Du Zhongxiao climbed the watchtower, picked up the binoculars in his hand, and looked at the battlefield in front of him. After looking at it for a while, he put down the binoculars and said to Fu Bi: "Today is Zhang Qi's command, let's watch the battle at the same time." If this battle is won, Shannan will be owned by the imperial court. ”

Fu Bi nodded: "Exactly." It is precisely because of this that Zhang Qi must win! If Illic is allowed to run, even if he wins, it will be his mistake! In addition to the troops participating in the battle, there were more than 3,000 cavalry, arranged behind the flanks, waiting for pursuit. ”

Du Zhongxiao looked at the huge military array in front of him and said, "This time, there are more than 40,000 people on our side, and more than 70,000 Black Khan soldiers and horses, which is the biggest battle I have ever participated in. On a battlefield, more than 100,000 people, it looks really spectacular. ”

The sun rises in the east, shedding thousands of rays of light, and the vast desert shines with golden light. Next to the river, there is a large poplar forest, which has long since shed its leaves and stands quietly. Occasionally, a goshawk or two flew by in the sky, staring at the earth.

The Song army began to line up. In the sun, rows of bayonets glowed coldly, and it was terrifying to look at. The artillerymen pushed the gun mounts, mixed in an infantry formation, and prepared to move forward according to a predetermined line. The front was aimed at the castle, and the two flanks were strengthened, spreading out a huge front and aimed at the camp of the Black Khan. There are several watchtowers in each direction, which are set up front-line command posts, on which more senior generals stand.

The Black Khan army formation was arranged against the Song army, strengthened the flanks, and the arrangement against the Song army began to unfold. There were many cavalry in the Black Khan army, most of them were concentrated on the two wings and stretched far away, which meant that the Song army was-for-tat. The façade rests on the castle and is slightly receded.

Watching the two sides slowly unfold their formations, Du Zhongxiao said: "The advantage now is that the Black Khan army has no artillery, and the flanks can slowly move forward with artillery. Entering the range of artillery, the enemy formation was broken up with artillery, and the infantry rushed forward with the artillery fire. The difficulty now is that the front of the Black Khan army's formation is too wide, and after the first round of attacks, it depends on what Zhang Qi does to seal the way for the enemy to retreat. ”

Fu Bi held the binoculars, looked at the battlefield in front of him, and did not speak. It was the first time he had seen the soldiers and horses fighting on the meandering road, and he was particularly attentive. I only heard about how powerful the soldiers and horses on the river meandering road were, but unfortunately I have only seen the soldiers and horses drill, but I have not seen the actual combat, and today I have fulfilled my wish.

Suddenly, a cannon shot rang out, dull and distant, breaking the silence of the battlefield.

With the sound of cannons, the war drums of the Song army began to sound, and the two wings slowly approached forward with the nodes.

Du Zhongxiao said to Fu Bi: "In addition to the drum music today, Zhang Qi also added the sound of cannons as a trumpet. This cannon is to order the left and right wings to advance together. But in the back, the cannon is useless, I heard that it is with fireworks. ”

Fu Bi shook his head: "Fireworks were originally used for entertainment, and this Zhang Qi remembered to be used on the battlefield." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Fireworks fly into the air, if they are used well, they can be seen clearly during the day, and they can be used on the battlefield." The so-called cloud-piercing arrow, thousands of troops come to meet each other, and it is also good to use. ”

Fu Bi was stunned for a moment and said, "What kind of cloud-piercing arrow?" Where does this sentence come from? ”

Du Zhongxiao waved his hand casually: "It's just a casual statement, take an auspicious one." Vice-envoy, look, the wings are attached! ”

There are cannons in the Song army's array, and when the two armies are arrayed, the distance is no longer a place of one arrow, and the black sweat is afraid of artillery, and the distance in the middle is farther than the range of the cannon. The two flanks of the Song army approached forward, and the black sweat did not dare to attack head-on, and the distance slowly shortened, gradually entering the range of artillery.

