Demoness, Where Are You Fleeing To?

The place Li Xuan chose to cross the river was south of the 'Baiding Bridge', which was relatively close to the Cao Army camp.

He concentrated the elite of Shenji's left and right battalions on the right wing and the center army facing the north, while Li Xuan placed the 8,000 Yiwu troops who were not yet fully trained on the left wing.

——Not far to the south of the Yiwu Army is the artillery position of the Cao Army, which allows them to receive maximum artillery reinforcements in the next battle.

There are also 10,000 infantry troops from the Jizhou Army. After crossing the river, they will enter the Cao Army camp to strengthen the defense of the artillery positions.

The long-range firepower ratio of these Jizhou infantry is very high. The entire army has 5,000 shotguns in good condition, as well as 3,000 longbows and hard crossbows.

Li Xuan was temporarily unable to mobilize all the troops of Jizhou Army, but he had no problem temporarily mobilizing some shotguns and crossbows.

Among these 10,000 infantry, there are also 2,000 shield bearers.

This can be said to be the essence of Jizhou's "Miyun Guards" garrison. Almost all of them are at the level of the third-level tower or above, and 200 of them even have the cultivation level of the fourth-level tower.

As for the 18,000 cavalry troops, Li Xuan arranged for them to rest on the river bank behind the "Baiding Bridge" while guarding the flanks and rear of the entire army.

And once they win on the west bank, these 18,000 cavalry troops can pursue the remaining enemies through the "Baiding Bridge" at any time.

When nearly 40,000 people from Shenji's left and right battalions lined up in an orderly queue and arrived at the middle section of the Chaobai River, there was a trembling sound of "click-click" underneath the ice.

The soldiers of the Shenji Battalion were panicked for a while, but when they discovered that the ice below did not crack, but was actually more stable, everyone was completely relieved.

They continued to march towards the west bank with neat steps.

At this time, the reeds tied under their feet worked, allowing the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion to walk flat on the smooth ice.

"Interesting! He doesn't even plan to use the cavalry? This guy is so arrogant that he placed those 18,000 cavalry across the river -"

Liang Heng stood on a hill on the west bank of the Chaobai River. From a high position, he looked with disdain at the 'line phalanxes' pressing over the other side of the river.

At this time, Liang Heng had completed the deployment of troops, and except for the 120,000 men under his command, they continued to press in the direction of the Cao Army camp. The remaining 250,000 troops have been mobilized by him to the south of the "Baiding Bridge", which is the section of the river where Shenji Camp crosses the river.

Under Liang Heng's arrangement, these 250,000 troops were deployed four miles across the river, occupying almost all favorable terrain.

Li Xuan's initiative to cross the river was undoubtedly stupid in Liang Heng's opinion, but he also keenly noticed that the 40,000 people in the divine machine's left and right battalions had high morale and acted decisively. military orders.

——This means that these soldiers of the Shenji Battalion have great trust and confidence in their coach.

Liang Heng felt a little confused and uneasy, but he immediately pressed him down: "What do those magicians do for food? They can't make the ice crack? There are more than two hundred of them, and they can't help the one on the other side. Zhang Shenye?"

Xiao Ci, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, also frowned. He glanced in the direction of the magician's altar in the back and found that all the magicians looked like they were struggling.

At this time, he also noticed that twenty miles upstream of the Chaobai River, a group of three hundred Jizhou Army soldiers were continuously dumping "ice cubes" on the river.

Xiao Ci suspected that the failure of these magicians in the battle was probably related to these 'ice cubes', but he did not know the reason.

He finally put his hands behind his back, shook his head indifferently and said: "Looking at their appearance, they should be trying their best. Commander, you don't need to be harsh. So what if the champion successfully crosses the river? Now I have the advantage. The crowd bullies the few. With the commander's military skills, he will surely be defeated with a single blow!"

Liang Heng thought to himself that if I could make all 40,000 people fall into the river and drown, then why bother fighting them on land?

However, these magicians were not effective, so he had no choice but to give up the idea.

"Send the order to the entire army!" Liang Heng's eyes were cold: "Except for the cavalry, all formations should move forward one mile."

Following Liang Heng's order, all 230,000 infantry troops moved into action.

Although Liang Heng was contemptuous and disdainful of Li Xuan's all-muscle fighting method, he was very well prepared for the battle.

He had seen the shooting power of those 'rune flintlock muskets', so before the war Liang Heng equipped almost all the infantry with thick shields, and all the soldiers in front of the array also wore more than two layers of armor.

When the 230,000 infantry array moves forward, it is like a copper and iron wall moving forward, with mountains of shields like the sea and armor like walls!

Liang Heng squinted his eyes and stared at the opposite side. When he saw that the soldiers of the left and right camps of the Shenji Battalion were less than thirty feet away from the river bank, he issued the order again: "All arrays, move forward one more mile!"

After Liang Biao heard this, he couldn't help but be surprised: "Brother, aren't you planning to attack halfway across the river? Why did you change your mind again? Are you planning to let them go ashore?"

Liang Heng glanced at him coldly: "The most important thing in using military force is to learn and apply it flexibly, and to adapt to local conditions. Sticking to the rules is the way to death."

The key point of "attacking halfway across the river" in the art of war is to take advantage of the fact that after the enemy crosses the river, his footing is not stable, his formation is not solid, his ranks are chaotic, and he is even out of touch with each other, to annihilate him.

