Infantry will not fight without formations. Once the battle formation is broken, the combat effectiveness of the infantry will not be able to compete with the cavalry. As a result, there will be a scene of wolves driving away the sheep on the grassland.

The Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang were famous all over the world for its army, but the real core was the infantry combat formation, the Yuanyang formation, the long spear formation and the light infantry of the firearms formation, and fought in an upright array on the battlefield. The cavalry was just an auxiliary, forming an intelligence shield before the war to prevent the enemy from interfering. After the infantry defeated the enemy, they launched a pursuit and expanded the results of the battle.

With this tactic, it is the inevitable result of the number of cavalry in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Ming army always at a disadvantage. If you want to win on the battlefield, playing to your strengths and avoiding your weaknesses is the most basic. Chen Wen naturally wanted to try to exert the power of the infantry battle formation, but Jiergalang wanted to try to destroy the battle formation, disperse more Ming troops to individuals, become defeated soldiers, and thus rolling the snowball up.

The dense shield car rolled forward. Through the telescope, Chen Wen could clearly see the structure of the shield car - two wheels side by side, a three-person wide trolley. The horizontal plate of the car was very short, and a wooden sign stood on it. It looked very thick and not a pure wooden structure.

"The card is very thick, with a layer of cowhide and a layer of iron. Small bricks and stones will not move when they hit, large bricks and stones will not roll down, and firewood will not burn when they throw it."

The "Complete Book of War and Defense" written by Fan Jingwen, the Minister of Works of Dongge University who died in Beijing during the Jiashen period, recorded the structure of this chariot that was widely used by the Qing army in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

Chen Wen could vaguely see that the shield on the shield was a duplex structure. Recalling the news that the Military Information Department sent it to Nanjing Station in Jiangbei in the past few months and that Jiergalang gathered all the blacksmiths from these mansions to Nanjing after rushing to Nanjing, it is self-evident how defensive the shield is.

"There are such retro tactics!"

Shield chariots cover the advance of infantry. In the era of Nurhaci and Huang Taiji in the early Qing Dynasty, the Later Jin army and the Qing army often used this tactic. The reason is very simple. Use shield chariots to reduce the killing of Ming munitions. There is no way for such a structure of shield chariots, and even tiger squat cannons were helpless. "The slave used a licensed chariot to cover more than 20 people" was definitely of great benefit to the Qing army.

However, while reducing casualties, this tactic also means that the military's strategic movement speed cannot be too fast.

Fortunately, the Qing army either fought against the Dongjiang army in Liaodong, or bullied Lin Dankhan in Liaoning, or went to western Liaoning to sweep the Guanning army, and they all fought around the one-acre three-point land in Liaodong. However, after entering the pass, this tactic immediately could not keep up with the Qing cavalry's rushing attack. The Ming army was in a fast pace of surrendering, so it was no longer used - anyway, the Eight Banners Army had a great reputation accumulated over decades, and a large number of traitors as cannon fodder, so they were not needed.

The Qing army's shield chariot was not moving slowly. The three Qing soldiers behind were pushing a heavier two-wheeled trolley, which at least did not slow down the overall speed of the infantry.

Chen Wen was looking at these shield cars, and the Ming army on the battlefield was even more so. The Qing army's battle formation was slowly advancing and had to stop for a while every distance he walked. This was a matter of course. The front line was too long. Doing so could reduce the possibility of the queue breaking during the march, and prevent part of it from being too convex.

At this moment, this distance was not something that the Ming army's artillery could hit, so the Ming army naturally did not fire rashly. The other branches of arms were fine, but the artillery officers were constantly measuring the distance between each other. After all, they were the troops with the farthest attack distance between the Ming army, and they would be the first troops to strike these shield vehicles.

The Qing army slowly advanced, and the air on the battlefield became more and more suppressed. After a special round of troops, the Qing army quickly entered the range of the Ming army artillery.

"Pre-install the gun, prepare."

The farthest artillery of the Ming army was naturally the Red and Black Cannons, but it is difficult for such artillery to keep up with the strategic maneuver speed of the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so Chen Wen simply equipped each division with a caliber and large Red and Black Cannons to cooperate with the mortar cannon to siege. Since he had expected that the Qing army would fight the Ming army here, these artillery and the artillery team were not transported here.

