Please ask me to be the emperor

Sun Chuanting stood on horseback, watching the Ming soldiers who were beaten by the rebels and running away with their heads in their hands, a smile could not help but appear on his lips.

He is not Zhu Xieyuan, an old man in his seventies, but Sun Chuanting, who is in his prime and can shoot from left to right.

The unique skill of standing on horseback is just a piece of cake for him.

Of course, in fact, this height cannot meet Sun Chuanting's vision needs.

However, limited by the conditions, he had no choice but to do this, which was better than nothing.

Seeing that the Ming army's attacking team was scattered by the rebel cavalry, Sun Chuanting quickly ordered the cavalry to return to the formation to avoid any losses.

Although there are many cavalry troops under Zhang Damou now, in fact, only about half of them are qualified cavalry who can actually charge and fight on horseback.

Although the remaining half of the soldiers have mastered the riding skills, they have not fully mastered the riding fighting skills.

The number of rebels is only half that of the Ming army. If the cavalry is lost too much, there will be no chance of winning this battle, so they have to use it "sparsely".

This formation of the Ming army was quite similar to the T-shaped crutches of this era, so Sun Chuanting gave it a distinct name and called it the "Kaizi Formation".

Zhu Xieyuan obviously also realized that the so-called "kidnapping formation" did not play its due role, so after testing it once, he suspended this behavior of "giving away people's heads".

And just after the Ming army was silent for a moment, the flag suddenly wavered and the formation changed. Not long after, twenty squads came out, each with several artillery, and pushed out.

Afterwards, there were more than a thousand firecrackers lined up horizontally, divided into three columns, and standing with the muskets raised.

Afterwards, Sun Chuanting could not see any changes due to the fire gun hand covering it.

"It seems that the Ming army is preparing to break the formation with artillery!" Sun Chuanting instantly understood Zhu Xieyuan's thoughts.

"Send the order, order the rebel field artillery and golden artillery to come out, and the cavalry to the left and right, prepare to fight back against the Ming army!"

Following Sun Chuanting's order, the frontline soldiers of the rebel army also separated to the left and right, and the artillery and cavalry filed out to form a horizontal formation in front.

Not long after, the formation changes of the two armies were completed, and the artillery arrayed in front of each other.

However, because the formations of both sides were far apart and outside the range of the artillery, the soldiers began to push the artillery closer to the other side.

As the Ming army's artillery advanced, the Ming army's gunners also advanced, and as the rebels advanced with the artillery, the cavalry began to hover on both sides of the artillery.

"General, it's hard to deal with the Ming army!" Zhang Damou also stood on horseback and watched for a long time, frowning.

Originally, the cavalry was the nemesis of artillery. They could use their mobility to lure the artillery to fire, and then rush up during the reloading period of the artillery to kill the enemy's gunners.

However, this time Zhu Xieyuan ordered the gunners to form a cannon array. If the rebels really stepped forward to kill them, they would definitely become a living target for the gunners behind the artillery.

Zhang Damou felt sorry for his cavalry, and was afraid that Sun Chuanting would order them to charge into the Ming army's artillery positions.

"Why is it so difficult to deal with?" Sun Chuanting smiled when he heard this and pointed out, "Although the Ming army has many artillery, it can't find its way. It is not as far away as our rebel army!"

The rebels under Zhang Shun had long been known for their "sharp artillery", which Sun Chuanting was puzzled about.

Only after he defected to the rebels and came into contact with the rebel artillery team did he understand the key.

When it comes to the number of artillery, the rebel army is actually not as far away as the Ming army.

For example, a standard car camp organized by Qi Jiguang had about 3,000 soldiers, eight general cannons, four rockets, and 128 French guns.

A standard car camp organized by Sun Chengzong had more than 6,000 soldiers, equipped with 16 cannons, 80 prisoner-killing cannons, and 256 French guns, for a total of 352 artillery pieces. The density is terrifying.