Seeing that the Song army had reached a distance of more than a hundred paces, the large array stopped, and the gunners pushed the artillery and slowly entered the gun position. When Fu Bi saw it, he sighed and said: "There are artillery in the army, and there is no artillery in the army, they are completely two armies." The enemy has no artillery, our army can shorten the distance to the range of artillery, and the enemy can only be beaten passively, or have to come up and attack. Zhang Qi did this to give full play to the power of the cannon. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes, there are cannons in the army, of course, we must give full play to the power of the cannons." Zhang Qi's arrangement is reasonable, and the only difficulty now is how to completely block the Iric of the Chinese army in front after the enemy formation is in chaos. ”

Standing in the castle watchtower, Illic saw that the army formation in front of him did not move, but instead pressed up on the flanks, and said to Alsi: "The intention of the Song army is obvious, that is, to defeat us on both flanks first. Order the generals on both sides to deal calmly and block the Song army! As long as they block the attack of the Song army, their morale will be discouraged, and they will be defeated again! ”

Alsi listened to the order and ordered his own soldiers to pass the military order.

In the end, the castle has perfect defenses, and no matter how powerful the artillery of the Song army is, it can't directly break through here.

Zhang Qi saw that his two wings were already approaching the enemy, and the enemy's formation had not moved, and said to Zhang Sheng: "The two armies are more than 100 steps apart, and the artillery can break up the enemy's formation, and it will be much easier to attack at that time." ”

Zhang Sheng said: "The general is right, the enemy's bows and arrows can't shoot us, so we can only let the artillery bombard, how can we maintain the military formation?" In this battle, Black Khan and I fought in the field and had already lost. Unless the two armies are mixed together, otherwise they will not be able to win against us. ”

Seeing that the artillery of the two flanks was in place, Zhang Qi said loudly: "Send another cannon, notify all armies, attack!" ”

The herald obeyed the order, picked up the flag in his hand, and shook it violently at the gun emplacement not far away. The gun position was ordered, and another empty cannon was fired. As the cannon fell, the Song troops on both flanks rang out the cannon at the same time, and gunpowder smoke rose. In the smoke of gunpowder, the infantry loaded their charges and raised their rifles forward.

A large number of flowering shells fell into the formation of the Black Khan Army, and there was an explosion, and the position was filled with smoke. As the first round of artillery rang out, the attacked Black Khan's army was in disarray, full of frightened horses, wounded people who fell to the ground, and terrified rebels.

Illic saw it from the castle tower and said sharply, "What are the generals on both wings waiting for?" The Song army is near, they are still attacking, waiting to drag the artillery to bombard them! Send a herald and order them to organize a death squad attack! Disperse the Song army, what is the use of artillery! ”

Alsi listened to the order and hurriedly ordered the herald to go and give the order. If you don't attack, you can only be approached step by step by the Song army and use artillery to teach the Black Khan army how to behave. At this time, the two sides were relatively close, only more than a hundred steps, fighting for the dead, and were able to rush forward.

At this time, the lethality of the artillery was not amazing, and the flowering shells exploded as soon as they were shot, and there were actually not many casualties around. But for those who have not seen the war of firearms, the momentum is staggering. Especially for the injured, the sound of ghosts crying wolves is particularly shocking. The Black Khan army was elite enough, and as long as it sent troops to rush forward, the Song infantry had to fight it and protect the gun positions. At this time, the artillery positions were relatively fixed, and the infantry of the Song army could not retreat, and the two sides needed to fight hard.

It's a pity that Ilik overestimated his army, and the Black Khan generals on both flanks were desperately restrained, but they still couldn't stop the scattered army formation, and slowly retreated to the center. The Song artillery extended its range and bombarded the Black Khan army until it forced them into a large mass in the middle.

Du Zhongxiao held the binoculars and looked at the war in the distance, with no expression on his face. This result was predicted, the range of artillery was far above the bow and arrow, and as long as the black sweat did not attack, it would inevitably come to such a stage. Zhang Qi's most arduous task is how to make a final decision at this stage.

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