Li Zicheng didn't expect that the Ming army would not take the wide avenue, and had to fight from the mountains and rivers, and the Ming army still had artillery!

When dozens of one-pound artillery pieces of the Ming army rumbled, Li Zicheng already knew that something was wrong.

He didn't expect that the Ming army would sneak all the way from the capital to Zezhou with so many cannons!

He didn't expect that when the Ming army used the bird gun and the cannon together, it would make their side fall into a completely passive state!

These days, in the process of running away, Li Zicheng has reflected on the battle of the capital many times, and after collecting the general's cannon here in Zezhou, he is no stranger to the general's cannon, and they are now also equipped with some large and small cannons.

Especially the big general's cannon here in Zezhou, but at this time, compared with the artillery of the Ming army, he clearly felt that his artillery was not very powerful, and after testing, the remaining guns here in Zezhou were difficult to use in the field, and even a little hindered.

Zezhou only casts the cannon body here, although the cannon process in this era is small, but the frame is also made by the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty after many explorations.

So Li Zicheng is not good at using the general's cannon now, if you want to use the general's cannon to hit people, you have to pile up the soil first, not to mention the large amount of work, and it is easy to be discovered by the enemy, under normal circumstances, people see you in the pile of soil and transfer, after all, who will be stupid waiting for you to hit with the cannon?

Unless it's defending the city, the goal is clear, or the enemy can't move at all!

And there is usually only one reason why the infantry can't move on the battlefield, that is, they are watched by a large number of cavalry.

Since ancient times, infantry and cavalry have to form a formation, and the infantry after the formation is usually difficult to move, unless it is a phalanx of muskets and spears like the Spanish phalanx and the Morris phalanx, in order to turn themselves into a "moving castle", so that the musketeers can slowly move around the pike.

However, even this kind of "mobile fortress" will suffer heavy losses in the face of a three-pounder gun that can be quickly transferred!

Nowadays, in the European theater of the same period, artillery has become the key factor in determining victory or defeat!

However, Li Zicheng's subordinates are all traditional armies, which are basically still in a state of what is of any use, and have not yet fully handled the logistical and other aspects.

For the cavalry of this period, horses are the most important equipment, and in addition to the Dongnu, Mongols and Ming army, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and other anti-kings are still in a state of loss and no supplement, and the real elite cavalry is a person and two horses, which can be regarded as truly combative.

In addition, Li Chuangjun does not have the support of the official camp Ma Zheng, so he can only rely on the soldiers below to raise horses by himself, and the expenses are basically from looting, in this state, it is impossible for one person to have two horses.

Therefore, although Li Zicheng's current cavalry has several thousand, most of them are not strong in real combat effectiveness!

"What can I do? It's not okay to stand up to the bombardment like this! ”

Listening to the rumbling cannons, Li Zicheng remembered the battle of the capital, when the Ming army used the same tricks, step by step to make his camp collapse, at this time Li Zicheng was a little out of breath.

"Your Majesty, do you want to let the old battalion go to the artillery position of the Ming army?"

This idea is unreliable, this is to disrupt the rhythm of the Ming army, induce the whole Ming army to attack, and then ambush the troops, after all, the Ming army is now so steady and steady, when the time comes, the ambush will come out, facing the Ming army with a strict formation, I am afraid it is impossible to fight down.

Besides, no one can stand such an artillery bombardment, although it seems that there are only dozens of small cannons of one catty, but a round of salvo down, can also blast out dozens of deadly shells, like this, with only the bird gun to shoot, it is incomprehensible, occasionally there are warriors who want to show that they are not afraid of death, but they are also shot into a hornet's nest!

If the Ming army bombarded the city like this, how many casualties would there be on their side? What morale will there be then? Maybe if you don't need the Ming army to pounce, you will repeat the mistakes of the past and run down again!

Li Zicheng thought for a while at this time, and said: "I'm afraid that the artillery array will not be able to succeed, but you can buy a little time, make preparations, in case the attack fails, move the ambush soldiers, and avoid the artillery of the Ming army!" ”

Why can't you jump into this well-laid trap? Li Zicheng was very depressed, when did the Ming army become so difficult? So you can fight?

"The last general commands!" Hao Shaoqi nodded heavily, "Then let's go and choose the dead soldier and fight with the Ming army!" Maybe you'll get it! ”

After speaking, he strode down the mountain, he was also unlucky, originally Liu Zongmin died, he served as the general of the cavalry, if the cavalry army was to return to help, Li Chuangjun would collapse so quickly in the capital, but tens of thousands of cavalry troops, once collapsed, only more than 100 horsemen remained, Li Zicheng did not cut him, it was good for him.