However, a standard battalion of the rebel army has about 3,000 soldiers, but it is only equipped with five field guns and five golden cannons. Other prisoner-killing cannons and Franchise machines do not account for the establishment. They are only used to supplement the main firepower. The number of artillery is much lower than that of the Ming Dynasty. military.

However, in terms of firepower intensity, it is definitely not inferior to the Ming army.

Despite the numerous artillery pieces of the Ming Army, the Franchise was just a "spray" with a caliber of about an inch, used to fire shotgun shells.

Most of the barbarian-killing cannons are small red barbarian cannons with a caliber of about one inch and six minutes to two inches and two and three minutes, and can fire goose egg-sized shells.

There are only "big cannons", most of which are "general cannons" forged between nine and twelve pounds. Their functions are similar to those of the rebel field guns and golden cannons.

It's just that the rebel field artillery is a standard twelve-pound artillery piece, and the golden cannon is a standard twenty-pound artillery piece. Both its power and range far exceed the Ming army's "general artillery".

It's not that the Ming army didn't understand the power of large-caliber artillery, nor was it that the Ming army couldn't produce artillery of the same large caliber.

In fact, because the rebel artillery was so sharp, even Sun Chuanting made several imitations when he was the governor of Shanxi, but gave up in the end.

Why?

Because it was too heavy, almost the same as the Hongyi cannon, it was really inconvenient to maneuver.

And just a few of these artillery pieces, which were much lighter than ordinary Hongyi cannons, seemed to have little effect on the Ming army even if they were transported to the battlefield.

Instead of this, why continue to use the heavier and more powerful Hongyi cannon?

As a result, it was only after Sun Chuanting came into contact with the artillery of the Rebel Army that he fully understood the fundamental difference between the usage of the Rebel Army and the Ming Army.

The art of war says: "The ground gives rise to measure, measure gives rise to quantity, quantity gives rise to number, and number gives rise to scale." The same is true for the way the rebels use artillery.

First, calculate based on the road passing capacity, it is concluded that the maximum weight of the artillery cannot exceed two thousand kilograms.

Then based on this upper limit, three types of artillery were designed: golden cannon, field cannon and flying Biao gun.

Then let's talk about how these three types of artillery are mounted on special artillery carts, equipped with ten gunners and ten mules and horses, so they can naturally move freely and operate like flying.

Ten of the gunners were all trained in military schools and performed their respective duties. Their shooting speed and accuracy were far superior to ordinary gunners, so they naturally had an advantage in artillery fire.

"Fire the artillery, fire the artillery!" When the enemy entered 200 feet, before entering the Ming army's firing list, the rebels had already set up artillery and began to fire on the opposite side.

The accuracy of artillery in this era was limited. A distance of four hundred feet could only hit a house; a distance of two hundred feet could only hit an object the size of a carriage, and it was impossible to destroy the artillery on the opposite side.

Therefore, the target of the rebels was not the artillery on the opposite side at all, but the gunmen lined up behind the artillery.

The shells from the field artillery flew fiercely into the array of gunners, and three or four of them hit the target. About seven or eight gunners and five or six spearmen behind them were beaten into several pieces on the spot, with blood clots. , internal organs flowed all over the floor.

It was quite scary, and there was a commotion in the Ming army formation.

Then, under the officer's scolding and whipping, he slowly calmed down again.

It turns out that the Ming army's formation was very thin, and even if it was hit by a solid bullet, the casualties would actually be minor.

As for the shotgun shells that can cause intensive damage, their range is only more than 200 steps. How can they reach the fire gunners who are 200 feet away?

"It's not easy!" Zhang Damou frowned and said to himself.

According to his many years of combat experience, he might need to attack by force.

If the artillery in front of them is not taken down, once they are approached, the densely formed rebel army will become an artillery target, and the consequences will be disastrous.

"What's the rush? The show hasn't started yet!" Sun Chuanting smiled slightly when he heard this and couldn't help comforting him.

"I heard that Zhu Xieyuan conquered the southwest and was known as a famous general. Today I want to see how good he is!"