumulated prestige of many years would still make soldiers tremble with fear and dare not fight.

  Gu Zhenhua chose the troops brought by Zhou Yingjie without hesitation, these border soldiers were more familiar with firearms and had also fought against the Tatars, and they also had enough confidence in dealing with the Guanning Iron Cavalry. Li Xu and Guo Yunlong were responsible for protecting the safety of both wings.

  The overall layout is well-planned, and the specific battle array also requires careful consideration. Zhou Yingjie recalled Yang Liuqing's experience in battle and said to Gu Zhenhua: "Seventh brother, I suggest using infantry to form a circular formation against the enemy, which can both attack and defend, avoid being broken through on the flanks, and cause the entire army to collapse. Make full use of the advantage of firearms, defeat the enemy's vanguard, as long as we hold out in the front, the cavalry on both wings will break out, and the enemy is bound to be defeated!"

  Gu Zhenhua agreed to the proposal as soon as he heard it. After simulating the battle plan again and confirming that there were no problems, Gu Zhenhua ordered his troops to choose a favorable position and form an array to meet the enemy.

  In the Chinese army, Zhou Yingjie and Xie Bin each led a battalion, forming a strong front line. Each battalion was further divided into smaller squares, with 45 musketeers in each square, arranged in three rows. In addition, some reserve musketeers were placed at the junctions of the squares to deal with any stragglers.

  These thousand men, without exception, were all clad in heavy armor, especially the front row was given double-layered armor, enhancing their defensive capabilities. Anyway, Gu Zhenhua didn't mind at all, he had brought out a lot of helmets and armors from Shanhaiguan.

  Gu Zhenhua led a battalion in the second line, due to not fully trusting firearms, Gu's battalion was entirely composed of cold weapons, with long spearman at the front, followed by sword and shield soldiers. Gu himself wielded a battle-axe to direct the troops.

  Between the first and second lines, a large number of carts were placed to serve as a barrier against cavalry. If the musketeers were broken through by cavalry, these carts could block the continued charge of war horses. Moreover, the scattered musketeers could also take cover behind the carts and continue shooting.

  On both wings, the cavalry also did a good job of pressing the enemy's formation. Gu Zhenhua finally completed the deployment of his troops against the enemy and waited for Wu Sangui to arrive!

  The great traitor didn't keep Gu Zhenhua waiting for too long, and after half a moment, dust flew in the distance as Wu Sangui led his cavalry to kill him.

  Two arch-enemies met again, and in an instant, the air on the battlefield seemed to freeze, with both sides staring at each other like ferocious wolves.

  "Your Highness, looking at Zhenhua's formation, he wants to use infantry to resist our iron cavalry. I think he has lost his mind and is simply seeking death!" Deputy General Yang said with a high tone.

  Wu Sangui's eyebrows slightly furrowed, and he slowly said: "This guy Gu Zhenhua is not acting according to common sense. He doesn't want to escape, but instead engages in a field battle, and has even formed such a strange formation. This is an unexpected turn of events, we must be on guard!"

  Wu Sangui said, waving his hand to summon a scout, and told him: "You first lead three hundred men and horses to make a fake attack, and see what kind of evil trick Gu Zhenhua is up to."

  Guanning Army has been fighting against the Qing dynasty for many years and has learned about 80-90% of their tactics. This time, in the fake attack, the cavalry was divided into three teams, two of which were used to pin down the flanks to prevent Gu Zhenhua's cavalry from launching a surprise attack, while the main force attacked head-on.

  About thirty heavily armored cataphracts charged at the front, followed by some tall and long-armed archers, as well as many brave soldiers wielding various weapons. As long as the heavy cavalry in front could break through a gap, they would closely follow and expand the gains.

  Although it was just a feint, the Han traitor was full of hope, and it was possible that Gu Zhenhua could not withstand a single charge, and the troops would collapse suddenly. Therefore, Wu Sangui made Yang Ming prepare well, as long as the gap was opened, the main force would follow immediately.

  More than a hundred cavalrymen came galloping towards the front at a steady pace, their horses' hooves pounding on the open plain, the sound carrying far and wide, which in itself was a strong deterrent. Many of the undisciplined crowds could not withstand this psychological pressure and would collapse directly.

  However, Wu Sangui clearly miscalculated. As a soldier who came out under Zhou Yuji's hand, when he was not as well-equipped as the Qing army, he could still create Yangliuqing loudly. Now that he is armed to the teeth, why would he be afraid of Wu Sangui?

  It wasn't until these cavalrymen entered within a hundred paces that Zhou Yingjie and Xie Bin gave the order for the entire army to rise. The soldiers all gripped their firearms tightly, with resolute expressions on their faces.

  "Ready, aim!"

  At the sound of the order, crackling sounds filled the air as the fuse was lit and the gunpowder ignited. The soldiers in the front row knelt on one knee, aiming their muskets at the enemy.

  The distance between the two sides was gradually shortened, and soon they entered a range of about eighty steps, even able to see each other's expressions clearly. The guerrilla looked at Gu Zhenhua's arrangement with an expression of disdain.