The drums are bursting, the old pig mountain over there has been captured by the Ming army, and countless Ming troops have occupied that position, camping in Shantou Shanyin, Li Zicheng is very depressed, in this way, it is impossible to achieve the pre-plan.

Under the pressure of artillery, Li Chuang's army also had to launch a counterattack, using artillery to force the opponent's infantry to attack the position that he was waiting for, which was a very common tactic in the European battlefield at the same time.

Li Zicheng this time can be regarded as encountering the advanced art of war, the battle personally commanded by the British Duke Zhang Shize, in all fairness, is still very professional, he did not rely on the superior military strength, let the Ming army rush forward, but steady and steady, all aimed at Li Chuang's weak point of the tactics.

Even after capturing the top of Laozhu Mountain, Li Zicheng did not know that Wang Dou, the general of the Ming army, had arrived.

Attacking down from the top of the hill, the artillery array is not easy to fight.

Considering that Li Chuang's thief army on the battlefield had many cavalry, Zhang Shize let the infantry army attack with spears, and the rest were half of swords and half archers.

At this time, nearly 10,000 people formed a phalanx with pikemen as the core, and pitched down from the top of Laozhu Mountain.

At this time, Li Zicheng, who had moved to the head of Zezhou City to supervise the battle, saw the attack launched by the Ming army from a distance, and after watching it for a while, he couldn't help laughing: "Sure enough, it's still the Ming army that you know!" ”

"Emperor, do you want to give General Hao any orders?" Gu Junen on the side asked.

"Not necessarily." Li Zicheng smiled, "He knows what to do!" ”

Hao Shaoqi's task is to wait for the Ming army's artillery array to go down the mountain, and then wait for the opportunity to move, destroy these threatening cannons, there are cannons, the Ming army is easy to attack the city, although Li Yan began to renovate this Zezhou city two days ago, but the craftsmen in the city are scarce, and the materials are not very sufficient, but it is not as good as those important towns and fortified cities, and it cannot be compared with the Ming Jingshi.

As soon as Li Zicheng's words fell, the intruding troops stationed outside the city sounded a thunderous drum.

Liu Fangliang has already sent troops to meet the battle, after Liu Zongmin, Gao Yigong and others died, the army is now reshuffled, Liu Fangliang is already one of the best generals in the army, as for Li Shuangxi, although he is very loyal, but Li Zicheng can't let him take charge of the army alone to cultivate his own forces.

After all, the heirs chosen by Dashun have been determined, and these righteous sons should gradually return to the right position, and they should not be given so many opportunities to think.

From top to bottom, the pitch attack was the easiest, occupying a favorable geographical position, and was soon attacked by the Ming army to the bottom of the mountain.

The troops sent by Liu Fangliang to meet the battle were cavalry formations and infantry phalanxes, and the front was a sword and shield soldier, just to guard against the firearms of the Ming army.

There was no battle in front of the battle, and a shouting of killing sounded directly on the battlefield, and the two sides began to be entangled and fighting.

At this time, the hidden Hao Shaoqi was already preparing to ambush the Ming army's artillery array, but now it was still far away, and the Ming army's artillery had not been completed.

The spearmen of the Ming army and the sword and shield hands of the invading army quickly collided together, and the bloody melee battle soon unfolded under the city of Zezhou, first the spears that advanced like a wall were inserted into the array of sword and shield hands, and the sharp spear tips carried a huge momentum, and instantly penetrated the cloth clothes worn by the sword and shield soldiers.

Then there is the counterattack of the saber and shield hand waist knife! The shield and the waist knife rushed to the front of the pikemen, and the swords fell in their hands, all slashing and stabbing at the armor of the pikemen, and the casualties on both sides began to surge, and the archers, firearms battalions, and cavalry behind the Ming army array began to prepare for battle.

The archers who started first, the archers on both sides attacked almost at the same time, and the archers on both sides were very good, after all, the archer was also a high-level class, all of them were veterans who had been in the army for many years, and the casualties on both sides began to surge under a burst of shooting.

However, the arrow is not a bullet after all, and it does not have much lethality for armored targets, so it is true that there are not many arrows that are knocked over.

After all, the Ming army has the foundation of the Ming Dynasty, and basically has armor, even if many of them are cotton armor, but it is much stronger than the cloth clothes of the army.