However, the soldiers of the left and right camps of the Shenji Battalion crossed the river on the ice, which to a large extent avoided the disadvantages of crossing the river.

They are still arrayed like a wall, neat and orderly, without any appearance of being scattered.

Liang Heng had to take the initiative to close the distance between the two sides' arrays, which would allow his infantry to rush into the opponent's musket array in the shortest possible time.

The mud near the river beach is soft, which will greatly reduce the speed of infantry shield bearers and soldiers.

So at this time, the closer the distance between the two parties, the better.

In fact, the most appropriate strategy at this time is to retreat a few miles and engage the enemy on dry, hard ground.

But Liang Heng also had no choice but to do so. First, the morale of his troops was not yet solid, and any order to retreat might lead to a great rout. In the Battle of Feishui in the past, the former Qin Emperor Fu Jian retreated due to trade with his entire army, resulting in a rout.

The second is that he is worried that Li Xuan will stop moving after crossing the river and set up a stronghold directly by the river.

This was also unacceptable to Liang Heng. At this time, large groups of Jizhou Army troops were arriving from the east.

Once the opponent has a solid stronghold on the west bank of the Chaobai River, the natural barrier of the Chaobai River will no longer be reliable.

This was also a huge blow to the morale of the imperial guards and guards under his command.

Thinking of this, Liang Heng couldn't help but frown deeply, feeling extremely awkward.

He felt that every step he took since leading his troops out of Beijing seemed to have been planned by Li Xuan——

And in the next moment, Liang Heng discovered a scene that shocked him.

The linear phalanxes of the Shenji Battalion did not advance any further, but stopped directly on the ice three feet away from the river bank.

They began to load their ammunition and then raised their muskets.

Those field smoothbore guns also stopped on the spot and deployed their gun emplacements directly on the ice.

Liang Heng's pupils narrowed slightly: "Send the order to the entire army to speed up and advance!"

Just as he finished speaking, the artillery position located in the direction of the Cao Army opened fire first.

A total of eighty Franco machine guns and sixty smoothbore field guns roared and roared to the north at the same time!

The Folang machine gun is a breech-loaded smoothbore rapid-fire gun with an upper and lower barrel. Due to the air leakage in the middle of the barrel, the power, range and projectile speed of the Franco machine gun are far inferior to the red cannon.

Liang Heng had been prepared for a long time. There were fully fifty third-sect cultivators in those military formations, and fully armed military masters were waiting for them.

Their force is enough to fight head-on against the artillery shells that intercept the Folan cannon.

What surprised Liang Heng was the sixty smoothbore field cannons - these field cannons seemed light and easy to move, but their power was not inferior to the red cannons.

Especially the strange 'chain bullets' they spray out are extremely powerful. They all rotated at high speed and crashed to the ground, smashing pieces of minced meat into the ranks of the army. Everywhere he passed, there were shocking carpets of flesh and blood.

There were even a few third-sect martial arts cultivators who tried to intercept, but were directly chopped into pieces by these 'chain bullets'!

At this time, Li Xuan, who had already followed the military formation to the ice, ordered with a cold expression: "The whole army fires forward, using the enemy-blocking shooting method, two-stage shooting!"

In an instant, nearly 20,000 people opened fire on the ninety-six square formations on the ice at the same time. There was a crackling sound, and these sounds came together to shock the eardrums.

After less than half a breath, the second salvo from the opposite side began, and another 20,000 bullets were poured onto the river bank like a violent storm.

This made all the military formations under Liang Heng's command feel as if they were struck by lightning two miles away from the river bank.

They seemed to have encountered an invisible wall, and the speed of all the shieldmen in front was greatly reduced, almost stagnating. The large shields in their hands had craters several inches deep.

Next came the third, fourth, and fifth times, with Shenji's left and right battalions firing volleys of 40,000 soldiers in a continuous stream, one after another.

Just after the seventh salvo, a hundred smoothbore field guns accompanying the army were ready.

"All smoothbore field guns are loaded with live ammunition, aim at the garrison troops, and fire freely!"

A thunderous roar suddenly sounded above the river, and black projectiles shot out from the one hundred smoothbore field guns. The huge backlash even caused the ice below to crack!

But at this time, they were less than three feet away from the violent shore. Even if the ice breaks up, the water is only less than knee deep.

The tens of thousands of soldiers of the Shenji Battalion were not affected by anything. They moved accurately, loaded their weapons mechanically, opened fire, and kept repeating this action.

At this time, hundreds of gaps had been blasted out of the rebel array on the opposite side. Those shells were invincible wherever they passed, and all the shield bearers and soldiers were smashed to pieces.

Liang Heng's face turned purple and his heart palpitated, but it was not because of those shells.

The power of these 'smoothbore field artillery' was indeed beyond his expectation. But Liang Heng was not defenseless. He had prepared a large number of shield bearers and soldiers in advance to fill up the formation. The biggest advantage on his side was the large number of people.

What frightened Liang Heng was that at this time, the entire Linhe formation of his Jingying camp and Weisuo army was on the verge of collapse.

Under the continuous volleys from those muskets, the shield bearers in front were bleeding from their mouths and noses!

It is true that the flintlock muskets of the Shenji Battalion were unable to penetrate those large steel shields, but these shield bearers were subjected to continuous and huge impact.

The continuous barrage of projectiles was hurting their internal organs, making them gradually unable to survive.