  The fire gun is not bad in terms of range, but the quality is uneven. If you're unlucky, it won't hurt the enemy, but will hurt yourself first. Wanting to use a fire gun to resist the Guan Ning Iron Cavalry is simply asking for death!

  "Brothers, charge!"

  At a single command, these cavalrymen charged forward wildly, yelling and shouting, invincible.

  Zhou Yingjie coldly smiled as he looked at these people, continuously calculating the distance, seventy steps, sixty-five steps, sixty steps...

  As long as they waited within fifty paces, they could pierce their armor. Just as Zhou Ying Jie was counting, a gunshot suddenly rang out from the battlefield. One person fired, and the highly concentrated soldiers mistakenly thought they had received the order to fight, so they all fired together.

  Gunsmoke rose, and the sound of gunfire was sparse. The vanguard of the Guanning Army charged forward, with only a few people being hit. Due to the distance of about sixty paces, it was not possible to kill the enemy. Only one unlucky guy was shot in the face and fell off his horse!

  "Who fired the shot!"

  Zhou Yingjie was furious and sternly asked.

  "The garrison commander is a soldier of Datong Town and not under the command of the general."

  Zhou Yingjie's face was gloomy, among his two thousand soldiers, after all, not all of them were brought out by Zhou Yuji, there were also many defeated soldiers from other places, they were not well-trained and could not withstand such great mental pressure, problems arose on the battlefield.

  A hundred secrets, one leak. Zhou Yingjie was very careful when deploying the formation, but still left a gap. He couldn't afford to be angry and could only shout loudly: "Everyone hold steady, no chaos allowed!"

  Fortunately, those old soldiers who met Zhou Yu were very tenacious, and the chaos passed quickly.

  But the Gengning Army also took advantage of the situation and charged to within thirty steps, which was an extremely deadly distance. It seemed that with one leap of their war horses, they could break through the phalanx of the firearms troops. To make matters worse, these firearms did not have bayonets, so close combat was no match for the fire-spewing guns.

  Zhou Yingjie's eyes turned red, and he hastily gave the order: "Fire!"

  At last the soldiers fired a decent volley, and the scorching bullets hit the enemy's body like raindrops.

  Thirty paces away, the rifle was accurate and ruthless, a huge kinetic energy hit the human body, every soldier who was shot was like being struck by an iron hammer, his body flew out horizontally and heavily fell to the ground.

  Some people's skin burst open, their flesh and blood were blurred, and they fell dead on the spot. Some armor was strong and fortunately not pierced by bullets, but those soldiers suffered even more. One by one, they opened their mouths wide and spat out pieces of dark red internal organs with blood. Their physical bodies had been shattered!

  A single volley, and fifty or sixty cavalrymen fell to the ground, even the war horses were unable to escape death, collapsing in droves. The leader of the charge was hit so hard that his head was blown off, leaving only half of his body, which continued to bleed profusely.

  Having seen such a tragic scene, the remaining soldiers were stunned, and everyone changed color, unable to help but want to escape.

  At this moment, another round of gunfire broke out, and the remaining cavalry fell down like wheat again. Only two or three lucky guys turned around and ran away, without looking back at anything.

  The smoke has dispersed, leaving behind a field of corpses, the stench of blood stimulating everyone's nostrils and nerves.

  "Lao Qi, that was a close call! If it had been any later, the Guanning army would have charged in!" Gao Hongtu said anxiously: "Do you want me to remind Ninth Brother to restrain his troops?"

  "No need!" Gu Zhenhua waved his hand: "I believe Jiunan can handle it well!"

  Gu Zhenhua remained as still as Mount Tai, while at this time Zhou Yingjie had already dragged out the guy who fired prematurely and brought him in front of everyone.

  "Brothers, what just happened was only the appetizer, the real battle is yet to come. But two things have been made clear: first, the guns in our hands are sharp and reliable, we can completely defeat the Guanning Army and also defeat the Tartars, everyone must have confidence. Second, a rotten apple will drag down everyone, even causing the entire front line to collapse, towards such people, I will show no mercy!"

  Zhou Yingjie said, the waist knife in his hand cut down mercilessly, and a human head flew out for several meters, with blood flowing all over the ground.

  Everyone present was shocked. Originally, Zhou Yu's subordinates were fine, but others were extremely cautious, afraid of making another mistake and losing their heads.

  Just as the army had stabilized, there were waves of vibrations on the ground, and Wu Sangui's cavalry launched another attack. This time, the traitor concentrated a thousand elite cavalrymen and charged forward like a tide.

  "Come on, Grandpa is waiting!"

  Xie Bin and Zhou Yingjie both gritted their teeth, ready for battle, as the group of people finally charged to about fifty paces away.

  "Fire!"

  "Beat them, beat them hard, don't let a single traitor go!"

  Zhou Yingjie and Xie Bin gave orders almost simultaneously, the sound of guns bursting like beans, the Guanning army fell to the ground in batches, and a strong bloody smell enveloped the battlefield.