Soon after the fierce battle of the infantry began, in the open land north of Zezhou City, the cavalry of both sides also fought, but this was more than 1,000 heavy cavalry of the Ming army and thousands of light cavalry of the Ming army were fighting, and thousands of light cavalry of the Ming army launched an intensive charge from different directions.

Both sides have hidden strength, on the side of the Ming army, the general Wang Dou has not yet come out, and on the side of the breaking army, the arranged artillery and the hidden ambush army are waiting for the right time to join the battlefield.

The battle between the two sides at this time has not yet been decided, the infantry is the Ming army with the upper hand with equipment, and the cavalry is the upper hand with the number of the army, but the cavalry of the army is not equipped with high-class war horses, only a few are high-class war horses.

Because the real elite cavalry of the Chuang army has been destroyed in Jizhen, and countless war horses have been captured by the Ming army, which is also the reason why the Ming army dares to configure heavy cavalry, the heavy cavalry is a one-person double horse or even three horses.

Most of the horses that the cavalry of the invading army are riding now are not even up to the standard of war horses, there is no way, these cavalry are also collected by Li Yan from all over the Central Plains, although it is said that the Central Plains and the south can raise horses, but the cost of raising horses in the Central Plains and the south is many times higher than the cost of raising horses in the northern grasslands, and they are simply unable to maintain a huge herd of horses.

The heavy number of prairie horses is to select one out of a hundred tall and strong foals to be castrated and used as war horses.

However, the horses raised in the Central Plains and the south are few and expensive, and if you want to pick one out of a hundred, there will be no horses available!

Therefore, although the thousands of light cavalry of the invading army occupied the advantage of numbers, but in the face of the heavy cavalry of the Ming army, which was not weak and well-equipped, it was not long before they gained the upper hand, and they were broken through the battle formation by the heavy cavalry of the Ming army at full speed.

Liu Fangliang, who was in charge of commanding the invasion of the army, also had to send infantry to cover the retreat of his cavalry with a dense line of guns.

The cavalry of the Ming army, which won for a while, did not fall in love with the battle, because Zhang Shize was still in command at this time, and he had no other talent, just one word "stability", not greedy for merit, and waiting for the enemy to collapse!

At the same time, the battle of the infantry cluster has been divided into winners and losers, although the Ming infantry fought hard, but still fell behind, not by the infantry saber shield soldiers of the breaking army, but Hao Shaoqi saw that the artillery of the Ming army was delayed into the battlefield, he had no choice but to take the ambush into the battle, he bypassed the infantry on both sides of the fierce battle, turned to the flank of the Ming army, thousands of elite soldiers of the old battalion of the invasion army killed, and there was a result immediately.

As soon as the defeat began, the remaining Ming troops began to run wildly, and at this time, the light cavalry of the invading army also began to join the pursuing battlefield.

Just when the one-sided massacre was about to be staged, thousands of heavy cavalry of the Ming army came around at this time and launched a charge against the invading army.

Although there were only a thousand cavalry, he seized the opportunity and hit Liu Fangliang by surprise, thinking that the Ming army heavy cavalry was small in number, although the cavalry battle was not an opponent, but it could still be entangled, he didn't expect that it was just an oversight, and he was driven out of the encirclement by this Ming army's heavy cavalry, and then directly attacked the sword and shield hand who was chasing and killing the Ming army's infantry army.

Generally speaking, the spearmen and cavalry are the sword and shield hand, the sword and shield hand is the firearms battalion and the archer, and the cavalry is the sword and the shield hand is the archer, but this is also related to the combat effectiveness and equipment of both sides, and the sword and shield hand is not without the power of a battle in the face of the cavalry, but the sword and shield hand of the army has no armor, and the equipment is congenitally insufficient, and there is naturally no suspense in the face of the impact of the heavy cavalry.

And the infantry cavalry of the Dashun Army, which was chasing the Ming army, was in a chaotic formation, and in the face of the sudden impact of more than a thousand heavy cavalry, they didn't even have the ability to resist for half a minute!

However, the Dashun light cavalry on horseback are all thieves who have accumulated years, and they are very experienced in dealing with this situation, and a "pull" sounded, and they saw that these knights on horseback had turned around and fled, leaving the Dashun infantry on the battlefield to the enemy - these infantry were cannon fodder, most of them were coerced, and generally speaking, no one would feel distressed if they were killed.

Li Zicheng didn't care about the casualties of these infantry troops, the old battalion also had infantry troops, and the infantry troops of the old battalion were armored, and they were all deployed on the head of Zezhou City at this time, and the casualties of the infantry troops under the city were not in his eyes, these were all reserve troops collected by Li Yan from all over the country.