In addition to the large-caliber Red Cannon and the mortar cannon, the rear-loaded cannon of the Mother-Sected Cannon has a limited range, but its advantage is that its shooting speed is amazing, and it has always been a necessary artillery for the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. But it is also a matter of range. Chen Wen added the establishment of the front-loaded cannons that were commonly called by the Ming and Qing armies in the Ming and Qing dynasties to make up for the fire gap at this distance.

The Ming army did not fire artillery fire at a distance of about a mile, which was incomprehensible to the Qing army, but as the distance continued to get closer, the depression in the air was instantly released with the order of firing artillery.

"Front install guns and fire!"

Each battalion has eight front-mounted cannons. Chen Wen brought four divisions and two cavalry infantry battalions. The cavalry guns of the cavalry infantry battalion are not large in diameter and are still behind the formation. Although the Jinhua Division, as a reserve team, is still behind the formation, the artillery is already on standby in front of the formation.

The order was issued, and the 128 people lined up in front of the formation fired in sequence according to the division. The shells flew into the sky one after another, and then fell along the trajectory of the parabola, and instantly rushed into the Qing army's battle formation.

The shells roared, and the human reaction was not enough to dodge anyway. Since this was the first shot, many shells did not bombard the Qing army's crowd at all, but instead stirred up pieces of soil in front of the formation.

The soil was flying and hitting the shield cart with crackling sound, which could not hinder the shield cart from advancing at all. The shells that blasted into the battle formation were accompanied by people and horses and blocking people, but they could not do anything about these shield carts.

However, the shield chariots that were directly named by the shells were as unbearable as the flesh-and-blood Qing army. Thick wooden boards wrapped in cowhide and iron sheet could not stop the attack of the shells. The shield chariot was bombarded, and even the Qing army pushing the cart behind was unable to escape. They were either shot by the shells or splashed wood and iron sheets, and even the Qing army behind them who were covered by the shield chariot were no exception.

In an instant, more than a dozen holes in the Qing army's shield chariot array were broken, but the holes were quickly blocked by the shield chariot behind. Jiergalang prepared for several months and even devoted all his strength to Jiangnan and northern Jiangbei. It was impossible to destroy the shield chariot array at one time.

After the shooting, the front-loading gun was not waiting for the order, and immediately entered a series of steps such as reset, clearing the slag, loading, and aiming.

Due to the different loading speeds, each division only has thirty-two. Waiting for the last one after the loading is a waste of time. The shooting orders for these front-loading gun groups have become free shooting. After years of rigorous training, the training alone uses more gunpowder than many veteran Qing army gunners used for more than ten years. The Ming army artillery fired at an astonishing speed, and soon made one hole after another in the Qing army's shield formation again.

The wound healing speed of the shield chariot formation was far beyond the Ming army's imagination, which shows how sufficient Jirgalang's preparation was. Soon, the shield chariot formation, as the vanguard, entered the range of the Ming army's Fran machine cannon, but this time the Ming army was not in a hurry and still asked those front-loading guns to continue to punch holes in the shield chariot formation.

After making this progress, the situation is still within Jirgalang's expectations. That was the case in Liaodong that year. Not to mention the poor ghosts of the Dongjiang Army and the Qingjis Khan who only had riding and shooting, the only cavalry and shooting left by Lin Danhan, the chariot and artillery battalion of the Guanning Army in Liaoxi is not as good as the shooting rate of the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but he was not unprepared before, and he could still bear such a loss.

"Prince, it's time to reach this distance. The Zhejiang bandit's Folang machine cannon has not opened fire yet. This is probably not good."

Guan Qizhong said despicable words as usual. The Manchu officers and personal soldiers around Jirgalang all glared at him, but Jirgalang frowned. It was not that these words were not good, but that these were indeed unpleasant words!

Just as Guan Qizhong said, the Qing army continued to advance for a moment, and was even about to enter the range of the turtledove-footed gun. The Ming army's 128 Folang machine cannons suddenly opened fire, and instantly released the long-accumulated anger on the Qing army's shield formation.

At this distance, even if the Flang machine cannon is poor in airtightness, its power is enough to destroy the shield car, and then cause damage to the Qing army behind the shield car.

After a volley, the Qing army's shield formation became riddled with holes. It was not as simple as shooting more than a dozen or dozens of negligible holes on the huge battle formation when the front fired at a long distance.

After the first shot was completed, the Ming army gunner wearing gloves took out the hot sub-gun, and the other gunners loaded the new sub-guns, and even did not aim. In the direction of the Qing army's battle formation, the next round of shooting began again.

The shells were scattered on the Qing army's battle formation one after another, and soon the shield chariot formation stopped moving forward. This level of artillery shooting had exceeded the limit of the shield chariot formation being replenished while advancing. The Qing army could not enter the hand-to-hand combat stage with the broken battle formation, so it had to stop and reorganize the queue, but the Ming army's artillery shooting was still unyielding, and it was not until the guns were completely shot that it could be considered as a result of a conclusion.

The sporadic front-loading guns were still firing, but the shield chariots used by the Qing army to supplement them could no longer ensure the integrity of the shield chariot array. Jiergalang swallowed. When they were in Liaodong, as long as they seduced them casually, the Guanning Army's artillery battalion wanted to shoot out all the shells and bullets. Now this Jiangsu and Zhejiang Ming army is far more difficult than he imagined. The psychological qualities of these artillery soldiers alone are no longer comparable to those useless opponents they encountered before.

"keep going."

Since the shield chariot formation has been replenished, the Qing army simply moved forward with such a broken shield chariot formation. Time is life. When the artillery cools down, it will not take long to rush forward. Even if the Qing army carried the artillery and entered the hand-to-hand combat stage, it will not take long to be defeated by the Ming army.

The Qing army continued to advance, and Chen Wen rode his horse from a distance from the mound under his command, and seemed to have smelled Jirgalang's intentions.

"This Jirgalang's head is really iron."

Shaking his head, Chen Wen ordered the gun team in front to retreat into the hollow square formation behind them. Even the musketeers left only the turtledove-legged gun, and all the shooters of the Lumi gun were withdrawn into the formation.

The shield car array was getting closer and closer, and had already entered the range of the turtledove-footed gun. The Ming army's shooting began, and bullets that were far more dense than artillery shells hit the shield car with crackling.

Most bullets can penetrate the shield car's baffle and make small holes after holes. But even so, the damage of the Qing army behind the shield car has become extremely limited. Only those Qing army battle formation directions that have not been protected by the shield car, the bullets of the turtledove-legged guns are raging in the fragments after incompleteness, knocking the Qing army, who cannot resist the shooting of such heavy convex guns to the ground even if the shield protects the vital points.

The Ming army's killing began to become weaker. The morale of the Qing army, which had been passively beaten during this period, began to recover quickly under the inspiration of the officers' repeated high rewards, and the speed of travel became faster and faster.

The turtledove-legged gun had poor killing effect on the Qing army behind the shield chariot. Next, as the Qing army entered the range of the tiger squat cannon, these weapons that almost cost Chen Wen's life in Siming Mountain were helpless with the Qing army's shield chariot.

After a series of deflections, the direction of the development of the war began to gradually return to what Jirgalang had expected before. Although the price paid was much greater than he had imagined, since he could return to the established track, the subsequent development would probably be the same as when he was in Liaodong.

After a round of almost useless shooting, in the rain of arrows shot by the archers behind the Qing army, the Ming army's firearms team and the tiger squat cannons retreated into the hollow square formation one after another.

Next, the hollow square array in front of the Ming army, in the bureau, was quickly broken down into a square array in units of sentries. The spearmen were outside, and the firearm team was in the center, posing as a stance to deal with hand-to-hand combat.

This was somewhat beyond the expectations of the Qing army, but it did not hinder the Qing army's next tactics. As the Qing army's battle formation got closer and closer to the front row of the Ming army, the cavalry in the direction of the Qing army's reserve team moved in large scale and rushed towards the two wings of the Ming army. At this time, the Qing army's infantry archers behind the shield chariot also gathered at the rear and sides of the shield chariot, and even the areas without shield chariot protection also emerged from the front of the formation.
Chapter completed!